Author: Trafficblast

Warning: Full spoilers for The Walking Dead’s Season 10 midseason premiere follow. To refresh your memory of where we left off, check out our review of TWD Season 10, episode 8.

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The Walking Dead kicked off Season 10’s remaining eight episodes with a dark, cramped crawl through some creepy caverns overrun with both walkers and Whisperers.

Oh, and with Negan and Alpha doing the (actual) dirty out in the woods. Yikes! But more on that later…

When we last left our heroes, in the midseason finale cliffhanger, things didn’t seem all that dire. Trapping Carol, Daryl, and the rest in a savage scenario against a herd of walkers didn’t exactly feel cliffhanger-worthy since we’ve seen our survivors escape dozens of similar scenes over the years. In fact, the show itself made a montage out of rapid-fire zombie assaults on Alexandria earlier in the season as if it wasn’t a situation worth spending a lot of time with because everyone could handle themselves.

Regardless, “Squeeze” made the most of these spelunky surroundings, crafting a full episode’s worth of danger out of it and, maybe most importantly, creating a crucible where it felt like someone could die. Granted, taking stock of all the characters and whether or not they were narratively “ready” to go, Jerry was the one most likely to get torn to bits. But he didn’t. This is where the episode kind of broke even because it would have sucked for Jerry to die since he’s one of the few favorites left – but also, without a grand demise, the entire adventure felt a bit toothless in the end.

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Sure, the cave collapsed, leaving Connie and Magda’s fates unknown, but since we didn’t see them die… they’re obviously still around. Because that’s the show.

Can Daryl Forgive Carol?

Daryl probably won’t be able to forgive Carol until he finds Connie still alive. Worst-case scenario here, if the show still wants to play things viciously, Daryl finds her alive, but right as she’s dying. Or comes to the rescue just moments too late. We don’t know what actress Lauren Ridloff’s Marvel’s Eternals role means yet for her role in the series.

Story-wise though, and knowing how Daryl obsessed over Rick’s “death,” and spent months and months looking for him in the woods, Daryl has to find these two. He can’t revert back to Season 9 Daryl.

The dramatic heart here, in “Squeeze,” was Carol finally realizing how destructive and careless she’s been after getting stuck in a place where she felt utterly useless because of her claustrophobia. She had to come to terms with her obsession for revenge against Alpha and recognize how it blinded her to this rather obvious trap. Man, if Jerry had died because of this, she’d never come back. That’s probably the main reason he survived – even though it certainly looked like the undead had chewed up his foot.

To be fair though, this was a super dark episode. Not thematically, just light-wise. Watching it through a press screener made things even harder to make out, given how much action happened in the shadows. I certainly got the gist of most of what was going on, with the actual squeezing moments, through the very narrow crawl spaces, being the most intense parts.

And the Carol/Daryl stuff remains, truly, the only big relationship on the show that still works to holds everything together. After that, you’ve got Rosita and Eugene (maybe?), and Negan and Judith. Everything else is kind of empty. So “Squeeze” was wise to focus on this, along with Daryl’s burgeoning feelings for Connie.

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Alpha, Negan, and Uncomfortable Silences

The Whisperer side of the story was pretty strange – and not just because of Alpha’s big romantic gesture out in the woods with Negan, where she menacingly stripped down to her zombie skin and boots in order to woo him, or in the very least shut him up.

No, it was the part where Negan snitched on Gamma and Alpha realized that she had a spy in her midst. Negan giving Gamma up made sense, but overall it felt odd for Gamma to have been brought in as a character this season, quickly promoted through the ranks (to the dismay and jealousy of Beta), and then for us to see her unceremoniously come undone. Alpha sending Beta after her, with no mention of his past warnings or Alpha’s previous stubbornness, seemed a bit off.

