Joel Fry-days: Alice and Steve: Season 1, Episode 4 (2026)

*Spoilers for episode 3*

Hot damn! This is another really strong episode for Joel Fry. I continue to be cautiously optimistic about where Daniel’s story with Marni is going, and Fry gets some topnotch acting moments. It’s a return to Alice behaving incredibly badly and shirking accountability, but while she does some awful things here (and Steve does too,) it still avoids the heavy cringe factor of episode 2.

At the end of episode 3, Alice and Steve had begun to reconcile, and she made him promise to end things with Izzy. Right after he’s forced himself to do the deed and Izzy storms out, a bomb Alice had lit a couple episodes ago finally drops. Although she’d all but forgotten about it, it wreaks havoc on Steve’s life. It’s now open war between the two, who set out to make each other’s lives hell. Meanwhile, Marni tries to help Daniel open up more sexually. (This isn’t actually what it sounds like—I’ll explain further when I get to the Daniel/Joel Fry part of the review!)

Our character of the week is Izzy, played by Yali Topol Margalith. She’s both hurt and furious at Steve for breaking up with her, an action he regrets almost immediately—whenever he’s not slinging blows at Alice in this episode, he’s trying to convince Izzy to take him back. She attempts to prove that she’s strong, independent, and doesn’t need a man, although one of her friends points out she’s not getting off to a stellar start with that.

Because Alice and Steve have known each other for so long and been so close, they have all the dirt on one another and know just how to use it. They both can cause maximum damage: to their reputations, their careers, Alice’s marriage, and beyond. And because they can both be impetuous, they move quickly to blowing up their fragile truce instead of trying to work things out or make amends for what’s already been done.

However, within all that anger, the hurt still comes through. Steve is a pathetic wet cat of a man as he tries to apologize to Izzy, literally on his knees at her doorstep. And Alice’s evasions are in part because she knows she’s a mess and struggles to truly be vulnerable. It can be easier for her to lash out than to face up to that.

Steve’s opening shot in his war with Alice is to air all her dirty laundry to Daniel, who’s understandably upset at hearing about all the different times she lied to him. Daniel needs some time apart from Alice, standing his ground that he’ll be the one staying at the house with Dom. One thing I really like about this portrayal is that, as much as other characters paint Daniel as weak, passive, or cowardly, he actually speaks his mind quite a bit. Although he doesn’t rage or beat his chest, he expresses his anger and hurt in no uncertain terms. He doesn’t lie back and take things. That’s not to say he isn’t overly timid/avoidant at times, but Joel Fry does a splendid job of showing that Daniel can be sensitive and still have a backbone.

There are a couple scenes here between Daniel and Alice that are just splendid: one where his anger is burning pretty brightly and he’s able to be firm, and one where his hurt takes precedence and you can feel the effort it takes for him to speak. Joel Fry’s performance in both of them is just wonderful. As I’ve said before, Daniel isn’t nearly as expressive as the louder, more self-centered characters around him, but Fry does a magnificent job of quietly conveying Daniel’s feelings through his more reserved nature.

Okay, let me back up now and give some context from the last episode. Marni tried to hook up with Daniel in Antwerp, and he was completely blindsided by this. Once he finally managed to convince her that he didn’t want to cheat on his wife, she pried for some more information and found out Alice calls all the shots in their sex life. Marni told Daniel, “You need to get in touch with your sexual self, like stat!” and offered to help him (as a friend.)

So once again, Daniel is very upset with Alice and mainly has Marni for company. She takes him out to “cheer [him] up,” and the conversation quickly turns to her project to help him explore/assert his sexual desires. And look, maybe this is going to be about Daniel getting more comfortable voicing what he wants in the bedroom, which could either help him and Alice or lead to him realizing he’d be better off with someone who cares about his needs. It could still be heading toward Daniel having an affair with Marni or some sort of “Daniel is a ‘low-T’ beta male who needs a proper shag to finally assert himself as a ‘real man’” story, but at this point, I don’t think so.

