A lot of people have been talking about You. It’s hard not to. Ever since the show moved from Lifetime to Netflix and thus was made available for binge-watching, the ballsy dramedy about a homicidally obsessed bookstore manager and the unremarkable bore he follows until she loves him has sparked conversations about toxic masculinity, rom-com tropes, and how completely fucking awful every single character on the show is. 

All but one. No, not Peach Salinger. She sucks too. The only remotely likeable person on You is Karen Minty. 

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Karen Minty has the unfavorable luck to be the rebound girlfriend protagonist and stalker-psychopath Joe dates after Beck, the true object of his dangerous obsession, dumps him. Karen is everything Beck isn’t, which is to say she’s an interesting, self-assured woman with a job and readily observable positive qualities. 

In the short 45 minutes that showcase Karen as a character, she is an excellent girlfriend to Joe (who, just as a reminder, is an irredeemable murderer). She organizes his books, she helps him take care of his young neighbor Paco, and she literally saves her friend Claudia’s life while Joe hops off a dock to have gross ferry bench sex with Beck.

When Beck, high off whatever infidelitous fumes fuel her misplaced superiority complex, comes for Karen at a party, she fails at putting a single dent in Karen’s self-confidence. Karen is composed. Karen is elegant. And Beck still wins the guy (horrible guy, but bear with me) with a few blonde lady tears. 

In the grand scheme of You, Karen is the luckiest character on the show. Joe dumps her, she takes it well, she gets the last word with both Joe and Beck and more importantly, she survives Joe’s murderous impulses. But it’s still hard to stomach the way her character is treated in her mini-arc. Karen’s survival is predicated less on her getting lucky and more on her being considered boring and expendable compared to the allegedly fascinating pairing of Joe and Beck.

Karen is subject to denigration from every corner of You from the moment she shows up. Joe treats her well enough as a boyfriend, but his internal monologue reveals that while he is with her, he’s looking at Beck’s social media. He refers to Beck as his drug and Karen as his “methadone,” reducing her to an object he’s using to wean himself off the thing he actually wants. By the time Beck shows up drunk at a party and calls her “Little Karen Minty,” Karen would be well within her rights to wind her arm back and slap the shit out of pretty much everyone in the room — and yet she doesn’t. 

Yes, it’s the point of the show that Joe and Beck are both destructive people on wildly different levels, but it’s still fucked up that one of the only characters of color on the show and specifically a black woman is treated like a means to an end. While Karen is clearly a better person than anyone else in Joe’s immediate social circle, she maintains the status of a consolation prize compared to the golden, shining shitbird that is Guinevere Beck. 

While Karen is clearly a better person than anyone else in Joe’s immediate social circle, she maintains the status of a consolation prize compared to the golden, shining shitbird that is Guinevere Beck. 

Even the writers don’t seem to know exactly what to do with Karen Minty. In the scene where Joe breaks up with her, she unceremoniously packs her things and silently prepares to leave his apartment. It’s honestly kind of a badass move, until at the last minute she pauses and remembers to grab her curling iron from his bathroom. 

There is no universe under the sun where a black woman with natural hair, as Karen is, would keep a curling iron in her boyfriend’s bathroom. It’s unlikely as hell that she would have one at all. That one line reeks of the possibility that whoever wrote that line was not thinking at all of the realities of a black character’s hair and just…kept the line in there after casting the beautiful and naturally coiffed Natalie Paul. 

It’s common for black women characters to be treated as inconsequential or lesser than the white protagonists or love interests on their respective shows. The Good Place started out Season 3 by introducing Simone, a smart and well-matched black love interest for lead character Chidi Anagonye and completely phased her out in favor of pairing Chidi with Eleanor, who may or may not be his “real” soulmate. More egregiously, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow teased a romance between its leads Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills for three seasons before killing her off (and dooming the show to explore even further depths of mediocrity before its cancelation).

It’s not enough for a show like You to simply have black characters and love interests when those characters are pawns in their own narrative. It’s fucked up for writers to not consider the optics of marking their black love interests as more expendable or less worthy than their white ones, even with the context that in You, nobody should be dating Joe at all. 

Now that both of the black women on the show are out of the picture and dead, respectively, it’s up to You to course-correct in its second season with regards to how it treated Karen Minty. Karen deserved better than Joe, but she also deserved better than to be seen as second-best by a second-rate sociopath. She really was the only character on the show worth rooting for. Give Ms. Minty her props. 

In Binged, Mashable breaks down why we binge-watch, how we binge-watch, and what it does to us. Because binge-watching is the new normal.

