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Entertainment

‘The Rookie’ Wraps Up With a Chenford Cliffhanger That Saves an Uneven Season 8

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Nathan Fillion smiling at a public appearance

ABC’s The Rookie has offered plenty of exciting twists and turns this season. Our favorite police force has dealt with several terrifying villains, and we’ve even had a pretty blissful season of Chenford romance. But there were also some disappointing moments. The procedural still seems devoted to throwing in those pesky documentary-style episodes, and Season 8 relied way too heavily on bringing back old characters that didn’t offer anything to the current storytelling. I would have said that this season has been an uneven ride, except that the last moment in the finale ensures that I’ll be tuning in next season.

‘The Rookie’ Endangers Most of the Crew During an Exciting Mission

The episode opens with John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) underwater with shots ricocheting around him. It appears to be a dream, except that this exact scenario plays out later on. The main storyline in the episode revolves around criminal mastermind Heath Everett (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) being transferred from a Terminal Island prison to a nearby courthouse. Liam Glasser’s (Seth Gabel) lawyer, Malcolm (Sean Patrick Thomas), has sort of nonsensically become part of Everett’s legal team. He shows up at Wesley Evers’ (Shawn Ashmore) house to make amends, and asks whether Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) would be willing to drop the bribery charge against Everett. Wesley will be “paid handsomely,” which just seems like trading in one bribe for another — more on this later. In a completely predictable turn of events, Everett escapes during the prison transfer, although his escape is legendary. Somehow, a helicopter with a gigantic magnet simply lifts the entire van that Everett is in, and carries him off.

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Nathan Fillion smiling at a public appearance


Nathan Fillion’s 8-Part Crime Thriller Is So Good, Fans Are Watching It on a Loop

Fillion is currently set to reprise his fan-favorite role in a ‘Firefly’ reboot.

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Through an elaborate plan, Everett ends up on a big ship, located near San Diego. The LAPD comes up with a small strike force to recapture Everett, which all seems hugely unrealistic for a local police precinct to take on. To make things even sillier, firefighter/EMT Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan) comes along. The whole team paints their faces in camo and rides up to the ship in dinghies. This entire sequence of events is extremely hard to see, which has always been one of my biggest criticisms of The Rookie. Let’s just say that there’s a lot of shooting as Everett’s men try to protect him. Eventually, Everett is nabbed, and Nolan is separated from the group. He is able to defend himself and ends up driving a car on the ship (I know) until he’s forced to jump into the water. We see the exact scenario in his dream play out, but Bailey pulls him to safety, and all is well again. But I was stupid to think that Everett being in custody meant things were over.

‘The Rookie’ Season 8, Episode 18 Sets Up a Few Less Important Plots

Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) in a suit in the station in 'The Rookie' Season 8 finale.
Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) in a suit in the station in ‘The Rookie’ Season 8 finale.
Image via ABC
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There is so much major excitement happening with the take-down of Everett, but The Rookie still tried to set up a few secondary storylines. To tie up Wesley’s narrative, he decides to actually take Malcolm up on his offer and also joins Everett’s legal team. He approaches Tim to back down on the bribery charge, and Tim (appropriately) loses his cool. He tells Wesley their friendship has officially ended. In an out-of-character move, Wesley even says that perhaps it was Tim himself who elicited the bribe from Everett. At the end of the episode, Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) tells Tim that Wesley has actually been working as a double agent to help capture Everett. Because this happens offscreen, it feels completely unearned and also unethical (which Wesley wouldn’t be down for, right?) Not sure why The Rookie writers decided to throw all of this into the episode, because Wesley deserves better than a throwaway side plot that doesn’t make sense. And we don’t really get any resolution in the argument between Tim and Wesley.

The finale episode also gives us a Miles Penn (Deric Augustine) plot, which should have been a main storyline in another episode. Miles thinks that he’s going to be done with the rookie program that day. But things go south when he’s put in charge of the station after everyone else is occupied with Everett’s escape. It’s immediately clear that Miles might not be up for the challenge, as we see chaos unfold with several drunk and disorderly criminals. In a terrifying moment, a shootout occurs in the station, which means that Miles didn’t process someone correctly. Miles is bewildered and assures Lucy and Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) that he searched everyone. He is sidelined for duty, especially because one of the prisoners died in the gunfire, and a cop was injured. We later see Miles crying in the locker room, convinced he’s going to wash out. Nyla comes in to give him the good news: two other officers didn’t search the gunman correctly earlier, and he was able to stash a gun in the holding cell. Miles isn’t at fault, but when he asks if he’s actually still graduating, Nyla informs him that he officially has three weeks left. However, she’s going to put in a recommendation that he be accelerated out of the program. Miles offers such a great energy to the show, so I’m glad he won’t be exiting.

‘The Rookie’s Chenford Gets a Blissful Engagement, and Then…

Lucy Chen (Melissa O'Neill) in camo and SWAT gear in 'The Rookie' Season 8 finale.
Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neill) in camo and SWAT gear in ‘The Rookie’ Season 8 finale.
Image via ABC
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All of Tim’s friends implore him to finally ask Lucy to marry him, but first, Tim loses the ring in another entirely predictable plot point. Who would put a priceless ring in their pocket? Everyone helps him look for the ring, and eventually it’s located. Tim and Lucy go for a sunset walk on the beach, and in one of the loveliest moments in the show, he tells her how much she has changed his life and how much she means to him. He proposes, she says yes, and there couldn’t have been a sweeter, more perfect engagement moment for Chenford. I thought the episode was going to end there, but in one shocking twist, a man and woman come up to Lucy and Tim on the beach. At first, they just congratulate them on their engagement, and then they stick needles in both of their necks! One whispers, “Heath Everett says payback is a bitch!” and we finally get what’s happening. Everett is taking his revenge, but the culprits put hoods over Tim and Lucy’s heads, so they’re being kidnapped, not killed. As they reach for each other and start to lose consciousness, the episode ends.

This is a fantastic way to end the season. It sets up enough intrigue for Season 9, and guarantees that viewers will want to tune back in to find out what happens to the newly engaged couple. The episode does have some missteps. For example, I didn’t even get into the unimportant sideplot of Dash (Beckett Hawley) needing letters of recommendation from Nolan and Bailey for college. But the show did ratchet up the action with the exciting boat mission, and Everett seems to have been made our new, official big baddie. I’m a sucker for a good cliffhanger, and with this finale, The Rookie has ensured I’m a fan once again.

The Rookie is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.


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The Rookie
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A surprising twist at the end of the finale promises an exciting future for the show.

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Release Date

October 16, 2018

Showrunner

Alexi Hawley

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Pros & Cons
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  • We finally get a sweet, moving Chenford engagement.
  • That shocking twist means we’ll eagerly anticipate Season 9.
  • The entire mission is way too dark to make out what’s happening.
  • Bailey tagging along again makes zero sense.
  • Would LAPD cops actually take on a mission like this?

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Whoopi Goldberg throws cue cards at “The View ”table after cohosts interrupt her 6 times in a row: 'Hush up!'

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Cohost Ana Navarro correctly predicted that the moment would make “headlines.”

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6 Upcoming Action Movies, Ranked by Anticipation

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Jason Statham is armed and leaning against a wall in Mutiny

Action hype can usually be determined through a trailer and is relatively fussier. Action fans are not just asking whether the movie is big. We are asking what kind of velocity it promises. Is it built around star charisma, physical jeopardy, giant myth, kinetic wit, revenge grammar, or that very old-fashioned pleasure of watching one determined person move through impossible space while everything around them catches fire?

That is why an upcoming action ranking can look a little strange. It’s not going to be spot-on either because a trailer can be made to look flashy and the movie can just suck. A movie can be huge and still not feel charged in the right way. Another can look a little less colossal and still feel like it has genuine motion in its bones. These 6 upcoming action movies? This is how they’re looking so far.

