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trash-panda-kitty:

The White House just launched a “Media Offenders” list.

On the official WhiteHouse.gov website.

Not a campaign page.

Not an RNC graphic.

The government’s actual website.

They’re listing reporters by name.

They’re accusing news outlets of “offenses.”

They’re stamping “EXPOSED” over every independent newsroom.

They built a leaderboard for “repeat offenders.”

Like journalism is some sort of crime and sport.

This is not “messaging.”

This is not “spin.”

This is state-run media targeting,

and we have never seen anything like it in the United States.

Ever.

They’re calling Mark Kelly’s PSA “follow the law” sedition.

They’re calling journalists who report it criminals.

They’re building narrative infrastructure for repressing dissent

All while a former TV host is being accused of unlawful killings.

You don’t put reporters on a government enemies list unless you’re planning to do something with the list.

This is authoritarian architecture.

And they just published it out in the open.

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homunculus-argument:

I’m not a “will help, no questions asked” kind of friend. Because I will ask questions. I’m just not gonna question your answers. Like yeah if we’re friends I can help you get rid of a body, no problem, but I still want to know who it was and what happened. Not because I don’t trust that you’d kill someone who didn’t need killing or would help someone you shouldn’t be helping - we wouldn’t be friends in the first place if I didn’t know you well enough to trust your judgement. I’m just curious as hell and I want to know things.

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taraljc:

cabaretclown:

great-art-and-a-purple-tongue:

sunderwight:

Mulan AU where she does get caught by the other fresh recruits while she’s bathing but Mushu helps her spin it like the lake is cursed by an evil lizard demon and will turn men into women if they stay in it for too long.

From there it’s not actually difficult to get the other soldiers onboard with covering up the fact that poor Ping took one for the team and got afflicted by the vagina curse, especially since it would have been all of them if they hadn’t gotten the warning ahead of time. So they agree to help him cover it up, because obviously the army’s not going to understand.

Shang is… tentatively glad that the men are bonding and getting along, even if they continue to be deeply weird about it.

Ling: Hey man, what’s up— you’ve got boobs?!?!

Mulan: Uh, what boobs? Huh? Where did these come from?

Mushu: *facepalms and thinks quickly* (speaks from the shadows) I AM THE SPIRIT OF THE LAKE! BEWARE MY CURSED WATERS FOR THEY WILL TURN MEN INTO WOMEN!

Ling, Yao, and Chien Po: Oh no! The spirit of the cursed waters!

I love tumblr’s dedication to solving problems in the funniest way possible.

bonus points for the Ranma ½ crossover

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shenzuul:

exigencelost:

gretchensinister:

Consider this (based on a conversation I had with some friends a while ago): Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for people who actually like Pride and Prejudice.

Look–I tried to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I got about 20 pages in before I came to the conclusion that the person who wrote it did so out of the belief that the original Pride and Prejudice was stuffy and boring. There were out of character vulgar puns. And the trailer for the movie did not convince me that I had missed anything by cutting short my reading experience.

So, what I’m talking about here is this premise: the world of Pride and Prejudice, but if you die, it’s highly likely, almost certain that your corpse will get up and try to eat people.

But no one dies in Pride and Prejudice, you might say. In fact, few or no people die in any Jane Austen novel.

This is true. But people do get sick with some regularity. Imagine the tension added to Jane getting sick after going to visit Bingley if there was the chance that she would become a zombie after she died. Becoming a zombie in an eligible bachelor’s house probably would have seriously wrecked any chances of any of the living sisters ending up with him.

Imagine Mr. Collins, as a minister, having the duty upon someone’s death of severing their head with a ceremonial plate or something that would prevent the corpse from rising. Obviously important, but this only makes him more self-important and obnoxious.

And dangerous.

For you see, in this version, Mr. Bennett, who stays in his office all the time, whose life is the only thing allowing Mrs. Bennett and her daughters to stay in the house–Mr. Bennett is definitely a zombie. He died at home, and Mrs. Bennett decided that, no way were they dealing with this, and so…just started faking it. Jane and Elizabeth know. The younger sisters don’t.

In this universe, I think we have to go with zombies that are not any faster or stronger than the humans they were, and in fact tend to get weaker as time passes because their flesh is rotting. And…hmm, okay, how about they are pretty violent upon rising, and for about a week afterward, trying to bite people and spread the infection (even though most people are carriers anyway, but getting a nasty bite from a corpse will give you other stuff that will have you die while carrying the virus). But then they calm down and basically just start sort of attempting to act like they did in life, that is, taking habitual actions with no consciousness, in a depressing and desiccated way.

So Mr. Bennett is a zombie, and Mrs. Bennett’s number one goal is to get her daughters married before anyone finds that out. And this, actually, makes Elizabeth’s refusal of Mr. Collins more frustrating for Mrs. Bennett–obviously Mr. Bennett didn’t tell Elizabeth that she could refuse Mr. Collins, because Mr. Bennett is dead, but Mrs. Bennett can’t say anything or the game would be up.

Another question in this version–does Mr. Darcy find out about Mr. Bennett being a zombie somehow? Does Elizabeth find out that he knows and didn’t say anything and this is something that helps repair his earlier actions?

Anyway, this is the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that I was looking for.

Okay also: in the original, when Elizabeth walks through the rain all the way to bingley’s to care for Jane while she’s sick, it’s a very dramatic expression of both Elizabeth’s love for her sister and her penchant for flamboyant rebellion, but consider, if there is a chance Jane will wake up a zombie and Elizabeth knows it, how does that change the dynamic? Elizabeth might be going to help take care of Jane, or to *take care* of Jane should things take a more morbid turn…by killing her zombie sister.

This works especially well if zombieism is communicable prior to death; if mr. Bennett is a zombie and only the elder Bennetts know, that means Jane has been pre-exposed and is almost certain to wake up as a zombie should she die in the Bingleys’ care— which the Bingleys do not know. Elizabeth has to forge through the rain to be there in case things get ugly, because she knows that the Bingleys aren’t prepared.

And I think you pretty much HAVE to make Mr. Bennett’s zombie status play a role in how and why Darcy separates Bingley from Jane—the heavy implication behind Darcy’s line about the want of propriety shown even by her father hits Elizabeth like a ton of bricks as she realizes he knows—he knows, and he thought Jane lying to Bingley about it was evidence that Jane didn’t love Bingley—but—but Darcy must not have told Bingley that part of it. Bingley couldn’t keep a secret on his life; if he knew, his sister would know, and word would already be out and they’d have been ruined by now—

And of course, not only does the fact that Darcy, who owes their family nothing, has kept and continues to keep this secret for them even after Elizabeth’s refusal deepen the gratitude she begins to feel for him after the letter of explanation, but it also liberates Elizabeth to fall in love with him. Because Elizabeth-who-wants-to-marry-for-love would never be happy marrying someone who didn’t know the family secret in advance. She had resigned herself to spinsterhood because she couldn’t be satisfied with having to hoodwink someone to have their hand, but also couldn’t put her family at risk by trusting someone who wasn’t bound to them by more than an engagement. (Maybe she was even tempted to confide in Wickham at one point, and hasn’t Darcy’s letter proven she was absolutely right not to yield to that passing thought.) But Darcy figured it out himself, and he’s kept her trust, and she could fall in love with him without guilt—if she hadn’t already turned him down.

AND THEN LYDIA HAPPENS. And Darcy realizes immediately that Mr. Bennett can’t do anything to recover her—and if Mr. Bennett doesn’t do anything about Lydia, Mr. Collins might become suspicious, or even just officously involve himself, so find out the while thing. When Darcy blames himself for not revealing Wickham’s character, it’s with a much more immediate sense of urgency. It’s not that the other sisters’ marriage prospects being ruined may impoverish them down the road—it might immediately drag them all into destitution. That’s why he rushes off to go look for Lydia himself.

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ruffboi-mags:

juju-fisher:

doorstoplord:

Hey y’all wanna see the worlds most appropriately unhinged phantom of the opera as it came up on my FYP?

Watch carefully, it’s subtle.

I literally just spent 2 minutes with my head on my desk weeping with laughter holy shit

📢📢📢

Dec. 15th, 2025 08:32 am
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ms-katonic-of-tamriel:

helenvaughans:

📢📢📢

I am reliably informed literacy will improve your chances of finding a decent job, not to mention reading rental leases carefully and being able to research your rights as a tenant, both of which will significantly reduce your chances of ending up homeless. Not to mention being able to budget. Or being able to read between the lines on ads so you’re more likely to work out you don’t really need the thing and/or it’s a scam.

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Posted by Vanessa Armstrong

News Assassin’s Creed

The Cast for the Assassin’s Creed Series Continues to Grow

The Netflix series is set to start filming in Italy next year

By

Published on December 15, 2025

Photo: Netflix, FX on Hulu

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Vanessa Armstrong</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/the-cast-for-the-assassins-creed-series-continues-to-grow/">https://reactormag.com/the-cast-for-the-assassins-creed-series-continues-to-grow/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834260">https://reactormag.com/?p=834260</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/assassins-creed/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Assassin&#39;s Creed 1"> Assassin&#8217;s Creed </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">The Cast for the <i>Assassin’s Creed</i> Series Continues to Grow</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">The Netflix series is set to start filming in Italy next year</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/vanessa-armstrong/" title="Posts by Vanessa Armstrong" class="author url fn" rel="author">Vanessa Armstrong</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on December 15, 2025 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Photo: Netflix, FX on Hulu</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-cast-for-the-assassins-creed-series-continues-to-grow/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 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0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MixCollage-15-Dec-2025-03-11-PM-756-740x416.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="The Cast of the Netflix Series Assassin&#39;s Creed" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MixCollage-15-Dec-2025-03-11-PM-756-740x416.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MixCollage-15-Dec-2025-03-11-PM-756-1100x619.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MixCollage-15-Dec-2025-03-11-PM-756-768x432.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MixCollage-15-Dec-2025-03-11-PM-756-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MixCollage-15-Dec-2025-03-11-PM-756-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Photo: Netflix, FX on Hulu</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>The <a href="https://reactormag.com/netflix-assassins-creed-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">live-action series adaptation of <em>Assassin’s Creed</em></a> continues to move forward at Netflix. We recently found out that <em><a href="https://reactormag.com/netflixs-assassins-creed-series-toby-wallace-cast/">Eden a</a></em><a href="https://reactormag.com/netflixs-assassins-creed-series-toby-wallace-cast/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ctor Toby Wallace would star on the show</a>. And even more recently, we learned that Lola Petticrew (<em>Tuesday, Say Nothing</em>) would also lead the series with Wallace.</p> <p>Today, one more name has been added to the roster. According to <em><a href="https://deadline.com/2025/12/assassins-creed-zachary-hart-netflix-live-action-series-1236647717/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deadline</a></em>, Zachary Hart has joined as a series regular. Hart’s previous credits include one-episode stints on shows like <em>The</em> <em>Witcher: Blood Origin, Masters of the Air, </em>and <em>Slow Horses</em>. The roles he and his co-leads are playing, however, remain unknown. One thing we do know is that the show will start shooting in Italy next year, and that Italy will serve as the setting for the show, although the exact time period(s) we’ll see are uncertain.</p> <p>The Ubisoft video game franchise has some convoluted lore, but the crux of it is that there are two factions who have battled each other for centuries over whether humanity should have free will. Part of that battle involves finding and wielding “pieces of Eden,” which are remnants of technology from a technologically advanced species that lived on Earth before humans. It also involves running over a lot of rooftops and certain people (the Assassins) using technology to “travel” back in time to relive the lives of their ancestors and find the aforementioned pieces of Eden (just go with it). </p> <p>No news yet on when the show will make its way to Netflix, and hopefully we’ll get some glimmers on the plot and/or who these actors are playing before then as well. [end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-cast-for-the-assassins-creed-series-continues-to-grow/">The Cast for the &lt;i&gt;Assassin’s Creed&lt;/i&gt; Series Continues to Grow</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/the-cast-for-the-assassins-creed-series-continues-to-grow/">https://reactormag.com/the-cast-for-the-assassins-creed-series-continues-to-grow/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834260">https://reactormag.com/?p=834260</a></p>

