Why Netflix Isn’t Cheap (and why Boom Chicka Pop should come with a warning label)

A lot of you witnessed my household’s fabulous entry into the modern day a while back when I fretted online about getting Netflix, a device, etc, etc. Long story short, despite my original plan of a Wii, I ended up discovering that I could get a Blu Ray DVD player (needed a new DVD player, anyway) with internet connection and Voila! I would have access to Netflix.
It was like magic.
Turned out, when boy child got everything set up and hooked up and turned on, we had other things as well. We had YouTube, we had Crackle, we had Amazon Instant Video.
Addictive.
Here’s the part where you say, but Netflix is super cheap. It really is!
And it is. But…it’s not.
See, here’s how it goes.
Girl child and I get addicted to Flashpoint.
We watch 5 seasons of Flashpoint on Netflix.
According to Amazon there are SIX seasons of Flashpoint. I order season six because…WE CANNOT WAIT. (Turns out there is no sixth season. When the released them on DVD they reshuffled the seasons to create 6 not 5 so yeah, pissed. But whatever.)
Due to my addiction to Flashpoint, I developed a Hulk sized crush on Hugh Dillon. So of course I had to watch The Killing alllllll the way to the end to see the season he was in. No biggie. It was on Netflix.
I also HAD to see Durham County. So (remember, thanks to my Netflix Flashpoint addiction) I bought S1 and S2 on DVD because it wasn’t on Netflix. Then I blew through that and no one (no one!) had S3. And how the fuck can you get 2/3 of the way through a dark story and not know the end?
So….I found it on Amazon Instant Video. And I bought it.
Let’s tally. My very cheap Netflix has now cost me: monthly fee, Flashpoint S6 (that I’d already seen), 2 seasons of Durham County on DVD and one on Instant video… O_o
Then I signed on for 30 days of Amazon Prime because…Veronica Mars. We binge watched three seasons in less than three weeks. That is impressive.
Alas, Veronica Mars was over, we were mourning, and we flitted around but couldn’t find anything that really did it for us (despite at the moment having Netflix AND Amazon Prime). To pass the time I binge watched (yes, I am somehow writing and running a household and keeping myself fed, dressed, and lucid during all this. Don’t ask me how) Hannibal S1 and S2
One day, girl child settles on The Originals on Netflix. She says, “Hmm…I’ve heard it’s good but…”
“But you, like me, said you’d never ever ever watch it? You’d rather eat broken glass?”
“Yeah.” She sighs.
“Fuck it. What have we got to lose?”
So we hit play on episode 1.
Three days and 22 episodes later (22!) we are done. Done. We are sad. We are a little frantic. Having some withdrawal issues.
Me: “Well, what season’s on TV now?”
Her: “Two.”
*looks on demand. Nope.*
*looks on CW app. They offer three full episodes, no more.*
*looks on Amazon Instant Video (of course it’s not part of my free Prime!) and there it is. 19 episodes. 3 more to come. At the modest price of 38 bucks and change.* Um…
“It’s 38 bucks. We’ll have to wait.”
“Yep,” she says. “I guess.”
*silence*
“But we can’t wait! The baby! The war! Oh my god.”
*girl child nodding through my panic*
“We can’t wait!”
She squirms. “I know!”
Later that night…
“You better tell me how much you love me.”
“I love you,” says girl child.
“Tell me again.”
“I love you. Why?”
“Because I just bought Season 2. We start tomorrow when you get home from school.”
“I love you!”
And this is why Netflix is not cheap.
XOXOSommer
p.s. This entire TV saga brought to you by Boom Chicka Pop. I started with Skinny Pop and Bronwyn Green professed her love of it also on FB. Then Heidi Champa chimed in and said that Book Chicka Pop’s Lightly Sweet was to die for. So I bought what I thought was Lightly Sweet. It was Kettle Corn. I ate the bag in two days. By myself. Then I bought Lightly Sweet. Two days. I seem to have a popcorn issue and the Boom Chicka Pop is by far the most tempting and hardest to put down for sweet, Skinny Pop for savory.p.p.s. Shirt I must own thanks to my new Skreened addiction via Alison Tyler found here .
I blame Heidi Champa. And Bronwyn Green. And of course Netflix. And also Amazon Instant Video. And the gunman on the grassy knoll…