One Day is a limited Netflix series that was recently released and if you’re a Sally Rooney fan, this show will be right up your ally.
I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but honestly, if you haven’t already watched… what have you been doing??
One Day follows Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, who meet on the evening of their graduation, across the span over two decades or so. Following their grad party, they kinda-sorta spend the night together, but not really (it’s complicated), and the subsequent day, July 15th, also known as St. Swither’s Day. (Is that a real holiday? I have no idea, but I will be celebrating every July 15th for the rest of my years, just as Emma and Dexter decide to do together.)
The series follows Emma and Dexter over the course of two decades or so, as they grow close together and drift apart and grow close together again and drift apart again and grow close together again… and- you get the point. I think a big part of the Sally Rooney vibes I’m getting comes from the fact that Emma and Dexter are British and can’t communicate their feelings to save their lives even though they’re so obviously in love with each other. This show is sooooo Normal People coded.
My mom recommended this show to me after she binged it while home sick, and honestly I did not have high hopes for it (no offense, Mom, love you). Surprisingly, from the first episode I was HOOKED. I’m actually mad at her for not warning me about the finale, I haven’t been the same since finishing this show. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. One Day was the first show I’ve watched in a while that has had such a hold on me.
The soundtrack is also so good!! It “I-downloaded-it-on-Spotify-immediately” good. If this was the nineties, I’d make a mixtape of it, like the one Emma made Dexter. I do, however, feel a sense of crushing sadness listening to it now that I’ve finished the show.
I have never rooted so hard for a couple to get together as I have with Emma and Dexter (other than Marianne and Connell, of course) and I have never been so disappointed with the ending of a story as I have with One Day. Not disappoint in the way that the ending was bad, but in the way that this is THE saddest thing that could have possibly happened.
I know I’m probably not selling this well if you’re normal. But if your favorite TV trope is “will wildly depress you,” boy, do I have the show for you. I hope you fall in love with Emma and Dexter’s story as much as I have. Maybe we can all start a support group for viewers of One Day.