Beneath the hat

Dec. 15th, 2025 08:51 pm
[syndicated profile] ao3_discworld_feed

Posted by Snowfilly1

by

What’s left when you take off the disguise.

Words: 100, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 30 of Fantasy Drabble Fills

Hogswatch 2025 winners!

Dec. 15th, 2025 08:27 pm
[syndicated profile] seanan_mcguire_feed

Posted by Seanan McGuire

Our winners have been chosen, and are…

Day one: Paul C, comment #67, has won a set of purple and teal dice!
Day two: Kaiden Price, comment #82, has won a copy of Silver and Lead.
Day three: Malcom, comment #86, has won a copy of Letters to the Pumpkin King.
Day four: Jonathan Beall, comment #61, has won a copy of Overgrowth.
Day five: Jonathan, comment #20, has won a copy of Sleep No More.
Day six: Julio Capa, comment #26, has won a copy of Backpacking Through Bedlam.
Day seven: Bonooru, comment #14, has won a copy of Laughter at the Academy.
Day eight: Erica, comment #51, has won a copy of The Proper Thing.
Day nine: L, comment #16, has won a copy of Middlegame.
Day ten: Jon, comment #29, has won a copy of The Innocent Sleep.
Day eleven: Leah, comment #45, has won a copy of Square3.
Day twelve: Jes, comment #31, has won a copy of Installment Immortality.

And finally for this year:

Day thirteen: Noneofyourbusiness, comment #9, has won a copy of What if Peter Parker and Wanda Maximoff Were Siblings?

If you’ve won, please email through the website contact form by Saturday, December 20th at noon Pacific. Please include your physical mailing address, the name you entered under, and the name of the prize you won. If you won a book, please specify whether you want it personalized or just signed. Be aware that all Subterranean Press books are already signed, and cannot be un-signed.

As always, this is your only notification. I will not be emailing people, or contacting them directly in any way. If you don’t claim your prize by December 20th, I will draw a new winner on December 21st, and you will not get anything.

All 2025 giveaway posts are now officially closed.

Congrats to all the winners, and Happy Hogswatch!

[syndicated profile] tordotcom_feed

Posted by Emmet Asher-Perrin

Movies & TV Dust Bunny

Dust Bunny Will Have You Demanding That Bryan Fuller Make More Movies

Monsters-as-metaphor is a tactic Fuller knows all too well — and he will not be playing by “the rules.”

By

Published on December 15, 2025

Credit: Lionsgate

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Emmet Asher-Perrin</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/dust-bunny-will-have-you-demanding-that-bryan-fuller-make-more-movies/">https://reactormag.com/dust-bunny-will-have-you-demanding-that-bryan-fuller-make-more-movies/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834196">https://reactormag.com/?p=834196</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/movies-tv/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Movies &amp; TV 0"> Movies &amp; TV </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/dust-bunny/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Dust Bunny 1"> Dust Bunny </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>Dust Bunny</i> Will Have You Demanding That Bryan Fuller Make More Movies</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Monsters-as-metaphor is a tactic Fuller knows all too well — and he will not be playing by “the rules.”</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/emmet-asher-perrin/" title="Posts by Emmet Asher-Perrin" class="author url fn" rel="author">Emmet Asher-Perrin</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on December 15, 2025 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Lionsgate</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/dust-bunny-will-have-you-demanding-that-bryan-fuller-make-more-movies/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 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16.3417 10.7893C17.2337 12.856 17.6794 15.0643 17.6787 17.4143H14.6787ZM8.67871 17.4143C8.67871 15.1976 7.89971 13.31 6.34171 11.7513C4.78371 10.1926 2.89605 9.41364 0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="423" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/dust-bunny-review-header-740x423.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Mads Mikkelsen and Sophie Sloan in Dust Bunny" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/dust-bunny-review-header-740x423.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/dust-bunny-review-header-1100x629.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/dust-bunny-review-header-768x439.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/dust-bunny-review-header.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Lionsgate</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>If you were already a fan of Bryan Fuller—of Star Trek, <em>Dead Like Me</em>, <em>Pushing Daisies</em>, <em>Wonderfalls</em>, <em>Hannibal</em>, and the one good season of <em>American Gods</em> fame—then hearing that he finally made a movie was bound to be exciting, right? How could we not be collectively revved for Fuller’s debut into a new medium?</p> <p>Is it mostly exciting because movies can’t get cancelled halfway through your viewing? Naturally. (But that was hurtful to say, and I apologize.)</p> <p><em>Dust Bunny</em> is the story of a little girl named Aurora (Sophie Sloan) whose parents are killed by the monster under her bed—a dust bunny made bloodily manifest. As she knows her building neighbor, Resident 5B (Mads Mikkelsen), is a hitman who can kill monsters, she hires him to destroy it. The trouble is, 5B is having hitman problems of the real-life murder kind, and he’s certain that Aurora’s parents were just good old-fashioned killed with guns in an attempt to get him. This gets further complicated when he eventually learns a few things about Aurora’s past that suggest something else might be amiss.</p> <p>The central mystery of <em>Dust Bunny</em> on its face would seem to be: Is the monster real or a metaphor for one little girl’s trauma? And because it’s Bryan Fuller, that question will not be answered the way you expect.</p> <p>But this setup alone communicates far less than the film achieves. It’s impossible to have watched <em>Pushing Daisies</em> without assuming that this film is set in the same universe; the city we see here is similarly vibrant, all neon and ornate decor and painted wallpaper. The apartments are full of oddities, the human beings move in strangely choreographed synchronization, the music cues are carefully and immaculately selected. The murder and darkness are framed by overt absurdity and humor, and food looks like little plates of artwork. These are all factors that will be familiar to devotees of Fuller’s work, but the tone is what puts <em>Pushing Daisies</em> in mind. Ned and Chuck are likely just a few hundred miles away, selling gorgeous pies and solving <em>other</em> murders.</p> <p>The effect of Fuller’s world-making led to something that was so psychically relieving, I have to give it an aside all its own: Because this world is undeniably separate from ours, Aurora’s bedroom contains no <em>branded</em> material at all. There’s no product placement, no IP markers, no pointed little nods to things kids today are obsessing over. This obviously makes the movie wonderfully timeless in a post-Americana sort of way, but it also forces us to reckon with a creative landscape that rarely allows us any kind of break from being sold to. There’s nothing in this film to distract us from the story itself. Every in it that you see, you are meant to see because it’s part of the <em>story</em>, not some disgusting attempt at brand synergy.</p> <p>It also forces us to reckon with how this same landscape has created a different kind of viewing experience, where audiences are rewarded for going over the background of every shot in a film to find a character’s touchstones, to form a picture of their personality via the minutiae of their environment and what the viewer can identify, rather than zeroing in on the actor’s performance. There are so many wonderful toys in Aurora’s room and home, but they are serving the overall design choices of the film as a whole, as support for the work that Sophie Sloan is doing in the role. The same goes for Mikkelsen’s portrayal, aided by a wardrobe full of colorful and flowered track suits and a lamp made from a chicken that nearly steals the movie every time it appears.</p> <p>I’ll admit to being aggravated at the number of people trying to sell audiences on this film by fitting it into a category they think the viewer already enjoys. There’s a lot of buzz going around about how it feels like an older movie, or that it’s a dark fairy tale for those who like that sort of thing, and sure, you can make all those arguments. I will bring up all the movies about scary murder humans who take care of little children down below because it is a genre that&#8217;s close to my own heart, so yes, I’m a bit of a hypocrite here. But that’s not what makes this movie stunning to behold, what makes it feel precious in an era of sprawling multiverses and “easter eggs” that are nothing but endless deep cuts.</p> <p>What you think when you watch anything made by Bryan Fuller is “I would like to be <em>there</em> right now, thank you.” In a fight for my life, in fear of a monster, eating food that used to be something (or someone) living, it doesn’t matter—I would like to occupy this place. A place full of sacred geometries and coordinated colors and environmental framing. A place where lightbulbs <em>buzz</em> because Fuller knows they do. It is important to note that the first twenty-ish minutes of the film have practically no dialogue whatsoever as we follow Aurora around her little world… and none is needed. We’re getting everything we require by watching and interacting through her vantage point, and a child’s world is so often internal in nature.</p> <p>All of Fuller’s action sequences look like dances, the actors leaping or going deadweight according to what is most visually dynamic in the moment. People get dragged out of frame like marionettes with their strings cut. There is <em>tenderness</em> in how characters attempt to choke each other unconscious, the acknowledgment that acting on another’s body with ill intent is still a deeply personal act. Violence is not about brute force or dominance within the confines of this story, but rather another form of human contact, with all the messiness and confusion that entails.</p> <p>The supporting cast is absolutely stunning on all fronts. Obviously, everyone will be excited to see Sigourney Weaver (and I should add that there’s a face she makes early on in the film that is so jarring, you have a brief moment of wondering if it’s CGI before you realize that she’s perfectly capable of being that unnerving on her own) in the role of Laverne, whose relationship with Mikkelsen is enjoyably bizarre until it’s suddenly not. The performances from David Dastmalchian, Shiela Atim, and Rebecca Henderson are equally captivating, and I hope to see all of them in more Fuller projects going forward.</p> <p>But the core of the film is all about 5B’s unintentional parentage of Aurora, and what this murderer-for-hire will do about the little girl with no parents who keeps telling him the monster under her bed is real. Their dynamic will bring a number of similar films to mind—<em>Leon: The Professional</em>, <em>Gloria,</em> <em>Aliens</em>, <em>The Fall</em>, the Lone Wolf and Cub films, the list is truly endless if you love scary adults who protect kids—but Fuller captures something truly special with these two. It’s not simply about unlikely fatherhood, but about the bonds that help people heal, and how often they come from the most ridiculous places.</p> <p>Try to seek this one out in theaters, if you can. If not, find it on streaming when it hits—older kids will likely be okay to watch provided they’re good with monsters and some stylistic violence. (The R-rating makes no sense on this one, and they received it for a truly goofy reason.) But more to the point, please let Bryan Fuller make more movies. And finish his TV shows. And make more TV shows. Just, stop sleeping on these beautiful realities that have such chicken butt lamps in them.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/dust-bunny-will-have-you-demanding-that-bryan-fuller-make-more-movies/">&lt;i&gt;Dust Bunny&lt;/i&gt; Will Have You Demanding That Bryan Fuller Make More Movies</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/dust-bunny-will-have-you-demanding-that-bryan-fuller-make-more-movies/">https://reactormag.com/dust-bunny-will-have-you-demanding-that-bryan-fuller-make-more-movies/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834196">https://reactormag.com/?p=834196</a></p>
[syndicated profile] seanan_mcguire_feed

Posted by Seanan McGuire

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.

