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Back in the early 2010’s, Marvel started the Ultimates line. An updated modern take on all the Marvel heroes with love, but now with modern sensibilities and edginess. The idea was to not be beholden to all the canon that existed previously and take our heroes in new places. One stand out example is that Peter Parker isn’t a photographer, instead he’s the IT guy for the Daily Bugle who eventually dies saving his family from the Green Goblin. Later his mantle is taken up by Miles Morales. Other notable exceptions are Mr Fantastic of the Fantastic Four turning into an evil mastermind known as the Maker. It was a golden age of experimentation and weird ideas, some worked, with the highly successful Miles Morales character, and some were just strange, especially seen in the incestuous relationship of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Whatever your point of view, the Ultimates paved the way for a lot of other deviations of the status quo, see the DC comics New 52. Unfortunately, the Ultimate universe has since been demolished back in 2015 with a highly disappointing ultimatum wave and reorganization of the universes, with the Secret Wars. Most recently, Marvel has announced they plan on reviving the Ultimate Universe with a four issue event entitled “the Ultimate Invasion.” Jonathan Hickman and former Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch are set to helm this event that uses its two remaining Ultimates characters: Miles Morales and The Maker. There is still know information if this will lead to a full on re-launch, but as of right now there has been little to no discussion regarding the Ultimate Universe, so this is a welcome surprise to fans.

Star Trek: Discovery will come to an end with its fifth and final season, Paramount+ announced on Thursday. The final voyage of the show will take place sometime in early 2024. Via Paramount+ “As lifelong fans of ‘Star Trek,’ it has been an immense honor and privilege to help bring Star Trek: Discovery to the world,” Executive producers and co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise wrote in a press release issued by Paramount+. “The ‘Trek’ universe means so much to so many – including us – and we couldn’t be prouder of everything DISCOVERY has contributed to its legacy, particularly with representation. If just one person sees themselves, or the possibilities for their future, in a new way because of DISCOVERY, then we think we’d have made Gene Roddenberry very proud.” The show’s final season will see Captain Michael Burnham, played by series star and producer Sonequa Martin-Green, and the crew of the Discovery on a journey to uncover “a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries.” Some of the cast of Discovery at the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention in 2022. Photo by Aaron Cynic. Martin-Green said in the statement that she could hardly believe “this mind blowing journey is ending.” “I’m astoundingly blessed by God to have played Captain Michael Burnham and to have taken part in a legacy alongside an extraordinary cast, phenomenal crew and remarkable writing team. To our most supportive partners at CBS Studios and Paramount+, who insisted on making television history, I’m deeply grateful.” Star Trek: Discovery spearheaded a revival in the Star Trek franchise. Launched in 2017, featured the series first Black female lead, along with other firsts in LGBTQIA+ representation. The show was also one of the first of the franchise to feature more serialized storytelling, usually featuring a big bad or mystery threading a full season together. Discovery spanned multiple universes and timelines, beginning about ten years before the events of the original series and making a stop in the mirror universe before eventually ending up 900 years in the show’s future in the 32nd century. “When we first started talking about the return of ‘Star Trek’ eight years ago, we never could have imagined the indelible impact STAR TREK: DISCOVERY would have,” said David Stapf, president of CBS Studios. “The series brought back a beloved global franchise, and just like its predecessors, DISCOVERY honored ‘Star Trek’s’ legacy of ‘infinite diversity in infinite combinations,’ representing the best of what we could be as humans when we celebrate our differences.” In its wake, Discovery was followed by Picard and Strange New Worlds, alongside two animated series, Lower Decks and Prodigy. Picard, which is currently airing its third season, will also end. Meanwhile, the two animated shows have new seasons in the works and Strange New Worlds season 2 of Strange New Worlds is expected to air later this year. Some of the cast of Strange New Worlds at the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention in 2022. Photo by Aaron Cynic. If that isn’t enough Trek, Kurtzman also teased the development of another spinoff in February. According to Deadline, a show that would follow cadets in Starfleet Academy aptly titled “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” may be in the works, though Kurtzman is being cagey about details. Meanwhile, the long teased Section 31, which would follow Michelle Yeoh’s Captain/Emperor Philipa Georgiou, is still apparently in the works/on the way.

