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RIVERDALE Boss On Season 2 Spoilers and the Cliffhanger That Didn’t Happen

Warning: this story contains major spoilers from Riverdale’s season one finale, “Chapter Thirteen: The Sweet Hereafter.” Do not read until you’ve watched the finale. You have been sufficiently warned …

Sex, murder, arson … the Riverdale season one finale had everything. But where did The CW’s modern revamped adaptation of Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) leave everyone’s favorite redhead and his friends moving into season two?

Thankfully, the network already renewed the dark, gritty Riverdale for a second season, so the cliffhanger of Archie’s dad Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) getting shot in a robbery gone wrong in Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe will eventually get paid off. And that storyline is what executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is most excited to explore when Riverdale returns.

“It’s a very intense cliffhanger, that’s for sure,” he told Nerdist with a laugh. “The biggest thing based on that cliffhanger is Archie and Archie’s journey next season. Archie in season one didn’t have a super strong connection to Jason Blossom [Trevor Stines] and because of that, he wasn’t super connected to the mystery. Because of what happened at the end of the finale with Fred being shot, Archie is very much the focus of next season.”

According to Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie watching his father get shot and bleed out on the floor of Pop’s will be a turning point for the previously innocent teen.

“What is he going to do on the other side of that?” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “When we talk about what happened, when Archie sees his father shot before his eyes, we really compare it to a moment like when Bruce Wayne sees his parents gunned down or when Peter Parker learns his uncle had been murdered by a burglar. That is a huge, galvanizing moment for those characters and so it will be for Archie. He’ll go on a hero’s journey but it will go to a dark place of revenge, a place of violence before he starts to turn back towards the light of being a hero.”

He continued, “I’m most excited to explore Archie’s psychology and his actions on the other side of this. Gone will be the days of the kid who was most scared about performing in a variety show. This is a new, much more grown-up, complex Archie swimming in much darker waters.”

Should fans be worried about Fred making it to season two alive? Aguirre-Sacasa thought for a moment before answering carefully. “We think of Peter Parker and Uncle Ben in that it’s difficult to imagine Archie without his father, but I will say he has an amazing mother played by Molly Ringwald,” he said. “Fred has done an amazing job raising Archie and instilled some very core values, so even should the worst happen, I think Archie would be able to carry on with the spirit of Fred advising him.”

That’s not a very reassuring answer, huh? Unfortunately that’s all he would say regarding Perry’s future on the series, so time to start speculating now: is Riverdale season two going to kick off with a funeral?!

While the showrunner was cagey about Fred’s fate, he did reveal that the season one finale wasn’t always going to end with Fred getting shot.

“That came about later in the season,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “For a long time, the cliffhanger was going to be the arrival of Hiram Lodge [who will be played in season two by Mark Consuelos]. But because we hadn’t met him yet, we hadn’t invested in his character. We invested in Veronica [Camila Mendes] and Hermione [Marisol Nichols], and so for them it’s a big deal when Hiram arrives to town but really in the world of this show, it felt low stakes.”

That’s why the writers decided to put the focus on Fred’s fate instead. “One of the relationships we most invested in was Archie and Fred, and Fred really does symbolize the best of Riverdale,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “He believes in the promise of Riverdale, and it’s where he grew up and settled down and chose to raise his son and build his business. This series is about revealing the darkness underneath the wholesome, sunny façade of a small town so it felt like the most ironic and gut punching finale we could have is for the encroaching darkness and criminality that’s been on the edges of the show to hit the character that is the most moral and the least compromised. That’s Fred.”

While it seems like Fred was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, the robber who shot him wasn’t just a faceless burglar prone to violence. Jughead’s (Cole Sprouse) narration at the end of the episode hinted that it wasn’t random at all, introducing a new mystery for season two: who was under the mask and why did he target Fred?

“Who might have been gunning for Fred? I can think of a couple off the top of my head,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “As Hermione says to Veronica, ‘Your father is coming back and he and Fred will not get along so Fred better sell [his company].’ And then Fred doesn’t sell, so people might extrapolate that maybe Hiram didn’t want Fred in the picture. And then the Serpents were fired by Hermione from Fred’s construction site so maybe an angry Serpent might have took it upon himself to get a little payback. There are a few other suspects who are going to emerge as well.”

