Action movie star Steven Seagal is currently On Deadly Ground (1994) with the SEC after the government agency found the actor–and reserve deputy chief in the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office–did not disclose his compensation for endorsing a cryptocurrency company in 2018.
The SEC was Out for Justice (1991) and Seagal agreed to pay $157,000 in disgorgement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This neither confirms nor denies the allegations against the actor who is not Beyond the Law (2019). Seagal allegedly did not disclose the fact that he was promised $750,000 worth of Bitcoiin2Gen–along with $250,000 in cash–for his promotion of the cryptocurrency, when he made the Executive Decision (1996) to endorse it back in 2018.
SEC chief of the division of enforcement of cyber’s unit, Kristina Littman responded with this statement: “These investors were entitled to know about payments Seagal received or was promised to endorse this investment so they could decide whether he may be biased. Celebrities are not allowed to use their social media influence to tout securities without appropriately disclosing their compensation.”
Seagal’s Code of Honor (2016) may have led him to delete his tweets regarding Bitcoiin2Gen when he was first promoting it, but there is still evidence the two had dealings with each other two years ago.
And in what could be considered one of the most bizarre press releases regarding cryptocurrency, Seagal felt very Out of Reach (2004) in the press release announcing his collaboration with the crypto-company. “As a Buddhist, Zen teacher, and healer, Steven lives by the principles that the development of the physical self is essential to protect the spiritual man. He believes that what he does in his life is about leading people into contemplation to wake them up and enlighten them in some manner. These are precisely the objectives of the Bitcoiin2Gen to empower the community by providing a decentralized P2P payment system with its own wallet, mining ecosystem and robust blockchain platform without the need of any third party.”
In addition to paying the $157,000 in disgorgement, Seagal agreed not to promote securities for the next three years, according to the SEC, so there will be no trial nor Maximum Conviction (2012).
Peter Pan has long been shaping how people tell stories about childhood and growing up. It’s been adapted multiple times and retold even more. The latest creator to take on this task is the Academy Award-nominated Benh Zeitlin who was last seen and heard of in 2012 with his critically acclaimed debut Beasts of the Southern Wild. Since then he’s been working on Wendy, his contemporary reimagining of Peter Pan that despite the change in name, time period, and location feels very much the same as what we’ve seen before.
Just like Beasts of the Southern Wild, Wendy begins in a Southern landscape seemingly cut off from the rest of society. The titular heroine lives with her family at their trainside diner. Her three brothers aren’t excited about the prospect of spending their lives stuck in the grimy but friendly food establishment and we watch as Wendy wanders around in her diaper charming the patrons. This opening not only sets up the visual tone for the film — “grounded and real” — to the point of blandness but also introduces us to the more magical elements of the film. We watch out of the window with Wendy as her eldest brother absconds on a passing train after being encouraged by a figure shrouded in red.
Years later we find Wendy (Devin France), her mother (Shay Walker), and two remaining brothers (Gage and Gavin Naquin) still living in the diner where the youngest daughter dreams of the “ghost train” that took her brother away and her twin siblings embrace their muddy life in New Orleans. It’s a slow-burn beginning that highlights the watchability of the young cast as the trio do nothing more than listlessly wander around the diner and their house above it. The ever-present lights and noise of the trains play as an ominous hint of what’s to come as Wendy waits for the return of the train and the figure who spirited her brother away.
That strange figure is, of course, Peter, played here by Yashua Mack who is inarguably the star of the film. The fact that Peter is the best thing about a film called Wendy is just the beginning of where this adaptation’s problems begin. Although Mack is brilliant, the script — by Zeitlan and his sister Eliza — and characterization of Peter muddies the waters with a choice to focus on the more Machiavellian and malicious aspects of the character, making his anti-heroic and sometimes villainous take on the character far more interesting than the allegedly “good” leads, Wendy in particular. Mack’s Peter is a firebrand who is brilliant, charming, and dangerous, young, old, and ageless all at the same time. When he shows up on the roof of the train passing the bedroom window of the Darling children you never question whether or not they’ll follow him, which is after all the power of Peter Pan.
Ironically, as Peter is the best thing about it, the film loses its way once he and the children hit Neverland. Despite the fact that their arrival begins by hinting at an intriguing representation of magical realism and what it can be on the big screen, Zeitlin seems to get lost in his own vision, with plenty of pretty B-roll and stunning locations but not much narrative and not enough strength of conviction to work without one. There maybe exists a version of Wendy that was truly committed to the atmospheric fairytale that it wanted to be, and potentially that hypothetical film was better. But once the siblings and the children that they meet are left to roam free on the isle of lost dreams, Wendy really begins to drag.
