The First Time I Never Met You

Whenever the question of, “What would you do if you could travel through time?” comes up, the common answer tends to be stopping a catastrophic world event. In reality, most people would rewind to a key moment in their personal lives. A regrettable action, a crossroad, or a fond memory would be the likely options. There is no moment quite so blissful and heartbreaking as a character seeing a deceased loved one again, whether real or imagined. Eric Kole’s sci-fi short The First Time I Never Met You touches on this phenomenon.

John, a physicist, dives headlong into his work in the midst of grieving the loss of his wife, Esmé. Dismissed from his job, he seeks a distraction, even neglecting those around him to find it. After an accident in his workspace sends him time-traveling, he winds up at a familiar pub, glancing around and trying to get his bearings. His bartender and close friend tells him the date on the calendar, and he realizes where he is: the scene of his first date with Esmé, right before she enters the pub. Knowing what he knows now but still being his younger self, can he make the right first impression for a second time?

The First Time I Never Met You creates an interesting pressure-packed situation for its protagonist. John does not get to time-travel and be a casual observer, nor does he get to follow in the footsteps that he already walked. First, he desperately wants to woo Esmé but also shift to a path that does not lead to her untimely death. Second, he finds himself in this situation just a few minutes after sitting in his workspace completely morose over her passing. So, the shock to his system ultimately will take some time to wear off before he can be his most charming self. Lastly, John must silence his inner physicist that is still trying to piece together how he wound up there.

Though time-travel is a familiar concept in the world of sci-fi, the premise of The First Time I Never Met You calls attention to the things we take for granted. It is easy to get bogged down in our daily, weekly, and yearly routines and forget that nothing is forever. The reality that the future is not guaranteed never fully hits John. Rather than relishing the opportunity to be in Esmé’s presence again, he becomes preoccupied with creating a parallel timeline where Esmé has a chance at a longer, and perhaps in his mind, more permanent life. Understanding this, the short urges us to appreciate every moment with our loved ones and avoid trying to control what we ultimately cannot.

Time-traveling sci-fi movies are often married with the action genre rather than romance. Nonetheless, the first comp that comes to mind is the critically acclaimed About Time, starring Domnhall Gleeson as a son who gets to see his deceased father again. Digging deeper, The First Time I Never Met You resembles an older and less discussed rom-com, Serendipity. John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale co-star as a couple-to-be ruminating over the idea of whether fate brings people together. 

The topic of how much control we have over our lives seems to intensify surrounding our significant others. Do we have a soulmate or could every little action, thought, or word be the difference between companionship and loneliness? In any case, John’s quandary of changing the future while laying on the charm makes our first dates seem a little less nerve-wracking.