Midway through the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) makes his way to the Iron Throne to do his kingly duties. As he approaches the baroque chair made of swords, his herald announces the king’s presence to the gathered smallfolk in grand fashion.

“All hail King Aegon! Aegon the Magnanimous! Second of his name! King of the Andals, and the Rhoynar, and the First Men! Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm!”

Ignoring the rest of the usual “King of the…” jargon, Aegon hones in on one portion of the sobriquet in particular. “The magnanimous?” he says to the herald with an eyebrow raised.

It’s clear that something about the word “magnanimous” has struck Aegon. Later on in the episode, as the assassins know as Blood and Cheese prowl through the castle, they come across a drunken Aegon sitting upon the Iron Throne and opining about his herald’s word choice yet again.

“I need a style that demonstrates power and commands respect. No one knows what magnanimous means,” he says.

Does no one know actually what magnanimous means? Or does Aegon just not know? According to Aegon actor Tom Glynn-Carney, it’s the latter.

“He’s never heard that word before,” Glynn-Carney tells Den of Geek and other outlets during a pre-season roundtable interview. “The sensation he gets from it is not one of great power and strength, which is what I think he wants.”

Despite not knowing its definition, Aegon might be hung up on the word “magnanimous” because part of him understands it’s one of the last words in the English canon (or the “Common Tongue” in a Game of Thrones context) that someone would use to describe him.

Magnanimous is just an awesome word. It’s an adjective originating from the 16th century that is used to describe someone as “nobly brave or brilliant” or as “great-souled.” My Western Civilization teacher in high school, the venerable Mr. Lally, highlighted magnanimous as being one of the most important concepts that people look for in their leaders. He applied the term to George Washington: Union Army general, first American president, and a man who was regarded as being “great in mind, soul, and spirit.”* To be magnanimous means to be generous or forgiving – particularly to a rival or a less powerful person. As such, the term itself suggests that the individual it applies to has power.

*Except for … you know, owning other human beings as chattel.

King Aegon II indeed has power, but does he have the generosity of spirit to be magnanimous? Interestingly enough, the first portion of season 2 episode 1 “A Son for a Son” implies that he just might! Aegon comes to his first petitioning session for the smallfolk of King’s Landing with more empathy than expected. He seems eager to make sure that farmers receive their livestock back and carpenters are properly compensated for their work. According to Glynn-Carney, that moment helps establish that Aegon isn’t the one-dimensional villain that Rhaenyra and the Blacks would make him out to be.

“There has to be some humanity to it,” he says. “It’s been great to have those flavors [to Aegon] this time. Should he have had a different upbringing, he may have been a wonderful, kind, fair, good person. But for whatever reason, we’ve gone on a different track.”

Of course, simply not being a villain is not enough to make one properly magnanimous. Aegon is easily bullied out of his charitable inclinations by his Hand Ser Otto Hightower (Rhyfs Ifans), who informs him that ceding any of the crown’s taxed livestock during a time of war and embargo is ill-advised.

A magnanimous ruler would go ahead and give the man his sheep back anyway. But of course, a magnanimous ruler then wouldn’t have enough meat to feed his dragons and armies. Perhaps that’s why we don’t have many magnanimous rulers to point to in our own histories in the first place.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.

The post House of the Dragon Season 2: King Aegon II Is Anything But Magnanimous appeared first on Den of Geek.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) says precisely four words in the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere.

Rhaenyra doesn’t speak when she unsaddles from her dragon on a beach in the Stormlands to find the ashen remains of her second son, Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), killed by Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) in the season 1 finale. She doesn’t speak when her eldest son Jacaerys (Harry Collett) appears in her chambers, attempting to deliver the good news about winning fresh allies to their cause, but instead weeping with her about what they both just lost.

The first and only time Rhaenyra speaks in the installment’s 64-minute runtime is upon her arrival back to Dragonstone after finding Luke’s body. As her advisors and allies plead for further instructions on the coming war – like establishing a stronghold in The Riverlands and maintaining the naval blockade of King’s Landing – Rhaenyra utters only “I want Aemond Targaryen.”

By episode’s end, a six-year-old child is killed while Aemond remains whole and healthy.

Welcome back to for another year of House of the Dragon! “A Son for a Son” is a muscular return for the Game of Thrones prequel. After the necessary legwork was put in to establish the beginnings of the Dance of the Dragons Targaryen civil war in season 1, this season immediately puts those efforts to good use by turning in in an ugly hour of television where all roads, no matter how high or low, lead to death.

It’s said that the act of filmmaking is all about making choices. That rings particularly true for House of the Dragon. The source material for this series, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire prequel novel Fire & Blood, is written as a historical recounting of the Targaryen dynasty’s rise and fall. As a dramatized endeavor, House of the Dragon must fill in narrative answers where Westerosi historians have only questions. With season 2, showrunner Ryan Condal and the writers’ room project admirable confidence that their interpretation of events is the only one worth hearing.

That storytelling confidence allows for an appropriate expansion of scale. While much of season 1 took place within the confines of the Red Keep in King’s Landing, the impending war requires its wagers to traverse the continent for allies. Jace’s offscreen travels between seasons took him to The Vale of Arryn and The North. And thankfully Condal (who wrote this Alan Taylor-directed episode) doesn’t make viewers wait long for a return to the land of the Starks.

“A Son for a Son” opens on a familiar fog-drenched landscape being picked over by crows. The subsequent sight of a snowy wall removes all doubt of where we find ourselves. This era’s ruling Stark, Cregan (Tom Taylor), tells his royal guest about this land’s customs. “Duty is sacrifice. It eclipses all things. Even blood. All men of honor must pay its price.” Cregan is speaking of his House’s obligation to The Night’s Watch but he might as well be speaking about the war to come as well.

The popular perception about the Game of Thrones franchise among those who have never seen the TV series nor read George R.R. Martin’s books is that it presents “grittily realistic” fantasy world where morally ambiguous characters do mostly bad things. While some of that is true, it discounts the fact that many of this story’s characters are attempting to do the right thing. They just fail to do so because life is an impossible thing.

That’s how Jace can return home to Dragonstone with two major victories in hand and noting but pain in his heart. It’s how Rhaenyra can perfectly identify the right target for revenge, but somehow have a toddler’s head lopped off instead. House of the Dragon‘s decision to pick a storytelling lane and stick to it in this episode means the dark ironies get a chance to really curdle.

Even that rat bastard on the Iron Throne, King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), nominally tries to do the right thing. “A Son for a Son” offers viewers a rare look at what ruling the Seven Kingdoms really means when the smallfolk of King’s Landing are brought before their king to petition their various grievances. One poor wretch simply asks for the return of his taxed livestock, of which Aegon is inclined to oblige. But his Hand of the King Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) has to remind him that there’s a blockade underway and the crown has many hungry draconic war machines to feed. So no, you can’t have your sheep back. Sorry!

The smallfolk really get their day in the sun this time around. For reasons that will become apparent only later on (no spoilers, bookheads), “A Son for a Son” comes to a grinding narrative halt twice – once to introduce the unassuming shipbuilder Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) on Driftmark, and again to hear the carpenter Hugh’s (Kieran Bee) request the king for advanced payment. These moments stick out, perhaps a little too much.

Also sticking out, and to better effect, are two dragon flyovers. In an example of weirdly superb background acting, the fishermen’s fear of Syrax in The Stormlands is palpable as they cry out “dragon!” with the same urgency one might yell “grenade!” Equally as palpable is Ser Arryk Cargyll’s (Elliott Tittensor) relief upon realizing that the giant beast floating towards the castle from the sky is merely Aemond’s dragon Vhagar. That’s what amounts to “good news” in this world: the titanic-sized monster zooming your way is an technically an “ally” – even if it is a geriatric dinosaur who just ate a kid against its rider’s wishes.

Aegon’s mother, the Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) could use some good news herself. King Viserys I’s widow can’t seem to take enough hot baths to wash away all her perceived sins. Alicent was already increasingly embracing the Faith of the Seven near the end of season 1, and now she is striving for even more godliness. Probably because she’s fucking her son’s Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). This is another story element that the Targaryen history texts leave out or attribute to crass rumor. But once again, House of the Dragon succeeds simply by choosing to go there. Of course, Alicent would fall victim to the same base desires that she would criticize Rhaenyra for when they were younger – and with the same man, no less. Because that’s what people are: impossible.

But you didn’t come all this way to read about King’s Landing inflation or Alicent’s sexual appetites. Let’s talk about the rat in the room: blood and cheese.

The one aspect of “A Son for a Son” that will be long-remembered is its horrifying last act. After all, can you recall what else happened in Game of Thrones‘ “The Rains of Castamere” a.k.a. “The Red Wedding episode?” It’s tremendously important that House of the Dragon nails this moment and it’s tremendously satisfying that it does.

Daemon takes Rhaenyra’s “I want Aemond Targaryen” proclamation to heart and fast travels to King’s Landing. Undercover at the docks, Daemon meets with two would-be assassins: a former City Watchman known as “Blood” and a rat catcher known as “Cheese” (those code names aren’t revealed within the episode but rather within Fire & Blood‘s pages). The killers’ instructions are simple: a son for a son.

That’s how the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere comes to spend its final act with two villains whom we just met. The fact that these men are strangers only enhances the dread. Someone is going to die and they’re going to die badly. But who? We find out that sad answer when Blood and Cheese are unable to find Aemond, but do stumble across Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and her twin children – the boy Jaehaerys and the girl Jaehaera.

Remembering their sex-based requirements for murder, the men ask Helaena to identify the boy. Somewhat to their surprise, Helaena answers honestly, perhaps unable to even process the horror she’s living through. As Blood and Cheese lean over to noisily decapitate Jaehaerys, Helaena scoops up Jaehaera and walks speedily, but gingerly out of the room and into her Alicent’s quarters.

“They killed the boy,” she says, not even responding to the presence of Criston Cole naked in the room with her mother.

