That Border Between Interesting and Creepy

There are many programs you can watch on line.  Crime, comedy, Drama, on and on.  Some may keep you focused from first episode to last.  Some may drag a bit, some may leave you wanting more.

There’s a peculiar border some cross; between interesting and creepy.  Perhaps creepy isn’t the right word.  Maybe repellent, maybe distasteful, whatever it is, you don’t feel inclined to waste your eyesight on the next episode.

There are number of shows I’ve stopped watching long before they completed.  Homeland is one.  Quantico is another.  Vikings, Twin Peaks are shows that I watched the first two three episodes and simply stopped because they neither entertain, inform or do more than repel.

Peaky Blinders is a good show, at least the first seasons.  Then, coming into the third season it became uncomfortable to watch.  I never watched the final episode in the third season and have no intention of watching the fourth.

In many shows the central character is the villain of the piece.  You’ll see that in Breaking Bad and to a lesser extent in House and in Narcos.  However, in the three aforementioned one finishes Breaking Bad, and House for closure.   Narcos could not avoid having Pablo Escobar as its central character, but the agents who brought him down keep you watching.

In shows such as Peaky Blinders one feels ‘used’.   That there was a bit too much in the ugly direction that was unnecessary.

One kept expecting something decent in the central character, perhaps adding bits that weren’t there to make him palatable.   But when the border is crossed, unless there is a quick retreat, the show is no longer entertainment but punishment.

One no longer expects white hats and black hats, a good character versus a bad one, as most modern shows have persons who aren’t all that heroic or good and have their share of bad.  But one does not want to be watching a show where the central character, all the characters are repulsive and one couldn’t care less if they all died.

That is the problem with Peaky Blinders.

There is no good character.  There is no one to want to ‘cheer’ for no one wants to ‘win’.   The central characters as well as the outside ones are all horrible creatures.

So I need not watch.