Maxton Hall season 2 ending explained: The scandal that sabotages Ruby and James's happy ever after
School's back in session at Maxton Hall, where a scholarship student and the entitled rich kid must fight to overcome the world between them and make their love work. Based on Mona Kasten's best-selling book Save Me, the first season of MaxtonHall had the most successful series launch of any non-American Prime Original ever upon its release. Things weren't looking so good for Ruby and James, however, as season 1 ended in tragedy. Just as their romance finally got back on track, James and his sister Lydia were confronted with the worst news imaginable. Their mother Cordelia had died after suffering a stroke. Season 2 kicked off with James spiralling so much that he wrecked his relationship with Ruby entirely. But Maxton Hall being Maxton Hall, it wasn't long before the pair reconciled. As such, the drama came instead from James's awful father, who continues to make his son's life as hard as possible, with Ruby often taking the brunt of his cruelty. The only thing crueller is us being forced to sit through this schlock in the first place. That's not all though. Beyond this family strife, another controversy brewed, one that takes centre stage at the end of season 2 in what must be one of TV's weirdest, most uncomfortable developments of 2025. Read on to find out how Maxton Hall season 2 ends and see just what we're on about. Maxton Hall – The World Between Us season 2 ending explained The previous episode ended with Maxton Hall's Principal discovering that one of his teachers, Graham Sutton, has got Lydia pregnant. This plotline is all kinds of gross and icky by the way, especially because of how the writers romanticise it – and in a teen show, no less. James's sister and the professor are in love, which apparently makes this power dynamic something worth rooting for? Or at the very least, something we shouldn't be condemning outright? The head has the right response though, dramatically looking into the distance with sheer horror in his eyes (even if he's only thinking of himself). Season 2's finale starts in much the same way, this time with him dramatically ending a call about the same problem, eyes still agape in camp disbelief. Meanwhile, James is skipping out on a vital investors meeting to play lacrosse. It's an important match to be fair, make-or-break for the championship, and his dad sucks, so leaving him in the lurch like this is definitely the right call. The game between Eastview and Maxton Hall is shot like a clash of the titans on Mount Olympus. With every fall and every tackle, the camera shakes and the ground seems to shake with it in booming magnitude. It's silly and over the top in ways that don't fit the show in any shape or form, but it's not like logic has ever held the writers of Maxton Hall back before. Lydia runs off to the bathroom when gossip around Mr Sutton and his mystery lover starts making the rounds. Back at the investor meeting, one of the head business guys runs off too, enraged that James didn't bother showing up. "I will not entrust a man who can’t even handle his own son with another penny." Mortimer is not best pleased. But hey, James was needed at the game because the teams are drawing and there's only ten seconds left on the clock. This is the kind of original, daring storytelling that Maxton Hall has become known for, and I for one am happy to see it continue now in season 2. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/maxton-83afb2d.jpg" width="2000" height="1333" alt="A young man and woman stand on an outdoor sports field, appearing tense. The man, in the foreground, wears a white tank top and grey sweatpants, holding lacrosse gear in one hand while looking ahead with determination. Behind him, the young woman wears a school uniform consisting of a purple blazer, white shirt, and light grey pleated skirt. She carries a brown satchel and watches him with a concerned or serious expression. The scene suggests an emotional or dramatic moment set after a sports practice or game." title="Maxton Hall" /> As if that wasn't dramatic enough, blame at the meeting inevitably brings up Mortimer's dead wife yet again. "I’m glad Cordelia didn’t have to see this," says someone for the umpteenth time, giving her more screen time now she's dead than the show ever bothered to give Cordelia when she was alive. Mortimer blames Ruby Bell, obvs, as does Cyril when Maxton Hall loses the game. Sure, why not? Sutton and Lydia meet to talk about the scandal growing around them. She reckons Cordelia is leaving the family business to her and James in the will reading that's about to happen, so the Professor offers to be a stay-at-home dad to look after their baby. "Seems I’m gonna have a lot of time on my hands soon…" adds Sutton. You know why that is? Because he's going to get fired for impregnating one of his students. Ew. James and Ruby text each other with quick updates on their lives, signing each text with their initials like they're pensioners writing letters from war rather than the 18-year-olds they're supposed to be. James's voiceover uses big terms like "cognitive consistency", which aren't particularly interesting or relevant, feigning intelligence for both him and the writing at hand. At the will reading, it's revealed that Cordelia has left all of her assets and shares to her husband, Mortimer. He's super smug about it, revelling in his children's misfortune. James gets all up in his face, threatening to ruin his father. Sure, James. Good luck with that. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/Ruby-5681b2f.png" width="1278" height="852" alt="A woman with light skin and long brown hair stands in a softly lit, elegant setting, wearing a deep blue, textured dress. She looks directly toward the camera with a composed, thoughtful expression. Behind her, several people dressed in formal black-tie attire are visible, slightly out of focus. A large crystal chandelier glows above, casting a warm light that contrasts with the cool blue tones in the background. The atmosphere suggests a formal or sophisticated event." title="Maxton Hall" /> There's a scene where Ruby's family starts singing the "Be Happy" song to lift each other's spirits after her mum's bad news. I mention this here, not because it's relevant, but because it's a perfect encapsulation of just how silly this show really is. I can't possibly convey how cheesy this all plays out on screen. Words do not do it justice, I'm afraid. James goes to Alice, the woman who revoked Ruby's scholarship grant a few episodes prior when Mortimer asked her to do so. He tries his mother's memory to guilt her into doing the right thing, to turn against his father, but Alice points out that Mortimer's financial support helps her do a lot of good in this world through charity. Things aren't looking good, but there's still some hope that Ruby can pass her scholarship exams and get into Oxford. She holds onto this hope pretty strongly in some weird slow-motion scenes where – I kid you not – actual butterflies dance around her. But then it all comes crashing down again. When Sutton is called in to explain himself to peers, he explains that he and the student under his care "have fallen in love with each other". Mortimer is randomly there too because he's on the school board, apparently. "I’m curious what her parents will have to say about it," he mentions, which is kind of weird because his daughter Lydia is the one who is directly involved. Sutton is understandably confused, and so are we. That is, until Ruby is suddenly called to the headmasters' office just before she heads into the exam. Her mother arrives, also confused, and then it happens. The head reveals the photo everyone's been talking about, but that's not Lydia in the picture. It's Ruby in a photo that was taken of her with Sutton at the welcome party last season. "That was a completely harmless situation," Ruby points out, and she's right to say it. Still, that doesn't stop the headmaster from rather cruelly suspending her with immediate effect. "No diploma, no studies… Oxford? you can forget about it." <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/Ruby-MH-7a88809.jpg" width="1095" height="730" alt="A woman with light skin and long brown hair stands outdoors, looking intently at a man who faces her with his back to the camera. She wears a light, ruffled blouse with soft pink and white tones, while the man wears a light blue shirt. The setting is bright and natural, with greenery and a body of water blurred in the background. The woman’s expression appears emotional and serious, suggesting a tense or heartfelt moment between the two." title="Maxton Hall" /> Ruby then runs out crying in slow motion as a police car picks Sutton up from the university. James and Lydia look on in confusion, but the gross professor gives her a reassuring nod as he climbs into the vehicle. Yep, it looks like Sutton didn't correct the teachers in a bid to protect Lydia, thereby ruining Ruby's life in the process. She and James cry in each other's arms as the Snow Patrol song Chasing Cars plays over the credits. Is it a particularly relevant or original choice to end on? Of course not, and that's Maxton Hall in a nutshell. The show brings drama, make no mistake about that, and it's morbidly fun to hate-watch at points. What doesn't sit right though is how this student/teacher relationship is framed as merely misunderstood. Of course Lydia and Sutton are into it, but it's uncomfortable that the show itself seems kind of into it as well. Let's just hope the already-confirmed third season rectifies this somewhat. As it stands now, this ridiculously absurd ending is built on a weird, uncomfortable story arc that isn't being treated with the skill and nuance it deserves. But maybe that's my fault. Maybe I'm asking too much of Maxton Hall, which, two seasons in, remains one of the worst shows on streaming. Maxton Hall – The World Between Us streams on Prime Video – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days. Plus, read our guides to the best Amazon Prime series and the best movies on Amazon Prime. Add Maxton Hall—The World Between Us to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How anime has led the way in the battle against climate change
Tackling environmental topics is in the very DNA of the medium.
Storytelling naturally reflects the culture and climate it's produced in – yet few films and shows appear to be tackling the biggest threat to both. According to Climate.gov, 2024 was the warmest year since global records began in 1850 (by a wide margin) and the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred in the past decade. Floods and heatwaves are increasing as the climate crisis grows, yet Western takes on this issue remain few and far between, especially when it comes to children's fare where they could make the most impact. Since Ferngully left a lasting impression on millennials in the early '90s, not many animated films have continued where it left off. Just The Lorax and Pixar's Wall-E stand out as two notable exceptions when it comes to tackling environmental issues in animation. It's a different story in Japan, however. Anime has long incorporated themes of this nature, tapping into traditional Taoist and Shintoist beliefs that prioritise ecological harmony and respect for the natural world. The Godfather of Anime, Tezuka Osamu, did so as far back as the '60s with Kimba the White Lion, and more adult stories like the Black Jack manga, where an unlicensed surgeon used his money to fund environmental projects. It's Studio Ghibli that often comes to mind first, however. Even before the studio was named as such, co-founder Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, a post-apocalyptic saga where the key to surviving a polluted world came from understanding the resilience of nature and the interconnectedness of all living things. View oEmbed on the source website Plenty of other Miyazaki films continued this outlook further including Spirited Away, where the cleansing of a polluted river spirit is vital to the story and My Neighbor Totoro, which celebrates the beauty of rural life and preserving natural spaces. Aside from Nausicaä, however, it's Princess Mononoke which comes up most regularly in these conversations, thanks to the central conflict between forest spirits and human encroachment where industrialisation threatens life itself. Crucially, Miyazaki avoided any obvious route in, offering up a more complex examination of both sides without outright condemning one or other. Humanity is violent throughout the film, for example, but Lady Eboshi, its leader, also cares deeply for those in need, building an entire community for lepers and other social outcasts. That's not to say Miyazaki let humans off the hook entirely. "I’ve come to a point where I just can’t make a movie without addressing the problem of humanity as part of an ecosystem," he said in an interview with Asia Pulse around the film's release in 1997 (via Asia Pulse). The same is also true for Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, who put his own unique spin on that conflict in Pom Poko, swapping out wolves and forest spirits for shape-shifting Tanuki (raccoon-dogs indigenous to Japan) who engage in extreme guerilla tactics similar to radical groups like Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front. Such ecological concerns aren't just limited to Studio Ghibli. A host of different anime creators have explored similar issues, from child-friendly fare like Doraemon, Dr Stone and Miyori's Forest to more mature titles such as Parasyte: The Maxim and Makoto Shinkai's Weathering With You. One that's endured longer than most is Pokémon, which has encouraged climate awareness since the '90s with a celebration of biodiversity that fosters love for all living things. Most Pokémon are inspired by real-life plants and animals, after all, including one whose transformation has been influenced by climate change directly. A species named Corsola is a coral-themed Pokémon that needs clean water to live. Polluted waters discolour and even break the growths on its back. The Pokémon games Sword and Shield introduced an evolved version of Corsola that's essentially dead as a result of global warming. The Cursola have changed type from water to ghost, bleached like real coral that's died due to ocean acidification and global warming. It's just as well that this franchise is using its power for good because the global popularity and impact of Pokémon cannot be overstated. Just this week, protesters showed up at the United Nations climate conference dressed as Pikachu, aiming to stop the financing of coal and natural gas projects across Southeast Asia. What this reflects so well is how anime often speaks to the power that systemic organisations hold in such cases, emphasising the need for structural change over individual consumer behaviours which come to the fore more in Western equivalents. Yet despite all this, climate education in Japan is nowhere near as strong as you might think. Despite the severe issues the island nation faces due to climate change, from massive rainfall to intensifying heatwaves, indifference to these problems is growing. According to a 2023 Cabinet Office survey that polled 3,000 adults (via The Japan Times), only 31 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds and 30.3 per cent of those in their 30s replied they were interested in climate issues. Meanwhile, 60.4 per cent of respondents over 70 said they were interested, which isn't ideal because you'd want this to flip the other way where the future of this planet is concerned. That's not to say anime can't inspire real change where the climate crisis is concerned. In a 2019 study, researchers from the University of Tokyo found that including animal characters in animated shows can increase public interest in real wildlife. Through their research, (now Associate) Professor Fukano Yūya and his team found that animals in a popular anime called Kemono Friends received 4.66 million more Google searches and 1 million Wikipedia page views than they had in the 18 months prior to broadcast. Crucially, this boost in interest led to increases in real-world conservation activity as the specific species featured received larger public donations across Tokyo zoos. Kelvin Tang, a postdoctoral climate education researcher at the University of Tokyo, tested this connection directly in a 2023 workshop (via The Japan Times) where he introduced 10 young children to ideas around climate change through simple cartoons and videos. Asking them to draw a picture of how they envision Japan's future climate 50 years from now, some drew a burning forest or even a burning Earth while others drew pretty flowers or grassy fields. "I see this as a hope," says Tang, "because some students, after learning about climate change, about this alarming situation, still have that hopeful future (in their minds),” he said. The resulting conversation led to students suggesting what they can do to help, whether it be turning off lights or reducing meat consumption. "The key is to find how to really harvest this hope," adds Tang, "for them to be an agent of change, to change these concerns into constructive action." In the same article, attention is drawn to a new series of anime shorts called Future Kid Takara, where the kid and a scientist go back in time to flee environmental disasters and discover the "beautiful Earth" that no longer exists for them in the future. Early signs of climate change here and now portend the apocalyptic era they hail from. The 11-episode series aims to inspire hope for positive change among elementary school students with educational, classroom use in mind. By organically conveying this vital message in an animated story like Future Kid Takara, the idea is to educate but also empower young people to change the future together, shaking off the mindset that hope is lost already. With such a long history in this field, anime remains the perfect vehicle to mainstream these concepts already and inspire further change. It's in the very DNA of this medium, after all. But it's not just Japanese animation that should aspire to make a difference. Powerful storytelling across the board is needed on a global scale to inspire action at a time when our reliance on fossil fuels is increasing as fast as the temperature is worldwide. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
It: Welcome to Derry risks ruining Pennywise for good with one fatal mistake
Welcome to Derry dares to hold Pennywise back – only to reveal far too much.
Eddie who? Richie whatshisname? As strong as the cast were in Andy Muschietti's IT, Pennywise is always the first name that comes to mind when you think of his twofold adaptation. As such, it didn't take long for Bill Skarsgård's deranged clown to dance its way into our hearts and nightmares alike (while showing up occasionally in my therapy sessions too). It's safe to say then that if there's one thing we'd want to see more of in the prequel series Welcome To Derry, it's Pennywise, even if it was reduced to a weird gross baby puddle by the end of IT: Chapter Two. The show is set 27 years before the events of the first film, making it easy to bring Pennywise back in its full splendour. Yet for the first few episodes, Skarsgård doesn't show up at all. IT is there, of course. It's in every nook and cranny of Derry, its evil seeping into every brick and the mind of every resident. Stephen King's most recognisable antagonist even shows up to terrify a new batch of kids each week, but not in his most recognisable form. Instead, IT appears as various nightmares made flesh, from Lilly's pickled father to a baby-faced demon in the premiere. It would have been easy to simply rely on the iconography of Pennywise, maximising the show's scares by giving viewers what they came for. But what you want isn't always best for you. Muschietti and his team smartly recognised that in writing this show, choosing to hold back on revealing Pennywise in full until five episodes in. Risky? Yes, but this was actually the best way to reintroduce a once-terrifying character who audiences have grown somewhat desensitised to. How could you not after Pennywise was meme'd into oblivion back when the films first came out? Building on the tension that comes with waiting to see it, this idea that Pennywise could leap out at any moment, helped remind us how scary IT really is while erasing those dancing memes from our minds completely. It's unfortunate then that Welcome To Derry risks undoing all this, not through how much Pennywise is shown but rather because of how much its backstory is. In King's original novel, we learned that Pennywise is a monstrous shape-shifting entity that crash-landed millions of years ago in Derry. This cosmic force of horror can shapeshift into your nightmares to feed off your fear, although its true form is that of golden lights, or "deadlights," that can drive anyone mad upon seeing them. Every 27 years, IT emerges to feast, mostly on children, before hiding away again below the town that's poisoned by IT's presence. This raises a number of questions. Why does IT favour the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown? Why doesn't this inter-dimensional entity venture out beyond Derry? And why does IT love to float so goddamn much? In an early interview with SFX (via GamesRadar), Muschietti teased that answers will be coming in season one of Welcome To Derry and beyond: "We're opening a window. Everything that we are setting up in season one, that will really manifest in two and three, is a look into all the bigger questions about IT. 'What does IT want? Why is IT here?' All the cryptic elements of IT that we're going to ruin and explain." View Green Video on the source website It's safe to assume that Muschietti was joking about his plans to "ruin" the wider mythology, but he accidentally did it anyway. The whole point of IT and Pennywise specifically is that this unknowable entity of unspeakable evil can't be explained away or ever fully understood. There's no logic to nightmares, and IT is a nightmare personified, the very essence of what you fear most sculpted out of the darkest recesses of your mind. Every horror fan knows that what you imagine will always be so much scarier than what's shown on-screen. That's why the '90s IT miniseries starring Tim Curry faltered when Pennywise's true form was revealed to be that of a janky-looking spider at the end. And it's not just what's shown that can have an impact either. Over-explaining is just as bad in its own way, especially with an evil as abstract and weird as this one. In episode four, Welcome To Derry dives deep into the origins of Pennywise, adding lore that wasn't even included in the original book. It's revealed that a dagger made from the same material as the meteor that Pennywise landed with can hurt the monster. In centuries past, thirteen sacred shards crafted from that metal were buried deep in the earth around Derry's western wood where IT lived, trapping it there. Each one was buried in a turtle shell, hinting at the role Maturin the cosmic turtle has long played in the battle against Pennywise. Sounds silly, right? What works on the page doesn't always translate well to screen, especially when it comes to aquatic reptiles of a cosmic nature. And that's also true of IT's expanded origin story, which Muschietti hints will be delved into further throughout future seasons. That's going to be a disaster if the military storyline we've seen so far is anything to go by. Lines like "Derry is a prison and we're looking for the bars," aren't just absurd in isolation. They also speak to just how odd and misjudged it is to see military officers try to weaponise something as unknowable as Pennywise. Even the name itself, IT, speaks to an ambiguity that's central to the power this idea has to unsettle us, a power which this narrative undercuts brutally. The result inevitably demystifies IT and robs the entity of its power. As smart as it was to tease Pennywise's physical appearance in the prequel, it was anything but wise to begin chipping away at its mystique. And therein lies the show's true horror. Because if Stephen King never explained why Pennywise stays in Derry, for example, why should the show? And more importantly, why should we care? It: Welcome to Derry continues on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Mondays. Add It: Welcome to Derry to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Pluribus season 1 review: Vince Gilligan's sci-fi masterpiece will take you to your happy place
Rhea Seehorn is magnificent in this unique sci-fi masterpiece.