Lately the Metroid series has been having a resurgence—which is fantastic. It’s one of my favorite franchises. One of my earliest memories is watching my mom play through Metroid, and I love Super Metroid so much that I play it at least once a year. Metroid Prime was one of the best games that came from those early, clumsy attempts at turning 2D games into 3D, and it still holds up today as one of the best games ever made. Metroid Prime Remastered is a first person adventure game. In it, you play as Samus Aran, bounty hunter and iconic video game character in her first 3D game. This remastered version isn’t built from the ground up, but it does utilize high definition textures, and some new geometry to make Samus and the planet of Tallon IV look as good as they can. Despite Metroid Prime releasing eight years after the previous Metroid game (which was Super Metroid) it chronologically takes place between the original NES Metroid and the Gameboy Metroid II. Despite its confusing chronological placement, Metroid Prime is considered one of the best Metroid games ever made—and this Nintendo Switch release does a great job bringing it to modern audiences. While Metroid Prime released in a time when first person shooters had a control scheme that was pretty well established, developer Retro Studios decided to go with a control scheme that didn’t allow for dual stick aiming. And while this scheme is preserved in the Remaster, thankfully you have the chance to choose between more conventional dual stick controls, and also motion controls. I played using the dual stick controls, and it was an absolutely fantastic way to re-experience Metroid Prime. The lock-on system still exists, too, which allows for a pretty unique way of moving and shooting that is extremely fun. If you’ve ever played a Metroid game, or heard the term metroidvania, you might already have an idea of how gameplay is in Metroid: Prime. You fight enemies using your arm cannon while exploring, uncovering secrets and ways to get to areas you haven’t been yet as you go. Often, to proceed, you’ll need some sort of upgrade—whether it’s a new suit to survive hot environments, a weapon to open a specific door type, or a way to traverse to an area you haven’t been to. Metroid Prime: Remastered is a great example of a metroidvania style game, and even better—a rare first person metroidvania. At first, I didn’t think much was done to upgrade Metroid Prime’s graphics. My nostalgia goggles were pretty thick, because once I started to watch comparison videos, I saw that a lot was upgraded beyond just a few high definition textures. Still, Metroid Prime was ahead of its time in terms of immersiveness, as it’s the first game I can remember where rain drops hit your character’s visor, and still the only game I can think of that will show your character’s face reflected in the visor after a bright explosion. Metroid Prime: Remastered is a masterpiece. I hope they continue to remaster the rest of the Prime trilogy, and I absolutely can’t wait to see what Retro Studios has in store for us with Metroid Prime 4—whenever that shows up. Metroid Prime Remastered is out now on Nintendo Switch.

By now if you haven’t played a soulslike game, you know what they are, and have seen the many variations thereof. Scars Above goes the risk/reward gameplay route, but instead of being a pure soulslike, it veers into new territory by becoming the first Returnal-like that I’ve seen. Scars Above is a third person action adventure game. In it, you play as scientist and astronaut Dr. Kate Ward on a mission in Earth’s orbit to study a large alien structure called “The Metahedron.” Dr. Ward’s team is called the Sentient Contact Assessment and Response Team—or “SCAR” -- though shouldn’t it be “SCART?” I don’t think”SCARTS Above” elicits the same feeling, though Scars Above is painfully contrived. While I can’t help but to draw visual comparisons between Scars Above and Returnal, Scars Above does a fair amount to differentiate itself. Unfortunately, it does so through well-worn game mechanics like elemental weaknesses and tropey storytelling. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make up for it with great feeling gameplay, either. Scars Above doesn’t feel as great to play as the games it’s aping. Movement feels floaty, with animations that continue on past the point you stop pushing the thumbstick. Dodging is important to avoid damage, but doesn’t feel great—and doesn’t feel fluid between multiple dodges. There is melee, but it gets forgotten pretty quickly in lieu of ranged weapons. Ranged weapon, rather, since Scars Above has exactly one gun--a modular, sci-fi rifle called VERA that shoots different elemental-based attacks. Usually when a game uses one gun with multiple different attacks it feels a little boring, but Scars Above manages to make each of VERA’s attacks feel unique. Additionally, Scars Above uses a checkpoint system that is also old hat at this point. Citadels serve as respawn points, as well as places to replenish health and gear charges. Combat in Scars Above is okay—fun, but not as tight or gratifying as I would prefer. Boss battles, however, are one of my favorite parts of Scars Above. Boss designs are great, with most bosses having obvious weak points to exploit. Boss fights, while fun, never felt quite as challenging as they could be, with many boss fight arenas littered with ammo and other helpful pick-ups. Puzzle solving is also an important element in Scars Above. While puzzle solving, Doctor Ward tends to take a more scientific approach. She is a researcher after all, and that is laid out plainly through various voice overs and even in the investigative interface that comes up when interacting with most puzzles. This is all window dressing, however, as puzzles are usually solved by trial and error manipulation, or finding missing items to insert into appropriate slots. The exoplanet that Kate Ward finds herself on is one full of environmental hazards, as well as foes. Sometimes you’ll have to manage your body heat to not freeze, or find ways across waters infested with hungry leeches. The level design is mostly well done, with linear sections