McCall and Dante’s relationship will get some screen time on CBS’s The Equalizer season five episode five, “Take My Life…Please!” Directed by Richard Lyons from a script by Vanessa K. Herron, episode five airs on Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 9pm ET/PT.
Queen Latifah stars as Robyn McCall, Tory Kittles is Detective Marcus Dante, Adam Goldberg is Harry Keshegian, and Liza Lapira is Melody “Mel” Bayani. Laya DeLeon Hayes plays Delilah and Lorraine Toussaint is Viola “Vi” Marsette.
“Take My Life … Please!” Plot: The team investigates who is trying to put a hit on a stand-up comedian. Also, McCall grapples with her feelings for Dante, who is still in town deciding how to proceed with Big Ben, and Delilah continues her college search.
“The Equalizer is a reimagining of the classic series starring Academy Award nominee and multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall presents to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is The Equalizer – an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.
Robyn’s clandestine work and her personal life often collide when her smart and observant daughter, Delilah, and her aunt Vi, who lives with Robyn to help her balance life as a working mother, struggle to conceal her vigilante career. While Robyn worries about the mental and emotional toll her work exacts on her family, she is joined in her pursuit of justice by Melody “Mel” Bayani, an edgy bar owner and sniper from Robyn’s past who recently quit the Equalizer team to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder; and Harry Keshegian, a paranoid and brilliant white-hat hacker married to Mel.
As Robyn aids the oppressed and exploited, she sometimes works with Marcus Dante, an NYPD detective and trusted friend who respects the need for Robyn’s type of justice even as he often questions her methods.”
Emily Watson and Olivia Williams in ‘Dune: Prophecy’ (Photo by Attila Szvacsek/HBO)
HBO dives into the world of the Bene Gesserit with Dune: Prophecy, which premiered on Sunday, November 17, 2024. The series takes place 10,000 years before Dune and a century after the war against AI that led to the banning of thinking machines. Dune: Prophecy explores the creation of the Bene Gesserit, what motivates the Sisterhood, and their use of eugenics that will ultimately lead to the creation of Paul Atreides (played by Timothee Chalamet in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films).
Prior to the series’ debut, stars Emily Watson (“Valya Harkonnen”), Olivia Williams (“Tula Harkonnen”), Jodhi May (“Empress Natalya Arat Corrino”), and Travis Fimmel (“Desmond Hart”) joined executive producer Jordan Goldberg and showrunner/executive producer Alison Schapker for a press conference. The following are select highlights from the lengthy in-person and virtual press event for one of HBO’s most anticipated series.
On Dune: Prophecy’s time frame and the creative freedom to shape this series:
Alison Schapker: “Our series is inspired by Sisterhood of Dune which is a novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. And in that novel, they’re examining the rise of the Bene Gesserit and also the origin of story of the Second Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen and her sister, Tula Harkonnen. So, we are actually telling a portion of our story actually in that time period.
We’re interested in kind of Valya Harkonnen’s whole lifetime. We’re looking at her upbringing and sort of how she came to the Sisterhood in one aspect of our series. But then in the other time period of our series, we’re seeing Valya as a person who has grown the power of the Sisterhood, who is in charge, who is then faced with a crisis. So, we’re really toggling between two time periods: one that tethers us to the books very closely, and one that allows us to create. We did that in conjunction with the Herbert Estate and very carefully and respectfully of the world-building and in the novels. But it was exciting to have some room to adapt for television.”
On the characters’ desire for power and the constantly shifting dynamics that creates:
Jordan Goldberg: “I think the beautiful thing about Dune, Frank Herbert’s Dune, is the moral ambiguity of all the characters. At some point, you’re dealing with a hero and pretty soon they become the villain and vice versa. What’s interesting about all of these characters is that in our story, they are 100 years removed from the great machine wars. Humans have just been liberated from millennia under the influence of machines. They’re now kind of controlling their own destinies. But as Frank Herbert used to say, there’s always an uncertainty out there that you can’t account for.
But there are going to be organizations and groups and people that believe that they want to control things to make a certainty for them to make themselves less fearful of that. So, there’s an emotional reason to control everything, to control the future. And that really causes conflict between all these people who have different schemes at play.”
On Valya’s incredibly strong set of convictions:
Emily Watson: “I think she’s very unafraid. Nothing fazes her. You know, terrible things are happening, people are dying all around her, and she’ll be just kind of figuring out what can I get from this situation? How can I advance the cause? How does that serve me? Let’s get that player off. You know, she’s very strategic and not much fazes [her], so she’s just super, super smart.”
On balancing the softer side of Tula with her ruthless actions:
Olivia Williams: “I think the secret is playing a younger sister and being a younger sister when your older sister has occupied the full of sound and fury position, then you internalize and keep your rage inside and keep it quiet. But, you know, watch out for the quiet ones. And the other thing is, she’s a science nerd, you know, and so the way she finds of eliminating her enemies is extremely efficient and quiet – and extremely effective.