And honestly, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Daniel is somewhere on the asexual spectrum. I’m trying not to get too excited about it, because I don’t want to get my hopes up. But while Marni assumes Daniel is just uptight/repressed (and is super allonormative about it,) his characterization throughout this storyline could definitely support an aspec interpretation. When Marni pushes him to admit who he’d want to have sex with in the pub or encourages him to tell her about his fantasy, he feels more than uncomfortable. To my eye, he feels at a loss. Does he not want to say what he wants, or does he not know? 

There’s all kinds of goodness going on with Joel Fry’s nonverbal acting here! I love it soooooo much. If they actually go there, I’d be ecstatic, but as I said, I’m trying not to hope too hard. Either way, Fry is doing such a fantastic job with this character!

Joel Fry: Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 6 – “The Laws of Gods and Men” (2014)

*Spoilers up through episode 5*

This is Joel Fry’s only other season 4 appearance—the rest of his episodes are all in season 5. This episode is another good one overall, and we get a proper introduction to Fry’s character instead of just a glimpse.

In need of gold to fund their military campaign, Stannis and Ser Davos travel to Braavos to make their case to the Iron Bank. In the North, Yara leads a mission to rescue Theon from the Boltons. Having now conquered Meereen, Daenerys has decided to stay and rule it, holding court to hear the pleas of her new subjects. In King’s Landing, Tyrion is brought to trial, with Tywin presiding.

The first half of the episode is the same “quick check-in on various plots” structure as episode 3, while the second half is entirely devoted to the King’s Landing stuff, with Tyrion’s trial taking pride of place. Let’s get into the highlights!

• In Braavos, Ser Davos shows why he’s a great Hand for Stannis. In addition to his fierce loyalty, he’s able to get a read on the heads of the Iron Bank after only a short meeting. This allows him to make Stannis’s case in a way that specifically appeals to the Iron Bank and their interests. As far as Hands go, Davos is one of the better ones of the bunch!
• I like Yara’s determination to rescue Theon. The Greyjoy siblings were separated for many years when Theon was a ward of the Starks, and they didn’t exactly have a warm reunion. In light of all that—and how much Theon has suffered under the Boltons—I’m glad to see Yara going to bat for him.
• Before we get to all the trial stuff, I love the whole conversation between Varys and Oberyn in the throne room. We’ve got Varys telling Oberyn, “No one is under obligation to call me ‘lord,’” with Oberyn replying, “And yet everyone does.” We’ve got Oberyn correctly guessing that Varys is from Lys, citing his ear for accents, and when Varys argues, “I’ve lost my accent entirely,” Oberyn says, “I have an ear for that as well.” The entire scene is so good!
• Best of all, though, this is the episode where it’s stated that Varys is asexual! I remember being so surprised and excited by this when I watched it for the first time back in the day. Understandably, “asexual” isn’t a word that exists in Westeros, but Varys’s meaning is clear. I also love that Oberyn is the one on the receiving end of this reveal—ace/bi solidarity forever!
• But again, nearly half of the episode is devoted to Tyrion’s trial. Admittedly, I quibble at all the witnesses being able to repeat Tyrion’s exact words—some of them from years ago! It’s almost like they peeked at the old scripts to refresh their memories!
• Other than that, the trial is excellent. Despite only occasionally resorting to outright lies, it’s a blatant frame job, with Tyrion’s past words and actions repeatedly stripped of any context. No surprise, Tywin is largely unwilling to let Tyrion say anything in his defense.
• Peter Dinklage is so, so good in all of this! There’s the subtler stuff, like his reaction to Tommen declaring, “And if found guilty, may the gods punish the accused,” or the way he lounges in the box while Grand Maester Pycelle is testifying. And then, of course, there’s his magnificent final speech! I especially love, “I wish I was the monster you think I am.”

After conquering the slavers in Astapor and Yunkai during season 3, Dany moved on to Meereen, then learned that those other city-states haven’t flourished under their new liberation: one was taken by a war lord while the masters reasserted control in the other. As such, she decides to stay in Meereen, protecting the city’s newfound freedom while also learning how to rule her subjects. That’s where Hizdahr zo Loraq/Joel Fry comes in.

