Netflix's "The One" is imperfect, but it's also soapy, trashy fun

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When I saw that Netflix had a new series called The One, I was initially like, “They made a TV show based on that mediocre Jet Li movie from 20 years ago?” But, no, it’s a completely different show that just happens to have the same title. And because I have no control over my life, I watched all eight episodes of the first season over the weekend.

The One imagines a world where finding someone’s “perfect match” has been made possible through genetic testing, and the company that discovered it is hugely successful but full of inner turmoil. We follow a few different storylines — Rebecca, the company’s CEO who has plenty of secrets; Kate, a police officer whose match gets in a bad accident right before they’re supposed to meet for the first time; and Hannah, whose jealousy gets the best of her, so she secretly has her husband’s DNA tested, only to discover that his match is someone else who lives nearby.

Oh, and also there’s a dead body that shows up and Rebecca probably had something to do with it. Because sure.

Now, while the show does feature queer pairings, it certainly seems to reject the concept of polyamory — it might argue that the characters can still participate in polyamory, it’s just that only one of those partners could be their “perfect match.” But although there are characters that object to the havoc the matching system is wreaking on current marriages, nobody seems to object to basic premise of the matches at all. It’s scientifically been proven, so… that’s it on that front. Which I think is, at the very least, a missed opportunity.

At first, I thought The One would be almost entirely a thought experiment about all the complications that would arise from science being able to determine, without a doubt, one’s perfect mate. And there is a fair amount of that! What do you do if you find your perfect match, but they die? What if they’re your perfect match, but then you do things that completely change your personality? What if you’ve built a strong, stable, loving relationship with someone, only to be told that you’re supposed to be with someone else? What if you meet and love your match, only to start having feelings for someone else?

But then the show ends up leaning way too heavily on the mystery of the death of one of Rebecca’s old friends and her struggles to hold onto control at her company. All eight episodes feature frequent flashbacks to tell the story of how Rebecca made her scientific discovery, what it took for her to make her company successful, and how that changed who she was forever — but I don’t need a murder to keep me interested in that. Yes, absolutely show me that ethical lines had to be crossed in order to prove the science worked, but I don’t need Rebecca to have been involved in someone’s death for me to realize she’s become a bad person. And I certainly don’t care about her fighting with board members to keep her job as CEO.

That said, if you’re looking for a soapy, ridiculous show that features everyone constantly threatening everyone else and the main character wearing a bunch of truly excellent pantsuits, then The One will certainly deliver on that promise. And sometimes, you just want to turn your brain off and watch some garbage TV.

The One is currently on Netflix. I’ve seen all eight episodes.

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That’s all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.

Love,

Kat

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