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The superhero movie landscape was a little different a couple decades ago, before the MCU in its current form began dominating both the box office and the small screen by releasing multiple movies and shows nearly every year. While we had plenty of superhero shows and movies in the early aughts, they weren’t as omnipresent in the entertainment landscape as they’ve been in the last decade. Photo by Aaron Cynic In 2005, the second live-action attempt at Fantastic Four was released, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis. It received decidedly mixed reviews and spawned one sequel, the Rise of the Silver Surfer , before being rebooted in 2015 to an abysmal reception, and again in 2025, garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews. With its latest iteration launching phase six of the Marvel universe, the 2005 version almost feels like a cult classic. It might not have grossed what First Steps did or had the same amount of enthusiasm from critics, but it’s still a damn fine movie. On Sunday at C2E2, Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards) and Michael Chiklis (The Thing) sat down to talk with fans about it. Photo by Aaron Cynic Chiklis said that Fantastic Four was among the first four comics he bought as a child and it was his favorite growing up. “My favorite comic was Fantastic Four…I was very young, and I already knew I wanted to be an actor. I said to my brother at some point, ‘if they ever make a movie of this I’m gonna play The Thing.’ Somehow that happened,” he said. “I was like 10 or 12 years old when I said that, so when I found myself doing it, I was like ‘how did this happen,’ but I found myself doing it.” Gruffudd said that after they found their feet, the cast became something of a family, which worked well for the film. “As actors, at the beginning you’re immersed in your own character and you’re immersed in bringing that to life, and for me there was a lot of pressure to bring this character to life. Because he’s such a beloved character from quintessentially American comic books. So here I was, a Brit, coming to fill these big shoes. We were all sort of figuring out our characters. Michael was dealing with not just his character but the costume element. We were all just figuring it out and realizing we were in something big and extraordinary. After that process of unease and figuring it out, through the script and what it asked us to do, we became this family. It was sort of natural scenes we had together. There was a lot of fun, a lot of banter, and I think that transferred into the screen.” Photo by Aaron Cynic Gruffudd said while he wasn’t familiar with the comics initially, he immersed himself in them in order to find himself in Reed Richards. “Because I wasn’t familiar with the comic book, I spent a lot of time reading the comic books, the anthologies. It’s a bit like playing a historical character…there’s a wealth of books and historical records,” said Gruffudd. “I think I found him there and realized I have him in me somewhere, I just have to bring that out. It’s been such a feeling of pride for me when people come to me at these conventions saying that they feel the same way. They feel I have brought that character from the page to life. I always feel very proud when I hear that.” Chiklis added that the famous suit he had to don to play The Thing helped shape how he played the character. He said it was one of the reasons he immediately connected with the character. Photo by Aaron Cynic “I think that was one of the best decisions I made, even though be careful what you wish for... I was the one who insisted we use a practical costume. I didn’t want it to be CGI,” said Chiklis. “The people at Spectral Motion did an amazing job, although I think their focus in the first movie was really on the look of the character and not that a human being would be in the suit,” he joked. “I don’t regret the choice and I’m glad they did it,” Chiklis added. “Ben Grimm is a man who’s trapped in a body that he can’t get out of. That was easy to play because I was trapped in a body I didn’t want to be in. What I’m most proud of is that I was able through all of that to bring the humanity of the character through all of that and it works.” Photo by Aaron Cynic

Screenshot: Ember Island Every few months on social media, a post goes viral from an aspiring author boasting that they don’t read books. Their rationale is that ignoring the medium keeps their voice 'pure' and ensures total originality. They argue for the absolute virtue of a fresh perspective. What they fail to realize—and what professionals are always quick to point out—is that ignoring a medium’s history doesn't guarantee innovation. It just guarantees you'll stumble blindly into every cliché, structural trap, and pacing error that experienced creators learned to sidestep years ago. Playing Ember Island  feels a bit like reading one of those novels: you can see the unpolluted enthusiasm, but you are constantly tripping over easily preventable pratfalls in game design. Ember Island  is a side-scrolling, retro-inspired platformer. It bills itself as a “quarter-burner” and that’s no problem—I’m always up for a bit of retro. I play old and new games every day. But retro doesn’t always mean better. Screenshot: Ember Island I don’t want to be too hard on developer Calibus Creations. I’ll admit that I sometimes judge indie games on a bit of a curve. I’ll let things like production value go as long as the gameplay is good. Ember Island  doesn't really have that going for it. There’s a lot of 'okay' there, but not much good, and nothing I could qualify as “great.” It doesn't just lack polish; it lacks a soul. It looks exactly like the uncanny video an LLM spits out when prompted to generate a "retro platformer"—all the recognizable shapes are there, but none of the structural logic. Everything from the art to the gameplay itself is lacking in polish and fun. I do have to give some props for character and enemy design, but that’s where my praise ends. Movement is floaty. Combat feels generally unsatisfying. Even the three different character classes don’t bring much to the table. They all three have the same damage output, with differences being stats like speed, health, and mana. And you’d think one of the melee classes would have a short attack that’s fast and a longer-range, slower attack, right? Nope. In fact, according to the game’s stats, all three characters do the exact same damage. You can pick up mana and health items that push those pools higher than the character's starting stats, making those initial baseline numbers basically just “starter stats” and ultimately useless. There’s really no other progression than 'go right, see what’s next.' Sometimes, when the game is good enough, fun enough, and satisfying enough to play, that’s plenty. But a game like Ember Island  needs something else—or at the very least, more polish. Not only is the combat not fun and the movement floaty, but the game is also frequently unfair. Sure, you can learn enemy placement, but having enemies drop literally on top of your character isn’t fun. Neither are instant-death moments. But it doesn't matter much. Even if you lose all three of your lives, there is an endless amount of continues. This completely misunderstands the arcade economy. A true quarter-burner relies on tight, fun mechanics to keep you feeding the machine. Ember Island  relies on cheap deaths and unlimited continues, removing any actual stakes. Screenshot: Ember Island The absolute worst part of the game is the sound effects. Especially as the mage, each time you attack you make a loud, ear-grating shout. There could have at least been some variation, or really anything else but what’s there. There aren't really even any great enemy encounters. There are enemies that shoot and others that melee, but most tend to path around aimlessly, often bunching up into overlapping, frustrating damage hitboxes. If you get struck, you take damage and get flung backwards, which can lead to lots of instant deaths by falling into water or lava, especially if you lose patience because the enemy you’re waiting to move just won’t leave the ledge. I don’t often find so little to like about a game, but Ember Island  feels fundamentally uninspired. It’s exactly what happens when developers try to write the book without reading the genre’s history first, and it hurts my video game-loving heart to give it such a verdict.

Screenshot: Poker Night at the Inventory Somewhere in my awareness, I knew the Telltale Sam & Max  games had been remastered, but I didn’t expect Skunkape to bring Poker Night at the Inventory  back into the hands of modern audiences. Not that it’s really  for modern audiences. It stands as a curious time capsule of characters who once dominated gaming and internet culture, but have since become icons of yesteryear. While their mainstream relevance might not be what it was in 2010, the crossover still works, and underneath the nostalgia is a surprisingly decent game of poker. Screenshot: Poker Night at the Inventory I’m certainly not complaining that this modern version of Poker Night  is available. I’m all about game preservation, and since the original was delisted in 2019 when its IP rights expired, this doesn’t feel like a mindless cash grab. That is especially true since developer Skunkape put a fair amount of work into taking the original game’s underlying code and elevating it from a novelty experience to a mechanically sound poker simulator. Skunkape completely rewrote the engine’s mechanics, so opponents now play a much more accurate game of Texas Hold’em, making decisions that actually align with their distinct personalities. Screenshot: Poker Night at the Inventory A good amount of work has also been put into the game’s visuals. Character models are now in high definition, animations have been sharpened up, and the Inventory itself has been spruced up with more environmental details, new Easter eggs, and a revamped lighting system to set the mood. Skunkape has also thrown in a handful of welcome quality-of-life toggles. You can now adjust the AI difficulty, lower the stakes, and change the starting buy-in if you want a more relaxed experience. If you prefer a cleaner game, you can turn off the profanity, and you can even dial back the frequency of the banter once you've heard all the jokes. There are also new visual filters, like motion blur and film grain, to tweak the cinematic vibe. Screenshot: Poker Night at the Inventory One of the massive draws of the 2010 release was its tie-in with Team Fortress 2 . As an homage to that, on the PC version, you can once again acquire "Reissued" versions of the characters' signature items for TF2 . By busting out specific characters during collateral rounds, you can unlock the Iron Curtain (The Heavy), the Enthusiast's Timepiece (Tycho), the Lugermorph/License to Maim (Max), and the Dangeresque, Too? sunglasses (Strong Bad). On Steam, these transfer directly into your TF2  inventory, carrying a "Reissued" tag in the title to preserve the rarity and trading economy of the 2010 originals. On other platforms, you unlock them as in-game trophies to show off, so there’s still an incentive to collect them. Screenshot: Poker Night at the Inventory While Poker Night at the Inventory  isn’t the absolute best poker game out there, Skunkape’s remaster has undeniably made it a better one. I hope they continue this rerelease trend and get the rights to do Poker Night 2  next.

