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Books The Wheel of Time

Reading The Wheel of Time: Mat, Perrin, and Faile Contemplate Marriage and Duty in The Gathering Storm (Part 14)

Sylas analyzes some introspective, transitional chapters this week.

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Published on January 27, 2026

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Stefan Raets</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-mat-perrin-and-faile-contemplate-marriage-and-duty-in-the-gathering-storm-part-14/">https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-mat-perrin-and-faile-contemplate-marriage-and-duty-in-the-gathering-storm-part-14/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837816">https://reactormag.com/?p=837816</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/books/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Books 0"> Books </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/the-wheel-of-time/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag The Wheel of Time 1"> The Wheel of Time </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Reading The Wheel of Time: Mat, Perrin, and Faile Contemplate Marriage and Duty in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 14)</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Sylas analyzes some introspective, transitional chapters this week.</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/kjbarrett/" title="Posts by Sylas K Barrett" class="author url fn" rel="author">Sylas K Barrett</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 27, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-mat-perrin-and-faile-contemplate-marriage-and-duty-in-the-gathering-storm-part-14/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 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11.9763C12.8454 10.2843 11.841 8.80097 10.5657 7.52631C9.29171 6.25164 7.80871 5.24764 6.11671 4.51431C4.42471 3.78097 2.61205 3.41431 0.678713 3.41431V0.414307C3.02871 0.414307 5.23705 0.860306 7.30371 1.75231C9.37038 2.64431 11.1704 3.85664 12.7037 5.38931C14.237 6.92264 15.4497 8.72264 16.3417 10.7893C17.2337 12.856 17.6794 15.0643 17.6787 17.4143H14.6787ZM8.67871 17.4143C8.67871 15.1976 7.89971 13.31 6.34171 11.7513C4.78371 10.1926 2.89605 9.41364 0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="407" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ReadingWOT_TGSbook12-740x407.png" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Reading The Wheel of Time on Tor.com: The Gathering Storm" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ReadingWOT_TGSbook12-740x407.png 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ReadingWOT_TGSbook12-768x422.png 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ReadingWOT_TGSbook12.png 951w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>Mat and the Band, along with their entourage of Aes Sedai and captured <em>sul’dam</em>, make their way down an ancient and broken road, one that must have been built before the Breaking, as Vanin tries to pin down their position on one of Master Roidelle’s maps. Mat complains about women to Talmanes, riding beside him, using a dice game as an increasingly intense and winding metaphor for women’s behavior. Talmanes responds blandly, and occasionally teasingly.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>When Mat had first realized what his marriage to Tuon meant, he’d laughed, but it had been the laughter of incredulous pain. And men called him lucky. Well why couldn’t his luck have helped him avoid <em>this</em> fate! Bloody Prince of the Ravens? What did <em>that</em> mean?</p></blockquote></figure> <p>Mat tries to turn his attention back to the needs of his men, considering how they will make it out of Altara safely and whether or not the Seanchan will send an army to pursue them. But this only leads him back to worrying about Tuon, and he finds himself asking Talmanes if he made the right decision, letting her go. Talmanes points out that Mat did promise to do just that, and there would have been trouble if he refused. He also tells Mat that he is being “downright husbandly,” and suggests Mat is mooning after his new wife. </p> <p>When Vanin returns from scouting ahead, he is able to report their exact location and that there is a village a little way ahead. This report catches the attention of the Aes Sedai. Led by Joline, they begin to question Vanin about the village and how far they are from Caemlyn. The Aes Sedai are unsatisfied with the slow pace of the Band. Mat refuses to leave them, but tells the Aes Sedai they are more than welcome to go ahead. However, as discussion of what the sisters would need to complete the journey continues, Mat is frustrated and curt with the sisters’ desires for multiple mounts, food and money, and soldiers to accompany them. The resources he offers in return will not allow the Aes Sedai to travel much faster than the band already is, so they decline his offer.</p> <p>Mat is both curt and rude during this conversation, and he notices the Aes Sedai, Teslyn in particular, looking disappointed in him. When they are gone, Talmanes remarks that Mat’s behavior was odd, and points out that what the Aes Sedai asked for would be worth giving, to be rid of them. Mat responds that he won’t be pushed around, and if Joline wants something from him she can ask politely. Talmanes, a little struck, observes that Mat really does miss Tuon, and that the worry has him on edge.</p> <p>They discuss their poor supplies, and how difficult it is to find anything to eat even in the villages, these days; the village up ahead might not have enough extra to want to sell to the Band, no matter how much coin they are offered. Mat begins to form a plan to take himself and Talmanes into the village to enjoy themselves at a tavern, and resupply in the process—without paying at all, if his luck is with him.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>If Egwene or Nynaeve had been there, they’d have boxed his ears and told him he was going to do no such thing. Tuon probably would have looked at him curiously and then said something that made him feel his shame right down into his boots.</p></blockquote></figure> <p>Perrin awakens in the wolf dream to find himself hanging hundreds of feet in the air. Hopper flies past him and lands on the ground, urging him to jump down. Perrin is frightened, but after a moment convinces himself to imagine jumping down and finds him landing on his feet in the field below. He notices that the sky, usually changeable here in the Dream, is full of dark storm clouds and lightning. Hopper tells him that the Last Hunt is coming.</p> <p>Hopper suggests they run together, then teases Perrin for choosing to run as he is, on two legs. Perrin tries to explain his fear of losing control, of giving in to the wolf. Hopper doesn’t understand, even when Perrin suggests that he doesn’t want to hunt with Hopper. The wolf urges him, still, to run, and to forget these confused thoughts, but Perrin is insistent. He asks Hopper how to use the Dream, and how to control it.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p><em>Men</em>, Hopper thought, Sending the smells of dismissiveness and anger. <em>Control. Always control.</em><br><br>“I want you to teach me,” Perrin said, turning back to the wolf. “I want to master this place. Will you show me how?”</p></blockquote></figure> <p>When Hopper continues to be uncooperative, Perrin declares that he will find other wolves to teach him. This prompts Hopper to question why he would look for wolves, if he doesn’t want to run. Perrin tries leaping great distances and succeeds, and yet somehow Hopper is always there in front of him—not leaping, but transferring from one place to another. Feeling other wolves, or something like other wolves, in the distance, Perrin pushes himself farther, while Hopper warns him that what he is doing is dangerous. He throws Perrin out of the Dream, instructing him to return when he isn’t “determined to poke [his] snout into a fireasp’s den.”</p> <p>In the waking world, Faile is waiting for Perrin to settle down into a deeper sleep; unfortunately, he is quite restless. She reflects how good it has been to be back together, though she has noticed a sadness about him that wasn’t there before her kidnapping.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>He had grown haunted while they were apart. She could understand that. She had a few ghosts of her own. One could not expect everything to remain the same, and she could tell that he still loved her—loved her fiercely. That was enough, and so she didn’t worry on it further.</p></blockquote></figure> <p>Perrin wakes suddenly, pulling her closer into his arms, and declares abruptly that he didn’t sleep with Berelain. She assures him that she believes him, but Perrin worries when he smells jealousy on her. She explains to him, not for the first time, that a husband needs to know his wife is jealous so that he will know she cares for him.</p> <p>Attempting to get Perrin to go back to sleep, Faile closes her eyes and thinks about Malden, and how it was there that she truly learned what it means to be a lady. There she was needed more desperately than she ever had before, and there was no room for games, or mistakes.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>Being a noblewoman meant going first. It meant being beaten so others were not. It meant sacrificing, risking death, to protect those who depended upon you.</p></blockquote></figure> <p>Perrin tells her that he doesn’t care what she had to do to survive. He tries to forgive her for potentially having had to sleep with her captors, and Faile, annoyed, tells him off for assuming she couldn’t take care of herself. Eventually Perrin drifts off, muttering about Rand’s hand and hunting. Once he starts snoring, Faile slips away.</p> <p>Joined by Arrela and Lacile, and later by Alliandre, Faile travels into the wood, where they meet Bain and Chiad. Both women are <em>gai’shain</em> to Gaul now after he killed the Shaido they were <em>gai’shain</em> to before. They give Faile a bundle, inside which they each find an item belonging to an Aiel who protected them while they were captives.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“Four people are dead,” Faile said, mouth suddenly dry. She spoke formally, for that was the best way to keep the emotion from her voice. “They protected us, even cared for us. Though they were the enemy, we mourn them. Remember, though, that they were Aiel. For an Aiel, there are far worse ends than death in combat.”</p></blockquote></figure> <p>But it is not so easy for Faile and Lacile. Lacile killed Jhoradin, a man she cared for, maybe loved. Faile killed Kinhuin, who was a friend, though she isn’t sure whether or not she distracted Rolan intentionally, so that Perrin could kill him. Faile knows there is nothing else they could have done, and now she understands a lesson her father once tried to teach her, about how you sometimes have to kill people you like simply because they are on the wrong side of the battlefield. But that only makes the situation more tragic.</p> <p>They burn the items one by one. They discuss the honor these Brotherless and the one Maiden showed, and how they owe the dead <em>toh</em> that can never be repaid, but can be remembered. Each of them speaks about something beautiful or valuable about the person who died, and then they return to camp.</p> <p>Perrin has awakened to find Faile gone. He is thinking over Hopper’s words to him in the dream, over his own determination to ride to the Last Battle and the decisions he has to make to get there.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots" /> <p>Sometimes when I think about Mat I imagine everyone who knows him singing that song from the beginning of <em>The Sound of Music</em>. You know, the one the nuns sing about how Maria is fun but also a disaster and they call her a flibbertijibbet and a clown?</p> <p>Yeah. That’s kind of how everyone feels about Mat, I think.&nbsp;</p> <p>As annoying as he is in this chapter (shout out to the long-suffering Talmanes), I suppose I can’t blame Mat for being thrown off by his rather sudden marriage. After all, he didn’t know what he was starting when he accidentally performed his half of the marriage ceremony, and that left him in a position where he had no agency over his own fate. Even with his foreknowledge of what that fate would be, the passivity of his position—waiting for the axe to fall, so to speak—must have grated on Mat.</p> <p>In this section, Mat brings up the fact that he doesn’t like fighting, that he never chooses to fight unless he has to. I imagine this doesn’t ring as truth to Talmanes, or anyone else Mat has said it to, because from the outside it does look like Mat is seeking these things out. We the readers have been inside Mat’s head and seen the way the Pattern has pushed him into positions to do what needs to be done, but it won’t necessarily look like his hand is being forced by anyone or anything other than his own desires.</p> <p>Rand isn’t the only one who is more trapped by the Pattern than the average man. All three <em>ta’veren</em> are agents of the Wheel, and as much as they affect the weave around them, they are also beholden to the weave, which created them (or at least this power within them) for a specific purpose. Mat doesn’t look at things from the same cosmic perspective that Rand has taken, but when you really dig down into it, his complaints are very similar to Rand’s. He is aware that his own desires are not what controls the situations in which he finds himself, and that he is employing skills that aren’t even his through normal means. He is an agent of fate, both catalyst and prisoner of the weave, and I can’t blame him for itching under that strain.