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    ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 5 Recap: Once Upon a Time

    Dina fills in some blanks about her past. Ellie finds the first of her intended targets.‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 5Early in this week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” Dina tells Ellie a story about what her life was like when she was 8 years old, surviving the apocalypse in a cabin in a sparsely populated forest north of Santa Fe, N.M. One day back then, Dina grabbed a gun and went for a walk, without permission. When she returned, she found a raider in their house and her mother and sister dead.She killed the intruder — the first person she ever killed. Ever since, Dina has wondered what would have happened if she had been home when the raider arrived. Would she have been forced to watch him beat her family to death?There are different conclusions we could draw from all this. On the one hand, Dina suggests her experience helps her empathize with Ellie’s decision to hunt down Abby. Dina knows that if she had not killed her family’s murderer right away, she would have tracked him down until the job was done.But was her in-the-moment act of vengeance “justice,” exactly? Or just survival? Dina says that even if her family had hurt the raider’s family first, they would not have deserved to die the way they did; and she says that Joel did not deserve to be brutally slain, no matter what he did. Dina never proposes this directly — and would maybe disagree strongly with I am about to say — but the logical endpoint of her argument is that no one “deserves” to be killed. The act of taking a life should be a necessity, not a notion.Dina concludes her monologue by giving Ellie a choice, to press on or head home. Interestingly, Dina insists that there is “no right answer,” which is subtly different from “no wrong answer.” (It’s as if she were saying that all of their choices are equally cursed.) Anyway, Ellie sees only one option, so the mission continues.This week’s episode is ripe with bad vibes. For one thing, this is now the third week in a row that we have spent in Seattle, and after the variety of locations and stories that helped distinguish “The Last of Us” Season 1 from other end-times TV dramas, a certain exhausting repetitiveness is starting to set in here. The story feels a bit stuck.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘S.N.L.’: Toasting Moms and Toasted Trump Appointees

    Cecily Strong returns as Jeanine Pirro, Walt Goggins shows off his clogging, and a dope new pope appears in the 50th season’s penultimate episode.If you’re going to celebrate the election of a new pope, you might as well have some sacramental wine, too.Cecily Strong returned to “Saturday Night Live” in a guest appearance to reprise her role as the Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro — and to douse Colin Jost, her former Weekend Update desk mate, in alcohol. Alcohol that emanated directly from her own mouth.How the opening sketch of this weekend’s “S.N.L.” broadcast (which was hosted by Walton Goggins and featured the musical guest Arcade Fire) arrived at this place will take a moment to explain.The sketch began with what looked like a traditional Mother’s Day tribute, with the cast members Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang and Marcello Hernández singing an affectionate serenade to their real-life moms, who joined them onstage.But no: This was just a setup for James Austin Johnson to enter the scene as President Trump, holding forth in free-association style on the past week’s news.“There’s a new pope from Chicago,” Johnson said, noting the Roman Catholic Church’s selection of Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Government Cheese’ Star David Oyelowo Considers Oprah ‘Chosen Family’

    They met years ago while working on “The Butler,” the “Government Cheese” star said. Now, “I call her Mama, she calls me Son O.”“Government Cheese” began as what David Oyelowo called “a beautiful experiment.” He had long admired the fantastical storytelling of Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers. But he hadn’t seen that applied to a Black family.Then the filmmaker Paul Hunter approached him about playing a version of his own father — an ex-con eager to reunite with his family and make his fortune — in a short film with absurdist elements set in the San Fernando Valley in 1969. Eventually they spun it into a television series for Apple TV+, taking care to leave that tone intact.“We were very keen to make something that we knew might not be for everyone, but was very unique in its nature,” said Oyelowo, who is an executive producer on the show in addition to its lead. “It’s very rare that people of color get to make things where they are not feeling the need to explain their existence.”Oyelowo lives in the San Fernando Valley, where the series was shot, which meant there was little danger of violating the “no more than two weeks apart” rule that he and his wife, Jessica, established early in their relationship. And which they’ve broken only once, by 11 hours.In a video interview, Oyelowo elaborated on why his rambunctious dogs, going to the movies and Oprah Winfrey are essential to his life. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.My BibleI was brought up in the church, but it never really meant much to me because I was sort of piggybacking my parents’ faith. Then I had what can only be called a spiritual awakening at 16. And all of those stories that I grew up reading suddenly took on different meaning and have remained that way. It’s where I learned the true definition of love.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    In ‘Irishtown’ and ‘The Black Wolfe Tone,’ Where Are the Rolling Hills?

