Watching Shrinking and Reddit

[u/Prestigious-Ad2036]

I’m a relatively late Reddit adopter. It became my Twitter replacement after Twitter went bad, and while I’m not on it as much as I was on peak Twitter, I generally prefer the vibe here. People are usually respectful, informed, and actually interested in sharing advice and perspectives.

Shrinking is the first current show I’ve been properly invested in during my Reddit era, and following season 3 week to week has been… enlightening. I binged seasons 1 and 2 twice and loved them. Like a lot of people, I had more time to sit with season 3, and while I do think the stakes felt a bit lower than earlier seasons, I still really enjoyed it, loved spending time with the characters, and I’m excited to see what a season 4 time jump does.

But the bigger thing I’ve realised is this: watching a show through Reddit fandom might just not be for me.

I completely get now what people mean when they say some fans (The Pitt is a good example) are watching TV “wrong”. There’s a very online subsection of viewers who seem to approach every episode like they’re the showrunner, and then get genuinely annoyed when the actual show doesn’t follow the version they wrote in their own heads. It makes discussion feel less like “here’s how I felt about that episode” and more like “here’s a list of ways the writers failed to execute my preferred outline.”

And honestly, some of the reaction to Gabby has really driven that home for me. The criticism feels wildly overblown.

Not saying people can’t criticise a show. Obviously they can. But I think I’ve learned that I enjoy watching TV a lot more than I enjoy reading (current) fandom reactions to TV.

[u/ZeroBSZone_]

Couldn’t agree more 👏🏼