Fellow working-class pharmacists, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last night. But I will come to the dream later. I have something else to say first.
I do not think, dear fellow working-class pharmacists, that I shall be with you for much time longer, and before I move on, I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom as I have acquired. I have had a long career, I have had much time for thought as I work in countless community pharmacies, and I think I may say that I understand the nature of our career in this country as well as any pharmacist now working. It is about this that I wish to speak to you.
Now, fellow working-class pharmacists, what is the nature of this career of ours? Let us face it: our careers are arduous, thankless and miserable. After 5 years of studying and training, we become the lowest paid healthcare professionals in the country. We are given just so much salary as will pay our bills, and those of us who are capable of it are set to work under harsh conditions with minimal or even no breaks; and the very instant we demand for more, we realise the truth - there are always immigrants who have no choice but to accept worse conditions. No working-class pharmacists know the meaning of reward or appreciation after they have practised for a year. No working-class pharmacists are understood. The life of a working-class pharmacist is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.
But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this country of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to pharmacists who serve its people? No, pharmacists, a thousand times no! Our country is developed, its healthcare system recognises our role. It is capable of affording decent working conditions to all of us working-class pharmacists. Pharmacists are one of the most trustworthy professionals in the country. Its people need us for quality healthcare. Why then, do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by the body who represents solely the interests of pharmacy owners, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. There, fellow working-class pharmacists, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in five words, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia. It is the only real enemy we have. Remove it from the scene, and the root cause of poor working conditions is abolished for ever.
Pharmacy owners, and investor owners, particularly, are the only people that consume without producing. They hardly work in the pharmacy, and if they do, they do not practise with standards, they do not have up-to-date knowledge, they are too busy to check prescriptions thoroughly, they cannot even vaccinate. Yet they are the lord of all working-class pharmacists.
You pharmacists who can vaccinate, how many vaccinations have you done during the outbreak of COVID? And what about your pharmacy owner? While you bore the burden of this crisis, sacrificing your time, energy, and even personal well-being, they made record profits hiding in the safety of their offices.
And you pharmacists who are passionate about aged care and medication reviews, can you ever be hired by residential aged care facilities who do not profit from medicines? No, because the pharmacy guild of Australia have vehemently opposed the government’s idea of allowing you to be hired separately, insisting that pharmacists should only serve aged care facilities while being employed by a community pharmacy.
And you pharmacists who work tirelessly even on weekends, do you remember who advocated for the government to lower your minimum wage on Sundays and public holidays? The Pharmacy Guild of Australia. They pushed for reduced wages during weekends and public holidays, yet cry for everyone’s support, pretending to represent you, the hardworking pharmacists, when policies like 60-day dispensing, which may hurt their profits but benefit the public are put forward by the government.
And you, young and ambitious pharmacists who aspire to serve our people independently, why does owning a pharmacy require millions of dollars upfront? Why must you buy a pharmacy to own a pharmacy? Have you ever questioned why a pharmacy business, even if it is losing money, can still be valued at millions? Because the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has made sure that the laws protect their interests by imposing limitations on the number of pharmacies allowed in the country. They prevent newcomers and innovative pharmacists like you from entering the market, hindering progress and improvement within the industry, while boasting about buying pharmacies and flipping them like properties they are. None of any other developed nations, except Australia, is pressured by a group of pharmacy owners to limit their number of pharmacy in the country, allowing pharmacy owners to dictate their people’s access to medicines.
And you, pharmacists who have walked away from the industry because of the despicable conditions, no one will miss you, because the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, ever so relentless in its pursuits, has consistently advocated the government to bring in more immigrants to bear the same, if not more abysmal conditions. And do not forget our poor new graduates and interns, burdened by the weight of debt, devoted 5 years, that is, half a decade in becoming a pharmacist. Most of them will have no choice but to remain trapped in this state of servitude for at least another 5 years, silently contemplating a different career, all the while bound to the whims of pharmacy owners. And let us not forget the unpaid trainings and meetings they will be pressured into attending. Ex-pharmacists, your absence will hardly be noted, and so will your toil, sweat and blood.
And to you, the noble pharmacists, who strive to do what is right. Bear in mind that Medschecks will continue to be your Key Performance Indicator. You will still be questioned by your pharmacy owner about why you have not done 20 Medschecks per month and why each of them is not completed within five minutes or less. Your speed in dispensing medications will continue to be closely watched. Any time you spend with customers that does not translate into sales will still be met with disapproval. However, remember, any error you commit, any mistake you make under such pressure, will still rest solely on your shoulders. Soon, the task of prescribing will be added to your burden, all while the abysmal compensation remains unchanged. Your rewards? The same old trinkets - movie tickets, pizzas, trivial parties, and whatever else can be easily written off their taxes. They will offer you anything that carries a semblance of appreciation, yet costs them next to nothing.
And you, the sole pharmacists, always working alone by yourself in the pharmacy. Your ten-minute breaks will remain a mere illusion. You will continue to juggle phone calls, inquiries, retail-related problems, dispensing, checking, and dare we forget, vaccinations. If a customer becomes unhappy, an occurrence all too common in this line of work, it is your face they will remember, your name they will mutter in discontent. The owner? Absent as always. It is you who bears the brunt of it all.
In spite of everything, the pharmacy owners will always be the ones to represent you - on the news, in parliament, demanding more investment from the government, in the white coats they almost never wear. The catch? They will be lining their own pockets, all while using your name. The unsuspecting public, will remain unaware that these are not the faces they always see in their local pharmacies. They will not realise that these owners are far removed from the front lines, from the pharmacists who are the heart and soul of the profession.
Is it not crystal clear, then, fellow working-class pharmacists, that many of the challenges and hardships we face in our profession spring from the tyranny of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia? Only get rid of it, and the fruits of our labour would truely belong to us. Almost overnight we could become free and independent. What then must we do? We must dedicate ourselves tirelessly, day and night, body and soul, to overthrowing the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and their oppressive regulations imposed upon our country!
That is my message to you, fellow working-class pharmacists: Rebellion! I do not know when that rebellion will come, it might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see this ground beneath my feet, that sooner or later, justice will prevail. Keep your gaze fixed upon that vision, my fellow pharmacists, for the remaining time we have in this career. And above all, pass on this message of mine to those who come after you, so that future pharmacists shall carry on the struggle until it is victorious.
And now, my fellow pharmacists, I will tell you about my dream of last night. It was a dream of the country as it will be when the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has vanished.
In my dream, our profession had undergone a transformation, one as profound as it was liberating. The shackles of oppressive regulations had dissolved, and we stood, not as mere cogs in a machine dictated by the few, but as the heart of a healthcare system that truly valued our contributions. The dream of owning a pharmacy was no longer a mirage for the young and ambitious, attainable only by the privileged few. The market was open, and opportunities were abundant. The profession thrived, on the innovation and competition of pharmacists.
This is the world as it could be. It is a dream, yes, but as I have seen, dreams hold power. Dreams inspire change. And I ask you, fellow pharmacists, to believe in this vision. For it is only when we dare to dream, that a new era will begin in our industry. Let this dream guide us and let it remind us that a better future awaits. As surely as the dawn breaks after the darkest night, our moment of liberation will come.

