Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2128

The Todd Glass Show #290: Henry Phillips

Henry Phillips is back on the show!

Like The Todd Glass Show on Facebook, follow @ToddGlass, Eric Ohlsen and Lyricist Joe on Twitter, buy his album Thin Pig and buy his book The Todd Glass Situation!

Watch the Full 1999 DOCTOR WHO Parody Special

This year will see the final episodes of Doctor Who with Steven Moffat at the helm for what will end up being six full series, nine Christmas specials, and seven years of human life. But, of course, those weren’t the first episodes of Doctor Who Moffat wrote for TV. Yes, he wrote episodes every year during the tenure of his predecessor Russell T. Davies, but even before all that, he penned a 22-minute half-hour comedy special to benefit the children’s charity telethon, Red Nose Day. That special, entitled “The Curse of Fatal Death,” has been uploaded to BBC’s official Doctor Who channel, and you can watch it above!

In 1999, three years after the backdoor pilot TV movie wasn’t picked up, there was no indication that the show would ever come back, and even less chance of Moffat himself getting to write and later run it. “The Curse of Fatal Death,” while a parody, represented the only live-action Doctor Who to be broadcast between the TV movie and the 2005 reboot, and not only that, but it effectively (if parodically) sped through the Doctor’s five remaining incarnations at the time.

In a fight with the Master (Jonathan Pryce), the Doctor (Rowan Atkinson) explains he doesn’t want to fight and instead wants to marry his companion (Julia Sawalha), but the Master and the Daleks (voiced by classic series voice actor Roy Skelton) won’t have it. The Doctor dies and regenerates into the randy Richard E. Grant, then into the shy and unassuming Jim Broadbent, then the uber-handsome Hugh Grant, and then finally into Joanna Lumley! See? Even in 1999 Moffat was laying the groundwork for a female Doctor. (Come on, Chibnall, don’t be a fool!)

This short is obviously very silly, but it’s done lovingly and tongue and cheek. We can only assume a parody of the Moffat era in the future would be as pointed.

Gotta love that Doctor Who! Steven Moffat (and Peter Capaldi)’s final series begins April 15th at 9/8c on BBC America! Share your thoughts on “The Curse of Fatal Death” in the comments below.

Images: BBC

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!

Here’s what WE saw in the latest trailer…

We Made Our Own JUSTICE LEAGUE Trailer

The epidemic of teasers that tease trailers for movies that are coming out has reached a level I don’t think anyone thought possible. Why on Earth do we need to see 12 seconds of footage just go get us excited about 90 seconds of footage of an upcoming big blockbuster tentpole entertainment content movie? We’re already excited!! Just show us the thing already! Anyway, the latest of these teensy tiny teases are five character-centric mini-things for the upcoming Justice League movie, teeing up the full trailer which will drop on Saturday…but we couldn’t just let that go. We want it now!! So, we went ahead and made what we think the Justice League trailer will be.

Utilizing the umpteen billion DC Comics toys and memorabilia we have lying around the office, the amazing crew of our daily talk show Nerdist News Talks Back went ahead and constructed a trailer (above) based solely on what we’re pretty sure will happen in the movie, including all the different heroes meeting up to fight the New God bad guy known as Steppenwolf. Producer Brian Compton can be credited with doing that amazing voice acting work as well.

For reals, if you aren’t watching Nerdist News Talks Back every weekday on Nerdist’s Facebook, YouTube, and Alpha at 1:00pm PST, you’re missing out on some seriously wacky weirdness and incisive discussion about the day’s most important pop culture moments. They’re also running a March Badness bracket all month long where you can vote on the most evil, most iconic villain of all time. To say nothing of throwing pies in people’s faces for Pi Day, we also take a look at the weirdest internet videos every Friday. In fact, why don’t you check it out for yourself!

Now wasn’t that fun? We do that every weekday, so JOIN US. Let us know what you think of the Justice League trailer we made in the comments below!

Images: Warner Bros

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and an avowed DC Comics fanboy. Follow him on Twitter!

How about Batman’s new costume, though?

