Can you imagine it?
No more awkward dates spent forcing small talk.
No more dating apps, no more ghosting, no more bad sex.
Hannah Ware in ‘The One’.Credit: Netflix
So let’s dive right in.
But is everything as it seems?
Can the science be trusted?
Albano Jerónimo and Hannah Ware in ‘The One’.Netflix
Can Rebecca be trusted?
What’s hiding in her past?
No way that doesn’t mean bad news is around the corner.
Lois Chimimba and Eric Kofi-Abrefa in ‘The One’.Netflix
The first episode ofThe Oneis your pretty standard Netflix drama premiere.
Then there are the various people orbiting around The One.
But Hannah is harboring uncertain feelings, lured by the temptation of knowing her match for sure.
Hannah Ware and Zoë Tapper in ‘The One’.Netflix
She’s not the only one hit with a moral conundrum.
When that day comes, she sits in a bar alone for hours, seemingly stood up.
Will Kate’s feelings remain?
Diarmaid Murtagh in ‘The One’.Netflix
A decent enough premiere, but I have more than my fair share of reservations.
‘Episode 2’
With Ben’s body identified, Rebecca has to be on the offensive.
James discovers she’s wearing a wire, and he once again understands that he can’t trust her.
Eric Kofi-Abrefa in ‘The One’.Netflix
The second episode ofThe Oneconfirms that this show is going to follow the pretty typical Netflix formula.
She gets Mark matched unbeknown to him and goes to meet said match, Megan, for coffee.
Now Lucy has to hide that knowledge from Mark, and the lies will start to pile up.
Albano Jerónimo in ‘The One’.Netflix
It’s trying to be many things at once.
But there’s a twist, because of course there is.
When Kate goes back to the hospital, she finds Sophia’s wife sitting by her bedside.
Hanna Ware in ‘The One’.Netflix
Kate tries to lie but ends up admitting that Sophia is her match.
What would that mean for marriages?
What are the moral and ethical obligations when it comes to messing with something as inexplicable as love?
But what happened to him?
Why is she with Ethan, a man who seems to understand that his relationship role is entirely fictional?
‘Episode 3’
We’re in Spain, where Rebecca and Matheus are madly in love.
Rebecca asks Matheus to move to London with her.
She tells him to bring Fabio too.
So Rebecca goes back to London without Matheus.
She wants to be in control at all times.
That means Rebecca is now more ruthless than ever since she’s being backed into a corner.
When James comes home, things escalate.
Connor refuses, and we’re meant to understand that Rebecca is really starting to go too far.
Again, most of this stuff with Rebecca is incredibly dull.
“Episode 3” is a little more entertaining elsewhere, though.
The beginning of this episode flashes back to 12 months earlier than the current timeline.
But all is not well.
And this is what I mean by strange choices and how we should feel about Rebecca.
But the show never does any of the work to back it up.
Instead, we end up watching a show about how one sociopathic person destroys those around her.
Which is fine, if that’s what you want your show to be!
ButThe Oneis slacking on character motivationsandin balancing its tones.
Does that really seem like enough?
It all just falls flat, and continues the show’s baffling insistence on being so grim and self-serious.
Kate learns that Sophia actually has a family.
More twists in the plot that I’m not sure amount to much of anything.
Much like in Rebecca’s life, Hannah finds her lies catching up to her.
Megan asks to see Mark after Hannah tries to blow off their friendship in a nasty way.
Mark finds out that Megan isn’t gay, and confronts his wife about her lying.
Of course, things don’t go quite as planned.
Fabio has to be a more consequential character, he’s not simply going to go away.
But how is that possible?
Ruining and then taking Ben’s life wasn’t a problem?
Simply because Fabio is the brother of her one true love means that this decision has more weight?
The show is trying to go allBreaking Bad(morally disgusting overdose death included!
It’s not working.
Sophia wakes up in this episode, and Kate is ecstatic.
Like every other match, they seem to be truly in love.
But it’s hard to care because there’s no meaningful character development here.
Even Mark and Hannah’s marriage, which I was initially invested in, feels limp at this point.
There are only three episodes left, and the walls are closing in on Rebecca.
I guess that counts as things picking up?
‘Episode 6’
Hoo boy, where to start?
But c’mon, take a look at that opening scene!
Nick shows up at James' house and arrests him for Ben’s murder.
James immediately says Rebecca was the one who did it, and that he can prove it.
But I have to ask who’s really being tricked here, because it feels like we are.
The problem all along has been thatThe Oneprioritizes surprises and moments over actual storytelling.
So, is it shocking to see Nick be bought by Rebecca?
But because we don’t know anything about Nick is he a corrupt cop?
Has he taken bribes before?
Does he need the money, or is it just too much to turn down?
there’s no heft to this reveal.
You need character development to make your Big Moments land.The Oneis simply rolling them out.
The same thing happens with Kate’s not-so-blossoming romance with Sophia.
Kate is confused and anguished, and the emotions just don’t land.
Meanwhile, Mark is conflicted about what to do with his marriage and his new match.
The episode ends with Kate coming closer to solving Ben’s murder.
The truth is on the way.
But we’re not quite there yet!
Matheus evades the questions, but what Kate says is enough to make him suspicious of Rebecca.
Kate follows him to a meeting with Rebecca and watches them embrace.
She finally gets the truth from her.
The car accident that killed her mother?
It was her fault.
Big moment, right?
Well, again, it falls completely flat for a number of reasons.
So her finally admitting her feelings and reuniting with her family just doesn’t feel all that important.
It’s nice, I guess?
Hardly moving, though.
That’s not exactly a premise that makes for good drama or compelling character relationships.
“Why do Kate and Sophia love each other so much?,” we ask.
“Because of their DNA,” the show answers.
Not so satisfying, right?
Again, the very premise ofThe Onerobs this moment of any real impact.
Kate goes to the gala and watches Rebecca over CCTV cameras.
She sees Rebecca and Ethan backstage on their phones.
It all makes sense to Kate now, and she confronts Rebecca.
She can’t prove it just yet, but we’re on to the finale!
‘Episode 8’
It’s finale time, and Rebecca is making a big decision.
This is a show lacking any sort of identity, and it makes it difficult to enjoy.
There’s a bevy of problems with that, though, and this finale really underscores those issues.
The biggest problem is the storytelling structure.
That’s no way to build a complicated villain.
We know Ben dies.
We know Rebecca pushed him off the roof.
So what’s the big reveal here?
It’s that the fall didn’t kill Ben.
So he’s alive, and she then makes the decision to kill him.
As bad as the reveal about Ben’s death is, even worse is the immediate follow-up.
But Matheus wants to hear it because he’s secretly recording her for Kate.
Mark tells Megan that he’s choosing to stay with Hannah.
He says no, but he’s lying.
I’m not really sure what else there is to say.
