There are two kinds of people in this world: first, those who watch an episode the moment it drops and spend the next few months torturing themselves over a cliffhanger, and those who wait until an entire series is out before surrendering an entire weekend to it. I belong to the second category. I don’t want to spend a year wondering what happens next to Saul Goodman, debating theories with strangers on the internet, or trying to remember what happened in the season finale when the next season finally arrives.
I want the whole story, right there on my screen, waiting for me.
Just imagine it’s 9 pm on a Friday. You have no deadlines, no pending assignments, no editor asking you for an update. You’ve got Diet Coke, Doritos and nearly 50 hours of Better Call Saul waiting to be watched.
Imagine spending an entire weekend turning your living room into Saul Goodman’s unofficial law office, watching him attempt to outsmart everyone around him, and forgetting that the real world exists until the Doritos run out.
All this without having to stop at a cliffhanger? Now that’s my idea of immersive cinema. It’s instant gratification, except you have to practise patience for months, sometimes years, to get there.
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No hater of mystery
Think about those who watched Better Call Saul as it aired. They had to take half-baked stories, let them bake inside their heads for a year, and then return when the next season dropped. They had to remember every little detail and every unanswered question. Me? I want all the seasons lined up, ready to go. When one ends, I want to press play on the next without worrying about what I’ll watch tomorrow.
Of course, this comes with its own set of problems. Recently, Lanterns is testing my patience in ways I never imagined. I thought the show would be just as bad as the movie, but I ended up loving it. And now, I have a problem. I have to wait. Torture myself by staying away from discussions about the show, avoid spoilers on social media and pretend I have absolutely no idea what everyone is talking about until the final season drops and the makers officially announce that there are no more episodes left.
Only then will I apply for sick leave from the office, get myself a pizza, switch on my TV, and spend an entire weekend watching Lanterns, with Hal Jordan and John Stewart beating villains with their power rings while I forget about deadlines.
My friend, who watched the episodes as they dropped, got his little dose of instant gratification, but at what cost? He had to wait every week for the next episode, torture himself over cliffhangers, and spend days wondering what would happen next. Meanwhile, I’m saving myself for the ultimate binge-watching marathon. He got his weekly fix, but I’m waiting for the full course meal.
And this isn’t just about the series. The same logic applies to movie franchises, especially those with interconnected stories and characters. Take Harry Potter, for instance. The entire franchise has become a Christmas ritual for me every year. I save it for the holidays, watch one film a day, and suddenly, my entire Christmas week is sorted. No hunting for something new to watch, no scrolling endlessly through streaming platforms, no wondering what to do next. I have Hogwarts waiting for me, and I’m going all in.
The same goes for The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Star Wars, The Hunger Games, and even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where one film leads to another, and before you know it, you’ve spent an entire weekend tracking the fate of superheroes.
Imagine watching Iron Man and ending with Avengers: Endgame, witnessing an entire era of superhero cinema unfold without having to wait years between installments. Or revisiting The Godfather trilogy, watching the Corleone family’s rise and fall over a weekend.
For me, the real pleasure lies in staying inside these fictional worlds for as long as possible.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)