&nbsp;</p> <p>Of course, Mat also has a strong moral streak; for all he keeps thinking that he is going to leave the next Aes Sedai or captured woman “weeping in her bonds,” we all know that’s just talk. Mat is a good person, and doesn’t turn his back on the right thing to do, even when he wishes he could take the easier and safer course. From Mat’s perspective, I think this also feels like his hand being forced—but in reality, he is making a choice based on his own moral compass and his strong sense of compassion for other people. Mat is a very kind person, when it comes right down to it—he just forgets this sometimes. Other people can forget it, too, since he also has a bit of a selfish streak, and because he is impulsive and mischievous. </p> <p>It’s also clear that Mat is focusing on little things and little worries, like whether or not being a husband means he can’t go out drinking or gambling anymore (plenty of married men in this world do both, I am quite confident, even in the Two Rivers) because focusing on the big worries, like the fact that he may end up having duties and responsibilities to the Seanchan Empire, seems like too much to face right now. We even see it directly in the text, in the moment when Mat suddenly remembers that he is a nobleman now, then immediately tells himself not to think about it.</p> <p>Talmanes is clearly aware of what’s going on with Mat and is content to humor him, for the most part, and occasionally tease him about it. But when Mat is ruder and more hostile towards the Aes Sedai than usual, Talmanes realizes that Mat is also genuinely concerned about Tuon, worried enough that it has exacerbated his usual rough tongue and animosity towards the Aes Sedai into something, as Talmanes puts it “outright rude” and “intentionally insulting.”</p> <p>To be honest, I didn’t see Mat’s response to the Aes Sedai as being as rude or insulting as the Aes Sedai and Talmanes saw it to be. Mat is always rude to the Aes Sedai. And really, the Aes Sedai’s demands for so much in a time of limited resources, after Mat and his men rescued them and helped them escape, did seem rather unreasonable to me. Sure, Mat was rude, and it would have made him look better to have the discussion in a polite, measured manner. But the Aes Sedai were being rude first! And they think they should just get things from Mat, horses and men and resources, just because they’re Aes Sedai. I’m honestly kind of on Mat’s side here. Though I don’t think being rude to the Aes Sedai was a <em>smart</em> idea.</p> <p>There’s not much more to say about chapter 20 really, since it’s a traveling chapter and not much happens. I’m curious about Mat’s plan to get supplies without paying, and I find myself wondering how he will manage it without taking advantage of a village that might not have much to spare.</p> <p>I also noticed that Mat has picked up a little of Tuon’s tendency to look for signs and portents, despite his best efforts. This plays into the things I was talking about in last week’s post, the way a new culture and new beliefs can seem silly at first, but might come to make sense to us in time. Mat knows Tuon is smart and capable, and it is perhaps not so easy to dismiss her beliefs as a foolish, knowing that.</p> <p>Also, his momentary reflection that he hasn’t seen sunlight in as long as he has seen Tuon and the impulse to connect the two was impossibly sweet.&nbsp;</p> <p>Meanwhile, we have Perrin and Faile, who are much farther along in their relationship and doing a very different version of getting to know (or rather, re-getting to know) each other after their time apart.</p> <p>I really respected Faile’s perspective in chapter 21. She is a very wise person, and her observations that it is good for people to change struck me as particularly important, especially since she and Perrin are the most established long-term relationship amongst our young heroes.</p> <p>I am not a therapist or a relationship counselor, but I’ve always felt that one of the reasons relationships, especially long ones like marriages, eventually fall apart is because it can be difficult to understand and remember that people change. We will be very different people five years after our marriage started, never mind ten, or twenty, or thirty. Both people in the relationship will grow and change and evolve, and if we aren’t paying attention, we might not notice how different our partner has become. Or perhaps we have grown and changed in different directions, or aren’t compatible the way we once were.</p> <p>Faile’s awareness of the necessity of change, and her approval of it, will serve her well as a partner, I think. She’ll be able to weather the experiences she and Perrin go through in life, as she is weathering this time apart and the trauma they both went through while she was a captive. Expecting change, and knowing that it is a good and necessary part of life, will help her appreciate her husband as he evolves and grows, and help her navigate the changes he may suffer due to his fated condition as a <em>ta’veren</em> who is intimately connected to the Dragon Reborn.</p> <p>I’m so curious to see if Perrin will ever tell Faile about being a wolf brother. I feel like he has to, eventually—it is too big a piece of himself to hide from someone he is so close to. And if he does eventually share this part of himself with her, I have a feeling that Faile might be useful in helping him navigate it. Not because she understands wolves or wolf brothers, but because she understands people.</p> <p>I’m having one of those moments, as I do from time to time, where I can’t remember what I’ve already covered of a particular subject or theme in The Wheel of Time and what I’ve only thought about, so I apologize if we’re retreading some old ground. But Perrin’s conversation with Hopper and his thoughts at the end of the chapter have me thinking, again, about how he misunderstands his own capacity for anger and violence.</p> <p>The violence of man is different from that of nature. Wolves don’t make war, or kill out of hatred. They kill when it is necessary, for food or to protect themselves or their pack. Men are the ones who make war, who crave dominance over others or strike out because of hatred, or covetousness, or a love of violence for violence’s sake. And yet Perrin has decided that the part of him that desire violence—the part that would cut off a man’s hand to get information to save Faile, the part that is filled with rage at the thought of her being hurt, or the thought of other innocents suffering—is the wolf part, not the man.</p> <p>He goes into the Wolf Dream with the desire to learn how to collar the wolf side of himself, to put it on a leash and direct it. He also wants to control <em>Tel’aran’rhiod</em>, to learn how to manipulate and use the Dream to his advantage. But Hopper is confused by these desires, either not understanding them at all (Perrin’s fear of his own impulses) or identifying what Perrin is talking about as a thing of men, not of wolves (when Perrin says he needs to learn how to control the Dream.)</p> <p>It really feels like Perrin isn’t listening to Hopper at all in this scene, like he is talking <em>at</em> him, not to him, and is ignoring Hopper’s sendings in reply. And I’m curious how much of this is Perrin just being stuck in his own thoughts, and how much is an error of translation.</p> <p>We are reminded periodically that the “words” we get from the wolves are translations Perrin is making out of the images and scents and feelings the wolves send each other in order to communicate. One assumes it works the same way in reverse, that Perrin’s words must be translated into image and feeling in order for the wolves to understand him. What would the words “I frighten myself when I lose control,” translate to, for Hopper. How would he understand what Perrin means? Is it even possible for a wolf to comprehend such an idea?</p> <p>And on the other side, we have Perrin’s desire to be taught about the Dream World. Hopper is dismissive of the idea of controlling it, but his offer to run with Perrin might very well be an offer to show Perrin the Dream and how to navigate it. What could Perrin learn from the wolf simply by traversing <em>Tel’aran’rhiod</em> with him? What could Perrin learn about understanding <em>himself</em>, and the wolf side of himself, if he were willing to explore it, here in the Dream, with the wolf that gave his life to protect Perrin’s?</p> <p>I have a lot of empathy for Perrin’s predicament. I, too, am someone who spent a lot of my life not trusting my own emotions. I felt like they needed to be controlled, and that control mostly meant suppression. It’s only recently that I’ve come to understand that suppressing your emotions, trying to make them small or put them in a box, actually makes you less able to handle them, less aware of when they are controlling you. Feeling and understanding your emotions is actually where it’s at.</p> <p>But Perrin is terrified of this part of himself, is terrified of the emotions he associates with violence, like anger, fear, and selfishness. The more he tries to control them, to put them on a leash, the less understanding he has of his own nature. He may have thrown the axe away, and he may be aware of the need to make better choices, but I don’t think he understands, really, how to make those choices—how to let his emotions inform him without overwhelming him, how to mitigate his emotional overwhelm with good sense.</p> <p>You know, all the things Faile appears to be very good at.</p> <p>We see this throughout the series, but it’s particularly evident in the funeral scene, where Faile allows herself to feel the grief and regret and even guilt that she feels over the death of their Aiel protectors, and particularly over Rolan. She acknowledges her part in the deaths, and allows herself to feel regret while also acknowledging the fact that what happened really was unavoidable. She grieves, but she also lets go, and what’s more, she helps the other women do the same. She acknowledges their losses and their grief, never telling them not to feel (the way she forebears pointing out to Lacile that she would never have gone with Jhoradin even if things had been different is a particularly clear example of this) but also makes a point of reminding them of the Aiel cultural beliefs around death, and particularly death in combat.</p> <p>This is why taking a moment to have the little ceremony is so important. There is a moment in the text in which we learn that Bain and Chiad told Faile that there was no dishonor in leaving the bodies behind, which is good because it means that the women don’t have to carry any cultural shame along with the <em>toh</em> they owe to their protectors. But funerals aren’t for the dead, who aren’t there anymore to appreciate them. Funerals are about the living. They are there to give an opportunity to mourn, to experience and even display emotion, to allow it freely in our bodies and our outward expressions. This is how we find closure and peace on the other side of those emotions, even if those emotions also stay with us for a long time, or even for the rest of our lives.</p> <p>Faile is a good leader, even more so after her experience in Malden. She reflects in this section about the sacrifices required of a good leader, about how being a lady means going first, accepting suffering to spare others from that suffering. Reading it, I found myself wondering if Faile and Tuon would get along—not in every way, certainly, but in this way. Tuon might see in Faile someone who understands ruling the way she does, who is aware of, and capable of, making sacrifices for the good of her people and not seeing herself as above them, but rather as responsible for them.</p> <p>It’s an interesting distinction to make, and one that Faile reflects on indirectly when she considers how she used to bully people to get her way. It’s also an interesting distinction for me to consider, given my personal dislike of the hierarchical nature of the Seanchan system. None of my other observations or objections to Seanchan culture are made relevant by this consideration, but if Tuon thinks of herself as being deserving of particular honors and respect because of the service she performs in her role as soon-to-be Empress, that does matter a lot, when it comes to understanding her morality as a person.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots" /> <p>Next week we will be covering chapters 22 and 23 of <em>The Gathering Storm</em>. I can’t preview what is going to happen for you, however, because I haven’t read them yet! But I do know Semirhage is up to no good. Which probably goes without saying.</p> <p>A final thought:</p> <p>There is an exchange between Perrin and Hopper in the Dream, in which Hopper tells Perrin that they will hunt together in the Last Hunt unless “Shadowkiller falls to the storm,” in which case they will all sleep forever. I assume that Shadowkiller is Rand, as the storm is clearly the Dark One and his forces (aka the Shadow), and what Hopper is calling sleeping forever is some kind of non-existence, one that will occur if the Dark One wins and destroys creation. It’s interesting to me that the wolves have a concept of this, given how much I have mused upon the idea that the Forsaken think they’ll get to rule the world once the Dark One is in control, when I think it’s much more likely that the Dark One will destroy everyone and everything.</p> <p>Souls exists outside of the world—they can be touched and controlled by the Dark One, and ostensibly by the Creator as well. They can be spun back into the Pattern, but does that mean that they can also exist somewhere outside the Pattern? If the Dark One was triumphant and did destroy the Pattern, would the souls of the world cease to exist? Or would the exist somewhere in a different state than life?</p> <p>When Hopper uses the word “sleep” or rather, sends an image that Perrin interprets as “sleep,” does he mean non-existence or something else? And as a wolf existing in <em>Tel’aran’rhiod</em>, does he know something that is true? Or is this merely a belief, like a religion for wolves?</p> <p>I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but it is interesting to contemplate.</p> <p>Have a great week friends, and I hope those who experienced a lot of snow these past few days are staying safe and warm.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-mat-perrin-and-faile-contemplate-marriage-and-duty-in-the-gathering-storm-part-14/">Reading The Wheel of Time: Mat, Perrin, and Faile Contemplate Marriage and Duty in &lt;i&gt;The Gathering Storm&lt;/i&gt; (Part 14)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-mat-perrin-and-faile-contemplate-marriage-and-duty-in-the-gathering-storm-part-14/">https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-mat-perrin-and-faile-contemplate-marriage-and-duty-in-the-gathering-storm-part-14/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837816">https://reactormag.com/?p=837816</a></p>
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Posted by Emmet Asher-Perrin

