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Evidence isn't enough to solve The Outsider's mysteries in new trailer for HBO's Stephen King adaptation
“A human being cannot exist in two realities at the same time,” Cynthia Erivo says in this new trailer for HBO’s The Outsider . The series, helmed by The Wire’s Richard Price and based on a 2018 Stephen King novel, follows a detective played by Ben Mendelsohn who’s got a child murderer dead to rights, until he doesn’t.
This new trailer digs deeper into the knotty, brain-deadening...
4 Comments
Murry Chang
yesterday at 02:37
I’m gonna give this a chance though I’m not super optimistic. The novel was pretty flat for me so I’m interested to see if they can make the series into something better.
thedoorsdk
yesterday at 02:59
Yeah, I really enjoyed the first 1/3 or so when he was setting up the mystery, but the rest kind of felt like he had written himself into a corner and needed to stretch to explain the whodunit. ( I also didn’t need it to be tied into the Mr. Mercedes books, but that might just be me.)
Murry Chang
yesterday at 03:09
Yep that’s basically how I felt about it . The setup is good but t he majority of the rest is mostly just wheel spinning, then the actual villain reveal is kind of out of left field and not really connected well to the rest of the book. It would have been better if it was Terry’s father or something.
Tobias Lehigh Nagy
yesterday at 03:01
For a second I thought that said “ The Outsiders” . I was like, “Da mn, Ponyboy looks old!”
View all 4 comments
Dec 04, 2019 at 02:18.
Your favorite weed guy is back in the High Maintenance season 4 teaser
A little good news for your Tues.: HBO has finally revealed a release date—and the first teaser!—for the fourth season of High Maintenance, which returns in February. Old-timers around this neck of the woods will tell you there was a time before Baby Yoda, when there was a very different sort of fella spreading joy wherever he went. A man who mounted his bicycle and rode steadfast...
Dec 03, 2019 at 23:27.
2 comments
Listen to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' melancholy "Life On Mars" cover from Watchmen
In the (horrible, awful, no good, extremely bad) time since David Bowie shed his mortal coil, we’ve been treated to countless covers of the rock icon’s most famous songs. But few artists have managed to capture the aura of Bowie like Trent Reznor, who occasionally collaborated and performed with the late musician. Back in 2016, the Nine Inch Nails frontman credited Bowie with...
2 Comments
Castleton Snob
Dec 04, 2019 at 00:12
Gonna plug Trent Reznors beautiful remix of David Bowies already fantastic ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’ here as well :
Ag Obair
Dec 03, 2019 at 23:51
That was beautiful
A tragedy befalls one "Lost Boy" as His Dark Materials rushes to introduce another (experts)
Welcome to The A.V. Club’s “Experts” reviews of HBO’s His Dark Materials. It is written from the perspective of someone who has read all three books in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, and intended for an audience of viewers who have also read these books. While the main review will not actively spoil...
Here's what Damon Lindelof has to say about last night's Watchmen twist
[Spoilers for Watchmen’s seventh episode, “An Almost Religious Awe,” below.]
It was inevitable that Watchmen’s big, blue centerpiece would rear his gleaming dome at some point during HBO’s ambitious sequel series, but you likely didn’t expect him to be yanked from someone’s gored forehead. That’s exactly what happened during last night’s episode, however, which ended with Regina King’s Angela...
5 Comments
Mr Smith1466
Dec 03, 2019 at 00:52
I’m glad they didn’t cast the great Black Manta in a thankless bland husband role. I’m excited to see if we get to see the proper Doctor Manhattan and if it’ll be Abdul-Mateen II in CGI blue form.
brontosaurian
Dec 03, 2019 at 01:08
You just wanna see him naked don’t you?
Apparently Tom Mison had a stand in for this in his Dr Manhattan... costume?
El Condor Pasa
Dec 03, 2019 at 00:57
I keep thinking, well, it’s HBO, and Lindelof has something like carte blanche at this point, so the final episodes can each be two hours long if they need to be. I will certainly be surprised if they can wrap this all up in just two hours.
Life on Earth gets a lot weirder, but Watchmen continues to captivate
Remember all the way back to last week , when Watchmen outdid itself in the exploration of inherited trauma? The answers to certain questions helped us all feel we understood the direction of the show a little bit better. Well, “An Almost Religious Awe” arrives and proves we knew nothing. Doctor Manhattan makes a...
