Overthinkification

I watched Markiplier's “Edge of Sleep” and it was...fine. Inoffensive would be my gut reaction, even if I kept waiting for it to get to the point. Mostly I appreciated that all 6 episodes had the combined runtime less than a Marvel movie.

Of course, now I'm hearing all the discourse. Most of which is folks gushing over how good it is. Not really for the sake of the show itself, it seems. Rather as a parasocial exercise in propelling a low budget indie creator up the ranks of the oft-forgotten Prime Video platform to get one over on the networks suits with all the gusto of a middle schooler flipping off a mailperson for clout.

Thats not to say the show is bad. Clearly it's no one's first production rodeo and merits some recognition. The actors fulfilled their roles to the point I was idly contemplating how the dialogue could have been retooled to make me care more about the characters. Scenes were competently shot and edited well enough that I spent an inordinate amount of time saying “I get it, what's next?”

While efficient with setting the stage for the viewer to be invested, the story gets stuck reiterating its premise “Don't go to sleep” while doing jazz hands compelling you to believe there's some thrilling, mind blowing explanation on the way.

Then each episode just sort of...ends. Sure, there's a teasing reveal that does build on previous tidbits to paint something of a compelling picture about where the story began but does little to guide where it's going next. Which is mostly nowhere.

Each episode becomes a flurry of emotional stick waving driven by characters acting like they are functionally moving the plot forward. Meaningful character connections and any hint of plot resolutions, however, are scarcely more than the slowly fermenting carrot I can only imagine was dug from the leftovers of LOST.

I can sympathize with the reality of ambitious projects like this being launched on monolythic platforms like Prime where nothing is gaurenteed. As a result, the show feels caught between wanting to be a multi-season epic of slowly unveiling plot hooks and memorable character moments; or a one-off mini series exploring a a primal fear through a trippy metaphysical conspiracy. As a result, the mystery is largely suffocated trying to get the viewer to care about characters whom we barely have time, or reason, to connect with as they ambitiously hustle to do the heroic act of avoiding sleep.

In the end, it's a sophomoric outing arguably punching above its weight for the low budget allotted, at least in its technical aspects. Most of the hype is really around Mark and much of the discussion bypasses criticism to support the indie millionaire artist achieve his dreams by leveraging his own not-insignifigant platform as a short cut to the #6 spot in less than 12 hours. With that said, I'll probably still watch whatever he launches next.

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