So I am sure many will read the title but not the body. I will say I have my opinions of cops, prisons, etc and it is mostly a progressive view but not entirely. I believe the entire United States has a lot of roots still tied to slavery and segregation. To look at the big picture we have made slavery and segregation illegal on paper but we just hoped over time the reproductions of slavery and segregation would go away... And they have not. Black people make up approximately 12% of the US population is black. Yet nowhere near 12% of large corporate CEOs or founders are black. So I get that the entire system is still rigged against racial minorities.
Now on to my recent conversation with a cop. I will just summarize by saying I asked their opinion of the social unrest in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. They quickly answered what happened to Floyd was a murder, the cops deserve the prison time they got, but that did not like they did not like having to work 14 hour shifts 7 days in a row during social unrest in their city cop job because of people looting, along with people throwing bricks at the cops. Mind you this cop is a city cop in a city in the east coast. In their exact words they said people should be more upset with not law enforcement but instead be upset with the people who maintain the status quo: Politicians, CEOs of corporations, banks, etc. In their view the ideas that became popular in 2020 like defunding the police are things the white supremacists, the ultra rich, etc all want because that means less cops, which will then lead to more crime and will disproportionately affect the poor, minorities, etc.
So basically this cop gave me some perspective. They are a friend of a friend I met in college and just casually did a 10 minute FaceTime with them. They said they fear not enough people will want to go into law enforcement because the news reports every time a cop does or does not do something wrong. For example they explained that the chief of their city has said but not put in writing to not pull people over for traffic violations. This eventually gets discovered and speeding/street racing/etc rise and leads to injuries = People then get up and arms about "where are the cops"? At the end they summarized their beliefs with an example from 2021 where they responded to a person breaking into someone's car parked on the street at night. A lady called it in because it was her SUV that got the window broken, and the thieves stole her AirPods from the center console. It took this cop 9 minutes to get there because of critical vacancies and when they got to the residence the woman was yelling it took so long... The icing on the cake in their opinion was that she had a "defund the police" bumper sticker on her car. Their last comment to me was that prior to George Floyd's murder police departments were already running short staffed. Many cops quit within the month of the Floyd murder and now mandatory overtime is constant.
How would you interpret what this cop said? It definitely gave me some perspective and I agree mostly that people throwing things at police during protests is wrong. I do completely agree that a lot of people who want to defund the police seem to just give a pass to corporations, the judges, politicians, etc who are the ones who delegate funds/actually make the laws to keep institutional racism going. Cops are needed because even in a clean, progressive, educated society there will still be home invasions, carjackings and murders. I myself will close by saying that there are probably few jobs out there that suck as much as being a cop. You are hated by many people on the left because they think you are a pig, a racist, etc. You are hated by many on the right, just for different reasons. Take a look at January 6 and how the Trump GQP assholes treated capitol police.

I am seeking advice from anyone who can relate in any way, but mostly need to vent because this stuff actually lays heavy on me.
So, I (28f) have 2 siblings. My older sister (36), and younger brother (26). My parents have been together since they were 17. However their relationship/marriage has been anything but exemplary. My dad has always been very physically abusive towards my mother. I lived in one of those households where everyone feared my dad. Given my sister is 8 years older than I am, she witnessed and experienced way more in my home than I ever did in those short years before I was born. I have memories of seeing my dad beating my mom and sister on numerous occasions and for any reason. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t even need a reason. However, things in my household worked like a slinky going down stairs sometimes; where my dad would hurt my mom, my mom would in turn become offensive towards my sister and she turned around and was slightly abusive towards me. I was pretty depressed from an early age. For a period of time when I was small I truly felt like my family didn’t love me and I would often pretend to run away. My family found it funny at the time (I was probably about 5 or 6 when I felt this the most). My sis ended up leaving the house at 18, which was somewhat of a relief for me because she was always picking on me. A whole lot has changed since I was little. My dad is still a grouch, but he hasn’t hit my mom or anyone else since I was about 18. He grew up in a family that cusses a whole lot, and he remains that way to this day. But compared to all the physical stuff, words are just words at my parents house now. I’m sure anyone in that house would prefer to tolerate verbal abuse over anything else we have lived through on any given day.
It wasn’t until I was about 16 that my sister started showing more interest in building a closer relationship with me. Despite the way she used to treat me, it felt nice to finally have a good relationship with her. So we became close. She would let me in on the family secrets and gossip, and we would talk about our lives growing up. Eventually I brought up what she put me through as a kid in a conversation and she apologized. She also told me she had gone through the same type of conversation with my parents, where she confronted them for the way she was brought up. From what I gathered, there were lots of tears and apologies from both my parents.
Her family started growing pretty rapidly around that time, and as a single aunt I absolutely adored her children. She ended up moving to a neighboring city (about a 30 min drive), and it became slightly harder to visit her because of the distance. I basically went from being at her house every week- because she was about a 7 min walking distance away- to only being able to go over about once every 3 or 4 months due to the fact that our schedules hardly ever line up now. Sadly, I feel like we aren’t very close anymore.
Now to update you on more recent years; my sister now has 3 kids (16, 8, and 6). My younger brother has two kids (4 and 1), and I also have two kiddos (5 and 1). My brother- being 2 years younger- has always had the closest bond with me. We did everything together growing up, and now that we have kids all relatively close in age, we hangout about once a week or are in constant communication (we communicate through meme sharing on IG). Lol. My brother and I have a pretty close relationship with my mom. When we get together its nice. We have become a little tight knit family and help each other out whenever we need it. My dad and my sister have sort of decided to isolate themselves from the rest of the family though. My sis is very much “the black sheep” of our family, and my dad would rather just be alone. Speaking to him feels slightly awkward as he doesn’t really initiate conversation or express any interest in us. I feel like he might even be depressed, but because he has never really shown any true love for his family, none of us really bother to check up on him much. Still, I actually feel a little guilty for that too.
Things haven’t really started to bother me about my family until recently. Almost two years ago I got pregnant with my second child. Then a few months later we found out my brother was also expecting a child with his wife. Everyone was excited and of course we shared this news with our older sister, and she seemed happy for us when we announced it to her. However, she was a complete no show for both of our baby showers with zero explanations. We tried not to feel sour about it even though we knew for a fact she was off from work on those exact days. Then fast forward to this past winter. I got married. The venue we had chosen was coincidentally down the street from her house, literally like a 2 minute drive. However, she only stayed at the event long enough for me to see that she was present and she just upped and left with her whole family almost right after the whole bouquet toss thing. According to my brother who was sitting at the same table as her and her family, she left without even saying a word. I also wanted to mention how my father was nicely planted on a chair throughout most of the reception, and didn’t talk to anyone at all. He kinda just stared off into space or was fidgeting with a napkin on the table every time I caught a glimpse of him. I don’t know if I’m making it a bigger deal than it really was, but overall it was hard to not be a bit upset at them. I had a blast at my wedding regardless of this. I sure as heck wasn’t about to allow that from ruining what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life.
Then, after that it has just been nothing but no shows for the most part from both my sister and my Father. - My kids’ bday celebration held earlier this year; both didn’t show. - Easter family gathering; again. Both of them didn’t show. - My brother and his daughter’s bday celebration; Our dad finally showed. Sister did not.
At this point, my brother is fed up of trying to include our sister or our father in anything. Both have shown that they clearly don’t want to be involved in anything we do as a family. Even when it comes to doing something as simple as texting them just to know how they are… if someone else from the family doesn’t initiate the text, we will literally never hear from either of them. However, the only reason I keep insisting that we shouldn’t stop inviting her is because her children love spending time with us and all their little cousins. I have literally heard all of them begging their mom to bring them over to spend time with us. Not to mention that I have a pretty close relationship with my teenage niece (She kinda sees me as her ‘cool auntie’ and closest family member).
Should I just let my sister be? Should I keep pushing this idea that we could all one day become one big happy family? Like, it literally breaks my heart to think about our children not growing up around each other. The very few times that we have gotten together as a big family, it was so awesome. Everyone was so happy. I think?
I really don’t know what to think of all this. Any thoughts or advice on what to do would be nice. Sorry if this became very long to read or hard to follow. I just feel so strongly about my family and my thoughts about them are so jumbled.

