Entertainment
R-Rated Thriller On Netflix Is A Whistleblower's Worst Nightmare
By Robert Scucci
| Published
2024’s Relay taught me something very important about myself that I still don’t know how to process. If I were ever caught between an evil corporation that wanted to kill me for leaking damaging information, forcing me to contact a third-party agency to return missing documents in exchange for my silence, it wouldn’t take long before I’d be found dead in a garbage can somewhere. While I think I’m pretty smart when it comes to navigating adult life, I’m a visual learner, and I’m simply not built to follow elaborate instructions delivered through a burner phone without immediately messing up how I’m supposed to carry myself based on those instructions.
While I’m admittedly not bright enough to navigate a massive conspiracy that could kill millions of people through its coverup, Ash (Riz Ahmed) and Sarah Grant (Lily James) are up to the challenge, and they know they have to act fast. If it were me in either of their shoes, I’d try my best, but I’m telling you now I would mess something like this up so quickly that everybody would wonder why I was ever perceived as a threat in the first place.
A Reverse Whistle Blow
Relay’s conflict is complicated, but it’s easy to digest because its stakes are laid out with clarity from the start. We’re introduced to Sarah Grant, a former employee of Cybo Sementis Research Institutes. Sarah is in danger and knows she’s being tracked by company operatives Dawson (Sam Worthington), Rosetti (Willa Fitzgerald), Ryan (Jared Abrahamson), and Lee (Pun Bandhu).
She’s constantly looking over her shoulder because she knows the genetically modified strain of wheat their company synthesized has deadly consequences. Her concerns are brushed aside because the company is on the verge of a billion-dollar merger built around that very product. After stealing hundreds of pages of documents when they attempted to buy her silence, Sarah starts having second thoughts. She fears she won’t live long enough to leak the information in any meaningful way before they get to her and decides to back down in exchange for peace.
Desperate for an out, Sarah agrees to return the documents and keep her mouth shut as long as Dawson and his team stops tailing her. She reaches out to Tri-State Relay Service, run anonymously by Ash, because the company specializes in rectifying the exact kind of situation Sarah finds herself in.
The phone calls between Sarah and the relay service are facilitated by Ash, who communicates through a burner phone hooked up to a specialized keyboard system meant for the hearing impaired. If Sarah fails to follow instructions to the letter, Tri-State Relay Service will drop her as a client, leaving her on her own once again.
Why You Should Never Pursue Romance When Compromised
The only contact Sarah has with Ash in Relay is indirect. Either she calls the service, or they call her. There’s an elaborate system of codewords and protocol that involves shipping packages to specific addresses and destroying her phone after every exchange. Through these interactions, Ash grows sympathetic to Sarah’s predicament, and he lets his guard down at the worst possible time. Their daily check-ins start to feel less professional, and Ash gets sloppy just as the folks from Cybo Sementis begin closing in.
As Relay progresses, both Sarah and Ash lose sight of who they can trust. The entire operation becomes an exercise in paranoia, mistaken identity, and corporate impropriety that could compromise countless lives. Ash is driven by guilt, which rears its ugly head once things begin to heat up. Before helping people like Sarah, he had been paid for silence under similar circumstances in a previous professional life, and he starts to question whether following through with the document exchange that sparked this relationship is the right move.
Relay has a lot of moving parts, but it never feels convoluted. While Ash and Sarah are far more coordinated than I would ever be in this situation, I enjoyed it as a form of wish fulfillment for that reason alone. I’d love to receive instructions, snap my phone in half, and run through an alley toward a safe house, but I’d probably jot down the wrong address, panic, and give up before I even hear the dial tone.
Relay is currently streaming on Netflix.
Entertainment
Snap up the best deals on Monster portable speakers
SAVE UP TO 50%: As of April 28, get the Monster Cube 1 Portable Bluetooth Speaker for $19.98, down from its usual price of $39. That’s a discount of 50%. Alternatively, get the Monster Ripple Portable Bluetooth Shower Speaker for $24.97, down from its usual price of $39.99. That’s a discount of 38%.
$19.98
at Amazon
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Save $20.01
$24.97
at Amazon
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Save $15.02
The warm weather and sunny days of summer are almost upon us, and if you plan on spending a lot of time outside, no doubt you’ll want to take your favorite music with you to share it. Or maybe you just want a way to listen to your tunes in the shower. That’s where a portable speaker comes in handy. Right now, Monster has you covered right now with two deals you won’t want to miss.
As of April 28, get the Monster Cube 1 Portable Bluetooth Speaker for $19.98, down from its usual price of $39. Alternatively, get the Monster Ripple Portable Bluetooth Shower Speaker for $24.97, down from its usual price of $39.99. That’s a discount of 38%.
The Monster Cube 1 is a waterproof option that’s perfect for listening at home, on the go, or anywhere you want to have some kicking tunes. It’s a compact speaker with 12W output that’s lightweight and portable. It boasts 20 hours of battery on a single charge, and it provides plenty of loud, satisfying audio no matter where you end up: camping, a pool party, or hanging out in the living room where you want to have portable audio.