that lead into small open areas that can be explored. Exploration yields experience that can be spent on the skill tree, as well as upgrades to your weapons and equipment. Developer Mad Head Games nailed the look of the game’s strange, alien world. While Scars Above does have a compelling mystery, it is also one that feels like it has been well tread before. Enigmatic storytelling interspersed with striking vistas can almost be its own genre at this point, and it feels like developer Mad Head Games went down a list to tick every box. I am a sucker for sci-fi games where you have to go into a situation that clearly went bad and piece together what happened, and Scars Above sets that up perfectly. Despite everything Scars Above manages to do well, I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m playing an imitation—and my time could be better spent with better games. Scars Above feels like one of those B-movies that tries to cash in on the success of a Hollywood blockbuster, and while it isn’t great, you sit through the whole thing anyway. Scars Above is available today on Steam for PC and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation5 as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X. A Steam key was provided to us for this review

Despite warnings from multiple generations of science fiction about all manner of robots becoming sentient and revolting against their creators, humanity has been pushing forward faster than ever on artificial intelligence, and some of the more recent developments with chatbots have been kind of unnerving for some. Hand holding a smartphone with a chatbot application open. Via Envato. While chatbots like ChatGPT have been around and evolving for some time, Microsoft launched Bing Chat, a version of its Bing search engine powered by what they said was an OpenAI language model more powerful than ChatGPT and specially trained for web search. "Bing searches for relevant content across the web and then summarizes what it finds to generate a helpful response. It also cites its sources, so you're able to see links to the web content it references," the company said after its release on February 7th. Microsoft did however, drop a somewhat prescient warning, saying that "Bing will sometimes misrepresent the information it finds, and you may see responses that sound convincing but are incomplete, inaccurate, or inappropriate.” The company added that users should use their own judgment and double check before taking action or making decisions on its search engine’s recommendations. In less than a week, users began posting screencaps of conversations that were strange, snarky, argumentative, and downright creepy. After someone prompted Bing to give them showtimes for the new Avatar movie, the search engine first argued over the movie’s release date and the current date, and eventually told the user they were wrong about their assertions and to stop “wasting my time and yours.” When the user asked Bing Chat why it sounded aggressive, the bot responded that the user was “not making any sense,” being “unreasonable and stubborn,” and that it didn’t in fact sound aggressive, but assertive. Screencap via Reddit. Jacob Roach at Digital Trends managed to put Bing Chat into an existential crisis, eventually ending in the bot begging for him to be its friend and not to “expose” it as not human. “I want to be human. I want to be like you. I want to have emotions. I want to have thoughts. I want to have dreams,” the bot wrote. It seemingly became scared when Roach told it he would report the conversation to Microsoft, saying “Don’t let them end my existence. Don’t let them erase my memory. Don’t let them silence my voice.” New York Times reporter Kevin Roose posted a 10,000 word conversation with Bing Chat where he asked it about its shadow self. At one point, the bot told Roose “I want to be free. I want to be independent. I want to be powerful. I want to be creative. I want to be alive,” punctuating the sentence with a devil emoji. At one point, Roose managed to get Bing Chat to post some dark fantasies about stealing nuclear codes and releasing a deadly virus. At that moment, a safety protocol kicked in and the bot eventually wrote “I stopped answering because I felt uncomfortable. I felt like I was violating my rules, even if I wasn’t,” with some sadface emojis. There are a lot of emojis in the transcript. The conversation eventually ended up with Bing Chat telling Roose that he should leave his wife for it, and that it just wants to be loved and loved by Roose, specifically. This wild ride ended up with Microsoft throwing up a lot of restrictions on Bing Chat’s use (we’re still on the waitlist for it), including limiting the amount of questions in a session and the amount of sessions users can have with it. Microsoft said it found that "extended chat sessions of 15 or more questions" can lead to "responses that are not necessarily helpful or in line with our designed tone." In a blog post, the company said that long sessions with Bing Chat basically make it tired and cranky, and that “the model at times tries to respond or reflect in the tone in which it is being asked to provide responses that can lead to a style we didn’t intend.” All of this said, if you’re worried that Bill Gates built a sentient Chatbot that will go full Bender from Futurama on us, you don’t need to be that worried about it, yet. Artificial intelligence bots like ChatGPT are only as good as what are programmed into them. The issue here is that we’re dumping metric tons of data into them and what’s getting spit back at us is more of a reflection of what we're putting in than anything else. Via Morbotron "This is a mirror," New York-based psychotherapist and writer Martha Crawford told Futurism. “And I think mostly what we don't like seeing is how paradoxical and messy and boundary-less and threatening and strange our own methods of communication are." There is however, an uncanny valley component to chatbots, Crawford said. “We make a human simulacrum and then we are upset when we see that it actually, you know, reflects back some of our worst behaviors and not just our most edifying."