As you might have guessed, this is a big moment from the source material. Just as fans came to know the murderous event at The Twins as “The Red Wedding,” this occasion lingers in the canon as “Blood and Cheese.” The show’s version is a little different, owing to the fact that one of Aegon and Helaena’s children, the youngest Maelor, has not yet been born in the show’s timeline. But the horror is very much the same.

It’s to House of the Dragon‘s credit that Prince Jaehaerys’ murder doesn’t feel like sudden violence for violence’s sake but an inevitable consequence of everything came before it. Blood and Cheese themselves are seen several times throughout the episode, prowling around the background as bit players in someone else’s play before they take center stage. Their place in history was sealed the moment Rhaenyra said she wants Aemond Targaryen. That all but ensured that someone else, someone innocent, would die in his place.

Because that’s how civil wars work. A desire for righteous vengeance can get you to the battlefield but it can’t ensure your guns will be pointed in the right direction. In the end, Rhaenyra saying those four words was still four words too many.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Learn more about Den of Geek’s review process and why you can trust our recommendations here.

The post House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1 Review: A Son for a Son appeared first on Den of Geek.

Westerosi history is littered with events so monumental that they often receive their own nicknames. In George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire canon, King Aegon I Targaryen’s years-long campaign to unite the Seven Kingdoms under one rule is known simply as “Aegon’s Conquest.” Even further back in the lore, the cataclysmic event in which darkness fell over the known world is called only “the Long Night.”

Game of Thrones watchers understand the importance of good historical branding as well as anyone. They know the “Red Wedding” wasn’t a nuptial ceremony that just happened to be adorned in red hues—it was massacre at The Twins that damn near wiped out House Stark and the armies of the North. Now with the premiere of House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1, viewers have once again borne witness to a moment so upsetting that it has to be referred to euphemistically in the annals of history. The final moments of “A Son for a Son” depict what comes to be known as “Blood and Cheese” in all its bloody and cheesy glory.

That moment, of course, is the murder of the child Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, eldest son of King on the Seven Kingdoms Aegon II and his sister-wife Helaena. Poor Jaehaerys is slain by two assassins, who are identified in the historical record only as “Blood” (so-called because he was purportedly a member of the City Watch who lost his Gold Cloak for being too violent) and “Cheese” (so-called because he was purportedly a ratcatcher). They were sent by Prince Daemon Targaryen to kill Aemond Targaryen (or the closest son they can find). What’s particularly horrific is that both Jaehaerys’ mother Helaena and his twin sister Jaehaera are present for the murder and are completely helpless to stop it.

Den of Geek spoke via press roundtable with Queen Helaena Targaryen actress Phia Saban, King Aegon II Targaryen actor Tom Glynn-Carney, Prince Daemon Targaryen actor Matt Smith, and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal about the challenges of depicting this long-dreaded moment from George R.R. Martin’s source novel Fire & Blood.

Unlike the Red Wedding, which was an unabashed buffet of blood and violence, Blood and Cheese plays out like more of a horror movie. And like the best scary movies, the goriest bits here are depicted offscreen to better torment the viewer’s imagination. The lead up to Jaehaerys’ murder is also quite long, with the third act of “A Son for A Son” taking place from the killers’ perspectives as they infiltrate the Red Keep in King’s Landing.

“We spend the first two-thirds of the episode with all the characters we know, then we’re suddenly spending an inordinate amount of time with these two guys that we just met,” Condal says. “There’s this growing sense of dread and horror. Why are we spending all this time with them? That’s the visceral experience we wanted to put the audience through.”

While the events do indeed play out like a horror movie, Condal has another genre in mind when it comes to describing Blood and Cheese.

“We wanted to dramatize it as a heist sequence with these two dastardly criminals being hired by Daemon and sent on a mission—then obviously taking a hard left turn at the end. We wanted it to feel more like a heist gone wrong.”

But did it really go wrong? Blood and Cheese do not kill Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) wished. (Hauntingly, the only four words spoken by Rhaenyra in this entire episode are “I want Aemond Targaryen.”) But the killers do ask Daemon what their new instructions are if they’re unable to find Aemond in the sprawling maze that is the castle. Pointedly, the show never reveals Daemon’s response to Blood and Cheese. According to Condal, however, that’s only because it didn’t have to.

“Certainly Daemon didn’t just stare into the distance for 20 minutes and then get up and walk away,” Condal says. “He said something, but I think that’s left to interpretation. I will say that we hear from the conversation that Blood and Cheese have with each other in the room that Daemon clearly said ‘a son for a son’ and ‘bring me a head.’ I don’t think there’s that much mystery to it. We know who Daemon is, it’s not like him to leave the castle empty-handed.”

Daemon actor Matt Smith concurs: “I do have a personal take on what the follow up instructions would have been. I know, in my head, the intention that Daemon went in with. I mean, what do you think?” When we point out the name of the episode and that Daemon didn’t stutter when he said “a son for a son,” Smith replies with a simple “Yeah. Go Den of Geek.”

Jaehaerys’ murder is a visceral, upsetting experience to be sure, but if House of the Dragon hewed closer to its source material, it could have been even more harrowing. The book Fire & Blood is written as a historical document that chronicles the rise and fall of the Targaryen dynasty. As such, many of the events presented are up for interpretation. Still, most historical sources seem to agree on how the broad strokes of Prince Jaehaerys’ killing played out.

Following the death of Lucerys Velaryon at Aemond Targaryen’s hands, Luke’s stepfather/great uncle Daemon promised vengeance, declaring there would be “an eye for an eye, a son for a son.” Shortly after that, the men known as Blood and Cheese sneaked into Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower’s chambers. There, instead of Alicent, they found Queen Helaena Targaryen and her three children: Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor.

Presumably (but not provably) operating under Daemon’s directive of “a son for a son,” Blood and Cheese gave Helaena a choice of which son to spare from death: Jaehaerys or Maelor. After much pleading for mercy and offering herself up instead, Helaena finally settled on sparing the six-year-old Jaehaerys, since he was the king’s heir (and perhaps because the two-year-old Maelor was too young to understand what was about to happen to him). In response, Cheese supposedly mocked Maelor, telling him his mother wanted him dead, and then went ahead and cut off Jaehaerys’ head instead.

House of the Dragon fundamentally could not have depicted that version of Blood and Cheese – not because it’s so grim, but because there are other logistical challenges to consider.

“The sequence in the book is wonderful and is a great version of the story,” Condal says. “But because we compressed time in the telling of the first season, we only have these two very young kids [Jaehaerys and Jaehaera]. Maelor, the third child, doesn’t yet exist in the timeline in the show.”

Like Game of Thrones before it, House of the Dragon has tweaked its source material’s timeline. The show has aged up certain characters, aged down others, and altered certain events to better fit the TV format. As such, many of this story’s young characters either have not been born – like Maelor – or merely hover around the periphery – like Joffrey (Rhaenyra’s third son with Harwin Strong), Aegon and Viserys (Rhaenyra’s sons with Daemon), and Daeron (King Viserys I’s fourth child with Alicent).

For as horrific as Cheese’s taunting and child-murder switch up is in Fire & Blood, it’s not like House of the Dragon‘s version is warm and cuddly. Helaena still has to pick between her two children and then suffer the immediate consequences of that decision. As Helaena scoops up Jaehaera and sweeps out of the room, the camera locks in on her face as the only visual evidence we have of the horror underway. It’s a hell of an acting challenge and one that Phia Saban was up for.

“To me, [Helaena] doesn’t have a choice,” Saban says. “In that moment, it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened. It’s the highest stakes thing. But it’s also just an emergency. That’s what’s going through her head when these men are in her bedroom with knives. They’ve drawn blood already and are saying ‘If you do not tell us which one, we’re going to kill all of you.’ They’re very clear about that.”

The events of Blood and Cheese and Prince Jaehaerys’ death will have long-lasting effects throughout the season and the rest of the Dance of the Dragons.

“There’s no denying that this is catastrophic in terms of the fallout,” Glynn-Carney says. “It’s going to be something that sticks with [Aegon] forever. I think it fuels his resentment and hatred and bitterness towards Team Black and Rhaenyra. That shift is something that completely throws him into a downward spiral.”

Ultimately the men known as Blood and Cheese will be remembered throughout Westeros not only for the horrible act they committed, but also for the deadly reprisals to come.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.

The post House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1 Character Death Explained: What Is Blood and Cheese? appeared first on Den of Geek.

To put it simply: there was a lot going on in House of the Dragon season 1.

As the first (of likely many) Game of Thrones spinoffs, this prequel had the unenviable task of depicting one of the biggest events in known Westerosi history. The civil war known as the “Dance of the Dragons” was so destructive and ruinous that it dealt the Targaryen dynasty a blow that it never fully recovered from. With its first season, House of the Dragon took an extremely long view of the conflict.

Just as House of the Dragon itself is a prequel to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon season 1 can almost be considered a prequel to the real story of the Dance of the Dragons that will be depicted in season 2 and beyond. With House of the Dragon season 2 set to dig into the proper Dance, let’s take a moment to remember everything important that happened in House of the Dragon season 1.

A Prologue: The Great Council of 101 AC

Remember how we said this is a big story? While the majority of House of the Dragon takes place roughly between the years 110 and 130 AC (which designates the number of years “After Aegon’s Conquest”), the story actually has to go back even further to 101 AC to provide important context.

The prologue for House of the Dragon season 1 depicts The Great Council of 101 AC. This was event in which all the nobles of Westeros gathered in Harrenhal to debate the matter of King Jaehaerys I’s succession. King Jaehaerys I was a great ruler (perhaps the most beloved monarch in Westerosi history even) but he had bad luck with his children. Namely: he couldn’t seem to keep them alive. An unsettled succession can lead to violence so Jaehaerys wisely sought the wisdom of the Seven Kingdoms as to who should best succeed him.

Fourteen names were considered but there were two clear frontrunners: Jaehaerys’ grandson Prince Viserys Targaryen and his great grandson Laenor Velaryon. Ultimately Viserys was chosen as heir, which is significant to the story in that Viserys came from a Targaryen patrilineal line and Laenor from a matrilineal one. The lords of Westeros established that primogeniture, or preference for male lines, took precedence in all matters of succession.

