For Australian fans of Succession, there are two choices when new episodes get released.
Drop whatever you're doing in the middle of a workday to watch it immediately, or spend hours dodging spoilers online until you're home and can finally park yourself on the couch.
But this week's series-defining episode of Succession proves that spoiler culture is changing.
*And yes, spoilers ahead!
Remember how we acted towards Game of Thrones spoilers?
Back in the 2010s, when Game of Thrones became a phenomenon, you'd be thrown in the tower (or worse) for even considering spoiling any part of the show.
For nearly a decade when episodes were airing, Game of Thrones fans fought for their lives each week to remain uninformed.
Viewers muted multiple phrases on Twitter (which is still good practise) and fan forums got innovative with their website coding to redact spoilers for certain users who hadn't caught up yet.
At the time, the Guardian called the concept of spoilers "the most heinous sin in pop culture".
The NSW Police even joked about issuing $250 fines ahead of the season seven premiere.
Succession went to lengths to avoid spoilers
When you're in the media and you write about television, sometimes you receive early access to content, called "screeners" in order to write rewrites ahead of time.
Ahead of Succession's final season, Jesse Armstrong included a personal note to the media regarding their coverage:
"...I'm really hoping that we can keep these fresh for the audience, so I'd love to ask for your help in getting the balance right in terms of letting you write about the show in the way you'd wish, but also asking you to use your usual discretion not only in terms of not revealing specific events but also not signalling which episodes might be 'big ones' even cryptically or indirectly..."
But the secrecy around Logan Roy's death in this week's episode of Succession began in the writers' room.
Now that the dust has settled, Succession writer Georgia Pritchett spoke about the process on Twitter, saying Logan's death was decided in January last year, making it "a tough secret to keep."
"So nobody found out we used code on the whiteboards. Larry David meant Logan Dies. So episode 403 said Connor's Wedding, Larry David. Mind you, that would also have been a great episode," Pritchett wrote.
HBO Max's social media posts have also been considerate. This tweet below forms one image of Connor and Willa's wedding, but spoilers are revealed if you click on each image.
But some outlets threw out the rule book
Most news outlets kept their Succession coverage pretty vague this week, with Vulture's headline reading: "Succession Did It in Episode Three."
Other places went one step further, with The Hollywood Reporter referencing a major character death in their headline, without revealing who.
And then you get the LA Times, which threw out the rule book and published a Logan Roy obituary as soon as the episode wrapped.
Their ruthless move drew swift criticism online, so the outlet responded the following day by publishing readers' complaints and praise for the fictional obituary.
"Thanks for ruining the Succession surprise. You should know better than to pull a cute stunt like this," Sean from Oceanside wrote, in contrast to Wendy from Studio City who wrote: "Clever! I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed an article in Calendar as much as this morning's obituary."
Logan might be dead but spoiler warnings aren't
Beverley Wang co-hosts ABC RN's pop culture podcast Stop Everything! and says while she's personally fine with spoilers, it's important to be respectful of others.
"I will watch things anyway even if I know what happened, sometimes it even helps relieve the stress, but maybe I'm weird that way and it's a result of watching so much TV for work," she told ABC News.
"But that said, we are always very careful on Stop Everything! to flag spoilers, because it's not cool to ruin things for people, especially when there's been no grace period.
"Is there a formal rule for when spoiler alerts shouldn't matter at all? I think we should give things at least three days to a week for new episodes of popular shows.
"So from a personal perspective, I don't really care if things are 'spoiled' for me. If I'm interested, I'll watch anyway to see how it unfolds.
"From a professional perspective I think it's important to flag spoilers because it's just a courtesy not to ruin things for fans."
