Oscar winner Julia Roberts returns to romantic comedies and reunites with her Ocean’s 11 co-star George Clooney in Universal Pictures’ Ticket to Paradise. The two-and-a-half-minute trailer introduces Roberts and Clooney as a divorced couple who are forced to pool their efforts to stop their daughter from marrying someone she just met.
The film also reunites Kaitlyn Dever and Billie Lourd from 2019’s critically acclaimed coming-of-age comedy, Booksmart. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again‘s director Ol Park helmed the comedy and co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Pipski.
Ticket to Paradise was shot in Queensland, Australia and is a Working Title, Smokehouse Pictures, and Red Om Films production.
Smokehouse Pictures’ George Clooney and Grant Heslov produce with Red Om Films’ Julia Roberts, Lisa Roberts Gillan, and Marisa Yeres Gill. Sarah Harvey, Deborah Balderstone, and Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner also produce.
Universal Pictures will release Ticket to Paradise in theaters on October 21, 2022.
The Plot: Academy Award winners George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite on the big screen as exes who find themselves on a shared mission to stop their lovestruck daughter from making the same mistake they once made. From Working Title, Smokehouse Pictures and Red Om Films, Ticket to Paradise is a romantic comedy about the sweet surprise of second chances.
Julia Roberts and George Clooney star in the romantic comedy ‘Ticket to Paradise’ (Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures)
MGM and Prime Video hosted a virtual Thirteen Lives press conference with director Ron Howard, the cast, and producers on June 27, 2022 in support of the online debut of the film’s first trailer. Thirteen Lives is based on the incredible true story of the rescue of 12 young Thai soccer players and their coach after they got lost and became trapped in a system of underground caves. As each day passed, the odds of the 13 people making it out alive drastically decreased.
The whole world came together to rescue the soccer team, with the people of Thailand leading the rescue efforts.
During the press conference, director Ron Howard said the film honors the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in all aspects of the rescue. Howard also teased there will be details included in the movie that many people who followed the rescue as it was happening in 2018 may not know.
Howard described his favorite sort of films as ones that prove remarkable outcomes aren’t just the stuff of fiction. “That when people pull together, incredible things can happen. And this is just a tremendous case study,” explained Howard. “This story is very, very important to Thai culture, and understandably so. [It’s] a story they should be incredibly proud of because of the way the Thai government and Thai leadership actually made this rescue possible.”
Thirteen Lives isn’t the first film in which Viggo Mortensen’s played a real person and had the actual person on set during shooting. Mortensen stars as diver Rick Stanton and the real Stanton was involved in the production as an on-set technical adviser. Asked about the impact of having Stanton on set, Mortensen described it as crucial in this case.
“I mean, especially for what we had to do underwater. Rick Stanton was there during rehearsals [with] all the actors; Jason [Mallison] came also, you know, one of the real-life rescuers. And they helped us to not only swim like them and move like them but to be safe,” said Mortensen. “And, you know, the way we worked as a team reflected, I think, what they described to us, what the rescue entailed.
We really worked together above water as much as underwater. And underwater, I would say it was maybe even more important because even though you’re shooting a movie, and it’s somewhat a controlled situation, whenever you’re underwater and you’re in caves, it’s dangerous. And so we really, I think all the actors, we listened very carefully to what they were showing us, telling us, and watched what they did very carefully.”
Mortensen added: “And everybody worked hard. Everybody pulled together. […] It reflected the real rescue in that it was a very selfless, team-oriented effort. Shooting the movie as well. So it felt, at times, very real. Sometimes too real. {laughing} There were some very tight spots underwater.”
Playing diver John Volanthen was a real challenge for Colin Farrell who confessed he’s really not much of a swimmer.
“They say don’t work with children or animals…throw water into that mix as well,” laughed Farrell. “Something about SCUBA diving is you accept the process of not drowning but submerging. So it’s a different world beneath the surface of the water. And what Viggo was saying and what Ron touched on as well, I just felt like I was one spoke of many in a story that was so multi-faceted. The burden [and] also the honor were one and the same, and that was that we were telling, you know, this tale of events that took place.”
Farrell continued: “It wasn’t about us coming in as actors playing these British divers who were there to save the day and rescue. It was really about us being led by our Thai brothers and sisters, and those people who we were playing as well, of course, the divers, and how they guided us through the actual events that took place, and how serious it was.