The Heir for A Day and Aegon’s Prophecy

After the prologue, House of the Dragon season 1’s first episode moves to the year 110 AC. Jaehaerys’ heir Viserys is now King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) and he faces a similar issue to his grandfather. While he desperately loves his wife Aemma (Sian Brooke), their union has borne only one child, a girl named Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). As such, the succession plan for the king is once again disturbingly unsettled. The king’s brother Daemon (Matt Smith) would appear to be the natural choice for heir but he is hotheaded and the Small Council agrees he is unfit for The Iron Throne.

In an effort to bear Viserys a male heir, Aemma pushes her body past the breaking point with a dangerous pregnancy. Midway through episode 1 she dies in childhood and the baby born via gruesome C-section, Baelon, dies a day later. When Daemon is overheard joking about Baelon being an “heir for a day,” Viserys angrily casts him out of King’s Landing. He then decides to make Rhaenyra his true heir, laws of primogeniture be damned. He also shares with her an important bit of information.

It turns out that Aegon the Conqueror didn’t invade Westeros solely because it was ripe for the taking. He did so after experiencing a vision that cold and death would one day sweep down from The North. The world of men would come to an end – unless there was a strong Targaryen king uniting the continent to stop it. This is news to not only Rhaenyra but viewers of Game of Thrones and readers of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series as well. It would appear that the details of Aegon’s prophecy were lost to history sometime before Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) rose to prominence.

Rhaenyra and Alicent’s Friendship Fails

Being the heir to the throne is a heavy burden, but thankfully Rhaenyra has her old friend Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) to lean on. Alicent is the daughter of Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), who has been King Viserys I’s faithful Hand for years, so the girls have always been close. Unfortunately their relationship begins to fall apart for several reasons.

For starters, Ser Otto convinces King Viserys to marry Alicent after the death of Aemma. Then Alicent becomes scandalized upon learning that Rhaenyra had sex with her bodyguard Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel). That’s not even to mention the fact that Rhaenyra seems weirdly close with her Uncle Daemon. When Alicent gives birth to Viserys’ first son, Aegon, Rhaenyra’s status is officially threatened and the girls’ friendship is strained more than ever.

Daemon and Corlys’ War in the Stepstones

As all of this is going on, Prince Daemon Targaryen is essentially living out a Michael Bay action film. After his brother angrily banished him from court, Daemon teamed up with Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), lord of Driftmark and owner of the most powerful fleet of ships in the world, to go fight a war in the island chain off the southeast coast of Westeros called “The Stepstones.”

A gang of upjumped pirates calling themselves the “Triarchy” are colonizing the Stepstones and jeopardizing trade to the Seven Kingdoms. Daemon and the Velaryons make quick work of them and their grotesque leader known as The Crabfeeder. When Daemon returns to King’s Landing wearing the Crabfeeder’s crown, the court is concerned he might have sights on usurping his brother. Instead, however, Daemon hands the crown over to Viserys and recognizes him as the one true king. From that moment on, Viserys and Daemon enjoy a much happier relationship.

Rhaenyra and Laenor’s Wedding

Viserys convinces the stubborn Rhaenyra that part of being his heir means getting married and having a family, whether she wants to or not. After much arguing, Rhaenyra finally consents to marry Corlys’ son Ser Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate). He’s a great fit politically due to his success in the Stepstones, his Valyrian blood, and his father’s navy. He’s also a great fit romantically since he has a dedicated male lover named Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) and he makes clear that Rhaenyra can continue her dalliances with whomever she chooses.

Of course, weddings rarely go well in the world of Game of Thrones and Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding turns out to be another bloodbath. When Joffrey gets a little too familiar with Ser Criston, intimating that he knows he’s one of Rhaenyra’s paramours, Ser Criston lashes out and kills the man. Even before that moment of violence, Alicent makes waves by arriving to the wedding in a brilliant green dress – making her allegiance to her House Hightower clear and upstaging Rhaenyra on her wedding day.

The First Time Jump

After the wedding, House of the Dragon jumps forward 10 years in the future to roughly 124 AC. Alicent and Rhaenyra are now played by Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy respectively. Alicent has given birth to two more children with Viserys: Prince Aemond and Princess Helaena. Rhaenyra and Laenor (now played by John MacMillan) have three children of their own: Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey. It’s the darnedest thing though – Rhaenyra’s children look nothing like Laenor. They do, however, look very much like her friend Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr).

Rhaenyra’s kids’ unclear parentage causes further division between her and Alicent. Rhaenyra ultimately enlists the Velaryons as close friends and allies while Alicent adds Harwin’s brother Larys (Matthew Needham) to her roster as a master of whisperers. Larys will later kill his brother and his father, Lyonel (Gavin Spokes), in a fire at their home in Harrenhal.

Laena’s Funeral at Driftmark

Daemon grows up quite a bit in the 10-year time jump. Having been disallowed from marrying Rhaenyra by Viserys, he “settles” for her new sister-in-law Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) and the two actually make a great team. Together with their daughters Rhaena (Eva Ossei-Gerning then Phoebe Campbell) and Baela (Shani Smethurst then Bethany Antonia), Daemon and Laena travel around the Free Cities of Essos, becoming the honored guests of many rich men.

That all changes when Laena becomes the second major character this season to die in childbirth. That leads to pretty much every Targaryen and Velaryon in the world arriving in Driftmark to attend Laena’s funeral. And it’s during the weekend that this funeral is held that a lot happens…like a LOT.

For starters, Rhaenyra’s children and Alicent’s children get into a little squabble that escalates into a big squabble where Aemond (Leo Ashton) loses his left eye. Alicent is so wrathful that she attempts to stab Rhaenyra herself but lands only a glancing blow. After cooler heads prevail and everyone goes to bed, Aemond sneaks out onto the beach to claim Laena’s dragon Vhagar. Now he is the rider of the oldest and biggest dragon in the world.

Meanwhile that same weekend, Rhaenyra, Daemon, and Laenor conspire to fake Laenor’s death so he can go live with his lover Qarl Correy (Arty Froushan) in the Free Cities. Then, just days after all this madness, Rhaenyra and Daemon finally just go ahead and elope.

The Second Time Jump

The second, and final major time jump, for House of the Dragon occurs in episode 8 and fast forwards six years. Daemon and Rhaenyra remain happily married on Dragonstone and have a couple kids of their own now: Aegon (yes another one) and Viserys. But now they are being dragged to King’s Landing to deal with an issue of, what else…succession.

Jacaerys (Harry Collett) has been acknowledged as Rhaenyra’s direct heir and her second son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) is therefore heir to the Velaryon homestead on Driftmark. Corlys, however, has been grievously injured battle and his brother Vaemond (Wil Johnson) is now petitioning the crown to have Driftmark as his own.

Viserys has been severely ill all season and is now almost visible rotting. Yet he musters up the last bit of his strength to ascend the Iron Throne once again and re-affirm Rhaenyra’s sons as heirs. An enraged Vaemond points out that Jace and Luke are clearly bastards so Daemon slices his head clean off. Later on, the whole family enjoys a dinner with Viserys I and it looks like maybe they’ll be able to look past their differences after all and avert disaster.

King Viserys I Dies

But they don’t. Because King Viserys I finally dies and he does so at a tremendously inopportune time. Rhaenyra has flown back to Dragonstone to get some things in order before returning to King’s Landing. Her absence means that there is no one to sit the Iron Throne. That’s when Otto, Criston, and their co-conspirators reveal to Alicent that they believe her son Aegon should sit the throne anyway as the realm cannot handle a female ruler. Yes, the Great Council of 101 AC has reared its ugly head.

Compounding the confusion is that Alicent has misinterpreted Viserys’ last words. He makes mention of an “Aegon,” referring to the Conqueror so that Rhaenyra will be reminded of the prophecy. But Alicent naturally believes him to be declaring his own son Aegon as his new heir. That’s how Aegon is dragged unwillingly to his own coronation where he is successfully installed on the Iron Throne. Not even Corlys wife Rhaenys a.k.a. The Queen Who Never Was (Eve Best) interrupting the ceremony on dragonback can fully stop it.

The Dance of the Dragons Begins

Naturally, Rhaenyra doesn’t take too kindly to a snot-losed little creep sitting on her throne. And her body doesn’t take too kindly to it either. Upon learning of Alicent and “Team Green’s” treachery, the pregnant Rhaenyra suffers something resembling a miscarriage. We say “resembling” because she does technically give birth but it’s too a gruesome little monster. It’s the third and thankfully final traumatic birth scene of the season.

Having collected herself, Rhaenyra resolves to take back what is rightfully hers. Her court at Dragonstone, which includes figures like Daemon, Corlys, Rhaenys, their children, and a handful of other lords, recognizes Rhaenyra as the true Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She gives her two eldest sons important jobs. Jace is to fly on dragonback to the Vale and then The North to recruit the great lords of The Eyrie and Winterfell to their cause. Luke is to fly to Storm’s End to recruit the Baratheons.

Luke’s job is supposed to be the easier of the two as he’s young and untested (and also everyone just loves the lad). But Rhaenyra failed to realize that Team Green would likely send their own envoy as well. Luke and his comically tiny dragon encounters Aemond and his comically huge dragon in The Stormlands. After failing to convince the Storm Lord Borros Baratheon to pick a side, Luke and Aemond have an unfortunate encounter in the sky. Aemond appears to only want to scare Luke but his ancient (and probably very confused dragon) chomps down on him for a snack.

That’s where House of the Dragon season 1 leaves off: with Rhaenyra’s second son dead and the Dance of the Dragons officially begun.

House of the Dragon season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

The post House of the Dragon Season 1 Recap: What Happened in the Game of Thrones Prequel? appeared first on Den of Geek.

This means that many of the characters we’ve gotten to know thus far, Prince Jacaerys (Harry Collett), Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Ser Criston (Fabian Frankel), and more, will hit the road to recruit nobles like college football coaches in need of a star quarterback.

“People have to curry favor with the other lords and figure out who’s on what team,” House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal told Den of Geek. “It’s nice because instead of just introducing 18 new characters, we follow characters who we already know going to these new places and meeting new people.”

