The One Day Finale Paints Grief as an Ongoing Journey

The One Day Finale Paints Grief as an Ongoing Journey

Netflix’s One Day is the second adaptation of the 2009 David Nicholls novel of the same name, this time in the form of a limited series starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall. Over 14 half-hour episodes, the series charts the friendship and underlying romance between best friends Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew over 20 years, and is by and large a much richer and more engrossing version of the story than the 2011 film that starred Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.

A large part of the series’ success is the deep connections that we’ve formed with the characters—both the main duo and the many people who inhabit the world around them—because each episode, taking place a year apart on the same day, is given space to breathe. The penultimate episode leaves us with an unconscious Emma on the ground after she’s hit by a car while riding her bike, and the finale picks up a year later in 2003. “Episode 14” breaks from the format by following three years of Dexter’s life with the occasional flashback to when he and Emma first met in 1988, showing Dexter’s ongoing journey with grief and acceptance.

In 2003, Dexter is not doing well. He’s back to drinking excessively, even showing up to his daughter Jasmine’s school function intoxicated. It’s hard for him to keep it together, and who can blame him? After dropping Jasmine off at ex-wife Sylvie’s apartment, Dexter makes a turn from bad to worse. He stumbles from bar to bar, drinking like there’s no tomorrow (likely because his depression makes him question whether he even wants a tomorrow), and instigating unnecessary fights. The final straw comes when he begins to open up to a stripper about missing Emma. When he notices that she’s texting while he’s spilling his heart out, he attempts to knock the phone out of her hand for which he’s thrown out of the bar.