Month: February 2022

Eli Apple is not someone who lacks self confidence, and that’s probably going to be very important coming off of the Super Bowl performance he had. The Bengals defensive back who has become a household name for NFL fans, as much for his tweets and trash talk as his on-field exploits, had a rough go of it in Cincinnati’s 23-20 loss to the Rams in Super Bowl LIV.

Apple, who took a number of victory laps and happily jumped in the mentions of the Chiefs’ receiving corps after the AFC title game in which Cincy shut down KC’s passing attack in the second half, did not have as good of an evening in Los Angeles. In the first half, Apple found himself in no man’s land on the Rams’ second touchdown, as he bit up on a Matthew Stafford bootleg, leaving Cooper Kupp wide open in the back of the end zone, which is not the person you want to leave open.

Then, with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Apple was manned up on Kupp on the outside and saw the Rams’ star receiver lock up Super Bowl MVP honors with a touchdown catch over Apple on a back-shoulder fade with under two seconds to go on what would become the game-winning score.

After that touchdown, a number of NFL players decided it was officially time to fire up social media and light up the Eli Apple pack, as Chiefs receivers, former Saints teammates, Ravens stars, and more took to Twitter to get on what became quite the roast of Apple.

It’s rare that NFL players let their distaste for someone else in the “NFL family” known this much, but Apple certainly makes himself and easy target and the schadenfreude was flowing like wine as the Super Bowl ended.

For the second time in the franchise’s history, the Los Angeles Rams have won the Super Bowl. Despite facing a fourth quarter deficit and having several of their most dangerous players sitting on the sideline due to injuries, the Rams were able to take down the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, on the home field.

Los Angeles got the ball back with 6:13 left in the game and trailing by four. From there, they managed to dink and dunk their way down the field, getting into the red zone and finding themselves in a position to take the lead. While their goal-to-go situation featured a whole lot of flags and a drive that kept getting extended due to mistakes by the Bengals, there was only one way it could end: Matthew Stafford dropping back, throwing the ball to Cooper Kupp, and letting him go make a play.

The offense faced a second-and-goal from the Bengals 1, and instead of doing anything fancy, Kupp ran a fade, Stafford threw it right to his back shoulder, and the Rams took the lead with 1:25 left in the game.

All postseason long, Cincinnati’s offense found ways to make plays when it mattered the most to spark their run to the Super Bowl. It looked like they might have done that again when Joe Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase on the first play of their drive, but following a completion for nine yards, an incompletion, and a run that got stuffed, the Bengals faced a fourth-and-1 right at midfield.

With the Lombardi Trophy on the line, perhaps the greatest defensive player we’ve ever seen came up big. Aaron Donald blew by Bengals guard Quinton Spain, raced into the backfield, and sacked Burrow.

It’s been reported that this might be the last time we see Donald before the soon-to-be 31-year-old retires. If this is the case, Donald will get to say that he’s going out a champion.

(SPOILERS for this week’s Euphoria will be found below.)

This week on Euphoria, Rue Bennett returns home where she continues to deal with her withdrawal symptoms. After fighting it initially, Rue has committed to the idea of returning to rehab to overcome her addiction. She also apologizes to Ali for her hurtful comments towards him in the fourth episode. Elsewhere in this week’s episode, we follow Maddy as she expresses her hurt and anger towards Cassie (her best friend) and Nate (her ex-boyfriend) after she discovers that they’ve been seeing each other for some time.

Just like last week’s episode, which featured songs by Labrinth, Sharon Cash, and more, this week on of Euphoria also featured a great selection of songs. The aforementioned events in this week’s episode are soundtracked by carefully curated songs that help to accentuate the emotions behind each scene.

What Songs Were In ‘Euphoria’ S2E6?

The standout songs on this week’s episode are Ben E. King’s classic record, “Stand By Me,” and Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s “I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need To Get By.” The former track appears during a slightly intimate moment between Fez and Lexi as they discuss the 1986 film Stand by Me. As for Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s record, that appears after Nate goes to extreme lengths to retrieve the CD with Cal and Jules’ sex tape on it from Maddy.

The soundtrack for this week’s episode also includes Bill Evans’ “Peace Piece,” Mazzy Star’s “Quiet, The Winter Harbor,” and En Vogue’s “My Lovin’ You’re Never Gonna Get It.”

HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.

(SPOILERS for this week’s Euphoria will be found below.)

