Hello everyone,
In April I read The One by John Marrs, a 2016 novel that imagines a world where everyone has a biological match – one person that they are guaranteed to fall completely in love with. This is turned into an app that people can download for a small fee, and the founder becomes a successful and influential businesswoman.
The book explores this concept using a multitude of different scenarios, and as you can expect, the existence of Match Your DNA leads to the breakdown of existing relationships and some very awkward situations that are tantalising from a reader’s perspective.
In 2021, the book was adapted into an eight-part television series by Netflix, written by Atlantis creator Howard Overman, who had – along with some of the executive producers – also worked on the extremely successful Merlin between 2009 and 2013.
I recently watched the adaptation, which was not exactly true to the book…Here is my review.
What I Liked
It explored different scenarios: With a great concept like The One, there is so much you can do with it. Even with the changes they made – more on those later – there was at least an effort to explore various ways of telling a story of how the app can turn people’s lives upside down.
The characters are intertwined: I liked how a lot of the characters were connected in some way. For example, Kate has a storyline with her match while being the police officer investigating Rebecca Webb, while Mark is a journalist working with Rebecca while also facing marital problems as a result of the app.
The company was renamed to The One: This was one change from the book that I appreciated. The One was a better name than Match Your DNA, and the logo was pretty cool too.
Albano Jeronimo: The actor who played Matheus Silva; he gave a standout performance of someone so terribly conflicted through his association with Rebecca. Regarding the cast, I also have to praise Zoe Tapper for what was a largely thankless role as Kate.
Bisexual representation: Kate was bisexual, and this was given very good representation. I found the character a bit dull in the sense that she was just a standard chief investigating police officer who you would find in any old television series, but I appreciated this aspect of her.
It was filmed in Bristol: I am from Bristol, so it is always fun to recognise some of the locations as I am watching. For example, a city centre hotel was used for a funeral scene.
Ethan: I felt that Rebecca’s whole ruse with Ethan was a clever idea. It added more to her character in the sense that she is quite crafty and puts on a show in public.
What I Didn’t Really Like
They changed almost everything from the book: Yes, you read that right. The series is more inspired by the book than based on it, as literally the only thing that they kept was the concept.
None of the characters in the book are the same, with Rebecca Webb replacing Ellie as the founder of the company. Other than an unshakeable degree a self-preservation, the two share little in common. All the other characters in the show are completely separate to those in the book.
I was expecting some of the scenarios to have changed, but I was disappointed not to at least have some elements of the plot play out similarly to the book.
The mystery was unremarkable: Much of the series focuses on a mystery surrounding the death of Ben Neser and Rebecca’s involvement in it. There was nothing special about this arc, despite it being the main thread. The sub-plots involving Kate and Mark were far more interesting.
More than one match: Towards the end of the series, there are suggestions that people may have more than one match. I really did not like this, as I felt it cheapened the concept and made it less interesting.
The ending was an anti-climax: The murder plot at the end just seemed random and lacking in clear motivation.
The love triangle: Although I said Mark’s storyline was more interesting than Rebecca’s, it did grow tiresome. I felt the scenes where his wife Hannah was meeting with Megan – his match – were poorly written and stretched belief a little. On a separate note, Lois Chimimba is a very likeable actress, but I felt she was miscast as Hannah.
It did not do the book justice: If you are going to change almost everything from the book, it has to be good. Unfortunately, I just do not think it did this well enough and I struggled to connect with the show as a whole.
Other Observations
Hannah and Mark’s flat: It had an unusual backdrop. Looking out of the window, it seemed like they lived in between a bunch of multi-storey car parks.
Sofie’s family: Apart from Sebastien’s weird obsession with Kate, I liked what Sofie’s family brought to the story. The same goes for Matheus and Fabio, they made it feel more like an international show.
Rebecca Webb: She is the main character and Hannah Ware plays her well, bringing out her ruthless streak with a powerful performance. It is just a shame that her characterisation is a bit all over the place.
It was a watchable show that never became boring, but the general story arc was underwhelming and as an adaptation, it was a bit of a letdown. Changing almost the entire book was a bit of a risk, and I do not think it paid off here.
My rating: ⭐⭐
Stephen Reads Books 