18 Comments
doctuar
Dec 02, 2019 at 22:53
Where does this notion that John Osterman had an abusive childhood keep coming from?
A couple of panels where his father throws the watch parts off of a fire escape?
Mr Smith1466
Dec 02, 2019 at 23:04
He off-handedly mentions that his father died assuming he got vaporized in the lab experiment. “I never bother to correct their mistake”
It’s certainly a stretch to assume he had an abusive childhood, but clearly something was horribly wrong with his relationship with his father. I always just see it that his father bullied Jon into pursuing a career in science no matter what the cost to his son. Jon would have probably been content to be a scientist but quietly resented his father for controlling his life.
R3507mk2
Dec 02, 2019 at 23:05
Exactly. Unhappy, maybe, but compared to most other capes’ childhoods, he got off easy.
Mr Smith1466
Dec 02, 2019 at 22:43
I feel some mild panic at the sheer amount of stuff that needs to be wrapped up in two episodes. I sincerely hope Lindeloff keeps his promise and this really is a self-contained season, but there is so much left to wrap up.
I'm honestly in awe at how much has been casually set up and immediately paid off in such a short space of time. The Jeremy Irons scenes alone justify this entire series. And he's not even the best actor in this show.
sound of silver
Dec 02, 2019 at 23:04
From an interview with Lindelof ( ) :
> “Considering episode seven’s ending, it would appear we have some explaining to do,” Lindelof tells The Hollywood Reporter about the ending of “An Almost Religious Awe,” in a quick interview conducted over e-mail. “I’m answering these questions before it airs, but if I were watching the show, I’d be starting to panic that we can’t possibly bring this all together in just two more episodes. So, uh…don’t panic?”
I’m also kind of wondering how they can possibly wrap this up... But gonna trust that there’s a plan, for now!
Listen to the second volume of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' excellent Watchmen score
Here’s something for which we can all give thanks: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ second volume of music from HBO’s Watchmen. Play it while cutting the turkey, the show’s compelling ideas regarding race, masks, and injustice filling air that would otherwise be choked by terse discussion of impeachment and that weird Rocky tweet.
“I think that putting out an hour and a half of music today is...
2 Comments
ONE PUNCH!
Nov 28, 2019
So breaking it up into chunks felt like something we wanted to do. It’s just something that feels very Watchmen to us. It’s fun, and a cool way to get music out and be part of the story.
It’s called a soundtrack album , Trent.
They’ve been making them for years when a score is deemed popular enough to be released on its own.
Rowan5215
Nov 28, 2019
they also released two other soundtracks this WEEK after With Teeth DE last week, because they're goddamn kings
Nov 26, 2019.
23 comments
The Hooded Justice reveal was stunning, but Watchmen is needlessly complicating its Veidt and Rorschach threads
Note: This post discusses plot points from the Watchmen season one episodes “This Extraordinary Being” and “Little Fear Of Lightning.”
The most recent episode of HBO’s Watchmen features what is easily the most obvious change from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ original comic so far: Aided by the memory-recovering drug Nostalgia, Regina King’s Angela Abar discovers that her grandfather, Will...
23 Comments
Ashley Naftule
Nov 26, 2019
One thing to note about R’s journal: it doesn’t actually spill the details on the squid-bomb. Rorscharch doesn’t learn the true extent/specifics of Adrian’s plan until he and Dan go to Antarctica. The journal lays out his suspicions that Adrian is at the head of some kind of conspiracy and most likely killed The Comedian, but it isn’t a smoking gun that the squidbomb is a hoax.
Ashley Naftule
Nov 26, 2019
I do agree, tho, that Ozzy recording a video explaining in detail what he did to the future president of the nation is wildly out of character with the figure we saw in the comics. But I’m willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt on the 7th Kavalry- we don’t know if the entire group is a part of whatever transdimensional shenanigans the Senator’s up to, or if that’s just an individual cell within the org. The rest of them could very well be a racist militia who don’t have the slightest idea about Veidt or that the squid rains are a con.
Jacklaughed
Nov 26, 2019
Veidt would have known that his ruse would eventually be figured out by the govt investigating the squid attack, and the only way to truly make the world change would be for everyone to continue to believe it was real. The video itself isn’t the surprising thing here, it’s that they would show this video to members of Congress (and exposing actual evidence) knowing how explosive it was. I’d think rather than show the video it would be a briefing, without any corroborating evidence you could attempt to steal and use to expose the lie. But it doesn’t really matter, that’s part of the show’s back story and we can quibble over the logic of this or that but politicians at the highest levels make bad choices and decisions without seeing the bigger picture all the time. Veidt is a megalomaniac and not actually a very stable individual, as all the scenes with him so far can attest.
