Bid farewell forever to Vida and for now to Rick, Morty, Villanelle, and Eve
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, May 31. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Tonight brings the current seasons of Killing Eve (BBC America and AMC, 9 p.m.) and Rick And Morty (Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.) to a close, and we’ll have more to say about those when our recaps (from Lisa Weidenfeld and Zack Handlen, respectively) publish this evening. But for now, we’re bidding a very fond farewell to Tanya Saracho’s Vida. Here’s Danette Chavez on a terrific series:
Vida (Starz, 9:01 p.m., series finale): Three seasons will always feel like too few, but we can’t call Starz’s Vida short-lived. Over the course of its 22 episodes, the last of which airs tonight, Tanya Saracho’s gloriously brown, undeniably queer dramedy has offered more insightful, inclusive storytelling than most hourlong shows could hope to share in a decade—and, it must be said, some of the hottest sex scenes on TV. This three-year journey comes to an end with “Episode 22,” which sees sisters Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera) thwarting the latest threat to their bar, breaking up and making up (and not just with each other), and just generally trying to figure out what their lives look like together and apart. The 53-minute finale (Saracho’s workaround for the truncated season was to push the episode lengths to their limits) doesn’t put a neat bow on the Hernandez sisters’ story, nor that of any of their friends, lovers, and neighbors, including Mari (Chelsea Rendon), Johnny (Carlos Miranda), and Nico (Roberta Colindrez). The final hour of this series is an ellipsis that will hopefully stretch on into new stories and opportunities for everyone involved. We’ll have more on the legacy of this powerfully poignant series later in the week. [Danette Chavez]
Can you binge it? As of tonight, the complete season awaits you via Starz.
Regular coverage
Killing Eve (BBC America and AMC, 9 p.m.): season-three finale
Snowpiercer (TNT, 9 p.m.)
Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels (Showtime, 10 p.m.)
Insecure (HBO, 10 p.m.)
Rick And Morty (Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.): season-four finale
Wild cards
Laurel Canyon (Epix, 9 p.m., series premiere; part two runs next Sunday, June 7, at 9 p.m.): Fans of that sweet Laurel Canyon sound will want to check out Epix’s new two-part series, which focuses on the 1965-1975 era when members of bands like The Byrds, The Doors, The Mamas And The Papas, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and even The Monkees all lived within blocks of each other outside of downtown Los Angeles. The series features insightful new interviews with performers like Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and Roger McGuinn, among many others, and a lot of fun facts: Did you know that banjo-playing Steve Martin was once Ronstadt’s warm-up act? (He also lived in the canyon, and they dated for two weeks.) Some of Laurel Canyon’s material has already been covered in previous documentaries about Woodstock, the Manson Family, and the classic History Of The Eagles, which Alison Ellwood also directed. Ellwood obviously loves this subject matter—if only she’d ignored some of Laurel Canyon’s well-worn paths in favor of more time spent hanging out at famed coffeeshop Ben Frank’s, in the Canyon Country Store, or at one of Micky Dolenz’s epic days-long parties. [Gwen Ihnat]
Quiz (AMC, 10:03 p.m., series premiere): “Based on both Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett’s Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major and a 2017 play by series creator James Graham, the miniseries goes on to unpack the real-life scandal of $1 million winner Charles Ingram (Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen), an English army major who in 2001 saw his episode pulled and winnings withheld after producers suspected his answers were influenced by some strategically timed coughs in the audience from his wife, Diana (Fleabag’s Sian Clifford), and a fellow contestant, Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson). Much like the cases depicted in Netflix’s recent Trial By Media series, the Ingrams’ day in court is only part of their trial; the media fervor swirling around them means they’ve already been found guilty in the court of public opinion.” Click here to read the rest of Randall Colburn’s pre-air review.
Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj (Netflix, 3:01 a.m.) and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO, 11:05 p.m.): Probably a good week to catch one or both of these shows, we’d say.