2.4 Family Affair More than any other show on network television, The Following knows how to make violence sound horrible. In fact, I’d probably put it just behind The Walking Dead in terms of the show’s ability to communicate terrible things through the magic of the sound stage. That’s high praise considering just how good The Walking Dead can be at its most horrifying and considering The Following is as much police procedural as it is slasher horror television show....

The Gifted Episoe 11 The end of the season is for superhero TV usually an exciting, entertaining time. The shows have cleared away all the superfluous storylines, and are putting the finishing touches on a climax that has been building for hours. Unless you’re a Marvel Netflix show, where the end of a season is the perfect time for a frustrating space-filler episode that drains all the tension out of an incredible climax (I’m looking at you, Jessica)....

Having once been a teenage boy myself, I’m all too aware of how mates can be freeloaders at times. If sparing your time to sit with them on park benches and look intimidating to the middle classes isn’t enough to keep them loyal, then the promise of free food will have them positively swarming around your house. A piece of toast made from bread originating from your kitchen is far more attractive to the average youth than happy slapping a pensioner and providing the Daily Mail with something to cry about....

Taking a sideways glance at the movie world over recent times, things have been going tremendously well for the traditionally shunned grumpy old bastard. Conventionally, you’d expect the main male characters commandeering the audience’s interest and empathy to be fine physical specimens of youth and exuberance. Instead, what we’re seeing is ancient, irate grouches leading big film releases, and we love them. It’s like if the 1950s was the heyday decade for ‘angry young man’ flicks like The Wild One and Rebel Without A Cause, then right now we’re riding the ‘angry old man’ wave....

Starved of social contact you’re liable to start talking to the mirror and imagining that you’re an avenging angel destined to whack all the pimps, pushers and sleazy presidential candidates plaguing the city around you. Before they had the Internet and cable TV to distract them, God’s lonely men were potential meltdowns and a threat to public safety. Travis Bickle would have never cracked if he’d had access to YouTube....

The Last Man on Earth: Season 2, Episode 11 This is just bliss, isn’t it? We’re at the point now that whenever Last Man on Earth returns from some prolonged hiatus it is safe to assume that the premiere is going to be some ambitious, challenging piece of television that harkens back to the series’ staggering original pilot. We got a taste of it this season with the premiere, “Is There Anybody Out There?...

This part of the walkthrough looks at the tenth episode from The Mick’s second season. Previous installments can be found here. Showrunners Dave and John Chernin are joined by the episode’s writer, Harper Dill. The Mick Season 2 Episode 10 – “The Climb” “Sabrina decides to throw a get-together with talented artists in order to impress them. After learning that Ben’s new friend has a celebrity mom who loves art, Mickey decides to co-host the event in order to sway her....

Speaking of people with no willpower (do you like that segue? I knew you would), Jan, the girlfriend and former boss of Michael Scott, is suing Dunder Mifflin for wrongful termination. This is basically a Michael-driven episode, and that’s not a bad thing after the goofiness that was ‘Survivor Man’. This is a more serious, believable Michael Scott, and a more serious episode overall. As usual, I feel bad for Michael....

After all, his last movie, Mission: Impossible III, didn’t do the level of numbers expected, and the studio head concerned laid the blame for that solely at the front door of Cruise. Meanwhile, Valkyrie, his next feature, has been bumped around several release dates as if it’s been caught on a pinball table. Currently, it’s snuck back into this year, with some thinking that it may be due to possible recognition from the Academy Awards....

The Purge Episode 2 The Purge is one of the most fascinating high-concept horror films in recent memory. For those unaware, a “high-concept” film is one in which the premise can be explained by a simple sentence. In the case of The Purge, that sentence is in the opening crawl of ever movie: “One night in which all crime, including murder, is legal.” Everything else falls into place around that simple premise....

Loner We actually have to wait until the very end to see any magic at all, this week, and even then it’s of the wind effects and wire-work variety. But this episode isn’t really about the mythology, aside from another blast from the past visiting our young mischief makers. But it looks like Zachary Larson, an old friend of Cassie’s mother and enemy of the circle, could just be a villain of the week....

The Simpsons: Season 29 Episode 20 The Simpsons season 29, episode 20, “Throw Grampa from the Dane” sees the family traveling to Denmark to take advantage of the country’s free health care. Most of the show’s travels out of Springfield find the family in some sloppy situations, with untied loose ends and big boots to fill, especially those in Australia. But, like the country the Simpson family is visiting, the episode is very efficient, but not very exciting....

The Simpsons: Season 29 Episode 21 The first clue that The Simpsons season 29, episode 21, “Flanders’ Ladder” is a parody of Sixth Sense, the film where a young child goes to a therapist to deal with the fact that he sees dead people comes early and might be a little hard to spot: while in the very suggestible state of coma, Lisa suggests to Bart that he sees dead people....

Well, thank you, The Strain. All week, I have been afraid to pee. Afraid that my wang was going to fall off in the toilet, ala, Gabriel Bolivar who was Ken-dolled by his vampirism last week. Bolivar did not make an appearance this week, but there was more dicklessness and more awesomeness going around as The Strain continues to be THE highlight of this summer television season. Let’s start with the plane survivor that left this mortal coil last episode, poor Captain Redfern....

Not that we should expect specific digs at the idiot parade of real-life governmental snafus in the new series of The Thick Of It. Mock The Week-type topical jabs aren’t its style, instead the writers marinate the show in the gloopy sewage of real-life party politics, and then produce their own parallel political turds and – to nick a characteristically enjoyable phrase from episode one of the new series – ear piss....

5.21 Promised Land The last few minutes of this week’s The Vampire Diaries should have been monumental. Though admittedly effective – with Caroline’s heartrending reaction and the randomness of it all – the moment immediately loses its effect when, as with any shocking death on a show without ordinary rules of life and the afterlife, the audience starts figuratively bargaining with the writers to see whether it’ll stick or not....

7.10 Hell Is Other People Some of that’s to do with how focused it is, showing us the world from only one perspective for all but a single scene. For a show that usually burns through plots and revelations faster than is definitely advisable for a serialised drama, it’s a pretty big deal when it spends an entire 40-minute episode dealing with one problem and not even solving it by the credits....

3.9 The Suicide King That’s exactly how the scenes in The Walking Dead worked out this week. You had Merle, Daryl, and the Governor at the gladiator pit. That gave way to Daryl, Merle, Rick, Glenn, and Maggie. At Woodbury, you had Andrea and Milton and the Governor. At the prison you had Tyreese and his group, Hershel and Tyreese, Carol and Carl, and even Hershel, Rick, and Tyreese. Most scenes had two or more people involved directly, and none of them stayed static in the sense that it was everyone hanging around....

8.2 The Damned The team Dwight sent off in the first episode is holed up in some sort of compound, cleaning and maintaining their weapons. There’s a bit of light comedy involving a goofy screw-up named Todd (every group apparently has their version of Jerry), and then, just when the group is about to get ready to move out, a bunch of armoured vehicles roll up and people start opening up with machine guns....

First up a programme that I never thought I could stand the criticism to recommend, but Eastenders this week features a devastatingly affecting half-hour monologue from Square stalwart (available until Thursday). Even if the programme isn’t your cup of tea, it’s the most startlingly brave thing that’s been done on BBC One prime time drama is as long as I remember. Lastly I’ve got another unexpected recommendation, as Alex James presents Panorama, investigating cocaine....