Jul 9, 2015 4 min read

Regular viewers of The CW may wonder if the batteries in their remotes need changing when they tune in to the new British import, “Dates,” premiering at 9 p.m. Thursday.

There are no arrow-slinging comic book heroes, no sexy young vampires and nary a single cute teenager trying to recolonize the planet in the dystopian future on the new CW show. Instead, “Dates” is almost all talk, and only occasional action, and yes it’s a marked departure for the network.

The series was created by Bryan Elsley for Britain’s Channel 4 and bears an unavoidable resemblance to Neil LaBute’s “Full Circle” on DirecTV, but perhaps a “Full Circle” as co-authored by O Henry.

Each episode of the series focuses on two people meeting for the first time through the magic of online dating. They are all strangers, of course, and as each learns about the other, so do we. In fact, we learn even more. We see the jilted schoolteacher purloin a woman’s lipstick in the ladies’ restroom. We know the beautiful young woman who is so judgmental toward the lorry driver on the other side of the table is really scared to death of being lonely.

We are inevitably caught up in the possibilities of each meeting, because, after all, it’s a first date for us as well. That’s the clever part of each of these little half-hour gems.

The stories aren’t perfect, however. Many feel manipulated a bit too much for credibility sake. Or, more to the point, for the sake of ending the episode with a bit of O. Henry-style irony. The man who makes a point of telling the young woman how fervently he believes in the Ten Commandments is, in fact, an adulterer. The beautiful young woman cannot summon the courage to tell her traditional family that she is gay, but the ubiquitous tattletale of modern life, as embodied in ever-present cell phones, does the job for her.

The performances in the five (of nine) episodes made available to critics are quite good. Oona Chaplin continues to both disappear in every character she portrays, and stand out at the same time. From the loving but tragic young queen in “Game of Thrones,” to the “perfect” wife of a womanizing drunk in “The Hour,” she now becomes an increasingly desperate, and increasingly drunk, young woman who cannot maintain the ruse that she doesn’t need anyone.

Sheridan Smith is equally entrancing Jenny, the young teacher whose fiance dumped her after five years. She seems to have everything going for her, and her successive blind dates with unsuitable men have only made her stronger. But she’s flawed. When men don’t turn out to be the answers to her prayers, she steals things, almost as if she needs to take something away from each experience, and if it can’t be a man, it may as well be a lipstick or another woman’s ring.

Gemma Chan is magnetic and vulnerable as the closeted Erica, while Katie McGrath turns in a fascinating performance as Erica’s seemingly stronger willed date.

Will Mellor is great as David, the lorry driver who is also a widower with four children. He’s a man of simple truths and so obviously everything that his date, Mia (Chaplin), is not. Also bringing stunning dimension to their characters are Ben Chaplin (no relation to Oona), Andrew Scott and Neil Maskell.

A few of the stories are related, but that’s more coincidence than anything more. The real link between the stories is in the human frailty of the daters. Although they may seem to be looking for different things in a potential relationship, they all in fact want the same thing. We all may share the wish not to be alone, but the desire manifests itself in each of us differently, and that forms the dramatic base for “Dates.”