A TANGLED Sing-A-Long with Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi

Though everyone thinks of Frozen as the box office blow out that catapulted Disney Animation back into the spotlight, its 2010 predecessor Tangled is a HIGHLY underrated gem that deserves a second look. Featuring the vocal talents of Mandy Moore (This Is Us) and Zachary Levi (Chuck), Tangled has an incredible pop-inspired soundtrack by iconic Disney composer Alan Menken, a spunky-but-sweet heroine struggling to find her own independence, and a colorful cast of characters to boot. Much like Frozen, both films feature a fittingly sassy love interest but the true focus of the film is about relationships between women. Throughout the film, Rapunzel struggles to separate herself from her witchy kidnapper, Mother Gothel, who raised her as her own but still uses her “daughter” for her own personal gain.

Luckily for us, Tangled was not the end of that story. In Tangled: The Series, which began with a TV movie (Tangled: Before Ever After) debuts on Disney XD Friday, March 24 (today!), Rapunzel’s adventures continue as she reconnects with her parents, her kingdom, and the people of Corona. Though she has Flynn Ryder Eugene by her side, the young princess realizes that there’s still so much she needs to learn about the world after spending her entire life stuck in a tower. While the King and Queen must deal with their reunited daughter’s curious spirit, Rapunzel sets out to explore the kingdom with the help of Eugene, her trusty sidekicks Pascal and Maximus, as well as a new character Cassandra, Rapunzel’s tough handmaiden and new best friend.

Before the show’s TV debut, our pal Amy Vorpahl (Mothership) met with Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi to find out where the new story begins, discuss Rapunzel’s new-found independence, and even start a surprise sing-along. Because really, what’s a Disney story without a little music?

Make sure you check out Mothership every Thursday at 5:30pm PT on the Nerdist Youtube, Geek & Sundry’s Twitch, or Alpha for more singalongs, behind-the-scenes interviews, games, and more!

Tangled: The Series airs Fridays on Disney XD.

Batman’s New JUSTICE LEAGUE Suit Revealed

It’s become a tradition for Batman to upgrade his costume between movies. Sometimes, the differences are subtle, but there have been a few radical reinterpretations as well. Earlier this week, we got our first good look at Batman’s outfit from the Justice League movie, which is pretty close to the costume that Ben Affleck wore in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with a few key alterations. Today’s Nerdist News is breaking into the Watchtower to discover what it all means.

Join host and Gotham City fashion maven, Jessica Chobot, as she goes over the important details of the new Batman costume, including that impossible to miss and almost George Clooney-esque silver Bat logo. While that might worry fans who didn’t like Batman & Robin, we’re thinking that the change was made specifically for the poster, since previous pics have shown the Bat with his classic black logo on his chest. But there are some other changes here, including more padding around his body as well as touches of grey throughout that make the costume pop a little bit more than it did before. Because the armor doesn’t appear to be as streamlined as the suit from Batman v Superman, we’re also thinking that Bruce Wayne may have had to put this one together in a hurry.

Of course, this isn’t the only costume that Batman will wear in the film. There’s also the tactical Bat-suit, which has only been briefly glimpsed during the teaser footage. We’re still waiting for a better look at that outfit and can’t wait to see what upgrades it includes to fight the Parademons and the forces of Apokolips.

What do you think about Batman’s new look from Justice League? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Warner Bros.

PREVENGE Director and Star Tells the Story Behind Her Action-Horror Pregnancy Film

Over the past 15 years, English performer Alice Lowe has carved out an impressive acting and writing career that’s landed her in an array of films like Edgar Wright‘s comedy The World’s End, the quirky kids movie Paddington, and Ben Wheatley‘s jovial slasher Sightseers, which she co-wrote with Steve Oram. But this week sees the theatrical release of her directorial debut feature, Prevenge, a deliciously dark horror comedy about a pregnant woman driven to kill by the high-pitched and incessant demands of her unborn baby.

Lowe not only wrote and directed this freaky film, but also starred as its mesmerizing anti-heroine, whose bulbous belly cuts a distinctive figure as she slashes through the throats of Cardiff’s confounded citizenry… all the Lowe was actually pregnant! After the film wowed us at SXSW, Nerdist joined Lowe for a dinner in New York City to discuss pregnancy taboos, the unique bend she’s brought to horror, and how she plans to introduce Prevenge to her daughter… someday.

