The Week in Superlatives: Meanest Tease, Funniest Fake-Out, and the Apocalyptic Oddity

Another week has come and gone, and chances are, your TBW (to-be-watched) pile is more stacked than ever right now thanks to all the real-life news items that take your attention away from la la land. To help keep you attuned to what's going on in the small screen scene in the meantime, though (and give you a much-needed outlet to decompress from all that political tension), here's another edition of our weekly dish for the buzziest TV bits of the week.

Most gratuitous groin shot: HBO's Euphoria absolutely intends to shock its audience with its devastatingly raw look at the Gen Z haze, and this week, the show delivered on its promise to sear the sight of penises-o-plenty into our brains with that locker room scene. There was a point being made by all that exposure, even if the amount of phallic content on-screen was a bit much. The utter shock value of the scene was in keeping with the show's agenda to showcase all the numbing excess that surrounds kids coming up in the modern world right now.

Nakedest bungee jump: Speaking of nudity, The Bachelorettebore a lot more than we expected this week as Hannah and Garrett decided to literally say "f--- it" and "do it the Latvian" way by bungee jumping naked together. Well, that's one way to get to know a potential partner, but it also created new, even more frustrating trouble with Luke back at the hotel.

Funniest fake-out: In this era of endless revivals and reunions, it wouldn't be terribly surprising to see The Simple Lifecome back in some form or another. Watching members of the upper crust schlepping with regular folks is weirdly entertaining, and the show helped shape reality TV as we know it, for better and for worse. So, it's understandable why news outlets would be ready to pounce at the very suggestion a reboot is nigh, but it was pretty shocking to see just how wide the rumor spread after a seemingly "official" show Twitter account claimed that Paris Hilton and long-time frenemy Lindsay Lohan would join forces for a new iteration of The Simple Life. The good news is, the fact that some random troll was able to fool so many people that quickly should give the producers of the show a clue or two about the apparent appetite for more, so don't give up hope yet Simple Life stans!

Meanest tease:Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul really messed with fans' emotions this week, when they simultaneously posted an image of two donkeys (drug mules?) with the caption "soon" and refused to elaborate what it might mean. Could this finally be some kind of confirmation that both will star in Vince Gilligan's sequel movie (Walter White might be dead, but, hey, a few flashbacks could be the ticket to getting Heisenberg back in the game)? Or might they be teasing a joint cameo on Better Call Saul? We don't know, yet, but it sounds like we will "soon" enough.

Most horrifying visual: Just when we thought The Handmaid's Tale couldn't conjure up any more cruelty, the show delivered its most horrifying images yet this week, as June (Elisabeth Moss) was taken to Washington, D.C. for the Waterfords' sinister scheme and saw just how much more extreme Gilead's oppression could get. In addition to the usual red cloaks and bonnets, the women of Washington, D.C. are also made to sport cloths across their mouths because their lips have been sealed shut with metal hooks. Never mind the shot of the Lincoln Memorial being beheaded or the Washington Monument being replaced by a tacky cross or even the newly darkened Union Station; it's the sight of those hooks that really haunts. Shudder.

The apocalyptic oddity: If you're not watching Years and Yearsyet, well, you should be. In an episode in which Donald Trump was re-elected, a populist politician with no credibility began her leap up the U.K.'s ranks, and nuclear war was literally on the brink, the most frightening moment and biggest sign that our future is f---ed came from what else but a new teenage fad: a translucent visor that projects Snapchat-like filters over faces. The brilliant family drama is an uneasy look at how we'll all be affected if we keep going at our current breakneck pace of political division, technological advances, and economic greed, but nothing is more terrifying than the thought of staring at a cartoon dog face and listening to an anime voice while trying to have breakfast with your kid. - Tim Surette

Best deep dive: We can argue all day about which Mad Men GIF is the most important -- my vote is for this Peggy Olson DGAF shot -- but there's no doubt that "Not great, Bob" has a lot of practical uses. So, we have to give a shout out to this unexpected treat of a tell-all about how the meme-able moment came to be.