I am seeking advice from anyone who can relate in any way, but mostly need to vent because this stuff actually lays heavy on me.
So, I (28f) have 2 siblings. My older sister (36), and younger brother (26). My parents have been together since they were 17. However their relationship/marriage has been anything but exemplary. My dad has always been very physically abusive towards my mother. I lived in one of those households where everyone feared my dad. Given my sister is 8 years older than I am, she witnessed and experienced way more in my home than I ever did in those short years before I was born. I have memories of seeing my dad beating my mom and sister on numerous occasions and for any reason. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t even need a reason. However, things in my household worked like a slinky going down stairs sometimes; where my dad would hurt my mom, my mom would in turn become offensive towards my sister and she turned around and was slightly abusive towards me. I was pretty depressed from an early age. For a period of time when I was small I truly felt like my family didn’t love me and I would often pretend to run away. My family found it funny at the time (I was probably about 5 or 6 when I felt this the most). My sis ended up leaving the house at 18, which was somewhat of a relief for me because she was always picking on me. A whole lot has changed since I was little. My dad is still a grouch, but he hasn’t hit my mom or anyone else since I was about 18. He grew up in a family that cusses a whole lot, and he remains that way to this day. But compared to all the physical stuff, words are just words at my parents house now. I’m sure anyone in that house would prefer to tolerate verbal abuse over anything else we have lived through on any given day.
It wasn’t until I was about 16 that my sister started showing more interest in building a closer relationship with me. Despite the way she used to treat me, it felt nice to finally have a good relationship with her. So we became close. She would let me in on the family secrets and gossip, and we would talk about our lives growing up. Eventually I brought up what she put me through as a kid in a conversation and she apologized. She also told me she had gone through the same type of conversation with my parents, where she confronted them for the way she was brought up. From what I gathered, there were lots of tears and apologies from both my parents.
Her family started growing pretty rapidly around that time, and as a single aunt I absolutely adored her children. She ended up moving to a neighboring city (about a 30 min drive), and it became slightly harder to visit her because of the distance. I basically went from being at her house every week- because she was about a 7 min walking distance away- to only being able to go over about once every 3 or 4 months due to the fact that our schedules hardly ever line up now. Sadly, I feel like we aren’t very close anymore.
Now to update you on more recent years; my sister now has 3 kids (16, 8, and 6). My younger brother has two kids (4 and 1), and I also have two kiddos (5 and 1). My brother- being 2 years younger- has always had the closest bond with me. We did everything together growing up, and now that we have kids all relatively close in age, we hangout about once a week or are in constant communication (we communicate through meme sharing on IG). Lol. My brother and I have a pretty close relationship with my mom. When we get together its nice. We have become a little tight knit family and help each other out whenever we need it. My dad and my sister have sort of decided to isolate themselves from the rest of the family though. My sis is very much “the black sheep” of our family, and my dad would rather just be alone. Speaking to him feels slightly awkward as he doesn’t really initiate conversation or express any interest in us. I feel like he might even be depressed, but because he has never really shown any true love for his family, none of us really bother to check up on him much. Still, I actually feel a little guilty for that too.
Things haven’t really started to bother me about my family until recently. Almost two years ago I got pregnant with my second child. Then a few months later we found out my brother was also expecting a child with his wife. Everyone was excited and of course we shared this news with our older sister, and she seemed happy for us when we announced it to her. However, she was a complete no show for both of our baby showers with zero explanations. We tried not to feel sour about it even though we knew for a fact she was off from work on those exact days. Then fast forward to this past winter. I got married. The venue we had chosen was coincidentally down the street from her house, literally like a 2 minute drive. However, she only stayed at the event long enough for me to see that she was present and she just upped and left with her whole family almost right after the whole bouquet toss thing. According to my brother who was sitting at the same table as her and her family, she left without even saying a word. I also wanted to mention how my father was nicely planted on a chair throughout most of the reception, and didn’t talk to anyone at all. He kinda just stared off into space or was fidgeting with a napkin on the table every time I caught a glimpse of him. I don’t know if I’m making it a bigger deal than it really was, but overall it was hard to not be a bit upset at them. I had a blast at my wedding regardless of this. I sure as heck wasn’t about to allow that from ruining what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life.
Then, after that it has just been nothing but no shows for the most part from both my sister and my Father. - My kids’ bday celebration held earlier this year; both didn’t show. - Easter family gathering; again. Both of them didn’t show. - My brother and his daughter’s bday celebration; Our dad finally showed. Sister did not.
At this point, my brother is fed up of trying to include our sister or our father in anything. Both have shown that they clearly don’t want to be involved in anything we do as a family. Even when it comes to doing something as simple as texting them just to know how they are… if someone else from the family doesn’t initiate the text, we will literally never hear from either of them. However, the only reason I keep insisting that we shouldn’t stop inviting her is because her children love spending time with us and all their little cousins. I have literally heard all of them begging their mom to bring them over to spend time with us. Not to mention that I have a pretty close relationship with my teenage niece (She kinda sees me as her ‘cool auntie’ and closest family member).
Should I just let my sister be? Should I keep pushing this idea that we could all one day become one big happy family? Like, it literally breaks my heart to think about our children not growing up around each other. The very few times that we have gotten together as a big family, it was so awesome. Everyone was so happy. I think?
I really don’t know what to think of all this. Any thoughts or advice on what to do would be nice. Sorry if this became very long to read or hard to follow. I just feel so strongly about my family and my thoughts about them are so jumbled.

Hey everyone.
So I’m in the process of telling friends and family that I’m pregnant. Some are however easier than others. I have a few friends who have been trying for quite a few years to become pregnant with no luck. How do I break the news without feeling like an as*hole or making them feel worse?

Hi everyone! 👋
I (30F) have just bought my first home. It's an apartment/flat in a new complex in the neighbouring town.
For context, I moved back hom at the beginning of the pandemic because of the lockdown and a break-up. Later that same year, I was looking at buying an apartment in the first phase of this complex but I held it off when my ex and I gave our relationship a second chance.
Spoiler: it didn't work out.
After dealing with that second break-up, therapy and depression - I decided to move out again this year and it's all gone through! 🎉
This brings me to my friend (29F) who I found out this week has started the process of buying one of the remaining apartments in the building. I am happy for them, but I am also overwhelmingly uncomfortable about the whole affair.
Our relationship has been odd. They regard me as a best friend and even though there was a time when that was true, I don't think that's the case now. I find it hard to be around them. I leave encounters tense and overthinking things. I find that at times they suck the oxygen out of the room and make it all about them. We spoke about this recently - about how when we were close they were in touch with me DAILY but now that things are pretty good, I don't hear anything from them unless they want something from me.
And it's started again. I'm getting more messages because they want to ask where I got my furniture from or what solicitolawyer I used or what's the layout of my apartment. I feel like I'm being used again and I don't want that.
It then makes me worry about the dynamic when she moves. Will she be popping in unannounced? Will I be expected to help her at whatever time of day? I don't want that either.
I must admit that I feel jealous. I'm trying to acknowledge this feeling more openly. A month ago, she did not have the money to afford to buy a place and then, she got an early inheritance and now it's happening. I know going forward the conversations will be just about them and their journey even though I am moving out too.
I come from a poor immigrant family. I grew up in poverty. One of my parents died at 10. The other parent struggled with multiple jobs. I do not have any grandparents alive. None of my family owns property. In summary, I have no wealth. I got my home from saving hard from the age of 23. Going through this house-buying process has highlighted how little I have financially and it sucks when other people have it much easier.
I think I am processing the initial news. I can't stop thinking about this. I'm acknowledging my feelings but at the same time, I worry about my "goodness". I must be a bad person for feeling these things and wanting space by not helping them.
tl:dr - A friend has bought a new apartment in the same building I have just bought an apartment. I feel happy, uncomfortable, jealous and annoyed about this. I need space and can't help them.

You may have seen some entertainment outlets last week hailing Jeanne du Barry's apparent financial success.

