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  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 7 Reactions

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 7 Reactions

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    They’re not Rhaenyra’s newest dragonriders, but Chris Ryan, Joanna Robinson, and Mallory Rubin are back to break down the seventh episode of House of the Dragon! Daemon is getting some pushback, Alicent is going camping, Jace is unhappy, and so much more for our trio of lords to get through.

    Hosts: Chris Ryan, Joanna Robinson, and Mallory Rubin
    Production: Jack Wilson, Felipe Guilhermino, Chris Wohlers, Kevin Cureghian, Bobby Gibbons, Jonathan Frias, Ryan Todd, Tony Perry, Cory McConnell, Aleya Zenieris, Arjuna Ramgopal, Steve Ahlman, Jomi Adeniran, Abreanna Corrales, and Yvonne Wang

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Pandora / Google Podcasts

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    Chris Ryan

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  • Isles of Sea and Sky taught me it’s okay to move on

    Isles of Sea and Sky taught me it’s okay to move on

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    Sometimes, turning a linear game into an open world just makes sense. Whether it’s Elden Ring or Breath of the Wild, plenty of franchises have found that their core gameplay loops map well to an open world iteration. With Elden Ring, you can disperse the intense FromSoft difficulty across a map that invites players to “git gud” at their own pace. With Breath of the Wild, the entire world is now a dungeon, every hill and valley a puzzle. Playing both, it almost feels as though each franchise and its mechanics were just waiting to be spread across a sprawling map. They just feel right.

    By contrast, Isles of Sea and Sky, an open-world Sokoban game, isn’t quite as obvious a fit. But just because something isn’t immediately obvious doesn’t mean it won’t work.

    Released in late May, Cicada Games’s Isles of Sea and Sky employs Game Boy Color-era Zelda aesthetics in pursuit of a genre mashup that produces harmony and dissonance in equal parts. The game makes a great first impression. It evokes that feeling of playing Link’s Awakening DX (pre-remake), to the point where you’d be forgiven for mistaking one of Isles’ beaches for Awakening’s. Moving from screen to screen is a nostalgic joy, with a Vocaloid-infused soundtrack that imbues the game with even more personality, which is good, because at its core, open world or no, this is a Sokoban-ass Sokoban game.

    You will push blocks in Isles of Sea and Sky. You will push many, many standard-issue blocks into standard-issue holes, allowing you to cross over those holes in order to push more blocks. You will also push things that aren’t blocks, like little boulder dudes (definitely not Gorons) who roll as far as they can in the direction you push them, crushing any boxes they encounter. Or little water guys, who can extend riverways if you push them downstream. The puzzles start simply, easing you into the game’s increasing difficulty one screen at a time, until eventually you find yourself stumped. And, in being stumped, you will find yourself pushing up against the contradictions inherent to Isles’ mixture of freedom and linearity.

    Image: Cicada Games

    One of the pleasures of Sokoban games is the underlying conceit that, though you may feel frustrated by an individual puzzle, you always have the necessary abilities to get through the level. Each stage is then simply a matter of thinking and working through what things you have tried and not yet tried. You’re stuck, sure, but you’re not lacking anything you need to achieve the solution.

    Not so in Isles of Sea and Sky. Early on, you will be presented with puzzles you are not yet able to complete until you unlock a new ability. While plenty of games include this kind of lock-and-key design, where you must first unlock an ability before you can access certain areas, this runs contrary to genre expectations for Sokoban titles. Going into Isles, the player might reasonably expect that, if they’re stuck, they just need to keep trying different solutions. Such a mentality will get you through similar games like Baba Is You or A Monster’s Expedition. The solution is there. You just need to keep at it. By contrast, in Isles, you are often meant to move on, to travel elsewhere in the game’s map and overworld. In short, you are meant to give up when you get frustrated.

    At first, I found myself stymied by this dynamic. How am I meant to know when I am failing to understand a puzzle versus lacking the ability to solve it? When is my frustration an intended element of the solution and when is it futile? To its immense credit, Isles goes out of its way to reduce some of this frustration by allowing the player, at any point, to rewind their actions step-by-step, or to reset the entire puzzle, each with the press of a button. But you cannot rewind the real-life time you are putting into the game. You cannot undo the minutes spent bashing your head against the wall, stubbornly trying to solve something you are simply unable to solve. Encountering this, I found myself asking why anyone would design a game in this way, when they must know that players will get stuck like this.

    That’s when it hit me. They know players will get stuck like this.

    Full disclosure: I can be a bit stubborn. I like to think of myself as a creative problem-solver, but my general approach is to stick to something until it’s done. This can be a good trait (sticktoitiveness and all that), but it can also be a problem (see: my description above of bashing my head against the wall). Traditional Sokoban titles are designed with this kind of player in mind — someone like myself, who will spend hours trying out different things until finally they figure something out. The folks at Cicada Games clearly love this genre, as is evident by the sheer number and variety of puzzles they’ve crammed into Isles, but what they clearly don’t love is that feeling of being stuck without any recourse, of being unable to move on.

    Not to quote a meme, but to quote a meme: Isles of Sea and Sky is here to say “Just Walk Out. You Can Leave!!!” What began for me as a frustration with the game turned into a bit of self-reflection when I stopped to consider why, exactly, I felt the need to stay frustrated, when, at any point, I could simply leave, or, to quote our generation’s preeminent philosopher dasharez0ne, “hit da bricks!!!” Sure, there are some areas you cannot access before completing at least a certain number of puzzles, but in general, you can well and truly leave behind most anything that’s too frustrating in Isles and find something you’d rather be doing. The challenge, at least in my case, was in allowing myself to do so.

    As I’ve argued, Sokoban games are not an obvious fit for an open world iteration. Their inherent linearity rubs up against a style of game best known for its variety and, well, openness. The focus required of the player feels categorically different than the desirable distraction of asking, “What’s over that hill?” With Isles of Sea and Sky, specifically, there’s an immediate dissonance between how you expect to play a block-pushing puzzle game and how you’re meant to play this block-pushing puzzle game. But dissonance can resolve into consonance, to harmony and stability, and in Isles’ case, you’re pushed not only toward accepting limitation, but toward the inclination to free yourself.

    For me, it was difficult, at first, to see moving on as a valid strategy, having become so accustomed to the habit of pushing through mental blocks, both in Sokoban titles and in life. But once I did, I found that mentality extending beyond the game. Is stubbornness helping or hurting here? Do I have to sit in this feeling? Why do I think of moving on as giving up?

    In the end, I was happy to play a game that inspired this kind of self-reflection. Isles of Sea and Sky challenged me to take a step back, to reassess, and to move on. Maybe it’ll do the same for you.

    Isles of Sea and Sky was released May 22 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed with code provided by Cicada Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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    Grayson Morley

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  • Ser Criston Cole could rule the world if it wasn’t for all these dragons

    Ser Criston Cole could rule the world if it wasn’t for all these dragons

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    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 formidable Prince 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.

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    Duncan Butcher

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  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 5 Instant Reactions

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 5 Instant Reactions

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    Dragon meat’s back on the menu as the Midnight Boys get into HotD with reactions to the latest episode of Season 2 (05:03). Later, listen as the guys discuss their initial feelings about Captain America: Brave New World after watching the trailer (01:18:00).

    Hosts: Van Lathan, Charles Holmes, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman
    Producers: Aleya Zenieris, Cory McConnell, Jonathan Kermah, and Steve Ahlman
    Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts

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    Van Lathan

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  • A Local Hut of Pizza With New York Slices Hopes to Outduel the Competition

    A Local Hut of Pizza With New York Slices Hopes to Outduel the Competition

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    The owners of Replay Lincoln Park are continuing to serve up ‘90s pop-culture nostalgia with the arrival of a New York-style pizza shop inside the former Broken English Taco Pub in Lincoln Park.

    Seemingly a call out to the space’s former life 14 years ago as Hoagie Hut, hospitality veteran Mark Kwiatkowski has opened the Slice Hut at Neon Gardens inside the sprawling unique corner space at Lincoln and Sheffield. The Hut, which opened in early June at 2580 N. Lincoln Avenue, represents the first phase of a two-part opening featuring gelato, Sicilian slices, and whole pies.

    The Slice Hut is open in Lincoln Park.

    The space went through extensive remodeling in 2015 — melding a few neighboring buildings into a single complex. Kwiatkowski says he’s long wished for a New York-style specialist in the neighborhood. He also understands the power of a nostalgic reference — he’s deployed a team of artists while producing a lengthy list of unofficial pop-up events, tapping into a potent cast of characters synonymous with pizza parties. “We started thinking about pizza — what’s the pop-culture reference?” he says. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles partnered with Pizza Hut in the ‘90s for a promotional deal, and the Slice Hut lends itself perfectly to a retro Pizza Hut-inspired design.”

    The 16-seat space evokes a time capsule of the chain in its heyday, from its exposed brick walls and Coca-Cola clock to Pizza Hut’s signature red-and-white checkerboard tablecloths. Pizza options include chicken bacon ranch (Italian pico), Buffalo chicken with blue cheese sauce, and macaroni and cheese, alongside pizza pinwheels that resemble cinnamon buns, salads, sandwiches, and gelato from Vero Coffee & Gelato in suburban Elmwood Park. There’s a loading zone outside for takeout customers and a walk-up window for those who want to grab a quick slice from the sidewalk.