Only one episode left after this. Like most of us, my only real recurring complaint about Magic Story is that there isn’t enough of it: I could happily have done twice as many episodes, but at that point what we have is a short novel, and that’s another beast altogether. Hopefully Omens of Chaos will perform well enough for short novels to become a possibility. We shall see. Anyway…

The time is come for me to dissect Lorwyn Eclipsed for your amusement.  Because this is time-consuming, I only know people are enjoying it if they comment, and that means I really am holding future DVD extras hostage against comments. Sorry about that.

Welcome to the “DVD extras” for the sixth main story installment for Lorwyn Eclipsed, “Full of Hateful Fantasies.”  This story is copyright Wizards of the Coast, although it was written by me, and can be found in its entirety here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/lorwyn-eclipsed-episode-6-full-of-hateful-fantasies

It feels important to call out that this is not the complete story; this is an unauthorized Pop-Up Video version. Go to the link above for the full story, please. Give them some clicks.  Convince them that you love me and I should get to keep writing things.  Seriously, though, please click the link, even if the story isn’t relevant to you.  Click-throughs are how Wizards knows that Story matters.

So what is this?  This is little excerpts of the story, with my thoughts on them, because, IDK, I thought it was funny.  I’ve also tried to include context for people new to Magic Story, to help you understand what the hell is going on.  If people continue to like it, I will probably continue.  If you don’t care about Magic Story, skip on over, although I’d still like it if you clicked.

And here we go!

As always, from this point on, plain text is bits from the story, italic text is my commentary on the same.

Inevitable as the dawn,

I think the thing I will miss the most about leaving Lorwyn is all the time-based metaphorical language. Just like I still miss the architectural language from Duskmourn. I am always, always, ready to go home…

“See how they stand?” asked Ashling, voice low and aimed toward Tam. “On the lee side of the night, fear of the unusual serves them well. They move as one, because they treat the outside world as a single enemy. Kithkin are always community-oriented but never so well-united by day.”

I really appreciated getting the chance to articulate how the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor aspects of the Kithkin actively serve the same base goals.

Tam swallowed, eyes flicking to the line of torches coming ever closer. “Is this really the right time to lecture me about night and day?” she asked.

A fair question.

“Any time the world provides a clear example is the right time to point it out,” said Ashling. “The night falls, the kithkin unite. The day dawns, the elves believe only they can see clearly in the sunlight. Our changes reveal other parts of who we are, but those parts are merely different, not greater or lesser.”

Preachy? Yeah, a little. In-character for Ashling, and a way to introduce coherent philosophy to Tam, who clearly needs it? Also yeah. I like it when things serve multiple purposes.

Isilu stalked closer, the trailing tangle of its wings dragging on the ground and cutting a furrow in the soil, which filled at once with glowing moonflowers and sparkling starlight buttons in a rainbow array of colors. The faerie left off circling the beast’s head to flit down and fly a wide loop around Maralen’s. She laughed, a tight, half-choked sound, and held her hands out toward the tiny figure. Not even the approaching danger could dim her joy in the moment.

“Brother!” she cried. “You came home!”

Maralen is so incredibly happy to see her brother. Amusingly, this story dropped on the same day that Girl Genius, a long-running comic by two early Magic the Gathering artists, Phil and Kaja Foglio, finally reunited its own long-separated twins. It’s a family day, I guess.

Ashling blazed even brighter as Isilu raised his head and looked back at the advancing legion of elves, then began circling the small group formed by the kithkin, Maralen, and her allies. Fog rose up from the flower-filled furrows its tail was leaving in its wake, curling in the air, and he snarled, attention on the elves. Sanar squeaked, moving to stand behind Tam.

Isilu has chosen sides.

“It’s protecting us,” said Tam, awed and confused. “It wants to keep us safe. But we’re not from here. It shouldn’t care about us.”

Tam is not intentionally misgendering Isilu, whose pronouns have not been given by anyone speaking to her: the night elemental is a beast, and Magic traditionally gives beasts it/its pronouns.

“Night is flawed,” said Ashling, picking up a spear dropped by one of the circling kithkin. “So is day. Both can care for things outside their normal boundaries.”

Ashling is very chill after everything she went through in the original block. Walking can be a form of therapy, and she just never stops.

Maralen, meanwhile, seemed to have almost forgotten about the danger they were all in; she had eyes only for the little gold-flecked green faerie. “Brother!” she called. “Come down! Come back to me!”

She wants family so badly.

Sanar frowned. “How can your brother be the size of my hand?”

A valid question.

“My brother was made to be a shapeshifter like Oona herself. The blue faerie that accompanied us was his Lorwyn self, and unfamiliar to me. Now we stand within Shadowmoor, and I can see the truth of him through his skin. I know him. He must know me. I just don’t understand why he’s staying so far away.”

Maralen got to be an elf all the time instead of a shapeshifter. Maralen got lightly screwed.

“Maybe this isn’t the time?” said Sanar, voice tight. “They’re coming.”

Sanar is pro-family, but also pro-not being caught by the angry elves with sharp sticks. I appreciate you, Sanar.

“Sunlight elementals,” she said. “Chained and captive and carried into night. They’re meant to be free, not kept as trinkets to defend against the dark. This is … It’s indecent. How dare they?”

By carrying captive sunlight elementals, the elves of Lorwyn can cross into Shadowmoor without transforming. They’re already perfect. Why would they want to give that up for, ugh, Shadowmoor? Jerks.

“Have you ever known the elves of Lorwyn to be guided by the needs of anyone else?” asked Maralen. “Oona cast me as one of their number for a reason. Maralen of the Mornsong was as selfish and shortsighted as the rest of them. She would have been a perfect mask for her maker.”

Maralen is still Maralen–she kept the name for a reason, and has a lot of the personality. She’s just also more than Maralen, and has learned how to grow beyond what she was when she was made.

“Too bad for Oona that you learned to be your own person.”

And thus we summarize the whole original Lorwyn block into a sentence.

“That happens with goblin babies, too,” said Sanar. “I mean, we don’t normally turn into elves or anything, but we get bigger as we age.”

Thank you, Sanar.

“Can we argue about this later?” she asked. “Try not to get stabbed.”

Tam squeaked.

Ashling is the only one really focused on the part where they’re all about to die. Her life is a trial sometimes.

The elves seemed to draw back for a long moment like a held breath, their spears and swords bristling. Then, with a peal of silvered bells, they surged forward and joined the battle.

ASSHOLE AVENGERS…ATTACK!

The elves struck as individuals, and the kithkin moved as one.

This is why going up against the kithkin is never a good idea, night or day. Their loose hivemind lets them coordinate too well.

Those who carried bows pulled back their bowstrings, drawing them tight, and loosed arrows on the arms and shoulders of the elves who carried the captive-sunlight reliquaries. Not every missile struck home, but enough did, causing their targets to flinch, recoil, and drop what they were holding. The falling reliquaries didn’t ignite the grass around them: Instead, the captive figures in their flames uncurled and sprang into the air, laughing. They bowed to Isilu in obvious deference, then shot off toward the demarcation between day and night, returning themselves to the sunlit lands.

When your ability to retain your sense of self is externalized, your enemies know what they can shoot for. The kithkin are showing good tactical sense releasing the sunlight elementals, and while Shadowmoor elves aren’t their friends or anything, every Lorwyn elf who switches over is an enemy removed from the field without the need to clean up a corpse later.

The elves who had been separated from their reliquaries gasped and changed, flesh and bone melting smoothly into their Shadowmoor selves. They straightened, horns grown longer and covered in tiny thorns, looking in horror at the battle around them. Some turned to flee, only to find their former allies turning against them.

The Shadowmoor elves did not agree to do any of this bullshit, and they would like to remove themselves from the narrative now, k thx bye.

The faerie that Maralen claimed was her brother flew abruptly down and yanked her hair, hard enough that she yelped and tried to pull her head away. The motion caused her to turn enough to see the small detachment of elves that had circled around the field and now approached them from behind. She shrieked a warning as the faerie darted away again, releasing her hair.

It’s the “I am in the right putting hands on you without permission if I’m doing it to push you out of the way of a bus, or remove a bee from your person” theory of pulling your sister’s hair.

One of the elves drew back his bowstring, arrow already notched and ready to fly. Before he could release, a fist-sized rock smacked into his temple, and the arrow flew skyward, hitting no one. The other elves turned, eyes narrowed as they searched for the source of the stone. What they found was Sanar, standing in front of Maralen and Tam, hands balled into fists by his sides, shoulders hunched, breathing hard as he glared at them.

Sanar is good at throwing rocks.

“Back off,” he snarled. “I don’t understand what’s going on here, or why it’s happening, and maybe you’re the good guys, but you’re pointing arrows at me and at my friends and so I don’t really care who the good guys are, because we’re not the bad guys. Leave us alone. We’re not a part of all this. We just want to go home.”

Thank you, sweetie.

He picked up another rock, slinging it hard at the elf next to the one with the bow. His aim was remarkably good. This rock slammed into the elf’s wrist, causing her hand to spasm open. The reliquary she’d been holding fell to the ground.

Sanar would do great at a sport that involved a lot of throwing things. Sadly, he isn’t really looking at a career in Mage Tower any time soon, but he’s got an uncanny eye for hitting his targets.

