Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we give our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
A short section of orphan railroad tracks is among the reminders of what came before Denver built one of its more inspired flood-mitigation projects, the 39th Avenue Greenway, in the near-northeast part of town.
So is the auto salvage yard that still sits just over a fence from the walking path.
The greenway, which opened five years ago this month, nods to the past of Denver’s Cole and Clayton neighborhoods — for decades a mix of industry and working-class homes — even as the area is changing rapidly.
As it unfurls for a mile going east from Franklin Street, the 12-acre linear park is centered around a drainage channel that flows gently, like a small stream. Natural vegetation grows alongside the water, while sometimes-meandering walking paths up the embankment connect a community garden, pedestrian bridges, a plaza with seating, playgrounds and several pieces of public art as the greenway continues on to Steele Street.
All of it is within walking distance of century-old houses, factories and the new high-rise apartment buildings that have gone up in the River North Art District to the west.
Anytime I visit the greenway, usually looping it into one of my morning runs, I marvel at the ways it links the underappreciated history of the neighborhoods to the fast-changing face of urban Denver. Others join me, whether playing fetch with their dogs, going for a walk, pushing a stroller or watching their children play on the inventive playgrounds.
It’s a pocket of calm near the increasing bustle of RiNo, near still-working plants like a Coca-Cola bottler and the Nestle-Purina pet food factory — whose proximity you can, alas, occasionally smell, depending on the wind’s direction — and near schools as well as the resurging York Street Yards business center.
In recent weeks, the greenway’s still-developing vegetation and trees offered unexpected bursts of fall color, too.
I remember how unusual the plans for the 39th Avenue Greenway sounded nearly a decade ago, as I covered the advent of the city’s Platte to Park Hill program as a city government reporter. The roughly $300 million undertaking to reduce street flooding across several neighborhoods attracted tons of heat and pushback. Most of it was focused on higher-profile projects — namely the substantial regrading of City Park Golf Course to create stormwater detention areas — and the program’s side benefits for the then-upcoming Interstate 70 project to the north.
The greenway plan, too, sparked worries about chemicals and other pollutants in the soil. City officials said they’d clean up whatever they found as they ripped up abandoned railroad tracks east of York Street and disturbed other parts of the area’s industrial past.
A cyclist makes his way down a path along the 39th Avenue Greenway in Denver on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Now that it’s built, the greenway’s channel usually has some water in it, but it fills up more impressively after storms. The water passes through vaults that capture trash, keeping it out of the South Platte River downstream, and the exposure to sunlight helps remove contaminants. The vegetation helps filter the stream before it disappears back underground at Franklin.
It’s hard to understate the difference between what seemed, at the time, an underwhelming plan for a dressed-up drainage ditch and the actual reality on the ground. It’s now honest-to-goodness parkland that was well thought out in a part of the city that so desperately needed it.
After covering the controversies around all the stormwater projects and then seeing them built, I didn’t come to appreciate the 39th Avenue Greenway until I moved to Cole a couple years ago from another part of Denver.
I rediscovered it, in a way, on an early exploratory run.
Now I run there most often as part of an out-and-back course, taking in the trees and plants and odd features — like the short stretch of disconnected train tracks that’s there, as a kind of monument to the past, and several pieces of public art.
My favorite is a pair of giant orange metal sculptures resembling megaphones, situated across the channel from each other and positioned to enable people to talk across that distance. Called “Conversation,” the piece draws on the history of discrimination affecting the area, which has been home to some of Denver’s most racially diverse neighborhoods, and is intended to highlight the importance of racial dialogue.
When I turn around to head back west, I look up, taking in Mount Blue Sky and the rest of the Front Range on the horizon as I trot toward the still-emergingRiNo skyline that bookends the other side of the greenway.
The 39th Avenue Greenway in Denver on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) should be the kind of man who has songs written in his honor. A low-born knight, elevated to the Kingsguard, then made Lord Commander, before finally rising to the position of Hand of the King. Our handsome knight has some … anger issues, yes (who doesn’t in this world?), but he appears to be an honorable and gallant knight — and really that’s all that matters as far as the histories are concerned. He does have one fatal flaw though, something entirely outside of his control: he was born in the age of dragons.