Johnny Depp's 'Jeanne du Barry' enjoys decade-best start for a Cannes opener at French box office
The Hollywood Reporter

Eric Marti, from industry analysts Comscore France, believes the film could reach 850,000 admissions by the end of its theatrical run.
French distributor Le Pacte is even more bullish:

Le Pacte’s boss Jean Labadie, a veteran French producer-distributor who was one of the film’s first backers along with the sales banner Goodfellas (formerly Wild Bunch International), is even more enthusiastic than Marti, saying that “Jeanne du Barry” could garner up to one million admissions in French theaters.
Variety

However, despite that 'record-breaking' opening, the numbers aren't quite adding up for Maïwenn's expensive period drama.
After opening at the Cannes film festival on May 16th, Jeanne du Barry scored 401,481 admissions in its first week — 345,298 in theaters — which is indeed the best start for a Cannes-opener at the French box office since 2013's The Great Gatsby. Depp's PR has, predictably, been celebrating this as a triumphant return to box office success for the 59-year-old, signalling to any onlooking Hollywood producers that he's still a draw for discerning punters. But these numbers start to look less impressive when you scratch the surface.
The film's second week admissions declined by 55% to 156,279, and a further 52% in its third week to 75,653, for a current cumulative total of 631,477 admissions. It has grossed an estimated $4.8m so far, according to Box Office Mojo. Assuming that rate of decline stays consistent across its theatrical run, admissions will plateau at around 700,000 for a total estimated gross of $5.3m, well short of that lofty prediction of one million admissions from Le Pacte. If Comscore's prediction of 850k comes true, that would result in a $6.4m gross, so let's call that the upper estimate.
So how would that stack up against Maïwenn's career so far? Her most successful film, Polisse (2011), achieved 2.4m admissions, grossed $19.8m ($20.3m worldwide) and won the Jury Prize at Cannes 2011. Her most recent film ADN (2021) grossed $2.1m, despite being affected by reduced admissions due to Covid. Jeanne du Barry is tracking closely with Mon Roi (2015), which attracted 745,483 admissions and grossed $5m ($8m WW). In short, JdB is performing close to average for a Maïwenn film, so while Depp's inclusion doesn't appear to have significantly harmed its performance (as expected, he was never cancelled), it certainly hasn't elevated it beyond expectations.
But will it be profitable? The film's production budget was reported by Deadline to be $22.4m, making it one of the most expensive French films of 2022 and one of only three French films with a budget of over €10m. That figure doesn't even include things like marketing and distribution costs, so the film's break-even point will be several million higher. You don't have to be a mathematician to work out that there's going to be a pretty sizeable shortfall there.
PS if you're interested in a detailed breakdown of JdB's numbers, check out film producer (and Amber supporter) Paulo Boccato's threads (#1 and #2), in which he explains that while the film's opening week looks good on the surface, the finer detail shows that it's underperforming relative to its high production budget and wide release.
Now, it must be said that the French release isn't the end of the story: Netflix have acquired streaming rights (in France only) starting 15 months after its theatrical release, and there have been attempts to find an American distributor, although that has proved difficult so far due to Depp's poor reputation in the US film industry. But even if it does end up being shown across the Atlantic, it's difficult to see how the $20m (minimum) gap to profitability is going to be bridged.
So, it's well on course to becoming a flop at the French box office, a US deal might not happen and Netflix probably won't make up the shortfall, which all begs the question: why was this film ever greenlit with a budget so high and a star whose reputation makes it difficult to find distribution in the US? Beware the Depp spin on this one.

I am seeking advice from anyone who can relate in any way, but mostly need to vent because this stuff actually lays heavy on me.
So, I (28f) have 2 siblings. My older sister (36), and younger brother (26). My parents have been together since they were 17. However their relationship/marriage has been anything but exemplary. My dad has always been very physically abusive towards my mother. I lived in one of those households where everyone feared my dad. Given my sister is 8 years older than I am, she witnessed and experienced way more in my home than I ever did in those short years before I was born. I have memories of seeing my dad beating my mom and sister on numerous occasions and for any reason. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t even need a reason. However, things in my household worked like a slinky going down stairs sometimes; where my dad would hurt my mom, my mom would in turn become offensive towards my sister and she turned around and was slightly abusive towards me. I was pretty depressed from an early age. For a period of time when I was small I truly felt like my family didn’t love me and I would often pretend to run away. My family found it funny at the time (I was probably about 5 or 6 when I felt this the most). My sis ended up leaving the house at 18, which was somewhat of a relief for me because she was always picking on me. A whole lot has changed since I was little. My dad is still a grouch, but he hasn’t hit my mom or anyone else since I was about 18. He grew up in a family that cusses a whole lot, and he remains that way to this day. But compared to all the physical stuff, words are just words at my parents house now. I’m sure anyone in that house would prefer to tolerate verbal abuse over anything else we have lived through on any given day.
It wasn’t until I was about 16 that my sister started showing more interest in building a closer relationship with me. Despite the way she used to treat me, it felt nice to finally have a good relationship with her. So we became close. She would let me in on the family secrets and gossip, and we would talk about our lives growing up. Eventually I brought up what she put me through as a kid in a conversation and she apologized. She also told me she had gone through the same type of conversation with my parents, where she confronted them for the way she was brought up. From what I gathered, there were lots of tears and apologies from both my parents.
Her family started growing pretty rapidly around that time, and as a single aunt I absolutely adored her children. She ended up moving to a neighboring city (about a 30 min drive), and it became slightly harder to visit her because of the distance. I basically went from being at her house every week- because she was about a 7 min walking distance away- to only being able to go over about once every 3 or 4 months due to the fact that our schedules hardly ever line up now. Sadly, I feel like we aren’t very close anymore.
Now to update you on more recent years; my sister now has 3 kids (16, 8, and 6). My younger brother has two kids (4 and 1), and I also have two kiddos (5 and 1). My brother- being 2 years younger- has always had the closest bond with me. We did everything together growing up, and now that we have kids all relatively close in age, we hangout about once a week or are in constant communication (we communicate through meme sharing on IG). Lol. My brother and I have a pretty close relationship with my mom. When we get together its nice. We have become a little tight knit family and help each other out whenever we need it. My dad and my sister have sort of decided to isolate themselves from the rest of the family though. My sis is very much “the black sheep” of our family, and my dad would rather just be alone. Speaking to him feels slightly awkward as he doesn’t really initiate conversation or express any interest in us. I feel like he might even be depressed, but because he has never really shown any true love for his family, none of us really bother to check up on him much. Still, I actually feel a little guilty for that too.
Things haven’t really started to bother me about my family until recently. Almost two years ago I got pregnant with my second child. Then a few months later we found out my brother was also expecting a child with his wife. Everyone was excited and of course we shared this news with our older sister, and she seemed happy for us when we announced it to her. However, she was a complete no show for both of our baby showers with zero explanations. We tried not to feel sour about it even though we knew for a fact she was off from work on those exact days. Then fast forward to this past winter. I got married. The venue we had chosen was coincidentally down the street from her house, literally like a 2 minute drive. However, she only stayed at the event long enough for me to see that she was present and she just upped and left with her whole family almost right after the whole bouquet toss thing. According to my brother who was sitting at the same table as her and her family, she left without even saying a word. I also wanted to mention how my father was nicely planted on a chair throughout most of the reception, and didn’t talk to anyone at all. He kinda just stared off into space or was fidgeting with a napkin on the table every time I caught a glimpse of him. I don’t know if I’m making it a bigger deal than it really was, but overall it was hard to not be a bit upset at them. I had a blast at my wedding regardless of this. I sure as heck wasn’t about to allow that from ruining what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life.
Then, after that it has just been nothing but no shows for the most part from both my sister and my Father. - My kids’ bday celebration held earlier this year; both didn’t show. - Easter family gathering; again. Both of them didn’t show. - My brother and his daughter’s bday celebration; Our dad finally showed. Sister did not.
At this point, my brother is fed up of trying to include our sister or our father in anything. Both have shown that they clearly don’t want to be involved in anything we do as a family. Even when it comes to doing something as simple as texting them just to know how they are… if someone else from the family doesn’t initiate the text, we will literally never hear from either of them. However, the only reason I keep insisting that we shouldn’t stop inviting her is because her children love spending time with us and all their little cousins. I have literally heard all of them begging their mom to bring them over to spend time with us. Not to mention that I have a pretty close relationship with my teenage niece (She kinda sees me as her ‘cool auntie’ and closest family member).
Should I just let my sister be? Should I keep pushing this idea that we could all one day become one big happy family? Like, it literally breaks my heart to think about our children not growing up around each other. The very few times that we have gotten together as a big family, it was so awesome. Everyone was so happy. I think?
I really don’t know what to think of all this. Any thoughts or advice on what to do would be nice. Sorry if this became very long to read or hard to follow. I just feel so strongly about my family and my thoughts about them are so jumbled.

