February Netflix and Chill: Melt Your Icy Cold Heart

Hang in there, friends. February is upon us and the magic of the first snow has long since faded. And if you didn’t succeed at finding someone during “cuffing season,” you might be feeling especially jaded and lonely. It’s a long month of biting winds and existential malaise that truly has only one solution: seeing your friends watching some quality TV and movies. That’s why Netflix gave us plenty of new original series and quality old favorites to tune into this February. So stay positive. Boo or no boo, you’ll get through this.

Solve Crimes Your Ex Didn’t Commit

Watch: Better Call Saul, Season 1

For fans of Breaking Bad, this show is just what the love doctor ordered. This prequel/spinoff made by the same creators, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, is set in 2002 and revolves around small-time lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), who also happens to be a morally corrupt former con artist. A few other Breaking Bad veterans will make appearances, plus you’ll get to revel in some early aughties fashion (think overly faded jeans). The timing is perfect on this one; you can watch all of season one before season two airs on AMC on February 15.

Available: February 1st

Strain Pairing: Outlaw

Munchies: New Mexican-style snacks like blue corn tortilla chips and green chili salsa.

Remember, at Least You Didn’t Fight in ‘Nam

Watch: Full Metal Jacket

This is just a really good movie. Written and produced by Stanley Kubrick (you know him, he did A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and 2001: A Space Odyssey), this Academy Award winner will make your problems (what even are they, not having any good snacks?) feel tiny and far away. Full Metal Jacket is a brutal depiction of the mental breakdown process that a new group of Marine recruits endure when they arrive at basic training in South Carolina, with the Vietnam War looming in their future. When they arrive overseas a year later, we see the recruits’ fates unfold as they are left to question whether they are in control, or whether the machine of war is. Nope it’s not a light one, but damn is it good.

Available: February 1st

Strain Pairing: Abusive OG

Munchies: Takeout from your local pho joint.

Learn How to Be a Winner

Watch: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

We could all learn a little something from Ricky Bobby’s enduring mantra: “If you’re not first, you’re last.” This time of year, we all start to feel a little sorry for ourselves. We start to get a little whiny. But Ricky Bobby’s return from his personal rock bottom after a breakup with his best friend and divorce from his wife is just the inspiration we need. Plus, NASCAR is never not funny. And when we’re at our most cynical, sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as adult male best friends actually possess magical healing powers. Shake and bake, baby. Shake and bake.

Available: February 1st

Strain Pairing: Jet Fuel

Munchies: Get real ‘Merican with it; think fries and fried chicken.

Get Some Useful Dating Advice

Watch: Love, Season 1

Sometimes you need a TV show that hates dating as much as you do. Enter: Love, Judd Apatow’s latest project, a half-hour comedy starring Gillian Jacobs (Community) and Paul Rust (Super Fun Nights). In just the trailer alone, there are run-ins with exes, a life chat over a freshly packed bowl and the trashing of a whole lot of Blu-Ray DVDs. These two unlikely new friends, one abrasive, one painfully awkward, remind you that rallying to get over heartbreak can be a life-giving, if not comical, experience. The floundering adults will remind you of yourself, maybe not at your worst, but definitely far from your best. And there’s some comfort in that.

Available: February 19th

Strain Pairing: Love Potion #9

Munchies: Buy yourself a Valentine’s box of those big pink heart cookies and nom on.

Laugh Away Your Insecurities

Watch: Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado

Standup comedians are great because they manage to shoulder the sadnesses and disappointments of our weird human existence and then turn it into stuff that’s funny. And Hannibal Buress is one of the best in the game right now. The Broad City star and seasoned standup gives us a few more reasons to laugh this month, with a new Netflix special from his tour last year called Comedy Camisado. Knowing Buress it’ll be dry, brutally honest and entirely hysterical–a reminder that when we’re laughing we’re never that far from crying, and vice versa.

Available: February 5th

Strain Pairing: Laughing Buddha

Munchies: As long as we’re taking an “insecurities be damned” approach, chow down on something with debatable health value, like white cheddar popcorn.

Bask in Your Youth

Watch: Fuller House, Season 1

If you never got over that John Stamos crush from your childhood, never fear, he’s still hot. And he’s back for the Netflix Original reboot of Full House, a show literally everyone who had a normal childhood can sing the theme song to. Why is it still in our heads? Who cares! Carly Rae Jepsen sings it now! Everything is magic! This revival was designed for our nostalgia-obsessed culture as an antidote to the cold, ironic world of 2016. Let it swaddle you in the warmth of the early 90’s, back when everything made sense. Hey, if D.J. Tanner managed to become a veterinarian, you can do anything!

Available: February 26th

Strain Pairing: Old School OG

Munchies: Anything you might have snacked on in the early 90s. Think string cheese, juice boxes, Go-Gurt (frozen, of course), Gushers – hell, why not spring for a Lunchable?

Image Sources: IMDb, Netflix