    Two plays at Irish Repertory Theater, one featuring a “Derry Girls” star, explore the real and the mythical in cultural identity.In the rehearsal room of the Irishtown Players, the posters on the walls are a sampler of the company’s performance history: 20th-century classics, almost all. Brian Friel’s “Dancing at Lughnasa” is up there, of course, and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” Martin McDonagh’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” too, and Conor McPherson’s “The Weir.”The only unfamiliar title, “The Happy Leper of Larne,” almost winks from its frame, suggesting a maudlin-cheery cousin to “The Cripple of Inishmaan.”For the Irishtown Players — the fictional Dublin troupe at the center of Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s new backstage comedy, “Irishtown” — “The Happy Leper” was a hit. Now some producers are bringing the company to Broadway in the author’s follow-up play. But with mere weeks until they leave for New York, the playwright, Aisling (Brenda Meaney), has gone rogue. Her just-delivered script is a contemporary legal drama about sexual assault, set in England.To Constance (a flawlessly funny Kate Burton), the ranking company member, such a play is not Irish at all.Poppy (Angela Reed), the play’s British director, points out that by definition it is, because Aisling is.“Yes,” Constance allows, her voice rising theatrically, “but where are the rolling hills, where is the bar, why is everyone alive?”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Dead Outlaw’ Cancels Library of Congress Concert to Protest Firing

    The Broadway musical, which earned seven Tony nominations, scrapped a performance after the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla D. Hayden, was fired by the Trump administration.The Broadway musical “Dead Outlaw” announced on Friday that it was canceling an upcoming concert performance at the Library of Congress, one day after the Trump administration fired its top librarian.A brief statement from the show, which earned seven Tony nominations this month, said that it had decided not to perform at the library “upon learning of the termination of Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress.”Dr. Hayden, the first African American and first woman to serve as head of the institution, was a “fierce advocate for preserving America’s cultural memory and a great champion of the Broadway community,” the statement said.No other details were given.The Library of Congress had planned to present a free concert on Monday afternoon featuring members of the cast and creative team of “Dead Outlaw” performing selections from the show at its Coolidge Auditorium.The cancellation is the latest indication of the growing tensions between some in the arts community and the Trump administration. President Trump has once again proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, and last week the endowment began withdrawing grants from arts organizations around the country.This week some members of the cast of “Les Misérables” were said to be planning not to perform at a gala performance at the Kennedy Center that Mr. Trump, who took over the center, was planing to attend. Earlier this year, a string of artists and speakers canceled engagements at the Kennedy Center after Mr. Trump purged the historically bipartisan board of Biden appointees and made himself chairman.Dr. Hayden’s firing on Thursday drew swift outrage from Democrats, many of whom praised her work, including Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader, who said in a statement that Dr. Hayden was an “accomplished, principled and distinguished” leader of the library.She was appointed as the 14th librarian of Congress by President Barack Obama in 2016. She was fired a year before the end of her 10-year term.Cindy Hohl, the president of the American Library Association, condemned the firing in a statement, saying that Dr. Hayden’s “abrupt and unjust dismissal is an insult to the scope and breadth of work she has undertaken in her role leading the Library of Congress.”Dr. Hayden was fired in a two-sentence email from Trent Morse, the deputy director of White House personnel. The notice did not cite a cause.The Library of Congress is the latest federal cultural institution to come under fire from Mr. Trump. In February he abruptly fired Colleen Shogan, the head of the National Archives, who had been appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., without citing any reason. And in an executive order in March, he criticized the Smithsonian Institution, and directed Vice President JD Vance to seek to influence its Board of Regents.Jennifer Schuessler More

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    Rediscovered Thomas the Tank Engine Pilot Is Released

