To binge-watch or not to binge-watch?

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ow many times this year have you told yourself the lie “just one more” while watching TV, only to find that, several hours later, you’ve finished the entire season, and are already moving onto the next?

We’ve all been there, including the editors at Collins Dictionaries, who have announced that the Collins Word of the Year 2015 is ‘binge-watch’. It may be a defining characteristic of TV in 2015, but is it really the best way to view your favourite shows?

Sam Kelly: “Binge away”

It’s no surprise that ‘binge-watch’ has been chosen as 2015’s Word of the Year by Collins Dictionaries. So many of us have accepted the benevolent overlord Netflix into our lives, no longer content with the mere scraps of entertainment that are provided with weekly viewing. I, for one, am certainly no different.

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The fact is, most TV shows are on for almost half the year and there are very few I’m willing to maintain the appropriate level of excitement for. That’s saying nothing about the feats of memory required. Take a show like Person of Interest, which has seemingly progressed from a standard case-of-the-week procedural to a dystopian war between two AIs over four years.

Although there were glimpses of what the show would become even in its first series, they would’ve been very easy to miss had you been watching it weekly. That’s where binge-watching comes in. It’s easier to notice the little things, and in turn be rewarded. What’s more, when it comes to the spoiler-phobic among us, you find that once a show’s been out for a number of years, the amount of people around to ruin it become drastically reduced.

Additionally, I’d have never finished some of my favourite shows if I’d watched them week to week. I’d have stopped at Season 1 of Six Feet Under; Season 2 of Friday Night Lights; Season 1 of Buffy. Alright, that last one is a bit of a cheat considering I watched the final two seasons of Buffy years before ever going through it from the beginning, but you get the point.

I can appreciate the show as a complete work rather than a weekly spectacle

I’m more forgiving of bad episodes or even a series because I can move onto the next one when I’m done. With binge-watching, a TV show can easily become greater than the sum of its parts.

Daljinder Johal: “Pace yourself”

We now live in a world where we constantly expect immediate gratification, even when it comes to watching TV. In the ancient, dinosaur years of my parents or even when I was younger, everyone would eagerly await the next episode of a hit show and get gossip fodder for the workplace water-cooler.

But now with box-sets, online catch-up, or Netflix releasing entire seasons at a time, patiently waiting for the next episode is no longer the only option.  

Staying in bed all day binge-watching Netflix with some snacks for company is the norm

However, I personally think that we’re missing out if we do this. Firstly, you lose out on the aforementioned communal experience of watching an episode and discussing it after. Part of the fun of dramatic TV shows like Scandal and Gossip Girl is nattering about their fantastic clothes, the latest unbelievable plot-twist and your favourite One True Pairing (OTP).   

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Also, by binge-watching, even the most eagle-eyed will lose out on the subtleties of a show, for cinema is no longer the only area for artistic expression in film. Unmissable storytelling and character development in shows like Breaking Bad and Hannibal should be appreciated. Alongside the directing and accuracy to the time period, Mad Men is a show which one ought to watch and then mull over the show’s odder moments. There are even blogs solely existing to dissect the character’s clothes on Mad Men episode by episode, analysing how they signal recurrent themes through the seasons.  

Most obviously, if you pace yourself through a series, you can avoid the frustration that comes with having to wait eons for the next set of episodes. I smugly never struggle through the wait for the next season of Orange is the New Black like my impatient friends. Therefore, why gorge yourself, when savouring a show is so much more satisfying?