    Two New York-style pizzas behind a counter.

    Pies are available whole or by-the-slice.

    A pizza shop with exposed brick walls and red-and-white checkerboard tablecloths.

    The Slice Hut’s design pays tribute to a certain infamous pizza chain.

    Not content to open just one new business, the team is preparing to launch adjoining spot Neon Gardens, a full-service restaurant and bar that takes the chaotic aesthetic of four famous, ninjutsu-trained reptiles to new heights. It will open Friday, July 19 with a 50-seat bar area bears a gallery wall of works from Renaissance painters (say, Michelangelo) that the squad altered with spray paint and illustrations, and a sunny atrium (which also seats 50) designed to resemble an overgrown Roman statuary garden laden with graffiti, as if “some street artist came in and had all this great canvas to play with,” Kwiatkowski says.

    It also houses a game room, which embraces the neon-lit, underground energy of the Turtles’ sewer lair complete with slimy green substances oozing down the walls and more than a dozen games including darts, shuffleboard, and arcade games. Patrons can also expect an array of TVs hooked up to multi-game consoles with hits like Super Smash Bros. that will rotate based on popularity. The venue is topped off with a patio where the team can host pop-ups, kicking off later this summer with a Portofino-themed event with Aperol spritzes, salumi, and TikTok-friendly visuals like a Vespa and classic Italian films on a projection screen.

    A dining room atrium with large red booths and street art all over the walls.

    The atrium’s design bears a whiff of late-stage capitalism.

    During the day, Neon Gardens is a family-friendly affair, but after 9 p.m., staff will dim the lights, turn up the music, and transform the space into a 21-and-up venue. Kwiatkowski hopes it will attract a lively crowd and help boost the neighborhood’s energy overall. “Lincoln Park is coming back — it sleepy for so many years,” he says. “but now, with some of the young people who are maybe a little tired of River North or West Loop, it’s got some energy and excitement again.”

    Behold the Slice Hut and Neon Gardens in the photographs below.

    The Slice Hut at Neon Gardens, 2580 N. Lincoln Avenue.

    A person lifts a slice from a chicken bacon ranch pizza.

    Chicken bacon ranch pizza.

    A round tray of cinnamon bun-shaped pizza pinwheels.

    Pizza pinwheels.

    A row of New York-style pizzas behind a counter.

    A pizza shop with exposed brick walls.

    A long bar space with a bright purple bar.

    The bar area at Neon Gardens applies a street art-style spin to classic Renaissance paintings.

    A close-up of a piece of wall art.

    A close-up of a table and chairs beside a window.

    A dining room atrium with red furniture.

    Neon Gardens’ atrium seats 50.

    A dining room atrium with red furniture.

    A section of a game room filled with arcade and video games.

    Go ninja, go ninja, go — to the game room.

    Two arcade games inside Neon Gardens’ game room.

    Don’t eat that green ooze.

    A wall painted with cartoon characters.

    A table and arcade games inside Neon Gardens’ game room.

    A close-up of a retro video game unit.

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    Naomi Waxman

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  • The Bikeriders, The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and every movie new to streaming this week

    The Bikeriders, The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and every movie new to streaming this week

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    Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

    This week, The Bikeriders, the new crime drama starring Jodie Comer (The Last Duel) and Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two), comes to VOD alongside The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and several other exciting new releases. That’s not all — there’s tons of other movies new to streaming to watch this weekend, like the hybrid animated period drama The Peasants on Netflix, the sci-fi drama The Animal Kingdom on Hulu, a documentary on the life and career of actress Faye Dunaway on Max, and much more.

    Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!

    New on Netflix

    The Peasants

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

    Image: Breakthru Films/Sony Pictures Classics

    Genre: Animated historical drama
    Run time: 1h 54m
    Directors: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman
    Cast: Kamila Urzędowska, Robert Gulaczyk, Mirosław Baka

    Loving Vincent directing duo DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman return with yet another period drama composed of thousands of hand-painted images. Set in a 19th-century Polish village rife with feuding and gossip, a young woman named Jagna strives desperately to forge a life for herself beyond the expectations of those around her.

    New on Hulu

    The Animal Kingdom

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

    A bearded man with his arm around the shoulders of a teenage boy in The Animal Kingdom.

    Image: Magnet Releasing

    Genre: Sci-fi
    Run time: 2h 10m
    Director: Thomas Cailley
    Cast: Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos

    In a world where humans have been stricken with a genetic mutation that transforms them into animal hybrids, a desperate father (Romain Duris) takes his son (Paul Kircher) to search for his wife, who has disappeared into a nearby forest along with other similarly affected hybrids. Think Sweet Tooth meets The Lobster. Polygon had the opportunity to speak with Cailey about the origins and creature design of the film.

    New on Max

    Faye

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Max

    Genre: Documentary
    Run time: 1h 31m
    Director: Laurent Bouzereau

    This documentary looks back on the life and career of Faye Dunaway, the Academy Award-winning actress known for her iconic performances in such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Network, and Chinatown. Bouzereau’s film collects testimonies from Dunaway’s peers and admirers, as well as extensive interviews with Dunaway herself.

    New on Prime Video

    Divorce in the Black

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video

    Two people sit at a tense dinner

    Image: Prime Video

    Genre: Drama
    Run time: 2h 23m
    Director: Tyler Perry
    Cast: Meagan Good, Cory Hardrict, Joseph Lee Anderson

    Tyler Perry’s newest movie follows a young bank professional whose husband leaves her. At first she’s determined to fight for their marriage, but she soon realizes that her husband once sabotaged her chance at true love.

    New on Shudder

    Arcadian

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder

    A man and two boys seated behind the wheel of a dilapidated vehicle in Arcadia.

    Photo: Patrick Redmond/RLJE Films

    Genre: Action horror
    Run time: 1h 31m
    Director: Benjamin Brewer
    Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins

    If you already caught Nicolas Cage in Longlegs, here’s another Cageian drama for you. The actor stars as a father of two sons desperate to protect and raise his family in a near future Earth decimated by the arrival of a ferocious nocturnal creatures. When their father is wounded by one of these creatures, his sons must band together and call upon every lesson of their training in order to survive.

    From our review:

    Once the action really gets underway, though, Cage is largely absent, and muddy spatial relationships and confusing, hard-to-see action take a significant percentage of the power out of what should be an explosive final act. And once the film settles into a fairly standard chase-and-fight movie, its lack of more character depth or nuance, or more compelling relationships between the protagonists, limits what the filmmakers can do to make this story stand out from all the past projects it echoes. Arcadian does a few things remarkably well for a sci-fi/horror movie, but it needed a lot more to really spark: more commitment to its vaguely realized setting, more energy between the two very different brothers at its center, and above all, more Nicolas Cage — either version of him.

    New to rent

    Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    A gorilla from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes snarls at the camera

    Image: 20th Century Studios

    Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi
    Run time: 2h 25m
    Director: Wes Ball
    Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand

    Picking up 300 years after the events of Matt Reeves’ War of the Planet of the Apes, this new installment in the franchise follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape who embarks on a journey to rescue his tribe from Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a maniacal ape who has twisted Caesar’s legacy to create an empire built on conquest and slavery.

    From our review:

    As a story, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes rarely reaches above narrative competence. But because of its almost single-minded focus on the apes, its technical prowess in their rendering is always front and center. It is frankly incredible what the team at Wētā FX has done in conjunction with all of the film’s other effects artists to bring the apes to life, to give them all distinct body language, and to faithfully transpose actors’ every tic and subtle expression onto their faces. These are some of the most soulful digital creations ever seen in a blockbuster action movie, and it’s incredible to see them in a film that is so pedestrian.

    The Bikeriders

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    Austin Butler, with mussed-up hair, wearing a black sleeveless top, leans forward in a moody way in The Bikeriders

    Image: 20th Century Studios

    Genre: Crime drama
    Run time: 1h 56m
    Director: Jeff Nichols
    Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy

    The Bikeriders follows a motorcycle club over the course of a decade, as they go from a simple gathering of enthusiasts to a hardened gang. Jodie Comer plays Kathy, a young woman who gets swept up in the biker gang world after meeting hotheaded Benny (Austin Butler).

    From our review:

    The Bikeriders is a film of old-fashioned, simple pleasures: great tunes, perfect costumes, myth-making shots, and a cast of great character actors really going for it. (Including, but not limited to, Michael Shannon, West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Justified’s Damon Herriman, and a completely unrecognizable Norman Reedus as a shaggy Californian wildman biker.) It’s a film about looking at the gorgeous, unknowable people on the screen — and that one gorgeous, unknowable person in particular — just as Hardy’s character does at one point with Marlon Brando in The Wild One, and thinking: What would it be like to be them?

    The Exorcism

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    Russell Crowe dressed as a priest with dried bile and blood covering his beard in The Exorcism.

