Matt's Weekend Picks: October 15-17
Tom Welling
Smallville (Friday, 8/7c, The CW)
My, Clark, how you've grown. The Young Man of Steel marks his milestone 200th episode with an episode sure to please fans. It's partly a nostalgia trip, as Lois urges Clark to attend his five-year high school reunion, prompting memories of good old days with Lana and Chloe. Meanwhile, Brainiac pays a visit from the future and gives Clark a whirlwind look at his past (including Jonathan's death), present and superhero future at the Daily Planet and beyond.
Desperate Housewives (Sunday, 9/8c, ABC)
Gaby, whose baby-switching storyline is the best of this season's many subplots, finally reveals her secret to the other wives. Meanwhile, Susan (trapped in the stupidest storyline) is unhappily rocked to learn she has become the face — on billboards — of the sexy Internet site she's been cleaning up with. And Paul Young buys the house he once shared with our weekly narrator, Mary Alice. That isn't going to sit well with anybody.
Mad Men (Sunday, 10/9c, AMC)
Break out the Scotch. Time to toast this excellent drama as it wraps its fourth season, which has been on fire in recent weeks. Can the struggling firm be saved? What will be the fallout from Don's recent anti-tobacco manifesto? All we know is this cryptic statement from AMC: "An opportunity arises for Don and Peggy." Anything that puts Peggy back in the spotlight is good news as well. An hour earlier, the moody Rubicon concludes its first season of intrigue in the wake of last week's terrorist incident, as Will and Katherine continue putting pieces of the puzzles together regarding the deaths that launched this season's events.
Luther (Sunday, 10/9c, BBC America)
Idris Elba (The Wire's Stringer Bell) is electrifying in this twisted six-part British crime drama. He's John Luther, a volatile London detective whose career and marriage are in tatters following an incident that put a suspect in a coma. His first new case becomes a deliciously perverse game of cat and mouse (but who's who?) with a manipulative vixen who may have offed her parents. Ruth Wilson (PBS' Jane Eyre) plays his nemesis with a devilish brio, and continues messing with his head in the gripping adventures that follow. This is true edge-of-your-seat TV.
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