Movies & TV Watchlist

Here Are All the Genre TV Premieres Airing in February!

Not many TV premieres in the second month of the year, but we’re excited about the return of Monarch…

By

Published on January 27, 2026

Credit: Apple TV

Godzilla, in a scene from season 1 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Credit: Apple TV

There is a lot of entertainment out there these days, and a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror titles to parse through. So we’re rounding up the genre shows coming out each month

This month is incredibly light on television releases in general, but there are two speculative titles on that list. 

Paradise — Hulu (February 23) 

Three years after a post-apocalyptic doomsday event, thousands of people hunker down in an underground Colorado bunker. A secret service agent investigates the mysterious murder of the President of United States—but eventually, he becomes one of the prime suspects in the killing. Unsure of who he can trust, he dives deeper into the investigation only to uncover some shocking secrets. 

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters — Apple TV (February 27)

(Season 2) Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the television sequel series to 2014’s Godzilla. Two half-siblings investigate their missing father’s connection to the covert organization that monitors Godzilla and the other giant Godzilla-like monsters. The show jumps around in time, following the siblings in 2015 and various monster-related incidents through the years.[end-mark]

The post Here Are All the Genre TV Premieres Airing in February! appeared first on Reactor.

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Posted by Christina Orlando

Books book reviews

Home Like A Haunting in Victor Manibo’s The Villa, Once Beloved

The Villa, Once Beloved is a taut microcosm of one of the Philippines’ most formative modern horrors.

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Published on January 26, 2026

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Christina Orlando</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/">https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837224">https://reactormag.com/?p=837224</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-vertical"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/books/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Books 0"> Books </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/book-reviews/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag book reviews 1"> book reviews </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Home Like A Haunting in Victor Manibo’s <i>The Villa, Once Beloved</i></h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">The Villa, Once Beloved is a taut microcosm of one of the Philippines’ most formative modern horrors.</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/maya-gittelman/" title="Posts by Maya Gittelman" class="author url fn" rel="author">Maya Gittelman</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 1.3v10.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3 1.3h-5.698l-.146.147-3.324 3.333a.417.417 0 0 1-.282.12H6.3a.4.4 0 0 1-.4-.4v-2.7Z" /> </g> </svg> 0 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0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="407" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-The-Villa-Once-Beloved-740x407.png" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Cover of The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo." srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-The-Villa-Once-Beloved-740x407.png 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-The-Villa-Once-Beloved-1100x605.png 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-The-Villa-Once-Beloved-768x422.png 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-The-Villa-Once-Beloved.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p><em>For it wasn’t history, was it? All was in the here and now, happening again, happening continuously, because it never stopped. Not the plunder, not the atrocities, not the constant evasion of consequences and denial of justice.</em></p></blockquote></figure> <p>The title promises a halcyon thing, and indeed we meet the Sepulveda patriarch at his messy end. Emblematic of his family villa’s former glory, Raul Sepulveda dies suddenly and strangely, found dead in his bed with dirt-stained hands in a scene that plumbs darker depths as the story unfolds in his aftermath. Cut to two days later, we meet our main POV character, Sophie, as she journeys on a Gulfstream with her boyfriend of two years, Raul’s grandson Adrian, from Stanford to the Philippines. She’ll be staying at his ancestral family home Villa Sepulveda, designated a “Heritage House” by the National Historical Institute, here to support him through his grandfather’s funeral and to spend more time with his family, who she’s only met once before.&nbsp;</p> <p>Sophie’s also the only person who knows Adrian is working on a documentary film about his family. While they are close with the Marcoses, one of the families most culpable for political violence against the Filipino peoples, Adrian rejects those politics (though it’s through his family’s privileges that Adrian has access to things like Stanford, private jets, and bringing weed gummies to a country notorious for the extrajudicial execution of people purported to possess drugs). Adrian’s family disparages his choice of major, and Sophie understands his project as an act of rebellion. His mentor thinks he might make it to Sundance. </p> <p>Sophie herself is Filipino, but what other diaspora Filipinos may know—a private jet with her own little cabin and a shower is an <em>unheard of</em> version of the homeland voyage, for one, even business class is prohibitively pricey—goes in part over her head. Not only is this Sophie’s first trip to the Philippines, this is her first time on a plane. Born to a Filipina who died getting her to the States, Sophie was adopted and raised by a white Midwestern couple in a small town in Nebraska. She did not grow up around other Asian people, and drove herself to Stanford as soon as she could. Sophie thinks of her parents with a distance that evidences the barriers to their connection. The reader understands early on that Sophie craves a connection to her Filipino culture which she never got until she joined some Filipino-American clubs at Stanford and met Adrian.&nbsp;</p> <p>Adrian Sepulveda was born to Enrique “Eric” Sepulveda and a blonde white American mother. He has introduced Sophie to almost everything she knows about her Philippine heritage, and all he’s ever known of Villa Sepulveda are lovely vacations with his grandparents. There is much about his grandfather and the rest of his family he does not learn until Raul Sepulveda dies. There is also much he has always known, and chosen either not to believe, or not to shoulder.  </p> <p>Their trip and the novel take place over a two week span, encompassing the Holy Week of Easter, the prayer-heavy funerary days following a Filipino Catholic’s passing, and Stanford’s junior year spring break. As the now-scattered Sepulveda clan gathers to bury their patriarch, the usual typhoons hit early and extra hard this year. Sophie finds herself, the Sepulvedas, and their staff sequestered in the villa’s secluded mountain town of Maalin, in Leyte province. There in those two weeks, the household unfurls secret details of Raul’s death and the life that came before it. Like so many powerful men, Raul Sepulveda found himself deeply concerned with controlling his legacy, only to helplessly cede all control in death.&nbsp;</p> <p>With him gone, all that’s left is the truth.</p> <section class="wp-block-shop-the-book shop-the-book"> <h2 class="shop-the-book-headline">Buy the Book</h2> <div class="shop-the-book-content"> <figure class="shop-the-book-image-desktop image-cover"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Villa-Once-Beloved.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="Cover of The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo." /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <div class="flex items-center"> <figure class="shop-the-book-image-mobile image-cover"> <!-- <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Villa-Once-Beloved.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="The Villa Once Beloved" /> --> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Villa-Once-Beloved.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="Cover of The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo." role="presentation" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <h3 class="shop-the-book-title text-h3">The Villa Once Beloved</h3> <p class="shop-the-book-author">Victor Manibo</p> </div> </div> <button type="button" class="inline-block px-8 py-4 text-center btn tablet:py-3 text-h6 bg-red text-white shop-the-book-button" id="buy_book" data-trigger="modal" data-target="#modal-1769609441" aria-open="false" aria-label="Buy Book"> <span class="inline-flex items-center button-label btn-label"> Buy Book </span> </button> </div> </div> <div id="modal-1769609441" class="shop-the-book-modal"> <div class="shop-the-book-modal-inner"> <button class="js-modal-close absolute top-5 right-5 z-10" type="button" aria-label="icon-close"> <svg class="w-[19px] 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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Villa-Once-Beloved.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="The Villa Once Beloved" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <h3 class="shop-the-book-modal-title">The Villa Once Beloved</h3> <p class="shop-the-book-modal-author">Victor Manibo</p> </div> </div> <p class="shop-the-book-modal-label">Buy this book from:</p> <ul class="not-prose ebook-links ebook-links-shortcode"><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0DYWGX6MW?tag=tordotcomgeneral-20" data-book-title="The Villa Once Beloved" data-book-store="Amazon"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">Amazon</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7992675/type/dlg/sid/tordotcomgeneral/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781645661382" data-book-title="The Villa Once Beloved" data-book-store="Barnes and Noble"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">Barnes and Noble</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781645661405" data-book-title="The Villa Once Beloved" data-book-store="iBooks"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">iBooks</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781645661382" data-book-title="The Villa Once Beloved" data-book-store="IndieBound"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">IndieBound</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=9781645661382" data-book-title="The Villa Once Beloved" data-book-store="Target"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">Target</span></a></li></ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <p><em>The Villa, Once Beloved </em>is a taut microcosm of one of the Philippines’ most formative modern horrors. It’s true horror, and it’s also very funny, which is also very Filipino. Manibo asks you to consider perspective: Who is telling the story, and who is receiving it? The book features a varied cast of characters with different relationships to their Filipino identity. The core point-of-view characters are: Javier, first gen Filipino-American, raised by his family in California; Sophie, Filipino but raised in the Midwest by white parents; and Remedios, the Villa Sepulveda caretaker, who was born to the previous caretaker, and has never left. </p> <p>Within those fateful two weeks, many secrets claw their way to light. Who is entitled to story, eulogy? Who is entitled to shape their own legacy? Who is forced to tend to terrible secrets like one might tend to a house or garden, so that others may live in comfort?&nbsp;</p> <p>Every character is at war with themself in some way. The “Philippine identity” diaspora Filipinos might search for, the poetic hope of a homelike belonging to a place you are <em>from</em> though are not <em>of—</em>that identity has so many ties and tangles to imperialism. It continues to be deeply striated by class and proximity to whiteness, which encompasses anti-indigeneity, violent capitalism, and all the horrors that entails.&nbsp;</p> <p>As a mixed white Filipino-American myself, with the bulk of my mother’s family born and raised in the Philippines, not a word of this book rings anything other than strikingly, painfully true. That’s the thing with seeking solace and community in your Philippine birth country when you grew up American: We inherit great loveliness, but for those of us on the privileged side of diaspora, we discover at some point that we also inherit great guilt and grief.  </p> <p>Centuries of dehumanization at the hands of colonizers made the more privileged Filipinos—the ones with enough generational resources to outsource the manual labors of construction, cooking, cleaning, farming—eager to assert their Filipino identity and prove their power over their countrymen, country-people, kapatid. We see this in so many places ravaged by imperialism; inequity breeds inequity, and those with a smidge of power can be quick to centralize it. The corruption of Philippine officials goes almost without saying for Filipinos, as does the uncomfortable, persistent, pernicious reality that if you are of a certain class—and it doesn’t need to be “affords private jets or even first class” class—you are probably fewer than three degrees of separation related to an oppressor. </p> <p>I’m oversimplifying slightly—and this is my own interpretation of my own experiences with privilege, class, and proximity to whiteness. But the facts are clear and the resonance is uncanny. As a diaspora person, a mixed person, an American—what is and is not my story to tell? Adrian sets out to make a documentary, highlighting Philippine trauma in part caused by his family while giving himself the academic remove of a filmmaker.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is perhaps my favorite element of this book: its varied and deeply felt Filipinoness. So many different Filipinos in one family and their surroundings, so many different experiences lived in the people pressed up against them, tangled in their web. Of course American and Spanish imperialism is a looming presence, informing the story (in <em>why </em>the Filipino military officers are so liable to corruption, why the Spanish names and the violent strive for sovereignty), but this is a story about and between Filipinos. </p> <p>At its core, <em>The Villa, Once Beloved</em> is about how violent capitalism is at the core of most if not all systemic evil, and how laborers suffer when landowners and capitalists put profit over people, dehumanizing the very people they use to build and harvest their wealth. At first I found the ending nearly too tidy, but upon reflection it works with the genre—and it does feel like the only way this book can end. As satisfying as it possibly could be.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is also a horror story about how a bad secret can be made worse by truth’s avoidance over time. The demons that come to plague the Sepulvedas are a direct result of their actions and their relationship to the fallout. Manibo weaves Filipino folklore into the Gothic genre to literalize this beautifully, violence made manifest into something twisted and rooted in the specificity of the land. An ingenue in the midst of a raging storm, her world narrowed to one family’s dominion and its specific horrors. A rotting corpse within the proverbial floorboards, a gaping wound in the flesh of the family, left to fester and attract monsters. The way death can unmoor one’s very ecosystem, the way rituals of grief can sometimes be reassuring, sometimes horribly discordant. <em>Ghost</em> as in subverting a natural relationship to place and time, a monstrous breaking through of violence—or, perhaps, a response to monstrous violence itself.</p> <p>Manibo’s biting humor and deep compassion shape the story, wrestling with means and modes of grief and guilt, family duty, national identity, and nonbelonging. Diaspora sometimes as an opportunity for escape, as the privilege of avoidance, and what we lose or inherit when that ocean’s been crossed. You cannot undo what you have inherited, no matter how violent the legacy. Generational cruelty, marrow-deep shame. It is awful to reckon with, to survive, to remember, but it is the least you can do. You can choose not to uphold that legacy, but you can never not be from it.&nbsp;</p> <p>May death not be a reprieve for those who considered themselves masters of death for innocents. Some reputations, some houses, maybe even some grandfathers, are too rotten to save.&nbsp;</p> <p>Manibo conjures true magic here, a thick and tender tale with a hopeful sort of justice as a system of belief. True and necessary work, thoroughly imagined and expertly executed, flaying and vindicating and terribly inviting.</p> <p>I love this one. Read it.[end-mark]</p> <div style="height:5px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-sm-font-size"><em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790095/the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Villa, Once Beloved</a></em> is published by Erewhon Books.<br>Read an <a href="https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">excerpt</a>.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/">Home Like A Haunting in Victor Manibo’s &lt;i&gt;The Villa, Once Beloved&lt;/i&gt;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/">https://reactormag.com/book-review-the-villa-once-beloved-by-victor-manibo/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837224">https://reactormag.com/?p=837224</a></p>
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Posted by Vanessa Armstrong