There are moments of magic as the young cast wander around Neverland and most are connected to the magic that seemingly keeps them young. There’s beautiful creature work which leads to a few truly stunning sequences, but Zeitlin is more interested in “the real” which means the magic of the film is often pushed aside in favor of something more grim and bland. Wendy is a movie that shouldn’t feel like it needs an explanation but the interior logic of the island never works, which is inherently tied to the fact that the Zeitlan’s message is unclear. Is it terrible to grow up? Or is it a great adventure? Are the children the future and the elderly a hazard to it? Or are the young trapped in their own nostalgia when they should want to grow up? These questions don’t feel like a purposeful ambiguity but more like unfinished thoughts that lead the audience to nowhere but confusion and potentially nausea for those who don’t have a taste for the saccharine and heavy-handed analogs the Zeitlins try to force into the final act.
As the title implies, Marvel Comics’ The End shows how various heroes eventually meet their respective ends. While these are more “What If…?” tales set in a possible future that show how each hero’s story could end, they still aim to pack an emotional punch and work as an interesting character piece that examines what their time as a superhero ultimately amounts to.
Marvel first launched The End line of comics back in 2004, and now a new batch has been released showing the potential fates of six more iconic characters. Here’s a breakdown of how Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Captain America, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Deadpool, and Venom meet their ends, and our thoughts on whether it was a fitting end for each respective character.
Warning: full spoilers ahead!
The End of Doctor Strange
Written by Joe Kelly | Art by Mike Hawthorne | Cover by Rahzzah
Doctor Strange’s story finds him in a future cyberpunk dystopia where technology rules and magic has all but died out. Wong is dead and so are the rest of Earth’s sorcerers, leaving him to go stir-crazy as he sits alone in the Sanctum Santorum with no one to talk to but an AI program.
The Story
Fed up with the lack of magic in the world, Doctor Strange is goaded by the spirit of Wong into replenishing the world’s magic by seeking out magical artifacts across the globe. Strange stops by the graves of the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Voodoo to grab their remains, then journeys to the far reaches of the world to collect whatever magical relics he can find. Upon returning home, he starts a ritual where he feeds a magical fire everything he collected, even the entire cabinet holding Wong’s memorial. Finally, Doctor Strange strips down and enters the fire himself.
How It Ends
Doctor Strange sacrifices his body to complete the ritual, and we watch as magic is slowly returned to the world.
We also see that Illyana Rasputin aka Magik was not dead but trapped in suspended animation, and Strange’s ritual had the side effect of releasing her from imprisonment. Magik returns to the earthly plane and assumes the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme to watch over the world with its magic now restored by Doctor Strange.
While Doctor Strange sacrificing himself to rekindle Earth’s magic makes for an honorable end, the story up until that point doesn’t exactly paint him in the best light. He literally goes around desecrating the graves of his friends and fellow heroes, carelessly tossing their decayed bones into a cabinet. Granted, the story does make a point that he’s a bit off his rocker in his old age, but he comes off a bit too mean-spirited even for a grumpy senior citizen. By the end of the story, it’s almost a relief that he takes himself off the board so Illyana can replace him, which probably isn’t what the creative team intended.
The End of Captain Marvel
Written by Kelly Thompson | Art by Carmen Carnero | Cover by Rahzzah
It’s the year 2051 and Captain Marvel has been out in deep space helping those in need for decades. She’s taken on a new look with a black-and-white costume, and her power level has increased considerably over the years. Her trusty Avengers beeper lights up with an SOS, calling her back to her home planet of Earth after a very long time.
The Story
Carol Danvers arrives back on Earth to find it experiencing an early Ice Age of sorts. The sun has started to die and the Earth is covered in sheets of ice with overcast skies that refuse to clear up. Carol was under the impression that everyone on Earth had died, so she’s shocked to find a group of various heroes that survived by using their powers to endure the harsh climate (extreme cold, radiation exposure, etc.). Her best friend Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman is still alive as an elderly woman and her son Gerry is now fully grown and sporting a red-and-yellow costume resembling his mother’s.
After a tearful reunion, Jess explains that they called Carol back to help them defeat a giant creature born of the Earth’s unnatural new environment. It’s a close call, but Captain Marvel teams up with the remaining heavyweights to kill the monster. However, the real problem is much bigger than a single enemy. The Earth is still dying because of the fading sun, leaving Carol with a tough choice.
How It Ends
Carol’s spirit is revitalized after seeing her friends and loved ones again. She realizes that their safety and happiness means more to her than anything, so she decides to fly into the sun and unleash her full power, sacrificing herself so that the survivors on Earth get a second chance. Back on Earth, the planet warms and the skies clear as the survivors rejoice.
This story does an incredible job at conveying Carol’s emotional journey that ends in her sacrifice. Sacrifice is a common theme in the various The End stories, but rarely do they execute it with the emotional power seen here. There’s a genuine bittersweet happiness to it all as Carol finds renewed hope in her loved ones and then pays the ultimate price to ensure that hope lives on in them.
