This article contains spoilers for One Day (2024).The Netflix series One Day has a heart-breaking ending for Dexter and Emma’s romance, but there are hints of a big twist to their story from close to the beginning. Based on the bestselling novel by David Nicholls, One Day looks at Dexter and Emma meeting on their graduation night in 1988 and becoming friends. The series focuses on the same day, July 15, for the next twenty years, as they grow up, drift apart, and experience different life changes from 1988 to 2007.
One Day was released to high acclaim, with many citing it as superior to the 2011 film adaptation. It takes viewers on a journey of friendship, love, and heartbreak, and is filmed in several scenic locations that prove critical to Emma and Dexter’s story.
Netflix’s miniseries One Day includes a number of lovable characters played by a cast of mostly phenomenal upcoming actors with a few big names too.
The second episode of One Day takes place in 1989, one year after Dexter and Emma began their friendship. Dexter spends time in Rome with his mother as Emma and her friends work out their drama performances in England. The episode eerily opens with the song “Un Bel Di Vedremo Maria Callas” from the famous tragic opera Madame Butterfly.
The use of this music in episode 2 serves as a subtle hint that the story of Dexter and Emma will have a similar ending to the opera.
Madame Butterfly is recognized as one of the most tragic operas ever created. It depicts a horrifically tragic romance where none of the characters get the happy ending they desire, similar to the end of this story. The use of this music in episode 2 serves as a subtle hint that the story of Dexter and Emma will have a similar ending to the opera.
One Day’s complex narrative incorporates a range of different locations. Here are all the shooting locations for the series explained.
Throughout the second episode, Dexter spends time with his mother in Italy in 1989. She acts very vague about why she has come to see him; Dexter notices her unusual behavior, but she doesn’t give him a straight answer. It’s only later that viewers find out that she’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wants to spend as much time as she can with her son.
Dexter’s story ends with him learning to cope with his trauma and move on.
The second episode arguably marked the beginning of the multiple tragedies Dexter faces throughout his life. As the series progresses, he develops an alcohol and drug addiction, loses his television career, his mother dies, his marriage falls apart, and he ultimately loses Emma to a road accident. Dexter’s story ends with him learning to cope with his trauma and move on, ending One Day on a bittersweet note, that was hinted at from close to the beginning of the series.
One Day
is available to stream on Netflix.
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