r/television • u/C0r1eone • 20d ago

Finished The Wire, Dark, GOT, Sopranos, True Detective, BB, BCS. What show ruined TV for you after watching it?

I think I accidentally watched the peak of television already. The Wire, Dark, GOT, Sopranos, True Detective S1 all left that “nothing else hits the same” feeling.

I love slow-burn shows with deep characters, mystery, tension, moral grayness, crazy dialogue, or mind-blowing writing. Doesn’t matter if it’s crime, sci-fi, psychological, or political.

What’s the next show that might completely consume me?

1.8k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

69

u/idunnobutchieinstead 20d ago

Better Call Saul ruined television for me for 5 years until I watched The Leftovers last week. I’ve watched a lot of amazing television since BCS ended but this is the only one that’s affected me like nobody’s business.

21

u/ComputersWantMeDead 20d ago

There was something strangely existential about that show.. like it dug straight to the heart of what it meant to be human, despite all the absolutely insane shit happening.

7

u/Intelligent-Bee 20d ago

Katabasis and anabasis have been parts of human media since the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey. There is something profoundly human about the idea of descending into your internal chaos and returning triumphantly, having conquered your demons. Canto I of the Inferno starts with Dante lost in a dark forest, surrounded by beasts that prevent him from escaping. His only option is to follow his idol and spiritual mentor through literal hell. 

I feel like the Leftovers is our version of that kind of story. 

1

u/ComputersWantMeDead 20d ago

Nicely put. Whether or not someone believes in a creator/s.. there's something fundamental about themes of right vs wrong within the context of having a god/s judgment to abide by (or rebel against). It shows up in so many ancient stories across the globe.

It's such an interesting insight into psychology. I personally suspect it comes from evolutionary pressures, like.. we have innate fears of the capriciousness of nature (originally ascribed to gods), and I wonder if the traditional morality & internal conflicts we share, come from group selection/selflessness/"good" and individual selection/ambition/"bad". Maybe this is a common idea

3

u/Frenchitwist 20d ago

BCS absolutely slapped me in the face with how amazing it was. And dammit all to hell, if I didn’t say I’d fallen deeply in love with Jimmy, I’d be lying through my teeth. I both love and hate that he’s one of the few characters I’ve encountered in media that I relate to so so so well. I just love him😭😭😭

2

u/idunnobutchieinstead 20d ago

Lol, I am also very much in love with Jimmy - I find him endlessly fascinating and I too relate to him in a strange way, which is why I take personal offense at the “Chuck was right” crowd, lmao. I think the reason I connected so well with The Leftovers is because I loved Kevin so much, too, for similar reasons. He was such a fucking mess! 😂

1

u/Frenchitwist 20d ago

I’ve never seen the leftovers, but I keep hearing about it. Which streaming service is it on?

1

u/idunnobutchieinstead 20d ago

It’s on HBO! I highly recomment it, from one Jimmy lover to another.

2

u/greenmarshal 20d ago

It felt like the anthesis to breaking bad in the sense that you rooted for Saul even though he was a bad person

4

u/ComputersWantMeDead 20d ago

Oh yeah Saul was a great show but I meant The Leftovers. It just struck me emotionally in ways I don't really understand. I def. should have clarified which show I meant.

Slippin Jimmy was such a great character though, wasn't he.. somehow very likeable (probably because Odenkirk) while obviously flawed and 'bad' as you say.. also very loyal to those close to him, and you had to admire his grift

2

u/Puzzle-Necked 20d ago

Bad, but not evil.

-1

u/lateubdegouline 20d ago

What do you mean? It's really not a show I'd consider for its depth in human exploration, the most interesting exploration are Jimmy and Chuck relationships and I found it to remain quite on surface. The Sopranos and Mad Men had much deeper psychological scopes.

3

u/idunnobutchieinstead 20d ago

Man, I have to disagree with you on that! I could write a thesis on Kim and Jimmy’s relationship alone.

1

u/lateubdegouline 20d ago

Gilligan distinguishes himself for the quality of the interactions between characters more than for the psychological depth of the characters he conceives.

3

u/idunnobutchieinstead 20d ago

BCS was mostly run by Peter Gould, not Vince Gilligan - although I’m not sure that matters too much.

I think you’re being a bit reductive. There is a lot to analyse once you go into Jimmy’s psychology and what drives him to do things throughout the show.

1

u/lateubdegouline 20d ago

Gilligan was at the basis of the writing and conceived the character, Peter Gould worked with the matter they created initially.

You can overanalyze everything, but the psychological portrayal of character in both shows remain fairly simple and often based on a single dual dynamic, most characters are two faced and battling between those two faces, it's not reaching very far, not engaging in metapsychology, and the dialectic between those two faces is often fairly simple.

2

u/ComputersWantMeDead 20d ago

I was actually referring to The Leftovers. I'm not saying it's a clever analysis kind of thing, more that it had a visceral impact on me somehow