By Gabrielle Thompson
Most people can agree that Netflix was a great invention — but with all great inventions there is a downfall. Sometimes a show just sticks out to you and really blows your mind, so you absolutely need to share it with your friend. You start watching the show together, and it becomes a daily activity; something you can bond over. Then, one day, your friend does the unthinkable; they watch it without you.
“It’s not a big deal,” they say. Wrong. It is a big deal.
After carefully planning out when and where you and your friend could get together to watch this beloved show, they threw it all away with one click. They betrayed your trust, and it took them less than a second to do it. Did they not think about the consequences or the effect it would have on you? The entire balance has been thrown off. Now you’re an episode, or eight, behind. It isn’t as simple as just catching up, and it’s definitely not the same to finish the show and talk about it later. Who knows, you might forget that certain scene that made you laugh or cry. Maybe you try to quote a funny phrase and it doesn’t have the same effect as it would have if it was in the moment. Recapping the episodes are just not enough.
If this seriously heartbreaking situation has ever happened to you, then I feel your pain. I know what it’s like to have your feelings and opinions tossed to the side like an empty water bottle. I understand that you will never be able to get back that same initial feeling of joy and excitement when you click the “next episode” button without your friend by your side.
If you are, in fact, the person who does the unthinkable act of watching an episode, or episodes, of a show without your friend — first of all, how dare you? You will never understand how you just affected your friend until you, too, are betrayed in the same way. I hope you never have to experience it.
The time you spent watching this show was a sort of tradition made between two friends who had a similar, deep appreciation of good television. While your heart was crushed when your friend moved on without you, this is an important lesson to be learned. That friend is obviously not to be trusted now, or anytime soon. Keep your remote close, but keep your so-called “friends” closer.