Murry Chang
Nov 26, 2019
“This doesn’t sound at all like something the Veidt from the comic would do”
Really? The dude is fucking crazy, there’s no telling what he would do especially after the realization that he actually killed millions of people sets in.
insect overlord
Nov 26, 2019
I’m fully on board with thinking that Veidt’s plan from the comics makes no sense, and would work for maybe 6 months. There would need to be followup steps...and I guess that recording a self- incriminating message for a future president makes as much sense as anything?
It’s also worth mentioning that Rorschach’s journal really wasn’t proof of anything. He dropped it off before he and Dan went to Antarctica, when they knew that Veidt has killed the comedian, and kindof knew about the cancer connection. Someone who was conspiracy-minded would connect the dates with the spacesquid incursion , but it’s hardly any sort of smoking gun.
Murry Chang
Nov 26, 2019
Yep, thus the continuing rains of squids and probably the video to Redford.
“It’s also worth mentioning that Rorschach’s journal really wasn’t proof of anything.”
Numerous reviews and articles have said that his journal revealed the plan and every time I’ve read that I say ‘Nope!’ because you’re absolutely right. There’s a reason it was thrown in the ‘crank’ bin at the New Frontier offices.
Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't the Lee Scoresby we remember from His Dark Materials, but he isn't meant to be (experts)
Casting any literary adaptation is a minefield. Fans have built up versions of characters over years of reading and rereading the books, and fan art typically reifies certain versions of characters in the process. Even in circumstances where authors leave room for interpretation, any interpretation is competing with...
24 Comments
marksbro
Nov 26, 2019
I’m really surprised by your reading of Lyra here; this was the first episode where I really felt an “ah, yes, there she is. That’s the Lyra I know.” It totally came out of the blue and was entirely unearned based on the past 3 weeks , but she really / felt/ like Lyra to me this episode. She’s precocious! She’s confident! She tells lies — and is convincing!
On another note: this episode was a real time of me learning all the names I’ve been mispronouncing for more than half my life. “Iorek,” “Iofur,” and “Pekkala” in particular.
cwritesstuff1
Nov 26, 2019
Completely agree, and don’t get the “she isn’t showing enough joy” point. She really came into her own in this episode.
call_me_al
Nov 26, 2019
“Pekkala” is a troublesome one. I’ve got a dramatisation of the original trilogy and listened to them earlier in the year. I’m also now listening to the audiobooks of the new series Pullman has done. The pronounciation of Pekkala vary rather a lot.
Personally I prefer it when you’ve got the gentle sound of Serafina rolling into a gentle Pekkala.
cwritesstuff1
Nov 26, 2019
I instinctively dislike changes from the books, and thought Sam Elliott was perfect casting.
That said - I’m OK with this change. Maybe the tone does need to be lightened, and while LMM is a bit of a Marmite figure (sorry for the British turn of phrase, but this is a BBC production), he can be just charming enough.
The Slate Podcast made the excellent point that this resembles the Once Upon a Time in the North version of Scoresby, which I agree with. The fact that they’ve changed the character a bit, but using Pullman’s text, makes it even more palatable to me.
Myles McNutt
Nov 26, 2019
Yes, I limited my Pullman dive to the books due to time, and actually hadn’t heard about the novella, but I’ve been directed to it as key to Thorne’s inspiration, and will be adding it to the Christmas list to watch between seasons.
Kata
Nov 26, 2019
I highly recommend Once Upon A Time, I think it;s my second favourite HDM story after Northern Lights! Really good stuff.
We only met a few of Watchmen's Minutemen last night, but they all posed for a photo anyway
[Spoilers for Watchmen’s sixth episode below.]
Last night’s Watchmen swept us into the past for a gutting, action-packed look into the origins of The Minutemen, the ‘40s superhero team that sets the stage for the events of Alan Moore’s iconic comic. At the center of the show’s story was Hooded Justice, here a Black cop who discovers his only effective means of fighting injustice is as a...
7 Comments
Screamapillar
Nov 26, 2019
So - despite Lindelof’s claim that this is a one-and-done miniseries - they intentionally kept the other Minutemen blurry in case those characters get recast in a second season, right?