Sanar kept throwing rocks while Ashling flung balls of blue-rimed flame, hands smoking with the heat of her assault. Tam whipped around, eyes flashing yellow as she stunned an archer.

Look, Sanar, you have something in common with the pretty fire lady! And Tam reminds us all that she’s a gorgon, even if she mostly prefers to use her probability manipulation.

Tam shrieked and fell silent. Sanar slung two more stones, throwing them with all the force he had to spare, before glancing over his shoulder to find her crumpled and unmoving on the ground, an arrow protruding from her abdomen. Even her tendrilled hair was motionless, hanging limp around her head. He wailed and ran for her, tripping over a fallen elf in the process. He grabbed the elf’s sword, swinging it wildly as he spun back toward his fallen classmate.

They hurt Tam, and now Sanar is going to stab them all.

There was no way Maralen could have heard him coming, his footfalls swallowed by the battle. The faerie stopped circling overhead, turning to watch as Rhys approached her. The elven hunter had a wickedly curved dagger in one hand, the silvery metal gleaming a sickly green with the poison he had spread across it.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Rhys!

When he was too close for her to run, he raised his voice. “Oona,” he said. “I made your heir a promise. I made my friend a promise. This ends now. The cycle is more important than my care for Maralen.”

In Rhys’s eyes, Maralen is already gone. He’s keeping his final promise to her and freeing her from the burden of being trapped inside Oona as her mother-maker destroys their world.

It wasn’t until he was close enough to strike that she spoke, whispering, “Rhys, please. It isn’t what you think.”

In his ears, this is just another lie from the woman who told so many lies she built a world on them.

He didn’t cut deeply—just a narrow slice across her arm—but that was enough. She sighed, a sound like all the winds of the world running out, and sagged as the wound bled petals in place of blood, her knees going weak and dropping her to the bloodied ground. Rhys stepped back as she fell, blinking rapidly, like a veil had been removed from his eyes.

Maralen isn’t an elf, for all that she looks like one, and the substance of her body is petals and dreams more than flesh and blood. She’s not going to bleed normally.

“You didn’t fight,” he whispered. “You didn’t fight, or try to control me, or promise me riches beyond counting. You didn’t—you weren’t—”

Yeah, she tried to tell you, bud.

“Oona is dead. Maralen was my sister,” snarled the faerie that had hovered above, dropping out of the air fast and hard and landing between Rhys and the fallen Maralen. He changed as he descended, growing larger, taller than any elf of Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, taller than the still-flickering Ashling. His wings vanished as he landed, leaving him grounded and glaring at Rhys, fury coming off him in waves.

And now our missing prince makes his appearance. Buddy, if you’d dropped in when she was calling you to do so, you might have prevented this. You might have stopped it.

His height would have made him imposing even without his broad shoulders and sharp features. His ears were pointed, and at first he seemed to be an elf, though the horns atop his head were in fact some sort of twisted antler-crown. Perhaps most striking of all, his forearms were the blue of a frozen winter lake, as was the top half of his face.

Yeah, we know this guy.

“Do you know me?” he demanded, and his voice was judgment.

Okay, that’s terrifying.

“Maralen has no brother,” said Rhys coolly, falling into a defensive stance. He was clearly ready to fight and die if that was what came next.

“Except she does, and I know him,” said Sanar.

Sanar to the rescue.

Both men turned. Sanar was crouching next to Tam, one arm suddenly bare. He had ripped the sleeve off his jumpsuit and packed it around her wound, careful not to jostle the arrow too much. He hadn’t removed it. Keeping it in place meant it could serve as a cork, keeping most of her blood safely trapped inside her body. The kithkin and elves were still fighting around him, but he seemed to have shut them out in his rush to save his friend. Only the small pile of rocks in front of him betrayed how worried he still was.

Sanar is ready to keep fighting for Tam, but he knows that right now she needs medical care substantially more.

“How?” asked the man.

“I don’t know your name, I mean, but I know who you are, because nothing else makes any sense,” said Sanar. “You’re Maralen’s brother, the one who left before she was Maralen. The one the bad queen made and threw away. Now can we stop talking and do something? Tam’s hurt, real bad. I’m not in Witherbloom. I don’t know how to fix her …”

Witherbloom is the green/black college of essence arts at Strixhaven. They heal and harm in roughly equal measure. We don’t have a Witherbloom representative in this group.

The man smiled a thin, terrible smile, attention returning to Rhys. “Yes, I am that wretched wanderer of the night.

Shakespeare reference woo!

“Um, Tam—” began Sanar.

“Quiet, student,” snapped the returned prince, eyes still on Rhys. “I, who had never known my sister, saw through her masks and realized she was not Oona returned. You, who claimed to be her friend, couldn’t see half as much. You creatures of Lorwyn are so prone to being blinded by the light.”

Oh he is pissed.

“Tam is dying,” said Sanar loudly.

Sanar is also pissed.

“My sister—my family—dies more swiftly.” This time the word “family” was gentler, more puzzled. “If I talk to ease her passing, I will be forgiven. Your friend has venom in her veins and hours yet before her own aurora comes. He,” and he gestured sharply to Rhys, “needs to listen. He owes me this. He owes us both.”

Oko is monologing to comfort Maralen, at least a little, as she dies.

“So save Maralen!”

“I can’t,” said the prince wearily. “His knife was coated in moonglow. The deadliest poison known to the daylight paths of Lorwyn. He’s sealed her fate.”

The opposite of the dawnglove that Kirol was sent to collect by the Lorwyn elves. Everything in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor has an opposite.

“We were both mistaken,” said the prince. “I thought she was Oona, so I taunted and tormented her, and when that didn’t work, I brought outsiders to sow chaos. And you know what she did? She ran. She fled for her world’s sake, for the cycle’s sake, and she proved herself to have never been our mother at all.”

Okay, so that’s why he went and got the students. Nice job breaking it, asshole.

As he did, the light of his sunlight-fueled reliquary fell across the prince, who rippled and changed once more, cold blue face and hands turning the bright blue of a summer sky. His face grew more pointed and his lips thinner, the weight of old sorrows falling across his shoulders.

Ordinary Oko.

When he spoke, his voice was higher in timbre and richer in cruelty. “You have no part in this anymore,” he informed the elf and reached out to take the reliquary with one hand while he flicked the fingers of the other. The elf was gone. The elk that stood in his place looked bewildered—or as bewildered as a prey animal can look—then turned and ran away, hooves churning at the night-soaked ground.

Ordinary Oko is more of a dick than Shadowmoor Oko, although neither of them is particularly nice.

“There’s not much difference between an elf of this land and an elk,” said the black-haired man who was not a prince at all, turning his attention back to Rhys.

Oko is prince of nothing, only Oko, entire in himself. He’s also not wrong.

On the ground, Maralen was still breathing, but only shallowly; the rootlike, bruise-purple marks of moonglow snaked out from her injury, marking the path of the poison through her veins. Sanar shrieked something unintelligible and chucked another rock at an encroaching elf, who responded by backing up and firing an arrow at him.

Sanar is still throwing rocks.

Abruptly, the Lorwyn-draped prince of Shadowmoor was there, standing between the goblin and the elves. “No,” he said sharply, voice less forgiving than it had been when he wore the night on his sleeve. The remaining elves of this detachment were gone, replaced by puzzled rabbits who twitched their ears and shook their heads before they turned and ran off into the meadows.

Oko can do more than just elk. See? He can do rabbits, too.

The man tossed the reliquary aside as he reached out to rest a hand against Isilu’s flank, sighing in evident relief as the darkness flowed over him. He was Shadowmoor’s prince, not Lorwyn’s exile, when he turned back toward Rhys. “Night and day are two halves of the same whole, as my sister and I are meant to be,” he said. “She serves Lorwyn, and I serve Shadowmoor. By raising arms against the day, you raise them against the night.”

Oko really is happier being Shadowmoor than Lorwyn, which explains part of why he’s usually so pissy.

Maralen and Tam continued to die.

A passive but essential action.

Then a loud roar split the night, echoing off the hills and trees alike. All of them who were capable of movement turned toward the sound, even Sanar and the night elemental. As they watched, a large white figure vaulted over the line of elves, a smaller, darker figure cradled close to it, and ran toward them across the field.

Ajani Goldmane has joined your party.

The vampire sat up as the leonin stopped running, a wide grin splitting their face and showing the tips of their pointed cuspid teeth. “Sanar!” they cried. “Oh, I never expected to be this glad to see you.”

Trauma bonding!

“Kirol?” Sanar stood. “Is that you?”

I mean, when your missing classmate comes back being toted by the biggest piece of felinoid beefcake you’ve ever seen, there may be some questions.

“It’s me,” said Kirol. “This is Ajani. He’s a friend of Professor Vess’s.” They patted the white leonin on the arm, not seeming to notice his wince at being called Professor Vess’s friend. “You can put me down now,” they added.

Ajani has been upgraded to Liliana’s “friend.” Oh, he is not thrilled by this news.

Ajani nodded and lowered them to their feet. Kirol stretched, then hurried over to Sanar, seeming to notice the fallen Tam for the first time.

“Seeming” is probably a wasted word here. They haven’t been around to see her.

“Tam?” they asked. “Sanar, what happened? And where’s Abigale?”

Oh, yeah, we had another student at one point, didn’t we?

“She-she fell in the river,” said Sanar. “She’s gone. And an elf shot Tam with an arrow. I remembered enough from my first aid classes not to take it out, but she needs medical care or she’s not going to be all right. Kirol, I’m afraid she might … I think she’s going to …” He stopped then, ear-tips quivering with the fear he was trying so hard to contain. Below him, Tam muttered incoherently. Kirol thought she might be counting. Were those—prime numbers?

Self-soothing with prime numbers. Tam is so relatable!

“Shadowmoor’s prince?” asked Ajani. He looked toward Rhys and the prince. Ajani squinted at him. “I don’t know you, but you look familiar.”

Ajani knows Oko by Lorwyn, and isn’t quite certain this is the same dude.

“The young vampire mentioned a ‘Professor Vess’?” said the prince. “Would that be Liliana, by any chance?”

“Yes,” said Ajani, sounding surprised. “How do you …?”

Not making things any better here, Oko.

“Moonglove,” said Kirol, voice going speculative. “Is that like dawnglove?”

“Yes,” said Rhys with surprise. “Moonglove grows only in Lorwyn. It makes the deadliest poison known. Dawnglove grows only in Shadowmoor. It can be used as a poison, but it has curative properties as well and can be used to mend what’s been broken. The elves of Shadowmoor guard it jealously. How do you know of it?”

I mean, fair confusion, since this kid clearly just got here.

