GitHub this week introduced NPM package provenance and deployment protection rules and announced general availability of private vulnerability reporting.
This article contains spoilers for the first season of "The Last of Us" and "The Last of Us Part 2."
They always say that if there's a question mark in a headline then the answer to whatever that question is "No." So let's get that out of the way right up front. Will the original voice and performance capture actor from "The Last of Us Part 2" video play the main antagonist, Abby, in "The Last of Us" season 2? I can pretty confidently say no.
Laura Bailey performed Abby Anderson in the video game and did a hell of a job, I must say. Abby is a complicated character, full of determined rage and surprising depth and Bailey absolutely captured that in her performance, but there's a slight complication in that she doesn't really embody the character and her unique physicality in the real world.
In the same way that Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker are the perfect Ellie and Joel for the video game, Bailey likely wouldn't represent the best choice for Abby in live-action despite absolutely crushing it for the Naughty Dog game. Now, that doesn't mean we won't see Bailey pop up in "The Last of Us" season 2 in some other role. In fact, eagle-eyed fans already know she cameoed in the season 1 finale as one of the nurses about to dig into Ellie's brain to try to cure mankind.
Abby Or Not, Here She Comes
If you're looking at the image above, that's her! And luckily enough for Bailey, since this cameo covered her whole face, she can still be brought in just about any capacity in the coming seasons of the HBO show. You don't have to take my word for it, co-showrunner and video game creator Neil Druckmann told reporters just that, saying "She's got a mask on, so we can make her anything we want in the next season."
Craig Mazin and Druckmann were very respectful in folding in much of the video game cast into the live-action series, with Ashley Johnson having a great moment as Ellie's mom, Troy Baker playing the despicable David's right-hand man, James, and Jeffrey Pierce (the original performer of Tommy, Joel's brother) getting to play Melanie Lynskey's top lieutenant, Perry.
The only person who got to reprise their role from the video game was Merle Dandridge who played Firefly boss Marlene and I think that was mainly because her look was pretty much the model for the character anyway and the actress had actually aged into the role.
But there is a precedent for the key voice actors from the game being brought in for substantial roles and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Laura Bailey found herself as a new character in the coming season, a possibility made even more likely that her brief cameo at the end of season 1 was more of an Easter egg for the game's fans (especially considering that scene's importance to the events of the next story) and not a full-on character.
Playing Abby Will Be A Double Edged Sword
Whoever ends up playing Abby is going to have to brace themselves for some vocal fan reaction. She's an incredible character and will be the role of a lifetime for whoever gets it because most villains don't get fleshed out to the extent that Abby Anderson does. There's so much to explore for a performer taking on this role and if Druckmann and Mazin stick to their guns with the character, it'll be one that will challenge the audience's perception of what makes a character good and what makes a character evil.
Without getting into too many spoilers of things (possibly) to come, the genius of the character is that she not only constantly reframes the audience's feelings towards her as the story goes on, but she also forces the viewer to reframe their thoughts on the protagonists of the story.
Druckmann has said that the theme of "The Last of Us" is love. Sounds simple, but love inspires all sorts of behavior, from the noblest and pure to the most violent and angry. What Abby represents in all of her yoked-up glory is the same righteous anger that we've come to love about Joel and Ellie in the first game and first season of the adaptation.
This divided many gamers who were not only furious with her actions in the game but were even more upset that the game then makes you empathize with her by putting you in her shoes. You see she's not just a comic book villain with paper-thin motivations. From a certain point of view, she's just as heroic as Ellie and Joel, and boy howdy did a whole lot of gamers resent that.
Craig Mazin And Neil Druckmann's Biggest Challenge For Season 2 Is Casting Abby
But the thing that made "The Last of Us Part 2" so divisive is also what makes it a masterpiece. It's not every post-apocalyptic story that forces empathy for even the most hated characters.
The Abby of the game was a mixture of Bailey's performance and Jocelyn Mettler's face mixed together and brought to life by the talented designers and programmers at Naughty Dog. There have been calls from fans to have Mettler cast in the role and some other fans have suggested actresses Mary Krantz, Shannon Berry ("The Wilds"), and Katy O'Brien (who co-starred with Pedro Pascal in "The Mandalorian").
But ultimately, Mazin and Druckmann will have to find the best performer for the part, someone who can capture the nuance and soul of Abby as well as the look. They know what they'll need from their actor and they also know that if there's one crucial piece of casting for "The Last of Us" season 2, it's Abby Anderson. They can't get away with someone just "kinda" right for the role, they're going to have to find someone who is the perfect live-action embodiment of this character, just like they did with Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, and Gabriel Luna in the first season.
If I was a betting man, I'd say you'll be seeing more of Laura Bailey in the coming season, but she won't be playing her video game counterpart. Maybe they'll expand on her nurse cameo and jump off from there or maybe they'll cook up something even juicier for her, but I'm sure we'll see her again.
This article contains mild spoilers for "Evil Dead Rise.""Evil Dead Rise," the latest installment in the now 40-odd-year-old "Evil Dead" franchise, is filled to the brim with evidence of writer/director Lee Cronin's bonafides toward being a fan of the series. While the film isn't merely a work of fan service, the movie is suffused with references to the earlier "Evil Dead" films, from Deadites screaming "Dead by dawn!" to a very particular clock being seen at a cabin in the film's opening sequence.
Yet Cronin isn't content with paying homage to just the "Evil Dead" series — in addition to multiple references to Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," "Evil Dead Rise" contains some latent homages to numerous other horror films, including Lamberto Bava's similar demons-loose-in-a-high-rise splatter opus, "Demons 2." Most surprisingly, however, "Evil Dead Rise" appears to have a good deal in common with another Sam Raimi film, one that the director has all but disowned over the years: 1985's "Crimewave." While Cronin may or may not have intentionally threaded in references to that much-maligned film, it speaks to the movie's quintessential Raimi-ness that "Crimewave" and "Evil Dead Rise" seem to share some DNA.
It's most likely due to the bad vibes the Michigan-raised filmmaking trio has given the film over the years since its botched release and poor reception that the movie hasn't undergone a major reappraisal, because "Crimewave" isn't just a Raimi film, but an early Coen Brothers work as well, as the movie was co-written by Joel and Ethan Coen along with Raimi.
With a pedigree like that, it's nearly impossible for the movie to be dull or uninteresting, two things it decidedly isn't. "Crimewave" is indeed a demented slice of cinema, a combination of '40s film noir, Warner Bros. cartoons, and "Three Stooges"-style slapstick. The plot revolves around a dorky sap, Victor Ajax (Reed Birney), an employee of Trend-Odegard Security. His boss, Ernest Trend (Edward R. Pressman), arranges to have his business partner Donald Odegard (Hamid Dana) whacked upon discovering that Odegard plans to sell the business to Renaldo "The Heel" (Campbell) behind his back. The two killers Trend hires, Faron (Paul L. Smith) and Arthur (Brion James), are equal parts vicious and inept and end up killing both Odegard and Trend by accident. When Trend's nosy wife, Helene (Louise Lasser, apparently wearing her exact same wardrobe from the infamous Thanksgiving slasher flick "Blood Rage") witnesses the hit and the building's other residents (including Victor and his love interest) get mistakenly caught up in the proceedings, "Crimewave" goes enjoyably off the rails.
High-Rise Havoc
Although it's only really for the middle section of the film, "Crimewave" has a setting acutely in common with "Evil Dead Rise." During that section, a lot of overlap occurs with "Rise," which itself is set (save an opening sequence) inside a Los Angeles apartment building. In "Rise," the building is beset by a violent earthquake, while in "Crimewave," the night's events are exacerbated by a violent storm ("Storm! City in Chaos" reads a newspaper headline). In "Rise," Beth (Lily Sullivan) and the other residents of the cursed building can't make use of the main elevator once the demonic presence takes it over, while Arthur in "Crimewave" finds himself nearly captured by the police thanks to a precocious young boy insisting that the elevator stops at every floor.
Being made in between "The Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead II," "Crimewave" also contains large traces of Raimi's penchant for menace, including moments where Helene sees Faron threaten her via the building's security cameras in a very similar fashion to the possessed Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) berating her family through the apartment door's peephole in "Rise." As Victor and Nancy (Sheree J. Wilson) attempt to escape the exterminators, they find dead bodies suddenly blocking their path, a hazard that Beth and Kassie (Nell Fisher) also must contend with when attempting to escape their apartment building.
Finally, the building in "Crimewave" is filled with eccentric neighbors, one of whom happens to fortuitously own a pack of attack Dobermans, while in "Rise," Mr. Fonda (Mark Mitchinson) is a very handy fellow who not only owns a shotgun, but keeps a wood chipper and a chainsaw in the building's basement, something Beth makes good use of.
Crimewave Is In The Evil Dead Universe
Sure, all of these similarities may be mere coincidences rather than deliberate homage. Still, there's a good reason why "Crimewave" belongs in the discussion of the "Evil Dead" franchise, and it's not simply to do with Raimi, Campbell, and Tapert's involvement — it's that, canonically, "Crimewave" exists within the "Evil Dead" universe.
In the same faux issue of the Detroit Free Press that announces the storm in "Crimewave," there is another headline on the front page that exclaims "Military seal off Tennessee murder site. Time-space disturbance discovered." "The Evil Dead" was shot in Morristown, Tennessee, and although the series "Ash vs Evil Dead" retconned the fateful cabin to be located somewhere in Michigan, the original film and "Evil Dead II" kept Tennessee as the primary setting.
So, whether by intention or happenstance, "Crimewave" and "Evil Dead Rise" are at least tangentially connected. After seeing "Evil Dead Rise" this weekend, why not give "Crimewave" a try? At the very least, they'd make a killer double feature.
This post contains spoilers for the "Star Trek: Picard" series finale.
"Star Trek: Picard" has officially come to an end, closing out with a warm and wonderful scene of Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Marin Sirtis, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, and Brent Spiner hanging out in a bar, playing poker, and shooting the breeze. This was their moment of reunion and relaxation after an elaborate scheme involving Changelings, the Borg, and mysterious X-Men-like brain powers that Picard passed on to his son Jack (Ed Speleers), a son he didn't know about for the past 20 years. After all was said and done, Picard (Stewart) accepted that he was Jack's father, and he and Dr. Crusher (McFadden) seemed to have worked out their long-standing personal acrimony.
A long-standing drama with Jean-Luc Picard has been his solitude. He wasn't lonely, necessarily, but his professional station as a starship captain prevented him from fostering any kind of close personal relationships. He had been burned by a few romances gone awry in the past, and seemed content to remain unattached the rest of his life. In "Star Trek: Generations," the captain revealed that, since he had a brother, the family would at least continue without his input. When his brother and nephew died in a fire, he became distraught. In "Picard," audiences learned that he and Dr. Crusher, after many false starts, attempted a proper romance, had a single awkward tryst, and then split up seemingly for good. The tryst, however, resulted in Jack. Whether or not Picard wanted to start a family, he had one now.
In an interview with Variety, Stewart talked about Picard's personal relationships, as well as a secondary, alternate ending to the "Picard" series that no one will ever see.
Jean-Luc And Beverly
It's worth noting that Jean-Luc Picard was established throughout "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as hating children. He was uncomfortable with the teenage Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) on his bridge and was loath to take a small group of under-10s on a tour of the Enterprise. Being a father was never on his radar, so the appearance of Jack in his life allowed Patrick Stewart to explore a new facet of his character. He found himself finally facing Dr. Crusher in a more meaningful way. Stewart explained:
"I think that the relationship between Dr. Crusher and Picard was what mattered most in this. I read several accounts of parents who only learned that they were parents when the child was quite adult. What it produced in Jean-Luc was fury [...] with Dr. Crusher, because she had not told him. He had not pursued family life as an essential part of his own life; nevertheless, when the thing happened, he was cut out of it. He was isolated."
Stewart commented on the fact that Picard's life expanded in many new career directions as he aged, and how, when he discovered he was a father, those things immediately began to feel insignificant. Picard was finally forced to approach something personally:
"I think that was the toughest thing for him to swallow, that there had been 20-odd years in the life of his only son, and he had not known about it at all. Those 20 years were the years in which he had wandered through being promoted to an admiral, the desk job he had, retiring, becoming a lecturer and a winemaker -- all of these things became irrelevant as he dealt with the critical situation that was building up around the people he cared about so deeply."
The Question Mark
Throughout "Next Generation," Jean-Luc and Beverly often approached romance, but never actually committed. In the final episode of the series, Beverly kissed Picard, implying that a romance was still possible. In the following four movies, however, the romance was never mentioned. When asked about the lack of romantic subplots in the movies, Patrick Stewart merely shrugged, saying that he suspected the films' writers preferred question marks around the issue. He also pointed out that an early draft of the final episode of "Picard" ended with a relationship mystery. In his words:
"We'd had one idea for ending 'Picard,' which I think now would have been a mistake. But it would have ended the show with a huge question mark. I liked that in terms of how it could have sent our viewers minds racing and questioning and puzzling about what was this question mark exactly and what did it mean? We didn't do it."