Dearest [beloved/honey pie/boo/bae], 

There’s something I need to discuss with you, something that’s been tearing me apart for a while. It’s hard to talk about, especially given how many [weeks/months/years] we’ve spent cuddling up  together. Still, I believe in us. There may be some heated discussion about the details, but in the end I am positive that we’re emotionally mature enough to come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement. 

Darling, I think it’s time we started seeing other TV shows. Separately. Alone. 

Please, don’t think of this as some kind of judgment on our couch-based relationship. There’s nothing I love on a cold winter’s evening more than snuggling up with you and our [puppy/kitten/stuffed animal/small human], building a little fort out of pillows and blankies, [making popcorn/nuking the last of that great takeout], retrieving the remote from its traditional burial place somewhere deep in the  cushions, and blasting through a season of our show — you know, the one we started watching when we first got together. 

That doesn’t have to change. I promise that I will never, ever, watch a new episode of [The Good Place/Doctor Who/Better Call Saul/Great British Baking Show/etc.] without you at my side. That’s our show, and it’s sacred. 

And of course, when [Game of Thrones/The Walking Dead] returns this [April/February], I will wait until you’re ready to watch the latest episode — and solemnly swear off social media in the meantime. (Okay, there’s a little self interest in that one; I really need to hold your hand in case of unexpected favorite character death.) 

But beyond that, well, we need to talk about how many shows are really ours. Remember that time I started watching [Parks and Rec/Atlanta/Girls/Sons of Anarchy/Outlander/The Crown/Jane the Virgin] out of curiosity, or because people at work keep mentioning it? And you came into the den halfway through episode 2 or 3 and decided you liked it, too? 

That’s not really our show, not by default. It’s my show, I was watching it for watercooler cred purposes, then you piggybacked on it, slowing my progress through those long seasons way the heck down. I’m happy you’re enjoying it as well, but we never had the discussion about officially watching it together. 

So really, you had no right to pout and give me the sad eyes just because I snuck in a quick episode while you were at [the gym/the dog park/band practice]. No fair making me feel like I cheated on you! I mean, almost nothing happened in that episode! 

Here’s the thing: We both know there’s more good stuff to watch today than in all of TV history. They talk about the Golden Age of television; perhaps we should call it the Golden Glut. There’s way too much to get through just to feel like you’re a functioning member of society, conversant in modern culture, able to hold your own at a dinner party. 

I mean, I’m in my [20s/30s/40s] already, and I find myself wondering things like “am I going to die without ever having made it all the way to the end of [Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Breaking Bad/The Wire]?”

Not that you intended this, of course. But my Netflix queue has become a stagnant pool of shows that I don’t feel comfortable watching alone because it might piss you off, or shows that I’m wary to even start watching because you might want to piggyback on them. The more my friends recommend shows I absolutely must watch, the larger and more stagnant this pool grows.

Now, on those evenings when you’re [working late/out with friends] and it’s just me and the remote, I find myself watching some inoffensive and relatively mindless network show like [CSI/Real Housewives/Grey’s Anatomy/Gotham/Good News], just because there’s less of an expectation that we watch that sort of thing together. If it happens to be broadcast live, I can get away with watching it alone, it seems. 

Which is fine, but sometimes I get to the end of the [45 minutes/1 hour with ads] and wonder what the hell I just watched. That’s the way our parents’ generation lived: TV as wallpaper. I believe we can and should do better. Life is short, and I’d like us to practice more intentional, mindful viewing. 

To that end, allow me to propose three fair and flexible rules for our TV relationship:

1. Classic shows are fair game. If a given show has ended, or was cancelled, there’s no way we can catch up and get to the best part of being a fan — watching it together [weekly/when a new season drops]. If one of us starts watching [The West Wing/The Sopranos/The Office], the default position is that we get to watch it without the other. 

If there are classic shows you’ve been longing to screen for me because you want to see my reaction, speak now or forever hold your peace. Maybe we should make a laminated list, like they did on that episode of Friends. (And maybe Friends should be on that list!) 

2. More remote or time-shifted viewing. If you or I go away on a business trip, that doesn’t have to stop the flow of our favorite shows. We can watch at the same time, maybe with each other on FaceTime, maybe just texting our reactions back and forth. I’d love that!

Or, given increasingly hectic schedules, we can watch at our own pace — screening the same episode at different times in the evening, maybe even on different days. The caveat here, of course, is that we pledge not to discuss spoilers until we’re caught up. A deep, mature long-term relationship should be able to handle this sort of thing. 