    Image: Vertical Entertainment

    Genre: Horror thriller
    Run time: 1h 35m
    Director: Joshua John Miller
    Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington

    Russell Crowe plays an actor on the set of a supernatural horror film that resembles the original Exorcist movie. His mental state is in slow decline, and as his behavior becomes more erratic, his daughter begins to suspect that there might be a more sinister cause behind it than his previous substance addictions.

    The Garfield Movie

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    Jon Arbuckle shaves parmesan cheese over Garfield’s lasagna while Odie watches in a still from The Garfield Movie

    Image: Sony Pictures

    Genre: Adventure comedy
    Run time: 1h 41m
    Director: Mark Dindal
    Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham

    It’s Chris Pratt! As Garfield! The lazy orange cat reunites with his long lost father Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, of all people). Along with Odie, Vic and Garfield plan a heist to a farm so that they can steal a lot of milk in order to appease the Persian cat crime boss that Vic works for. The movie comes by way of director Mark Dindal, best known for The Emperor’s New Groove.

    The Convert

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    A stern looking beared man with bruises on his face staring off at something in the distance with a large wooden totem behind him in The Convert.

    Image: MBK Productions/Magnolia Pictures

    Genre: Historical drama
    Run time: 1h 59m
    Director: Lee Tamahori
    Cast: Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha

    In this historical drama, a preacher comes to a remote outpost in New Zealand — only to get caught in the middle of a war between Māori tribes. It’s based on the 2011 novel Wulf by New Zealand author Hamish Clayton.

    Wildcat

    Maya Hawke as Flannery O’Connor reading a letter while standing next to her open mailbox in Wildcat.

    Image: Renovo Media Group/Oscilloscope Laboratories

    Genre: Biographical drama
    Run time: 1h 43m
    Director: Ethan Hawke
    Cast: Maya Hawke, Rafael Casal, Philip Ettinger

    Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) stars in her father Ethan Hawke’s latest film: a biographical drama centering on the life and struggles of the inimitable Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor. Wildcat follows O’Connor’s efforts to publish her first novel, interspersed with episodes reenacting characters and scenes inspired by the author’s own short stories.

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    Toussaint Egan

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  • News of Revival Food Hall’s Demise May Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

    News of Revival Food Hall’s Demise May Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

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    The story begins, like so many today, with a social media post. Confusion, as is sometimes the case, soon followed. Still, this story may have a happy ending.

    On Friday, July 5, Revival Food Hall announced on Instagram that it would be closing at the end of the month, citing an inability to reach “better business terms from our landlord [CBRE]” as the cause. At the time, it was assumed the food hall and its 14 vendors would be shutting down permanently. As it turns out, the venue will remain open but will be under new management, Atlanta-based STHRN Hospitality, with a new name to come.

    When it opened in 2016, Revival was a first of its kind for the city and featured 15 local food vendors. Local also applied to much of the space’s fixtures, metalwork, and furniture, which was crafted by Dock 6 Collective, a group of independent Chicago artisans.

    Located in the lobby of The National, a 1905 Daniel Burnham-designed building, Revival Hall was the brainchild of Bruce Finkelman and Craig Golden. The duo and their 16” on Center company are also responsible for Thalia Hall, Empty Bottle, Longman & Eagle, and The Promontory among others. Since then, they’ve grown their hospitality group to include Salt Shed, From Here On (another food hall inside the Old Post Office), and Manhattan’s Olly Olly, the last two are food halls as well.

    “It was a labor of love and when we started eight years ago, we had no idea what we were doing,” says Finkelman of Revival Hall’s early days. “We had an understanding of our mission of treating the Loop like a neighborhood like nobody else had done, and also being able to showcase some of the great local culinary talent that we had in Chicago.”

    With the changing economic environment, Revival had been in discussions with their landlord to figure out a way to continue and operate for the long term, says Finkelman. “It was communicated to us recently that that was not going to be a possibility and we didn’t have a choice but to move on.”

    Enter STHRN, a consulting and management company that formed in 2020 — a partnership with George Banks of real estate consulting firm Revel, Elizabeth Feichter (Atlanta Food and Wine Festival), and Kelly Campbell of culinary consulting business Southern Culinary and Creative (Gather ‘round, Epicurean Atlanta hotel). They’ve been behind a few Atlanta restaurants, and food halls in Atlanta, Cincinnati, and LA.

    For Ravi Nagubadi, owner and founder of Art of Dosa, getting a spot in Revival was a dream come true. “When I first came to Revival in 2016, and I was dreaming about setting up a business of my own, I said to myself, this is the place to be,” he says, citing the vibe, the food stalls curated, and the crowds.

    Art of Dosa came on board the day after Christmas 2019. While it’s been “a struggle,” he says, the pandemic notwithstanding, in the last few months Nagubadi has seen an improvement in business. So he was surprised when he got a call from Tim Wickes, manager of Revival, giving him the heads up about the transition.

    “I don’t even want to venture into the specifics of it,” says Nagubadi, adding that the words “court decision” were in the letter they were given. “It’s one of these things where you’re the kids and your parents made it seem like everything was okay, but all of a sudden they told you they’re getting divorced.”

    While Nagubadi has nothing but praise for Revival Hall — “It was the model for all food halls in the country and was a revelation when it came out and still is, so kudos and credit to them,” he says — he’s hopeful for the future. “As a business owner, my number one thing has to be do whatever I have to do to continue the business,” he says. “I’m excited for what that new chapter’s going to bring.”

    Matt Sussman of Danke, one of two of the original Revival vendors still there, has also seen an increase in business of late. “I don’t think it’s ever been busier than it is now,” he says, especially during peak times, Tuesday through Thursday during lunch.

    Sussman (who also owns two Logan Square restaurants — Table, Donkey & Stick and the new Bar Parisette) also expressed confidence about the future of Revival after meeting in person with representatives from STHRN. “While no one was very forthcoming about what happened — and I don’t know if and when that information would be public — I expect things will continue in a way that is conducive to us operating there as we always have.”

    STHRN is no stranger to running food halls. “Collectively, we saw an opportunity to create a business that didn’t exist, which is running bars, restaurants, and cafes in food halls on behalf of building owners,” says Banks, one of the company’s founders.

    “We are excited to get involved with an iconic asset that’s been a real stalwart for the Loop community for years now,” says another founder, Campbell, adding that a different name should be the only difference post-July 31 when STHRN takes over. “To the patron who comes in one day, it will look the same the next.”

    For their part, the Revival Hall folks have reached out to the building to offer their help in the transition.

    “The most important thing is that whoever the new folks are in there, that they really take care of these great businesses and the people who want to stay,” says Finkelman. “While we’re sad to see it go, we hope that whatever happens that they honor what we’ve tried to bring there.”

    And this may not be the end for Revival Hall. Says Finkelman, “We have so many projects on the docket right now that who’s to say that Revival can’t find its way to another building or another area.”

    Meanwhile, vendors like Danke and Art of Dosa are trying to battle misconceptions. A group of vendors collaborated on a Thursday, July 11 Instagram post hoping to get the word out that their businesses aren’t disappearing. Despite 16” on Center’s announcement that they’re not closing their doors and that they’ll be around when the new operators take over: “Let’s clear this up…WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. Same Space. Same Restaurants. Same Hours. The Space is simply changing management groups.”

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    Lisa Shames

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  • Burning Questions About the Future of Paramount

    Burning Questions About the Future of Paramount

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    Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to look at what the future holds for Paramount now that David Ellison has purchased the legacy media company from Shari Redstone. They discuss what will happen to Paramount’s assets—including CBS, Pluto, Paramount+—their movie strategy, and ultimately whether a new, young, tech-focused CEO can not only keep Paramount alive, but help it flourish (02:22). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the upcoming criminal trial of Alec Baldwin in the Rust case (25:57).

    For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, What I’m Hearing …, click this link: puck.news/thetown

    Email us your thoughts! thetown@spotify.com

    Host: Matt Belloni
    Guest: Lucas Shaw
    Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez
    Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

    Subscribe: Spotify

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    Matthew Belloni

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  • This minor character is the new hero of the Demon Slayer fandom

    This minor character is the new hero of the Demon Slayer fandom

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    The characters in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba distinguish themselves through their extraordinary bravery. Tanjiro Kamado, for example, consistently pushes himself to the brink of death just so that he can save the people around him. Then there’s Murata.

    The first time the show introduces him, Murata runs away from the battle only to get caught by a demon. This side character is so forgettable he doesn’t get fun-colored hair or even a second name. He has no special powers, and his superiors chastise him often. He’s just your run-of-the-mill guy who happens to be caught up in the ruckus of several major battles.

    But none of that matters, because fans of the Demon Slayer anime have unofficially anointed Murata as the series’ favorite and unofficial strongest character.

    Let’s be clear: Murata is not all that powerful in the world of Demon Slayer. He is a standard grunt in the Demon Slayer corps and doesn’t practice any special breathing techniques. But that hasn’t hindered his reputation.

    If anything, the idea that he’s the only regular dude among loads of seasoned fighters helps bring out the inherent irony of the bit.

    In one video, which has more than 1.9 million views on TikTok, the creator layers text over a clip where Murata falls into the Infinity Castle — a vast domain and home to the most powerful demon, Muzan. The text says, “muzan’s worst mistake was putting murata within the same radius as him.” In the comments, people voice support for the joke and a person replies, “Muzan only goes outside at night because Murata is sleeping.” It’s been liked more than 22,000 times.