But the finale wasn’t all about tying up the loose ends of Jason Blossom’s murder and Clifford Blossom’s (Barclay Hope) drug ring and the new Fred mystery. The hour also had some big dynamic shifts for the two main couples as Archie and Veronica slept together for the first time after telling Betty (Lili Reinhart) that they were together, and Betty and Jughead were also going to sleep together … but were interrupted in the heat of the moment by Jughead’s surprise induction into the Southside Serpents gang out of respect and as thanks for his father F.P. (Skeet Ulrich) not snitching on any of them in jail.

“For Veronica and Archie, this is for both of them their first serious, grown up relationship,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “They’re fun and really into each other; it’s a sexy couple. But almost immediately they’re going to be put through the ringer because the first big test of Veronica as a girlfriend will be helping Archie get through what happens to Fred. She’s the happy-go-lucky sophisticate, so for her to sign on for a relationship as fraught as it is, that’s going to be a real challenge.”

As for “Bughead,” that look of unease on Betty’s face as she watched Jughead happily put on his new Southside Serpent leather jacket should tell you that things aren’t going to be easy for this couple either.

“For Betty, she’s afraid she’s losing Jughead and him going down the same path that F.P. went down,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “That’s going to make her anxious and even more worried that she and Jughead are drifting apart. When Betty gets an idea in her head, she attacks the problem ferociously, sometimes even irrationally, so they’re in for some drama as well.”

But what is most interesting to note about the finale is that Betty seemed to be completely over her crush on Archie while it looked like Archie may have started discovering new feelings for Betty. Are we going to see that iconic Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle resurface again next season?

“The love triangle will always be a big part of the show and the mythology,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “Archie and Betty have a very deep history. They’ve known each other for a long time and there are feelings there. They will bubble up at the worst time. In a weird way, I do believe Archie is committed to Veronica and in that scene with Betty, what he’s trying to articulate, it’s sort of like saying goodbye to his childhood and how things were so much simpler when it was just him and Betty. Now there’s Jughead and Veronica, and he did think when they were older, eventually they’d get together. It’s not that he’s in love with her but he thought he was going to marry her when they were kids. We’ll be playing that love triangle 100 percent.”

And last but not least, Riverdale‘s reigning MVP Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), after trying to commit suicide by drowning in Sweetwater River, took out her frustrations over learning her father killed her twin brother before taking his own life and being spurned by her own mother by burning down Thornhill Manor.

“She was baptized in ice and walked through the fire. She’s a phoenix, so she’s rising from it,” Aguirre-Sacasa said of Cheryl in season two. “It’s just Penelope [Nathalie Boltt] and Cheryl now, and Penelope was very cruel to Cheryl. What we’re going to find in season two is that there’s a new sheriff in town and a new world order, and that is Cheryl. They’re going to be locked in a psychological and literal, physical power struggle.”

What are you most excited to see from season two? What did you think of the season one finale? Tweet me all things Riverdale at @SydneyBucksbaum and let’s chat!

Images: The CW

Puck Soup #50: Alex Ovechkin and Vladimir Putin

Greg and Dave take a thorough look at the Washington Capitals’ demise in Game 7, including Nicklas Backstrom’s defeatism, blaming Alex Ovechkin and what the team does next. Plus, previews of the Stanley Cup conference finals, Vladimir Putin is Russia’s greatest hockey player, Tyson Barrie is injured ‘rasslin with a teammate, Jason Botterill is hired Ottawa as Canada’s team, the best and worst supermarkets, drunken diners, burning jerseys, “Baywatch” and travel snobs. Sponsored by Seat Geek and Helix Sleep!

Follow @wyshynski, @davelozo and @PuckSoupPodcast on Twitter!

