If you’ve read the 2009 novel One Day or seen the 2011 movie starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, then you already know the gist of the Netflix show’s ending. But nothing — not even the knowledge of Dexter and Emma’s final chapter — can prepare you for the emotional rollercoaster you’ll take watching Episode 14 of the limited series.
If you haven’t consumed One Day in any form and want to avoid spoilers, this is your chance to look away. If you’re eager to know how Emma (Ambika Mod) and Dexter’s (Leo Woodall) story ends in the Netflix series, or you simply want to relive the final episode, then you’ve come to the right place.
Decider’s One Day Ending Explained breaks down the major moments in Episode 14 (aka the finale) and takes readers all the way to July 15, 2007 where we say goodbye to these lovable characters.
So how does One Day end? And what happens to Emma and Dexter? Here’s everything to know about the heartbreaking, yet hopeful, ending.
One Day‘s penultimate episode followed Emma and Dexter in 2000, 2001, and 2002 as their love for each other strengthened and they planned their wedding and a family, but Episode 13 tragically ended with Emma being fatally struck by a car while she was riding her bike.
Before Episode 14 picks up in present-day, we poignantly address Emma’s death with a flashback to December 1988 — when Emma spent Christmas with Dex and his family. We see the two of them laying on the floor beside the fireplace as Emma reads aloud from Tess, a book that blew her mind as a 14-year-old, which she bought for Dex.
“Her own birthday, and every other day individualized by incidents in which she had taken some share. She suddenly thought, one afternoon, that there was another date, of greater importance than all those: that of her own death; a day which lay sly and unseen among all the other days of the year, giving no sign or sound when she annually passed over it, but not the less surely there. When was it?” Emma read.
The two soaked in the idea of a death day for a moment, then Dexter’s mom announced dinner. Next thing we know, it’s July 15, 2003, and music is blasting. Dexter is dancing, sweating, and drinking, but he’s not at a club — he’s in the middle of a kids’ birthday party fist bumping to “Cotton Eye Joe” while concerned parents look on. He dances with his daughter, then carries her home on his shoulders, where a concerned Sylvie (Eleanor Tomlinson) is waiting. She sends Jasmine upstairs with Callum (Brendan Quinn) and confronts Dex about his drinking. “I knew you shouldn’t have gone to that today,” she says. “This is my fault. Today was not the day.”
“It’s just a day,” he sulks before walking off to a bar where the bartender refuses to serve him. Dex starts drinking out of other people’s glasses, nearly gets into a fight/hit by a car, and stumbles into a strip club. He goes to the back room with a woman and a bottle of champagne where he pours his heart out, explaining, “A year ago today Emma died — was killed, I should say — by a careless driver.” When Dex realizes the woman is texting instead of listening to him, he gets upset, and she calls security. Drunk and depressed, Dex is dragged out of the club by bouncers who beat him up and throw him out back. On the way out, he sees a vision of Emma staring back at him, and next time we see him, Sylvie is screaming at the sight of his sliced up face.
Jasmine watches from the top of the stairs as her father pukes in their entryway, then Sylvie gives him a bath and his dad picks him up and drives him home. In his parents’ house, Dex walks into the room where the opening scene took place and flashes back to that Christmas with Emma. He recalls his parents giggle about Em and his mother approving as he snuck booze upstairs, only to find Emma asleep beside a book.
In present day, Dex’s dad levels with him, asking, “Is this to become an annual festival, do you think?” Though not one for heart-to-hearts, his dad opens up about the death of Dex’s mom, saying, “I think the best thing you could do is to try to live your life as if she was still here. Don’t you think that’d be best? You have to try. What do you think I’ve been doing for the last 10 years?” The two share a moment, and Dex heads to his childhood bedroom for a cathartic cry.
We jump forward a year to July 15, 2004, where Dex is at home making tea and looking sad, but far more put together than the previous year. His door buzzes, and his father, Eleanor, Jasmine, Tilly, Graham, their kids, and Ian are there to surprise him so he doesn’t have to spend the night on his own. The incredibly sweet gesture leads to some awkward small talk, but ends with a toast to Emma and a proposal from Tilly: “Maybe we should make this an annual thing — talk about our memories with her, make sure we check in on each other.”
