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Whether it’s because of network stipulations, writer’s guild shenanigans, or production problems, almost every TV show is padded out with filler. But not all filler is bad, just like not all story arc episodes are good. Just look at any episode of Dragon Ball Z. Would you watch more than 10 minutes of this?

I’m writing this because one of the shows I’ve been watching, A Certain Scientific Railgun, has started a run of filler episodes since the ending to its major story arc. But something about its filler doesn’t seem very filler-ish. I think, with one exception, Railgun does filler episodes correctly. Even when an episode isn’t part of a story arc, the writers manage to work in some amount of character development that makes it feel essential to the story being told. For example, the fifth episode of Railgun takes a break from the Level Upper story arc, and uses flashbacks to show how two of its protagonists first met.

The episode shows how the relationship between Judgment members Kazari Uiharu and Kuroko Shirai began. Outwardly, the episode follows the show’s primary theme of friends working together to overcome hardships. But the episode also plays with a subtler theme—the way people cope with a lack of power. In the flashback, Kuroko is at a bank after having finished her Judgment duties for the day. She bumps into Uiharu, but their meeting is interrupted by a pair of robbers who cause the bank to lock down. Kuroko obstinately fights the bank robbers even though she is still inexperienced, and does not have much mastery over her power. Overlooking the fact that it is absurd to ask an elementary school student to do any kind of law enforcement, these events are valuable in establishing an anchor that the Level Upper episodes touch on.

In later episodes, we find out that Level Upper is a device that some espers have used to raise their level, thus giving them more power. Lower level espers use it because of perceived injustices laid on them by higher level espers. However, you see why this is cheating if you think back to the bank robbery. Kuroko did not back down from her adversary, even though she was weak. She refused to give up even after taking a severe beating, and held out until she was able to catch her opponent off guard and gain the upper hand. Kuroko’s attitude and determination serve as an ethical counterpoint for the events of the later episodes—she shows that true power comes from working hard, not by using a device. But rather than set up a one-sided argument against the Level Upper users, the flashbacks also show the plight of the weak. Whereas Kuroko and Uiharu worked hard to overcome their weakness, the Level Upper users resorted to cheating—they did the wrong thing but thanks to episode five, you can see their reasons are somewhat justified. So although this episode isn’t strictly relevant to the story arc, it’s still valuable to appreciating the series.

Sometimes, a filler doesn’t just complement the show, it becomes the show. An old favorite of mine (and many others) serves as an example: Cowboy Bebop. Only a few episodes are part of any story arc; most of the episodes are more or less filler. That fact is what makes Cowboy Bebop so unique. It thrives in the moments, the experiments, the almost-improvisations that make every episode unlike any of the others. It’s very much like the jazz subgenre the series is named for. The shifting moods and textures of each episode have little to do with telling a coherent story; they are simply used to guide the viewer through a long chain of emotions.

Cowboy Bebop’s experimental storytelling was repeated in 2004’s Samurai Champloo. Samurai Champloo was also mostly made of filler, but with one crucial difference: it didn’t offer the same shifting moods and tones as Cowboy Bebop. Each episode was more about the random events that happened to the central trio, and less about how they should make the viewer feel. This, I think, is not a good way to approach filler. Filler shouldn’t offer more of what’s already abundant, because then it would really become padding. I want it to fill in gaps (like in Railgun), or offer something completely different (like in Cowboy Bebop).

Another old favorite of mine is Trigun, whose first half is mostly mediocre filler. Its main story arc doesn’t begin in earnest until the second half, but that half is so good that it completely wipes away the bad taste of the early episodes. In the case of Trigun, the show is mostly sustained by its charismatic protagonist and fascinating fictional world. So even bad filler doesn’t necessarily make a series bad.

There are also traditional types of filler, as many series will throw in a gratuitous episode of one of these types. The most infamous is the hot springs episode (or a beach episode), which almost every show will work in just for fanservice. These are usually just comedy episodes, and are almost always just a waste of time. There’s also the baseball episode. I’m not exactly sure that is a real trend, but they do appear every once in a while as comedic filler. Samurai Champloo used this to good effect by exploiting the anachronism of having modern day major league style baseball in the 19th Century setting (also, the merciless charicatures of Americans was hilarious). The worst filler of all is the oft-maligned recap episode, and with good reason. By definition, much of it is going to be old material. Recap episodes, which are almost always clip shows too, seem to be much less common nowadays. But even great shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Trigun have made use of them. However, recap episodes are one type of filler which seems to be on the decline in recent years, possibly owing to increasing production budgets or decreasing costs erasing the need to reuse footage.

The point of this post is really this: you should judge an episode based on how it affects your appreciation of the series. Filler can be valuable even if you didn’t want a time out from the main story. Take the time to really think about filler, and figure out what it adds to the show or if it’s actual dead weight.

Tags: A Certain Scientific Railgun, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Trigun