One Day - is Emma meant to be like this?

[AreolaGrande]

Have never read the book. Saw the film years ago but don't remember loads about it 😳.

Am on ep 3 of the Netflix show and Emma is just so bloody miserable and sour? She's vile to Dexter and I don't get why someone as charismatic as him would bother with her relentless negativity and moaning. I seem to remember Anne Hathaway's Emma having more about her? The connection between her Emma and Jim Sturgess's Dexter was much more believable?

Not sure I can be arsed persevering tbh.

I'm on episode 6 I think. I also find her quite irritating and obnoxious for the first few episodes. But I do like the fact that they are both very clearly flawed characters. I had to stop watching mid episode but I think I'm in the middle of the break up scene and I'm loving that he has genuine grievances about her rather than lashing-out made up ones.

But overall, I do think that it's hard to understand why they're friends when she is always so rude and dismissive of him.

I think I read the book but can't remember. I have a vague memory that I also found it a bit irritating though!

oh wait, I think I just remembered the book's ending. without wanting to give away a spoiler - is there a cafe and a bicycle or car that plays a prominent role in the ending?

Yes. I hated that. Just when I was thinking there might be some point to it all.

@CaptainMyCaptain yeah, okay. Not watching the rest.

I think the difficulty with any screen adaptation is that the great lines that Emma has just feel clipped or rushed. Yes she's sarcastic but in the book it's funny. You just don't get the space to 'hear' them properly in this series which is why the chemistry is lacking. In the book she's more 'quippy' rather than snappy. I'm loving Dex's character but just can't seem to warm to Emma.

If you read the book it's pretty spot on. Emma is clever and down to earth but also high minded and yes, sour, with a chip on her shoulder, and she softens as she gets older. She's meant to counterbalance Dexter, who is sweet and non judgemental but also spoiled and directionless - that's why they would never have worked out in the early days. They both have to mature. The book is really good at making two imperfect characters who can be unlikeable at times, but you still ultimately care about them. He's good at that, Nicholls

God Leo is gorgeous in this isn’t he!

I liked the actress in the Adam Kay drama but I think her performance in this is too dour and serious. I think Emma is meant to be smart and feisty which is a good balance to Dexter's character. I thought Leo Woodall was great as Dexter.

Yeah I didn't get to the end of the book, the [spoiler] happened and I think I read one more page then had to give up.
I remember Emma being frustrated that life was hard for her and easy for him.
I remember him being a posh twat with no idea how lucky he was. A real "my diamond shoes are too tight" person.

I can't bear to watch it. The book is one of my favourites and I can't bear for it to be ruined....

Sweet??? Did we read the same book? When she got out of the shit exhausting low-paid food job and into teaching his response was "those who can't, teach".

That's pretty indicative of him as a person. He was totally clueless and lacking in empathy about her class struggle (or anyone or anything other than himself): Despite the fact she was better qualified she never had any opportunities handed to her on a plate like he did because he was from a well-off family. He was always a right dickhead all the way through TBH and she could have done so much better than him.

I really enjoyed it. I think they're both quite deliberately obnoxious in the beginning as the whole point is that we see them grow up together and grow out of some of their flaws.
I really enjoyed the part where Dexters folks are having a giggle about Emma calling him a fascist and then we later see how much they really care for her and respect her. I think it shows how relationships have evolved over time, not just between the two leads.
It was quite funny that Tilly seems to have a clothes airer in the background of every scene she's in, either as a student or later.
I've personally found this Emma easier to get on board with than the film version but, of course, the book is the best!

She is clever and beautiful (just not his usual type). She’s a chippy northerner- I didn't find her dour at all. I thought she was funny, just sarcastic and not willing to be drooling all over him and massaging his ego. And that is what attracts him to her in the end.

She also lacks confidence so it’s very much a self defence mechanism. He’s intrigued by her - she’s interesting and has something to say for herself.

@monpetitlapin sorry, what I meant to say is - she gets better and he gets worse, then they sort of even out a bit. Without giving too much away, she leaves behind the chippy northern persona and embraces her natural warmth and he stops being a carefree/privileged but ultimately nice young man and becomes more and more rudderless and spoilt/uncontrolled as time goes on, due to life events. Thats the point I think, they start out with personality traits and ultimately are the same people at the end, having swung to the extremes of those traits.

I liked it, aside from the way she played Emma/was written to show Emma
Leo as Dexter is fantastic

This is utterly unbearable. An entire episode of two students chatting shit and not having sex. How many times did she say ok see you later but the 'date' kept going, even after his parents turned up. Oh god it was agonising. They've nothing in common, they wouldn't be friends, it's just aaaarghhhhh. I'm in the Greece episode now and it just gets worse. They have nooooooooo chemistry.

How we see things differently- I thought it was very well done. A slow build for sure then he just didn’t want to say goodbye. Which is obviously unusual for him. Then them racing back to his flat - only to be thwarted by his parents. It’s the theme of the whole book/series. Nearly getting together then something gets in the way..

If they’d have shagged the first night then they would have never seen each other again.

I was hooked from the first episode!

You are spot on. No Emma is NOT supposed to be like that!!!! She is supposed to be much more interesting and sparky. The TV series did her character a huge disservice and utterly turned her character. It does get better later on though. One Day is my favourite book and I was gutted by this portrayal!

Same.

Oh me too!

If you read the book it's pretty spot on.

I HAVE read the book, loads of times, and spot on it is not!!

He says the "those who can't, teach" bit a couple of episodes after Greece, where on the beach, a couple come up to them because they recognise him from the telly, and at that point, he's at pains to tell them about her training to be a teacher and he's really proud of her, and bigging her up....

I read the book years ago which I loved .. liked the film was more like sliding doors if I remember ...and the series is v good but I didn't like this Emma ..

I think he was in a bad place at that point. He knew he was unpopular with the public, his gf's star was rising and he was drinking and doing drugs to compensate. He made the nasty teacher comment to lash out at safe person. Emma rightly didn't accept it and walked away.

I've watched it all. Finished it last night. I found it surface level watchable but it certainly didn't make me cry at any stage. I had zero emotional investment in it.

I just didn't find them believable as a couple - they had no chemistry. I didn't like Emma. I don't find either of them to be particularly attractive.

I don't regret watching it but I've no interest in watching it again. Its not a patch on normal people for me.