If you are cued (or queued) into the world of entertainment posters, you know how unique and beautiful the work can be. From galleries like Bottleneck Gallery, Mondo, and SpokeArt to direct work with film and TV studios, posters mix the world of creativity and commercial utility. On Friday renown poster artists Tracie Ching and Robert Wilson IV took over S405b for a talk all about the poster industry. I purposefully noted the panel room for this talk because with 10 mins til start time, the room was nearly at capacity. A few moment later it became a standing room only panel, really showing off how much interest there is in the world of posters. It's no surprise, as exhibitors and Artist Alley booths are more often than not filled with creatives' work blown up to anywhere from 8x10 to 24x36 to show off in all their glory. However Tracie Ching certainly was pleasantly surprised by the turn out and prepped the crowd for the panel, letting them know that Q&A would come at the end and that she was willing to sit around awkwardly for as long as needed for people to come up with questions, something that was absolutely no an issue when it came time for questions later while walking  the packed room through her process of poster creation. Traci started off focusing on her Andor commercial work for a zine that was a part of the acclaimed TV show's Emmy campaign. This being the most directly commercial work of the panel, it showed just how important creative work like this can be. It also highlighted Ching's tight work process, which is very close to the finished product right from the pitching stage. Robert Wilson III alternatively spoke about his work on an Ultraman poster which he got the job for after creating an unofficial design. This was a persistent theme of the panel, that fan art often catches the eye of companies positively, occasionally being the spark that causes them to reach out for official work. Wilson shared his love of manga, particularly the detail of Berserk and motion of One Punch Man, and wanted to put that emphasis into his official Ultraman piece. His initial pitches, a serious of profile portraits, lacked that visual representation but his full body Ultraman image brought all that action he truly wanted to the forefront. Tracie obviously started out personal work like everyone and showed off her print of Kiki's Delivery Service. Tracie self admittedly uses lots of reference and even said that she simply is trying to recreate real world images. For that print she drew bread for weeks upon weeks, started with a specific palette and stuck to it (something she does not recommend), and made necessary changes to make the idea work (like dropping one or two of her lovely bread drawings) Robert also highlighted his Godzilla 1954 official print, which needed to be screen accurate to the original, of which he was as familiar with compared to the Godzilla of the 70s and 80s. Toho requested 4 rough and distinct sketches of a screen accurate Godzilla followed by tons of notes (Godzilla looks too mean, the eyes just aren't googly enough!). Wilson stated that at the time he was not used to having so many layers of approvals needed and there were more cooks in this kitchen than he expected Tracie Ching also shared her Kaiju work with a Mothra poster she did for Mondo. This work required Ching to do things differently than she normally would: specifically, working in a larger size of 24x36 (2x as big as she usually draws) and focusing on a landscape image instead of portrait. It was a project that tested her abilities and taught her a little more about trust between client and artists and willingness to change and grow. Unfortunately the Q&A section was incredibly short. This is truly a case of a panel that need a slightly larger room and a tad bit more time to really dig deep into the process of poster making. There were some fun insights in the short section like both artists wanting to work on projects they never even thought of; creating trust between an artists and client is incredibly important and that a certain wonderful woman is very difficult to get likeness approval from. If there is one thing to take away form the panel it's this: creating the world you like is the best way to attract studios and fans to appreciate your work.

Sometimes, I miss Sunday best. Maybe it was never a thing for you, but especially around Easter it meant brand new dresses, shiny white patent leather shoes, bows and curls. I'm not saying I want to dress like that every day. I'm not even wearing what you'd call "acceptable" clothes as I'm typing this. I just like all the fresh crisp shirts and pleated skirts of a good fancy affair now and then. It's the idea that we get to have fun being fancy in the sunshine. What's one person's Sunday bests is not another's though. For example, you might be in a classic floral, and I might be covered in EVA foam and LED lights stomping around as the coolest damn mech you've ever seen. Getting all dressed up means a lot of things to a lot of people, but when the effort is there, you can't deny it. Well, we can't deny that our talented photographers Aaron Cynic and Marielle Bokor have a good eye for great craftmanship and artistry, and we can't deny that you look really good in all the amazing costumes you had on for C2E2 yesterday. Stay tuned after more of us recover from the con floor for even more C2E2 content.

I’d say I was waiting for the E! Docuseries to air its America’s Next Top Model episodes for me to comment on The Tyra one where Tyra didn’t have anything to do with production see, so it’s totally non-biased. Except, surprise, or not, if you’ve seen the documentary, the part where you think you’re getting some expose about what happened and potentially have the people involved at least fess up to it and try to make some amends has been replaced with Tyra, in a trench coat, saying all at once that she spent long evenings on the cutting room floor but really didn’t have anything to do with production, and that the audience deserved it because they were asking for it, basically.  So what happens is, the guilty pleasure show that probably had a much larger effect on you than you would’ve thought as a child, because by the numbers a lot of ANTM’s core fanbase was me, who was freshly 20 and people my sister’s age and much much younger - tweens and teens – is actually blaming you for liking it while taking absolutely no responsibility for the harmful messages it was sending or the inhumane way it treated contestants, AND teasing a brand.new .season.  Stop! No, seriously. Stop. Maybe I didn’t write what I thought of the documentary because a bad review still ticks the SEO machine in the franchise’s direction and I want them to have none of the attention. See, the thing is, I don’t believe in boundless cancellation. I think there’s room for rehabilitation if there’s recognizance and an actual effort to restore damage done. But when your, I’m sorry, “not your” documentary not only features you in between every blatantly condemning scene denying that you’re at fault for anything, then I don’t feel like entertaining that kind of gaslighting and manipulation. It’s not fun. And the thing is - I think there’d have been a certain beauty to it, if anyone at all seemed to do anything but take the blame off themselves. There was far more fingerpointing and “It was a different time” and not enough simple “I fucked up, and that’s on me.”  The thing is, my generation? Owning up to it is all we care about – we’re not here to mete out justice. We just want you to know better next time and do better. I mean, isn’t that the entire point in pointing out bad behavior?  While I do think Niles, and Miss and Mister Jay had some good reflections, I still can’t help but feel like they could’ve done better, and Tyra? For one, the trench coat is giving me some weird cult vibes, and the monotone yet very announcerly answers are, frankly, infuriating me no matter what drivel they form into on the back end. It’s not even that I don’t understand, or haven’t made some rather distasteful mistakes in my past I would hope wouldn’t get dredged up - it’s just that dismissing, minimizing and gaslighting us to believe, in fact, we WANTED this…well…WE WERE ROOTING FOR YOU! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU! And Tyra?  You let us down.