New Species of Dinosaur Named After Zuul from GHOSTBUSTERS

There is no Dana here, only Zuul! So make sure you get their name right, because paleontologists have actually found a Zuul in America—Northern Montana to be precise. This real Zuul is a new species of ankylosaurine dinosaur, however, and has been dubbed Zuul crurivastator as its discoverers believe it resembles the Gatekeeper of Gozer from Ghostbusters.

And they even got Dan Aykroyd to introduce it:

The discovery of Zuul crurivastator, and the subsequent paper published in Royal Society Open Science, comes to us via Ars Technica. In the abstract for the paper, the authors, Victoria M. Arbour and David C. Evans, note that the Zuul-faced fossil was found in the Judith River Formation in Montana, a geologic formation that’s rich in fossils from the upper Cretaceous period — which took place between 80 and 75 million years ago. 

Model of an Ankylosaurus Image: Flickr / Mark Healey

Zuul crurivastator is not only a new species of ankylosaurine dinosaur (which were 2.5 ton, 20-foot-long armored dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period), but also the “first ankylosaurine skeleton known with a complete skull and… the most complete ankylosaurid ever found in North America.” According to Arbour, this particular skeleton even has “fossilized skin, which is very very rare.”

The skull of this particular Zuul crurivastator was crushed under rock during fossilization however, deforming it into something resembling Falkor the Luckdragon from The Neverending Story. A simulated 3D “retrodeformation” of the skull is shown in the clip below:

Here’s a close-up of Zuul from Ghostbusters for a comparison:

Zuul Image: Columbia Pictures

Incidental to all of this Zuul-iness is this skeleton’s “complete tail club.” In fact, that tail club was the core weapon at Z. crurivastator’s disposal, as it was used as a weighted and spiked whip to crush the shinbones of its enemies — it would’ve been perfect height for Tyrannosaurus rex’s shinbones, for example. (Crurivastator literally means “crusher of shins.”)

Moving forward, Arbour notes that it’ll be an “interesting challenge… to see, and describe, and identify all of these structures that aren’t usually preserved in ankylosaurs…” It’ll also be an interesting challenge to see if this real-life Zuul also had “a lovely singing voice.”

What do you think about this Zuul-ish ankylosaurine dinosaur? Become possessed by a comment demon below!

Images: YouTube / Royal Ontario Museum

THE FIFTH ELEMENT Gets Beautiful Vinyl Soundtrack for Its 20th Birthday

For the first time ever, the soundtrack to Luc Besson‘s sci-fi classic The Fifth Element is getting a full fledged vinyl release. And yes, before we get into the details of the actual release, the crazy-talented, blue alien-lady’s opera performance, “Lucia Di Lammermoor” will be included among the rest of Eric Serra’s score, so don’t you worry your dyed-blonde or dyed-red hair out.

According to A.V. Club, the fine folks over at Mondo will be releasing the below deluxe vinyl on Wednesday May 17 at 12 pm EST. The vinyl features stunning cover and gatefold art of 23rd century earth by artist Shan Jiang, and comes with two variations of 180-gram vinyl. You can either get the “White with Orange Stripe” version or the limited-to-500 copies “Super Green” version. Check out all the excellent artwork below.

 

Will you be snagging a copy of the soundtrack for one of the best cinematic space operas ever made? We sure will; now excuse us while we watch this Chris Tucker scene on loop for the next hour. Also, be sure to check out the entire tracklist below.

The Fifth Element Soundtrack Tracklist:

01 Little Light of Love

02 Mondoshawan

03 Timecrash

04 Korben Dallas

05 Koolen

06 Akta

07 Leeloo

08 Five Millenia Later

09 Plavalaguna

10 Ruby Rap

11 Heat

12 Badaboom

13 Mangalores

14 Lucia Di Lammermoor

15 The Diva Dance

16 Leeloominai

17 A Bomb in the Hotel

18 Mina Hinoo

19 No Cash No Trash

20 Radiowaves

21 Human Nature

22 Pictures of War

23 Lakta Ligunai

24 Protect Life

25 Little Light of Love (End Titles Version)

26 Aknot ! Wot ?

Images: Sony, Mondo

ARCHIE #20 Finally Has Archie Andrews Go “Over The Edge” (Exclusive Preview)

The world of Archie Comics has never been hotter than it is right now, thanks in no small part to the massive success of the CW’s Riverdale series. But phase one of the reinvention of Archie Andrews and his friends happened in the pages of the comics themselves, in the all-new Archie series that hit last year, from acclaimed writer Mark Waid. One of the classic Archie tropes that has been given a twenty-first century update is the long simmering rivalry between Archie and his #1 nemesis, Reggie Mantle.