Keep reading for the ends of Captain America, Spider-Man Miles Morales, and more!
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is one of the best Japanese role-playing games on Nintendo Switch. It also happens to be one of the third-party Switch games that really holds its price. Dragon Quest XI released last September for Switch, and we’ve never seen it for less than $50, and even a $10 discount has been rare. If you’ve been holding out for a better price, DQXI is discounted to $37.49 at Target right now.
There is a catch here, though. The discount is only good for in-store pickup online orders, so if you don’t live near a Target store, you won’t easily be able to take advantage of this excellent deal.
The Switch version, which received a 9/10 in GameSpot’s Dragon Quest X1 review, is the “Definitive Edition” for good reason. It features two totally different graphical styles: modern 3D visuals and a top-down 2D render modeled after the old SNES games. The Switch version also adds bonus content found in the original 3DS version that was exclusive to Japan. The soundtrack is also fully orchestrated, replacing the maligned music found in the PS4 and PC versions of its US release.
Dragon Quest XI is just one of hundreds of PS4, Xbox One, and Switch games that’s on sale at Target right now for 25% off when using in-store pickup.
You can browse the entire Save 25% Sale at Target and check out our picks below. The sale ends March 1, and all games must be purchased with in-store pickup to get the discounts.
The Nioh 2 Last Chance Trial features three missions from the game, including the Mount Tenno location, and the character you make during the demo will transfer into the full version. Your progress won’t, but it gives some incentive to play the trial for those already set on purchasing the game. Unlike in the first Nioh, you play as an avatar rather than a set character, so you can go nuts to make them look as ridiculous as possible. Those who play the trial will also get the Kamaitachi Helmet in the full game.
The trial also includes a new weapon called the Switchglaive, which is a form-shifting scythe. The enormous red weapon can be seen in the trailer, and it’s remarkably fast despite its huge size.
Near the end, the player turns into a Yokai form, allowing for a quick burst of damage for a limited time. It’s one of the mechanics that sets the series apart from Dark Souls, as do its many different combat styles and stances. What remains are Nioh’s version of bonfires, called shrines, where currency is spent to level up.
Nioh 2 comes exclusively to PS4 on March 13, and the trial runs from February 28 to March 1. The first game eventually saw a release on PC, as well, but this platform hasn’t been confirmed yet for the sequel.
Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have revealed Zarude the rogue monkey, a new mythical Pokemon coming to Pokemon Sword and Shield.
A short trailer has shown Zarude in action. This new mythical is a dark/grass type Pokemon, who can use the Leaf Guard ability. The video description on YouTube claims that “When fighting, it swings around using trees and their branches, attacking relentlessly with its sharp claws or any other means it has. Its quick wit helps it excel in battles.”
Zarude lives up to its dark type by looking a little less like a monkey and more like a gremlin, with red markings around his eyes, fang-like teeth and pointed fur making him appear particularly aggressive. The trailer demonstrates him dealing a great amount of damage to a Rillaboom and a Drednaw.
After last week’s Picard episode gave us a team-up with our two favorite ex-Borgs, Jean-Luc and Seven of Nine, “The Impossible Box” picks up the ever-dangling Locutus thread for Picard as he finds himself visiting the Artifact… a.k.a. a Borg cube (albeit one disconnected from the Collective). And not surprisingly, it’s not an easy trip for him.
This turn of events also, thankfully, finally unites the Picard storyline with Soji and Narek’s. That arc has felt played out almost since it began, with Soji coming across as eternally in the dark while the manipulative Romulan worked his charms on her. Isa Briones and Harry Treadaway have been fine in the roles, but this has very much felt like a story point that was taking way too long to get through. Now that status quo has changed.
But first, Jean-Luc. There’s a lot of business to get through before he finally makes it onto the Borg cube, with a sort of fun bit of cajoling/bribing/threatening from Raffi to an old Starfleet friend in order to get Picard diplomatic papers. I say “sort of fun” because the scene ends with Raffi stumbling back to her quarters drunk, and Picard doesn’t seem terribly concerned about his old XO’s current state of mind. At least he got those papers! Odd.
When he does make it to the cube, Jean-Luc’s reunion with Hugh is everything it should be. When we first were reintroduced to Hugh a few weeks ago it was frustrating because the episode barely acknowledged him as a character from Next Generation’s past. But here, his connection with and affection for Picard is clear, and actors Jonathan Del Arco and Patrick Stewart are great together. “A new name can be the first step to a new identity,” Hugh says, referring back to how he broke free from the Borg thanks to Picard and the Enterprise crew. They even hug! It makes perfect sense that Hugh would now be doing for others what Picard once did for him.