Although hundreds of supplicants come before Daenerys, Hizdahr is one of the only two we see onscreen. The first, a poor goatherd, bows and scrapes and practically apologizes to Dany for having lost his livelihood at the hands of her dragons. By contrast, Hizdahr’s entrance is announced by a servant, and he looks directly at Dany as he begins to speak. While the goatherd shuffles backward out of Dany’s presence at the end of his audience, Hizdahr backs down the steps of the dais then turns around, straightening up as he strides out of the throne room.

I remember a few facts about Hizdahr’s role on the show but not much about his personality—I don’t think I ever paid close enough attention to him on previous watches for me to get an impression of him. As such, his characterization is a bit new to me. A former Master, Hizdahr is accustomed to his old status but cognizant of his precarious place in Dany’s new world. During his audience with her, he changes tactics more than once, knowing when the time has come to lower his head and get on his knees.

Hizdahr is shrewd. He begins with flowery compliments that don’t impress Dany, then lulls her with talk of his father’s good works before revealing that she’d had him crucified with over 150 of the other Masters. He describes her eye-for-an-eye style executions using words like “cruel” and “crime,” which is bold, considering he’s part of the same class of men who got crucified. At the same time, he sidesteps her rebuttals about the Masters’ own cruelty, keeping the focus on himself as merely “a son who loved his father.” 

It’s a tightrope of a scene, and Fry navigates it well, showing us how Hizdahr is prepared for whatever Dany throws back at him. While Fry’s physicality often comes through in the way his characters fidget or the inventive choices he makes, he uses it here in an entirely different way. All of Hizdahr’s gestures are precise and elegant. Whether he’s expressing his grief, challenging his new queen’s methods of justice, or reorienting himself firmly within her new world order, his body language carefully affirms that.

I have to mention—as with a lot of Daenerys’s storylines, the racial dynamics get weird. Most of the countries Dany has made her way through in Essos are majority people of color, and that means slaves and masters alike are largely played by Black and brown actors. They’re the ones responding to Dany, “Breaker of Chains” and quite possibly the whitest woman. We’ve seen Black and brown slaves treat her like a savior, and here, we have a Black man playing a former slaveowner, kneeling before Dany as he asks her to consider that she may have ignored some of the nuance in this whole slavery issue. Anything involving Dany in Essos is going to have issues like this, while also being just about the only storylines where talented BIPOC actors like Joel Fry (or Jacob Anderson and Nathalie Emmanuel, for example) can appear.

Accent Watch

A light RP.

Doctor Who: “Rogue” Spoilery Thoughts

*Spoilers, obviously!*

Let me start by saying that this is just my own opinion based on my own experience. I know a lot of people celebrated "Rogue" and really love the Doctor/Rogue dynamic—I'm not contradicting them or trying to downplay the significance of seeing the Doctor in a same-sex romance, especially after the show seemed to hold back with the Doctor and Yaz. I get that this episode was a big ol' "happy Pride to us!" moment for a lot of fans, and they have every right to feel that way. I just want to talk about why I, an aroace who views the Doctor as being on the asexual spectrum, had a hard time fully embracing it.

From the moment I heard chatter that Fifteen was going to be drawn more to men than women, I was fine with it. One of the fun things about Doctor Who aspec headcanons is that each regeneration feels ace in different ways. Most of the new Who Doctors are some flavor of romantic, and plenty of them have been neutral or receptive to men flirting with them. It's all good. I just hoped that a male/male-leaning Doctor still felt ace to me, the way that male/female- and female/female-leaning Doctors have. I was hoping not to get, "The Doctor is gay now, and he's DTF!"

In my view, when the Doctor is drawn to someone, it's always primarily about who they are and what they do, not what they look like. The Doctor does use words like "beautiful," "gorgeous," and "sexy," but they're far more likely to use them in reference to a machine/creature/constellation than to a person. The Doctor forges deep soul connections in their romances while also giving just as much weight and respect to their platonic connections (love you forever, Fifteen and Ruby!) The Doctor's version of "flirting" is usually just being themselves, which people can't help falling in love with, and they're often slow to realize other people are flirting with them. Different Doctors have different reactions to kissing, but 1) they're often the one being kissed, not the other way around, and 2) they often find themselves surprised by kisses. When it comes to sexual references/propositions, their responses usually range from uncomfortable to confused to "does not register at all that there is something sexual here."

