The One (2021)

It's solid and the season finale, packed with loose plot threads, will make you crave a second season. And in the grand scheme of Netflix original series, this one might linger in the memory for longer than expected, if only thanks to that premise — the power of a truly great "What if...?"

The One treads the thin line between good and bad television – both of which can be completely absorbing.

Most of this first season is devoted to a murder investigation — a very drawn-out, repetitive and not at all mysterious murder investigation. It’s all dramatized and acted competently enough to hold your attention, but jeez, shouldn’t machine-enabled love be the focus here?

The murder plot just seemed to distract from the juicy stuff. I wanted more about how the matches work — the material that is here on that topic is good — and less about Rebecca and her history.

You’d think “The One” would have all sorts of places to go, and yet it goes to few of them. Instead the show revolves around a murder that’s neither mysterious or terribly plausible.

To stand out, you need something new to say, or at the very least a new way to tread old ground. The One manages neither, unless you count the way its puts aside all that “What would the introduction via technology of perfect happiness and mind-blowing sex for all and the end of the two greatest drivers of human creativity, progress and despair, do to society?” stuff in favour of giving centre stage to a bog-standard murder mystery.

It’s a bit of a sprawling mess, made worse by a first episode that bounces around its timeline and doesn’t take the time to really figure out why Rebecca turns from normal research scientist to Elon Musk.