The cube also feels like a creepy place finally, even though one has to wonder why Hugh doesn’t just turn up the lights a bit. But the presence of the ex-Borg who wander the halls of the ship provides an almost ghostly reminder of what the place once was. And Picard is clearly haunted by it, and them, who perhaps remind him a bit too much of himself. He starts the episode off saying the Borg are a cancer and by the end of the hour is reminded that they are just victims, as he once was. It would’ve been nice to give this sentiment a bit more room to play with here, but hopefully the show will continue to flesh out this idea and more of Picard’s Borg issues over the rest of the season. (Indeed, it now feels like it will be anti-climactic if we don’t return to the cube eventually, which is ironic considering how the Soji/Narek story had made it kind of a drag to visit thus far.)
Speaking of which, Narek determines that Soji’s recurring dream about her “father” from when she was a child is actually a manifestation of her synthetic “subconscious” trying to reconcile her true nature. Her neural pathways, he explains to his still Evil with a capital E sister, must be bumping up against her belief that she is a human being. And that “cognitive dissonance” must go somewhere… like into her dreams. It’s a pretty clever idea, both for Narek and the show’s writers.
So he convinces Soji to use the Zhal Makh — a “Romulan form of meditation” that is somewhere between Deep Space Nine’s Allamaraine walk and a life-sized board game — to get to the heart of her dreams, and in so doing find out on what planet the rest of her Synthetic conclave is hiding. That he also reveals his true name to Soji, which we’re told is something a Romulan only gives to the person they love, feels like a genuine gesture, despite Narek’s plan to kill Soji once he gets the info he needs.
Too bad (or is that good thing?) then that he messes up that plan so badly. Yes, he learns from Soji’s dream that the Synthetic homeworld is likely on a planet with two red moons and electrical storms, but why does he leave that red gas stuff to kill her slowly, knowing what she’s capable of once she “activates” just as her sister did in the premiere episode? The whole reason he’s been tiptoeing around her all season was to avoid making that happen, and then he blunders into it here at the last moment.
Still, it means that Soji is now in kick-ass android mode, tearing through the floor to escape the deadly gas. And it also means that the dynamic between her and Narek has now been fundamentally changed. He tried to kill her! And whether he was crying or not about it, she knows he did. And now she’s off with Picard, who is going to fill her in on everything, including her true nature.
That things culminate in a serious deep-cut from Star Trek: Voyager’s first season — yes, that 40,000 light-year portal is from the all-but-forgotten episode “Prime Factors” — is just another cool reminder that this show is as buttoned up as any Trek show can be in terms of continuity.
Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:
The guy who yelled “Locutus” wins this episode.
So what is going on outside of the reclamation section of the cube? Are there still a bunch of active Borg hanging around?
RIP the Sikarians.
I’m glad that we’re being shown the connection between Rios and Raffi, who knew each other before this whole Picard adventure began. Raffi’s addiction issues are another matter, however. How does she swing between perfectly sober when negotiating on a viewscreen to passed out within minutes? The show doesn’t seem to be willing to fully commit to her addiction issues and uses them more as a crutch so far. Michelle Hurd deserves better.
Picard taking a stroll down Borg memory lane in his holo-office was cool, complete with images from past Next Generation stories.
Nice shout-out to the Borg Queen. Could she still be out there somewhere…?
Can someone explain how Elnor was able to beam to the cube but Picard and Soji couldn’t beam off?
While I’ve never fantasized about being a woodsman on a murderous rampage against the gang who left him for dead, Bloodroots sure makes that specific scenario a bloody great time. With a well-written revenge story as its wrapper, developer Paper Cult delivers a fast, furious, and fun action game that consistently finds new ways to surprisingly take advantage of its simple setup.
Bloodroots follows in the shoes of Hotline Miami and Ape Out by presenting a seemingly straightforward premise – you, as Mr. Wolf, go through each level killing enemies with one hit while trying not to be killed yourself, also with one hit. Kills can be chained together, with grades awarded at the end of each level that frequently convinced me to give them another try in the hopes of bumping that C+ up to at least a B.
What sets Bloodroots apart from similar score-chasing action games, and what Paper Cult makes great use of in each level’s design, is the weapon arsenal Mr. Wolf has at his disposal – and it includes pretty much everything. An axe with a heavy slice? Obviously a murder weapon. A light-but-deadly fence post that whacks an enemy? Murder weapon. A chain-chomp homage that slingshots Mr. Wolf through the air from one enemy to the next? Definitely a murder weapon. A flimsy carrot? The deadliest of vegetables in town.
This arsenal is put to consistently wacky use level after level during Bloodroots’ three-act, roughly eight-hour campaign – that length will likely depend on how often you’re dying. Playing out like a Jackie Chan action film mixed with an art style reminiscent of Samurai Jack, Bloodroots is an unrelenting assault on the poor souls standing in Mr. Wolf’s way. New weapons, like scythes, different guns, and more pop up throughout the campaign, but recurring favorites like those I’ve mentioned and a handful of others are such a delight to master and implement in every level.