But just for me, I mean, I’ve done various things through my career but to be part of something that ultimately at its core was – and in a time where the world seems to be living under greater and greater division – really about these different people from different nationalities, different cultural backgrounds coming together for a common purpose, and one that was so terrifying was just…it was a great gift. It really was a great gift.”
Joel Edgerton went into the project believing he knew a lot about the story but learned a good deal more once he delved into Thirteen Lives.
“I think the thing that surprised me about Harry [Harris] – and, you know, I have played real people before, but it’s rare that I’ve been that humbled and impressed and therefore a little nervous about taking on a role because he’s such an impressive person and a real national hero in Australia as well – is that Harry, until the first day of the rescue, and even into the second and third day, thought that he was participating potentially in the death of children. And it went against everything that he really believed in except that he knew that if he didn’t give it a try, that the chances were that all the kids would perish anyway.
The fact that Harry was willing to undertake that risk and was successful in doing it, I found just [incredible],” said Edgerton. “I found it incredibly emotional hearing some of Harry’s stories and reading his book. And, you know, as a side note, I became a father during the shoot and then it just became even more [for me about] responsibility and the care of children. And to me, that felt like such a beating heart of Harry and a beating heart of the story.”.
Tom Bateman, who failed to mention he was claustrophobic during his audition, described working on this film as a dream come true.
“When I read the script, I knew about it like everyone. I think I knew about one percent of what I know now. And what really blew me away and touched me was you can’t tell the thousands of people that were involved, the detail to which they went into that, and how generous the divers were with their time. Chris [Jewell] gave me hours and hours and hours of Facetimes to talk me through what he went through, and what we went through was pretty intense. I’ve dived before, but I’d never dived with a roof on my head and with a small person strapped, handcuffed to your hand getting through these tunnels.
It was quite amazing. I’m hugely claustrophobic so I struggled pretty much every day. The last stunt dive was one of my last days – and I loved this experience, Ron, very, very much, but my God, I was happy to get out of that, I thought. But again, as if we needed any more affirmation of it, what these people did, not just the divers but every single person, when we go into those caves in the set, there’s something haunting and truly sort of desperate and dangerous in everything.
The design was incredible. There’s constantly water coming in and we spent the whole shoot wet and cold and underwater. And you think we’re doing this in these conditions…the guys doing it, still even after everything we’ve done, I cannot believe what they did. And to be a small part of telling their story is a real honor. But, my God, I was happy to be finished, yeah,” said Bateman.
Ron Howard was fortunate to have so many of the actual divers and other participants of the rescue involved in the production as advisors. The actors were able to work with Rick Stanton and Jason Mallison, and there was a point when Viggo Mortensen surprised Howard with a request.
“Viggo led the group and basically said, ‘We don’t want anybody else to double us. We are learning this and we’ll do it. We’ll work on the weekends. We’ll leave first unit and go to the dive unit. Whatever it takes.’ And this is what they all did [because] I sort of placated them and said, ‘Well, to the extent that we can, sure,’ but they did it.
It enabled me to make the photography, which was a huge challenge, the cinematography in this, so fluent and so immediate because they were doing every one of those squeezes and every one of those pressurized situations where the water volumes were dumping on them and with the kids and all of it.”
Howard added: “[It’s] another instance of volunteering on a level of professionalism and also to just try to get it right. And that’s why they’re great artists,” said Howard.
Thirteen Lives opens in select theaters on July 29, 2022. A release on Prime Video follows on August 5, 2022.
The teaser trailer for season three of HBO Max’s Harley Quinn begins with Harley giving Poison Ivy a very special two-week anniversary present – a kidnapped Amanda Waller! We’re also treated to a little bit of King Shark, The Joker, Swamp Thing, a Batman/Catwoman scene, and Suicide Squad director James Gunn.
Kaley Cuoco returns to voice Harley Quinn. The cast also includes Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Ron Funches as King Shark, JB Smoove as Frank the Plant, Alan Tudyk as Clayface/The Joker, and Matt Oberg as Kite Man. Christopher Meloni voices Commissioner Gordon, Andy Daly is Two-Face, Diedrich Bader is Batman/Bruce Wayne, James Adomian is Bane, Sanaa Lathan is Selina Kyle, Briana Cuoco is Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, and Harvey Guillen is Nightwing.