TV titan Vince Gilligan is known for writing bad guys. Think Walter White in Breaking Bad or Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul. But for his highly anticipated follow-up, Gilligan dares to imagine a world where there are no bad guys, where evil has been eradicated in its entirety. And therein lies a very different kind of horror. Pluribus begins with a scientific discovery gone awry, as is often the case with post-apocalyptic stories of this nature. One simple mistake breaks the world as we know it, unleashing a virus that melds the globe into one collective group mind. The horrific imagery that follows evokes everything from the devastating stillness of 28 Days Later to the chilling paranoia embedded throughout Invasion of the Body Snatchers (in all its incarnations). So why was Pluribus surrounded by so much secrecy prior to its release? We've seen this all before, right? Well no, it turns out that Gilligan's twist on the genre quickly takes these familiar tropes in wildly unexpected directions that intrigue, unsettle, and might occasionally test your patience at points. Without spoiling too much, this global shift in thinking isn't hellbent on domination. The virus has essentially won already, yet that was never its goal. Melding the world's population into one singular mind was just necessary, a biological imperative akin to breathing. The result is a happy one, creating a utopia on earth where there is no more crime. Discrimination is a thing of the past and every caged animal has been set free. At its core, this apocalypse brings peace and happiness to everyone on earth except the one woman who can't stand it. Carol Sturka, an unhappy romance novelist who peddles "mindless crap" numbers among the very few people on earth who have retained their minds still, somehow immune to the virus. As such, the collective is keen to draw Carol into their embrace, quite happily informing her that they're working on ways to push through and infect her somehow. It's in this tension that the show's defiance of straightforward tone and genre is most evident. Much like Carol herself, Pluribus pushes back against notions of good and evil, what's right and wrong, in a funhouse mirror version of the grey areas Gilligan played with so adeptly in his previous works. With a placid smile (smiles?) and kind reassurances, the virus wishes to erase Carol's individuality and assimilate her completely. But would that be so bad? Other survivors reject Carol's idea of "saving humanity", believing themselves to be saved already in what could be considered a new utopia on earth. It would be easy to read this as a push back against group think or conformity, but Pluribus doesn't offer easy answers. Instead, the writing opens itself up to interpretation on multiple levels (unlike Carol's own tawdry fantasy series). This idea that the ones who wish you harm will smile at you as they do so also speaks to religious extremism, gay conversion therapy, and even our political reality, while assumptions that the virus is bad also touch on the differences between individualist and collectivist societies. Pluribus does offer easy answers in another sense, however, as the virus readily gives up information Carol seeks in her attempts to uncover what's really happening. These tranquil admissions might lack the tension that a puzzlebox mystery show usually provides — with one even going so far as to undercut its own horror almost immediately — but this in itself sets Pluribus further apart as an entirely unique viewing experience. That's also true of its scale. Gilligan's return to TV makes full use of that Apple TV budget with vast settings that ram home the global impact of what's happened. Jumps back and forth in time expand this even further again, plus international locales beyond Albuquerque, New Mexico (also the setting of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) are just a plane ride away, easily accessible thanks to "The Afflicted" and their endless altruism. While you're sometimes left wondering at the implications of this global shift beyond Carol's perspective, Pluribus constantly finds ingenious new ways to touch on that through dialogue or outlandish scenarios that could only come from a premise this strange. Hearing a child draw on the group mind to discuss the ins and outs of gynaecology is as disconcerting as it sounds, for example, while a politician talking to Carol through her TV delivers one of the premiere's most shocking moments through what's essentially exposition. Pluribus is alien in more ways than one, so it was smart to ground this story through a protagonist like Carol, a cynical grump whose anger is as useful as it can be destructive. Her outrage at what's become of humanity spikes against the happiness of the collective, creating a push and pull dynamic that grows central to what Pluribus has to say. Gilligan wrote this story specifically for Rhea Seehorn following their work together on Better Call Saul, and it's the exact kind of calling card that could nab her an Emmy at last following three previous nominations. Whether she's seething or yearning, raging or grieving, Seehorn is magnificent, adding dimension upon dimension to Carol against the smoothed-out flatness on the faces of everyone who surrounds her. Pluribus is essentially a one-woman show in that respect, yet Karolina Wydra also does phenomenal work as Zosia, an avatar for the collective who Carol comes to rely on. Her prominence deliberately complicates our perception of what's happening while also giving us a face to connect with in this multitude of billions. Pluribus works as an inverted version of Sense8 in some ways, another marvellously inventive spin on what's possible within sci-fi. Elements of Lost's puzzle box enigma, the existentialism of The Leftovers and even the quirkiness of The X-Files — a show Gilligan worked on extensively before Breaking Bad — are also apparent in the DNA of Pluribus (not to mention the influence of seminal sci-fi authors such as John Wyndham or Kurt Vonnegut). Much like the virus does to everyone except Carol, Pluribus twists familiar storytelling beats into something new and otherworldly. The result is one of this year's most inventive stories across any medium, making Gilligan's return to TV a bonafide rarity in a sea of recycled ideas we've seen countless times before. Beyond the premiere — a truly perfect hour of television — you'll need to be open to seeing the bigger picture at points, and patience is vital if you're to go along with some of the wilder swings this show takes. But if you're up for it, prepare yourself for what could eventually turn out to be a genuine masterpiece on the same level as Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. All it took was for Gilligan to make everyone and no-one the bad guy all at once. Pluribus is now available on Apple TV. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast. 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The Witcher season 4's Liam Hemsworth recast makes complete sense for one key reason
Geralt's had quite the makeover in season 4.
The Witcher has fought all manner of monsters in his time, but four seasons in, the biggest threat to Geralt's existence might just be himself. Or at least, the new version of him that's been introduced in Netflix's latest season. Whatever your thoughts on The Witcher might be, fans and detractors alike usually agree that Henry Cavill has been pivotal to the show's success. Whether he was drawing his sword or drawing a bath, Cavill's take on Geralt felt intrinsic to the story being told. It's as if he was born to play The Witcher. So when Cavill suddenly left the show three seasons in, his exit understandably came as quite a shock. It was impossible for fans to imagine what The Witcher might look like without him, yet that's exactly what showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich was forced to do for the series to continue. Enter Liam Hemsworth, another statuesque bulk of a man who was asked to step in and take Cavill's place. Long before pics of him donning the wig surfaced online, fans were already quick to denounce Hemsworth as being unfit for the task at hand. These were big shoes to fill, after all. Never mind that Liam is 6cm taller than Henry. It didn't help that when trailers for season 4 did finally arrive, they included a scene where Hemsworth's Geralt rallies his friends by crying: "Let's f**king move." For fans still invested in the show, this felt like a betrayal of sorts, a sign that The Witcher had lost its way. "Geralt would never say such a thing," they claimed, with others criticising Hemsworth's delivery of the line as well. To be fair, Liam was going to be criticised regardless, no matter how good or bad he was in the role. Copy Cavill too closely and you're just a pale imitation of the real deal. Put your own stamp on the character and you risk losing Geralt's essence entirely. This was always going to be a lose-lose situation for Hemsworth, at least at the beginning when fans would be most resistant to change. Plus, it's not exactly easy to pull off a white wig of that gloss and magnitude. Yet even with all that going against Hemsworth, I'd argue his arrival in the show couldn't have come at a better time. In fact, replacing Cavill at this stage actually makes a lot of sense considering where Geralt himself is at in this stage of the character's journey. Witchers don't typically involve themselves in the affairs of humans. As Geralt himself says in the fifth episode of this new season, people like him are "destined to kill monsters and make coin". Yet that's no longer true for this Witcher. While this might hew closely to where he and this show first began, Geralt has been through a great deal these past three seasons. He's fallen in love with Yennefer, he's become a father of sorts to Ciri, and he's developed a somewhat homoerotic bromance with Jaskier too. The Witcher's heart and soul has become enmeshed with humans more than even he could have ever expected, and that's also the case in season 4 when he ends up leading a new hanza bonded by friendship. It wasn't where the Witcher saw himself heading, but here we are nonetheless. Over time, Geralt has become a friend, a lover, a father figure who's worlds removed now from the Geralt that Cavill first introduced to us at the start of season 1. Season 4 goes to great pains to emphasise this. In Hemsworth's first episode, Jaskier states that Geralt "just hasn't been the same since his injuries, since he lost the ones he loved". Nods to him changing, to Geralt embracing his emotions like never before, continue throughout, perhaps most noticeably when Laurence Fishburne's new character tells him that he's "evolving." And he's right to say it. The Geralt we once knew certainly wouldn't have trusted a vampire like Regis, for example. Cynics might suggest this has been emphasised so strongly to differentiate Hemsworth's version of the role from Cavill, perhaps with a knowing nod and wink that's rather typical of the show in general. But the truth is that Geralt's different anyway now. As such, any deviations from the Geralt we once knew can easily be explained away as such, which easily accounts for the different take Hemsworth inevitably brings to this character. Does Liam match up to Henry? No, not quite, but there's more nuance to this than arguments that Hemsworth is simply "bad" in the role. What is clear, however, is that the new episodes don't live up to past seasons regardless. If anything, that's what puts The Witcher in danger now. Not the 'new' Geralt, but lacklustre writing and directionless plotting that drags this season out far longer than necessary. In that regard, Hemsworth couldn't have signed up at a worse time. The Witcher seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netflix. Season 5 coming soon. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast. 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Wayward ending explained: Do Abbie and Leila escape the school?
Lets's break it down. **CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WAYWARD**
*Warning: Major Wayward spoilers ahead.* Mae Martin’s new mystery series Wayward has hooked fans with its genre-bending oddness, thrilling plot and decades-spanning twists. Set in the secluded town of Tall Pines, Vermont, the series centres on Tall Pines Academy, a so-called therapeutic school for troubled teens, helmed by the terrifying Evelyn (Toni Collette). Creator Martin also stars as Alex, a police officer who has just moved to Tall Pines with his pregnant fiancée, Laura (Sarah Gadon), and immediately begins to sense something is off about the town. Alex soon becomes entangled with two students, Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) and Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind), who plan to break out of the school. But Alex has more than his own fair share of problems to contend with. The new cop in town can't leave Tall Pines yet, not until he has enough dirt on Evelyn to break free of her controlling hold on his family. He and Laura plan to escape together with their baby once it's born – except at the end of episode 7, Alex overhears Laura tell her support group that she's never going to leave town. Not ever. It's then that Alex finally realises that Laura, who seemed to be rebelling against her former mentor, is actually becoming the new Evelyn herself. To make matters worse, it also looks like Leila is becoming the new Laura now that she's falling for Evelyn's cult-like control, just like Alex's wife once did all those years ago. So, will Laura turn to the dark side completely? Will Abbie and Leila's friendship survive long enough to escape? And will Collette deliver another raging "Mother" monologue, the likes of which we've not seen since her Oscar-worthy turn in Hereditary? Here's how Mae Martin's Wayward ends its first (and probably only) season on Netflix. Wayward ending explained: Do Abbie and Leila escape? Sensing that she's losing her grip over Laura, Evelyn shows up at Laura's house, but doesn't get a warm welcome. Her current number one disciple, Rabbit, isn't so keen on Evelyn now either after she watches the kid she hoped to adopt has been suddenly sent away with another family. The cracks in Evelyn's control over the school and this town are becoming too big to ignore… Seizing this opportunity, Abbie finally puts her escape plan into action, using the stamps Alex gave her to trick one of the guards into leaving the compound using a fake love letter from a long-distance admirer. Yep, really. And it works. Through this elaborate scheme, Abbie is able to switch the power off in the school at a crucial moment, and when the guards run out to find her with Morty and Leila outside, the other students are all wearing identical hoodies to her so that Abbie's impossible to find. While all this is happening, Laura suddenly goes into labour three weeks early, but that's OK. Someone in her new cult has to be a doctor, right? What's the point of starting a cult of your own if you can't enjoy a few benefits every now and again as leader? Abbie and Leila get away, but Leila suddenly changes her mind, telling Abbie that the school can help her so she should stay. Evelyn has got into her brain, indoctrinating Leila completely. And not even her bestie Abbie can change her mind in time. Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Martin said that when they were "reading about these schools, there are some people who say it changed their life and it was all worth it". "So I'm interested in that and where that comes from, and pain relief is a very persuasive element, right?" they added. "And I'm also interested in class struggle. Like socioeconomically, she doesn't have a safety net [on the outside]. And Leila's having a different experience to Abbie, she's had a different experience going through the programme, so it just felt emotionally truthful that she would want to be there." What happens to Evelyn in Wayward? Meanwhile, Evelyn confronts Alex in the creepy basement of her school where the gross tadpole water baptisms take place. Have you ever heard a more unholy combination of words in your life? Things aren't looking too good for Alex, but then Rabbit betrays Evelyn after she finally realises that her mentor doesn't actually care about her at all. Alex almost drowns, but he ends up turning the tables on Evelyn by injecting her with the drug she's been using on the kids. Rabbit points out that he's given her too much, a lethal dose, but honestly, it's what Evelyn deserves at this point. High as a kite, Evelyn turns around and reveals a horrific truth to Alex – that Laura's parents weren't killed by her. They were killed by their own child, Laura, who smashed their heads in with a rock. While Alex leaves to go be with Laura during the birth of their child, Rabbit talks an intoxicated Evelyn through her own version of The Leap, that horrendous procedure she frequently used to mind control the students. In her visions, Evelyn sees her mother and then her mouth becomes a symbolic door of sorts. Evelyn proceeds to put her own hand into her own mouth because why not? And that freaky ass dream(?) sequence is the last we see of Evelyn. But is she still alive or has she died from an overdose of the Leap drug? Wayward was designed to be a limited series, but given how often streamers like Netflix like to switch things up and change their minds, it makes sense that Martin might leave Evelyn's ending at least a touch ambiguous. What's not ambiguous, however, is just how messed up life is for Alex and Laura moving forward. Does Alex leave at the end of Wayward? Despite almost dying at the school, Alex makes it home in time to greet Laura just as she's given birth to their child in a paddling pool. The pair bond over the fact they've both done "many awful things," and then Alex bonds with the baby by sitting with it in the pool, skin to skin. That's when members of Laura's new cult interrupt and take it upon themselves to do the same, passing "their" new baby around like a hot potato, cuddling to ensure a bond is secured through plenty of skin to skin contact. It's weird and freaky and probably the ninth oddest thing to happen in this series. Alex agrees, bewildered at what's going on, but Laura explains that their child should belong to everyone now because it's the "only way to break the pattern". The pattern being Evelyn's creepy grip on the town and how it was forbidden for new children to be born there for decades. Still though, it's pretty creepy. The next thing you know, Alex is driving in his car with the baby and Abbie too, escaping town for good. Alex tells Abbie that she's "not a bad kid," pointing out the strength it takes for someone so young to know exactly who they are. Abbie says "You're a good person too, Alex," ending Wayward on the happy note they both deserve… Except, it's all a lie. Alex isn't a good person and he's not a good father either, because this last sequence isn't real. We cut then to where Alex actually is, back at home, closing the front door of his house to return to his family. In doing so, he broke his promise to Abbie and condemned his child to a life in the creepy cult his wife just freshly set up. "I think the fact that he can imagine the right thing to do just brings it into focus even more that it is a bit of a moral failure," explained Martin. "He knows the right thing to do, and he's choosing instead to to stay. "But again, I relate. He really loves Laura, and he loves the baby, and it would be really, really difficult to leave. "I'm so interested in people's reactions to the ending because I've had people say it's really ambiguous with Alex, I'm like, I don't know if it's ambiguous, or if he just didn't make the choice you wanted him to make. He chooses to stay and he knows that that's the wrong thing to do. But what would you do with your baby and your wife? "I definitely think that yearning for acceptance and that kind of outdated idea of being a protector and a provider, I think that's so strong in him. But he's not gonna get it. It's gonna be f**ked, right?" What happens at the end of Wayward? And with that, Wayward ends with Abbie driving alone, free, but at what cost? It's safe to presume that Abbie gets away, mostly unharmed, if not for all the psychological trauma that must come from what's happened. Alex, meanwhile, has given into the fake comforts of the cult family life Laura's dragged him into, but what of the school and the rest of the students? Whether Evelyn is alive or not by the end, there's still a ton of corpses and messed up kids to sort out. Sometimes you're better off just not knowing, forced to imagine the best or worst for characters like this without forcing a second season where one might not be needed. But still, aren't you tempted by the idea of a sequel set years down the line that could revolve around Laura's new cult? Wayward is available to stream on Netflix from Thursday 25th September. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 ending explained – every twist broken down
Let's hope the siesta they take between seasons is enough to inject some new life into this spin-off.