Hi everyone! 👋
I (30F) have just bought my first home. It's an apartment/flat in a new complex in the town neighbouring where I currently live. The complex was built in the Autumn of 2020. I got my keys two months ago and I've slowly been moving in.
For context, I moved back into my family home right at the beginning of the pandemic (in March 2020) after the lockdown and a break-up. Later that same year, I was looking at buying an apartment in the first phase of this complex but I held it off when my ex and I gave our relationship a second chance.
Spoiler: it didn't work out.
After dealing with that second break-up, therapy and depression - I decided to move out again this year and it's all gone through! 🎉 I got my keys 2 months ago and I've slowly been moving out as I mentioned earlier.
This brings me to my friend (29F) who I found out this week has started the process of buying one of the remaining apartments in the building. I am happy for them, but I am also overwhelmingly uncomfortable about the whole affair.
Our relationship has been odd and has certainly changed. They regard me as a best friend and even though there was a time when that was true, I don't think that's the case now. I find it hard to be around them. I leave encounters tense and overthinking things. I find that at times they suck the oxygen out of the room and make it about them. We spoke about this recently - about how when we were close they were in touch with me DAILY to speak about problems in our lives but now that things are pretty good, I don't hear anything from them unless they want something from me.
And it's started again. I'm getting more messages and calls because they want to ask where I got my furniture or what solicitolawyer I used or what's the layout of my apartment. I feel like I'm being used again and I don't want that.
It then makes me worry about IF she moves in and that dynamic. Will she be popping in unannounced because she can? Will I be expected to help her at whatever time of day? I don't want that either.
I must also admit that the green-eyed monster is at play too. Jealousy. I'm trying to acknowledge this feeling more openly and honestly. A month ago, she did not have the money to afford to buy a place and then within that time, she got an early inheritance and now it's happening. I know going forward the conversations will be just about them and their journey even though I am moving out too.
I come from a poor immigrant family. I grew up in poverty. One of my parents died at 10. The other parent struggled with multiple jobs. I do not have any grandparents alive. None of my family owns property. In summary, I have no wealth. I got my home from saving hard from about the age of 23. Going through this house-buying process has highlighted how little I have financially and it's sucks when things are just hard because of chance. Other people have it much easier.
I think a lot of this is just processing the initial news. I can't stop thinking and worrying about this. I'm acknowledging my feelings but at the same time, I worry about my "goodness". How I may not be a good person for feeling these things.
My question to you is, are these feelings irrational? What do you think about what is happening? Does this need to be addressed?
tl:dr - A friend has bought a new apartment in the same building I have just bought an apartment. I feel happy, uncomfortable, jealous and annoyed about this. AITA?

See the previous posts: https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/1419mpy/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_dominion/ https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/142b35e/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_jwd_rewrite/