Episode 4 saw Criston rise to his highest yet. His successive military victories earn him the acclaim of the masses. For a low-born knight to be named “kingmaker” is the stuff of legend, but here we saw just how far he can fall. As dragons clash in the sky over Rook’s Rest, Criston is thrown from his horse and spends most of the battle unconscious. While there is no shortage of sweeping dragon-on-dragon action, the focus of this sequence is remarkably human. This climactic battle represents one of the most important days of Criston’s career, the moment this entire campaign has been leading to, but he spends it face down in the mud. It doesn’t matter what someone’s status is, when faced with a dragon they are little more than a sack of meat and bone.
But this is just one setback in what has been a long line. He was elevated to the Kingsguard, only to discover the limits of his station. He is constantly beneath royalty (and you can take that in any way you will), which means he rarely has leave to act of his own accord. He has had two royal flings so far, and neither have gone particularly well. Even when things go his way, he is uncomfortably aware of his own fragility. No matter what he does, how hard he tries, he just isn’t enough. His military is larger and better equipped than that of team Black, but they are little more than specks when viewed from dragonback. He has seen men tossed aside like dolls, and burned in dragonfire. He knows that his little battle of men and land is a farce — there are greater powers in the sky. But Criston rails against these limits. Faced with his own powerlessness, we see him declare this a war of dragons, not men. He is restless in his position, and it’s easy to see why.
Criston is entirely convinced of his own self-importance. To be fair, he has a good deal of evidence to support that perspective, even beyond what’s outlined above. He unseated Daemon at the tourney and quickly won his position on the Kingsguard, and his military victories are all his own. Aegon looks pathetic when placed next to Criston (though this is true of most people, to be fair), but even the more formidablePrince Aemond was his pupil. He has done the impossible already, so it is no wonder that he is so confident in his own abilities; he can already hear the songs that will be sung in his honor.
Photo: Theo Whiteman/HBO
But that honor is fragile. He tries to bury any and all evidence that suggests he is not suited to his position, first by murdering Joffrey back in season 1, and more recently by deflecting blame for Jaehaerys’ murder onto Ser Arryk and sending him to his death. Criston is skilled, yes, but he is also recklessly prideful. He is locked in a constant battle to prove to himself and others that he deserves his position, but he constantly falls short. Episode by episode we can see his frustration mounting, Frankel deftly portraying the rising anger of a man who can’t quite get it right. We can all sense the danger here: We have a man who wants to prove his own greatness, who blinds himself to his shortcomings, yet is cursed to spend his life in the shadow of dragons.
In most cases, this kind of self belief would serve one well. Criston is ruthless and bold, and while that aids him on the battlefield, it presents a problem when the conflict begins to escalate. The battle at Rook’s Rest has clearly shaken him, but where some would reconsider, he doubles down. He endorses Aemond as regent, knowing that he will escalate the war. Criston has seen a fight between dragons firsthand, he knows the chaos it will bring to the Seven Kingdoms, yet he still leads team Green down the path of war. He’s not pure evil, but he is delightfully hateable in this moment. Alicent pushes for him to side with her, but he knows he can’t. It’s the dilemma at the core of the series, and Criston would rather see the Seven Kingdoms fall to ruin than be on the losing side. He’s just as doomed as anyone else in King’s Landing, no matter how high he climbs.
Criston’s attempts to rise above the dragons ultimately ensure that he will always be under them. Desperate to prove himself, he will lead this war of dragons to its bloody end. His legacy is set in stone, at least as far as his brief mention in A Feast for Crows is concerned. Of all the tragic and thoughtless mistakes characters in House of the Dragon have made so far, pitting the dragons against one another might just be the most significant.
House of the Dragon has been teasing a terrible civil war in Westeros since the foundations were laid in season one—and now, with House Targaryen bitterly divided, battles are just over the horizon. This week, in episode three, “The Burning Mill,” we see one last attempt at reconciliation—as well as the beginnings of a few journeys, a mysterious new character, and some spooky-castle shenanigans.
