Days of Our Lives causes confusion as Sophia Choi‘s (Rachel Boyd) supposed suicide has many people pointing fingers at each other. But ultimately, who is really to blame for the loss of this teenager’s life? We know who hit her in the head. That was Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) obviously. But there’s a lot more nuance than just who struck the final blow.

we are going to look at how the current storyline about Sophia’s apparent suicide is a complex situation with many layers of blame and manipulation that we can peel back. We’ve got lots to talk about so let’s do this.

Trusting Kristen DiMera Was Sophia’s Biggest Mistake on Days of Our Lives

So, trusting Kristen may have been the biggest mistake of Sophia’s short life. Certainly a fatal one. After she set up Rachel Black (Lorelie Olivia Mote), we know Sophia was scared that Kristen wanted to hurt her and she did. But the DiMera diva was very slick about it.

First, she convinced Sophia that there was another path forward. Kristen admitted that while she was upset that Sophia had used her tween daughter Rachel as her drug mule basically, Kristen insisted that she could let it slide because what she really wants is to get revenge against her brother EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel).

And Kristen pointed out that Sophia should want that too after what EJ did in the final adoption hearing. And of course, Kristen has it in her devious head that it’s all EJ’s fault that Rachel shot him because he had hidden away Kristen’s mom, Rachel Blake (Roslyn Gentle), aka Rachel Senior.

Kristen Only Has Herself to Blame on DOOL

But EJ wouldn’t have ever had to do that if Kristen had been smart and had whisked her mom out of Salem so she wouldn’t have been pushed to testify against EJ. There’s a whole, you know, snitches get stitches kind of thing. And in the end, he didn’t kill Rachel Senior, which he could have. He just stashed her somewhere that the DA couldn’t find her to put her on the stand. And we all know what is wrong with the kid is that her mom Kristen has set the worst possible example for little Rachel.

So, Kristen came up with a sinister plan to get Sophia to kill Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman). Since Kristen’s blaming Rachel being at Bayview on EJ, she thinks he should lose his son Johnny. Also, Kristen knows Sophia hated Johnny for ditching on Trey’s adoption at the first time it came up. So, Sophia got busy. She wrote this suicide note blaming her former bestie Holly Jonas (Ashley Puzemis) and all her cyberbullying for her planning to take her life.

Bear in mind though, it was Kristen who told Sophia to write the suicide note and leave it where it would be found by her family. And then Kristen gave Sophia a gun with instructions to take Johnny out. But when Sophia took off for Johnny’s place, she deviated from Kristen’s simple shoot Johnny and run plan. And that’s where things got twisted up. But at that point, her fate was already sealed.

Sophia Went Full Science Fair Nerd on Johnny on Days

When Sophia deviated from the plan to shoot Johnny, we saw Sophia kind of went full science fair nerd on him. Sophia maced Johnny and then she pistol whipped him, tied him up, and then here’s the science part. She set up a tea light candle near an accelerant and turned on the gas stove. So, she set up this death trap, you know, and then Sophia took off to finish faking her suicide.

Luckily, other residents in the apartment building smelled the gas, reported the leak, and Javi Hernandez (Jacob Martinez) swooped in and saved Johnny. And then Sophia went to the out of the way bridge and Kristen was waiting for her to finish the plan. She wanted to know if Sophia took care of it, if she killed Johnny. And at that point, Kristen thought Sophia did it and that Johnny was dead.

Days of our Lives: Kristen Betrayed Sophia

And then Sophia expected to get what Kristen promised her, the fake ID, the passport, and money so she could leave Salem behind and start a new life. She told Sophia, you know, lean over, get your fingerprints on the railing in case the cops search. And Kristen said, “Leave your stuff. Toss your shoes.”

And then with Sophia’s back turned, Kristen bashed her in the head with a big old rock. And then after she cracks Sophia’s skull, Kristen had two of her goons throw Sophia off the bridge.

So while technically, yes, Kristen is the one who killed her, the Salem PD and the DA are looking into things, they’re trying to figure out who caused Sophia’s apparent suicide because that’s what everybody assumes is her fate at this point. They still haven’t found her body. And once they do, you know, that should answer a lot of questions because Kristen caved in her skull with a rock.

Sophia Is to Blame for Poor Life Choices on DOOL

So, obviously Sophia is to blame for poor life choices leading up to the moment of her death. But we know as crazy as she was, Dr. Gregory, her baby shrink, never seemed worried that Sophia was so depressed that she would take her life. Psychotic, sure. But not suicidally depressed. And after killing Johnny, you know, Sophia planned to fake her death, take Kristen’s money, start this new life in Paris.

And in Sophia’s note, she blamed Holly Jonas (Ashley Puzemis) for pushing her to the brink. Arianna Horton (Vico Escorcia) and Holly had recently raged at Sophia both online and in person. But it was Holly’s words about Sophia that got the most heated and concerning out on social media. And you know, this was just more messiness on Holly’s part. And right now, Amy Choi (Shi Ne Neilson) is grieving and she’s angry. She recently confronted Holly after Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu) told her at this point we think Sophia is definitely dead that this is no longer a missing person’s investigation.

