iBinge

My sweet little butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth mother LOVES tales of murder and how the police outsmarted them. She’s got a bookshelf full of murderers and watches for the latest true crime exposé like a crack whore watches for cops. And she’s just as much passion for crime shows.

Growing up, we were always shuffled off to bed early because she didn’t want us to see what she was watching on the tube.

I totally get that. Something I really try to avoid is kids stumbling into episodes of shows with blood or naked bodies – I mean, I’m nearly middle aged and even I look away from the screen occasionally.

Just not when the naked bodies are on screen. Obviously.

When my oldest two were young we only had one telly and it was in the main room of the house, and therefore so were they. All the time. You couldn’t watch a movie like Fight Club, let alone a series like David Duchovny’s Aquarius, with its warnings which include some of the stuff I look for in a movie – nudity, violence and sex.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Aquarius is a detective drama which weaves itself around the true events of Charles Manson and his band of hippy, drug-cult-living, murder-loving followers. It’s not a documentary though, but rather a historical fiction. A bit like Hogans Heroes, only without the laughs.

And it is seriously good.

And it’s had me thinking about and researching the whole Manson thing – read as, I phoned my Mum.

We both agree the way they’ve built this story around the real life events is rather clever.

Although I do still have this one question.

Is David Duchovny really attractive? Because I just don’t see it.

He’s very good in Aquarius, though. The whole show is top notch. The attention to detail regarding the sixties & the Manson cult and the acting in general is pretty seamless all round.

Closer to home, it even has Australian Claire Holt in a pretty major role. Two episodes in and her face had me running straight to IMDB to work out how I knew her. It turns out it was from her role as Emma in the kid’s show, H2O, about girls turning into mermaids…

…and that fact alone should be enough to scare you into signing up to Presto so you can send the kids into another room to watch their show and you don’t have to suffer through the same sort of cult-like teen programming and wasting of memory which could otherwise be storing lovely mental images of David, or even good looking actors.

My advice? Binge your way through the first season of Aquarius instead, so you’re ready for the entire second second release on the 17th of this month. You’ll only catch it on Presto.

If you missed out on the BFLI special code back in April, you can still sign up for a free month of unlimited movies, meaning you aren’t out of pocket simply for wanting to see what it’s all about.

And if you’ve any questions about Charlie Manson and his hippy cult, don’t hesitate to ask.

I’ll phone my Mum for the answers.

The Seven Best Things About Binging With Presto

1 Mobility. Provided I can wrestle them out of the kids’ hands, I can watch something gritty and thought-provoking in any room in the house on any of our pads, pods or smart phones while I clean house. The trick is to stay one room ahead of the kids.

2 Sanity. The kids can simultaneously watch something I don’t want to watch somewhere else in the house.

3 Availability. Whether it’s classic Disney or the latest Pixar, you never have to worry they’ll be out of stock – a concept the kids don’t understand these days.

4 Choice. Because I’m not paying per movie, if the kids decide they don’t like something they can just pick something else. Preferably without involving me in the process.

5 Quiet. Because we can watch three devices at any one time, I don’t have to stop binging on my show to try and keep the peace amongst these Lord Of The Flies wannabes I share the house with.

6 Educational. Sure there are documentaries, but consider that electronic devices are going to be a huge part of your kids’ future workplaces. I propose letting them navigate the Presto site is part of future-proofing their digital skills and nothing to do with me being lazy.

7 Happiness. I can continue to binge watch my show at the kids’ netball or soccer. Or in a cafe when I’m supposed to be shopping. Or on the loo.

“Raising a family on little more than laughs”

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