She’s also, you know, [got] the sort of softness. She’s troubled by her conscience. But does it make you a better person if you cry while you’re killing people?”
Travis Fimmel and Charlie Hodson-Prior in ‘Dune: Prophecy’ episode 1 (Photograph by Attila Szvacsek / HBO)
On finding Desmond’s moral compass:
Travis Fimmel: “I think he has a moral compass, but he feels so justified in some of the stuff that he does in his history and the anger he has and the heartbreak that he has. He feels very justified in hurting people. But at the same time, when he does hurt these people, it also hurts him very badly, physically and mentally. And it kind of turns him on, so it’s a bit S&M-ish, I think.
But yeah, it’s a fun character to play. Like all the characters, they’ve got their own voice. They all [have] hidden agendas. And I just I’m very lucky to be a part of it.”
On figuring out how Desmond would look while channeling his power:
Travis Fimmel: “I’m still thinking about what to do with that. First out, these two witches are horrible people and their characters I have big problems with. But it’s tricky. It’s not like I can fly or something. I just got to stare at somebody and have a lot going on in my head. I really had no idea what to do. Just make sure I got a lot of inner thoughts and inner monologue going in my head and which is back to the S&M stuff.”
Jodhi May and Mark Strong in ‘Dune: Prophecy’ episode 1 (Photograph by Attila Szvacsek / HBO)
On Empress Natalya’s relationship with Emperor Javicco Corrino:
Jodhi May: “It’s really interesting the way that our introduction to this emperor and empress is through the lens of a marriage that is starting to really unravel. And we talked quite a lot about, certainly for Natalya, the sense that even though it was an arranged marriage, it was one that had love in it and that was built on the idea that this was going to be a team effort, if you like. And I think what you see is a woman who feels it’s, you know, I guess my equivalent imaginatively was it’s a bit like Russia, where you see this sort of, at the turn of the century, a sort of Rasputin figure coming in and this woman feeling really alienated and estranged from her husband and his dependency and his emasculation, if you like, in terms of leadership.
But she has no voice. She has no power. You know, there’s such a deep sense of frustration there. I think that really is character-defining. And what I love about Alison’s female roles is that she really puts power under the lens, dissects it.”
Fox’s 2024-2025 midseason lineup includes the premiere of Denis Leary’s Going Dutch and Doc starring Molly Parker. January 2025’s primetime schedule also includes the return of Joel McHale’s Animal Control for season three, and a “Head Chefs Only” season of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen.
Dramas 9-1-1: Lone Star and Rescue: HI-Surf will return from their winter breaks in late January 2025, and Fox’s Wednesday schedule of The Masked Singer (season 13) and The Floor kicks off on February 12, 2025. Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef season four debuts on February 13th.
FOX JANUARY 2025 PREMIERES AND FEBRUARY “SUPER WEEK” 2025 HIGHLIGHTS
DOC:Doc stars Molly Parker as the hard-charging, brilliant Chief of Internal Medicine Dr. Amy Larsen, who suffers a brain injury that erases the last eight years of her memory. The accident leaves her with no recollection of patients she’s treated, colleagues she’s crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push almost everyone away. But with the immense loss, comes a second chance to do things differently.
GOING DUTCH: In Going Dutch, the arrogant, loudmouth U.S. Army Colonel Patrick Quinn (Denis Leary) — after an epically unfiltered rant — is reassigned to the Netherlands, where he is punished with a command position at the least important army base in the world, notable for its Michelin Star-commissary, top-notch bowling alley, lavender-infused laundry and the best (and only) fromagerie in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Surrounded by a diverse group of military misfits, the colonel tries to reinstate discipline and professionalism with the help of the base’s previous interim leader, who just happens to be his estranged daughter (Taylor Misiak).
CBS released a special Jared Padalecki featurette as the Supernatural star continues his guest-starring role as Camden, a SoCal firefighter, on Fire Country season three episode six. “Not Without My Birds” will air on Friday, November 22, 2024 at 9pm ET/PT.
Max Thieriot stars as Bode, Billy Burke plays Vince, Kevin Alejandro is Manny, and Diane Farr is Sharon. Stephanie Arcila plays Gabriela, Jordan Calloway is Jake, Jules Latimer is Eve, and Rafael de la Fuente is Diego.
“Not Without My Birds” Plot: When a fire breaks out in a park containing an eagle nest, Station 42 and Three Rock work to rescue the protected species and prevent the fire from spreading into town. Alexis Ostrander directs from a script by Barbara Kaye Friend (story by Joe Hortua).
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as Bode Leone, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates are partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son until his troubles began.
Years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a chance for redemption with Cal Fire.
The team deals with the possibility someone’s political views have led to two murders on CBS’s S.W.A.T. season eight episode six. Directed by Guy Ferland from a script by Daniela Labi, episode six – “Hot Button” – will air on Friday, November 22, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT.