    TikTok is filled with videos making jokes more or less like the one above, but the gag has only snowballed. Another video, which has more than 3.6 million views, makes a crack about how the entire fandom agrees that Murata is the strongest.

    Now, fans are building on the original joke, inventing a fake but super-powerful fighting technique that only Murata knows, called “galaxy breathing.” The idea has become so popular that it’s a suggested search term in the comments.

    This isn’t the first and likely won’t be the last communal shitposting from the Demon Slayer community. This is the same fandom that started roasting each other at the live showings for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, after all.

    Luckily, this time, everyone has decided to leave reality out of it by elevating an average character to a god-tier level of power.

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    Ana Diaz

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  • Chicago Starts Five-Year Phase-Out of Tipped Minimum Wage

    Chicago Starts Five-Year Phase-Out of Tipped Minimum Wage

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    Tipped hospitality workers across Chicago are getting a raise on Monday, July 1 as a hotly debated city ordinance goes into effect, increasing the tipped minimum wage from $9.48 per hour to $11.02.

    The result of a historic vote by Chicago’s City Council in October 2023, the ordinance will phase out the city’s tipped minimum wage — essentially, a subminimum wage augmented by tips — growing it by eight percent annually over five years. This will continue until it matches the standard wage, which is also increasing as of Monday from $15.80 per hour to $16.20 for businesses with four or more employees.

    In addition, changes in paid time off have also gone into effect. Employees who work at least 80 hours through a 120-day duration are entitled to five days of paid leave and five days of paid sick leave. The 10 combined days were a compromise from the 15 that was proposed last year.

    Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has called the efforts his team’s way of “making Chicago the most pro-worker city in the country.” They’re the culmination of work by activists like the progressive group One Fair Wage and officials including Johnson (who made it part of his platform), the wage increases were the subject of much divisive debate last year. In the early years of the pandemic, local hospitality workers began speaking out more loudly than ever about the challenges of relying on tips to get by. Opponents, however, including some members of the Illinois Restaurant Association, countered with fears that the increase in costs for operators would force them to raise prices and thus alienate customers, harming restaurant businesses in the long term.

    Johnson’s 2023 mayoral victory was key, says national labor activist Saru Jayaraman, founder of One Fair Wage. By August, Jayaraman declared that the city’s ordinance was all but passed. But in September, opponents threw a Hail Mary by proposing a new association-backed ordinance that would increase Chicago’s tipped minimum wage to $20.54 per hour — the highest in the nation — in any restaurant that uses the tip credit.

    Within days, however, the sides reached a compromise and the restaurant association dropped its opposition to a revised ordinance that established a $500,000 pool from private funds to help smaller restaurants transition and address the need for unionized restaurants to pay lower wages per worker contracts. This move cleared the way for activists and supporters to declare victory ahead of the city council vote.

    Many across the U.S. are keeping a close eye on Chicago, waiting to see how the ordinance will impact the city’s hospitality industry. Seven states — Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, and Washington — had long dispensed with a tip credit, and in May 2023, Washington D.C. voted to increase its tipped minimum wage from $5.35 per hour to $10. This year, legislators have proposed raises to the tipped minimum wage in 17 states including Illinois, but no bills have yet passed, according to the Sun-Times.

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    Naomi Waxman

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  • Just ranting

    Just ranting

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    Me just ranting.
    Well my day has been a complete **** show.
    A ******* tourists rat bastard dog just killed 7 of my lambs and tore off the faces of three ewes.
    And now I have to get more ******* paperwork and legal **** to get compensation from the owner for the cost of the dead lambs.
    **** MY LIFE.

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  • The Star-Studded Hollywood Premiere of ‘The Bear’ Featured Two Chicago Restaurants

    The Star-Studded Hollywood Premiere of ‘The Bear’ Featured Two Chicago Restaurants

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    When The Bear needed to source seafood for its star-studded “Fishes” episode, they turned to Publican Quality Meats’ Rob Levitt.

    Levitt, who had a bit onscreen role in Season 2, says show reps asked him how to properly cook lobster. He ended up blanching them without knowing what they would be used for until he watched the award-winning episode.

    “And then I see Jamie Lee Curtis ‘cooking’ the lobsters that I cooked,” Levitt says. Curtis would win an Emmy for her role.

    As Season 3 goes live for streaming at 8 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, June 26 on Hulu, a contingent of Chicago’s restaurant community in town for Hollywood’s official premiere party for The Bear at the El Capitan Theatre. Both Publican Quality Meats’ Levitt and One Off Hospitality Group’s Donnie Madia and Loaf Lounge’s Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader, Ben Lustbader, and Cristina Gandarilla. Madia appeared on Season 2 in a scene filmed at Avec in West Loop, while Mispagel-Lustbader worked on Season 1 and famously created a chocolate cake for the show, inspired by Portillo’s. They were the only two Chicago businesses represented in the lineup. Others included Pizzeria Bianco, Chris Bianco’s famous pizzeria with locations in Arizona and LA; Night + Market, LA’s famous Thai street food specialist; and Dave Beran from Pasjoli, a French restaurant in LA. Beran started his career in Chicago, working at Mk the Restaurant, Tru, and Alinea.

    Photo by Emma McIntyre/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

    US-ENTERTAINMENT-TELEVISION-STREAMING

    Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

    Premiere For FX’s “The Bear” Season 3 - Arrivals

    Photo by Tommaso Boddi/FilmMagic

    Tyler, the Creator enjoyed the cookies from Loaf Lounge.

    Loaf Lounge is celebrating the Season 3 premiere with free slices of cake at 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 27. Mispagel-Lustbader says she’s kept in touch with actor Lionel Boyce, who plays the show’s pastry chef, Marcus Brooks. The two worked closely in Season 1 as Mispagel-Lustbader shared dessert prowess: “Lionel came and said ‘hi’ to us right away, and was very kind as always!” Mispagel-Lustbader texts. “He’s been into Loaf Lounge and has been really great every time we’ve chatted and worked together.”

    The show’s producers, including Park Ridge native Courtney Storer, a food consultant on the series, and her brother — creator Christopher Storer — have leaned on Chicago’s restaurants to ensure the show’s authenticity. They returned the favor at the premiere and created an amusement park-like atmosphere with stalls built to look like Publican Quality Meats and other restaurants. Levitt was blown away that crews had somehow built a butcher shop just based on emails and photos: “It was beautiful,” he says.

    Levitt and Publican Quality Meats sous chef Kyle Huff served Italian sausage with marinated peppers — they shipped the meat to LA early because they wanted to make the sausages. They also made a crostini with PQM mortadella. Levitt says Matty Matheson, who plays Neil Fak on the show, complimented him on the latter.

    Four folks hanging out behind a counter.

    (From left to right) Donnie Madia, Heidi Hageman, Rob Levitt, and Klyle Huff poses at a stall made to look like their Chicago restaurant.
    One Off Hospitality Group

    Two folks posing outdoors, one wearing a blue top, other a tan suit.

    One Off Hospitality Group’s Donnie Madia (right) poses with The Bear culinary producer Courtney Storer.
    One Off Hospitality Group

    A table of cakes and cookies.

    Loaf Lounge partnered with local bakers at the Hollywood premiere.
    Courtesy of Loaf Lounge

    Loaf Lounge teamed with a baker local to LA, Nicole Bakes Cakes, who created the signature chocolate cake for the party. Loaf Lounge also served ruby sprinkle cookies. Rapper Tyler, the Creator was a fan: “I think he had about six and was very expressive about enjoying them!” Mispagel-Lustbader texts.

    Another highlight came from actress Gillian Jacobs, who plays Tiffany Jerimovich, ex-wife of Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richie Jerimovich. The former Community star proved curious about the operation and asked Levitt questions about PQM’s methods, showing genuine enthusiasm.

    Two folks posing

    Loaf Lounge’s Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader (left) reconnects with Lionel Boyce, a star of “The Bear.”
    Courtesy of Loaf Lounge

    Beyond the seafood from “Fishes,” Levitt also cut most of the steaks used in Season 2. The TV crew had specific requests, including dry-aged beef. Apparently, the show purchased a ton of product from Publican, including guanciale. Levitt’s favorite request was where to source duck prosciutto. He decided to make it himself. Those details make a difference: “It wasn’t just a prop or afterthought,” Levitt says. “The meat is treated more like a character.”

    When Levitt arrives home, Publican Quality Meats celebrate the premiere with an Italian beef special running from Thursday, June 27, through Saturday, June 29. The beef is made with top round and uses a French loaf baked by Greg Wade, the James Beard-award-winning baker at Publican Quality Bread. Caruso Provisions provide the giardiniera.

    Mispagel-Lustbader texts about a “refreshed excitement for the cake” back home and says she was proud of repping Chicago on the West Coast: “I think a lot of our regulars are feeling a sense of pride that their neighborhood spot got to shine in LA for a night,” she text. “I think we made some new West Coast friends, too.”