News Angel Down

Daniel Kraus to Adapt Angel Down Into a Feature Film

The author also co-wrote the script for the adaptation of his book Whalefall, set to come out later this year

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Published on January 26, 2026

Daniel Kraus photo by Lyndon French

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Vanessa Armstrong</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/daniel-kraus-adapt-angel-down-feature-film/">https://reactormag.com/daniel-kraus-adapt-angel-down-feature-film/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837756">https://reactormag.com/?p=837756</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/angel-down/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Angel Down 1"> Angel Down </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Daniel Kraus to Adapt <i>Angel Down</i> Into a Feature Film</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">The author also co-wrote the script for the adaptation of his book Whalefall, set to come out later this year</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/vanessa-armstrong/" title="Posts by Vanessa Armstrong" class="author url fn" rel="author">Vanessa Armstrong</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Daniel Kraus photo by Lyndon French</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/daniel-kraus-adapt-angel-down-feature-film/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 1.3v10.8a1.3 1.3 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6.32524 8.76499C6.32524 9.32367 6.4209 9.7905 6.61223 10.1655L5.47575 14.964C5.34564 15.4997 5.2959 16.177 5.32651 16.9959C3.74997 16.2994 2.47575 15.2242 1.50381 13.7701C0.531863 12.316 0.0458984 10.6974 0.0458984 8.91423C0.0458984 7.31473 0.440027 5.83962 1.2283 4.48884C2.01657 3.13807 3.08607 2.06857 4.43684 1.2803C5.78761 0.492029 7.26273 0.0979004 8.86223 0.0979004C10.4617 0.0979004 11.9368 0.492029 13.2876 1.2803C14.6384 2.06857 15.7079 3.13999 16.4962 4.49458Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </svg> </a> </li> <li class="flex"> <a class="flex items-center hover:text-red" href="https://reactormag.com/feed/" target="_blank" title="RSS Feed"> <svg class="w-[17px] h-[17px]" width="18" height="18" viewbox="0 0 18 18" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-label="rss feed" role="img" aria-hidden="true"> <g clip-path="url(#clip0_1051_121783)"> <path d="M2.67871 17.4143C2.12871 17.4143 1.65771 17.2183 1.26571 16.8263C0.873713 16.4343 0.678046 15.9636 0.678713 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="494" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Daniel-Kraus-Angel-Down-Cover-740x494.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Photo of Daniel Kraus next to image of cover for Angel Down" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Daniel-Kraus-Angel-Down-Cover-740x494.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Daniel-Kraus-Angel-Down-Cover-1100x734.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Daniel-Kraus-Angel-Down-Cover-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Daniel-Kraus-Angel-Down-Cover-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Daniel-Kraus-Angel-Down-Cover.jpg 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Daniel Kraus photo by Lyndon French</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>Daniel Kraus’ latest novel, <em>Angel Down</em>, came out last year to critical acclaim. The story takes place on the battlefields of World War I and follows a private named Cyril Bagger who, along with four other grunts, is sent on a mission to No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded soldier. There, they find a fallen angel instead. That celestial being may be the key to ending the war, but only if the soldiers work together for the greater good rather than their selfish desires. The novel is told as one long sentence (think Faulkner), and has been described as a brutal but good read.</p> <p>Today, <em><a href="https://deadline.com/2026/01/angel-down-movie-imagine-entertainment-development-1236696287/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deadline</a></em> reported that Kraus will be adapting the novel for the big screen with Imagine Entertainment. Kraus has previously worked with Imagine to adapt his other novel, <em>Whalefall, </em>a book about a boy swallowed by a sperm whale trying to survive and also reconcile <a href="https://reactormag.com/whalefall-josh-brolin-in-talks-to-play-dead-dad-and-or-the-whale-who-eats-austin-abrams/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his feelings about his dead father (who also might be the whale)</a>.</p> <p>“I had a dream experience with Imagine on <em>Whalefall</em>, so when it came to <em>Angel Down</em>, there was only one home I wanted for it,” Kraus told <em>Deadline</em>. “This is precisely the sort of script I want to be writing, one that uses deep historical research to excavate a genre-shredding story that goes in wildly unexpected directions. This script goes all-in, and I’m happy to have Imagine going all-in too.”</p> <p>“Daniel Kraus is one of the most distinct voices and extraordinary talents we’ve come across in recent memory,” Imagine Entertainment producer Allan Mandelbaum added. “His ability to blend bold, high-concept genre stories with deeply human characters is second to none, and <em>Angel Down</em> is no exception. All of us at Imagine had an incredible experience working with Daniel to bring <em>Whalefall</em> to life, so we’re thrilled to be collaborating with him again on his outstanding and urgent new novel.”</p> <p>The project is still in its early days, so no news yet on if or when the project will move forward into production. Given the unique setup of the novel, I’m curious to see how Kraus translates his work to the screen. Given he’s also collaborated with Guillermo del Toro, I’m also excited to see how the angel is portrayed. The production, in short, will no doubt be a big swing, and I’m curious to see the final result. [end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/daniel-kraus-adapt-angel-down-feature-film/">Daniel Kraus to Adapt &lt;i&gt;Angel Down&lt;/i&gt; Into a Feature Film</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/daniel-kraus-adapt-angel-down-feature-film/">https://reactormag.com/daniel-kraus-adapt-angel-down-feature-film/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837756">https://reactormag.com/?p=837756</a></p>
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Posted by Sarah

Books Martha Wells Book Club

Martha Wells Book Club: Fugitive Telemetry

In which Murderbot solves a murder mystery…

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Published on January 26, 2026

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/martha-wells-book-club-fugitive-telemetery/">https://reactormag.com/martha-wells-book-club-fugitive-telemetery/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837432">https://reactormag.com/?p=837432</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-vertical"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/books/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Books 0"> Books </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/martha-wells-book-club/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Martha Wells Book Club 1"> Martha Wells Book Club </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Martha Wells Book Club: <i>Fugitive Telemetry</i></h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">In which Murderbot solves a murder mystery&#8230;</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/alex-brown/" title="Posts by Alex Brown" class="author url fn" rel="author">Alex Brown</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a 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class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>I have been counting down the days to when <em>Fugitive Telemetry</em> would pop up on my book club reread. When I finally sat down to reread it, I initially planned to squeeze in a few minutes before bed then read the rest over the weekend in a few days. Instead I ended up staying up way too late and consuming the entire thing in one sitting.&nbsp;</p> <p>We open with a dead human. The body is in the concourse on Preservation Station, and no one knows who the person was. Murderbot and Mensah are stuck in a holding pattern. They’re waiting for GrayCris to make their inevitable move, and that tension makes it difficult for them to get comfortable or make plans for the future.When the corpse turns up Senior Officer Indah is ill-equipped to handle the investigation on her own. As a SecUnit, Murderbot has handled its fair share of murder investigations, and as an entertainment feed fanatic, it has consumed an ungodly number of murder mysteries, both of which make it the prime candidate for partnering with Indah as far as Mensah is concerned. (Murderbot and Indah would rather not, thank you very much.)</p> <p>As far as Mensah is concerned, Murderbot might as well be useful while it waits for GrayCris. Mensah is already filling her time with her leadership responsibilities, not to mention avoiding going to trauma therapy. The pair also need to determine if the dead human was part of a GrayCris attack without overwhelming Station Security. Mensah’s iron will prevails, and Pin-Lee draws up an air-tight temporary employment contract hiring SecUnit out to Station Security. Murderbot’s insight into the Corporate Rim and its hacking skills complement Indah’s knowledge of the station and her protectiveness more than either is willing to admit. Eventually, the corpse leads to other victims and a pack of despicable criminals. The ending is bittersweet. The victims are rescued but the larger corporate scheme continues. It’s a small victory but a vital one. </p> <p>Importantly, the mystery could not have been solved without the help of the bots under guardianship on Preservation Station. At this point in its journey, Murderbot is still working through its feelings about being a construct under guardianship to humans. It likes the human that holds its guardianship, but it also likes its freedom. It hasn’t yet figured out how to have both. In the previous books, there is a clear delineation between bots and constructs. SecUnit treats bots almost like children. It appeases them to get them to do what it wants, or simply overpowers them or orders them around. On Preservation Station, however, the bots, while not the most complex entities around, are able to think, make choices, and extrapolate. They may not have as much processing power as a construct, but they are people in the same way a construct is a person. Their brains, so to speak, just work differently. It’s so cute to see them have inside jokes and nicknames for each other, and to see Murderbot be genuinely surprised (and a little annoyed) at that. Once again, Murderbot proves to be an unreliable narrator. What it thinks it knows about the world is much smaller than what is actually true about the world.&nbsp;</p> <p>Something that I’ve heard a lot from fans of the series is their frustration with how <em>Fugitive Telemetry</em> was published after <em>Network Effect</em> despite taking place before it in the chronology. After reading both fairly close together (instead of having nearly a year of wait time between them, much of which was spent dealing with the hell that was the worst of the covid pandemic), it actually makes a lot of sense. Now, I have no idea if Wells always planned for this time switcheroo in her publication schedule or if she made the decision to swap the chronology later on, but I think it was the right choice.&nbsp;</p> <p>This book adds subtext to Murderbot’s relationship with ART. Now readers know Murderbot has seen bots and constructs living full lives where they make their own choices outside the needs and commands of humans and the lengths they’ll go to ensure that independence. It reframes ART’s interactions with its crew. We know now that ART and Miki aren’t anomalies in liking humans anymore than Murderbot is an anomaly in wanting to hack its governor module. It teases some interesting possibilities for Three as well.</p> <p><em>Network Effect</em> also serves as a sort of denouement on the GrayCris saga. The story-within-a-story about the augmented human mercenaries hired by GrayCris as assassins is their last gasp. <em>Fugitive Telemetry </em>acts as a good break between that original storyline and the new one coming with <em>System Collapse</em> involving Barish-Estranza. Not only that, this book and the last deal with independent operators aiding enslaved humans trying to escape corporate bondage contracts, which also harkens back to Murderbot’s own flight from its company overlords. The first book functioned a bit like a murder mystery as well, so lots of little parallels.&nbsp;</p> <p>For new readers who might be intimidated with 4 novellas and a novel, <em>Fugitive Telemetry </em>is a good launching pad. Like <em>All Systems Red</em>, it’s fairly self-contained; it has a lot of interesting action and fun dialogue that don’t require any outside knowledge or lore. Whatever you need to know about Mensah for the purposes of this story, you get on the page, with just enough enticement to make new readers want to learn more. Same with Murderbot’s background. For long-time fans, it offers a lot of tantalizing new worldbuilding, particularly when it comes to bot society on Preservation Alliance. And it fills in some of the gaps left in <em>Network Effect</em>.&nbsp;</p> <p>After rereading <em>Fugitive Telemetry</em>, I think this novella is my second favorite book in the series thus far, with <em>All Systems Red </em>as my first. Is cozy hardboiled detective a thing? Because that’s what it feels like to me. I doubt we’ll get enough seasons of the TV show to cover this book, but I would love to see those actors do this storyline. What a kick!</p> <p>Next month we’re reading <em>System Collapse</em>, which jumps us forward in time to after <a href="https://reactormag.com/martha-wells-book-club-network-effect/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Network Effect</em></a>. Let’s see where all this Barish-Estranza stuff goes.[end-mark]</p> <section class="wp-block-shop-the-book shop-the-book"> <h2 class="shop-the-book-headline">Buy the Book</h2> <div class="shop-the-book-content"> <figure class="shop-the-book-image-desktop image-cover"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/system-collapse.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="cover of System Collapse by Martha Wells" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <div class="flex items-center"> <figure class="shop-the-book-image-mobile image-cover"> <!-- <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/system-collapse.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="System Collapse" /> --> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/system-collapse.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="cover of System Collapse by Martha Wells" role="presentation" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <h3 class="shop-the-book-title text-h3">System Collapse</h3> <p class="shop-the-book-author">Martha Wells</p> </div> </div> <div class="shop-the-book-description">The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 7)</div> <button type="button" class="inline-block px-8 py-4 text-center btn tablet:py-3 text-h6 bg-red text-white shop-the-book-button" id="buy_book" data-trigger="modal" data-target="#modal-1769642889" aria-open="false" aria-label="Buy Book"> <span class="inline-flex items-center button-label btn-label"> Buy Book </span> </button> </div> </div> <div id="modal-1769642889" class="shop-the-book-modal"> <div class="shop-the-book-modal-inner"> <button class="js-modal-close absolute top-5 right-5 z-10" type="button" aria-label="icon-close"> <svg class="w-[19px] h-[19px]" width="18" height="19" viewbox="0 0 18 19" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-label="close" role="img" 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Movies & TV A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The Jousting Begins in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: “Hard Salt Beef”

