COURTESY OF MOVIEDBCOASTER.COM| The Daily Mississippian
Five weeks of winter break — what is an Ole Miss student to do? I know! Celebrate the holidays, relax, catch up on post-finals-week sleep and, of course, spend some time with family and friends. But wait, we’re missing one thing. Sophomore journalism major Maggie Durnien calls it an addiction — others of us call it Netflix.
“The thing about Netflix is that it starts automatically and it gives you 15 seconds to decide to watch the next episode, and before you know it, it’s 5 a.m. and you just finished the entire series of ‘Friday Night Lights’ in two weeks,” Durnien said.
The attraction of Netflix is the ability to watch entire series of shows from the comfort of your own couch. Popular shows include “Gossip Girl,” “New Girl,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Dexter,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” — just to name a few. However, you can’t possibly catch them all, so here it goes, the top-three shows to binge-watch over the marathon that is Christmas break.
Two words: “Breaking Bad.” This September television said goodbye to the iconic meth-cooking, cancer-stricken high school teacher, Walter White. One would’ve thought the world was ending with all of the tweets surrounding the closing of such an incredible show. What’s the appeal?
Sarah Scott, integrated marketing communications major, said, “When I started watching Breaking Bad I basically said goodbye to my social life. Something about a middle-aged man with cancer cooking meth is so intriguing. Oh, and Aaron Paul — that’s a plus!”
What better way to spend your break than diving into the six-season series; naturally the first five are on the ‘flix!
Next on the list comes “Scandal,” a show surrounding the life of Olivia Pope, a Washington, D.C., crisis manager who runs her own firm, Pope & Associates. “Scandal” takes you inside Pope’s world, in which she represents some of the top elites in the District of Columbia. Not to mention the on-again-off-again relationship with the dreamy President Fitzgerald Grant. The attraction is the high-class drama. It brings the viewer inside a world of dirty politics in which the outcome is always unpredictable.
“I literally count down the days between new episodes because each week you are left wondering what’s going to happen next,” senior marketing major Marlie Beech said. “Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that Olivia Pope isn’t in our nation’s capital doing what she does best.”
This series is still running, but it is taking a winter hiatus during the holiday season — perfect timing to catch up on the first two seasons.
“Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” — more like “Tired Eyes, Empty Hearts, I’ve Lost,” because that’s how you will feel once you complete this final Netflix bender of a series — and that is coming from personal experience. “Friday Night Lights” takes you deep into the roots of Texas football and has you rooting for the Dillon Panthers as if they were your Ole Miss Rebels. As Durnien said, she watched the series in two weeks.
“I was no longer Maggie Durnien, I was a resident of Dillon, Texas. It became so severe that my mom canceled my Netflix subscription. Is that awkward? Nope, not at all.”
The reason this show captures the heart of so many is because it surrounds football and family, and is easily relatable — it also doesn’t hurt that the talented Connie Britton plays the female lead of Coach Eric Taylor’s wife and school principal.
Hi, my name is Gilly Dreyer and I’m addicted to Netflix. I can’t say I’m not excited for break, because you know what that means. Unless someone changes my password, you guys will know where to find me.
-Gilly Dreyer
ngdreyer@go.olemiss.edu
