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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.

Even before Microsoft has properly unveiled Halo Infinite with any gameplay footage or firm details, the company’s merchandising partners have revealed new Halo Infinite action figures that contain some clues about the Xbox and PC game.

First off, the new figures from Wicked Cool Toys show new armor for Master Chief that appear to more closely line up with Bungie’s original armor designs. That is to say, these designs more closely resemble Master Chief’s armor in Halo 1-3 before Microsoft shifted things up for Halo 4 and Halo 5 when development on the franchise moved from Bungie to 343 Industries.

This is to be expected, as Microsoft has said Halo Infinite new art style is meant to hearken back to the original Halo game. Halo Infinite returns to the franchise’s roots, and is “bigger and bolder” than any previous Halo title, according to Microsoft.

The images also reveal that there will be new figures for Halo Infinite’s villains. Intriguingly, these have been left as “TBD,” so there is no word yet on who these villains might be. All of this suggests that Master Chief will be fighting new villains in Halo Infinite, which is of course to be expected given each entry in the Halo series has introduced new types of enemies.

The new villain designs are reportedly not final yet, as the images show that the villains are “pending licensor approval.” All of these images emerged out of the New York Toy Fair this weekend.

In addition to the new figures, Wicked Cool Toys has created a new Energy Sword that lights up and looks very rad. Check it out below.

Separately, Mega Bloks announced new Mega Construx sets for the Warthog, Pelican, and Mongoose.

Halo Infinite releases this holiday as a launch title for Xbox Series X. The game will also play on the standard Xbox One, as well as PC. More details on the game will be announced during the Xbox E3 2020 briefing, if not sooner.

Here at IGN we occasionally like to showcase something from geekdom’s rich history — a pop-culture Time Capsule, if you will, that gives us a peek in to the past, perhaps providing a new appreciation for previous projects.

If you’d like, check out last week’s Time Capsule, featuring a video documenting George Lucas’ first day writing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

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Let’s slingshot around the nearest star and travel back in time to investigate a mysterious ’90s anomaly known as UPN — a partially Viacom-owned TV network that lasted roughly a decade before Viacom split in two (like Captain Kirk in “The Enemy Within”) and then merged its UPN half with competitor The WB to create — ta da! — The CW in 2006.

UPN happened to be both the home of Star Trek: Voyager, which was the show used to launch the network in 1995, and WWE’s second primetime series, SmackDown — aka “The Rock’s Show” — which debuted in 1999. By 2000, the two worlds mightily merged as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson guest-starred on a Voyager episode called “Tsunkatse,” where the future biggest, and most beloved, box office star in the world would play a Pendari fighter who goes one on o.n.e. with Jeri Ryan’s former Borg drone Seven of Nine.

Yup, “It doesn’t matter what your name is!” was both a credo for The Rock and The Borg.

For those asking, the Pendari came from the planet Pendari, in the system of Pendari. They’re the Star Trek equivalent of the band Living in a Box having a single called “Living in a Box” off their album Living in a Box.

Anyhow, the following video is a fun behind-the-scenes look at The Rock’s action-packed cameo, featuring some lovely words from EP Rick Berman, visual effects supervisor Dan Curry, and — of course — “The Great One” himself.

Berman notes that they hadn’t seen Rock do any acting “other than playing The Rock” so it’s painfully obvious they never saw Johnson portray his own father, Rocky Johnson, on That ’70s Show or some jabroni named Brody (ja-brody?) on The Net, which was a TV series adapted from the Sandra Bullock movie about the wild and dangerous world of cyberspace. You know, the information superhighway? Earth backslash angelfire dot geocities?

Naturally, The Rock’s fight with Seven of Nine ends with a Rock Bottom, which was his wrestling finisher at the time. Sure, he’s the highest-paid actor in the world right now, and one of the most respected celebrities of all time, but the real way you know Dwayne Johnson’s made it big is that he, a former wrestler, no longer has to do his signature mat moves in action movies. That’s how you really know a wrestler’s broken through.

Also… get a load of how much Rocky puts over Jeri Ryan! That’s some serious shine right there. “She’s probably one of the toughest, if not, dare I say, the toughest The Rock has ever faced.”

She truly is the People’s Borg.

Ryan actually returned to the Trek universe recently, reprising her Seven of Nine role on Star Trek: Picard. You can read our review of her episode, “Stardust Rag City,” here, where we give it the highest score of the series to date.

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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.