Season eight stars Shemar Moore as Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, Jay Harrington as David “Deacon” Kay, David Lim as Victor Tan, Patrick St. Esprit as Commander Robert Hicks, and Anna Enger Ritch as Zoe Powell. Annie Ilonzeh is Devin Gamble and Niko Pepaj plays Miguel “Miko” Alfaro.
“Hot Button” Plot: When back-to-back shootings at women’s clinics leave two healthcare providers dead, Hondo and the team investigate whether the shootings were politically motivated.
S.W.A.T. stars Shemar Moore as a former Marine and locally born and raised SWAT sergeant tasked to run a specialized tactical unit that is the last stop in law enforcement in Los Angeles. Torn between loyalty to where he was raised and allegiance to his brothers in blue, Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson strives to bridge the divide between his two worlds.
Committed to the job, Hondo is equally devoted to his marriage and fatherhood. The other members of Hondo’s elite S.W.A.T. unit include David “Deacon” Kay, an experienced S.W.A.T. officer and dedicated family man who always puts the team first; Victor Tan, who started in the LAPD Hollywood Division and uses his confidential informants in the community to help the team; Zoe Powell, a tough and loyal team member trying to reconnect with the son she gave up for adoption as a teen; and Miguel “Miko” Alfaro, a headstrong officer who overcame a troubled childhood, and is now a trusted 20-Squad addition following a rocky transfer to Los Angeles S.W.A.T.
Responsible for the management of all Metro Division S.W.A.T. units is Commander Robert Hicks, a senior LAPD official with the Special Operations Bureau. With Hondo leading the charge, these dedicated men and women bravely put themselves at risk to protect their community and save lives.
Peyton Manning, Lainey Wilson, and Luke Bryan host the 2024 CMA Awards (Photo Credit: Disney/ABC)
11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles and Oscar winner Jeff Bridges will take the 2024 CMA Awards stage as presenters. The 58th Annual CMA Awards announced the celebrities confirmed for Country music’s biggest night, hosted by Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson, and Peyton Manning.
Presenters include four-time CMA Award winner Clint Black, CMA Award winner Jordan Davis, World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, Doctor Odyssey‘s Don Johnson, eight-time CMA Award winner Little Big Town, Dustin Lynch, actor/singer Katharine McPhee, Country Music Hall of Fame members The Oak Ridge Boys, and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives‘ Taylor Frankie Paul. Three-time CMA Award winner Carly Pearce, Sundae Conversation’s Caleb Pressley, CMA New Artist of the Year nominee Nate Smith, High Potential‘s Daniel Sunjata, CMA New Artist of the Year nominee Mitchell Tenpenny, and Landman‘s Billy Bob Thornton and Mark Collie are also on board as presenters.
Previously, CMA announced Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Brooks & Dunn, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Sierra Hull, and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes will perform during the broadcast. Additional performers include Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Noah Kahan, Ella Langley, Ashley McBryde, Megan Moroney, Kacey Musgraves, Post Malone, Shaboozey, Chris Stapleton, Teddy Swims, Thomas Rhett, Molly Tuttle, Lainey Wilson, and Bailey Zimmerman.
Alan Carter directs the CMA Awards, Jon Macks is the head writer, and Robert Deaton serves as executive producer. The awards show will air on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.
Jennifer Morrison returns to direct CBS’s Tracker season two episode six, which finds Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) heading to the hills in Washington state to find missing campers. The campers – Sam, Cooper, and married couple Monica and Jason – are shown drunk and dancing in the moonlight as the episode “Trust Fall” begins.
Sam’s really wasted, and Monica suggests they jump in the waterfall to sober. Sam heads off to relieve himself as an unknown person with a rifle watches from the woods.
Velma (Abby McEnany) and Reenie (Fiona Rene) tell Colter that he was specifically requested to find the campers. Olivia Barnett, whose daughter ran off a couple of years ago, suggested that her friend Lauren contact Colter to help find her four friends. Lauren’s offering a $25,000 reward.
Colter and Lauren (Amanda Wong) meet at Lauren’s friends’ campsite. She came out to meet them this morning, and they were gone. All their supplies were still there, and food had been left out overnight. Plus, they left their phones behind. The authorities won’t help until they’ve been missing for 48 hours.
Monica sent her a drunk text last night saying they were going to hike under the blue moon. Colter finds medication in Monica’s tent and blood in Sam’s. He also notices a knife is missing from its sheath in Sam’s tent. Sam didn’t leave his phone behind, like the others, and Colter wonders if Sam might be dangerous. Lauren confirms Sam has a temper when he drinks.
Bobby (Eric Graise) investigates Sam’s background and discovers he has multiple drunk & disorderly charges. He even threatened a coworker and lost his job. Colter asks Bobby to look into the other missing campers while he picks up their trail in the woods. Suddenly, someone cries for help, and Colter rushes to Sam, whose leg is impaled on a branch.