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Ah, the Riverlands. A place of green fields, picturesque windmills, and generations-long feuds between adjacent houses, as we see when young knights from House Bracken and House Blackwood get in each other’s faces at the border dividing their lands. These days, current events are bolstering their anger: one side’s loyal to Queen Rhaenyra, the other calls her a “babekiller” and “kinslayer” and takes the side of Team Green. Insults lead to shoving, shoving leads to swords, then the scene cuts and we see a full-on battle has taken place between the houses. The land is riddled with bodies, and that quaint windmill is now a burned-out husk.
Speaking of bodies, there’s a double burial happening on Dragonstone: the Cargill twins, reunited in their grave. As a somber Rhaenyra ponders her next move—a furious Jace wants to keep the cycle of revenge going—Rhaenys, who correctly senses that Otto Hightower has been shoved aside and that the assassination attempt was the work of “hotter blood,” sidles in with a suggestion, delivering the killer lines we’ve heard in House of the Dragon trailers. “There may be another way: Alicent Hightower … she knows war is coming and that it will be savage beyond all compare,” Rhaenys says. “There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin. And no war so bloody as a war between dragons.” Alicent could be their last hope to prevent a terrible war. Rhaenyra’s skeptical, but Rhaenys’ words make her think of the raven that came from King’s Landing bearing a message from her old friend after Luke was killed… which she has yet to read.
Cole (Fabian Frankel) after reading your opinions about him on social media.Image: Ollie Upton/HBO
Speaking of King’s Landing, Ser Criston Cole–now Hand of the King, in addition to being Lord Commander of the Kingsguard–is dawdling before a Small Council meeting. When he gets there, war is (unsurprisingly) the main topic, with Aemond updating everyone about the Bracken-Blackwood battle, and King Aegon bitchily asking what their next move is. There are many suggestions, to the point where everyone is talking over each other and Alicent speaks sharply about the Council’s lack of discipline, but Cole opines that the Riverlands are the key to winning the war, and that Harrenhal is the key to the Riverlands. He’ll lead the army there himself, he says—this is a guy who really does not want to attend any more of these meetings—with Aemond, but not Vhagar, who is needed on the home front defending King’s Landing. “I’ll come too, with Sunfyre,” King Aegon pipes in, an idea nobody supports; you get the sense it’s partially because they want to travel without drawing too much attention (something a dragon always brings), but also because, let’s face it, nobody wants Aegon in the mix.
Back on Dragonstone, before a gorgeous sunset view featuring a lone dragon flapping around in the distance, Rhaenyra is having a chat with Mysaria—who, having been given her freedom in last week’s episode, turned back at the last minute when she realized a certain ill-meaning twin had just arrived on the island. Mysaria, who says she’s still surprised that Rhaenyra was willing to let her go, would like a reward: a place in Rhaenyra’s court. She has valuable information about the inner workings of the Red Keep, and no love for the Hightowers; she’s also here to advocate for the smallfolk, and figures Rhaenyra is the ruler most likely to show them mercy. “One turn for another, then,” Rhaenyra says, and we can see a mutual respect of sorts forming between these two very differently positioned women.
Inside the castle, we finally spend more than a few passing seconds with Rhaena: Daemon’s daughter, and the younger sister of Baela. (In George R.R. Martin’s text, they’re twins, but she’s definitely positioned as the second sibling here.) Rhaenyra has a task for her, involving the younger Targaryens: she’ll take Joffrey (Rhaenyra’s youngest dark-haired son) and his dragon to the Vale, where he’ll become the ward of Lady Arryn; then, Rhaena will become the de facto mother figure for Rhaenyra’s blonde kids with Daemon (Aegon and Viserys, and yes the repeated names are confusing), taking them to Pentos for safety. As we’ve seen, no cute little kid is safe in this particular war. “Make this sacrifice willingly, for all of us,” Rhaenyra urges her. Rhaena isn’t happy about it, but if there’s one thing women in Westeros know about… it’s making sacrifices.