Dunk gets by with a little help from Targaryen princes and smallfolk alike…

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Published on January 26, 2026

Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-episode-2/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-episode-2/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837690">https://reactormag.com/?p=837690</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/movies-tv/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Movies &amp; TV 0"> Movies &amp; TV </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms 1"> A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">The Jousting Begins in <i>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</i>: &#8220;Hard Salt Beef&#8221;</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Dunk gets by with a little help from Targaryen princes and smallfolk alike&#8230;</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/tyler-dean/" title="Posts by Tyler Dean" class="author url fn" rel="author">Tyler Dean</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO </p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-episode-2/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 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17.4143C8.67871 15.1976 7.89971 13.31 6.34171 11.7513C4.78371 10.1926 2.89605 9.41364 0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-peter-claffey-740x493.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Peter Claffey as Dunk in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-peter-claffey-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-peter-claffey-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-peter-claffey-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-peter-claffey.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>The second episode of <em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</em> continues the premiere’s winning streak with a compelling blend of humor and action (including some of the most intricately choreographed and dynamic jousting scenes ever put on film!) as we follow our titular hedge knight’s quest to become the champion of the tourney at Ashford Meadow. As always, there may be mild spoilers for the general world of <em>Game of Thrones</em> and the Song of Ice and Fire books, but no spoilers for this show beyond episode 2. Let’s get started!&nbsp;</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Opening Titles: [File Not Found]</strong></h3> <p>Obviously, the dynamic globe and astrolabe of the original <em>Game of Thrones</em> credits are an iconic sequence, perhaps the apotheosis of the HBO opening credits artform that arguably began with <em>The Sopranos</em> and <em>Sex and the City</em>. When <em>House of the Dragon</em> reused Ramin Djawadi’s opening theme, it was a bit of a disappointment even if its opening title visuals are, ultimately, a spectacular improvement on the high bar set by the original series. The decision to eschew opening titles entirely in <em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</em> is one that feels slightly disappointing but is probably to the overall benefit of the show. It’s a smaller affair with a different vibe, focused on less grandiose moments in history (and with a shorter runtime than the hour-long dramas), and it makes sense to tamp down anything that might overstuff the series or make it feel too tonally similar to the other entries in the <em>Game of Thrones</em> universe.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Title</strong></h3> <p>The second episode title, “Hard Salt Beef,” refers to the poverty food that bookends the episode. It’s also, cheekily, a pretty good descriptor for Dunk (Peter Claffey) himself. The name feels apt, seeing as this episode really focuses in on the giant differences between the life of a hedge knight and the life of a royal prince, or even a knight from a noble line.&nbsp;</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Targaryen Delegation</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-sam-spruell-1100x733.jpg" alt="Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" class="wp-image-837700" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-sam-spruell-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-sam-spruell-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-sam-spruell-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-sam-spruell.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO </figcaption></figure> <p>This episode finally introduces the bulk of the Targaryens we’ll meet in the course of this season. Bertie Carvel (who you may know from <em>Jonathan Strange &amp; Mr Norrell</em> and <em>The Crown</em>) plays Baelor Targaryen, who is the eldest son of King Daeron II and the current hand of the king. As I mentioned in my <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-episode-1/?utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--oZrq_Z972X232QwsQfvNe6I3MU3gRFZTkkb1Ru9FmEavv0hpBcHg3b6qrvMGgqqtXLTUTcSzBjI_xwSQtiTb86XhHSQ&amp;_hsmi=2&amp;utm_content=2&amp;utm_source=hs_email">explainer for episode 1</a>, Daeron II finally brought Dorne into the Seven Kingdoms by marrying Myriah Martell. As a result, Baelor has dark hair like his mother.&nbsp;</p> <p>We also meet Maekar Targaryen, the youngest of Darron’s four sons. He’s played by Sam Spruell (who played the transcendently weird immortal assassin, Ole Munch, in <em>Fargo</em> season 5). Maekar, who is at least sixth in line for the throne, is upset about his missing sons, Daeron (named his grandfather) and Aegon. We encounter another of his sons, Aerion (<em>True Detective: Night Country</em>’s Finn Bennett) who treats Duncan with contempt, much like his father. Incidentally, Maekar has a fourth son, Aemon, currently in training at the Citadel and who, in eighty or so years, will become the same Master Aemon who tutors Jon Snow at Castle Black. We also get a brief shot of Prince Valarr Targaryen (Oscar Morgan), Baelor’s eldest son and second in line for the throne.&nbsp;</p> <p>In this golden age of Westeros, the Targaryens are somewhat diminished from the height of their power (<em>House of the Dragon</em> is the story of that fall from grace) and are trying to shore up their own reputation and power now that they no longer have access to the dragons that made them kings. You can see this in the fact that King Daeron has sent half his sons to a middlingly important tourney at Ashford Meadow. You can see it in the ways the notably cheaper-looking Kingsguard armor has been painted white rather than enameled. You can even see it in the fact that they now marry outside their line in an attempt to shore up alliances.&nbsp;</p> <p>Baelor seems to understand the assignment. Whether or not he truly lives up to the chivalric ideal that Dunk places on him, he does seem to know that taking an interest in the concerns of the smallfolk and remembering their deeds is a sure way to become beloved and help keep the Targaryens aloft. Maekar and his sons, by being so low in the line of succession, are not saddled with that same pressure and the show is effortlessly good at highlighting that difference.&nbsp;</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Shadow of War</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-finn-bennett-1100x733.jpg" alt="Finn Bennett as Aerion Targaryen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" class="wp-image-837701" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-finn-bennett-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-finn-bennett-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-finn-bennett-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-finn-bennett.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO </figcaption></figure> <p>Of course, the thing that hangs over this Golden Age and darkens the Targaryen prospects is not just the absence of the dragons. They have been extinct for fifty or so years (the books reveal that Ser Arlan of Pennytree had gone to see the last dragon shortly before its death, when he was around ten). But this story takes place about thirteen years after the First Blackfyre Rebellion.&nbsp;</p> <p>Daeron II’s father, Aegon IV (Aegon the Unworthy) had many bastard children and, in a vague allusion to King Lear, had all his children declared legitimate on his deathbed. This led the newly minted Targaryen heirs to challenge Daeron and his trueborn siblings for the throne. These Targaryens eventually settled on the name “Blackfyre” (because they inverted the Targaryen banner colors—a black three-headed dragon breathing black fire on a red field) and tried to seize the throne. While Daeron won a decisive victory against them, numerous Blackfyre scions went into exile or escaped imprisonment, leading to more rebellions after the events of this season. Even in the era of <em>Game of Thrones</em>, Martin insinuates that characters like the spymaster, Varys (Conleth Hill) might be Blackfyre descendants. It’s truly the end of Targaryen legitimacy, and lends just a bit of credence to the idea that the Targaryens’ incestuous practices might have helped keep them in power even as it drove them to madness.&nbsp;</p> <p>The show alludes to the Rebellion a couple of times in this episode. Egg, all jazzed up on the adrenaline of the first joust, shouts “Die, Blackfyre bastards!” while playfully swordfighting the air. And Dunk, in his paean to Lord Hayford, mentions that Ser Arlan fought alongside him at “the Redgrass.” This references the Battle of Redgrass Field, the decisive final skirmish between Targaryen and Blackfyre forces in 196 AC.&nbsp;</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Kinds of Kindness</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-tanzyn-crawford-1100x733.jpg" alt="Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" class="wp-image-837702" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-tanzyn-crawford-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-tanzyn-crawford-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-tanzyn-crawford-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-tanzyn-crawford.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO </figcaption></figure> <p>The real heart and magic of this show, at least thus far, lies in how good it is at being sincere about its valuation of simple kindnesses. Martin has always taken a dim view of humanity and tends to write about the ways that power corrupts and goodness is trampled. The reason that Ned Stark’s death in that first book is so affecting is precisely because Ned would be the beleaguered hero of most other fantasy epics. His plot armor should have kept him alive to eventually win back the day, but as we quickly learn, this is not that kind of story.</p> <p>Fifteen years after <em>Game of Thrones</em> became a TV staple, <em><em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</em></em> is pushing back against that bitter vision of the world. Martin is still Martin, and so good intentions and a noble heart are never actually going to be enough to win the day—a fact hilariously underscored when Egg disabuses Dunk of the notion that Ser Donnel of Duskendale (Bill Ward) was born a lowly crabber and not the wealthy son of a crabbing magnate—but Dunk’s simple forthrightness inspires people around him to want to treat him well. Whether it’s the artist and puppeteer Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford), or Steely Pate (Youssef Kerkour), the armorer who gives him a discount, or Prince Baelor Targaryen himself, the show feels pretty dedicated to reminding us that there is good in Westeros and that community matters. Even the show’s depiction of Ser Arlan (Danny Webb) in flashback seems much kinder and more nuanced than the abusive old fool depicted in the season premiere. It’s surprisingly heartwarming, and something I didn’t fully expect from a Westeros-based show.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Odds and Ends</strong></h3> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-dexter-sol-ansell-1100x733.jpg" alt="Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" class="wp-image-837699" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-dexter-sol-ansell-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-dexter-sol-ansell-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-dexter-sol-ansell-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-102-dexter-sol-ansell.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO </figcaption></figure> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>When describing Ser Arlan’s deeds to Lords Florent, Hayford, and Tyrell, Dunk uses the phrase “he held no lands and sired no children.” That is the exact phrasing of the vows of celibacy and non-partisanship that Westeros’ cloistered orders take. Septons, Maesters, Knights of the Kingsguard, and members of the Night’s Watch all vow to hold no lands and sire no children. This metaphorically makes Ser Arlan into something of a more fabled questing knight, taking holy orders and devoting himself in service, not to secure his legacy, but for the good of the realm as a whole. </li> </ul> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>In <em>The Hedge Knight</em>, Ser Arlan dies of pneumonia following a brutal rainstorm en route to the tourney at Ashford Meadow. This episode seems to suggest that he died of an infected wound on his arm, which we see him trying to hide in his final days. I love how sanguine and untroubled he looks, even as he is clearly succumbing to his injury. </li> </ul> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>The fanfare played when the Targaryens enter Ashford Hall is the same theme used on <em>House of the Dragon</em> at Aegon II’s coronation. That, in turn has the little opening trill (used in tonight’s episode) followed by a simplified version of King Robert’s theme from the original series. Its little details like that which really make Westeros feel so storied and lived-in.  </li> </ul> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Steely Pate the armorer is in a long tradition of Westerosi Pates. Spotted Pate is a legendary folk hero: a swineherd who always outsmarts princes and knights, humbling the nobility. Consequently, there are a lot of lowborn Pates running around Westeros. Notably, in <em>A Feast for Crows</em>, the POV of the prologue follows Pate, a novice at the citadel who is murdered by Jaqen H’ghar, who subsequently wears his face and becomes Samwell Tarly’s roommate. But “Pate” is also one of the names Martin throws in when discussing various commoners, making it something of an in-joke. </li> </ul> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>I spoke about how great the musical continuity was above, but there’s no better illustration of the show’s attention to detail than the joust itself. It’s wonderfully shot and thrilling—and, for the book readers among us, it also goes out of its way to make sure all ten knights are the ones mentioned in <em>The Hedge Knight</em>’s initial bout. Even if you cannot see their faces or hear their voices, they’ve absolutely made sure that the combatants are identifiable as Medgar Tully, Damon and Tybolt Lannister, Androw and Robert Ashford, Leo Tyrell, Humfrey Hardyng, Lyonel Baratheon, Valarr Targaryen, and Abelar Hightower. It really feels like the ideal use of Easter eggs: environmental storytelling that exists neither to gatekeep nor to serve as a fourth wall-breaking wink at the audience, but rather speaks to great attention to detail and a love of the source material, without a slavish devotion to it. I’m glad that showrunner Ira Parker seems as dedicated to this as Bryan Cogman and Ryan Condal have been in the past.</li> </ul> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>In Conclusion</strong></h3> <p>So, please chime in and tell me what you thought of the episode in the comments: Do you like the show’s scope and pacing? Are you as delighted as I am with the continued queer coding of Ser Lyonel? How great were Egg’s flummoxed little hand gestures when Dunk stopped his life lesson mid-anecdote? Are you looking forward to next episode, “The Squire,” which, for book aficionados seems like it will contain some of the most consequential events of the novella? Let me know![end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-episode-2/">The Jousting Begins in &lt;i&gt;A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms&lt;/i&gt;: &#8220;Hard Salt Beef&#8221;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-episode-2/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-episode-2/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837690">https://reactormag.com/?p=837690</a></p>
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Posted by Sarah

