Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

just-watch

2016-03-08 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
just-watch
Votey panel for just-watch
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

The Joke

A couple is watching a TV show. One says "This show is terrible," and the other agrees: "Of course it is." But the first person insists they need to keep watching — let it grind them down, lower their standards for plot, character, dialog, and acting, and eventually the show will wash over them, caress their bodies, and all will be well. On the TV, a character announces "We can time travel directly into the plot hole!" and the viewer declares, "It's so clever."

The Humor

The comic captures the phenomenon of "hate-watching" or simply becoming desensitized to bad television through prolonged exposure. The joke is that the viewer doesn't argue the show will get better — they explicitly advocate for lowering one's standards until the show seems acceptable. The language escalates into something almost cult-like or seductive ("let it wash over you, caress your bodies, forget, all will be well"), satirizing how passive media consumption can feel like a form of surrender. The final panel shows the process working perfectly: a blatantly lazy plot device (time-traveling into a plot hole) is praised as clever, proving that standards have been successfully demolished.

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