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7


6

‘Mutiny’ (2026)

Jason Statham is armed and leaning against a wall in Mutiny
Jason Statham is armed in Mutiny.
Image via Lionsgate

Mutiny being built around Jason Statham framed for the murder of his billionaire boss and forced to punch his way through an international conspiracy is such a sturdy piece of action architecture that I barely need more than the sentence. The film is set for August 21, 2026, Jean-François Richet is directing, and the official site is already live, which gives the whole thing a satisfying “this is coming, not just developing” solidity.

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And yet this is exactly the sort of Statham vehicle where my excitement is confident rather than feverish. I know the baseline will probably work. He will carry the frame, the threat map will stay readable, someone will badly underestimate how angry he is, and there will be at least one sequence where professionalism turns into annihilation. That is a nice floor. It is not automatically a sky-high ceiling. I am ready. I am just not vibrating. Statham has to change something here.

5

‘Masters of the Universe’ (2026)

Idris Elba as Man at Arms, Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam, and Camila Mendes as Teela in Masters of the Universe. Image via MGM

Masters of the Universe is much easier to get emotional about because the risk is part of the thrill. He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine), Skeletor (Jared Leto), Teela (Camila Mendes), and Duncan (Idris Elba) already suggest a movie that at least understands it needs physicality, pulp myth, and a little weird old toy-box grandeur to survive. The film opens June 5, 2026.

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What excites me is the possibility of full-bodied fantasy action, swords, transformations, cosmic villainy, the kind of heroic scale modern franchise movies sometimes flatten into gray sludge. He-Man should not feel tasteful. He should feel like a primal action-fantasy image with absurd sincerity behind him. If the movie really leans into Eternia as a place of muscle, tragedy, and theatrical evil rather than bland CG sprawl, this could jump much higher by release. For now, the anticipation is real because the movie could either become a delirious win or a spectacular wreck. Both are energizing in their own way.

4

‘Supergirl’ (2026)

Milly Alcock smiling in 'Supergirl' Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Supergirl is where the ranking starts getting genuinely hot for me. Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) leads, Craig Gillespie directs, and the early reporting around the project has stressed the rougher, harsher texture of this version of Kara. That matters. Supergirl works best for me when she is not just female Superman, but a more bruised, more displaced, more emotionally scorched figure carrying cosmic power with a different kind of wound.

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What makes it especially promising as action is that the film does not sound soft-edged. The early descriptions of pirate attacks, rougher space-travel texture, and a less polished heroic surface suggest a movie that wants the action to feel dangerous rather than merely pretty. That is exactly the right instinct for Kara. If this movie really gives her rage, loneliness, and momentum instead of just iconography, it could be one of the year’s biggest action surprises.

3

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ (2026)

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/Thing in Avengers: Doomsday Image via Marvel Studios

Avengers: Doomsday is anticipation powered by pressure. Joe Russo and Anthony Russo are back, and Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) gives the whole project a kind of unstable voltage. It is not just another ensemble movie now. It is an explicit attempt to make Marvel feel dangerous, event-sized, and globally discussable again. Would it happen the same way Infinity Wars and Endgame did? I’m not sure.

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As an action fan though, the appeal is obvious. Avengers movies work well when they stop feeling like adjacent solo-brand maintenance and start feeling like large-scale impact design. Convergences. Clashes. Giant movement across multiple fronts. Characters meeting each other’s action grammar in ways we have not seen before. Doom adds another layer because he promises authoritarian force and theatrical intelligence rather than just another sky-beam problem. If the Russos can reintroduce that Infinity WarEndgame sense of converging momentum, this could be huge in exactly the sweaty, communal way blockbuster action is supposed to be.

2

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (2026)

Tom Holland as Spider-Man sitting on Frank Castle's car in 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'
Tom Holland as Spider-Man sitting on Frank Castle’s car in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the one that makes me grin because the setup is so clean. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) was left, by the end of No Way Home, stripped down, isolated, and forced to rebuild from the pavement up. That is where Spider-Man action gets springy again. Smaller rooms, harder landings, more improvisation, less multiversal fireworks covering for the absence of personal jeopardy.

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And Holland is perfectly positioned for that kind of comeback. The ending of No Way Home left Peter in a version of the character’s loneliest lane, and that loneliness is fantastic action fuel. It changes how every swing feels. Every fight. Every escape. Every decision about whether he can afford to be heroic when no larger safety net is waiting behind the mask. It’s like the perfect yin-and-yang balance. This is why I have it above Avengers: Doomsday in pure action anticipation: I can already see the physical language. Rainy alleys, scrappier combat, momentum with bruises in it. That gets me every time.

1

‘The Odyssey’ (2026)

Telemachus lookig intently in The Odyssey
Tom Holland as Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
Image via Universal Pictures

The Odyssey had to be number one. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Odysseus (Matt Damon) already make this feel like a studio flex from a healthier era. The cast around him is absurdly stacked. But even before the cast, the material itself makes this the most exciting action prospect on the board. This is not just a prestige epic. It is one of the foundational action stories in Western storytelling: shipwrecks, monsters, sieges, archery, disguises, rage, endurance, fathers and sons, men trying to come home through a world that keeps refusing to let them.

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And Nolan, when he is really locked in, is a war architect of momentum. He understands ordeal. He understands scale as movement rather than wallpaper. He understands how to turn one man’s objective into a sequence of giant physical trials without losing the obsession at the center. That is why The Odyssey is the most anticipated action movie here for me. It has the chance to be huge without feeling synthetic, mythic without feeling dead, and action-heavy in a way that still hurts. That is the dream.


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The Odyssey


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Release Date

July 17, 2026

Runtime

172 Minutes

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Anna Faris Grateful For ‘Scary Movie’ Comeback

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Anna Faris at 'Overboard' Los Angeles Premiere

Anna Faris is opening up about her return to the “Scary Movie” franchise, describing it as a meaningful moment in her career. The actress rose to fame following her portrayal of Cindy Campbell in 2000’s “Scary Movie,” which paved the way for her Hollywood career.

In 2020, the actress stepped back from work to focus on her family, but she is now grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with the Wayans brothers and to once again reprise the role that helped define her career.

Anna Faris at 'Overboard' Los Angeles Premiere
O’Connor/AFF-USA.com / MEGA

Marlon, Shawn, and Keenen Wayans have reclaimed control of the “Scary Movie” franchise, two decades after they were allegedly pushed out of their own creation. The upcoming instalment, the sixth in the franchise, has the original cast members reuniting to parody horror movies and pop culture.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Anna Faris, who reprises her role as “final girl” Cindy Campbell, shared how meaningful the opportunity was, both professionally and personally. “I had been coming around to the idea of Hollywood sort of putting me out to pasture. And that was okay,” Faris said, describing her career trajectory before she got the offer for “Scary Movie 6.”

The Actress Lost Touch With The Wayans Brothers

Faris lost her home during the devastating Palisades Fire in 2025. Just a month later, however, she received a call from Marlon about the movie. “With the house burning down, there was a lot of taking stock. So to have this opportunity to thank them — I got to thank them every day. They were probably really annoyed with me,” Faris shared.

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Admittedly, Faris said the call was the first time she had spoken to any of the Wayans brothers since they worked together on “Scary Movie 2,” the last movie in the franchise they were involved in. As previously reported by The Blast, Marlon claims the Weinstein brothers “stripped” the franchise from them, and they were in no way involved in the third, fourth, and fifth films.

Faris returned for “Scary Movie 3” and “Scary Movie 4,” and despite wanting to reach out to the Wayans brothers, she had reservations. “I had always wanted to. But honestly, I didn’t know if they were mad at me,” Faris confessed.

In an interview, Marlon said he didn’t take Faris’ involvement in the other films personally, adding that he was simply glad she was part of the sixth instalment.

