6 Times TV Took Time Loops to a Whole New Level

Everybody loves a goodGroundhog Dayepisode;The X - Files , Fringe , 12 Monkeys , Xena : Warrior Princess , and more have done them . But there are some tv set appearance that necessitate the beloved but intimate figure of speech and did something to put their version asunder . As we ’re all societal distancing at dwelling house , sometimes feeling like we ’re stuck in our own loop , it ’s good to take a pace back and see how twisted things could really get in a clock time loop topology .

Legends of Tomorrow: “Here I Go Again”

The Arrowverse is not one to shy forth from timey - wimey nonsense , but the better example of a great DC time iteration adventure belong toLegends of Tomorrow’sthird season episode , “ Here I Go Again . ” It was one of the first stories to center around Zari ( Tala Ashe)—a relatively new extremity on the Waverider at the clip — as she struggle with stopping an hour - long time loop that ended in the ship ’s destruction .

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in the end , the time loop was a bit of a violent herring but that did n’t topic , as the veridical focus was on yield the interview a chance to get to do it Zari ( now a fan dearie ) and see all her crotchet , doubts , and complexities . Side short letter : This was also the episode where we learned Mick ’s secret identity as a sci - fi erotica novelist , which was a welcome ( and dare I say vital ) summation .

Clockwise from left: Legends of Tomorrow, Russian Doll, The Magicians, and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Clockwise from left: Legends of Tomorrow, Russian Doll, The Magicians, and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.Photo: The CW / Photo: Netflix / Photo: Syfy

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Life Serial”

While not take up the full sequence , Buffy the Vampire Slayer’stime loop portion of season six ’s “ Life Serial ” is a definite must - watch . Unlike most of the other entries on this inclination where the time loop flexible joint on a aliveness - or - death scenario , this one is the most boring experience of all fourth dimension .

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Buffy ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) is try her ( mummy ) mitt at a cashier line working for the Magic Shop . However , the deuce-ace of Jonathan , Warren , and Andrew have stuck her in a clip loop-the-loop where she maintain echo a failed cut-rate sale of a mummy hand . Most of the installment , and season six overall , is about Buffy feeling like life is pass her by while she ’s stuck in the same routine . This episode occupy those fears and made them genuine . Plus , the guy actually name definitive time eyelet episodes of The X - Files and Star Trek : The Next Generation as intake .

Wait, this looks familiar.

Wait, this looks familiar.Photo: Robert Falconer (The CW)

Russian Doll

Netflix’sRussian Dollgave us one better than a time loop episode : a time loop TV show ! star serial carbon monoxide gas - creator Natasha Lyonne , Russian Doll is about a young womanhood named Nadia who keep back buy the farm in horrifying ways , only to resurface at her birthday political party on the same night . She sometimes manages to live for days or week , other time only a few hours , but it always comes back to the same damn company . It is n’t until she comes across fellow time inchworm Alan Zaveri ( Charlie Barnett ) that Nadia starts put the piece together . Russian Doll was n’t the first show to use the time loop as a secret plan gimmick ( there was ABC ’s 2006 show Day Break ) , but I ’d call it one the only show to do it right . Considering Netflix hasalready renewedit for another season , it seems others agree .

Star Trek: Discovery: “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”

This was the first episode where I started to feel like Star Trek : Discovery wasfinding its ground . In “ thaumaturgy to Make the Sanest Man Go huffy , ” Harry Mudd ( Rainn Wilson ) trap the Discovery in a clock time loop so he could discover the spore drive ’s closed book and betray the ship to the Klingons . As most of the gang was stick partying it up over and over again , Stamets ’ ( Anthony Rapp ) spore drive augmentation had protected him from the time loop ’s effects . We see him fight to figure out a way to solve the crisis , while also bear from the effects of the spore drive and sentence repetition . It was a peachy bottleful instalment that showed the work party at its more sport and vulnerable , and was an excellent successor to previous Star Trek fourth dimension loop episodes likeThe Next Generation’s“Cause and upshot . ”

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The Magicians: “Oops!… I Did It Again”

The most recent increase to our list , The Magicians ’ “ Oops ! … I Did It Again ” was a standout episode utilize the trope — mainly because of how much it centre on the importance of connexion . In this narrative , Earth was on the verge of total destruction because our heroes had by chance destroyed the lunation . Eliot and Margo , having previously doused themselves with a potion that made them immune to clock time magic , get themselves in the middle of a loop cause by whale ( just go with it ) who were trying to save the planet .

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Margo was stuck have to do all the work as Eliot ’s posttraumatic stress disorder was regard him physically and psychologically , but eventually , she lose her resistance and became part of the time eyelet too — leaving Eliot to confront his trauma and solve the problem by himself . It ’s one thing to watch a fictional character go through a prison term loop , it ’s another entirely to see someone lose as they recede the only person they could tend on during such an impossible billet .

Honestly not sure what would be worse: being stuck in an apocalyptic scenario, or trapped at a dead-end job.

Honestly not sure what would be worse: being stuck in an apocalyptic scenario, or trapped at a dead-end job.Image: The WB

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

I think of my first time playing through Black Mirror : Bandersnatch . Likemost other viewers , I take to “ accept ” the crack show above and market Stefan Butler ’s ( Fionn Whitehead ) video game before it was quick , result in a universally panned spicy mess . Then boom , I was back at the beginning of the film , getting ready to essay the day all over again . Black Mirror : Bandersnatchwas a fascinating time closed circuit episode because the consultation were the ones living it . We were n’t watching one or more characters suffer through an endless Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , we were experiencing it ourselves . Of course , as spectator , we always had the choice of stopping the time loop by simply call on Netflix off . But the fact that we were blend through a take over day with everyone else ( mostly ) none - the - wiser is probably the close we ’ll ever get to an actual meter loop .

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Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) at the bathroom mirror that started it all.