Five Drinks Into Star Wars Episode 7 "The Force Awakens"

Tom's Take

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

I was born in 1990, so my Star Wars fandom did not begin with a story of going to see the Original Trilogy. And while when I first saw Phantom Menace, I loved it (because I was 9, which is the perfect age for Phantom Menace) that was not what truly hooked me into Star Wars. No. I am one of those rare almost mythical people you've heard of (and probably made fun of) who was a Star Wars fan via the Expanded Universe, known as the EU. My favorite characters in the Star Wars Universe were Jacen Solo, and Mara Jade Skywalker. I was terrified of the Yuuzhan Vong, and thought the coolest Star Wars villain was Grand Admiral Thrawn. I continued to read the books, even at the point where it started to feel like the quality was declining, and the characters I loved had either died or changed beyond recognition. But I still was a fan.

So when it was announced that George Lucas had sold Star Wars to Disney, who was going to make new movies, and also destroy the EU, I was devastated. I really did not want an Episode VII, because there was no way it could be good enough to justify destroying something that was such a large part of my childhood.

I was wrong. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens WAS good enough to justify doing away with the EU.

If you have not seen it yet, go do that. And if you have, you can continue reading my spoiler filled thoughts below.

Top 10 TV Shows of 2015

Tom's Take

TV in 2015 has been a tremendous gift. Alan Sepinwall termed it Peak TV in America, and I think that definitely describes what we've had this year.

Which means that my top 10 shows won't even include shows like The Affair, which I generally liked, but was flawed when compared to other shows this year which were closer to actually perfect. I also had to adjust this list to take off an excellent season of South Park, because Amezon dropped the second season of Transparent, which I loved enough to put on this list.

Seriously, a few other shows that I'm NOT putting on this top 10 list.

Jessica Jones

Orange is the New Black

Review

Man in the High Castle

All of these amazing shows, and yet my top 10 is the elite among the elite. Let's get to it!

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor 31 Finale Talk

Tom's Take:

We got our finale, and although there was kind of a snooze at the end, the start had some fireworks, and we got a deserving winner.

Five Drinks Into Survivor 31: Holiday Catchup

Tom's Take:

I'm super sorry, but I missed a few episode reviews. So I'm going to do a big catchup here. The show has been pretty great, and the two ep combo put it in contention for best season ever. The last episode was kind of a down episode, but there is still that potential for me. So let's get to it!