Andy Weir @ C2E2 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor Project Hail Mary is still going strong at the box office, so it’s no wonder that Andy Weir was in such a great mood during his panel at C2E2. And that room was packed. I’ve never seen a side panel room get filled to the brim, but Mr. Weir attracted a sizable chunk of Sunday’s C2E2 attendees. Andy Weir doesn’t just write know-it-alls, he’s a surprisingly educated and quick witted waggish sort that had the crowd both in awe of his intellect and rolling with his humor–even if the humor wasn’t always the most appropriate. There were also a few science lessons, too. Did you know that neutrinos are passing through you right now? I had no idea. Even at night, because they pass through the earth, too.  Andy Weir @ C2E2 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor The panel started off with Weir pointing out some Project Hail Mary merchandise in the front, as if he was complimenting them only for him to jokingly say “I want you to know that none of that is legitimate.” Then host Mike Zevin. Sorry, Doctor Mike Zevin, Astrophysicist at the Adler Planetarium, backed Weir up saying “”So, Andy’s going to be collecting money at the door as you guys are leaving.” with Weir interjecting “No, you’re going to be hearing from my lawyer!” And this set the tone for the next 45 minutes as Weir and Zevin played off of each other and the crowd.  Panel host Dr. Mike Zevin, who is as much a fan of the science that goes into Weir’s work as we all are asked Weir about his sources, saying “Your stories stay so true to so much of the science and what amazes me is, I mean, they span from astrophysics to Aerospace engineering to botany and molecular biology. How do you learn all of this stuff” I mean, relativity, which is one of my favorite topics…” with Weir interjecting with, simply: “Google.” Weir goes on to explain that scientists love to get their information out there, and it’s easily accessible on the internet.  Andy Weir @ C2E2 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor Dr. Mike Zevin at one point  asked Weir:  “What do you think happened to Earth during the time when Grace was not in contact and what happened after they solved their problem?” Weir starts with, “Well, I appreciate you asking me to write a sequel right here.” and goes on to say, “ I have lots of ideas for that, but I'm not going to talk about that right now because it might be in future books…so. Yeah, um, yeah, no, I have lots of ideas on that sort of thing.” So it sounds like some solid foundations for a sequel have been laid, at least in Weir’s mind, who admitted he lets ideas roll around in his head for a while before committing them to paper. And based on his process, this idea might morph into a whole other project. When he was talking about how Project Hail Mary formed, he said: “Well, ( Project Hail Mary) is actually sort of a pastiche of, like five different story ideas that I had, none of which were a good story.  But when I glued them together, they made a pretty good story.  Like, so I had one idea about, like, ‘What if humanity had access to a mass conversion fuel? That'd be cool.’ And then another one was like, ‘I want to write a story where a guy just wakes up on a spaceship with amnesia, no further information.’ And I always wanted to write a first Contact story. And in a book that I wrote, I got 70,000 words into and then dumped it because it sucked, there was a character who was a woman who was given, like, just unbelievable amounts of endless authority to solve the next essential threat. And I liked her, so I pulled her out of that book and put it in here.” Which is undoubtedly a reference to the character of Eva Stratt, who was played by Sandra Hüller in the film.  Andy Weir @ C2E2 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor Weir goes on to say, “The main impetus, though I would say, was the idea of: I wanted humanity to get  a mass conversion-based fuel. And my original idea was like, we get this fuel somehow, and then, like, not in a thousand years, but, like, today. My original idea was, we colonize the solar system not in, like, centuries, but like, now. There's like Britney Spears fans on Mars. You know what I mean?  I thought that'd be an interesting dichotomy. And, and then I'm, like ‘ But where would they get that? It's a bit much to say we magically invented it. Maybe they find it on a crashed alien spaceship. Well, then, wouldn't the rest of the tech on the space ship be more interesting? Okay, what if it all rotted? And all that's left is the fuel. Well, then, once we use the fuel, we're out of the fuel. Okay, well, what if the thing is reversible if you shine light at it, it makes more fuel and I'm, like, ‘well, that sounds like a life form.’ You got something that absorbs energy and makes copies of itself. Okay, so what if it's like an Interstellar life form? Like, why would that happen? I'm like, okay, it's like a mold that lives on stars. And it breeds. I'm, like, okay there. Finally, I did all the BS necessary to get humanity a mass conversion fuel, now I can write my story about colonizing the Solar System and I’m like ‘oh yeah, that would really suck if that got on our star.’ And then I was like ‘Oh, yeah, okay, that’s the story.” And now Rocky is a pop culture icon that host Mike Zevin said may be even more popular than Grogu. Personally,  I’d love to see more Rocky and Ryland Grace in the future, so I’m hoping Andy finds another 5 great ideas he can turn into a sequel.

We certainly thought opening day at C2E2 was the most jam packed one in recent memory, but of course Saturday raised the ante. Saturdays are usually the biggest day of the event so it was no surprise that McCormick Place was chock full of even more amazing cosplay, more panels and more fans filling up the aisles at Chicago's premiere pop culture event! Once again our intrepid photographers - Julian Ramirez, and Marielle Bokor  - were out on the floor to capture just a taste of the incredible atmosphere that C2E2 has to offer! Check out our shots of Saturdays fantastic offerings.

Well, the madness is upon us again - and Friday pulled no punches. The parking garage was full before noon, people were double parked, the Main Stage is somewhere new, the hall aisles are kicked out wide - and we're ready? We weren't the only ones ready to show out though - there was a ton of great cosplay even for a first day of the convention. We had our roving photographers - Aaron Cynic, Julian Ramirez, and Marielle Bokor - out on the floor to capture all your amazing 'fits - and you didn't disappoint. Be amazed. We know we were. See you out there tomorrow, Chicago!

Ok, so. Let's just get this out of the way: It's C2E2 weekend, and we're walking in blind. Why? Well, simply put: THEY CHANGED IT ALL! Ok, so, that's not entirely true - I mean, we're still getting The Yard, all of our Chicago favorites from Jackbox and Revolution Brewing to Second City, Anderson Books and more - it's just that THEY CHANGED IT ALL! Perhaps it's just my anxiety talking. I've been doing these guides for years now, and most of the time, we don't have to talk logistics. Other than: get there early, pack snacks, and if you're in line, prepare to be bored unless you've got a charger or backup battery, books, games, or snacks. Hydrate, comfy shoes - we know the drill. Except this time, we don't. Guys - the main panel room is no longer. Gone. Like the red carpet. I'm still mad about that, tbh. Anyway, remember our beloved main panel room? You know, where we saw all the cosplay championships, and reunions, and where the music got so loud the floor would shake sometimes? Remember when they sold Connie's pizza and drinks in the back so if you had to cover like 3 big panels you could still eat and drink and stuff? (They took that away too. Harumph.) Anyway, that's now "The Tavern" which is sort of a medieval, ttrpg, dungeons and dragons sort of meeting place with its own constant programming that you should probably check out. Meanwhile, DOWNSTAIRS by where you enter (near the jumpy water fountains) in what used to be the Will Call room sometimes, is NOW S100, our grand poobah of rooms, The Main Stage. I'm not sure how this plays out. According to the McCormick Place website, our new Main Panel Room boasts 65000 square feet of space for everyone to cram into. That's honestly a hard amount of square feet to wrap your brain around, especially when it's only a fraction of the stupidly large McCormick Place itself. It's downstairs where you first come in, which to me smells like a traffic jam, especially when you consider the queue hall is also downstairs, but this is supposed to be an improvement. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Speaking of, let's lace up our shoes and get out our notebooks and figure out where the hell we're going each day of the con, based on our individual interests! Friday, March 27th I'm not ready. It's 3 am, and I'm still writing this. If you happen to know what I look like and see me in a panel room, and I'm sleeping, well now you know why. Let's do the thing though, cuz you're gonna need to know where to go once you get your badge and your bearings, aren'tcha? If you're an artist , or just want to try your hand at it, Grotesque Burlesque is hosting figure drawing from 11- 12 pm on the Cosplay Central Show Floor so you can do something a little bit sketch to start out your adventure But if you've got some kiddos you want to shake off a little energy BEFORE you head to a panel room or autograph line, check out Get in Hero Shape for some kid friendly fitness out on the show floor in the Family Interactive area. That's from 11-12 pm and your later self will thank you. OR If you're here to make friends that share your nerdy passions, why not try C2E2 Speed Friending in the S406 Lobby (aka, the Tavern Lobby, friends). That's also from 11 to noon. BUT If podcasting is your passion and you're a local, why not head to Chicago Podcasters Unite from 12:30 to 1:15 in S401D and plan some crossovers. Disney adults , be prepared for singing with the Disney Adult Singalong at 1:30 -2:15 in The Yard - this time you're SUPPOSED to belt out Let It Go and Part of Your World and you won't be told to "quiet down" because "this is a library not a concert hall." Sheesh. OR If you love adventure games and Nathan Drake , you'd better be at the brand new Main Stage S100 at 1:30 - 2:30 where you can check out Uncharted: Celebrating the Adventure with Nolan North, Richard McGonagle and Emily Rose. If you've been on the floor all day and running to panels and could use a little chillout with a positive spin and some absolutely stunningly sparkly people - why not head to Drag Story Hour from 2 to 3 pm over in the Family Interactive section of the show floor. OR If your brand of relaxing is some party game action , spread out on the fake grass of The Yard from 2:45 to 3:45 for some interactive gaming fun with Jackbox Games . Hey, you there! You look like you like eyeliner and being sad. (just kidding) Anyway, Panel! At the Disco: The Emo Comic Connect is at 3-4 pm in S403 , and you can talk music, wardrobe or anything else your heart desires there. BUT Make sure you're not also a huge fan of One Piece! Because Set Sail! The Voices of One Piece is gracing the S404 stage at 3-4 pm also and features Colleen Clinkenbeard and Christopher Sabat. OR If you're a fan of classic movies and classic celebs , why not check out Geena Davis, in her A League of Her Own panel at 3-4 pm on our new Main Stage in S100. Here's a place we'll stop to say - there's great things going on on the show floor and beyond every single day of the con, and one of those things is all the gaming stuff out on the floor over in Side Quest , run by Chicago's very own Kevin Fair of I Play Games along with many other collaborators, to include the incredible Galloping Ghost Arcade - but KFair and his crew are the real deal and all of his tournaments are well run and tons of fun because this is what he does - and does well. We're recommending the Street Fighter 6 tourney on Friday night because of how much fun we had last year stumbling upon it while scooping the loop - we couldn't help but want to join in and honestly - do it. Sign up, join in, and game. It's at Side Quest on the show floor from 4-7 pm. If you're an anime fan , head to S402B for Anime Trivia from 5:15 to 6:15 OR If you're up for something sexy (?) and you're 18+ , check out Cyanide and Happiness' Sexy Game Show from 5:15-6:15 BUT If you like to rock out the show and go old school, hit up S405 from 5:30 - 6:15 in S405 for music and art, hard core style. Finally, if you're in for the Late Night Thrills at C2E2, let's do a lightning round of activities. You can go to: Second City Live Improv from 6-7 pm in S404 The C2E2 Stand-up Comedy Showcase (18+) from 7-8:30 in S403 The C2E2 Talent Show from 7-8:15 pm on the S100 Main Stage or Fandom Unleashed: The Nerdlesque Show (18+) in S404 Then GO TO BED AND WASH YOUR FACE! It's time for Saturday before you know it. Saturday, March 28th Listen, I don't want to tell you this, but I feel like this is a guide, and I have to, or I'm not doing right by you. The thing is, Saturday is always a massive day. There's always a massive crowd, and there's always a lot of chaos. Think traffic jams that mean you can't get to the Breakfast Club panel (not me last year) and lines that lead you only to overflow rooms which also then fill up. Sad. Anyway, we're frontloading this day beginning at 11 am, and I'm about to tell you the way you get into a panel with a huge celeb or celebs you MUST SEE that also happen to be must sees for everyone else in Chicago. Y ou go SUPER EARLY and you PLAN TO BE IN LINE FOR HOURS. Like, if you really, really must see these folks, the toll is your time. Get your snacks, drinks, and whatever you can comfortably sit on in line and then see if you can get parking and get in the line before the other 20,000 folks show up. So, here's the reason I say that. At 11 am sharp, you Whovians are going to wish you had a TARDIS so you could crash into S404 for Fantastic! A Spotlight on Christopher Eccleston like it wasn't a thing, but you're gonna have to wait like a dumb singlehearted human. OR If you're off to see the Scarlet Witch , Elizabeth Olsen basically breaks the entire convention at 11 am in S100 when she takes the stage for The Scarlet Witch and Beyond: Elizabeth Olsen in Conversation. BUT If you're not into that, make a reservation for the Gothic Fantasy Tea and Broths Party and Spells in S503 or hit up the KPOP Random Dance! on the Show Floor instead at the same time - 11 -12. Today's recommended Side Quest tourney is the Mario Kart World one , and it runs from 1 2:00 to 3:00 pm , so if you're a kart racing fanatic, let's-a-go! HOWEVER Daredevil fans should be racing over to the S100 Main Stage because Hell's Kitchen Returns: Daredevil Born Again is starting at 12:30 and runs through 1:30 and yes, Charlie Cox will be there! Booktokers and beyond might want to check out the Frightening and Fantastic World of James Tynion in S402 at 1:30 to 2:15, WHILE West Wing stans should probably be heading over to Walk and Talk: The West Wing with Martin Sheen and Dule Hill from 2:00 to 3:00 in, you guessed it, S100. Gamers, pay attention - you need to grab a friend and head up to the Pride Lounge in S504 at 3:00 because you can play Blind Mario Kart - which is what it sounds like - you drive, facing away from the screen, and rely on your friend to tell you where to go. Friendships will be made and broken. I'm here for the chaos. Local and non-local horror and camp fans alike should be there for The Beasts of Berwyn, SVENGOOLIE & The Sven Squad Un-Live! because listen, horror, comedy and chickens. Say less. That's in S403 from 3:30 - 4:30. Be there. BUT If you're feeling like some hero action , make sure not to miss You Have Failed This Panel: The Cast of Arrow at 3:30 to 4:30 on S100's Main Stage , with Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey and Ashley V Robinson. Rounding out the afternoon, if you've never been to a Drink and Draw , it's fun and inspiring, and you can just hang out in The Yard for it at 5:45 - 6:45. OR If you've got a fursona and you want to meet some other furry friends, there's a meetup at 6:00 on the Show Floor. BUT If you're craving D&D action , head to S403 from 6:30 -8 for Improv D&D For your Saturday night entertainment , hit up the Pride Lounge from 7-9 pm (That's S504) OR Marvel at amazing cosplay with the Cosplay Crown Championship Regional Qualifier and US Finals - 7:30 to 9:30 on the Mainstage, that's S100 to you. Then it's TIME FOR BED, SUNDAY IS UPON US Sunday, March 29th Ok, you clever girls and guys and theys and those. It's time to go. Sunday isn't pulling any punches, and I will literally die if we don't dive right into this Sunday schedule now. You're headed to the park first - Welcome to Jurassic Park: A Reunion with the Original Cast kicks off the day at our S100 Main Stage with BD Wong, Ariana Richards, Joseph Mazzello, Wayne Knight, Ashley V Robinson. That's at 10:30 to 11:30 so you need to hear me when I say: get there early. BUT Forget that if you'd just rather relive your KPop Demon Hunters fun and sing a long. That's happening in the Tavern (S406) from 11 - 11:45. Disney Adults and people who were obsessed with the Little Mermaid like me forever - Part of Your World: Celebrating The Little Mermaid is from 11:00 - 12:00 in S404 and it has Jodi Benson - yes, for real, it's Ariel - but also, Christopher Daniel Barnes - Eric! That's a hell of a rarity and I think I need to go to see this. Gamers , if you're into things like, I dunno, Halo , maybe go see Finish the Fight: A Spotlight on Steve Downes. That'll be in S401 from 12:15 - 1pm. OR Say hail yes to Hail Hydra! A Spotlight on Brett Dalton in S404 from 12:30 to 1:30 - you know, if you like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or a myriad other cool pop culture things. If you're ready to queue up for a Marvel panel , you should get goin', because 1:30 pm is clobberin' time. That's the It's Clobberin' Time: The Cast of Fantastic Four panel on the Main Stage in S100, by the way, with Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis and Ashley V Robinson. BUT If interstellar adventure and friendship are your ultimate goals , let's stick around because the Spotlight on Andy Weir- you know, the author who brought us the AMAZE Project Hail Mary , is having his spotlight Sunday from 2- 3pm in S404 . But don't tell anyone, because I'm pretty sure since the movie's been so popular, we're gonna blow out those doors. Maybe they should move it to S100, question? There's plenty more on the main schedule as per us, my lovelies, so make sure to check that out, and maybe download the C2E2 app, since you can set reminders for panels you'd hate to miss. This is a small sampling of the larger programming and as always we encourage you to try new things, and go outside your comfort zone - it's what makes your convention experience something truly unforgettable. That said, C2E2 is our favorite con of the year for good reason - it's not 'just another convention' with the same celebs and panels - it's full of great things you can only get, see, eat and do in Chicago, and full of our lore and personality, and we wouldn't miss it for the world. Unless we're still sleeping, since this hasn't published and it's almost 5 am. Did I mention if you see me on the floor I'll be sleeping in a corner? Cuz...well...yeah. It's a brand new day, and the sun is high. All the nerds are coming and I'm gonna die... bonus points if you can tell me what that's from. Culture Combine Out. On the Floor. All Convention Long. Cosplay, interviews, and more. Stay tuned.