Jada told Amy and Jason Choi (Steven O Young) now that they’re just trying to recover Sophia’s body. So, Amy’s pushing for charges to be brought against Holly for cyberbullying Sophia to the point she took her own life. And we could see public opinion going that way because you know the college young adult scene is pretty mean. You know the other girls in the sorority and stuff might start saying Holly drove Sophia to suicide.

Amy’s Controlling Ways Impacted Sophia on Days

Amy’s absolutely devastated as any mother would be and doesn’t want to believe that Sophia would kill herself. So Amy is blaming Holly. And that makes sense because Sophia’s note specifically mentioned Holly by name. But just like Kristen’s doing about Rachel, I don’t think Amy is taking her own parenting problems into account while she is searching for answers on Days of our Lives.

Because even before Sophia went off the deep end, Amy was so controlling, she wouldn’t let Sophia terminate her pregnancy for religious reasons. And for those same reasons, Amy was pushing Sophia to keep the baby. She tried to pressure Tate Black (Leo Howard) and Sophia to get married, raise the kid, skip college.

But eventually Amy agreed to an adoption because she had no choice since Sophia was 18 by then. But Amy still kept trying to control that as well. Kept limiting their options. And I think she was probably hoping Sophia to keep the baby in the end, you know. But it didn’t work out that way.

Days of our Lives: Amy Can’t See Her Own Faults

But Amy doesn’t seem to take responsibility for how her uber controlling ways impacted Sophia and her decisions. And in the end, the plot she cooked up with Kristen was definitely what ended her life with a crash of a rock. But there were a lot of choices along the way and people who contributed to her getting to that point.

So at this point, it looks like Kristen definitely killed her even though her body’s not turned up and Sophia is haunting Kristen. Now, it is Salem, so there is a chance she survived and is downstream with a traumatic brain injury, maybe a light dose of amnesia.

Hopefully, though, her body is found soon, and it will show clear signs of murder, which should clear Holly’s name. But then it’ll start a whodunit and Amy might try and pin that on Holly as well. Bottom line is that Amy wants somebody to blame because she can’t face the awful truth that in the end she played a role in what happened to her daughter Sophia.

Bold and the Beautiful stuns as Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) put her foot down and she refused to cooperate with the co-CEO power play that Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) cooked up and manipulated her mom, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang), into trying to make happen.

Steffy refused to let Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) give Brooke her job. And Steffy already suspects that Hope had a hand in this. And we could see Steffy hitting back really hard at Hope. She might even fire her again.

Ridge Couldn’t Ask Steffy To Give Brooke Her Job on Bold and the Beautiful

So, we just saw Ridge hemming and hawing and not having the guts to actually ask Steffy to give Brooke her job. Steffy basically had to figure it out for herself while he just stood there with this look on his face, you know. And then Ridge did try to justify what Brooke wants, but Steffy’s not having it. She is not buying the whole they are Stephanie and Eric 2.0.

She doesn’t buy that at all. Meanwhile, Brooke is quite certain, as she told Hope, that Ridge will convince Steffy to step aside so she and Ridge can run the company together. Brooke even thanked Hope for basically helping her see the light about getting what she deserves. But Steffy does not agree. Not at all. And of course, she’s not going to let Ridge demote her. She pushed back and Steffy demanded that Ridge choose her over Brooke for once.

Ridge is Walking into Fire on B&B

So now Ridge has the very unpleasant task of telling Brooke that he caved to Steffy and can’t force her out of her position, and he basically brought home this dress that Ridge designed, you know, as a consolation prize. And of course, Brooke’s going to be ticked off because she went all out. She was in lingerie. She rocked Ridge’s world to get him to go over there and promote her and demote Steffy.

And yeah, Brooke thought for sure that Ridge would make this happen for her. But honestly, I felt like he didn’t even fight that hard with Steffy. And I know Ridge didn’t want to go ask Steffy in the first place, but he’s so whipped that he slithered over and sort of did what Brooke demanded.

What was interesting was Steffy offered a compromise, a bigger, more public-facing role for Brooke representing Forrester Creations. She told Ridge that Brooke can fly all over and be the face of Forrester Creations while Steffy stays in the background doing what she does best, making deals and keeping the wheels turning and the bottom line profitable. And I’m guessing when Ridge tells Brooke about that offer, that’s not going to be near enough for her.

Clearly, we are building up to a confrontation where Steffy probably has to face off with Brooke, who demands that Steffy step aside. There is a chance that Brooke will try and get Eric Forrester (John McCook) to back her on this power play. But remember, this all started with Hope upset about Hope for the Future.

Three Possible Outcomes For Steffy And Hope on Bold

So, let’s talk about where this is going and what Steffy might do with Hope once she confirms that Hope wasn’t just encouraging Brooke to take Steffy’s job. It was Hope’s idea from the get-go. It wasn’t even on Brooke’s radar before Hope started pushing her to make this power play.