Like its titular zombies, The Walking Dead continues to live on as a shadow of its former self. That is, except for the Daryl Dixon spin-off. While other spin-offs have failed to capture what made the flagship show so popular, Norman Reedus and his fan-favourite character have endured for three seasons to much greater success. With a season 4 already confirmed, the future's looking good for Daryl and his bestie Carol who's accompanied him for the past two seasons. Except, everyone's favourite mulleted hero hasn't exactly had it easy this time around. Trapped in the Spanish town of Solaz del Amar, Daryl and Carol are caught up in all kinds of drama with the show's new Big Bad, Fede. Plus, Carol's been catching feelings for a local named Antonio. It's a shame then that Fede has kidnapped Antonio and is currently torturing him for info on Daryl. Will Carol find love at last? Will Daryl ever make it home? And will someone finally cut Daryl's mullet down to size while he's sleeping? These questions and more all come to mind watching the seventh, final episode of Daryl Dixon season 3. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 ending explained The finale begins with a callback to a callback. Remember when Daryl placed Laurent's Rubik's Cube at a memorial to honour him a few episodes prior? (Laurent was the French kid Daryl looked after in seasons 1 and 2.) Well, we're back there now with another familiar face from previous seasons. Yep, the mysterious eyepatch guy is actually Stéphane Codron, who started out as a villain in season 1 before he switched sides. The last time we saw him was at the end of season 2 when hallucinogenic bat poop in the Channel Tunnel caused him to see visions of his brother, during which he stabbed Daryl with a bayonet. Yep, really. That encounter ended with Stéphane running off to who knows where and he hasn't been seen since. Until now. More on that later. While Antonio is being tortured by Fede, Carol tries to convince his ungrateful son Roberto to help save him. She tells him to wait for Daryl and Justina to return from their mission and board the boat as she goes it alone. Carol's smitten! Fede makes an example of Antonio, stringing him up on a torture device in the town square as Carol watches in horror from the shadows. Only when he reveals where the Americans are hiding will Antonio be freed. Plus, it doesn't hurt to scapegoat them in front of the town to assert Fede's dominance further. When night falls, Carol comes to free Antonio while avoiding gun fire from Fede's henchmen in the distance. Meanwhile, Daryl and Paz go undercover at a royal banquet, working as masked servants right under everyone's noses. This is where the people with power gather in luxury, the same people who demand villages offer up their women to Spanish royalty in a ritual known as "La Ofrenda" ("The Offering"). As they wine and dine in luxurious finery, the royals watch a special show on stage where walkers are dressed up fancy and strung up like marionette puppets to dance for them. The symbolism isn't exactly subtle, but it's a unique, striking image still, which has become somewhat of a rarity in the Walking Dead franchise these days. The King dedicates a speech to his son Guillermo, and his "beautiful future wife" Elena, who was snatched away from her girlfriend Paz earlier this season. Daryl ain't having it, so he cuts the walkers free and opens the curtain, unleashing them on the crowd. He also starts a few fires for good measure as Paz heads off to rescue Elena. The pair reunite with a hug in Elena's place, where Paz finds out her love has a son named Pablo. They plan to run off together, but then a guard knocks Paz out, who wakes up to Guillermo threatening her. "You want my wife?" he shouts. "Now you’ll be together every night because I’ll mount your head on her bedpost." As murderous threats go, that's a pretty good one, but Elena then quite literally stabs him in the back to save Paz. They get the boy and run. At the same time, Daryl saves Justina from the man who chose her at "The Matching" ritual before all hell broke loose. In doing so, Daryl saves some other women, because that's just the nice guy that Daryl is. Carol also received a welcome dose of human kindness from Antonio who's prepared some tea for her in a brief safe spot. And not just any tea either, but with milk and honey. That's how you know he's one of the good ones. Of course, it's not long before Fede's men show up pounding at the door. Luckily, the local women who hid them away show them to a convenient escape route concealed down in their basement. One brief walker attack later and all our faves are reunited safely above ground. Paz thanks Daryl for all his help and then bounces while he and Justina take the scenic route back to the lighthouse on his motorbike. They stop off briefly to share some thoughts which are supposed to sound deep, but come across a bit basic as they point out how the apocalypse turned some people bad and others good. Eventually, they arrive back at the lighthouse but are welcomed by two intruders who attack and take Justina hostage. Valentina saves them quite quickly though, revealing that Roberto had her hide after she was injured in the initial attack. Daryl runs off back to the village again in order to rescue Carol who went back for Antonio again. Fede has captured them both, but decides to immediately let them go… Of course, there's a catch. The catch being that Antonio's son Roberto has been chained to two of his dead friends who are about to transform just as more walkers are led into the courtyard. View oEmbed on the source website Carol and Antonio try to remove the chains but it's too late. A local named Alba throws a knife to Carol, but Fede's men shoot it away with startling accuracy. Unfortunately for them, said accuracy escapes them just moments later when Daryl arrives and starts shooting at them from a balcony nearby. Daryl quickly picks off his aggressors as Carol picks up the knife and gets stabby stabby with the walkers. Justina arrives then, casually strolling through the mini-horde as both Daryl and Fede shoot at the zombies trying to eat her. Remember, Fede is Justina's uncle, so he does care about her safety still, despite how poorly he's treated her up until now. This works against Fede though when the villagers emerge to hear Justina's claims that Fede has been lying to them all. She also announces that El Alcazar "is in ashes" thanks to Daryl, which means The Ofrenda is over for good. Instead of torturing Fede like he did Antonio, Justina suggests taking him to the dungeon. To hurt him would mean they're not better than him. The evil cartoonish mayor then screams "This is your fault!" at Daryl as he's led away. "You'll pay!" Do Daryl and Carol make it home? Back at the lighthouse, Daryl and Carol finally get around to sharing those hot dogs they've been hankering for all season. Instead of sailing off immediately, using the boat to find their way home, the pair recuperate and open up to each other on the beach. "This whole time I’ve been trying to get home," says Daryl. "Why the f**k did I leave in the first place? Why did I have to get in a fight with the guy in Maine? Why didn’t I leave France when I could have? This makes no sense. My whole life I’ve been running, just running and fighting. That’s all." Carol says he did it to survive, but Daryl worries this has become a habit now, that he might arrive home and feel the urge to leave again still. The pair hug it out, reminding us that this show is always at its best when Daryl and Carol are actually together instead of getting separated on endless side missions. Meanwhile, Fede's mama brings him food in jail. He asks to be freed, telling her that the town will obviously kill him as soon as Daryl and co sail away. "You already lost one son. You don’t want to lose another…" The Spanish matriarch doesn't say anything, but it's not long before we find out what she did next, because Fede suddenly shows up on the beach, holding a gun to Daryl in a bid for revenge. But he doesn't just run up and shoot him. No, that would have been the smart thing to do. "I let you into my town," he cries. "I gave you food and shelter and you took everything from me. Do you really think you can just sail home now?" Just before Fede pulls the trigger, Carol appears and knocks him to the ground. A bullet's fired off in the struggle, which somehow starts a fire in the ship. Others join in to help Carol, including Antonio who knocks Fede out with a rock. The fire quickly devours the ship in a series of explosions, which means the gang aren't going anywhere. A Spanish version of Johnny Cash's Hurt plays as Daryl and Carol watch their ride home go up in flames. It's all very dramatic, and then Stéphane shows up again, watching the explosions from a distance using his one remaining eye. With a fourth season already confirmed, it was inevitable that Daryl and Carol wouldn't make it home just yet. But it seems that after bouncing around America, France, and the UK (briefly), the showrunners aren't done with this Spanish setting just yet. Let's just hope the siesta they take between seasons is enough to inject some new life into this spin-off before it shuffles on into the horizon for good. Since Daryl and Carol left France, the show has lost some of its "je ne sais quoi". In the UK, Daryl Dixon season 3 will be available to stream on Sky and NOW from 24th October. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
My Hero Academia's 10 strangest characters ranked from quirky to super weird
My Hero Academia is so much more than just a Japanese version of Western comic book stories like X-Men or Umbrella Academy. Across its decade-long run, Kōhei Horikoshi's school-based superhero saga has changed the game for storytelling in both anime and manga, introducing us to countless heroes and villains who are just as inspiring as they are weird. Powers in this world are known as "quirks", yet quirky doesn't even begin to cover the bizarre places some of these characters take us. In Class 1-A alone, there are students who possess frog powers, who gain super strength from eating sugar, and one who can even shoot lasers out of his belly button. These would be the strangest characters in almost any other story, but in My Hero Academia, such quirks are ordinary and even mundane in comparison to the 10 weirdos you're about to meet in this list. But who's the weirdest and freakiest character in a world full of them? Join us here at RadioTimes.com as we flex our listing Quirk and create the ultimate ranking of 10 weirdest characters in My Hero Academia. 10. Taneo Tokuda – Whole Body Lens Imagine being able to take photos without worrying that your phone might run out of charge. That's the perfect reality Taneo Tokuda lives in thanks to his unique Whole Body Lens ability that enables him to form camera lenses anywhere on his skin. Tokuda can even print off the photos he takes from his chest, polaroid style. Obviously, he's a reporter, because what else would you possibly do with that quirk? Being a perv in the shadows won't pay your bills, after all. 9. Teruo Hazukashi – Shame When people usually feel shame or embarrassment, we tend to sweat or our face might turn red. But for Hazukashi, these feelings also endow him with super-strength. That's why when he shows up in episode 87, this nefarious criminal decides to get naked in a busy street, powered up by the shame this brings. Hazukashi is kind of ripped though, so why he's embarrassed to show off those abs is beyond us. 8. Setsuna Tokage – Lizard Tail Splitter Tokage has the unique and icky ability to split her body into smaller pieces which she independently controls. What's even weirder is that each piece can float in the air, so anything from her nose to her pinky can zoom around in the sky at will. Can lizards do this? No. Would we question the name of Tokage's Quirk to her face? No, because she'd probably do something gross like detach her tongue or foot and throw it at us. 7. Minoru Mineta – Pop Off As a founding member of Class 1-A, this little freak is the most well known Quirk user on the list. Maybe that's why he ranks so low, because we've got used to the weird sticky balls that he pulls from his hair. What we will never get used to, however, is his creepy obsession with girls and the fact that he wears a diaper while doing said creeping. It's time to expel Minoru Mineta ASAP. 6. Kojiro Bondo – Cemedine Class 1-B student Kojiro Bondo is aptly named because his quirk allows him to spray a sticky glue that he can "bond" to anything, drying it fast or slow depending on what the situation calls for. As far as quirks in My Hero Academia go, there are weirder ones, sure. But what earns Bondo a spot on this list is the fact that he's essentially a giant human glue dispenser who sprays the glue out of tiny holes where his face should be. No judgement, but that's pure nightmare fuel, and I want no part of it. 5. Comicman – Comic Comicman is a comic book hero whose face is constructed like a blank comic book panel. When he speaks, the words materialise in mid-air, and not just any words either. These words are onomatopoeia (words that describe sounds), which then manifest the effects of the sound. It's a very flexible power with tons of potential if not for the fact that over-using this quirk gives Comicman a sore throat. But let's be real. If you want to be the number one hero in the game, just buy some lozenges and step your s**t up. 4. Ending – Whiteline As you might have gathered, my dude Ending has the power to control white lines. Red lines are a no-go. White circles are also a no-go. And if that wasn't specific enough, Ending can only control white lines painted on the road. Attack him in the countryside and you're good to go. But don't dismiss Ending entirely. Under the effects of a Quirk-boosting drug named Trigger, he used his Whiteline ability to form tentacles that can bind enemies or throw heavy objects, including cars. Dumb yet impressive, nonetheless. 3. Seiji Shishikura – Meatball If Shishikura's Meatball Quirk gave him the ability to create the world's finest spaghetti dish out of mid-air, he'd top our ranking of best heroes ever. But unfortunately, this is not that Quirk. Instead, the Shiketsu High School student has the power to manipulate raw flesh. And not just a lamb chop either. His signature move is kneading other people's bodies into a ball of flesh, a meatball, if you will, and they're still conscious the entire time. The entire time. As if that wasn't enough to fund a year's worth of therapy, Shishikura can manipulate his own flesh too. Our little creep is too powerful so they don't use him in the show much anymore. Either that or he traumatised too many kids watching. 2. Tatami Nakagame – Telescopic You might assume that the Telescopic Quirk refers to someone who can zoom in to see things from far away. But no, that ability belongs to another named Mei Hatsume. What Tatami Nakagame can do is far more freaky. Essentially, she can retract her body in on itself, like a turtle, but naming this Quirk after an aquatic reptile was too weird, apparently. So instead, you have to imagine how a telescope can be pushed into itself with smaller and smaller cylinders stacking into each other. Yep, that's it. That's the whole Quirk. At best, this power might be handy if you're aiming to win a particularly serious game of hide and seek. Or maybe you want to save some money and buy a child ticket for the train. Beyond that, it's hard to see how retracting your limbs into your body can help to protect innocents or fight anyone really. 1. Susugu Mitarai – Clean Bubbler Laundry day can be an absolute ball ache, but not for Susugu Mitarai. Better known as Pro-Hero Wash, he uses the Clean Bubbler Quirk to produce soapy water from his body that can be wielded in a variety of different ways. Enormous bubbles can be used to trap villains or keep them afloat in the air while the soapy fluid he creates can also help treat injuries. That's all pretty weird, but the strangest thing about Mitarai is the fact that this somewhat useful power actually earned him a spot in the top 10 Pro-Heroes. Yep, the guy dressed up like a washing machine is in the top 10 out of literally hundreds of heroes. What does Mitarai know that we don't? What dirt does he have on the people who get to decide this? That's one stain he won't be washing off anytime soon. My Hero Academia is available to watch on Crunchyroll. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Peacemaker season 2 ending explained: How finale sets up Superman's Man of Tomorrow
Things aren't looking good for Chris. **CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR PEACEMAKER SEASON 2 EPISODE 8**
**Warning: Spoilers ahead for Peacemaker season 2 episode 8.** Will Peacemaker ever find any actual peace? The penultimate episode of season 2 left Chris Smith in a very bad place. Yes, even worse than the Nazi-loving dimension he's just escaped from. Because on the team's way out, both Peacemaker's (alternate) brother and (alternate) father ended up dying, forcing Chris to relive the loss of his family all over again. With Peacemaker now in custody and the rest of the gang in disarray, what does this mean for the final chapter of season 2? And how do we go from that to the setup for season 3, not to mention James Gunn's Superman sequel Superman, Man of Tomorrow, which this episode will also launch. Grab yourself a Big Belly burger and settle in as we take a closer look at the end of season 2 and what's next for Peacemaker. Peacemaker season 2 ending explained The finale starts one month prior where we finally get to the night Chris and Emilia Harcourt acted on their feelings and shared a kiss. Copious amounts of tequila aside, it's an incredibly sweet, affecting sequence that wouldn't feel out of place in a modern-day rom-com. That's not to say it's cheesy either, especially when Emilia nearly pummels a guy with freckles. The chemistry Chris and Emilia share feels genuine, rooted in affection for their friends and each other. Back in the present, Chris rejects efforts made by the gang to visit him in prison. He claims to a guard that he's become the angel of death as a result of the trauma he's endured, but if that's true of anyone, it's Rick Flag Sr. Time and time again, he sends A.R.G.U.S. agents to investigate unlocked doors in the inter-dimensional space that Peacemaker first introduced us to at the start of this season. John Economos points out that this feels reckless, especially given that the agents can't be tracked once they pass through each door. Most of the doors are locked though, thankfully. That is, until they reach number 22. At first, it looks like the sweetest dream, a world where candy canes stand tall in place of trees. But, of course, it's not long until tiny critters ambush the agents, including Emilia, biting at their hazmat suits with tiny pointy teeth. The team eventually escape, shooting and even ripping the imps apart who explode in a puff of glitter. One team member, embarrassed earlier by his story of puking on a stripper, has nothing to be embarrassed about anymore, and that's because he's dead. The little gremlins smashed their way through the glass in his helmet and proceeded to eat his face. So what is the plan exactly? It turns out Flag is looking for an uninhabited world that's breathable with its own food and water supply. But why? Leota Adebayo, aka Ads, visits Vigilante who ends up envisioning her and his mum engaged in cunnilingus because… reasons. Moving swiftly past that, Ads needs the blood money Vigilante has accrued from all his crime busts over the years. It's the only way they can pay off Peacemaker's bail and free him from jail. Vigilante would rather kill the judge's family because he's afraid this blood money is cursed, but Ads tricks him into agreeing anyway. Chris makes bail, despite his wishes to the contrary, so he just takes off to a dingy motel with Eagly. Meanwhile, A.R.G.U.S. Agents open plenty more doors to other worlds including one with a black hole, another with old-school zombies, and a third that's populated by giant skulls on spider-like legs, screaming into the abyss. That's a big nope for everyone involved, although Lex Luthor leaves a note saying the black hole world looks promising. Flag seems pretty happy too, laughing and doing lines of coke with his team while more agents are brutally killed under his command. Yep, Flag sucks, which is a bummer for anyone who enjoyed watching a younger version of his character lead the Creature Commandos in Gunn's recent animated series. Eventually, another dimension suited to his needs is found. In a shady meeting with some higher-ups, Flag explains that this 'Salvation' planet is the perfect place to house criminals that prisons like Arkham Asylum and Belle Reve can't handle. Essentially, he wants to remove all the aliens and meta-humans he doesn't like, much like a dumber version of Lex. Will that soon include Superman? Flag's cyborg colleague slash girlfriend Sasha Bordeaux doesn't feel particularly good about this plan, and with so many people dying for the cause, she decides to form an alliance with Emilia and put a stop to this. View oEmbed on the source website They meet in the same Big Belly burger restaurant that Harcourt and Chris visited on their date, which is as good a time as any to point out that Peacemaker has barely appeared in the finale yet, even though it's his show. While some might be quick to criticise that, this just goes to show how strong the supporting cast is, especially when they band together with one common goal. Despite that camaraderie, Danielle Brooks remains the clear standout here, and she gets a chance to shine when Ads visits her ex to find resolution and close that chapter of her life for good. The words they share — "It tears me apart at my bones and I will love you for the rest of my life, but I know we’re not right for each other" — are so good that they almost make me forgive the fact that Ads' wife's been missing from the show since episode 1. Using her special clearance, Sasha finds Peacemaker's location with a little help from John who tells what might be the worst joke in the world — while revealing a harrowing fact about lobsters in the process. Did you know they die because their shells stop growing so they end up being crushed by their own exo-skeleton? Well now you do... Ok, maybe double check that one on Google. The group catch up with Chris outside the motel. He tries to run, but Vigilante electrocutes him. It's ok though. He does it with love. And then they all pour out their feelings to Chris who reveals why he's been pushing everyone away. With so many people dying around him, including his family, twice, Chris believes that he's cursed. After all, weirder things have happened in a world full of magic and aliens and all kinds of f***ery. But Ads points out that all those deaths happened because Chris was listening to other people, Amanda Waller… his father… and not himself. "When you are truly who you are, Chris Smith, what happens? You touch people, man. I believe in miracles because of you. I saw an eagle hug a human. I know who I am because of you and when I’m around you, I feel loved. You’re big and you’re stupid but I know you love me and I don’t know if I can say that about anyone else in the world." Brooks has received Oscar and Emmy nominations in the past, so how about we just give her both for this performance? It doesn't have to make sense. All I know is that she's amazing here and got me crying even harder than her character does in that motel room. Everyone pitches in to convince Chris that they're his family, and with that, they go off to the next big thing. But before they do, Peacemaker stops Emilia and asks her if their time on the boat meant something to her. She pushes back, at first, afraid again that she might hurt him, but then Emilia admits: "Of course it did you fucking arsehole. It meant everything." Chris goes back inside and pauses for a moment. Suddenly, he then does the biggest cheer along with an adorable leap in the air and mini dance break to the show's theme song. The show intercuts that with an actual performance by the band Foxy Shazam one week later on the rock boat. A montage where everyone grabs money from Adrian's basement, complete with an obligatory stripper dance from Adrian, cuts to the team building their own office alongside Judo Master and Agent Langston Fleury (you know, the guy with bird blindness). There's a very cheesy moment where the gang all walk together, slow-motion, in a line, which shouldn't work, but you know what? They've earned it. We then learn from Langston and Adrian that spiders can produce milk, because what else are these two loveable weirdos going to talk about now they're teammates? That one's definitely true. I've already Googled it. How the Peacemaker finale sets up season 3 and Superman's Man of Tomorrow As the team leave the office, we pan up to see that the new organisation they've funded with Adrian's blood money is called Checkmate. In DC Comics, Checkmate is an established spy team that follows a chess motif with everyone's code named based on rank, like Kings and Queens on top, for example. The white half of the division focuses on information and intelligence while the agents designated black work in the field. Peacemaker was actually a member of Checkmate in the source material, so this all tracks, and with the organisation's focus on ensuring balance between humans and metahumans, it's obvious that the Peacemaker gang will continue to play an important role across the wider DC Universe moving forward. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/02/superman-krypto-dd3e1d5.jpg" width="2100" height="1400" alt="Superman (David Corenswet) is dressed in his full superman outfit (blue latex body suit, red underwear, yellow belt, black boots and red cape) is seen talking to his dog, Krypto – a white terrier mutt with a red cape on – in the Fortress of Solitude – a cave made entirely of ice. A silver robot is seen behind Superman." title="superman-krypto" /> But not with Chris, it seems, because at the very end of the episode, Flag kidnaps him and throws our hero through the interdimensional door, trapping him on Salvation. He claims Peacemaker is a test subject to see what long-term effects the dimension might have on his body. But really, it's pretty obvious he's doing it out of spite. "This is for Ricky, you piece of s**t," says Flag as the door closes and disappears, leaving Chris alone in another dimension where monstrous screams from who knows what can be heard in the distance. That's what you get for killing the dude's son in a Suicide Squad feature film a few years back, I guess. Two post-credits scenes follow, both played for laughs. The first sees a government official suggesting that Flag put up a "vaporising barrier" around Salvation to ensure no one can escape. Kind of like a bug zapper. The second feels more like a deleted scene that didn't make the cut because it jumps back to John trying to distract everyone with a terrible joke. The story this time, about a serial killer who shows his killer permit to a cop, leaves one colleague in fits of laughter though. "Looks like someone has got a new fan," John says to himself rather smugly. It's interesting to end the episode on a joke as some fans feel the same way about this episode as a whole, complaining online that there wasn't enough action or that it was too concerned with setting up something new at the end. It also doesn't help that Gunn has previously hyped this episode up, only for the cameos in question to be old rock bands and not famed heroes like the Justice League finale from season 1. Yet there's something rather ballsy about doubling down on the character work while forgoing the usual big CGI battle that's come to characterise the end of so many shows like this. Sure, there are still loose ends to take care of, potentially in other DC endeavours rather than a third season of Peacemaker. It's previously been hinted that Superman and Lex Luthor will be forced to team up in their next movie together, Man of Tomorrow, and it's looking more and more likely that this may take place on the Salvation planet introduced here. In the comics, this 'Salvation Run' arc forced plenty of villains to team up so they could escape the prison world together, and it wouldn't take much of a twist to throw Superman into that equation, especially given Lex's involvement here in Peacemaker. One thing's for sure, Chris ain't finding peace anytime soon, even if it did look that way ever so briefly in that happy smiley slow-motion segment. Peacemaker is available on Sky Max and NOW. Add Peacemaker to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Spy x Family's 10 most powerful characters ranked from weakest to strongest
Every member of the titular Forger family hides a secret in Spy x Family, not just from the world but from each other as well. Loid Forger, the father, is actually a superspy in disguise, while his wife Yor works as a deadly assassin of international repute. Their adorable daughter Anya has gifts of her own, specifically the ability to read minds, and she's hiding the fact that their dog Bond can see the future. Each is strong in their own way, but who's the strongest? And how do the Forgers compare to the might of others they face within the Spy x Family universe? Read on for our ranking of the strongest Spy x Family characters. Sorry in advance to Bond for not quite making the cut. But he knew that already. 10. Anya Forger If we were ranking the cutest, most adorable Spy x Family characters, Anya would obviously come head and shoulders above the rest, despite her tiny stature. Unfortunately, this is not that list. But even in the strength stakes, Anya is stronger than you might think. Sure, Anya is still a child, and she's often drained easily by using her powers. But if she's this brave and resourceful now at the age of 5, just think how strong Anya could be with some training as an adult. Don't count the smallest Forger out just yet. No matter how tough things might get, she always laughs in the face of danger – and can you say the same? 9. Martha Marriott Appearances can be deceiving, especially in a spy show, and that's absolutely true for Martha Marriott, who works as a personal nanny to Becky Blackbell. This sweet elderly woman once served as a soldier in Ostania’s military and there's a reason why the rich Blackbell family have entrusted her with Becky's safety. As Loid Forger notes when they first meet, Marriott carries herself like a warrior, working as an undercover bodyguard in addition to her nanny duties. She might not be as strong and nimble as she was in her youth, but Martha remains someone you shouldn't mess with, regardless of her age. 8. SSS Lieutenant The SSS Lieutenant works as Yuri Brair’s supervisor within the Ostania State Security Service, instantly positioning him in a role of power. He also looks pretty intimidating too with those scars on the left side of his face, and the fact we know so little about him also adds to that mystique. Come on Anya, read his mind already! We're yet to see the SSS Lieutenant in action, so it's hard to gauge just how strong he really is. Still, his reputation precedes him, and given how ruthlessly dedicated he is to each job at hand, it's safe to say that the SSS Lieutenant is a formidable force in the world of Spy x Family. 7. Yuri Briar Yor's younger, unhinged brother has done so well as a newly appointed SSS Agent because he's so good at his job, demonstrating brutal efficiency in the role already. The only thing about him that's stronger than his physical prowess is his deep, obsessive love for his sister. More than that though, and more even than his rigorous training, what makes Yuri truly strong is his ability to endure Yor's terrible cooking. Dishes that would make a lesser man choke or vomit are no match for Yuri who will eat anything his sister makes just to please her, even at great cost to his physical health. 6. Sylvia Sherwood As Loid’s direct superior, Sylvia oversees every mission he carries out for the WISE organisation, which means she must be incredibly intelligent, well-informed, and capable in her job. Yet the Handler of the Ostanian branch is more than just an information expert. To move up so high in the ranks of this super-spy organisation, Sylvia must be an extremely proficient spy in her own right, as we've seen when she's had to fight in the field. Anyone who trained Loid is obviously a power to be reckoned with too. And who knows what powerful secrets she hides in that huge hat of hers? 5. Matthew McMahon When we first meet Matthew McMahon, he's daylighting as the Director of Policy at Berlint City Hall. But behind that nice, gentle facade, it turns out he works as another Garden assassin at night. And not just any assassin either. As the one who usually relay's Yor's assignments, it's clear Matthew must be higher up in the food chain than her. That means McMahon could be even stronger than Yor in theory. Or maybe he's just well liked in the office. Either way, he's clearly a very proficient fighter in his own right, as seen a bit during the Cruise Arc when he works alongside Yor. The problem is we haven't seen him fight a whole bunch yet, so he doesn't get to be her superior when it comes to this list, even if he technically is in the show. 4. Type F This military weapon only appeared once in the film SPY X FAMILY CODE, but it's hard to forget the guy who almost took down Yor. Equipped with multiple guns throughout his cyborg body, this extremely durable foe easily stands out as one of the strongest characters across this entire franchise. Go big or go home, said the filmmakers. This man of few words was still pretty basic though when it came to his goal of destroying peace between the East and West. As such, Yor was able to outsmart Type F, using his arrogance against him. But even so, this impressive cyborg would still give the vast majority of characters in the show a run for their money. 3. Fiona Frost Agent Nightfall, as she's otherwise known, was once trained by Loid (much to her enjoyment). As one of the best agents at WISE, Fiona has regularly proved herself to be his equal, and perhaps even stronger in some respects. Have you seen how much she can bench, bro? In fact, Fiona's only weakness is Loid himself. Or, should I say her undying, obsessive love for him? If anything is going to be her downfall, it's that. But to be fair, Loid is a dream boat, so who are we to judge? 2. Loid Forger Agent Twilight is the greatest spy in the world. There's no doubt about it. While disguise and infiltration might be where he excels most, Loud has also proven himself to be extremely capable as a fighter out in the field too. With a body honed to perfection, he regularly emerges unscathed from combat situations that could easily kill a lesser man. The only thing greater than Loid's strength, however, is his dedication to protecting the world, be it through random acts of kindness or the warmth he shares with the rest of the Forger family. 1. Yor Forger By day, Yor is a meek, polite clerk who goes home to cook gross meals for her ever-loving family. But by night, the Thorn Princess regularly proves herself to be the best assassin in all of Ostania, killing every one of her targets with deadly precision. Not only is Yor yet to be beaten in battle, she often exhibits what can only be described as superhuman strength on the show. Remember when she defeated an entire group of assassins without breaking a sweat? Or when she threw a dodgeball for Anya and accidentally leveled an entire row of trees? Yor is basically the "One-Punch Man" of Spy x Family at this point. May her reign as the show's strongest character continue into season 3 and beyond. Spy x Family is available to stream on Crunchyroll. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Boots cast share their hopes for potential season 2 following that surprise cliffhanger
"There are so many ways it could go for all of our characters..."
