5 Series That Demand a Rewatch Before Their New Seasons Premiere This Year

By Cindy Davis | Lists | January 4, 2016 |

By Cindy Davis | Lists | January 4, 2016 |

Mondays are horrible and Mondays after holiday weeks are completely unbearable; I don’t even know how I’ve accomplished a thing today. Our only consolation will be this evening when we can hit the couch and pretend vacation is kinda-sorta still ongoing. Aside from binging on both food and television shows (Catastrophe, Making a Murderer, Transparent, The Great British Bake-Off, Outlander) and seeing The Force Awakens a couple of times, I’ve been simultaneously rewatching a few other series before their new seasons debut. With the overabundance of great TV these days you might think it crazy to watch anything more than once, and for most continuing stories that’s probably true. From season to season Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead storylines stay pretty fresh in our brains and despite a long absence, even Sherlock was pretty easy to pick right back up. Whether to search for clues, keep multiple character and story arcs straight in our brains, or reimmersing ourselves in a particular world, these five standouts practically demand second viewings before moving on to the next round.

Mr. Robot

No way did you catch everything the first time. Hunt the clues, figure out what’s real; even better, USA has now made available all the uncensored first season episodes. Included are easter eggs, and commentary by creator Sam Esmail. Expected to return: TBA

Sense8

With their Netflix series, the Wachowskis simply knocked it out of the park. Not only will you need to refresh the mentally-connected characters’ individual and -interrelated stories (and their partners and other secondary characters), you’ll want to go through the whole journey again; it’s that damned good. Expected to return: TBA.

The X-Files

Yeah, you don’t really have enough time (I’m near the end of Season 5) for the whole darned thing — January 24th — and there are probably a later season or two you’d rather skip, but I highly recommend getting back into the Scully and Mulder groove. At the very least, catch a few of your favorite old episodes. I want…you to believe me.

Bloodline

We have to go back. There was too much simmering below the surface, and way too many things that slipped by in those early episodes, windows into the Rayburn family hearts of darkness. With all the discussion and arguments over what Danny’s (Ben Mendelsohn) original intentions may have been, and whether he knew what was coming in that last argument with John (Kyle Chandler), immersion is the only way to prep for the second season. Expected to return in May.

Daredevil

This one is for the pure joy of it. We didn’t miss anything, we probably don’t need any sort of refresher, but Daredevil was just so damned good we’ll want to relive the fantastic fight scenes, Fisk’s over-the-top angst, and the broken and mended camaraderie between Matt, Karen and Foggy. Expected to return: March 25th (announced today).

*Honorable Mention: Gilmore Girls, if only for that glorious nostalgic feeling and the “lalalas.”

Cindy Davis, (Twitter)