AMC Soulmates: Black Mirror, but make it romance

AMC Soulmates Season 1 is a disturbingly good time

AMC Soulmates Season 1 is the network’s first anthology-style series. If its early success in having already been renewed for a second season before a single episode aired is any indication, it won’t be the last.

Set 15 years in the future, the series explores what happens when a company called Soul Connex develops a test that will match subjects with their soulmates. If it all sounds like Soulmates Season 1 ought to have been timed to a Valentine’s Day premiere, well, let’s just say the situation isn’t quite as simple as the tech company might boast.

What happens, for example, when a person who is already in a happy, committed relationship decides to take the test—just to see? How might finding out that your soulmate isn’t at all what you thought he or she should be affect you? And, just like with any other new technology, what happens if someone finds a way to take gross advantage of it?

AMC Soulmates Season 1 is Black Mirror meets romance with a twist

If the idea of an anthology-style series that meets with different characters and explores new aspects of technology with every episode sounds very Black Mirror to you, you’re on the right path. It should also be no surprise that AMC Soulmates Season 1 was written by Emmy-winning writer Will Bridges, who is known for—you guessed it—Black Mirror, as well as Stranger Things.

But here’s the one, big, scary difference: Where the Netflix streamer leaves one particular nightmare behind and picks up another with each episode, AMC Soulmates picks apart the same convenience-turned-horror in all six episodes. It’s a building, unnerving dystopia packed with star power that really only fails in not being available to binge all at once.

It asks viewers to think, repeatedly, on what the differences between nature and nurture might mean when it comes to finding “The One.” There is also a lot to be said for how the series deals with the power of suggestion. If a test tells you your soulmate is a complete stranger, does that automatically mean you should start to have feelings for that person? Maybe…maybe not.

But those who simply want to be entertained by the messy, dramatic twists and turns caused by Soul Connex’s breakthrough are not forced to think too much if they don’t want to. There’s a message here; but like with nearly any series that has the potential to cause discussion, it’s not necessarily going to be the same message for everyone.

Refreshingly, as the potential disasters posed by allowing technology to enter something as human as emotions unfold, AMC Soulmates gives viewers different types of relationships to consider. Is it possible for a soulmate to be just a friend? And is one’s soulmate really able to provide him or her with everything…or do we need more?

With a star-studded cast, boasting talent from Billions (David Costabile and Malin Ackerman), Succession (Sarah Snook), Stranger Things (Charlie Heaton), and many more, AMC Soulmates Season 1 is definitely one to watch. Just don’t expect it to be a fluffy happily-ever-after.

It’s more of “be careful what you wish for” than anything else. And honestly? That’s what makes it so much fun.

Soulmates Season 1 airs on AMC, Mondays at 10/9c, starting Oct. 5.