3. If one of us spends most of our time second-screening, it’s no longer our show. Admit it — there was that time we were watching [Battlestar Galactica/Westworld/Seinfeld], and you were looking more at your smartphone than you were at the TV screen. 

Not that there’s anything wrong with that! It seems most of us actually enjoy second-screening, as it is usually called. (We enjoy it so much, according to a new study by marketing firm a.ki, that 59 percent of people are actually more receptive to mobile ads when the TV is on in the background). 

But to the extent that second-screening is an expression of mild disinterest in the show on offer, I suggest we also count it as a vote that we watch it alone going forward. 

4. We only watch the best episode together. One boon of the Golden Age of TV: Even though there’s more to see, there are more guides to shows available online. If we start watching some monster of a show that lasts six seasons or more, chances are there’s a website that will tell us which ones we can happily skip. 

If we agree on this list beforehand, that gives us much more room to maneuver! I can be a completist, watching every single episode and catching you up on details you missed, and you can have the confidence that I won’t blast past an important, plot-rich masterpiece without you. Or vice-versa. Everyone wins. 

If we get this right, a degree of independence in our viewing will actually benefit us as a couple. Suddenly we have twice the amount of labor to plough through the endless fields of golden TV. If we’re at a dinner party and someone asks me what I thought of [Deep Space Nine/Deadwood/Downton Abbey], and I haven’t seen it, there will be more of a chance that you have. I’ll squeeze your hand, you’ll take over the conversation, and my cultural ignorance will go undiscovered. My hero!

Thank you for understanding. 

With all my heart,

Your couch companion.

M. Night Shyamalan’s dad is so proud of his son these days that he apparently pays for everything — even gum — with a credit card — just so people will see his last name.

But it wasn’t always that way. Back when a young M. Night Shyamalan first broke the news of his showbiz career plans to his family — who are all doctors — his father wasn’t exactly impressed.

“My dad was watching a hockey game and I said, ‘Dad I applied to NYU film school, I got in as a scholarship, and I’m gonna go’, and he didn’t even look at me,” Shyamalan tells Stephen Colbert in the clip above. “He just kept watching the game.”

Still, at least it all worked out in the end.

At this point we really don’t know much about the next instalment in the Star Wars saga. Apart from the cast and the release date (Dec. 20, 2019) Episode IX is still very much shrouded in mystery.

But John Boyega just gave us a tiny sneak peek from the set of Episode IX. Boyega shared a photo on Instagram showing his hands after a day of shooting. Along with the photo, Boyega wrote a pretty teasing caption.  

SEE ALSO: 10 movies we can’t wait for in 2019

“Great working day on set,” Boyega wrote. “The whole team pushed themselves today to achieve something visually crazy! I’ve had many moments of shock on set but not like today and I can’t wait until you know why.”

Boyega added the hashtag #FN2187, referring to the name of Boyega’s character in Star Wars, now known as Finn, answered to when he served as a stormtrooper in the First Order. 

In the photo, Boyega’s hands look very rough and dirty, and there’s a pretty big drop of what appears to be blood on his left thumb. 

Let’s just hope it’s not Finn’s own blood…

In what is arguably the worst news we’ve ever heard, Broad City is coming to a close at the end of the fifth season. It’s hard to know what life will be like without Abbi and Ilana gracing our screens with their antics. 

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer — the creators and stars of the show — spoke to Jimmy Kimmel about how they feel about Broad City drawing to a close. 

Jacobson said that one of the weirdest things was no longer gathering material to write the script. For the past ten years, the pair have had a Google Doc featuring anything that happened to them that they could work into the plot of the show. Glazer said that no longer having that spreadsheet means they’re now “forced to be present and enjoy life and the moments for what they are.” 

So, what was it like shooting that final scene? Glazer said the show ends with Abbi and Ilana “hysterically crying on a sidewalk in Queens”. But it wasn’t just the characters crying, Glazer and Jacobson were actually crying real tears in that final scene. And, apparently the crew was as well. 

Great, now we’re crying too. 

In Binged, Mashable breaks down why we binge-watch, how we binge-watch, and what it does to us. Because binge-watching is the new normal. 

Imagine a day where you have nothing better to do. Your bed is made, your bathroom counters are wiped. There’s food in the fridge and your calendar is completely devoid of obligations both work and social. In front of you, a television. You’re not going to watch anything new today. You don’t want to sit through a movie. That would give you too much to think about. 

What TV show do you put on?