And then, yes, there was Alpha and Negan’s tryst in the woods. Presented, without commentary, to those who might be looking for an even more uncomfortable Negan scene than his “nut tapping” conversation with that young boy back in “What It Always Is” (which is even more disturbing when you consider it was probably the kid’s last conversation on Earth). With Alpha and Negan’s glorious coupling comes all of our fears and anxieties about post-apocalyptic smells. After a while, after this many years into the series, we can assume everyone’s now nose-blind to the lack of proper daily hygiene. But it just takes one moment, like disrobing in the woods (which is itself a nasty place to get nasty), to remind us that everyone stinks to high heaven. Especially the Whisperers. Especially those masks.

This is the Whisperers’ downfall right here. Whether you’ve read the comics or not, it’s plain to see that Alpha trusting Negan, or even developing slivers of feelings for him, is his ticket into controlling, or destroying, them all.

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Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Supergirl: Season 5, Episode 13! For other recent developments with the series, check out our full review of Crisis on Infinite Earths and our review of Supergirl’s midseason premiere. 

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By now Arrowverse fans know what to expect whenever one of these shows reaches its 100th episode. Like Arrow’s “Invasion!” and The Flash’s “What’s Past Is Prologue” before it, Supergirl marks this important milestone by bending the laws of time and space and allowing Kara Danvers to revisit some of the most pivotal moments from her costumed career. This may be the third time we’ve seen this formula in the Arrowverse, but “It’s a Super Life” proves just how much water there is in this particular well.

One big thing working in Supergirl’s favor is that the “time travel clip show” conceit fits a lot more organically into the show’s ongoing narrative than it did with Arrow or The Flash. Arrow’s 100th episode is great, mind you, but it had to juggle the warring needs of celebrating a milestone and acting as part of the Invasion crossover. Meanwhile, The Flash’s 100th episode suffered from the same flaw as nearly every other Season 5 installment – the ill-conceived Cicada storyline poisoned everything it touched.

By comparison, Supergirl has no crossover to worry about, nor is it experiencing the same Season 5 woes as The Flash. Plus, it certainly doesn’t hurt having fifth dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk as a plot catalyst. That gives the writers carte blanche to do basically whatever they want.

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The real key to this episode’s success, though, is the fact that it hinges on the absolute best Season 5 plot point – the collapse of Kara and Lena’s friendship. The series spent years building up that friendship, only to have a vindictive Lex tear it all down with his dying breaths and turn Lena against her best friend. What would Kara do to take it all back? How much will she sacrifice to get a second chance at being honest with Lena?

Those questions form the emotional core of this episode. Again, because Supergirl spent so much time and effort cementing that friendship, it’s easy to sympathize with Kara’s desire to restore what was lost, even as she threatens to throw the entire Arrowverse timeline off-balance. Though there’s little hope of anything actually changing by the end, we want to see Kara succeed all the same. Kara experiences a very full and cohesive arc over the course of this episode, realizing that everything had to happen the way that it did, and at some point she has to simply allow Lena to choose her own fate. All of this further highlights the idea that Season 5 will culminate in the all-important question – will Lena ultimately do what’s right, or will her inner Luthor win out?

Along the way, we’re treated to several alternate takes on what might have happened if Kara had attempted to reveal her secret sooner, with Lena’s reactions ranging from anger to confusion to complete indifference depending on the circumstances. More than just an interesting look at what might have been, these scenes allow Katie McGrath to explore different sides of her character and refocus on her humanity in a season that’s pushed her into darker and darker territory. The story cleverly uses the show’s long and complex history top its advantage, showing how each identity reveal would have ultimately resulted in disaster for Kara and her friends. Maybe the script strains credulity by having a untied Kara/Lena alliance cause a domino effect that ends with Ben Lockwood murdering the show’s entire supporting, but there’s also the question of how much of this was exaggerated by Mxyzptlk for Kara’s benefit.