Ghostiet
Nov 26, 2019
They ain’t blurry, though? And Lindelof didn’t say that this is a one-and-done necessarily - just that he probably won’t return for a second one.
Nick Slaughter
Nov 26, 2019
I thought Lindelof said they only planned for and wrote for one season, and if they were to be asked to do a second one, it would probably not air for a few years while they figure out what to write for it.
Laserface1242
Nov 26, 2019
I can actually say that last night’s episode was the best of the season. Largely because it feels like it ties into the core themes of the source material but with its own unique take. I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong about my concerns that Lindelof doesn’t understand Watchmen.
Hell, the show’s show within a show seems to actively take a jab at Snyder’s version of Watchmen and how superficial it was, m ore interested with the violent content of the story than with its themes.
Watchmen embraces its noir roots and Black trauma
For 80 years, spandex crusaders have managed to thrive in popular culture, their tone reflecting the youth counterculture combined with a heavy dose of capitalism. Batman ’66, for example, thrived on psychedelic pop. Batman ’89, on the other hand, preferred a highly sexualized, dark, and gritty punk/pop feel. In all...
24 Comments
Tfaz
Nov 25, 2019
“Fred” is very obviously Fred Trump (note the “F.T. & Sons” sign on the warehouse). Maybe very nearly the pig his inspiration was.
Opus T. Penguin
Nov 25, 2019
And they do make reference to him being in Queens, too. Thanks for pointing that out, I totally missed it!
Stevie McFly
Nov 25, 2019
Donald wasn’t born for another eight years, so in this timeline, perhaps he doesn’t exist
Blanksheet
Nov 25, 2019
I haven’t read comics in a long time, but that was the greatest use of them and superhero tropes to talk about race and racism in this country that I’ve ever seen. Using their iconography. Consider the phone booth. Superman uses it to change from Clark Kent to his real self. It’s a symbol of justice, and personal freedom. But for Will, it’s where Captain Metropolis rejects helping him find justice for the black residents of Harlem, so the booth turns into another mark of racism and personal constriction, he instead of shedding his skin, so to speak, like Kal-El, is reminded all the more that he’s trapped in it. (And the theater massacre had more than one echo of the later squid attack.)
I loved the flowing camera work. Some shots looked like they were in one take.
This reminded me of the best episode of Castle Rock’s first season, where Sissy Spacek takes a similar stroll down memory lane.
I actually was expecting the episode to be more surrealistic and disjointed , but they did a fine job with those touches, especially compressing spaces and places next to each other.
Of course the source of Will’s trauma was in color while his regular life was in black and white. Great way to signify how much he’s trapped in it. And kind of foreshadowed last week with the Spielberg movie reference. But used in opposition: that little red girl in either Schindler’s List or in this world’s Pale Horse is a sign of life, and maybe hope, even though you know what’s happening to her. The Tulsa Massacre, in color, is like an example of this country’s holocaust, a great tragedy and shame.
The thought put into every aspect of this show has been remarkable. I loved the last few episodes, but I was wondering if they were ever going back to the racism themes of the beginning shows. Boy, did they.
Joelle Monique
Nov 25, 2019
You made me think about so many new things!! Thank you.
Blanksheet
Nov 25, 2019
Welcome! Thank you for these reviews. This one was particularly poignant about your Black experience. And thanks for being there in the comments.
On second viewing, I caught the framed wall portrait of Ida B. Wells in June’s apt. This show!
Nov 22, 2019.
6 comments
An alternate Game Of Thrones ending apparently exists, but save your online petitions for now
According to Metro UK (via The New York Post), Game Of Thrones’ Kristofer Hivju—a.k.a. Tormund Giantsbane—has been going around, telling people that HBO filmed “an alternative ending” to the big dragon show. Before you start imagining a different series of events, perhaps with Daenerys not blowing up King’s Landing or some better candidate being chosen to be the new king, though, Hivju also...
6 Comments
philospider
Nov 22, 2019
might be one of the few times i’d prefer an “it was all a dream” cop-out ending
Modusoperandi
Nov 22, 2019
“I just had the strangest dream.”
“Oh. What was it, Bob?”
“I was an pouty British guy in a small Vermont town filled with eccentric characters and married to a beautiful blonde girl with dragons ...”
Captain Splendid
Nov 22, 2019
Just as long as it’ s Hodor who step out of the shower.
dirtside
Nov 22, 2019
I think it’d take more than an ending. Do they have an alternate seasons 5-8?