Condal is exaggerating a bit. There aren’t exactly 18 new characters to get to know in House of the Dragon season 2. But there are still quite a few. Here is a rundown of Alyn, Cregan, Hugh, and the many other fresh faces this season.

Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull

“Hull” is the name of a small town on the island of Driftmark located under Castle Driftmark and near the shore where ships dock. As such, many inhabitants of Hull work as longshoreman, fisherman, and shipbuilders. One such shipbuilder is the seemingly innocuous Alyn of Hull. As evidenced by the screenshot above, however, Lord Corlys Velaryon will be taking a special interest in young Alyn.

Alyn is played by Abubakar Salim, who is probably best known to genre fans for playing the android “Father” on Max’s charmingly bizarre Raised by Wolves. He was also nominated for a British Academy Games Award for his work as Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins.

Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull

Addam of Hull is Alyn’s brother and is yet another working class schmoe who will find himself swept up in the game of thrones. Playing Addam is Clinton Liberty, who previously appeared in the ITV series Holding.

Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers

Alys Rivers will be one of the more fascinating characters introduced to the Game of Thrones mythos in sometime. At first glance, Alys Rivers is just one of many lowborn wenches toiling around The Riverlands (and indeed “Rivers” is the surname given to illegitimate bastards in the region), working as a wet nurse in the massive ruins of Harrenhal castle. But Alys ends up carving her name into Westerosi history in a major way. Some even remember her as a powerful witch.

Gayle Rankin is no stranger to spooky, enigmatic characters, having previously played Sheila the She Wolf on GLOW. Other roles of note for the British actress include Emily Dodson on Perry Mason and Queen Victoria in The Greatest Showman.

Tom Taylor as Cregan Stark

It wouldn’t be a Game of Thrones story without at least one Stark. House of the Dragon finally introduces its first proper Lord of Winterfell (old-ass Rickon in the prologue barely counts) in the form of the young Lord Cregan Stark. At the end of season 1, Rhaenyra’s son Jace was dispatched north to sway the Wolves to his mother’s side. History says Jace and Cregan got along just fine. Now we’ll see how House of the Dragon interprets that.

Tom Taylor is no stranger to genre epics, having played Jake Chambers in 2017’s Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower. British audiences may recognize him as Tom Foster in 2015’s Doctor Foster.

Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower

While Team Green has some recruiting to do, the backbone of their cause remains the powerful Hightower family from Oldtown to which Hand of the King Otto (Rhys Ifans) and Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) belong. Joining the fray this year will be Otto’s youngest son and Alicent’s brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower. Gwayne appeared briefly in armor during a tourney in season 1, but now we’ll finally get to see the face beneath the helm.

That face will be portrayed be Freddie Fox, a prolific British actor of the stage and screen. Fox has a recurring role on Slow Horses and was last seen as James Bond author Ian Fleming in 2024’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong

As evidenced by Alys Rivers’ inclusion on this list, Harrenhal is set to be a major location this season. The man given the unenviable task of stewarding and defending the ruined castle is Ser Simon Strong. While Harrenhal is technically House Strong’s possession going into season 2, their position has been tremendously weakened thanks to Larys (Matthew Needham) killing his brother Harwin (Ryan Corr) and his father Lyonel (Gavin Spokes). Poor Simon, who is Larys’ great-uncle, has his work cut out for him.

Simon Russell Beale is a prolific British performer who The Independent once called “the greatest stage actor of his generation.” He’s popped un in films like The Death of Stalin and TV shows like Penny Dreadful.

Kieran Bew as Hugh

While watching House of the Dragon season 2, you may notice that some characters are introduced for seemingly no reason. Hugh, a lowborn King’s Landing blacksmith, is one such character. If you don’t understand why the show is investing time in this strange bearded man – never fear, it will likely all make sense by season’s end.

Kieran Bew has previously appeared in Max’s Warrior and Starz’ Da Vinci’s Demons. He acted opposite his House of the Dragon co-star Matt Smith in BBC’s The Street.

House of the Dragon season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

The post House of the Dragon Season 2 Cast: Meet Cregan Stark, Alys Rivers, and More New Characters appeared first on Den of Geek.

Not every console can be a major success story, but no console is truly without value. Well, maybe the Mattel HyperScan…but other than that! Every failed console has at least something worth checking out. Hell, the Sega Dreamcast had Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and SoulCalibur and it was still the death knell for Sega making hardware!

So here are some of the best games to come from game systems that fell flat.

Ms. Pac-Man for Atari 5200 (1983)

The Atari 5200 was a console that just wasn’t worth the jump forward. Yes, the graphics and capabilities were better than the Atari 2600, but restarting the library from scratch at a time when the longevity of your average title was still minuscule was a lot to ask. Especially when you throw that awful controller in there. If you’re going to look at any game as a highlight of the system, it’s best to go with Ms. Pac-Man.

Why? Well, part of it is the redemption factor. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 was such a garbage fire of a port, and while Ms. Pac-Man for the same console was an improvement, it was still held back by its limitations. The 5200’s Ms. Pac-Man may not be arcade-perfect, but it’s such a leap from how undeveloped things looked on the previous console, that you can’t help but feel the impact of the newer hardware.

Flicky for SG-1000 (1985)

Sega’s first foray into consoles hit a wall, as the Famicom came out at the exact same time and had a lot more going for it. Yes, the SG-1000 was superior to what Atari was pushing at the time, but they fell short compared to Nintendo’s offerings. One of their better games was Flicky, an arcade port that is sort of…kind of the first release in the Sonic the Hedgehog expanded universe.

In it, you play as a bird trying to navigate looping stages and find smaller birds. Trailing them behind you, you then have to get them to the exit while evading or throwing random items at attacking cats who can kill you or at least disrupt your chain of follower birds. It’s outdone by the later Genesis port, but if you can stand Flicky’s graphical flickering, this is still a decent version of the arcade classic.

Chip’s Challenge for Atari Lynx (1989)

Chip’s Challenge was an Atari Lynx launch title, though it’s probably better remembered by anyone who had Windows in the early 90s. In this game, you play as Chip, a high school nerd who is obsessed with a brainy girl named Melinda. He chooses to prove his way into her genius club (and her heart) by surviving about 150 floors of puzzles and monsters, which are, apparently, owned and created by Melinda. Part of me wishes this lore got a movie adaptation, because I have so many questions.

Each floor throws more pitfalls and mechanics your way, getting increasingly difficult, but also addictive. It’s an incredibly long game, so unless you’re really dedicated to seeing Chip and Melinda go to e-prom, you’re fine just spending time with it until you grow bored or frustrated. Chip would get his resurgence in 2015 with the release of a sequel, followed by some rereleases of the original. There’s also the viral popularity of the Hot Chip Challenge, which probably doesn’t have anything to do with Chip’s Challenge, but you can’t prove that.

Tetris for Phillips CD-i (1992)

The CD-i is mainly remembered for having the worst versions of Mario and Zelda games in its library with most of its titles revolving around dull edutainment. At the very least, it does have its unique take on Tetris. At first glance, you might laugh, as much like previous entries on this list, it’s a title you can play on much better consoles. This may not be the best version of Tetris, but it’s such a distinctive experience that you have to give the CD-i its flowers just this once.

CD-i Tetris is a vibe. While the gameplay is the same, the actual Tetris part of it is only a fraction of the screen. The rest is dedicated to background visuals of nature, whether it’s a beautiful desert or an animated stream. More importantly, there’s Jim Andron’s breathtakingly chill vaporware soundtrack. Every track feels like the “Dire, Dire Docks” theme from Super Mario 64. This is the kind of game you would make Bruce Banner play to keep him from turning into the Hulk. Awesome use of what the CD-i was capable of.

Road Rash for 3DO (1994)

Where the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer really shined was in its superior ports. Their technology allowed for the closest things you could get to arcade or PC perfect, such as their versions of Samurai Shodown and Alone in the Dark. At the time, 3DO was the only console that could get you Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and it was slick outside of the need for a controller with more buttons. But since the beginning, the one game that truly had people’s attention was Road Rash.

Instead of being a solid port of an existing game, Road Rash was a gigantic upgrade to a series that never fully reached its potential on the Sega Genesis. The graphics, gameplay, style, and music all got a major shot in the arm. It even used the console’s ability to do FMV to its advantage while not being obnoxious about it. I mean, plenty of the game’s art direction was obnoxious, but in a good way. The Road Rash series didn’t last too long in the grand scheme of things, but its ride through the 3DO is considered to be the high point.

Alien vs. Predator for Atari Jaguar (1994)

Despite being the final chapter in Atari’s attempt to tackle the console market, the Jaguar did have some great titles in there. It’s widely agreed that the big trilogy of must-play games is Rayman, Tempest 2000, and Alien vs. Predator. Three very different games, but the latter is such a cool little piece of video game history that it gets the edge. Alien vs. Predator is a first-person shooter filled with a dread-fueled atmosphere and some great use of digitized graphics.

The big selling point of the game is that you can choose three different campaigns, based on playing as a Colonial Marine, a Predator, or a xenomorph. Each one comes with a different playstyle, set of strategies, and storyline. One of the neater touches is that the Predator can turn invisible to the Marines, but if he kills them in that form, he loses honor. There were talks of a console sequel, but the Jaguar was dying out before it had a chance to become something.

Virtua Fighter for Sega 32X (1995)

Sega’s second upgrade attachment to the Genesis was an utter disaster, and its existence was so brief that it only had a library of 40 games. The one thing it did excel at was arcade ports. There was some real gold there, especially when compared to what the Genesis itself was capable of. Games like Star Wars Arcade, Mortal Kombat II, NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, and Space Harrier kicked things up a notch. Still, it was Virtua Fighter that felt the most notable.

As the first polygon-based fighting game, Virtua Fighter was a revelation in the arcades. A port was released for the 32X that somehow acted true to the original, stretching the system to its absolute limits. It’s genuinely impressive, but it also shows why the 32X was doomed. Doing things better than 16-bit consoles was one thing, but the Saturn was already stepping over these feats. It grades extremely well, but it’s still on a curve.

