Last night, like many, many other people, I watched the finale of “Breaking Bad” and was satisfied the ending that Vince Gilligan and company crafted for Walter White. It was not the most mind-blowing episode of the show (nor was it intended to be), but it brought the story to a close, something that most shows never arrive at.
I’m not going to get into a discussion of the episode itself – there are many, many talented TV reviewers and recappers out there who have done a great job exploring the finale and placing it into the context of the entire series (here are a couple worth checking out: Andy Greenwald over at Grantland, and Donna Bowman at AV Club). What I did find fascinating here was my actual experience watching the finale (as well as much of the last season), which was facilitated by a friend of mine who spent yesterday catching up on the final episodes and eventually sucked me into a mini-marathon covering the final six or so episodes, despite the fact that I had seen them all previously.
Those of you who know me (or read my occasional scribblings here, although to be fair if you’re reading this you probably know me anyway) know that I watch a LOT of television. But my work and life schedule lead me to watch television at odd hours, often early in the morning or late at night, in a constant state of catch-up with what has just aired and what I’ve allowed to stack up on my DVR. The reason I mention, this, however, is that it means that I almost always watch television alone. It’s not a choice one way or the other (nor do I think it’s inherently a bad thing, as it allows me to start/stop/rewind/etc. at my own selfish pace) but simply a reality of how my schedule operates. “Breaking Bad” has been no different; while more diligent friends of mine hosted or attended weekly viewing parties, I was too often running behind or on my own schedule (or, something I’ll get to in another series of posts, working out of town), which meant that I watched the show by myself, whenever I had a chance to catch it.
But again, last night would be different, thanks to my friend, who decided at some point in the weekend that she would catch up on season 5 in time (ish) for the finale (full disclosure: we didn’t actually get to the finale until a few hours after it had aired, but we successfully embargoed social media until we saw it, so we arrived at the end spoiler-free).
I ended up joining the marathon around episode 11 (“Confessions”), which was actually beneficial to my eventual viewing of the finale, as doing so allowed me to catch/be refreshed on some details that I might have missed otherwise. But what ended up being more fascinating was watching with my friend as she consumed the episodes for the first time (this has also, incidentally, given me insight into what was just so fascinating about “Red Wedding” reaction videos, and why so many people decided that it would be a fun thing to record another friend’s reaction when they saw it for the first time). Having someone else there to react with/react to made the viewing experience all the more entertaining. Yes, we have Twitter and Facebook and message boards and actual after-the-fact discussions, but the immediacy of the experience was more entertaining in the same way that playing a video game against your friend in person is a different experience than playing over the internet.
Although it’s pretty obvious, I had somewhat forgotten how often entertainment is better when it’s a shared experience, where you as a viewer can react not only to what’s happening on screen but also what’s happening (or what you perceive is happening) in the minds of the people around you. It serves as an excellent reminder that we can learn so much more when we see can see an event from more than our own point of view, as well as compelling anecdotal evidence that your annoying friends who wait to watch a show together are, in fact, on to something.
Of course, it also helps if the person you’re watching a show with tends to react to big, shocking events roughly like this:
I love television. I mean really love it. It’s why I work in the industry, and why (my flimsy “it’s research!” excuses notwithstanding) I consume so much of it. But the amount that I consume, my own professional aspirations, and my odd schedule means that often, I watch television (and thus react to it) out of obligation rather than enjoyment. I keep up with shows because I need to be able to discuss them, or dissect them, not because I want, in that moment, to do nothing other than watch that show. In a lot of ways, it’s become a job. An incredibly fun job, to be sure, but a job nonetheless.
Last night, thanks to “Breaking Bad” (and my friend’s procrastination-driven marathon), I was, for a little while, an entertained viewer again. I watched not out of obligation, but because I genuinely wanted to. I remembered that there’s more to watching television than analysis, more to consider than how I would have handled the same scenario creatively. I was reminded how a show can elicit a powerful emotional response from a viewer. And although I didn’t jump out of my seat and run around the room physically, emotionally I was able to let go and just be glad to be along for the ride.
