One Day: The heartbreaking clue that pointed to Emma and Dexter's fate all along

WARNING: SPOILERS

Netflix's new romantic drama series, One Day, is proving to be a hit around the world, but have you noticed the hidden-in-plain-sight spoiler that reveals Emma and Dexter's fate?

If you're not already emotionally invested in the 14-episode series and crying yourself to sleep over it, let's get you up to speed.

Based on the best-selling novel by David Nicholls, the story follows Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall), who speak for the very first time on their graduation night on July 15 1988 and go their separate ways the following morning after a rendezvous.

Each episode finds Dex and Em one year older on this one particular date as they grow and change, move together and apart, and experience joy and heartbreak. Where will they be on this one ordinary day the next year, and the year after that, and every year that follows?

Side note: The book was first adapted into a film in 2011, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess if you find yourself compelled to watch that too!

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The importance of July 15

Now, we know that July 15 is a significant date for the pair - which is also St. Swithin's Day, a day recognised in the UK - and the series keeps returning to this particular date over a 20-year span. But why is it so significant? Surely it's because that's the date they met? Wrong.

Well, the answer lies in the finale episode, when Em reads a paragraph to Dex from the book, Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

"Tess philosophically noted dates as they came past in the revolution of the year. Her own birthday, and every other day individualised 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?”

We then realise the significance of this date is the fact it's Emma's death date. It's the silent anniversary she would never know of as the years pass over that date.

The Easter egg

But wait, there is another heartbreaking sign that tells us Emma and Dex won't get to live happily ever after - as one savvy Reddit user pointed out.

"So, I'm doing my rewatch, and it's the end of episode 13 right before the bike scene," they wrote. "It clicked for me. IT'S THE FIRST DAY THAT IT HAS RAINED ON THE 15TH OF JULY FOR THEM."

Yep, Emma dies in episode 13 after she gets hit by a car while riding her bike, and it happens to be on July 15, St Swithin's' Day, which is based on the belief that if it rains on this day, it will rain for 40 days. Whereas if the weather is fair, fair weather will follow for 40 days.

As the Reddit user pointed out, it was raining the day that Emma was killed. Which foreshadows the grief and hardship that follows Dex after Em's death.

If you're feeling brave, One Day is available to stream on Netflix, and you're going to need tissues!

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