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Between the Darkness and the Light”

Garibaldi has a tense reunion with his former friends, and Ivanova learns of an ambush waiting for the fleet…

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Published on January 26, 2026

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-between-the-darkness-and-the-light/">https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-between-the-darkness-and-the-light/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837529">https://reactormag.com/?p=837529</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/column/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Column 0"> Column </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/babylon-5-rewatch/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Babylon 5 Rewatch 1"> Babylon 5 Rewatch </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Between the Darkness and the Light”</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Garibaldi has a tense reunion with his former friends, and Ivanova learns of an ambush waiting for the fleet&#8230;</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/keith-decandido/" title="Posts by Keith R.A. DeCandido" class="author url fn" rel="author">Keith R.A. DeCandido</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Warner Bros. Television</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-between-the-darkness-and-the-light/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 1.3v10.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="494" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-01-740x494.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Garibaldi in Babylon 5 &quot;Between the Darkness and the Light&quot;" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-01-740x494.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-01-1100x734.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-01-768x513.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-01.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Warner Bros. Television</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p><strong>“Between the Darkness and the Light”</strong><br>Written by J. Michael Straczynski<br>Directed by David J. Eagle<br>Season 4, Episode 19<br>Production episode 419<br>Original air date: October 6, 1997</p> <p><strong>It was the dawn of the third age…</strong> Sheridan is still being interrogated by the guy from the end of last episode, but he’s using pharmaceuticals to make Sheridan think he’s having a pleasant conversation with Franklin. It’s not working as well as he’d like, though.</p> <p>Garibaldi meets with a contact in the Mars Resistance. He’s hoping for a meeting to explain himself—he is, instead, assaulted and brought to Number One with a bag over his head. Number One offers to let Franklin be the one to kill him, but the doctor wants to give Garibaldi a chance to explain himself. Garibaldi explains what happened, but of course he has no proof, as Bester isn’t going to leave evidence. When he sees that Alexander is also present, Garibaldi asks her to scan him, but that isn’t going to mean much to the Mars Resistance, as they don’t have much use for telepaths.</p> <p>Franklin wants to know for sure, and asks Number One if she’d want the same if it was one of her people. She says, “No,” and aims her PPG at Garibaldi. Franklin is able to spoil her shot, and a brief melee breaks out which ends with an MD and a commercial telepath somehow getting their hands on a rifle and a PPG and getting one over on a room full of resistance fighters. Sure.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-02-1100x825.jpg" alt="Lyta Alexander and Dr Franklin stand back to back in Babylon 5 &quot;Between the Darkness and the Light&quot;" class="wp-image-837595" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-02-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-02-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-02-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-02-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-02.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p>Franklin holds the rifle on Number One while Alexander probes Garibaldi. She warns him that the blocks in place are strong, and her breaking them could damage him. Garibaldi points out that the alternative is that the resistance kills him, so he’ll take his chances.</p> <p>Alexander breaks the P12 barrier on his mind, and learns that it’s all true. Number One is skeptical of her claims, and Alexander—whose eyes have gone completely black—core-dumps everything she just learned into Number One’s mind. Number One realizes that Garibaldi is telling the truth, and everyone’s friends again.</p> <p>Garibaldi has learned where they’re holding Sheridan. He still has contacts from his time serving here, plus he’s considered a folk hero for turning Sheridan in, so people volunteer info to him. However, Number One can only spare one person to help them through the tunnels that will lead to where he’s being held, and she can only go so far. Her people are stretched thin as it is.</p> <p>On B5, Delenn and Lennier are appalled to learn that Mollari has called a meeting of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds—and not invited the Minbari. They crash the meeting just as they’re taking a vote, which passes unanimously. Mollari, G’Kar, and Vir explain to a very confused Delenn and Lennier that they have agreed to provide support to Sheridan’s fleet, in exchange for all the support Sheridan provided during the Shadow War. They kept Delenn out of it because of her relationship with Sheridan.</p> <p>Ivanova leads the resistance fleet to Beta IX, fighting the <em>Damocles</em> and the <em>Orion</em>, who refuse to surrender and therefore get their asses kicked. They take on prisoners, and one junior officer named Eisensen provides some rather nasty intel: Clark knows about the rendezvous at Sector 300 and they’re preparing an ambush with some powerful new warships that have just come off the line. According to Eisensen, not everyone who has defected to the resistance has really meant it—some have been feeding info back to Clark.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-04-1100x825.jpg" alt="Ivanova in Babylon 5 &quot;Between the Darkness and the Light&quot;" class="wp-image-837596" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-04-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-04-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-04-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-04-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-04.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p>After discussing it with Cole, Ivanova decides to have the <em>White Star</em>s break off and go ahead to Sector 300, as there’s no way to warn Delenn and the rest of the fleet that’s meeting them there. James is not happy about that, but Ivanova insists—they stand the best chance against whatever Clark has waiting for them, and this way the <em>Agamemnon </em>and the others are in reserve in case they fall.</p> <p>On Mars, a woman named Felicia gets Garibaldi, Franklin, and Alexander part of the way to where they need to go, then leaves them on their own. They encounter a search patrol and take them out, though Garibaldi is stabbed in the back. Franklin is able to stitch him up, but it’s a makeshift job. However, they now have uniforms to wear….</p> <p>The <em>White Star</em> fleet arrives at Sector 300, and a mess of jumpgates open to reveal EarthForce destroyers that have been significantly altered with Shadow technology. The battle is joined, and is brutal, but in the end, the resistance is victorious—but at a price, as Ivanova is mortally wounded.</p> <p>Garibaldi is able to talk his way past the first guard thanks to his notoriety, but the guards on Sheridan’s cell are more of a challenge. Garibaldi mentions the code to open the door, which causes the guard to think the code, which Alexander can read. They then take out the two guards and enter the code, freeing the incredibly drugged Sheridan. They barely escape, with Sheridan at one point shooting one of the guards repeatedly long after he’s down.</p> <p>The remains of the <em>White Star</em> fleet rendezvous with Delenn and the League ships as well as the remaining EarthForce ships that have defected. Ivanova is being cared for on Delenn’s ship, but she’s only got a few days to live. Sheridan is reunited with Delenn, then immediately goes to see Ivanova. She asks that Sheridan take command of the fleet from the <em>Agamemnon</em>, to which he agrees.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-05-1100x825.jpg" alt="Delenn and Sheridan are reunited in Babylon 5 &quot;Between the Darkness and the Light&quot;" class="wp-image-837598" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-05-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-05-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-05-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-05-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-05.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Get the hell out of our galaxy!</strong> Sheridan continues to not break despite the best efforts of the EarthForce interrogators. Then he takes his old command back for the final battle, which will happen next time.</p> <p><strong>Ivanova is God.</strong> Ivanova spends the entire episode making it abundantly clear that capturing Sheridan was <em>not</em> the flex that Clark and Edgars thought it was going to be, as she picks up right where Sheridan left off and is, if anything, a much more implacable foe than her CO…</p> <p><strong>The household god of frustration.</strong> Garibaldi is desperate to a) prove that he was manipulated by Bester and b) redeem his actions while being manipulated by Bester. He’s only able to succeed thanks to Alexander’s Vorlon-enhanced telepathic awesomeness. Fittingly, he gets stabbed in the back at one point.</p> <p><strong>If you value your lives, be somewhere else.</strong> Delenn is overwhelmed by the support from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, then is reunited with Sheridan, finally. He promises to talk to her about what he went through when he’s ready.</p> <p><strong>In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic…</strong> Mollari waxes eloquent on the subject of how the humans have brought so many worlds together. Helping them is the right thing to do both politically and morally. Vir adds that politics and morality are, for once, on the same side, and how often does <em>that </em>happen?</p> <p><strong>Though it take a thousand years, we shall be free.</strong> G’Kar is also eloquent on the subject of helping Sheridan, and he has a more direct debt to Sheridan to repay, as the captain granted him asylum when the Centauri conquered Narn. Pointedly, G’Kar always makes sure there’s either a large table or at least one person between him and Mollari the whole time.</p> <p><strong>The Corps is mother, the Corps is father.</strong> Alexander can punch through a P12’s psychic shields, and then can dump an entire set of clear memories into someone else’s hyead. Because she’s just that awesome.</p> <p><strong>We live for the one, we die for the one.</strong> Cole insists that Ivanova get some rest during the five-hour transit time to Mars. He gives her two choices: she can get five hours’ rest or listen to him nag her about it for five hours. When Ivanova tries to call his bluff, he insists that Rangers never bluff, which seems unlikely. But it works, and she gets some sleep…</p> <p><strong>The Shadowy Vorlons.</strong> The big space battle is, in essence, the next generation of the Vorlon-Shadow conflict, as the <em>White Star</em> fleet are a mix of Minbari and Vorlon tech and the EarthForce fleet are a mix of human and Shadow tech.</p> <p><strong>No sex, please, we’re EarthForce.</strong> Cole stands over the sleeping Ivanova and says, “You’ll never know,” referring to his crush on her. But when she wakes up she tells him that she remembers what he said to her in Minbari one time, and she knows enough Minbari now to know that he said that she was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen, and she rather sweetly thanks him. So apparently she will ever know…</p> <p><strong>Welcome aboard.</strong> Marjorie Monaghan and David Purdham are back from “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-the-face-of-the-enemy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Face of the Enemy</a>” as, respectively, Number One and James; both will return next time in “Endgame.” Bruce Gray is back from “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-intersections-in-real-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intersections in Real Time</a>” as the interrogator, Marc Gomes plays Eisensen, Greg Poland plays the guard, and the magnificent Musetta Vander plays Felicia.</p> <p><strong>Trivial matters. </strong>Coletold Ivanova she was beautiful in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-shadow-dancing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shadow Dancing</a>.” This episode reveals that she’s also eidetic, which might be a byproduct of her low-level telepathy.</p> <p>Lots of Greek mythology references in this one, from Ivanova taking on the <em>Damocles</em> to Sheridan taking command of the <em>Agamemnon</em>, named after the king who sacrificed his daughter in order to get strong winds for his fleet in the Trojan War.</p> <p>According to J. Michael Straczynski, the first few scenes with Garibaldi, Franklin, Number One, and Alexander on Mars were written for “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-intersections-in-real-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intersections in Real Time</a>,” but that episode ran long and this one ran short, so the scenes were moved. (This made both episodes stronger, truly.)</p> <p><strong>The echoes of all of our conversations.</strong></p> <p>“Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova, commander, daughter of Andrei and Sofie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is gonna kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart. I am death incarnate and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.”</p> <p>—Ivanova’s rather dramatic answer to the EarthForce destroyer fleet’s request for her to identify herself.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="825" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-06-1100x825.jpg" alt="Sheridan returns to command in Babylon 5 &quot;Between the Darkness and the Light&quot;" class="wp-image-837597" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-06-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-06-740x555.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-06-140x105.jpg 140w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-06-768x576.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/babylon-5-between-the-darkness-and-the-light-06.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Warner Bros. Television</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>The name of the place is Babylon 5.</strong> “The truth speaks for itself—I’m just the messenger.” Anything would be a letdown after the intense brilliance of “Intersections in Real Time,” and while there are parts of this episode that are fabulous, other parts of it stumble pretty badly.</p> <p>It starts with the Garibaldi-Franklin-Alexander scenes, which are just a mess. Garibaldi’s self-centeredness is bad enough—he seems more concerned with what Bester did to him, not what Bester made him do to others, which is not a great way to get people to sympathize with you—but then we have total non-combat-trained Franklin and Alexander unconvincingly holding off the entire Mars Resistance with two weapons followed by the entire Mars Resistance even less convincingly trusting our heroes after Alexander telepathically dumps Garibaldi’s memories into her. Given the Resistance’s mistrust of teeps established pretty brutally two episodes ago, this willingness to go along with things is just not something I can buy at all.</p> <p>Then we have the gulping conversation, as we suddenly get a vaudeville routine about lying and drinking too much from the canteen in the middle of a rescue scene. Like far too many deliberate attempts at humor on this show, it falls <em>completely</em> and embarrassingly flat.</p> <p>And then we aren’t shown how they get off of Mars after springing Sheridan, which is the hardest part of the whole thing.</p> <p>Luckily, the awfulness of that spoke of the plot is leavened by the fabulousness of the other two spokes. First we’ve got the part of a <em>B5 </em>episode that almost always works: a scene with the alien ambassadors. Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Bill Mumy, and Stephen Furst bring the brilliance like they always do, and the scripting work is as strong for them as it is lousy for Garibaldi, Alexander, and Franklin.</p> <p>Second is Ivanova Being Awesome. The 1990s were a great time for kickass women in genre television, from Xena to Buffy Summers to <em>Farscape</em>’sAeryn Sun to <em>DS9</em>’s Kira Nerys, and Susan Ivanova was cut from the same fabulous cloth. This episode highlights that you underestimate her at your peril, and while her speech to the Earth fleet (quoted in “The echoes of all our conversations” above) is a bit over-the-top (okay, a <em>lot</em> over-the-top), it’s still a crowning moment of awesome for the character. More to the point, she backs up those words with actions.</p> <p>This episode is the culmination of a theme that has come up a few times, writ large in Ivanova’s kicking of multiple asses, and spoken specifically by Sinclair in “War Without End Part 2” and Ivanova two episodes ago: a person is expendable, but the mission isn’t. We’ve seen it in both the planned storylines (Sebastian’s interrogation of Delenn and Sheridan in “<a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-comes-the-inquisitor/">Comes the Inquisitor</a>”) and in externally dictated story twists (Sheridan replacing Sinclair, the death of Hague). One person doesn’t matter.</p> <p>Clark and Edgars didn’t see that because they each believe themselves to be indispensable, so they assume that Sheridan must be as well. It’s great fun watching Ivanova prove them wrong—at least until she’s badly injured, which is annoying. But it sets up Sheridan’s final push next time…</p> <p><strong>Next week:</strong> “Endgame.”[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-between-the-darkness-and-the-light/">&lt;i&gt;Babylon 5&lt;/i&gt; Rewatch: “Between the Darkness and the Light”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-between-the-darkness-and-the-light/">https://reactormag.com/babylon-5-rewatch-between-the-darkness-and-the-light/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837529">https://reactormag.com/?p=837529</a></p>
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Posted by Molly Templeton