‘Scary Movie’ Launched Anna Faris’ Career

Anna Faris at Los Angeles premiere of 'Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2'
Lumeimages / MEGA

Faris was an aspiring novelist who completed her degree in literature in 1999. While studying, she did acting gigs for extra income. After graduating, however, she gave professional acting a shot, and “Scary Movie” was her first audition in Hollywood.

The first movie was a critical and commercial success, and it skyrocketed Faris’ career. Apart from being in four “Scary Movie” films, the actress also starred in several movies, including “The House Bunny,” “What’s Your Number?” “Overboard,” “Just Friends,” and “The Dictator.” She also lent her voice to animated movies, such as “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “The Emoji Movie.”

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The Actress Took An Unintentional Sabbatical

Anna Faris at 41st Annual People's Choice Awards
Lumeimages / MEGA

In 2013, Faris was cast as one of the lead characters in the Chuck Lorre sitcom “Mom,” alongside Allison Janney. After Season 7, however, Faris announced her sudden departure from the show, citing a desire “to pursue other opportunities.” The show continued for one more season without Faris before ending in 2020.

The actress didn’t entirely exit from acting, but she became more selective of her projects. In a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, Faris said she stepped back from work to spend more quality time with her son. “I kind of took my foot off the gas and I spent a lot of time with my son. It felt really good. It wasn’t conscious, but sort of a sabbatical, I guess,” she explained.

Anna Faris Said Returning To ‘Scary Movie’ Was ‘Healing’

Faris was not part of “Scary Movie 5” because the studio opted for a younger cast, choosing Ashley Tisdale as the lead instead. In April, Faris shared how shocked she was to learn that there would be a sixth movie in the “Scary Movie” franchise, and, more importantly, that she would be reunited with her former castmates.

“I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that there was a world where I would be feeling so good about doing ‘Scary Movies’… It’s a little, I wish I had a better word, but healing. We got back together again. And that in and of itself is, for me, a personal celebration,” Faris said.

The sixth instalment in the franchise, titled “Scary Movie,” will be released in theatres on June 5.

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Morgan Wallen Breaks Silence After Flipping Over Piano

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Morgan Wallen s Ups and Downs Through the Years- Saturday Night Live Drama N-Word Scandal and More 263

Morgan Wallen has issued his first public remark after upturning a piano while performing on stage in Denver, Colorado.

Wallen, 33, took to TikTok four days after the Empower Field at Mile High concert to share a sarcastic response to the Friday, May 29, incident. “Hey, I just want you guys to know that right now this piano is working,” he told fans while tapping the keys of a piano. After seemingly filming the clip in his dressing room one night after the incident occurred, Wallen added, “That’s what they told me last night, too.”

The country music star also captioned the video, “Can’t you tell I’m so distraught over my piano?”

Wallen, who is currently touring his 23-stadium Still The Problem Tour across the U.S., had appeared frustrated on Friday night just ahead of performing his hit song “Sand In My Boots.” In footage shared via social media and multiple news outlets, the musician seemed to be unable to hear his piano through ear pieces.

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Morgan Wallen s Ups and Downs Through the Years- Saturday Night Live Drama N-Word Scandal and More 263


Related: Morgan Wallen’s Ups and Downs Through the Years

Morgan Wallen has become the bad boy of country music after facing a series of scandals throughout his career. The “Whiskey Glasses” singer got his start on season 6 of The Voice in 2014, where he was a member of Adam Levine’s team but got knocked out during the playoffs. Two years after his appearance […]

The technical mishap led to him pushing the instrument along the stage before flipping it over completely. He then performed the track a cappella.

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Us Weekly reached out to representatives for Wallen at the time but did not hear back.

Fans took to Wallen’s TikTok video to comment on his cheeky response, with one person writing in the comments section, “I love seeing you clap back,” and another writing, “Hah! I was there … great concert!”

The praise follows criticism of Wallen’s piano flip, with fans expressing their disapproval across social media in light of the video circulating online. “Grown professional if you can believe it,” wrote one Instagram user, while another wrote, “From chairs in the streets of Nashville to flipping pianos. Wow, anger management may help. What a baby.”

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Morgan Wallen Arrested After Allegedly Throwing a Chair at Nashville Bar


Related: Morgan Wallen Arrested After Allegedly Throwing Chair at Bar: See Mugshot

While some of country music’s biggest names gathered at the CMT Awards on Sunday, April 7, Morgan Wallen was reportedly getting into some trouble in Nashville. Footage of Wallen, 30, sitting in a police car outside of fellow musician Eric Church’s Chief’s Bar in downtown Music City went viral in the early hours of Monday, […]

The incident comes after a long run of controversial headlines sparked by Wallen since he rose to fame on season 6 of The Voice in 2014. He was arrested in May 2020 for public intoxication and disorderly conduct while partying at Kid Rock’s Nashville bar, Big Honky Tonk. Wallen was later cleared of both charges and apologized for his actions via X, then known as Twitter.

He also claimed that year to have lost a Saturday Night Live hosting gig after he was seen out without a face mask and kissing multiple women at college bars. (COVID-19 pandemic mask mandates were in force at the time.)

When he did make his SNL debut as a musical guest in March 2025, he ruffled feathers again by abruptly walking off the stage prior to the show’s end credits rolling — a rare move by any cast member, let alone guest.

Wallen was also the subject of 2021 headlines after TMZ published footage of him using the N-word publicly amid widespread racial tension following the murder of George Floyd. He later apologized for using the word before promising to “do better.”

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Theory Emerges On Why Meghan Markle Hides Kids’ Faces

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Meghan Markle in Colombia

Meghan Markle has often shared glimpses of family life on social media, but one detail consistently stands out.

The mother of two rarely shows her children’s faces in photos and videos, despite freely appearing alongside her husband, Prince Harry.

Now, one royal observer believes the reason could be linked to a legal “loophole” that may allow the Duchess to feature her children online without triggering certain California child-protection requirements.

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In recent months, attentive fans have noticed Meghan occasionally featuring her children in social media posts and even promotional content for her lifestyle brand.

However, their faces have remained largely hidden. Princess Lilibet’s face has never been publicly shown, while it has been years since Prince Archie’s face was prominently seen, most notably in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary.

Amid continued speculation, one royal observer suggested that Meghan may be seeking to avoid running afoul of a little-known California law designed to protect the children of content creators and public figures.

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“It turns out that California has a law, the ‘Child Vlogger Bill of Rights,’ that requires parents to put money into a trust fund for kids shown on social media for monetization purposes,” the commenter claimed, per Sky News.

“However, there is a loophole that if you don’t show the kids’ faces, you are exempt from this law,” the individual added.

Meghan Markle Shares More Glimpses Of Her Children

Meghan Markle in Colombia
¡dehoy! Agency / MEGA

Last month, Meghan made several posts involving her children, beginning with a personal tribute to Archie on his seventh birthday.

She shared a carousel of images on Instagram that included throwback baby photos and a picture of Archie walking along a beach with Lilibet.

Days later, Meghan posted a rare mirror selfie showing Lilibet in a red dress with a matching scrunchie as the youngster helped her prepare for an appearance at a World Health Organization event.

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In April, the Duchess also shared footage of her children taking part in an Easter egg hunt, though only their backs were visible. The video additionally featured clips of the children decorating the eggs they had collected.

Duchess Offers Rare Peek Into Family Life

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the One World Trade Center
ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA

Meghan recently offered another glimpse into family life by revealing the nicknames she uses for her children at home.

The former actress shared the details in a Memorial Day weekend video that appeared to double as a promotion for her lifestyle brand.

“My husband loves the raspberry, Lil loves the strawberry, and Arch likes both. And I like the marmalade,” Meghan said in the clip, which was filmed in a white kitchen.

In the accompanying caption, she promoted her fruit spread trio as being “inspired by the jams [she] has created in her own kitchen and shared over the years.”

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“These spreads are crafted to highlight each fruit’s natural essence without overpowering it,” the caption further read.