Most levels, unless intentionally designed otherwise, are replete with all these and more improvisational weapons, and Bloodroots always felt like it gave me the freedom to wield whatever tool of destruction I deemed worthy for the task at hand. Replaying through whole levels, or even just sections of them, usually revealed an ideal path with specific weaponry, and nailing those sequences did consistently feel empowering. But I never felt like my weapon choices were restricted in any way if I wanted to stray from that path, and the delight of its mayhem is always enhanced by some key details. Every killing blow has a certain oomph to it as blood spatters out of the pour soul you hit; Mr. Wolf’s speed, at first a bit unwieldy, allowed me to practically glide through woodland terrain like an unstoppable force meeting many moveable objects; and a death sequence highlights your final kill in any given area with a spectacular and silly little cutscene. Never has a fish slammed down on an enemy’s head in such spectacular fashion.
Finding a satisfying way, if not the optimal one, to chain attacks together through a level always felt rewarding. Bloodroots can look like chaos, but it’s a controlled chaos I generally felt like I was dictating. But even when unexpected deaths came, and they did aplenty, every loss felt like a learning experience – enemy behaviors are consistent enough that mistakes almost always came because of my overeagerness or lack of planning. The only aspect that felt unfairly weighted against me was the darn icy patches. When every hit means doom, Mr. Wolf’s slipping and sliding occasionally felt brutally punishing just for the sake of it and never all that fun, rather than an experience to learn from and master.
Those small moments aside, Paper Cult continually finds creative ways to put its run-grab-kill gameplay to use in new and interesting scenarios. And the levels all act as great learning experiences for the fantastic boss fights that cap off each act. They put all of my skills to the test in wildly different scenarios, from an elongated chase sequence to an arena fight. Responsible for most of my deaths in the overall campaign, I loved inching my way through these ultimately satisfying battles.
And even after I bested the final boss, there’s been plenty left to do apart from just trying to climb each level’s leaderboards – there are a hidden series of wolves to collect, as well as additional hats to find for Mr. Wolf so he can be Mr. Bear, Mr. Dog, and more. And beyond just cosmetic changes, these different hats offer Mr. Wolf enhanced abilities in previously played levels to keep those replays feeling fresh.
The entire experience is wrapped in a gorgeous, stark aesthetic. Buildings, characters, and weapons are all brought to life by vibrant blocks of color, prominent lines, and a variety of woodland, arid, and frozen climates. Bloodroots can even take unexpected left turns into a nightclub aesthetic or a more Roman coliseum-esque locale, but it all feels cohesive with the overall art direction. And each is backed by the thumping jam of a soundtrack that often acted like a renewing catalyst for my mayhem.
Bloodroots, at its core, is a revenge story, and the stoic, single-minded Mr. Wolf often offers little more character in his dialogue than demanding to know the whereabouts of his prey. But his former band of outlaws who left him for dead are all distinctly despicable and interesting to learn more about, like a cast pulled straight from a Quentin Tarantino movie. Mr. Wolf’s character more comes through in what other characters tell us about him, but Paper Cult also finds inventive ways to express his mental state through the gameplay in some particularly intriguing bonus levels. And while Mr. Wolf’s story comes to a somewhat predictable, telegraphed ending that isn’t all that satisfying, the consistent thrill of its buildup isn’t squandered as a result.
The crew of the La Sirena has finally arrived at The Artifact in Star Trek: Picard‘s sixth episode, “The Impossible Box.” Bringing Jean-Luc Picard back in close proximity to the Borg stirs up a lot of feelings about what happened to him back on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and we finally get to see Picard interact with Hugh, someone the former captain hasn’t seen almost since liberating him from the Borg Collective.
There’s a whole lot of history flying around in Episode 6, and not just from The Next Generation–we also get a few tidbits from Star Trek: Voyager and Deep Space Nine. Here are all the Easter eggs and Trek references you might have missed in “The Impossible Box.”
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1. Romulans’ Many Names
As Narek and Soji get closer, we get another dose of Romulan culture–the idea that Romulans have several names, some of which they share only with people they’re closest to. We’ve never really gotten this look at Romulan society in the Star Trek series before, but the idea that Romulans use different names for outsiders, family, and their closest loved ones is something that has come up in Star Trek novels. Now it’s canon!
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2. Dahj And Soji’s Reason For Being
It was only mentioned quickly and in passing, but now that we know Soji’s approximate age, Bruce Maddox’s reason for creating the android twins and sending them out into the galaxy makes a little more sense: He’s trying to use them to discover the real reason behind the ban on synths. Star Trek: Picard seems to be building toward a deeper link between the Borg and the Romulans, and if we factor in the fact that people keep calling Soji “the Destroyer,” it seems like Bruce had information about the whole situation that Picard and his crew have not yet uncovered.