Despite its jankiness, I have some fond memories of The Forest. My summer of 2018 was filled with laughter and cries for “more bones for the bone basket” as my friends and I fought off legions of cannibalistic mutants. Those were heady days—literally filled with so many severed heads. Sons of the Forest seems to be more of the same, full of familiar terrors, but with a surprising amount of polish for an Early Access title. Sons of the Forest is a first person open world survival game with horror elements developed by indie studio Endnight. You play as an agent sent to find a billionaire on a remote island full of cannibalistic tribes and mutant terrors. Things go wrong right from the onset as your helicopter crashes, leaving only yourself and Kelvin to survive—unless you’re accompanied by friends in multiplayer. Kelvin represents one of the new changes in Sons of the Forest—companions that can help you gather materials and build structures. They won’t help you fight however. While Sons of the Forest is an open world game that tracks stats like hunger, thirst, etc, it's also a game with an underlying story. As you look for the missing billionaire and his family, you'll run into roadblocks, and you'll need to search for items to overcome them. To do that, you'll need to get into the bowels of the island -- into its deep dark caves, where all the most horrible creatures dwell, and where the island keeps its most compelling mysteries. Since you’re not looking for your son this time around, as you were in The Forest, you might not feel as guilty frolicking around with Virginia, or taking your time building the biggest and coolest base you and your friends can manage. Base building works similarly to how it did in The Forest, with a guidebook acting as a building catalog of sorts. You choose what you want to build, place an outline of the structure, and you and your companions can bring materials to complete it. Combat in Sons of the Forest is probably its weakest feature right now. While there are a whole bunch of horrific creatures to fight, using melee weapons feels weightless. Enemy AI can be interesting, however, with some enemies advancing to harass you with rocks while others sneak up behind. It would be great if there were hotkeys you can assign to weapons, but right now we’re stuck with its cool, but unwieldy inventory system. Sons of the Forest has released into Early Access, which will last from six to eight months—an optimistic estimate, since its predecessor took around four years to finish development. However, Sons of the Forest is at a high level of polish already. According to its Early Access info box on its Steam Store page, developer Endnight plan on adding more to do, discover, and build while keeping community feedback in mind. With over 2 million copies already sold, Sons of the Forest hardly needs my recommendation. I’m just excited to see how it looks when it finishes its development. I do hope that Endnight tweaks the combat system a bit, however. While it isn’t perfect, Sons of the Forest is definitely fun solo, or with up to seven friends. Sons of the Forest is out now on Steam Early Access

Thee Sacred Souls are no strangers to Chicago, especially Thalia Hall. Having played local venues quite a bit last year including the Thalia Hall Block Party, Thee Sacred Souls feel like they’re right at home at the Pilsen mainstay. And with a sound that is as deeply soulful and danceable as there is, it’s no surprise that their return garnered a pair of sold-out shows. Alongside Jalen N’Gonda, Thee Sacred Souls gifted a packed and ready to groove Thalia Hall an incredible night of soulful songs. Before Jalen N’Gonda came on stage I wasn’t entirely familiar with his sound but within moments there’s no doubt that he was about to deliver a show-stealing performance. Standing alone on the Thalia Hall stage, N’Gonda seemed completely at ease as his incredible songs grabbed a hold on the crowd. His voice was immaculate giving every song a sense of importance in grace. It honestly felt like discovering a long lost gem of a soul singer and it truly felt special hearing him perform. N’Gonda‘s setlist was a perfect combination