It’s not much of a surprise that this week’s episode of Resident Alien deals with parenthood. After all, Harry just found out the alien baby he’s been chasing around Patience—and that he just saw get kidnapped by a team of government black ops soldiers—is his actual offspring, born of a relationship between his future self and a human woman in New York. Also, the hour is literally titled “Harry, A Parent” so the show’s not being super subtle about its focus....

I walked away from Resident Evil Village with mixed feelings about the whole thing, but the one aspect of the long-awaited sequel I had no mixed feelings about was leading man Ethan Winters and his status as the absolute worst. While there have been other unlikable Resident Evil protagonists, Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village‘s Ethan Winters is on another level. Unlike other RE heroes that were hindered by a combination of bad voice acting, bad writing, and questionable lore, Ethan Winters’ brings all of those unfortunate elements to the table and adds a couple of “qualities” that puts him cleanly in contention for the “honor” of being not just the worst protagonist in RE history but in all major video games....

“Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) today announced that new title Resident Evil Village for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC has shipped over 3 million units worldwide,” the studio says. “Built with Capcom’s proprietary RE ENGINE, the game maximizes the potential of next-generation devices to deliver stunning, photorealistic visuals while utilizing cutting-edge audio technology. This, along with praise for the deeply immersive experience from fans following the game’s demo, resulted in worldwide shipments of the title surpassing 3 million units....

Doorstopper fantasy, sometimes referred to as “big fat fantasy,” or even just “big books,” are tomes that typically hit over 500 pages, and they’re often part of a series of similarly lengthy installments. They can be a challenge to hold, and even more challenging to bind so that they don’t fall apart, but they can also be oh-so-satisfying to read. One thing that occasionally makes doorstoppers easier to handle is when they come out in paperback, reducing the sheer weight of the novel, which means that Brandon Sanderson’s paperback release of Rhythm of War, which hits bookstore shelves on October 26, is perfectly timed to make the best use of the longer nighttime hours....

Rick and Morty Season 6 Episode 7 With a lead character who regularly makes clear his awareness he’s on a TV show, Rick and Morty is always plenty meta, but it’s not even a minute into “Full Meta Jackrick” that things get even more meta than usual. And if this hyper-meta-ness feels familiar, it’s because this episode is a sequel to the other most meta episode ever, season four’s “Never Ricking Morty....

Riverdale Season 6 Episode 4 “I know, it read it in the comics” For its 100th episode, Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa scripted what is easily the show’s most audacious episode. “The Jughead Paradox” had the unenviable task of wrapping up the entire “Rivervale” saga and setting the stage for the rest of the series’ sixth season — which will air when the show returns in the spring. That alone would be enough of a challenge for any writer to tackle, yet Aguirre-Sacasa ups the creative ante by having the installment also become a meta funhouse mirror reflection of itself by reinserting long-gone characters into the narrative and having characters reflect on nearly every ridiculous thing that has ever happened during the series....

Riverdale Season 5 Episode 3 “Are we doomed to just be haunted by this town for the rest of our lives?” So asks Jughead Jones in this most emotional episode of Riverdale, and it’s a question that is uttered almost rhetorically even though we all know the answer. There’s a valedictorian feel to this installment in every sense, one that subtextually speaks of how the series is closing the door on what is what in order to reinvent itself....

Though known first and foremost as a comedian, the Harlem-based humorist’s journalism credentials run deep. Wood’s father, Roy Wood Sr., was a radio broadcasting pioneer who covered the civil rights movement. The younger Wood then followed in Sr.’s footsteps by earning a B.S. in journalism from Florida A&M University. Since then, Wood has embarked on a media spanning career in comedy and commentary that includes his current seven-year tenure on The Daily Show....

Leaning heavily into its 1968 setting, Scary Stories coyly dips its toe into a nostalgic stew of simpler times while also implicitly embracing the true horror of that America in a way even Quentin Tarantino turns a blind eye to. And in doing so, it resurrects a world where horror fanatics like producer Guillermo del Toro could be lost in a fantasia of bedroom walls that include Christopher Lee’s grim countenance on a poster here, and figurines of creatures from black lagoons there....