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3. Insidious Borg Nanoprobes
As Episode 6 establishes, nobody is ever really free of their Borg assimilation. Star Trek: Voyager went pretty deep on the inner workings of the Borg, and when Hugh mentions Borg nanoprobes, this is what he’s referencing. A big part of Borg assimilation is done by microscopic nanomachines that live in the bodies of the assimilated, and they’re still present even in former drones who have been freed from the Collective. In Voyager, we even see latent nanoprobes getting reactivated and restarting the process of trying to assimilate their hosts, as well as other technology and people.
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4. Picard’s History With The Romulans
Picard notes that he won’t be able to sneak aboard The Artifact because he’ll likely get recognized by the Romulans. He’s got a deep history with the people and it goes beyond his role as their would-be savior during the rescue period 14 years ago. Before that, Picard was the captain of the Federation flagship on Star Trek: The Next Generation and had repeated run-ins with high-ranking Romulans. He even once had his appearance altered to appear Romulan so he could visit their homeworld in an attempt to find Ambassador Spock, who had seemingly defected from the Federation. And the plot of Star Trek: Nemesis is all predicated on a defunct Romulan plan to clone Picard and replace him on the Enterprise, in order to get a spy into the highest echelons of Starfleet.
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5. A Member Of The Collective
A former drone’s connection to the Collective can be severed, but as we’ve seen with Borg nanoprobes, it never totally goes away. Picard knows that other Borg will recognize him as Locutus, his drone name, and we’ve seen in other series that former drones retain some of their Borg information and memories–something that plays a major role in Episode 6.
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6. How Hugh Got His Name
Hugh and Picard have an emotional meeting when the latter arrives on The Artifact, and Hugh mentions how important even having a simple name can be for the recovery of former drones. He’s referencing his experiences on the Enterprise, when the crew discovered Hugh as an injured drone after a Borg ship crashed. Geordi La Forge and Dr. Beverly Crusher nursed him back to health, and he was then known as Third of Five. Geordi ended up giving Hugh a name so the pair would have something to call him, and that experience was the beginning of Hugh separating himself from the Borg Collective and establishing an individual identity.
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7. False Memories
The idea that Soji’s memories might not be real is a pretty well-established idea in Star Trek. When he created Data, Noonien Soong implanted the memories of all the colonists of Omicron Theta, where they lived, and Data later was able to recall those memories and share them with others on The Next Generation. We’ve also seen memories implanted in non-androids, like when Miles O’Brien experienced a lifetime in prison in a matter of hours on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
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8. “Our New Queen Is Romulan”
In Star Trek: First Contact, we learned that while the Borg consists of a giant collective consciousness made up fo all its components, it’s not without a leader–the Borg Queen. Picard and Data defeated and seemingly killed the Borg Queen at the end of that movie, but she reappeared on Voyager, suggesting the Queen’s consciousness could be transferred to other bodies. We don’t know the current state of the Borg Collective or the Borg Queen’s whereabouts post-Voyager. Meanwhile, even though Hugh and the other former drones have been liberated, they’ve traded a Borg queen for a Romulan one.
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9. A Free Borg
We’ve seen a few former drones throughout Star Trek series, but Star Trek: Picard is expanding on the idea much more than we’ve seen in the past. Life for former Borg isn’t great–they’re exploited for their technology and despised throughout the galaxy, which is a far cry from how Picard, Seven of Nine, or Icheb were treated after they were saved from the Collective.
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10. Two Strips Of Latinum
There are a few different currencies floating around the galaxy, but the one we’ve heard the most about is gold-pressed latinum, the preferred money of the Ferengi and used in Quark’s bar on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Rios says Raffi owes him two strips of latinum for the bet they discuss while Picard is off the ship–not a ton of money, but decent winnings.
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11. Squidgy The Doll
We’re still puzzling over what that doll of Soji’s is–whether it’s the Salt Vampire from Star Trek: The Original Series or the Drakoulis ice creature from Star Trek (2009)–but at least now we know it has a name. During Soji’s flashbacks of her dream with Narek, she states the name of the doll she remembers having in childhood: Squidgy. That doesn’t really give us any new clues as to what the thing is, though.
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12. The Dahj Orchids
Back in Episode 1, Dahj explains to Picard that she remembers her father splicing together two kinds of orchids, yellow and pink, to make a new hybrid flower. He named the new species for Dahj, and it’s a pretty fair bet this is all a big metaphor for the android daughters that might hint more at their origins. In any event, Soji’s dream finds her going into her father’s lab, where you can see a bunch of pink and yellow orchids–suggesting Soji is accessing something from before the hybrid was created.