While working on the wound, Colter learns Sam stepped away from camp and fell down a hill. He heard gunshots a few hours before dawn and claims not to know what happened to his three friends. Colter can’t remove the wood because it could cause more bleeding, so instead, he breaks it off and then bandages Sam’s leg.
Colter helps him walk, and Sam admits he was really drunk, must have passed out, and has a hangover. The two gunshots sounded like booms and were a few seconds apart. Colter deduces the shots came from a high-powered rifle at a long range. Sam says the blood in his tent is from a broken bottle from earlier in the night. He doesn’t know why the knife sheath is empty.
Colter delivers Sam to Lauren and suggests she get him to a hospital. The cops are on their way, but Colter isn’t going to wait. Instead, he heads off to find the waterfall Monica wanted to jump in. It’s a short hike and when he arrives, there’s a man with a handgun near the water. It turns out he’s a retired Tacoma cop named Keaton (Brent Sexton) who was looking around old access roads last night and heard the gunshots. It was a super blue moon last night, which only happens every few years. Keaton believes the gunshots from last night are related to an old cold case of his. There were two shooting victims a decade apart within five miles of this location. The same caliber bullet was used in both murders. Thus far, his only clue is that they happened during a super blue moon.
“I never thought it was random. Never could make the case, but here I am spending my time still looking for the guy,” says Keaton.
Colter invites Keaton to join him in searching the waterfall area, and almost immediately, Colter finds Monica’s backpack. There’s a bullet hole in the backpack, but no blood. They figure out the shooter’s direction and assume the campers ran in the opposite direction. Colter suggests they were being hunted.
Colter locates a bullet, and it’s the same caliber as Keaton’s cases. And just like in this shooting, the shooter fired the shots at a steep downward angle. Forensics determined the soil samples came from this waterfall area, but the bodies were found out in the woods.
Colter believes he’s found the spot above where the shooter fired from. It’s quite a hike, but Keaton keeps up. The spot lines up perfectly with the angle of the shot, and the trees would have kept the shooter concealed.
Keaton’s going to stay on this case until he finds the shooter. He’s determined to give the families some peace. Colter understands because he’s also got a case he couldn’t solve and a family waiting for answers. Keaton asks about it and Colter explains it happened 10 years ago. Gina finished her shift at the mall and vanished. He promised Gina’s sister he wouldn’t stop looking, and Keaton corrects him. He believes Colter made the promise to himself and is still looking because his words still mean something. Keaton praises Colter’s skills and admits he could have used a partner like him.
Colter finds another shell, and he and Keaton decide to take off since the shooter could be targeting them right now. They head through the woods and Colter spots an old shelter that’s the perfect place to hide. Colter sees an open can of food just as shots ring out. Keaton refuses to get down, returns fire, and gets shot in the arm. Fortunately, he also wounded the killer and insists that Colter go hunt him down.
Colter uses trees for cover as he and the shooter exchange gunfire. The injured shooter tries to run, but Colter has the upper hand. He orders the murderer to drop his weapon, but he refuses. Fortunately, Keaton comes up from behind and presses his gun to the man’s head. Realizing he has no other option, the killer tosses his rifle on the ground.
The cops arrive and Colter learns the shooter is Marcus Wilson. Keaton describes him as having a high IQ with psychopathic tendencies. The cop says Marcus believes the mountains belong to him, which piques Colter’s interest.
Marcus admits he shot at the campers but didn’t hit them. Colter gets him to reveal that he thought about killing them, but “they were hellbent on killing each other.” Marcus saw Monica and Jason holding a knife on Cooper while he begged for his life. Coop’s hands were tied when they marched him off into the woods. Marcus fired two shots at them as they were walking away toward an exit trail.
Colter realizes the campers made it off the mountain and heads to the hospital to see Sam and Lauren. Lauren’s shocked by what Marcus saw, but Sam feels something screwy is happening. The doctor ran a tox screen, and he had unusually high anxiety meds in his system. Sam doesn’t take anxiety meds, but Colter knows Monica does since he found the bottle in her tent.
Colter believes Monica and Jason didn’t want Sam to go on the hike. They were after Coop and didn’t want Sam in the way.
The scene switches to Coop driving while Jason holds a knife at his throat. Apparently, they did something horrible eight years ago and Coop doesn’t want to keep it a secret any longer. He wanted to talk to them about it and set something up so that if he died, the secret would still come out.
Colter calls Bobby with an update, and Bobby reports that Cooper’s been paying a woman named Natalie Perry in Seattle every month, even though he can barely pay his bills. However, he’s been doing it via a dummy company so that Natalie can’t trace the payments back to him.
Keaton’s unsolved murders are solved, so he returns the favor by helping Colter. Reenie’s in Seattle speaking with a new client, so Colter asks her to visit Natalie. Keaton offers to go with Colter to see if Cooper, Monica, or Jason have made it home.
