Have you begun watching season 2 of House of Cards yet? Holy crap — can you believe what happened in that first episode? You said you started watching, right? If you haven't, I don't want to spoil anything.
But if you've watched it, we have to talk about it! That was unbelievable! What a way to start! There's no way you saw that coming, right? I didn't see it coming. I rewound it three or four times, just to make sure I saw what I thought I was seeing!
OK, so you did watch it. Oh, you've watched four episodes already? Well, hang on, because I only watched that first episode. I know, I know — I wanted to watch the next one right away, but I looked at the time and it was time for True Detective, so I wanted to watch that. I'll catch up, though; I don't want to leave you hanging. We have to catch up with those people who already binged through all 13 episodes. Can you believe that? Where did they find the time?
Anyway, I don't want to avoid Facebook and Twitter all week, so I'll try to catch up with you as soon as possible. I'm sorry — I ended up binging on True Detective over the weekend because my internet was wonky on Saturday and I couldn't watch House of Cards until Sunday.
But wait — how many episodes are you planning on watching this week? Are you going to watch one episode a day or do you think you might go two or three? Do you plan to finish the season this week? Because I don't know if I'll be able to do that. I don't know if I have the time.
Well, no — I'm not saying you have the time. I know you're busy too. I just… more than one episode is a lot. And I'm watching other stuff too, like the Winter Olympics. This week is the women's figure skating competition. I'm DVR'ing all of the skates during the day on NBC Sports Network and watching them when I get home, so I don't have to watch the tape delay at night on NBC where they edit stuff out.
So maybe I can watch an episode in between skates. Don't get too far ahead of me because I want to talk about the show. No, no — I'll catch up with you by the weekend! I promise!
But I can finally talk about True Detective now, if you want to. OK, we can do that later.
Actually, you know what? While watching that first episode of House of Cards, I realized how much I'd forgotten. The show picks up right where season 1 left off. I remember the big story events, but there were so many other little things that I needed a refresher on. Characters would show up and I'd have to recall who they were and how they related to the story, especially with Kevin Spacey's character (Congressman Frank Underwood).
Were you able to keep up with everybody? Why are Frank and Stamper trying to hide that Rachel girl again? Who's Christina? I can't remember. Why is Frank's security guy so important to him? Who's the guy Zoe's sleeping with? Oh, wait — I didn't give away spoilers there, did I? I probably should've read those season 1 recaps on Vulture (Eps. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-13) before beginning season 2. Those would've been really helpful.
That's one of the things so great about the show, right? They assume you watched season 1. Otherwise, why would you bother watching season 2. Who does that? (OK, maybe some people heard about the buzz and wanted to jump in. But do your homework first, Mom!) How tedious would that first episode have been if the script stopped to explain everyone's role through exposition? It's a storytelling challenge to the audience to remember or to go back and catch up, whether by watching previous episodes or reading recaps.
But if I watch season 1 again now, I'll fall further behind on season 2. Damn, I should've watched season 1 again over the holidays. Or during January when nothing was on. What was I thinking? I don't know — I guess I had to catch up on all of the Oscar Best Picture nominees. I don't even remember anymore. Maybe I can watch one episode of season 1, then one episode of season 2 each night this week. OK, that just sounds stupid. Never mind.
All right, enough of that. But did you have a similar conversation with your friends over the weekend, whether over the phone or social media?
(I would've included "in person" on that list, but if you were locking yourself away to binge House of Cards, you probably weren't seeing many people this weekend. Unless you were watching with a significant other or friend, of course. People do still actually watch TV with each other in the same room, right? Even when it's not sports?)
How many of us now save up entire seasons of a show to watch later on, at our own pace and discretion? Some of us decide to watch a show after hearing about it from friends, seeing frequent mentions on social media or reading praise from critics. By then, maybe four or five episodes have already aired. Your friends are ahead of you. They want to talk about it! But you can't talk about it yet, because you haven't watched. And you don't want them to talk about it, because you don't want any of the story spoiled. Spoiler alert! Earmuffs!
Not being able to talk about a show with friends, family and online acquaintances does take some of the fun out of watching TV. But it's kind of a fact of life in pop culture now. Where we once may have fostered a sense of community from watching a show together — and hopefully still do — the new community might develop from discovering shows on our own and then recommending them to one another. It took a while for friends, especially my favorite TV-watching mate, to join me on The Wire. But I've had to join them on Game of Thrones and American Horror Story.
Eventually, we'll get to talk about the TV we love with the people we love. It might just happen at a different pace now.
But maybe, just maybe, we can come together as a culture on House of Cards. Of course, we understand that people's schedules are different. Some have more demanding jobs. Some have kids. Some just don't want to veg in front of their TVs after work.
However, it seems reasonable that we can all reach some sort of understanding. What's the statute of limitations on spoilers? One week? Two weeks? How about the month of February? OK, how about that? You lollygaggers (which currently include me) have until the end of the month to at least get halfway through season 2 so the rest of us can start talking about it online. But really, it'd be cool if you plowed through the whole thing so we don't have to play the spoiler alert thrust-and-parry when we get together. Deal?
