Episodes where all characters are merged into a single storyline within its single runtime, whether for a holiday, occasion or otherwise pivotal plotpoint, have always been a treat for viewers.
Think of the “Express Christmas” episode about an impromptu celebration effort from “Modern Family’' or the non-holiday related “Snipe Hunt” episode about a family reunion in the form of a camping trip in “Atlanta.” These episodes ingrain themselves into the minds and hearts of audience members by connecting with lived experiences.
Recent TV continues pulling at this heart-strung throughline, but now from a place of more raw emotion. Acts of rage and bitterness splatter across the small screen in the forms of inter-character blowouts. Show creators allow the long-ago lore to either be the premise on which the plot dangles or be brought to viewers’ realization as the feuds unfold in real time.
The tension caused by characters who are imbued by a sense of legacy like in season four of “Succession” and the release of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” create a perfect storm for these types of episodes. Both set in worlds of corporate cloaks and daggers, the shows explore character worthiness according to deeds of morality and their innate motivations to take the prize.
“Usher,” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe works, details gory deaths that await the overly-privileged who do not heed warning to change their exploitative ways. However, the fight-for-birthright motif is not new. The most straightforward modern-day example is “Game of Thrones,” where fantastical inter-family fights were on the scale of battlefields, drawing in viewers from franchises set in modern or futuristic times.
Unlike the lore-related drama in “Game of Thrones,” TV shows can take another route to reveal grudges between characters. The uptick of interfights in recent hit shows fits into a second type of formulaic fallout: more backstory revealed with each blow that lands. The most captivating sequences have adhered to this choreography of chaos, reappearing in social media search bars as: “the fork dinner scene from ‘The Bear’,” “the road rage scene in ‘BEEF,’” “the play episode in ‘Euphoria.’”
Why are the most revisited clips the same scenes viewers first watched through their fingers? One filmmaker/editor perspective may be that these sequences all happen in real-time. Like holiday specials, all characters are anchored to one location. The fuming mix of conflicting motivations and secrets ignite each other. There’s no need for many cutaways nor flashbacks for exposition when the totality of a confession manifests in the present scene.
Season two of “The Bear” contains the gold standard of modern-day MacGuffins, which is a prop that pulls in the characters’ focus in the current situation, but may seem insignificant to audiences who are observing the mood of the scene and are thinking about the plot as a whole. The fork represents the trigger between peace or hell in this standalone Christmas dinner episode.
At the head of the dinner table, Mikey, the older son and arguably stand-in father figure, holds a fork posed to throw at Lee, a married-in-uncle relative whose abrasive presence has upended Mikey’s attempt to uphold the family’s status quo.
Up until this point, Mikey and Carmy, the show’s main character, have quietly mentioned other relatives’ behaviors that have pushed the gathering closer to a breaking point.Microinteractions and inset power dynamics against a tense backdrop of family obligations can only cause built-up spite to hinge on a single fork to throw at an uncle.
Audiences are met with new, old and only-heard-about characters in this flashback episode posed as an explainer for present-day ones. And at last, the long-awaited mucky lore paints this episode as “gnarly” described by GQ or “the most problematic episode of Season 2″ claimed by the LA times.
Finally, a new series without a recent similarity is Netflix’s “BEEF,” which revolves around a single road rage incident. Subsequent shouting matches and eye-for-eye acts create a toxic vortex that the two protagonists, Danny and Amy, suck into and are trapped within.
While Danny and Amy aren’t related, their tumultuous back and forth entangles their own family members in such a way that the protagonists seem to exhibit nonsensical mood swings or are just absent completely.
Although the original incident is a very ordinary experience, the push and pull of the family members’ reactions and questions in response to the protagonists’ white lies are reminiscent of tiny messes that make up real-life relationships. Compared to the other shows on this list, “BEEF” is the most full of blatant displays of anger, yet is the most grounded in scenarios that closely resemble real life.
From witnessing an older relative succumb to mental illness to gifting an older brother with a drawing of the family restaurant or explaining to a daughter what divorce means, the TV releases of this year that have explored family drama as a genre prove that the most meaningful moments can be found in the most difficult circumstances.
Almost in parallel universes, families break apart and are sewn together or sometimes not. The cycle of relational ups and downs seems perpetual with each flip of the calendar page. Yet from a holiday to a simple meal, the inherent reverence that a gathering holds space for allows for a host of quiet questioning and bare confessions alike.