the power of short stories
While it's fun to get cozy and binge 300 hundred episodes of your comfort show - some of the most compelling stories can be told in limited time with more detail and care than many shows out there. Here are a few shows that really stopped me in my tracks & made me think after a quick binge and short runtimes.
Infinity Train
Each season of Infinity Train is the length of a single movie, so binging is quite fast. The first half the season is usually time exploring the train itself while developing and learning about the core characters. Every midpoint of the season sees a shift where not only the action picks up, but the depth of the story does as well. By the final couple of episodes you're watching the climax and fully locked in to the deeper theme of the season. With each season focusing on different central characters - each of these themes are different.
I remember when I first watched this show, finishing a season finale always left me in silence. The seasons are so quick but so much happens in so little time and it's hard to process in the moment. I loved how Infinity Train made me think. Analyzing the characters was always fun as they were always so fleshed out within a 2 hour timespan. This is probably the peak short story example in this list. You should watch if you haven't already.
End of the F***ing World
The show sucked me in real fast. James was such an interesting character analysis and Alysa had such a powerful presence. the two made such a pair and the trauma they went through developed their characters on complex levels within just a few hours of content. I believe it takes a few hours to watch each season. But much like the pacing of Infinity Train, so much happens in so little time, yet we know the characters on such a deep level. Between the acting and inner monologues, we really speed run the character development in a seamless way. Nothing feels rushed and we still have time to enjoy a complex character driven story while taking in an easy to follow coming of age adventure full of crime and death.
The 2nd season wraps all loose ends. There's even a whole arc about a totally different character. She's only meant to bring our two soulmates together again, yet we still get an inside look to her whole life story and it doesn't feel intrusive outside of of maybe one episode. We still have plenty of time to explore the aftermath of the first season as James and Alyssa end one chapter and start another.
Over the Garden Wall
This masterpiece is one we wished was actually longer, but it's as long as it needs to be.
What would've been beneficial to see in a longer run time would've been all the world building of this large and mysterious realm. Yet we still see so much of it and take in many concepts within the short time we have anyways - while it would be nice to see more of it, our little Wonderland experience was all we need when it came to the story of our characters.
I really enjoyed exploring the reddit thread that discussed that this mini series is just Dante's Inferno - how every episode is a different Circle of Hell. This went from theory to parallel after it's revealed Greg & Wirt were just kids from our regular Earth. They were in Limbo. Like they were actually dead or dying. This wasn't just a cozy fantasy adventure. This was a journey to life from the brink of death. This is such a powerful concept so easily depicted in just 2 hours of animation. It's easy to follow and basically serves as Dante's Inferno for kids. This is wild!