“If you’re lucky you might get some crying baby in the background,” Lowe chuckles, looking upon my recorder. Her eyes drift to the corner of the room, where her toddler daughter Della is happily kicking her feet, playing with a dinner guest. As the meal commenced, the grinning girl sat on her mother’s lap, nearly as close as she was for the film’s shooting. It’s incredible that Lowe managed to make a movie while she was in her third trimester. It’s astonishing it was all shot in just 11 days. “It was meant to be eight days,” she confessed, “but it ended up being 11, with pick-ups and stuff.” With a smile, she said, “I was six months along when I came up with the idea. A month and a half later we were filming. Two months and a bit later, we had finished!”

Her work as a screenwriter had Lowe looking for opportunities to direct. But once she got pregnant, she feared that ambition would have to be shelved. “I did want to direct,” she shared. “But how many women with young babies do I know that are directing? I don’t know any. I know plenty of men with young babies that are directing, but I don’t know any women. So I might as well just say goodbye to that. It might happen in 10 years time. But forget it. You can’t think about it now. So I sort of said goodbye to the idea of directing. And then suddenly this opportunity–all in a really peculiar way I have to say–comes up.”

She was approached by a director (whose name she demurred from giving) who had a production package that included financing ready to go. He just needed a story and script, so he turned to Lowe. Initially, she thought of turning the project down, “I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t do it. I’m pregnant. I’m too tired and whatever.'” But the opportunity was too alluring to pass up. So, she pitched the concept that had been brewing as her baby bump grew. “They basically said it could be anything,” Lowe recalled. “So actually, I could put myself in it. And I could be a pregnant character, and I could do whatever I wanted with that pregnant character, and tell a narrative that’s about the sorts of parts that we don’t usually see, hear about, or read, or get offered.”

She continued, “So I pitched a pregnancy-revenge script, and they absolutely loved it. And actually, the director who’d come to me with this package, he said to me, ‘I love the idea. But it’s not my thing. I do rom-coms. So I think you should direct this. It’s your baby.'” She confessed she was initially terrified. “But at the same time,” she said, “I was like, ‘Yes. This is probably right. If I pull this off, I might actually get to have my cake and eat it.'” Pregnancy need not be an obstacle to her career, it could be a collaborator!

Lowe chuckled recalling how friends in the industry had warned her to tell no one she was pregnant because it could keep her from scoring freelance work. She said, “My friends were seeing me and being like, ‘So, what are you going to do now? Are you putting your feet up?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m making a feature film!'”

The idea for Prevenge grew from Lowe’s own fears about how pregnancy would impact her identity. In the film, her character Ruth is repeatedly lectured on how baby is in charge now, how all mothers must be sacrificed to baby. For Lowe, this meant being grouped into a pregnancy culture she felt uncomfortable with. “When you’re a freelancer and you’re a writer, you kind of step out of society a bit,” she said. “You don’t have a box. You’re doing your own thing. And then suddenly when you’re having a baby, you’ve got to be a part of this club, with other women who are also in the same stage of pregnancy as you. It doesn’t matter if you have anything in common with them. It’s like, ‘You’re going to forget your previous identity. You’re all going to become Stepford Wives. You’re only going to hang out with each other.”

She continued, “There was a lot of stuff like that that was alarming me. I was like, ‘I don’t want to leave my previous identity. I like my previous identity.’ Do I have to sacrifice that? The idea of having a baby seems like it ought to be nice, but there’s stuff that was terrifying me about it. So I was in the middle of that, and having a bit of a crisis as a freelancer. How am I going to earn money? Will I ever work again?” From there, Lowe decided to use Prevenge to explore narratives often denied women on film. She gave her heroine a bloody tale of vengeance, and she refused to make Ruth “likable.”

This is a common theme when discussing popular cinema’s representation of women.

