What defines a happy ending?
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which there is a positive outcome for the protagonist or protagonists, and in which this is to be considered a favourable outcome. The final scene of Charlie Chaplin’s 1916 film Behind the Screen, where the hero and the female lead are united. Somewhere between Happily Ever After and a Downer Ending, the Bittersweet Ending is a happy ending with a dash of melancholy; the heroes, for whatever reason, cannot fully enjoy the fruits of their labours. The bad guys may have lost, but the good guys have suffered their losses too.
Do normal people have a happy end?
At the end of the series, we see the pair at a crossroads in their relationship. After a tumultuous few years for the two of them, the last episode sees Connell and Marianne living happily together at Trinity College, Dublin. In the finale, Connell tells Marianne that he will go to New York for an MFA in Creative Writing program, and Marianne shares that she will continue to live in Dublin. The fact that they both make their own choices here shows that they have grown since the beginning of the story.