While Rue Bennett’s battle with drug addiction is certainly a main plot point during season two of Euphoria, the love triangle between Nate, Cassie, and Maddy is has grown to be one as well. For the first four episodes of the seasons, viewers waited to see how and when Maddy would learn about Nate and Cassie’s relationship. Finally, in the fifth episode, Maddy made the discovery after Rue brought it to her attention. This week on Euphoria, Maddy’s feelings towards Nate and Cassie after learning about their romance are explored, but there is a technicality to be answered in the situation.

Did Nate Cheat On Maddy With Cassie On ‘Euphoria?’

This question seemingly has an obvious answer to it, but as Cassie points out in this week’s episode, Nate and Maddy were technically not together during Nate and Cassie’s fling. During an argument with her mom, Cassie stresses that Nate and Maddy were not together during her time with Nate, but her mom points out that what Cassie did is wrong since she’s best friends with Maddy. Cassie and Nate began their romance at a New Year’s Eve party and something about Cassie’s interactions with Nate brought her closer to him and made her desire him more. This is despite the fact, as Lexi points out, that Nate constantly made fun of Cassie before that New Year’s Eve party.

Without a doubt, from a moral standpoint, Nate and Cassie are wrong for their actions due to their connections to Maddy, but technically, Nate did not cheat on Maddy with Cassie. Whether it’s wrong or not is the least Nate and Cassie’s worries, and the end of episode six made that quite clear.

HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.

(Spoilers from this week’s Euphoria will be found below.)

A twisted game of Russian roulette, a sex tape, and a stalled intervention.

Euphoria’s latest episode, “A Thousand Little Trees of Blood,” tied up some loose ends left over after last week’s wild bender, but left us with even more questions about where the show, and our favorite characters, are heading. Rue’s struggling to get clean and making some amends along the way while Cassie continues to watch her life implode, and Nate confronts Maddy about the tape in an unforgivable way. So much went down in season two, episode six, we can’t afford to waste any more time. Let’s get into it.

Here are our biggest questions after watching Euphoria’s latest episode.

Will Rue Make It To Rehab?

After Rue’s escape from Laurie’s apartment, we were worried she might head somewhere else other than home. Thankfully, the show answers that question early on, showing Rue suffering through withdrawals while seated at her family’s dining room table. We get a montage of her mother helping her get to bed, her writhing on the bathroom floor, and her beating her muscles back to life as she tries to come down from her opiate addiction. It’s explained that Rue was sent home by the E.R. doctor with some medicine to help with the withdrawal process until she can be placed in an in-treatment facility the following week, but by the end of episode seven, Rue’s mother can be heard pleading on the phone with someone, trying to get them to admit Rue. So, it sounds like getting Rue back into rehab is going to be harder than we thought, and Rue’s mom seems sure her daughter will kill herself if she doesn’t get the care she needs. Can Rue get clean on her own?

What Happened to Nate?

Cal’s departure has caused every member of the Jacobs household to spiral. That means booze, drugs, and a surprising conversation over brunch for Nate and his mom, Marsha. The two initially bond over Cal’s terrible track record as a father and husband, but their talk takes a weird turn when a clearly-inebriated Marsha starts musing on where she went wrong while raising her son. Marsha calls Nate out for choking Maddy in season one, points out his worrisome anger issues, and then recalls how sweet he was when he was younger. At one point, she asks out loud what happened to him when he was seven or eight years old because the change in his personality was so jarring. Obviously, that’s not a normal observation for a mother to make, and it just reinforces the idea that something happened to Nate when he was younger to change him so drastically. Sometimes monsters are born, sometimes they’re made, and it feels like Nate Jacobs might fall into the latter category.

Will Fezco and Ashtray Go Down for Mouse’s Murder?

Unfortunately for Fez and Ashtray, Mouse’s murder seems to be a high priority for the feds, and they’re leaning hard on Custer for information. When Faye goes to take out the trash as Lexi and Fez are having their movie night, Custer surprises her in the alley, confessing that he’s been working with the police to help them build a case against the brothers. Faye seems shocked and a little disgusted with the fact that her boyfriend is a rat, but she doesn’t tell Ashtray when she comes back in the house, so they obviously don’t know the cops suspect them. Ashtray is the one who killed Mouse, but we doubt Fezco would let his little brother go down for his murder. Both of them aren’t making it out of season two alive, right?

Why Did Cassie Go Live With Nate?