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    Ashok Selvam

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  • Nintendo News and ‘Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’ Impressions

    Nintendo News and ‘Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’ Impressions

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    Ben, Steve Ahlman, and Matt James discuss the biggest news from this week’s Nintendo Direct (including a Legend of Zelda with playable Zelda and proof of life for Metroid Prime 4), gaming’s suddenly stacked release schedule for the rest of 2024, and what the Switch 2’s launch lineup could look like. Then they reflect on the legacy of Elden Ring and share their spoiler-free early impressions of its acclaimed new expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree.

    Host: Ben Lindbergh
    Guests: Steve Ahlman and Matt James
    Producer: Devon Renaldo
    Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts

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    Ben Lindbergh

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  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree guides and walkthroughs

    Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree guides and walkthroughs

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    Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC poses one big question, the type of earthshaking query that can rattle the philosophical foundation of any gamer’s mindset: “What if Elden Ring, but more?”

    In truth, you’re the only person who can answer that question for yourself. But if you’ve played a bunch of the base game — and hit all the pre-requisites for accessing the DLC — one look at Shadow of the Erdtree is likely enough impetus to sigh, sit down, and recognize it’s time to do it all again.

    As with all things Elden Ring, there’s no need to brave this expansion alone. Start with our guide on the recommended level for Shadow of the Erdtree, then see what to do first in the Elden Ring DLC, or get lost in our interactive map. From there, if you find yourself stuck on any of the byzantine legacy dungeons, check out our walkthroughs for Belurat, Castle Ensis, and Shadow Keep.

    We have guides on where to find DLC map fragments and DLC talismans, plus guides on two collectibles specific to Shadow of the Erdtree: Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes. Those are in addition to lists on spells, weapons, and armor introduced in the DLC.

    And, go figure, there’s no shortage of horrible bosses here. A particular enemy giving you grief? Our guides can help you beat the Blackgaol Knight; Divine Beast Dancing Lion; Rellanna, Twin Moon Knight; and the Golden Hippopotamus.

    Yes, “more Elden Ring” might sound like a daunting proposition. But Shadow of the Erdtree retains one quality that made the base game such a standout: It’s way easier (and way more fun) when you phone a friend.

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    Polygon Staff

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  • Nvidia

    Nvidia

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    Workers install cooling fans on a supercomputer that will train Tesla’s new Autopilot. The supercomputer will consist of 50 thousand Nvidia H100 accelerators. Such a data center requires approximately 75 megawatts of electricity. Located in a gigafactory in Texas.

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  • The Owners of Headquarters Beercade Unleash a Cocktail Restaurant Plush With Mixology Theatrics

    The Owners of Headquarters Beercade Unleash a Cocktail Restaurant Plush With Mixology Theatrics

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    After six months of anticipation, the owners of Headquarters Beercade have launched a new cocktail den around the corner from their arcade bar, just north of River North.

    Chireal Jordan and Brian Galati, who also own Machine, the Instagram-friendly floral phantasmagoria in Wicker Park, have spent more than two years creating Dearly Beloved, which opened Friday, June 14 at 900 N. Franklin Street in the former home of French dining stalwart Kiki’s. The longtime friends and business partners have until now kept most details under wraps, but are unabashed about their ambitions for the new “cocktail restaurant” — their latest and most elaborate venue yet.

    “We really want to rub elbows with the big dogs,” says Jordan, who notes that he and Galati spent about a year and a half on research trips around the country and the world. “We want to compete not just locally, but nationally.”

    Dearly Beloved is the most ambitious venue yet from the owners of Machine and Headquarters Beercade.
    Marisa Klug-Morataya/Dearly Beloved

    Armed with more than two decades of experience in Chicago hospitality, the partners see Dearly Beloved both as the culmination of what they’ve learned and a rare opportunity to unleash Aneka Saxon’s most outside-the-box ideas for drinks featuring lesser-known distillers and esoteric ingredients. Saxon is a Violet Hour alum and Machine’s lead bartender. Her opening offerings include the “Captured Shadow” (makrut lime-infused Kyro dark gin, agave, absinthe, coconut chai foam, citrus dust) and “Beautiful and Damned” (Ritual Sister smoked pineapple, Amara Amaro D’Arancia Rossa, Field Trip squash, dandelion honey, fenugreek).

    Jordan wants patrons with open minds and the willingness to try unusual spirits and flavor combinations. Still, those seeking a more familiar tipple can order from a lineup of classic cocktails with slight twists like Pisco Sours (Logia Acholado pisco, tangerine apricot oleo saccharum, quail egg, juniper berry) and espresso martinis (Tenjaku vodka, Good Liquorworks coffee fruit vodka, Big Shoulders espresso, mascarpone, Faretti biscotti liqueur).

    An orange cocktail in a flower-shaped glass.

    Hot and Cold Blood (Balvenie 14-year Caribbean scotch, passionfruit, tres leches espuma).
    Marisa Klug-Morataya/Dearly Beloved

    A yellow cocktail in a Nick and Nora glass with an orange cheese moon garnish.

    Waiting for the Moon (Iichiko Saiten shochu, snap pea infused Glendalough gin, Sirene Americano Bianco, Luxardo limoncello, cheese moon).
    Marisa Klug-Morataya/Dearly Beloved

    Dearly Beloved’s menu also attends to a growing demand for tasty, well-made nonalcoholic drinks — a phenomenon Jordan understands well, as his fiancée is expecting their second child — with booze-free concoctions like Last Straw (Seedlip spice, chicory coffee, shiso, lavender, Madagascar vanilla). “We don’t want Shirley Temples on this menu — we wanted cocktails that you can’t tell are alcohol-free,” he says.

    As the partners’ coinage of “cocktail restaurant” heavily implies, drinks are the main attraction at Dearly Beloved, but Machine executive chef Kristofer Lohraff offers selections that are heavy on vegetables in fun and unexpected forms. Dishes include carrot mochi (coconut curry, sesame, ginger), cigar-shaped Potato and Caviar (potato pave, malt vinegar, burnt shallot), French onion ramen (short rib, French onion soup dashi, fontina). The latter is particularly notable as Chicago is seeing an uptick in surprising cross-cultural ramen inventions like avgolemono ramen at newish Mediterranean restaurant Tama in Bucktown.

    At 6,000 square feet, Dearly Beloved is divided into various tiers and sections, seating 60 at the bar and 94 in the lounge. The aesthetic rides a narrow fence between eeriness and elegance as moody lighting filters through glass chandeliers. An elaborate Victorian metal railing flanks an elevated section and ornate, otherworldly artwork fills the walls, punctuated by a 2,500-pound sculptural centerpiece above the back bar. A visual vignette of a woman in two forms — masked and unmasked — it extends two-and-a-half feet from the wall and taps into the sexy-yet-sinister masquerade style of Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 thriller Eyes Wide Shut.

    A bowl of French onion ramen.

    French onion ramen (short rib, French onion soup dashi, fontina).
    Marisa Klug-Morataya/Dearly Beloved

    A sculpture of hands holding out a mask.

    Marisa Klug-Morataya/Dearly Beloved

    A dozen years have passed since Jordan and Galati founded ultra-casual arcade bar Headquarters Beercade in Lakeview and the partners say they’ve grown significantly as operators over the intervening years. With Juneteenth being more widely recognized, Jordan says that Chicago’s hospitality scene has also evolved, especially for Black hospitality entrepreneurship following the racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd.

    “I [once] felt very painted in a corner with a handful of other [Black] operators for years,” he says. “Now I’m seeing more people of color opening on the North Side — people I don’t know are getting more opportunities to get loans and open up. It’s not like fixed everything and now it’s an even playing field… we’re probably decades away from that, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

    Dearly Beloved, 900 N. Franklin Street. Reservations via OpenTable.

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    Naomi Waxman

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  • A Son for a Son: The ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Power Rankings

    A Son for a Son: The ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Power Rankings

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    House of the Dragon is back, and the Dance of the Dragons is underway. The Targaryen war of succession will come down to control—who can control their impulses, their sycophants, and, yes, their dragons. With each passing episode, The Ringer will examine how Westeros’s key players are aligning their pieces on the board. As the saying goes, chaos can be a ladder. Welcome to the House of the Dragon power rankings.

    1. Cregan Stark

    In the opening scene of Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Cregan Stark—a.k.a. the Wolf of the North, a.k.a. the ancestor of the Starkfam we know and love from Game of Thrones—immediately comes across as the most righteous dude in all the Seven Kingdoms. Hosting disputed prince Jacaerys Velaryon at the Wall, Cregan shows him around with all the pride and extreme patience of a college senior giving a pre-frosh and their parents a campus tour: Here’s the bazillion-foot-tall elevator built by my ancestors, and over that way is basically death’s door; yes, we believe in single-sex education at this institution, our motto is “Duty Is Sacrifice,” and did you know that our admissions rate is a steady 10 percent?

    After all that, Cregan also makes sure to educate the naive, young Jace about the ways of the world. “Do you think my ancestors built a 700-foot wall of ice to keep out snow and savages?” he asks, explaining that the Wall also fortifies Westeros against that oldest and wiliest of foes, Death. (These taciturnt Starks sure love to bring everything back to first principles.) He remarks that, as legend has it, Jace’s Targaryen forebears once showed up flaunting their dragons—and that the mighty beasts, for all their fire-breathing power, instinctively knew not to cross the Wall. And, crucially, Cregan agrees to uphold his family’s old oath to Rhaenyra—but stresses that it’s super not his top priority right now and that the best he can do is send the “thousands of graybeards who’ve already seen too many winters,” take them or leave them.

