The episode has some impressive and poetic visual moments too. That all fits with the episode’s satirical take on the world of dating, which is depicted as endless legwork in which you’re either paired with someone who’s a good shag but annoys the hell out of you, or with someone you grow to utterly resent by the time you part ways, all en route to the reward of your “ultimate compatible other”, aka The One. The backdrop to the Pairing Day, a tasteful lakeside ruin, is styled as a well-heeled wedding venue. Chic, but devoid of the actual stuff of life – there’s no mess, for instance, anywhere. Inside, director Tim Van Patten ( The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) and the design team convey a kind of stylish emptiness, as if the whole thing’s been reproduced from the pages of a high-end lifestyle magazine. The exteriors all look naïve, like a child’s drawing.
The simplicity of the environment, with its neat numbered lodges, cute driverless cars and imposing blank wall, all make sense as a virtual world. Amy’s developing curiosity about their world’s unvarying patterns-stones skim across water exactly four times every time, she has the sense she’s watching herself play out a repeated routine-pays off well.
Secondly, the twist comes that they’re just one of a thousand simulations testing out compatibility for their real-world counterparts. Firstly, Amy and Frank decide to rebel against the system and live in blissful ignorance of their predestined expiry date. Great news then, that two things are done to shake it all up. The mystery of this strange set-up where people don’t seem to have jobs or lives or any responsibilities other than coupling up is one of only mild intrigue. The fun though, of that ‘what if?’ scenario soon runs out of steam. A dating app that pre-selects your partner and the length of your relationship is an amusing idea that raises the question of how people might behave with just such a countdown. Hang The DJ develops into a stronger story than it starts out.