Now, it seems Archie has just about had it with the constant harassment from resident king of the bullies, Reggie, and is ready to have it out with him once and for all. It all begins in Archie issue #20,  the start of a new storyline called “Over The Edge”, from the creative team of writer Mark Waid and artist Pete Woods. You can check out a special trailer for the new storyline down below:

According to the official synopsis, “It’s the BIGGEST comic event in ARCHIE HISTORY! Archie and Reggie’s ongoing feud reaches a fever pitch that pits the two against each other in a thrill ride on the deadly Serpent’s Tail!”

From the looks of it, Archie and Reggie are going to settle this the Fast and the Furious way, via street racing. (Old school Fast and the Furious, by the way, when it was about racing cars and not cars raining out of buildings and submarines and stuff).

Archie #20 by Mark Waid, Pete Woods, and Jack Morelli, with variant covers by Elliot Fernandez, Joey Vazquez, and Greg Smallwood hits comic shops on 5/17. You can check out a preview of several pages from issue #20 in our gallery down below.

Are you excited to see Archie and Reggie finally settle this war like men? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: Archie Comics

GAME OF THRONES’ Maisie Williams, THE WITCH’s Anya Taylor-Joy Confirmed for NEW MUTANTS

They may have tried to throw us off the scent, but Fox should’ve never underestimated a wolf’s sense of smell. After New Mutants concept art surfaced earlier this year depicting Game of Thrones‘ favorite serial murderperson, Arya “Maisie Williams” Stark as the X-Men character Rahne Sinclair (a.k.a. Wolfsbane), the internet has been waiting patiently for official word on her casting, as well as more details about this and the other forthcoming X-Men spin-off films. Thankfully, Fox went back on their word on Thursday and announced that both Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy from The Witch will be joining the film slated for April 13, 2018.

As first reported on by The Hollywood Reporter, New Mutants definitely feels as though it’s leaning into the vibes director Josh Boone hinted at on Twitter AND that YA vibe we reported it would have. The story is set to feature a heaping helping of cool—and diverse! yay!—teen mutants coming to terms with their powers, including the Scottish Wolfsbane, Brazilian Rico Suave-type Sunspot, a boy from Kentucky named Cannonball, Native American Danielle Moonstar, and Russian teen Magik. Hmm, we wonder if someone from the studio was reading our list of New Mutants requirements.

Anya Taylor-Joy will play the aforementioned Magik, a teleporting sorceress-to-be and sister of Colossus (ooh la la—do I smell a Deadpool crossover?), and Williams has been confirmed as Wolfsbane. In the comics, Wolfsbane was a Scottish orphan raised by Reverend Craig, an abusive old man who admonished her mutant lycanthropy as proof of her connection to/relationship with Satan. No doubt, Williams will be able to deftly handle being a self-loathing little rage monster, since Arya Stark’s not too far off in that regard.

What do you think of the news? Looking forward to the latest X-flick? Let us know in the comments below.

Image Credit: HBO,  A24

Learn all about the insane comic book history behind X-Men: Dark Phoenix too!

THE BEAUTY OF HORROR II Coloring Book Promises More GOREgeous Creepiness

Last year we told you about the amazing and intricately illustrated The Beauty of Horror: A GOREgeous Coloring Book. The beautifully crafted book was created by musician and comic book creator Alan Robert, the creative force behind such comics as Wire Hangers and Killogy. Published through IDW Comics, Robert was able to find “the loveliness inside the ugliness” in The Beauty of Horror, which was filled with pages and pages of his own beautifully macabre original art.