So, there’s really only three outcomes where Steffy’s concerned with Hope trying to make this co-CEO shift happen. First, you know, Steffy could keep her job as co-CEO because she can’t be forced out unless Eric voted with Ridge. And I would expect that Steffy figures out and confirms that Hope was behind Brooke’s stunt. Steffy already suspects that Brooke’s power play is about Hope and her line. But when Steffy learns the details, she’ll be furious. And I can see her confronting Hope, who might get mad enough to admit she told Brooke to take the job because she deserves it and Steffy doesn’t.

Bold and the Beautiful: Hope Lashes Out

Hope will probably do the whole griping about attacks on Logans, nobody appreciating their contributions, etc. I could see her getting all worked up and yelling at Steffy that she did it and that Hope’s not going to stop until Brooke’s the boss alongside Ridge and Steffy’s out of power so she can’t abuse people. Something like that. I think Hope will admit she wants both her and her mom Brooke to get what they deserve at Forrester Creations.

But Steffy could wind up still top dog and Hope’s little stunt might push Steffy too far. And she may tell Hope, “You know what? You could have been patient and your line would have been next after Eric’s couture collection.” But instead, Hope went back to manipulating and pulling power plays. I mean, she really got Brooke all worked up about fighting for this co-CEO job. And Hope is also blowing smoke about how Brooke should be a queen and that she and Ridge are fashion’s greatest love story, yada yada. Very manipulative.

Hopes Back to Her Grimy Behavior on Bold

Whether you like Steffy or not, there’s really no denying that Hope is being quite manipulative. So, Steffy might be done letting Hope try and rip Forrester Creations apart again and she may just snap and fire her again. And if Steffy tells Ridge it was Hope who started all this, he might not stop Steffy from doing it. And if she fired Hope, you know that she would run over to Logan where Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), Bill Spencer (Don Diamont), and Katie Logan (Heather Tom) are waiting with open arms.

Bold and the Beautiful: Brooke Manipulates Eric

Now, a second possible outcome is Brooke does get Steffy’s co-CEO seat because of Eric. This week, Brooke’s going to be upset to find out Steffy refused. And I know Hope won’t drop it and she’s going to push Brooke to find a way to make it happen. You know, don’t let Steffy get away with this.

And if Brooke does get Eric to agree, then there’s really no way Ridge can refuse because Brooke won’t hear anything but him saying what she wants to hear. So together, Eric and Ridge have the shares to push Steffy out and give Brooke that co-CEO job. By the way, I was laughing at soap social media today. Some people were saying the old Bold and the Beautiful drinking game was take a shot when Ivy said proper and now it’s take a shot when you hear co-CEO. You’d be drunk by the end of an episode, right?

Bold and the Beautiful: HFTF Still Sits on the Shelf

But even if Brooke finagles her way into Steffy’s job, I suspect Ridge, Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor), and Eric will probably all still agree that Hope for the Future has to stay on the shelf until after the couture line goes out, and Brooke may not be able to change their minds. So, Hope might have a tantrum and leave and go to Logan. Anyway, one last option that would be wild is if Steffy doesn’t step down and Eric won’t play along and then Ridge gives Brooke his co-CEO spot while he goes over and just decides, I’m going to focus on design because that’s what I do best.

Hope’s Rude Awakening

And again, even if Steffy has to share the job with Brooke, Hope for the Future would still be on the shelf until Eric’s new collection is out. I can see Hope having a tantrum because she thought for sure Brooke getting power would mean her line would be right back on the front burner in production.

And Steffy may haul off and fire Hope anyway because she has the shares to do it. Brooke may have the title, but she’ll still have no company ownership. I cannot imagine that Ridge would give Brooke his shares. And even if he did, Steffy still has more.

So basically, Steffy’s going to either stay co-CEO with Ridge or Eric, Brooke and Ridge push Steffy aside or this slim chance that Brooke winds up co-CEO with Steffy. I mean, honestly, for Ridge, that would be the least stressful thing. He could step out from between Steffy and Brooke and just let them have at it while he goes and just makes dresses in the corner. But in the end, it feels like Hope may be leaving Forrester Creations anyway. Whether Steffy fires her or Hope gets frustrated that her little scheme didn’t pay off like she wanted and she just ups and walks away.

Young and the Restless spoilers for the week ahead include Devon Hamilton (Bryton James) slamming Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) and Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) may be missing under mysterious circumstances. Plus, Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) goes further off the rails.

We’ve also got Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) cranking up his plan to destroy Victor Newman‘s (Eric Braeden) personal life. We have got the latest Young and the Restless spoilers for the week of May 18th through the 22nd. Let’s dive into what’s ahead starting with Phyllis.

Phyllis Can’t Find Matt Clark on Young and the Restless

So, at the end of this week, she is up in Matt Clark‘s (Roger Howarth) room at the GCAC that she got for him along with clothes and food and a burner phone so that he can reach her. And Phyllis tells Matt she’s doing all of this. Because she’s a good person, right? So, he jokes about knocking on the Newmans’ door and just finding things out.

Phyllis says that’s a bad idea and that he should avoid the Newmans and just stay in the room, and she insists that she’s helping him. But he just needs to be patient. So, then she runs into Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman) downstairs and they tell her, “Look, just give Victor both Matt and Newman Enterprises and this will all be over.”