Natalie, a single mom, doesn’t know where the money comes from. She doesn’t recognize the name James Cooper. Reenie asks about the man in a photo, and learn it’s her husband, Brian. It’s assumed he died eight years ago from a hit-and-run accident while he was out jogging. The police never found his body, but there was broken glass a few streets over along with blood on the road. One of his shoes was found in a bush.
Someone might have hit him and then took the body. Natalie recalls that callers on the tip line said they saw drunk college kids driving erratically around that same time. The cops had little to go on, so it’s still an open case.
Reenie calls Colter with the info and it’s easy to tie Cooper’s payments to Brian’s death. Keaton and Colter believe Jason and Monica were in the car with Cooper and all agreed to keep it a secret. Cooper sent payments as penance. Colter and Reenie think Cooper was going to come clean and take Jason and Monica down with him.
Meanwhile, Jason watches Cooper as Monica attempts to get into his laptop. Cooper won’t give her his password and reminds them it doesn’t matter what they do to him. He has an email set to go out tomorrow morning to the cops. Jason can’t believe Cooper’s ready to ruin their lives; it won’t bring Brian back.
Cooper confesses he can’t live with it anymore after seeing Natalie in a sporting goods store buying her son a fishing rod. Coop feels guilty that Brian’s not with his son buying the fishing gear because of them.
Monica gets into Cooper’s laptop and finds the email. Cooper was going to tell the cops everything, including that Jason was driving and hit Brian. The email also includes a map of where Brian’s body was dumped.
Cooper makes a run for it, and Jason tries to stop him. Coop accidentally stabs Jason in the chest. Monica reacts by hitting Cooper in the head with a kettlebell.
Colter and Keaton arrive minutes later and find Jason’s still-warm dead body. Keaton calls the cops as Colter spots the open email confession on Cooper’s laptop. The kettlebell’s on the floor and Colter figures out Monica killed Cooper after Cooper killed Jason. She took off with Coop’s body and forgot to delete the email. Colter believes Monica is taking Coop to the same place where they dumped Brian.
It’s pitch dark when Monica drags Coop toward a lake. Coop coughs and begs for his life. Monica is about to finish Coop off when Colter yells at her to put down her knife. Keaton and Colter advance, guns drawn. Colter reminds Monica to think of her kids and not kill Coop. She allows Colter to take the knife from her hand.
Lauren and Sam rush to the scene, and Coop confirms he’s ready to tell the truth. He’s just sorry he didn’t confess sooner. Lauren hands over the $25,000 reward, even though this isn’t an outcome anyone expected.
Keaton and Colter have a final heart-to-heart, and it’s obvious they have built a deep respect between them in a short period of time. Colter asks if Keaton would mind helping him with Gina Picket’s cold case, and Keaton agrees. “I’ll poke around, put some old-school legwork into it,” says Keaton.
Later, Reenie gives Colter a hard time about screwing up her meeting with a potential new client. Colter apologizes and Reenie lets him off the hook. She landed the client and even brought some bubbly to celebrate!
Colter tells Reenie he’s proud of her. They toast to her going out on her own.
Kelly Reilly in ‘Yellowstone’ season 5 (Photo Credit: Paramount Network)
It’s Beth and Kayce versus Jamie as Paramount Network’s Yellowstone season five continues with episode 10, “The Apocalypse of Change.” But before getting to any of that, episode 10 steps back to before John Dutton was found dead.
First up, a check-in with the cowboys stuck watching over the cattle in Texas. Everyone’s up and at breakfast except for Teeter (Jen Landon), and when Rip (Cole Hauser) checks in on her, she looks terrified. She whispers, “Rattlesnake.”
Rip lifts her bedroll and the snake is inside, curled up on her chest. He grabs it before it bites and then yells at Teeter for leaving her tent flap open. That’s just inviting trouble. Teeter reluctantly pokes around inside her tent, searching for more, and of course, there are. They’ve basically camped on top of a rattlesnake den.
There are snakes everywhere, so the cowboys hightail into the truck bed. Rip confirms there are even snakes down by the horses. Everyone packs up to move to a new camp, and Teeter carefully looks around their new site for holes. Fortunately, she doesn’t find any.
Beth (Kelly Reilly) gets pulled over speeding down the highway and quickly pushes up her breasts. Unfortunately, the cop’s a female and isn’t impressed. However, the cop is impressed that Beth’s heading to meet her hubby on the 6666 Ranch and lets her off with a warning to keep it under 80.
Rip and Ryan (Ian Bohen) are busy injecting the horses with snakebite antidote when Beth comes racing up. Her visit’s a surprise and it turns out she found him by putting an air tag in his wallet. She wants Rip to leave and go to a hotel suite with her and doesn’t care if it looks bad. Beth makes a deal with the guys, saying she’ll take Rip away for two days. In exchange, next weekend she’ll fly out their lovers and set them up in the same hotel. Plus, drinks will be on her.
