TV shows we love: Soulmates

Finding love takes work. You go out, to dating nights maybe, give dating apps a go, have your friends introduce you to people, and eventually you might meet someone. But how do you know if they are ‘the one’? What if there were a scientific test that guarantees finding your perfect match? Would you take it? And would you blindly trust the results?

This is the premise of the Soulmates show on Netflix. Set in the near future, scientists develop a test that finds people their ultimate soulmate and gives them the results, regardless of whether they are married with kids, dating or single, or if they live half way across the world from their match. Scientifically, this new match is their perfect partner.

The show’s storyline feels rather dystopian but not too faraway a concept, and you’d expect nothing less from Black Mirror writer and Stranger Things producer Will Bridges. Six different stories unfold in six episodes, showing the lives of couples and singletons who are tempted to take the test, or have taken it and are trying to decide whether to uproot their life and ultimately whether to trust science or themselves. The all-too-common issues of relationships, such as commitment, monogamy and whether you truly know your partner, come to the surface. And it seems, the answer is not always what we want to hear.

The series was an easy watch, not easy-going but gripping enough to make me ponder what choice I would have made as well. Characters try to decide what is best for them, desperate for love and willing to do anything. Are we always seeking something better, oblivious to what already exists around us? Do we let an external source dictate the path of our life, or are we the choosers? Because, as Soulmates shows, every choice comes at a price, and some take advantage of that.