Rewatching a favourite show, you can see things you missed the first time. But mostly, it just lulls my brain into fuzzy comfort
My flatmate is laughing at me because I am watching The Bold Type again. It’s not even a very good TV show, but it is what I need at this precise moment. When the world feels too much, the familiar characters and storylines help me zone out – but I’m invested enough that I’m still paying attention, unable to spiral while I watch. This is the TV sweet spot.
I am not the only person to enjoy a rewatch, but I perhaps take it a little further than most. Repeat viewings help me manage my anxiety, the familiarity lulling my brain into fuzzy comfort; there are no surprises coming my way. We know instinctively that this works: how many of us, at the start of lockdown in 2020, decided to consume all the box sets we had never got round to, only to settle back into watching the same old thing, again and again? We got our reassurances where we could.