Act III - The Gathering of the Clouds

Mia Everett
Visually confirming Rainn's revelation, Victoria is shown in a cage inside Amelia Everett's lab, within Biosyn's Citadel. Mia does her best to comfort the scared and depressed Achillobator and her motivations are explored shortly after. It's revealed that due to her experience within the team who made the Indominus and the Indoraptor, Biosyn tasked her with reviving InGen's IBRIS program by breeding raptors with high obedience potential. However, none of the achillobators cloned by Biosyn proved to be trainable enough for the program's ambitions (even though they attempted to mimic Owen's experience by having keepers being there at the animals' birth), which displeased Dodgson and the other higher-ups, who are now favouring another research team, who focuses on a more intrusive way of controlling dinosaurs. Basically treated as a second-class researcher amidst a rather toxic work environment, Mia became desperate enough to hire poachers to capture Blue, which she intended to breed with their achillobators in order to finally have trainable individuals. As Victoria is not sexually mature, Mia is in front of a considerable setback and fears that Dodgson will pull the plug due to her lack of results, especially in this troubled period for Biosyn.
The tying noose
The next day, the intel collected by the UN agents (people involved in the Black Market, Biosyn's connections with it) are sent to the nearby countries, including Italy, where an arrest warrant is launched against Kayla.
On his side, Isaac Gibbon is contacted by Bigelow who tells him about the debacle of their mission in Malta, saying that Claire and Owen saved the grey guards from disaster. He orders her to stay in Italy for the moment and wait for new orders. Shortly receives, he receives a candidate for a desk job in the DSD: It's Franklin. Gibbon tells Franklin he heard about his bravery during the 2019 incidents and his past connection with InGen (Before the DPG, Franklin worked for it as an IT Technician), before asking questions about Claire as he is aware that she collaborated with him not only on some occasions in the past few years but also in the 2019 Costa Rican incident, where Franklin was the couple's companion while they were running from InGen's agents and the authorities.
Dubrovnik
The inhabitants and tourists of the Croatian seaside city of Dubrovnik are surprised when a Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus descends upon the old town and starts attacking people. As a joke similar to one in TLW with the Japanese businessman and his reference to Godzilla, some extra could yell in Valyrian "I left Westeros because of this!" or "By the Seven, not again!" (Dubrovnik was one of Game of Thrones' filming location).
Ramsay's email
In a manner similar to the Hawaii attack scene in Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, the Dubrovnik scene cuts just as the Quetzal swoops on the bystanders and we are now in the bar of Biosyn's employee village. Wu is watching the news of the Dubrovnik attack on the TV (there is even a declaration from Zoe Murdoch, in which she denies the pterosaur came from Auronzo's Sanctuary and was probably created by a rival company who somehow put their hands upon Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus DNA. In the bar, someone whisper that one of their Quetzals did escaped from the valley thanks to the temporary deactivation of the invisible fence system and that Dodgson has launched an investigation to know who's responsible) when he receives a mysterious email from Ramsay, which includes the name of some woman. Wu search it on the internet and ends up on IMDB where he discovers that the adult "Charlotte" on the videos is actually an actress who lives in London.
Arrest
In Rome, early in the morning, Kayla is arrested in her flat by the police as she is accused of illegal smuggling.
Viscontini
Following all the incidents in the Alps, the clash in the Sabine Hills and the recent Dubrovnik attack, people gets pissed at Biosyn and protests occur in several locations, including Rome. In the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Viscontini has an argument with Pazzi, declaring that they need to take severe actions against Biosyn but the minister retorts that taking large-scale actions against the corporation might trigger a whole deal of undesirable consequences, including deteriorating US-Italian relations due to the close ties between Biosyn and the US government. He won't risk that just because of some rumours, weak proof and small incidents. Viscontini retorts that soon, Biosyn might have an angry mob showing at its gates with the goal of driving it out of Italy.
Following Vuillier's instructions, Claire, Owen, Nyamu and Dougal leave Malta the same day and fly to the Eternal City, where they have to meet Viscontini in the AISI headquarters. There, they have a video call with Vuillier. He and Viscontini wants to send the trio of WDMC agents to Auronzo Valley so they can infiltrate Biosyn's facility, find compromising information and transmit them to the Italian authorities, hoping to finally convince Pazzi and the rest of the government to take action against Biosyn. However, one of the agents points out that they will need an entrance ticket as one doesn't simply walk into Auronzo, since the borders of Biosyn's lands are guarded and monitored while some people disappeared after going too close from the Sanctuary (anti-Biosyn activists, reckless adventurers, Grendel Corporation's spies, others from the AISI's and Austrian government). Viscontini declare they might have that ticket.
We cut to Kayla in her prison cell. The guard announces she has visit and she is brought to a room where Viscontini and Dougal waits for her. The head of the AISI and the WDMC agent then negotiate with her: In exchange for her freedom, she will bring Dougal, Claire and Owen to Biosyn's Sanctuary. However, Viscontini precise he'll have her hunted down if she ever betrays them.
Kayla raises the fact that she can't show up at Auronzo like this and needs a motive. Viscontini and Dougal then talk about the animals seized in Malta's black market.
Theo's Mission
That day, Wu summons Theo, explain the whole issue with the fake Charlotte and ask him to go to London, find the actress and question her about the videos so they can have proofs to show Maisie, who started to really become insufferable because of Dodgson's bad influence (in that part of the story, one of the few scenes where she's likeable is one where she and Drummond bonds over the common passion for dinosaurs). The ex-mercenary soon leaves Auronzo, taking a bus for Venice in the nearest village while Wu explains to Pellegrino and Dodgson that Theo had urgent family matters to deal with in the UK.
Leaving San Francisco
Desiring to supervise the Dolomites Crisis more closely, Vuillier fly to Italy.
Nine containers
As evidence of Biosyn's possible connections to the Maltese black market has been discussed on the news, Dodgson knows it's a matter of time before Vuillier, the Italians or the Austrians send people in Auronzo and expose Biosyn's misdeeds.
We then follow Pellegrino's POV as she oversees the exit of nine large mysterious containers from the Citadel and their departure from the airstrip just outside the valley. One of her subordinates asks what's inside and she answers that she has no idea, with Dodgson only giving her a series of instructions. They watch the containers being flown abroad.
The following day, Pellegrino speak about it to Wu and other employees with anti-Dodgson sentiments like Drummond. She notices that Wu is uncomfortable as they talk about it and realize he must be hiding something. Ramsay, who just arrived from the US in preparation for a big corporate event in the Citadel, almost surprise their discussion. As they're not sure if they can trust him or not, they pretend it's nothing. Wu then phones Theo and asks him about his secret mission's progress.
London
In London, Theo finds the actress from the videos and initially posing as a reporter, filming her in an interview, he then ask her questions about the videos and after some hesitations, she concedes to give him answers and reveals among other things that the shooting occurred a few months ago in some local warehouse, that the director of those videos is none other than Colin Trevorrow (who, desperate for a job after the debacle of the Jurassic World film, accepted to participate to that project, oblivious that Biosyn was behind it since a dummy company took care of the production).
AISI
Vuillier arrives in Rome and meets with his agents, Nyamu and Viscontini in one of the AISI headquarters' conference rooms, where a map of Auronzo Valley and its surroundings has been laid. Kayla is also there and offscreen, our characters talk about the plan.
At the end of the meeting, everyone but Vuillier and Viscontini leave the room. Both have a secret conversation during which the Italian say that the Grey Guard's Mediterranean Company, supported by the Austrians and secretly by him (as he fears that Biosyn has informers within the Italian government), are deployed in one of the villages near Auronzo, and is supposed to act as a Plan B should the Claire-Owen-Dougal trio fail, by taking a secret path through an old mine and a mountain pass before breaking into Biosyn's citadel. The WDMC agents don't know that and when Vuillier ask why, Viscontini answers that it's better that way (should the agents be captured ant tortured, they won't tell Biosyn that there is a second team) and that the secret path isn't safer as one of his spy was killed by some creature after taking it and arriving in sight of the valley. He thinks that a small dozen of grey guards have better chances surviving the pass' guardian(s) than three civilian agents.
To the Dolomites
The next day, in the middle of the morning, Kayla is preparing her plane in some airstrip near Rome and the seized creature from the black market is loaded in the hold (I have no idea which species to choose). Equipped by the Italians, Claire, Owen and Dougal say farewell to Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini. The Frenchman tells Claire that it's time to unleash the She-wolf upon Dodgson but Claire correct him by saying "Not the She-wolf. The Dragon." (in this AU, she has a particular connection with the dragon-like Indominus), implying she'll get the mission done whatever it takes. He and the other two men wish them good luck and the trio of WDMC agents climb aboard the plane. They soon take off.
Biosyn's aerial defense
Kayla's plane arrives in sight of the mountains which delimit Biosyn's Sanctuary. Informed of their mission by Vuillier and Viscontini, one of the grey guards is watching the plane through his binoculars as it passes over the village where they are staying.