Metal Slug for Neo Geo CD (1995)

The original Neo Geo console was a huge novelty in that you got to have arcade-perfect ports of SNK games at home…as long as you had plenty of money to spend because those cartridges cost hundreds of dollars each. In 1994, SNK released the Neo Geo CD, allowing for cheaper releases. A great idea, except the games came with increasingly dire load times. Earlier games were fine, but the later and heavier the title, the more you’d have to wait.

SNK released so many classic games on Neo Geo hardware and I would love to list all the dozens of fighting games that are worth playing, but the Neo Geo CD made playing through those a chore. This goes triple for King of Fighters games, as there would be lengthy load times between each round to switch out opponents. No, if you wanted a sweet spot for load times and quality, you had to try something like Metal Slug. The iconic run-and-gun had many sequels, but the original is the smoothest on this hardware and will annoy you the least. Even the sequel would pause to load before a boss fight.

Jack Bros. for Virtual Boy (1995)

You would think that Virtual Boy’s golden (er, ruby?) release would be a first-party title. Yes, Virtual Boy Wario Land and Teleroboxer were decent enough, but the game remembered for being a hidden gem was Jack Bros. by Atlus. The game stars Atlus mascot and Megami Tensei character Jack Frost, who has an hour to make it back to his home realm before midnight and has to fight through floors of monsters to survive. A spinoff of Megami Tensei where you fight through various floors of monsters…huh.

Anyway! You get to play between Jack Frost and his brothers Jack Lantern (who shoots projectiles slower, but stronger), and Jack Skelton (who has no projectiles, but does massive damage with his knife). The top-down action game has a cult following, with people wishing it wasn’t confined to a blinding console nobody owns on a cartridge nobody can afford. Give it a Switch remaster or something!

Super Marathon for Apple Bandai Pippin (1996)

There are plenty of reasons why this team-up between Apple and Bandai died such a horrible death, but the Pippin’s terrible library is near the top of that list. The Pippin was filled with educational garbage and the actual games were laughably bad. Power Rangers Zeo Versus the Machine Empire is a special kind of lousy, especially considering it was one of their marquee titles.

With such slim pickings on the grim Pippin, Super Marathon practically wins by default. It’s a package of Marathon and its first sequel, a pair of first-person shooters with a strong legacy due to laying down some major groundwork for the genre going forward. Seen as the Mac-friendly answer to Doom, the game was put together by Bungie, making it feel like a major early step towards Halo’s existence. Thankfully, the full trilogy of games is available for free, meaning you don’t have to invest in a Pippin. Unless you’re weird.

Tempest 3000 for Nuon (2000)

I mentioned Tempest 2000 as a beloved part of the Atari Jaguar’s library earlier, but I passed on it for the sake of discussing its lesser-known follow-up on a lesser-known console. The Nuon was a short-lived device that tried to make its name by enhancing DVD extras…which it does for only a couple throwaway titles from this era. The Nuon had no chance of survival, especially with how few games there were and how they weren’t compatible with every Nuon model.

The one reason anyone wants to own it isn’t the ability to truly experience Dr. Dolittle 2 in a way far beyond what regular DVD players are capable of. No, it’s because it is the only home to Tempest 3000. While the game has new mechanics compared to its prequel, what gives it that extra juice is its visual style. Tempest 2000 pops on its own, but Tempest 3000 feels like you’re at a rave and the drugs just kicked in. As much as the series’ fans would love to see it anywhere else, unfortunately programming it to the Nuon was such a specific task that trying to emulate it elsewhere isn’t seen as worth the trouble.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for Nokia N-Gage (2003)

More than anything, the N-Gage was a badly designed piece of mobile hardware. There are so many issues with the way it was built and its layouts, but its problems really become apparent when you look at its ports. Games like Sonic N, Tomb Raider, and King of Fighters Extreme would be perfectly fine if not for the vertical screen mucking things up. It’s so hard to adjust to the view, making the whole experience so claustrophobic.

One port that thankfully works with the screen is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. That game’s focus on flashy, vertical jumps fit the device surprisingly well. This was a port that was allowed to really stand over what the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance were capable of. Not only did it look and play enough like the PlayStation game, but it even included assets from the sequel. Tony Hawk appeared on a lot of consoles, but if you wanted a high-quality take that you could play on the go, this was your Huckleberry.

Mario Kart 8 for Wii U (2014)

The Wii U might have been too busy to entice people to buy it in bulk, but much like the Virtual Boy, it can fall back on the fact that it’s still a Nintendo product. With that comes plenty of Nintendo first-party titles. Unfortunately, in this case, it’s a double-edged sword. That library is going to be the thing that works against the Wii U when it comes time for nostalgia. The Switch has been bowling a spare by just taking some of the better Wii U games, sprucing them up, and releasing them on a console the public actually wants to play.

Mario Kart 8 is an interesting case, as it’s the Wii U’s most successful title by far, as it should be. It’s freaking Mario Kart! The Switch version came out three years later and has become that console’s most successful title by far. In fact, comparing sales between the two, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold 7 times as many copies as its Wii U counterpart. Yes, there are so many great games on the Wii U. There just aren’t many that are exclusive, making the system one giant shrug.

The post The Best Games For Failed Consoles appeared first on Den of Geek.

So let’s slow down to appreciate the best TV has had to offer in 2024 so far. From stunning new miniseries dramas like FX’s Shōgun to unexpected animated delights like Disney+’s X-Men ‘97 to reliable comedies like Max’s Hacks, there was plenty to love this year. To be eligible, a show must have aired more than half of its episodes in 2024 (which is why you won’t see the superb Fargo season 5). It also must primarily be a U.S.-production (which is why you won’t see Baby Reindeer, but you can find it our Best British TV Show list over here). Now sit back, relax, and reflect upon the TV year so far.

Honorable Mentions: True Detective: Night Country, Knuckles, Sugar, Griselda, Tokyo Vice Season 2, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Under the Bridge, Conan O’Brien Must Go, Girls5eva Season 3, The Sympathizer

3 Body Problem

Available on: Netflix (U.S. and U.K.)

Since Star Wars first premiered in 1977, the science fiction genre has increasingly come to be associated with action and adventure more than hard science. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course! But the real heady, Asimov-ian stuff has had a hard time gaining a foothold in pop culture. That’s why it’s so remarkable that 3 Body Problem, Netflix’s biggest genre swing of the year thus far, is full on hard sci-fi.

That’s not to say that 3 Body Problem, based on a trilogy of Mandarin-language novels from Liu Cixin, doesn’t have its kinetic moments. In fact, the series includes one of the most thrilling and violent action sequences of the year. But more often than not, 3 Body Problem’s lead characters of scientists, government agents, and all-around problem-solvers are primarily engaged with tackling the mathematical and sociopolitical questions raised by the central three-body problem. Oh and there are aliens! – Alec Bojalad

Bridgerton Season 3

Available on: Netflix (U.S. and U.K.)

Though it’s hard to beat the steamy chemistry of season 2’s couple Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin (Luke Newton) are certainly giving them a run for their money this season. With the added tension of Penelope’s secret identity as the ton’s lead gossip Lady Whistledown, their friends-to-lovers story is full of compelling conflict made even richer by their long history.

The side plots woven throughout their blossoming romance are also worthy of note, with Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and Violet (Ruth Gemmell) finding potential love matches of their own. Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) is also eager to avoid being married off to a man three times her age, leading her to make some…interesting choices. Really my only complaint about season 3 is that there’s not more of it. – Brynna Arens

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12

Available on: Max (U.S.)

You only get one shot at an ending. Unless, of course, you are Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David. The final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm works so well because it never once hides where it’s going. Even the most casual fan can sense what the series is building up to – a do-over of the reviled Seinfeld finale that David penned – but that doesn’t make the journey any less pleasant.

David has his cake and eats it too this time around. Season 12 operates as both a collection of solid Curb episodes and a series of goodbyes for the “characters” we’ve come to cringe at so much. By the time you get to the finale, you’re equal parts excited to see how David atones for endings past and confident that he’s going to get the job done. – AB

Fallout

Available on: Prime Video (U.S. and U.K.)

Whether you’re a fan of the video game series or going into the series almost totally blind (like me), Fallout is a delight to watch. The lore is never so overwhelming that it’s hard to follow nor does the rich worldbuilding taking place ever suffer from things being watered down to be more palatable. The world of Fallout is set in the future, after a nuclear apocalypse has ravaged the planet and left a lawless wasteland in its wake. Somehow, humanity has survived it all, but so many remnants of the old world like religious totalitarianism and corporate greed manage to survive as well, making the mistakes of the past a lot harder to escape.

The show manages to capture the essence of the games while still telling a wholly new story led by complicated characters. Lucy (Ella Purnell), a naive vault-dweller who sneaks to the surface in search of her father. Maximus (Aaron Moten) a devout squire of the Brotherhood of Steel sent on an important mission. And the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), formerly actor Cooper Howard, a fierce gunslinger who has wandered the wasteland for 200 years in search of his family, and somehow still looks hot. Their eventual alliance may be a tenuous one, but as the truth about the mysterious company Vault-Tec comes to light, it becomes crucial to their survival. – BA

Hacks Season 3

Available on: Max (U.S.)

Hacks is one of the most reliable comedies on television. Through its first two seasons, you could practically set your watch to this Max series being both an extremely funny take on aging in the entertainment industry and the oddly affecting depiction of a codependent relationship between two women. The show’s third installment, however, might just be its best.

Hacks season 3 takes everything that already works about the show and cranks it up to new levels. At the center of it all are the remarkable performances of leads Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder as comedy superstar Deborah Vance and her young writer Ava Daniels. Alone, each performance is among the best in the medium. Together, they are a nuclear bomb of charm, tension, and pathos. – AB

Interview with the Vampire Season 2

Available on: AMC+ (U.S.)