Now, as a follow-up to last year’s #1 best-selling coloring book, creator Alan Robert has returned with an all-new second volume in the series, The Beauty of Horror 2: Ghouliana’s Creepatorium – Another GOREgeous Coloring Book. According to the official description, in this second volume, “everyone’s favorite undead girl Ghouliana mischievously attempts to trick budding colorists into unleashing her deadly spell. Try and find the missing ingredients she’s sprinkled throughout Robert’s intricate pen and ink illustrations before it’s too late!”

You can check out the spooky exclusive trailer for The Beauty of Horror 2: Ghouliana’s Creepatorium down below, directed by Teen Wolf director Robert Hall. This delightfully creepy trailer features Ghouliana herself in the (rotting) flesh, with makeup courtesy of Hall’s Almost Human FX shop. And in our gallery below, we have several exclusive images from the forthcoming book, with images which will no doubt give you the loveliest nightmares.

The Beauty of Horror 2: Ghouliana’s Creepatorium – Another GOREgeous Coloring Book is due to hit on September 12, and you can pre-order you copy by clicking here:  thebeautyofhorror.com

Are you as excited as we are for this return to Ghouliana’s Creepatorium? Be sure to share your thoughts with us in the comments down below.

Images: Alan Robert / IDW 

KEDI is Like a Feature-Length Cat Video—Only Better! (Review)

If the internet has taught us one absolute truth, it’s that people love cat videos. Even people who don’t love cats all that much (yes, they do exist) will find themselves chuckling at the creatures’ sometimes graceful/sometimes goofy antics. I may be biased (I’ve been a cat lover since I was a little kid), but there’s just something innately beautiful and undeniably graceful about the domesticated feline—even when they’re being troublesome little monsters who come and go as they please. And given how darn popular cat videos have proven to be on YouTube, it should come as no surprise to learn that YouTube Red went out and acquired the distribution rights for the highly-acclaimed documentary called Kedi. Why? Because Kedi is a movie about a city—Istanbul, Turkey—that is seemingly packed with both throngs of free-roaming kitties and more than enough kind people to help take care of them.

There are, of course, numerous locations around the world in which you’ll find domesticated cats wandering all over the place, but Istanbul is surely one of the most beautiful. Not only does Kedi director Ceyda Torun have a clear and obvious affection for the cats that cavort through her city’s streets, and she also seems to have a lot of love for the various clerks, fishermen, and chefs who do their part to keep the animals healthy. Kedi may be not much more than an 80-minute trip through an exotic city that focuses on seven very distinctive kitties and their various human friends… but who says there’s anything wrong with a sweet, simple documentary that focuses on the friendship between man and their beloved animal companions? Not me.

What starts out as a novelty (“Hey, these cats just walk around freely and nobody minds? How cute!”) quickly becomes a lovely story about the ways in which human and cat can co-exist in an increasingly more crowded world. Kedi is broken up into seven segments, each one devoted to one particular puss and their amusingly elaborate routines.

Ms. Torum introduces us to each kitty by way of their key personality traits — Sari (The Hustler), Duman (The Gentleman), Bengü (The Lover), Aslan Parçasi (The Hunter), Psikopat (The Psycho), Deniz (The Social Butterfly), and my favorite Gamsiz (The Player) — but while the cats and their adorable antics are probably the main draw for most viewers, what stands out most is the grace, warmth, and kindness with which the Istanbul citizens treat these animals. In other words, cats are great, but the people who take care of stray cats are pretty amazing too. If it’s true that you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals, then the human stars of Kedi are nothing short of everyday heroes.

Lovingly shot and intensely affectionate where the relationship between man and feline are concerned, Kedi may look like little more than a feature-length “cat video” on the surface, but there’s a lot of light, heart, and compassion to be found in this lovely little documentary, and I hope it finds a warm, sunny place in the hearts of cat lovers everywhere.

