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The Week in Superlatives: Best Power Move, Biggest Rookie Mistake, and Cutest Reboot
Here are the standout moments of the week in TV
Another week has come and gone, and chances are, the size of your TBW pile is as scary as anything you can expect to see this Halloween. We're here to help! Here are the TV moments that really caught our attention this week.
Most devious turnabout: The Affair's latest episode was a doozy. Joanie (Anna Paquin) finally figured out that Ben (Ramon Rodriguez) was responsible for her mother's death and decided to confront him. At first, he seemed truly remorseful, promising that it was an accident that ended her life -- an argument between them led to something falling on her head, and he attempted to dispose of the body. But she knew Alison's (Ruth Wilson) lungs had been filled with water, which meant she died from drowning. She decided to take him up on his offer to face some much-delayed justice, but when she showed up with a couple of cops, he turned the tables on her big time. See, upon visiting him at his makeshift PTSD treatment center, she pretended to be a potential patient and signed on-boarding paperwork; instead of submitting to arrest as promised, he instead painted her as an escaped patient with wild delusions and decided to keep her in his care ... for who knows what end. Yikes.
Discover your new favorite show: Watch This Now!
Weirdest wake-up call: Prodigal Son started on a crazy note this week, which ... what's new?! The series is daringly strange, and we love it for that. The case at hand was certainly worth talking about -- an LSD trial patient got revenge by dosing people with an excessive amount of the stuff to induce a heart attack -- but that wasn't even the weird part. The strangest moment came in the beginning, when Malcolm Bright's (Tom Payne) mother tried to pay him a visit and, instead of greeting her at the front door, he had a night terror panic and leapt through his high-rise window. Thank goodness he had such sturdy restraints hooked up to the bed.
Tom Payne, Prodigal Son
FoxBest power move: Tyler Perry is taking matters into his own hands. Over the weekend, he hosted a grand opening for his own historic film and television studio in Atlanta, with many famous supporters coming along to sample the sight of his sweeping studio space. Instead of waiting for opportunities to come from the established studios, Perry is creating his own.
Biggest rookie mistake: It's still early on in Survivor Season 39, but in this week's episode, contestant Vince was certainly showing signs of promise. While all the other men on his tribe grew concerned about a strengthening women's alliance, Vince was the only neutral player who had allies on both sides of the camp. Plus, Vince's risky move to sneak into the other tribe's camp paid off when he was rewarded with an immunity necklace for his daring feat. Unfortunately, all these strategic moves proved to be in vain, as he ended up getting voted off with a perfectly good immunity idol in his pocket. If you had a tough week, just remember that you could have been Vince, who needlessly lost his shot at $1 million on national television. -- Lauren Zupkus
Spookiest start: The newNancy Drew kicked off this week on The CW, and while fans of the books might not recognize everything about this version of the long-lived character, the show still has a little something to offer everyone -- dark secrets held by even the most unexpected characters, a reluctant and relatable protagonist, and, best of all, a ghost that is ready to come out to play just in time for Halloween.
Ear-iest twist: American Horror Story: 1984 got extra wild this week as we learned that the person who collected all those ears on a string (not to mention, murdered a camp full of counselors) wasn't Mr. Jingles (John Carroll Lynch) but was instead the show's resident religion expert, Margaret (Leslie Grossman). Who could've seen that coming? OK, yes, it totally makes sense in retrospect, but still. To be fair, we are still trying to figure out what's even going on in this series.
Most overdue finale: Yeah, bitch! El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movieis now on Netflix, which means Breaking Bad fans finally have some closure regarding the fate of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). The film is a loving homage to the original series, with flashbacks and cameos galore, but it certainly doesn't create a standalone world the way Better Call Saul does. Instead, the film feels like the epilogue we didn't know we needed and serves as a satisfying ending to the original series -- which, to be fair, already had a pretty darn good finale but did leave a few threads dangling. Better late than never!
Cutest reboot: Fans of Nickelodeon's spooky '90s anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark?are in for a treat this week as the network's new three-part reboot kicks off Friday night. The first episode was already released online ahead of its scheduled airing, and it is a worthy new take on a familiar favorite, this time giving the Midnight Society a lot more meaning and involvement in their own ghoulish little tales. Plus, Mr. Tophat is clearly king.
(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation.)