The One is a British Speculative Fiction television series based on John Marrs novel of the same name. It was created by Howard Overman and was released on Netflix on 12 March 2021.
The premise of the show is that Rebecca Webb and her business partner James have developed a dating service that finds your "match", who is pheromone DNA matched to be the best person for you. It explores the idea of One True Love as Speculative Fiction with an enable cast.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: The premise of the show is that a scientist figured out how to determine which people are each other's One True Love, and it then was made commercially availed. Sometimes it seems like the details of this have been Hand Waved — "DNA, compatible pheromones" — but other times it seems like the holes are intentional. As described in the show, all a match really guarantees is powerful mutual attraction. As generally imagined, a soulmate is someone you're really hot for, yes — but also someone you can build a life with, someone who will challenge you and make you grow. Compatible pheromones can plausibly cover the former, but not the latter. Nothing is known about the long-term outcomes of these couples since this technology hasn't even existed for 2 full years yet. You certainly could argue that these matched couples are people with compatible pheromones who are still in the honeymoon phase, but not necessarily soulmates in the more classic sense of the term.
- One True Love: The premise of the show is that there's a new dating service that finds your "match", who is pheromone DNA matched to be the best person for you. Then it's deconstructed. It's about the depth people's romantic idealization, and what happens when you have a clear, definitive target to project all of that onto.
- Matching has been a thing for under 2 years, and it has massively changed society. There's been a huge spike in divorces — when people in happy, committed relationships were told there was someone better for them out there, many were unable to resist the curiosity. Online dating has been decimated, creating a very difficult situation for those who choose not to get matched, or who cannot (their match is not in the database yet, their match has died, etc). Society has a newly blasé attitude towards infidelity. A match — the promise of "your one true love" — is the ultimate extenuating circumstances.
- Kate finds out her perfect match is Sofia and quickly throws her faith into this idea, even as the red flags start pilling up. Sofia is married. And she's cheated on her wife a lot. And she lied to both Kate and her wife about her family. In any other situation, most people would agree you should end things with such a person. But if she's your match — your one and only perfect match in the entire world! — these becomes things you might be able to overlook.Kate: What am I supposed to do?
Grace: Walk away.
Kate: Could you?
Grace: If someone had lied to me about being married? Yes. - Ethan talks thusly about Zach, his match who died before they ever met.Ethan: It's been 2 years and I'm still mourning someone I've never even met. It's ridiculous… Sometimes I think about what it would have been like if we'd matched before he got sick… It's so hard. I'll never love anyone as much as I would have loved him.
- Toros y Flamenco: Grace is surprised to learn that two Spanish women in their 30s are married because she "thought the Catholics weren't down with the lesbians". Spain legalized gay marriage in 2005 and has one of the highest acceptances of homosexuality in Europe. The One came out in 2021 and is set 20 Minutes into the Future.