Of course, he was asked what the mystery was, but Stewart was sworn to secrecy, saying:
"I can't talk about it. I said I wouldn't talk about it, because it was a complicated situation. I went with what the producers wanted. I was not comfortable with it, but watching the final episode the other night, I realized that what they had persuaded me we should do was absolutely the best thing that could have happened."
Was Jack revealed not to be Picard's son after all? Was Jack actually Wesley in disguise? Perhaps the time-drift reincarnation of the original Jack Crusher, Beverly's first husband (and how weird was it that Beverly named her second son after her late husband)? Did Jean-Luc and Beverly get married? Was Beverly pregnant with another child? Was Jack a Q baby? Was he a Changeling?
At the beginning of the third season of "Star Trek: Picard," the title character (Patrick Stewart) was seen in his French château, packing suitcases of old trinkets and keepsakes, hoping to give them away. He once felt sentimental about such objects, but was determined to leave the past behind. He said out loud that he was not interested in having a legacy, preferring to enter the world and have further adventures. At that point, Picard was over a century old.
Later, Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) was enjoying a drink in Guinan's Bar, admiring the trinkets the bartender was selling -- or, I suppose, giving away, as "Star Trek" takes place in a post-capitalist society. Bar denizens could take home palm-sized scale models of various famous Starfleet vessels. (Incidentally, the ships on camera are real-life collectibles that one can purchase through the newly launched Master Replicas toy line.) Riker notices Guinan still has multiple models of the Enterprise-D, the ship on which he used to serve. When he asks the bartender why, she tells him it's their least popular model. No one, it seems, wants "the fat ones."
Later still, Riker and Picard tour the U.S.S. Titan-A, a ship once under Riker's command but which had been almost wholly rebuilt. The brusque Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) mentions that when he took command, he found Riker's old jazz collection on the ship's computers. Hating jazz, Shaw deleted the entire thing. Shaw then sends Picard and Riker to sleep on uncomfortable bunks typically reserved for younger officers. No one cares, old man.
Moving Back Into The Past
"Picard" season 3 seemed to be setting up a world where nostalgia didn't exist and no one felt especially sentimental about the past. Instead, it was about moving forward, finding the adventure, and -- as it would turn out -- relitigating the things that once made Picard happy. Most notably, Picard's relationship with Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) was enormously strained. The NextGen crew may reunite eventually, but they wouldn't necessarily like one another.
My above presumptions about the running theme "Picard" is derived from my knowledge of the classic "Star Trek: The Next Generation" writing structure. In many episodes, the show would cold-open with a vignette or scenario unrelated to the main plot. That cold-open would, however, connect in a thematic way to the eventual main thrust of the episode. If, for instance, the episode was about the movement of time, the opening conversation would be about how time seems to move differently when you're bored.
If "Picard" spent so much time establishing that it was to be about the shedding of legacy and the lack of sentimentality about the past, then surely that would be the eventual theme of the season at large. "Star Trek" had seemingly reached a refreshing "let the past die" moment.
But the opposite proved to be true this time.
Star Trek ❤ Legacy
One of the final scenes in the last episode of "Picard," called "The Last Generation," saw Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) wearing a Starfleet uniform, bearing the newly earned rank of ensign. Jack is the son of Admiral Picard and Dr. Crusher, and Jack himself is already a symbol of Picard's personal legacy, this time as a parent, continuing in a Starfleet trajectory. He mentions he was able to become an ensign after only just one year of Starfleet Academy, a program that usually takes at least four, and thanks nepotism for his expedited graduation. Picard's legacy helped him along.
Jack's first assignment is back on board the U.S.S. Titan-A, the central ship of the series. Only now, for unclear reasons, it has been rechristened. Jack will serve on board the U.S.S. Enterprise-G.
Quite the opposite of eschewing legacy, it seems that "Picard" is wholly obsessed with it.
Indeed, in a post-credits stinger at the end of "The Last Generation," the presumed-dead trickster god Q (John de Lancie) appears to Jack and tells him he will have to take on the brunt of Q's playful trial of humanity's worthiness, a mantle previously held by Picard. That was the premise of the pilot of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Jack is not just taking on the legacy of in-universe lore, but the legacy of "Star Trek" writers' old ideas. With "Picard," history begins to cycle through itself again.
Hanging The Plaque
It's also notable that a great deal of action in the third season of "Star Trek: Picard" is centered on a starship museum. Relics of the past are put on display, and the characters spend a great deal of time wistfully looking over well-known vehicles from old Trek shows and movies. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) ganders at the U.S.S. Voyager. The "Deep Space Nine" theme song plays when they look at the U.S.S. Defiant. Later, it's revealed that Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) has been secretly reconstructing the Enterprise-D for decades. It is used as the central attack vehicle in the season's climax. Previously established as unpopular and dismissed as "the fat one," the Enterprise-D also wants to reclaim its legacy. So much for letting go of the past. "Picard" is keen on letting it calcify.
Additionally, it seems the newer generations cannot be trusted. For a great deal of the third season, Jack slowly develops mysterious psychic powers that make him a badass fighting machine, and also allow him to insert his consciousness into the bodies of others.
It was said that Jack's abilities might have been genetically passed on to him from Picard, himself afflicted with a brain ailment, previously thought to be a fatal disease. It turns out, the disease was a Borg gene that didn't assimilate Picard, but left his son vulnerable. Thanks to the machinations of the plot, said Borg gene was spread to anyone under the age of 25. It was only older people on ancient ships that would be permitted to save the day.
The Kids Aren't All Right
Moving past legacy and letting a younger generation take the reins and define themselves is not permitted in "Picard." The young are untrustworthy, vulnerable to corruption, and the people pulling the trigger. It is only by asserting one's established legacy that one can triumph. There is little in the way of balance on "Picard." All the younger people and ships seem to share names with older things. There are three characters named La Forge, and two named Crusher. When Crusher is assimilated by the Borg, he is not given the exact same name as Locutus, Picard's onetime Borg identity, but is instead called Võx, a similar, voice-related name. Even the Borg push forward the notion of legacy. The central battle seems to be who gets to leave their name behind, and not inventing new ones.
Notions of celebrity, of course, have long been a standing element of Star Trek, and tapping into old legacies happens frequently. Heck, look at the 1994 film "Star Trek: Generations," a film that invents multiple strange sci-fi conceits in an effort to get Captain Picard and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) -- two characters separated by 80-some years of history -- in the same room together. The crew of the Enterprise-D once met Scotty (James Doohan) in an episode appropriately titled "Relics." The characters on Star Trek have studied the history of Star Trek, and recognize the franchise's more popular characters.
But "Picard" is far more direct. In "Picard," the present doesn't just draw from the wisdom and powers of the past, but -- for better and for worse -- renames itself to match. It seems we'd better make damn sure history doesn't soon forget the name Enterprise.
This post contains spoilers for the series finale of "Star Trek: Picard."
In the last episode of "Star Trek: Picard," called "The Last Generation," Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) has given himself over to the evil Borg Queen (voice of Alice Krige) who has assimilated him into the Borg collective. He is outfitted with a wicked, black robot costume and has a metal prosthesis is bolted to his face. His mind is more or less erased, and the Queen begins using his powerful psychic brain to control a massive fleet of distant starships by remote.
Rather than merely blow him up and stop the attack, the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" elect to fly the Enterprise-D into the heart of the Borg ship and rescue him. They hope to reason with the Borg Queen and appeal to Jack's seemingly erased humanity. Picard (Patrick Stewart), having once been assimilated before, is able to stand face-to-face with Jack, plug a wire into the back of his neck, and have a psychic conversation with him. Technically, he is uniquely qualified to pull Jack's consciousness out of the machine.
Jack, it should be noted, is Picard's son, a child he fathered some 20 years before with Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). Dr. Crusher has been raising Jack alone, never having told Picard that he had a child. She did this because Picard is constantly in danger and his child would likely be at risk. Hence why he is named Jack Crusher and not Jacques Picard.
It seemed a little unfair to Beverly, then, that Picard should be the one who is uniquely qualified to rescue Jack. Why dad and not mom?
While the show is called "Star Trek: Picard," and the title character should play a major part in a series finale, it did feel a little ... off ... to have Picard be the one to rescue Jack from the Borg Queen. Picard previously only had a relationship with the villainess, and it might be fitting that he confronts her after decades of animosity. But he had only met Jack a few days prior. The two had spoken a lot, and Picard had come to terms with the fact that he had an adult son, but their relationship wasn't particularly deep or even all that warm. Indeed, Jack had been told since he was a child that Picard was kind of a heel, being cold and neglectful. It would have made more sense that Jack resent Picard, returning to Dr. Crusher at the first available opportunity.
Matalas spoke a great deal about how names -- and, by extension, legacies -- are a vital part of the third season of "Star Trek: Picard." What people call themselves, and what they insist others call them, speaks a great deal to their identities. In retaining the name Crusher, Jack was ultimately his mother's child and not his father's. Here's how Matalas answered when asked about how names come into play in the season finale:
"I have to sit back and meditate on that for quite a bit because it does ask a lot of questions about family. Picard and ... it makes me think about things, like I am glad that Jack never took the name Picard at the end, that he keeps his mother's name, and I think that that's super important."
Legacy
The first half of the third season of "Picard" was pointedly anti-legacy. Picard spent his first few scenes packing up all his old trinkets into boxes and shipping them out of his home. He and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) were not treated with rarified respect. Even the Enterprise-D is badmouthed in dialogue. Eventually, however, the themes did a 180, and legacy became incredibly important. Old characters reunited, references to the past piled up, and the Enterprise-D was rebuilt. Terry Matalas acknowledged this by saying Jack Crusher's line, "Names mean almost everything," reflected this shift. "First, it was really a nod to nepotism," he said, "because we knew we were flashing forward to the fact that Jack Crusher was going to be accelerated through Starfleet. You have to call it what it is. And so that started that."
Matalas went on to say that legacy is everything for these characters, in both big and small ways. The name Enterprise is important for everyone in "Star Trek," of course, and he was careful to place it in the hands of a familiar, deserving character. In his words:
"But it was also about the importance of the name Enterprise, and what that particular legacy was, for not only Starfleet, but for the fans. And in a lot of ways that was the last character missing from the scene. It was the final character added to the ensemble when we brought back the Enterprise-D, and the final character given to Seven of Nine. That was super important for us, for Seven and Raffi to be at the forefront of that legacy, of the Enterprise legacy."
The benefits of community solar are grabbing the public's attention. On Thursday, the US Department of Energy, or DOE, announced efforts to expand the network of community solar projects across the nation and increase access to renewable clean energy for more people, including renters, as part of the Biden administration's Investing in America agenda.
This post containsspoilersfor season 1 of "Perry Mason"
For a long time, John Lithgow had a rule about not doing episodic TV. Before he accepted what is arguably his most memorable role to date — Dick Solomon in "3rd Rock from the Sun" — the two-time Oscar nominee was committed to film and stage work. But since he found major success with his '90s sitcom he's been showing up in all manner of projects, and in the age of prestige TV, Lithgow is cropping up all over the small screen. From "Dexter" to "The Crown," the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art grad has now fully embraced TV, and for a brief moment, blessed the grim, pulpy first season of HBO's "Perry Mason."
Playing lawyer and mentor to Matthew Rhys' Mason, Elias Birchard "E.B." Jonathan, Lithgow only lasts four episodes before his character dies by suicide. But in those four episodes, the actor was given a lot to work with, playing a man who suddenly finds himself at the tail end of a successful career and not quite ready to leave his wonder years behind. E.B. is the man tasked with defending Emily Dodson, the woman accused of conspiracy leading to the kidnapping and death of her infant son — I told you it was grim. But as the pressure mounts, he is threatened by the Los Angeles district attorney with false claims of larceny and facing disbarment, and having lost funding for Emily's defense, urges his defendant to fight her case in court, before ending his own life.
In other words, E.B. Jonathan was a man with a lot on his mind, and for John Lithgow, not only did that provide with him with a compelling character to try to deconstruct, but it also provided a way of empathizing with him.
'The Fear And Panic Of Growing Old'
Throughout his career, John Lithgow has consistently taken unpredictable roles, to the point that it's become somewhat of a calling card. From starring in "3rd Rock," replacing Christopher Walken as the maniac villain in, "Cliffhanger," portraying Winston Churchill in "The Crown" and his numerous roles in Shakespeare productions, Lithgow has never pigeonholed himself. And, in the late stages of his career, his four episode-run in "Perry Mason" allowed him to articulate many of his own thoughts and fears about his particular place in life.