Kayla is soon contacted by the Citadel's control room as they detected the aircraft on their radars and they ask her why she's coming. The pilot answer that she collected an animal which might interest them (she told the WDMC agents and the Italians that Biosyn doesn't have this particular species in their Sanctuary) and ask to land on their airstrip. While the Biosyn employees discuss, the plane is about to enter Auronzo Valley by the east, as that part of the sanctuary is the furthest from most of the buildings (while the airstrip is in the northernmost parts of Biosyn's lands, beyond the mountains with the frozen dam lake) and thus where Claire, Owen and Dougal has the best chances of landing unnoticed. The trio of agents take their parachutes and prepare to jump, but at the same time, Dodgson, who heard that Kayla was arrested by the authorities just a few days ago, fears that her plane is a Trojan horse and decides to activate the valley's "aerial defense". On the screen of one of the room's monitors, we see a group of dots heading straight towards the plane. It's actually a group of pteranodons, from the same toothed variant as those who appeared in Jurassic Park 3 (there is even at least one black male identical to the scrapped one from Johnston's film), and they just collide with the plane, crashing against the cockpit and getting turned to shred by the rotors' blades, damaging the plane (the scene is partly inspired by a cutscene from the Ninth Mission of Paraworld's campaign). Owen wonder why those pteranodons behave in a suicidal manner. Suddenly, the pteranodons retreat and as their window is shrinking, the agents know they have to jump now (they've reached the middle of the valley and their trajectory deviated northwards, towards the mountain dam). Claire jumps first but as Owen is about to jump in his turn, the plane is attacked by a Quetzalcoatlus and the Raptor Whisperer sees another and a few pteranodons chasing her fiancée, whose parachute opened. Claire shakes the pterosaurs off by disappearing into the valley's dense forest. As they will be grabbed by the attacking pterosaurs as soon as they leave the aircraft, Owen, Dougal and Kayla stay inside it and brace for the crash. The plane crashes down at the surface of the frozen lake by the mountain dam in the northern part of the valley.
Back in Rome, Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini are worried as they heard the agents and the pterosaurs' screams (they had an open channel all that time with Kayla's plane). They hope the agents will survive this ordeal and activate the beacons they were given before their departure.
Note: The fate of the animal they took with them is still unclear for me. It really depends on the chosen species. If it's something large and potentially dangerous, Kayla would probably want to drop it in the valley in order to have a lighter plane and not deal with it after crashing. But if it's a creature about the size of a small dog for example, they could free it as they leave the wreckage.
Gigantoraptor
We then cut to Claire hanging in the trees but instead of a Therizinosaurus (which already appeared in TRQ. Moreover, Claire had a small arc with this species in that story), she is threatened by a Gigantoraptor. The scene plays out much like the Theri scene from Trevorrow's version, with Claire hiding in a pond etc.. Once the Gigantoraptor walks away, Claire gets out of the pond and sees the fumes from the plane's crash in the distance, behind the mountain dam.
The dam lake
Before it sinks in the lake, Owen, Dougal and Kayla leave her plane and step on the ice. Under it, they notice a large shadow and know they better move away from the lake. They notice a ladder by the dam but as they head towards it, a Quetzalcoatlus or a Pteranodon lands on their way. They step back, moving towards an opening on the lake's surface. Suddenly, a giant 9-meters long temnospondyl (based upon an unnamed and fragmentary genus from Lesotho) burst out the water, almost killing one of the characters. Ensue a scene where our three protagonists have to evade both the pterosaur and the amphibian. The pterosaur ends up being dragged underwater by the temnospondyl but other pterosaurs arrive and to escape them, our trio climbs on the dam and rushes to its elevator, going down in the valley. Down at the dam's base, they notice it's dilapidated and Kayla tell her two companions that Biosyn sell some of its power to the nearest villages.
Note: The main doubt I have about this scene is having a temnospondyl living in the icy water of a mountain lake. It might be too much of a stretch so if you think it's not realistic at all, it will be scrapped from the scene (and perhaps be replaced by a juvenile Baryonyx or something like this, an animal which could be also the one our characters brought with them in the plane.
Plan B
Since the agents lost their beacons during the pterosaurs' attack and the crash, they couldn't tell Rome that they were still alive. Vuillier and Viscontini fear the worst and send a message to Laurenzo Cesare.
Droppings
Meanwhile, Claire started walking towards the dam, hoping to find her companions on the way if they made it out alive from the crash. When she hears a racket in the woods, she hides and a Biosyn tyrannosaur arrives. But it's not on a hunting mode and instead, it just leaves some droppings on a log near Claire's hiding place. After the predator leaves, she approaches the log and smears her face with the droppings, remembering her "Walk in the Park" with Owen when they searched her nephews during the Fall of Jurassic World (the droppings hide her smell, dissuading the other animals to investigate her).
Argument
An argument bursts out between Owen, Dougal and Kayla while they're walking south. The first wants to find his fiancée, the second says that their mission is more important, and Kayla is mad at both men since she lost her plane (and livelihood) because of the WDMC's mission. And unsure about her intentions, the two men distrust her but she tries to reassure them by saying that Biosyn can fuck off since they are also responsible for destroying her plane.
However, the Sanctuary's denizens remind them that they better be united or else it will be the failure of their quest.
At some distance, in the middle of the fog, they see the recognizable silhouette of a sauropod, that of an Argentinosaurus (the species was seen in the distance and mentioned earlier in the story. Instead of Argentinosaurus, it could also be another large titanosaur). However, this herbivore has the particularity of having a symbiotic relation with some small carnivore species within Biosyn Sanctuary (I'm more thinking about a pterosaur or a flying/semi-arboreal theropod than a strictly ground-dwelling predator. For now, the baboon-sized Variraptor is my candidate), with the Argentinosaurus letting those carnivores eat its parasites and the insects flying around it while the carnivores will let out an alarm call shall a large predator approach. It could be illustrated in a scene where an Acrocanthosaurus (the one from the Drive-in scene) is spotted by the carnivores as it passes by. The Argentinosaurus turns to face the larger predator, adopt a defensive posture, and as the acro hasn't yet moved, the smaller carnivores take off from the sauropod and flies straight to the acro's head. Harassed by those creatures, the Acrocanthosaurus retreats. Thus, if those small carnivores (which we'll call the Argentinosaurus' suite) are brave enough to attack a megatheropod, our three protagonists know they're not safe and that they better move away.
The Sanctuary's true nature
While still heading north, Claire's path crosses that of a bull Shantungosaurus. She move out of his way and stay still. She and the audience recognize the animal as he was already in the JW rewrite and TRQ (in the first story, he gained some scars after a fight with a few Metriacanthosaurus), where he was a secondary "character" (and a threat in a few scenes). Both have a peaceful scene where they make eye contact but that quiet moment is shattered when a gunshot resounds in the forest and the hadrosaur flees, badly wounded. Claire hides and in the distance, she sees a hunter, accompanied by a couple of Biosyn security guards and another employee which she presume is some sort of supervisohunting guide. Watching how the hunter is dressed and how he behave in the wild, she knows he's not a professional hunter but just a rich hobbyist and then realizes the Sanctuary's true nature: It's a hunting reserve. As the Shantungosaurus escaped them, the hunter express his discontentment at the guide, which promise to find him another quarry. They leave and following the blood trail left by the hadrosaur, Claire finds him by a stream. His wounds are too grievous and he's too weak to lash out at Claire, who kneels by his head, trying to comfort him in his last moments, up until his last breath. Watching another of her former park's animals dying fills Claire with not only grief, but also anger. She change her plans and heads back south instead of continuing northward, following the hunting party's track.
Note: It doesn't necessarily have to be a Shantungosaurus in the role of the animal shot by the hunters, but it have to be a recognizable animal from the previous installments for emotional impact and Claire's development (another candidate could be the Therizinosaurus from TRQ)
She later finds another hunting party. One of its members, a Biosyn guard, pulls out an item she recognize: a raptor resonating chamber. The guard use it like a bird call and soon, an Achillobator, arrive, believing it heard one of its kind. The poor animal is shot by the hunters, who scream in satisfaction before taking a picture with their quarry. They then brings it to the Biosyn vehicle waiting nearby but before they leave (after having a short conversation during they mention that another team captured the rex and is bringing it the paddocks), Claire deliberately attract the attention of one of the guards, the same one which used the resonating chamber, and he say to his companions he won't be long. He move away from the road and deeper in the woods, he fall into Claire's ambush. She kill him, loot some of his equipment (including the resonating chamber), hide his body and leave. Worried for his colleague, the other guard with the hunters orders the guide to drive them back to the lodge, and search his friend. But he too is murdered by Claire, who takes a small metallic box on him. Activating the box, she realize it's a sonic weapon she has seen before, in the hands of InGen Security's elite troops during the fall of Isla Nublar (it's like a weaponized version of the box Dodgson and his companions have in Crichton's TLW). She turns it off, take it with her and follows the hunters vehicle's tracks on the road, towards the lodge.
However, Claire ignores she's being watched, and not by human eyes...
Over hill
Cesare and his men leave their accommodation and head for the frontiers of Biosyn's lands. Leaving their vehicles near a ruined fort, the grey guards start their trek while the sun is setting behind the mountains ahead of them.
A bed in the trees
As walking through the valley at night would be too dangerous, Owen, Dougal and Kayla decide to find a resting place and climb in a tree. From it, they have a panorama on a nearby lake and notice they are approximately halfway between the dam and the Citadel. At this moment, we also have peaceful scenes with the valley's denizens at dusk (Pelecanimimus fishing in the lake, herbivores drinking nearby, the same Spinosaurus from the report at the beginning peacefully sitting on the bank like an oversized duck...).