• Nine when Jackie gives him the old "there's a strange man in my bedroom, anything could happen": “...No.”
• Ten when Lilith tries to seduce him: “Now, that’s one form of magic that’s definitely not going to work on me.”
• Eleven when Craig says to give him a shout if he needs privacy with a girlfriend or boyfriend: “Oh, I will! I’ll shout. Yes, something like, ‘I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS!!’”
• Twelve when River points out that he has no idea whether or not she looks "amazing": “Well, you, you’ve moved your hair about, haven’t you?”
• Thirteen when Yaz's mum asks if they're dating: “...I don’t think so. Are we?”

Now, I get that the show doesn't owe me an asexual Doctor, but what it's given me so far has pretty much always fit into that headcanon nicely. I love that this show is led by a brilliant, imaginative, compassionate hero who has boundless love for their friends and doesn't really seem to care about sex.

That's the energy I was hoping for with Fifteen, and "Rogue" doesn't really deliver it for me. I'm not saying that an aspec person can't respond to Rogue the way the Doctor does, but to me, it just feels off compared to how the Doctor usually is in romantic situations.

• When Rogue invites him for a walk outside, the Doctor remarks, "Fast mover," before following him. Would any other Doctor take that as a proposition?
• Just generally, the Doctor leads with the physical here: handsome strangers, commenting on how good Rogue looks in his jacket, "you're hot" on the psychic paper, etc. Again, I've seen the Doctor fall for people based on their bravery, their kindness, their intelligence, their skill in a crisis, etc. They usually are hot, in the way that most people on TV are, but that's not why the Doctor likes them. And with Rogue, that seems to be the very first thing the Doctor notices about him. What qualities of his is the Doctor actually drawn to?
• The Doctor also takes more of a lead when it comes to overt flirtation. Given that Rogue is kind of a brusque, prickly loner, he likely wasn't going to start it off, but it feels weird to me to see the Doctor take the reins on a romance that isn't some kind of pretense (a la Ten proposing to Queen Elizabeth because he's trying to prove she's really a Zygon.)

I'm not about to say this episode is blatantly sexualized or "think of the children!" or anything like that. And honestly, Fifteen's portrayal here isn't drastically far off from previous characterizations of the Doctor. But there are just lots of little things that, if I was writing it, I'd have nudged slightly to put the Doctor's reactions to Rogue more in line with how they reacted to Rose/Reinette/River/etc.

I’d open with the Doctor intrigued by the mystery of Rogue and how he ended up in that time and place. I’d have Rogue make clever observations or ask Excellent Questions early on to pique the Doctor’s interest. I’d show the Doctor’s disappointment when he learns that Rogue is a bounty hunter. I’d give Rogue flickers of conscience/consideration that show the Doctor he’s not unreachable. As the two start to open up to each other, I’d have Rogue be the first one to clock that there’s a vibe between them while the Doctor misses signals that are visible from space. I’d make Ruby the one to comment on Rogue’s good looks. I’d include fewer pregnant pauses and smoldering looks, and more surprise as the Doctor finally starts to get clued in—first to the fact that he might be catching feelings for Rogue, and second that Rogue might be into him as well. I’d still have them dance, and the climax would still end with a kiss.

(Also, this has nothing to do with ace stuff, but I'd set the last scene between the Doctor and Ruby in the TARDIS, with Ruby comforting the Doctor after walking in on him aggravated that he's tried numerous options and can't lock onto a way to track Rogue. Doctor, the last words this guy says to you are, “Find me.” At least try!)

But I don’t know. Equality doesn't equal equity. Maybe if the Doctor's romance with Rogue had a similarly light touch as some of their male/female connections, people would be arguing that it wasn't really a romance. That the Doctor "clearly" wasn't into Rogue like Rogue was into him, or that the show was pulling its punches with a "sanitized" same-sex romance. I can't speak to that experience, and maybe my version wouldn't come off well for reasons I can't see.

If you love the Doctor/Rogue, that's great. I'm glad that you got an episode like this during Pride, and I know I can't blame a show for not following my headcanon. I went into "Rogue" apprehensive but hoping I'd love it, and these are just my thoughts and reactions to the episode.