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Netflix’s One Day has received widespread appreciation for being somberly romantic with relatable characterization. The show, which arrived on the streaming platform on February 8, 2024, got a 93% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic giving it a 76 out of 100 weightage. The 14-episode series is adapted from David Nicholls’s 2009 book of the same name.
While the plot for the series stays true to most of the original novel, some creative changes were made to the storyline to fit the series. On the one hand, the timeline of some of the events in the series does not match those in the book, on the other, the important event of Dexter dating Maddy, as per the book, has been struck out of the series. This makes Dexter’s healing journey more organic and agreeable to the audience.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers. The article also contains the author’s personal opinions.
One Day: Which significant event of Dexter’s life was altered in the series?
Readers of the book already know about Dexter’s tortuous journey to heal from his loss. However, just two months short of the second anniversary of Emma’s death, Dexter started dating Maddy, the manager of his shop. They continued dating even when Dexter travelled to Edinburgh on the third anniversary of Emma’s death and took Maddy with him.
However, this part of the story was altered in the series One Day. Here, Maddy is shown briefly when Dex talks to her in the shop. No reference to any romantic interest brewing between them is given. In the series, Dex is shown as the bereaved friend-husband trying to accept the loss of his friend-cum-lover.
The finale of the show, One Day, shows Dex travelling to Edinburgh with his father and Jasmine with no Maddy in sight, unlike in the book. Moreover, Maddy did not get any independent character development or focus in the series, keeping the plot tightly wrapped around the two leads and the inevitable people close to them.
Why was Dexter’s relationship with Maddy left out of the One Day series?
Leaving Maddy out of Dexter’s life in One Day had a big impact in shaping Dex’s character and audiences’ views about his image. As the viewers get involved in the love shared between the two leads and grieve over Emma’s death, they share the devastation Dex is supposed to be feeling after losing a longtime friend and love.
In the book, Dex started dating Maddy before Emma’s second death anniversary. Current Netflix viewers may not have taken kindly to it as the transition would have come quickly in the last episode. Within minutes of the pain of Emma’s death, if the viewers found Dex romancing another woman, he would have come out as callous and insensitive.
Moreover, the crux of the romantic story would be lost if, after years of yearning to get to the love of his life, the protagonist loses his love as soon as he gets her and then moves on in his love life. The audience might have rejected the story.
Additionally, there is a contemporary social reason for eliminating the Maddy-angle in the plot. Maddy is Dexter’s employee and ten years younger than him. Showing Dex romancing his ten-years-younger employee, in a roundabout way, may have come across as a predatory abuse of power on his part. This might have altered Dexter’s characterization.
One Day: Comparing other differences between the series and the book
In the opening scene of the series, One Day, Dexter and Emma meet on the stairs at the party while in the book, they were discussing their future while in bed at the very start. Again, in the first episode of the series, the lead duo’s trip to Arthur’s Seat is shown elaborately while the book reveals the details much later.
The timeline of the Netflix series is a little different from that of the source novel. Episode 3 shows 1990 when Dexter is a TV presenter, but as per the book, in 1990, Dexter travelled to India to meet a TV producer. The events as a TV presenter belong to 1991 in the book.
The timeline keeps events happening earlier in the series, One Day, compared to that in the book. As such, the 1992 trip to Greece was pushed to 1991 for the series.
Even the last few years of Emma’s life were altered. As per the Netflix series, the couple came together in 2000, had Jasmine visit them in 2001 and Emma had her tragic accident in 2002. However, in the book, the timeline of the events moves two years with Emma dying in 2004.
Another character alteration in One Day, the show, over the novel is that of Tilly. In the series, Tilly is a reliable friend and supportive of both Emma and Dexter. However, in the book, Tilly is not shown to be very supportive of Emma. Additionally, she and Dexter had a one-night stand in 1992 making Tilly unreliable as a friend.
The series has many more minor creative liberties in place, from all connected to Dex and Emma coming for a group mourning during the second death anniversary, to Emma delivering a wedding speech for Tilly and Graham. However, the show revolves around the heartbreaking love story of Dexter and Emma holding on to the soul of Nicholls’s novel, One Day.
Catch One Day, currently available for streaming on Netflix.
