Wonderfalls

For me, the beauty of Netflix is being able to watch whole seasons of television at one time. This, above all else, is why it's the best $19.50 I spend in a month. No commercials, no waiting for the next episode, no interruptions, and yes, no life.

I recently devoured Wonderfalls: The Complete Series and man was it good. Jaye Tyler is a sharp, witty, and sarcastic 23-year old Brown University graduate who is putting her philosophy degree to good use as a store clerk at a souvenir shop in Niagara Falls. Jaye's incredibly smart and has the potential to do very cool things with her life, but she's a Gen Y slacker who doesn't feel compelled to move beyond her trailer park and souvenir store lifestyle. I like to flatter myself and think Jaye is a version of me, but hell, she's prettier, thinner, smarter, graduated from an Ivy League school, and has glossier hair than me. A girl can dream, right?

Of course, as is the case with many well-written, smart, and ahead-of-its-time shows that found a home at Fox, it was cancelled after four episodes. And another of course, I discovered this show two years after it's been cancelled.

Before I made my recent, mindblowing discovery that I've been using television as a substitute for meeting new people and having friends, I was devastated with the end of Wonderfalls. In my mind, Jaye was a dear friend of mine and it was killing me to see her in so much pain in the last three episodes of the series. I just wanted her to be with her soulmate, Eric Gotts, and live happily ever after.

Yes, I have reminded myself time and again that Jaye and Eric are not real people, they aren't going to live happily ever after, and even if I make a trip to Niagara Falls with my better half, we're not going to find the Wonderfalls souvenir shop. They're not going to invite me to their wedding, and I'm not going to have meet them after work at The Barrel for drinks. They're not real people and they're not my friends.

I imagine this is how all sorts of fan fiction starts: with a person who loves something so much and refuses to accept it when it's over. Well, I'm probably not going to go writing Wonderfalls: The Story Ain't Over fiction, but I probably will buy myself a muse.