    As the Targaryens continue to bicker about who gets to sit the Iron Throne, Cregan, quite simply, just rules. Sadly, though, like all the best sigma males, the Wolf of the North will be leaving everyone wanting more. According to showrunner Ryan Condal, we’re not likely to see Cregan Stark again until some future season. Terrible news for viewers, but if the good, cold lord has taught us anything, it’s that “this is not a sentence—but an honor.” I bend the knee.

    2. Larys Strong

    The total opposite of Cregan Stark in so many ways! Far from being motivated by pure familial loyalty, Larys is a dirty double kinslayer. Rather than viewing King’s Landing squabbles as distractions from a broader existential crisis, Larys’s entire existence is defined by the subtle art of the throne room scheme. Whereas Cregan speaks plainly, Larys prefers to insinuate and suggest … like when he murmurs to the Dowager Queen Alicent that he knows she was “indisposed” recently. (By “indisposed,” he means that she was Ser on Criston till she Cole.) And instead of defending against Death, he orders it up: In the Season 2 premiere, we learn that Larys, seeking to root out disloyal servants, has taken the liberty of ousting members of Alicent’s previous castle staff. (By “ousting,” I mean, in his words, that “they no longer breathe our air.”)

    Still, while he may be a weird dude through and through, Larys’s lurker shtick does seem to be working. He has long had a certain podiatryst arrangement with Alicent (sorry), but now that he’s personally handpicked all her maidservants, he doesn’t even need to be in the room to make her feel vulnerable and violated and claustrophobic and in need of a good scrub-a-dub-dub. That’s quite some power to wield over the mother of the king! And speaking of the king, Larys is getting in Aegon’s head, too: “Otto Hightower was your father’s hand, your grace,” he tells the young monarch, ostensibly laying the foundation for a Small Council shake-up.

    It can be hard out there for Larys types: In Game of Thrones, both Littlefinger and Varys, two elite-level manipulators, eventually made one too many chess moves and met their respective dooms. But for now, Larys appears poised to take a big leap: from Alicent’s wanker footman to, potentially, the hand of the king.

    3. The Crime Cloak

    Need to stay anonymous in some seedy crowd but don’t feel like hiding even an inch of your face? In the mood to conspire on, commit, or conceal any number of crimes? Look no further than the humble cloak, the hottest garment in Westeros.

    Are you someone nicknamed “the White Worm”? Perhaps you’d like this version, which resembles crushed silk. Need to easily reach your various swords and jacket buckles? This one gives Aemond great placket access when he’s on a mission! Rhaenys rocked the cloak when she escaped the castle ahead of Aegon’s coronation, and so did Otto Hightower when he made a business proposition to the White Worm herself. But the GOAT cloaker remains Daemon Targaryen, who really is a man for all seasons. His collection includes a bulky overcloak (worn for the occasion of killing his pesky first wife) and a cloak with lovely trim (his boatwear). He has even sported (while in the midst of grooming his teen niece and future bride) a sort of Flea Bottom version of the Investment Banker Patagonia: a cloak that kind of looks like a vest, worn over a white collared shirt.

    With a lewk that is part collegiate swim team parka and part Dark Kermit, and with a hood that somehow never gets blown off by a breeze and ruins the whole disguise, the Crime Cloak comes with all sorts of options to fit one’s sinister style—all while you’re blending in, lying low, and/or planning the murder of an heir to the Iron Throne.

    4. The Power Couple (Corlys and Rhaenys Velaryon)

    The Sea Snake and his dragonriding bride may not be the most powerful people in the realm, but as Season 2 begins, they are each in possession of a tremendous amount of leverage. Consider:

    • Corlys is effectively and operationally in charge of what is currently Team Black’s most successful tactic: a blockade of shipping lanes in the Stepstones that “has placed King’s Landing under strain,” according to Otto Hightower. While that hasn’t necessarily been easy to maintain—Corlys mentions a pressing need for more ships—it’s nevertheless a solid head start until Team Green can find a way to bolster its Lannister and Hightower navies.
    • Rhaenys and her dragon, Meleys, are essential to this effort: “I alone patrol over a hundred miles of open sea, endlessly, to hold the blockade,” she tells Daemon.
    • Rhaenys and Meleys are also essential to another effort, Daemon says: “With my dragon and yours together, we can kill Vhagar and her rider.” (That rider being Aemond Targaryen.) When Rhaenys demurs, Daemon tries to insist: “Fly with me. It is a command.” But the Queen Who Never Was always knows what’s what. “Would that you were the king,” she deadpans back. Daemon is many things, but he isn’t the boss of her.
    • Both Corlys and Rhaenys are cooperating with Rhaenyra and Daemon despite having many, many excellent reasons not to. Like the fact that their only two children both married Targaryens and both (to their knowledge, at least) wound up dead, conveniently enabling Rhaenyra and Daemon to wed each other. (That said, I do sometimes wonder whether Rhaenys secretly knows that Leanor lives!) Or the fact that Daemon killed Corlys’s brother, Vaemond, for speaking the truth.

    For now, it behooves the Velaryons to align with Team Black. But if that personal calculus changes even a little, suddenly everything from sky to sea becomes a whole different equation altogether.

    5. The Royal Couple (King Aegon II and Queen Helaena)

    This brother-sister, husband-wife, dalliant-dreamer, king-queen duo has always been a bizarre couple, and not just because of the whole inbreeding thing. “The queen is an enduring mystery, is she not?” says Aegon early in the Season 2 premiere, having just heard Helaena anxiously whisper something about being scared of rats. Indeed, going into this episode and this season, one thing that most excited me was finding out more about this wedded set of sibs. Like, do they have any common interests? What do they possibly talk about?!

    In the wake of “A Son for a Son,” I now have my answer: It’s safe to say that they’re about to share the common interest of “avenging the gruesome murder of our sweet, dead, 6-year-old, heir-to-the-throne child.” (Aegon doesn’t know about it yet as the episode ends, but he obviously will soon.) This is a potent motivation—particularly when it comes to Aegon and Helaena, both of whom are powerful people.

    One of them, of course, is king, and not just any king: He’s (a) a young king who is (b) eager to prove himself and (c) soon to be grieving his fine boy and, oh yeah, (d) was already close to shaking up the ranks of his nearest advisers. In other words, there’s really no telling what he might do next, only that it will be something drastic. And then there’s Helaena, who has consistently, if cryptically, predicted the future. If she can start harnessing her soothsaying into more actionable thoughts and ideas, she could have a weapon as vital as any flying dragon.

    6. Aemond Targaryen

    Speaking of flying dragons: Aemond’s mount, Vhagar, remains Team Green’s best weapon by far at the moment. Yet: “You do not have a seat at this council,” snaps Otto Hightower to Aemond when the latter enters the Small Council room in the midst of a meeting. But Otto’s boss begs to differ: “Aemond is my closest blood and our best sword,” says King Aegon II. “I welcome him.” Aemond may be in his mother’s doghouse for that minor mistake of accidentally killing his nephew, but in the Season 2 premiere, he demonstrated that he’s more than ready for the warfare to escalate further.

    “My brother is hostage to my grandsire and mother,” Aemond complains to Criston Cole as they plot paths to victory, “and they tell him that a war of dragons can yet be avoided.” Not anymore, needless to say—which means that Aemond is almost certainly about to take flight.


    7. Daemon Targaryen

    As Aemond positions himself to become the new Daemon, this week’s episode sort of made Daemon out to be the new Aemond: Daemon took his zest for vengeance a little too far, then everything got out of hand, now a boy is dead and war is coming, and probably thar be dragons. He has simultaneously made the world chillingly simple—tit for tat, a son for a son, repeat as often as necessary—while also complicating everything. And the scariest part, as ever, is that he’s probably pretty OK with all that he’s done.

    8. Rhaenyra Targaryen

    The queen in exile had only one line this episode, but it was a doozy: “I want Aemond Targaryen.” Those four words were all it took to set off the Rube Goldberg contraption of events that culminated in another dead kid. The good news: That’s some power right there! The bad news: Aemond Targaryen still lives.

    9. Jacaerys Velaryon

    Jace’s diplomatic visit to the Wall was a definite success. And the guy also appears to have some semblance of a moral compass, the likes of which we don’t typically see in the halls of power south of Winterfell. But that makes me nervous for him! If we’ve learned anything from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon thus far, it’s that Westeros has a way of punishing intrinsic goodness and curdling warm hearts.

    10. Mysaria the White Worm

    Tired: Constantly dealing with Daemon’s bullshit.

    Wired: Saying what the hell, selling secrets to Otto, and then spitting at Daemon: “You only blame me because your true enemies are out of reach.”

    Inspired: Sure, Daemon may have imprisoned Mysaria, but this is the White Worm we’re talking about; this woman downright thrives in shitty situations. I completely expect her to emerge from captivity with a whole new cadre of associates and operatives.

