All the Time

The episode that we watched was about a man who had a great passion for reading, but for some reason, everyone around him thought that it was a bad thing. They treated him badly whenever they caught him reading: at work, and even at home by his wife. The short story ended with a somehow, tragic ending, because the main character, although he was left with all the books and all the time in the world, unfortunately, his glasses broke, leaving him unable to see anything clearly.

If I were given the chance to change anything in the story, I think I would change the part where he reads about the bomb in the newspaper and then suddenly a very loud exploding sound reverberates through the vault he was in. What I would change is that maybe an explanation could be provided first as to why there was a bomb in the first place, maybe he could’ve read something about it or maybe a part of the article could’ve been shown at first so that the audience wouldn’t be confused as to what suddenly happened and why. Another thing that can be changed, I think, would be the type of catastrophe. Instead of a bomb, the possibilities are endless: a widespread disease, famine, etc. Although most of them wouldn’t have such abrupt effects and changing that part would also mean changing some other parts of the story that led up to it in the first place.

The ending is another thing too. If you asked me, I would’ve given it a much happier and less hopeless ending. The main character could’ve had at least a way out or a way to be rescued because even though he was genuinely happy with all the books he could read, the audience, like me, would question his survival. How is he going to eat or drink? How will he stand not being able to interact with other people while knowing that he might be the last man on their side of the Earth with no way of getting out? In stirs a feeling of panic because survival doesn’t seem possible. With a less tragic ending though, the audience would be able to feel relieved and wouldn’t wonder why or how the main character ends up if the story is to be continued.