But Phyllis says Matt’s scared and Lauren wonders if he’s getting to Phyllis. But she says, “No, no, Matt’s just a means to an end.” Phyllis is stubborn, though, and she’s not going to give back Newman. And she heads back upstairs and then panics. Because guess what? Matt Clark just took off out of the room after she told him not to.

Nick Makes Demands on Y&R

And then Phyllis runs into Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) when she’s back downstairs and he’s demanding to see Matt and he says if Phyllis hands him over, then Nick will personally convince Christine to drop the criminal charges against her. Now, I wonder if Matt really is going over to Victor’s house like he told Phyllis that he would do. We’ll see.

But I don’t know how Nick can convince anyone of anything at this point. Because he’s high as a kite. He just bought a new baggie of drugs and started popping them. The only way I think Nick could get this done is if he went and told Christine that yes, the evidence against Phyllis was faked. And honestly, his brain is so addled on fentanyl that Nick might defy Victor and tell Christine the truth, not thinking through the consequences on Victor and Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) for faking evidence and handing it to the DA.

Young and the Restless: Nick is Unhinged

Nick is out of control and he wants to murder Matt. And he’s upset that everybody but Noah Newman (Lucas Adams) thinks that his premeditated self-defense murder concept is a bad idea. But if Phyllis can’t find Matt, she’s going to be in deep trouble because he’s the only leverage that she’s got against Victor.

So, next week, Phyllis tells Michael Baldwin that he is fired and he kind of mocks Phyllis about this, asking what again. Because she’s fired him before. And she tells Michael that his services are no longer required. And that leaves him wondering what exactly Phyllis is planning. So I do suspect she’ll get her hands on Matt, get him back in the room, lock him down. But we’ll have to wait and see next week.

Jack Abbott’s Devious Revenge Plan

All right, now let’s talk about what is coming for Jack and his devious revenge plan. This week, he was working on Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) and approached her about helping him get revenge on Victor. And this is not even about business. This is purely personal payback after what he did to him and Diane.

So, Jack wants Patty to help him make sure that Victor loses the love of his life forever, which of course is Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott). And we saw Jack saying if Patty did this for him, it would go a long way to prove to him she’s changed. And she did confirm to Jack that Victor paid her for one night to be on the yacht with Jack.

Young and the Restless: Patty in Jacks Corner

And while Patty insisted she didn’t drug the booze, she admitted that Victor might have done it because she felt funny. Kind of warm and tingly. But she thought it was just her warm feelings for Jack. And while Patty admitted exactly what Jack suspected, that was just a chat at the bar. So, I’m guessing he needs Patty to either tell the DA what went down if he wants to press criminal charges or maybe it’ll be enough for Jack if Patty tells Nikki exactly what Victor paid her to do.

Because we know he’s been lying and denying and basically saying Jack was up to more debauchery and was lying about being set up and that he just decided to cheat on Diane. So, if Nikki heard it from Patty, that would probably be enough for her to call out Victor and decide she’s done with him for good. I say for good. I don’t think she can stay away from him forever. But we’ll see.

But it definitely looks like Patty is so desperate that she will do whatever she can to keep Jack in her life. And really, Patty is not a fan of Victor’s. She shot him back in the day. Fair enough. She also shot Jack. But she shot Victor and that was why he needed a heart transplant. So, Patty has zero loyalty to Victor. And she already got her bag of cash on Young and the Restless.

Young and the Restless: Kyle Questions Jack

Young and the Restless spoilers for next week also have Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) asking Jack if he still plans to use Patty to go after Victor because if you recall, Kyle wanted Jack to leave Victor to him and Jack agreed at the time that it would blindside Victor if Kyle was the one who came for him.

But it looks like Jack has taken matters into his own hands. Because now he’s back to wanting to use Patty against Victor. But then again, they can let Jack come at Victor personally while Kyle looks for a way to go after Victor professionally. Hit him with the old double whammy.

Devon’s Anger Issues and Sketchy Moves on Y&R

All right, let’s talk about Devon’s anger issues and sketchy moves that he makes next week on Y&R. If you remember, Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) told Devon that he was getting amped up about Cane. Because he’s so angry at Mariah. And Lily told Devon he needs to go see Mariah and work through this. And you guys know Devon and Mariah were great friends for a long, long time. They worked together. You know, they were extremely close. And I think that’s part of what is hitting Devon so hard.

It feels like just this bone deep betrayal. But he’s going to go next week to visit Mariah at the clinic when we all know that Devon really wants her in prison, and he hands Mariah an envelope and says, “This is for you.” So, I wonder if Devon is giving her a fat stack of cash. Because he wants to pay Mariah to never come back to Genoa City so that she will never be around Dominic Winters (Ethan Ray Clark) again.

Devon is really ticked off that Dominic is concerned and asking about Mariah. So, I know that she’d be devastated if Devon did this. But she would probably consider doing it for Devon because she caused him and Abby Newman (Melissa Ordway) so much pain. But obviously her mom and others would be upset about it.

Young and the Restless: Danny Romalotti Missing

Also, next week, Christine Romalotti (Lauralee Bell) asks Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) if something is wrong, and he’s hoping not. But he asked Christine if she’s heard from his dad. So, something is obviously going on with Danny Romalotti because it sounds like he might be missing.

