AMC's ‘Soulmates’ asks all the right, weird questions about love

The brisk winds of autumn bring with them many gifts. Cute sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, Halloween, and cuffing season. Depending on one’s perspective, that last one might be a gift or a curse. But what if finding someone to cuff for the cold weather months (and in fact forever) was as easy as getting a flu shot? Soulmates on AMC imagines a world where romantic partnership is as close to guaranteed as it can ever be and follows six anthologized stories over the course of its first season. Not all of them are love stories. Not even close.

Soulmates takes place in a near future where scientists have confirmed the existence of the “soul particle” and can therefore match humans to their soulmate with 100% accuracy. In order to find a match, both people must pay for a test that identifies their soul particle and keeps their information in a database. Some people take the test and find their match is already in the database, but others are left hanging until their soulmate takes the test as well.

This simple, Black Mirror–ish premise sustains Soulmates’ universe surprisingly well. The show treats the existence of the test as a pebble tossed into the pool of society, with each episode exploring one of its ripples. The most obvious plotlines arise from the first questions one might have about the soulmate test, like “what happens if a married person decides to take the test?” and “what if someone is left waiting for their match?” Other episodes ask wilder questions that deal with the overarching implications of a world where everyone has the expectation of — and perhaps the right to — perfect love. That’s where Soulmates gets interesting.

Though every installment is at least partially written by show creators William Bridges and Brett Goldstein, there is tremendous range between the episodes’ plots and subjects. One story follows a protagonist who took the test and learned their soulmate is dead; another has almost nothing to do with the test and instead imagines how unethical people might exploit the scientific certainty of instantaneous sexual connection. Some episodes have the feel of a hijinks-filled romantic comedy, others are tense thrillers, and others are quiet character studies. Six different people will easily pick six different episodes as the first season’s best.

Soulmates gives its characters the space to ask fascinating questions about romance without settling on a single message or “right” way to find love. None of the episodes feel preachy or end on a note that suggests its characters have found the secret to relationships. The show leans in on human error, unpredictability, and choice as its characters’ guiding principles and rarely treats the certainty of finding one’s soulmate as the end-all goal for their lives.

AMC has already tapped Soulmates for a second season, meaning its creators have many more stories to tell. Season 1’s success in examining the concept bodes well for Season 2, though there is enough in this first batch to spark group chat conniptions this cuffing season and beyond.

Soulmates premieres Monday, Oct. 5 at 10/9c on AMC.