    11. Alyn of Hull

    “They tell me that you are the one that dragged my body out of the sea,” Corlys Velaryon says to Alyn of Hull—a newly introduced, seemingly humble boatsman down at the Driftmark docks—in the season premiere. “I am indebted to you, Alyn,” the Sea Snake adds. Not a bad House of the Dragon character debut! Something tells me this won’t be the last we see of Alyn, who also mentions having a brother … a note that seems to pique Corlys’s interest. This situation is developing …

    12. Otto Hightower

    You know what, in a sick way, I almost felt bad for Otto this episode! He may be a self-involved prick, but the guy couldn’t catch a break. What’s worse: clocking your daughter and her favorite knight basking in clear post-hookup bliss, or discovering your grandson and that same knight discussing battle plans without you? Getting undermined by an amateur king who knows nothing about anything, or being plotted against by a slimy would-be usurper who knows way too much? Otto is a survivor indeed, but even cockroaches know that sometimes the only way to endure is to scatter and hide.

    13. The Smallfolk

    When it comes to lobbying powerful people to make decisions that benefit special interest groups, King’s Landing is a lot like New York City. You have Hugh the scorpion builder guy asking for, and being granted, better benefits for him and his fellow anti-dragon arms manufacturers, like he’s the NYPD getting funding for a bunch of new drones or surveillance vans or something. And then you have poor Jerard the Shepherd, whose simple ask—that the crown return his tithe of livestock so that he can make it through the winter!—is initially granted by Aegon the Magnanimous … only for the young ruler to get an earful from Otto and totally renege on the deal, Kathy Hochul style. Canceling congestion pricing, it turns out, is the feeding sheep to dragons of our time. Sounds about right.

    14. That One Couple (Dowager Queen Alicent and Ser Criston Cole)

    We’ve all known that one horned-up secret couple that thinks they’re being all sly and surreptitious with their dalliances but are actually hooking up all over creation and fooling absolutely no one. Typically, this happens during, like, adolescence. But in the case of House of the Dragon—where very few people have developmentally normal upbringings—it’s the Dowager Queen GILF and her Kingsguardsman who have apparently taken to christening every damn room in the palace.

    For Alicent, who spent years married to a decaying, old King Viserys and now serves at the pleasure of her firstborn failson, King Aegon II, all this carrying on seems to be a way to reclaim both her lost youth and her feeling of power. For Ser Criston, it’s maybe a bit more complex. Once upon a time, he raged at a young Rhaenyra for even suggesting a sworn-guard-with-benefits situation, but now that’s what he basically has with Alicent. It’s a direct and dishonorable flouting of his Kingsguard oaths, yet it also helps keep Criston in the room where it happens.

    This is all fun and games until someone loses a head. (An eye is so Season 1.) Alicent has for years sought to avoid a truly violent conflict, but it now seems like her window of time to achieve peace has slammed shut. And even outside the Small Council, her image as a doting mother is in shambles. It’s bad enough that Alicent and Criston were indisposed while two assassins breached a royal bedroom and killed a child in front of his mother. But then Helaena walks in on her mom mid-bone? That’s the stuff of nightmares, whether you’re a dreamer or not. I expect to see Helaena posting on the r/raisedbynarcissists subreddit before long.


    15. Blood and Cheese

    While Alicent is banging away, the rats will play! And for a moment, this bumbling pair of Hightower-hating, Harry-’n’-Lloyd-coded creeps seems like they might be the most powerful henchmen in the land. First, they pocket the initial half of that sweet, sweet bounty money. Then they sidle straight through the throne room in plain sight, working the “walk with purpose and act like you’re meant to be there” Super Bowl scammer strategy to perfection. And before long, they find themselves with the future of the realm literally right there in their grasp.

    But then they go ahead and destroy all these Ws by completing the job that Daemon contracted them to do. Well, sort of: Unable to locate their primary target, the eminently recognizable and full-grown Aemond, they settle for the next (and worst) option: cherubic 6-year-old Jaehaerys, son of Aegon and his sister-wife, Helaena. “A son for a son,” Blood and Cheese explain to a shell-shocked Helaena, making it pretty obvious who probably sent them—and ultimately removing any remaining leverage or value they may have had.

    16. The Next Generation

    If you’re a youngish Targaryen or Velaryon or Hightower who thinks you have your whole life ahead of you: You probably don’t!!! While “generation” has a way of losing all meaning in the context of the incestuous Targaryen family tree, it doesn’t really matter in this case who is an uncle-husband or who is a daughter-niece: Anyone young enough to have any future at all is highly vulnerable at present, and the horrors only seem to be escalating.

    One day you’re monkeying around in a dragon’s cave with your cousins and/or uncles; the next, you’re getting chomped by Vhagar. One minute you’re playing with attendance balls and being promised human horseback rides; the next, you’re missing a head. RIP, little Jaeharys! I’m bummed we won’t get to see what would have happened when you inevitably reproduced with your nearly identical twin sister a decade hence.

    17. Tyland Lannister

    Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.

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    Katie Baker

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  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Premiere Instant Reactions

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Premiere Instant Reactions

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    Listen as the Midnight Boys break down Season 2, Episode 1 of House of the Dragon like only they know how. Along the way, the guys discuss whether the show leans toward Team Green or Team Black. They then, of course, get into the chaos that came with Blood and Cheese. Later, the Midnight Meter is broken out to officially score this loaded season premiere.

    Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman
    Producers: Aleya Zenieris, Jonathan Kermah, and Steve Ahlman
    Social: Jomi Adeniran
    Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts

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    Charles Holmes

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  • Nothing Is Holding Back ‘House of the Dragon’ Now

    Nothing Is Holding Back ‘House of the Dragon’ Now

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    Midway through the fifth season of Game of Thrones, Aemon Targaryen, the centenarian maester at Castle Black, advises Jon Snow to mature in his new role as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.

    “Kill the boy, Jon Snow,” Maester Aemon says. “Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born.” This speech gives the episode its title and sets in motion the series of events that will lead Jon to Hardhome, the site of Thrones’ most spectacular fight scene.

    Sunday’s Season 2 premiere of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon twists that stirring sentiment and, in so doing, transforms both its message and the entire story of which it is a part. Queen Helaena Targaryen’s shocked “They killed the boy” is a scarring statement of fact rather than a confident command, the aftermath of trauma rather than the prelude to a glorious battle. It serves as the last line of the episode, fittingly named “A Son for a Son”—leaving viewers to marinate in the nauseating horror they just witnessed for a full week before House of the Dragon’s next episode airs.

    Dragon’s Season 2 premiere functions much like Thrones’ pilot episode all the way back in 2011, which mostly introduced viewers to this fictional world and set the scene for further action—only to end with stunning, appalling violence against a child. The difference is that in Thrones, Bran Stark survived his fall out a window and ultimately became king; in Dragon, little Jaehaerys Targaryen, disputed heir to the Iron Throne, most certainly did not survive his beheading at the hands of two hired assassins, which makes this moment—the sort of showstopping scene for which Thrones was revered—even more grotesque.

    But first, before the child carnage, Dragon invites viewers back to Westeros with a new intro decked out with Targaryen-themed tapestries and an opening scene set in the familiar, snowy clime of Winterfell and the Wall. As is typical of a season premiere in this franchise, “A Son for a Son” surveys the important players in the realm after the dramatic conclusion of Season 1, when King Viserys died, Aegon II and Rhaenyra received dueling crowns, and the mighty dragon Vhagar, ridden by Aemond One-Eye, killed Lucerys Velaryon and his dragon.

    The new season opens with Rhaenyra’s son Jace at the Wall, recruiting military aid—in the form of 2,000 grizzled Northerners—from the Starks. It then zooms through the other key members of Team Black: Rhaenys with her dragon, Meleys the Red Queen; vengeful, fiery Daemon; Corlys with his ships; and Rhaenyra, who’s searching for her dead son’s corpse. The opposing greens are all in King’s Landing, for now: Aegon has taken to sitting the Iron Throne, while Alicent and sworn-to-celibacy Criston Cole have taken to, well, a different sort of sitting.

    Civil war is imminent but ostensibly has not yet begun, even though first blood has been drawn. Rhaenyra “needs an army. War is coming,” Jace tells Cregan Stark in the opening scene. Meanwhile, in King’s Landing, Otto Hightower forecasts “eventual fighting,” and Alicent still speaks in conditionals: “If we loose the dragons to war, there will be no calling them back.”

    That “if” will surely change to a “when” once all the characters learn what transpired in the darkness of the Red Keep at the end of the episode. Earlier, Rhaenys notes approvingly that Rhaenyra has “not acted on the vengeful impulse that others might have.” But finding Luke’s mangled body on the beach removes that caution; when Rhaenyra returns to Dragonstone, vengeance is the only motive on her mind.

    “I want Aemond Targaryen,” Rhaenyra declares, and the episode emphasizes this singular focus by making these her only words across the hour. The rest of Emma D’Arcy’s performance as a grieving mother is delivered through facial expressions and tears, most poignantly in Rhaenyra’s reunion with her eldest son, Jace, who breaks down while imparting news of his successful alliances in the Vale and North.

