Netflix Delivers Another Addictive Harlan Coben Thriller With ‘Just One Look’
Netflix’s latest Harlan Coben adaptation brings his novel Just One Look to Poland for a story with the twists, cliffhangers and complex character dynamics that viewers have come to expect.
The works of Harlan Coben are in such high demand for TV adaptations that they’re already starting to double up. The new Netflix series Just One Look marks the second TV version of Coben’s 2004 novel, following the 2017 French series that predated Coben’s massive, multi-year Netflix deal. While the original Just One Look may not be currently available in the U.S., it’s a key part of the initial success that led to Coben signing with Netflix, so it makes sense that the streaming service would want to have its own version.
The new series moves the setting from France to Poland, making it the third Polish Coben adaptation, following fellow Netflix releases The Woods and Hold Tight. As with all international Coben series, though, his singular sensibility and storytelling style remain intact across borders. Longtime viewers will find plenty of the twists, cliffhangers and complex character dynamics that they expect from Coben.
As often happens in Coben stories, the events are set into motion via the discovery of an unlikely image from the past. In this case, it’s an old photograph that Greta (Maria Debska) finds tucked into a package of vacation pictures she gets printed at a local shop. The picture shows Greta’s husband Jacek (Cezary Lukaszewicz) as a young man, alongside other young punk rockers outside a nightclub. When Jacek spots the photo, he walks out on Greta and their two young children without explanation, and Greta’s search for the missing Jacek anchors the plot.
Of course, there’s a lot more going on, and the photo also ties into a traumatic event from Greta’s own younger years, when she narrowly survived a disaster at a concert venue. The experience was so harrowing that she still has no memory of the fire and subsequent stampede that killed 28 people, nor the days leading up to it. While she’s tried to move on, the legacy of that night has come back to haunt her 15 years later.
At first, Greta doesn’t understand what Jacek’s disappearance has to do with the concert tragedy, but Just One Look keeps its story more streamlined than some other Coben series, bringing each new mysterious element back to that one fateful night. There are still lots of pieces to fit together — with the requisite cryptic pronouncements and shocking reveals — but it’s always clear that Greta’s missing memories will be the key to the truth. In a Coben series, everyone is always hiding something, and Greta is even hiding things from herself.
Debska keeps the story emotionally grounded even as Greta engages in increasingly outlandish and reckless behavior. A theoretical Coben drinking game could involve taking a drink each time a protagonist offloads childcare onto someone else so they can pursue some new lead or clue, but Debska makes Greta’s concern for her children an essential motivating factor in everything she does. The thrilling twists only make a genuine impact if viewers can care about the characters that are affected, and Greta and her family are more than just plot components.
The other standout in the cast is Mirosław Haniszewski as a sadistic hitman who kidnaps Jacek and commits multiple brutal assaults and killings without hesitation or remorse. He doesn’t have the complicated back story or motives of most Coben characters, and his simple passion for violence makes him scarier than the people who do terrible things out of misguided loyalty or fear. He’s an agent of chaos in the methodically constructed story.
“These coincidences are killing me,” gripes a weary police detective in the final episode, but those expertly deployed coincidences are exactly what make Coben series so addictive. Just One Look has enough narrative intrigue to sustain two adaptations now, making it one of the more memorable Coben stories, no matter what language the characters are speaking.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, IndieWire, Tom’s Guide, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.