“I was abducted by a hunter Lluwen who took me to see someone named Morcant who went by the title of ‘high perfect,’ despite being a massive jerk. They took me to pick dawnglove for them so they could use it to make a poison that would kill the big guy here.” They gestured toward Isilu, who snorted and pawed at the ground in evident disgust. “It’s supposed to destroy night stuff. Shadowmoor stuff, I guess? But during Introduction to Magibotanical Environments back at school, they taught that most magical poisons have equal and opposite counters that can be used to neutralize their effects. Non-magical poisons don’t always work that way, but I saw the dawnglove, and let me tell you, that plant is magical.”

Thank you, Kirol.

Oko’s head whipped around, eyes narrowing as he focused on Rhys. “Is the vampire right?” he asked.

Oko would really like to have not orchestrated the death of his sister if he can possibly fix the situation.

“My name is Kirol, and yes, I’m right,” said Kirol.

Kirol has pretty good self-esteem.

“In a grove the elves led me to,” they said. “I picked it and gave it to Perfect Morcant before Ajani got me out of there. I’m assuming she’s behind this fight. She’ll want to use it as cover for her attack on the night elemental.”

Kirol is not the Perfect’s biggest fan.

Ajani watched him go, then moved to kneel next to Tam, pressing a hand above the wound in her abdomen. His fingers glowed white as he eased the arrow out of her flesh, and the injury began to knit up under his touch.

Ajani is a healer, white-aligned, with none of the complexity of a Witherbloom mage. He’s also a planeswalker, which is a level of power that means he doesn’t need a lot of tools to do his thing.

Kirol caught Sanar’s eye and gestured for him to come closer. Sanar staggered to his feet and crept closer.

“What?” he asked, voice low.

“We need to find that dawnglove, or the lady’s going to die, and I think we’ll be in real trouble if that happens.”

Kirol is ready for a heist.

Sanar gave them a flat look. “What, we’re not in trouble now?”

Sanar is a realist.

“We’re in so much trouble. But if Maralen and Tam live, we might get out of it. Ajani’s got Tam; we need to help Maralen. Come on.” Kirol moved closer to Isilu. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

I wrote that line, and even I can’t believe they just said that.

It was no true surprise when they got there to find Perfect Morcant, sword in one hand and gleaming purple-gold vial in the other. The liquid inside glimmered like starlight wine, and Kirol hissed sharply through their teeth.

I wanna know more about this starlight wine stuff now.

“The dawnglow,” they said. “We have to get it away from her.”

“Okay,” Sanar said and threw a rock.

Sanar has a primary answer to many problems, and it is “rock.” If “rock” doesn’t work, go to “explosion.”

“Little runaway,” she snarled. “Found an eyeblight to do your fighting for you? I’ll have you both to feed my garden, and this beast will die before the morning comes.” She slashed at Kirol, who flinched away—only to freeze as a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped the swing. Morcant turned to blink at her assailant.

“Eyeblight” is Lorwyn-elf for “anything we don’t want to look at, anything we find unattractive or unwanted.” They consider Shadowmoor elves to be eyeblights. So she’s insulting Sanar, but not in a special kind of way, just general bigotry.

Lluwen, brow now crowned with thorn-peppered horns and asserting his Shadowmoor self, slammed his forehead into hers, hard enough that Kirol and Sanar heard bone crack. Morcant staggered back as far as she could while Lluwen held her wrist. He leaned over to pluck the vial from her hand.

Lulu is here! And while he doesn’t get full continuity of memory, he’s clearly held on to at least enough of himself to know that Kirol = friend and Morcant = not friend.

“Catch,” he said and threw the vial to Sanar.

Sanar is also good at catching. Really, he’s the whole package.

Still not releasing Morcant, Lluwen leaned down and snatched something from her belt. She gasped, clearly disoriented, and tried to grab what he’d taken back. Lluwen released her, holding up what looked like a gourd attached to a leather cord.

Morcant didn’t have a chained elemental, but a more powerful artifact to keep her moored to Lorwyn.

As he ran to Kirol and Sanar, his horns returned to their daylight form, while Morcant’s twisted and grew thorns. She dropped her sword, looking horrified, and turned to bow to Isilu, beginning to murmur apologies.

And now Lulu is in Lorwyn, and Morcant is having the night she deserves.

“I have no idea what just happened,” said Sanar.

“We’ll discuss it later,” Kirol said and grabbed Lluwen’s free hand in their own. “Come on, Lulu.”

Kirol actually followed that, and is happy to explain when they’re in a better position for staying alive.

“Where are we going? Wait, what did you just call me?” asked Lluwen.

Oh, Lulu, you just got a nickname, and it’s gonna stick like glue.

Kirol grinned, almost manic. “We’re going to see the queen,” they said and ran back the way they had come, pulling Lluwen along, Sanar following the pair of them, all moving deeper into the night.

And with that, we exit Lorwyn Eclipsed episode six and head toward the misty shores of episode seven, with which we will end our story. I’m not ready to let it go!

[syndicated profile] tordotcom_feed

Posted by Leah Schnelbach

Movies & TV It: Welcome to Derry

IT: Welcome to Derry’s Season Finale Is Chaotic, But Mostly Satisfying

Plus there’s an appearance by a Very Special Ghost.

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Published on December 15, 2025

Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Leah Schnelbach</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-it-welcome-to-derry-episode-eight-season-finale/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-it-welcome-to-derry-episode-eight-season-finale/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834042">https://reactormag.com/?p=834042</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/movies-tv/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Movies &amp; TV 0"> Movies &amp; TV </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/it-welcome-to-derry/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag It: Welcome to Derry 1"> It: Welcome to Derry </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><em>IT: Welcome to Derry</em>’s Season Finale Is Chaotic, But Mostly Satisfying</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Plus there&#8217;s an appearance by a Very Special Ghost.</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/leah-schnelbach/" title="Posts by Leah Schnelbach" class="author url fn" rel="author">Leah Schnelbach</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on December 15, 2025 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption 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https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-4-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-4-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-4-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-4.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>This week’s season finale of <em>IT: Welcome to Derry</em>, “Winter Fire”, was written by Jason Fuchs and directed once again by Andy Muschietti. The episode manages to wrap a lot of the plot points up into a surprisingly satisfying ending, given how much story they had to get through. </p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>As Brief a Recap as a King Adaptation Will Allow</strong></h3> <p>A sinister grey fog rolls over Derry. Townsfolk, all the ones who were so calm yesterday after the white supremacist hate crime, are thrown into a frenzy, running into shops, slamming doors—even though they’re not sure what these clouds are. The leaves on the trees shrivel and the grass turns brown, but there are no monsters hiding in the fog.</p> <p>But that’s because the monster is already at the school.</p> <p>A totally normal sounding announcer tells the kids that classes are cancelled for the day, that upperclassmen are dismissed, but underclassmen should report to the auditorium for an assembly.</p> <p>Once all the kids are milling about a teacher walks stiffly out and tells them there’s going to be a special performance. The teach transforms into the principal, and then there’s Pennywise, ripping his head off and punting it out the door, throwing the man’s blood-spurting body at the students, and locking them all in as he does his crazed dance and Deadlights them.</p> <p>As the clouds become thicker, Pennywise trundles away in his circus wagon, almost all the children of Derry floating in a hypnotized line behind him. He’s playing a tuba, and whacking a pedal drum that has a severed hand chained to it.</p> <p>I love this fuckin&#8217; clown, man.</p> <p>Margie, Lilly, and Ronnie are up on the Tower when they see the cloud. When they come down, they find “Missing” posters for every kid in town, and understandably freak out—but then they find a poster for Will.</p> <p>Then, they find the principal’s decapitated corpse at the otherwise-empty school</p> <p>“I wanna kill that fuckin&#8217; clown,” Margie says.</p> <p>The kids spot a milk truck, and Margie, who has really blossomed in the last few days of horror, <em>decides she can drive it</em>. And she does! For a while. The kids give chase until a nefarious pothole throws them off the road and Lilly drops the dagger. Lilly then <em>Gollums the fuck out</em> over the dagger, they realize it’s driving her mad, and after some screaming and wrestling they agree to pass it between them so no one loses their mind.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the adults are having their own problems.</p> <p>Pennywise calls the Major and puts “Will” on the phone. Leroy isn’t afraid, but he is furious, promising “I’ll rip your fucking heart out!” as the line goes dead.</p> <p>I think Pennywise may have taunted the wrong adult.</p> <p>Leroy goes straight to Dick Hallorann’s quarters. Dick is not doing well. The ghosts are everywhere, they won’t stop whispering to him. As Leroy pounds on the door, Dick puts his gun in his mouth. Leroy breaks the door in just in time, and looks around wildly as Dick screams “Shut up! Shut up!” at the ghosts surrounding him. Dick points the gun at Leroy, and says “You got my mind all fucked up,” but he pauses when Leroy breaks down. “Please, please, it’s got Will. I’m begging you to help me find him. I’ll do everything in my power to help you, but help me find my baby.”</p> <p>Dick, slowly, puts the gun down.</p> <p>Unfortunately the General and his underlings gets the report that the two men have escaped pretty quickly. Who the hell was supposed to be keeping Hanlon on base, anyway? Wasn’t that a direct order from the General?</p> <p>We cut to Charlotte at Rose’s, pounding on Leroy’s chest and slapping his face as she learns what’s happened. He promises they’ll get him back, but Rose, initially, thinks it’s a lost cause. Leroy says that Dick can find them, and Rose throws a plan together: if Dick can mentally link with the dagger, as he did before, he can lead them to the children. They just have to do it before IT manages to walk through the bounds of ITs old cage. And then maybe, <em>maybe</em>, the dagger can replace the destroyed pillar and act as a new lock.</p> <p>They give Dick a tea made with maturin root, and faced with the possibility of shutting the ghosts up, he drinks it in one gulp. It works almost instantly, to the extent that he doesn’t hear whatever Rose is trying to warn him about because time stretches and she becomes unintelligible.</p> <p>They throw Dick in Taniel’s van, and everyone piles in to find the kids. They strategize as they go, following Dick’s directions, and asking if he could try to get into Pennywise’s mind again.</p> <p>The kids, meanwhile, have found Pennywise and his wagon, rolling up the now-frozen river, headed right out of his unlocked mystical cage. They try to wake Will up from his Deadlighted sleep, until Pennywise comes down from the circus wagon.</p> <p>“You’ve decided to join the circus! The fool, the freak, the failure. But… who’s who? It doesn’t matter, there a spot for you all!”</p> <p>Ronnie wields the dagger and Pennywise backs off, but darts around them cackling and shrieking. He grabs Margie and drags her away from the others.</p> <p>And here’s where something that should have been obvious to me comes to light. Pennywise looms over her. “Margie Tozier! But not Tozier yet!” he screams.</p> <p>OH.</p> <p>Oh.</p> <p>He waves the future Richie Tozier’s missing poster in her face. “His friends bring me my death! Or is that death a birth???” He babbles about past present and future all being the same to him as Margie freaks out and tries to understand what he’s saying. “Beep, beep, Margie!” he howls, lunges at her, all his teeth out.</p> <p>And then he freezes.</p> <p>Stops dead, right above her.</p> <p>She scrambles away.</p> <p>The kids all fall to the ice and begin to wake up. The New Old Losers embrace Will, just in time for the adults to reach them. They load them into the van and Taniel tells the rest of the children to run to the North shore. He and the Major set out to bury the dagger in the blasted tree that marks the edge of IT’s cage.</p> <p>But then.</p> <p>General Shaw and his men appear on the shore, and both Taniel and the Major are shot. The Major holds Taniel while he bleeds out from a neck wound, and they&#8217;re surrounded, the General ordering another soldier to go get Halloran.</p> <p>The General himself? He spots Pennywise, still as death on the ice, and decides it&#8217;s a fabulous idea to walk on over there and say hello.</p> <p>We go inside ITs mind, where Pennywise is woken up inside the wagon by the other circus folk. They’re all calling him Robert Crane. “Who else might you be, Peter Rabbit?” When Pennywise tells the boss that he’s a “god” the boss smacks him and tells him he must have hit his head harder than he thought. Pennywise is very confused.</p> <p>Will has reached his dad, and the Major gives his son the dagger. When Will protests that he can’t get the dagger to the tree because he&#8217;s too scared, the Major replies, “You don’t have to be me. Just be you. I love you. I love YOU.”</p> <p>The kids wrestle the dagger to the tree as it fights with them every step of the way.</p> <p>The General is standing directly in front of Pennywise now. “All these years wondering if you were real…whatever Halloran’s done to you, we’re gonna fix it.”</p> <p>Wow. Just… wow.</p> <p>Inside ITs mind, the cracks start to show. IT is able to peel Dick’s mask off and reveal the terrified man inside, just as in the outside world, we see him being thrown onto the ice by one of the soldiers.</p> <p>Pennywise wakes up. The General tells him he’s free to go. Pennywise recognizes in the General the smell of the terrified boy at the circus, transforms into the old monster and screams “NOW YOU SEE IT!” as the General yells at him to stand down, and then Pennywise eats his head.</p> <p>As the screams drift over the ice, the adults try to convince the soldiers that maybe they have a bigger enemy. As Pennywise slow motion runs past them toward the kids, giggling, they use the distraction to launch themselves at the soldiers and wrestle their guns away.</p> <p>Major Hanlon goes after IT and shoots him, which succeeds in knocking him down at least, but then IT deadlights him. The kids can’t force the dagger into the base of the tree—it’s simply too strong for them. The adults, watching, start to break down in despair.</p> <p>Until…</p> <p>Dick sees the Necani on the ice. And she’s brought… Rich??? Rich’s ghost???</p> <p>“What do you see?” Rose asks.</p> <p>“A mutherfuckin miracle,” Dick breathes.</p> <p>The ghost runs across the ice, gleefully flicking IT off as he passes, and helps the kids shove the dagger in the rest of the way. As the dagger finally goes into the base of the tree, beams of light from all the pillars shoot up into the sky.</p> <p>IT molts through a series of forms. “Lively crowd,” IT mutters, before turning into light and shooting back down toward the sewers.</p> <p>Leroy wakes up, Rose collapses sobbing next to Taniel’s body, and sings to him, and the kids embrace each other and agree that they all felt another pair of hands helping them.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-3-1100x733.jpeg" alt="The ghost of Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya) comforts his parents (Andoni Gracia and Alex Castillo) at his funeral." class="wp-image-834176" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-3-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-3-740x493.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-3-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-3-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-3.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO</figcaption></figure> <p>We cut to Rich’s funeral. Margie gives a brief eulogy about how even though they weren’t friends for very long, some people “build houses in your heart”. She leaves a pair of drumsticks on his casket. Walking down Main Street after the funeral, she sees one of his balsa flyers in a tree—one of them made it! Lilly visits her father’s grave for the first time in a long time, and tells him that she’s made some new friends. And Dick sees Rich’s spirit standing with his parents by the graveside, plucks up his courage, and sits beside them to tell them what he sees. It seems to help.</p> <p>“Who are you, sir?” Rich’s father asks.</p> <p>“I’m still working on that,” Dick replies.</p> <p>Back at the tower later, Margie tells Lilly about what Pennywise said to her—that she’d have a son that would kill IT. She worries that if time is truly meaningless to IT, IT could go back and kill their parents so they’d never exist at all.</p> <p>Lilly meets this worry with some stellar philosophy: “It’ll be someone else’s fight, then.”</p> <p>The Hanlons are packing their house up. Charlotte and Leroy share an actual kiss, and he actually smiles after her as she goes up to get Will, and the two of them seem better than they have all season. These two crazy kids might just make it, if they steer clear of evil space clowns. Dick Hallorann slouches into the doorway, giving Leroy an only slightly sarcastic salute.</p> <p>The former Major is getting an honorable discharge as long as he keeps his mouth shut about…everything… and Dick is going to London to try out as a cook at his friend’s fancy hotel. “How much trouble can a hotel be?” he asks, and I groan, but who am I kidding, I’ve been waiting all season for a joke like that. The two men hug, and Dick asks Leroy to stay in touch let him know how Charlotte and Will are. He reluctantly admits that maybe he does care—just don’t tell anybody.</p> <p>As they pack cars over at Rose’s place, Charlotte tells Hank Grogan how to meet with Rose’s people at the border, so it seems like at least one family is getting a happy ending. Mostly.</p> <p>Rose invites Leroy and Charlotte to join the circle of people who watch over IT and protect Derry. She’s selling the farm—it’s too much without Taniel—and she thinks they’re the perfect people to take it over from her.</p> <p>But the Hanlons think maybe they need to get out of Derry while they can.</p> <p>Ronnie and Will sit on a bench a few yards away from the house. They talk about how they might forget each other when they leave, and go back and forth on whether that’s a good thing. But then Ronnie grabs Will and finally kisses him.</p> <p>That complicates things.</p> <p>Once everyone’s in the car, Charlotte suddenly raises the idea of taking Rose’s offer. “Maybe the next damn fool mission needs to be together,” she says to Leroy. As the two of them tease each other about who’ll take care of the sheep, Will leaps out of the car and immediately begins a letter to Ronnie. Maybe if he writes to her all the time she won’t forget?</p> <p>But when we see a carefree Ronnie in the car with her dad and grandmother, two lollipops in her mouth, well, it seems like forgetting might be inevitable, and young love or no, it might be for the best.</p> <p>We cut to Juniper Hill. Ingrid is straitjacketed, screaming about wolves at the two orderlies who are attending her. They drop the needle on her favorite old-time record and she calms down. We fade out and back in to the same music playing in October 1988, as a much older Ingrid paints a clown on a canvas—still in the asylum. There’s screaming down the hall, and Ingrid shuffles over to find Alvin and Beverly Marsh, sobbing on the floor at the feet of Elfrida Marsh, who has, apparently, hanged herself.</p> <p>Alvin, ever the charmer, shoves Bev away, and she locks eyes with Ingrid, who tells her not to worry. “You know what they say about Derry. No one who dies here ever<em> really</em> dies.” Ingrid’s eyes widen in glee as Bev’s widen in horror.</p> <p>As the end titles come up, the words <em>IT: Welcome to Derry—Chapter One </em>appear, which I’m guessing is their super fun way of telling us to expect another season.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Do We All Float?</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="619" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WTD-Ep-8-2-1100x619.jpeg" alt="Ronnie (Amanda Christine), Lilly (Clara Stack), and Margie (MatildaLawler) run to save the Deadlighted children in IT: Welcome To Derry&#39;s season finale." class="wp-image-834171" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WTD-Ep-8-2-1100x619.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WTD-Ep-8-2-740x416.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WTD-Ep-8-2-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WTD-Ep-8-2-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WTD-Ep-8-2.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: HBO</figcaption></figure> <p>This was kind of what I expected from the finale. There’s a lot of action and rushing so everyone can converge on a single point. Also, while Bill Skarsgård is impeccable in the role, IT has to work on your deepest, weirdest fears. Just seeing him out and about undercuts the terror.</p> <p>Having said that I still think they wrapped all the plot points up well, maneuvering everyone around to set up the rest of the story without showing the strings too often.</p> <p>The visual of the wagon rolling along through fog and ice, hypnotized children floating behind, was gorgeous. And as much as I’ve mentioned the diminishing returns of “IT runs at you really fast” I’ve never gotten sick of the Deadlights. I think the effect is so beautiful it actually captures how entrancing it would be.</p> <p>I feel ridiculous for not realizing that Richie was Margie’s future kid! But now it all makes sense.</p> <p>What I think the episode did extremely well was bring the relationship between Leroy Hanlon and Dick Hallorann to a perfect close. The scene between them is incredible—the two are in different worlds, emotionally. Dick, coiled into himself, eyes flickering constantly to take in every ghostly threat, as Leroy finally cracks open and sobs, realizing he may have sealed his child’s doom by bringing him to Derry. The two performances play off each other perfectly, and really underline the idea that these two men inhabit different worlds. Dick’s visions force him to be half in the spirit world at all times, and he simply has no real care for the world of the living. Until, finally, he does. It’s been lovely to watch him become the man we meet in <em>The Shining</em>. And Leroy finally throws off any loyalty he has to the U.S. military, and faces the fact that he needs to reprioritize everything if he wants his family to make it.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#JustKingThings</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-6-1100x733.jpeg" alt="Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) brings Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) to Rose&#39;s to try to save Will in IT: Welcome to Derry." class="wp-image-834177" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-6-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-6-740x493.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-6-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-6-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-6.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO</figcaption></figure> <p>I’ve been telling people that the show is fixing a lot of what I didn’t like in <em>IT: Chapter II</em>, and I’m pleased to say that it mostly has. By centering the story on the Grogans, the Hanlons, and Hallorann, it showed a different side of Derry. It created enough context for the hate crime at the Black Spot that it feels like part of Derry’s terrible history, influenced by the evil of IT, but largely the work of white supremacists. It also adds more nuance and depth to the fictional Shokopiwah, fixing one of Stephen King’s clumsier attempts at inclusivity. It shows us the cycle of horror, how it carries forward into the Losers Club that will form in the 1980s, but it also shows us that people have been fighting IT the entire time.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Turtles all the Way Down</strong></h3> <p>The tea Rose gives to Dick is Maturin root, presumably named for the mystical cosmic turtle who is trying to help humanity fight IT. </p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Mike Hanlon’s Photo Album</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-1-1100x733.jpeg" alt="Ronnie (Amanda Christine), Lilly (Clara Stack), and Margie (MatildaLawler) steal a milk truck to save the Deadlighted children in IT: Welcome To Derry&#39;s season finale." class="wp-image-834172" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-1-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-1-740x493.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-1-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-1-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-1.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO</figcaption></figure> <p>We learn that Margie is Richie&#8217;s future mom! Most of you probably already guessed that! Where have I been! And we see the future missing poster with Finn Wolfhard&#8217;s face.</p> <p>Later, we fully meet Bev Marsh, played by Sophia Lillis. Is she coming back for another season of this show? How will that work, given that people grow and age?</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Ridiculous Alien Spider, or Generationally Terrifying Clown?</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-7-1100x733.jpeg" alt="Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) is trapped in ITs own mind in IT: Welcome to Derry." class="wp-image-834179" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-7-1100x733.jpeg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-7-740x493.jpeg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-7-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-7-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WtD-Ep-8-7.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO</figcaption></figure> <p>As I said, the Deadlights are excellent. The concept of the kids being trapped in the auditorium with Pennywise is great. All the moments when we&#8217;re trapped in ITs mind as it gets increasingly furious about how people are treating IT is hilarious. And the transformations as it chases the children are fun.</p> <p>Where I think I wanted more was in ITs confrontation with the General. After all the horror that man caused, I wanted IT to linger over eating him, and I wanted the camera to linger with IT. </p> <p>And, again, the threat of IT is always scarier than seeing IT. Spending so much time one the ice with IT as the rest of the plot roiled around kind of undercut the fear for me.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-it-welcome-to-derry-episode-eight-season-finale/">&lt;em&gt;IT: Welcome to Derry&lt;/em&gt;’s Season Finale Is Chaotic, But Mostly Satisfying</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-it-welcome-to-derry-episode-eight-season-finale/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-it-welcome-to-derry-episode-eight-season-finale/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834042">https://reactormag.com/?p=834042</a></p>
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Posted by Molly Templeton