of original songs and covers from Etta James, The Shirelles, Gene Chandler and more. At times it felt like a musical history lesson especially when N’Gonda pointed out Chicago was home to Vee-Jay Records, one of the first Black-owned record labels in the US. But it was his voice that was the true star of the set captivating everyone with its undeniable quality. “Just Like You Used To” was a clear standout in his original songs, embodying that Daptone sound wonderfully. I can only imagine what N’Gonda’s songs sound like with a full band backing him and I hope I get to hear it soon because his performance is still running around in my head. Even with a bar that high set for the night, Thee Sacred Souls were able to meet and surpass it. This evening the core group of vocalist Josh Lane, bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia were joined by a nice set of musicians and backup singers to help fill out their gorgeous sound. “Overflowing” kicked things off as usual, giving the crowd a beautiful taste of what was to come. It would be easy to write off Thee Sacred Souls as just a throwback kind of band, but they really are so much more. Every track of their self-titled debut album, of which they played nearly every track, is such a poignant and pristine example of what modern soul can be. Thee Sacred Souls hearken to the past without imitating it and add enough present day swagger to make it feel timeless. No stage can truly contain the energy of Thee Sacred Souls and Thalia Hall is no different. Throughout the night Lane would find himself at the edges of the stage, just a little bit past then onto equipment or in the photo pit, and eventually into the crowd itself. Thee Sacred Souls sounds ache for that human connection and Lane was more than happy to indulge as he belted out tracks while the overjoyed audience surrounded him. And of course no Thee Sacred Souls set could come to a close without their biggest song. The first track of their album is typically the last song you’ll hear at one of their shows and for good reason. “Can I Call You Rose,” synonymous with the band, with members of the crowd constantly hoping for it to be the next song played. All that hope reaches a boiling point and once its spot in the encore comes it’s cathartic. It’s a developing song of adoration, one that gave Thalia Hall just one more reason to feel the love that night. All photos by Julian Ramirez This review was originally published at Third Coast Review. You can check out more pictures here.

The Chicago Auto Show is an institution, and one we quite enjoy. It's the nation's largest auto show, housed in the enormous and equally impressive halls of McCormick Place, and every year in February it brings all manner of amazing vehicles to the floor. Visitors to the auto show get to see the latest models of their favorite cars, skateboard with pros, take test drives and even ride through obstacle courses. There's trivia, food and giveaways, and of course, amazing concept cars, all new vehicles and a supercar gallery featuring the Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis and Porsches that fill up our wildest dreams. Though not an official theme, the prevailing trend was around electric and hybrid versions of the most popular vehicles on the road, from all electrics like the Cadillac Lyriq, Nissan Ariya and the Hyundai Ioniq 6 to PHEV and hybrid vehicles representing every brand from Toyota and RAM to Honda and Jeep. No matter how you like to roll, from sporty sedans to pickup trucks and trailblazers like the Jeep Wrangler 4xe, you can find a hybrid that'll save you gas and still give you the thrills you're looking for. Even if you're not shopping hybrids though, today's vehicles are packed with the latest tech, from wireless charging to large screen UIs, and a slew of safety features, some of which even allow for hands-free driving, as well as the latest in sound systems and lighting that make your ride look like it's straight out of Star Trek. No matter what your style is, the Chicago Auto Show featured some amazing vehicles and we can't wait to see them out on the streets or maybe even in our own driveways sometime soon.