That’s “Your Grace” to you. Matt Smith as Daemon.Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO
And now, at last, we pick back up with Daemon as he flies through howling night winds into Harrenhal, the biggest castle in Westeros and also, need we remind you, the spookiest. It’s also incredibly damp, thanks to all the damage it’s taken over the years, and Daemon stomps through puddles and flurries of bats indoors, killing a guard on the way just because he can. If this was a vintage horror movie, he’d encounter Lon Chaney Jr. lurking in the dark, but since this is House of the Dragon and not House of Dracula, instead he meets… Ser Simon Strong, played by British stage legend Sir Simon Russell Beale, having dinner in one of the castle’s few vaguely cozy rooms.
Ser Simon has no objection to ceding control of Harrenhal to Team Black—he’s no fan of his cunningly murderous great-nephew, Ser Larys—though Daemon’s skeptical of his hospitality, and snaps at him for mistakenly calling him “my Prince” instead of “Your Grace.” For his part, Ser Simon thinks Daemon’s plan to raise an army in the Riverlands is a dubious one; the region’s liege lord, Lord Grover Tully, is a frail old man unlikely to comprehend what’s at stake. What’s the endgame here, Ser Simon wonders? This very droll exchange follows.
Daemon: “We march on King’s Landing and take the throne.”
Ser Simon: “The throne?”
Daemon: “It’s a big chair… made of swords.”
In King’s Landing, Cole’s army prepares to march with a new face in tow: Ser Gwayne Hightower, Alicent’s brother. He meets Cole with a polite but frosty attitude (Gwayne’s not thrilled Cole took Otto’s place as the Hand), and things get a little weird when Cole says goodbye to Alicent, asking for her favor (which takes the form of a handkerchief she pulls out of her cleavage) as he departs, and Gwayne looks on quizzically. The camera pulls up as the host rides out, and in the foreground we see one of the rat catcher corpses from last week, looking a bit more decayed, and with a crow making short work of its eyes.
Rhaenys (Eve Best) and Corlys (Steve Toussaint)Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO
On Dragonstone, the tension is rising along with the anticipation of this army—which Team Black has yet to spot, but knowsmust be forming; the fact that Daemon hasn’t sent any updates since he flounced away isn’t helping. Rhaenyra’s Small Council wants her to act, be that by sending dragons to burn all who oppose her, or hiding herself away and letting the council (another way of putting that is “the menfolk”) rule in her stead. After Rhaenyra departs in disgust, Rhaenys has another notable quotable to share, reminding everyone that “their Queen wears the crown of my grandsire, Jaeharys the Conciliator, a prudent ruler, the wisest of Targaryen kings, whose reign outlasted every other, even Aegon the Conquerer’s.”
But Rhaenys knows there’s trouble afoot, and she doesn’t correct Corlys in the next scene, in a rainy Driftmark rendezvous, when he refers to the Small Council as “the ditherers of Dragonstone.” The interaction between husband and wife, like so many of their meetings, is shot through with affection as well as subtle disagreements, including that old question of who should inherit Driftmark (currently, it’s little Joffrey, who’s about to be spending the rest of his childhood far from the sea). There’s a new urgency to their talk of heirs, a tumultuous subject—as we saw last season, when Corlys suffered a great injury and it seemed Lucerys Velaryon (RIP) would be inheriting Driftmark sooner than expected. “We are at war,” Rhaenys reminds the Sea Snake, and worries that something might happen to him.
On nearby Dragonstone, Rhaena bids farewell, preparing for her journey with small children and small dragons in tow. She’s resentful; Baela, who’s not only older, but has her own dragon to ride, gets to stay behind and take an active part in the war effort. But there’s a softening when Rhaenyra shows Rhaena that she’ll also be caring for a clutch of precious dragon eggs; if the worst happens in Westeros, she’ll be an important source of hope for the Targaryen future.
Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy)Photo: Theo Whiteman/HBO
After Rhaenyra says good-bye to her sons (except Jace, he gets to stay), we cut to King’s Landing, where Alicent and Heleana have a poignant conversation about motherhood, grief, and loss. And the elephant in the room comes out: “I forgive you,” Heleana tells her teary-eyed mother, and we all know she means her mother’s forbidden affair with Cole. In a nearby chamber, King Aegon (“the magnanimous”) is being fitted with… Aegon the Conquerer’s own snazzy armor. He’s planning to fly into battle, despite everyone else agreeing it’s a terrible idea. Ser Larys appears, as always armed with a bit of information that’s secretly manipulation in disguise, and says there’s talk that Aegon has been tricked into going into battle because that’s what his Small Council, including Alicent, wants, so that she and Aemond can rule in his absence. As Aegon is taking this in, he makes another impulsive appointment, naming Larys his Master of Whisperers.
