Oct. 18th, 2024. 9:45pm.
I sat in the Danielson first-floor study lounge when a notification appeared on my phone: Mark “Markiplier” Fishbach started a livestream titled “EMERGENCY MEETING” on YouTube. Since he’s one of my favorite YouTubers, I have all notifications on for his channel. I was just doing homework and figured I could hop on and listen while I typed away at my essay.
Fishbach had mentioned in previous videos that he was working on a project, titled “The Edge of Sleep.” But it came out earlier than he expected, so he started a stream to announce that it was released as a short television series on Amazon Prime Video.
My stomach dropped. This was a Prime Video series? A YouTuber was producing and starring in a Prime Video series? My mind went straight to the “world’s biggest floss” incident.
When I think of the most embarrassing things people can experience, I think of the line “I’m not seeing enough movement!”
Tyler “Ninja” Blemmings led a giant crowd of people on New Year’s 2018, attempting to create the world’s biggest floss – the most people doing the dance move at once. But he failed. His “streamer charisma” wasn’t nearly enough to rally the people around him. It was horrifically embarrassing.
Experiences like that practically decreed that YouTubers and other content creators would always appear cringy whenever they stepped outside of their content creation bubble. How could “The Edge of Sleep” be different?
But at the end of the day, I was just too curious to stay blissfully unaware of its reception.
10:15 p.m.
I reluctantly opened Prime Video and typed “The Edge of Sleep” into the search bar. I got comfortable in the study lounge bench (and warm, thanks to the lounge being next to the boiler room) and hit play on the first episode.
To my surprise, this series seemed really serious. I knew Fishbach was capable of acting and producing more traditional media since he’s been working on a feature-length film for some time, as well as adjacent large film projects in the past like A Heist with Markiplier and In Space with Markiplier. But actually seeing the six 20-minute episodes was a different story.
My initial reaction was… not great. I watched the very first scene of the very first episode and cringed at the shakiness of the camerawork (which I figured was supposed to convey plane turbulence, but I found the shake to be too obvious). The title sequence played out, and with it came imagery of stone masks, whales, pills, hospital beds and cryptic imagery paired with an eerie cover of “I Go to Sleep” by Peggy Lee. I was overwhelmed and confused. But I kept watching. And that’s probably one of the smartest things I’ve done this year.
10:38 p.m.
The credits appeared 18 minutes later. “Woah,” I said to myself. I had to see where this story went next.
The show’s premise is that, without warning, suddenly everyone on Earth who is asleep or goes to sleep dies, and a few night-shift people are left as the only people in town. I found this premise extremely intriguing. I also appreciated the great acting performances from Eve Harlow as Linda and Lio Tipton as Katie; they felt like real people reacting to this reality-shattering scenario.
And that title sequence — the quietness and lack of weight in any of the visuals, the floaty dream-like nature of it all and how well it synthesized with the calming and yet eerie rendition of “I Go to Sleep”– I couldn’t get enough of that either.
11 p.m.
I watched three episodes that night before I was too hot in that room and it was getting too late. I watched the rest the next day.
Now, I’ve seen the whole show a few times. Sometimes with friends, many times with myself and I. And every time the title sequence starts, I sing along with it. No matter if my friend has heard it four times already today.
When I look up from my pillow I dream you are there
With me
“The Edge of Sleep” was a leap of faith for me, an attempt to prove to myself that YouTubers can create high quality products that are on par with mainstream media. The proof that not everything YouTubers do will become the next “world’s biggest floss” incident.
Though you are far away I know you’ll always be near
To me
And it was everything I hoped it would be. I didn’t need to be a huge fan of Markiplier to enjoy the art direction. I could just…enjoy the show for what it was. Such a sigh of relief since I want to share with as many people as I can, chronically online (like me) or otherwise. My mom is next on the list.
I go to sleep, sleep
And imagine that you’re there, with me
But if I can get you to take one thing away from my writing today, it’s this: I want you to give him and this series a shot. You don’t have to love it like I did in the end, but I hope you can appreciate it as an equal (though maybe not in budget) to other shows.
I go to sleep, sleep
And imagine that you’re there, with me
And when his full-length feature film “Iron Lung” releases in theaters one day (which he stars in, directs, edits, produces and probably plenty more), I’ll be there day one. And day two. Call me if you’d like to see it with me when it releases.