Alternatively, the Monster Ripple is a circular shower speaker built to let you listen while scrubbing up for the day. With waterproof IPX8 protection, it’s a round, compact spaker with a 15W driver that can fill the entire room, not just the shower, with satisfying sound. It also has a lanyard to secure the speaker to wherever you want it in the shower to avoid any drops or accidents.
Mashable Deals
If you’re ready to pick up a speaker for less right now, don’t sleep on these Monster deals, which will keep you tuned in throughout the season and longer with their portability and waterproof features.
Entertainment
The best robot pool vacuum deals to spring clean your pool for swimming season
The best robot pool cleaner deals at a glance:
Stepping into the backyard when you own a swimming pool should feel like a mini vacation. But that’s far from the truth in most cases. Instead of floating carelessly in the sun, many pool owners spend their summer days chasing stubborn piles of sand, leaves, sunken debris, and bugs in their pools. It’s time to hand off the cleaning chore to a robot — and these three robot pool cleaner discounts will help you seal the deal.
With up to $500 in savings, these deals from top robot pool vacuum brands Aiper, Beatbot, and iGarden can help you get your outdoor oasis ready for swimming season while keeping some money in your pocket.
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Why we like it
Mashable’s sister site CNET (also owned by Ziff Davis) consistently selects Aiper’s products for its best robot pool cleaners list. The Scuba V3 is one of the brand’s most popular models for good reason. It packs adaptive intelligence, ultra-fine filtration, and convenient waterline parking, and as of April 28, it’s on sale for $500 off — its lowest price to date. The built-in AI camera can analyze your pool and detect over 20 debris types, then navigate directly to it and eliminate it. The V3 can also create autonomous weekly cleaning schedules by analyzing your pool size, the real-time weather forecasts, and cleaning history. It ensures a consistently clean swim with very low manual effort on your part.
Mashable Trend Report
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Why we like it
Ideal for pools up to 2,260 square feet in any shape or material, the Beatbot AquaSense is a versatile robot vacuum for your pool with 5,500 gph of suction and three hours of runtime. As of April 28, it’s down to $799 at Amazon — its best price ever. It packs an ultra-fine filter to sift out fine sand and debris, as well as a 2×2 brush system, 200W pump, and three motors to ensure powerful scrubbing along the floor, walls, and waterline. It may not have as many built-in AI conveniences as the Aiper Scuba V3, but its 15 sensors and intelligent path optimization ensure it precisely maps your pool, optimizes the cleaning path, and avoids obstacles. You can also customize cleaning schedules and details in the app.
$399.99
at Amazon
$699.99
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Why we like it
If you’re looking for a more budget friendly option, the iGarden KN Series is down to a best-ever price of $399.99 at Amazon. That’s 43% off its list price. Of course, for that price, you won’t get as many bells and whistles as the other pool vacuums on this list. It can run for up to 210 minutes per charge and thanks to three high-efficiency motors, delivers suction up to 17,000 LPH. It packs smart 3D navigation and supports three cleaning modes with LED guidance: green for floor-only, blue for full coverage, and purple for walls a waterline first, then floor. It’s a bit more hands-on than the other robot vacuums, but is still powerful and customizable enough to fit most pools.
Entertainment
Thigh Chafing? These Shorts Keep You Cool and Comfy All Day
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If you’ve ever planned an outfit around avoiding thigh chafing, you already know how frustrating spring and summer dressing can be. Between warm afternoons, long walks and those first truly mild days, staying comfortable isn’t always as simple as throwing on a breezy dress. The wrong base layer can make things worse — but luckily, there’s an easy fix that makes getting dressed feel so much simpler.
That’s exactly where Thigh Society’s Cooling Shorts come in. At $44 (and 15% off your first order), they’ve become the brand’s bestselling style — and for good reason. Designed to feel lightweight, breathable and barely there, they slip seamlessly into your routine just as the season starts calling for easier, more effortless outfits.
Get The Cooling Shorts for $44 at Thigh Society!
The Cooling Shorts are designed for breathability, stretch and all-day ease. Unlike bulky bike shorts that require layering, they work as underwear and shorts in one, preventing thigh chafing and reducing sweat in a single, lightweight layer that feels like a second skin.
They’re also built to stay put — no rolling down at the waist or riding up throughout the day (a true summer miracle). Wear The Cooling Shorts under flowy dresses and enjoy smooth, no-fuss comfort.
Available in versatile shades like beige, black, almond and more, they’re easy to layer under just about anything. And with a range of lengths to choose from (5-inch to 21-inch), you can customize your coverage depending on your outfit — shorter for mini dresses, longer for maxis or extra protection on especially warmer days.
With more than 12,700 five-star ratings on the brand’s website, reviewers call them “a life saver” during “very hot summers,” pointing to the “super cool, comfortable” fabric. One shopper also loved the “no chaffing” design, saying they “forgot” they even had them on with “skirts and dresses.”
If thigh chafing has ruined your warm-weather outfits, consider this your easy fix. Designed for breathability, movement and everyday wear, The Cooling Shorts make getting dressed feel effortless again. Once you try them, you might not want to wear a dress without them!
Get The Cooling Shorts for $44 at Thigh Society!
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