News Hokum

Adam Scott Is on a Terrible Irish Vacation in the Teaser Trailer for Hokum

Ding, dong, there’s a witch and she’s definitely not entirely dead

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Published on December 15, 2025

Screenshot: Neon

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Molly Templeton</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/hokum-teaser-trailer-adam-scott/">https://reactormag.com/hokum-teaser-trailer-adam-scott/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834195">https://reactormag.com/?p=834195</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/hokum/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Hokum 1"> Hokum </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Adam Scott Is on a Terrible Irish Vacation in the Teaser Trailer for <i>Hokum</i></h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Ding, dong, there&#8217;s a witch and she&#8217;s definitely not entirely dead</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/molly-templeton/" title="Posts by Molly Templeton" class="author url fn" rel="author">Molly Templeton</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on December 15, 2025 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: Neon</p> </div> <div class="quick-access 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hokum-teaser-740x493.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="A creepy person with bugged out eyes and horse ears in Hokum" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hokum-teaser-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hokum-teaser-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hokum-teaser-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hokum-teaser-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hokum-teaser.jpg 1836w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: Neon</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>It is hard to know which part of the too-short teaser for <em>Hokum</em>, the new film from writer-director Damian McCarthy, to focus on first. Adam Scott playing a reclusive novelist? Adam Scott playing a reclusive novelist who is going to Ireland to scatter his parents&#8217;—yes, parents, plural—ashes? The witch haunting his inn&#8217;s honeymoon suite, which is, you know, very suggestive, quite different from a witch haunting the kitchen or lobby? Or the promise of Scott&#8217;s character&#8217;s dark past?</p> <p>Personally I&#8217;m stuck on &#8220;Adam Scott, reclusive novelist,&#8221; but of course I am, being a fan of both writing and Adam Scott.</p> <p><em>Hokum</em> is the third feature film from <em>Oddity</em> director McCarthy. Here&#8217;s the synopsis:</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>When reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, the staff’s tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take hold of his mind. Soon, disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance draw him into a nightmarish confrontation with the darkest corners of his past.</p></blockquote></figure> <p>Along with Scott, <em>Hokum</em> stars Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Will O’Connell, and Michael Patric. But the trailer is mostly Scott, when it&#8217;s not creepy and indistinct flashes of nightmarish stuff. (If there is one thing I know about horror stories, it&#8217;s that when there is a white line on the floor—salt, paint, sugar, whatever—you do not step over it.) The slightly fuzzy audio over the whole thing is a bit reminiscent of the poem recited over <a href="https://reactormag.com/28-years-later-first-trailer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the first trailer for <em>28 Years Later</em></a>, though I am fairly sure there are no zombies here. </p> <p><em>Hokum</em> is in theaters May 1st, 2026.[end-mark]</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <site-embed id="17728"/> </div></figure> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/hokum-teaser-trailer-adam-scott/">Adam Scott Is on a Terrible Irish Vacation in the Teaser Trailer for &lt;i&gt;Hokum&lt;/i&gt;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/hokum-teaser-trailer-adam-scott/">https://reactormag.com/hokum-teaser-trailer-adam-scott/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834195">https://reactormag.com/?p=834195</a></p>
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Posted by Sarah

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “No Surrender, No Retreat”