And what’s a little scary about that is this is not very long after crazy Patty was just telling Matt about high school and that she used to date Danny. Of course, Matt had no idea who he was. But it would be scary if Patty has Danny, you know, if she snatched him or if he ran into Matt and they’re together somewhere.

So, we’ll see how all of that goes. But be sure to come back for our detailed daily spoilers tomorrow for the week of May 18th. And check back for our weekly predictions, two week spoilers, and so much more.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

Right now, hopes for Avengers: Doomsday are higher than ever. Marvel bigwigs like Kevin Feige and the Russos are hoping that this film can overcome the dreaded superhero fatigue, excite the public, and transform the MCU back into a money-printing machine. After enduring years of duds like Eternals and Captain America: Brave New World, fans are just hoping to see something as cool as Endgame. Despite the collective hype, though, Doomsday is still a huge gamble, and if it fails, it may very well take the entire cinematic universe with it.

Unfortunately, there have been some powerful hints that Doomsday might spell doom for the MCU. For example, Nightcrawler actor Alan Cumming recently gave an interview to Deadline in which he talked about his experiences working on both X2: X-Men United and Avengers: Doomsday. While he tried to keep things positive about the upcoming Marvel blockbuster, he did say something a bit alarming. According to him, Doomsday is so confusingly chock full of different characters that the film feels like “superhero soup.”

Welcome, Crawler!

While plenty of normies know him from the excellent Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, Alan Cumming first landed on geeks’ radar when he portrayed Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, one of the best superhero sequels ever made. Fans loved that film, but the actor apparently had a terrible time making it. Cumming cryptically told Deadline that “There were things that happened on the [X2] set that were just shocking to me” and that “The working environment was very, very wrong and very just unacceptable.” Comparatively, he found working on Avengers: Doomsday to be much more pleasant in almost every way.

However, the actor did have a few blunt notes about Marvel’s upcoming blockbuster. While he was happy to go back to playing Nightcrawler “because I really liked the character,” he declared that Avengers: Doomsday “is like superhero soup. There’s so many of them in it. I just can’t keep up.” He noted that reading the script was particularly difficult because “everyone’s got two names.” On top of that, “there were secret names in it because they didn’t want to let out that a certain character was coming back,” and they used different names in the script. Cumming ultimately wrapped his thoughts by saying, “It was so confusing.”

Is Marvel Doomed?

I’m as hyped for Avengers: Doomsday as the next nerd with an embarrassing amount of Marvel action figures and comic books. However, Alan Cumming’s interview has me very nervous about this upcoming blockbuster. I keep coming back to a simple thought: if the guy actually making this movie can’t keep track of the characters or plot, what chance do the rest of us have? Even if the plot of the movie is perfectly clear (which, given its crunchy connection to the Multiverse, is deeply unlikely), we’ll still be left with a big bowl of “superhero soup.” 

That is, the film may very well be juggling far too many characters to do all of them justice, and we may be getting a bunch of crowd-pleasing cameos at the expense of telling a good story. Plus, Marvel is gambling almost everything on the idea that general audiences won’t get confused by seeing so many different character variations and alternate universes onscreen. Sure, Marvel superfans can keep up, but normies might get hung up asking why Captain America is back, why Iron Man is Doctor Doom, and (if plot reports are true) why the universes of their favorite old Marvel movies keep getting destroyed.

I’ve got my fingers and replica adamantium claws crossed that I’m wrong about all of this. Marvel used alternate universes quite well in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine, so there’s a chance that Avengers: Doomsday will be another critical and commercial Hulk smash of a movie. But with so many characters jammed into one movie to fight a Big Bad we haven’t even met yet, Doomsday looks like it’s on track to be a huge mess. And if Marvel spills this particular bowl of superhero soup all over the place, nobody will be coming back for more when Secret Wars rolls around!

By Brent McKnight
| Published 29 seconds ago

In 2020, normally reliable box office draw Gerard Butler released a flop. Unfortunately, his disaster movie Greenland hit theaters while the real world was already living through a global catastrophe. Audiences stuck at home during COVID weren’t especially interested in watching another story about society collapsing, panic in the streets, and governments struggling to contain mass death. The timing crushed its theatrical potential.

But it found life over time by streaming on HBO, and word of mouth grew to the point that, against all odds, Greenland got a sequel in January of this year. Now both the sequel and the original are topping the streaming charts. Greenland 2: Migration is the most-watched movie on HBO Max this week, and the original Greenland is right behind it at number two.

Before You Watch The Sequel, Watch Greenland

If you go into Greenland, the latest world-threatening disaster opus fronted by Gerard Butler, expecting the over-the-top scene-chomping chaos in the vein of Geostorm, you’ll find something quite different. Sure, the fate of the world is on the line, but the Scottish tough guy isn’t the one responsible for saving the day, and this is much more grounded and straightforward.

Though we’re talking destruction on a potentially global scale, the story is much smaller and personal. Instead of trying to save the world, he’s just trying to save his family. The result is the best disaster movie since the 2015 Danish import The Wave set the high-water mark in that regard, pun very much intended.