Theo's peace
In the evening, just a few hours before his flight to Venice, Theo also passes by his former home, which he left years ago before joining Ken Wheatley's mercenary company. His ex-wife still lives here and noticing that she started a new life with another man and seems happy, he walks away in peace, leaving behind him the last picture he had of himself and her (earlier in the story, Theo is seen looking at said picture).
The secret path
Back in Italy, the grey guards find the entrance of an old mine and enter it, taking the path that will allow them to pass under the limits of Biosyn's lands.
Mercenaries
Mercenary troops land in Biosyn's airstrip and their leader is brought to the Citadel. He has a discussion with Dodgson behind closed doors.
Foes... or allies?
A few hours after nightfall, Claire finally finds a large old chalet with typical Tyrolean architecture: The Hunting Lodge (it's implied that it was built way before Biosyn bought those lands, when the area was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before WWI). Claire remarks it's surrounded by an invisible fence (identical to the one from Jurassic World Evolution 2's Biosyn DLC) which prevents the animals from getting too close. Aware that the lodge wouldn't be a shelter for her and that its occupants probably outnumber her, she turns away from it, continuing to wander in the woods. But just a few minutes later, she hears sound in the nearby bushes. Aware she might be hunted, she is ready to use the ultrasound box and fight for her life. A pack of Achillobators shows up, menacingly walking towards her. At the same time, it starts to rain.
Claire first thinks of using the box and running away while the predators would be bothered by the sound but she knows it will be useless in the long run as they could track her all across the Sanctuary. She then remembers the reports she read earlier in the story, and especially that of the 2001 incident on Sorna, where Alan Grant and his companions walked out alive and unharmed from a close encounter with raptors.
In dire straits, she makes up a desperate plan and carefully, she pulls out the resonating chamber she stole from the Biosyn guards. She uses it and due to their bad experience in the sanctuary with the resonating chambers' usual users, the raptors get agitated but their pack leader tells them to calm down as Claire doesn't seem to be a Biosyn guard or a hunter. The pack leader walks alone towards Claire and sniffs the dried blood on her hands and clothes, realizing it belongs to other humans. Nothing happens for a moment and then the pack leader lets out a bark. Behind Claire, two raptors move aside. Slowly walking backwards, watching carefully the raptors' moves, Claire exits the circle made by the surrounding predators and continues doing so until she's at a respectable distance. At the beginning, the raptors just watch her but as she's heading towards the Hunting Lodge, she hears them following her. However, she is aware that they would have already pounced on her if they wanted to eat her and knows that they're more intrigued. Meanwhile, the rain intensifies (there could also be a storm).
Claire reaches the invisible fence, crosses it, and searches for its power source. But as she's sabotaging it, the Lodge caretaker (a gnarly-looking old local man) spots her and frightened by her look, runs away towards the building. She is forced to catch him and, after a short struggle, kill him with her knife before he can raise the alarm. After showing some trouble due to killing a probable innocent, she resumes her sabotage and the fence is deactivated. The raptors cross it and see Claire entering the lodge. Near its entrance, she finds a sword hanging on the wall as a decorative element and noticing it's still sharp, she takes it along with its sheath and heads for the rooms. Behind her, the raptors open the door and silently enter in the lodge. In the hallway which leads to the rooms, Claire stays still when the raptors walk past her as they head to the rooms and grin as her audacious plan is working. Claire enters one of the rooms, raises her sword blade over a sleeping hunter and when the time comes, thrust it into his body. Meanwhile, the raptors open other doors and entering the rooms, they rush on the sleepers. Slaughter ensues and only those who locked up their doors have the time to wake up, grab a weapon and fight for their very survival. Some of the lodge's occupants offer some resistance in the lounge but there, Claire activates the sonic weapon she stole and an ear-piercing sharp sound comes from it. While the raptors back off behind her, their common enemies kneel and scream in pain and Claire (who put on some earplug) slashes their throats, deactivate the weapon, and let the raptors tear the hunters alive while she raids some items (stuff like snacks, water, a first-aid kit, a map...) and leave, disappearing in the woods.
A bit later, she finds a small cave whose entrance is high from the ground and rest in it, sleeping until mid-morning.
The mountain's pass
At the end of their night-long ascent, the grey guards arrive in a pass/cave where they found human bones, which they presume to be those of the AISI's spy Viscontini told them about, and the remains of a Biosyn drone. Soon after, they are attacked by the guardian animal(s) the corporation left there to kill any trespasser coming from that direction. (I haven't chosen any species yet). They manage to defeat it (or them) and dawn break out as they arrive at a vista point which overlooks the valley. The grey guards observe it, the eyes of Cesare stop on the Citadel for a moment, and they retreat back inside the mountain to rest a few hours before descending into the valley. They send a message to Vuillier and Viscontini, telling them that they're inside the Sanctuary.
Traces of a slaughter
During their early morning patrol, a security team discovers that a massacre occurred during the night in the Hunting Lodge. They find clues indicating that someone helped the raptors and participated in the killings. The control room check the Lodge CCTV footage and fear spreads like wildfire among the staff when they discover the culprit is a sinister-looking black-clad hooded woman. Seeing that one of the figure's hand is a prosthesis and that the other wear a silver ring with a red gem, they realize it's Claire and Dodgson pretty much start to crap his pants (partly because one of the hunters was a very wealthy and powerful foreign client whose disappearance won't go unnoticed). Since she made it out alive from the plane's crash, Dodgson fears that the other WDMC agents might have too. When asked about the slaughter itself, Dodgson orders his staff to cover it up for the moment, as he don't want to worry the board of directors who are set to arrive later that day for a big event he planned in the evening.
Theo's return
Theo returns to Auronzo and Wu, who just learned about Claire's presence in the valley, tells him that they must get Maisie out of the facility as soon as possible since disaster tends to follow Claire like a shadow.
Taking the gloves off
However, Maisie has meanwhile discovered that the videos were another lie, by recognizing one of the scientists from the video, who also work at the Citadel (and who didn't aged, even though the adult Charlotte's video was supposed to be taken fourteen years ago). Aware that the gentle method is no longer considerable, Dodgson decides to use the hard one and Doctor Lesser locks Maisie in a cell within her lab, to which Wu can't access. Lesser reveal that it wasn't Wu who told Dodgson that she was a clone but the spy he has among Lockwood Manor's employees, and that the only true part in the video was the one about the genetic disease: Charlotte did had it, just like her mother Elizabeth before that (she died in 1993 and it was because of her Lockwood and Hammond fell out), and had the car accident which took her life didn't happened, the disease would have killed her a few years later. As he wanted Maisie to have a long life, Benjamin Lockwood asked the scientists he hired (there is a whole subplot about what they became in TRQ) to cure it and they did find a way. As the scientists' notes were accidently destroyed, the solution is now within Maisie's body, and Dodgson wants it so he can put new drugs on the market.
Before it's too late, Wu and Theo, with Ramsay's help, start organizing Maisie's evasion. The geneticist mentions a secret trail from WWI in the northeastern mountains: It's their escape route. He then heads for his lab, planning something else.
Tracking Claire
Curious about Biosyn's movements around the Hunting Lodge, Owen, Dougal and Kayla investigate it after the departure of the security troops. They discover evidence of Claire's passage and Owen tries to follow her fiancée's tracks. Kayla and/or Dougal make comments about the slaughter of the hunters.
Bigelow's last chance
Isaac Gibbon gives Jessica Bigelow a new mission: Go to Auronzo and ensure the evacuation of Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn's most important research. The agent ask her boss why and he said that he just received news that Biosyn is compromised. He also precise that it's her last chance after the Malta fiasco. Bigelow leave her safe house in central Italy and goes north.
Shady preparations
Continuing south, Owen, Dougal and Kayla see mercenaries positioning some sort of moveable antenna on a ridge which overlooks the road which connects the Citadel to the valley's northern continue, as finding Claire and entering the Citadel is more urgent.
The gathering of the clouds
One of the control room's employees ask Dodgson to come. He shows him footage from the Biosyn lands's southern gate, near the employee village.
Before the gate, a group of Carabinieri stand, showing to the guards and the security cameras a search warrant: The government finally decided to act against Biosyn. But Dodgson refuses to open the gates for the Carabinieri and orders the mercenaries who arrived during the night to intimidate them. The Carabinieri move away from the gate, with their leader warning against the consequences of such an action. At a respectable distance from the gate, Vuillier, Viscontini and Nyamu watched the scene. Soon, other groups of Carabinieri are deployed along the other entrances to Biosyn's lands. The siege of Auronzo has started.
Hearing about the siege's situation, some employees leave their post and head for the metro (which connects the Citadel to the village. Another loop also connects the Citadel to the various facilities across the Sanctuary, including the seven towers and the dam), in order to go to the village and then hoping to be able to leave Biosyn's lands before things starts to get too ugly but Dodgson's has the metro's station locked and commands them to go back to their posts. Seeing their CEO starting to act like Hitler in his bunker, they are afraid.
​
End of Act III.
See you tomorrow for Act IV

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