Hey, everyone! How’s it going? Today I’m here to review the drama Soulmates, which explores what happens when science promises to identify your perfect match with complete accuracy.
Soulmates premiered on AMC on October 5, 2020, featuring 6 episodes with each installment running approximately 45-60 minutes. Created by William Bridges and Brett Goldstein, this science fiction anthology series is set 15 years in the future when a company called Soul Connex has developed a test that can determine your ideal romantic partner with 100% accuracy. Despite being renewed for a second season, the series was unfortunately canceled in February 2023 after one season.
This anthology format allows Soulmates to explore different perspectives on the same technological breakthrough, examining how the promise of scientifically proven love affects various individuals and relationships. Each episode tells a complete story while contributing to a larger exploration of love, destiny, and the unintended consequences of trying to quantify human connection.
The series raises profound questions about the nature of love and choice. If science can identify your perfect match, are you obligated to pursue that person even if you’re already in a committed relationship? Soulmates uses its futuristic premise to examine contemporary anxieties about dating technology, relationship stability, and the search for authentic connection in an increasingly algorithmic world.
The Soul Connex Test: Promise and Peril
The central concept of Soulmates revolves around a revolutionary test that promises to solve humanity’s greatest mystery by identifying your scientifically perfect romantic match. This breakthrough creates a world where love becomes both more certain and more complicated, as people must decide whether to trust science over their existing feelings and commitments.
The test results force characters to confront fundamental questions about the nature of love, happiness, and personal choice. Some discover their soulmate is someone they’ve never met, others find their match is already deceased, and some learn their current partner isn’t their scientifically ideal match despite years of apparent happiness.
This premise allows the series to explore how external validation affects internal certainty about relationships. Characters must decide whether scientific accuracy trumps lived experience, creating moral dilemmas that feel relevant to contemporary discussions about data-driven decision making in personal life.
Anthology Structure: Multiple Perspectives on Love
Each episode of Soulmates focuses on different characters grappling with their test results, creating a comprehensive examination of how the same technology affects people differently based on their circumstances, personality, and existing relationships. This approach prevents the series from offering simple answers to complex questions.
Sarah Snook delivers a compelling performance in “Watershed” as Nikki, a married woman whose test results create doubt about her apparently happy marriage. Her story explores how the mere possibility of a “better” match can poison existing contentment and create anxiety where none previously existed.
Charlie Heaton appears in “Break on Through” as Kurt, whose soulmate has died, leading him to join a religious cult promising reunion with deceased loved ones. This storyline examines grief, faith, and the lengths people will go to when promised connection with lost love.
The Dark Side of Perfect Love
Soulmates excels at exploring the unintended consequences of trying to optimize human connection through technology. The series demonstrates how the promise of perfect love can create previously unknown forms of suffering, anxiety, and moral complexity that didn’t exist when people simply accepted their relationships as they found them.
David Costabile stars in “The Lovers” as David, whose affair with his supposed soulmate reveals the manipulative potential of the technology. This episode explores how the authority of science can be exploited by those willing to fake results for personal gain.
The series consistently shows how the pursuit of scientifically validated love can destroy existing happiness, create impossible expectations, and reduce the beautiful uncertainty of human connection to cold data points that may not capture the full complexity of romantic compatibility.
AMC and Prime Video’s Philosophical Sci-Fi
Soulmates earned a 6.3/10 rating on IMDb and demonstrated AMC’s commitment to thought-provoking anthology programming. The series proved that science fiction could successfully explore contemporary relationship anxieties through futuristic premises while maintaining emotional authenticity and philosophical depth.
The show’s availability on Prime Video internationally expanded its reach to global audiences interested in speculative fiction that addresses universal human concerns about love, choice, and happiness. Critics praised the series’ willingness to ask difficult questions without providing easy answers.
The Perfect Speculative Romance Examination
If you love thought-provoking science fiction and complex relationship drama, Soulmates is the perfect series to binge on AMC or Prime Video. The show successfully combines speculative concepts with intimate human storytelling, creating compelling television that challenges viewers to question their assumptions about love and compatibility.
Why This Love Technology Drama Provokes Thought
Positive Aspects:
- Strong anthology format allows exploration of multiple perspectives on same technological concept with varied emotional outcomes
- Exceptional cast including Sarah Snook, Charlie Heaton, and David Costabile brings authenticity to speculative scenarios
- Thoughtful writing by William Bridges and Brett Goldstein tackles complex philosophical questions about love and choice
- Each episode works as standalone story while contributing to larger examination of technology’s impact on human connection
- Production design creates believable near-future world that feels just advanced enough to be plausible
Negative Aspects:
- Anthology format limits character development opportunities within individual episode constraints
- Some episodes feel rushed when tackling complex emotional and philosophical territory in limited runtime
- Cancellation after one season left potential storylines and thematic explorations incomplete
- Dark tone throughout series may discourage viewers seeking more optimistic relationship content
- Limited exploration of positive outcomes from soulmate technology creates somewhat pessimistic worldview
Soulmates proves that the best science fiction uses futuristic concepts to illuminate present-day human concerns about love, technology, and the search for authentic connection.
Series Details
- Number of Episodes: 6 episodes (Season 1 only)
- Platform: AMC, Prime Video (international)
- Release Year: 2020
- Current IMDb Rating: 6.3/10
- Genre: Science Fiction Anthology
- Production Type: American Speculative Drama Series
- Status: Canceled after one season (February 2023)
- Notable Cast: Sarah Snook, Charlie Heaton, David Costabile, Bill Skarsgård, Laia Costa
- Creators: William Bridges and Brett Goldstein
- Production Companies: AMC Studios, Karga Seven Pictures
- Executive Producers: William Bridges, Brett Goldstein, Annabel Jones, Charlie Brooker