The original post: /r/television by /u/KornyKingKeNobi on 2025-03-06 23:10:59.
First of all, I’m a huge fan of good one-shots. But over the past few years, I’ve noticed they’re getting worse and it’s painfully obvious why. I just watched the first episode of Disney’s new Daredevil series, and it perfectly illustrates the problem. Don’t worry, no spoilers, except for the fact that there is a one-shot.
For me, a one-shot should serve a purpose. It should pull the audience deeper into the scene, make the emotions, the vibe, and everything that’s happening feel more intense. Ideally, it also have some level of technical or artistic ambition. In fact, if a one-shot is particularly artistic, that alone can be enough justification for using it.
But that’s rarely the case anymore. These days, one-shots are mostly done for prestige. Studios just want to say, “Look at us! We did a one-shot! Aren’t we cool?” That mentality probably comes from a time when one-shots were actually hard to pull off. Back then, practical effects had to be flawless, the actors couldn’t mess up, and the entire film crew had to be in perfect sync. They had limited takes, especially because of shooting on actual film instead of digital. Pulling off a seamless one-shot that truly fit into the movie or episode was a real achievement.
Now? It’s often just a patchwork of short takes and CGI without any real reason for its existence. Daredevil is a prime example. The story, the emotions, everything stays on the same flat level throughout a scene that gains absolutely nothing from being a one-shot. It looks insanely artificial and digital, the characters are CGI for more than half the scene, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire environment was tweaked to the point where the real set barely exists anymore. And because of that, the action also suffers, it lacks impact and just feels weightless. In the end, Disney’s thought process seems to be: “The old Netflix Daredevil had a cool one-shot, so we need one too.”
That being said, there are still great one-shots. A recent example is The Bear Season 1, Episode 7, which is mostly a one-shot and absolutely nails the pacing, the tension, and the emotions of the story. I know that there are theories that there are hidden cuts, but if they’re there, they’re so well done that you don’t even notice them.
So, what do you guys think? Do you even notice one-shots? Do you care about them, or do they just not matter to you? And does your opinion change when you realize it’s a fake one-shot versus a real one?