In an interview with Mumtaj Begum, the 77-year-old reflected on his recent roles being "old men" and how that's forced him to explore, "variations on age and the fear of age and the fear of growing old and losing your viability." But whereas you might think an actor with such a diverse career would find that kind of thing limiting, he actually finds it to be the opposite, saying his, "career is more interesting now than it's ever been." He added:
"E.B Jonathan is a man who used to be on top of the world. He used to have all these connections, he used to win cases, he used to get people off, and he hasn't for years. He desperately needs this [Dodson] case and when it turns into a big case he feels like he's landed a big one. And then when it starts going wrong, and when he realizes he can't even get the simplest thing for his clients, his despair and his panic is another fascinating thing to play. It's just it's very, very rich [...] it's the very, very high emotions of the fear and panic of growing old. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to have access to that fear myself, so why not put it to good use."
Lithgow Isn't Slowing Down
E.B. Jonathan is a tragic character, unable to reconcile his own opinion of himself as a perfectly capable lawyer with the unwelcome fact that he's clearly overwhelmed by his latest case. That's a great tension for any actor to play, but to see someone like Lithgow portray it is one of the best parts of "Perry Mason" season 1. For the few episodes that Lithgow is around, he plays E.B.'s internal struggle as believably and sensitively as you would expect from an actor of his caliber and experience.
That said, it's odd to hear that the actor found such a personal connection to his "Perry Mason" character, only in the sense that there's absolutely nothing to suggest that Lithgow is past his prime. The man is on an unprecedented run, coming off "The Crown" and going straight into "Perry Mason" before taking a starring role opposite Jeff Bridges in Fox's "The Old Man." As the actor told GQ recently, "You get to be my age and you finally get to work with a lot of people you've been waiting to work with for a long, long time. And the payoff is simply wonderful. And in this past year, it's been Jeff [Bridges] and De Niro and DiCaprio and Julianne Moore." Hardly someone who's struggling in his career.
Still, playing a character who's reflecting on a long and successful career clearly had major parallels with Lithgow. Thankfully, he's keeping a lot busier than E.B. Jonathan and shows no signs of being overwhelmed by it any time soon.
These days, we get a lot of stories about games adding ray tracing, but last week Capcom went the opposite direction, removing ray tracing from the PC versions of the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes. It turns out this wasn’t an intentional move on Capcom’s part, as they would later provide an update, saying they were “aware of an ongoing issue with the raytracing option not appearing in the graphics menu and presets.” They promised a fix, but didn’t say when it would arrive.
Well, Capcom didn’t leave fans waiting too long. Today the official Resident Evil twitter account announced that a patch returning ray tracing to the Steam versions of Resident Evil 2 and 3 is now available. Capcom still hasn’t really explained why ray tracing went MIA. If it really was just a mistake, it was a pretty major thing to let slip, but stranger things have happened I suppose.
Rolled out last year, the “next-gen” updates for Resident Evil 2 and 3 provided some nice, if not overly-flashy, visual upgrades to a pair of excellent survival horror games. If you haven’t played either of the games, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. Here’s what I thought about Resident Evil 2…
“Resident Evil 2 is a polished, respectful remake of a survival horror classic that probably would have benefitted from a slightly more daring approach. Hints of a braver revamp are sprinkled throughout, but it doesn’t take the risks necessary to join the canon of truly great video game remakes. Make no mistake though, if you loved the original Resident Evil 2, you’ll likely love the remake, and new players who can tolerate a few old-school quirks ought to have a gruesome good time as well.”
“Resident Evil 3 is the franchise’s best action-driven entries ever. A beautifully-balanced combination of white-knuckle mayhem and satisfying old-school tension, Resident Evil 3 is compulsively-munchable popcorn entertainment that, unfortunately, disappears all too quickly. If you’re looking for value, there are certainly meatier games out there, but few that will leave you licking your fingers as happily as this one.”
Resident Evil 2 and 3 can be played on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and Switch (via the cloud).
This article contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets."
After last week's episode finally gave us our first look at Lauren Ambrose as Adult Van, episode 5 of season 2 picks up right where we left off with our favorite cinephile. We're given a tour of Van's apartment and video rental store, set to the soundtrack of "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes because nothing screams "LESBIAN!" like the sound of Linda Perry. In a surprise to absolutely no one, Van's house is a maximalist pop culture wonderscape, further proving that if I were one of the Yellowjackets, I'd be Van (a Buzzfeed quiz also confirmed this but whatever). She's got rainbow rugs, she's got an amazing race car VHS tape rewinder, and her apartment is located conveniently above her store. Some curious youngsters are fascinated by her shop. "These boxy things are movies?" Remember kids, physical media FOREVER.
An eager customer comes in to return her copy of "Party Girl," a lovely metatextual moment as the director of that film, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, also directed the first episode of season 2 (and "Doomcoming" in season 1). The eager customer exclaims her love of Parker Posey to which I can only nod and say, "Same, bestie." Van takes the time to recommend Cheryl Dunye's brilliant "The Watermelon Woman," and again I can only laugh about how hard this show is coming for me with the depiction of Adult Van.
The episode then catches up exactly to last week, with Taissa showing up unannounced. There's something heavy in the air the second they catch eyes. This isn't some warm and fuzzy love. This is awkward ... and then Taissa passes out before cutting to the opening credits. HERE WE GO AGAIN!
Good Morning From The Middle Of Nowhere
Okay, I know that the forest is supposed to be a terrible sign of danger, but every establishing shot looks beautiful enough to be on a deeply screwed-up "Wish You Were Here" postcard. And yes, I am immediately reminded that Jeff and Randy used a postcard to start their blackmail scheme. The snow looks like it's starting to melt a little bit, but I'm not buying this as a sign of spring. I'm from the Midwest. I know a warm day fake out before mother nature dumps a pile of snow in my lap and flips me the bird when I see it!
Taissa wakes up with the ropes still around her arms. She didn't sleepwalk! Some time has definitely passed in the cabin, however, because Shauna is very pregnant. Taissa heads outside to join Van for some of Lottie's "woo woo bulls***" but Shauna is too logical to join. Taissa claims she's only attending because Van is convinced Lottie's influence is what stopped the sleepwalking. "Happy wife, happy life," she jokes.
Lottie is outside delivering some breathing exercises to the group. Reminder: she's the one girl who has actually been to therapy and she's basically parroting mindfulness exercises and sensory grounding techniques. If it works, it works, but also ... these poor girls are getting advice that is no different than Instagram "therapy" infographics. Lottie wants them to "nurture [their] relationship with nature," seemingly inspired by Shauna's impending birth. Lottie is very convinced it's a son and gets them all to chant about how they can't wait to meet him. If Shauna does a son, it's gonna be REALLY hard to convince anyone that Lottie isn't magic, even though her odds are about the same as calling for "red" while playing roulette.
Javi's Still Weird. Akilah's Still A Delight
Javi is still acting a step above comatose and the girls have no problem speculating in front of his face. "What if he did die and that's his ghost?" Melissa suggests. Yes, this character does have a name! They also assume Javi is the one who stole their extra bear meat, but I'm not convinced. I'm still on team Pet Sematary. Travis has no issue with Javi's silence, but all the issues with Nat's planting of bloody clothes. Javi does eat soup so he's not a zombie at least. "Please, just tell me where you were, Javi?" he asks. Javi looks directly at Lottie and then eats his soup in silence. What does she know?!
"Maybe he wouldn't be so f***ed up if I found him sooner, so that's on you," Travis barks at Nat. Look, I get his anger, but also ... you gotta admit this is beyond comprehension, Travis. He should be dead. I think this is what Jordan Peele was talking about when he wrote, "What's a bad miracle?" Afterward, Coach Ben finds Javi's collection of ominous arts ... and he finally speaks! "She told me not to come back," he says. When Ben prods as to who he's talking about, he simply says, "My friend," and then walks back to being a total weirdo.
Meanwhile, Akilah is still parenting her mouse. She tells Taissa about a pre-game ritual she used to have, and Taissa mocks her because the JV team sucked. I love the scenes with Taissa and Akilah. "It just felt good, like we could pretend it made a difference," she says. Using a sports superstitions is a fantastic way to connect to the religious following of Lottie. Having hope in something is better than not having any hope at all.
No More Miss Teen Angst
In the present day, a riot girl band is playing at the bowling alley. I choose to believe this is a reference to "Josie and the Pussycats" to continue our Parker Posey film appreciation in this episode. Trash 'Stache cop makes a reference to "The Big Lebowski" on his undercover date with Callie, clearly forgetting she's 17 and his joke is lost on her. She makes a kissing bet that he takes, thinking she's gonna suck at bowling. She, of course, hustles him, but he avoids kissing her. I'm still sticking by my theory that this whole investigation gets destroyed because he's an idiot.
Anyway, Jay heads to the bathroom and Callie sneaks a peek at the bill to see that his name isn't Jay. She googles him and it looks like those "local cops do good" press releases to try and humanize the police just backfired! Callie is noticeably weird in the car after her realization and NotNamedJay, continuing to suck at his job, asks leading questions about Callie's mom and the affair. She plays his dumbass like a fiddle because she is Shauna's daughter after all! She puts on the waterworks and claims she found out who her mom has been sleeping with ... and names Randy. LMFAO CALLIE, ARE YOU NUTS?! RANDY?! Hey, I guess this means we're getting more Randy this season, so I'm thrilled.
Back at home, Callie confesses to her parents what's been going on with Jay. "A f***ing cop?!" Shauna screams. "How old is he?" Dad exclaims. Jeff, never change. I love you. It's not great to learn the cops are tracking them, but Callie giving Jay bad intel is fantastic. Her parents agree that she did good, and Callie is SO excited. She was made for a life of crime!
Shauna And Randy Have A Hot Hotel 'Date'
Shauna meets up with Randy at the motel where everything that happens is bad and the owner tells no one, and the cops show up because of course they do. "You look f***ing amazing!" Randy screams. I hate how much this show makes me love aint-s*** men. Jeff doesn't have all the details and assumes this has something to do with "Natalie and the FBI thing," which, it doesn't. Shauna then cuts to the chase and hands him a condom to jerk off into so it looks like they had sex. Honestly, this scene is magic. I love how "Yellowjackets" can effortlessly weave in hilarity with, yanno, cannibalism. Melanie Lynskey's delivery of "don't you dare think about me" as he retreats to the motel bathroom is gold.
Sadly, Randy can't cum and no amount of pumping up the ol' "Randog" will do it, so he fills the condom with complimentary lotion and calls it a day.
1) I'm shocked this motel has free lotion.
2) These cops are gonna find that.
Annnnnd after Shauna and Randy leave, they do! "Without a warrant, nothing is admissible," Kevyn says. Uh, yeah. This is why I'm still convinced this whole investigation is gonna blow up in your faces! NotNamedJay discovers the lotion because it looks like lotion in a condom and not splooge. NotNamedJay is proud of his discovery because it proves his theory that Shauna was sleeping with Adam and killed him (which she did) but the fact they're on this wild goose chase at all means, as Kevyn says, "The kid intentionally gave you bad intel." BUSTED, YOU DOLTS!
Sherlock And Moriarty Are On The Rocks
Misty and Walter are on their drive, listening to Tropical F*** Storm's cover of "Stayin' Alive," likely a reference to the "Saturday Night Fever" jukebox musical that definitely exists. Walter proposes they play two truths and a lie, but tells all truths so that Misty can learn more about him. He's trying to get her to be more honest about herself but she only gets through "I don't like monkeys" and "We're asking the wrong questions about the moon landing" before they find the entrance to the compound. They show up to rescue Natalie and Misty is shocked to that Lottie "committed to a mental institution in Switzerland" Matthews runs the compound.
Natalie refuses to come with them because she's working on her own thing from the inside. Misty is devastated, and Walter is not a very comforting presence. He wants her to let it go, but Misty is torn up by Natalie's refusal to come home and her "failure" for not knowing what Lottie has been up to. She starts to spiral out of control and Walter interrupts by mentioning he knows that Misty doesn't actually know Adam Martin. He correctly deduces that she killed Adam to help a friend and says that she's charming and impulsive — traits of most serial killers." And yet, he doesn't run.
Walter likes Misty "regardless of her extra-curricular activities." Misty grabs her bags and leaves, telling Walter to go I can't tell if it's because she's scared of his detective skills or if she's afraid she's going to kill him. He drives away but I doubt this is the last we'll see of Walter. With nowhere else to go, it looks like Misty is about to join the cult too.
'We Brought It Back'
Inside the compound, Natalie makes a scene and accuses Lottie of scamming her followers after learning she has their phones, bank information, and information on all of their families. She thinks it's a huge gotcha, but everyone gave that information to Lottie willingly. Nat screams that she's clinically insane, and the cult turns on her.
She and Lottie talk it out, but Lottie's mention of Travis brings Natalie to her knees. "You know what he was going through. You started it," she accuses Lottie. She says, "I know," and convinces her to try a technique with flashing lights. It's a weird version of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, but it helps Natalie unlock what happened the last time she saw Travis alive.
