[Loved Trope] The one random episode that doesn't follow the main characters

[u/BagOfSmallerBags]

Heated Rivalry Episode 3 "Hunter": The show stops following Hollander and Rozanov's love story to follow another hockey player, Scott Hunter, and his romance with a smoothie store employee.

The Last of Us S1E3 "Long Long Time": Joel and Ellie need a car. So to explain why there's a car waiting around for them to use, they show us an incredibly heartbreaking love story lasting 20 years between two men Joel knows. They have a car.

Doctor Who S3E10 "Blink": With no explanation given, this episode begins with a character we've never met, one Sally Sparrow, poking around an abandoned building. Our lead character, The Doctor, is glimpsed seemingly randomly on TVs. What is going on? Did that statue just move!?

MythicQuest S1E5 "A Dark Quiet Death": Rather than continuing to follow our lead characters as they develop an MMORPG, we flash back many years to witness the history of a couple who start a videogame company, and how over the years the pressure to drive sales causes them to give up on their artistic integrity.

[u/sanzentriad]

For anyone who might not know, The Scott Hunter x Kip story is actually the entire plot of the first book in the series, with Shane and Ilya’s relationship actually being the focus of the second book. They all become interconnected throughout the series though, so the way the tv series did it made a lot of sense.

[u/Boris_Godunov → u/sanzentriad]

Yeah, Ep. 3 isn't really "random." It's a vital episode to lead to the huge payoff in Ep. 5. Skip's story becomes essential to Hollanov. :)

[u/Trifle_Useful → u/sanzentriad]

As someone who only watched the show it was so well placed. I kept turning to my fiancée fearful that it was going to take a turn for the worse at some point.

Such a nice reprieve from Shane and Ilya’s wildly unhealthy dynamic to that point in the show

[u/Tatis_Chief → u/Trifle_Useful]

It was clever to place it. Makes the emotional impact of the cottage storyline way better. It's also way way better than the book. The book is honestly not that good. 

[u/RoboFunky → u/sanzentriad]

Seems they might do the same with Role Model

[u/tinaoe → u/RoboFunky]

Nah, I think Role Model will be more integrated. Those books basically run parallel. They might do it with Tough Guy

[u/contratadam → u/tinaoe]

I stan a Tough Guy solo épisode!