Back at the ranch, Kayce (Luke Grimes), Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and Tate (Brecken Merrill) fix up their new home, sanding floors, fixing the roof, and putting up cabinets. Once finished, Monica’s ecstatic they’re in their first home that they actually own.
Meanwhile, Beth and Rip relax naked in bed. Rip reveals it’s the first time he’s ever been outside Montana, and Beth’s surprised. Beth wants to imagine what they could do if they weren’t tied to the ranch, and Rip reminds her he chose to be tied to it.
They head downstairs to a speakeasy where the bartender informs them all the drinks are true to the speakeasy era. They look around, and Beth points out there aren’t any tourists in the speakeasy. Rip can tell she’s up to something and Beth admits she’s not even sure what she’s got planned.
25 minutes in, and the action moves forward to after John’s murder disguised as a suicide. Rip and Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) have a private chat and both agree John didn’t kill himself. Rip doesn’t want anyone to go to prison, but they need to figure out who they’re up against. Lloyd’s concerned they’ll have to look for new jobs. Rip can’t guarantee anything.
Beth gets dressed and is shocked to see Summer (Piper Perabo) in the living room. Summer thinks she can’t leave and doesn’t know what to do, and Beth shows her a form that indicates she’s been released and free to go the entire time. She was never officially on house arrest; that was just something John said. Beth informs her that she needs to leave right now and even offers her a ride to the barn. From there, she can ask a cowboy for a ride.
Beth wishes her the best. After exchanging a few insults, Beth puts Summer in the rearview mirror.
Carter (Finn Little) is taking John’s death really hard. He thinks John quit him, like everyone else in his life. Rip assures him he’ll always have a place with them. He urges Carter to cowboy up and get to work. Carter says he wanted to be just like John. If Carter manages that, Rip says he’ll be the first of many who’ve tried.
Summer asks Rip for a ride to the airport.
Kelsey Asbille as Monica and Luke Grimes as Kayce in ‘Yellowstone’ season 5 episode 10 (Photo Credit: Paramount Network)
Kayce returns home, and Monica rushes to hug him. Monica says Tate knows what the news said, and Kayce explains he needs to stay at the lodge for now. Monica assures him that she and Tate will pack up and join him.
Kayce and Tate take a walk, and Kayce wonders what Tate wants to be when he grows up. (He’s never asked this before.) Tate just assumed he’d be working at the ranch. Without coming out and saying what John wanted, Kayce asks if Tate ever thought about running the ranch. Tate says running the ranch got John killed, and he’d rather just work it.
Kayce confesses he can’t tell Tate everything now. Tate tears up when he says he doesn’t understand why John is dead. “Just know this, you can remember the way he lived or you can remember the way he died. Your heart can’t focus on both. You’re gonna have to choose to miss him or to be mad at him,” says Kayce.
“I’ll miss him then,” replies Tate.
Wes Bentley as Jamie Dutton in ‘Yellowstone’ season 5 (Photo Credit: Paramount Network)
Jamie receives condolences at work and then hears four words that strike terror in him: “Your sister is waiting.” She’s sitting at his desk when he walks in, and he wisely decides to leave the door open. Beth walks up to her brother and slaps him in the face. When he looks away, she slaps him again and again. He still refuses to look at her and she suggests they both know why.
“Last chance, Jamie,” says Beth as she walks to the door. He doesn’t move or reply, so she walks up behind him and warns him that seeing her will be the last thing he’ll ever do alive. “I will be the last thing on this planet your rotten f**king eyes will ever see, and I will be smiling,” says Beth.
Sarah (Dawn Olivieri) and Ellis Steele (John Emmet Tracy) from Market Equities are outside the door, and Beth taunts Sarah that this is going to be fun. Beth slams into her and holds her against the wall as Sarah chuckles.
Beth walks off, now 100% certain Jamie and Sarah had her father murdered. She calls Kayce and tells him that she met with Jamie and he couldn’t look her in the eyes. He didn’t even deny that he was responsible for their father’s death. Kayce seems to accept this as Beth adds that Sarah (the viper) could look in her eyes.
Kayce immediately calls an old military friend and asks if he’s still in black work. The friend sends him an app for Kayce to use to communicate, and Kayce tells him his dad supposedly died from suicide. The friend isn’t sure what company would handle a hit that big; it would have been a $40 million hit. He suggests that Kayce should be careful sniffing around and promises to get back to him.
Ellis tells Jamie he’s sorry for his loss but that it presents new opportunities. Jamie insists the family won’t be able to afford the ranch and that it would be best if Market Equities put it to good use. Jamie promises to reinstate the lease that his father had no right to negate. He’ll also start work on negating the land trust restrictions. First, he’ll need to subpoena John Dutton’s will, but he doesn’t think the estate can afford to contest it for long. It should be about a year before construction can start, but the lease can be reinstated by the end of the week.
Ellis promises Market Equities will support him if he runs for governor. After Ellis leaves, Jamie tells Sarah that Beth knows what they did. Sarah thinks Beth would blame anything that happens on Jamie and that they shouldn’t be worried. Sarah reminds him that he won and that kings feast, not wallow.