Meghan Calls For Stronger Child Safety Protections

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle In Melbourne, Australia - 14 APRIL 2026
ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA

Meghan’s decision to occasionally feature her children on social media has drawn criticism from some quarters, with detractors accusing her of using them for commercial purposes.

Despite those complaints, the Duchess recently addressed children’s online safety during a speech at the Lost Screen Memorial in Geneva, Switzerland.

During her remarks, Meghan urged audiences to “speak up” against harmful online behavior and to “demand better from the platforms shaping our children’s lives.”

“Be an example in your own social media use of how to be intentional in every like, comment, post, and share. Hold your community to the same standard,” she added.

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Meghan further encouraged listeners to “support laws and leaders committed to child safety by design, transparency, and accountability online.”

Meghan Markle’s Remarks Draw Mixed Reactions

While many supporters praised Meghan’s speech, it also drew criticism from political commentator Megyn Kelly.

“Would you take a look at the crowd that showed up… or didn’t? Literally nobody is on the side,” Kelly said during an episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show” on YouTube.

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The commentator also referenced footage from the event, claiming that one attendee behind Meghan appeared disengaged.

“No one is listening to her. We have video of a woman behind her who basically is like putting the jacket on… yawning, stretching,” Kelly added.

The former Fox News broadcaster went on to argue that Meghan should stop bothering the public with her “fake profundities and fake title” and instead focus on living her life.

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Elton John Reveals What Legacy Will Be ‘Enough’ For Him

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Elton John is seen leaving the High Court after Associated Newspapers hearing

Amid his many musical honors and long-standing reputation as an LGBTQ+ advocate, Sir Elton John has opened up about what he truly wants his legacy to be, and it is not centered on music.

The “Rocket Man” singer also urged queer people to keep standing against political hostility, lamenting the setbacks the community has faced in recent years.

Elsewhere, John recently shared that he has finished another album at 79, and explained why the project feels different from anything he has made before.

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Sir Elton John has built a career filled with global hits, sold-out shows, major honors, and film work, including “The Lion King.” But as he reflects on his legacy and mortality, the music icon says he does not want his greatest mark to be his entertainment career.

In a new interview with Out, John and his husband, David Furnish, discussed legacy and the importance of family.

Asked how he wants to be remembered, John said, “If my children are happy and know I gave everything I had to support and love them, that is enough for me.”

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He added that while he has been honored for his music and tries to support rising artists, “being a father and building a family with David” will always matter most.

John Launches Impact Awards

Elton John is seen leaving the High Court after Associated Newspapers hearing
ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA

John and Furnish are also marking Pride Month with a new initiative celebrating LGBTQ+ figures who have made a visible impact.

The couple partnered with iHeartMedia and Procter & Gamble for the Elton John Impact Awards, which will recognize names including Jonathan Bailey, Laverne Cox, Orville Peck, and Chappell Roan.

Explaining the reason behind the awards, John said he has watched people get punished simply for wanting to live openly. He said the initiative is meant to honor those who have remained courageous while also making clear that the work is not over.

“The awards exist because that courage deserves to be named and celebrated, not just assumed,” he said.

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Elton John Speaks Out Against Political Hostility

Elsewhere in the interview, John addressed the political hostility facing the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.

The “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” singer urged queer people to keep standing together and speaking up, noting that visibility has long been central to the community’s survival.

“The hostility is real, and it is growing,” he said. “We are seeing rights rolled back, funding cuts, and communities that were already vulnerable being made more so. This is not a moment for silence or looking away.”

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He added that the Elton John Impact Awards are one way of declaring that the community is “here,” “proud,” and “not going away.”

John Says Vision Loss Shifted His Songwriting

Elton John at Versace Fall/Winter 2023 Fashion Show
MEGA

Although John has stopped touring, he has not stopped creating music.

While receiving the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize in Toronto last month, the “Tiny Dancer” singer revealed that he had completed a new album. He also explained how losing vision in his right eye forced him to rethink his songwriting process.

“I’ve had eye trouble recently, and I always make records by looking at lyrics and writing to lyrics, and so I’m kind of f-cked at the moment,” he said, per fan-captured footage.

John explained that the setback pushed him into a new method, which involves writing melodies first and letting the lyrics come afterward.

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“I’ve never done that. And I’ve just done it,” he said.

Elton John Says His New Album Feels ‘Different’

Sir Elton John shows off a scented candle
Slatkin + Co./MEGA

John said the new album feels unlike anything else he has made, especially because of its joyful tone.

“It’s so happy,” he said. “I’m so thrilled with it because it’s given me another chance to make music.”

During a 2024 interview on “Good Morning America,” John revealed that he had lost vision in his right eye after getting an infection while spending the summer in France.

“It kind of floored me, and I can’t see anything. I can’t read anything, I can’t watch anything,” he said at the time.

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7 Upcoming Blockbuster Movies, Ranked by Anticipation

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Milly Alcock smiling in 'Supergirl'

Blockbuster anticipation is not just about size. Size is easy. A release date, a logo, a giant cast photo, a CinemaCon sizzle reel, none of that automatically means a movie has real heat in it. The blockbusters people go feral for usually promise something more specific. A return. A collision. A risk. A long-awaited payoff. A director getting too much money and enough trust to do something gloriously overcommitted. That is the difference between big movie and “I need opening night.”

And 2026 is packed with exactly that kind of argument. Legacy animation coming back for one more emotional swing, MCU stepping back in for a take over, Christopher Nolan probably at his post-production magic right now, there’s a lot at play. Here’s my take on these upcoming blockbuster movies by anticipation.

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8

‘Supergirl’ (2026)

Milly Alcock smiling in 'Supergirl' Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Supergirl is exciting, but it lands eighth for me because the anticipation is still a little more curious than feverish. Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) is strong casting, Craig Gillespie is a very smart pick if DC wants this thing to feel rougher and stranger than standard cosmic-hero polish, and the early footage sounded pleasingly dirty, less pristine cape iconography, more interplanetary bus grime, pirates, spider droids, and bruised momentum. That is a good sign. It means the film might actually understand that Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow should feel harsher and sadder than people casually expect from the character. Warner Bros. has it set for June 26, 2026.

What keeps it here is simple: I still need the emotional lock. The best superhero anticipation has one image or one dramatic line that suddenly makes the whole film feel inevitable. Supergirl sounds promising, and the rougher space-western texture is exactly the right instinct, but I am not yet in that irrational clear zone for it. I can see it becoming one of the year’s nicest surprises but there’s also a chance for it to swivel toward that Madame Web zone.

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7

‘Moana’ (2026)

Dwayne Jhonson in Moana Image via Disney

Moana sits here because the commercial confidence is obvious, though the emotional anticipation is a little more cautious. Moana (Catherine Laga’aia) plays the title role, and Maui (Dwayne Johnson) is back, which gives the project instant familiarity and star power. The trailer and CinemaCon material have leaned hard into the ocean, the songs, the broad family-adventure warmth, and the “we know this world already works” comfort play. From a pure blockbuster standpoint, that is smart. It is probably going to hit big.

But anticipation is not the same as confidence. With live-action Disney remakes, the question is always whether the film is uncovering something newly cinematic or just restaging inherited feeling at a larger budget level. Moana at least has a story strong enough to survive translation, identity, oceanic calling, cultural rootedness, self-doubt becoming purpose, but right now the pitch still feels more like a polished re-entry into familiar waters than a genuine leap. I am interested. I am not electrified.

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6

‘Toy Story 5’ (2026)

Woody and Buzz looking terrified in Toy Story 5.
Woody and Buzz looking terrified in Toy Story 5.
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Toy Story 5 is where anticipation starts becoming emotional risk. Pixar has the film dated for June 19, 2026, and the early material has already teased a “toys versus tech” angle, with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and the gang confronting the fact that kids now have glowing screens competing with old imaginative play. That is a very smart hook, maybe almost too smart, since it gives the film an automatic generational ache before the plot has even properly started. Pixar has also previewed that Jessie will matter heavily, which is another reason fans are leaning in rather than just dutifully showing up.

