This is part of the ‘immersion theme’ we have been musing about in modern social behavior. It parallels another social aspect of what we call “weaponized advertising.” Both terms are still a little experimental. Both include other large impact areas, some completely incidental and others now harnessed in ways not previously exploited. That occurred to us when the last episode of Season Seven ended late yesterday.

We surrender any credible analysis of the old minor annoyance about “binging.” Advances in technology make this occasional habit now widely shared due to the combination of external circumstance and digital access. It has been possible to do it for a while, but it was a different sort level of effort. It required towering stacks of bulky cassettes, all properly labled. You can understand that takes commitment and organizational skills last demonstrated in this building by Margaret in her famous Sex in the City-themed parties.

Reunited with bandwidth up in the city, we responded by selecting individual series in the dizzying content world to watch in the order they were produced for release. With the added ability to dump the junk video connectivity and leap directly through emotional moments in the narrative. Which was enveloping, since the characters on the screen were bigger (and much better looking) than we are. The company sprang for the 70-inch television in the conference/breakroom. It conveyed, but is not our fault.

It was an intense change. We just identified the shows we wanted to see and then streamed them in order, hitting “pause” only when overcome. That process of viewing eliminated tension about some of the season-ending episodes. We didn’t mind, but it added poignancy to the last episode as the series “ender.” We stayed up nearly forty minutes past bedtime to see the last episode of the latest binge: “Army Wives.”

Melissa is part of the selection process, vocal in preference but as a former Air Force Spouse sensitive to the fuller consequences of military life than the males. Consequently, we are now a bit lighter than usual on the violence-resolution themes peppered with many explosives. We have now streamed series from the Hallmark and Lifetime Networks. We had never been immersed in their product. Lifetime did the show “Army Wives,” which got on the list with moderate support to both terms in the title.

It was filmed across 2010 in about equal sides. The seven seasons included 117 episodes following the lives of four Army wives and a husband. With families, of course. The story was adapted from the “Under the Sabers” book by author Tanya Biank. The series follows the lives of four army wives, one army husband and their constantly deploying spouses. Constant in the background is the theme that “Afghanistan” was going to turn out differently and be an endless present place of duty. The families provide their assorted issues amid sometimes co-mingled families.

We enjoyed the immersion, though by episode 90 we noticed it took a moment to transfer attention between content streams. Considering what else is going on- a “blip” in the “binge” was news of an attempt to impeach a SCOTUS Justice yesterday. No idea if that is going to become a story they will try to immerse us in. We have found a way to avoid what is coming over the next nineteen months, you know? There is going to be an awful lot of noise. We think we are going to binge something else to keep the noise down.

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
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