One Day Is a Must Watch for Rom-Com Lovers.
One Day is a new Netflix original series based on the novel of the same name, written by David Nicholls (he/him). The series was created by Nicole Taylor (she/her) and stars Ambika Mod (she/her) as Emma Morley and Leo Woodall (he/him) as Dexter Mayhew.
The story begins the night of their graduation party from University of Edinburgh on July 15, 1988. Throughout the party, they get close and he ends up coming to her apartment. They spend the whole night talking and deeply connecting about their thoughts for the future. They end up continuing their time together by hanging out the next day. They stay together until running into his parents and decide to stay friends due to their vastly different plans for their lives. The rest of the show returns to them on July 15 over the next 20 years of their lives.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Nicole Taylor describes how she tackled the complexities of covering characters for 20 years. She questioned, “Where are they at in relation to each other, even if they’re not in the same frame, even if they’re not in the same episode? That is the overarching question for the series. I felt that was very truthful to those kinds of relationships… It’s usually with someone you have virtually nothing in common with superficially, but there’s something in you that they, on a soul level, recognize, and vice versa.”
I find this series to be incredibly charming. It does a very impressive job of keeping the story coherent while covering the sudden year changes the characters experience. Both leads feel authentic and relatable. I would highly recommend this show. It has the wit and dynamics of a traditional rom-com with the runtime to give the characters meaningful depth. I think fans of classic 2000s British rom-coms will have a wonderful time watching this show.