Toy Story 3 already felt like the most emotionally complete ending imaginable, and even Toy Story 4 had to fight its way into legitimacy through pure execution. So every new installment carries suspicion alongside excitement. And that’s why I’m not too stoked for Toy Story 5. Still, the premise here has real juice. If the movie uses technology not as a boomer joke but as a way of asking what happens to old forms of companionship when attention itself has changed shape, this could really land.

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5


4

‘Dune: Part Three’ (2026)

Chani looking serious in Dune Part Three Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Dune: Part Three is where anticipation starts feeling almost religious. Denis Villeneuve has the film set for December 18, 2026, and the reporting around it has made clear that the film is adapting Dune Messiah territory while bringing back Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), Chani (Zendaya), Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), Stilgar (Javier Bardem), Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and others, with Anya Taylor-Joy moving from tease to major presence and additional casting widening the next phase of the saga. Even before release, Warner Bros. was reporting major IMAX demand, which tells you how much faith audiences already have in Villeneuve’s control over this world.

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And the reason the anticipation is so high is that Messiah material is where the triumph starts turning poisonous. The first two films built awe. The third one, if Villeneuve really goes for it, gets to build consequence. Paul as messiah-emperor is not simple blockbuster victory architecture. It is political dread, religious corrosion, intimacy damaged by destiny, charisma curdling into catastrophe. That makes this more exciting to me than a standard Part Three gets bigger situation. It has a chance to become the chapter where the franchise stops being merely majestic and becomes haunting.

3

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (2026)

Tom Holland as Spider-Man sitting on Frank Castle's car in 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'
Tom Holland as Spider-Man sitting on Frank Castle’s car in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is one of the easiest top-three placements on the list since the emotional setup is so clean. No Way Home ended with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) stripped down to almost nothing, no public identity, no Avengers-status cushioning, no MJ (Zendaya), no Ned (Jacob Batalon), no social safety net, just the character in his loneliest and most stripped-back form in years. Sony announced the title Spider-Man: Brand New Day and has it set for July 31, 2026, and the early trade messaging has already leaned into the idea that this is a more grown-up Peter story. That is exactly the right pitch.

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What makes me so excited is that Spider-Man is often best when his world gets smaller before it gets larger again. Not smaller in stakes, smaller in belonging. He is more vulnerable when he has something to lose and nobody to call. Holland coming back after that ending gives this movie immediate emotional leverage. You can feel the possibility of reset without erasure, of a bruised, more adult Peter trying to rebuild identity from scratch while the larger Marvel machine circles in the background. If they keep it street-level enough to hurt and expansive enough to feel cinematic, this could absolutely be one of the year’s most crowd-pleasing blockbusters.

2

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ (2026)

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/Thing in Avengers: Doomsday Image via Marvel Studios

Avengers: Doomsday is one of the year’s major pressure points. Marvel and Disney pushed the film to December 18, 2026, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo are back, and Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) gives the whole project an enormous amount of theatrical voltage even before you get into the sprawling cast configuration. The official cast rollout and the subsequent trade coverage made it crystal clear that Marvel is treating this as one of its major re-consolidation plays, not just another phase installment.

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The pressure itself is exciting. Marvel is at its most interesting when the project feels slightly too big to control. That is when the anticipation turns nervous in the best way. Can they make the MCU feel like a true event machine again? Can they turn Doom into something more than stunt casting? Can the Russos recapture the disciplined escalation that made earlier Avengers finales feel like mass-viewing rituals rather than noisy obligations? I am not calm about this movie, and that is part of why it ranks so high.

1

‘The Odyssey’ (2026)

Telemachus lookig intently in The Odyssey
Tom Holland as Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
Image via Universal Pictures

The Odyssey had to be number one. Christopher Nolan adapting The Odyssey with Odysseus (Matt Damon) and one of the most intimidatingly stacked blockbuster casts in years, including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, and others, already sounds like a studio flex from a healthier era. Universal has it opening July 17, 2026, and the trade coverage plus trailer rollout have only reinforced the scale of the thing. This is not being sold as a modest literary prestige adaptation. It is being sold as an event epic, a giant myth-machine in the hands of a director who already treats time, ordeal, and masculine obsession like sacred cinematic fuel.

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And emotionally, this is the easiest number one on the page. The Odyssey is one of the foundational adventure stories for a reason: monsters, gods, shipwrecks, seductions, war aftershock, homecoming as trauma, identity proved through endurance. In Nolan’s hands, that material could become overwhelming in the best possible way, stern, huge, mournful, ecstatic, physically punishing. More than any other title here, this is the one that feels like it could give blockbuster cinema something it has been missing: grandeur without plasticity. Not just scale, but scale with blood in it. That is the dream. That is why it sits at the top.































































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Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz
Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?

Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country

Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.

🪜Parasite

🌀Everything Everywhere

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☢️Oppenheimer

🐦Birdman

🪙No Country for Old Men

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01

What kind of film experience do you actually want?
The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.





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02

Which idea grabs you most in a film?
Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?





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03

How do you like your story told?
Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.





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04

What makes a truly great antagonist?
The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?





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05

What do you want from a film’s ending?
The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?





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06

Which setting pulls you in most?
Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.





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07

What cinematic craft impresses you most?
Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.





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08

What kind of main character do you root for?
The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.





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09

How do you feel about a film that takes its time?
Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.





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10

What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema?
The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?





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The Academy Has Decided
Your Perfect Film Is…

Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.

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Parasite

You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once

You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.

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Oppenheimer

You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.

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Birdman

You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.

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No Country for Old Men

You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.

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The Odyssey


Release Date
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July 17, 2026

Runtime

172 Minutes

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‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’s Tatiana Maslany Reveals the “Horror” Episode 4 Unleashes on Paula

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Tatiana Maslany smiling with headphones on in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed 

Summary

  • Tatiana Maslany’s Paula remains a puzzling, volatile lead, often shifting from funny to reckless.
  • Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Episode 4 reframes Paula’s marriage and raises questions about the main narrative.
  • The show’s unpredictability, NYC’s chaotic energy, and Paula’s chemistry with Hazel and Paula’s coworkers make the Apple TV series strong.

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed

Tatiana Maslany‘s Paula in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is really going through, well, a lot. Created by David Rosen, Apple TV’s comedic thriller sees the newly-divorced soccer mom doing her best to keep her perpetually chaotic and messy life in check as much as she possibly can — only to have a completely unexpected blackmail-murder scandal upend everything. Could her once-trusted Cam Boy Trevor (Brandon Flynn) really be behind all of this? And will her nosey, judgy co-workers (Charlie Hall and Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg) actually prove to be… helpful?

Those are just two of the many questions in desperate need of answers in the addictive Apple TV show, with Episode 4 of the freshman series peeling back some key layers to Karl (Jake Johnson) and his wife Mallory (Jessy Hodges) that provide some much-needed context to Paula’s previous marriage, while also raising even more questions about what happened years ago in Portland with the police and Paula.

Episode 4 feels a lot like a bottle episode, as the main narrative is briefly paused in order for us to see the exact moment things started to really shift in Paula and Karl’s marriage. But if there’s anyone up for the challenge of pulling off such a complex, charming, and engaging performance needed to anchor such a twisted series, it’s the endlessly impressive Tatiana Maslany. During this interview with Collider, the Orphan Black and She-Hulk star dissects what makes Paula such a magnetic character, why Paula decides to trust Rudy and Geri, and how Episode 4 challenges the narrative we’ve seen so far.

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Tatiana Maslany Was Drawn to ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’s Unpredictability

“Paula was a question mark for me.”

Tatiana Maslany smiling with headphones on in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed 
Tatiana Maslany smiling with headphones on in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
Image via Apple TV

COLLIDER: You’re fantastic in this show and such a great anchor and lead. I want to start with a little bit of a fun question. Obviously, Paula has an outlet for pleasure, as we see. Is there something that you watch or that you do that immediately will turn your mood around?

