It happens to the best of us... you start a show on Netflix thinking it will be a great idea. You read the biography and a few friends have told you how "addicting" it is, so you hop on the bandwagon. You think to yourself, "The pilot was okay, I'll keep watching." Little do you know you have just entered a black hole filled with love, despair, and so many tears. Suddenly, you realize you're on the last season and then before you know it, the last episode. The trauma that accompanies your favorite TV show ending can only be described through six stages of grief for which we all go through.
1. Confusion
It all starts with confusion. You finished that last episode of the last season and all you can think about is, "Is that it?", "That's all??", "What the f*ck just happened?". You are in a state of confusion and you physically do not know what to do. You contemplate writing Warner Bros and asking for an alternate ending or for at least someone to answer your questions. All you need are answers!
2. Denial
You keep telling yourself it isn't over. You find yourself rewinding the final episode so you can relive those last minutes with the characters you have grown emotionally attached to over the past nine seasons. You watched them graduate high school, get their heart broken, get married, have kids — LOL you know this can't be over yet. They would never leave you like that!
3. Anger
After all the denial inevitability comes anger. You're livid, ready to boycott Netflix, ABC, Hulu, and any other website where you can stream TV for hours without repercussions. You try to keep yourself as busy as possible in hopes you'll forget you could be watching a Shonda Rhimes masterpiece. However, you come across the Netflix tab on your computer and just cannot resist clicking on it. Then, you see the "Because You Watched ____" headline and your anger is unleashed. All you can think is, "Netflix knows I finished this, why would they remind me." You look a lot like this:
4. Bargaining
You've surpassed the anger, now comes the bargaining. Offering to give up time, sleep, and social interaction just for the chance to go back to the way things were before your show ended. You plead to the TV gods that the producers of your long-lost show will create a surprise reunion season so you can fill the void in your heart. (Quick shoutout to "Fuller House" for fulfilling this dream.)
5. Depression
Next comes depression — everything in your life is dark, sad, and lonely (and you don't even have a TV show to accompany you in this despair). You start following every single fan account you can find on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. You retweet your favorite memories in hopes that your friends will understand your pain. A majority of them probably won't, but the ones that do are the friends you'll keep forever. All you want to do is lay in bed, but that brings back memories of watching your show... What do you do? Workout? Be social? Life just doesn't feel the same.
6. Acceptance
Finally, you've accepted your show has ended. There's a part in your heart that will always remember those nine seasons of pure enjoyment. You'll even start recommending it to all your friends despite all the pain you went through. Now, you go onto Netflix find and click on a new show they just added; you feel rejoiced when you see how many seasons you get to watch... and the binging starts again.
