I will avenge you, father! I will save you, mother! I will kill you, Fjölnir! By the time The Northman concludes, Alexander Skarsgård’s wayward Viking prince has accomplished two out of the three. But was any of it worthwhile? Before the credits roll, Uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang) is well and truly dead by his nephew’s hand; his head cleaved clean off with a massive stroke of Amleth’s arm. However, the prince without a kingdom is also slain, stabbed through what I believe is the heart and left to simmer by a lake of fire that both men recognize as Hel....

It’s not the image that first springs to mind when you think of chess. In a swanky Parisian parlor, with a bank of breathless photographers following her every gesture, Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon rushes in while still in a daze. She’s clearly missing a step after a late night of bad decisions, yet even at her most disheveled she emanates ‘60s style. Like Ann-Margret in The Cincinnati Kid, Beth’s fiery mane of red hair is turned up at the sides in a flip....

The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 22 Even with the ever-delightful Hugh Jackman at his most Broadway melodic as a magical singing janitor, “Poorhouse Rock” is the most punk episode The Simpsons has offered in a long time. It’s like having Johnny Rotten narratively croon a “Schoolhouse Rock” with the ultimate lesson: There’s no future for you. Of course, The Simpsons would never make such a blatant musical choice for its most anarchic episode....

The Simpsons Season 32 Episode 6 Without dipping into political waters, The Simpsons season 32, episode 6, “Podcast News,” rides the wave of fake news into a less likely swamp: True crime reporting, and the amateur sleuths who’ve gone pro broadcasting it. Not on broadcast stations, though, those are outdated, and rely on the painstaking drudgery of the finding of facts, which are terrible for ratings. The episode opens in a state of frantic paranoia, eschewing the couch gag entirely, which always bodes well....

It’s been reported that the movie will not only include Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, taking over from the late Tony Stark as Peter’s mentor, but also Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina, reprising their roles as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Dr. Octopus from the original Spider-Man 2 respectively. It’s also long been rumored that these villains will be bringing along their own Spider-Men, played once again by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire....

Those of you who have seen the movie now that it ends with an epilogue featuring Audrey and Morgan in Japan a year following their stint in Europe. They are spies working with Sam Heughan’s Sebastian Crenshaw. In giving Audrey and Morgan actual spy jobs, the epilogue somewhat undermines the realism of the world. However, it is also a whole lot of fun and would act as a jumping off point for a would-be sequel, said director Susanna Fogel....

The Suicide Squad might just be the best DCEU movie yet. Not only is it a sterling ensemble piece about the horrors of American imperialism but it’s also the world’s weirdest buddy comedy. And in a film full of stunning performances–Idris Elba, David Dastmalchian, and Daniela Melchior please stand up–we got another killer turn from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. After kicking all kinds of ass in Birds of Prey, the Mistress of Mischief is back and better than ever....

But the biggest surprise doesn’t come in John Cena’s Peacemaker expounding on his willingness to eat as many penises as liberty requires, and it’s not Idris Elba’s Bloodsport in some really cool battle armor, or Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn misbehaving just as Harley should. Nor is it in the reveal of Peter Capaldi’s Thinker, or even the wonderful CGI creation of King Shark (who appears like he might finally deliver on the promise of the character from Gail Simone’s glorious Secret Six run)....

It’s not a gradual softening; it’s something that happens all at once like an elaborately drunken night out, or a sneeze. One day, the lively da-derr da-derr da derr of The Antiques Roadshow theme song signifies the approach of stultifying boredom, the next, it signifies the approach of some charming Royal Doulton egg cups and a fascinating nineteenth century object for scraping bits of poor people from the hooves of an aristocrat’s horse....

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 6 Perhaps I’m just projecting the character of Abraham onto the actor, but as a director, Michael Cudlitz seems to be able to have fun with his material, no matter how dark. Throughout “Shadow Puppets,” there are a lot of fun little touches and moments to lighten things up and serve as an effective tension break during some of the more nervous moments. Towards the end of the episode, as Iris is skulking into an abandoned department store, there are two back-to-back scares, one a fake-out involving a mannequin that’s really amusing, then a legitimate one where a walker, out of nowhere, thrusts a hand out of a gated area into the middle of a scene in which Iris and Percy are talking....