Screenshot: Aether & Iron As much as video games have tightened up as safe, corporate products over the years, it’s still awesome to see developers taking chances and swinging for the fences. Aether & Iron  wouldn’t be possible if every release came from a rigid corporate structure. It’s an ambitious blend of RPG and visual novel that might occasionally betray its lower production values, but it more than makes up for it with great storytelling and stellar voice acting. There’s also some turn-based vehicular tactics thrown in for good measure, though it never quite blends seamlessly with the narrative. One of the things that initially pulled me into this Aether-filled, alternate retro-future New York was the promise of car combat. Not in a frantic Twisted Metal  style, but a tactical, turn-based experience built around the concept of the Hollywood car chase. Okay, fine—I was completely won over by the promise of a hardboiled, noir "decopunk" reality, but the car combat was definitely a major hook. Screenshot: Aether & Iron At its core, Aether & Iron  bills itself as a turn-based tactics role-playing game, but functionally, it plays much more like a narrative-heavy visual novel punctuated by skill checks and combat encounters to spice things up. This isn’t a bad thing at all. Going into it expecting a story-first experience is the best way to approach it. The setting itself—a retro-futuristic city kept afloat by flying machines—is practically another character. It leans heavily into 1930s noir tropes, right down to the societal divide between the Lowers and the Uppers. It’s a tale as old as time: the rich ignore the world's problems even when the sky is literally falling around them. In this universe, the accumulation of so much Aether is causing massive environmental disruptions, threatening to drop the floating metropolis right out of the sky. (As an aside for the geography buffs: the developers inexplicably put the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, which is a notable ‘Mandela Effect.’ Clearly in this universe it was on Ellis Island after all.) Screenshot: Aether & Iron The catalyst for the plot is a job to escort Nellie, a scientist from the Uppers who is as sheltered from the city's grim realities as you are steeped in them. You play as Gia, a smuggler who handles the game's varied cast—ranging from doctors and movie stars to the lowest dregs of society—with a cynical, world-weary moral ambiguity. The dialogue can occasionally verge into hammy territory, but it fits perfectly with the pulp-noir theme. The voice work across the board is great, and the developers clearly know it, letting the cast carry the emotional weight of the story. The gameplay loop largely consists of bouncing back and forth from objective to objective as you move from one point of the world map to another, sometimes hindered by random encounters. Missions range from simple protection gigs to a full-blown, multi-step casino heist. Screenshot: Aether & Iron Because Gia is a smuggler, you constantly have to consider random stops. If you have contraband out in the open, it’ll get confiscated—or worse, result in a messy run-in with the local authorities. You can modify your car to hide illicit goods, or keep them in the open to add some spice to your travels.  However, despite my hours in Aether & Iron , I found myself constantly waiting for the world to finally open up and offer me more agency. Sadly, it never really does. Sure, you can make a few decisions about what to tackle first, but you’re mostly being led by the nose through the narrative. If you’re okay with a linear ride, you'll be happy. But after the game teases a wide-open world with beautifully drawn overworld maps, it's disappointing to see them reduced to a few quickly driven streets that just shuffle you from point A to point B. The RPG mechanics also stumble. The skill trees govern both your conversational and combat abilities, but the skills you need to navigate the story aren’t necessarily the ones you want during the tactical combat sections. This dynamic severely hamstrung my original character build–thankfully there are items that allow you to respect characters. To add more disappointment, the different companions you recruit share the exact same skill tree as Gia, just in truncated forms. While this makes it easy to build a synergistic team, it entirely removes the thrill of discovering what a new character brings to your established group. Screenshot: Aether & Iron Then there is the turn-based car combat, which put up a massive roadblock in my progression. After the first few introductory fights, the difficulty curve spikes hard. I repeatedly found myself failing encounters, forcing me to retreat to a shop to grind out new equipment for my car just to survive spontaneous battles, only to rinse and repeat at the next roadblock. If there was some sort of car progression baked smoothly into the narrative, it wouldn’t feel so jarring. Instead, the combat often feels like a tacked-on nuisance that actively breaks up the pacing of the story. Mechanically, the battles have bizarre quirks. For instance, it costs more Action Points (AP) to move forward than backward. I frequently found myself moving forward as a defensive maneuver at the start of a fight, only to get stuck in the back row with highly restricted movement while the rest of the battle played out. The encounters aren't entirely horrible—they do give the player a physical way to touch the world beyond clicking dialogue options, and they achieve the developer's goal of creating dynamic vehicular combat—but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Screenshot: Aether & Iron Another major complaint is the overall technical execution has some rough edges. The menus feel weirdly sticky. Either the hitboxes for the buttons are too small, or they’re just finicky, but I constantly found myself wrestling with the UI, especially when trying to repair vehicles or swap parts in the garage. More dangerously, the save/load menu is laid out in a way that makes accidental deletion terrifyingly easy. I accidentally wiped my entire campaign while trying to delete a single file. (Luckily, I was just testing out save scumming a dice roll, so I was able to save my progress and continue.) Aether & Iron  is a game of incredible atmosphere and so-so car combat.You can tell it’s a game that has a lot of heart–from the voice actors giving it their all to the art setting the stage. But it never fully came together for me in a package that felt cohesive. But I enjoyed my time with Aether and Iron and would love to spend more time in this world.

