DNA testing is used for so many things—identifying bodies, discovering cures to diseases, even tracking down long-lost relatives.
But what if it could also find your one true love?
The match-making company The One claims it can do just that—find the one person that you are genetically guaranteed to fall in love with. All they need is one strand of your hair.
And if you had any doubts about whether or not The One actually works, just ask one of their 10 million successful matches. Or ask CEO Rebecca Webb, because she’s not just the founder, she’s also a client.
Of course, not everyone is on board with Rebecca’s true love theory.
Mark Bailey, a reporter, compares The One to a cult. He and his wife, Hannah, have agreed not to get tested since they already know they’re the perfect match. Or so they tell each other. But secretly, Hannah isn’t so sure. It’s not that she isn’t happy with Mark. She is! But with so many people talking about it on social media, not to mention the constant advertisements, Hannah can’t help but wonder if there might be someone out there better suited for Mark.
Politicians question the morality of breaking up marriages for the alleged “one.” Divorce rates have spiked and the kids whose parents have split are paying the price. Rebecca insists that the spike is temporary and that divorces will become rarer as younger generations marry “the one” the first time. But her refusal to apologize for splitting up marriages already in existence makes her investors wonder if it’s actually worth the cost of keeping her as CEO.
Detective Kate Saunders is also a bit of a skeptic. After her own “true love,” Sophia, falls into a coma, Kate discovers that Sophia has been lying to her about her family and her past. Hardly behavior you would expect from “the one.”
And as if that wasn’t enough, Kate’s also been assigned to the murder case of Ben Naser, Rebecca’s former flatmate. She knows Rebecca’s hiding something, she just can’t prove it yet. But the fact that James Whiting, the scientist who helped Rebecca develop the program that performs the DNA test, is so opposed to The One that he refuses to be matched himself doesn’t bode well for the CEO or the company.
The very premise of The One (both the show and the company) actually preys on a very real issue in our society. It actively suggests that you won’t be truly “happy” unless you’re with “the one.” And therefore, even if you’re already happily married, you should get tested anyway so you can somehow be happier.
Marriages are broken. Careers are destroyed. Lives are ruined. And all because no matter how in love these people think they are, no matter how happy they are or how compatible they are, they can’t let go of the idea that there’s someone better out there for them.
It’s actually quite sad, especially since several characters who meet their “one true love” don’t necessarily get a happy ending.
However, this also gives the show some merit. By not doling out the fairytale happily-ever-afters, The One shows us that in reality, love is vastly more complicated than a “simple” DNA test. Many people can’t (or won’t) drop their friends, their families, their hobbies and their careers to be with someone. As Kyle Fowle of Entertainment Weekly put it, “Just because someone is your genetic match doesn’t mean the other parts of your life that bring you joy and passion and fulfillment suddenly disappear.”
But this message still isn’t really enough to justify watching The One. Language is harsh throughout, with frequent uses of the f-word. People talk a lot about sex and have it on screen (including some same-sex pairings). And we also witness a brutal murder and other violence. So although The One poses some intriguing questions about love and soulmates, it’s really not much of a question as to whether or not we need to watch it.
Someone is pushed off a roof during an argument. A man shoves another man’s face into a table, breaking his nose and causing it to bleed. A diver finds a rotting corpse in a river. We see a woman with a bruised and cut up face in a hospital bed after getting hit by a car. A man is presumed dead by suicide after it is discovered he was taking anti-depressants.
We see through a shower door a couple having sex. (The door blurs the bodies, keeping anything critical from being obvious.) They later lounge on their bed wrapped in towels. A couple makes out and gropes while bystanders comment on the sexual activity taking place and whether or not the couple is in love. Several couples kiss and embrace. Some women wear revealing outfits. Two women go on dates with each other via video chat. We hear that a woman is bisexual. We hear several conversations about sex. We learn that a man’s girlfriend is pregnant. A man pays a prostitute as she leaves his home. We hear that a guy got dumped after his girlfriend discovered he kept his dating profile in case there was someone better out there.
People discuss unhappy marriages and divorces, and we hear about the children affected by these relationships. Rebecca threatens to match someone’s daughter with an ex-con (who has a history of violence against women) if she doesn’t support The One. We hear about a woman being verbally abused by her husband.
People drink at a bar. A woman talks about flatulence. A woman urinates during a video chat (we only see her from the shoulders up). A man holds a sign stating: “A match made in hell.” We hear uses of the f-word and s-word, as well as “b–ch,” “d–n,” “pr–k” and the British expletive “shat.” We also hear misuses of God’s and Christ’s names.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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