And it works! Aegon decides that rather than going to battle, he’ll… spend another drunken night out on the town instead. In a scene that immerses us in King’s Landing after hours, we meet a new character. It’s a brief moment, but it’s important, since this is the bastard son of Baelon Targaryen—which makes him Daemon and Viserys’ half-brother, and Rhaenyra’s uncle. Why he’s sharing this information with random strangers (look closely; one is Samson Kayo from Our Flag Means Death) in a tavern isn’t clear, and we learn no more for now because just then King Aegon, who’s unaware of the man’s identity, shows up ready to party his face off.
King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) is the comic relief so far this season, in a truly awful way though.Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO
Awkward family reunion averted–until Aegon walks in on Aemond snuggled up with his favorite lady of the night, to Aegon’s hooting, taunting delight. Aemond’s reaction is to stand on the table—classic Game of Thrones-style full-frontal nudity alert, though there’s tasteful shadowing—and stalk out of the room (wearing not a stitch, not even his eye patch), pretending he’s totally unbothered.
On Dragonstone, a contemplative Rhaenyra decides that now, at last, is the moment to open her message from Alicent. We can’t read the message, but the word “mother” definitely appears.
En route to the Riverlands, Cole and Ser Gwayne Hightower continue to not like each other. Gwayne has decided to take his lieutenants to a nearby tavern so they can enjoy some creature comforts, while Cole’s men are all camped on the hard ground. “We will rendezvous with your army at first light,” Gwayne says breezily, as the camera tilts up to show us the current position of the sun, and—hey now, what’s that in the sky? Dragonnnnnn! Cole, Gwayne, and Gwayne’s men gallop for the safety of nearby tree cover as Baela, riding Moondancer, swoops in overhead. She’s there merely to observe, not engage, but you can see in her face she’s got a bit of that season-one Rhaenys “I want to set you all on fire” urge in her, and she gives the men a good scare. Ser Gwayne, for one, looks like he might have peed his pants a little, and finally admits Cole might know what he’s doing after all. Stealth is now the way forward for this army—“and no fucking inns,” Cole hisses.
When Baela reports back to Rhaenyra and her Small Council, again they urge it’s time to take action. Past time, really. She takes it in and says she’ll consider their arguments, as we cut to Rhaenys—and can tell she’s realizing Rhanyra is finally going to take her advice.
But first, you may be wondering, as the Small Council on Dragonstone certainly has been: what the hell has Daemon been up to? Wandering around the ruins of Harrenhal, it turns out—a place full of dripping water, barricaded doorways, and whispers from the past. He encounters an impossible tableau: young Rhaenyra, played by a returning Milly Alcock. “Always coming and going, aren’t you,” she sighs at Daemon. “And I have to clean up afterwards.” As the camera comes around we see she’s stitching little Jaehaerys Targaryen’s head onto his neck. In an instant, the vision is gone, and a strange woman—someone we saw earlier alongside Ser Simon—appears and says “You will die in this place.”
With that uneasiness lingering, we return to Dragonstone; there’s no sneaking into King’s Landing without the advice of Mysaria, so Rhaenyra gets all the intel she needs to engineer a face-to-face encounter with Alicent. This includes what disguise she’ll need (a septa; it’s not the first time this episode, nor this season, that someone points out most smallfolk won’t recognize a royal out of context) and where she’ll be able to find the Dowager Queen alone (in the Great Sept of Baelor, saying her prayers). And then, it happens: a scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent, something we were not expecting to see at all this season.
Alicent (Olivia Cooke), a nice church-going lady.Photo: Theo Whiteman/HBO
And it’s quite a powerful moment. Alicent’s shock when she realizes who’s come to call is one thing; it levels up when she realizes Rhaenyra isn’t there to kill her. Rhaenyra opens with a memory we all share: the tournament that kicked off in season one. “Men trained for battle are eager to fight,” she reminds her old friend. “I know you do not have that desire within you.” But Alicent knows the Dance of the Dragons is past the point of no return. There are no terms they can come to. Too much has happened now.