*Warning: Boots spoilers ahead.* Training for the Marines is never easy. Now imagine you're a gay, closeted kid who joins up in the early '90s. That's the story behind Boots, a new Netflix drama inspired by The Pink Marine, a memoir written by former US Marine Greg Cope White. 13 Reasons Why star Miles Heizer plays the lead and he's joined by Liam Oh as Cameron's best friend, Ray McAffey. Together, they fight to find their place in the marines, overcoming physical and emotional obstacles spearheaded by Sgt Sullivan (Max Parker), a decorated Marine who hides a secret of his own. Boots ending explained By the end of season 1's eight episode run, Cameron has finally proved that he has what it takes. Even Sullivan gives him his dues, revealing that he was only so hard on Cameron because he wanted to help make him stronger. The fact he's also closeted might have had something to do with it too. "You ready, Cope? You’re a Marine now." And with that, Sullivan leaves. Where he goes, we don't find out, but it's easy to see why he left when he did. Prison looms following a bar fight that went bad and the Marines are also questioning him to find out if he's gay too, because it was illegal to be homosexual and join up at the time. Meanwhile, Cameron celebrates the end of his training in a bar with the other Marines, overjoyed that they've all made it. But he and Ray couldn't have picked a worse time to join, because a newscaster has just announced that Iraq has invaded Kuwait, which means they'll soon be needed on the front lines. With Sullivan gone AWOL, Cameron suppressing his sexuality, and Ray… Well, Ray's found love, all three characters are in a very different place to where they started this season. Ahead of the show's launch, RadioTimes.com asked Parker, Heizer and Oh what they hoped to see for their characters next in a potential second season of Boots. "There are so many ways it could go for all of our characters," said Parker. "I love that moment at the end where I hand over the walkie talkie to Cameron and let him know that he's ready now... Just this battle of what's right and what's wrong. "That moment of handing over the baton for him to carry on… He could be handing himself in, he could be running away, he could do anything." Heizer would like to see Cameron enjoy some romance after things didn't work out so well for him on that front in season 1. "It would be interesting to see him navigating that, especially in this military world," he continued. "That would be cool. But like Max said, there's so many different directions and so many things I would love to see. But just for fun, I'd like to see a little romance." For Oh, Ray's future is very open moving forward: "He ends the season in this interesting spot of really questioning the path that he's been on for the first time since he was a kid. I would like to see him continue to interrogate the choices that he's made in his life, or the choices that he hasn't made, that have been made for him by his father, by this sense of duty that he has. "I want him to really find out what he believes for himself." Whatever happens, there's plenty of story left to mine from that cliffhanger, switching things up from training to real-life combat. Because if being gay in boot camp was tough, imagine how hard it will be for Cameron to stay true to himself while fighting in Kuwait? Let's just hope Netflix laces up and marches ahead with a much-needed second season so we can see where this might take us. Boots is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How House of Guinness rewrites the rules for queer period drama with Arthur Guinness
Steven Knight’s depiction of a gay Arthur Guinness in 19th-century Dublin defies the usual period drama mould.
Add House of Guinness to your watchlist You'd think being born into Dublin's wealthiest family would make life easier, but not for Arthur Guinness. As the eldest Guinness sibling, he ends up inheriting half of the famous brewing empire at the start of Netflix's House of Guinness, and while it sure beats living on the streets, Arthur still isn't keen. The hot-headed Guinness is used to getting his own way, which his father soon stops by threatening to remove his entire inheritance if he doesn't step up and take over. Heavy lies the crown, and all that. But with all this extra responsibility also comes more scrutiny. Because, as it turns out, Arthur is gay at a time when being outed as such could risk life imprisonment – or worse. Not ideal when you're co-leading a business of considerable influence and wealth. Forced to stay in Dublin, Arthur breaks up with his long-distance beau in London, but that doesn't stop him from having some fun still (that bathtub scene comes to mind). Unfortunately, Arthur’s proclivities draw attention from local gangster Bonnie Champion, who demands £5,000 in blackmail money or else he'll be outed. An activist named Ellen Cochrane also sets out to blackmail Arthur, but instead of money, she wants his support in Dublin's Parliament for the Irish Brotherhood cause. To draw attention away from his horny trysts and shenanigans, Arthur marries a rich socialite named Olivia. Both go into this arrangement fully understanding that there's no love in it, that they're just using each other to reap the benefits that such a union might bring them at this point in high society. So far, so typical of queer representation in period dramas of this nature. As is often the case, the queer character is forced into hiding who they are, usually to avoid ridicule or public shame. A "lavender marriage" such as this is often the only way to keep the hounds at bay and survive in a society that's not built for them. Is it a realistic depiction of what it must have been like to be gay back then? For the most part, yes. But is it also sad and tragic in a way we've already seen told countless times before? Yes to that too. Except, House of Guinness isn't so typical in this regard. With so much adversity to endure and face, it would have been easy to make Arthur wallow in the misery of it all and drink his pain away, hating himself for being born gay. It's certainly how society at the time would have wanted him to feel. But House of Guinness creator Steven Knight doesn't retread that well-worn path. Instead, Arthur revels in the joy that being gay brings him. He's very active in his sex life, proudly so, and he does nothing to hide his sexuality from his family either. Even the marriage he's been forced into becomes a surprise source of comfort as he and Olivia end up being quite happy together, despite the fact that their union is a sham. Arthur doesn't feel trapped by his wife because he's free to carry on meeting other men anyway. Actor Anthony Boyle expanded on this with Town and Country where he celebrated the show's unique approach to Arthur's queerness: "What Steven and Tom [Shankland], one of the directors, and I wanted to get across about Arthur was that he didn’t feel shame about his own sexuality. It’s that the world was wrong. We didn’t want him to be like, 'Oh god, I’m gay and I hate it.' He’s like, 'No, I’m f*****g gay and I love it. It’s you guys that are f****d up.'" Being gay doesn't automatically make life harder for Arthur. It's being gay in a bigoted society that's the problem. And that viewpoint remains refreshing to see on TV, especially when it comes to period fare where guilt, shame, and misery are more often than not the default for gay characters like Guinness. But even when queer representation does veer towards these tropes, there's still something to be said for it being included at all in period dramas like House of Guinness. Given how rare it was for people to be out and proud in these earlier periods of history, it's easy for past eras to be straightwashed, thereby erasing the existence of queerness completely. As such, it's even more remarkable that House of Guinness is so progressive in that regard, especially when it remains unclear whether Arthur was even gay or not in real life. Although there's little evidence to confirm his sexuality either way, academic author Joe Joyce suggested Arthur was "probably gay" in his 2009 book, The Guinnesses: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Most Successful Family. If so, his marriage to Lady Ardilaun was what we now consider to be a "lavender marriage," and this likely inspired Knight's take on Arthur in the show. You could argue that portraying a real-life figure as gay when they might not have been is somewhat dubious. But then again, historical dramas take all sorts of liberties, and if rumours about Arthur's identity persist now still, all these years later, it seems that there might be at least some element of truth to them. Never mind all the countless people who were actually queer and have since been portrayed as straight in various retellings of their lives. But regardless of all that, there's still power in the way House of Guinness portrays Arthur as a gay man in 19th-century Dublin of all places. Not just in the show's progressive, unique approach to that identity, but also that it even exists at all. Because queer people have always been here, and we always will be, no matter how much some might wish for the contrary.
House of Guinness rewrites the rules for queer period drama with Arthur Guinness
You'd think being born into Dublin's wealthiest family would make life easier, but not for Arthur Guinness. As the eldest Guinness sibling, he ends up inheriting half of the famous brewing empire at the start of Netflix's House of Guinness, and while it sure beats living on the streets, Arthur still isn't keen. The hot-headed Guinness is used to getting his own way, which his father soon stops by threatening to remove his entire inheritance if he doesn't step up and take over. Heavy lies the crown, and all that. But with all this extra responsibility also comes more scrutiny. Because, as it turns out, Arthur is gay at a time when being outed as such could risk life imprisonment – or worse. Not ideal when you're co-leading a business of considerable influence and wealth. Forced to stay in Dublin, Arthur breaks up with his long-distance beau in London, but that doesn't stop him from having some fun still (that bathtub scene comes to mind). Unfortunately, Arthur’s proclivities draw attention from local gangster Bonnie Champion, who demands £5,000 in blackmail money or else he'll be outed. An activist named Ellen Cochrane also sets out to blackmail Arthur, but instead of money, she wants his support in Dublin's Parliament for the Irish Brotherhood cause. To draw attention away from his horny trysts and shenanigans, Arthur marries a rich socialite named Olivia. Both go into this arrangement fully understanding that there's no love in it, that they're just using each other to reap the benefits that such a union might bring them at this point in high society. So far, so typical of queer representation in period dramas of this nature. As is often the case, the queer character is forced into hiding who they are, usually to avoid ridicule or public shame. A "lavender marriage" such as this is often the only way to keep the hounds at bay and survive in a society that's not built for them. Is it a realistic depiction of what it must have been like to be gay back then? For the most part, yes. But is it also sad and tragic in a way we've already seen told countless times before? Yes to that too. Except, House of Guinness isn't so typical in this regard. Read more: House of Guinness true story: How much of the Netflix drama is based on real history? Every Steven Knight TV show ranked – the busiest man in the industry who's set to write Bond With so much adversity to endure and face, it would have been easy to make Arthur wallow in the misery of it all and drink his pain away, hating himself for being born gay. It's certainly how society at the time would have wanted him to feel. But House of Guinness creator Steven Knight doesn't retread that well-worn path. Instead, Arthur revels in the joy that being gay brings him. He's very active in his sex life, proudly so, and he does nothing to hide his sexuality from his family either. Even the marriage he's been forced into becomes a surprise source of comfort as he and Olivia end up being quite happy together, despite the fact that their union is a sham. Arthur doesn't feel trapped by his wife because he's free to carry on meeting other men anyway. Actor Anthony Boyle expanded on this with Town and Country where he celebrated the show's unique approach to Arthur's queerness: "What Steven and Tom [Shankland], one of the directors, and I wanted to get across about Arthur was that he didn’t feel shame about his own sexuality. It’s that the world was wrong. We didn’t want him to be like, 'Oh god, I’m gay and I hate it.' He’s like, 'No, I’m f*****g gay and I love it. It’s you guys that are f****d up.'" Being gay doesn't automatically make life harder for Arthur. It's being gay in a bigoted society that's the problem. And that viewpoint remains refreshing to see on TV, especially when it comes to period fare where guilt, shame, and misery are more often than not the default for gay characters like Guinness. But even when queer representation does veer towards these tropes, there's still something to be said for it being included at all in period dramas like House of Guinness. Given how rare it was for people to be out and proud in these earlier periods of history, it's easy for past eras to be straightwashed, thereby erasing the existence of queerness completely. As such, it's even more remarkable that House of Guinness is so progressive in that regard, especially when it remains unclear whether Arthur was even gay or not in real life. Although there's little evidence to confirm his sexuality either way, academic author Joe Joyce suggested Arthur was "probably gay" in his 2009 book, The Guinnesses: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Most Successful Family. If so, his marriage to Lady Ardilaun was what we now consider to be a "lavender marriage," and this likely inspired Knight's take on Arthur in the show. You could argue that portraying a real-life figure as gay when they might not have been is somewhat dubious. But then again, historical dramas take all sorts of liberties, and if rumours about Arthur's identity persist now still, all these years later, it seems that there might be at least some element of truth to them. Never mind all the countless people who were actually queer and have since been portrayed as straight in various retellings of their lives. But regardless of all that, there's still power in the way House of Guinness portrays Arthur as a gay man in 19th-century Dublin of all places. Not just in the show's progressive, unique approach to that identity, but also that it even exists at all. Because queer people have always been here, and we always will be, no matter how much some might wish for the contrary. House of Guinness is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Add House of Guinness to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Wayward is unlike any other thriller – for one unexpectedly inspired reason
Mae Martin's chilling Netflix series Wayward will wrong-foot you in the best possible way.
Warning: contains major spoilers for Wayward. Wayward is set in the idyllic town of Tall Pines, where everything seems perfect. Your classic white picket fence slice of paradise. But as you might have guessed already, nothing is quite what it seems. Everyone is a bit too friendly, the local school a little too efficient… And the chatty principal of the school? Far too nice, with an eerie smile endlessly plastered across her face. It all feels a bit uneasy, deliberately so, which is why it's so surprising that the one aspect of this story which does fit in perfectly is queerness, despite the sinister, small-town setting and genre at hand. OK, it shouldn't be that surprising if you're even slightly familiar with the work of series creator Mae Martin, who also stars as Alex Dempsey, a police officer investigating some troubling disappearances at the local school. Fans of Taskmaster or the Canadian comedian's semi-biographical dramedy Feel Good might already be aware of how Martin explores their non-binary identity in their work. But even so, a genre-blending psychological thriller like this might be the last place you'd expect to see Martin navigate such themes. And what's even more surprising is exactly how Martin goes about this. It would have been easy to play off the horrors that so often come when queer people are forced to return to their hometown, or any small town for that matter. There's a reason so many of us migrate to cities, after all, often as an escape from the bigotry that – not always – but often comes in the rural parts of pretty much any country. But after Mae's character Alex joins their wife in Tall Pines, no one bats an eyelid at his identity as a trans man. When a fellow cop instantly accepts Alex into the "brotherhood", it's hard not to wonder if this so-called acceptance might be part of the wider facade that's hiding something dark and rotten at the heart of this town. However, as the series progresses, it becomes clear that this isn't actually the case at all. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/09/Wayward-Netflix-mae-martin-c7eda7c.jpg" width="2700" height="1800" alt="Sarah Gadon as Laura Redman and Mae Martin as Alex Dempsey walking along a forest path holding hands. Laura, who's wearing a floral sundress is smiling and looking straight ahead while Alex, who's dressed in a dark-coloured t-shirt, is looking at her with a neutral expression." title="WAYWARD" /> Yes, it turns out that Tall Pines is all kinds of messed up, but the problems at hand have nothing to do with intolerance or hate (at least when it comes to queer and trans identity). Alex never hides who he is, and he never feels the need to talk about it lots either. This isn't a queer drama about the struggles or even joy of being trans. Instead, this is an occasionally funny nightmarish thriller where the main character just so happens to be a trans man. Non-conforming gender identities are rarely seen on screen as it is – and much less than some would have you believe – but what's even rarer is to see these themes incorporated so organically in a wider genre story that has nothing to do with queerness at all. When Alex pretends to be taking his testosterone shots as an excuse to escape and further his investigation, it's a small detail that normalises trans identity without making it the focus. Not that there would be any issue in doing so – these stories are hugely important and valid too – but there's something to be said for normalising such experiences in this current climate especially. There's an exchange around the midway mark between two teenagers called Abbie and Leila where the former jokes that, "Cops just swing their dicks around," while the latter suggests "I don't think [Alex] has a dick." In another show, this could have come across as distasteful or even disrespectful, but Wayward is queer through and through, so jokes like this hit differently here (especially given Martin's key involvement in the writing itself). Leila is bisexual even, as many of the characters are suggested to be. It's not just through language or visibility where Wayward champions this, though. From the very first episode, Martin regularly appears shirtless and even naked in one particularly memorable sex scene between Alex and his wife. At a time when trans bodies are regularly othered, framing Martin's sexuality so viscerally with so much nudity is groundbreaking in and of itself. Plus, it's hot, and what would a thriller be without at least one moment as steamy as this? But what's perhaps most impressive about Wayward is how it neither demonises nor idolises queer characters like Alex. While some people in the show are more monstrous than others, they all exist in the murky greys of good or bad, right or wrong. And I'm not just talking about that icky tadpole water either. Looking at the series as a whole, that's what makes the ending in particular so special. Because just when you think Alex has escaped Tall Pines with Abbie and his baby in tow, it turns out that this happy ending the show tricks us into seeing wasn't actually real at all. The truth is that Alex lets Abbie down, choosing his new family over doing the right thing. It's never framed in a way to make you think Alex is selfish because he's queer. If anything, it's quite remarkable to see a queer family foregrounded in a show of this nature, made up of a trans man, his queer wife and their newborn child. In fact, the family is actively celebrated by the entire community, and sure, it's mostly made up of cult weirdos now led by Alex's wife, but it's a celebration nonetheless. Nothing is what it seems in Wayward, twisting and bending our expectations throughout. And that might be the queerest thing of all about this show, which redefines mainstream notions of family and genre with a delightfully queer outsider perspective. More than the thrills or the scares or the Mufasa one-liners, it's this that helps set Wayward apart in the best way possible. Read more: Mae Martin's Wayward exposes the dark world of 'troubled teen' schools Wayward creator and star Mae Martin explains emotional ending: 'It's gonna be f**ked' Wayward is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. 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Upload season 4 ending explained: What happened to Nathan and Nora?
It's time to say goodbye to Prime Video's sci-fi.