TATIANA MASLANY: Yes. Going dancing, even if it’s by myself. But dancing is for sure. I don’t think there’s anything that I… Oh, you know what? I just watched Love on the Spectrum, and that did it for me for sure.

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Good choices. What’s so great about Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is that you’re able to be so funny and have such great line deliveries, and then you can immediately just be an emotional mess and really intense. What was your first impression when you were pitched the series and read the first script?

MASLANY: That, for me, was the delight in it. I couldn’t put my finger on the genre or the tone, and I consistently was asking David Rosen and David Gordon Green, “Is there anything that you kind of compare it to?” And they were like, “Kind of this, kind of that.” But it felt like it was its own creation in a lot of ways. The thing that I loved — I felt it in reading it, but I really felt it in doing it — was that each scene had so much potential. The writers are so fantastic. Within all the scenes, there is humor, there’s a kind of brutality, there’s pain, there’s lightness, there’s all these possibilities. And that, just as an actor, is a real exciting thing to get to try to do, and with all these actors who are so spontaneous and open and have comedic timing and also dramatic chops, it was really fun. I felt like Paula was a question mark for me. I didn’t know her, and I couldn’t place her. I felt like she was at a place where she didn’t know who she was, so it was just an incredibly powerful, visceral read when I read it.

Do you have a process for any project when you start to get into a character? Did it differ at all for this one?

MASLANY: Yeah, it differs for every project. I used to have quite a studious thing, but now I sort of try to follow what my instinct is. Sometimes it’s doing a lot of research, it’s reading books, it’s fiction, it’s whatever, it’s movement, it’s study of some kind. But for Paula, it was really like being present with everything that I was feeling when I was reading the script. Just like with the moment in my life — I was about to turn 40 — there was a sense of, “What is it to be at this age, and you don’t know who you are?” The heartbreak of the grief of that and the feeling of being a kid still when you’re thrust into this really adult world of divorces and of exes and of all that stuff like it. The process was a little nebulous and hard to place.

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Creating Paula and Hazel’s Bond in ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ Was Easy for Maslany

“Both of us have that sense of play.”

Nola Wallace smiling on a soccer field with Tatiana Maslany in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
Nola Wallace smiling on a soccer field with Tatiana Maslany in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
Image via Apple TV

Paula is hard to play, so that makes sense. Probably my favorite part of the show are your scenes with Hazel. Paula and Hazel’s relationship is so beautiful. I really felt like I was spying on a real mother-daughter duo. It was so authentic. What was that energy like on set?

MASLANY: [Nola Wallace] is so great. And from the start, she was so great. I think the first thing we shot was just me sending her off to school, and she was listening in every moment. I like to do everything different every single time, and when you’re working with an actor, they’ll respond differently, or they’ll give you something different. She’s no exception. She would improvise lines, she would try different things. If I changed something, she would totally respond to how I was doing it differently. Both of us have a sense of play. We could really find that thing in Paula and Hazel that is like their united thing, which is goofiness and ease with each other. That kind of thing felt very natural for Nola and I.

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It seemed so natural, and it was really fun to watch. And heartbreaking at times, of course.

‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ Episode 4 Reveals Different Sides to Our Core Characters

“We see this other thing in Paula that’s reckless.”

I want to talk about Episode 4 a little bit. I like when shows take a step back and zoom out. We get different POVs of characters that we thought we knew. It was a really hard episode for Paula, because we start to see why her marriage started to crumble, and I now view Mallory differently and Karl differently. What stood out to you about that episode in particular? Did you feel like Paula was a different character?

MASLANY: Yeah. I think a lot of Paula at that point in her life is sleepwalking, in a way. She’s sort of become very comfortable with just everything as-is. She doesn’t really see what’s happening, even though she does see what’s happening. I think she also has a lot of rage. I think that rage is easy to dance on top of when you’re sort of laughing and joking, and you’re not really present in your own life. As soon as this sort of stuff is happening with Mallory, and we see this other thing in Paula that’s reckless. I think what’s cool about Episode 4. It has all of these twists and turns, but they’re just interpersonal and they’re just sort of inside of Paula’s experience. We can side with her and sort of feel empathy for her and sort of horror that her husband is clearly cheating on her or maybe cheating on her. By the end, I think that there’s a real question around Paula’s culpability and her volitional actions and whether she is operating with a lot of awareness or not. I think what it does really beautifully is add this other layer to Paula. We’ve sort of been following her story for the whole series, and now we’re given this extra thing that sort of challenges what we know about her and what we feel about her.

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New York City is kind of its own character in the show. I know that David Rosen grew up there and lived there a while and put a lot of thought into New York City itself. What was it like approaching New York City as its own character?

MASLANY: I feel like New York City is like the most working city on the planet in terms of its ability to be a separate piece of a movie that is so vital to everything about that movie and the story and the history and everything. For me as a Canadian [Laughs] it’s like such a city. It’s the city, you know what I mean? It was very fun to be in areas that aren’t what you would see glamorized or romanticized about the city. More just neighborhoods and day-to-day stuff. We shot in every area, we were all over the place. Sometimes, two or three times a day, we’d be shifting whole locations with the unit move and everything. It was a very “alive” feeling. I’d only shot two separate films there and one day on each of those films, so this was the longest I’d been filming there. It’s totally its own beast.


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It felt like that. I can feel the show being chaotic. It really felt like New York City is a perfect chaotic setting.

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MASLANY: Yeah. Yeah, totally.

I also really loved your scenes with Charlie Hall and Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg. It was so interesting because, at the beginning, you feel like they’re just going to be these antagonists for her that just get in her way and provide laughs, but then they really become a huge part of the plot. What was it like filming those scenes with them in the office? It felt like there was a lot of improv.

MASLANY: Yeah, there’s improv. There’s also a lot that is tightly scripted, but just feels playful because Rosen and all the writers are such incredible writers. Charlie and Kiarra have such a specific dynamic, and for Paula, she does see them as sort of this nuisance for most of the beginning of the series, and then she has nowhere else to turn, she turns to these two people who, by all accounts, are, again, the incorrect people to go to with any of these problems that she’s having. But they’re sort of unbiased, and they’re neutral, in a way. They’re not wrapped up, they don’t know anything about her. She can kind of start from scratch with them and introduce them to who she is in this very intimate way that sometimes we can only do with strangers. It makes sense to me that they would be the kind of people she would approach because she had such an intimate relationship with a Cam Boy, who is being paid to be intimate with her, but who she totally feels real intimacy with. Paula doesn’t necessarily have the soundest of radars, but she always makes an interesting choice.

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed airs Wednesdays on Apple TV.

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The Star Trek Episode Secretly Inspired By Rambo

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The Star Trek Episode Secretly Inspired By Rambo

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated

When you think about it, Rambo is one of the craziest franchises ever made. The first film was adapted from a novel and served as a poignant commentary on America’s treatment of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War. After it became a box office success, though, subsequent films were all about how John Rambo was the coolest, most unstoppable soldier in the entire world. In this way, the anti-war hero became the most recognizable military mascot of the 20th century. His exploits as a one-man army are basically the polar opposite of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 1987 sci-fi show, which was all about peace, exploration, and communication.

Against all the odds, Star Trek almost had its own Rambo homage. It happened in the Season 3 episode “The Hunted,” which introduced a very Rambo-like character: Roga Danar, a man transformed into the ultimate weapon by a government that later discarded him. Because of this, this Trek tale already had some shared storytelling DNA with everyone’s favorite ‘80s action hero. However, the episode director later revealed that budget cuts kept him from including a Rambo-like final fight between a bunch of super-soldiers and the government officials who had betrayed them!