Cassie spent most of episode six having a mental breakdown, screaming at her mom, trying to cut her wrist with a wine opener, and then pleading with her family to not think of her as the “bad guy.” Girl, you hooked up with your best friend’s ex-boyfriend, you’re definitely the bad guy. Still, even hearing her sister call Nate Jacobs a terrible human being isn’t enough to sway Cassie who ends the episode by packing a suitcase and moving in with her new boyfriend. Which, that’s weird, right? They’re both teenagers, and yet neither Cassie’s mom nor Nate’s really objects to them shacking up together. Obviously, Nate is taking this whole “man of the house” thing very seriously, but can an actual adult do their job and get these kids in line?

What’s Going On With Kat’s Storyline?

Kat has had one of the more disappointing storylines this season. She’s struggled with her body image and an unfulfilling relationship. She’s also received less screentime than characters like Ashtray and even Nate’s brother, which just feels weird. Obviously, there’s something interesting to explore with Kat’s unhappiness — how she longed for a relationship, how Ethan is seemingly perfect, and how she’s still not satisfied. That’s an intriguing storyline to investigate for the character, but instead of digging into Kat’s conflicting emotions and giving her the space to find herself, the show had her end her relationship with Ethan over an awkward dinner date where she lied about terminal brain disease and then got angry at him for not believing she was actually dying. If the writers don’t know what to do with Kat, just let her live her best life as an online dominatrix and stop this.

What Will Maddy Do Now?

Maddy Perez does not deserve all of the sh*t season that two has piled on top of her. In this episode, she struggled with depression and heartbreak over her best friend’s betrayal, and she had to face down the wrong end of a gun thanks to her psychotic ex-boyfriend. It’s unclear whether Maddy would’ve actually used the tape of Jules and Cal against Nate. We’d like to think she wouldn’t do that to another friend. But Nate’s choice to break into her home, threaten her with a firearm, and then play a game of Russian roulette to see if she’d fold and tell him where to find the disc was just disturbing. Despite that traumatic interaction, Maddy isn’t someone who will readily roll over and accept defeat — especially when she’s been humiliated and hurt so badly. Here’s hoping she goes full scorched earth on Nate and Cassie.

What Will Jules Do With The Tape?

At the end of the episode, after he goes full American Psycho on Maddy in order to get the disc back, Nate heads to Jules’ house to give her the tape and explain why he did what he did in season one. He clearly still has feelings for Jules — though she seems to have closed the door on any possibility there — and he wants to thwart his dad’s attempt to use the tape against Jules or his family. When he leaves, Jules plays the tape on her laptop but she doesn’t immediately destroy it. It can’t be an easy thing to watch for her, but maybe Jules is ready to take back some of her power in that encounter? Would she do that by helping Nate take down his dad? There’s no way we’ve seen the last of Cal and maybe this tape is what will bring him back into Jules’ orbit. Either way, we need a resolution there.

Why Didn’t Anyone Clean Up Cal’s Pee?

Is this a vital question for understanding where Euphoria is taking us storywise this season? Absolutely not. But is it weird that no one in the Jacobs household got a damn mop and cleaned up Cal’s pee in the hallway? Yes, yes it is.

‘Euphoria’ airs on HBO at 9:00pm EST on Sundays, and the show can be streamed on HBO Max.

Though we didn’t get the surprise new Kendrick Lamar single that plenty of people were hopeful would drop, another unexpected gift blessed hip-hop fans at this Super Bowl halftime show. Was it Eminem’s decision to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick? Well, that was lauded by most people. But no, the real gem that plenty of people were more thankful for was 50 Cent showing up to give us a little preview of his own litany of hits. Rumors that Fif would take the stage were already circulating, but nobody was sure if he was actually going to make it.

So when he entered with an upside down intro to his biggest hit, “In Da Club,” surprising the whole stadium who roared their approval, it was one of the big moments for the show. Obviously, Mary J. Blige killed her performance, Dre was amazing, especially for a man who was very recently hospitalized, and Eminem’s decision to kneel in solidarity with Kaepernick will likely be the biggest headline. Kendrick didn’t drop a new single, but he was electric, and Snoop is always a classic performer. But since fans were expecting all of those artists to show up, and 50 was the surprise guest, well, he was very appreciated for giving fans that moment. Check out some reactions to his performance below.