Upload, a show that promises immortality via technology, has finally come to an end. Launched by The Office (US) and Parks & Recreation creator Greg Daniels back in 2020, Upload starred Robbie Amell as Nathan Brown, a computer programmer who was uploaded to a digital afterlife just moments before his physical body died. At Lakeview, Nathan met his 'Angel', a customer service provider from the real world who he fell in love with, despite remaining in contact with his girlfriend Ingrid. This hybrid of The Good Place and Black Mirror dipped a bit in season 3, but with just four episodes left to wrap everything up, Upload's final season is much more focused, and all the better for it. At the end of season 3, the Horizen company responsible for Lakeview rebranded as Betta in the wake of a courtroom scandal, so they went about destroying all of their illegal duplicate uploads. Unfortunately, that included Nathan, who had doubled up in season 3, splitting into a new digital copy as well as the human original. One of these two versions called Nora and Ingrid up in the finale to reveal that the other Nathan had been destroyed. But which one? Who's just lost the love of their life? That's where we kick off at the start of the fourth and final season. Upload season 4 ending explained: What happened to Nora and Nathan? Season 4 begins with Nora mourning the loss of the original Nathan, but it turns out he's actually still alive, trapped by scientists who are experimenting on him at Betta. Three episodes in, Nathan finally escapes and arrives at Nora's door, ready to kick off the end of Upload for one last chapter. Lost in another wedding simulation, Nora is shocked and overjoyed when the real Nathan, not just a digital copy or holographic projection, appears and takes off her VR goggles. There are no words, just a kiss and tears (plus a whole lot more if the way they sheepishly leave their bedroom the next morning is anything to go by). Meanwhile, Ingrid is pushing her version of Nathan to finally download into a new clone body so that they can be together in the real world. He's a bit nervous though, because ageing and death are kind of a thing when you're stuck with a human body. The conversation pauses suddenly, prompting Ingrid to pay more money to continue, and it's all because of that weird AI guy with the black hair who's been absorbing the other versions of him in Lakeview. Aleesha worries about what this means, but her boss is too obsessed with the money this rogue AI is making the company to care. Human Nathan isn't feeling so good, and a hospital visit with Nora reveals that his neurons have somehow been moved back and forth, inflaming his neural pathways to the point where he could soon die. That's because of the 150+ uploads his kidnappers at Betta put Nathan through. The doctor suggests uploading, but he's scared to do that fully again in case he loses memories of Nora. Overhearing their conversation, a nurse nearby recommends they visit a guy known as the 'Midtown Healer' who has "been performing miracles". Virtual Nathan suggests to his bestie Luke that he join him and Ingrid in the real world because he can't afford the costs to stay in Lakeview much longer. But their chat is soon interrupted when they spot the rogue AI guy throwing people into the torrent, erasing them completely because they're no longer making money for the company. Aleesha tries pausing him so he can do no more harm, but he's now strong enough to resist commands from the outside world. And it gets worse. Upon absorbing the last remaining AI in Lakeview, the 'evil' one manages to achieve singularity, which means that he's fully sentient and in control. If he escapes into the real world, he can take over everything, potentially setting off a nuclear apocalypse. While Nathan and Luke help survivors get away, an automatic failsafe switches off the torrent, cutting the rogue AI off from leaving Lakeview. And with that, the company plans to delete Lakeview entirely, which would also kill off the people inside. Aleesha's boss doesn't care though, referring to them all as "data" which can be easily expunged. With help from a colleague, Aleesha gets a quick text through to Luke inside where she explains what's happening and that she plans to rescue him at 6pm via the tubes. Meanwhile, the 'midtown healer' who Nathan and Nora visit for help turns out to be another AI guy from Lakeview, the one who was downloaded to a real human body earlier on in the show. Ingrid and Aleesha show up too, asking the AI guy to return to Lakeview because he's the only one who can stop the rogue AI, saving Luke and digital Nathan in the process. View oEmbed on the source website Before he goes, AI guy explains that nothing can be done to save the real Nathan. His advice to Nora is to "be [Nathan's] Angel one last time". She hugs Aleesha and Ingrid with tears in her eyes, before taking Nathan home to spend his last moments on earth together. Back at Lakeview, Luke tells digital Nathan that he loves him, and they hug. Together, they both start to leave via the tubes, but then when Luke spots the rogue AI heading towards the torrent, he races after him and sends him back to the Lakeview villa. It's only a temporary solution though, because the rogue AI quickly returns and throws Luke into the torrent, taking his life in the process. Luke's sacrifice wasn't in vain though, because it bought Aleesha and Ingrid just enough time to finish uploading their AI guy, the only being powerful enough to stop him. With help from Nathan, the nice AI guy rescues all the AI beings that the bad one absorbed and then deletes him completely. Using his power for good, the nice AI guy, now stronger than ever, turns the torrent back on from the inside. Aleesha rushes back into Lakeview, but it's too late. Luke is gone. While all that action was taking place, the finale intercut these scenes with Nora and the real Nathan making the most of the time they had left. And yes, it's even sadder than you'd expect. Nathan apologises to Nora for putting her through so much. Exhausted by his illness, the pair lie in bed and hold each other. "I wish we had made it to Montreal," says Nathan, reminiscing on their plans to get married. But then, using the VR simulation she retreated to so often in her mourning, Nora makes that a (virtual) reality for them both. Wearing the goggles, Nora and Nathan marry in the simulation, and Nathan puts a ring on her finger for real too. They then head to Mile End in a new simulation, talking of plans Nathan had to open his own bakery. As they walk through this virtual life together one last time, Nora asks Nathan what his favourite part of living was. "I don’t think it’s over," he replies. "I’m energy, right? Energy can’t be created or destroyed. It just changes… Whatever energy I change into, I’ll always love you." Sitting on a bench together, Nathan and Nora wish each other happy birthday, happy new year, and a good morning, sharing everything that they won't be able to anymore when Nathan's gone. But before he goes, Nathan has one last thing to say: "Don’t wait for me… Don’t put your life on hold. Don’t stay in your room inside a headset. Be happy, OK? I’m happy. Because of you, I became who I wanted to be. I like who I am." "You don’t have to be sad," Nathan continues, "or feel like I missed out on anything. I had everything. Everything I ever was, I saved it for you. You are my angel, Nora, the love of my life… This one and the next one and the one after." The camera pans closer to Nora's face as she listens, and when it pans out again, we realise Nathan is gone. He's died in real life, so he's no longer present in the simulation either. Despite all the back and forth between this and the action-driven scenes that took place at Lakeview, this really was the most beautiful way Nora and Nathan's story could have come to an end. It's painful, yes, but it's also really well done, perhaps the best moment from this entire series. With Nathan now dead, Nora takes off his VR goggles, kisses his forehead, and rests her head on his chest, hugging him tight as it rains outside. The song You and Me by Penny and the Quarters plays in the background. Upload then abruptly (and unfortunately) cuts back to some infantile humour (literally) with clips of "Botox Babies" and an interview where Ingrid and her version of Nathan, now in a real cloned body, talk through where they're at. Ingrid is pregnant — "From pretty much the moment [Nathan] downloaded, he’s been inside of me" — and they're planning to name the baby after Luke, who's being recognised as the "hero who saved Lakeview, and possibly humanity". The AI guy is now running Lakeview as a non-profit company, Aleesha is randomly working as a spy, speaking Russian and kicking ass, while Nora's roommate got married to Monique the hoover. They don't know what's happened to Nora since her Nathan died, but we do, because Upload then cuts to her sitting outside a coffee shop at the real Mile End. It's the same coffee shop we saw Nora and Nathan share those last few moments together in the simulation. A cute guy asks for Nora's number, but she declines, pointing to the ring Nathan gave her before he died. Nora sits and plays with the ring, presumably thinking about Nathan's last words to her and whether it's time to move on, when the ring's drive suddenly attempts to pair with her tablet. Upon accepting, the words "NATHAN BROWN SCAN 2" appear on the tablet's screen. Yep, it seems a digital version of Nathan has survived. Why it took so long to appear to Nora, we have no idea, and we never will, because that's where the show ends, with the promise of Nora reuniting again with at least some version of Nathan. Is it nice to see Nora happy? Yes. But does this undo the beautiful end she shared with the real Nathan just a few scenes earlier? Yes, especially given how many times the show has tried to trick us into believing Nathan is gone for good. But however you might feel about it, Upload is now gone for good too, ending with a short but sweet final season. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Upload seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Prime Video. Add Upload to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Netflix's Long Story Short is a worthy successor to BoJack Horseman, the best animated series of all time
Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s new animated series traces the lives of one Jewish family over seven transformative decades.
BoJack Horseman is quite possibly the best animated series of all time. That's an argument we made just last year at Radio Times to celebrate the talking horse show's 10th anniversary. Whether you agree or not, what we can all agree on is that BoJack Horseman tackled difficult topics like addiction and generational trauma with rare ambition and emotional clarity... but only if you stuck with it past the first few episodes. That's when the anthropomorphic animals and silly cutaway gags started to give way to a darkness hidden just below the bright pastel animation and endless sight gags. That's not the case this time around with Raphael Bob-Waksberg's long-awaited follow-up, Long Story Short. Far removed from the depravity of Hollywood, this story of a Jewish family navigating life together is immediately endearing in its emotional honesty. Upon meeting the Schwoopers at a special weekend get-together, the first episode jumps ahead in time for one last scene that hints at a much wider story told over seven decades. From the 1950s through to the 2020s, Long Story Short spends time with each family member and the various relationships they form, weaving an expansive yet easy-to-follow timeline that organically captures the complexity of family dynamics with warmth, yes, but also painful truths as well. Dead characters come back to life and seemingly insignificant details become infinitely more important later on, upon finishing the season as a whole. This temporal juggling is especially moving in regard to Naomi Schwartz, the matriarch who obsessively loves her children, but can't stop criticising them regardless. Other standouts include her son, Yoshi, who struggles to fit in, and her daughter, Shira, who provides a rare example of Judaism and queerness intersecting on screen. Said Judaism is as integral to Long Story Short as the altar of celebrity and influence is in BoJack Horseman. It's there in the use of specific Jewish language — "Dude, your davening was on point! Mr Leibowitz was kvellin’ like a felon!". It's there in the humour, which includes a few dark Holocaust jokes only Jewish people could make. And most crucially of all, it's also there in beautiful discussions of identity, particularly at the end of the season when Avi's daughter questions if she was "Jewish enough" for Grandma. Each example feels unapologetically Jewish in very specific ways without alienating wider audiences. Quite the opposite, in fact. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/08/Long-Story-Netflix-5a1e078.png" width="1589" height="1060" alt="Paul Reiser as Elliot Cooper, Ben Feldman as Avi Schwooper, Angelique Cabral as Jen, Lisa Edelstein as Naomi Schwartz, Max Greenfield as Yoshi Schwooper, Abbi Jacobson as Shira Schwooper and Nicole Byer as Kendra, sat around a dinner table" title="Long Story Netflix" /> BoJack Horseman was very consciously presented as a TV show, be it through fourth wall breaks, the ironic humour, and, of course, the fact that many of the characters were talking animals. Long Story Short abandons that "crutch" (as Bob-Waksberg described it to Variety) to ground the storytelling in something much more "realistic". That's true even with the seemingly simpler animation, which is more 'cartoony' in its impressionistic, less defined scribbles, which makes it easier for us to see ourselves in the unfolding dynamics. That's not to say BoJack Horseman lacks intimacy. In fact, the emotional depths of that show were often uncomfortable and verged on unbearable precisely because of how real they felt. BoJack was deeply unlikeable in some aspects, especially as more truths were revealed later down the line, but that's what made this talking horse so human. Bob-Waksberg has never been afraid of plumbing those depths when it comes to writing characters with real emotional candour. As such, the Schwoopers can also be unlikeable sometimes (although not to those extremes). This family often argues, as real families do, and they can really hurt each other in the ways that only those who know you best truly can. One particular gut-wrenching confrontation between Naomi and her children left me in tears. Because even when your heart is in the right place, what might feel like small differences or misunderstandings can eventually tear families apart without even meaning to. It's in the layers of traumas large and small, self-inflicted and inflicted on others, where BoJack Horseman and Long Story Short share the most common ground. Well, that and the frequent moments of absurdist humour and wordplay. Because yes, when Yoshi starts selling mattresses that shoot out of a tube for work, the company does of course have a "soft launch". And when wolves, actual wolves, show up in Hannah's school, only Naomi's oldest son, Avi, reacts in the way you might expect. The combined result of all this is another show that's unmistakably the work of Bob-Waksberg, even if it looks, acts and sounds different from BoJack Horseman. Both stories are simultaneously moving and devastating, deeply intimate and wildly ambitious all at once. At the risk of jumping ahead, much like the show itself often does, there's scope here for Long Story Short to reach those same heights that BoJack Horseman did and maybe, just maybe, become another contender for best animated series of all time. At the very least, it's hard to imagine another show this poignant coming anytime soon. If only we could glimpse ahead in time, as Bob-Waksberg does with the Schwoopers, to see how this series will ultimately be remembered. Long Story Short is available to stream now on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Add Long Story Short to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app– download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Peacemaker season 2 writes Zack Snyder characters out of existence
Think you've seen this scene before? Think again!
Following a highly publicised reboot, previous DC films like Aquaman and Zack Snyder's Justice League are no longer considered canon. As such, they don't share a universe with new stories including Creature Commandos and James Gunn's Superman. However, a few characters have survived this transition, such as John Cena's Peacemaker from The Suicide Squad. That's good news for fans of the Peacemaker series, which released its first season as part of the old DC universe. But with a new season now upon us, how does series creator James Gunn explain the Justice League cameo at the end of season 1 if Zack Snyder's world no longer exists in canon? In case you forgot, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and The Flash all showed up to help Peacemaker save Earth from an alien invasion, but they arrived too late. "Go f**k another fish, asshole," said Peacemaker to Jason Momoa's Aquaman as he stormed past the team. Ezra Miller's Flash then suggested it's not a rumour, to which Aquaman simply said, "F**k you, Barry." As popular as this scene was back when it aired in 2021, it doesn't make sense anymore if we're supposed to believe that Peacemaker season 2 belongs to the new DC universe. Instead of simply ignoring this problem or writing in a throwaway line to explain it away, Gunn smartly tackles this head-on. Season 2 opens with a "Previously in the DCU" montage that looks back at what happened in Peacemaker season 1. But then Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) suggests calling in the "Justice Gang", not the Justice League, and with that, we're treated to a new version of that season 1 cameo which has now been re-filmed with the new team we first met in Superman. View oEmbed on the source website While Mr Terrific, Superman and Supergirl hang back in the shadows, Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern and Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl describe Peacemaker as a "meat-head". "Screw that guy," continues Green Lantern. "Do you know he tells people I'm a puke freak?" By swapping the Justice League out for the Justice Gang, Gunn found a smart way to establish Peacemaker's place in this new DCU without entirely contradicting what's come before. And he did it with a cheeky wink that perfectly fits the tone we've come to expect from Peacemaker. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Peacemaker season 2 is available on Sky Max and NOW from Friday 22nd August 2025. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast. Add Peacemaker to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
"It's got to be its own thing" – How Alien: Earth ditches canon for the greater good
Noah Hawley made a big decision for the sake of a good story.
In Alien: Earth (and every franchise film that precedes it), the Xenomorphs are essentially the perfect organism. They've evolved to become incredibly adaptable, sleek killing machines who get the job done no matter where they are or who they face. It's no coincidence that the Alien franchise has proved itself to be just as adaptable. Ridley Scott's original masterpiece from 1979 established a horror baseline that's since evolved into an action sequel (James Cameron's Aliens), existential prequels (such as 2012's Prometheus), and now a new TV show that brings these aliens to Earth for the very first time. But it's not just the homebound setting that forges new ground for this killer sci-fi franchise. Alien: Earth is set in the year 2120, just two years before Ridley's first Alien movie, yet creator Noah Hawley isn't beholden to canon in the ways you might expect. Thanks to the likes of Marvel and DC, audiences are more open than ever to the possibilities that come through building a larger shared universe across multiple projects. As such, you might assume that Alien: Earth would slot neatly in with the rest of the Alien timeline, incorporating various elements from across its 45-year history. If so, you assumed wrong. Hawley expanded on this with our very own James Hibbs as part of the Radio Times Writers' Room, explaining why Alien: Earth had to run parallel to the films rather than directly tap into them. "It's got to be its own thing. There's touchstones, there's references. I mean, [it was the] same on Fargo of saying, 'All right, I'll take a little Lebowski, I'll take a little of this tone of voice, or this element and the fact that in the James Cameron movie, you had Newt and Bill Paxton, and she's a child who acts like an adult, and he's an adult that acts like a child. And you think, 'OK, well, that tone of voice is there, right?' So now, when you have these adults who are acting childish, you're like, well, that voice is in Alien already." That right there is a perfect example of how to channel the essence of a story without just repeating what's come before. Because even though the first episode opens with a scene that could have been ripped straight out of the 1979 original, it's not long before Alien: Earth takes us on a very different journey. The music and production design is delightfully retro, for example, but Hawley doesn't kick things off this way to confirm ties with earlier Alien films. Rather, he does so to establish that the creative team behind his show fully understand the world they're stepping into, proving that they're more than capable of going on to deconstruct that world without losing the essence of what makes Alien Alien. View Green Video on the source website Just as the Alien vs Predator movies aren't considered canon (to Alien, at least), Alien: Earth also plays a little fast and loose with connections to the wider universe. Specifically, Hawley has chosen to ignore the prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant for the most part, just drawing inspiration from Alien and Aliens instead. News of this first came via a SXSW panel in May this year where Hawley cleared things up regarding Alien: Earth's place in the overall timeline (via Inverse): "Ridley [Scott] made Prometheus and engaged with another idea in terms of the origin of these creatures. It just wasn’t part of my DNA of how these movies worked. So, I chose not to engage with that part of the story and to just sort of speak to the Alien that I had encoded." That doesn't mean the prequel movies are directly contradicted or written out completely, however. "It's not that I didn’t do a timeline around the events,” clarified Hawley. "But I didn't expand it to incorporate everything that had ever been written." While that might rub purists up the wrong way, there are huge benefits to this. As good as the prequels are, their convoluted attempt to unlock the origins of both the Xenomorphs and mankind itself raised more questions than they answered. Attempting to incorporate that dense mythology into Alien: Earth could detract from Hawley's lean, mean take on these ugly critters. As he pointed out in that same SXSW panel, "For something that's this old, that's had this many movies, that's jumped around in time periods, if you try to chase it all or observe it all, you’ll go mad." It's true that there's a lot of ground to cover if you do try and take stock of everything that's potentially relevant in the Alien mythos. And as Marvel's lacklustre returns have recently proved, audiences are no longer as keen as they once were to keep up with all the homework needed to fully enjoy a shared universe that goes in hard on those connections. Sticking with a more concise focus makes Alien: Earth the perfect jumping on point for viewers less familiar with the intricacies of this world. Hawley has proved more than once that he's adept at putting his own spin on established properties, first with his Emmy-winning Fargo series and then with Legion, a daring X-Men reimagining that verged on unrecognisable to casual fans. Alien: Earth isn't quite a hard reboot like them, however. Instead, it's the best of both worlds, paying direct homage to the films that came before it without being entirely beholden to them. The change in location, finally bringing the Xenomorphs from space to Earth, also taps into that quite literally by presenting this now iconic threat in a whole new light. By doing so, Hawley makes the horror of what they represent more relatable and "less abstract" than ever before: "I think that the reality is that none of us have ever been on a spaceship before, right?" suggests Hawley. "That's not our environment. But once you see these creatures next to a tree, or in a yard, these are places that we live, we live in homes, and there was something about introducing these creatures into an actual ecosystem that offers a lot of both visual and storytelling ideas." Freeing the show from canon also circumvents one of the biggest issues that could arise from bringing the aliens to Earth. Namely, how come none of the stories that follow ever mention a Xenomorph invasion back home? Everyone in the films always looks surprised to see the ugly aliens in question, but surely their arrival on Earth would have made at least a few headlines? You could potentially explain that away if their attack is contained so the general public remain unaware of their existence. There's also scope to suggest that companies like Weyland-Yutani simply lied to their crews and feigned surprise in order to keep these secrets close to the chest. Either way, it doesn't really matter. That's the beauty of bypassing canon. If Hawley wants to explain away potential plot holes, he can, but there's no need to jump through hoops in the script to force that in and make it happen. This flexibility takes the pressure off so that Hawley and his team can adapt as they see fit and focus on making the best story they can, which, if the reviews are anything to go by, they certainly have. New episodes of Alien: Earth will be released every Wednesday on Disney+. You can sign up to Disney+ for £4.99 a month or £89.90 a year now. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Add Alien: Earth to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
And Just Like That gave us the worst possible ending – just as the show was getting good
Unsurprisingly, the Sex and the City sequel did not stick the landing.