    The ensuing sequence is the most beautiful one of the episode, as director Alan Taylor cuts between Luke’s wordless, emotional funeral and Alicent’s prayers at a sept in King’s Landing. (Not that sept; this prequel takes place before the construction of Cersei Lannister’s future wildfire target.) Alicent lights a candle for her dead mother (presumably; she’s gone unnamed until now), for Viserys, and then—after a contemplative pause—for Luke. Alicent even names him “Lucerys Velaryon,” despite her prominent Season 1 role in fostering doubts about Laenor Velaryon’s legitimacy as Luke’s father.

    Alicent still hopes to avoid “wanton” violence, she says. But what comes next, as Aegon carouses with friends in the throne room and Alicent and Criston continue their tryst in her chambers, can’t help but plunge the realm into full-blown war. It’s the manifestation of Rhaenyra’s desire for vengeance—and the on-screen depiction of the most heinous event George R.R. Martin has devised in the whole A Song of Ice and Fire corpus.

    Daemon sneaks into King’s Landing, where he enlists a City Watchman and a Red Keep ratcatcher—called Blood and Cheese in the source text—to sneak into the castle to fulfill Rhaenyra’s command. When Cheese asks, “What if we can’t find him?” Daemon grins, and the camera cuts away, but his next instructions seem clear. Once the duo enters the castle, Blood reminds his assassin partner, “‘A son for a son,’ he said.”

    Their search for a green son is shot like a horror film, with flickering candlelight; shadowy, abandoned rooms; and the clangor of a thunderstorm echoing from the stones outside. Eventually, Blood and Cheese stumble upon Helaena and her two royal children. The last the camera shows of the assassins is a large hand descending over the tiny face of 6-year-old Jaehaerys Targaryen—“He’ll be king one day,” a proud Aegon declares earlier in the episode—before it pivots to Helaena as she scoops up her daughter, flees the murder scene, and runs downstairs to find Alicent.

    “They killed the boy,” Helaena says, and the episode ends, dangling over a cliff.

    Thrones never shied away from depravity and in fact often took steps to amplify Martin’s most violent scenes on the screen. The first victim of the show’s Red Wedding is Robb Stark’s pregnant wife, who’s stabbed in the belly, whereas in the book, Robb’s wife doesn’t attend the wedding trap at the Twins. (In fact, Martin said a decade ago that book Robb’s wife would appear, still alive, in the Winds of Winter prologue.)

    But Dragon actually tones down the horror of this vengeful murder. In Fire & Blood, the source text for Dragon, Blood and Cheese sneak into the castle and kill a maid and a guard; tie up Alicent, who witnesses the atrocity; and corner Helaena and the queen’s children. Crucially, in the book, Aegon II and Helaena have a third child, 2-year-old Maelor, in addition to the twins who appear in the show. Then Cheese asks Helaena which son—Jaehaerys or Maelor—she wants to lose:

    “Pick,” [Cheese] said, “or we kill them all.” On her knees, weeping, Helaena named her youngest, Maelor. Perhaps she thought the boy was too young to understand, or perhaps it was because the older boy, Jaehaerys, was King Aegon’s firstborn son and heir, next in line to the Iron Throne. “You hear that, little boy?” Cheese whispered to Maelor. “Your momma wants you dead.” Then he gave Blood a grin, and the hulking swordsman slew Prince Jaehaerys, striking off the boy’s head with a single blow. The queen began to scream.

    Dragon didn’t show the killing blow (though the sawing sound and motion were gruesome enough). It also excised the second son and the haunting “Your momma wants you dead” line, replacing it with a confusing aside in which Blood and Cheese can’t determine which of the two sleeping children is the “son” and which is the royal daughter, and they ask Helaena to point out the boy. (Why can’t they check themselves? One even says they could inspect the children’s anatomy before trusting Helaena instead.)

    But the sequence is still supremely sickening, even in this tamer form. The meta-storytelling result is a prime example of how Dragon, in its second season, will more closely imitate Thrones at its monocultural peak. And the in-universe narrative result will likely be a stronger push toward war, as the greens seek vengeance for Jaehaerys, just as the blacks sought vengeance for Luke. The wheel of violence spins on, crushing ever more victims.

    After Jaehaerys’s death, it’s clearer than ever that Dragon’s showrunners are trying to emphasize how avoidable the disastrous Dance of the Dragons was. This civil war stems from mistakes and misunderstandings, from Alicent’s “too many Aegons” interpretation of Viserys’s dying words to Vhagar’s unsanctioned chomping of Luke—with Aemond shouting in vain, “No, Vhagar, no!”—to, now, the murder of a son that Rhaenyra didn’t want killed.

    “If we loose the dragons to war, there will be no calling them back,” Alicent says, hours before learning from her traumatized daughter that her grandson has been killed. But as the Targaryens’ feuding factions commit increasingly abhorrent acts of violence against each other, that warning can encompass more than just the dragons. Once the massive machinery of war starts rumbling, it will be all but impossible to shut down.

    Have HotD questions? To appear in Zach’s weekly mailbag, message him @zachkram on Twitter/X or email him at zach.kram@theringer.com.

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    Zach Kram

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  • House of the Dragon season 2’s premiere lets side characters take the spotlight in a way the book never could

    House of the Dragon season 2’s premiere lets side characters take the spotlight in a way the book never could

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    House of the Dragon has always been about how the smallest decisions can have unforeseen consequences, but rarely has that theme been as clear as it was in the season 2 premiere. In the show’s first episode back from break, Daemon Targaryen decides to take matters into his own hands with a plot that probably could have used a little more planning (classic Daemon). But while the book’s version of these events is fittingly brutal, the show’s approach is quieter, more human, and arguably a little more horrifying.

    [Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1.]

    In the book version of the story, the assassins at the center of this episode’s action are named Blood and Cheese. And while they don’t get these silly names in the show, they do get a level of horror and humanity that the book doesn’t have time to afford them. The book versions are boogeymen, terrifying lowlifes who kill a handmaiden and a handful of guards, and seem gleefully cruel in the way they slay Prince Jaehaerys — tricking Queen Helaena into first naming her younger son for death before killing her firstborn instead.

    Image: HBO

    And while those versions of the characters are significantly more stomach-churning, the show’s approach feels much more appropriate thematically. Rather than the murderous wraiths of the book, who slip into the queen mother’s chambers, leaving a pile of bodies behind them, House of the Dragon’s assassins simply move through the castle unnoticed, a pair of hired hands of low status and low intelligence, functionally invisible to the royalty who own the halls. When they reach difficult junctures in the castle’s tunnels, or difficult choices, they panic and bicker and bumble. The Blood and Cheese of the show aren’t gifted killers, they’re just amoral men sent to do something too disgusting for anyone to have imagined possible.

    Adding to all of this is the sense of desperation that the pair’s meeting with Daemon seems to have instilled in them. According to showrunner Ryan Condal, the team wanted the set-piece to play out like a “heist gone wrong,” and as the scene stretches on, we can feel their worry set in, making them more reckless, cruel, and hurried in the process. While the show cleverly leaves Daemon’s final words a mystery, the pair’s fear over what Daemon will do to them if they fail is palpable.

    “We know who Daemon is; I don’t think he necessarily directly ordered the death of a child,” Condal said in a roundtable. “But he clearly said, If it’s not Aemond, don’t leave the castle empty-handed.”

    So when they can’t find their initial target, it makes sense that these two decide to settle for the first royal son they can find. It’s the kind of hurried decision that only these two brutes could make. And, in a scene that’s both grotesque and funny, the two assassins realize that they can’t even tell the two children asleep in their beds apart, and have to riddle their way through Helaena’s answer. The whole thing is a ridiculous farce from two people barely competent enough to pull any of this off.

    Aemond, flying among blue skies and clouds, looks stunned after his dragon bit the head off another dragon in House of the Dragon

    Image: HBO

    All of this builds into the show’s fantastic slippery slope of assumptions. While the audience may know that Aemond’s slaying of Lucerys Velaryon in the skies over Storm’s End was an accidental consequence of not understanding his own dragon’s power, for Daemon, it seems like an act of clear and predetermined aggression. He probably didn’t expect the assassins to come away with the head of a toddler prince, but he thinks letting two assassins loose in the Red Keep with less-than-clear orders is nothing more than a slight escalation.

    These are the kind of spiraling, misinformed decisions that House of the Dragon builds its beautiful, flawed, and deeply human history out of. Sure, the show is elevated to the heights of fantasy, but it’s still fundamentally a story of broken, furious, and faulty characters making rash decisions and then dealing with the consequences — those consequences just often happen to involve dragons and war.

    All of this is true to Martin’s vision, of course. It’s the same kind of storytelling he employs constantly in A Song of Ice and Fire, but while the original Game of Thrones series frequently had to cut down on the humanness of its story simply by virtue of its massive scale, it’s constantly thrilling to see how effectively House of the Dragon goes the opposite direction, expanding on Martin’s written history in Fire & Blood and turning these quasi-mythical historical figures into flesh-and-blood people and incredible characters, up to and including the lowlife assassins who don’t even need their silly little names.

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    Austen Goslin

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