"Survival isn't who you are. It's who you become." -'The 100'

One of my favorite TV Series at the moment is The 100, which is one of the new popular shows that runs on The CW. This show first premiered on March 19, 2014; I didn't even know about it until I was looking through Netflix back in October and saw that a show called The 100, was recently added and nearly had a 5/5 star rating, so naturally I thought I would give the show a try and soon after starting it I was HOOKED!

"The Ark"

This series starts with one of the main characters, Clarke explaining what has happened and where she is. She states:

"It's been 97 years since a nuclear apocalypse killed everyone on Earth, leaving the planet simmering in radiation. Fortunately, there were survivors at the time of the bombs. There is now only The Ark, one station forged from the many. We're told the Earth needs another 100 years to become survivable again and man can go home, back to the ground. The ground, that's the dream."

Clarke, played by
Eliza Taylor

We soon find out that Clarke and many other minors are in "prison"!  Since they have been up in space for nearly a hundred years, all of their food, supplies and oxygen are low at The Ark. They believe they are the only humans left in the universe so to keep the human race alive; no matter what crime they commit they are sentenced to death. They shoot you out in space, they call it "getting floated". The only way you don't get "floated" from committing a crime is if you are under the age of 18. The reason why this show is called The 100, is because the people that are in charge of the Ark decide to send 100 prisoners down to earth to see if it is livable once again. 

I love the character development that happens once they are on earth, from the start of the season to the end. It starts out with the 100, acting like normal teenagers, partying, not thinking/planing how to survive and where to sleep. They mature into warriors, when they need to start fighting for their lives when they realize that some humans have been living on earth all this time and they aren't happy that they are living on their land. I also like how we learn more about how these teenagers used to live on The Ark through flashbacks, and how much their characters had to change to survive. 

I recommend this series to anyone that likes Action, Drama, and their minds being BLOWN multiple times throughout a season.  

I would rate Season 1 of The 100, 9.3/10.  The only reason why I didn't give it a perfect score is because the series starts out a little slow but by the third episode it picks up pace and keeps getting better with every episode. 

Why Binge Watching is Better

Our whole lives we are taught that you can't do it all in a night. You shouldn't wait until the last minute. Don't stress yourself out by doing it all at once. That is great advice for things like big projects or studying for an exam, and some people will say the same sort of things about watching a television show. They'll tell you that you should watch each new episode when it premieres and then wait until until next week to find out what happens.  They may try and tell you that it's unhealthy to stay up into the wee hours of the night watching just one more episode, which we all know really means 4 more episodes, but here are the top three reasons I think it's better for you to take a whole weekend to watch an entire season of a show.

More emotionally connected

One of the things that draws you into a show and keeps you hooked is having a connection to the characters. No one wants to watch a show about someone they can't relate to. When you watch an entire season back to back you allow yourself to get to know a character on a whole different level than if you were to watch it as it premieres. You allow yourself to be fully immerse into the life of this character. You're allowing yourself to react to situations in real time with the characters. Emotions are always strongest when they are raw and that's what binge watching allows. You don't have time to logically think out how you feel. Your reaction is pure emotion the way a characters reaction would be.

Better understanding of the storyline

We all keep up with a lot of shows, especially if you're a TVR major like myself. Everyone has at least 10 shows to tell you about when you ask "what's your favorite show?" It's a lot to keep track of from season to season or even episode to episode. However if you watch each episode of a season back to back, you don't have time to forget. It's easier to remember what happened in the last episode when the last episode was just watched a few minutes ago. You'll have an easier time remembering small characters who only show up once in a blue moon because it won't have been that long since their last appearance.

Cliff hangers aren't as stressful

Life can be stressful. You've got your job, friends, classes, family, a significant other, and who knows what else piled high on your mind. You don't need the stress of a cliffhanger television episode weighing on your mind all week. When binge watching, this isn't an issue because the resolution to the cliff hanger is right there. All you have to do is press play and wait for the video to load. You don't have to daydream in class all the possible outcomes. You don't have to lay in bed and panic for the wellbeing of your favorite character. Just relax and find out what happens next


So next time you get hooked on a show, don't feel bad about watching that next episode right after it. Go ahead, stay in bed for a week straight and do nothing but watch an entire series. You deserve it.