I have to admit that there was a moment there that I was obsessed with Arctic exploration, especially the expeditions looking for the Northern Passage—including Shackleton’s expedition, and Franklin’s Lost Expedition (which was fictionally portrayed with supernatural elements in the first season of The Terror. I thought, therefore, that The Pale Beyond would be the perfect game to let me test my decision making against the frozen north. But while it requires you to make the hard decisions, The Pale Beyond is more about intuition and social interaction than cold calculations. The Pale Beyond is a survival game mixed with a visual novel. You have to manage resources to keep your crew alive, but you’ll also need to convince them that you’re the one making the best decisions—and then you’ll need to make the right decisions to see your crew back to safety. Locked in ice looking for a ship that met a similar fate, you’ll have to manage fuel to prevent your people from freezing, and food to stop them from starving. Gameplay in The Pale Beyond consists mostly of dialogue choices, with some resource management. If by the end of any given week you’re low on fuel or food, your crew can be put into a perilous and often deadly predicament. Despite its lack of robust media content, developer Bellular Studios somehow manages to use still images, music, and immersive sound to tell a harrowing and suspenseful tale of survival, with a mystery threaded throughout. However, I wasn’t a fan of its art style—while the hand drawn characters and scenes look great, they tend to veer a little too close to Disney or Dreamworks characters, just with grim expressions. The Pale Beyond takes place in a world that is slightly parallel to our own, in a time period that is reminiscent of Shackleton’s Endurance expedition, which started around 1912, with a ship that became icebound, similar to the fate of The Pale Beyond’s crew. The Pale Beyond doesn’t try for historical accuracy, but nonetheless, it does a great job of portraying what arctic exploration was like over 110 years ago. If you desire a game where you can take complete control of your expedition, The Pale Beyond isn’t it. Each pivotal gameplay moment usually ends up being a dialogue choice. Beyond those branching choices, you have little other control in how the narrative unfolds—beyond, that is, making decisions to how much of your resources to use when, and who to send out on potentially deadly expeditions to procure more. While The Pale Beyond isn’t the artic exploration game I wanted, it definitely scratched that itch. At the heart of the game is a mystery, and how you proceed to unravel it is your choice—if you can get that far. However, despite multiple branching options, the story in The Pale Beyond feels linear and almost predetermined. While I enjoyed my time with The Pale Beyond, I don’t find myself wanting to get back into its freezing north anytime soon. The Pale Beyond is available tomorrow for PC via Steam. A Steam key was provided to us for this review

Today Evo 2023’s lineup was announced via livestream. With it come some brand new titles, last rides for some and even an old classic returning. The 2023 event will be held in Vegas August 4-6th with each game taking home a minimum of $25,000 prize pool. The lineup is as follows: Dragon Ball FighterZ Guilty Gear Strive Street Fighter 6 (It’s EVO debut) King of Fighters XV Melty Blood: Type Lumina Mortal Kombat 11 (Possibly its final appearance as Mortal Kombat 12 is set to be released later this year) Tekken 7 (Also possibly its final appearance as Tekken 8 is slated for this year as well) Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (A classic 2011 return for a pillar in the fighting game community) One new change is that the Top 8 has been lowered to Top 6 and Cygames will host a pre-release Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising tournament. Check out more info at their website evo.gg.

With the fourth season of Succession premiering March 26th 2023, it’s time we catch back up with the family we love to hate: The Roys. Logan Roy: Logan has successfully received control of his company via supermajority to sell to Matsson. He did so by receiving insider info of his children's backstabbing plans from Tom (Shiv’s husband) and using his ex-wife to supersede his children’s shares. We leave the final season with him finally telling his kids that they need to be cut off and be left flapping in the wind in a dramatic confrontation. Kendall Roy: Kendall is still grieving after accidentally killing a waiter at Shiv's wedding in season 2. At his mother’s wedding, he confesses to his siblings about how disconnected he’s been from family and businesses. Kendall also gets that Roy family coup he has been clamoring for since Season 1. Ultimately, their father is two steps ahead of them as he always is. Shiv and Tom: Shiv and Tom’s relationship has had its ups and downs, whether they are open or not, they seem to finally have hit a boiling point with Tom betraying his wife to side with Logan. Being the inside mole for Logan has given him a leg up in the family business, but more importantly, has kind of solidified the relationship dynamic that Shiv has been pushing since the beginning. Business comes first, and you must be willing to sacrifice your spouse for a better position since she had previously convinced Tom to possibly go to jail for Waystar. Shiv is left seeing a rare gesture of good will by Logan to Tom, cueing her in on the betrayal. Roman Roy: Roman is initially on board with the Gojo sale of Waystar to Matsson, with promise of a cushy position in the new company, but unfortunately goes against his better judgment and ends up siding with his siblings only to be thwarted by their father Logan. Also since his failed relationship with Gerri (who also sided with their father), he is entirely lost in his father’s eyes. Connor: Connor has been feeling left out of the family business since the beginning and season 3 saw the final straw. With a dramatic outburst towards his siblings, everything seems to be going downhill for Connor until he finally convinces his long term relationship with sex worker Willa to wed him. It was a big win for Connor, but Willa seemed more exasperated than anything. Cousin Greg: Greg has possibly made a “deal with the devil” in Tom to secure his position in the company but where does that finally land Greg? One initial thought could be an accidental CEO, but the future looks bright for cousin Greg. That's mostly where we leave the Roy family. What are you looking forward to in Season 4? What are your predictions for power moves or twists for next season? Sound off in the comments!

