Breaking up: How I have broken up with TV Shows, Movies and Book. (Reblogged)

Being I'm not currently posting for Tuesday. This Tuesday I decided to Reblog a post I created for the Awesomeness of Everything. Check it out, and then Check out all the cool things on that site!!

Over the years I have watched my fair share of television programs, I have shelves upon shelves of book and even a fair collection of movies. We often talk about programs that everyone “has to watch/read/see” but we don’t often discuss our needs to stop watching some programs as well. I have often referred to shows in a variety of terms if I was no longer watching them and I thought today I would share them with you.(image source: BBC)

I take breaks from shows, just like everyone. In the age of Netflix, Shomi and Internet streaming it isn’t hard to get overwhelmed by programs. We often will binge watch full seasons, series and spin offs without stopping for a breather. I do this with books, tv and even movies. I have been known to read two to four books in a series without stopping. I often re-read one to four books before the newest book in a series is released. This is great for understanding the story, making the new book feel like it lasts longer and already being immersed in the world before I read the newest entry. The issue with this is I often have a hard time distinguishing one book from another. People will mention specific events in specific books, I will always know the event but I could never tell you the book specifically, being to me it’s one continuous story.

I digress. So when I do this I often hit a point in a series where I can’t read/watch anymore. I feel I have been overwhelmed by the world and need a break to another world. When this happens I state I’m taking a break from the series. I have done this with Supernatural, currently with Once Upon a Time, and a fair group of book series. Usually within a year or so I will start missing that world and return where I left off to continue my adventure within that universe. But once in a while I break up with a universe/series/world.

To break up with a series, often something has to happen that I can no longer allow myself to be immersed. I have taken too much of the world and allowed it to affect my daily life, health or sanity. One of the most prominent TV series that I broke up with was Torchwood. I loved Torchwood. I seemed to be able to relate to that universe faster than to the rest of the Dr. Who universe (Which I’m really really really far behind on). This was a series that when I discovered it on Netflix I binge watched, praising it to high heavens… then the dreaded day came. I got to the episode “Children of Earth”. (I warn you right now there is spoilers to follow, but if you have already watched it, please read on!)

image source: Tardis.Wikia

As a woman of two children in a working class family, who had lost a child. I could not abide by these episodes. I would have killed someone to protect my kids. I would have done anything, just as Gwen Cooper had, to keep every kid safe. From this episode I grew to loath Captain Jack. I hated him from my very being. How dare you use a child, kill a child, to save the rest. I understood why this was done, the lose of one for the gain of the many. But I don’t care. I could not handle it. I was done, unable to deal. I tried to give it a break but I could no longer allow my love and emotions be taken over by Captain Jack and his team again. I have started the next season but never finished it. I do not know why people stopped dying, and as much as I would like to find out my inner self refuses to let me watch.

There have been many books I broke up with (Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson is top of that list) and even some movies (Beowulf, the 2007 movie is top there). I have done this since I was a kid and continue to do it regularly. There are times that I give the series another try, once in a while I’m surprised and grow to like it again, but often I do not. Often if I have broken up with that series there is a valid reason to myself why that was done. I don’t feel bad about the break up and it’s a lot easier that an interpersonal break up. There are no hurt feeling, no gossip or arguments. It’s a clean break and I never look back.

So to all your movie/tv/book breakups. Don’t feel bad, it’s needed. We don’t all have the same tastes and sometimes a series is just not good for you. Let it go!

Until later. Angie

Originally posted on the Awesomeness of Everything on June 8, 2015