Gerard Butler plays John Garrity, an everyman trying to mend fences with his estranged wife, Allison (Morena Baccarin), because every hero in every disaster movie always has an estranged wife, and his moppet of a son, Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd). When a comet with the decidedly ho-hum name of Clarke makes a beeline for Earth in what would be an extinction-level event, he has to find a way to get them to safety.

That’s it. At a basic level, that’s the story. It is, of course, much more difficult than that, and Gerard Butler’s John is thwarted at every turn. In reality, it’s all pretty typical stuff, standard disaster movie fare. Their escape is fraught with obstacles: there’s a lottery to decide who the government saves, the diabetic son loses his insulin, there are problems with the evacuation point, the family gets separated, and so on. There’s nothing particularly inventive, surprising, or even original going on, but while Greenland hits familiar beats, it does most of them really well.

A Series Of Escalating Problems

Chris Sparling’s Greenland script is essentially an escalating series of problems, one piled upon the next. Simple, but effective. And stuntman-turned-director Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) takes every opportunity to ratchet up the pressure. Again, there’s nothing mind-blowing or innovative, but it’s efficient and generally successful in its efforts to crank up the tension.

Eventually, fire rains from the sky, and exploding planes are everywhere while Gerard Butler hammer-fights in the back of a pickup on the freeway. Scenes like that pepper the movie, highlighting Waugh’s action background.

But for most of Greenland, probably the first two-thirds, the threat of annihilation from above is just that, a threat, looming out there. We get moments and glimpses, often shown via news footage or social media posts, which keep the larger threat a presence while the characters deal with the more in-your-face concerns of the moment. It’s also a handy strategy with the film’s relatively modest $35 million budget.

Gerard Butler’s John and Morena Baccarin’s Allison navigating the human element is where the film is most harrowing during this stage. Waugh and Sparling do a good job of showing the various reactions to the strain of impending doom. Some people pray, some party, some essentially kick off the Purge; there’s both cruelty and kindness as individuals go out of their way to help, while others only look out for number one. If a car pulls over, are their intentions altruistic, or do they have robbery on their mind? Questions like this center and ground the main action, giving every choice and move an urgency.

For the most part, Greenland clips along at a brisk pace, propelled by the moment-to-moment hurdles, it’s one barrier after another. The filmmakers don’t waste a lot of time with the setup; there’s tension in the marriage, the kid has an illness to contend with, there’s a comet, go. Gerard Butler plays a solid, concerned father and husband, Morena Baccarin delivers an equally sturdy, worried wife and mother, and the kid is there, too. The script doesn’t ask much of the actors or require them to stretch in any way, but they do what they need to do and accomplish what they set out to accomplish.

One Disaster After Another

This one-disaster-to-the-next approach to story structure provides enough energy to push Greenland forward. Until it doesn’t. With around 40 minutes left, things hit a deep lull, and the momentum peters out. The story bogs down in the minutiae of the Garrity family drama, which does the film no favors. It’s tedious and bland, not to mention ill-timed in the grand narrative scheme.

When we stop, we realize how flimsy the characters are. It’s forgivable when they rush through one hazard after another, reacting and making split-second choices, but when there’s time to truly look at them, their thinness shows. No one cares why Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin’s characters broke up.

Greenland attempts to work its way out of this pause by ramping up the disaster quotient. This is where we get flaming space debris bombarding our heroes, apocalyptic chaos, and what amounts to a car chase with comet chunks. But even though they up the ante in this regard, the plot rehashes what came before; the characters do things they’ve already done, and this repetition feels stale. Even with cataclysmic explosions, fireballs from the heavens, and all manner of end-of-the-world pandemonium, the film kind of limps to the finish line.

With Greenland, Ric Roman Waugh, Gerard Butler, and company deliver precisely the movie they promise. Big and booming, there’s plenty of bombastic thrills and brink-of-annihilation action, with just enough human connection to keep viewers engaged. It never veers from the disaster movie template, but everything it does, it does well, and should more than sate those looking to watch the world crumble on screen.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 second ago

To this day, the failure of Game of Thrones feels a little bit surreal. Once upon a time, it was one of the most popular shows in the world, and it was lauded as the best example of how to adapt a popular book series into live-action. By the end, though, everything had gone fully off the rails. The writers started debating from George R.R. Martin’s books before running out of books to adapt. As a result, the writing and characterization suffered, and the final season was so universally hated that many of the show’s biggest fans made a Night’s Watch-style vow to never again watch this acclaimed series.

The critical failure of Game of Thrones came as a huge surprise to most of the fandom, but it really shouldn’t have. You see, this show was created by David Benioff, a man who first achieved mainstream success by writing Troy, a blockbuster adaptation of The Iliad starring Brad Pitt. While that film made a profit, it has a 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes because it’s a poorly-written piece of trash. Between that and its obscenely poor adaptation of the original source material, writer David Benioff had a destiny that even Maester Aemon could see: to completely and utterly f*ck up Game of Thrones. 

