One Day- Season 1 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Episode 8

Episode 8 of One Day starts off with Emma getting intimate with Phil, her school headmaster. This comes as a huge shock as in the last episode, Emma was dating Ian, the comedian. Thus, it is possible that Emma and Ian have broken up and no longer live together. We also learn that Phil is married and is even keen on offering Emma a permanent job once the school reopens six weeks after the holiday. 

So, it’s possible that Emma has been sleeping with Phil to secure permanent employment at the school. Phil also gifts Emma a cellphone so they can stay connected over the course of their holiday. Emma returns home, and is surprised to see Ian has broken inside her house using his spare keys. We learn that Emma and Ian have indeed broken up, but the latter still hasn’t moved on. Not only that, Ian has also gone through her personal things and has vandalized most of them.

Ian wants to get back together and often asks Emma about whom she has been spending her time with. This is when Emma reveals that she has been having an affair with Phil for the last six months to turn her interim job into a permanent one. Ian doesn’t believe Emma and suspects she left him because of Dexter. The situation escalates, and Emma warns Ian that she’ll turn him over to the cops if he shows up at her house again.

Ian has been a mess ever since their breakup. His comedy career has taken a backseat, and he doesn’t have any idea about what to do with his life. For Ian, the only great and stable thing in his life was Emma, but now he has lost it, too. Ian asks Emma if she loves Dexter, and she responds that it is a thing of the past.

After an hour-long heart-to-heart and a couple of mugs of coffee. Ian apologizes for his behavior and leaves. Ian also says that his door is always open for her, and Emma can return to him whenever she wants. 

The very same night, Emma leaves Tilly a message with her brand new mobile phone, telling Tilly about the six-week holiday, which she might cash in to visit her sometime in the future. As the episode nears its end, Emma cleans the dust off her computer screen, suggesting that she has decided to start writing again, something she has given up on after what Dex had said to her that night.

The Episode Review

Episode 8 of the show shifts its focus entirely to Emma and how her life has unfolded since her major fight with Dex. Emma finds herself in a no-strings-attached affair with Phil in hopes of securing a permanent position at school.

While it may have seemed exciting at first, Emma admits that it has turned into something pathetic and sad over time. Additionally, we discover that Emma has ended her relationship with Ian, but Ian doesn’t seem to have taken the news well. He frequently tries to reconcile with Emma, showing his own discontent with his life and uncertainty about the future.