The Costco Connection - December 2014

arts & entertainment

DECEMBER 2014 ;e Costco Connection 43

its home page, where you can sign in to your account and add the digital download to your UltraViolet account. If you don’t have a Flixster or UltraViolet account, follow the instructions to register (it’s free, and easy to do), then download the HBO series.

This may sound a little confusing if you have never been through the process, but it’s actually very simple and intuitive.

HBO series currently available

Boardwalk Empire seasons 1–5. Set in Atlantic City during Prohibition, this series follows Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), a political fixer—part politician, part gangster and comfortable in either role. Ruthless when he needs to be, human when he wants to be, Nucky does business with both sides of the law. Superb acting, directing and writing, mixing fact and fiction, and incredible art design and cinematography add up to a powerful series that leaves you breathless. Rated TVMA

Game of Thrones seasons 1–2. Based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire books, this is the tale of seven kingdoms vying for control of the fictitious land of Westeros. Civility is in short supply as threats and skullduggery loom at every turn.

literally. This show is not for the fainthearted. TVMA

True Blood seasons 1–6. Vampires, werewolves and rednecks, oh my! The inhabitants of the fictional small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, mix present-day life with the supernatural forces of gothic literature, all swirling around sweet Sookie Stackhouse, who works in a bar and reads people’s minds. What is she? Based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, True Blood pits good against evil, and it’s not always easy to tell who is which, or witch, as the case may be. TVMA

True Detective season 1. Warning: This is not a show you can watch casually. Pay attention or you will wind up as lost as the two detectives spending 17 years on the trail of a serial killer in Louisiana. Matthew McConaughey is detective Rust Cohle, whose long-winded philosophical monologues are riveting and complex, to the viewer as well as to his partner Marty Hart, played by Woody Harrelson. But they’re fuel for thought. Is Cohle crazy or on to something? The show is spellbinding and will keep you guessing, even after the season ends. But that’s it. No second season for Cohle and Hart. True Detective, like its magazine namesake, is an anthology. It will be back for a second season, but with a new cast, new location and new story. TVMA. C

In our digital editions

Click here to watch a trailer for Boardwalk Empire. (See page 11 for details.)

Costco goes
digital with HBO
Some of HBO’s best series are available
for easy access from your digital vault

Game of Thrones

By Steve Fisher

MANY BLU;RAYS, including those sold at Costco, come with an HD digital code to add the movies and shows to online vaults so you can view them on any device at any time.

Beginning December 12, a brand new digital offer from Costco goes a step further. For the first time, Costco members can purchase an HBO digital card that allows them to get a number of full seasons, sold separately, of select HBO series at the warehouses, but, rather than buying a disc, you’ll simply get a HD digital code that can be redeemed online.