There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, Flavorwire is compiling the five best moments on TV each week. This time, a major character dies and two superhero shows celebrate major milestones.
Bye, Glenn?
We censored his name in the headline in a bare-minimum attempt to avoid spoilers, but let’s be real: if you were on the Internet this week, you read about Glenn’s bloody death on The Walking Dead, then the conspiracy theories that he’s not actually dead, then the hints from showrunner Scott M. Gimple that the conspiracy theorists may well be right. Either way, things aren’t looking good for Steven Yeun’s fan-favorite character, one of the longest-running survivors on AMC’s zombie apocalypse, who’s either in the process of being eaten by walkers or dangerously close to it.
Dinner for Murderers
American Horror Story: Hotel‘s most delightful episode thus far also happens to be the least connected to the plot. Halloween at the Cortez, we learn, is all about owner J.P. Marsh’s “Devil’s Night,” when the ghosts of serial killers through the ages gather for an ultra-exclusive undead dinner party. It’s a nice excuse for cameos by Lily Rabe as Aileen Wuornos and That Dude From Fringe as Jeffrey Dahmer, with season hero John Lowe in the mix as a (very weak) link to the larger story. Does anything important happen at said dinner? Nope, but John Carroll Lynch makes an even better John Wayne Gacy than he did a killer clown.
Up, Up, and Away
Even though the reviews have been mixed so far, Supergirl‘s premiere this week still felt like a momentous occasion. A female-led superhero series that hit America’s most notoriously conservative (programming strategy-wise, not politically) network almost two years before Wonder Woman is set to open in theaters is a big deal, and so is the fact that Supergirl‘s pilot earned, well, super ratings. Girl heroes get viewers — who’da thunk it?
“Jonathan, Would You Read Us a Little Bedtime Story?”
In a perfect use of Jonathan Franzen’s sonorous, super-calm reading voice (and status as literary America’s favorite killjoy), Stephen Colbert asked the novelist to read him a bedtime story about “Little Red Reading Hood,” her grandmother’s treasured independent bookstore, and a wolf who may or may not be a metaphor for a nefarious mega-retailer. It’s some expert PR for Franzen, whose ability to laugh at himself could always use some extra airtime.
Jemma in Space
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t get a whole lot of critical love these days, but credit where it’s due: this week’s “4,722 Hours” was an incredible bottle episode, one that doubles as an accessible entry point for those who haven’t been keeping up with this season’s larger plots. The title refers to Jemma Simmons’ six months of survival on an alien planet, which the episode tracks in a well-crafted, almost self-contained narrative that’s worth watching even for non-regular viewers.