The TV show people turn to in their coziest, laziest, or most bored moments is their Comfort Binge. Engaging in the comfort binge can barely be classified as seeking entertainment, it’s more of an attempt to let familiar voices, beats, and plots flow through pre-made grooves on an exhausted brain. The comfort binge is about minimizing effort while maximizing pleasure, and while some people’s comfort binges might not seem obvious, most of them are fairly easy to identify. 

Engaging in the comfort binge can barely be classified as seeking entertainment.

Parks & Recreation is a classic comfort binge show. So is The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Mike Schur might be the king of writing comfort binge shows). These shows are light and funny, with each micro-plot satisfied in 30 minutes flat. The characters are archetypes of people most watchers are friends with, or want to be friends with. It’s beyond easy to put on one of these shows and wind up, at the end of four hours, horizontal on a couch, half-watching and half-living in the outlandish-yet-relatable realities of their universes. 

Others opt for something else from their comfort binges. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a common response among a certain crowd of twentysomethings when asked what they watch for comfort. Avatar in particular shares a lot in common with classic comfort binge shows, like its charming characters and small-to-big picture plotting, but there’s something special about choosing an animated show for a comfort binge. It’s transportive, reminiscent of sugary cereals and Saturday morning cartoons. Steven Universe is another option in this category. Or consider, Star Wars Rebels. 

Rarer though is the comfort binge that is designed to be just barely watched, the kind of show one puts on when a nap is incoming, or right before bedtime. This is the white noise comfort binge, the one that has been watched so often it has a quality that is not quite soporific, but definitely half-ignorable. Shows like The Twilight Zone, and…well, really just The Twilight Zone.

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The Twilight Zone is a surprisingly common comfort/sleepy binge. There’s something about the black and white palette, the slightly fuzzy audio quality, and the clipped, old-timey American accents that make the show feel outside of time (you might even say of another dimension). Its plots are so well-known and digestible that one only needs to catch the first five minutes to recall exactly which episode is on. That guy in the box? He’s a toy. The daughter with the robot maids? She’s a robot, too. That darkness in the sky? It’s a metaphor for racism that got past the censors. 

All of these shows share certain traits in common. They’re predictable, they’re not too heavy, and they don’t rely on shocks or twists to keep you interested (well, The Twilight Zone loves twists but, as mentioned before, everyone knows them by now). They’re not out to fuck with you. No one comfort binges Westworld. 

Comfort binging is about swaddling oneself in things that feel good. They’re a great go-to when the constant scrolling through streaming options starts to get more annoying than fun, or when the pressure of making a single choice is all it would take to ruin your Saturday. It’s OK to have a comfort binge. It’s possible that in this fast-paced, overstimulating world, a comfort binge show is part of a necessary arsenal used to combat fatigue in the face of chaos.

Embrace your comfort binge. Don’t let anyone make fun of it. Comfort binging is self-care as much as face masks or bubble baths, and depending on your streaming service subscription deals they cost a lot less. It’s 2019 and everyone is tired. It’s OK to let the comfort binge take the wheel. At least for a season or two. 

Ethereum’s Constantinople upgrade, which was supposed to kick in on Thursday, Jan 16, is getting delayed. 

According to the official Ethereum blog, the delay is due to a potential security vulnerability identified by security audit company ChainSecurity on Jan. 15. 

SEE ALSO: Ethereum is about to get a big upgrade. Here’s what you need to know.

The security bug could potentially make some smart contracts on Ethereum vulnerable to a so-called “re-entrancy attack,” enabling an attacker to steal other people’s ether. 

The bug is explained in detail in a blog post by ChainSecurity. The important bit is that, since Constantinople was delayed, no smart contracts are vulnerable at this point. In fact, a scan of Ethereum’s blockchain by ChainSecurity did not find any contracts that would be vulnerable even if the upgrade went through, but Ethereum’s developers still decided to mitigate the risk by delaying the upgrade.

“Because the risk is non-zero and the amount of time required to determine the risk with confidence is longer the amount of time available before the planned Constantinople upgrade, a decision was reached to postpone the fork out of an abundance of caution,” Ethereum developer Hudson Jameson wrote in a blog post Tuesday. 

For most end-users — i.e. owners of ether or users of dApps on the platform — there is no need to do anything following this news. Users who run nodes or mining operations should follow the instructions here. 

Constantinople was an important upgrade of Ethereum which was supposed to make the network a bit more efficient and pave the way for future upgrades, most importantly switching to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm later this year. There’s no new date set for the Constantinople upgrade at this point. 

This is not the first time Constantinople has been delayed. The upgrade was originally scheduled to go live in November 2018, but was postponed due to bugs. 

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.