One Rambo To Beam Onboard

“The Hunted” begins with the Enterprise making a routine visit to Angosia III, a planet hoping to become part of the Federation. When Picard is asked to help capture one of the planet’s fugitives, he discovers something remarkable: a super-smart, super-strong soldier who inexplicably manages to outwit and outfight almost everyone he encounters. After finally being captured, he reveals himself to be Roga Danar, a soldier genetically enhanced by Angosia III and then forcibly resettled after the war was over. He escapes and returns to the planet to demand justice of the planetary leader who betrayed him. Incredibly, Picard doesn’t stop him, citing this as a clear case of internal planetary politics. 

Aside from Roga Danar’s early cat-and-mouse adventures with the Enterprise, the most exciting part of “The Hunted” is when Danar returns to Angosia III to confront Prime Minister Nayrok. Along with some fellow super-soldiers, he issues a fairly basic demand: he and his wartime compatriots want to come home rather than being forcibly exiled to another planet. Nayrok, however, is worried that, between their psychological conditioning and PTSD, the soldiers will never be able to re-integrate into society. In this way, the episode’s climax is a bit like First Blood. But according to the director, “The Hunted” was originally going to have an action-packed ending more akin to Rambo: First Blood Part II!

An Insanely Violent Ending

Episode director Cliff Bole told The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine that “The end was again affected by a budget situation. We were going to do a big battle, but couldn’t.” What would this have looked like, exactly? “Originally, Danar was going to come back, and there would be a big confrontation–almost a Rambo-like situation. I thought the loss of that [scene] took away a little from the episode, making it slightly anti-climactic.”

Just how Rambo-like was it going to be? As recorded in Captain’s Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Star Trek Voyages, showrunner Michael Piller claimed that “At first, we were going to have a huge shoot out and have everyone wiped out in the end.” While the budget kept this from happening, Piller thought that was for the best because the original ending “didn’t really make anybody a hero.” He preferred the ending that we saw onscreen because it helped set up Picard’s crowd-pleasing decision to beam up and leave the traitorous prime minister’s fate in the hands of the men he betrayed.

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To Seek Out Strange New Rambos

There you have it, fellow Redshirts: the closest that Star Trek ever came to turning into a Rambo movie. This was especially novel in The Next Generation, which showcased the Federation during a time of relative galactic peace. The big-budget action sequence cut from “The Hunted” might have been a better fit for the later spinoff Deep Space Nine, which bucked franchise tradition and spent its last couple of years telling stories about a brutal war with the Dominion. Sadly, that show never got its own proper Rambo homage, though I would have paid good money to see Sylvester Stallone get recruited by Section 31 to go rescue Starfleet POWs on the other side of the wormhole.

First Contact? More like First Blood Part II, y’all!


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Amanda Walks Off, Ciara Calls West’s Ex

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Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Stage in Tears Ciara Calls West Ex Meija Moreno

Part 2 of the Summer House reunion appeared to be too much for Amanda Batula after she walked off stage in tears amid her controversial romance with West Wilson — and was questioned about how much she knew about his ex-girlfriend Meija Moreno.

“He’s definitely going to do it to you, Amanda,” Lindsay Hubbard said on the Tuesday, June 2, episode, referring to West, 31, allegedly using Amanda for “clout” only to eventually “drop” her when he doesn’t need her anymore.

Amanda, 34, wiped away her tears as West held her hand on the couch.

“I feel bamboozled in so many ways,” Lindsay said. “But I also still feel really protective and he’s going to f***ing do it to you.”

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Elsewhere in the episode, Amanda admitted to Ciara Miller, West’s ex-girlfriend and her former BFF, that she felt “embarrassed” that their romance began while he was still seeing Meija.

The revelation caused Amanda to walk off stage in tears and stay backstage for a prolonged period of time.

While Amanda and West didn’t discuss his ex Meija any futher, Ciara, 30, called her backstage and to obtain her version of events — including Meija and West’s alleged relationship timeline.

Scroll down for the biggest revelations from part 2 of the Summer House reunion:

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Ciara Gives Meija a Call

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Stage in Tears Ciara Calls West Ex Meija Moreno

Meija Moreno.
Courtesy of Meija Moreno/Instagram

During a break in the episode, Ciara called West’s ex Meija backstage. Kyle Cooke — who announced his split from Amanda in January after four years of marriage — joined Ciara to debrief with Meija, asking her whether it was “clearly defined” that she and West were exclusive when he started seeing Amanda in March.

“We were literally dating last summer [in 2025]. While you guys were filming, he referred to me as his girlfriend all the time,” Meija claimed. “We just weren’t in a public relationship. Literally [I] was at his house every weekend he was filming. We knew we were in an exclusive relationship.”

She recalled that the “night before” West appeared on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in March “everything was so fine.” (One week after the WWHL appearance, when West denied he was anything more than friends with Amanda, the pair confirmed their romance.)

Meija alleged that West thought “he’ll get fired” when the pair went public with their romance, claiming he was worried about dating someone “not in the Bravoserve.”

Kyle, 43, revealed, “That’s bulls***,” confirming Bravo doesn’t have rules about who anyone can date in or outside of the cast.

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“The other reason he would use too, was, ‘If I bring you into this, obviously that’s putting you in a situation where now people have eyes on you,’” Meija claimed.

Ciara was pissed, calling West “manipulating.”

Meija recalled feeling “left on my own” after West dumped her and went public with Amanda “the next day.” She confessed, “It’s so f***ing hurtful.”

KJ Compares West to His Lying Father

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Stage in Tears Ciara Calls West Ex Meija NUP_210399_00249

KJ Dillard.
Clifton Prescod/Bravo

At the top of the episode, KJ Dillard, a longtime friend of West’s, called him out for his wandering eye.

“My dad was a very womanizing player and my mom had to deal with so much s***. That’s why I am hurting, West. I don’t like that s***,” KJ explained. “I grew up watching that firsthand and it destroyed my family. My dad’s a habitual liar. … I’m seeing a correlation.”

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KJ also took issue with how open Ciara was with everyone in the house about struggling to be the only Black woman in the cast for some time and how being a Black woman dating a white man — during her and West’s 2023 romance — opened her up to even more scrutiny.

“That was a very serious thing,” KJ pointed out. “I don’t like to see Ciara being treated the way that she’s being treated.”

West took a beat, responding, “Yeah, I’ll apologize to you again. … If there’s conversations to be had, I would have them with you.”

KJ nodded, replying, “It would take time but I’m open to having conversations with you again.”

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Ciara Thinks Amanda and West Were Using ‘Buzzwords’ About Her Racial Struggles

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Stage in Tears Ciara Calls West Ex Meija Trio

West Wilson, Amanda Batula, Ciara Miller.
Courtesy of West Wilson/Instagram

Andy Cohen asked Ciara whether she believed West during summer 2025 when he said he could “see you way more” after her openness to the group about race, to which she replied, “Then, perhaps.”

Andy, 58, then asked, “What about now?”

“No. I think that after watching the season back I think it’s very clear that Amanda and West were using buzz words like, ‘I see you. I hear you,’ to satiate maybe what I needed to hear,” she confessed. “But they didn’t really see or hear me.”

Amanda was taken aback, claiming, “Everything that I’ve said to you over the summer, everything that I’ve felt, everything that we’ve talked about was truly how I felt in those moments.”

She pivoted to her choice to date West and hurt Ciara in the process, admitting, “I got caught up in my feelings. Doesn’t matter. This has hurt me a lot.”

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Ciara clapped back, “It really hasn’t. … I think that’s insane. You’ve literally been in the bed with me for six f***ing years and this is where we’re at?”

Amanda Was ‘Embarrassed’ at the Start of West Romance

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Ciara Calls Meija

Amanda Batula.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Threads

“We’ve talked about that privately. What this would look like and what this meant, which is the only reason I feel like I’m sitting here next to him now,” Amanda said as to why she thinks West’s relationship with her is “different” than either Ciara or Meija’s time with him.