The adult animated series is based on DC characters and produced by Delicious Non-Sequitur Productions and Yes, Norman Productions in association with Warner Bros. Animation. Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey developed the series, with Halpern, Schumacker, Kaley Cuoco, Sam Register, Jessica Goldstein, and Chrissy Pietrosh executive producing.
Harley Quinn season three premieres on July 28, 2022 with the release of the first three episodes.
A scene from ‘Harley Quinn’ season 3 (Photograph by Courtesy of HBO Max)
The Plot: “The mayhem and madness continue in season three of this biting and uproarious adult animated comedy series. Wrapping up their ‘Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour,’ Harley Quinn (Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Bell) return to Gotham as the new power couple of DC villainy. Along with their ragtag crew – King Shark (Funches), Clayface (Tudyk), Frank the Plant (Smoove) – “Harlivy” strives to become the best version of themselves while also working towards Ivy’s long-desired plan of transforming Gotham into an Eden paradise.”
Real-life married couple Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell will handle hosting duties on CBS’s new dating series The Real Love Boat. CBS is set to launch The Real Love Boat, inspired by the classic The Love Boat anthology series, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
“After years of consuming, arguing about, and dissecting unscripted television, hosting a reality series where a group of singles look for love while aboard a Princess Cruise ship, seemed like a dream come true,” stated Romijn and O’Connell. “When we heard it was aboard The Real Love Boat, that dream got an iconic theme song – ‘we promise something for everyone.’”
The Real Love Boat will air on CBS as part of the network’s all-reality night. The new reality dating series will air in between Survivor at 8pm ET/PT and The Amazing Race at 10pm ET/PT.
CBS’s new dating show is executive produced by Chris Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Wes Dening, and Jay Bienstock. The Real Love Boat is produced by Eureka Productions in association with Buster Productions.
The Plot: “The Real Love Boat brings singles together to sail the Mediterranean on a luxury cruise ship while looking for love. Destination dates, challenges and surprise singles will test the couples’ compatibility and chemistry. Like the beloved original scripted series, the indispensable crew members, including captain and cruise director, will play pivotal roles in the matchmaking and navigation of the romantic (and sometimes turbulent) waters ahead.
After nearly one month at sea, one winning couple will dock in the final port and take home a cash prize plus a once-in-a-lifetime trip courtesy of Princess Cruises, the series’ exclusive cruise line partner.”
San Diego Comic-Con attendees will have an opportunity to sit on the Iron Throne as part of HBO Max’s House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den immersive experience. HBO Max’s special immersive experience is sure to be one of the hottest tickets when the pop culture convention returns to downtown San Diego July 20-24, 2022.
HBO Max released the following details on how to secure a ticket: “House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den will be open to all San Diego Comic-Con badge holders. San Diego Comic-Con attendees will also have the opportunity to receive two fast-pass tickets each for the experience at designated ‘HBO Max Drop Zones,’ which will serve as beacons for HBO Max activity across Comic-Con. Each visit to a Drop Zone will present attendees with unique giveaways: custom content, swag, VIP seats to screenings, and more.”
The activation is in addition to the previously announced House of the Dragon panel set to take place in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center. The panel will feature co-creator/executive producer George R.R. Martin, co-creator/co-showrunner/executive producer/writer Ryan Condal, co-showrunner/executive producer/director Miguel Sapochnik, Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Graham McTavish as Ser Harrold Westerling, Milly Alcock as Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Emily Carey as Young Alicent Hightower.
“We are excited to reignite the Game of Thrones fandom and franchise by bringing Westeros back to Comic-Con after a three-year hiatus,” said Pia Barlow, Executive Vice President, Originals Marketing, HBO Max. “We’re creating an immersive experience that will allow old and new fans alike to engage in a unique journey, bringing them closer to the Westeros featured in the new series House of the Dragon.”
HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel premieres on August 21, 2022.
House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den Details, Courtesy of HBO Max:
Open from Thursday, July 21 through Sunday, July 24, House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den is an interactive experience, created by agency Giant Spoon, where Comic-Con attendees will be guided through a ceremonial dragon hatching experience. Walking in a Targaryen’s footsteps, each person will step from our world into the sights and sounds of King’s Landing, interacting with people of the city, selecting their own dragon egg, and bravely demonstrating they are worthy of a bond with a dragon. From the caverns of Dragonstone to the magnificent Red Keep, guests will be ushered by a designated Dragonkeeper through seven dynamic phases, encountering special interactions, and sound sensory elements Powered by Bose, on their journey.