The two were doing drugs together in a beachside hotel as adults, and Natalie overdosed. As she lost consciousness, she saw a version of the crash site where they didn't make it, and the vision of the Antler Queen enters the plane. EMTs deliver Narcan, and Nat comes back. "I saw it. I felt it. We brought it back." Lottie looks genuinely terrified of everything Nat is saying, which has completely reshaped how I feel about teen Lottie. Natalie has an answer to what Travis' card reading, "Tell Nat she was right," is all about. "The whole time there was something, some darkness out there with us or in us. It still is. That's what I was right about." Natalie lays her head in Lottie's lap, and the image shifts to her teenage self.
Lottie turns her head and sees the Antler Queen's shadow on the ground. Perhaps the question these last two seasons shouldn't have been "who" is the Antler Queen and instead "what" is the Antler Queen.
Unhappy Wife, Unhappy Life
Back at Van's apartment, she's digitizing a wedding video and I'm fighting the urge to point out all of the Easter eggs in her apartment. Thankfully, fellow /Film writer Erin Brady will have a piece focused solely on this area, so keep your eyes peeled. Van is upset that Taissa has shown up unannounced after all this time, but those "first love" vibes are still strong, and she doesn't need Taissa to say a word to know that the sleepwalking is happening again. Taissa isn't ready to tell the truth, so she gifts Van the striptease pen as a distraction. She loves it, of course, because she hasn't changed a bit. She asks, "Remember when we swapped that fancy guest book pen for one of those at Shauna's wedding?" This means they're together at least long enough after the rescue for Shauna and Jeff to get married, but the photos in Shauna's house show Sophie Nélisse in the wedding gown, which implies they got married young.
Taissa spends much of their reunion deflecting, just as she used to do as a teenager. I love how as adults we like to pretend that we're all grown-ups and beyond who we were in high school, but the way our personalities are somewhat fixed from childhood is wild to process, and "Yellowjackets" does a great job of reminding us of that.
After Taissa finally showers, she notices Van has oxycodone in her cabinet. She claims it was for her mom. "At least you were talking again," Taissa says. Implying that they were together long enough post-crash for Van to be on her own and separated from her mom. "Cancer scared the b**** right out of her," Van jokes. "Maybe you don't have to be dying to have regrets," Taissa says. I can only echo Van when she screams, "No, you don't get to do this."
A Difficult Reunion
Tawny Cypress and Lauren Ambrose are absolutely fantastic as they bicker with one another. Van references both "High Fidelity" and "Seinfeld" in a flurry, and snaps back with, "I'm mixing my pop culture metaphors because I'm f***ing upset!" God, I am so much like Van it physically pains me. I can't wait to talk about this episode in therapy this week! Watching Van and Taissa argue is depressing and magnetic. This is obviously no shade to Taissa's wife Simone (who is probably still in a coma), as she deserves so much better than what she's been given, but Taissa and Van have "it." There's something about them that just works. Maybe because what we're seeing is who Taissa really is, and not the political facade she puts on to impress Simone. Van offers to help, but Taissa is afraid to ask for it. "I don't wanna hurt any more of the people I love."
Taissa eventually sleeps on Van's couch, and it's a familiar setup for the two. Van stays up all night to monitor and Tai hopefully sleeps. When she has a free moment, Van digs the medication out of the garbage and takes it. Oh no, does she have an oxy dependency? Taissa wakes up and comes after Van and kisses her, aggressively. We've seen this look before. She's not awake. "Oh, you're the other one, aren't you?" Van asks. "This isn't where I'm supposed to be," Taissa says. GIRL, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
Ugh. I feel like this is leading toward a reunion at Lottie's compound.
The Ballad Of Misty And Crystal
Crystal pulls the "pour the bathroom bucket" chore card, and Misty volunteers to help. On their journey, they share secrets, like how Crystal dumps poop randomly in the woods when she doesn't feel like heading to the cliff and that she got fingered backstage during a production of "Bye Bye Birdie." Relatable, except mine was during "Godspell" because I'm a blasphemous monster. It's then that Crystal reveals a massive secret ... her name is actually Kristen, but she never corrected anyone because she was afraid they wouldn't like her anymore. This moment of vulnerability inspires Misty to share a secret of her own, and suddenly everyone watching is clenching their entire body because we know where this is heading. Misty admits that people didn't like her before the plane crashed and that "some people never find someone they trust enough to share their darkest secrets." OHHHH NO.
Kirsten swears on her mom's life (shout out to Carol) that she won't tell anyone and Misty confesses she destroyed the plane's transmitter — meaning, she's the reason they're all trapped. Kristen is understandably terrified. Misty tries to play it off, but she's "not that good of an actress." Kristen tells Misty, "You're not my best friend, you're a psycho." Kristen is playing with fire, and we can all tell where this is going. Misty threatens to kill Kristen if she tells anyone, but that isn't a concern after Kristen backs away and falls off the cliff onto the frozen dumping ground below.
Misty goes down and tries CPR, complete with "Stayin' Alive" chest-compression training. No wonder she turned the song off when Walter played it in the present timeline. "I'm sorry, bestie," she says. RIP Kristen. You were a real one ... and you're probably going to be eaten.
Can You Keep Them In The Dark For Life?
Shauna wakes up from a nap to Lottie touching her pregnant belly and whispering to her womb. "It's good to talk to them in utero," she defends. "Yeah, so they learn to recognize their mother's voice" Shauna snaps back. Lottie's fixation on the baby is W-E-I-R-D, but Taissa weirdly defends her. COME ON, TAI. NOT YOU TOO!
Shauna storms out and Taissa follows, and the two have it out. Shauna sees the two factions of survivors aligning across the lines of following Lottie and screams at Taissa for abandoning her for the prayer club. Taissa tries (and fails) to justify her actions, and quips that everyone is excited about the baby. Shauna dives into a long overdue speech about her pregnancy:
"If anyone should be excited it's me, but I'm rightfully freaking the f*** out about having a baby in the middle of the f***ing woods, and newsflash: having a bunch of psychos praying for me in some weird f***ing tree cult isn't making my life any easier."
I've said it for over a year now, but Sophie Nélisse is a powerhouse. 'I don't need your f***ing prayers, I need you to have my back!" Taissa confesses that she's finally not afraid to fall asleep and that she's not going to apologize for doing what she needs to survive. Shauna is struck with labor pain, and the weather harshly pivots to a blizzard. WHAT DID I TELL YOU EARLIER?!
Taissa and Shauna get a little lost in the snow, and Taissa repeats the exercise Lottie had them all do earlier to listen to nature. Again. This is a grounding exercise. YOU'RE JUST CALMING DOWN. Taissa and Shauna make their way back to the cabin, as does Misty who now has the perfect cover of losing Kristen in the storm. Shauna's now in labor, and "Mother" by Danzig starts to play. Is this my favorite needle drop of the season so far? Yes. Yes, it is.
Buzzworthy Moments And Additional Thoughts
After my last episode, I had some readers ask me how I write these because it feels like I'm writing them in real-time, but I don't format the recaps in chronological order. The answer is that I watch the episode and type notes with my reactions as they are happening and then go back to arrange each "story" in the episode together. Those "real-time" reactions are exactly that. These are unfiltered thoughts given structure so you all don't think you've come across the ramblings of a mad woman because otherwise, each week would just be an all-caps wall of "OH MY GODDDDDD!" and that sort of unhinged behavior is reserved for the dying star known as Twitter.
I desperately need to know what kind of woman Tammy is, because I must know the kind of woman willing to marry Randy.
While we're talking about Randy, did you know that in porn they often use a combination of Ceravie face wash and cream of coconut whenever they need to simulate splooge on screen? Don't ask me how I know that.
Look, I agree that we need to have serious discussions around the right to die with dignity, but knowing that Misty has a future in elder care, her adoration of Jack Kevorkian makes me SO nervous. How many people has she killed?!
I have a bad feeling that something deeply messed up is going to/is going on with Javi which becomes the reason why Travis develops a drug dependency as an adult.
Seeing Lottie's look of terror when she sees the Antler Queen's shadow appears has completely rocked my world. What does she know that makes her that scared?! What nightmare awaits us all?!
Until next week, "Yellowjackets" hive. Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Yellowjackets" season 2.
The girls of "Yellowjackets" are survivors, and in season 2 of the hit Showtime series, Shauna, Taissa, Van, Misty, Natalie, Lottie, and the rest of the team have gotten the daily rituals of life in the wilderness down to a science. They hunt and forage, but they also take the ritual part of daily ritual seriously; Lottie (Courtney Eaton), the vision-stricken girl who makes a compelling case for a supernatural presence in the forest, puts drops of her blood in their tea and guides them through meditations each morning.
In the most recent episode of the series, we also see the girls partake in a new daily ritual, one that initially seems pretty clever. Back in season 1, the group found playing cards in the abandoned cabin they holed up in, and now we see that they're using the cards to rotate chore duty. When Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman) grabs a two, it apparently means she's on bathroom duty, tasked with emptying the group's waste bucket over the edge of a cliff. On their own, the chore cards seem like another creative innovation from a group that's stepped up and found ways to stay (mostly) civilized even under the most brutal circumstances. In the context of the entire series, though, the return of the playing cards is a lot more ominous than it seems.
'No Queens In That Deck'
The deck of cards first appears in episode eight of season 1, when Travis (Kevin Alves) can be seen playing with them. "There's no queens in that deck," Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) tells him, in a throwaway line that feels like anything but. The moment has inspired fans to speculate that the four queens have a symbolic meaning that foreshadows the rest of the girls' time in the wilderness. Whether they refer to four different girls taking up the mantle of Antler Queen, four who are sacrificed to feed the others, or even four who become predatory hunters like the ones we saw in the pilot's cold open, the offhand statement certainly seemed significant.
We finally saw one of the queens return in the fourth episode of season 2, when cult leader Lottie (Courtney Eaton) is stricken by a vision of a queen of hearts card. She's looking through a deck of "gratitude entries" (basically a list of things she's thankful for) when she suddenly sees a queen of hearts card, creased and dirty, with the queen's eyes scratched out by what looks like a black pen. Lottie blinks hard and the image vanishes; it was another vision (or hallucination).
Fans of the series, including Reddit users like logicallymagical, have posited that the missing queen cards hint at a system by which, perhaps in a future moment of hunger and desperation, the girls will choose who becomes their prey. The very first scene in the series features a group of bundled-up survivors led by an Antler Queen chasing down a frantic girl who eventually falls into a spiked pit. That girl ends up feeding the group -- and setting the stage for all of our questions about how the group would ultimately devolve into cannibalism.
A Method To Their Madness
At the time, the scene looked like a ruthless, frenzied hunt, but could there actually be some order to the chaos? If the girls use playing cards to decide who's hunted -- perhaps with the missing queens used to choose predator or prey -- their cannibalism could feel less like an unspeakable act and more like, well, a team sport. Some of the show's key horror elements so far have ultimately been reframed as a demonstration of practical survival skills (see: eating Jackie), so it wouldn't be a surprise if the cards turned out to be the method to the girls' apparent madness.
Before this week, the queen cards speculation seemed like a bit of a stretch, but now that we know for sure that the survivors use the cards to pick chores, they seem like they could be one Doomcoming-like collective freakout away from deciding that, actually, being hunted is a chore, too. Lottie even seems to have referenced the group's potential future dynamic to Natalie at the compound, when she explains that in winter, bees kill off potential future queens. Plus, promotional materials for this season may have both purposely and accidentally reinforced the card-drawing theory.
In the ensemble poster for the new season, a queen of hearts card is on display behind present-day Van's (Lauren Ambrose) shoulder, woven into a circle of twigs that also includes a dead bird, a jawbone, a deer skull, one of Lottie's cult members' necklaces, and some sort of weapon. "Yellowjackets" cast member Sophie Nélisse also added fuel to the playing card theory fire during a Bustle interview, when she complimented co-star Melanie Lynskey with what definitely sounds like a reference to an out-of-context spoiler for a future episode.
The Queen Of Hearts May Not Be Who You Think It Is
If all of that isn't enough, last week's episode also included a sly literary reference that has more than a little to do with the queen of hearts. When Lottie hallucinates a trip to the mall with her teammates, she runs into Laura Lee (Jane Widdop), the Christian girl who died trying to fly a rickety plane to safety last season. Widdop shared behind-the-scenes photos from the day of the shoot to their Instagram, and captioned them "laura lee x alice in wonderland core." Once Widdop mentions it, it's hard to unsee the references to Lewis Carroll's classic in the scene, which sees Lottie at a topsy-turvy tea party of sorts.
If Laura Lee, with her blonde hair and blue outfit, is a stand-in for innocent Alice, that means someone at the table has to be the Queen of Hearts, the tempestuous ruler who's prone to declaring, "Off with their heads!" Lottie obviously seems to have the most power over the group at this point in the series, but she's disoriented here, and her classmates are making jokes at her expense. Nat, meanwhile, is dressed in black with bright red lipstick, a departure from both her typical style and everyone else's relatively casual dress. Could she be the Queen of Hearts? If so, whose head does she want on a platter?