“We’re used to seeing women who are completely tied to society, and they are actually keeping it together,” Lowe said. “They’re a wife or a daughter or a mother or a nurse–they’re society’s glue. And I was like, why can’t we see a female character who’s just untethered? And it’s powerful. She’s like a weapon who’s coming for you!” This daring director reveled in challenging her audience, purposefully withholding Ruth and her baby’s motive for murder through the film’s first act. “I wanted [the audience] to go, ‘I don’t know that I agree with her. I might hate her’ for longer. Because if you can go with her on that journey, that proves to me and to the audience and to studios or whatever, it doesn’t matter whether female characters are likable or not.”

She compared Ruth to Travis Bickell of Taxi Driver, saying, “I have this theory that you get in the back of his cab and you go with him. You’re his passenger. And you don’t go, ‘Do I like him or not? Is this a terrible representation of men? Is this a terrible representation of taxi drivers? So prejudiced!’ You go with him, and you recognize that this is an individual, and we’re on an individual’s journey. And I don’t agree with what he’s doing, but I know why he’s done it. And I wanted to do a female character that is that basically, and to take you into her world and her experience.”

She added, “I wanted to immerse you in the character. It’s like a sensory experience between the music, the color, and the sound. That was a hugely important part for me. It has to be a sensory experience. You have to feel like you’re her. Like you’re inside her. You’re traveling around with her in this vehicle. To me, I don’t care about whether you agree with her or you like her. You’re with her. That’s the point. I didn’t want to give people the chance to separate themselves, and go, ‘Well, she’s not me because I’m not that gender, I’m not that age, I’m not pregnant. So I can’t identify with it.’ It’s like, you’re coming with me whether you like it or not!” She concluded, “I think cinema is a tool for extending empathy. It’s like taking the character you didn’t think you’d identify with, and broadening it.”

Still, early cuts spooked execs who wondered if reshoots could be done to wedge in some more jokes. “I thought about it for a while, and thought, ‘No. You can’t put more jokes in that you haven’t filmed from the start.’ And I really believe that. You’ve got to make the film that you shot. You just have to make the best version of what you shot. And that was my epiphany: I’ve got to stand by this. I stand by the seriousness of it. I stand by the serious scenes. I believe in it. And actually I think that’s one of the things that got it into Venice, which is a very serious film festival, and has given people stuff to talk about when they watch the film.”

As heralded horror films like The Babadook, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, XX and Prevenge earn attention for the female filmmakers excelling in the genre, I asked Lowe what she thinks draws women to horror. “I know for myself I’ve always loved horror,” she said. “I do think it’s very good way to break into directing. Because it’s a very visual medium, a very commercial medium. It can be emotional. It can be psychological. Horror is just a visual metaphor for human drama, that’s how I see it.”

As the night wound down, Lowe wondered aloud if she should put Della to bed. Looking across the room at the wee one’s wiggling toes, I asked how old she would need to be before her filmmaker mother would show her Prevenge. “I don’t know,” Lowe said. “I think you’re going to have that debate when you’re an actor anyway. When do we tell the baby that mummy’s an actress? And there’s going to be material that they can’t watch. Obviously, she’s in the film. I don’t know. I think it will be a cool thing for her to be like, ‘I was in Mummy’s tummy.’ I think I’ll have to explain to her, ‘Okay, it might seem like I didn’t like you.’ But, you’re lovely. So don’t worry about that. It was a role that we were both playing.'”

Prevenge is now open in select cities and available to watch on Shudder. Let us know what you think!

Images: Kaliedoscope

DEADPOOL 2 Concept Art of Brad Pitt as CABLE Emerges, But Who Should Get the Part?

We know that Nathan Summers, better known as Cable, is coming to the Fox Marvel Movie Mutantverse very soon in Deadpool 2. But the real question is: just who the heck is going to be playing everyone’s favorite cyborg from the future?? We’ve heard everyone from Stranger Things’ own Sheriff Hopper, David Harbour, to more recently Man of Steel villain Michael Shannon becoming the frontrunner for the role.