Anticipation for this year’s halftime show has reached a fever pitch as rumors about a new single from Kendrick Lamar have followed Dr. Dre’s star-studded lineup for the show. Well, the Kendrick single never materialized, but his performance was so electrified that fans were just as satiated. Between Kung Fu Kenny, Dre himself, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and a surprise appearance from 50 Cent, how could anyone not feel like this was one of the most epic halftime shows in history?

Though the league has a long history of avoiding booking rappers for the show, this year’s star-studded lineup was clearly designed to buck their past booking decisions and give hip-hop the spotlight. Particularly in a sport that includes so many Black athletes, staffers, and incorporates hip-hop culture in a lot of ways, it seems like a no-brainer that the league would want to embrace the relationship. In another move that feels like a no-brainer, Eminem elected to kneel after his performance of “Lose Yourself,” a clear sign of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick that the NFL had reportedly asked him not to do. Their first mistake? Telling Em what he can and can’t do. Check out the entire performance above, this one is one for the history books.

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is finally coming after years in the making, even before a certain Tom Hanks moment prompted the realization that Hollywood was going on pause amid the pandemic. However, a premiere date now exists (September 2, 2022). The show (very obviously) hopes to be (as Jeff Bezos really wanted) Amazon’s own Game of Thrones, and at least, well, there won’t be a question of the author not finishing the source material (poor George R.R. Martin never stopped catching hell for that detail) before the show barrels past what’s already been written.

Nope, no danger of that happening here. J.R.R. Tolkien passed away in 1972, and Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will bring his fabled Second Age to the screen (with eye-popping waterfalls and devastating-looking storms and a determined-looking young Galadriel) for the first time. From Amazon:

“This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, ope hung by the finest of threads, and one of the greatest villains that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.”

Expect to see the enormous ensemble cast do their thing within numerous Arda-spanning venues, from the Misty Mountains to Lindon’s majestic forests to an island setting, and more. The show will launch with the characters in relative peace, but Middle Earth will be horrified to see evil reemerge, and everything should be beautiful to watch, of course, given that there’s a reported $465 million budget for the first season. Also, this show aims to be much more family friendly than Game of Thrones, so don’t anticipate all that sex and violence, even if the themes might grow scary while the forces of good aim to vanquish the darkness.

Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will premiere on September 2.

The Cincinnati Bengals found themselves in a hole at halftime of Super Bowl LVI. The Los Angeles Rams held a 13-10 lead, but the good news for Cincinnati was that they had the ball first. Thanks to their big play offense and a referee that didn’t catch a pretty obvious penalty, it took one play for them to go on top.

Joe Burrow dropped back to start the second half and faked a handoff to Joe Mixon. He stepped up in the pocket in the face of some pressure and immediately looked deep down the field, where he found Tee Higgins 1-on-1 with Jalen Ramsey. While it was a risk — Ramsey is quite good! — Burrow let one rip to his big receiver.

At first glance, it looked like Ramsey fell down, which led to Higgins winning a jump ball and coasting into the end zone for a 75-yard reception.

Some subsequent angles showed that Higgins was really, really lucky that this play stood. The former Clemson standout grabbed Ramsey’s face mask and yanked it towards him, causing the All-Pro cornerback to go tumbling to the ground.

Ramsey was understandably not happy about this one, but thanks to the lack of a flag, Higgins got his second score of the game.

This year’s Super Bowl halftime show was more anticipated than many in recent history, as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem headlined (with a surprise appearance from 50 Cent) the first all hip-hop show the Super Bowl has ever done.

Those legends of hip-hop have been the soundtrack for many, and those of us of a certain age were very much looking forward to taking in the performance. Fans weren’t the only ones excited about it, though, as some players surely also wanted to see it, but only one chose to forego the halftime locker room trip to stay on the field to enjoy the festivities: Bengals kicker Evan McPherson.

It is an incredible power move by McPherson to just stay on the sidelines and vibe out to Dre, Snoop, and the rest instead of going to listen to whatever Zac Taylor’s halftime speech was with the Bengals down 13-10 at the break. In fairness to McPherson, what does he have to do with halftime adjustments, he made his two kicks of the first half and isn’t exactly involved with the gameplan other than staying ready. If it gets him in the right headspace to drill kicks to be out there and enjoying himself, then good for him. The Bengals got a touchdown on the first play of the second half and he made his extra point, so maybe he was onto something with his choice to take in the halftime show from one of the best seats in the house.