Those Chore Cards Could Come Back In A Big Way
Despite the many clues pointing to the importance of the queen cards and their eventual role in the girls' hierarchy, there are still some major details that won't be confirmed until the show finally plays its hand. Did the deck in the cabin really come without queen cards, or did one of the girls take them? Does the person who draws a queen card have to shed someone else's blood, or, as Lottie did in episode four when she cut her hand in sacrifice, give some of their own? Does the symbolism behind the cards also mean we'll see the rise and fall of four antler queens by the time the girls make it out of the wilderness?
The answers are uncertain, but the introduction of the chore cards, shuffled and presented by Mari (Alexa Barajas), certainly pulls this assortment of clues into focus. Whether it's the harsh winter, Lottie's visions, or some combination of the two that ultimately push the girls to the brink, it seems likely that the cards -- especially the queen of hearts -- will come back in a big way. Suddenly, drawing bathroom duty twice in a row doesn't sound so bad.
New episodes of "Yellowjackets" stream Fridays in the Showtime app, and air Sundays on Showtime.
This article contains spoilersfor "Yellowjackets" season 2 episode 5.
There's something not quite right about Misty Quigley (Samantha Hanratty/Christina Ricci). She's a stereotypical nerd; book smart but socially ostracized with no clue how to relate to others. As the Yellowjackets' equipment manager, she is only technically part of the champion soccer team, but that still means she's on the plane to nationals when it goes down over the Canadian wilderness.
As we learn more about Misty, it becomes apparent that her unpopularity isn't just because she's awkward. Something is very wrong with Misty Quigley, as she relishes "nurturing" the incapacitated coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger), with one attempt to do so ending with her accidentally poisoning all the other survivors with psychedelic mushrooms. In the present, she's an elder-care nurse and has been shown denying her patients treatment if they displease her. I've compared her to Annie Wilkes from "Misery" before and like her, Misty is hiding some dark secrets.
As the flashbacks in season 1, episode 2, "F-Sharp," showed, Misty actually liked being stranded in the woods. Thanks to her Red Cross training, she finally had an important part to play on the team once they needed first aid. When she overheard two of her teammates praising her, she finally felt like she belonged. This means that when she found the plane's emergency transmitter, she smashed it; the others may have been eager to get back to their lives, but Misty wasn't.
This had to come back up sooner or later. On tonight's episode, "Two Truths and a Lie," it did — with tragic consequences.
Besties For Life
In the 1996 storyline of "Yellowjackets" season 2, winter is here. That means the stranded survivors are stuck in the cabin they found last season. With them trapped inside, they've got no choice but to enjoy each others' company. Still, after the mushroom incident, the other Yellowjackets weren't about to trust Misty — except for Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman). The resident theater kid, Crystal annoys her teammates by humming and singing to herself. Since they're both unpopular, she and Misty start to hit it off in episode 3, "Digestif." Crystal offers to be Misty's acting coach before the latter does a monologue from "Steel Magnolias" for Shauna's (Sophie Nélisse) baby shower. Their friendship continues to grow until "Two Truths and a Lie," when Misty shows her true colors.
While disposing of the cabin's toilet bucket over a nearby cliff, the two new "besties" start sharing secrets. Crystal's secret is that her real name is Kristen — everyone misheard her name on the first day of practice and she didn't bother to correct them. She got a new nickname, "Crystal the Pistol," out of it and was worried people would like her less. Misty, who's used to people not liking her, empathizes with Crystal. Impulse control has never been Misty's strength and sure enough, that empathy causes her to make a terrible decision.
A Cliffhanging Truth
Crystal embraces Misty and declares, "You know how lucky we are? Some people never find someone they trust enough to share their deepest secrets." Then, on cue, Misty tells Crystal about how she destroyed the emergency transmitter. Misty soon learns why some secrets are worth keeping because this revelation is the end of her new friendship. As Crystal (accurately) surmises, Misty is the reason for all the pain the Yellowjackets have endured since the day after the crash.
Misty, whose smile briefly vanishes when she realizes Crystal is angry, tries to play it off as a joke, but Crystal isn't buying that: "You're not that good of an actress." Misty desperately pleads with Crystal not to tell anyone, then when supplication doesn't work, she goes into Classic Misty mode. Wide-eyed and unblinking, she slowly marches towards Crystal and says if she reveals the truth, "I'll f***ing kill you." The threat comes true immediately because Crystal takes one step too far back and tumbles off the cliff. Misty is horrified, but when she gets back to the cabin she lies that she and Crystal lost each other in the show. Shauna then goes into labor, so the others don't have time to search for Crystal's body yet.
In the present day, Misty has carried Crystal's love of musicals on, as shown by the song selection while she's driving with Walter (Elijah Wood). Her reluctance to get close to him is also paralleled by the disastrous end to her friendship with Crystal. While Crystal is definitely dead, this isn't necessarily the end of her presence in "Yellowjackets." There's a good chance her still-living teammates are about to get a lot more comfortable with desecrating (and dining on) the dead.
New episodes of "Yellowjackets" air on Showtime every Sunday.
This article contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets."It's always been a tight race between Juliette Lewis and Tawny Cypress for the most emotionally searing performance from the adult cast of "Yellowjackets." Cypress' Taissa became the biggest success of the survivors after returning from the wilderness, creating a beautiful family with her loving wife, Simone (Rukiya Bernard), and winning a seat in the New Jersey state senate. But her dark side, which was awakened by those woods but did not disappear when she escaped them, has also caused her to fall the furthest. The near-feral state of unconscious savagery and self-division Taissa has descended to over the course of season two has broken up her family, jeopardized her career, and seriously threatened her sanity.
Nearly all of adult Taissa's scenes are hard to watch these days, which can't be said about adult Natalie's (Juliette Lewis). Sequestered at Lottie's cultish wellness compound Camp Green Pine, Natalie has become a constant and delightful source of caustic disruption, as in the most recent episode when she bursts into a silent group meditation session, screaming about documents she just stole from Lottie's office. But when Natalie does go to that tortured place, Lewis' anguished intensity can be almost too much to bear. And nothing has been worse for Natalie than the death of Travis (Andres Soto/Kevin Alves), the boy she fell in love with in the wilderness who became the dead body at the center of one of "Yellowjackets'" grimmest mysteries.
We learned more about Travis' death earlier this season from Lottie, who was actually there when it happened, but episode 5 has finally given us the answer to the question that's haunted Natalie the most: what is the meaning of Travis' final note, "tell Nat she was right?"
'Right' About What?
At the end of the season 1 episode "The Dollhouse," Natalie and Misty (Christina Ricci) discover Travis hanging from a crane in his lofty, rural farmhouse, surrounded by flickering candles and that pesky symbol that keeps cropping up everywhere. They're too late to save him, but they do find the cryptic note, which Misty takes to be a kind of suicide letter. Natalie insists that Travis would never kill himself, despite all the indicators pointing to the contrary. Now we know from Lottie that Natalie was right. Travis wanted to push himself as close to the border between life and death as possible to, per Lottie, "confront the darkness to see what it wants." He always meant for Lottie to lower him down before things got critical, but the button jammed — at least that's her story for now — and Travis ultimately succumbed to that darkness.
The desperate nature of Travis' end-of-life bid for freedom testifies to how extreme and unending the haunting must have been. To put your life at such high risk in so rash a manner in order to actually save your own life is an inconceivable calculation to most of us. But try seeing Travis' final act through Taissa's eyes. Constantly hunted by the horrifying man with no eyes, stripped completely of the grounding force of her support system, and psychically cleaved in two because of it. The extraordinary lengths Travis went to rid himself of his demons probably don't seem so extraordinary to Taissa at this point.
Which makes the million-dollar question all the more urgent: what exactly was Nat "right" about?
'We Brought It Back With Us'
After Nat bad vibes everyone out of Lottie's group meditation session at the end of season 2 episode 5, something shifts in their dynamic. Nat looks genuinely rattled by her own instability, and Lottie gets angry with her for the first time. "Travis said you were right about something," she says, "and it was obviously important enough to leave you a message about it. Don't you want to know what that is? [...] I want to know what he was going through." Nat snaps back: "You know what he was going through. You started it."
This is the chicken/egg scenario that underlines the entire series: did the girls awaken something supernatural when they crash-landed in the woods, or did that supernatural something compel them into the woods in the first place? It's all very "Lost," and so is what happens next: some light EDMR therapy.
The episode closes on Lottie rapidly flashing a pen light into Nat's eyes and asking her probing questions about Travis. Lulled into a trance state, Nat dredges forth a volcanic eruption of repressed memories. "What do you see?" Lottie asks. Nat sees the crash site, but "none of us survived." She sees the Antler Queen, a deeply distorted vision of herself as a kind of glowering, black-eyed wraith, and in a memory of her final night with Travis, whispers: "I saw it, I felt it, we brought it back. We brought it back with us."
Natural Or Supernatural?
In the '90s timeline, Nat is one of the last holdouts who refuses to believe there's anything in those woods besides snow, trees, and bears ... even though she's been attacked by an otherworldly, snow-white moose, induced into a cannibalistic fervor, and witnessed hundreds of dead birds dropping out of the sky, among other increasingly commonplace happenings.
But in the present timeline, having escaped the woods, it seems that before Travis, before Taissa, and certainly before Shauna and Misty, who remain un-haunted by spectral visions of the past, Nat was the first to sense that they hadn't escaped completely. This is what Nat was "right" about. Moments before his death, Travis confided to Lottie that he felt "the wilderness has come back to haunt him." As ever, the creative team behind "Yellowjackets" have made discerning the source of those hauntings impossibly complex.
Take the image of Nat the black-eyed wraith. It's immediately preceded by a vision of the chainmail-veiled antler queen sweeping through the fuselage of the eviscerated plane, suggesting it could be Nat. But the image is of Juliette Lewis, not her younger counterpart Sophie Thatcher; how could '90s Nat take the form of a Nat that wouldn't develop for another 25 years? Is adult Nat imposing her very much real-world-derived grief on the past, or is she accessing a legitimate memory? Is the antler queen we saw from the pilot the manifestation of some dark-hearted supernatural menace, or simple hunger, exhaustion, and isolation driving a bunch of teenagers to acts of desperate violence?
This article contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 2. Of every character in season 2 of "Yellowjackets," the bubbly, eccentric Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman) is perhaps the strangest. She pops up in the middle of the season 2 premiere and unexpectedly develops a connection with Misty (Samantha Hanratty), and it's immediately clear the two are destined to be BFFs.
When Crystal confides in Misty how she "ate" her twin sister in the womb, Misty's riveted, and she's never seemed happier than when Crystal encouraged her to try acting. The two are perfect for one another, which only further raises the question: where's Crystal been this whole time? Why are they only now hitting it off, when they've been stuck in the same cabin together for months? Both the character of Crystal and the actress playing her are completely new, but she's hardly alone. A handful of other background characters have technically been there the whole time, but are only now starting to get full scenes focused on them.
You can't blame the show for trying to do this — as the group dwindles over their 19 months in the wilderness, these minor characters must be fleshed out eventually — but it's unavoidably awkward. Every time Mari, Akilah, Gen, or Melissa get a moment to shine, it just reminds audiences of how irrelevant they were throughout season 1. For someone as weird and outgoing as Crystal, it's particularly jarring for the season 2 premiere to try to trick us into thinking she's been there the whole time. It's the same problem that impacted another beloved puzzle box mystery show.
A Familiar Problem
"Yellowjackets" isn't the only show to awkwardly introduce new characters who the rest of the cast is supposedly already familiar with. Multiple seasons of "The Sopranos" featured major storylines around the introduction of someone that everyone in Tony's crew supposedly already knew from years before, and "Scrubs" once snarkily insisted that Kim (Elizabeth Banks) had actually been working alongside JD for five years already; he just didn't notice her because she wore a wedding ring. However, it's a lot harder to pull this off when you're dealing with a small group of isolated people. Just ask the writers of "Lost."
In season 1 of "Lost," there were 48 survivors in the main group, and "Lost" focused on 15 of them. That meant that there were nearly 30 survivors just kind of hanging out at the beach, staying away from all the drama. Season 1 took advantage of this dynamic with the reveal that Ethan (William Mapother) was not actually one of the survivors, but a member of a mysterious hostile group from another section of the island. The writers knew we couldn't keep track of those background characters either, so they were able to hide the enemy from us in plain sight.
The first background survivor to suddenly step into the spotlight was Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck), a high school science teacher who almost immediately blows himself up with dynamite. His death is shocking but mostly played for laughs, as he was lecturing the group about handling dynamite safely when he accidentally sets it off. The writers seemed to understand that the audience was not going to care about this guy who barely existed throughout the first 20 episodes, so they didn't spend much time on the other characters grieving his death.
Lost's Big Misstep
It's with the third episode of season 3, "Further Instructions," that "Lost" attempted to introduce Nikki and Paulo, two survivors who've never done anything of note for the first two seasons. The two characters kept offering to help the main group, even acknowledging a few times how strange it is that they've been around for so long without ever helping with anything.