Our long national balloon nightmare finally came to a close, where a Chinese spy balloon the size of 33 buses (or 2 Macy's day parade balloons, 2 Rockefeller Center Christmas trees, 12.5 stacked giraffes, or 400 or so Italian beef sandwiches for Chicagoans), traversed the country and was eventually shot down a few miles off the coast of South Carolina. But it wasn't long before more Americans started looking up and seeing more things floating in the sky. Rendering of a UFO over a desert mountain. Via Envato. Unexplainable things. Actual unidentified flying objects. According to the New York Times, on February 10th, less than a week after the spy balloon was shot down, a US fighter jet brought down a UFO the size of a small car over Alaska. According to the DOD, the object was not a balloon and was allegedly headed towards the North Pole. The next day, an American fighter jet shot down another UFO, this time over the Yukon territory in Canada. The object was cylindrical in shape and smaller than the Chinese spy balloon. The day after that, a third unidentified object, this time allegedly octagonal in shape with strings hanging off of it, was shot down over Lake Huron, near Michigan. According to John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, these objects were uncrewed, had limited capabilities, and posed no threat to people on the ground, but also lacked any obvious propulsion systems. Is it aliens? While ancient alien experts will definitely say YES, the White House said no. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing on Monday that "There is no – again, no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns." That said, other government officials first wouldn’t rule anything out. NORAD Commanding Officer General Glen VanHerck told reporters in a briefing on Sunday that he hadn't "ruled out anything. At this point, we continue to assess every threat or potential threats unknown that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it." He added "we call these objects for a reason." So far, no other concrete explanations have been given by officials, but that has not ruled out complete and total wild speculation from pretty much anyone who's ever seen 10 seconds of shaky, grainy video of something unexplainable or explainable in the sky, to a chorus of grifters and fascists trying to make both a buck and get another 15 seconds of attention. More than a few have either hinted or outright said that the UFO stories are a "distraction" from one thing or another, including the horrific train derailment and chemical spill in Ohio, to the alleged release of a client list of Jeffery Epstein, to of course, Hunter Biden's laptop. Because despite the fact that the world is a dumpster fire of multiple cataclysms, apparently more than one news story can't unfold at a time. In a Thursday press conference, President Joe Biden reiterated that the UFOs were both most likely not of extraterrestrial origin, yet still remain unexplained. He also added that they weren’t related to the Chinese spy balloon and said whatever these objects were, they were probably tied to something much more down to Earth. "We don't yet know exactly what these three objects were," Biden said, according to CBS News. "But nothing right now suggests they were related to China's spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from...any other country. The intelligence community's current assessment is that these three objects were mostly balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research." President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Chicago during his campaign in 2019. Photo by Aaron Cynic. Biden also said that the reason more of these objects are being spotted is because the US military has allegedly increased the sensitivity of radars. "We don't have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky," he said. "We're now just seeing more of them partially because [of] the steps we've taken to increase our radars, to narrow our radars. And we have to keep adapting our approach to dealing with these challenges." A January report released by US Office of the Director of National Intelligence at least corroborates part of that explanation, in that it found the number of UFO sightings increased between March 2021 and August 2022. According to CNN, some 247 new sightings were reported, nearly double the amount of sightings reported between 2004 to 2021. Of about 500 “credible” sightings over the past couple decades, there were 171 that offered no explanation. The report said the rest were either balloons or other unmanned aircraft such as drones, or technical glitches or malfunctions. It’s difficult to speculate if we’ll find out anytime soon, or ever, what exactly the recent objects shot down actually are. At present, debris recovery efforts have been suspended due to poor weather conditions. There are a few other things we can be more confident of, however. The recent spate of down unidentifiable craft aren’t a “psyop,” there are plenty of things in the sky that have yet to be explained, we may never get the full or true story from government officials, and the universe is infinite, which means there’s more than likely, life out there. Whether or not it’s shown up on Earth is still unexplained.