The TV Recap: Knowledge, Memory, and Complex Narrative Orientation.

In the world of digital media, populated by new paratexts and short forms, there are certain textual structures that, despite appearing subordinate to other texts, play vital functions and yet remain little studied. This article investigates the recap (recapitulation), beginning with the general hypothesis that they constitute narrative devices in which brevity serves 1) as a resource that takes those elements of ephemeral narratives that are destined otherwise to be forgotten, and converts them into persistent elements within the audience’s memory; and 2) as a resource for self-orientation, in temporal but also spatial terms, within serial forms that span years of programming and take up long periods of the user’s consumption experience. Following the introduction, the discussion highlights how the problem of summary has been addressed in relation to literature, and what changes when it is applied to the context of serialized television (in the second section). The third section identifies three contexts for the study of recaps: its collocation within serial forms, its two principal types, and the most important functions that it adopts (summary, a guide to the narrative components of a series, spatial orientation, regulation of the spectator’s meta-discursive capacity). The fourth section is devoted to the ways in which the recap interacts with the viewer by controlling sets of knowledge and recognition. The fifth proposes conclusions in two areas: the first reads the recap not only as a summary-tool for narrative universes but also as a kind of map that allows us to move within such universes; the second expands on the role of the recap in the construction and maintenance of our recollection of long serial forms.