Jamie removes Sarah’s dress and the two most despicable characters on Yellowstone have sex.
Rip drives Summer to the airport and she wonders if he knows cowboys will cease to exist in two generations. Rip believes they’ll all adapt to any changes. Summer admits she’ll miss seeing them work, and Rip says he’ll miss doing it at some point.
Speaking of cowboys, episode 10 ends with the team in Texas saddling up and getting to work.
The team helps find thieves behind a $100 million robbery on CBS’s FBI: Most Wanted season six episode five. Directed by Ken Girotti from a script by Ryan Causey, episode five – “Money Moves” – airs on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 10pm ET/PT.
Dylan McDermott returns to lead the cast as Supervisory Special Agent Remy Scott. Season six also stars Shantel VanSanten as Special Agent Nina Chase, Roxy Sternberg as Special Agent Sheryll Barnes, Keisha Castle-Hughes as Special Agent Hana Gibson, and Edwin Hodge as Special Agent Ray Cannon.
“Money Moves” Plot: When a privately owned security corporation warehouse is robbed, the Fugitive Task Force is called in for assistance as the sophisticated team of thieves plan their next heist. Meanwhile, Ray and Cora wrestle with Caleb’s sudden desire to spend time with his biological father.
FBI: Most Wanted is a high-stakes drama that focuses on the Fugitive Task Force, an elite unit that relentlessly pursues and captures the notorious criminals on the Bureau’s Most Wanted list. The team’s charming but formidable leader is Supervisory Special Agent Remy Scott, who started his career in the New York FBI field office before rising through the ranks of the Bureau in Philadelphia and Las Vegas.
The team includes Special Agent Sheryll Barnes, a former NYPD detective and forensics expert; Special Agent Hana Gibson, a gifted millennial computer whiz with a sharp wit and mad hacking skills; Special Agent Ray Cannon, who is a former New Orleans cop-turned-junior detective and worked Violent Crimes in Albany after following in his retired FBI agent father’s footsteps; along with well-seasoned Special Agent Nina Chase who worked assorted cases with the FBI’s New York office and among her strengths is her undercover work.
Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald were happy to discuss spoilers for the new episodes of Cobra Kai as long as they’re posted after it premieres with tons of spoiler warnings. So, I won’t even say the plot points we discuss in the intro.
This article discusses spoilers for the five episodes of season six part two, right up until the final moments of the finale. If you’ve seen the new episodes you already know, and you want to know something before the final episodes of Cobra Kai come in 2025.
We also discussed Sam and Victor’s Day Off, the spinoff they are producing about the valets from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Hayden, how did your acting come about?
Hayden Schlossberg: “Ever since we decided to have Terry Silver arrested, I’ve been wanting to get him out of jail just because I love the character so much. I always love defending the characters, even the villainous ones, and looking at it from their perspective and painting them in the best possible light. So, I felt like it was only fitting to be there to be the one that gets him out of the jam of being trapped in the legal process so he could be unleashed in our universe in this final season. At the same time, I’m like the voice of reason in his world trying to get him out of the Karate wars, but he doesn’t listen to me, unfortunately.”
Is the actor you cast as young Miyagi in the flashbacks secured if you end up doing a Miyagi spinoff?
Jon Hurwitz: “This was intended for this particular show. We can’t get into any details as to what we would be doing in a Miyagi series, but we thought that he did a phenomenal job in that scene. What we have in this, having Daniel fight against a Sekai Taikai era Mr. Miyagi was really born out of discussions that we’ve had with Ralph since the very beginning of making the show. It’s always been important to us, and it’s always been important to Ralph that Mr. Miyagi be a really important element of his character, and of the series, and we’ve always tried to do it justice over the years.
This season, we’re doing some things that, for some audiences, are a little bit controversial in certain ways, but it’s all done with love and with a big, broad plan. Having that kind of dream sequence for Daniel was something that Ralph really loved the idea of he and Mr. Miyagi sharing screen time together. You see we have the deepfake of Pat [Morita] in there, which was something that was really special for Ralph to basically be on screen with him again and give Miyagi time to shine a little bit more as this final season goes on.”
With that deepfake, you still had to do Morita’s voice, right?
Jon Hurwitz: “Yes, we deepfaked his voice as well. It was all the deep faking was both visual and audio.”
Was it hard to find William Christopher Ford from Karate Kid III?
Josh Heald: “It was just very exciting to go that deep of a cut in the Karate Kid universe, to bring back Dennis. We’re in that fandom and we’ve been following everybody that we can locate from the initial three movies for years and years. Online, we were just aware that William Christopher Ford is a martial artist and is a sensei in his own right and is very deeply involved in not only martial arts but the history of martial arts and paying so much respect for the senseis that come before him. And is also a filmmaker and an actor.
