This feels like a bizarre caution to add considering the following paragraph, but this contains spoilers for the general vibe of One Day, so if you don’t want to even remotely know what the outcome of Emma & Dex, feel free to head on down to the line break picture and then skip the rest of this one!
Sometimes I think I’m so up-to-speed culturally that it hurts, and then sometimes I realise I’ve gone twenty (20) years without finding out the ending of one of the country’s most beloved books, One Day.
This wasn’t by design; I’ve just never seen the Anne Hathaway movie and never read the book all the way through. I did start it once, but stopped after Emma working at the Mexican restaurant because my tummy physically hurt, lol — not because of the phantom sour cream, but because I felt so much second-hand embarrassment it manifested physiologically.
But having finished Mr & Mrs Smith earlier than we thought — because for some reason I thought all the recent promo was for Season 2, not Season 1, so we steamed through it thinking we had a whole extra season to get through as well that does not, in fact, exist — I suggested to Rich that we might watch the new Netflix adaptation of One Day, because I’d seen so much talk online about it.
Many of the reviews I’d seen put it in a similar if not the same camp as Normal People. That particular story I did know the ending to, because it changed me emotionally, mentally and spiritually (read: wrecked me) back in April 2020.
(A year and half later I watched it again for ~ science ~, to see whether its effect on me was just because I binged it all from 11pm-6am one night at the start of a lockdown in my childhood bedroom, getting to the end as the sun was rising and I was questioning my entire existence. Science ruled that it wasn’t anything to do with that, and I was broken by it just as much in my rented flat in London.)
Aside from the exceptional performances and excellent scene-setting, the thing I’ve seen most talked about with One Day is how much people cried. Sobbed. Bawled. Floods. Buckets. And these were people who’d seen the film! Read the book! I knew I couldn’t take any chances…
…so I googled the ending.
Cinephiles, I can only apologise. I know for many people googling the ending is a cardinal sin, a desecration of the sanctity of the screen, a crime for which no punishment is severe enough!!! I know the argument is that it ruins the enjoyment, weakening the experience so that it doesn’t hit quite as hard. But for me, googling the ending is an entirely necessary part of watching TV. I’d argue that it actually facilitates my enjoyment, because, safe in the knowledge of how it all ends, I can throw myself fully into watching them get there. It doesn’t stop me falling in love with certain characters, or rooting for things to happen, and it doesn’t preclude me from admiring the craft of the people who put it together.
In fact, on that last point, I feel like it’s because those people do their job so well. In the same way that I think me abandoning the book in the restaurant scene is a reflection of David Nicholls’ mastery as a writer, I think having to google the ending of a tv series or film is a sign that props should be given to those who made it: because it affects me so deeply!
And to be fair, One Day is an extreme example of this. If there was a final boss of story arcs sent to kill me, it would be “couple in love who (keep) miss(ing) their chance”, a.k.a. Paul Mescal and Leo Woodall shuffling in like two kids in a trench coat. Even the ending of La La Land, one of my fave films of all time, kills me off, despite how Mia and Seb seem fairly content with how things played out (BUT WHAT ABOUT ME? DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT ME, DAMIAN CHAPPELLE?)
Anyway, tonight we’re due to go back to 1999, and I will still feel that particular sting of tears in the back of my eyes and the gaping ache of sadness in the back of my throat, and I will still shout and scream at the TV because despite knowing what is looming up ahead, I so, so desperately want them to live happily ever after.
I've started watching One Day and I'm on episode 5. I never fussed about knowing the ending before I get there - sometimes I Google it, sometimes I don't. I just Googled the ending and GASPED!
Are you familiar with the website DoesTheDogDie.com? It's my favourite go-to directory for thematic content warnings. I can't watch One Day! The book destroyed me -- and that was pre-parenting when I didn't melt into an emotional puddle on a daily basis...