A Song Of Ice And Failure

The first film that David Benioff ever wrote was 25th Hour, a Spike Lee film about a man enjoying his last day of freedom before he goes to jail for seven years. It was critically acclaimed, but with a box office of only $23.9 million, clearly overlooked by the general public. Benioff’s next project was Troy, an infinitely more ambitious film. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring big names like Brad Pitt and future Game of Thrones star Sean Bean, this blockbuster earned nearly half a billion dollars at the box office. Less than two years later, Benioff began talks with George R.R. Martin about adapting his famous book series.

Most fans agree that Game of Thrones was good, right until it wasn’t. Why, then, do I think Troy effectively predicted the downfall of this popular HBO series? Simple: Troy might have been Benioff’s breakout film, but it was also a stinker later declared “rotten” over on Rotten Tomatoes. There are many problems with the movie (a movie that both Brad Pitt and his co-star Peter O’Toole later trashed), but most of the biggest problems come from Benioff’s unwillingness to properly adapt the original source material. That means he screwed up a beloved story humans have been studying for literally thousands of years.

Game Of Thrones Choked At The End

The movie’s portrayal of The Iliad is full of major changes from the original text. For example, the gods are removed almost entirely. Some characters die who are meant to survive (like Menalus), and other characters live who were supposed to die (like Paris). Other characters are rewritten for the worst, like war hero Odysseus being simplified to “the smart guy” and captive Briseis being promoted to a Trojan goddess. Finally, the movie condenses a decade-long conflict into a weeks-long skirmish while throwing in plenty of elements (including the Trojan Horse chicanery) that weren’t actually written about in The Iliad. 

In short, the writing in Troy was awful, and those of us who love Greek mythology have despised this film for more than 20 years due to its various inaccuracies. A few years later, Benioff’s Game of Thrones showed the same sloppy disregard for the original source material. Major characters like Young Griff (who claims to be Aegon Targaryen, the rightful king of Westeros) are cut out entirely. In another case, the mystically terrifying and downright apocalyptic Euron Greyjoy was reduced to a cartoonish caricature of swashbuckling swagger. 

That Face When You Read The Script

Fan-favorite character Tyrion was downright sanitized compared to his portrayal in the books, which was already bad enough. Later, his brother’s long journey towards independence was completely forgotten so he could simp for his sister yet again. The Dorne storyline was turned into an amateur side story (the Sand Snakes were just pure cringe), Lady Stoneheart was cut out, and franchise Big Bad the Night King got one-shotted by a little girl.

These are just a few of the problematic ways that the show disappointed its most dedicated fans (don’t even get me started on Daenerys’ dumb heel turn and Bran’s inexplicable importance to the ending). But it’s important to note that the biggest disappointments came from how Game of Thrones veered away from the original text in many frustrating ways. These were unforced errors overseen by lazy showrunners too concerned with wrapping everything up than making sure this show stuck the landing. One of those showrunners was David Benioff, who explained his sloppy approach to literary adaptations over two decades ago.

Now, Our Watch Is Complete

In a 2004 issue of the journal Creative Screenwriting, Benioff discusses his approach to adapting Homer’s epic poem The Iliad into Troy, a blockbuster feature film. “I always followed the route that I thought was better for the movie; if that meant that I was cheating on Homer, then so be it.” To the writer, it was an easy decision to cut or change things from the book in order to create a better film. But Benioff seemingly didn’t know or care that, to major fans of the original source material, major changes would keep us from actually enjoying the movie. 

In short, that’s what happened with Game of Thrones. After relatively faithfully adapting earlier books, the show kept making bigger and bigger changes that angered the fandom. This culminated in a slopfest of a final season that very nearly ruined one of the biggest franchises in television history. All of this happened under the not-so-watchful eye of David Benioff, a man whose entire Hollywood career was built on badly adapting a beloved, swords-and-sorcery literary epic. Seriously, go watch Troy, and then listen to your favorite mythology bro tell you everything that movie got wrong about Homer’s ancient classic. After that, you’ll know why Game of Thrones’ failed fate was sealed long before its first episode ever aired on HBO.

Jessie James Decker is getting candid about another body change, and this time, she’s ready to go smaller. The country singer revealed she has officially decided to downsize her breast implants, five years after first undergoing cosmetic surgery.

During a recent Q&A on Instagram, Decker responded honestly when a fan asked about her breast augmentation journey. “I’ve officially decided to downsize,” the singer shared on her Instagram Stories. “I’m trying to figure out when and where, but I am ready.”

Decker, who previously opted for implants around the “400-plus” cc range, admitted they no longer feel right for her body, especially as she continues prioritizing fitness. “They have been a fun ride, so to speak, and I, of course, won’t ever have small ones, but any means,” she explained. “But the more in shape I’m getting, they just become more annoying and obvious to me how big they are for my body. I’m ready.”

Decker Previously Joked She Went ‘Big Or Go Home’

The announcement comes years after Decker openly discussed her decision to undergo breast augmentation in 2021 after welcoming children. At the time, the “Wanted” singer jokingly admitted she decided to “go big or go home.” “After deciding we were done having babies, I was finally ready to go big or go home, ha!” she previously wrote.

