I don’t often end up watching television shows without one or all of my family members. My husband, Raymond, and I sometimes unwind in the evening with a series, but if it’s good we end up breezing through the episodes. If it’s just entertaining enough, yet hasn’t fully drawn us in, then we can go weeks without catching up on where we left off. Those shows are left in reserve for an evening or week-end when we find ourselves bored and remember, “Oh! We didn’t finish that one!” It doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the show per se, it’s simply the equivalent of a book that you can put down but will eventually return to finish.
Our kids are now at an age where they are interested in a lot more of the shows we like. There are also a number from our own childhood or early adult lives that we want to share with them as well, especially now that they’re old enough to appreciate them. Twice before I had attempted to start Gilmore Girls with my daughter because I thoroughly enjoy that series, but the timing was always off. Finally, last year she was ready to give it another shot. I ended up watching the whole series from beginning to end with both my daughter and my son fully invested in the characters and storyline. Side note: Gilmore Girls hits differently each time I watch it through, as I reach different stages in my life.
Despite our differing tastes in entertainment, Raymond and I still manage to find common ground and we’re able to enjoy movies, books, shows and music together. Liking it to the same degree is not necessarily the case, but that’s okay. He doesn’t need me to geek out over every show he loves, and I don’t need him to squee with joy with every episode of the ones I love. What I do enjoy, though, is when we find a story that draws us both in enough that when the credits roll we’re still discussing it.
I love when my husband starts dissecting the plot and trying to guess what is coming next or deciphering the motives of a character. Well, sometimes I don’t love it because he is pretty good with his predictions, and even though he may be wrong, it feels an awful lot like spoilers sometimes. However, I usually enjoy it because it means he is engaged and I very much like talking with him about fictional stories, especially when reality can get a bit overwhelming. So, wanting to be able to find a show that we both enjoyed enough to watch all the way through, and that elicited this sort of discussion with him was my goal in including #34: Watch a New to Us Series with Raymond on my Forty Before Forty list.
I wasn’t sure when we would find such a show, but it happened organically. My husband has put on a show before and I stayed in the room to keep him company, but played a game on my iPad or drew a picture instead of really watching. Over the course of time, I either remain completely disengaged, decide to leave the room entirely, or start asking questions like, “Wait…why did he do that?” That is how I ended up partially invested in Rings of Power season one but by the end of season two I was all-in and prepared a bunch of ring themed snacks so Raymond and I could enjoy the season finale together.
I recently put on a kdrama called The Kidnapping Day, and since I only recognize a few words in Korean, I rely on captions. Raymond looked up from his laptop every now and then to inform me my show was “bonkers” but then he started asking questions. I was watching roughly one episode a night, but I looked over maybe three episodes in and he had put his laptop away entirely so he could read the dialogue. He started hypothesizing after each episode and talking about the characters with me. Another thing I love about watching silly videos on YouTube or enjoying a show is laughing together. There were many laugh-out-loud moments for me during The Kidnapping Day and it made me really happy to find a line or scene funny and hear laughter not only erupting from me, but to see my husband laughing too.
We finished the series quickly, because even though the episodes were roughly an hour apiece, there were only twelve of them. I was going over my list again with Raymond a few days later and he told me that The Kidnapping Day definitely checked off #34. It wasn’t planned, and I think that makes it even better. We may find another new show to watch together, but we’ll for sure continue watching the ones we are waiting to return with new episodes (ie. Stranger Things). It was the new-to-us part that was the challenge really, plus finding something that was just for us, and we weren’t already sharing with the kids.
~One of the best things about enjoying media with Raymond, is watching the funny reviews or commentaries afterwards.~
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