This story begins with a man falling through the atmosphere, plummeting towards his apparent doom. This is as surprising to him as it is to us watching at home, because he was asleep at the start of his plummet, and now he is awake and screaming, which is sensible. But hang on! He's resourceful, or as resourceful as you can be when falling from 35,000 feet. He stops screaming and spreads his limbs, slowing his descent like in Point Break. He's gonna figure this out. But not before we find out what he was up to 24 hours ago!
It turns out he was at his laptop, reading a blog on the internet. Not very exciting, huh? That's okay – soon he will get a coffee! Not sexy enough for you? That's what the pain au chocolat he'll soon be noshing on is about. How will this guy find himself up there? Guess you'll have to watch 45 to 50 minutes of this middling streaming drama premiere to find out!
Wasn't that irritating? Well, I hope you're not planning on watching TV any time soon. Fucking everyone is doing this these days.
Like many annoying things writers do, we have borrowed a phrase from Latin to describe what others would call simple buffoonery: in media res. It translates to "in the middle of things," and it refers to the decision to start a story somewhere other than the beginning.
But wouldn't that make it the beginning? you may ask. To which I say: Don't you have laundry to fold or a second screen to look at? Because that's why TV shows even do this nonsense. Netflix, for example, simply wants you watching long enough to count your stream as a "view."
Look: there are many ways to do this and even do it well, but most television shows are not pulling it off. Most often, it's a tacit admission that what follows the shocking opening isn't compelling on its own without the carrot of the wild predicament dangling over it. It takes the burden of earning the audience's attention off story, and assuming you have the audience when you do not is perhaps the entertainer's greatest sin.
But let's say you do not agree with me on a philosophical level. Whatever gets asses in seats ought to be fair game, right? Yeah, sure — except in 2026, it's the biggest cliché, and you ought to abhor a cliché. While there is no governing body deciding what is cliché and what is not (and there really should be; as much as I love writing a cranky blog I don't have the time to straighten everyone out), it behooves us all to notice when a new one is forming. If you haven't noticed, let me be the one to tell you: Beginning in media res is now a cliché. Try something else.
Don't think you can outsmart this. Everyone believes that they will be the one to pull off the genius instance, become an exemplar of the form like the Hannibal season 2 premiere. That way lies ruin, friend. You know what would actually help you? Writing a really fucking good beginning that starts the story where it is meant to start. It can even be in the middle of things, as a treat – Disclosure Day is one of the more divisive films of the year, but most everyone appreciates how the movie starts: immediately opening with a guy getting clobbered in a wrestling match, before revealing that a clandestine handoff is taking place in the stands. At first, this appears to be an in media res opening but, crucially, the story continues from there. No flashing back. If anything before this happened, we didn't have to see it. It is simply the best place to start the story, and a thrilling one at that.
Mostly though, my biggest objection to the in media res opening is that it treats me like I'm an idiot who has to be tricked into a story, and I really dislike being treated like an idiot. Which I suppose might be adequate motivation for me to come to your house, knock you unconscious, and drop you from an airplane – although if the audience watching this scenario learned that this is the reason for your fate in a flashback after the scene where you were in freefall, they'd probably be disappointed.
It's Hater Week here on Aftermath. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same.