And now, among the crazier rumors to turn up, we’ve heard that superstar Brad Pitt is—well, was—also in the running for the role, thanks to the folks at Collider. While all these rumors continue to swirl, a series of concept art pics of Pitt as Cable have turned up online, as well as some other characters from the film like Domino and Colossus. You can see tweets of the concept art down below, thanks to Twitter user @lethaldeadpool:

OFFICIAL CONCEPT ART FOR DEADPOOL 2 FEATURING BRAD PITT AS CABLE… pic.twitter.com/7DyM83Q0si

— Deadpool (@LethalDeadpool) March 23, 2017

CONCEPT ART OF DEADPOOL, CABLE, DOMINO AND COLOSSUS FOR DEADPOOL 2… pic.twitter.com/qLUINTdxRb

— Deadpool (@LethalDeadpool) March 23, 2017

So, with this concept art now helping us form a picture of what a movie version of Cable looks like, which of these three esteemed actors should land the part?? Getting any one of three would be a casting coup, but lets be honest—only one of three is really the best man for the job. Let’s break it down:

Brad Pitt

Based on this concept art, a really solid argument can be made for Brad Pitt becoming Cable, even if it was hard to picture before. Anyone who has ever seen Inglorious Basterds already knows Pitt can play a grizzled general in charge of a motley crew of soldiers, so is it really that far fetched? Sadly, Pitt has already declined the role, probably not wanting to be tied down to the character for multiple sequels over a period of years. Although he could always change his mind before this is all said and done.

Michael Shannon

Michael Shannon, of course, has that gruff Cable voice down, so he has that going for him. And I doubt anyone is going to complain too much if he gets the role in the end, no matter who their favorite is in this race. His only obstacle may be that he’s already strongly associated with another famous comic book character, DC Comics’ General Zod from the DCEU. Then again, Chris Evans played the Human Torch and Captain America, so who’s to say you can’t have two great comic book roles in one career?

David Harbour

Of course, David Harbour is still in the running to play Cable, too. And while it may seem like he’s not as much of a frontrunner anymore, of all three of the names attached the role, he’s still my personal favorite. What makes him better than bigger names like Pitt or Shannon? Unlike those two guys, Harbour has the build to play Cable—at least the way that Cable has been traditionally drawn in most comics. Nathan Summers is a tank, and so is Harbour. Sorry, but both Shannon and Pitt are pretty lean dudes. They might be able to add muscle, but not mass.

Final Verdict: If I were the folks at Fox right now, I’d go for the least famous of the bunch: David Harbour as Cable please!

Who do you want to see take on the role of Cable? One of these three gentlemen, or someone else? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Marvel Comics / The Weinstein Company / Warner Brothers / Netflix

 And here are all the easter eggs from that Deadpool 2 tease they did ahead of Logan:

It’s Morphin’ Time with These POWER RANGERS Accessories

Home Geekonomics is a series that features the best in geeky home decor, food, and DIY. Each week will focus on a specific fandom and highlight the best of geek for your home and everyday life.

A quarter century after they were first introduced, Power Rangers is back with a brand new team fighting the same evil forces. Fans look forward to different iterations of the team at every reboot and this time the Rangers are fighting on the big screen.

Now, whether you consider yourself red, black, blue, yellow, or pink—also green, white, silver, you get the idea—you will always find a common bond with your favorite Ranger. Check out these fun Power Rangers themed accessories just in time for the movie’s debut.

Power Rangers Coasters by Thimble Whim

Doing a massive binge watch before the Power Rangers movie? That’s a whole lot of television, you’re definitely going to need some snacks. These beautiful wood coasters will make sure that your drinks won’t leave a stain as you settle in for a 24 season rewatch.

Power Rangers Green Ranger Pendant by Pendant Geek

Tommy Oliver is my favorite Ranger, hands down. The original Green Ranger has been through his ups and downs over the years but still remains a fan favorite. This handmade pendant makes sure the Green Ranger is never far from your heart.

Power Rangers Donuts by Krispy Kreme

Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi! Power Rangers and donuts might be the best collaboration yet. Krispy Kreme has done the world a favor and created special Rangers donuts: A creme-filled shell, dipped in chocolate icing, sprinkled with edible silver glitter, and decorated with coordinating Ranger colored sugar lightning bolts. Please tell me the next season is the Rangers working in a donut shop.