The Pitt. HBOMax.  5 pm. Quittin' time. End of watch. Ohhh noooooo. I'm not ready. Are you ready? I'm just... not ready. But hey, that's what recaps of recaps are for, right? Let's go! The Recap Recap: All things are not getting better. I’m anxious and we’re not even into the new. First thing we cover is Becca and her diagnosis. She’s having sex! Ok, that's not the diagnosis, but it is the central problem, at least if you're Mel. Or, more accurately, that she doesn't have full knowledge or control over her sister's life anymore. She can't protect her the way she once did. Flashing back to Santos and Langdon's showdown, and I'm still with Surgery... I mean, Garcia - Langdon made a mistake, get over it, you’re a pariah cuz you don’t play well with others, and maybe you should actually take some advice and get some help - not because we don't love you, but because you don't love yourself, and you're in danger, too. It's not a weakness to ask for help. We get to relive Robby going after Samira, and that's unpleasant as hell. We also get a flash over to Duke. That's one of our newer storylines and I'm not sure where it's going, but theoretically at least, it'll keep Robby here past his leave time, and maybe, just maybe, someone can reach him. There's a little reminder about everyone going analog unwillingly, we get a glimpse back to Ogilvie, holding that leg, and talking about his first shift at The Pitt, and then we're with Roxie, who's saying it's ok to let her go. Talk about a tone shift, and a nerve touched in a recap recap. McKay puts the meds in, and we fade out. Fade back in? What now? The Pitt. HBOMax. The Pitt, Present Hour: Back with Roxie. I guess technically we never actually left. Hour eleven. 5:00-6:00. That's a long time to be doing all this.   Everyone’s with Roxie - the grandparents, kids and the husband. But Javadi just can't handle it, and she leaves again, followed by McKay. She asks her what now -- when is it going to happen, essentially, and McKay says that she has no idea- it could be hours. Javadi says it feels wrong, but McKay reminds her that it's Roxie's decision. It doesn't really seem to shake Javadi's beliefs though and she breaks loose from McKay and heads elsewhere. In yet another room in the ER, Mel and Becca talk boyfriends. We find out her boyfriend, Adam, is 3 years older than her and is another patient at the facility she lives at. They met and started dating at game night, and Mel, straight to the point and ignoring the meetcute, asks if Adam asked Mel if she wanted to have sex. Becca refuses to answer the question, saying she can't tell her that. This infuriates Mel, and she actually raises her voice, startling Becca, and causing Langdon to bust in and break it up, telling Mel to go get some air, while also trying to help Becca, who's shut down from the sudden outburst of emotion (and loud noises) Now, I know Mel's not a fan, but I really love that they let Becca be an adult human being without it being an abuse issue or any other kind of issue. We know it's full consent and seems like a happy relationship thus far, and just because she's autistic and has extra needs doesn't mean she can't have an adult life - there are MANY autistic people who are in treatment and also in relationships, but it's far from well represented on TV. Anyway...Mel leaves. The Pitt. HBOMax. Now we’re with Robby and Dana. He's asking her if she thinks there's any chance he'll get out on time, because clearly he's clocked out from being a decent doctor. (I'm being too hard on him, but like, I'm not over the shouting at Samira). Dana asks a different question - are you and Dr. Al getting along? Robby says he can play nice for another two hours, and my question to him is - you call what you've been doing playing nice? Maybe around 8 am, but even then... Whittaker, meanwhile, has got Robby's VIP, Duke, and is listening to Robby tales, like anyone in his position would be. Seems like Robby's annoyed by this but that's just too bad, and anyway, X-rays are behind. Robby goes to kick him out to check again but Duke tells him to chill, and he actually listens. The Pitt. HBOMax. Joy runs into Mohan for the first time since the incident, and asks her how she’s feeling. Before she can answer, Joy's saying that she takes Lexapro for panic attacks. It's a messy delivery, and kinda an awkward helpful friend driveby, but it shows how much she cares, and wants her to feel okay about what happened, and since Robby's lost every single ounce of empathy in his body, I'm really glad Joy found hers. Mohan’s back with leg lady, who also checks to see if she's ok. See, it's not that hard, Robby, you just have to, I don't know, remove your head from your ass and have some common decency. She said that she recently took a long bus ride, but there's no trauma to her leg, it's just been hurting for a really long time. This obviously brings up concerns about a blood clot, so they order an ultrasound, and before Mohan can peace out, leg lady offers some more advice - Stop worrying. I mean, draw the rest of the owl, but it's a nice thought. Back at the nurse’s station. Dana's in the chair. A runner shows up with some lab results, one critical, and mentions that they couldn't reach anyone on the phone. This means the critical result's been sitting there for 24 minutes. Annoyed, but unflapped, she tells Mohan to "sprinkle some salt on your patient before he seizes" and then manages to gather all the details she didn't have two seconds ago. Baby Jane Doe sighting! Well, a mention. They're working on finding her a place, and she's calling around. Hashimi checks in and asks Dana if Robby usually sticks around for handoffs or just leaves, and she tells her that Robby usually sticks. We knew he'd probably stick for Duke's results too, so I feel like his sabbatical might be delayed by at least a few hours. Ogilvie and Joy are at the patient board looking for their next cases. He’s looking for hard stuff, and she wants easy since she’s done in 2 hours. As if. Javadi comes by, in a bit of a mood, and says pick up stable patients in order. Not wrong, but still. The Pitt. HBOMax. Meanwhile, McKay is told kiki is waiting for her in the lobby. Why does everyone have special patients today. Whittaker tells Santos there's labs back on Santos' patient and asks if she's ok. He mentions Langdon, and says maybe he changed. You can imagine how that goes over, but you don't need to, look at her face. He asks her to talk when they get a second, because there's something important he wants to talk to her about, but she takes off. I'm VERY curious what this turns out to be. Dana awards Santos a food poisoning patient in 12, and...Santos takes it. No words. This concerns both Dana, and me, who's sitting here typing this. "No snark? No pushback? Where's Santos?" says Dana, and she just says she's got 2 hours left and she surrenders. This is...uncharacteristic in a worrying way. Can't say I love it. The Pitt. HBOMax. Langdon and Mel, meanwhile, meet outside in the ambulance bay. She's on the phone to the facility Becca stays at, and still fuming that she didn't know anything about this relationship for the last 6 months it's been going on. She assumes her sister is being taken advantage of, and that the whole thing is a mistake. But your sister is a fully grown adult, Langdon points out, quite rightly. Are you the legal guardian?  Mel retorts that she’s the durable POA but she can make her own decisions… and there it is. It's at this exact moment that a car - not an ambulance - screeches into the ambulance bay. A woman gets out and says there's a young boy inside and he isn't moving. Langdon immediately scoops him up and takes him in. He's not responsive, and he's very, very hot. This is bad. Hashimi asks for a core temperature and asks about his mother, who's standing in the background. Our child's name is Micah, and he was in the car. In the heat. Ok, well, at least we know why things are how they are. Joy grabs Perlah's Apple watch and starts a timer. Langdon, meanwhile, looks more traumatized than usual. The Pitt. HBOMax. Joy's on the warpath, questioning the mom about having just 'happened' to find him in the car. I get it, but it's not really the time for it. Hashimi seems to have her own doubts about it, but keeps it a lot more low-key and doesn't cross that line with the mom, because she's a professional. Am I starting to really, really like her? Diagnosis: Heatstroke. A two or three word PSA: It's real, and it's not just being really hot. It's deadly and extremely dangerous, especially for children. His temp is through the roof, they're looking for the Arctic Sun again, and a pediatric body bag. This temp has to come down, or the body bag isn't going to be for some cool lifesaving trick. In a less terrifying situation, we've got Ogilvie and his english patient. Or that's what I'm calling him. He asks about getting out in time to see the fireworks with his kid, and Ogilvie smartly doesn't guarantee it but says they're going to do everything they can. Out in the hall, McKay asks if Mohan's okay as they pass each other by, and she gets defensive. To be fair, it's annoying to get asked so many times, but hey, people care about you. Ogilvie tags along with McKay, who is now recruiting him to help with Kiki, her unhoused patient who she knows from the street team. Given Ogilvie's entire lack of empathy, this seems like a bad decision. Not for him - he could use the lessons it could teach him. But...for Kiki? I dunno. Either way, they're doing the thing. Elsewhere, Mel and Becca reunite. Mel apologizes for yelling and says she was just surprised. The nurse comes in and lets Becca know she's free to leave whenever, but Mel wants her to stay and have a conversation. Becca is not into it, and Mel says she just wishes that she wanted to tell her. I feel her. Becca says that she talked about sex in her mind and body class and she talked to her therapist. She's autistic but that doesn't mean she can't have sex (like I said earlier). It doesn't mean she can't be right, either. Becca blurts out that she asked him if he wanted to have