But even with the meta winks, fans simply couldn't get over how these characters popped up out of thin air, so after a half-season's worth of backlash the writers decided to bail on Nikki and Paulo entirely. They gave us "Exposé," an episode that dives into the two lovers' pasts as murderous diamond thieves. It's a "Twilight Zone"-inspired tale about two people consumed by greed, who are then punished for their sins thanks to an absurdly dark, not-particularly-plausible plot twist that results in them accidentally being buried alive.
There's also a fun little "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern" vibe to the episode, as it reveals that the two have been having their own little soap opera storyline that constantly weaves in and out of past "Lost" storylines we've already seen. While Jack and Locke were having intense arguments about the nature of free will, Nikki and Paulo were apparently just out of screen, going through their own equally dramatic conflicts. The only difference is that Jack and Locke are main characters, and Nikki and Paulo aren't. Just like with the famous play, Nikki and Paulo's lives are casually thrown away by the more familiar characters we already know and love. It's a dark, meta reflection on how much perspective matters, and how the most important things in your world could just be a footnote in somebody else's.
Crystal, We Hardly Knew You
"Exposé" was a bizarre episode, one that frustrated millions of fans who just wanted "Lost" to address its dozens of other more pressing plot lines, but it was also sort of brilliant. Did it retroactively condemn every Nikki/Paulo scene into clear-cut filler material? Yes. But it still gave that filler storyline one hell of a farewell. It's also a delightfully mean-spirited episode, one that would bode poorly for Crystal 16 years later, who exists on a show that's basically "Lost" but way darker. From the moment she was introduced, the question was raised: would Crystal get her own "Exposé"-inspired episode? It wasn't clear. All we knew was that present-day Misty had no friends, and a present-day Crystal had never been mentioned. We didn't know how or when, but Crystal's tragic fate still seemed sealed.
In the end, Crystal did not get an entire episode dedicated to her backstory. "Yellowjackets" has always been far more sprawling of a show than "Lost," spreading itself a little thin with at least four or five different major stories going on at once. In Crystal's farewell episode, we only get a handful of scenes with her, and they're all from Misty's perspective. That might sound disappointing, but at least "Yellowjackets" made the most of the little time it had with her. (And of course, considering how much backlash "Exposé" originally got, denying Crystal a spotlight episode is probably the smart choice.)
Crystal/Kristen's Demise
From the moment we get that lingering shot of the snowy cliff, it's obvious Crystal's going over, but it's not until Misty tells her about breaking the transmitter that we understand how. Poor Misty thinks she's finally found a friend that can truly accept her, flaws and all, so she decides to take a risk that could bring them even closer together. But even Crystal, who admitted to Misty two episodes prior that she too enjoyed the taste of human meat, has limits. She may have just said that she and Misty were lucky to have found each other like this, but Misty doesn't get that Crystal's just making the most of a bad situation; she wouldn't actually prefer to be stuck out here for months on end, so the reveal that Misty broke the transmitter does not go down gently.
The emphasis is on Misty, who's learned the hard way that nobody will ever accept her for who she is. If even Crystal can't forgive her for what she did, then surely nobody can, so Misty will have to keep her guard up for the rest of her life. In other words, even when Crystal's getting shoved off a cliff, the show still isn't focused on her. This is all underscored by the earlier reveal that Crystal's name isn't even Crystal, it's Kristen. The other teammates just misheard her and she's been too shy to correct them. Kristen's always been misunderstood by those around her, and now she's going to die with the group never even learning her real name. She was tragically overlooked in real life, and now she's been tragically overlooked by the show as well.
Who Handled It Better?
Kristen's storyline definitely has parallels to Nikki and Paulo's, but there's also plenty of contrasts. "Lost" dove deep into Nikki and Paulo's lives to give them one last hurrah, whereas Kristen's death mainly serves to add extra context to Misty's present-day storyline with Walter (Elijah Wood), who reveals that he knows more about Misty's criminal actions that he originally seemed. Will Misty kill Walter just like she killed Kristen? That's the main question invoked in Kristen's final moments.
When it comes to which show handled this narrative issue more smoothly overall, it's hard to say. "Lost" benefitted from a larger group of survivors, so it made more sense that there were so many background characters that never got much to do. With "Yellowjackets" there are less than 20 people who survive the initial plane crash, so the treatment of the background characters sticks out far more. There's also the issue that "Yellowjackets," unlike "Lost," is all about the group growing smaller. It shouldn't take too long before the number of survivors reach the single digits; if the show didn't start developing the background teammates, that would feel increasingly weird too.
The Problem With Listening To Fans
Although "Lost" would famously make a series finale that did not give the fans everything they said they wanted, season 3 in particular made a lot of its storytelling decisions based on outside influences. They introduced Nikki and Paulo because fans were always asking what those background survivors were up to, and then they killed off Nikki and Paulo because the fans ended up hating them. It was a failed storytelling experiment overall, serving as a nice lesson in how fans don't always know what they actually want.
The effect of the fans' influence on "Yellowjackets" season 2 isn't clear yet, although there definitely were plenty of complaints about the lack of focus outside of the main four survivors. Expanding the story to focus more on Van and Lottie makes sense, but the significant shift in focus on Kristen and the other background teammates may have been an overcorrection.
Where "Yellowjackets" clearly stands ahead of "Lost" is with their resolution of Kristen's character arc, which we know was resolved without any of the fans' influence. Kristen dies in "Two Truths and a Lie" because that's when the writers intended for her to die; her death scene wasn't hastily written into the show in response to fan backlash. Even if Kristen's presence on the show was a little too awkward for many viewers to fully get on board, the whole thing still feels more organic than the way "Lost" handled the situation 16 years earlier. "Yellowjackets" may have inherited a lot of the island drama's flaws, but they've also seemed to have learned a little from its biggest mistakes.
We first got hints that Misty was a fan of musicals in season 1 of "Yellowjackets" when she listened to the "Overture" and "The Music of the Night" from "The Phantom of the Opera." She also teased Nat by listening to "Mr. Mistoffelees" from "Cats" while driving. In season 2, we discover that Misty's relationship with musicals has a lot to do with Crystal, a theatre nerd who also survived the plane crash.
Walter, the other half of her detective duo, also enjoys musicals. During their road trip to find the cult, Walter gives Misty a set of cassette tapes that include "Singin' in the Rain," "The Wizard of Oz," "Les Miserables," "Rent," and more. Misty dismisses "Starlight Express" before she turns on "Rainbow Tour" from "Evita": "Oh, let's tell the story of Cinderella, except every character's a train? Ugh." In flashbacks, we see that she and Crystal sang along to the political musical while stranded in the cabin.
Misty appreciates blockbuster musicals that were popular during the 1990s — particularly those written by Andrew Lloyd Webber — the most. This is fitting because mentally and emotionally, like the other Yellowjackets survivors, she is still stuck in the past and can't escape her traumas. Another major reason that Misty still attaches to musicals is that they remind her of Crystal, the one true friend Misty made in the wilderness. In the shocking new episode, Misty threatens to kill Crystal after revealing she destroyed the plane's emergency box, then she backs her new friend off a cliff.
Misty's love of theatre amplifies the best and worst parts of her personality. It makes sense that Misty would be an overdramatic theatre kid, drawn to the heightened emotions and intense bonds you make with your cast members. There also are references to particular musicals that emphasize aspects of Misty's character and motivations.
Learn To Be Lonely
The Phantom of the Opera and Misty are eerily similar. Both are isolated outcasts who feel rejected by society. They are unhinged characters who will go to extreme — and often violent — lengths to satisfy their desperate need for acceptance: Misty destroys the plane emergency box so her team can use her survival skills, and Phantom tries to imprison Christine Daae as his bride in his underground lair.
They are intelligent and skilled manipulators. Fittingly, "The Music of the Night" plays when Misty takes the private detective Jessica hostage and prepares to interrogate her. During this song, the Phantom kidnaps Christine from her dressing room and tries to seduce her with his elegant singing voice. Misty's investigative skills and cleverness are also reminiscent of the Phantom, who haunts the Palais Garnier with magic tricks that cause chandeliers to crash, pianos to play by themselves, and opera singers to croak. They are both sneaky characters who will do whatever it takes to get what they want.
Misty and Crystal's bonding over theatre is very similar to how the Phantom's only way of finding understanding and friendship is through his vocal lessons with Christine. Misty's eyes light up when Crystal suggests they practice harmonizing together or work on a "Steel Magnolias" monologue for Shauna's baby shower. Much like music in "The Phantom of the Opera," theatre is a way for Misty to feel accepted and get the attention she craves so desperately. When Misty reveals her true self to Crystal, she is (understandably) not as accepting as Christine, calling her a psycho and rejecting her as a friend.
God, That's Good!
One of the reasons that Walter was drawn to Misty on the Citizen Detective forums was because she dropped a "Sweeney Todd" reference — a dark, bloody musical by Stephen Sondheim about a sociopathic character who does not hesitate to kill others for his own selfish desires. Misty's dark side connects with the demon barber of Fleet Street. Stranded in the wilderness for 19 months and witnessing tragic deaths, Misty can relate to the significant trauma in Sweeney Todd's life. He wrongfully serves in a labor camp for 15 years and loses his wife and child.
We know Misty resorts to cannibalism to survive, and "Sweeney Todd" is famously about people's bodies being put into meat pies. The city of London unknowingly finds this secret recipe scrumptious. Manipulating the pies relates to Sweeney and Misty's creepy enjoyment of playing God; they both relish in the power of selecting who lives or dies — and whether they suffer in the process. There is a wellspring of rage beneath Sweeney and MIsty that allows them to commit violent acts without flinching.
Sweeney kills many barbershop customers with his razor, practicing for his sweet revenge on Judge Turpin. These victims are also the new ingredient for Mrs. Lovett's pies. In "Yellowjackets," Misty watches a rat drown instead of saving him. As a nurse in a retirement home, she often withholds medications from crotchety patients. The stone-faced Sweeney does not hesitate to slit his clients' throats, caring about nothing but his own thirst for revenge. Misty easily cauterizes Ben's leg and disposes of Adam's body because she is more excited about getting attention and earning people's friendship. Misty also values protecting her own reputation over Crystal's life, hissing "I will f***ing kill you" before edging her off the cliff.
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Yellowjackets" season 2.
The second season of "Yellowjackets" has been so jam-packed with intriguing mysteries and exciting payoffs that it was easy to forget that one of its most recognizable motifs has been conspicuously absent. We've seen neither hide nor tail of The Antler Queen, an image that haunted the show throughout its first season before being revealed as Lottie's (Courtney Eaton) Doomcoming costume — until now.
The latest episode of "Yellowjackets" brings the Antler Queen back to the forefront in a big way, but also asks viewers to reconsider our established theories about the figure. In a breakthrough moment, present-day Lottie (Simone Kessell) treats Nat (Juliette Lewis) with a sort of hypnotic regression, asking her to focus on her voice and watch a blinking flashlight in order to remember her last moments with Travis. It works, perhaps too well.
Nat remembers overdosing in a hotel room with Travis, but she also remembers seeing a disturbing alternate version of the plane crash. In it, everyone is dead, and the Antler Queen steps through the wreckage and towards their charred corpses. "We weren't alone out there," Nat says ominously. "I saw it. I felt it. We brought it back." She apparently doesn't have to tell Lottie what she means; the cult leader's focus is interrupted by a creaking noise, and when she turns, she sees a shadow of an antlered figure spreading across the floor. The Antler Queen is back, baby.
Natalie And Lottie Confront The Darkness
This new riff on a familiar image makes for a cool horror moment, but the Antler Queen's return goes much deeper than that. Until now, viewers have conceptualized her as a real person; we see her in the opening of the show's very first episode, feasting on the flesh of a girl the survivors trapped and killed together. She seems like a mysterious and powerful leader, but one who's made of flesh and bone. When Lottie dons the antlered outfit for Doomcoming, it seems like the mystery is solved.
Except, the latest episode of "Yellowjackets" posits that the Antler Queen isn't one person, but a "darkness" that more than one of the girls can feel. "The whole time there was something, some darkness out there with us. Or in us. It still is," Nat tells Lottie after the hypnosis. "That's what I was right about." Travis, you might remember, left a note asking whoever found it to "tell Nat she was right." In his final days, he also became obsessed with the idea of chasing a near-death experience in order to "confront the darkness" and find out what it wants from the survivors. When he tells Lottie about this in episode two of the new season, a quick shot of Lottie as Antler Queen appears on screen.
That's not the only blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot associated with the Antler Queen this season. When Nat ODs, an extremely short shot shows a distorted version of adult Nat with black eyes and a knit cap. Is she related to the Antler Queen, or just communing with her? "Yellowjackets" has officially reopened the Antler Queen mystery, and this time, it seems like the answer will be a lot more complex than hungry teenagers with a penchant for playing dress-up.