Decker explained she had first undergone a breast reduction and lift after feeling unhappy with changes to her body following pregnancies. “I had breast reduction and lift a couple years ago when they were hanging down to my belly button,” she candidly shared. “They were so big and perky before children, and I wanted them back … plus some.”

Pregnancy Changed How Jessie James Decker Felt About Her Implants

However, Decker later admitted she began second-guessing the larger implants after unexpectedly becoming pregnant with son Denver. “If I had known we were going to have another, I wouldn’t have gone so big,” she admitted in 2023. “When I’m pregnant, they get massive. Like, quadruple in size. Definitely need a reduction in the future.”

Decker shares four children, Vivianne Rose, Eric “Bubby” Thomas II, Forrest Bradley, and Denver Calloway, with husband and former NFL player Eric Decker.

While discussing family life last year, Decker made it clear she and Eric are likely finished growing their family. “Well, [Eric] is snipped, so if I were to get knocked up again, it’s because of that two percent chance!” she joked to Us Weekly.

The singer also reflected on raising her toddler, Denver, alongside her older children. “Denver’s starting to walk, which is cool,” Decker said. “We’re obviously not sleeping very much, [but] it’s amazing to be able to do it all over again. It’s fun that the kids are older and getting to do this with us, watching their little baby brother grow up.”

Decker Previously Broke Down Over Cruel Body-Shaming Comments

Decker’s latest comments about wanting to downsize her implants come years after she candidly opened up about the emotional toll online body criticism had taken on her. Back in 2022, the singer tearfully addressed harsh comments about her appearance after trolls began criticizing her weight and body shape online.

“They’re talking about, apparently, how fat I’ve gotten, and how boxy and how terrible my body looks,” Decker said at the time. “It’s pretty awful, and I just can’t believe this is still happening in the world, like that people are doing this.”

Jessie James Decker Refused To Let Weight Gain Define Her

The country star admitted she had gained weight but pushed back on the idea that it should matter to anyone else. “I used to obsess over it, try to stay a certain weight, and most recently, over the past year, I decided to just let myself live,” she explained.

“I work out, and I eat what I want, and I 100% am 10 lbs. heavier than what I used to be,” she continued. “Truthfully. I used to weigh like 115 [lbs.], and I’m not anymore! I eat what I wan,t and I’m happy with that.” Still, Decker admitted the relentless criticism impacted her confidence, saying the hateful comments sometimes made her question herself.

“I cannot believe there are people out there that say these things about people. How can you wake up and live with yourself?” she said while becoming emotional. “And it does make you stop and look in the mirror and go, is there something wrong with me? Am I gaining weight, is there something wrong with me?”

The world of Friday the 13th is finally returning, but this time audiences are heading back to Camp Crystal Lake long before Jason Voorhees became one of horror’s most iconic killers. A24 and Peacock’s upcoming prequel series Crystal Lake is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated horror television events in years, blending psychological horror, slasher roots, and prestige television storytelling into a fresh take on the legendary franchise.

Produced by A24, Crystal Lake serves as a prequel to the original Friday the 13th film and will explore the dark origins surrounding Pamela Voorhees, Camp Crystal Lake, and the tragedy that changed horror history forever. The series is being developed for Peacock and is currently scheduled to premiere on October 15, 2026.

Leading the cast is Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, the grieving mother whose descent into madness became the catalyst for the franchise’s blood-soaked legacy. The role marks a major shift for Cardellini, who is best known for projects like Dead to Me, Scooby-Doo, and Freaks and Geeks. Joining her is Callum Vinson as a young Jason Voorhees, giving fans their first real look at the character before he became the masked killer audiences know today.

Additional cast members include William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, and Gwendolyn Sundstrom, alongside recurring appearances from Nick Cordileone, Joy Suprano, Danielle Kotch, and Christopher Denham.

The series has undergone a fascinating development journey. Originally announced in 2022 with Bryan Fuller attached as showrunner, the project later shifted creative direction before landing with writer and producer Brad Caleb Kane. Kane has described Crystal Lake as more than a traditional slasher series, calling it a psychological thriller inspired by paranoid 1970s cinema. According to Kane, the show will still feature brutal kills and rivers of blood, but the violence will be grounded in character, trauma, and atmosphere rather than simple shock value.

Linda Cardellini (Pam Voorhees) and Callum Vinson (Jason Voorhees)

That approach feels perfectly aligned with A24’s modern horror identity. Over the past decade, the studio has transformed genre filmmaking with films like Hereditary, Midsommar, and Talk to Me, often emphasizing emotional dread and layered storytelling over traditional jump scares. Crystal Lake appears poised to bring that same elevated horror style into the Friday the 13th universe while still honoring the franchise’s campfire slasher roots.

Filming reportedly took place in New Jersey, including locations tied to the original 1980 movie, giving the project an extra layer of authenticity for longtime fans. Production wrapped in late 2025, and recent updates suggest the series is now deep into post-production.

For horror fans, Crystal Lake represents something the franchise has never truly explored before: the emotional and psychological foundation behind the Voorhees family tragedy. Instead of simply revisiting Jason’s kills, the series aims to show how the legend of Crystal Lake was born in the first place.

And with A24 involved, expectations are understandably sky high.