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Speaking of Mxyzptlk, Thomas Lennon makes a strong impression as he takes over a role previously played by Peter Gadiot way back in Season 2. Whatever motivated that casting change, Lennon really suits this more laid back, less antagonistic version of Mxy. Lennon brings the right mixture of charm, sadness and whimsy to the role, painting Mxy as a being motivated by equal parts boredom, regret and genuine fascination with three-dimensional existence. This episode plays like an homage to all those Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes built around the rivalry between Captain Picard and Q. And while I’d hate to see Supergirl recycle the Kara/Mxy pairing as often as TNG did with Picard and Q, it would be nice to see Lennon pop by and reprise the role once in a while.

It should also be mentioned that this episode makes strong use of several returning cast members. We get to see Jeremy Jordan’s Winn’s and Chris Wood’s Mon-El back in action, along with old villains like Odette Annable’s Reign and Sam Witwer as the aforementioned Ben Lockwood. These guest roles fit neatly into the flashback premise and help make the 100th episode milestone feel that much more special. Even if you’ve fallen behind on the series of late, it’s worth popping in just to celebrate with these old friends.

Ruiner, a top-down cyberpunk action game that debuted on PC, PS4, and Xbox One back in 2017, is coming to Switch. The news, announced by the game’s official Twitter account, will please the game’s fans who have evidently been asking for a Switch port.

Cheekily, the binary in the tweet translates to “soon”.

Ruiner is a top-down action game with a focus on shooting, set in the year 2091. You play as a cybernetically enhanced killer who is seeking their kidnapped brother, and the game has been celebrated for its beautiful brutality and huge arsenal of futuristic weapons. You can also ditch the laser rifles, ultrasonic guns, and lightning canons in favor of a katana or pipe, if the mood hits.

Ruiner received an 8/10 in our original review, and reviewer David Rayfield praised the game’s story and gameplay. “Through the endless bodies that fall by your hand, the grim layers of the story peel away to divulge a few surprises about the meaning of life, death and revenge. It is a revealing journey that’s well worth taking but it is apparent from the opening scene to the mysterious finale, the only thing that is pure and absolute in the world of Ruiner is murder.”

Rainbow Six Siege, which launched in December 2015, has been supported with new DLC operators and maps ever since, allowing the game to grow over time. Now, an industry analyst has pegged the game as an amazing example of the benefits of long-term success as it hits a new major milestone.

Benji-Sales, who analyzes trends within the industry, has discovered and announced that Rainbow Six: Siege recently had its best day ever for concurrent players on Steam, with 180,000 players logging into the game at the same time. That figure does not account for players on Uplay or consoles, which means that the actual figure of online players would have been much higher.

Steam itself puts the exact peak number at 180,463, which is the fifth highest peak concurrent count listed for the last 24 hours, as of this post. It’s behind Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (896,092), Dota 2 (647,060), PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (584,139), and Grand Theft Auto V (228,023).

Over time, including free play weekends, the game has attracted 50 million players. Ubisoft recently talked about how adding respawn mechanics might have grown the game further, but also would have made it worse; it seems that their current strategy is working well, though.

The game shows no signs of slowing down, either. Ubisoft is about to introduce its first major overhaul of a character, with Tachanka ditching his turret for a grenade launcher. The game will also be available on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 at console launch, with cross-generation play confirmed.

Another Rainbow Six game, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, is also in the works. A release date has not been set, but it’s coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

The developer of League of Legends has responded to the latest development in the ongoing lawsuit where the company is accused of gender discrimination and having a “bro culture.”

Recently, the group of former female employees of Riot Games hired a new legal team in an attempt to seek more damages. The new counsel withdrew the proposed settlement of $10 million, saying it was the result of “alleged mistakes and improprieties by prior class counsel.”

The new legal team is seeking a bigger payout for the group of former employees, following the announcement from California labor groups, including the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), that said they should be paid $390 million more, bringing the total to $400 million.

Riot has now responded to this latest development, saying in a statement that the original settlement of $10 million is “fair and adequate” given the circumstances. The company says it wants to do right by the group of former employees, but it takes issue with DFEH’s numbers.