Friday Night Lights and the Benefits of Binge-Watching

Over the Summer, my family decided to take a huge leap into the 21st century and not only buy a new TV to replace our 20+ year-old model, but to also spend an extra $8 per month on Netflix's streaming service. This opened up a world of possibilities; my dad could watch old episodes of Star Trek, my mom could finally catch up on Mad Men, and I had three whole months to binge-watch to my heart's content.

After re-watching Breaking Bad, I decided to take what I thought would be a brief detour to the world of Friday Night Lights. I quickly discovered, however, that the town of Dillon, Texas had a certain magical quality about it, and I soon found myself falling deeper and deeper under its spell. All of the notions that I had about the show - that it would be a conservative, cliched story about a football team vying for an ever elusive spot at the Texas State High School football championship game - were thrown out the window after the first episode. (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)

Is it cliche at times? Certainly. But the fact that the Dillon Panthers end up winning the State title is in no way reflective of the show as a whole. In the pilot episode, all star, pretty boy quarterback Jason Street, who was predicted to lead the team to victory and maybe one day even play in the NFL, is paralyzed and told that he will never walk again. Throughout the show, characters are hurt, cheated on, lied to, and forced to deal with the hardships that come with being in high school, a football program, or any kind of relationship. It can be dark, and not everyone has a happy ending.

But through all the soapy drama and football action alike, there is one constant: Coach Eric Taylor. Played with a steel jawed, sparkling-eyed confidence by the incredible Kyle Chandler (who won the Emmy for best actor in a drama series for his performance in FNL's fifth and final season), Coach Taylor is everything that this show stands for. He is a symbol of hope for those who have none, and commands attention whenever he is on screen. Youtube videos can't do him justice, but for what it's worth, here's a highlight reel.

So I'll admit it: Friday Night Lights got me hooked. I watched the whole series, all five seasons, in just under two months. Now, this may not be binge-watching in the truest sense of the word (I've known people who have plowed through the show in a matter of weeks) but I still watched it much quicker than the creators ever intended it to be watched. Some people claim that this ruins the integrity of the show by not allowing you to connect to the characters as much as you should be and by also helping to promote the "gotta have it all right now" attitude that our generation tends to live by. Hell, Jim Pagels, a columnist for Slate.com, wrote a very convincing argument against binge watching. Read it here.

Maybe it's just my college student mentality, but I have to strongly disagree. Not only are sites like Netflix and Hulu Plus a resource for television students like myself, but they offer a TV watching experience that is 100% tailored to the viewer. If I wanted to watch three episodes of FNL back to back to back, there was nothing (besides my job) that could stop me from doing so. On the flip side, if I was busy for a few days straight and not able to watch an episode, I didn't have to worry about missing anything, since I knew that whenever I got back, Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen and all of my other favorite Dillon Panthers would be there, waiting for my return.

Which brings me to another point; all of the TV characters that I've felt closest to, that have connected with me on a deeply personal level, have come from shows that I've binge-watched. Whether it be Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad or the more recent Coach Taylor, these characters have all left their mark on me. It's not that I now find watching shows on a week to week basis to be boring: it's that I have had the experience of truly immersing myself into a world for two month's time that it's now hard to be torn in and out of that world once per week. The times are changing, and TV is learning to change with it. I'm just along for the ride.

I just finished Friday Night Lights, and after I choked back my manly tears, I got the feeling that you get when you finish a really great book and realize that everything is over; that there's no more story to tell. But with the recent news that Connie Britton (Mrs. Taylor) has a copy of a script for a potential FNL movie, the Dillon dream may live on after all. That sounds like pretty great news to me: any chance to hear Coach give one more goosebump-inducing speech or see Tim Riggins wistfully look off into a Texas sunset is an opportunity that I can't miss out on. The only advice I have to give for everyone involved with the possible film?

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't Lose.