• Everyone involved– writer, actor, director, wardrobe, camera, EVERYONE– understood the assignment.
• There is no attempt to apologize for the fact that it’s an ensemble fantasy comedy-adventure movie.
• The plot is clever without being Too Clever. All of the major twists are well-telegraphed, and while it surprises you in a couple of places, it doesn’t try to shock you.
• Given that the archetypes of the fantasy genre came to us from Tolkein, Dungeons & Dragons, and Tolken-by-way-of-D&D, you will not need any context for the game and the lore that is not provided by the film itself. If you aren’t familiar with the lore, there are no jokes or plot points you will miss.
• If you are familiar with the Lore, there are references galore, but they’re not fan service, they’re the byproduct of the fact that the movie is set in a known location in a richly developed world. For example, despite that the fact that it’s set in Neverwinter, at no point do any characters utter the phrase “Neverwinter Nights”.
• If there must be a negative comparison to the game, it’s that no Dungeon Master alive could get a party to stick to the plot that well. They’d have gotten off track at the battlefield and the bard would have tried to seduce the Red Witch. Or everyone would have tried to adopt Themberchaud.

Maddie reaches Buck, pushing up on her tiptoes to yank the gag out of his mouth. She then cups his face between her hands. “Oh my god, Buck.”

“Maddie,” Buck gasps.

“I’m here, I’ve got you. Are you okay, are you hurt?”

Eddie finally has a big enough opening that he can get himself through – and more importantly, get Buck out. As he clambers through the hole, he catches Buck nod jerkily.

“Pretty sure I have a concussion,” Buck says. (His throat sounds like he’s been eating glass – how long had he been screaming for help? Eddie wants to kill someone.) “Please get me down. I feel like my arms are going to snap off.”

Maddie swings her head in Eddie’s direction. “Eddie, can you –?”

As soon as Maddie addresses him, Buck’s eyes flick away from his sister and meet Eddie’s gaze. Abruptly, Eddie feels himself blinking back his own tears. “I gotcha, buddy,” he says, giving Buck a tremulous smile as he reaches up to try and dislodge the handcuffs around Buck’s wrists from the chain holding him up.

Fuck. With Buck’s entire body weight weighing him down, Eddie has no leverage to lift the cuffs off the hook. He tries a few more times anyway, gritting his teeth and trying with all his strength to get Buck free, but from this angle it’s impossible for him to get the leverage he needs. 

When his eyes find Buck’s again, he sees that Buck’s trembling. And, even worse, a few tears slip down his cheeks as Buck starts to hyperventilate.

“Whoa! Hold on a second!” Chimney held up his hand as he stood. Any sort of calm he’d managed to capture slipped out from between his fingers and fizzled out as the tension in the air snapped it up. “You’re benching me?”

He hears his name, can picture the way Eddie is furrowing his brow, but he can’t stop the pull he feels to face his best friend, like a magnet clicking into place or a commit falling into the gravity of the sun. He looks at Eddie and knows he can’t hide it. Can’t stop whatever is about to happen next. 

“Buck?”

Eddie follows the path and Buck can see everything falling into place. He gets to his feet, not caring if he has a job to do. He needs to protect Eddie. 

“Eddie.” He manages to get past the taste of blood in his mouth, “Eddie, wait, stop, Eddie!”

Eddie shoves him out of the way and Buck just stands there. Every part of him aches deeply where Eddie touched him. Chimney stops Eddie and Buck doesn’t have to see his Captain’s face to figure out just how bad it is. The Crooked Smiled Man standing over Shannon’s body is enough to tell Buck everything he needs to know. 

Buck pushes away the need to vomit. He still has a job to do. He doesn’t hear much, just a quiet buzzing as he works through the rest of the scene. Chimney, Hen, and Eddie are transporting Shannon and Buck is left behind to help clean up the rest of the mess. 

Something awful itches beneath his skin as he watches Eddie climb into the back of the ambulance. 

It doesn’t mean Shannon has to die. It doesn’t mean Shannon has to die. It doesn’t mean Shannon has to die.

Buck repeats the mantra over and over again. It’s a four minute drive to the nearest hospital and Buck counts the seconds as he blindly moves around the accident site. He blames the wetness in the corner of his eyes on the brightness of the sun. It feels like forever, like Buck’s somehow been dragged through purgatory, before they can leave.

He nearly sprints to the truck, yelling at the driver to take them directly to the hospital when he sees her.

• The deadline extension from June 30 to July 12 was made in good faith on SAG-AFTRA’s part. They thought the AMPTP would utilize the extra time to come to the table with a fair deal. They did not. It is suspected that they wanted the extension to have more time to promote their summer blockbusters.
• The studios wanted to be able to have AI scans of background actors. These actors would be paid once, and then the studios would be able to keep the actors’ likeness, use the data for eternity without the actors’ consent, and never pay them again. Keep in mind that only two percent of SAG-AFTRA members are big names. This proposal would’ve affected the other ninety-eight percent of members, many of whom are living paycheck to paycheck at the moment.
• The AMPTP tried to turn union membership against Fran Drescher (current union president) by circulating a picture of her “living it up” in Italy with Kim Kardashian. This was a work obligation on Drescher’s part. She’s a brand ambassador for a fashion line, and whenever she wasn’t on set, she was working with the negotiation committee via Zoom and text.
• The video that was sent out to union members on June 28, in which they were told that the negotiations were going well, was filmed before the negotiations got to the core issues – AI, residuals, etc.
• The AMPTP’s deal was “disrespectful and egregious.”
• The other labor unions in the industry stand in solidarity with each other.
• Fran Drescher called the AMPTP’s plan to wait out the WGA until they were homeless “unnecessary evil.”
• While SAG-AFTRA is open to returning to the negotiating table at any time, leadership was signaled that the AMPTP was not interested; they believe the strike could last for a while.

“I can’t lose him, Cap.” Eddie confessed.  Whatever he and Buck had was so new, so alive, and the thought of that being gone felt a lot like having his heart ripped out of his chest and shattered to the floor.  Bobby’s fingers dug into his shoulders under it hurt and even then Eddie leaned into the pain. It was easier than the alternative. 

No offense to Lena but Buck counted down the minutes before she left with the leftover pizza to keep her company on her ride back to… wherever it was the marshals went when they were hovering around.  Eddie had barely thrown the deadbolt before Buck was on him and he turned to catch Buck. 

Two bright red splotches bloomed in Buck’s cheeks as he held up his hands in front of him. The light of the motel lamp glinted off the metal handcuffs wrapped tight around his wrists and the glare Buck shot at Bobby could only be described as betrayed.   “Seriously?”