The House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den culminates in the Throne Room, where, for the first time, fans will be able to see and sit on the new, mighty Targaryen-era Iron Throne for a photo moment, acknowledging the reign of Fire and Blood in this infamous era of Westeros.
Having proven themselves true Targaryens, each person will hatch their personalized, virtual dragon egg in a new augmented reality app, House of the Dragon: DracARys, before exiting, enabling them to “raise” their dragon at home. Powered by Niantic Lightship and produced by The Mill, House of the Dragon: DracARys will be available for download in the Apple and Google Play app stores starting July 20. Participants of House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den will receive exclusive access to the app’s dragon hatching features before the app begins its global rollout and unlocks full functionality on July 25.
House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den Activation Location: MLK JR Promenade: 326 W Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101
House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den Activation Hours:
Wednesday, July 20: (Press Preview): 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Thursday, July 21: 11:00am – 6:30pm
Friday, July 22: 11:00am – 6:30pm
Saturday, July 23: 11:00am – 6:30pm
Sunday, July 24: 11:00am – 4:30pm
Kali ‘K.O.’ Reis as “Kaylee” in Josef Kubota Wladyka’s CATCH THE FAIR ONE (Photo Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.)
HBO’s season four of True Detective is moving forward with Jodie Foster confirmed to star and Issa López on board as writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. Today, the network announced actor, motivational speaker, and Indigenous rights activist and Kali Reis (Catch The Fair One) has joined the cast of the award-winning drama’s fourth season which has just been officially greenlit. HBO also released new details on the True Detective: Night Country plot.
“We are tremendously excited to return to the True Detective franchise and to be working with the multi-talented Issa López, whose singular vision for her ‘Night Country’ installment will be beautifully realized with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in the starring roles,” stated Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming.
HBO released the following synopsis of season four: “When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.”
Jodie Foster will executive produce along with López and PASTEL’s Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak. Anonymous Content, Mari Jo Winkler, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and Nic Pizzolatto also executive produce. In addition, Alan Page Arriaga is writing and will executive produce.
Filming is expected to take place in Iceland. HBO hasn’t announced a targeted premiere date.
Season one of the critically acclaimed anthology series premiered in January 2014 and starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Season two debuted in June 2015 with Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, Vince Vaughn, and Kelly Reilly in lead roles. The third season starring Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff arrived in January 2019.
The first trailer just dropped for Thirteen Lives, a dramatic thriller based on the true story of the rescue of a Thai youth soccer team trapped in a cave. The rescue captivated the world in 2018 as divers and other emergency personnel fought against time to save the 12 players and their coach.
The trailer’s release was accompanied by two stills from the film as well as the poster.
Directed by Ron Howard, the ensemble includes Viggo Mortensen as Rick Stanton, Colin Farrell as John Volanthen, Joel Edgerton as Harry Harris, and Tom Bateman as Chris Jewell. Paul Gleeson, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, Tui Thiraphat Sajakul, James Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Sahajak Boonthanakit, and Weir Sukollawat Kanaros also star.
William Nicholson wrote the screenplay based on a story by Nicholson and Don Macpherson. P.J. van Sandwijk, Gabrielle Tana, Karen Lunder, William M. Connor, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard produced. Jon Kuyper, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Marie Savare, Michael Lesslie, Aaron L. Gilbert, and Jason Cloth served as executive producers.
Thirteen Lives is an MGM production in association with BRON Creative, Imagine Entertainment, Storyteller, and Magnolia Mae.
Thirteen Lives opens in select theaters on July 29, 2022, followed by a launch on Prime Video on August 5th. The MPAA’s given the drama a PG-13 rating for some strong language and unsettling images.
The Plot:Thirteen Lives recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers – uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels – join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach.
With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet, showcasing the limitlessness of the human spirit in the process.
Bette Midler declares the Sanderson sisters are back as the Hocus Pocus 2 trailer teases some legends never die. Disney+ just released the first look at the much-anticipated, long-awaited sequel to 1993’s Hocus Pocus. The trailer arrived along with new photos from the film and the teaser poster.
Bette Midler (The First Wives Club), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), and Kathy Najimy (Sister Act) reprise their roles as Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson. The cast also includes Doug Jones (The Shape of Water) reprising his role as Billy Butcherson. Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl), Lilia Buckingham (Dirt), and Belissa Escobedo (American Horror Stories) join the fun as Becca, Cassie, and Izzy, “three young women in present-day Salem who incite the wrath of the three witches.”