When Dex excuses himself to get some air, Ian follows, and the two share an unexpectedly touching talk. “I always thought you were a bit of a twat, as I’m sure you know — really just overrated. But Emma, she loved you so much. You couldn’t argue with it. You made her so happy, which was annoying,” Ian says. Dex learns that not only does he have a wife and three kids, but he drove three hours just to check up on him, which shifts his perspective and reminds him he he’s still incredibly loved. “I suppose what the point is — I think it’s that I didn’t expect any of it. I didn’t feel like any of that was in the cards for me, so I just want to urge you not to give up,” Ian says.
Dex’s friends clear out to give him some alone time, which is when we learn that Sylvie and Callum called it quits. “It’s fine. Bad call on my part. I wouldn’t blame you if you laughed,” she tells Dex. “Now we’re both alone. Maybe we should get back together.” Don’t worry, readers! It was just a joke!
Left alone with his thoughts and emotions, Dex walks through the house alone, grabs a bottle of wine, and heads upstairs as Jeff Buckley’s “Lilac Wine” plays for viewers — the perfect track for our tears! Dex opens a closed door, stepped inside, and slides down the wall to sit on the floor. He stares straight ahead at a pile of unpacked boxes marked “EMMA” and suddenly she appears next to him, saying, “I don’t mind, you know — if you just got rid of it all… Keep the photos, though. I was actually quite gorgeous in our 20s, though I didn’t appreciate it at the time.”
“I did,” Dex says out loud. “Sometimes you did, sometimes you didn’t,” she replies, keeping it real even from beyond the grave.
The two look at each other and Emma tells Dex “It wont always be like this.” She says time will change his grief, then jokes, “At least this year you can pass out on your own carpet.” Dex assures her there’s not enough alcohol in the one bottle of wine he’s limiting himself for that, and she presents a possible scenario in which he goes to buy more alcohol and cigarettes, misses calls from Tilly and Sylvie, wakes up feeling guilty and hungover, and has to call them both — and his dad — back. “It’ll go on like that until it doesn’t, because one day it won’t,” she says.
Dex lifts his hand to touch her head, then stops himself, remembering she’s not real. He cries alone and we see a flashback of them walking together, giggling, and talking. Next thing we know, it’s July 15, 2007, and he’s back on the university grounds where they first met post-graduation. Dex walks through Scotland, stopping at Em’s old apartment door and flashing back to their first night together. He walks alongside his dad, carrying his daughter on his back, until the trio happens upon Arthur’s Seat, which he and Emma climbed the morning after they met, on St. Swithin’s Day. Jasmine asks to climb the hill, so Dex’s dad heads to the hotel, giving them some quality time.
As they’re climbing in present day, Dex flashes back to his time there with Emma. When he and Jas reach the top, Dex shows her the sights, including where he met Em. On the way down, he recalls what Emma said to him on their descent. “I think you should head off to China or India or wherever and find yourself. I don’t want to come with you, don’t even want your number, don’t want to get married or have babies,” Emma told him. “We had one really nice night together, and if we bump into each other at a future party, we’ll have a chat — no awkwardness. We’ll be cool about it. Me and you, we’ll just be friends… I’m not being a footnote in the story of your life.” She sure as hell wasn’t!
Dexter looks back and savors the sight of Arthur’s Seat one more time, then walks with Jas up the same steps he ran after Emma on all those years ago. We flash back again to the scene in Episode 1, but this time, we get more of their interaction. After Dex and Emma parted that day, Dex turned around and kissed her. As their lips touch in the finale, we witness a heartwarming montage passionate kisses that followed over the years.
One Day‘s finale painted an undeniably devastating portrait of grief, but the fact that Episode 14 shows Dexter surviving, bettering himself, moving on with his family, and still finding ways to celebrate Emma’s memory and honor her life is refreshingly hopeful.
After the series fades to black, the words, “In loving memory of Justin Eely” appear on the screen as a tribute to one of the show’s on-line, or finishing editors for all 14 episodes. With more than 100 editorial credits on IMDb, Eely worked on other popular television series and films including Black Mirror, Sherlock, The Crown, Starstruck, Killing Eve, Asteroid City, Extraordinary, and more.
One Day is now streaming on Netflix, and the 2011 film starring Anne Hathaway is available online as well.