Everything in Its Own Time
I’m late to the party on Silicon Valley. The HBO show ran from 2014 to 2019, and I remember hearing everyone rave about it. But at the time, I didn’t have HBO, and maybe a little because of my own contrarian streak, I avoided it. If something feels too much like a mainstream hit, I tend to avoid it.
Now, years later, I’ve finally started watching. I’m on Season 4, and I’m hooked. The satire, the awkwardness, the inside jokes about tech culture, it all lands; maybe even more relevant now. And I find myself thinking about why it feels so satisfying to watch it now instead of back then.
When you consume something outside of the hype cycle, it changes the experience. You’re not caught up in live reactions, groupthink, or spoilers clogging your feed. You’re just there with the work itself, taking it in at your own pace. The jokes hit differently, the themes feel timeless, and you’re less worried about whether your opinion matches the crowd.
There’s something freeing about that. We treat cultural consumption like a race, as if being the first to finish a series or read a new book somehow makes the experience more valid. But some art finds you when you’re ready, not when the world is shouting about it.
Maybe the point isn’t to be first. Maybe it’s just to arrive when it’s your time.