Additional cast members include Sam Richardson (The Tomorrow War), Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Froyan Gutierrez (Teen Wolf), and Tony Hale (Veep). Anne Fletcher (Dumplin, The Proposal) and produced by Lynn Harris (King Richard, The Shallows), with Ralph Winter (Hocus Pocus, X-Men franchise), David Kirschner (Hocus Pocus, Chucky) and Adam Shankman (Disenchanted) serving as executive producers.
Kenny Ortega (the High School Musical franchise) directed the 1993 film and Anne Fletcher (Step Up, 27 Dresses) directs the sequel from a screenplay by Jen D’Angelo (Happy Together). Lynn Harris produces, with Ralph Winter, David Kirschner, and Adam Shankman executive producing.
Hocus Pocus 2 premieres exclusively on Disney+ on September 30, 2022.
The Plot: It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters who were executed for practicing witchcraft, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high school students to figure out how to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before midnight on All Hallow’s Eve.
The CW’s Roswell, New Mexico season four episode four opens with the heartbreaking news Maria’s mother has died. Maria (Heather Hemmens) and Dallas (Quentin Plair) went looking for her after learning she’d gone missing, and Maria was with her mother as she passed away in a parking lot.
A few hours later, Liz (Jeanine Mason) joins Isobel (Lily Cowles), Dallas, and Maria at the Wild Pony. Liz gives her BFF a hug and then the friends look through one of Maria’s mom’s photo albums. Michael (Michael Vlamis) joins them and after leaving a message for Alex, he also comforts Maria.
Maria can’t believe they’re all there for her, and Isobel says, “You’re my sister. Of course, I’m going to be here for you.”
Max (Nathan Dean), Cam (Riley Voelkel), and Kyle (Michael Trevino) arrive and Michael asks what’s up at Deep Sky. Kyle explains the cameras were on the fritz when Jones’ body disappeared. Plus, no one has talked with Eduardo recently. Max is sure this all has to do with the third alien.
Michael’s going to keep working on getting close to Bonnie. Although he initially turns down their request to wear a tracker, Michael ultimately gives in as Max reminds him this could get dangerous.
Meanwhile, the new alien triad gather around Jones’ dead body. Tezca (Brigitte Kali Canales) sprinkles drops of her own blood on Jones’ chest and a symbol forms.
Isobel makes a coffee run and Anatsa shows up, worried about Maria. (Anatsa’s still part of the group texts.) Anatsa offers to help however she can and Isobel wonders why she’s so perfect. It appears Isobel’s on the verge of getting back together with her girlfriend…but instead she pulls away, saying she needs to be with her family.
Anatsa reminds her the Albuquerque newspaper wants her to join their staff and Isobel suggests she take the job. Damn it, Isobel! Allow yourself to be happy and just take a chance and trust Anatsa!
Michael continues to give Bonnie guitar lessons and learns music isn’t allowed on Oasis. Bonnie thinks Earth is proof things can be different. Clyde interrupts their chat/music lesson, reminding Bonnie music will rot her brain. Michael wants answers about his own life and Clyde seems willing to provide them.
Clyde destroys Michael’s phone before they go for a ride.
Max, Cam, and Isobel join Liz in her new lab furnished with equipment provided by Shivani. Liz examines the alien skin and confirms that is, indeed, from an alien. Unfortunately, the sample’s destroyed and turns to sand while Liz is working with it.
Max and Liz head back out to the derricks to try and find another sample. Liz admits her brain’s a bit scattered – there’s too much going on and she can’t concentrate. Max assures her he has faith in her and he’s right; her specialized alien-seeking metal detector hits paydirt. Whatever it’s beeping about is buried and Max volunteers to use his powers to dig it up quickly.
The ground rumbles and a semi loaded with dirt rises out of the ground. Max is impressed with himself and claims Liz is his turquoise; she focused him. They kiss to celebrate.
Dallas brings a bag of goodies from Arturo and the Crash Down Café to Maria at the Wild Pony. She’s alone and he’s able to speak freely. Dallas thinks she should tell the group she has lost her visions and Maria gets angry, suggesting he work on his own powers and stop telling her what to do.