And just like that, it's the end of And Just Like That… Yep, after three seasons of… well, whatever that was, the Sex and the City sequel we love to hate has been cancelled, freeing the cast and us alike from what can only be described as a legal form of torture. This news was well received by everyone who didn't appreciate the fine art of hate-watching a show and laughing at all its flaws. But for those of us who revolved our entire week around whatever embarrassing thing Miranda got up to next, this cancellation has been kind of devastating, especially when the show was actually getting good, at long last. OK, maybe not good, per se. But the third season was certainly a step up from the two that preceded it, easing into the show's ridiculous rhythms without trying so hard to live up to what made the original series so great. In its final season, And Just Like That had become its own strange beast, an amalgamation of absurd hats and smelly armpits and terrible phone sex that proved to be strangely fascinating in a very different way to Sex and the City. Upon delivering the news, series creator Michael Patrick King wrote: "While I was writing the last episode of And Just Like That season 3, it became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop." I would argue the opposite. With Aidan finally out of the picture (and Duncan too), this was clearly "a wonderful place" to continue from, delivering a fourth season where Carrie could navigate singledom as an older woman who gets to have fun again, like she did in Sex and the City. The final episode sets this up without giving us a chance to see what that actually looks like in practice, robbing us of what this show could and should have been all along. What's clear, however, is that King's decision definitely did occur to him while writing the final episode. Because, let's face it: there's no way the 11 episodes that preceded it were planned with a meaningful end to the series in mind. By choosing to finish the show at the last minute, the resulting finale is a rushed, stunted mess that raises the bar for just how bad And Just Like That can be. In fact, these final 33 minutes are so bad that they'll have you missing the glory days of Che Diaz. Heck, they'll almost have you missing Aidan. Almost. Our first clue that the finale would suck came with the reveal of that runtime. Because how on earth is the show supposed to wrap up every storyline in just 33 minutes and still give these characters (who we've loved for decades) the send-off they deserve? The answer is it can't. What we're left with instead is all the characters separated (during Thanksgiving, no less) and Miranda trying to navigate an explosion of actual poop in her apartment. It's tempting to draw parallels between this and the sh***y storylines Cynthia Nixon has had to deal with throughout these past three seasons, suffering perhaps the biggest change from her original character to whatever they turned Miranda into for this sequel. It's also tempting to point out that ending the show with a poop catastrophe is actually rather fitting too, but it didn't have to be this way. The last time we see the girls together comes early on in the finale, during a bridal fashion walk where they discuss what marriage means to them and what that might look like now, in their 50s. It's not exactly deep, but in examining what sex could be in the city now everyone's older, these scenes do at least tap into what this sequel show originally promised. That's what makes it so strange when Thanksgiving comes and the focus switches to Brady's baby momma, Mia, who brings obnoxious Gen-Z caricatures along to mock Miranda and just be generally annoying. This holiday could have served as such a poignant, if somewhat cliched, way to bring our faves together one last time, giving thanks for what they've overcome while looking ahead to the future. Instead, characters we couldn't care less about take up valuable minutes without any actual resolution to speak of. With this being the end, we're never going to meet Brady's child, which means we'll never get to see Miranda navigate life as a grandmother. That's exactly the kind of storyline so rarely seen on TV that could have helped set And Just Like That apart, justifying the show's existence beyond a mere nostalgia trip. Steve fares even worse, just showing up for a couple of episodes to be angry at the world and remind us just how weird his accent has gotten over the years. One somewhat touching dinner shared between him and Miranda doesn't do justice to the decades they shared together as a key couple on the original show. Charlotte's end is even more vapid. After struggling with Harry's recovery from cancer, the pair haven't been able to enjoy sex for a few weeks. And then it happens. Harry gets a boner. It's a Thanksgiving miracle! Yep, almost three decades of storytelling has come down to Charlotte sneaking off to bang Harry, leaving her daughter Lily to answer the door and give Carrie the good news. There's also some brief acknowledgement of Charlotte reckoning once more with Rock's gender identity, recycling the same storyline again with about as much screentime as Big enjoyed in season one. Rounding out the original gang, you might have expected to see at least some acknowledgement that Samantha still exists, even if she's living her best life across the pond in London. But following her season 2 cameo and a brief set of texts earlier this season, Samantha is AWOL. It tracks, especially given how Kim Cattrall doesn't "want to be in a situation for even an hour" where she's not enjoying herself, yet it's still odd to say farewell to this world without paying tribute to most people's favourite character. Newer additions to the cast don't fare much better. Lisa's story ends with a whimper, not a bang, although it's good that she didn't bang her editor. That would have opened up a whole new can of worms left unexplored thanks to the show's abrupt cancellation. Seema does get to enjoy some character development, at least, after she chooses to let her walls down and spend Thanksgiving with the family of Carrie's hot gardener. Nothing screams growth like wearing jeans. Separating the cast for large chunks of the finale doesn't really make any sense, but if we're being real, when did this show ever make sense? Don't get me started on where Anthony and Giuseppe end up, teasing a gay wedding that queer fans will never get to see. At least all this creates an easy segue for Carrie to end up alone in the end, which is the one thing this finale does actually get right. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website No longer tied to men who continually disappoint her, Carrie enjoys a slice of pumpkin pie and a turn on the karaoke machine she once resented. In doing so, our leading lady proves that happiness doesn't come from being loved. It comes from loving yourself, and that's true no matter how old you might be or where you are in life. Never mind the terrible novel she's finally finished or that the song she's singing seems to last at least an hour within the show. What's important is that Carrie's not alone. She's on her own. And just like that, the show sets up what could have been the best season yet, only for it to come to an end. At least And Just Like That was true to itself in these final moments, going out like the absolute mess it's been since day one. And Just Like That seasons 1-3 are showing on Sky Comedy and NOW. Add And Just Like That to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Wednesday season 2 review: Nevermore has never been better in much-improved Jenna Ortega follow-up
Another mystery unfolds at Nevermore – and you won't want to miss it.
Here we woe again! Wednesday is back for a diabolical second season - or half of one, at least. And she's ready for more sleuthing as another mystery unfolds at Nevermore Academy. Yet Wednesday's (Jenna Ortega) biggest challenge this time around isn't so much the investigation as it is her overwhelming popularity. After she saved the day and put Tyler (Hunter Doohan) behind bars, Wednesday has become a beloved hero of sorts in season 2. That attention is excruciating because the only thing Wednesday loves more than sleuthing or embalming is being left alone. Headteacher Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi) even puts our favourite introvert centre stage in a special event to kick-start the new school year. But beyond that unwanted attention, Wednesday the show must also contend with its own overwhelming popularity now. The Addams Family is a cultural institution at this point, so it came as no surprise that Wednesday would fare well on Netflix, yet few could have predicted it would slither up the charts and end up becoming the streamer's most watched English language show of all time (with 252,100,000 views and counting). As such, the quintessential underdog protagonist has quickly become one of the most popular figures on the planet. There's a tension in that which the first season didn't handle very well, leaning far too hard into commercial mainstream tropes that The Addams Family, for all its popularity, once defied. Some elements of that first run wouldn't have even felt out of place on America's The CW, for example. It would have been easy for season 2 to follow in that vein, repeating more of the same tricks to try and recapture the surprise success of season 1. That's not the case though, thankfully. Instead, season 2 does exactly what a second season should. It builds on what made the first so popular while improving on what didn't work, like a new and improved Frankenstein creation that stitches stronger flesh to the skeleton of where we began. The premiere opens with Wednesday facing off against a doll-obsessed serial killer played by Haley Joel Osment. It's creepy without being too scary, or too safe for that matter, straddling that fine line this franchise does so well when firing on all cylinders. The signature Addams humour is key to this, established early on when the TSA force Wednesday to hand over various weapons in what feels like a Looney Tunes gag unfolding in live action. Wednesday's dry one-liners remain a highlight, stinging in their emo absurdity. "You and father in the house alone fills me with a dread usually reserved for costume mascots," is a good one, but my favourite moment comes later when she hears a sad sob story and replies, "I play cello, not violin." Ortega's performance in season 1 was already a fundamental reason why the show works as well as it does, and here she's further honed it to perfection, especially when it comes to minute changes in the character's incredibly stoic physicality. Buscemi is typically great too as the new headmaster who flounders around yet carries just a hint of menace. Other newcomers who stand out, of which there are many, include Christopher Lloyd as a head in a box and Joanna Lumley, whose take on Grandmama fits just as perfectly as the gloves she wears on a jolly day out to a funeral. And the hair. The hair! View oEmbed on the source website Everyone is immaculately clothed and presented thanks to Colleen Atwood and her costume design team, but it's Morticia (Catherine Zeta Jones) who looks the most divinely horrid, whether she's arguing with Wednesday or sharing a surprisingly atmospheric duet with Billie Piper's music teacher. With so many new characters to introduce, some of the returning stars are given less to do. That makes sense for Tyler - who is inexplicably shackled and shirtless for pretty much the entire first half of season 2 - but less so for Enid (Emma Myers), whose friendship with Wednesday was a driving force of season 1. That means the sizeable number of fans who ship these roomies together might feel short-changed this time around. But don't howl in despair just yet. The queer subtext is still apparent, especially when Nevermore's most colourful werewolf grows jealous of a surprising new friendship that Wednesday develops at the Academy. There's less focus on the teen cast in general, which might not go down well with younger viewers, although this means that there's a welcome shift towards more of the Addams family instead. Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) enjoys a particularly electric arc this season, but each member is given more chance to shine and disgust in equal measure, including Fester (Fred Armisen), whose proposed spin-off is now more enticing than ever. It's a lot to juggle, but even with all this in the mix, Wednesday defies the pacing issues typically seen in streaming with standout episodic moments that fit comfortably within the wider arc. These include a competitive camp getaway in episode 3 and a gorgeous Tim Burton-esque stop-motion sequence in the premiere. By "Tim Burton-esque", I mean Tim Burton actually directed this episode and the other three too, yet nowhere is his trademark aesthetic clearer than it is in this loving continuation of the animation he celebrated in classics like The Corpse Bride. The result is a split season which does the unthinkable and actually builds to a thrilling "finale" of sorts, all while setting the stage for what's to come still in the rest of season 2. It's the rare split that actually makes sense, and Netflix would do well to remember this for other big originals of this kind moving forward. On the downside, this means that the highly anticipated guest appearance from Lady Gaga hasn't arrived just yet. Still, this show is mayhem in the best way possible, finally living up to the unparalleled popularity that season 1 (perhaps unfairly) earned. As Enid says at the start of episode 2, "I know being popular goes against everything Wednesday-core," but it turns out being popular is actually a good look for Wednesday. Almost as good as black, in fact. Let's just hope the second half keeps this momentum going or we might be in for some woe of the unwanted kind. Wednesday season 2 part 2 will stream from Wednesday 3rd September on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just solved a major Spock mystery after 34 years
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
*Warning: Spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 4 ahead.* Star Trek's Spock is a legendary character in his own right, but in the latest episode of Strange New Worlds, it's confirmed that he's actually related to another legend connected to an entirely different franchise. In episode 4 of season 3, Spock (Ethan Peck) and La'An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) get caught up in a murder mystery that traps them within a prototype holodeck. At the start of their investigation, Spock says to La'An: "As my ancestor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would write, 'The game's afoot.'" Yep, the same Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who created the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes is also Spock's great-great-great-great something grandfather in the fictional world of Star Trek. Weirdly enough, this isn't the first time that Spock has suggested Doyle is actually part of his bloodline. Back in 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Spock tells the Enterprise crew that: "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains — however improbable – must be the truth." This quote is synonymous with Sherlock, and it's easy to see why it might resonate with someone as logical as Spock. But it's technically Sherlock who said those words, not Doyle, which got Trekkies at the time asking if this fictional detective could be a real ancestor of Spock's within the Star Trek universe. Spock is half-human because his mother comes from earth, so that tracks, but as longtime fans might remember, Sherlock is repeatedly referred to as a fictional character within Star Trek. As such, mentions of him in the likes of The Next Generation refute the idea that Sherlock could have been a real person in this fictional world. View Green Video on the source website 34 years later, Strange New Worlds has finally cleared up that mystery by confirming that Spock was actually referring to Arthur Conan Doyle rather than his creation, Sherlock. Never mind that Doyle didn't have any directly descended grandchildren of his own, which means Spock couldn't actually be related to him – it's still fun to pretend. Plus, considering the Trelane and Q revelation earlier this season, who knows what family links we're still to discover? Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+. Add Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Takopi's Original Sin's cruel twist isn't just for shock value - it makes a vitally important point
It's a bold and ambitious twist that upends everything we thought we knew.
Warning: This article contains references to suicide that some readers may find distressing. Don't let the cutesy visuals fool you. Takopi's Original Sin is out to deceive us from the get-go. What starts out as the story of a cheery alien from the Planet Happy quickly descends into a living nightmare when Takopi arrives on Earth and tries to save a 9-year-old girl from a broken home. Bullied, abused, neglected, it's hard to imagine how things could get worse for Shizuka. But then they do, unfathomably so, when Shizuka uses one of Takopi's Happy Gadgets to kill herself. It's a harrowing moment, one of the worst to ever be animated on screen, and it comes just 15 minutes into the very first episode. On top of that, Takopi's cartoonish naivety heightens the horror of it all even more. But even when Takopi attempts to undo this tragedy via time travel, things go wrong again just one episode later when Takopi accidentally murders Marina and breaks his Happy Gadget in the process. Unable to go back in time now, Takopi's irreversible mistake seems to be the "original sin" spoken of in the title. If only that were true. After we learn more of the horrors that Shizuka's peers have also endured, including a boy named Naoki and even Marina, the bully who was killed by Takopi, episode 5 begins on an unusually cheery note. That's your first clue things are about to get even more messed up. With Takopi by her side, Shizuka travels to Tokyo to meet her father and be reunited with her dog Chappy (who was cruelly snatched away earlier). But upon arriving, Shizuka discovers that her father has a new family now, including two daughters and a different dog. What's worse is that he pretends to not even know who Shizuka is. View oEmbed on the source website Taking refuge under a bridge, Shizuka suggests to Takopi that they use one of his Happy Gadgets to cut open her father's new family and see if they can find her dog Chappy in their stomachs. Yep, Shizuka has snapped entirely, and when Takopi doesn't agree, she goes to bash his head in with a rock just like how he used his camera to kill Marina a few episodes prior. At this point, it suddenly feels like we got hit on the head too because this is where things start to get very confusing. The action shifts back to Shizuka's hometown, except we're now watching Takopi meet Marina for the first time. And not the Takopi we know either , but an earlier version who's just arrived on Earth. It turns out the little octopus actually became friends with Marina in 2022 before he met Shizuka. But this Marina has scars on the left side of her face, inflicted by her abusive mother. Since her father left, Marina's home life has become a waking hell. Meeting Naoki in this timeline makes it bearable though, and even her mother seems pleased that she's found a boy to be with. That is, until Shizuka returns to school. It turns out Naoki has been obsessed with her for years, so he's quick to ditch Marina and spend time with her instead. It's especially brutal to see because this rejection happens on the same day that Marina's mother planned a special dinner to welcome Naoki. When Marina tells her what happened, that Naoki can't come because he's found someone new, things escalate quickly. Marina's mother ends up attacking Marina, but just before she kills her child, Marina manages to stab her with a broken glass shard. That's when Takopi comes in to discover that Marina's mother is now dead, and it's all because of Shizuka. Or, at least, that's how Takopi sees it. Desperate to fix everything, like always, Takopi decides to go back in time and kill Shizuka to make Marina's life better. But in the process, he loses his memories so when he does finally come face-to-face with Shizuka, he no longer plans to murder her. That's the Takopi we meet at the beginning of the series, the one who seemed so sweet and kind. He actually came to Shizuka to kill her for Marina, but ended up doing the opposite instead. Takopi only remembers all this though after Shizuka showed her true colours and violently attacked him in the tunnel. That's why we shifted to an earlier time, because that's where Takopi's memories went. Yep, the only character we had who seemed to be genuinely innocent, the one who did everything he could to help our suicidal protagonist, was actually the one planning her death all along. That is Takopi's original sin. Not him killing Marina by accident, but deciding to rewrite time so he can go back and kill Shizuka on purpose. It's an incredibly bold, ambitious twist, the kind that changes everything you thought you knew about this story and upends the status quo completely. For that alone, Takopi's Original Sin should be lauded. Because who, aside from readers of Taizan 5's original manga, could have ever seen this coming? This twist was impossible to predict, but like the very best twists, it makes complete sense in hindsight thanks to the rules already established firmly in this universe. It's also an incredibly sad and messed up thing to discover, even more than we would have expected from this already sad, messed up show. But you could never say that this was written for mere shock value. There is power to be found in that shock, that sheer horror at what's unfolded, which only makes the crucial points it's making stronger about the nature of happiness and the cyclical trauma of abuse. Takopi's Original Sin was first published in December 2021, yet the child suicide crisis that features so prominently in the first chapter has only worsened in real life since then. A record number of child suicides were recorded by Japanese authorities in 2024, with bullying often cited as a key reason. As such, Takopi's Original Sin is asking us to pay attention to what's going on today in the real world, and most crucially, the role that adults play in this ongoing tragedy. Every single terrible thing that happened throughout this story, of which there are many, could have been prevented if the adults in these children's lives had just done their job and looked after them like they were supposed to. From neglectful parents to abusive parents to even the teachers who turn a blind eye or simply don't care, the story of Takopi's Original Sin is one of adult failure. None of the children are to blame. Even at their most horrific, they're simply paying forward the abuse dealt to them, mirroring their parents as a way to cope with the unbridled pain they've been forced to endure. Even Takopi, a joyous resident of the Planet Happy, learns violence from this karmic wheel of trauma when he acts rough with his mother who we see briefly in episode 5. Yes, it turns out human cruelty even transcends this plane of existence. Upon learning what his true goal was in visiting Shizuka, Takopi will now have to reconcile that with who he is and what he's done. Because happiness can't be forced on others, no matter how well intentioned you might be. Everyone has their own secret struggles with mental health that we don't know about, and moving forward, that's also true now for this cutesy alien who's supposed to embody happiness, but ended up deceiving us all. If you need help and support on issues raised within this article, please visit Samaritans, CALM, Rethink Mental Illness and Mind for guidance. Takopi's Original Sin is available to watch now on Crunchyroll. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Untamed ending explained: Who was the victim and why was she killed?
*Warning: Contains full spoilers for Untamed.* Eric Bana plays Yosemite special agent Kyle Turner in new Netflix thriller Untamed, which dropped on the platform this past week. Alongside Jurassic Park legend Sam Neill, And Just Like That star Rosemarie DeWitt and relative newcomer Lily Santiago, Turner investigates the suspicious death of a young woman named Lucy Cook. The central trio encounter twist after twist in the case until it all comes to a head in the final episode. So, who is Lucy Cook, exactly? What really happened to her out in the wilds of Yosemite Park? And how do these intrepid park rangers fit into all this? Read on to find out, but be warned that there are discussions of suicide which some may find upsetting. Untamed ending explained: What really happened to Lucy Cook? As the finale's title suggests, all trails do indeed lead here. But Kyle's life is in chaos after an altercation between him and Shane Maguire led to his suspension as a ranger. At the end of the previous episode, Kyle travelled into the park to find answers, when he was suddenly shot by, yep, you guessed it, Shane, who wants to take Turner out of the picture completely. With his horse also down for the count, Kyle uses some mud to tend to his bullet wound while on the run from Shane and his big rifle. The pair carry on until nightfall, when Kyle, exhausted and on the verge of death, tries to kill Shane with his last bullet. Except, the gun's empty, and that click of the barrel alerts Shane to Kyle's whereabouts. "There’s nothing left for you in this park," says Shane as he aims his gun to finish Kyle off. "Go see your boy." Yep, he's referring to Kyle's dead son, Caleb, which is pretty savage when you think about it. A gun does go off then, but it's not Shane's. Naya has arrived just in time, shooting Shane once to save Kyle and then a few times more when he tries to kill her for interfering. Kyle wakes up in hospital, and of course, he's going to be just fine. Vasquez, his so-called "lucky charm", informs Kyle that a stash of drugs and cash and guns has been found at Maguire's place, further incriminating him in death. The pair share a sweet moment then about the allure of park ranger life and the tranquility of the wilderness. It seems Kyle has fulfilled his duties as a mentor to Naya, who's come to embrace her new calling after working for years as a city cop. Kyle's ex, Jill Bodwin (Rosemarie DeWitt), shares a different kind of bonding moment with her new boyfriend, revealing to him the truth about the death of her son. It turns out Caleb was killed by a man named Sean Sanderson, and Maguire was the one who first found that out. Despite what Sean took from them, Kyle had faith that the law would handle this, especially with the video evidence that came into their possession. But Jill did not, so she paid Maguire to blackmail her child's killer and then kill him in return. We never get to hear what her forgettable boyfriend thinks of all this because the show then cuts to Jill visiting Kyle in hospital. "You don’t have to worry about me," she promises, despite chugging a bottle of pills in the episode prior. When Jill asks Kyle for that same promise in return, he talks about Caleb, how he still sees him everywhere, before giving her the promise she's asked for. That's the last we see of them on screen together, which is a shame because their fraught chemistry is the heart of this show, in many ways. But there's still some sleuthing to take care of, so after a few chats tie up more loose ends, Kyle decides to pursue the last lead he had on Lucy's life, driving up to Nevada to visit a church she attended as a kid. This leads Kyle to Mrs Gibbs, an old lady suffering from dementia who used to look after Lucy, once upon a time. Except, back then, Lucy was known as Grace. The trail then takes Kyle to Faith Gibbs, the woman's now grown-up daughter, who works as a waitress at a bar. Faith reveals that her father used to run a "big foster home racket" where he'd essentially starve the kids in his care and lock them up in the basement most days. Grace stood out to Faith because she cried a lot, "more than most", and often talked about how her father would save her. He never did though. No one did, so eventually Grace ran away. Faith has no idea where her own father might be these days, but she hopes he's "f***ing dead" and that "it f***ing hurt". As Kyle goes to leave, Faith recalls how Grace used to mention that her father was a cop. This gets Kyle thinking, so he calls an unknown person and asks for a favour, off the book. It doesn't take long for us to find out what's on Kyle's mind as he then meets up with his former boss and friend in the park to confront him with some new knowledge about the case. Paul's surprised to discover that Kyle re-sent Lucy's DNA results to the lab because he didn't trust the findings that Paul reported earlier. He was right to do so, because it turns out that Paul didn't tell Kyle the whole truth. Not by a long shot. Yep, this is why Sam Neill was cast. Not just to play Kyle's boss who pops up with occasional words of support, but because of the secret that Paul is hiding. Kyle knows the truth now, that Paul is actually Lucy's father. He produces a photo of Lucy as a kid and watches Paul try to squirm his way out of the truth. But it's no use. Paul reveals that his wife Maggie knew nothing about this, explaining that the news would have ended their marriage. Kyle presses him on leaving Lucy with the Gibbs church as a child and how he refused to help her when she returned to the Yosemite area as an adult. Paul keeps on admitting little truths as Kyle digs deeper, but he still holds back until Kyle demands to run ballistics on his hunting rifles. "I just told you the biggest secret of my life and you jump to I killed my own child?" More excuses come then, that he lent out his guns and doesn't know how they were used… But then Paul admits Lucy came to his house for money around a year ago. And not just once either. With each visit, she demanded more money and threatened to ruin his life. Paul supposedly tried to say sorry, but Lucy wanted him to feel the same pain he put her through. Paul unravels, to the point where it becomes obvious that he's the one who is actually responsible for her death. He didn't land the killing blow, but he scared Lucy to the point where she just wanted to end it all, choosing to throw herself off the cliff face where Kyle finds her at the start of the very first episode. Kyle tells Paul that he has to make this right somehow, because Lucy was family and he didn't protect her like he should have. Paul freaks out, realising that the jig is up, so he promises Kyle his job back so that he can stay in the park with Caleb (or, at least, the memory of Caleb). The stoic park ranger is having none of it, though, so he walks away to begin righting this wrong, even as Paul aims his rifle at him. A gunshot fires, but just like earlier with Maguire, the bullet in question doesn't hit Kyle. Instead, Paul has shot himself in the head, and then we see his body fall into the river below. With justice of a sort finally claimed, Lucy's body is laid to rest and cremated through traditional local customs. Kyle watches her ashes scatter in the breeze and then ventures off on his own, where he has a heart to heart with the memory of his dead son, Caleb. "Come on," says Kyle's child, tempting him to join Caleb in the afterlife. But Kyle isn't ready to go. "No matter where I am or where I go, you’ll always be with me," says Kyle, hugging his lost child in a touching moment of catharsis. Because Kyle wants to live now, to start anew, and to do so, he must leave the park behind to try and move on. Before he goes, Kyle leaves a note behind for Vasquez, gifting her his horse and also the box of Caleb's toys that her own son wanted to play with earlier. As he drives away for good, Vasquez takes Kyle's horse out into the park, surrounded by a pack of deer and a gorgeous mountain scenery. There's danger out here in the vast expanse of nature, but there's also beauty too. Perhaps Kyle can find some calm in that elsewhere, now that he's moved onto pastures new. Untamed is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Add Untamed to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The story may be over, but there's always time to relive it.