News The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

New Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailer Is Full of Treats for Super Mario Bros. 2 Fans

Yoshi can have all the candy apples he wants, he’s perfect

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Published on January 26, 2026

Screenshot: Nintendo

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Molly Templeton</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-super-mario-2/">https://reactormag.com/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-super-mario-2/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837708">https://reactormag.com/?p=837708</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/news/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag News 0"> News </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/the-super-mario-galaxy-movie/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag The Super Mario Galaxy Movie 1"> The Super Mario Galaxy Movie </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">New <i>Super Mario Galaxy Movie</i> Trailer Is Full of Treats for <i>Super Mario Bros. 2</i> Fans</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Yoshi can have all the candy apples he wants, he&#8217;s perfect</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/molly-templeton/" title="Posts by Molly Templeton" class="author url fn" rel="author">Molly Templeton</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: Nintendo</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-super-mario-2/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 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https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-peach-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-peach-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-peach-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-peach.jpg 1832w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Screenshot: Nintendo</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p><em>Super Mario Bros. 2</em> is a godsend of a game for those of us who regularly grow deeply frustrated with repeatedly falling to our deaths for being bad at jumping. (Digitally speaking, I mean, not in real life.) No, I&#8217;m not talking about Luigi&#8217;s little kicky legs. I&#8217;m talking about Peach. Float-jumping! Magical! Wondrous! I would play Peach forever (except in <em>Mario Kart</em>, sorry, I&#8217;m a Toad/Yoshi loyalist).</p> <p>The latest trailer for <em>The Super Mario Galaxy Movie</em> is for us, Peach-players. Well, okay, there&#8217;s other stuff, too, like a longer sequence at those upside-down pyramids from <em>Super Mario Odyssey</em>. That&#8217;s where our plumberly pals find the greatest <em>Super Mario</em> character of all: Yoshi. Yoshi is, to be fair, the star of most of this trailer. He steals Toad&#8217;s candy apple! He tries to face off with a tyrannosaurus rex! Can we please have a <em>Yoshi&#8217;s Island</em> movie next?</p> <p>But: the Peach bits! She&#8217;s got her parasol, she&#8217;s got to deal with Birdo and those disconcerting mouth eggs, Mouser shows up, Clawgrip shows up, it&#8217;s a whole <em>Super Mario Bros. 2</em> time. Perhaps Peach visits a <em>Super Mario Bros. 2</em> planet?</p> <p><em>The Super Mario Galaxy Movie</em> stars Chris Pratt (Mario), Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi), Jack Black (Bowser), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad), Kevin Michael Richardson (Kamek), Bennie Safdie (Bowser Jr.), and Brie Larson (Rosalina). And also Yoshi (voice actor unconfirmed). <em>Super Mario Bros.</em> directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and writer Matthew Fogel return for round two.</p> <p><em>The Super Mario Galaxy Movie</em> has one more surprise in store for fans: It&#8217;s now arriving in theaters two days early, on April 1, 2026. April Fool&#8217;s? Nah. For real.[end-mark]</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <site-embed id="18107"/> </div></figure> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-super-mario-2/">New &lt;i&gt;Super Mario Galaxy Movie&lt;/i&gt; Trailer Is Full of Treats for &lt;i&gt;Super Mario Bros. 2&lt;/i&gt; Fans</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-super-mario-2/">https://reactormag.com/super-mario-galaxy-trailer-super-mario-2/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837708">https://reactormag.com/?p=837708</a></p>

How to Reboot Blake’s 7

Jan. 26th, 2026 05:00 pm
[syndicated profile] tordotcom_feed

Posted by Sarah

Movies & TV Blake’s 7

How to Reboot Blake’s 7

Evil empires, campy humor, morally complex politics… this show has it all!