She quickly apologizes. Maria regrets not telling her mom that she’s powerless. If Maria had, then her mom might have given her more details as she was dying instead of suggesting she use her powers. Her mom wanted her to go somewhere, but Maria can’t figure out where she was talking about.
Bonnie and Clyde take Michael to their hideout and after grabbing a couple of wine coolers, talk turns to Jones. Clyde says Jones showed them what the world could be and Michael asks what he’s talking about. They offer Michael a fruit from home and he loves how it tastes.
Next, Clyde shows Michael what Oasis looks like via a mindscape. It’s so gorgeous that Michael wonders why they’d ever leave it. Clyde replies, “It was our savior’s will.”
Michael realizes they were all on the same ship, but this alien triad’s been in stasis waiting for Jones to call on them. Clyde believes Michael’s asking too many questions about Jones, but Michael claims he only wants to learn about Oasis.
Clyde becomes suspicious Michael’s being tracked (even though he destroyed his phone) and Michael secretly yanks off his ring and creates a fire in his clenched fist, melting the ring. Michael informs the bank-robbing aliens that Jones was his father and demands to know his role in all this.
Bonnie and Clyde walk away to talk privately, and Michael uses the opportunity to search their hideout. He finds Eduardo (David DeSantos) tied up in a chair and while freeing him is surprised to see Eduardo’s eyes have turned blue. Eduardo has no idea why or how he wound up in this building.
Eduardo asks if Michael thinks Bonnie and Clyde are all bad, and he admits he thinks they’re justs lost. Eduardo suggests he’ll escape on his own so as not to blow Michael’s cover. Michael should continue to learn whatever he can without making them suspicious.
Kyle’s shocked to find Isobel’s made herself at home in his Deep Sky office and has apparently turned into a private detective overnight. She wants everything he has on Jones and reveals she’s in possession of an envelope addressed to Eduardo from someone in Careyes, Mexico – a town that rivals Roswell in alien-friendly residents. Inside is a photo of the familiar alien symbol and a note:
“There are things in Careyes you’d find interesting. Ask for Xitlali.”
Isobel’s ready for a road trip right now and thinks Careyes might hold the answer to where Jones hid his Plan B. Kyle realizes from Isobel’s behavior that she never told Anatsa the truth. Isobel confesses she blew the opportunity and will never be able to tell her.
Isobel wants to check out the cameras from the construction going on outside Deep Sky to see if they caught Jones’s body snatchers.
A while later Kyle and Isobel meet up with Cam and Max, and Cam’s clutching a Careyes T-shirt. She explains they got it from the truck’s owner who woke up wearing it after being knocked out for a week. They all suspect mind-control.
Isobel and Kyle show Max and Cam a photo captured on the security camera showing Eduardo and an unknown woman who matches the description of the woman who stole the truck. They believe this woman’s the third alien.
Maria has a flashback to high school and talking to her mom at the drive-in about her love life. The flashback provides the answer to the meeting place her mother referred to right before she died. Maria realizes what her mom was trying to tell her had something to do with her mom’s wedding.
Max and Liz search the truck as Max explains they believe Eduardo was mind-controlled into stealing Jones’ body. Eduardo is still missing (Michael doesn’t have a phone and hasn’t checked in yet) and Liz wants Kyle’s help sniffing out alien DNA samples. However, Kyle’s with Isobel heading to Mexico sniffing out a different lead.
As they’re talking Liz finds the truck driver’s ID just as the driver, Renata, walks up. Renata confirms she didn’t have blue eyes until she was kidnapped.
Isobel and Cam have a weird chat about gunslingers and other things. Isobel’s really hyper and oversharing, and Cam figures out it’s because of what Maria’s going through and how easy it is to lose someone you love.
Cam ties that into Isobel thinking she’ll lose Max when he marries Liz. Oops…Isobel didn’t know Max wants to get married. Isobel can’t believe her brother had the nerve to get down on one knee and she can’t even tell Anatsa the truth.
Cam understands Isobel’s situation, aware Anatsa’s the first person Isobel’s loved since Noah. Cam also understands Isobel’s worried that if she reveals her secret, Anatsa won’t react well. “My guess is you’re afraid that if you open your heart to her, she might shatter it,” says Cam.
Nailed it.
Cam then confesses she was in love with Isobel’s brother years ago but never found the courage to tell him. Would things be different if she had? We’ll never know.