Attack on Titan concluded in 2023, and with it came an end to an era. Not only was it explosively popular at its debut in the 2010s, but the dark fantasy horror series quickly became a multimedia franchise that, to this very day, is still widely beloved by fans from across the globe. It even has multiple spin-offs, spanning live-action movies and video games. Based on a best-selling manga series by Hajime Isayama, Attack on Titan is famous for its gore, its plot twists, and its unique dystopian world building. It is set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where humans are forced to live behind walls so they're unable to be preyed upon by carnivorous giants known as Titans, and the story follows Eren Yeager, a young boy who vows to destroy Titankind for good. He, alongside his best friends Armin and Mikasa, grow up to join the Survey Corps. The Survey Corps is an organisation committed to keeping humanity safe from the Titan threat by surveying the wilderness outside of the city. The sheer volume of Attack on Titan media is enough to make anyone hesitate on where to start. Fortunately, with the anime and manga being completely finished, you'll be able to watch the series in the order it was released with very little trouble. Read on to find out how you can watch Attack on Titan in order. Though beware, this article includes spoilers for the end of Attack on Titan. How to watch Attack on Titan in order When embarking on a lengthy anime series, many viewers begin by asking which episodes they can skip. Basically, does Attack on Titan include a lot of filler episodes like Naruto? The simple answer is no. Attack on Titan is a dense, plot-heavy series with plenty of character development, and virtually every scene is important to the overall story - sometimes paying off years after the fact. The OVAs aren't quite as crucial, but they're interesting nonetheless, and always add something new to the overarching narrative. With that in mind, here's our recommended watch order for Attack on Titan, incorporating the OVAs at the points where they tie into the main story: Attack on Titan season 1 Attack on Titan: Ilse's Notebook (OVA) Attack on Titan: The Sudden Visitor – The Torturous Curse of Youth (OVA) Attack on Titan: Distress (OVA) Attack on Titan season 2 Attack on Titan: Lost Girls – episodes 1 and 2 (OVA) Attack on Titan season 3: episodes 1-12 Attack on Titan: No Regrets – episodes 1 and 2 (OVA) Attack on Titan: Lost Girls – episode 3 (OVA) Attack on Titan: Junior High (OVA) Attack on Titan season 3 – episodes 13 to end Attack on Titan season 4 part 1 Attack on Titan season 4 part 2 Attack on Titan season 4 part 3 Attack on Titan: The Last Attack Win a one-month subscription to Crunchyroll! Five RadioTimes.com users have the chance to win in celebration of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero arriving on the streaming service this July. Given the number of twists and revelations that take place in this show, we recommend following this order to avoid being spoiled for major events in the story. The Attack on Titan movie, The Last Attack, is just a re-edited combination of the last two episodes of Attack on Titan's final season. As such, you don't really need to watch it if you've already watched those episodes separately. The final part of Attack on Titan arrived on 5th November 2023 at midnight in Japan. Fans had previously wondered if the anime would receive a different ending to the manga. When Isayama ended the manga back in 2021, it was an incredibly divisive finale, so much so that Isayama even had to post a public statement in response to the fans' passionate reactions. "I am aware that the ending of Attack on Titan was quite controversial. I am open to receiving people's honest opinions. However, I would appreciate it if you'd be kind to me," he wrote. Ultimately, Isayama and Studio MAPPA continued as they have done since the show started: following the ending of the manga with some additional anime-specific scenes and improving the dialogue a little to enhance the original ending even further. It gave Isayama a chance to tweak some of the things he implied he wasn't happy with the first time around, including the omission of Armin labelling Eren a mass murderer and giving a lot more emotional depth to their conversation about Mikasa. Somehow, despite it being the same ending we've had in the manga, it's even more devastating to see the tragic love story of Mikasa and Eren finally come to the conclusion it was always destined to – one would end the other, and Mikasa made the impossible choice to kill Eren for the greater good. View Green Video on the source website Our viewing guide includes the OVA Attack on Titan: Junior High, but new viewers should note that this spin-off is quite divisive due to its parody tone, which doesn't entirely gel with the atmosphere of the main series. You can easily skip this spin-off if you prefer. We've also chosen to omit the anime movies that came out between seasons of the TV series, because they're basically just recaps of material you've already seen. As for the live-action movie adaptation from director Shinji Higuchi, that's really up to you. It wasn't well-received - in part because it took liberties with the original Attack on Titan canon - and since it isn't part of the anime series continuity, it's non-essential viewing. How to watch the English dub of Attack on Titan You can watch the English dub of Attack on Titan on Crunchyroll. On Crunchyroll, dubs from season 1 episode 4 onwards are only available on their premium service. How to watch Attack on Titan in the UK All episodes of Attack on Titan are available to stream on Crunchyroll. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide or Streaming Guide to find out what else is on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Olympo channels the early days of Élite in Netflix's raunchiest show of 2025
The Spanish teen series is set within the world of promising young athletes. But training isn't the only thing on their minds...
When Élite closed the doors of Las Encinas for good last summer, it was a blow for horny teen drama aficionados everywhere (even if the series had lost some of its steam by the end). But from the ashes of Netflix's longest-running Spanish original comes a new cohort of equally horny teens clambering over each other to become the best and brightest in their chosen field. Except, Olympo isn't set in a traditional school, private or otherwise. The Pirineos Center of High Performance is where the best athletes in the country come to train and get their cardio in. Sports only make up around 10 per cent of said cardio, however, which should come as no surprise because Olympo is brought to us by the same producers behind Élite. The show actually makes a joke of this, just five minutes in, when new girl Zoe asks, "How can they expect me to train here when everyone is super hot?" It's quite the dilemma, one that comes with no easy answers as the young men and women at Pirineos get physical in just about every way possible. In the first episode alone, swim team captain Amaia tries to focus on a call with mother dearest as her boyfriend (played by Élite's Nuno Gallego!) does his utmost to distract her with his tongue. Then there's Roque, star of the rugby team (and probably the dreams of gay men everywhere as soon as they watch episode 1). After locking eyes with another guy, he and blondie find a room to secretly hook up in, hidden away from the eyes of everyone but us – and the camera doesn't shy away from the sex in that moment. That's because Olympo knows exactly what kind of show it is, just as Élite once did, which is why that tension set up in the premiere continues to build throughout each episode seen prior to release (and presumably the rest of the season as well). Even the initial trailers capitalised on this with images of the cast clambering over each other to reach the top of a human pyramid and emerge victorious. There's a lot of sweating and writhing as athletic, muscular bodies take centre stage in a pitch-perfect summary of the show's appeal. Because let's face it: No one's watching Olympo for the story. Yet there are some attempts to thread this copious amount of boobs and butts together with some actual plotting, as hinted at in the hierarchy of that aforementioned pyramid. Early on, Amaia's bestie, Núria, suggests Pirineos is really a "cage of sharks, snakes and vultures disguised in perfect bodies". And she's right. Because, much like Las Encinas, this training ground is full of scandal and secrets that threaten to destroy the lives of these perky young hot people. Doping comes to the fore as Amaia begins to suspect that some of her fellow athletes might be seeking chemical help to improve their performances. Yet, even such serious subject matter is delightfully camp in this world where the arrival of an anti-doping agency is treated with all the gravitas of a Fast & Furious movie. Olympo isn't just camp like Élite. It's super gay like Élite, too. Gay and lesbian couplings are given just as much priority, if not more, than their straight counterparts, which should be a given but remains a rarity in this day and age. It makes sense here especially, however, in a world where men and women regularly get naked and super physical with other men and women in a heated, competitive setting. As Olympo cuts back and forth between grunts on the rugby pitch and kisses in the locker room, it becomes clear that this is the perfect backdrop for that same vibe fans used to binge Élite for. In fact, Olympo might turn out to be even better than Élite in the long run, assuming it holds the same stamina as the athletes competing at the heart of its story. Just throw in a murder or two and it really will be just like the good old days when Las Encinas first opened its doors to us and those sexed-up students alike. Olympo is available to stream now on Netflix. Add Olympo to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
If you're looking to settle in and watch One Piece, you'll need a guide. Thankfully, we've got everything you're looking for right here.
One Piece has plenty of episodes to watch: over 1,130 of them. And that's not even touching on the long list of specials, movies, OVAs and shorts. No matter how you cut it, watching One Piece is a commitment and can feel like a daunting task to newcomers who don't know where to start. It's hard to believe that Eiichiro Oda's One Piece premiered back in 1999. That means it's been 26 years of One Piece, and there's still plenty more to go, as the manga itself hasn't finished yet. While some have speculated that it could end in 2025, we have a feeling that the pirate fantasy world, where a young boy named Monkey D Luffy leads a crew known as the Straw Hat Pirates, will still be going strong until 2026. One Piece isn't the sort of anime that you can binge-watch over the weekend. There are over 1,130 episodes, making it a lot to handle for newcomers. And that's not even taking into consideration the spin-offs and Netflix's live-action adaptation, and the somewhat confusing reboot anime titled The One Piece. Fortunately, we're here to help, offering you a conclusive guide on how to watch all of One Piece in order. How to watch One Piece in order Considering the fact that this series includes more than 1,130 episodes already, you may be tempted to jump in halfway through. However, we recommend starting at the beginning and watching One Piece in the order it was released, so you can fully appreciate the story's impact. Our viewing guide includes all of the specials, films and OVAs, divided into individual sagas (ie longer storylines) and episodic arcs - just in case you do want to skip to a later section of Monkey D Luffy's adventures. We've also divided the list into two separate blocks, which cover the events that take place before and after the time skip, up to the latest movie, One Piece Film: Red, released in 2022. So, settle in. Here's how to watch every One Piece arc in order: East Blue Saga Episodes 1 to 3: Romance Dawn arc Episodes 4 to 8: Orange Town arc Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack! OVA Episodes 9 to 18: Syrup Village arc One Piece: The Movie Episodes 19 to 30: Baratie arc Episodes 31 to 44: Arlong Park arc Episode 45: Loguetown arc Episodes 46 to 47: Buggy’s Crew Adventure Chronicles Episodes 48-53: Loguetown arc cont Clockwork Island Adventure Movie One Piece TV Special: Adventure in the Ocean’s Navel Jango’s Dance Carnival Short Episodes 54 to 61: Warship Island arc One Piece: Episode of East Blue: Luffy and His 4 Crewmates’ Big Adventure Alabasta Saga Episodes 62 to 63: Reverse Mountain arc Episodes 64 to 67: Whisky Peak arc Episodes 68 to 69: Diary of Koby-Meppo Episodes 70 to 77: Little Garden arc Episodes 78 to 91: Drum Island arc Dream Soccer King Short Episodes 92 to 130: Alabasta arc The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta Movie Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals Movie Episodes 131 to 135: Post-Alabasta arc Sky Island Saga Episodes 136 to 138: Goat Island arc Dead End Adventure Movie The Cursed Holy Sword Movie One Piece: Open Upon the Great Sea! A Father’s Huge, HUGE Dream Special Take Aim! The Pirate Baseball King Short Episodes 139 to 143: Ruluka Island arc Episodes 144 to 152: Jaya arc Episodes 153 to 195: Skypiea arc One Piece: Episode of Sky Island Special Episodes 196 to 206: G-8 arc Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island Movie Water 7 Saga Episodes 207 to 219: Long Ring Long Land arc One Piece: Protect! The Last Great Stage Special Episodes 220 to 224: Ocean’s Dream arc Episodes 225 to 228: Foxy’s Return arc Giant Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Castle Movie Episodes 229 to 263: Water 7 arc Episodes 264 to 290, 293 to 302, 304 to 312: Enies Lobby arc Episodes 291 to 292, 303, 406 to 407: Boss Luffy Historical Specials Episodes 313 to 325: Post-Enies Lobby arc Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Cherry Blossom Movie Thriller Bark Saga Episodes 326 to 335: Ice Hunter arc Episode 336: Chopper Man Special Episodes 337 to 381: Thriller Bark arc Episodes 382 to 384: Spa Island arc Summit War Saga Episodes 426-429: Little East Blue arc Strong World Episode 0 OVA One Piece Film: Strong World Straw Hat Chase Short ONE PIECE 3D! Trap Coaster Short Romance Dawn Story Movie Episodes 385 to 405: Sabaody Archipelago arc Episodes 408 to 417: Amazon Lily arc Episodes 418 to 421: Straw Hats Separation Serial arc Episodes 422 to 425: Impel Down arc Episodes 430 to 452: Impel Down arc cont Episodes 453 to 456: Straw Hats Separation Serial arc cont Episodes 490 to 491: Post-War arc Episode 492: Toriko Crossover Episodes 493 to 516: Post-War arc cont 3D2Y Special AFTER THE TIME SKIP Fish-Man Island Saga Episodes 517 to 522: Return to Sabaody arc Episode of Nami: Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Friendship Movie Episodes 523 to 541: Fish-Man Island arc Episode 542: Toriko Crossover Episodes 543-574: Fish-Man Island arc cont Dressrosa Saga Episodes 575-578: Z’s Ambition arc Glorious Island Part 1 Special Glorious Island Part 2 Special One Piece Film: Z Episode of Luffy: Adventure on Hand Island Special One Piece: Adventure of Nebulandia Movie Episodes 579 to 589: Punk Hazard arc Episode 590: Toriko & Dragon Ball Crossover Episodes 591 to 625: Punk Hazard arc cont Episode of Merry: The Tale of One More Friend Special Episodes 626 to 628: Caesar Retrieval arc Episodes 629 to 746: Dressrosa arc Episode of Sabo: The Three Brothers’ Bond – The Miraculous Reunion and the Inherited Will Whole Cake Island Saga Episodes 747-750: Silver Mine arc One Piece: Heart of Gold Special One Piece Film: Gold Episode 0 One Piece Film: Gold Episodes 751 to 779: Zou arc Episodes 780 to 782: Marine Rookie arc Episodes 783 to 877: Whole Cake Island arc Episodes 878-889: Levely arc Wano Country Saga Episodes 890 to 894: Wano Country arc – Act 1 Episodes 895 to 896: Cidre Guild arc One Piece: Stampede Movies Episodes 897 to 906: Wano Country arc – Act 2 Episode 907: Anime 20th Anniversary Special Episodes 908 to 958: Wano Country arc – Act 2 Episodes 959 to 1,051: Wano Country arc – Act 3 (Oden Kozuki Past) One Piece Film: Red Episodes 1,052 to 1,085: Land of Wano arc Episodes 1,086 to 1,088: Prologue to Egghead Egghead Saga Episodes 1,089 to present, 1133: Egghead Island arc And that brings us up to date! Season 21 (ie the Egghead Island arc) began airing in January 2024. This marks the start of One Piece's Final Saga, which will continue into the Elbaf arc, the current storyline being published in the ongoing manga series. How to watch One Piece without filler View oEmbed on the source website While you may want to watch every last minute of One Piece, we appreciate that people need to sleep occasionally. So, for fans who want to slim down the show's epic canon, we've also put together a list of One Piece filler arcs you could skip without losing sense of the main story. Here's our One Piece filler list: Episodes 54 to 61: Warship Island arc Episodes 131 to 135: Post-Alabasta arc Episodes 136 to 138: Goat Island arc Episodes 139 to 143: Ruluka Island arc Episodes 196 to 206: G8 arc Episodes 220 to 224: Ocean's Dream arc Episodes 225 to 226: Foxy's Return arc Episodes 326 to 335: Ice Hunter arc Episodes 382 to 384: Spa Island arc Episodes 426 to 429: Little East Blue arc Episodes 575 to 578: Z's Ambition arc Episodes 626 to 628: Caesar's Retrieval arc Episodes 747 to 750: Silver Mine arc Episodes 780 to 782: Marine Rookie arc Episodes 895 to 896: Cidre Guild arc Episodes 1,029-1,030: Uta's Past arc Alternatively, you can skip the individual episodes listed below. While the arcs mentioned above don't add much to One Piece's overarching canon, they are still entertaining. However, these episodes are slightly different, basically just rehashing old material. Anime shows often air these recap episodes, giving the animators a chance to breathe, so you're not really missing out if you skip these filler episodes: Episode 50 Episode 99 Episode 102 Episodes 213-214 Episodes 279-283 Episodes 291-292 Episode 303 Episodes 317-318 Episode 336 Episode 406-407 Episode 457-458 Episode 492 Episode 499 Episode 542 Episode 590 Episode 907 Episode 1,029-1,030 How to watch One Piece movies in order If you really want to whizz through One Piece for a taste of what it's like, you could also focus solely on the 15 films that have been released to date. This isn't ideal, though, as a lot happens in the regular episodes between each movie. Still, if that's all you've got time for, here are all the One Piece movies in order of release, as well as how they relate to the main show. One Piece: The movie (2000) | After episode 18 Clockwork Island Adventure (2001) | After episode 52 Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals (2002) | After episode 102 Dead End Adventure (2003) | After episode 130 The Cursed Holy Sword (2004) | After episode 143 Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005) | After episode 224 The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle (2006) | After episode 228 Episode of Arabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates (2007) | Arabasta saga remake Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura (2008) | Drum Island arc remake One Piece Film: Strong World (2009) | After episode 381 One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase (2011) One Piece Film: Z (2012) | After episode 573 One Piece Film: Gold (2016) | After episode 750 One Piece Stampede (2019) | After Whole Cake Island arc One Piece: Red (2022) | After Uta's Past arc Some One Piece movies are more important to the overall arc than others, so if you're planning to speed things up even more, consider the following films to be unmissable: Dead End Adventure (2003) Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005) One Piece Film: Strong World (2009) One Piece Film: Z (2012) One Piece Film: Gold (2016) One Piece: Stampede (2019) One Piece: Red (2022) How to watch Netflix's live-action One Piece Netflix's live-action series can be watched at any point, introducing a new, eight-episode adaptation of the manga's East Blue saga. While working as a standalone watch, the live-action One Piece is possibly best viewed after watching the first season of the anime, adding new context to a familiar story. It's available exclusively on Netflix, with a second season on the way. Read more: One Piece anime confirms return date after 6-month hiatus Do I need to watch One Piece to understand Netflix's The One Piece anime reboot? It appears that Netflix has partnered with WIT Studio, the anime company behind the legendary Attack on Titan anime adaptation, to remake the early sagas of One Piece, beginning with the East Blue saga covered in Netflix's live-action version. So fortunately, no, you don't need to have seen the original One Piece anime in order to understand Netflix's The One Piece. They're the same story, and the main difference is that the new reboot will have a more modern anime style than the series that began in the late '90s. Let's hope The One Piece still has an element of hand-drawn animation, though! While not everyone has been on board with this news, it's undoubtedly a fascinating experiment that we can't wait to see play out. The first teaser for The One Piece can be seen below: View oEmbed on the source website How to watch the English dub of One Piece For UK fans of One Piece, the English dub of the show is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll. How to watch One Piece in the UK One Piece is available to stream in the UK on the anime streaming service Crunchyroll. On Netflix, the 2019 film One Piece: Stampede is available to stream. The live-action version of One Piece is also streaming on Netflix. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide or Streaming Guide to find out what else is on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
BBC's What It Feels Like for a Girl is the rare type of show that will save lives
This extraordinary series couldn't have come at a better time, writes David Opie.
