The Max era is over. After a much-criticized name change in 2023, the Max streaming service is officially returning to its original name of HBO Max. If that sounds a little confusing, here's what happened.

As the nation reels in all the sudden, horrible change of this grim moment, it feels increasingly impossible to ever go back—to somehow reverse entropy’s course and return to the relative Eden of a simpler, more sensible time. Like, say, May of 2020, when the streaming service HBO Max launched.