Armando Iannucci's HBO space comedy sets its phasers to fun in first teaser
Avenue 5, a vulgar comedy set in outer space, was launched into developmental orbit a few years ago by Veep creator Armando Iannuci. In January, it finally touches down. As proof, HBO has released a teaser for the series, which stars Hugh Laurie, Josh Gad, and Zach Woods as the overseers of a luxury spaceship for intergalactic tourists.
The arc of the plot remains unclear, but the...
20 Comments
grant8418
Nov 18, 2019
You had me at “Armando Iannucci”
egghog
Nov 18, 2019
Me too.
Then they lost me at Josh Gad.
But got me back at Hugh Laurie and Zach Woods. All that must be strong enough to counteract the Gaddening.
Backwoods Southern Lawyer
Nov 19, 2019
But Hugh Laurie and Zach Woods both contain potassium benzoate.
EnemiesOfCarlotta
Nov 19, 2019
Josh Gad’s character feels more like it was screaming out for Jack Black... but alas I guess I’ll just have to hang in there with Gad. Didn’t realize there was so much animosity toward the cherubic Mr. Gad, but I’m definitely hearing it.
Bart Fargo
Nov 19, 2019
Josh Gad’s entire career is based on filling in when Jack Black is fully booked.
Mr Smith1466
Nov 19, 2019
I feel like he's also benefited as being a less threatening, probably far cheaper alternative to Jonah Hill.
HBO Max browses Scholastic book catalog, orders Point Horror TV series
20th Century Fox announced its Fear Street film adaptation earlier this year, and now here comes with HBO—an arm of Fox competitor WarnerMedia—with its own stab at modernizing the teen horror of yesteryear. Variety reports that Point Horror —the YA horror anthology that helped launch the careers of R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Diane Hoh, and Caroline B. Cooney back in the early ‘90s—is...
1 Comments
Gargasmell
Nov 13, 2019
“Lionsgate Television and Picturestart are rather hilariously rebranding it as Point Fear ” You’re not kidding. I laughed so hard that I couldn’t even finish the article. Point Fear? That is quite hilarious.
His Dark Materials brings two reveals forward, but takes two steps back in the process (experts)
HBO
His Dark Materials
Lord Asriel
Lord Boreal
Mrs. Coulter
Recap
Ruth Wilson
The Idea Of North
TV Club
Welcome to The A.V. Club’s “Experts” reviews of HBO’s His Dark Materials. It is written from the perspective of someone who has read all three books in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, and intended for an audience of viewers who have also read these books. While the main review will not actively spoil details from future...
23 Comments
Bromona Quimby
Nov 12, 2019
I have fewer quibbles than most book readers I’ve talked to (a small sample, and I haven’t started reading comments here yet).
I don’t know that Boreal already crossing over will dilute the effect when Lyra does. I have to think even people who aren’t familiar with the books suspect that the other worlds the characters are talking about actually exist. Kinda like on GoT? Once they start talking about dragons, you KNOW that eventually there are going be dragons. This entire season has so much table setting to do, and because the book is from Lyra’s POV 90+% of the time I think jumping into another universe this early on might be good for non-readers.
The edition I have of Northern Lights explicitly says before the story even begins that it takes place in a world that’s not our own, that book two will take place in our world, and that book three will move between the two. From a dramatic standpoint, the fact that other worlds exist is pretty much a fait accompli. We know that Lyra’s world isn’t ours. We know that the story is moving toward her finding a world that isn’t hers.
I wonder if the Lyra’s resistance to Pan’s worries about Mrs. Coulter is a kind of foreshadowing? She has an implicit instinct to trust her for reasons she can’t understand? I do wonder what non-readers think about this. When they did the stuff at the beginning last week with Asriel dropping off the baby, I felt like THAT was a huge tell. And when Mrs. Coulter let it slip that Asriel was Lyra’s father - something Lyra finds out on page 120, so it’s not that much earlier than in the book, albeit she’s told by John Faa - I was shocked, but more shocked she didn’t tell her she was her mother. I wonder what book readers think about THAT, too. They have to suspect Coulter is her mother, right? I imagine Lyra will probably find out next episode, but from who?
Last week people were complaining they show has been obfuscating the fact the magisterium is the church, specifically the Catholic Church as it evolved in Lyra’s universe. I think the second episode makes it clearer that the magisterium is still THE church, even if they probably won’t get into the weeds with John Calvin. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt of the religion stuff until I see otherwise.
