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Netflix's 'One Day' is leaving viewers 'wrecked.' How the new limited series is resonating differently from its book, movie counterparts.

One Day, Netflix’s new romantic drama series, has left many viewers emotionally devastated. The latest adaptation of David Nicholls’s 2009 critically acclaimed novel — Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess starred in the 2011 film of the same name — premiered on Netflix on Feb. 8 and was an immediate hit. The series debuted at No. 3 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 list of most-watched TV and films for the week of Feb. 5, amassing a total of 5.3 million views within its first four days of streaming. It was also one of the 10 most-viewed shows in 75 countries.

The 14-episode series follows protagonists Emma and Dexter over the course of 20 years as they come of age and navigate adulthood, all while toggling between friends and something more. While the feature film cast Hathaway and Sturgess as its leads, the Netflix series stars This Is Going to Hurt actress Ambika Mod as Emma and The White Lotus actor Leo Woodall as Dexter.

Perhaps the most noticeable change from the 2011 film is the diversity of the cast — namely that Ambika Mod, an Indian-British actress, portrays Emma. In fact, the series even weaves Mod’s casting into the story, as Emma shares that her mom is Hindu and her dad is Christian.

"I hope it will open people's minds a little bit," Mod told BBC of her portrayal. “I'm aware how significant it will be to a lot of people, especially young women of color, young South Asian women in particular."

Mod’s portrayal, however, has generated discourse online, as some viewers have been critical of her physical appearance. TikToker @getoffmyback, who is South Asian herself, came to Mod’s defense and addressed the criticism in a video.

“It’s almost as if people are uncomfortable with the idea that you can have a brown female lead and we can romanticize the fact that a white man fell in love with her because it happens and it’s life,” she says.

A devastated audience

Although the source material has been out for nearly two decades, the Netflix series has managed to leave audiences wrecked. People who finished the series have taken to social media to document their tumultuous emotional journey watching the show. While many first-time viewers appear to be surprised by how heart-wrenching the story is, some admit to having been aware of what happens and still wanted to subject themselves to the pain.

“This is your sign NOT to binge One Day,” one person cautioned.

TikTok isn’t the only platform One Day viewers are using to share their feelings toward the show. They’ve also posted memes on X, formerly Twitter, to articulate visceral reactions to the fate of the protagonists’ love story.

Why it hits harder

Given the nature of the episodic format, Netflix’s adaptation of One Day digs deeper into Emma and Dexter’s lives. Compared to the film, which clocks in at 1 hour and 47 minutes, the series spans 14 episodes for a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes. The difference in run time may also play a part in the way each adaptation was received critically. On Rotten Tomatoes, the 2011 film has a 36% average rating while the 2024 limited series currently holds a 92% average rating.

“What they chose to do wrecked me even harder,” one person says in a video, addressing the show’s ending. “It’s a seven-hour movie where you get to see all these really, really intimate details between the two of them.”

Each episode focuses on a year of their lives, offering audiences a greater understanding of their diverging paths and the pivotal moments that shaped them individually. By telling the story in episodic installments, audiences inevitably grow more invested and attached to Emma and Dexter, and whether they’ll finally get their happily ever after.

“It’s so unbelievably heartbreaking — you feel a bit robbed,” Woodall told Netflix’s Tudum of the show’s ending. “I found it quite hard to snap out of it after we finished.”

Mod echoed Woodall’s sentiment but added that it was “only fair” that Emma and Dexter’s story ended the way it did.

“I think that’s what’s heartbreaking about the book — it’s this juxtaposition of these two wide-eyed students and the dreams they have for their future, and then how things actually turn out,” she said.

One Day is streaming on Netflix.

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