Sheridan once again mobilizes for war…

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Published on December 15, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-no-surrender-no-retreat/">https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-no-surrender-no-retreat/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834100">https://reactormag.com/?p=834100</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/column/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Column 0"> Column </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/babylon-5-rewatch/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Babylon 5 Rewatch 1"> Babylon 5 Rewatch </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “No Surrender, No Retreat”</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Sheridan once again mobilizes for war&#8230;</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/keith-decandido/" title="Posts by Keith R.A. DeCandido" class="author url fn" rel="author">Keith R.A. DeCandido</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on December 15, 2025 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Warner Bros. Television</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-no-surrender-no-retreat/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 1.3v10.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3 1.3h-5.698l-.146.147-3.324 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-01-740x493.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) in Babylon 5 &quot;No Surrender, No Retreat&quot;" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-01-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-01-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-01-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-01.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Warner Bros. Television</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p><strong>“No Surrender, No Retreat”</strong><br>Written by J. Michael Straczynski<br>Directed by Michael Vejar<br>Season 4, Episode 15<br>Production episode 415<br>Original air date: May 26, 1997</p> <p><strong>It was the dawn of the third age…</strong> B5 is back on a war footing. The Starfuries are running drills under the direction of Corwin, while Sheridan has an early-morning meeting with the representatives of the various non-human nations on B5. Sheridan is calling in a favor in return for the patrols of their borders by the <em>White Star</em> fleet: he’s asking that they sever their ties with Earth Alliance and only respond to calls for humanitarian aid, but not to provide any military aid. He also asks for one capital ship from each of them to protect B5 itself.</p> <p>G’Kar speaks out in favor of this, pointing out that Earth promised to help Narn in exchange for the weapons that Narn sold them during the Earth-Minbari War. Yet Earth’s aid was nowhere to be found when the Centauri attacked and conquered them, nor did they help out with the Shadow War.</p> <p>Cole comes to the war room with intelligence from Proxima III, which is the first step of their campaign, to take that world back. There’s a blockade of six Omega-class destroyers in orbit, two of which—the <em>Heracles</em> and the <em>Pollux</em>—are the ones that fired on civilians. Sheridan doesn’t know the commanders of those two ships—Captain Trevor Hall and Captain Elizabeth Morgenstern, respectively—so he figures they’re new and loyal to Clark. Cole also reports that ships are trying to run the blockade despite the very low likelihood of success because that blockade is working—people on Proxima are starving to death.</p> <p>Sheridan intends to attack from multiple sides, but he also wants to know if there are any vessels that have deliberately avoided firing on civilians. Cole promises to find out. Sheridan also asks Franklin to get the telepaths they rescued from the Shadows and have in stasis ready to be moved. Ivanova and Corwin continue to do drills with the Starfuries, reminding them that all orders must be in the proper code. EarthForce has Sheridan and Ivanova’s voiceprints on file, so they can fake verbal orders.</p> <p>Vir has fallen asleep doing paperwork. He is awakened from a nightmare by the arrival of Garibaldi, who needs a favor from Mollari. Vir offhandedly mentions the “new offensive,” which surprises Garibaldi. His surprise, in turn, surprises Vir, who assumes that Garibaldi is going to join back up for the fight. When Garibaldi answers in the negative, Vir is confused. Doesn’t Garibaldi want to save his homeworld. Garibaldi says he does, but not Sheridan’s way.</p> <p>Mollari comes to G’Kar’s quarters with a proposal: he wants them to sign a joint statement in support of Sheridan’s resistance. A joint statement from their two nations that were so recently at war will likely prompt the other nations to follow suit. Mollari wishes to end the acrimony between the two of them, or at least reduce it. To that end, he offers to share a drink as they did <a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-the-coming-of-shadows/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">before Emperor Turhan’s death</a>. Mollari also offers a belated thanks for G’Kar’s help in getting rid of Emperor Cartagia, even though he knows G’Kar didn’t do it for him.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-05-1100x825.jpg" alt="Babylon 5 &quot;No Surrender, No Retreat&quot;" class="wp-image-834139" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-05-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-05-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-05-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-05-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-05.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p>G’Kar, however, has no interest in Mollari’s thanks, or sharing a drink with him, or the joint statement. Mollari leaves, disappointed.</p> <p>Sheridan has Ivanova send three <em>White Star</em>s to the sol system to make Clark think they’re scout for an invasion and so he might draw forces away from Proxima, or at least not be able to send reinforcements there. The main fleet heads to Proxima, with the <em>White Star</em> ships painted with B5’s logo.</p> <p>Three <em>White Star</em>s jump into the far side of the system. Hall, who is in charge of the fleet and who is very much a Clark loyalist, sends the <em>Pollux </em>and the <em>Nemesis</em> after them.</p> <p>Sheridan then sends in more ships on the near side, and finally the main fleet through the system’s jumpgate behind the <em>Heracles</em>. The <em>Vesta</em>, under the command of Captain Edward MacDougan—an old comrade of Sheridan’s—breaks radio silence. MacDougan tries to convince Sheridan to withdraw; Sheridan tries to convince MacDougan that the orders Clark is giving are clearly illegal. Sheridan reminds MacDougan of ethics classes he taught at the Academy.</p> <p>Hall orders the <em>Heracles</em> and the battle is joined.</p> <p>Sheridan’s orders are crystal clear: do not fire unless fired upon. Notably, the <em>Furies</em> does not respond to a flyby and the <em>Juno</em> withdraws from the battle completely, leaving the system. Hall orders MacDougan’s first officer, Commander Robert Philby, to take command and fire on the <em>White Star</em>s. Philby does so eagerly, prompting a wry comment from MacDougan about how he didn’t realize his XO wanted a promotion <em>that</em> badly. However, Philby’s time in command lasts about seven-and-a-half seconds before the rest of the crew mutinies and restores MacDougan to command. The <em>Vesta</em> then immediately stands down.</p> <p>One <em>White Star</em> and the <em>Pollux</em> are both destroyed with all hands on both ships lost. The <em>Nemesis</em> surrenders, having taken heavy damage. Hall refuses to go down without a fight—especially since he’s dead no matter what happens—but his first officer, Commander Sandra Levitt, refuses to let him take the crew down with him. She orders Hall put under arrest and she broadcasts a surrender to Sheridan.</p> <p>Sheridan requests that the four remaining ship commanders come to the <em>White Star 2</em> to discuss what happens next.</p> <p>On B5, Mollari is joined at the bar by G’Kar, who takes Mollari’s drink, gulps it down, and agrees to the joint statement—but only if they sign on different pages. Mollari agrees.</p> <p>On the <em>White Star 2</em>, Sheridan meets with MacDougan, Levitt, Captain Yoshi Kawagawa of the <em>Nemesis</em>, and Captain Stephanie Eckland of the <em>Furies</em>. Sheridan just wants to remove Clark from power and then let the people decide if their actions were justified. Levitt is no fan of Clark, but she’s no fan of open rebellion, either. MacDougan says they need to discuss it amongst themselves. They make their decisions: Levitt will make like the <em>Juno </em>and withdraw, taking the <em>Heracles</em> to Beta IX for repairs, keeping Hall under arrest, and staying out of it. Eckland will keep the <em>Furies</em> at Proxima to now defend the colony against retaliation by Clark’s forces. MacDougan and Kawagawa agree to join Sheridan’s fleet.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-02-1100x825.jpg" alt="Babylon 5 &quot;No Surrender, No Retreat&quot;" class="wp-image-834141" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-02-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-02-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-02-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-02-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-02.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p>On B5, Ivanova goes on the Voice of the Resistance to announce both the liberation of Proxima and the joint statement by the Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic supporting the resistance.</p> <p>Garibaldi leaves the station for Mars to meet up with Edgars. He tells the customs guard that he has no plans to return. (Yes, this paragraph also appeared last week in the rewatch for “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-moments-of-transition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moments of Transition</a>,” because your humble rewatcher is a big honking doofus and conflated the end of this episode with the end of that one. Derp derp.)</p> <p><strong>Get the hell out of our galaxy!</strong> Sheridan has to tread a fine line here, as he doesn’t want to be seen as an invader, but a liberator. He is also devastated by the destruction of one of the <em>White Star</em>s and the <em>Pollux</em>, and refuses to refer to what happens at Proxima a victory—merely that they achieved their mission objective, which was to liberate that world.</p> <p><strong>Ivanova is God.</strong> At one point, Corwin comments that the operational phrase is “Trust no one,” but Ivanova says no, it’s “Trust Ivanova, trust yourself—anybody else, shoot ’em.”</p> <p><strong>The household god of frustration.</strong> Garibaldi is not very convincing when he tells Vir that he wants to save his homeworld, just not Sheridan’s way.</p> <p><strong>If you value your lives, be somewhere else.</strong> Sheridan insists that this be a “clean fight” when queried by Levitt as to why his non-human allies aren’t part of his fleet. But his actual fleet are Minbari-designed ships that use Vorlon tech, and which are mostly staffed by Minbari…</p> <p><strong>In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic…</strong> Mollari is trying very hard to redeem himself, and he also raises a toast to the humans, who have provided a bridge between the Centauri and the Narn.</p> <p><strong>Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.</strong> It takes G’Kar some time to see past his loathing of the Centauri in general and Mollari in particular to see his way to understanding that the joint statement is a very good idea. G’Kar’s support was already helpful in getting the League of Non-Aligned Worlds on board with supporting the resistance over the Clark regime, and he eventually sees the wisdom of Mollari’s plan. That it takes a while is <em>very</em> understandable, of course…</p> <p><strong>We live for the one, we die for the one.</strong> Cole is the one who gets intelligence on what’s happening on Proxima from the people there.</p> <p><strong>Looking ahead.</strong> Sheridan’s plan for the cryogenically frozen telepaths will finally be revealed in “Endgame.”</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-06-1100x825.jpg" alt="Babylon 5 &quot;No Surrender, No Retreat&quot;" class="wp-image-834142" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-06-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-06-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-06-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-06-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-06.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Welcome aboard.</strong> The three big guests are Marcia Mitzman Gaven as Levitt, the great Richard Gant as MacDougan, and Ken Jenkins, warming up for his role as Dr. Bob Kelso on <em>Scrubs</em> as Hall. Gant will return in “The Face of the Enemy.” Also Joshua Cox is back from “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-zhadum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Z’ha’dum</a>” as Corwin; he’ll next be in “No Compromises.”</p> <p>The extras who play Eckland and Kawagawa are never identified. Philby is played by Neil Bradley, one of the regular background actors on the show—amusingly, this is the only one of Bradley’s ten roles on <em>B5</em> and <em>Crusade</em> in which he’s not in a ton of makeup, as his other nine roles are as Drazi or Narn.</p> <p><strong>Trivial matters. </strong>Clark ordering civilians to be targeted by EarthForce was revealed at the end of the prior episode, “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-moments-of-transition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moments of Transition</a>.” The <em>White Star</em> fleet started patrolling the borders of the Centauri and the Narn in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-conflicts-of-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Conflicts of Interest</a>” and the nations of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-rumors-bargains-and-lies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rumors, Bargains, and Lies</a>.” Mollari’s referring to humans as a bridge between opposing factions echoes comments Delenn has made about humans in both “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-and-now-for-a-word/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">And Now for a Word</a>” and “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-lines-of-communication/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lines of Communication</a>.”</p> <p>The title of this episode was also the title for the whole season. (It also always tweaks your humble rewatcher, because <a href="https://youtu.be/txKhQ9cbhgo?si=cHtv0D8rGfa16uJW" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as a Bruce Springsteen fan</a>, I expect “no retreat” to be <em>before</em> “no surrender.”)</p> <p><strong>The echoes of all of our conversations.</strong></p> <p>“Captain, I wasn’t about to let Captain Hall get the rest of my crew killed defending Clark’s policies—I happen to disagree with those policies. But that doesn’t mean I agree with your actions, either. It’s not the role of the military to make policy.”</p> <p>“Our mandate is to defend Earth against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Now Clark has <em>become</em> that enemy. Your oath is to the alliance and to the people back home, not to any particular government.”</p> <p>“You’re splitting that hair mighty thin, John.”</p> <p>—Levitt, Sheridan, and MacDougan discussing military ethics.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-03-1100x825.jpg" alt="Babylon 5 &quot;No Surrender, No Retreat&quot;" class="wp-image-834136" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-03-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-03-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-03-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-03-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/babylon-5-no-surrender-03.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>The name of the place is Babylon 5.</strong> “Enough is enough.” This has always been one of my favorite episodes of the show, because as great as “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-severed-dreams/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Severed Dreams</a>” was as an episode, it missed out on one very important aspect of this entire plotline: the difficult decisions that EarthForce personnel would have to make. In that episode, the ships that tried to take B5 were not given faces and barely given voices. But here, we <em>see</em> Hall and Levitt and MacDougan and Philby, and they represent different approaches to this. Hall’s the true believer, the perfect fascist tool, sneering that MacDougan “doesn’t have what it takes” and more concerned with saving his own skin than the welfare of his crew. (Casting Ken Jenkins was a masterstroke, as few actors sneer as well as he does.) Philby is obviously mostly just in it for his own command, following orders like a good little drone. Levitt is primarily concerned with the welfare of her crew, which is more than her CO can say.</p> <p>And then we have MacDougan, magnificently played by Richard Gant. He’s walking the line between obeying general orders and not carrying out specific ones, and Sheridan forces him to fall off that high-wire, at which point it’s just a matter of in which direction he goes. It’s to his credit that he falls in the right direction. It’s also to his credit that he’s the only commander who tries <em>talking</em> to Sheridan, though that’s partly motivated by their history. We know it’s a good history, too, as Sheridan lets loose with a smile when Cole mentions that the <em>Vesta</em> is part of the blockade.</p> <p>Bruce Boxleitner is also superb here, and J. Michael Straczynski writes Sheridan perfectly as well. Throughout, Sheridan is bending over backward to <em>not</em> do what Clark’s been wanting EarthForce to do. He starts out by talking, asking the EarthForce ships to withdraw peacefully (an offer that only the <em>Juno</em> takes him up on, and then only after hostilities have broken out), and he refuses to fire on anyone until they fire first. On top of that, the only ships he will initially identify as hostile are the two they know have fired on civilian targets and are therefore viable targets. He refuses to fire on the <em>Furies</em> once it’s clear they won’t engage.</p> <p>In the end, he also defaults to understanding and compassion and staying within the bounds of military protocol. He just wants to restore things to what they were before Clark introduced fun stuff like NightWatch and firing on civilians. It’s particularly to his credit that he gives the ships options both before and after the battle: withdraw peacefully, defend Proxima, or join them.</p> <p>It’s very rare that the portions of an episode that feature Mollari and G’Kar are an afterthought, but this is one of those exceptional instances, as I had to keep reminding myself that there were scenes with those two—and they were <em>really really</em> good scenes, too! As ever, both actors just knock it out of the park. Peter Jurasik gives us an exhausted Mollari who is trying so desperately to crawl out of the murderous hole that he dug for himself (I mean, yeah, Morden gave him the shovel, but still…), while Andreas Katsulas gives not a millimeter in the scene in G’Kar’s quarters. The quiet intensity with which Katsulas has G’Kar rebuff every single overture made by Mollari is superlative, and you don’t see the conflict until the later scene in the Zocalo when G’Kar has finally come to—very reluctantly—accept that Mollari’s notion is a good one. And even there, he refuses to give in <em>completely</em>, insisting on their signatures being on separate pages…</p> <p>In general, I love that this particular storyline will take several episodes to play out. Nature favors the destructive process—what Sheridan is trying to do is rebuild something that Clark has destroyed, and that’s a much longer, more laborious, more difficult thing to achieve.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots" /> <p>This is the last <em>Babylon 5 </em>Rewatch of 2025. Thank you all so much for continuing to follow me on this journey through the dawn of the third age. We’ll be off for the next couple of weeks, coming back on the 5th of January 2026 with “The Exercise of Vital Powers.” Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year![end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-no-surrender-no-retreat/">&lt;i&gt;Babylon 5&lt;/i&gt; Rewatch: “No Surrender, No Retreat”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-no-surrender-no-retreat/">https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-no-surrender-no-retreat/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=834100">https://reactormag.com/?p=834100</a></p>

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