Sugar, baby reindeer and what watching TV means for Twists

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Sugar, Season 1 Episode 6, “Go Home,” as well as Baby Reindeer.]

I don't deserve any credit for predicting the twist that occurs at the end of Sugar Episode 6, “Go Home.” This is because, frankly, every time I watch a show where I've heard beforehand that a twist is coming, I make a joke to myself: “Wouldn't it be fun if they were aliens?”

I have said about episodes of game of Thrones, The good wifeand Succession…Really, every time I start watching an episode of television with the vaguest knowledge that the episode in question will be a game-changer, that's where I think. Objectively, yes, I know that if the big twist is aliens (versus a big death, which is usually the twist), it would fundamentally break the reality of a prestige drama. However, I always I want them to be aliens, on some small level. Because it would be fun.

So yes, I he laughed like a sick man at the end of episode 6, when John Sugar (Colin Farrell) injects himself with the magical substance that reveals his true identity: a blue-skinned alien who has only been pretending to be a normal human private detective this whole time. In his way, the actual revelation is not so shocking, because until then, the Sugar The writers and directors have made it clear that Sugar is keeping at least one big secret from most of the people in his life, especially the fancy people in Hollywood who hired him to find a missing girl. Episode 6 was mostly a breaking point, coming to an end. scene that we all knew would reveal something.

However, it's the kind of old-fashioned reveal that, in a different era, would have inspired ads warning viewers to watch “live,” in an era where “live” viewing is even a possibility… A Unlike the way today's streaming shows might premiere at midnight PST on Friday or 9:00 pm PST on Thursday or maybe at some nebulous time in between, because it doesn't really matter when it's available to stream, it You will see when you want and not before.

Like the idea of ​​what it means to watch something “live,” the culture around spin on TV has changed dramatically in the age of streaming: the good news is that social media users now have years of experience when it comes to understanding how to speak. about spoilers online, although many twists are still revealed, of course. He real The change from the days of talk on TV is that it's increasingly rare for audiences to watch the same thing at the same time, because there are so few shows these days that manage to penetrate the monoculture on a regular basis.