Interview with the Vampire has managed to avoid the infamous “sophomore slump” in its second season and is as compelling in its tale of the vampire Louis (Jacob Anderson) as ever. Even with the exit of Bailey Bass as Claudia, Delainy Hayles is proving to be just as effervescent in the role, portraying Claudia’s growing loneliness and sadness with deft precision. Lestat (Sam Reid) is very much still a commanding presence in the show as Louis deals with the guilt of both trying to kill him and not making sure the job was finished. Armand (Assad Zaman), however, is quickly proving to be just as formidable a presence, though a lot more understated. The series has become even more adept at weaving its threads between the past and the present to tell the story of Louis’ life, and we can’t wait to see where it goes from here. – BA

Invincible Season 2

Available on: Prime Video (U.S. and U.K.)

Though the momentum of Invincible’s impeccable first season was somewhat waylaid by this season’s split into two parts, season two of the series has still proven to be one of the best shows of this year. After the shocking revelation of Nolan’s (J.K. Simmons) true intentions for Earth, Mark (Steven Yeun) not only has to contend with the aftermath of losing who he thought his father was, but also with how to continue his life as normal. But as Mark soon learns, life as a superhero is rarely ever normal.

From parasitic alien hive minds to an impending Viltrumite invasion to discovering his father’s secret alien love child, Mark does not have any easy go of it this season. And on top of it all, he tries to start college and maintain his relationship with Amber (Zazie Beetz). This season may not end with as jaw-dropping of a reveal as the previous one, but the storytelling, acting, and art of Invincible continues to be top-notch. – BA

John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in L.A.

Available on: Netflix (U.S. and U.K.)

In addition to all the brilliant joke-writing and quick-thinking improvisational skills, comedian John Mulaney’s best weapon has always been his taste. Despite being only a hair over 41 years old, the former SNL writer has a deep appreciation for the classics. Like Lenny Bruce, he wears suits for his standup specials. Like nearly every comic from the ‘80s and ‘90s, his first attempt at a scripted TV series was a multi-camera sitcom with a laugh track. Now, with this year’s John Mulaney Presents Everybody’s in L.A., he finally gets to live out his Johnny Carson Tonight Show dreams.

Everybody’s in L.A. was short-lived but it burned brightly. The premise for the show was that, if every major comedian was going to be in Los Angeles for Netflix’s comedy festival Netflix is a Joke, then there should be a Netflix-hosted, L.A.-based talk show for them all to drop by. The simplicity of Everybody’s in L.A.’s setup belies just how well-written and funny this whole thing was, even over its scant six episodes. Mulaney blended his usual smart comedy with chaotic celebrity interviews, Los Angeles history lessons, and a Richard Kind as a sidetick to giggle throughout the whole thing. – AB

Masters of the Air 

Available on: Apple TV+ (U.S. and U.K.)

Apple TV+’s epic World War II series Masters of the Air was a risky venture. This nine-episode effort came with a big price tag and even bigger legacy to live up as the spiritual companion to Band of Brothers and The Pacific – both WWII miniseries from producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. When you add in that production had to endure COVID lockdowns, Masters of the Air had every right to be a dud. But it wasn’t a dud. It was thrilling television and a worthy followup to its forefathers. 

Austin Butler and Callum Turner shine as U.S. bombers “Buck” Cleven and “Bucky” Egan. This was much more than a two-hander, however, as the expectedly expansive cast captured 100th Bomb Group’s terrifying experiences in the war that led to it being known as the “Bloody Hundredth.” While striving for the same realism as Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Masters of the Air’s high-flying aerial battles made for some of the most intense action sequences you’ll see on TV this year or any other. – AB

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Available on: Prime Video (U.S. and U.K)

Taking a premise that has not only been done once, but twice before and making it something fresh and exciting is no small undertaking. And yet Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane have managed to not only make a version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith that’s new and fun – their version has left us wanting so much more.

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine’s chemistry as the titular Mr. and Mrs. Smith is electric, in both the series’ serious and more comedic moments. The generic presentation of the spy organization they work for only adds to the mystery of it all, and further emphasizes that John and Jane don’t have many allegiances beyond themselves. It all makes for an addictive, gripping spy series that proves Glover and Sloane aren’t running out of steam as a creative duo anytime soon. – BA

Shogun

Available on: Hulu (U.S.), Disney+ (U.K.)

It didn’t take long for Shōgun to become one of the most talked-about shows of the year, nor is any of its praise unwarranted. Though many have been quick to compare the show’s gripping drama and political intrigue to Game of Thrones, I would argue that Shōgun is even better. Set in 1600s Japan, Shōgun follows Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his alliance with an English pilot, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), as several powers vie for control of Japan’s future.

The cast is incredible, from Hiroyuki Sanada’s calculating Lord Toranaga to Anna Sawai’s strong and loyal Mariko to Cosmo Jarvis’ fish-out-of-water John Blackthorne and every character in between. There is not a single performance in this show that isn’t worthy of praise. While this story may be about men’s struggle for power on the surface, the heart of the series lies in its women, who carry this conflict even more than many of the men realize. – BA

Star Wars: The Acolyte

Available on: Disney+ (U.S. and U.K.)

Star Wars: The Acolyte is the first on-screen set entirely during the High Republic. This era was considered a Golden Age for Jedi across the galaxy, but this series is starting to show why that prosperity doesn’t last forever. The Acolyte follows twin sisters, Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg), who were separated by a tragic fire after Jedi intervention in their Force coven’s practices went horribly awry. Mae is now out for revenge, compelled by an unknown Master of the Dark Side, and Osha is desperate to stop her.

From Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland, The Acolyte is a fresh and exciting entry into the ever-growing Star Wars canon. It was made for fans who are a little tired of seeing the same kind of heroes’ stories told, and offers a new perspective on the galaxy through an era we’ve never seen brought to life before. The Acolyte also introduces a coven of badass, queer Force witches who were able to give birth through immaculate conception, I mean what more could you ask for? – BA

X-Men ’97 – Brynna

Available on: Disney+ (U.S. and U.K.)

X-Men ‘97 somehow manages to capture the fun of the original animated series without being bogged down by nostalgia. It quickly becomes its own thing, and proves how much potential we’ve been missing out on from the X-Men over the years. X-Men ‘97 is like a gripping superhero soap opera, full of relationship drama, secret clones, and world-ending apocalyptic events. Whether you’re a fan of the original or coming into the series with fresh eyes, it doesn’t take long for the show to pull you in (or for the catchy theme song to get stuck in your head). – BA

The post The Best TV Shows of 2024 (So Far) appeared first on Den of Geek.

The following Force users have proved themselves to be among the most powerful of all across Star Wars films and TV shows. Here’s how we rank them…

16. Count Dooku

Separatist leader and Sith Lord Count Dooku was a formidable adversary of the Jedi during the Clone Wars and served as the apprentice of Darth Sidious until the latter sunk his claws deep enough into Anakin Skywalker to turn him to the Dark Side. Familiar with both the teachings of the Jedi and the Sith as a former member of the Order, and Master to Qui-Gon Jinn, Dooku’s skills are hard to match. His military prowess made him hard to corner and track down, and when he was forced into combat, his lightsaber skills and ability to manipulate Force Lightning made him challenging to beat. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker often found themselves barely able to keep up with Dooku’s abilities, although Anakin was eventually able to best him.

15. Darth Maul

Darth Maul’s hatred and connection to the Dark Side was so strong that it kept him alive even after being cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace. With the help of Mother Talzin’s Nightsister magicks, he was essentially reborn during the Clone Wars, and used his newfound strength and resolve to nearly take over Mandalore. He was able to sense Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side, and even tried to convince Ahsoka Tano to join him in stopping it. Not out of the goodness of his heart, obviously, but because he didn’t want another rival to contend with. Maul even somehow managed to survive Order 66, and may have even become more powerful had he not spent almost the entire time so focused on finally getting revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi.

14. Mother Talzin

Before the fall of Dathomir during the Clone Wars, Mother Talzin was the leader of the Nightsisters, teaching them the powerful Force magicks of their ancestors. She could conjure a protective shield that kept her safe from blaster fire and Force Lighting, and was even able to bring the dead back to life. Her magick came close to bringing Count Dooku down a number of times, and Palpatine was so intimidated by the power she and the Nightsisters possessed that he ordered their massacre at the hands of Count Dooku and General Grievous.

13. Asajj Ventress

Once a powerful Sith assassin, Asajj Ventress forged her own path in the Force after her former master Count Dooku tried to kill her during the Clone Wars. After escaping, she was able to reconnect with the ancient magicks of her people, the Nightsisters, to further fortify her Force-wielding abilities before Dooku and Grievous massacred the planet, leaving Asajj and only a few others as the last surviving Nightsisters. But despite watching her people be nearly wiped out, she found a way to tap into the Force without fully giving into the anger that once fueled her sith-training, making her a formidable opponent and valuable ally.

12. Ezra Bridger

Ezra Bridger is one of the few Jedi who has traveled to the World Between Worlds, a mythical realm connecting past and present through the Force. He was able to bring Ahsoka Tano back from the dead and learned a great deal about what it means to be a Jedi. He summoned an entire herd of Purrgil through the Force, willing them to take himself and Thrawn as far away from Lothal as possible to save his friends and the planet. It was his sacrifice that ultimately led the Rebels to victory in the days before A New Hope. Though Ezra was stranded on an extragalactic planet for nearly a decade, he still managed to hone his abilities in solitude, proving to be incredibly capable in Force combat, even without a lightsaber, in Ahsoka.

11. The Great Mothers

Ancestors of the Dathomirian Nightsisters, the Great Mothers are connected to an incredibly powerful Force magick. Like Mother Talzin, they can grant access to this magick, craft formidable weapons, and even bring their fallen sisters back to life. What makes them even more powerful, however, is their apparent ability to reach out through the Force across galaxies, finding Morgan Elsbeth and inspiring her journey to Peridea in Ahsoka. Now that this trio of ancient Force witches has made their way back to the home of their descendants, a planet rife with powerful magick, they are sure to be a force to be reckoned with for the New Republic.

10. Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi did his best as the teacher of the “Chosen One,” while making his name as a powerful and formidable Jedi along the way. He and Anakin have gone toe to toe a number of times, and have turned out to be pretty equally matched. The only reason Obi-Wan isn’t closer to his former Padawan on this list is because of the years he spent in hiding from the Empire and growing rusty on Tatooine, a time during which Anakin continued to grow in power as Darth Vader. Obi-Wan was also an incredibly skilled military leader during the Clone Wars, often keeping both Count Dooku and General Grievous on their toes.

9. Kylo Ren

Of course a descendant of “the Chosen One” wouldn’t just be a typical Force user. Not only did he subvert expectations by turning to the Dark Side and becoming a terrifying warrior of the First Order, but he also turned out to be half of a mythical Force Dyad with Rey. He was able to subdue Rey with the Force when they first met and managed to kill Supreme Leader Snoke with essentially a flick of his wrist. He was also a skilled interrogator, using his Force capabilities to extract information from people through their memories.

8. Ahsoka Tano

Ahsoka Tano may have left the Jedi Order and halted her formal training at a young age, but she still remains one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy. She has come back from death three times in her life, and has a strong connection to the old Mortis Gods as well as the mysterious domain the World Between Worlds. In forging her own connection to the Force, Ahsoka has become a powerful force for good across the galaxy, rivaling the skills of her former master Anakin Skywalker.

7. Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is a legendary Jedi with incredible skills, but he also spent years closed off from the Force. However, in the time that he was active, he showed great power, not unlike that of his father. In his final moments, he was even able to project himself across the galaxy to fight his nephew Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. The mighty effort was a ruse to distract the First Order so that the Resistance could escape the planet Crait and live on to fight another day. Even though it took all of his strength to do so, it was a powerful final act that allowed him reestablish his connection to the Force and make up for the mistakes of his past.

6. Mace Windu

Though a lot younger than Yoda, Mace Windu’s skills are fairly close to those of the great Jedi Master. He is incredibly adept at lightsaber combat, and was able to hold his own against Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith, possibly defeating him in a lightsaber duel (although there is some debate whether Palpatine intentionally feigned defeat for Anakin Skywalker’s benefit). While Mace wasn’t able to specifically sense that Palpatine was a secret Sith Lord, he was able to sense the Dark Side energy surrounding him, which was enough to rouse his suspicions and convince Yoda to help him confront the Chancellor.

5. Rey Skywalker

The other part of a mythical Force Dyad, Rey went from a simple scavenger on Jakku to one of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy pretty quickly, training with Luke and Leia for only a year before she was skilled enough to match her other half, Kylo Ren, more equally. By the time she faced Darth Sidious, she had learned how to heal mortal wounds through the Force and was able to channel the power of all the Jedi before her in order to defeat him once and for all.

4. Yoda

Yoda is one of the oldest and wisest Jedi depicted on screen, having served on the Council for centuries from the time of the High Republic to the Jedi Order’s downfall. Because of his many years of training and strong connection to the Force, Yoda could see potential futures through the Force, though they weren’t always clear. He could also sense the allegiances of anyone he touched, whether they had strayed to the Dark side or not. His lightsaber skills alone were almost enough to defeat Palpatine before his final rise to power as Emperor in Revenge of the Sith. Yoda was even able to maintain his strength in exile, reaching out through the Force to Ezra Bridger on Lothal and training Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force before his death. And even in death, Yoda’s spirit was able to live on as a Force Ghost, a feat that not all Force users are able to achieve.

3. Bendu

Bendu is an ancient being of the Force who resides on the planet Atollan. He is incredibly Force-sensitive and claims to represent the center of the Force, between the Dark side and the Light. He has the ability to sense emotions as well as the power of foresight. He can also call forth powerful storms through the Force and has the ability to appear and disappear at will. It’s unclear in Star Wars: Rebels just how long Bendu has lived but he seems to be a being of immense power and fortitude.

2. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Anakin’s Skywalker’s potential was both revered and feared by the Jedi Order when he was taken in as a boy. He was thought by many to be the “Chosen One” who would one day bring balance to the Force, but there were also those who thought that his strong emotions and reckless behavior could one day be a liability. And it turns out that both were right to an extent. Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side is infamous—one of the most powerful and skilled Jedi turned on his loved ones and became one of the most terrifying Sith Lords the galaxy had ever seen. But his son Luke eventually got through to him, and he helped overthrow the Emperor (quite literally), bringing about an era of peace across the galaxy, though he didn’t live to see it for himself.

1. Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious

Of course the man responsible for the downfall of the Jedi is going to be at the top of this list. His powers are great enough to mask his true nature from some of the Order’s most powerful Jedi, including Yoda, and he was patient enough to play the long game. We’ve seen many powerful Sith over the course of Star Wars’ history, but so many of them are prone to anger-fueled impulsivity. Where Palpatine has so many of them beat is his willingness to wait for what he wants. He spent years trying to perfect cloning before he was able to come back (at least sort of) in Rise of Skywalker. Unlike so many others, Palpatine won too. He forced the Jedi into hiding for nearly two decades and ruled over the Galaxy with an iron fist. 

Honorable Mention: The Mortis Gods

It’s hard to determine where the Mortis Gods—the Son (Dark Side), the Daughter (Light Side), and the Father (the balance between them)—should fall on this list. They are mythical beings of great power and mastery over the Force, so logically, they should be at the top. But there are also several Force wielders on this list who managed to outlive them, in more ways than one. There are theories that point to Ahsoka and Anakin becoming a new iteration of them. Ahsoka was brought back to life by the Sister’s sacrifice. Anakin was asked by the Father to look over his children and maintain the balance of the Force, something he ultimately did achieve by sacrificing himself to kill Darth Sidious.

The Mortis Gods represent a major unknown factor in the Force, something that Star Wars seems to be exploring more through Ahsoka and the iconography found on the extragalactic planet Peridea and the World Between Worlds. It didn’t feel fair to create this list and not mention them as they are incredibly powerful, but their role in this world is still being written and uncovered. Until we know the extent of their capabilities and whether they have or haven’t been partially reincarnated into other Force-wielders, it feels fair to keep them here. For now.

The post Star Wars: Ranking the Most Powerful Jedi, Sith, and Force Users in the Galaxy appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the bombshell cliffhanger ending to “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”, we finally found out the identity of the mysterious menace who has been lurking in the shadows throughout this series of Doctor Who.

Click away now if you’ve yet to watch the episode and don’t want the revelation spoiled.

All good? It’s Sutekh, the God of Death.

Whether that name means anything to you depends on how familiar you are with classic Who (or Egyptian mythology, though the similarities between the TV character and its historical inspirations are pretty surface level). Unlike previous returning foes like the Daleks, the Cybermen or even the Master, Sutekh is by no means a household name – but when it comes to the show’s lore, that name carries mythic weight.

Pyramids of Mars

Sutekh’s history has become more expansive, complex and convoluted through various audio dramas, comics and other spin-off media, but the character has only made one appearance in televised Doctor Who before now: the 1975 Tom Baker-starring serial “Pyramids of Mars”. An iconic story of the era, it finds the Fourth Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith (the much-missed Elisabeth Sladen) investigating creepy goings-on in a gothic mansion in England in 1911, battling mummies, robots, cultists and eventually Sutekh himself.

Notably, the character is already known to the Doctor, and when our hero realises who he’s dealing with, his reaction is uncharacteristically fearful. Tom Baker was generally a fairly unflappable incarnation of the Doctor, so when he was afraid, you knew you were up against something worth fearing.

Sutekh is the last survivor of the Osirans, an ancient alien race with unfathomable power. Imprisoned by his brother Horus in a pyramid on Earth seven thousand years ago, the serial establishes the conflicts and machinations of these centuries-old aliens as an entertaining (if not entirely culturally sensitive) alternate origin for Egyptian mythology. It’s also a handy way of having mummies in the show without actually having mummies.

Sutekh’s aim in the serial is to destroy the Eye of Horus, a device left in a pyramid on Mars by his now-extinct species that projects a forcefield which suppresses his true form and power. The alien, whose psychic abilities are still fearsome, is able to manipulate various weak-minded humans into retrieving his sarcophagus from Egypt and bringing it to England, and even succeeds in destroying the Eye. But, unluckily for him, the Fourth Doctor – having intercepted a signal from Mars saying “Beware of Sutekh” – manages to intercede before Sutekh can be fully resurrected, trapping him in a time tunnel that effectively ages him to death.

Interestingly, the BBC recently announced a new instalment of Tales of the TARDIS, which will presumably focus on “Pyramids of Mars”, so be sure to check that out as well as the original serial if you want to know more about the character.  

The new series’ characterisation of Sutekh as “The One Who Waits” certainly chimes with his classic-era appearance. Despite being imprisoned for thousands of years, his full power kept at bay by the Eye of Horus, Sutekh has been biding his time and moving various human pieces around the board in the hope of bringing about his own resurrection. He’s presumably been waiting quite a while to make his latest appearance, and it’s highly likely that he’s spent that time nursing a major grudge against the Doctor. To make matters worse, with the Eye of Horus having been destroyed in “Pyramids of Mars”, this version of Sutekh is probably going to be operating at full capacity.

So, it’s no wonder that the Fifteenth Doctor was speechless with terror at his reveal in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”, because even a neutered Sutekh represents a significant challenge.

What Are Sutekh’s Powers?

While the version of Sutekh we saw in “Pyramids of Mars” was able to control and read minds, levitate objects, psychically torture people, reanimate the dead, project images of himself, burn people to death and even nearly defeat the Doctor in psychological combat, that still didn’t represent the character at the peak of his powers. We’ve never actually seen Sutekh fully unleashed – so the implication in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” that his powers have been fully restored should fill fans with some trepidation.

After all, in the 1975 serial, the Fourth Doctor suggests to Sarah that were Sutekh to regain his full strength, not even the combined might of the Time Lords would be able to stop him.

Referring to Sutekh as a god isn’t just hyperbole on the part of his harbingers – while he may not literally be an Egyptian deity, his power is so great that the difference is academic. To hammer home the point, the Doctor shows Sarah Jane an alternate future in which Sutekh has reduced the Earth to a wasteland orbiting a dead sun. He even implies that a fully armed and operational Sutekh would have the power to re-shape time itself.

