Article contributed by Daniel A
Soulmates’ first episode introduced us to a world where the soul-particle has been discovered, and the company Soul Connex uses this science to develop a test that finds people their true love.
The second episode follows David Maddox (Billions’ David Costabile), a college art professor at Middleton, who is confronted by a woman, Alison Jones (Sonya Cassidy), one day after class. She informs him that she is his match, and has the paperwork from Soul Connex to verify it. David is perplexed – he made his profile private and therefore she shouldn’t have his details – and she reveals she obtained the information illegally but she just had to know who her match was. Having taken the test herself two years prior everyday she had woken up wondering why her match would take the test if he never wanted to meet her. The answer is that David is married, and Alison is too. She says she loves her husband, but that she woke up one day and everything felt different. David apologies, declining her, and she understands but gives him her number telling him she’s in town for a couple of days for work and that they should meet for coffee. Perhaps they are meant to be friends.
Last episode I pondered whether Soulmates’ concept held enough longevity to be an anthology series. The introduction of two characters who are happily married, yet begin to question their relationships after the introduction of Soul Connex, is unfortunately the exactly the same plot as the premiere episode.
David attends a birthday party for his father-in-law, Walter (Henry Goodman), with his wife, Sarah (Karima McAdams). Walter is also David’s boss at the university, and during a drink with David Walter tells him that he’s retiring at the end of the semester and that he’s recommending him for tenure – not because he thinks he deserves it – but only because he’s married to his daughter. Later David tells Sarah the news, but is saddened by the situation because Walter thinks David is only with Sarah, who is an art dealer, for her money.
Alison shows up at one of David’s classes, and later they go out for coffee. He tells her he loves his wife and that he was a very different person when he took the test. Alison tells him she hoped seeing him would make her feelings dissipate, but they have made them even worse. David agrees with her that perhaps they are meant to be friends, and that they should exchange numbers and contact each other in a month. She agrees and kisses him goodbye, before leaving, embarrassed.
Alison messages David asking him if she feels their connection, he responds that he does, and she calls him and they agree to meet the next day. They meet for a picnic by a lake, and David tediously reiterates that he loves his wife. He tells Alison he was single when he took the test, afraid that he was reaching 40 without having ever truly loved someone, but then he met Sarah, fell in love, and blocked the test. Alison tells him the only person she ever loved went away to college and fell in love with her professor. They both agree it feels like they know each other, before sharing another kiss. David calls Sarah and tells her his seminar will run late, as he and Alison go to a hotel and make love.
What’s interesting about Soulmates is that within the series’ world moral implications are significantly distorted from our own. Where audiences would generally detest against characters cheating, we are now more forgiving because we are told these people – regardless of the fact that they are already married – are perfect matches and should be together. The characters, of course, still feel that guilt, but so far have succumbed to the pull of the test despite it.
The next morning David wakes up in the hotel room to find Alison gone, and she doesn’t answer her phone when he calls. During his class a slide showing his naked body is projected to his students, which he jokingly brushes off. Alison calls him back and asks to meet him at the same hotel, and that she’ll leave a key at reception for him. Something definitely seems off, but David is in love, and Alison is his soulmate. He arrives at the hotel and waits, falling asleep. He is woken by Hannah, one of his students, caressing his face. Startled, he asks her what she is doing there and she asks if he is joking. She says they’ve been messaging each other and that they’ve exchanged pictures, which he knows nothing about. Distraught, Hannah flees, and David receives a message from Alison, ‘No one is going to believe you this time x.’
Suddenly, ‘The Lovers’ turns from what was becoming a predictable new-age love story, into something much more sinister.
David arrives home to find Alison and Sarah drinking together. Sarah explains that Alison had car troubles out the front of their house and that she helped her. When they have a moment alone David tells Alison whatever sick game she is playing stops now, before Sarah’s return interrupts them.
That night David activates his Soul Connex profile only to discover that he has no match. He calls the company and tells them that their system has been hacked as Alison has acquired his personal information.
David tries to speak to Hannah at her dormitory, but is refused entry by her roommate. As he leaves Alison calls him telling him that it won’t just be his words against Hannah’s, as she has pictures of David’s genitals on her phone. She says she wants David to be alone and wonder why someone would do this to him. She demands David tell Sarah about them, how he convinced himself it was love just to sleep with her, and then she will delete all the messages and pictures.
Walter summons David to his office and informs him that an email regarding sexual assault allegations David faced during his time teaching at Berkeley had been sent to the faculty that morning. David assures him that they were purely that, allegations, and that the student was mentally ill. He tried to help the student, Chloe, but she became obsessed with him. Walter is angry that his integrity may be threatened by having endorsed David for tenure, he reveals that the school board is meeting to reassess his application.
Later, Walter leaves David a message stating the board is still undecided about how best to proceed with his application, considering what Chloe did after the allegations. Researching online David finds out that Chloe committed suicide, and finding photos of her funeral, sees Alison among the mourners. Everything then clicks for David – ‘Alison’ is Chloe’s sister, and she is trying to exact revenge on him for Chloe’s suicide.
David tracks ‘Alison’, who he now knows is Jodie, down and confronts her at her motel. He forcefully makes her unlock her phone, and he deletes all of the messages and pictures, He asks her what she was going to do with them and she says she would have convinced Hannah to press charges against him and released the pictures to the school board members. David reveals that he loved Chloe, and Jodie says that’s what killed her. The pair arrive at a stalemate, David can’t report Jodie to the police because then his affair would be discovered, and he threatens that if he is the villain she thinks he is he will go after her family.
Eleven months later during David’s class, video of the night David confronted Jodie starts playing during his presentation. He is unable to turn it off, and he sees Jodie fleeing from the back of the auditorium. He tells his students to leave, before a distressed Sarah calls him, having also seen the video.
At its beginning ‘The Lovers’ seemed to be following Soulmates’ first episode in being a romantic drama, but evolved into a psychological thriller as the episode progressed. The revelation that David, someone who you felt sympathy for throughout the episode, was actually the villain of the story ultimately causes ambivalence in the episode’s final moments. Despite this, it’s intriguing how little Soulmates’ core concept – Soul Connex – ends up featuring in the grand scheme of this week’s episode. It indicates that perhaps Soulmates’ writers can do some interesting things in this world.
