Decide the number before the first

Autoplay off gives you the stop. This chapter is about deciding, before the evening starts, where it goes.

Say the number before the first episode. One, or two. Out loud if there's someone there, in your head if not. "One tonight." The number is the plan, and a plan said before the show starts is a plan made by a person who isn't yet under the cliff.

The stop is the credits of the last one. When the credits of the episode you said roll, that's the end. Not the first two minutes of the next, to see what was behind the door. The credits. The cliff is designed to make the credits the hardest place to stop, and that's exactly why they're the right place, because a stop that happens there is a stop that holds.

The cliff test. When the door opens and the need to know arrives, ask one question. Will I still be able to find out tomorrow? The answer is always yes. The show doesn't move. The need survives the night and the sleep doesn't, and that's the whole test.

Two on a Friday, if you like. The number can vary by night. Two on Friday and Saturday, one in the week. What matters is that it's decided before the episode and not during the countdown.

When the number's reached, do the next thing. Not sit in the menu. Stand up, screen off, kettle. The credits are the stop and the kettle is the thing after the stop, and a stop with a thing after it holds better than one that's just a silence with a remote in it.

Say it to whoever's on the sofa with you. If you watch with someone, the number is said to them, and it's said before the first one and not during the credits of the last, when one of you has already reached for the remote. Two people who've both said "one" are harder for the door to move than one person who's said it to themselves. And if the other person wants two, you can watch one and go up, and that's allowed, and it's easier than you think after the first time.

Pick the show for the number. A drama with a door at the end of every episode is a one-a-night show. A comedy with episodes that end where they end is a two-a-night show. Knowing which you're sitting down to is part of saying the number, and part of why the number holds.

Write the plan on the list. The list from chapter 1 has a planned column. Fill it in before the episode, not after. A number written down at half past nine is a number you'll see at quarter past ten.

Expect the cliff to be loud for a week. The door will open and the need will arrive and it'll feel like an emergency. Ask the question. Stand up. By the second week the need arrives and you notice it and it's smaller, because you've found out, six or seven times, that it was still there in the morning and that the finding out was better for the wait.