But even if the character has the capacity to destroy everything, would he actually do it? Well, that brings us to the whole God of Death thing.

The Gift of Death

While Sutekh has seemingly infinite patience and speaks in a terrifyingly silky-smooth whisper – provided in both 1975 and 2024 by actor Gabriel Woolf – he is at heart an extremely paranoid individual. Convinced that all living things will eventually try to overthrow him, he destroyed his own planet and spent the subsequent centuries slaughtering his way around the universe, gaining a galactic reputation for terror and brutality. Men will literally destroy entire planets until their brother imprisons them in an Egyptian pyramid, rather than go to therapy.

But it’s not just some twisted version of self-defence. Sutekh genuinely believes that he brings “the gift of death” to lesser life forms, seeing hope and free will as traps for living creatures, and death as the only true certainty that can be relied upon. It’s a simultaneously nihilistic and self-aggrandising view of existence – Sutekh thinks that he is the only being with the right to live, and that every other trace of life should be extinguished. Even more so than the Master or even the Daleks, he worships death, and in that respect, he could be regarded as the Doctor’s ultimate opposite – death for the sake of death.

Say what you want about the Daleks’ monomaniacal, genocidal racial purity – at least it’s an ethos.

What Next in “Empire of Death”?

It remains to be seen how the various threads left hanging at the end of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” will resolve themselves in finale “Empire of Death“. Is Sutekh behind the various appearances of Susan Triad? How does Ruby’s birth mother figure into all this? Does Sutekh have a plan beyond ‘destroy everything’? How did he survive being aged to death in a time tunnel at the end of “Pyramids of Mars”? What are we to make of Carla identifying the Sutekh cloud as “The Beast”, considering that Gabriel Woolf also voiced The Beast way back in “The Satan Pit” and that “Satan” has been given as an alternative name for Sutekh?

And perhaps most importantly, did Sutekh come up with that silly “Sue Tech” homophone?

The second RTD era has already brought back classic-era villain The Toymaker – reworked to be a figure of much greater cosmic evil than the slightly duff game-player of the old series – and now he’s done the same with Sutekh.

From what we’ve seen so far, everything points to this being a fairly traditional take on the character Lewis Greifer created in the 1970s, with his familiar voice, his habit of possessing people, and his gift of death. He’s arguably quite a tricky villain to modernise, or to put any kind of subversive spin on – ultimately, Sutekh is death incarnate – ancient, omnipotent and in love with destruction.

So how will the Fifteenth Doctor beat him this time? After all, as he said upon encountering Maestro, the last time he fought one of these god-like creatures, it “literally tore [his] soul in half”. How do you top that?

We’ll see in the finale. Tune in next week for more teatime brutality for tots…

Doctor Who series 14 will conclude with “Empire of Death” on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and Disney+

The post Doctor Who’s New Villain Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

“Doctor!” says Mel, approximately three minutes before the end of this episode. “There’s something wrong!”

With finely tuned senses like that, you can see why UNIT keep her around.

“The Legend of Ruby Sunday” is an odd episode. As is often the case with two-parters, and especially season finales, it’s difficult to judge the first instalment on its own merits, because by design we’re not getting a complete story. It’s basically forty-five minutes of setup, with the payoff deferred until next week. We’re here for the ride, ultimately, for the sense of screws tightening and the queasy feeling as characters lose control and the world around them tumbles towards a big revelatory cliffhanger.

On that level, the episode just about works. As an exercise in pure spectacle and gathering momentum, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” carries itself along with enthusiasm and charisma. There are plenty of individually thrilling moments. But beyond those and a general sense of urgency, there’s not a great deal holding it all together. Here, more than ever, Russell T Davies and team are counting on our investment in the characters to keep us engaged. Without that investment to paper over the cracks, the whole thing feels like it teeters on the edge of collapse.

This is Davies in bombastic finale mode, and it might be the most that this new era has evoked his previous tenure so far. There are echoes of “Army of Ghosts”, “The Sound of Drums” and “The Stolen Earth”. Everything here is designed to be big. The opening TARDIS arrival at UNIT headquarters (why does it fly in dramatically rather than just materialise? Shut up, it looks cool), the extended cast of new and old faces (welcome to Lenny Rush, and welcome back to Yasmin Finney), the general emotional tenor… Everyone gets a hug and a moment in the spotlight, even if their reason for being there is tenuous (I’m looking at you, Carla).

Davies’ season finales are famously quite divisive, and go for huge spectacle and huge feelings above all else. Viewers who aren’t fans of that won’t have the best time here.

Not that it’s all smooth sailing for viewers who do generally enjoy such episodes. One issue “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” struggles to get past is the feeling that not everything is entirely earned. That might be a consequence of the shorter season, or the fact that there hasn’t been much sense of progression for the various arc breadcrumbs like Susan Triad or Ruby’s true parentage. The Doctor and Ruby have started to notice the woman’s face that keeps appearing, and this episode implies more appearances in adventures we haven’t seen, but the Doctor bringing the issue to UNIT feels less like a natural consequence of careful plotting and more like ‘well, it’s the two-part finale so we’d better start wrapping up these mysteries’.

Similarly, while Ruby’s impossible memory snow has cropped up a number of times, there hasn’t been much discussion of it outside those brief moments. The Doctor and Ruby haven’t really talked about her birth mother or what happened at Christmas 2004, and the hint of tension at the end of “Space Babies” hasn’t gone anywhere, so posing the question to UNIT now just feels like another plot thread that needs addressing because we’ve reached the end of the series.

That’s unfortunate, because this is really the plot thread in which we should have the most investment – an emotional conflict rooted in one of our main characters. It should feel weighty. But because of the way the episode is structured, it feels a little out of place. The Doctor suddenly throws it in, even though there is no particular reason for the two mysteries to be connected. In fact, the characters quickly dismiss the idea that that they’re linked, and the Doctor’s reaction implies that he hadn’t even considered that a possibility, adding to the overall disconnect. Naturally we assume there is going to be some sort of connection, because we’ve been watching the series and know how story arcs work. But there’s no reason for the characters, in-universe, to assume a connection, so it feels weird that Kate and UNIT would be so indulgent of the Doctor’s investigation into Ruby’s parentage, and devote so many resources to it – especially when they’ve already been looking into Susan Triad, suspect a trap, and have the ticking clock of her imminent address to the United Nations.

The episode barrels forward with plenty of momentum and everyone brings the appropriate energy, but there’s no real sense of the various mysteries dovetailing with one another. The “Susan Twist is the Doctor’s granddaughter” theory turns out to be a fake-out (or is it???) and is curiously underplayed, despite Ncuti Gatwa’s best efforts. And even as things ramp up dramatically for the Sutekh reveal, we still don’t have a clear idea of who Susan Triad is, why she has been appearing everywhere, the nature of her tech, or how any of this connects to the God of Death. That’s parts one of two for you.

There are plenty of individually compelling elements – the time window is a really neat idea and visually well realised, the gradual reveal of Sutekh’s cloud and the hidden TARDIS is nice and creepy, the use of VHS for time travel is cool (and very Steven Moffat) – but we never really get that satisfying feeling of everything clicking neatly into place.

The Sutekh reveal is similarly difficult to discuss without knowing how the next episode plays out. His name will likely be meaningless to anybody who hasn’t watched the classic series – he’s not like the Daleks or the Cybermen, who have penetrated the general pop culture lexicon to the extent that most people have a vague idea of who they are. It’s an interesting choice of classic villain to bring back, and arguably more logical than the Toymaker. Sutekh is an antagonist evil and powerful enough to truly terrify the Doctor, and one we’ve never seen fully unleashed.

Sutekh is arguably the closest thing to a genuine god that the Doctor has ever fought, so he makes sense as the final boss of The Pantheon, and it will be interesting to see whether this is Davies in revamp or traditionalist mode. It’s lovely that they brought back actor Gabriel Woolf to provide the character’s malevolent whisper, even if looks-wise, the more lo-fi, masked version from his first appearance in 1975’s “Pyramids of Mars” arguably felt more alien and threatening than this CGI form. The ingredients are all there for a compelling showdown, but I’d be fascinated to know how this plays with anyone unfamiliar with the character because so much is made of the name and its implied weight (especially with the “Sue Tech” homophone, another divisive RT quirk). We’re by no means in Star Trek: Into Darkness “my name … is KHAN” territory, but we’re not a million miles away from it either.

And yet, hundreds of words of criticism notwithstanding, this episode has plenty to recommend it. Ncuti Gatwa gamely sells everything he’s asked to do – his enraged punching of the wall after Colonel Chidozie’s death feels particularly raw, and the way he plays his quiet scene with Kate communicates the Doctor’s complex feelings about his granddaughter in a poignant way. The casual aside that a Time Lord could have grandchildren before having children is wonderful, and really all the explanation we need regarding Susan’s parentage. Mrs Flood’s switch from chatty Cockney to malevolent prophet was a thrill. And it’s impossible not to love the Doctor roaring with laughter at the shonkiness of UNIT’s time window.

Elsewhere, while Millie Gibson spends most of the episode in reactive mode, she still makes Ruby’s pain feel real and justified, and hopefully she’ll get more to do in the finale. There are plenty of striking images like the aforementioned Sutekh cloud and the Doctor and Ruby standing in the distorted black-and-white flicker of the time window. “If time is memory and memory is time, then what is the memory of a time machine” is the kind of line that communicates so much unsettling cosmic possibility. Structural quibbles aside, the last ten minutes of the episode feel portentous, with the reveal of Harriet Arbinger and her speech heralding Sutekh’s arrival, Susan’s psychological collapse, the Doctor’s terror and the swelling music, which evokes Murray Gold’s past work on “The Sound of Drums”.

So, the setup works. Just.

Now, about that payoff…

Doctor Who series 14 concludes on Friday June 21 on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and selected cinemas in the UK, and on Disney+ around the world. Learn more about Den of Geek’s review process and why you can trust our recommendations here.

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