Repeating events

Repeating events is a common SFnal plot device. A character wakes up and goes through the day's events; something horrible (or perhaps mundane) happens; then the next day when they wake up they relive the same day again.

Variations:

• The day, or events, could be changed slightly each time
• Events could range from horrible to mundane
• Character's awareness of what happened
• How (or if) character stops the cycle
• Explanation of how the repeat happened?

Examples:

• Being Erica, in which Erica relives past events (usually one per episode) to try to fix her mistakes
• Been There, Done That (3x02 episode of Xena: Warrior Princess)
• "Life Serial" (s6 episode of Buffy)
• "Groundhog Day" (Bill Murray vehicle)
• "Monday" (X-Files episode)
• "5:55" (2x03 episode Blood Ties)
• Mystery Spot (season 3 episode of Supernatural

Variants - one-time repeat:

• "Tru Calling" (the entire show is premised on the one-time-only opportunity to repeat the previous day, to "fix" whatever went wrong)
• "I Will Remember You" (S1 episode of Angel; one-time repeat)

See also

• Time travel (which can permit reexamination of the same event from a different perspective, or efforts to redo it)