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 12 When it comes to untrustworthy characters on The Walking Dead, there’s not a ton of subtlety. Sure, the Governor talked nice, but he had an eye patch. Eye patches are evil; anyone who has ever seen a soap opera knows that. Negan was introduced killing two beloved characters in brutal fashion; tough to come back from that even if you traditionally keep your word....

Where is Shadow and Bone set? Shadow and Bone is set in a fictional world where some people, known as Grisha, have magical powers. Ravka Most of the main action in the first season of Shadow and Bone is set in Ravka, a kingdom that is fighting a war on two fronts: with Fjerda, its neighbor to the North, and with Shu Han, its neighbor to the South. But Ravka has its own internal problems, too....

Just how cosmic are we talking? Well, picking up on threads from Avengers: Endgame, where Thor and Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill were quickly becoming best frenemies, it looks like Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy will play a significant role in Thor: Love and Thunder. The team-up element of Ragnarok, where Thor got to smash stuff with his old “friend from work” Hulk worked out pretty well, so why mess with success, right?...

“You can’t get a promotion,” Harris’ rear admiral sneers, “you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a two-star admiral by now… or a senator. Yet here you are, captain. Why is that?” We then cut to Cruise’s slightly more weathered yet remarkably still boyish face, and he simply teases the outline of a familiar smirk. The sequence, which comes early in the finished Top Gun: Maverick, is obviously meant to clue us into what its title character has been up to for the past 36 years....

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky Type: NovelPublisher: OrbitRelease date: Aug. 3 Den of Geek says: Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time garnered praise and awards for its alien spiders and exploration of big ideas. The beginning of a new series, Shards of Earth looks like a twist on the classic super soldier drama with a focus on what happens after the war. Publisher’s summary: Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war....

TorCon 2021 In partnership with Tor Books, we are thrilled to announce the return of TorCon, a virtual convention launched in 2020 to bring the entertainment and excitement of live book conventions into the virtual space. From Thursday, June 10 through Sunday, June 13, Tor Books, Forge Books, Tordotcom Publishing, Tor Teen, and Nightfire are presenting ten panels featuring over 30 of your favorite authors in conversation with each other—and with you!...

While we are still waiting for official confirmation regarding the extent of this breach, initial reports suggest that it is one of the biggest tech hacks in recent memory. There will certainly be more to say about this story in the coming days and weeks, but the one thing you absolutely need to know right now is that this breach represents a potential security risk for Twitch users everywhere. At the moment, it does sound like there is a strong possibility that user account information may have been exposed via this breach....

As Riot notes in that tweet, Skye is expected to join the Valorant roster on October 27. The studio previously stated that they had intended to release a new agent earlier but ultimately decided to focus on ensuring that the game’s most recent balance patches were performing as intended before they introduced such a major new variable. While Riot hasn’t yet revealed the new agent’s full abilities, a seemingly reliable leak tells us pretty much everything we need to know about Skye and how she’ll play a rather unique role in the game’s competitive meta....

Van Helsing Season 2 Episode 3 “Do not underestimate the cost of being a monster.” It’s often said no greater love exists than a son’s for his mother, and for the third week in a row, Van Helsing catches viewers totally off guard drawing on a narrative device used only sparingly to this point. In an episode examining the depths to which desperation can push a human being, “Love Bites” takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride that could potentially send Vanessa down a dark path she’s thus far managed to avoid....

Classic Batman villain Victor Zsasz burst onto the scene in this week’s Batwoman with what is simultaneously the creepiest and most fun villain introduction on the series yet. Tricking his way into a hotel suite with a bottle of high end champagne, the notorious hitman took out a high roller and his mistress by order of the man’s wife, telling them so as he chased them around the hotel room and killed them, making sure the mistress knew Zsasz’s client splashed out more than her now-dead husband....