The Antler Queen Isn't A Who But A What
The Antler Queen may have only made her grand re-entrance at the end of episode 5, but she's been hiding on the fringes of the show for quite some time. Lottie's compound features some prominent antler-themed decor, including a wall mount that Nat clocks above the entrance to Lottie's cabin. The wilderness chic seems pretty in line with the aesthetic of a place where residents are asked to slaughter their own chickens, but former Antler Queen Lottie also believes in the power of objects and symbols, so there's no way the antlers are there by coincidence. Plus, Lottie is clearly still performing rituals, and hearing calls to spill blood in the name of some unseen presence.
Still, the latest Antler Queen developments seem to have evolved the central mystery surrounding the figure; it's no longer "Who is the Antler Queen?" but "What is the Antler Queen?" The series has already presented us with two different spirit-like entities that haunt the woods, and it now feels like good old AQ could be a third. But while the hunter seems like a classic unquiet spirit and the man with no eyes is a mysterious and off-putting dream entity, the Antler Queen seems to be something closer to a goddess, a being whose relationship with the girls is more personal and powerful than either of the other haunts.
A Powerful Entity Never Actually Left The Survivors
This theory is reinforced by some of the actions we see in the scenes surrounding Antler Queen mentions this season. Just before Nat recovers her memories, we're shown a scene in which the girls use manifestation in an attempt to make it out of the winter storm. "I feel our friends coming back to us. I feel our friends wanting to find us," they chant, and eventually, it works. "Yellowjackets" often meaningfully cross-edits its scenes, so it's not a leap to assume the Antler Queen revelation is somehow related to their seemingly magical moment. Plus, when Travis and Lottie talk about the darkness they brought back, it isn't just the Antler Queen imagery that flashes before Lottie's eyes, but also a shot of her leaving a bear heart in the woods as a sacrifice.
We associate the Antler Queen with Lottie because she dressed up as her last season, but Lottie also has the closest relationship with whatever darkness lies in the woods. Perhaps she's not actually the Antler Queen, but a vessel for her messages. It's also worth noting that back in season 1, Lottie had a recurring vision of a deer shedding its antlers, and Nat and Travis actually saw that happen in real life, meaning all three of them actually have pre-existing ties to the unsettling imagery. The last question, then, is what the figure wants. It seems to be too soon to tell, but she's clearly closely tied to death or near death. There's one more thing we know about her, too: decades after the survivors made it back from the wilderness, she's clearly not done with them yet.
New episodes of "Yellowjackets" are available in the Showtime app on Fridays, and on Showtime on Sundays.
Before Windows, there was MS-DOS. It’s a somewhat-meaningless name these days that you may have seen on old PCs, old software, or browsing sites like this. But what is MS-DOS? Why did old computers have it, and what happened to it when Windows came along?
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always has flicked the nostalgia switch on Netflix and we explain why Amy Jo Johnson was not involved as Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, and discuss where the actor is now.
If you’re wondering why the reunion is titled “Once & Always,” we discussed the iconic Power Ranger quote that it’s based on.
Directed by Charlie Haskell and written by Becca Barnes and Alwyn Dale for Netflix, the reunion special follows the returning superheroes in a stand-alone web special to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 90s show and the overall Power Rangers franchise.
After dedicating most of the 90s to Power Rangers, starring in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series, the 1995 movie, and the 1997 Turbo movie, Amy Jo Johnson also appeared in other 90s hits including Saved by the Bell: The New Class and the movie, Perfect Body.
Post-Power Rangers, Johnson appeared in TV shows ER, Flashpoint, and Covert Affairs, alongside a small cameo role in the Power Rangers reboot movie in 2017.
Recently, Johnson starred in the miniseries, The Has Been, and movies Between Waves and Space & Time, however, her time is currently spent behind the camera as a director.
After spending a few years directing shorts, Johnson recently helmed the movie Tammy’s Always Dying in 2019 and the miniseries, The Has Been, which she also starred in.
Additionally, Johnson directed season 2 episode 6 of the Superman and Lois series for The CW, titled Tired and True.
It was also recently reported by Variety that Johnson is writing her own Power Rangers comic book series with publisher Boom Studios. The professional raised $250,000 on Kickstarter in less than 24 hours for the comic titled: Power Rangers: A 30th Anniversary Comic Book Celebration.
Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage
Why did Amy Jo Johnson not return as Kimberly the Pink Ranger in Once & Always?
After a number of Johnson’s co-stars returned for the Netflix anniversary special, the actor was targeted by fans who spread false claims about her absence from the special.
Entertainment Weekly reported Johnson’s response to fans who believed the actor decline the opportunity because she was not offered enough money:
“Please stop saying I didn’t do reunion because of money. Simply not true. Maybe I just didn’t want to wear spandex in my 50s. Or couldn’t go to NZ for a month. Or none of [your] beeswax.”
The first generation Pink Ranger, Kimberly, actually appeared in Power Rangers: Once & Always, alongside Tommy Oliver as the Green Ranger and Jason as the Red Ranger. However, their faces are never seen and they have no speaking lines.
Walter Jones and David Yost return to their first-generation mantles from the 90s television series, playing the Black Ranger, Zach, and the Blue Ranger, Billy, respectively.
Steve Cardenas returns as the second-generation Red Ranger, who took over from Austin St. John, and second-generation Pink Ranger, Catherine Sutherland, who took over the mantle from Amy Jo Johnson.
Below, we have listed the cast members of the special:
The showrunner of the third season of "Star Trek: Picard," Terry Matalas, began the season with a few cute references and cameos to whet the appetites of nostalgia-hungry Trekkies. One of the first shots of the season was a slow pan over the belongings of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), and sharp-eyed fans would likely recognize several trinkets and pictures and audio logs left over from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." For five episodes, Matalas played light and fair with additional nostalgic references, focusing instead on new characters, a new ship, and the story at hand.
In the back half of the season, however, the dam burst, and the cameos and references began coming fast and furious. There were small notable roles for Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), Tuvok (Tim Russ), and Commander Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy). The eighth episode saw the entire central cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the same room at the same time, and it was revealed that the Borg were once again the villains of the piece. The final episode of the series, called "The Last Generation," featured an audio cameo from Walter Koenig, playing Anton Chekov, the son of Pavel Chekov. And, of course, the finale centered the Enterprise-D, the ship that was destroyed in "Star Trek: Generations."
In a roundtable discussion, attended by /Film's own Vanessa Armstrong, Matalas revealed that he actually wanted to cram in even more references and cameo appearances. He mentioned that he wanted justice for Harry Kim, the eternal ensign, by giving him a captaincy. He also wanted to establish that two characters, presumed dead or imprisoned, were alive and well, and he wanted a cameo from the first two seasons of "Picard." Notably, he wanted an on-camera appearance from Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the captain of the U.S.S. Voyager.
Soji
The reason he couldn't have the cameos, Terry Matalas said, was an issue of both budget and of scheduling. Getting all his intended actors in the room at the same time would have been a logistical nightmare, and not everyone he wanted was available during the "Picard" shooting window. Additionally, he noted that Paramount didn't have the budget to pay all the actors in question; it seemed getting the "Next Generation" cast back was expensive enough. He also wanted to link this season of "Picard" -- which largely stands apart from the previous two seasons -- back to the first. It seems Soji (Isa Briones) was a part of Matalas' original ideas. He explained:
"[T]here were characters I really wanted to see again. In the original finale script ... look, it was a giant movie that we were building on a television time schedule. The fact that you saw what we saw was miraculous that we pulled it off. It nearly killed us all. But there was a scene with Soji and Data that we could not afford to do. And another actor."
Matalas was coy about who "another actor" might have been.
Soji, for those who forgot, was a central character in the early episodes of "Picard." It seems that a Federation scientist salvaged a particle of Data's android brain, left exploded after the events of "Star Trek: Nemesis." Someone then essentially "cloned" Data from the particle, not only re-growing his consciousness and memories (!), but also creating a pair of organic android twins. Even for "Star Trek," the pseudoscience was far-fetched, but it resulted in a character, Soji, who found herself struggling with the revelation that she was an artificial being with false childhood memories.
Because she is technically Data's daughter, Matalas wanted Soji to meet Data.
Janeway Herself
At the end of "The Last Generation," Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is recommended for a promotion to captain. Terry Matalas wanted an additional Starfleet officer present for her promotion, an officer that Seven served with for many years aboard the U.S.S. Voyager. Yes, Matalas wanted Admiral Janeway to be there. He also mentioned that he wanted to resurrect Tuvok and Ro and Harry Kim. Sadly, none of this was in the budget. In his words:
"Ro, there was a scene in which they found Ro Laren in the dungeons of the Intrepid with Tuvok, and that she had survived. We weren't able to pull off. Harry Kim had appeared at one point. We really wanted to bring back ... we wanted Kate Mulgrew to be part of Seven of Nine's promotion. These are all things that ... they're all in the first script, and then your line producer says 'Are you out of your f***in' mind? You can't afford these things. You are not 'Avengers: Endgame.'' So they got to go away. And so those are our regrets. But I'm very happy with what we were able to pull off."
While a scene between Mulgrew and Ryan would have pleased the many "Voyager" fans, it should be noted that modern "Trek" is not absent Captain Janeway. The character appears -- in two different forms -- on the animated series "Star Trek: Prodigy." One version of Janeway is an instructional hologram that constantly instructs and subtly mothers a crew of non-Federation teenagers. Later in the series, after the teens manage to fly their ship into the outer edges of Federation space, they run into the real Janeway, now grumpy after switching from coffee to tea.
She might not have been in "Picard," but she is present in "Trek."
This article contains spoilers for the series finale of "Star Trek: Picard."
"Star Trek: Picard" season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas wants to continue the story in a spin-off series, potentially called "Star Trek: Legacy," and he's already full of ideas on how to pull it off. At a press roundtable attended by /Film's Vanessa Armstrong, Matalas revealed that while one fan-favorite character died during the course of "Picard," he has a pretty neat idea on how to potentially bring them back in the future. As far as we can tell, "Legacy" would follow the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-G, including Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Number One Raffi (Michelle Hurd), and Special Counsel to the Captain, Jack Crusher (Ed Speelers), who would have to negotiate the strange new world of life in Starfleet after the Borg event that nearly wiped out the Federation.
There's just one problem: Starfleet's most curmudgeonly captain isn't around to see this future he helped create, and that's a major bummer. Fans had such a great time getting to know Todd Stashwick's Captain Shaw that killing him off in "Picard" felt like a waste of a wonderful character, but apparently Matalas has a plan to maybe bring him back. I don't know about you, but I'll watch any "Star Trek" that features my favorite dips*** from Chicago, so I hope Matalas can make it work.
'He Was Always Supposed To Die'
When asked about Shaw's fate and whether or not he was always supposed to die in "Picard," Terry Matalas explained that the character was a sacrificial lamb from the beginning, with a clue in his very name:
"No, he was always supposed to die. [...] It was always his arc. He's named Shaw after Robert Shaw in 'Jaws.' He was going to get eaten by the shark. He was going to be killed by the Borg. That was always a very, very simple story. It was part of his fate."
That makes a lot of sense, especially given that this Shaw had his own version of the classic "U.S.S. Indianapolis" monologue from "Jaws," but it's still a pretty major bummer. Apparently what the crew behind "Picard" season 3 hadn't anticipated was just how much the fans would love Shaw, as the character became a fan-favorite pretty quickly. What's not to love about a no-nonsense Starfleet captain who's willing to stand up to titans of the Federation in the name of what he thinks is right? Sure, he's a little racist against the Borg in the beginning, but no one's perfect and he was working on that! Matalas attributes Shaw's surprising success with the fans to the writing team and Todd Stashwick's charisma, making the character so much more than just a simple grumpy Gus. The role was even "tailor-made" for Stashwick after he and Matalas worked together on "12 Monkeys," and it would be fun to see them work together again on "Legacy."
A Way Back
Todd Stashwick and Shaw both rule, and "Star Trek" fans want more! Thankfully, Terry Matalas also revealed that there's a plan in place to bring Shaw back if they manage to get "Legacy" off the ground and decide to resurrect the cantankerous captain:
"We knew from minute one there is a way for Shaw to return in the most wonderful way, that's not a cop out, if we ever were to come back and it's awesome. Awesome."
There are a lot of different ways for characters to return from the dead in the "Star Trek" franchise, ranging from deeply scientific to totally fantastical. There could be a Shaw clone or android, for example, or the franchise's main mischief maker, the god-like Q (John de Lancie) could play with the nature of reality to bring him back. Honestly, the whole idea of bringing Shaw back from the dead after everything he went through is darkly hilarious and fits the character's arc pretty well, forcing him back into the line of duty when all he wants is a break. If that's not relatable, I don't know what is. We'll have to wait and see what happens when it comes to "Star Trek: Legacy" and Captain Shaw's role in it, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for this jazz-hating sass machine to return.
The entirety of "Star Trek: Picard" is available to stream on Paramount+.
Today, T-Mobile announced its latest Un-carrier event, with the carrier intent on bringing more disruption to the wireless industry. In a time when three year wireless plans through EIPs (equipment installation plans) are becoming more common, the carrier is rolling out 'Phone Freedom' with a three-pronged approach that includes Go5G Plus, The Easy Unlock, and the Go Back Guarantee.