sex. Again, so happy to see this as the story line, instead of "autistic girl in facility gets taken advantage of" which would've been the trope/expected plotline. Can't say that enough. The Pitt. HBOMax. We've got a new patient, and surprise! He's a dick! Ok, he's actually a 42 year old who's gotten really combative while on the golf course. Is it that he's just a jerk, or is it the alcohol on his breath? His friends don't actually seem that great either, but they say the thing that gives us the mystery: He's not usually like this. Ok, I guess we'll see. Meanwhile, the death doula comes out to talk with Robby to say Roxie’s gone. She wanted to know if McKay was around because someone needs to sign the death paperwork, but as we know, McKay's out with Oggy. (I made him a nickname, which must mean I like him a wee bit more than before. Maybe it was the leg trauma, maybe it was the astute observation about the Pitt being extra crazy.) Anyway, Oggy's out with McKay and they're treating Kiki, a young woman in active addiction who's been using a drug called Tranq on the street, that causes some very nasty skin problems, namely necrosis. The thought clearly grosses Ogilvie out, and he mentions that he just doesn't "get" drug addiction. While a fairly 'him' thing to say, at least there's the vulnerability in saying he doesn't understand something. Maybe he can be taught, but it still seems like he's got a full lack of empathy going on. I don't want this for Kiki, but I want it for him. McKay darts across the street like she's in a game of Frogger and Oggy...does not do that. Not all of us are graceful. Back in Roxie's room, her husband is, as you'd expect, incredibly upset. I guess I was wrong about him. I just had this weird icky feeling. Robby's handling the death note, and Javadi's in the room as well. Robby manages his actual empathetic care standard with the husband, proving he IS still capable of it. He nods to Javadi and they let Roxie's husband have some alone time. The Pitt. HBOMax. Oggy and McKay meet Kiki, since he's managed an awkward dash across a busy street. She says that her leg's getting stinky again, which you know is going to give us a gnarly gore shot. Oggy asks if it's an injection site, and she says no, while McKay explains it doesn't have to be to get that way. She mentions that she's going to meetings again sometimes, and Ogilvie seems rather useless in the scene so McKay brings him back in, asking him what the plan is. She says her leg’s getting stinky again. Take him out of the hospital and he loses what he's doing. Or not, as he eventually joins her in helping treat the existing problem and handing out some supplies so she can change the dressing, which she insists she can't do. McKay gives her a few more bits of advice on how to care for her wounds and we're off. Whit and Santos have a brand new patient and we meet Roberto. Like Roberto Clemente. He was at a baseball game trying to catch a ball when someone landed on top of him, and there was a pop. They ask if he plays, and he said no, he's from Nebraska, but he did grow up watching the Storm Chasers team. Lots of baseball talk ensues and Santos decides to ask him if he's the type to steal a ball from kids - which he insists he's not, all the while not letting go of the ball for absolutely anything at all. They sling him, and want to give him morphine for the pain but he insists he needs to stay alert and refuses. I mean, baseball is where the term "fan" came from - out of the word fanatic, but this guy is something else. Back with Micah, the heatstroke kiddo. He and his mom are in the trauma room, and he's in a body bag in ice. His core temp is 103.5, and the main concern right now his his brain. We don't stay in this scene for long though. The Pitt. HBOMax. Mel and Becca are saying goodbyes in triage, as the lady from the facility Becca stays at is there to take her back. Mel asks about the fireworks but Becca awkwardly tells her that she made plans with Adam and his family to go see them. Ouch. They talked about this only a few hours ago, and I feel really bad for Mel. I get that it's probably a good thing for everyone overall but after the day Mel's had with the deposition and the *gestures wildly at everything - you gotta feel like it's killing her a little. On the walk back from our visit with Kiki, McKay's trying to get Ogilvie to join the street team and...he's not very enthusiastic, but we'll see where that goes. I think it'd do him a world of good if he did it, but I feel like he's gonna opt out. Robby catches Mel in the hall and asks about the deposition. She said she didn't feel good about it, and can't talk about it, but Robby reminds her that she CAN talk about how she feels. Again, at least we know the empathy is in there. It seems like they're about to have a heart to heart and Mel starts to open up, but Robby takes off after McKay when he spots her coming in. He asks her where she's been and she tells him she was with Kiki from street team and that they treated her in the park. He reads her the riot act about taking time, a student and resources away from the Pitt to go do that, and tells her that Roxie died while she was gone, too. She's flabbergasted as she didn't see it happening that quickly, but it's not making any movement in Robby's head. If I was going to side with Robby on anything this episode, which I'm not, this would be the one. I do get her desire to help people and I do get that sometimes it can't happen in a hospital but it was a weird time to dip, and the ER is in dire straits without technology and with the waterslide collapse and all the incoming new traumas. The Pitt. HBOMax. Speaking of an ER in dire straits, you know what would make this just, way, way fucking worse? ICE. Yes, that ICE. And yes, they've showed up at the Pitt. Robby's instantly furious, and, yeah, ok, I will side with him on this one. You just know the fallout is going to be crazy. They've got a patient. They were doing a raid, and a woman they were detaining 'got injured' and 'fell' during a sweep. Everyone's in masks and stupid gaiters. Obvi. Let's break the fourth wall here for a second, because this and ensuing scenes with ICE have made some people and some news networks very, very angry. The Pitt is being accused of being "woke" and "bringing politics" into a show where they shouldn't be. I'm so sorry, but this is giving "Rage Against the Machine didn't used to be woke" amounts of ignorance. The Pitt has ALWAYS been "woke" if, like most people mean when they say it, woke means caring about people and their circumstances whether they're white, brown, black, legal, illegal, gay, straight, minors or geriatric. They've tackled healthcare costs and unhoused people and...what show did you really think you were watching here? On top of that, to cover ICE now, and this episode in particular, is to be looking around at what's actually happening, since this is what's happening in our city of Chicago and all around the US right now. This is a very real thing that causes a very real amount of upheaval. Patients, doctors, students - all feeling like they need to leave instead of giving or seeking care because people are being disappeared whether they have jobs and documents, or not. The Pitt. HBOMax. ICE is here. Ok, so cool. Robby looks angry. Ok, use your anger for good for once. They say she fell during a sweep. They’re wearing masks cuz they’re fucking fucks. Checking in again on golf guy, his friend's here to say he didn't think he was like this, and while he might be a dick, this isn't like him. They're running labs but we've got nothing prescient now. Back with ICE, who picked Pranita up from a restaurant sweep in a nearby neighborhood. They want the cuffs off of her so they can see how badly she's hurt and do a proper examination, but they're refusing. McKay is wearing them down. Please fight the power, McKay, we know you can. She says they're going to need an X-ray, and so it's gonna be awhile. When the tallest, most disguised giant bully tries to protest, McKay shoots him a death glare. We cut to triage, where the really nice little lady behind the window I always worry about is calling a name over and over. Initially, I didn't know why this was happening, but then I thought about it a minute. Jaime Guerrero was the patient. Our triage lady comes out from behind the glass, and talks to another woman in Spanish. She is leaving the ER and she won't be the only one. Back with Roberto in the field of dreams, Whit and Santos are trying to get him to do sedation and pain meds because they need to relocate his...arm. He's still not having it. Dana, back in the nurse's station and ALSO super pissed, of course has more details on the ICE raid. They raided Joe's in Greentree, and patients are flooding out the doors without receiving care. Martha took off (Is that our little triage lady?) and Dana asks if they can tell ICE to fuck off. Please. Please do that. Emma asks, and I think earnestly, because babynurse has shown nothing but empathy and care for everyone who comes in, if illegal patients can receive care, and Dana, of course, uses this moment to loudly educate everyone, including our ICE buffoons, that EMTALA means that everyone is entitled to care. Everyone. The Pitt. HBOMax. Back with Micah, our heatstroke victim, he's got a temp of 101.8 now, and can come off the ice. Robby is in to check with him, and he's got some arm movement. Hashimi's reassuring everyone that this is a good sign, and tries to reassure the mother some, too. Javadi's since arrived to the ICE scene with Pranita, and is talking to her about her bracelet, which is from her daughter. Pranita's been staring at it stressed out - her daughter gave it to her, and she says her daughter must have no idea where she is. She said ICE wouldn't let her call her daughter, and when they ask to call FROM THE ER, ICE SAYS NO. I'm sorry, what? McKay is seeing red, as we all should be in such a situation. Speaking of red, Mel's on the red phone with her sister's facility asking to know when Becca got back, and asking questions about Adam. Girl, you need