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13. The Borg’s Chronometric Particles
We know those pesky Borg have some time travel know-how–in Star Trek: First Contact, Data talks about detecting “chronometric particles” as the Borg ship opens a portal to the past. Those particles are still present on The Artifact, as we can hear over the loudspeaker as Hugh and Picard enter Soji’s quarters. Seems like living on a decommissioned Borg cube has a lot of interesting hazards, like the possibility of spontaneous assimilation, or of spontaneous time travel.
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14. Soji As Pinocchio
Soji’s dream gives us a few tidbits about her character, but the most meaningful one is what she sees in her father’s lab when she’s finally able to push through to the end of the vision. What she sees is herself in pieces, rendered as a giant wooden puppet. The image conjures up the story of Pinnochio, the wooden puppet who wanted to be a real boy. In the first episode of The Next Generation, Will Riker refers to Data as “Pinocchio,” since the android has the same ambition to be more human. Picard is deepening the metaphorical connection between Soji and Data, since the former is about to grapple with figuring out who she is in light of what she’s learning about herself.
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15. Sikarians And Their Spatial Trajector
On Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Janeway and her crew encountered a race of aliens called the Sikarians, who had a technology called a Spatial Trajector that could transport people and objects huge distances almost instantly–a total of about 40 lightyears. That would have helped knock a ton of time off of Voyager’s trip home from the Delta Quadrant, but the technology proved incompatible with Starfleet’s. According to Hugh, at least some Sikarians eventually ran across the Borg, who also originated in the Delta Quadrant and were assimilated. Along with the culture, the Borg got the Spatial Trajector technology, which the Borg Queen apparently planned to use for quick getaways during emergencies.
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16. Nepenthe
Picard tells Rios and Raffi to meet him on Nepenthe, a planet within the range of the Spatial Trajector. We’ve never seen Nepenthe in a Star Trek series before, but the system did get a mention in the video game Star Trek: Bridge Commander. It was there that Starfleet first took note of a race called the Kessok in that game. That story isn’t technically Star Trek canon, but now Nepenthe itself is.
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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
Have you ever seen an old cartoon where a fight breaks out and the brawlers turn into a cloud of punches that flips tables and breaks everything it touches? Bloodroots, a breakneck action-puzzle game from Quebec developer Paper Cult, lives inside that cloud. A short, speedy tale of mayhem and revenge, Bloodroots dares you stab, bludgeon, squash, and otherwise murder dozens of thugs with the ruthless efficiency of the Wild West’s greatest outlaw and the zany gusto of Bugs Bunny trolling Yosemite Sam. Whether you do this for the sake of its well-written story and/or the thrill of a score chase, Bloodroots can be stylish, graceful (once you know what you’re doing), and surprisingly easy to pick up despite demanding a tremendous attention to detail. In its pre-release state, however, its most elating moments are easily and frequently disrupted by technical issues, keeping you from really hitting your stride as often as you should.
Bloodroots puts you on the warpath with the Wild West outlaw Mr. Wolf, who’s out for revenge against his gang, the Blood Beasts. The Beasts, who all wear animal skins and go by Reservoir Dogs-style code names like Mr. Boar and Mrs. Crow, betray and nearly kill him after murdering an entire town in the name of their new leader, Mr. Black Wolf. From the moment he recovers from his attempted assassination, Mr. Wolf has one goal: to kill his former gang and anyone who gets between them.
The story, though simple and predictable, is made compelling through strong dialogue that forges complex characters. Though Mr. Wolf rarely speaks, you learn a lot about him; his story and the history of the gang are told in carefully constructed interactive flashbacks and through his encounters with the Beasts. You don’t spend too much story time with any one character–this is an action game and the gameplay comes first–but in tracking down each former partner, you come to understand and savor your time with them. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in Bloodroots is a bad guy, but you come to see that every character has their own perspective on how the gang rose and fell. In hearing about Mr. Wolf’s past from the Beasts, in their own unique voices, you not only understand the situation better, but come to understand that there’s more in their lives than a single act of vengeance. That isn’t to say you won’t have reservations about your mission–they’re bad guys through and through–but you understand why they made their choices, which makes your hunt more satisfying.
That hunt is really more like a series of wild bloodbaths. Each of the Bloodthirsty Beasts has their own gang now, with camps and forts full of henchmen. These henchmen are easily dispatched: Often a single blow with a weapon or even a punch will do, but there are a lot of them and Mr. Wolf is just as fragile, so you need to work fast and keep moving, otherwise they’ll take you down. Each challenge in Bloodroots boils down to an improvisational whirlwind of violence. You run around each arena, grabbing whatever you weapons you can find that will give you an edge over the opposition, and clear it out as fast as you can.
While there’s nuance to the story, Bloodroots is, at its heart, a challenge meant to be mastered. You build up a score multiplier for killing enemies in rapid succession, pushing you to prioritize speed and efficiency. Each level–which strings together a set of challenge rooms–ends with speed and high-score leaderboards, encouraging you to retry levels in the hopes of improving even further.