As they whisper-argue over Luke and Jaeharys, the real meat of the conversation comes to the fore: what did the dying King Viserys say to Alicent that made her think he’d changed his mind about Rhaenyra being his heir? Rhaenyra can’t believe her ears when Alicent, who steadfastly believes she was honoring her husband’s wishes, says he muttered about “Aegon” and “the prince that was promised to unite the realm.” Rhaenyra knows, as we did when we saw it last season, that Viserys was referring to the Song of Ice and Fire, a dream that Aegon the Conquerer had. Wrong Aegon, Alicent! Wrong Aegon. But for Alicent, it’s too late, no matter how much Rhaenyra protests that there’s been a mistake. “There’s been no mistake,” Alicent insists. Otto’s been kicked out of court, Cole is on the march, “you know what Aemond is,” and it’s too late. As Alicent stalks away, Rhaenyra sets her jaw. Time to go to war. At last?
New episodes of House of the Dragon arrive Sundays on HBO and Max.
Let me just start by saying that I actually hate romance, and I don’t discriminate. I hate romance film, books, and television shows: the tacky plot, the cringe writing, the insufferable characters. But, to be transparent, I watch every single teeny-bopper love triangle show on the market.
I loved to hate The Summer I Turned Pretty, the adaptation of Jenny Han’s novel starring Lola Tung, Gavin Casalegno, and Christopher Briney in which Belly (Tung) falls in love with not one, but two brothers. It took over the world, having 30 year old women debating the question: Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?
The “stuck between two brothers” trope is ever-popular and goes hand-in-hand with the classic Love Triangle. Think The Vampire Diaries, where Elena can’t decide who’s really right for her: Stefan or Damon. Or Twilight’s ever-present battle of Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. So when I hear that Netflix has released their dupe of The Summer I Turned Pretty, I figured it would be the same, deliciously terrible media that we all love to consume…
Except it’s inherently terrible. Originally a Wattpad novel by Ali Novak, My Life With The Walter Boysfollows recent orphan Jackie Howard (Nikki Rodriguez) as she’s forced to move from Manhattan to Silver Falls, Colorado to live with her mom’s best friend (and her plethora of 10 sons) on a ranch.
Immediately, she’s torn between two boys: Cole, ex-football player who had a full ride to Alabama before he was injured (more on this later), and book nerd Alex, who is shy, soft-spoken, and making a play at Jackie’s heart. It has all the makings of the worst Hallmark film you’ve seen: overworked Manhattan socialite gets lost in small town with lumberjack that teaches her the meaning of Christmas. Except the men of the show are laughable at best.
Starting with Cole (Noah LaLonde), who absolutely cannot let anyone enjoy a football game without having a tantrum that he can’t play. Seriously, the guy had a breakdown when he learned someone else was wearing his number. So obviously, the clear lack of therapy and emotional comprehension is already a red flag…and to make matters worse he’s still in high school, so he just doesn’t want to play football if you ask me.
Jackie and Cole
Netflix
And then there’s Alex (Ashby Gentry). Hopeless, hopeless Alex. The Jeremiah of the brotherly duo. Poor Alex likes to read in his free time and is clearly the safer option for recently traumatized Jackie Howard. I have minimal problems with Alex in the same way I hate every character in this show, but his behavior offends me the least.
The show begs the question: what would happen if you combine The Vampire Diaries, The Fosters, The Summer I Turned Pretty…and gave it no plot with bad writing? And don’t you dare blame it on the Wattpad of it all…how could you when it gave us cinematic masterpieces like After?!
What is normally tolerable about these shows is that they are so simple, and the dialogue is so outrageous, that you physically can’t stop watching these characters ruin their lives. However, all I could think about while watching My Life With The Walter Boysis that every single character needs the heaviest of in-patient therapy.
Nevertheless, like all incessant annoyances in my life, My Life With The Walter Boys has been renewed for second season. And I guess I’ll have to watch.