A few quibbles I do have - the skimping on the daemons. This is a HUGE part of this universe and at the crux of the story. I don’t believe London’s daemons are all unobtrusive birds and lizards in hiding!
I’m in agreement that so far the alethiometer stuff isn’t registering.
Anyway, I think this might be the first show where I could come to the book-readers recaps having read the books! And I’m really happy with the show so far.
Myles McNutt
Nov 12, 2019
You know, I’d never thought about the ending of the first book in light of that epigraphic promise of sorts. I mean, I literally just reread the series, and I now remember that being there, but I can’t imagine that I was thinking about it when I first read the ending? You’re right that Pullman doesn’t treat it as a completely left-field development, but within the text it feels backgrounded. We learn about the city in the sky, but it’s not Lyra’s primary investigation, and so I do think that the “impact” of the final moment is different when we don’t fully grasp what he’s trying to accomplish.
To put it in simpler terms: I think the ending is more meaningful if the presence of other worlds is part of the show’s worldbuilding that you sort of forgot about, as opposed to a prominent device used constantly.
And welcome, and thanks for reading/commenting!
Kumagoro
Nov 12, 2019
As a non-reader who saw the (comically terrible) movie and then checked some stuff on Wikipedia, I saw the guy crossing into our world and I was like, “Oh, a re we already doing this? Cool. But also, uh? Okay then . ”
DKesserich
Nov 12, 2019
I’ve gotta disagree on a few points here. I think moving the reveal of the portals between worlds up is a smart move, as is giving the reveal of Lyra’s father to Mrs. Coulter, kind of for similar reasons.
In the book these are sort of one-two punches that happen so quickly that they don’t have time to really breathe. Lyra finds out Lord Asriel is her father and Mrs. Coulter is her mother at the exact same time, in a way that reinforces her idolization of Asriel, and doesn’t really change her feelings about Mrs. Coulter at all. Now we’ve got the Asriel reveal coming in such a way that disillusions Lyra somewhat, for now, and she still doesn’t know who her mother is, and she’s presumably going to have an episode or two to come to terms with a revised emotional picture of her beloved uncle before she gets the fuller story from the Gyptians and finds out that Mrs. Coulter is her mother, who also lied to her about her parentage. There’s good drama to be mined from there. I think the only misstep is not better establishing Lyra’s relationship with the Costas, but I assume we’re going to get more of that when she gets rescued from the Gobbler who just nabbed her (also a change from the book, because the people who tried to grab her when she ran away weren’t Gobblers) .
And as for the portals and Roger, in the book Asriel murders her best friend right in front of her but it’s also coupled with the wondrous reveal of the multiverse. That reveal undercuts Roger’s murder somewhat. If we the audience are ahead of the curve on this, Roger’s fate should land harder because we’re not also awed by the reveal of the portal. This is also why in the show we’re spending a lot more time with Roger in the clutches of the Gobblers, because they’re building him up so that we care about Roger because we care about Roger, instead of we care about Roger because Lyra cares about Roger.
Cristina
Nov 12, 2019
I get your point, and I sincerely hope that the ending Bridge to the Stars scene lands the same way it does in the book, but I do think part of what made that scene so breathtaking to read was the way in which you experience horror, regret, shock, awe, and wonder all at the same time. It’s a feat not many authors can pull off and I would hate for the scene to turn into something that just seems cruel. It’s the balance of both that would have made it into that epic Game of Thrones type of moment.
My other concern is that Lord Asriel will basically look not only cruel, but dumb in this moment. His feat is truly something epic in the books, and though he is obviously morally questionable, part of his endeavor seems necessary, and so some may understand his “ends justify the means” approach. However, from an audience perspective, most will probably wonder, “why blow up the sky? and kill someone in the process? when theres a window...? like literally right in your hometown..?” My only hope is that they really emphasize the bridge is a road to ALL worlds (though that’s not stated in the book, it would be a difference from the window) and that it’s made for ALL people to cross (ie the magisterium cannot stop anyone from crossing and seeking out knowledge.)
Willrob
Nov 12, 2019
“I assume we’re going to get more of that when she gets rescued from the Gobbler who just nabbed her (also a change from the book, because the people who tried to grab her when she ran away weren’t Gobblers).”
But wasn’t the daemon we saw Pan approaching the same one we saw prior to Roger’s kidnapping? From Lyra’s POV I couldn’t entirely make it out; but if the scene has been moved to a city alley, rather than the dock area, it might not be the Gyptians who resc u e her.