4.5 Turkish fish burritos out of 5:

Images: Oscilloscope Laboratories

 

Evil Invades an Australian Neighborhood in HOUNDS OF LOVE (Review)

Fictional horrors are relatively easy to concoct, but real-life horrors are the ones we often struggle to comprehend. Vampires and werewolves are scary in a harmless way; in real life predators are often plain-looking, unassuming, and horrifically frightening. So when you’re turning a fact-based tale of kidnapping, rape, and murder into a work of fiction, you should take a good deal of care in the telling. Ben Young’s cold, calculating, and insidiously fascinating Hounds of Love is loosely based on a series of events that rocked a small Australian suburb in the mid-1980s — and the film certainly plays like something that’s been haunting Mr. Young for some time.

Plot-wise, Hounds of Love could come off sounding like a very conventional episode of any typical TV thriller: a teenage girl is abducted by a plainly insane couple who do all sorts of terrible things to her as she struggles to stay alive and devise some sort of escape. The viewer is well aware that this couple has killed before, and that adds an essential layer of tension to the proceedings. To his credit, Mr. Young manages to portray young Vicki’s initial suffering in a harrowing but not wholly grotesque fashion, and that’s when the tension starts to build. The story has only two possible endings; either Vicki will escape, or she’ll be killed by a disgusting brute called John and his equally revolting wife Evelyn.

The strength of a frank, unflinching, and sometimes ugly thriller like this often lies within the tone, the intensity, and (of course) the actors. If Hounds of Love came off like a typical piece of garish exploitation it would be easily forgotten, but thanks in large part to three frankly brilliant performances, the film becomes an almost unbearable exercise in low-key, constant suspense. Stephen Curry (Rogue) and Emma Booth (Gods of Egypt) are pitch perfect as the repugnant pair of kidnappers who seem to use abduction and abuse as some sort of couples’ therapy, and Susie Porter (Nightmares & Dreamscapes) offers an excellent supporting performance as Vicki’s terrified mother. Easily their equal is young Ashleigh Cummings as the long-suffering Vicki, who spends much of the film chained to a bed, but still does an impressive job of creating a three-dimensional character we grow to care about well beyond the trappings of a basic horror movie victim.

Supported by some flawless production design, disconcertingly lovely cinematography, and a truly effective editorial approach that raises the stakes and the tension at every possible turn, Hounds of Love probably works so well because it is loosely based on actual tragedies, which is something that compels good filmmakers to approach the material with some degree of class and restraint. It’s a rough, intense, and claustrophobic affair, but it’s also a remarkably accomplished thriller, especially given how frequently we see movies that deal with this particular premise. Hounds of Love is so quietly engrossing and flatly terrifying, it may inspire you to read up on some of the tragic events that inspired the film. I know I did.

4 Australian burritos out of 5

9 Unintentionally Creepy Children’s Movies

Photos: FilmBuff / Gunpowder & Sky

Ahsoka Tano Lives in This STAR WARS Tattoo

The fate of Ahsoka Tano is up in the air. When we last saw her in Star Wars Rebels, she was maybe killed by Darth Vader? Or maybe she became a Force ghost? Or something else? Two things are for certain: the convor seen at the end of the duel has something to do with Ahsoka and fans will never stop wondering and debating about what happened to the character.

Star Wars fan Dom honored the character and her connection to the convor in a permanent way with a tattoo. She’ll always live on his skin. Look:

Tattooist Mike Bianco out of Rose Gold’s in San Francisco, a licensed Lucasfilm artist, applied the ink. You can take a look at a couple more angles of the Ahsoka and convor art in the gallery.

If you have nerdy ink on your skin or you’re a tattoo artist that applies pop culture, STEM, music, or other nerd-inspired ink (tl;dr: I want to see basically all of the tattoos) on a regular basis, then please hit me up because I’d like to highlight you in a future Inked Wednesday gallery. You can get in touch with me via email at alratcliffe@yahoo.com. Send me photos of the tattoos you’d like me to feature (the higher resolution, the better) and don’t forget to let me know the name of your tattoo artist if you have it, as well the name of the shop he or she works out of. If you are the tattoo artist, give me links to your portfolios and/or Instagram accounts so I can share them with our readers.

What Does Kylo Ren’s New Starfighter Means for THE LAST JEDI?

Images: Dom L.