We’re all familiar with the phenomenon.
You finally finish that last Friday final, grab your suitcases as fast as possible, say goodbye to your roommate who you don’t like that much anyway but will miss in that weird love-hate kind of way and hop in a cab to Midway for your flight home, excited to be free of Northwestern for the following three weeks. You hug your family, stop for dinner at your favorite restaurant and for three days, everything is merry.
And then it hits you: “I’m bored.”
Restaurants have been replaced by mom’s meatloaf, Christmas isn’t for another two weeks and your semester-school friends are still in class. You hole up in your bedroom and prepare for a Winter Break of Facebook stalking and posting “I miss #Heavenston sooo much!” tweets.
Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to live this way, Wildcats. Between Netflix, other … well, less legal sources and your old VHS collections, the holiday season is the perfect time to binge-watch all the TV and movies you’ve missed while spending the last three months slaving over orgo and reading for Russian lit.
Here’s what you should be catching up on this December:
“Nashville”: If you’re looking to latch on to a new show that should be around for a while and become a superfan who obsesses over every minor detail (and if you’re not, you clearly ended up at NU by mistake), this ABC drama might be your best bet. The series stars Connie Britton, which is really all you need to know. Coach Taylor’s wife is back as a country music star starting to lose her touch. The last five episodes are available on Hulu and ABC.com, so catch up quickly, and then set aside your Wednesday nights for the foreseeable future.
“Lord of the Rings”: With the first of three “Hobbit” movies releasing Dec. 14, what better time to catch up on the happenings in Middle Earth than with a marathon of the extended editions? Clocking in at 11 hours and 23 minutes, get started in the early afternoon and don’t be afraid to doze off to Howard Shore’s brilliant soundtrack and Aragorn’s soothing tones.
“Breaking Bad” and “Arrested Development”: Brief interlude here to mention two shows, which Haley Boston already covered in last week’s edition of The Current, that are masterpieces you should really catch up on before their summer returns.
“Homeland”: Last but certainly not least. If you don’t go on Twitter on Sunday nights, you’ve missed the show everyone is talking about, which is unfortunate because it’s the best show on TV right now (until Breaking Bad comes back this summer) but also helpful for you because you’ve missed all the spoilers that come with getting into a show late. Claire Danes is a CIA operative who suspects that Nicholas Brody, played by Damian Lewis, has been turned by terrorists following his eight-year imprisonment in the Middle East. Not available on Netflix, sadly, so grab the season one DVD or go episode-by-episode on Amazon Prime if you don’t have Showtime Anytime. The second 12-episode season ends Dec. 16. I recommend setting aside just one day for each season: The cliffhangers after each episode will make it impossible to let go.
