Skip intro is a trap for slow burn shows no cap. Those old cop dramas put real work into the cold open and the theme song sets the mood, cutting it kills the whole vibe. Autoplay is the real bad guy here since it just runs everything together with no breaks. You end up burned out on a show you actually like because you mainlined it like junk food. Nothing wrong with your continuity thing either, that new captain probably showed up in a five second scene you slept through. Honestly just turn autoplay off and let the credits play, it hits different.

That "subtitle speedrun disaster" bit got me good, I read that and laughed out loud. I actually saw a similar thing happen at a friend's place where the Blu-ray skipped a chapter and everyone just rolled with it, inventing this whole backstory about a time traveling side character. Sometimes the group's made up nonsense is way more memorable than whatever the original plot was, so honestly you might have stumbled onto a better tradition.