The demonic daytime scares of the "Insidious" franchise are back for a fifth installment, "Insidious: The Red Door," due out in theaters on July 7, 2023. In 2011, James Wan's ("Aquaman," "Malignant") original film proved that a PG-13 horror movie could actually be scary, mostly thanks to the toothy grin of The Lipstick Face Demon that terrorized the Lambert family.
In "Insidious: The Red Door," the story picks up 10 years after the events of "Insidious: Chapter 2," with Josh and Renai (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) getting ready to send their now adult son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) to art school. Dalton is still dealing with the psychological effects of combatting supernatural forces as a child, and his paintings seem to awaken the same forces that are determined to take over his body, mind, and soul.
This time around, Wilson is stepping behind the camera for the first time as a director, and filling the shoes of Wan and writer Leigh Whannell (who also directed "Insidious: Chapter 3") was a responsibility that weighed on Wilson at first. "I think I was scared of trying to fit in James' shoes and Leigh's and gosh, the comparisons," Wilson told IGN. "My fear of wanting to step into this genre and specifically back into the 'Insidious' world and take the reins, it lasted about 24 hours."
Having Wilson direct this next adventure into the paranormal realm of The Further has a certain symmetry to it, and keeps everything in the family, so to speak. The fact that Simpkins is also returning to the role of Dalton -- the same part he played as a young boy over 10 years ago -- also feels like a homecoming of sorts for the franchise.
Going Forward, Not Backwards In The Timeline
You may be done with the past, but the past isn't done with you. That nugget of wisdom is never more true than it is for tormented families trapped in a horror franchise that won't let them find any peace. Catching up with the timeline in the present day, "Insidious: The Red Door" creaks open to unleash the same entities that have now invaded the lives of the Lamberts for a generation. When Patrick Wilson agreed to return as star and director, he wanted to explore the trauma inflicted in the earlier films and see if there was any potential for the family to weaponize the curse that's followed them around for over a decade. He explained to IGN:
"I wanted to unpack everything that happened at the end of 'Insidious 2.' I really wanted to finish this Lambert trilogy and I wanted to, again, without giving the storyline away, I wanted to push this generational curse even more. What does that mean? When does a curse become a blessing? Is a blessing a curse?"
Previously, the Lamberts have been hypnotized, comatosed, and terrorized during their efforts to rid themselves of that family curse. What kind of damage does that do to a family over time? That's a compelling place to start for a father-son relationship that has to pick up the pieces and then suddenly deal with a new threat. Although now, Dalton is an adult who can fend for himself and may not need the protection of his family. In fact, the family may only make things worse. Those are potentially some heavy hitting issues that Wilson and screenwriter Scott Teems ("Halloween Kills") wanted to explore.
What Patrick Wilson Loves About Horror
Patrick Wilson seems to have every confidence that he can deliver a frightening and worthy follow-up to one of the most successful horror franchises in recent memory. What made the original "Insidious" so effective was largely due to director James Wan and scribe Leigh Whannell who managed to turn the genre on its head with fresh, exciting ideas and new ways to deliver the classic jump scare. Wilson was determined not to move too far away from what Wan and Whannell first envisioned back in 2011, telling IGN:
"I wanted to take all these little breadcrumbs that James had left along the way and [ask] what does that do to a kid in college? I just dove in from there and the generational curses and giving to the relationship of father and son and what that does to their relationship and the aftermath of what happened in 'Insidious 2.'"
Wilson has always been a student of film and has never shied away from the horror genre, appearing in multiple installments of "The Conjuring," the Stephen King adaptation "In the Tall Grass," and now, another go around inside the treacherous world of "Insidious." Of course, these properties have been hugely successful, but that's not the only reason Wilson keeps coming back for more scares. "You're dealing with a lot of very heavy subjects, but there's really no better genre to explore that than horror because it really becomes very operatic," explained Wilson. "That's what I love about horror."
The Right Way To Marathon All The Insidious Films
Over the last few entries of the "Insidious" franchise, the timeline has gotten a little confusing, admittedly. Luckily, acting powerhouse and genre staple, Lin Shaye is here to light the way out of The Further and get you back home in one piece. In the original film, Shaye is introduced as a compassionate psychic medium named Elise Rainer, who descends upon the Lambert household, along with her ghost-busting cohorts Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), to gather evidence of the paranormal and help exorcise whatever evil spirits are lurking around. Tragically, Elsie dies in the first film, but due to some clever writing and flashbacks, she reappears in "Insidious: Chapter 2" in a somewhat derivative sequel. At this point in the series, the timeline is mostly intact.
Shaye then returns front and center in "Insidious: Chapter 3" which serves as a prequel and origin story for Elise that takes place a few years before the first film. In "Insidious: The Last Key," Shaye stars in yet another prequel that takes place in 2010 (with flashbacks that explore Elise's abusive childhood in the 1950s). Then, the ending of "The Last Key" pulls a "Rogue One" and leads right into the events of "Insidious."
With that all laid out, in preparation for "Insidious: The Red Door," and to enjoy the maximum dose of Lin Shaye, here's the correct chronological order to watch the series: "Insidious: Chapter 3," "Insidious: The Last Key," "Insidious," "Insidious: Chapter 2," and finally, "Insidious: The Red Door."
And not to worry: Lin Shaye appears in the trailer for "The Red Door" on what appears to be an old video recording, So rest assured, Elise's story will continue on for at least one more film.
In November 2019, we shared a fan remake of Sonic 2006 in Unity Engine, called Project ’06. And today, we are happy to report that a brand new version of it is available for download. According to the developers, this is the third installment of Project ’06’s episodic releases and the full release of Silver’s … Continue reading New version released for the Sonic 2006 Fan Remake, Project ’06 →
In the short time since their inception, ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms have rightfully gained the reputation of ultimate productivity boosters. However, the very same technology that enables rapid production of high-quality text on demand, can at the same time expose sensitive corporate data. A recent incident, in which Samsung software engineers pasted proprietary code into ChatGPT,
Jon Peddie Research recently reviewed GPU sales data, graphics card segmentation, and Steam's Hardware Surveys to find that enthusiasts & gamers prefer playing games on desktop PCs instead of notebooks.
A higher percentage of gamers use desktop PC systems to play games instead of notebooks, but current marketing data says differently
Jon Peddie Research is a technically oriented multimedia and graphics research and consulting firm with a keen eye on the technology field for over thirty years. In the research firm's newest data analysis on the PC gaming marketplace, the company noticed that 87% of gamers prefer to use desktop gaming computers instead of highly publicized gaming notebooks.
But why does the sales data show an increase in gaming laptops? JPR explains that gaming notebooks may not be used to play games but are used for other categories. In their recent report, the firm analyzed Steam's Hardware survey that split graphics cards into three categories — desktop, notebook, and either.
The "Either" category is used to place GPU configurations that could show up on desktops or laptops. Still, a fourth category, "unknown," is also in the analysis, albeit with a small two percent of users surveyed.
Valve's Steam survey showed that desktop GPU configurations were tallied by 68% of users, while 10% were notebook graphics. The remaining 20% was placed in the "either" category, making it difficult to tell the exact configuration used.
JPR's methodology to understand the realistic number of desktop GPUs to notebook GPUs using the other two categories showed that 87% of users are playing on desktop PCs. In contrast, 13% of users are most likely playing on notebooks. Desktop computers offer much more customization features compared to laptops and are more affordable. This would explain why desktops would be preferred over notebooks for PC gaming.
Power Users: Power users could be in the educational, design, programming, scientific, medical, government, or finance user categories. The reputation for the highest-performance PC computing products has long been known by power users to be gaming-optimized systems. Consequently, power users are likely to use gaming-optimized notebooks as workstations.
Style-Influenced Users: Gaming notebooks are not only powerful, but they have attractive style elements including lighting and sleek shell designs. Like a sports car buyer who never uses the performance, gaming notebook users appreciate aesthetics, pride of ownership, and status.
Gamer Secondary Systems: For all the above reasons and perhaps also brand loyalty, we believe there are gamers who buy gaming notebooks for general computing tasks but rarely, if ever, actually play games on them.
The research firm continues explaining that PC manufacturers review SKUs and "branding-level data and non-market representative internal sales data" when analyzing what products are selling and what they should focus their manufacturing on to acquire the most sales figures. However, the data can fool even the top companies, as users may not purchase a gaming notebook specifically for gaming but for other purposes, such as design, programming, finance, and more, especially when the systems are highly optimized with components that offer the most performance for the cost. However, you also have users that purchase gaming notebooks for looks, similar to someone buying a high-end and flashy car to impress others and to fit a specific look for their gaming setups.
JPR feels that companies should reanalyze the use of the products currently on the market so that manufacturers can invest in systems serving the intended purposes & better market for those PCs.
What are you primarily playing games on?
Desktop
Notebook
Mix of both
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This post contains spoilers for the series finale of "Star Trek: Picard."
The third season of "Star Trek: Picard" was long ago declared to be its last. Lead actor Patrick Stewart is hanging up his communicator and the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" will finally split up for good. The final season of "Picard" largely served as their encore, a late-in-life reunion that allowed the character to have a few conversations -- and to be in utter peril -- one last time. It seems the Next Generation is no longer their generation.
Indeed, "Picard" ends with a Next Generation of its own. Flashing forward to a year after the season's climactic Borg battle, a new crew has been assembled. Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharp Chestnut), the daughter of Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), is already sitting at the helm of the U.S.S. Titan-A. Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the son of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), has passed through Starfleet (in only one year!) and will sit as the special counselor to the captain of the Titan. The captain, incidentally, is Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and her first officer will be Raffi (Michelle Hurd), her one-time girlfriend. This is "Star Trek: The Next, Next Generation."
Also, to assure that legacy is on everyone's mind, the U.S.S. Titan is, at the last minute, rechristened the U.S.S. Enterprise-G (it seems that the Enterprise-F was wiped out quickly). Jack will begin his career on the namesake ship of his father's two most famous commands.
With the circumstances so arranged, naturally, the showrunners decided to fold in one last notable guest star to link everything back to NextGen. In a mid-credits scene, the presumed-dead trickster god Q (John de Lancie), alive again, appears to Jack.
The Trial Never Ended
Q died during the finale of the second season of "Star Trek: Picard." So how can he be back to wreak inconvenience on Jack Crusher? Seeing as he is an omnipotent being that lives beyond the normal laws of time and space, there's no reason why he couldn't have lived another several billion years, only to return to the time when Jean-Luc Picard was alive to bid him farewell. He explains to Jack that humans think in linear terms and that his death was not to be taken as permanent.
Jack tells Q that he knows all about his appearances to Jean-Luc, and how Q infamously put humanity on trial for their aggression and brutality. Q first appeared in the "Next Generation" pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" (September 28, 1987) dressed as a post-apocalyptic judge in control of his own kangaroo court. In the show's final episode, "All Good Things..." (May 23, 1994), Q declared that the trial never ended and that Picard, through his own witlessness, will accidentally destroy humanity. It wasn't until Picard could understand the real existence of paradoxes that humanity began to show a glimmer of promise. Q withdrew, having proven his point.
Q would return a few times on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," and would close out his story in "Picard," hugging Jean-Luc in a bizarrely sentimental farewell. It seemed that his infinite lifecycle came to an end.
But, as audiences now see, the trial seemingly continues in perpetuity. Q says to Jack that his own trial is just starting. Picard's progeny now bears the responsibility of proving humanity's worthiness to continue existing.
What Does It Mean?
Audiences have long been trained to accept mid-credits teasers as previews for an upcoming film or TV series; we have the Marvel Cinematic Universe to thank for that. As such, the appearance of Q might serve as a miniature pilot for another new "Star Trek" TV series. Showrunner Terry Matalas has even said that he would love to make a series called "Star Trek: Legacy," which would presumably be about life on the Enterprise-G with a young ensign Crusher and Captain Seven seeking out new life and new civilizations.
With a new Enterprise, a new crew, and a godlike antagonist, it seems that we're exactly back to where we were in 1987 with the launch of "Next Generation." Only this time, a whole season of television presaged it, establishing characters and scenarios the way a pilot episode might. The groundwork has been laid. It seems all Matalas needs is a green light.
As for reusing the "Next Generation" premise of a Picard standing in as humanity's avatar while Q puts our species on trial, I have no problem. Repeating an idea may be cheap from a writerly perspective, but it makes logical sense given Q's nature. He is pretty much immortal, we see, and experiences time on a vast scale. When one can live billions of years, a millennium is but a drop in the bucket. Q knew Picard for, what, five decades? That's not even the single beat of a bumblebee's wing to Q. It makes sense that the trial of humanity would continue into the next generation, or even into multiple generations beyond. Q is the Picard family Devil now.
Whether or not audiences see it happening, we can rest assured that Q will make Picards miserable for thousands of years to come.
The Air Force is investigating how a lone airman could access and distribute possibly hundreds of highly classified documents, and in the meantime has taken away the intelligence mission from the unit where the leaks took place
