Charlotte Latvala: To binge or not binge, that is the question

Last week, my philosophical dilemma came down to six Shakespearean words.

To binge or not to binge.

Is it nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of delayed gratification — or to plop down on the couch right this very second and watch the first two episodes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” — knowing that I’ll have to wait an agonizing week for episode three?

For unless you’ve been a) hanging out under the proverbial rock, b) don’t give a Fig Newton about Middle-earth, or c) have thoughts more pressing than “Did wizards exist in the Second Age?” you know that Amazon’s highly anticipated LOTR series began streaming last week.

A series that cost nearly $1 billion to make. Episodes that are stupendous in scope, story and special effects. Questions that have divided the Tolkien fan base across the globe (Will the writers stay true to the Appendices? Will they introduce pointless new characters? What’s with Galadriel’s armor?)

I’ve been eagerly looking forward to “The Rings of Power” for months, hoping for a fictional getaway after a stressful summer.

And I was faced with a monumental decision. Do I watch, or do I wait?

Over the past decade, I have become a great fan of the binge. I don’t watch much TV, but when I do, I prefer to digest it in one enormous gulp. I want to sit down for hours at a time and completely immerse myself in another world.

And I’m finally catching up on some of the highlights I’ve missed during the frantically busy, kids-at-home years.

Some years back, “Lost” was my first multi-season binge, followed closely by “Downton Abbey.” “Broadchurch”? Sure! “Shetland” — don’t mind if I do, all six seasons, three times in a row.

Two seasons of “Indian Summers,” gulped down quickly, led to a re-watch of “The Jewel in the Crown,” a beloved PBS classic. And how did I miss “Wolf Hall,” an adaptation of a favorite book series, some seven years ago? Who cares? I binged it in three days and am better for it.

When you binge, you never have time to lose track of the storyline, or who’s related to whom. There’s no need to get reoriented to the where and when of the plot.

The thought of having to wait a week to find out what happens next seems unbearable. It hearkens back to childhood days of endless commercials and timing your snack and bathroom breaks to align with the network schedule.

On the other hand … waiting for the series to end so you can begin the binge, while everyone else is dropping spoilers all over the Internet? That’s even harder.

So did I give in to the powers of Mordor and take a peek? Yes, I did. (Thumbs up, by the way.) I can’t wait till Season One concludes and I can enjoy “The Rings of Power” from start to finish, straight through this time.

To binge, perchance to dream.

Charlotte is a columnist for The Times. You can reach her at charlottelatvala@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Latvala: To binge or not binge, that is the question