Curb Your Enthusiasm returns in January, says Jeff Garlin
Good news, schmohawks! Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Jeff Garlin just took to Instagram to announce that HBO’s premiere cringe comedy will premiere its 10th season in January. HBO hasn’t confirmed the news as of yet and Garlin didn’t provide an exact date, but, like his onscreen wife Susie Essman, we can always tell when he’s lying.
We don’t much about the season, though we did learn filming...
3 Comments
Turk182
Nov 12, 2019
A, Curb is still on?
B. It’s only in it’s 10th season?
Objectively Biased
Nov 12, 2019
They took a long ass hiatus.
nope
Nov 12, 2019
maybe it shouldn’t
Seeds blossom to reveal hidden pasts on Watchmen
For the second straight week, Watchmen introduces a badass, game-changing woman to the canon of heroes. If last week was about unearthing the past, this week is about sowing the seeds of the future. Acorns, surprise babies, and a catapult filled with dead bodies bear new fruit to the mystery salad that is Watchmen.
2 Comments
AimingforYoko
Nov 11, 2019
Cheeky episode title, Lindelof. All the haters are properly chastened, I’m sure.
So my ongoing theory was that Veidt’s jailer was Manhattan, but now I’m leaning towards Lady Trieu. She has more motivation for wanting Veidt out of the way and she’s a lady who is quite used to getting what she wants.
ganews
Nov 11, 2019
Jeremy Irons fishing out and tossing fetuses back in the pond is probably one of the more disturbing things on TV this year.
Nov 07, 2019.
5 comments
Masturbate furiously in the privacy of your own cardboard box, courtesy of HBO
Finally, a solution for people who just want to jerk off in peace without having to find a quiet bathroom or closet to avoid offending their roommates/significant others/pets: Meet The HBO Box, a big black cardboard box with slots for your legs that you put over your body like a child with poor fort-developing skills.
It’s not TV. It’s a portable wank-box. And don’t try to argue...
5 Comments
Theodore_Frost
Nov 07, 2019
Nathan Fielder clearly pitched this and the same person who missed the Starbucks cup on GOT let this slip through.
“Lyra’s Jordan” gives His Dark Materials readers hope the second time’s the charm (experts)
Welcome to The A.V. Club’s “Experts” reviews of HBO’s His Dark Materials. It is written from the perspective of someone who has read all three books in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, and intended for an audience of viewers who have also read these books. While the main review will not actively spoil...
21 Comments
melloveschallah
Nov 05, 2019
I read the series as a tween myself, and have re-read it every year since. I can say this series is one of the reasons I decided to leave the Catholic Church at 16 and decided to explore other types of spirituality. I just finished The Secret Commonwealth and cannot wait for the next book as it deals so much with what is the self, what is the spirit, what is matter etc.
Im most excited to meet Lee and Hest er, and to see the Mulefa obviously. I can’t wait to see who they cast as Will.
I feel with the casting Lyra might be too grown up by the time they get to the end of filming. Roger looks 11 but she looks so much older. I wanted her to be blonde but it’s all good
I am a bit sad to see the waste of Cool Lester Smooth as the Master only because he doesn’t have that large of a role and I want more of him!
I never thought I’d find Lord Asriel sexy but damn James McAvoy is so hot. Way too hot for Mrs. Coulter who I think should have been cast more along the lines of Nicole Kidman in the movie. I always pictured her as the most beautiful woman in any room and that her looks and charm are what helped her get to her position of power. I think the brown haired Mrs. Coulter is a bit of a let down. I wanted her to be more stunning and easier to fall in love with before the betrayal.
The fact that Roger is so perfect makes me dread the ending even more.
Weird how the Gyptians are all different races, I saw them as kind of a race of themselves, probabaly all having a tan look because they are out on the rivers all the time. To have Ma Costa as a skinny blonde woman is weird because I always pictured her as a larger motherly bi g breasted well fed woman who is fiercely protective and a lot tougher than how she comes off in this episode.
Why is Pantelimon always a m artin/ermine type creature ? It’s a dead giveaway to what he settles as. He only changes a couples times.
Also interested in how this will change the Lord Boreal storyline. I liked that in the second book we didn’t figure out who he was right away so I’m curious to see how they change these things.
Great review and so excited to see what comes next. Also hope that people don’t expect this to be the next Game of Thrones. It is a much different story and as long as they try bit to pander to the masses I think this can be done extremely well.