to stop. This is not cool. Dana chides her and amazingly, she sasses back. Mel...you are so far out of line right now. Do not. Dana gives her one solid look and she hangs up. Luckily for Mel, Whit's needing her to supervise a reduction? They also want to move Roxie to viewing, or our clerk does, but Dana shuts it down fast. Joy asks Robby what we think about heatstroke kid, and at first he doesn't get what she's going after. She elaborates, asking if he thinks she left the kid in the car and forgot about him, but Robby says it's not their job to judge. She insists the mom looks guilty, and he tells her to stay focused on the kid. Ok, fine. We're not always a jerk. The Pitt. HBOMax. English patient time. And...oh no. Ogilvie's friend is unresponsive and sweaty. What happened? They were waiting on discharge papers and meds - what gives? We find out through other chatter that a patient in room S15 left because of ICE and chairs has cleared out for the same reason. Back to kidney stone guy aka English patient - and he is way worse. Robby’s in with him. Mohan was supervising, and so she and Ogilvie are both in trouble. No one looked at the aorta, and apparently that's what's causing him to tank. He's even got agonal respirations. Nooooo. They need to intubate, which is exactly what Oggy was looking to do earlier at the boards, but he's frozen and facing his failure, so Javadi takes over. Back in with our heatstroke trauma, and mother and son are having a tender moment. Hashimi's in the background, and lets them have their time before stepping in to say they're lightening sedation to see if he responds. She cautions her that they can't say if he's going to be ok or not yet, and that he may be cognitively impaired. For a moment, she almost looks angry, and she stops holding her son's hand abruptly. This really gives me an ick, but I've been wrong before. Drugless baseball guy is about to find out why drugs could help, in another ER room nearby. He's still clutching that ball though, and no one seems to bat an eye when his scream erupts through the whole damn place. The Pitt. HBOMax. Javadi’s mom is here. Wait, what? Is anyone going to say anything? She's awful. She starts talking about her daughter's mistakes in front of her boss and peers again, and while that's happening I'm wondering when Robby, who's standing right there, is going to intervene. Step in the right direction, he tells her to glove up and show her mom why she belongs in the ED. Her mom meanwhile is there assisting, and as much as I hate to say it, is cool as a cucumber and good at everything she does. Except being a mother, but y'know. Ogilvie, back in his room, is still freaking out. Baseball guy has a sling and should be good to go soon. Mel was waiting for someone to chart, but they’re arguing so she flips out and leaves. Oh lord. This day. This hour. Meanwhile with heatstroke kid again, and Mom stepped out. It's a weird time for that, especially given her unwillingness to leave before. Everyone seems a little suspicious of that, but Hashimi steps out to go find her. In with Mohan, Javadi and her momma, things are working out. Ogilvie asks to go up with J's mom, and she lets him. Mohan, who we haven't seen in a minute, is not ok, and it seems like Javadi's mom is worried about ICE for potentially personal reasons. Ogilvie apologizes to Robby for missing the aorta. Robby takes this moment to start lecturing Samira about personal life staying outside of the ER, and convincing her she doesn't belong here. Inadvertently, maybe, but...man. McKay interrupts to tell Robby they're discharging Pranita back to the ICE agents, and Robby takes THIS moment to lecture the tall ICE guy within an inch of his life about how they're disrupting care and causing more harm than good, while doing absolutely nothing of any merit. I can't disagree. The Pitt. HBOMax. Outside, Hashimi catches up with Micah (heatstroke kiddo's) mom, who's oddly silent and detached. She attempts to start a conversation and the mother tries to walk out in front of an oncoming cement truck. Dr. Al grabs her, saves her, and tells her it's okay, while steering her away from the road and back inside. The Pitt. HBOMax. But inside, things have gone to pure chaos. ICE agents, in trying to get Pranita back into custody, aren't letting them give her the sling she needs before she can leave. Jessie intervenes, saying it'll only take a second, and they start pushing him around, too. There's a huge uproar right at the nurse's station. Dana and Robby hear it and run over. Everybody's running over. They've got Jessie down on the ground and cuffed, and they're pushing Pranita around too. They decided they're taking him. Robby runs after, telling Jessie not to say anything and trying to find out where they're taking him - but of course, they're not telling him. Dana’s on this already, with phone in hand and giving death stares. Everyone wants to help. Javadi's running somewhere, phone in hand, out of the ER, but Robby yells at her to stay. , Meanwhile Hashimi hands off the mom, and lets Robby and Dana know she was trying to kill herself. This puts her on an involuntary psych hold, which means - she can't see her kid. So, that sucks. Robby isn’t ok, you can tell. He’s breaking apart too. Mohan goes behind a curtain only to find a patient she doesn't recognize, and asks Babynurse about it. She says another patient took off when ICE showed up and arrested the nurse. The Pitt. HBOMax. In a private room, Robby and Hashimi are talking to Micah's mom. She apparently did really lose track of him. He wanted to ride his trike, so she let him, and she thought he was doing that, but found him in the car. Every time she looked over he was riding, til he wasn't, she says. Hashimi asks if Micah's mom has ever thought about hurting herself, but the question, at least as far as the directing goes, seems more pointedly aimed at Robbie, who's obviously at least a little thrown by it. And honestly, it gives me pause with regards to his safety, too. Babynurse and Donnie have got the CBC back on jerky golfer, and there's nothing particularly wrong. They're gonna let him sleep it off. This seems WAY too easy, so he's probably going to die or something. Robby hops over and he's asking for Duke’s x-ray. Donnie says they've got it but it hasn't been read, and he asks to see it anyway. "Shit" is all he has to say, which means, well, shit. So that's bad. Dana's hanging out at the nurse station with our death doula and tells her she oughta slow down and take some time for herself. She tells her not to stay for night shift and to take the time off, but it's a hard sell. Luckily, that's what Dana's great at. The Pitt. HBOMax. Mel’s flippin’ out still and I think if Langdon weren't being harassed by Santos and Robby was still Robby things would be better for her. Langdon and Dana at least notice though. Langdon and Hashimi have a brief conversation about whether or not Micah's mother will be able to forgive herself for his heatstroke, and then talk a little about Santos. He tells her that Santos doesn't like him very much, and that he worked with her last year and was an asshole, and she called him out. He says when she did that he overreacted, and that he needs to talk to her but hasn't found the right time. He could've thrown her under the bus, but he didn't, and I think that's showing he's not who she thinks he is. Dana’s looking for Mel, and finds her on the stairs, which seems to be her little panic room at the ER. "Screw the deposition" is her advice, and yeah, I agree. She asks about Becca and Mel tells her that she's got a boyfriend she didn't tell her about. Dana says maybe she didn't know how to tell her, but Mel insists on being upset about it. She says she's having sex, great sex, and lied t her for six months. "My sister is a fucking liar" Language! Dana notices it too. Mel says she's seen Elf 164 times with Becca, and she doesn't know who she is without her. She's gonna be alone. Dana's nice but firm and tells her it's not about her, and that she needs to understand people have different reasons for keeping secrets. In the end she has to quit feeling sorry for herself and move on. And she's right, and Robby, if you're listening, this is how you handle someone struggling with personal baggage at work who's acting out of character. Robby’s with Duke now, and saying the results were abnormal, and could potentially be anything up to and including a tumor. He needs a CT scan, and it's important. Duke asks if he'll stay, and Robby says that he will, even though it'll put him past quitting time. Robby says he wouldn't feel good about riding if he rushed it, and it convinces Duke to accept the help. The Pitt. HBOMax. Langdon catches up with Santos with a little info on her COPD patient. But it's really an opportunity to apologize. I'd hoped Santos would let it go but she doesn't. She doesn't think he's sincere, and tells him she doesn't buy it. She says he's the golden boy and he's not really atoning for his sins because he didn't mention to anyone other than 3 people that he stole drugs from the hospital. Things get heated, and he admits he almost got divorced and lost his kids and she just retorts "That's what happens when you fuck up." Ugh. I wish she could find some empathy for him, cuz I think he's trying. Case in point: He tries again with her, saying he's sorry anyway. The interaction's over though - and not without consequence, as Hashimi may have caught all of it, including the part about stolen drugs. So, uh oh. Now we're back with Babynurse, who goes in to check on our angry golfer. He's sleeping but when she goes to check vitals he snaps awake. Startled, he starts yelling "What the fuck" and then grabs Emma and puts her in a chokehold. I'm freaking out. He won't let up. No one else is in the room with them. She's struggling to get away from him while her face gets redder and redder, and no one even knows what's happening. AND THAT'S HOW YOU ENDED THE EPISODE. NOW I'M MAD AT THE SHOW ITSELF. If anything happens to her, so help me God. Well, let's see what hell on Earth Episode 12 brings. Ho-ly.