There were so many reasons why it felt like it was time to dig into that well and bring him into this universe. Because he looks so different than he looks in Karate Kid III, there’s certainly a section of a subsection of a subsection of an audience who is as deeply involved as we are. On sight, they’re going to see him and go, ‘Oh, that’s Dennis.’ For most of an audience that has seen Karate Kid III casually, you’re not going to recognize who he is now vs. who he was then. You will be able to take that entire episode in between of the mystery and hopefully believe that he’s working for a different kind of evil.”
Is the episode 10 finale way bigger than the high school fight in season two?
Hayden Schlossberg: “Absolutely. That was the biggest action fighting set piece that we’ve ever shot that’s probably ever been in any of the movies. We knew that going in. It was by design. We love the idea of there being a brawl. You take things out of real life, and we see all the time in sports, whether it’s in the NBA or in MLB, all of a sudden, a giant fight will break out where people on the sidelines get involved. The crazy thing about doing it at a Karate tournament is the senseis and adults in the room also are fighters.
So, we love the idea. We haven’t seen it yet on our show where it’s not just a bunch of kids in a big giant fight, but it’s the kids and the adults all at the same time and occasionally there’s an adult hitting a kid. It led to absolute pandemonium. It was incredibly difficult because there’s so many storylines that you’re tying up and telling while also fighting and when you have these brawls, you have so much in the background happening while you have story that you’re telling in the foreground. To keep a continuity going is very tricky, so it’s very involved.
It’s very difficult to put on the page, first of all. Then once you have it on the page, you have to coordinate the actual shooting of it because you’re not always doing everything chronologically. You have to remember certain things.
I can tell you there were whiteboards that it looked like we were figuring out the core aspects of the DNA code sequencing. 50 different parts to different fights. It was an amazing undertaking. All I can say is our stunt coordinators and fight choreographers really deserve the Emmy in the comedy category because when you look at the other shows in the genre, there’s just nothing on this level. We constantly throw challenges their way, and they knock it out of the park.”
With what happens to Kwon at the end, was it important to remind viewers that fighting is still dangerous?
Jon Hurwitz: “That was part of it. I think we wanted to do something dramatically. We wanted to do something very dramatic at the end of episode 10 that changes the game in a major, major way as we move into our final five episodes. It’s been a while since we’ve had real repercussions for this kind of mass fight. We saw what happened to Miguel at the end of season two, and it had real-life implications. I think having this kind of melee and having it end in the way that it did is a wake-up call to everybody about fighting and their role in what ended up being this death in this crazy, crazy melee at the end of the Sekai Taikai in Barcelona.
It was such a big move to do, and I will say that we love Brandon [H.] Lee, our actor who played Kwon so, so much that it was one of those things that from the moment he started acting on the show in the first portion, we’re like, ‘Oh gosh.’ And people were like, ‘Do we really have to kill Kwon?’ And we’re like, unfortunately, for the story and what we’re doing, there’s so much tied to this that it had to happen.
That’s also one of the things that was by design. You wanted to introduce a character that really has a huge impact on the show and that you’re so invested in and that you think is the endgame. For him to go off the board in the way that he does, we think it’s a big surprise for everybody.”
So, you’re confirming he died.
Josh Heald: “I mean, he’s dead, yeah. When you’re stabbed in the chest and you’re sitting in a pool of blood, we tried to make it as clear as possible.”
Jon Hurwitz: “Without this interview, people will speculate.”
Josh Heald: “I don’t know, we left Miguel hanging in the balance once and he lived. This is a death.”
Hayden Schlossberg: “Unless it’s Kreese, you could assume it’s a death.”
In the Ferris Bueller spinoff you’re producing, is the plan to recast Sam and Victor since it’s been over 30 years?
Josh Heald: “It takes place the same day and one of those actors is no longer with us, so there’s not enough deepfake technology in the world, I think, to not recast. I think recasting also just is going to breathe new life and give different ways in on the process of really connecting with these two guys. And, it’s their movie. It’s their day in this iconic universe, so that is the plan.”
Hayden Schlossberg: “Connected to that because you asked the question about the young Miyagi that we have on the show. I just think there are times where you want everyone to be the exact same actor and look the same. And then there are times where that’s just going to be impossible. It’s okay to expect the audience to have a suspension of disbelief.
I just know as an audience member remembering back in the day before George Lucas tinkered with the Star Wars movies, there was an actor who played the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back and then there was a different actor who played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and I liked the movies back in the day. I think as long as the creators care about the story, who’s playing the characters is something that can change depending on the situation.”
Josh Heald: “And who knows where AI and deepfake is going to go. I can only assume it’s going to get better and better and better. The Uncanny Valley is already disappearing in many ways with some care and attention. So far, at this point in the evolution of VFX and storytelling, deepfakes work very well and can be very effective in small doses. When you’re talking about a 90-minute movie, I don’t know that we want to be in a place yet where the two main characters onscreen are entirely a reconstruction of somebody.”
