Have you ever been completely obsessed with a show, raving about it to your friends, assigning the characters to people in your life and thinking, wow I am SOOO the main character, I like, totally relate! (To be read in a, “Sweet Valley High” accent). And yes, I just dated myself.

I have become a very cynical television watcher. As I revisit certain shows, I find myself critiquing the writing style, cinematography, settings and character development or lack thereof. I don’t know what happened in my brain but one day I woke up and was like, that is just not believable! What were they thinking?! Or I look at a favorite character from previous watching and realize how extremely poorly written their storyline is, in fact. A beloved character upon a second watching is actually a brat, self-centered and hedonistic. A guard that was endearing in his uncertainties revealing himself as quite predatory upon closer inspection. The mother of dragons was actually quite mad, just well hidden under the pretenses of salvation.

So the question is, have I become more cynical or am I just leveling up in my IRL journey? Elevated enough to see with clear, ADULTISH eyes? More capable of spotting; with this newfound awareness; toxic traits and behaviors? Have I grown? Or am I just unimpressed by the lack of creativity and ability for these writers to break the walls of mundane and old-school, repressive, toeing-the-line of fascism, type of thinking? Skull emoji.

I have been watching some of my old favorites. Oldies but goodies. “I Dream of Jeannie”, “Bewitched” and, “I Love Lucy” to name a few. It is repulsive rewatching and witnessing those men treat those women like pretty little objects. Spanking Lucy when she has been deemed bad, shaming Samantha for her natural abilities that are beyond the norm and especially how ghastly Major Nelson treats Jeannie… he might be the worst! He has this doting, magical, gorgeous, pretty thing to do with as he wished and although he never took advantage of her powers, he certainly took advantage of her love. Disgusting, yet conducive of that time period.

Let’s fast forward to the Gilmore Girls. So clever, fast paced, witty and who can forget the relationship between mother and daughter?! Rory the poster child of perfection… or was she?! After rewatching, I had an eye opener of all eye openers! What a spoiled, thoughtless, and shall I say somewhat immoral girl she was!! How could I have been so blindsided the first go around?! Was it all the clever banter?! The witty repartee? The dynamics between the characters?! Was I overwhelmed to the point of misunderstanding?!

So I ask you this, do you find that it is sometimes best to watch a series and put it in the closet as a good memory or rewatch it only to deconstruct all that you were lead to believe with the blind faith of a hopeful? Do you find that in doing so you only end up getting in touch with your inner cynic? Or are you one of the ones that can keep that leap of faith strong enough to enjoy a second viewing? Curious minds want to know.

Yours faithfully while deconstructing what they actually wanted us to believe…. Because hell, I am cynical,

The CR