By

Published on January 26, 2026

Photo credit: Allstar/BBC

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/how-to-reboot-blakes-7/">https://reactormag.com/how-to-reboot-blakes-7/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837619">https://reactormag.com/?p=837619</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/movies-tv/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Movies &amp; TV 0"> Movies &amp; TV </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/blakes-7/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Blake&#39;s 7 1"> Blake&#8217;s 7 </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">How to Reboot <i>Blake&#8217;s 7</i></h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Evil empires, campy humor, morally complex politics&#8230; this show has it all!</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/charlie-jane-anders/" title="Posts by Charlie Jane Anders" class="author url fn" rel="author">Charlie Jane Anders</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 26, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Photo credit: Allstar/BBC</p> </div> <div class="quick-access 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7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blakes-7-original-crew-740x416.png" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Cast of the original Blake&#39;s 7 (BBC)" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blakes-7-original-crew-740x416.png 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blakes-7-original-crew-1100x619.png 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blakes-7-original-crew-768x432.png 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blakes-7-original-crew-1536x864.png 1536w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blakes-7-original-crew.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Photo credit: Allstar/BBC</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>I’ve been working on an essay about how to reboot&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;for about a year on and off—I’ve even attempted to interview one of the people who worked on reviving the show in the past. But now that there is <a href="https://reactormag.com/blakes-7-cult-sci-fi-may-get-a-reboot/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a new announcement that a reboot maybe in the works</a>, I’ve decided I ought to get this thing done once and for all.</p> <p>In case you missed out, <em>Blake’s 7</em> is a British TV show that ran from 1978 to 1981, featuring a gang of revolutionaries and felons teaming up to fight an evil galactic empire called the Federation. It often feels like a more grown up and darker version of <em>Doctor Who</em>, while also exploring the underside of space operas like <em>Star Trek</em>. <em>Blake’s 7</em> has had a huge influence on media SF, including things like <em>Babylon 5</em> and, I’m pretty sure, the recent <em>Star Wars</em> show <em>Andor</em>. I wrote a beginner’s guide to <em>Blake’s 7</em> <a href="https://buttondown.com/charliejane/archive/prepare-to-fall-outrageously-in-love-with-blakes-7/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. </p> <p>So it&nbsp;was announced&nbsp;the other day that Multitude Productions, a production company led by former&nbsp;<em>Doctor Who</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>The Last of Us</em>&nbsp;director Peter Hoar, had purchased the IP of&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>. They’re working on selling a relaunch. Since most of the original cast is no longer around, this show pretty much has to be a retelling rather than a continuation—which feels like the right move for a show with such deep lore and so few die-hard fans.&nbsp;</p> <p>(As a side note, I found myself wondering if they really do have the IP, since&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;has been tied up in so many different deals with so many different players that I wouldn’t be surprised if Terry Nation’s estate did not control all of the rights anymore.&nbsp;<s>There’s a reason it’s never gotten a DVD/Blu-Ray release in the United States</s>. Update: Apparently I was wrong about this and there is finally a US Blu-Ray release. Woot!)</p> <p>So here are my thoughts on what needs to happen for a successful new version of&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>:&nbsp;</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-h-4-font-size"><strong>Try to recapture the magic of those characters</strong></p> <p>So much of what makes the original&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;work feels like a happy accident. There’s no way Terry Nation, Chris Boucher, and David Maloney could have known that Gareth Thomas and Paul Darrow would’ve had such incredible chemistry when they started out.</p> <p>Thomas plays Blake, the fanatical revolutionary who will do literally <em>anything</em> to destroy the totalitarian Federation. Darrow plays Avon, a cynical computer hacker who is only out for himself—but is nursing a broken heart. Blake’s idealism and Avon’s cynicism power the show, and most of my favorite moments are when the two of them are throwing off sparks together. In the final stretch of season two, there’s a moment where Avon looks at Blake and says, “I want to be free of <em>him</em>,” while Blake looks away. And then a short time later, Blake insists that he has always trusted Avon from the very beginning. It’s incredible stuff.</p> <p>I would make the actors playing Blake and Avon do multiple chemistry reads. If you cannot nail their spiky, thorny relationship, then this isn’t&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>, it’s some other show. Blake and Avon are so attuned to each other they sometimes finish each other’s sentences—literally, this happens in the season one episode “Breakdown,” and it feels magical. Avon cannot admit how much he admires and even loves Blake, and Blake is uncomfortable with how much he depends on Avon.</p> <p>And look, I’m just going to say it: This show is a little bit&nbsp;<em>Our Flag Means Death</em>, with Blake as Stede and Avon as Blackbeard. Not nearly as funny, obviously—though there is some great humor in the original show. But these two have a romance which stops short of naked make-outs, but feels every bit as hot. If I were working on a<em>&nbsp;Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;reboot, I would have actual romance between Blake and Avon penciled in for season two—with strong hints throughout season one. The original show queer-baited fans so intensely, it’s baked in to the concept.</p> <p>The makers of a new&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;are going to have three choices: make the Avon/Blake relationship boring, give them intense romantic chemistry that never pays off, or do a slow-burn romance. I strongly prefer the third option.&nbsp;</p> <p>Speaking of happy accidents, another of the most iconic characters in <em>Blake’s 7</em> is Servalan, one of the leaders of the evil Federation. There’s no way anybody could have predicted the outrageously campy and off-the-chain performance Jacqueline Pearce gives in what was probably meant to be a minor recurring role. She’s Effie Trinket, Cruella de Vil, and Divine all rolled into one, and she provides a lot of the camp energy in the show—plus, here and there, surprising moments of pathos. She’s exactly who would rise to the top in a corrupt totalitarian regime, but she’s so far from your standard image of a jack-booted thug that she throws everything out of whack.&nbsp;</p> <p>In terms of other main characters, you just need a really good comedian to play Vila the cowardly thief, and I would introduce Dana the weapons expert way sooner—preferably in the first few episodes even. Maybe there could actually be seven characters this time around!</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-h-4-font-size"><strong>Don’t just try to be <em>Andor</em></strong></p> <p>As I mentioned, there are a lot of similarities between&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Star Wars: Andor</em>, and comparisons are inevitable. Making a new&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;now is not unlike making a&nbsp;<em>John Carter</em>&nbsp;movie after&nbsp;<em>Avatar</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Star Wars</em>: everyone will think you’re copying the thing that actually copied your source material.&nbsp;</p> <p>That said,&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;is not&nbsp;<em>Andor</em>. It’s often a lot campier, as I mentioned a moment ago. It encompasses a range of tones, in fact, from sitcom to drag show to gritty dystopian drama—and all of those tones are important, because they provide the emotional range of the show.&nbsp;</p> <p>Also, <em>Blake’s 7</em> is full of well-intentioned liberals who work for the evil empire—or are nominally in a leadership position—and who really believe that the system works and that we can accomplish justice if we only do things the right way. You don’t see this as much in <em>Andor</em>.</p> <p>Yes,&nbsp;<em>Andor</em>&nbsp;has Syril Karn, who believes the Empire is a force for good and becomes disillusioned by the Ghorman Massacre. But Syril is always a bit of a fascist who believes that order is necessary and that dissidents ought to be crushed. He simply comes to understand that the Empire is going beyond even that level of fascism.</p> <p>Meanwhile, in&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>, you have people like the attorneys who represent Blake at his show trial, who really believe that the system isn’t rigged. You have the many Federation leaders and military officers who protest vociferously when Servalan appoints a war criminal named Travis to lead the hunt against Blake. At every turn,&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;takes pains to show us that there are people working within the Federation who truly believe in the rule of law and civil society—and those people are fools.&nbsp;</p> <p>The Federation is utterly evil, using drugs and propaganda to control its citizens and exploiting countless worlds—but if you live inside its comfortable bubble, you can believe the rule of law still matters. That any abuses are an aberration and that “this is not who we are.”</p> <p>The other way that<em>&nbsp;Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;is different from&nbsp;<em>Andor</em>&nbsp;is that Blake himself is a war criminal, and the show knows this. Nobody in&nbsp;<em>Andor</em>, not even Luthen, is ever willing to go to the inhumane extremes that Blake chooses.&nbsp;</p> <p>Most notably, Blake spends a lot of season two plotting to destroy the central computer that controls much of the Federation, reasoning that this will deal a devastating blow to his enemy. Destroying this computer, however, will also cause mass starvation among civilians on countless inhabited worlds—Blake knows this perfectly well, and sees it as acceptable collateral damage. Imagine&nbsp;<em>Andor</em>&nbsp;if Andor was helping to build the Death Star on purpose.</p> <p>Blake also explores the possibility of teaming up with drug dealers and human traffickers, whose networks might help him to outsmart the Federation—and he’s only deterred by the realization that the criminals already work for the bad guys.&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Star Wars</em>&nbsp;is very American, whereas&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;is quintessentially British. It’s about having suffered through the Blitz and the long struggle against fascism within living memory—Terry Nation was utterly obsessed with Nazis—and also about the memory of the cruel, horrific British Empire. The Brits&nbsp;<em>were</em>&nbsp;the evil empire, and then they were nearly crushed by&nbsp;<em>another</em>&nbsp;evil empire—and people who were alive in 1977 could remember both things. Only a deeply repressed culture with powerful memories of being the oppressor and the oppressed could create something this weird.</p> <p>In fact, I would argue that the show’s technicolor&nbsp;campiness is what buys it permission to have so much moral complexity and such shades of gray.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-h-4-font-size"><strong>You’re going to have to make a lot of changes&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Up till now, I’ve mostly talked about what works in the original&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>, and how hard it will be to duplicate. (Or to come up with something even half as good.)&nbsp;</p> <p>But along with those happy accidents I mentioned, there are some bizarre narrative fumbles. In season one, the most advanced starship in the galaxy and an unstoppable supercomputer both drop into Blake’s lap, more or less through pure luck. When Blake is put on a show trial in the pilot episode, he’s wrongly convicted of being a child molester, which ought to be an ongoing problem, but is never mentioned again. The early episodes introduce a lot of other subplots which go nowhere.&nbsp;</p> <p>There’s a ton more. For example, the alien invasion from beyond the galaxy that shows up and is summarily dismissed without us ever even learning anything about those invaders.</p> <p>But the biggest problem is that Thomas, the show’s star, quit after two seasons, apparently because he thought Blake was too much of a goody-two-shoes and it was boring to play. (Really. He said this in a bunch of interviews that I found online. It is baffling to me.) The show does an incredible job of handling Blake’s absence, but it really hinders a lot of the ongoing storylines. In particular, I’ve always thought it would be interesting to see what it looks like when Blake starts winning: how he tries to create a better society after shedding so much blood.</p> <p>I also think that a reboot could lean a little bit harder into the core concept of Blake turning a group of mostly escaped criminals into his guerrilla force against the Federation. One of the ways the show pulls its punches slightly is that Blake’s crew miraculously does not include anybody who’s done anything terribly bad. Avon tried to rob the Federation Treasury, Jenna is a smuggler, Vila is a petty thief, and Gan killed someone who was attacking his wife. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have one actual violent offender in the mix, as an easy way of heightening the ethical conundrum of recruiting felons to join the revolution.</p> <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-h-4-font-size"><strong>Hire at least one sitcom writer</strong></p> <p>My final tip is just that the writer’s room absolutely should include some sitcom writers. A huge part of&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>’s winning formula is Chris Boucher’s uncanny ear for sharp, funny dialogue. The man was unrivaled at writing razor-sharp lines: cynical, goofy, profound, deeply moving. Terry Nation, too, began his career as a comedy writer and always kept that sense of comic timing. As a result,&nbsp;<em>Blake’s 7</em>&nbsp;is a drama that is very much written like a comedy, and there needs to be at least one sitcom writer punching up all the scripts…</p> <p>Or just steal the lines that Boucher already put in there, which are iconic for a reason.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/how-to-reboot-blakes-7/">How to Reboot &lt;i&gt;Blake&#8217;s 7&lt;/i&gt;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/how-to-reboot-blakes-7/">https://reactormag.com/how-to-reboot-blakes-7/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=837619">https://reactormag.com/?p=837619</a></p>

Cat Lore: Colors and Personality

Jan. 26th, 2026 04:00 pm
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Posted by Sarah

Column SFF Bestiary

Cat Lore: Colors and Personality

From ginger goofiness to tortoiseshell “catitude”, every coat has its stereotype…

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Published on January 26, 2026

“My Wife’s Lovers” by Carl Kahler (1893)

Painting of approximately 40 cats arranged in a studio.

“My Wife’s Lovers” by Carl Kahler (1893)

In cat world, it is known: Coat color determines personality. According to the lore, tabbies are nice all-around cats, black cats—aka voids—are darkly mysterious but also sweet and kind (and the gene that gives them their black coat also seems to enhance the immune system—which, wow), grey cats are calm and a little aloof, white cats are reserved and shy (and often deaf), black-and-whites are big snugglers, all-color cats (tortoiseshells and calicos) have extra helpings of cattitude, and orange or ginger cats are mellow and friendly.

Individual mileage varies widely, of course, and the science is a long way from catching up with the anecdata. Not to mention the power of the self-fulfilling prophecy (I expect my cat to be a certain way, so I unconsciously tailor my interactions accordingly) and the addition of breed traits into the mix. Purebred cats are selectively bred for certain traits, which may or may not be enhanced by the traits associated with the individual cat’s color. Maine Coon as gentle giant with a tiny chirping voice, Siamese (with its strikingly unusual coat) as loud and opinionated prima donna.

Let’s pause for a minute and look at that Siamese coat. Siamese are born white or cream, but as they grow, their extremities become progressively darker. This is called temperature-sensitive albinism, or point restriction. They carry a gene that restricts the production of pigment to cooler areas of the body, particularly the legs, nose, ears, and tail. The warmer parts of the body may darken over time, but much less intensely. What color the points are depends on the cat’s basic color genetics, the point-restriction gene determines how and where the color appears.

All cats, Siamese included, carry the color gene in the X chromosome. This gene will be some variation on red or black, and more rarely white (either dominant white or albino). The tabby pattern comes from the agouti gene, which modifies the basic red or black. For further cool points, black can be solid, but red is always some form of agouti.

I can confirm that from local data. The calico kitten whom I’m typing around, with her Impressionist-painting coat in shades of black and orange with white paws and bib, has a plethora of black patches, all of them solid, but her larger orange patches (versus her numerous brushtroke bits) are boldly striped. She has a lot going on in the color department.

When she was tiny, the lady who fostered her for the cat rescue thought she might be a boy. It can be hard to tell with very young kittens. As it turns out, she’s definitely a she, and that’s what most black-and-orange cats are, because each color is carried in a separate X chromosome.

The tortie-calico continuum is fascinating not just for the wide variation in how it manifests. You can’t clone a tortie. Even identical twins won’t be identical in their color patterns, because each individual cell activates or inactivates its color gene in random fashion. The tortie in front of you is unique. Every tortie or calico activates the colors in a different way.

A clone is normally produced from a single cell. That cell will contain either the red or the black, but not both. The clone, as a result, will not be a tortie or a calico. She’ll be some variation on either black or ginger.

Male calicos (with white) and torties (without) certainly exist, though they’re rare. Genetically they’re XXY, and they’re nearly always sterile—a condition called Klinefelter syndrome.

The other side of the tortie-color coin (and personality) is the orange or ginger cat. Most gingers are male. The red gene is recessive, and a male with only one X chromosome will be red if he has the gene, whereas a female has to have two red genes in order to manifest the red. Otherwise she’s a tortie or a calico.

Torties, the lore will tell you, are complicated creatures. They have extra helpings of attitude. They’re sassy, often hissy, and famously opinionated. There’s even a name for it: tortitude. As a friend said to me about one of my two (I am a brave or foolish soul: I have both a tortie and a calico), “Of course she’s opinionated, it’s hard work to coordinate all those colors.”

Gingers on the other hand are renowned for their friendly dispositions. They’re the mellow cats, the laid-back, let’s-get-along guys. Your ginger will drape happily over your arm or let you wear him like a purry boa. He may be sparing of his energy, and he’ll have a healthy appreciation for food.

Some will tell you gingers are more trainable than most cats. Others will declare that there is one brain cell shared among all gingers. They take turns. You’ll know when it’s your ginger’s turn: he will, for that brief shining moment, show visible signs of intelligence.

Personally I think that’s unfair to ginger cats. I’ve had a ginger who was basically a huge furry watermelon (his vet-approved fighting weight was not to go below fifteen pounds/7kg), and a couple who were wonderfully cuddly and quite bright. But I agree with the anecdata: ginger boys have a little something extra when it comes to sociability.

How about you, cat fans? Have you found a correlation between cat color and personality? Does your cat fit the standard description, or are they totally and distinctively their own self?

Not that every cat isn’t itself first and always. That’s the first rule of cat magic.[end-mark]

The post Cat Lore: Colors and Personality appeared first on Reactor.

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