Wondering if anyone got to see the stage adaptation in the UK they did a while back. I saw clips, but it was so cool because they used puppets for the deamons and had the puppeteers dressed in all black so as to fade into the background. Not sure how many of the books it covered this was mid 2000s I believe but curious if any other fans had heard of it.
Myles McNutt
Nov 06, 2019
A couple of quick things that I can address: 1) They filmed seasons one and two back-to-back in order to avoid the aging thing, and I think it’s possible they insert a time jump before Amber Spyglass in order to justify the choices.
2) As a result, you can find out who they cast as Will with an IMDB search.
SoftSack
Nov 06, 2019
Lot of stuff I wanna reply to here!
I feel with the casting Lyra might be too grown up by the time they get to the end of filming. Roger looks 11 but she looks so much older.
I thought that too, but I think it’s actually pretty common for girls to be taller than boys at that age? I was thinking how it would work when TAS rolls around, but in a way it would be somewhat in keeping with the themes of the story so no biggie IMO.
I am a bit sad to see the waste of Cool Lester Smooth as the Master only because he doesn’t have that large of a role and I want more of him!
Oh man, this is so true. I feel like ever since The Wire Clarke Peters always gets roles where he only appears on screen for a painfully short time - John Wick, True Detective, Jessica Jones, now this.
Weird how the Gyptians are all different races, I saw them as kind of a race of themselves, probabaly all having a tan look because they are out on the rivers all the time.
I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to hail from the Netherlands in the books (through birth or ancestry, either way). But I think the blind-casting is fine by me and IIRC Pullman said he deliberately didn’t specify race in the books. Honestly find Myles’ comments on this a bit strange, but hey.
To have Ma Costa as a skinny blonde woman is weird because I always pictured her as a larger motherly big breasted well fed woman who is fiercely protective and a lot tougher than how she comes off in this episode.
Same. I think that’s pretty much exactly how she is in the books, she’s supposed to be quite formidable. Bit of a shame to change her from that IMO, her book character was very memorable.
Why is Pantelimon always a martin/ermine type creature? It’s a dead giveaway to what he settles as. He only changes a couples times.
Not just that - when Lyra asks Roger what he thinks his daemon will settle as, he actually says outright a house-cat or a house-marten.
Wondering if anyone got to see the stage adaptation in the UK they did a while back.
I saw it! And it was brilliant. The daemons were really well done too. It split the trilogy into two parts, which were something like 3-hrs long each, and it covered all the books. The one big change it made, though, was that Mary Malone and the mulefa were completely excised from the story, with Will serving as the designated ‘serpent’ character.
Erik Veland
Nov 05, 2019
“ the perspective of someone who has read all three books in Philip Pullman’s trilogy”
That’s now currently five books. The latest of which is a direct sequel to the original trilogy .
Myles McNutt
Nov 05, 2019
1) I am aware. 2) I plan on reading them eventually. 3) There wasn’t time to read them before the show started (I literally finished my reread of the trilogy last night) and with no clear sense they intend on drawing on them significantly beyond the flashback we saw here, I’m not able to prioritize them.
Erik Veland
Nov 05, 2019
The flooded Oxford was a nice pull from La Belle Sauvage , which is an great standalone adventure in its own right - one that I may have enjoyed more than the two latter books of the trilogy . I just started The Secret Commonwealth last night which looks to be a sequel to both stories.
Nov 04, 2019.
13 comments
John Malkovich takes Jude Law's holy throne in this trailer for HBO's The New Pope
The last time we heard from The New Pope, HBO’s follow-up to Paulo Sorrentino’s baffling/beautiful The Young Pope, Jude Law’s Lenny Belardo was strutting across a beach in a tiny bathing suit as women fawned over him —a mysterious tease, given that the previous series ended with his character falling into a coma. This new teaser for The New Pope introduces Lenny’s successor, John...
13 Comments
acsolo
Nov 04, 2019
S o ready for this!! W eird to think it’s been roughly 4 years since The Young P ope came out but it also makes sense because I forgot most everything that happened (didn’t even register the coma part). Nevertheless, I will rewatch and be even more excited.
dirtside
Nov 05, 2019
Nitpick, it aired in Oct-Nov 2016, about 3 years ago.
acsolo
Nov 05, 2019
oh yeah definitely did the math wrong on that guess i was just rounding up going by year since it’ll be 2020 haha