Millions of readers worldwide love young adult fantasy fiction, but even the most wildly popular titles—Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters books, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, and many more—are generally written off as “guilty pleasure” escapism, shallow, meaningless stories for people who just aren’t ready to take real literature seriously. (Barf.) Part of this reaction likely stems from the widespread public backlash to the few young adult fantasy series to gain mainstream popularity, like the Twilight saga or the aforementioned Hunger Games....

Shameless Season 11 Episode 2 “I want some nice things in my life for a change.” A major hurdle that season ten of Shameless had to work through was not only the loss of Emmy Rossum’s Fiona, but also the idea that some other Gallagher should now take her place as the show’s central protagonist and stabilizing force in the family. Their decision to appoint Debbie to this position did not work in the show’s favor, but season eleven is already off to a strong start by how it’s relegated Debbie back to more of a supporting status....

In the “I’m a Hulk” featurette used to promote the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Maslany wears a shirt with the message “Support Trans Rights.” As Maslany explained to the L.A. Times, wearing the shirt is an example of holding to the superhero ethos and using one’s abilities to help others. “I know how little it costs me to do something like that,” she said. “I’m incredibly privileged and I’m very fortunate to have the platform I do....

This idea has only grown more pronounced after the advent of cinema, with directors often likening their films to “dreams”—visions that need to be told whether by way of surrealist set designs or spinning hotel corridors. And director Francis Lawrence of Constantine and Hunger Games fame can be added to that list with this weekend’s Slumberland, a new family film that co-opts the dreams conjured by another medium a hundred years ago… and then adds Jason Momoa with fangs....

Sonny Boy premiered this past July, as part of an otherwise quiet summer 2021 anime season. Details were scarce before the first episode aired: It was an original anime, not based on an existing manga, light novel, or videogame. It was about high school students who develop supernatural abilities and get transported to another dimension. Based on key visuals released ahead of the first episode’s air date, its animation style was a callback to earlier anime eras less defined by the highly stylized character designs of today....

If you’re looking for Marvel Comics references and MCU connections in Spider-Man: Far From Home, you won’t be disappointed. Far From Home is a true follow-up the momentous events of Avengers: Endgame, and manages to tell a recognizably Spidey focused story while also dropping all kinds of fun clues and references to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ve tried to round ’em all up in one place for you right here…...

Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon have just made one of the highest-grossing movies of all time! What are they going to do next? Well, the answer probably isn’t “Go to Disneyland,” because Disney has likely already brought their biggest money-makers to the happiest place on earth. But the talents behind 2021’s most popular movie Spider-Man: No Way Home certainly have a lot of good work ahead of them!...

Free to play online, Star Trek: Kobayashi Maru has just been released from Scopely, the makers of the popular mobile game Star Trek: Fleet Command. To be clear, Kobayashi Maru is not an extension of Fleet Command. It’s web-based (not mobile) and, as is, intentionally retro, with simple graphics. It’s also not an action game. Instead, the decision-based gameplay is closer to those old Commodore or Apple games from yesteryear....

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 1 As season premieres go, Star Trek: Picard’s Season 2 debut — “The Star Gazer” — is a banger. If anyone had any doubts if this new season was going to be exciting and different than what was expected, it feels like this episode will easily silence the haters. With an utterly familiar Star Trek-y feeling and a fantastic and complex new plot, Picard Season 2 feels like the Star Trek: The Next Generation sequel everyone was waiting for....

As reported by Comicbook.com, a fan at an NYCC panel asked Matalas about scenes in which a Captain passes the torch to a later generation. According to the site, Matalas confirmed that “such a scene is in store.” Even without details, we know that Matalas and others have plenty of models to follow when it comes to one of the most important Star Trek traditions. In fact, Picard is no stranger to such moments, as evidenced by the many Original Series characters who visited Next Generation, starting with an aged Doctor McCoy touring the Enterprise-D in the premiere episode “Encounter at Farpoint,” and continuing all the way to the movie Generations, which saw Captain Kirk himself team up with Picard....

While shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard have pushed the franchise forward with darker themes that wrestle with the mental and emotional cost of a life spent serving Starfleet, Strange New Worlds sounds as though it will be like snuggling into a familiar blanket. Full of characters we know and a mission we have all already fully bought into, there’s every reason to believe this will be exactly the kind of hopeful science fiction that television in general so desperately needs right now....