‘The Hours’ Gets Dressed for the Opera (And a New Season)
In the season finale of “The Normal Heart,” a writer and a photographer go missing, and “The Normal Heart” (and the rest of the series) is left with two more storylines.
Just when you thought “The Normal Heart” had run its course, the show’s third season concluded, with Emily singing solos in the bar of New York’s opera house and a pair of lovers making out on the stage.
The show was all about Emily (Carmen Ejogo) as she grapples with her first husband, her new marriage, and the fact that her new job as a mother is more hardscrabble than glamorous. But in the finale, the actress turns in an understated performance as she prepares to be reunited with her two friends, her co-worker, and her new love.
In its three seasons, “The Normal Heart” has explored how people grow in relationship. It’s also given us a glimpse at lives that may not have been in their best interests. But in the third season final episode, “The Hours,” the show’s writers have taken what worked about season four and turned it on its head — giving us a show about one woman’s struggle to find happiness. Emily will finally figure out who she is, as she does in the episode, but in doing so, she’ll also have to give up the life she thought she’d always wanted.
And although “The Hours” is a spinoff, it’s a spinoff that has taken a very different approach to handling a season finale than its predecessor. In the season four finale, Emily’s husband had returned to his hometown and married another man. This episode, “The Hours,” opens with Emily’s husband returning to their hometown, New York City. But instead of giving his wife a happy ending, he leaves her with another