Power Rangers Build-A-Bears

If you’ve ever wondered what the Power Rangers would look like as bears—wonder no more. These Power Rangers Build-A-Bear are stuffable custom plush that not only have mini Ranger costumes in every color but they also have pajamas! Ideal for when morphin’ time turns into sleepy time. (I’m guessing Zordon’s not much of a snuggler.)

Power Rangers Nails by Nailclipperz

The secret to morphing is making sure your nails are done. Ok, that’s not true but it certainly helps pull an outfit together. Each nail is painted a different color Ranger which not only takes time but a very steady hand. The stunning outcome is worth the time. Rita Repulsa wishes her manicure looked this tight.

Images: Thimble Whim, Pendant Geek, Krispy Kreme, Build-A-Bear, Nailclipperz

Kidnapping Turns to Carnage in THE HOUSE ON WILLOW STREET (Review)

It’s always fun when a genre flick switches gears in Act II. Like how Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn is a hard-boiled kidnapping thriller until they stop at a strip club packed to the rafters with hungry vampires. From that point on it’s pretty much just a juicy, over-the-top, comic book-style horror movie. The same holds true — albeit on a slightly smaller scale — in the crafty, straightforward, and handsomely atmospheric South African import known as The House on Willow Street. Let’s just say that this horror movie does for kidnapping what Don’t Breathe does for breaking and entering.

A gang of amateur criminals (led by the always cool Sharni Vinson of You’re Next) think they have planned the perfect kidnapping, down to every last detail. Of course they didn’t expect that their hostage would actually be a ravenous demon masquerading as a young woman, and that’s why things go from bad to worse to “good lord what’s with all the mouth tentacles?!?” once a few of the kidnappers return to the scene of the crime only to realize that the whole girl’s family has been massacred. But by whom? (Guess!)

From there it’s a slightly predictable but consistently entertaining collection of kills, chases, scrapes, escapes possessions, and skewerings as the demon-girl’s orally-tentacled offspring do all they can to turn the tables on their abductors. Suffice to say the demons have the advantage here. It’s all very splattery and gory and Fulci-ish as each of Vinson’s cohorts falls prey to the evil creatures, and to its credit The House on Willow Street is shot well, cut quick, and more than loaded with goopy, gory special effects. Plus most of the characters — aside from our resourceful, resilient anti-heroine — are awful people, so you get to enjoy it when the demons exact their horrific revenge. And given that most occult thrillers are “slow-burn” stories that dole out their terrors sparingly, it’s nice to discover one that simply throws a lot of crazy mayhem at the screen with this much grim enthusiasm.

Director Alistair Orr (indie horror fans may recall his Indigenous from a few years back) is more than content to combine a kidnapping thriller and a gory horror story into one comfortably enjoyable concoction, but The House on Willow Street also boasts some impressive technical merits. The look, the tone, the sound design, and the musical score do a fine job of setting a creepy stage once the gloves come off, horror-wise, and at that point the pace picks up considerably, resulting in a third act full of demonic malfeasance that genre fans are sure to appreciate. Aside from Ms. Vinson (who is likable even when playing a villain) the angry crook characters are all pretty interchangeable, and it’s not a film that’s likely to win many awards for originality, but (much like From Dusk Till Dawn) The House on Willow Street works unexpectedly well as a pulpy, unpretentious, horror comic book of a movie.

3.5 burritos (hold the tentacles) out of 5

Image: IFC Midnight

GAME OF THRONES Re-Throned: “The Mountain and the Viper” (S4, E8)

Winter is coming, but not soon enough. So to help pass the time until season seven of Game of Thrones, we’re doing a weekly re-watch of the series, episode-by-episode, with the knowledge of what’s to come and—therefore—more information about the unrevealed rich history of events that took place long before the story began. Be warned, though: that means this series is full of spoilers for every season, even beyond the episode itself. So if you haven’t watched all of the show yet immediately get on that and then come back and join us for Game of Thrones Re-Throned.

Because the next best thing to watching new episodes is re-watching old ones.

——

Season 4, Episode 8: “The Mountain and the Viper”

Original Air Date: June 1st, 2014

Director: Alex Graves

Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

It’s worse than you remember.