What does it feel like for a girl? This question has plagued headlines in recent years as transphobic rhetoric aimed at trans women in particular has come to the fore. Emboldened by the UK Supreme Court's recent ruling that "sex" does not refer to a person's gender identity, you only need to glance at certain areas of social media to see just how much ground we've lost in the fight for trans rights. It's probably no coincidence, then, that trans representation has dropped sharply on screen as a result. Last year, GLAAD reported the lowest number of trans characters on TV since its 2017-2018 research, a far cry from just a few years prior. And that decline is even more evident in the realm of film, suggesting that networks and studios are growing more and more afraid of a potential backlash, as if the very existence of trans people is somehow controversial. So, at this point, it takes a bold show to not just include trans characters, but centre them, giving this marginalised group a much-needed voice at this critical juncture of history. Enter the BBC's What It Feels Like for a Girl, a series that's not just bold, but a defiant scream in the face of those who strive to silence trans people completely. The series, based on Paris Lees's coming-of-age memoir, is set at the turn of the millennium in a former coal mining town near Nottingham where nothing special ever happens. Or so it seems – because Byron (Ellis Howard) doesn't know it yet, but her coming of age journey, from a femme gay boy to an adult trans woman, will end up being the rare type of story that can inspire real change on an individual and even societal level. Byron's life is in need of saving first, however, as she navigates an era where drugs and sex work are all too easy to come by for a young queer person who's desperate to escape the horrors that come with living among small minds in a small town. But even in a place where slurs and batterings are the norm, queer people can still be found, and it's not long before Byron discovers a chosen family who are more accepting than her own, in turn lifting her up and showing Byron that there's a better, more truthful way to live. View oEmbed on the source website These Fallen Divas, as they call themselves, are chaos incarnate (complimentary), but they also look out for each other and are loyal to a fault. Well, except Sasha (Hannah Jones), an acid-tongued sex worker who always goes a little too far in her rivalry with Byron. But even she's there when it counts, delivering iconic lines like, "Call me Tranny and Susannah," while also offering a shoulder to cry on. Cis and trans alike, the characters in Byron's world aren't always likeable, including Byron herself, who can be selfish, at times to the detriment of those she loves. Lady Die (Laquarn Lewis), Byron's diehard bestie, learns this at a crucial moment early on. But that approach is vital. What It Feels Like for a Girl doesn't deify trans people because that's not reality. No efforts are made to conform and make the trans experience more palatable for mainstream viewers, which is exactly why the series works as well as it does. To be queer is to not conform, so it's heartening to see the script embrace that and do the same, be it through experimental segues or the realities of approaching sex as a trans person, then and now. At no point does What It Feels Like for a Girl shy away from how it feels in the bedroom department, encompassing everything from the sweet, loving embrace of the man you love to getting down on your knees for money. Lust and love of all kinds are intertwined throughout, depicting trans people as sexually desirable in the same way that cis people take for granted in every other show on screen right now. And it's in that type of acceptance that the series resonates most, be it sexual or otherwise. Byron and the divas have each other, yes, but they're also embraced by others too, even as they come to accept themselves. Scenes shared between Byron and her Mommar Joe (Hannah Walters) will hit especially hard for any queer people watching while giving a much-needed reminder that age doesn't define your capacity to love someone for who they really are. Bear in mind that this story is set in the early noughties, a time you might assume would have been less accepting than now. But even two decades ago, there were kind people who saw past one another's differences to understand the truth of a person, underneath it all. In fact, scenes where Byron watches Nadia win the public Big Brother vote in 2004, making her the first trans winner to do so, will have you questioning whether society was actually more progressive 20 years ago than it is today. It's an ingenious way to show how far we've not come in these intervening years, and how much work still needs to be done to even just reach noughties levels of acceptance when it comes to embracing the trans community. But just as Nadia's triumph gave hope to trans and queer people at the time, Byron's own highs and lows – based on Lees's real-life story – will undoubtedly do the same now. Because even at a time when Byron and people like her didn't necessarily have the words to define themselves in the same way we do today, she and others still reached the same conclusions about their identities regardless. Flashbacks to Byron's childhood show how the world around her pushed back every time she expressed her true gender identity, but no matter the era and no matter the odds, queer people will always find a way to live their truth and see themselves in any way they can. At the right moment, even a random Top of the Pops performance by the German techno musician Zombie Nation can open your eyes to something more. Yet, Byron's story isn't purely a trans journey. There's queer trauma and crucially, there's queer joy too, but Byron herself isn't defined solely in those terms. She has hopes and dreams and love and desires that have nothing to do with her gender identity, and that's key because being trans or queer in any way isn't a monolith. What It Feels Like for a Girl doesn't try to explain what it feels like for all girls, trans or otherwise. It's the story of Lees, aka Byron, a working class northerner whose gender identity just happens to not align with the body in which she was born. And it's through that specificity that the show finds its strength, humanising the trans experience at a time when it really is needed more than ever. Whether What It Feels Like for a Girl speaks to a trans teen around Byron's age or a family member who's struggling to understand, there's a raw power to this story that will save lives in the same way It's a Sin did, and perhaps even inspire new storytellers to do the same. What It Feels Like For A Girl airs on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer from Tuesday 3rd June. Add What It Feels Like for a Girl to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Solo Leveling is about to change anime forever – here’s how
Crunchyroll's best series winner swept the Anime Awards in Tokyo.
Much like its protagonist, Solo Leveling is going from strength to strength with no end in sight, and the whole anime industry is getting ready to level up too as a consequence. Following two powerhouse seasons and a theatrical compilation release titled ReAwakening, Solo Leveling swept the 2025's Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Tokyo last weekend, winning the majority of 51 million votes (up 50 per cent from the previous year). The series picked up nine awards in total out of 13 nominations, including everything from Best Action and Best Score to three separate voice acting wins in the English, Brazilian Portuguese and Castilian Spanish categories. The night ended with Solo Leveling taking the biggest trophy too for Best Anime, beating out critical darlings such as Dandadan and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. This wasn't exactly a surprise, however. As Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini told us ahead of the awards: "Solo Leveling is the number one show on the platform in almost every single region that Crunchyroll operates in." Season two performed even better than the first, toppling the ratings of mainstays like One Piece while also dethroning Chainsaw Man, which previously held the record for single most-viewed episode on Crunchyroll. Why is Solo Leveling so popular? The anime, an adaptation of Chugong's South Korean Webtoon, doesn't come with a particularly original premise. Sung Jin-woo, once deemed "The World's Weakest Hunter," becomes the only Hunter who can increase in strength after a mysterious power levels him up in the wake of a near-death experience. This kind of fantasy world, which essentially follows the rules of a standard RPG (role-playing game), is the foundation of many other shows before it, including everything from Sword Art Online to I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World. The difference here is that Solo Leveling comes with a humongous built-in fanbase who were already obsessed with the original manhwa (South Korean manga) long before A-1 Pictures started production on the anime. Since its launch in 2018, the online comic has recorded over 14.3 billion views worldwide, making it one of the most popular Korean Webtoons to date. That success has now been expanded on by the Solo Leveling anime, which regularly goes viral while the show is airing due to its hi-octane fight scenes. Speaking to Indiewire, A-1 Pictures producer Atsushi Kaneko revealed that Episode 24 included 17,000 frames, as opposed to the usual 7,000 to 8,000 frames that a typical anime episode would usually contain (and 10,000 if especially action-heavy). It's this attention to detail in the show's unparalleled animation that's become a huge draw for Solo Leveling. But that's not all. Purini describes the Anime Awards winner as "a really special show" on a streaming service full of them, explaining that: "A-1 Pictures did an amazing job with the visuals, the quality of the show, but what we hear from fans and why we believe it's resonating with them is, yes, it's the characters, it's the visuals, it's the storytelling, it's the pace, but it's also the theme itself." Beyond the action and spectacle, Solo Leveling possesses an appealing wish-fulfilment factor that hooks you before the mystery at the heart of it pulls you in. It's a perfect storm of accessible and hype-worthy, just deep enough to intrigue but not too convoluted or niche for newcomers. The result is a show that doesn't need to be overly original when each individual component is crafted this well and comes out this entertaining. But where Solo Leveling is going next certainly does tread new territory, not just for show but anime at large. And the Emmy goes to? The Emmy Awards, TV's most prestigious trophy, has recognised animated programs since 1979, yet for the majority of that time, anime wasn't even eligible to compete. That's because the rules state contenders must be produced at least partially by an American company. As a result, this uniquely Japanese medium has been shut out of the race for Outstanding Animated Program, showing up instead in the international category for Best Kids Animation. Six Japanese-produced shows have been nominated in that area since 2012 with just one winning: Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter in 2015. That makes Gorō Miyazaki's series the only anime to win an Emmy Award to date. Until now, that is. As a co-production between Japanese entertainment company Aniplex (which operates Crunchyroll as a joint venture with Sony Pictures) and animation studio A-1 Pictures, Solo Leveling is eligible to compete in the Outstanding Animated Series category this year. Crunchyroll has already begun campaigning, and if successful, that would make it the first anime to move beyond the international categories and break into the Primetime Emmys. Whether Solo Leveling ends up securing a nomination or not, this awards campaign is a historic one regardless, marking a shift that reflects anime's growing reach and dominance in a global market beyond its native Japan. And even if recognition doesn't come at this particular point, a win voted for by a Western body like the Primetime Emmys is practically guaranteed at this point, a matter of "when," not "if". Solo Leveling redefines what anime can be The success of Solo Leveling is also a win when it comes to broadening the scope of what anime can even be. Unlike other heavy hitters that competed at the Anime Awards this year, Solo Leveling is based on a South Korean property, rather than Japanese. The animation is still produced by a Japanese studio, however, which is why Solo Leveling can still technically be defined as anime, rather than "eni" or "hanguk aeni" (which would be the correct terms for a Korean animated production). That makes Solo Leveling the first anime based on a Korean story to take the top prize at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. Korean media such as The Korean Times are already celebrating this historic moment as a win for their own country as well as Japan, and don't be surprised if more achievements in this vein soon follow. Just as protagonist Sung Jin-woo regularly visits other worlds in search of something more, the success of Solo Leveling has managed to widen the already considerable scope of source material that anime can draw upon. That means along with the countless Japanese manga always in production, South Korean manhwa is on the cards for adaptation now too. Whether these productions retain their Korean identity or mostly homogenise it like Solo Leveling has done remains unclear, although Netflix did just release their first Korean original animated film this week, titled Lost in Starlight, which is unmistakable Korean in setting and context. Solo Leveling is just the beginning Either way, anime continues to level up on the global stage, as proven just this past week at the Crunchyroll Anime awards, which attracted more attention than ever before. "The 51 million votes," said Purini, "is a reflection of not only the growth of anime and the popularity of anime, but also a recognition of how much fans are invested in telling creators how much they like those shows". That message has been heard loud and clear by the creators of Solo Leveling who are working hard on season 3, even as that universe expands online too, in a spin-off web novel released just last year. Solo Leveling: Ragnarok focuses on Jin-woo’s son, Su-ho, after the events of the original series, which means that the franchise could theoretically continue on screen for generations. But even if the bubble eventually bursts and Solo Leveling becomes less popular than it currently is now, the changes it has inspired will still be felt as a ripple effect for everything that comes next, inspiring the two billion fans Purini and Crunchyroll predict will soon engage with anime by 2030. For more anime shows to try once you've finished Solo Leveling, check out our best anime of all time picks here and how to watch them via Crunchyroll's streaming service here. Start your 7-day free Crunchyroll trial. Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Stranger Things's Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo reveal what's next for them after series ends
Radio Times spoke to the stars exclusively at Tokyo's 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
Our world is about to turn upside-down for real when Stranger Things comes to an end later this year. But we're just fans. What does life look like for the actual stars of Netflix's monster hit after nine years spent in Hawkins, Indiana? Ahead of the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which took place in Tokyo on Sunday 25th May 2025, Radio Times.com spoke to Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo about their future beyond Mike Wheeler and Dustin Henderson. "There's loads I want to do," said Wolfhard. "I want to direct more films [following his first feature, Hell of a Summer]. I would also love to do a voice-over where people don't know it's me. I feel like every time I've done a voice in something, it's my own voice [laughs]." When asked about dream voice roles in animation, Wolfhard immediately mentioned Hayao Miyazaki, the creative genius behind much of Studio Ghibli's output. "To be in a dub for a Miyazaki film? That would be like a dream… What Robert Pattinson did [in The Boy and the Heron] last year was pretty amazing. Totally changed his voice. Doing something like that would be so fun." Matarazzo is also keen to push out of his comfort zone and try new, stranger things. "I think a lot of weird, deeper character work would be really, really fun. My inspo for sure is Andy Serkis and everything he does. He is one of the most talented, most expressive, most innovative performers that's alive right now, that's known for becoming not human several times, which seems like it would be absolutely terrifying, but so much fun." <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/01/StrangerThingsStrangerThings4900193216-Cropped-ea084eb.jpg" width="2880" height="1920" alt="Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Eduardo Franco as Argyle, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in Stranger Things gathered by a camper van" title="Charlie Heaton as Jonthan Byers, Eduardo Franco as Argyle, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in Stranger Things Cropped" /> "I just want to keep doing things that I'm bad at," added Matarazzo, "because I always like to challenge myself. "The thing that I'm most scared of with anything I'm doing is getting to a point where you can become comfortable. Because I don't really think that you're actively mindful of what it is you're doing, and the goal is to always be present, focused. "The only way that I think I would necessarily be that is if I'm terrified of what I'm doing [laughs]." Matarazzo continued: "When you've been a person for a decade, it sometimes feels like you know them more than you know yourself… That's tough to let go of, and it makes acting outside of it quite tough as well. Because I'm like, 'What's a me-ism and what's a Dustin-ism?' "Sometimes I'll make choices where I'm like, 'That's a Dustin choice.' I gotta make sure that I'm very mindful of not being him right now." He added that "the concept of not playing [Dustin] is pretty scary", which is understandable given how much of his 22 years have been spent in the role. Both stars are incredibly thankful for this journey, however, with Finn adding: "I'm proud of what Stranger Things has brought to people and just proud of being a part of that show and being a part of a great cast. "That's something I'm always gonna be excited about, for sure. For fans who might be at a loss after the series comes to an end, Matarazzo pointed out that anime "influences a lot of what we've done on Stranger Things", so there's a wealth of TV out there to help fill that gap that will be left behind. Wolfhard immediately suggested Death Note, which "is very character heavy and character driven" in the same vein as Stranger Things season 1. Matarazzo, meanwhile, thinks other ensemble pieces like One Piece or Attack on Titan will appeal, even if the latter is darker than fans of their show might be used to. For more anime suggestions to pick up once Stranger Things comes to an end, check out our best anime of all time picks and how to watch them via Crunchyroll's streaming service. Start your 7-day free Crunchyroll trial Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are available to stream now on Netflix. Add Strange Things to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Conclave ending explained: Who becomes the new pope?
The film has recently been added to Prime Video – while there is also renewed interest given recent events in the Vatican.
The new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, has been announced following a two-day conclave – the process of selecting a new pope. The occurrence of the papal process in real life has sparked renewed interest in Edward Berger’s 2024 Oscar-winning film Conclave, which depicts the secretive procedure. As shown in the movie, the titular conclave must gather in the pope's wake and select a new replacement. Whoever receives a two-thirds majority of the votes is then chosen to usher in a new era as the Vatican's new pope. In Conclave, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is the one who organises this vote and ends up becoming a frontrunner, much to his chagrin. Others include conservatives like Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) and Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), who reckons the church has become too open-minded. Stanley Tucci's Aldo Bellini is a far more progressive candidate, thankfully, and then there's Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), a moderate option who's still controversial because of rumours the late pope asked him to resign before his death. More secrets and scandals come to light, all under the watchful eye of Isabella Rossellini's Sister Agnes and, of course, us, as we watch the ballots roll on in a story that's far more thrilling than you might expect from such a traditional setting. Berger spoke to us exclusively about Conclave and how it's essentially "a political thriller behind closed doors". "It could take place in Washington DC," he added. "It just happens to take place in the Vatican. So it's really like a thriller with lots of twists and turns that surprise you, including the one that you're mentioning." That twist in question? Conclave ends with one final reveal which pulls the holy rug out from under us. And it's all to do with who actually ends up becoming the new pope. Read on to find out more - but beware spoilers. Conclave ending explained: Who becomes the new pope? In the wake of a rousing speech that prioritises compassion in the wake of a suicide bomber attack, Cardinal Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz) is elected as the church's new leader, choosing the papal name of "Innocent". Cardinal Benitez's Conclave twist explained The Mexican-born archbishop wasn't known to anyone beforehand except the late pope himself, and it seems the pair were bonded through a secret that's only revealed at the end. Lawrence gets close when he discovers Benitez appears to have some kind of health issue. The pope organised a flight to Switzerland where this could be addressed, but Benitez cancelled the trip last minute. After the votes are tallied, Lawrence finally confronts him about this, and the truth is something he could have never expected. It turns out that Benitez is intersex, which means he was born with a uterus and ovaries. That medical appointment the pope arranged was for a laparoscopic hysterectomy so his uterus could be removed. Benitez turned it down because he is, in his words, "as God made me". What does the ending of Conclave mean? Unless you've read the book by Robert Harris that Conclave's based on, you'd have no idea that this was the secret Benitez has been hiding (or that he would beat out Lawrence for the win either). As such, it might be tempting to argue that this last-minute reveal is sensationalising intersex identity for shock value. Cinema does have an unfortunate history of treating gender reveals in this fashion, deliberately using them as a cruel punchline designed to surprise and even unsettle people watching. View Green Video on the source website But Benitez’s final conversation with Lawrence suggests that isn't the case here. The audience is never encouraged to be disgusted or amused by the new pope's true identity. In fact, Benitez frames his intersex body as a strength, arguing that a person who "exists between certainties" is exactly what the church needs right now. "Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there is only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith." Watching Benitez openly discuss his identity without shame or embarrassment is a deeply radical act even before you consider the context of his new role and the change it can spark. Despite the warring factions we've seen, progress is inevitable, and without even knowing it, they've spurred that on by voting in a leader who doesn't sit within traditional binaries. The hope this brings can be seen in the light that floods in as Lawrence opens the curtains wide, and can be heard in the laughter of nuns outside. As Berger said to us: "I think it's interesting in today's world, especially in the world of one of the oldest patriarchies in the world, to sort of put a little crack in it and see what the future could look like." Sponsored by Vue Save up to 30% on the latest releases at Vue in 2025 Are you a movie lover who always wants to be up to date with the latest releases? Then you're in luck, as RadioTimes.com readers can enjoy new films at Vue Cinemas for less. Customers will receive up to 30% off films with Vue Pass, as long as they have a RadioTimes.com account. It's a great time for new releases, with films such as Wicked, Nosferatu, The Brutalist and Moana 2 taking UK cinemas by storm. Head to your nearest Vue to catch these movies and more for up to 30% less if you're signed up as a RadioTimes.com member. Save up to 30% with Vue Pass Conclave is now streaming on Prime Video. 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