I’m surprised that I didn’t like Northern Lights (2023) more than I did.
This streaming series, which is an adaptation of a play by Stephen Jones, tells the story of two grieving strangers Áine (Elva Trill) and Lloyd (Jones) who connect through their tragedies. Áine is standing in the rain on a bridge outside Lloyd’s apartment after his estranged girlfriend Denise (Jennifer Heylen) asked him to leave their home in the emotional aftermath of their newborn’s sudden death.
This bridge is where Áine’s boyfriend Seán (Jay Duffy) jumped to his death. It’s also where Lloyd had spoken to him just before he jumped and where Denise previously had been talking to him, and where Lloyd saw them from his window when Denise lied about why she was late to dinner he had prepared.
I typically like adapted plays perhaps because these stories seem more substantial. However, I thought this story, which might have worked as a two-hander tragicomic play, had been stretched too far across six episodes and almost 300 minutes, and past the point of ripping and tearing.
I also was skeptical about the coincidences, especially in the Dublin setting. Greater Dublin, which is visually appealing, reportedly includes two million people across 2,500 miles. That though doesn’t prevent these characters from meeting on the same bridge at similar times.
I additionally couldn’t overlook the representation of The Catcher in the Rye. This 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger, which also features a grieving narrator, gets its title from its narrator’s misunderstanding of a poem, which reinforces his inability to manage, or even recognize, the grief that alienates him from everyone, contributes to his emotional breakdown, and explains its mental health setting.
In contrast, Áine and Lloyd and even Denise ostensibly confront their grief and reconnect with their loved ones. This contrast however is never acknowledged, and seems unclear, even though it could have contributed in more than one way to this story.
These prevented me from connecting with this story, which might work on a stage somewhere but doesn’t do so on a smaller screen across six episodes for five hours.
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