Which is really saying something, since this episode, featuring the trial by combat of Tyrion Lannister, remains one of the most memorable–and most gut-wrenching–in the entire history of Game of Thrones. But no matter how terrible your memories are of the fight between Oberyn Martell and Ser Gregor Clegane , it’s even worse than that.

(This was the first and only episode during this entire re-watch where I had to pause the show to get emotionally prepared for what was about to happen. It didn’t help.)

But while the gruesome death of the Red Viper (and just as sad: the final appearance by Pedro Pascal, who gave one of the best performances of the entire series) will always be the enduring legacy of this eighth episode of season four, the decision by Sansa to save Littlefinger has far greater ramifications as we head to the show’s end.

For the first time, Baelish has lost control. He now has to answer for the “suicide” of Lysa, which the noble houses of the Vale don’t readily accept. (Note: The man leading the questioning is Ser Yohn Royce, and his son, Waymar Royce, was the leading ranger of the Night’s Watch killed by White Walkers in the very first scene of the show.)

The council despises Baelish; that his sudden marriage and the death of his wife transpire all within a couple of days is nothing if not suspicious. In an attempt to learn the truth, they bring in his “niece,” and refuse to let him speak to her alone first. His fate is completely in the hands of “Alayne,” and there is nothing he can do about it.

Sansa then tells them the “truth”: that Baelish has been hiding her real identity to protect her, and that he was the only one looking out for her during her imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Lannisters. She then covers for his murder by saying her troubled aunt stepped through the Moon Door herself. Because of her heartfelt, tearful testimony, they not only end up apologizing to him, they start listening to his plans for the Vale.

Later, Baelish goes to ask Sansa why she did it.

“They would have thrown you through the Moon Door if they found you guilty.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“If they’d have executed you, what would they have done with me?”

It’s the most cunning decision Sansa has made to this point, putting her self interests above all else. Her naive dreams of chivalry and honor have been shattered, and she is finally playing the game, which means lying about the murder of her own aunt.

Baelish understands this was a matter of choosing the devil you know over the devil you don’t, but he wants to see if she knows who he is.

She says, “I know what you want,” and then gives him a look that is part seductive, part mysterious, but all powerful. He is beholden to her now as much as she is to him. That’s followed later by her going with… how should I say this?… a much more mature fashion style.

Considering Littlefinger gave her a passionate kiss last week, Sansa understands he isn’t just interested in protecting her, but in being with her. What she doesn’t understand in this moment (and still might not even after he and the Knights of the Vale came to her and Jon Snow’s rescue at the Battle of the Bastards) is that who she is matters more than what she is. It’s not about her being a young beauty, it’s about her (seemingly) being the key to the North.

This is a weird relationship, to put it mildly. He loved her mother, and already mentioned to her about how in a fairer world he would have been her father. But then he kissed her, and at the end of season six he told her how he sees himself on the Iron Throne with her next to her.

Baelish is the most calculating, underhanded man in the Seven Kingdoms, which is really saying something about his abilities. But when it comes to Sansa it’s never totally clear how much he really loves and cares about her personally, and how much he loves what she can do for him.

New King in the North Jon Snow looks like the major obstacle to Baelish’s master plan now, but Sansa and what she “knows” about Littlefinger could be the deciding factor in how successful Lord Baelish ends up being. If she sees Jon’s rise as a sleight to her, the offer of sitting beside Littlefinger could entice her to support him over her brother.

But if she decides that what Baelish really wants is power at any cost, and he doesn’t really care about her (she will never forget who married her off to Ramsay), she has the ability to end his climb once and for all. Sansa knows he had Joffrey killed, that he threw his wife through the Moon Door, and that he has been playing every side against the other the whole time, all so he can gain more influence and strength.

And he knows she has that power. If it turns out he doesn’t care about her, and if he decides she will never sit beside him anywhere, it would make her an even greater danger than Jon. And people who stand in the way of Littlefinger’s climb don’t live very long.

Sansa chose the devil she knew over the devil she didn’t, but that means she made an unholy alliance with a very dangerous man the day she saved Littlefinger’s life. And the cost of doing so could be greater than she ever realized. Unless she breaks it first.

What do you think of the relationship between Sansa and Baelish? How do you think it will impact the show’s end? Tell us in the comments below.

Images: HBO

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