Riot said DFEH’s numbers have “no basis in fact or reason,” and that the company plans to defend itself from “false narratives and unfair claims.” You can read Riot’s full statement below.

Genie Harrison, a women’s rights attorney representing the group of former Riot employees, said in a statement that she and her team will be working to ensure the plaintiffs receive fair compensation.

“These brave women spoke out against gender inequality and sexism, and I want to make sure they are fairly compensated,” Harrison said. “Our well-qualified statisticians are already analyzing pay data. We intend to recover the compensation due to the women of Riot Games and achieve institutional reform, in order to level the playing field for women.”

A 2018 Kotaku expose contained dramatic accusations about the “bro culture” within Riot. Among the details was that managers were said to have had lists where they ranked women by attractiveness. “The ‘bro culture’ there is so real,” a source told Kotaku. “It’s agonizingly real. It’s like working at a giant fraternity.”

Riot is owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent. The free-to-play MOBA reportedly brings in billions of dollars in revenue every year.

Riot Games Statement:

“Throughout this process we’ve focused on reaching a resolution that’s fair to everyone involved, while continuing to demonstrate our commitment to the transformative journey we’ve been on for the past 18 months.We understand that the plaintiffs’ new counsel needs adequate time to review the proposed settlement agreement and we respect that.

“That said, the analysis and discussions which led to the earlier proposed settlement were comprehensive and thorough, and we believe that the proposal was fair and adequate under the circumstances. We’re committed to working collaboratively to reach a resolution that reflects our commitment to move forward together, but it needs to be one that is justified by the underlying facts.

“It has been our position from the beginning to do the right thing by the plaintiffs as well as Riot, and we will continue to do just that. With respect to the numbers posited by the DFEH, we’ll say again that there is no basis in fact or reason that would justify that level of exposure and we believe that any assertions to the contrary can simply not be made in good faith.

“While we have acknowledged that there is work that we needed to do to better live up to our values, we have also made clear to our employees that we will defend ourselves against false narratives and unfair claims that do nothing to remedy any hardships of actual class members.”

It was a neck and neck race this weekend at the box office between Sonic the Hedgehog and Call of the Wild, starring Harrison Ford and man’s best CGI friend.

In the end, Sonic edged out Call of the Wild, pulling in an estimated $26.3 million, which brings the video game adaptation to a grand total of $107 million domestically, per Variety.

Call of the Wild, which is based on Jack London’s famous novel from 1903, brought in an estimated $24.8 million, which is more than analysts predicted but still small compared to the film’s giant $135 million budget. Our own review of Call of the Wild said the the movie was all bark and no bite due to an “over-reliance on CGI.”

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Sonic vs. Wild wasn’t the only close contest this weekend. Horror flick Brahms: The Boy II fizzled with critics and movie-goers, nabbing $5.9 million for the weekend – which was just barely enough to overtakeBad Boys for Life’s fourth place spot. A spinoff/sequel to 2016’s The Boy, the film stars Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson, and Owain Yeoman.

North American Box Office Estimates

Birds of Prey was third this weekend, with $7 million, finishing the weekend with an estimated $72 million total domestic take to date. The rest of the Top 10 contained Oscar winners 1917 and Parasite, which continue to do well in the wake of the Academy Awards, as well as holiday juggernaut Jumanji: The Next Level, which has now a whopping $311 million domestic haul.

TruTV’s Impractical Jokers: The Movie, in limited release, landed in 11th place, with $2.3 million.

Here are the Top 10 North American box office estimates for the (2-day) weekend (via Box Office Mojo)

• 1. Sonic the Hedgehog $26,300,000
• 2. Call of the Wild $24,820,000
• 3. Birds of Prey $7,005,000
• 4. Brahms: The Boy II $5,900,000
• 5. Bad Boys for Life $5,860,000
• 6. 1917 $4,400,000
• 7. Fantasy Island $4,185,000
• 8. Parasite $3,121,000
• 9. Jumanji: The Next Level $3,000,000
• 10 The Photograph $2,800,000

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.