One Day Review: Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall Give Netflix's Compelling Romance Its Spark

It's no stretch to imagine that some people might hear the premise of Netflix's new romance limited series One Day and write it off as a gimmick. To watch Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) meet on July 15, 1988, the night of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh, and then check in with them once a year, on that same date, for almost 20 years, through the highs and lows of their lives, through every relationship configuration possible — well, that's a format that can only work in a novel, they might say (and it did! In David Nicholls' 2009 best-seller of the same name). And if your only interaction with the source material is the 2011 film based on the novel, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, you probably think, yeah, that's exactly right. 

A novel has the space to really explore how the characters, and their relationship with one another, have changed and grown (or regressed!) in a year, every year, for 20 years in a way that is deeply moving and thoughtful. The film sped through those July 15ths as if it had a much more important appointment to get to, so a lot of the nuance of the characters was lost; the development of Em and Dex — as individuals and as a duo — felt one-note and rushed. But you know what else has the time and space to let a story breathe? Television. If there's one thing the movie version of One Day taught us, it's that this novel was built for a TV adaptation. And I'm delighted to say that the adaptation fans of the novel have been waiting for, the one they deserve, is here and it is gorgeous. 

Developed by Nicole Taylor, this version of Emma and Dexter's story is told over 14 half-hour-ish episodes (no, really!), which gives Taylor and her team of writers ample time to show us all shades of, as the characters put it at one point, Emma and Dexter growing up together. Sure, maybe that sounds trite out of context and you're rolling your eyes at me, but trust me: It ends up being the most poignant way of summing up their relationship. Am I tearing up just thinking about it? Maybe! So, you can keep your "trite." It cannot be overstated what a herculean task the writers had in making this show work. The most obvious trap with this format is that with each new year, the writers might feel the impulse to info dump about what's gone down over the past 365 days, lest there not be enough context as to where we find our characters — but One Day, miraculously, never falls into that trap. The exposition is subtle and natural, and within moments, you can fill in the blanks as to what we've missed. The time jumps never feel like a hindrance, but rather, they are an advantage: What a perfect mechanism to really, deeply examine this relationship in a way that other fictional romances and friendships miss out on, because they simply don't have the space of 20 years. 

8.9

One Day

at Netflix

Like

• Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall give wildly compelling and moving performances
• Mod and Woodall's chemistry is not to be missed
• The show deftly uses a could-be gimmicky format to give its intimate look at a relationship maximum emotional impact

Dislike

• Some of the overall pacing choices can feel frustrating

It's not just the writing on its own that allows this format to achieve maximum emotional impact — Mod and Woodall are the (and I do not say this lightly!) perfect Emma and Dexter. They are the leads, yes, but they are also the stars of this show. It should be said that a whole gaggle of supporting characters fill up the One Day world, and even though, for the most part, they flit in and out of our main characters' lives, on the whole they feel fully realized. Still, this is Emma and Dexter's show, and Mod and Woodall are more than up to the task of carrying the whole thing. They are wildly compelling, both when they share the screen and when off on their own. Please, I am begging: Give these two so many jobs. All the jobs. They are so good. The way they both embody these characters from the get-go and allow us to see their growth without ever forgetting who they are is a feat. In later years, Emma is brimming with confidence and success in ways we've never seen, but the moment she is embarrassed or upset, she immediately resorts to sarcasm and lashing out; Dex may have spent years working to be a better version of himself, but he'll always participate in a little (or a lot of) denial when he's in pain. When those recognizable traits from their youth reveal themselves again, it's just a reminder of how well we know these characters, even though we've only spent a handful of days with them, and that's very much thanks to Mod and Woodall. 

And yes, if you haven't yet guessed, Mod and Woodall's chemistry is what holds this thing together. They effortlessly (at least, that's how they make it seem) shift the shades of that chemistry depending on where we are in Emma and Dexter's story. From young college students lusting after each other, to genuine friendship, to unrequited love, to anger and heartbreak, to deep, lasting love — it's all baked in there and deployed at the right times. Even when they aren't on screen together, you can feel them tied together, which is sort of the point. 

That being said, at times it feels like the intense gravitational pull of their chemistry — which, again, is really the secret ingredient to making the time hopping work — makes some of the show's pacing choices frustrating. Since this is a romance, even if you don't know the source material, you probably know where Emma and Dexter's feelings land in the end (although where their story ends, I will not get into), but getting to that point takes up the bulk of the series. There are certainly episodes, while important to Emma and Dexter's growth as people, that lag while our lovers are kept apart — especially because episodes in which they're together, even if they're fighting, crackle. There is so much buildup, so much time spent watching Emma and Dexter figuring out who they are in order to be together, and yet so little time to revel in the joy of it. And we really deserve some reveling, what with the way this show can turn on its heels in an instant and be completely, utterly gutting. Honestly, I'm torn on whether it's an actual problem that some of those middle episodes — which will have you just screaming at these two dopes to get their acts together — feel a little lackluster compared to the rest, or if it's simply a good problem to make an audience invested to the point of frustration — if it's a choice made out of confidence in the storytelling. 

Dexter and Emma's story is a romance, yes, but it is also very much about how two people can change one another for the better, how both people and relationships can and need to grow — through love, through patience, through tragedy — and that takes time (in life and on screen). So whether or not you agree with the way the show uses the time we have with these two, you'll leave grateful for the time we do get. In fact, because of the way the show immediately and intimately invites you into Dexter and Emma's relationship and makes them so easy to root for, there's little doubt that you'll walk away wanting more, and that you might think to yourself that a handful of days — even the lackluster ones — just aren't enough, in the best way possible.

Premieres: Thursday, Feb. 8 on Netflix
Who's in it: Ambika Mod, Leo Woodall, Eleanor Tomlinson, Essie Davis
Who's behind it:  Nicole Taylor, David Nicholls, Jude Liknaitzky, Roanna Benn (executive producers)
For fans of: Sweeping romance, reliving the '90s, crying
How many episodes we watched: 14 of 14