She confessed, “I wanted to get to a point selflessly, where maybe I felt I understood what was going on, because I was going to have to be honest with Ciara no matter what. I felt embarrassed to have to say, I have feelings and have kissed West and he’s seeing someone else.

Mia Calabrese bluntly responded, “Yeah, it’s embarrassing,” which led to Amanda excusing herself from the set.

Amanda Takes a Prolonged Break

“Why isn’t her boyfriend going after her?” Lindsay said under her breath after Amanda walked off stage.

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Ciara looked at West and added, “You should go after your girl.”

West looked like a deer in the headlights, telling the group, “I didn’t know if the questions were going to come back to me.”

After Kyle instructed West to go after her, he finally complied. “Her comments are just like cut f***ing deep,” Amanda told West backstage.

Ciara, for her part, expressed frustration over Amanda leaving while on the hotseat. “You f*** my ex but then I scoff and you can’t sit there?” Ciara questioned.

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Amid Amanda’s absence, Andy called for a group break, during which time Kyle told his pals, “The thing that I’m most focused on is West’s ease of lying. We know that he had a full-blown exclusive relationship since February 2025. We actually have receipts.”

Dara Calls Out West’s Shady Ways

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Stage in Tears Ciara Calls West Ex Meija NUP_210399_00298

Dara Levitan.
Clifton Prescod/Bravo

Dara Levitan, who dated West before meeting KJ on season 10 of the series, joined the cast for part of the tapping and didn’t skip a beat before calling out West for his actions.

“I don’t see you suddenly waking up one day and, like, this, this is going to be the relationship you stand up for and man up for?” Dara said. “You like people to think of you as a good guy but you treat the women that give themselves to you like they’re expendable.”

West didn’t deny it, saying. “Yeah, I agree.”

When Amanda eventually did come back out, Dara reiterated West’s flaws while warning her to be wary of their future.

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“The biggest pattern in his life is it is the West Show. And It will always be the West Show. And the biggest concern of his consistently is being well liked and well received,” Dara alleged. “He doesn’t prioritize treating the women he is linked to romantically with the same respect as he does anybody else in his life.”

She continued, “I just foresee him for a very long time wanting someone who will mold and fold and fit into his life without excuse or complaint. It’s up to you to decide what’s worth breaking, sacrificing and losing for that kind of person.”

Andy then noted that it would be “ironic” if Amanda willingly went from “The Kyle Show to the West Show.”

The Freedom Dinner Disaster

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Amanda Walks Off Stage in Tears Ciara Calls West Ex Meija summer 2025

‘Summer House’ season 10 cast.
Courtesy of Kyle Cooke/Instagram

During season 10 of Summer House, Kyle yelled, “F*** you” at Amanda from across the dinner table after he felt the cast was teaming up against him amid their marital issues. West, for his part, noticeably picked up his chair and moved it next to Amanda to support her — a move fans quickly called into question.

“I wanted Amanda to know that I had her back when I thought Kyle was being a dickhead,” West explained at the reunion.

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Kyle then took “full accountability” for his actions, saying, “I’m embarrassed by my poor reaction and letting myself spiral. I was hurt. And hurt people, hurt people.”

He recalled, “Amanda was silent and I kinda felt like she was just letting everybody do her dirty work and nobody actually knows the truth.”

Amanda, for her part, was grateful for how West came to her aid.

“I felt like our friendship was outside of just castmates. It felt like someone actually cared and saw me and saw this,” she shared. “It was nice to have a guy stand up to Kyle.”

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Kyle quipped, “A guy that’s never been in a relationship his entire adult life,” referring to West’s dating history.

Where Ciara Miller Stands With Amanda Batula After Breaking Her Trust With West Wilson Romance


Related: Where Ciara Miller Stands With Amanda Batula After West Wilson Scandal

Ciara Miller is still sorting through her feelings after longtime friend Amanda Batula started seeing her ex-boyfriend, and their Summer House costar, West Wilson, earlier this spring. “Ciara has told friends that if they really are in love, she will accept it,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly, noting that if West, 31, and Amanda, […]

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Amanda Takes a Jab at Kyle’s Partying Ways

“Most nights where I go out and have a bender, it’s when you were supposed to be with me and you bow out,” Kyle claimed, referring to Amanda leaving him alone throughout their marriage.

He then noted, “Everything you want or told me you wanted now is a lie. … Amanda, you’ve been going out til 4 in the morning, twice a week.”

Amanda argued that she’s “single” so it’s a “different” situation.

When the cast confronted Amanda about her willingness to go out with West, she confessed, “I hated going out with Kyle. I’ve made that very clear.”

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Kyle grew visibly upset, responding, “Give me a break. This kid parties twice as hard as I do. I say kid because you’re the most immature, fraudulent, phoney I’ve ever met. So shut the f*** up.”

Kyle continued to slam West, adding, “I thought I knew you man. I’ve been going back and forth between feeling concerned and feeling betrayed.

Kyle Is Adamant He Didn’t Cheat on Amanda During Their Marriage

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula

Kyle Cooke, Amanda Batula.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

“There have been times when I have been out that I have been inappropriate. I will own it,” Kyle said of his past, acknowledging that he did cheat on Amanda in 2018 before they got married.

However, after they tied the knot in 2021, Kyle claimed he’d been faithful. “Did I ever have an affair? No. Did I sleep with someone?” he said. “No. Have I been, like, completely starved and deprived of anything and everything from you? Yes, and I’ve acted out.”

Amanda fired back, claiming, “He has stepped out of the marriage while we were together. After we were married there was a time you were at a party asking a girl if you could kiss her, make out with her. She DM’d me on a personal level.”

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Kyle insisted he did not “make out” with anyone. “You did. With a girl in the club,” Amanda clapped back.

Amanda Batula Goes Off on West for Kissing Another Girl in Front of Ciara on Summer House Pre Romance


Related: Summer House’s Amanda Berates West for Kissing Girl Near Ciara Pre-Romance

Amanda Batula went off on West Wilson for kissing another woman in front of his ex-girlfriend, her friend, Ciara Miller on Summer House — months before she started dating him, seemingly behind her BFF’s back. “You just got too comfortable on probation,” Amanda, 34, told West, 31, on the Tuesday, April 14, episode of the […]

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Carl and Lindsay Are Rooting for Each Other

Outside of the Amanda and West Scandal, fans got an update on exes Lindsay and Carl Radke’s dynamic since she supported his opening of Soft Bar in New York City.

“Lindsay was always a champion of me wanting to do well. Her walking in the door that day meant the world to me,” Carl, 41, said, revealing he keeps her teddy bear gift in his office. “I care about you and I always will. Having her showing up for something like that given everything that’s gone on — it just shows who Lindsay is and her character.”

Lindsay, for her part, said that after watching season 10 back she noticed that Carl seemed to be “more in your skin.”

“You seem more confident. That is such a beautiful thing to see,” Lindsay, who was engaged to Carl for one year before their August 2023, split, said. “I do think that you are finally the person you are supposed to be and always wanted to be. So, yes, that’s what I’m proud of.”

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‘Carl’s a Mess’

Summer House Reunion Part 2 Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard

Carl Radke, Lindsay Hubbard.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

After Kyle revealed in April that “Carl’s a mess” after the West and Amanda bombshell, he and Lindsay, 39, teamed up to do an Uber Eats ad that poked fun at the now-iconic quote.

“I would have never done that to them during their breakup and it did hurt a little bit,” Amanda confessed when asked about how she felt about Carl and Lindsay monetizing her heartbreak.

Ciara was not amused, responding, “Please. Please. Please. You would never monetize something but you would f*** your friends ex? We don’t know where your bar is.”

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Kyle added, “I thought it was epic to be honest,” so he was also OK with the ad.

Part 3 of the Summer House reunion airs on Bravo Tuesday, June 9, at 8 p.m. ET.

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