Isobel took Cam’s words to heart and shows up in the middle of the road as Anatsa’s leaving Roswell. Anatsa meets her in the road and Isobel apologizes for everything – all the lies and all the pushing away she’s done. Isobel confesses she’s completely in love.
Isobel asks Anatsa to come with her to a cave, promising answers, but Anatsa doesn’t accept the invitation. She doesn’t like this rollercoaster they’re on and her heart is broken. Anatsa loves Isobel but doesn’t want love to be this complicated.
Anatsa hopes Isobel will figure it out and wishes her the best. She gets back in her car and drives away, leaving Isobel devastated and alone.
Meanwhile, Clyde’s still trying to wrap his mind around an engineer and the savior having a child. Clyde calls himself Jones’s star pupil and wants to put their differences aside and learn from each other.
Clyde shows Michael the safety deposit box and explains the item inside is part of a larger puzzle. When all the pieces are put together, they form the three segments of the alien symbol. Clyde wants Michael to retrieve the missing third piece and then he’ll see what the completed puzzle can do.
“Rumor has it your mother built it,” says Clyde.
Kyle’s made it to Careyes – and his family’s distillery – but can’t find Xitlali. He calls Liz to see if she’s making progress and learns Liz got alien eye DNA from Renata. Liz is leery of touching it given what happened last time and needs Kyle’s help. Kyle wants Liz to take a chance and add the dye.
Alberto Gordon introduces himself to Kyle as the man in charge of the distillery for the past three decades. Alberto explains that Xitlali isn’t a person; it’s a place.
Liz adds the dye and the sample, again, turns to sand.
Cam and Max split up to try and find Michael, and Max warns Cam to be on the lookout for Eduardo who now has blue eyes. As they’re talking, she spots Eduardo and immediately notices his eyes are brown. This isn’t the real Eduardo!
Michael and Bonnie talk and Bonnie confesses Clyde isn’t always who he seems to be. Bonnie misreads the room and kisses Michael and he quickly explains he’s in love with his boyfriend. She apologizes and explains she still hasn’t figured out Earth’s customs. Bonnie also explains the device his mom built that they’re attempting to put back together is to take them home.
Maria’s alone going through her mom’s wedding album when she finds a drawing of a tree.
It’s night when Max discovers Cam slumped down by her car and shot in the leg. Cam doesn’t think there’s time to get to the hospital because they need to follow Eduardo and asks Max to heal her. It works, but Max is drained.
Cam takes off walking in the direction she claimed Eduardo went and Max follows. They come upon Jones’s body and Max describes what’s been done to it as looking ritualistic. Cam doesn’t seem surprised by Jones’s body appearing in the middle of nowhere, but Max doesn’t notice that at first. However, when she brings up Liz severing the connection Max figures out something’s up.
It’s pitch black when Kyle enters Xitlali and discovers signs of a struggle. Liz calls as he’s walking around the room, and explains she thinks the alien DNA is just playing dead like an octopus does. She puts a few drops of Renata’s tears into the alien dust and her theory is correct. It changes back into alien tissue.
Kyle walks into another room and finds a pod with Tezca inside. Kyle looks at his phone and wonders how Tezca’s in two places at once.
Isobel tracked Cam’s location on Snapchat and discovers her lying unconscious. When she comes to, she has blue eyes and no idea where Max is.
Max notices an alien tattoo on Cam’s arm and knows for certain this isn’t his friend. Tezca shapeshifts and then introduces herself to Max.
The new featurette from Universal Pictures’ Nope delves into the relationship between the main characters OJ and Emerald, siblings played by Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Keke Palmer (Alice, Hustlers). The minute-and-a-half video features interviews with Kaluuya, Palmer, and Oscar-winning writer/director Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us), with Peele describing the film as about many things but at its core about the relationship between OJ and Emerald.
“We have the great Daniel Kaluuya who’s my all-time favorite actor. He’s somebody that forced me to push to unlock further things in the character. And Keke Palmer – she has this spark. She just crushes,” said Peele, discussing his cast.
In addition to Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, Nope stars Oscar nominee Steven Yeun (Minari), Michael Wincott (Westworld), and Brandon Perea (The OA). Writer/director Jordan Peele produced along with Ian Cooper.
Described as an “expansive horror epic,” the simple synopsis says Nope follows “residents in a lonely gulch of inland California who bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.”
Universal Pictures is releasing Nope in theaters on July 22, 2022.
Poster for Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ (Photo Credit: Universal Pictures)