Whether you make a precise plan or simply go with the flow, the key to navigating each arena revolves around finding a path from one weapon to another. Most weapons break after anywhere from one to three kills, so you are constantly swapping out one for another, and finding a path from the most effective weapon to the next is just as important as finding a quick path between kills.
Luckily, every level is littered with killing tools. Nearly every benign object, from a fence post to a giant fish, can be a weapon. You can jump on rolling objects like wagons and barrels, both conventional and red explosive, to bulldoze your enemies until you crash. There are conventional, Wild West-style weapons like hatchets, knives, and pistols scattered about–plus unconventional weapons like golden spears, flamethrowers, land mines, snowballs, and cannons that shoot you up in the air so you can fall back to earth and clear out an area like a human mortar shell. The feeling of flying, bouncing, dashing, and jumping from one weapon to the next creates a wild, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants energy.
To really master Bloodroots, you need to not only recognize each weapon on sight, but have an intimate understanding of what they do. Every weapon works a little differently; the axe is simply a quick strike, while the cavalry sword is actually a short dash attack. Some weapons also give you traversal options: Long weapons like ladders and fishing rods, for example, let you pole vault to a higher area by pressing jump. There’s a fair amount of overlap, especially among “families” of weapons–swords, axes, etc.–but each one moves a little differently, lasts a different number of strikes, or swings at a different speed. There are no bad choices, so moving from weapon to the next is always thrilling. Every new weapon creates a slightly different situation and a new point of view, and the constant changes make each moment feel like you’re teetering on the edge of control… in a good way.
Though killing quickly is key, there’s a fair amount of platforming involved as well. Many of the levels are multi-layered, with gaps to hop and pits for you to fall into. Since many weapons also give you extra movement options, choosing the right weapon for the next few seconds may have as much to do with reaching an enemy as it does killing them. To be efficient, you need to grab and use a series of weapons in an order that lets you make progress without hoarding or backtracking. At the same time, there’s very rarely a time when you’ll be limited to a single tool, so it’s always easy to try a new approach. There are also occasionally literal rewards–useful weapons hiding in out of the way places. Playing around with different paths through each space can be just as fun as going for a high score or fast time.
The levels also benefit from a camera that’s primed to maximize the impact of your killing choreography. The majority of the challenge areas are shown from an isometric perspective, with the camera panning in or out in spots to show you more or less of your surroundings. Sometimes that means getting up close so a specific path fills the screen; other times the camera moves out to show the wider scope of an area, which may help you see the chaos you create more completely. From time to time, you get something a little more playful–one early room shifts to a top-down perspective as an homage to Bloodroots’ design ancestor, Hotline Miami. The camera always seems to shift with intention and helps you get the most out of the chaos you create.
You’d think it would be very difficult to get a handle on dozens of different weapons and how they work, but moving from one to next starts to feel like second nature very quickly. It helps that every level in the game from start to finish introduces new weapons, often one or two at a time, so you’re learning at a steady, digestible pace. And as you learn their quirks, paths through the levels start to form in your mind. When everything starts clicking, planning and improvisation almost feel like the same thing.
Every new weapon creates a slightly different situation and a new point of view, and the constant changes make each moment feel like you’re teetering on the edge of control… in a good way.
Of course, you’ll only get to that point after dying many, many times. Bloodroots is very difficult. It’s one touch and you’re dead, so a single mistake will kill a run more often than not. Luckily, Bloodroots is saved by the fact that it resets almost instantaneously. It is almost too easy to die and immediately throw yourself into the fray again.
While it is easy to just keep playing, death can often be very frustrating in Bloodroots. Whether because of input lag or technical issues, it sometimes feels as if you’re moving faster than the game can. There were many instances when I pressed a button to grab a weapon only to discover that I didn’t pick it up and didn’t have the attack and/or movement I expected to. And with long-range weapons like guns and bows, you have to rely on an inconsistent directional auto-targeting system.
There are also times when Bloodroots’ penchant for cinematography can actively put you at a disadvantage. At times, the camera will pan out too far, making it hard to see where a jump will land. From time to time, the camera will shift to a horizontal view that appears to be a 2D plane but isn’t, which can cause you to take a poor angle when approaching an enemy and miss an attack. This game demands precision, so it can be very frustrating when the camera and level design add extra hurdles.
And yet, like so many challenging score chases, Bloodroots is still incredibly satisfying when you’re eventually successful. At its highest heights, you’ll find your way around, bouncing from weapon to weapon, kill to kill, to string together a perfect run. Better yet, there are so many ways to approach each area that, no matter how well you do, you can always do it better, faster, crazier. Even when playing Bloodroots is painful–like throw your controller so hard it bounces off the ground, hits you in the head, then breaks your TV painful–there’s always a wildly fun run within reach.