    The episode, from 1983, was found in storage by accident. It was restored and made available for viewing for the first time on Friday.Thomas the Tank Engine notices a funny smell. He breaks a rule, has a mishap and gets stuck. He is rescued and learns a lesson. Ringo Starr provides the narration.If you have ever seen any of the more than 500 episodes of the children’s show “Thomas & Friends,” you might imagine you have seen it before. But you really have not, because this scene is from the newly rediscovered pilot episode, which has been restored and was made available for viewing for the first time on Friday.The episode, filmed in 1983 and titled “Down the Mine,” was found accidentally in storage, Ian McCue, a producer of the series for a decade, told the BBC.Ian McCue, a producer, examined the newly discovered film.MattelThe episode was pieced together from multiple film stripsMattelThe five-minute episode was pieced together from multiple 35-millimeter film strips. The picture and sound were cleaned up, and newly composed music was added.“I think there’s a sort of a lovely charm and innocence about it, and I think even as a pilot, as a test piece, it still has that lovely, classic, timeless story to it, and the voices, everything is just so delightful,” Mr. McCue said.For the uninitiated, Thomas is a cheerful blue locomotive with an expressive face who first appeared in British children’s books by the Rev. W. Awdry. The character and his fellow locomotives, like Percy (green) and James (red), rose to new levels of popularity when they were animated for the popular program, which premiered in 1984.The show became a favorite of children and parents alike, many of whom were drawn to its relaxed rhythms. “Children live these days in a fast-paced world, but I don’t think children really change,” the producer Britt Allcroft, who brought the characters to television, said in a 1995 BBC documentary. “They need in their lives gentleness, comfort.”Clips of the show were repackaged for a PBS show, “Shining Time Station,” starting in 1989. Toys, movies and a theme park followed, and humble Thomas became a billion-dollar business.Mr. Starr was the original narrator of the series. George Carlin, Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan and others followed.Ringo Starr, fourth from left, was the original narrator of “Thomas & Friends.”MattelA vast majority of the many characters were originally male — and, apparently, white. More recently, the show made efforts to diversify, adding new engines like Yong Bao of China and Ashima of India.Loyal fans of the series of all ages were thrilled by news that the pilot episode had been found, expressing eagerness to see the footage and amazement that it had been lost for so long. Enthusiasts on Reddit posted words like “finally,” “I’m so happy” and “let’s go!” punctuated by other words that Thomas and his friends would never utter.Once the restored episode was out, the reactions veered to softer sentiments. As one fan wrote, “Feels like being a kid again.”Thomas, cheerful as always.Mattel More

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    Late Night Celebrates the First American Pope

    “We have an American pope and a Russian president,” Jimmy Kimmel said, calling it “an historic era.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.‘New Pope, Who Dis?’Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope on Thursday, becoming the first American pope.“We have an American pope and a Russian president,” Jimmy Kimmel said. “Isn’t it incredible?”“We have the first American pope. And let me just say, as an American, are you sure about this? We don’t really have the gravitas that you associate with pope-iness. We’re less ‘somber procession’ and more ‘monster truck rally.’” — DESI LYDIC“I just think it’s just a little bit weird that the holiest man in the world probably knows all the words to the Chili’s ‘Baby Back Ribs’ song.” — DESI LYDIC“The Pope Mobile is now a Ford F-250 with truck nuts.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“You can tell he’s American ’cause he stepped out on the Vatican balcony and said, ‘New pope, who dis?’” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (Another Leo Edition)“They make him pick a name. He chose Leo XIV, which is a shame because there have been 13 other Leos. We’ve never had even one Pope Bob, which would have been pretty great.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“How have there been so many popes named Leo? Leo doesn’t even sound like a Pope name. Sounds more like the altar boy who got high and ate all the communion wafers.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Yep, he may be the new pope, but to his friends back in Chicago, he’ll always be ‘Bobby Bratwurst.’” — JIMMY FALLON“From now on, the pope is going to sound like this. [imitating Chicago accent] Hey, dere, it’s yer buddy Leo, the deep dish papa. Just talked to God, and not even he can help da White Sox. Sorry. First order of business, I will be canonizing Michael Jordan. Now let’s end by saying daaa prayers.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Bits Worth WatchingThe Colombian superstar Shakira played “Box of Lies” with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutLovie Simone in “Forever,” a new adaptation of the Judy Blume novel created by Mara Brock Akil for Netflix.Elizabeth Morris/NetflixAn all-Black cast stars in the new Netflix series “Forever,” adapted from Judy Blume’s 1970 novel of the same name. More

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    Carolina Bianchi’s Last Play Knocked Her Unconscious. ‘The Brotherhood’ Is Tougher.

    Carolina Bianchi created a storm by drugging herself onstage at the beginning of a trilogy about sexual assault. Her latest play, “The Brotherhood,” asks what happens next.At first, Carolina Bianchi didn’t realize the sensation that her 2023 stage production “The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella” was creating. After all, she is unconscious for most of it: In order to explore the consequences of a sexual assault she experienced a decade earlier, Bianchi, a Brazilian director and performer, drinks a spiked cocktail that knocks her out onstage, then lets actors manipulate her motionless body.At the Avignon Festival in France, where the show premiered, there were tears. Audience interruptions. Post-show conversations that stretched into the early hours.Practically overnight, Bianchi became an international theater phenomenon. “The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella” has since been performed in 13 countries, to a mix of acclaim and bemusement. In Australia, it even triggered a debate over whether the onstage action was in breach of local laws on consent.“It took me almost six months to understand what was happening,” Bianchi said in a recent interview. “People were really touched, on different levels.”Now Bianchi is back with a follow-up, “The Brotherhood,” the second chapter of a planned trilogy about sexual violence and the social structures that enable it. It picks up where the first installment left off, asking “what happens when someone comes back” from an assault, Bianchi said.“The Brotherhood” is the second chapter of a planned trilogy about sexual violence and the social structures that enable it.Max Pinckers for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More