Carrie’s Rekindled Romance, Klingon Tension on ‘Strange New Worlds,’ Peacock’s ‘Twisted Metal,’ ‘Shadows’ Campaign Caper

Patience might just pay off for Sex and the City romantics, when Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) reconnects with the one that got away, Aidan Shaw (John Corbett), in a wistful Valentine’s Day reunion 13 years after their breakup. But as is this aggravating sequel’s wont, we’re forced to put up with too many wearying subplots involving her increasingly poorly rendered friends before Aidan appears toward the end of the overlong episode. (The best B-story features Drew Barrymore, welcoming Mario Cantone’s Anthony and a last-minute Hot Fellas substitute onto her talk show.)

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This excellent spinoff gets serious again, following last weekend’s surprise drop of the whimsical crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks. The catalyst: the arrival aboard the Enterprise of an allegedly reformed Klingon defector (The Wire’s Robert Wisdom) who’s now a peace ambassador for Starfleet. The crew is suspicious of the former “Butcher of J’Gal,” referring to an epic battle during the Klingon War that continues to haunt Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), who served together on what amounts to an overwhelmed MASH unit in space. Their flashbacks provide context for a troubling episode that debates the possibility of atonement and forgiveness.

Series Premiere

Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) turns on the puckish charm—think Men in Black-era Will Smith—in this chaotic action romp that, unlike HBO’s more nuanced The Last of Us, feels exactly like a TV version of a car-crunching, shoot-’em-up PlayStation game. Mackie is John Doe, a rollicking messenger in a post-apocalyptic society who’s tasked (by a cool Neve Campbell) to fetch a mysterious package in New Chicago and bring it back in his beat-up Subaru (named Evelyn) to New San Francisco, which if he meets his deadline he’ll be invited inside the walls to live a life of luxury. Till then it’s all car chases, gun battles and gory encounters with the likes of psycho clown Sweet Tooth (Will Arnett providing the voice, AEW star Joe Seanoa the burly body) along the route. Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz comes along for the raucous ride as the simmering, unpredictably vengeful Quiet. Of which there is little in the world of Twisted Metal.

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“The debate stage is a great place for a mega drain,” gloats energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) as he embarks on a political campaign for comptroller of Staten Island. Making a welcome return appearance to boost Colin’s profile: Saturday Night Live veteran Vanessa Bayer as Evie, his counterpart who feeds on people’s emotions. Elsewhere in the comical land of the undead, Nandor (Kayvan Novak) befriends a fellow gym rat (humorist Robert Smigel) whose Judaism captures the lonely vamp’s fancy.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Jaws in the Shallows (8/7c, Discovery): Shark Week heads back to New Zealand to investigate great whites threatening the local beaches. Followed by Monster Mako: Fresh Blood (9/8c) featuring 12-foot-long mako sharks off the California coast, and Shark vs. Snake: Battle of the Bites (10/9), in which sea snakes may be winning the war against tiger sharks in Western Australia.
• The Slumber Party (8/7c, Disney Channel): A teen comedy based on Jen Malone’s The Sleepover depicts the morning-after fallout from a sleepover birthday-party hypnotism.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Harley Quinn (streaming on Max): A fourth season of the animated dark comedy finds antiheroine Harley (Kaley Cuoco) hoping to wrangle her way into the Legion of Doom after her break-up with The Joker (Alan Tudyk).
• The Witcher (streaming on Netflix): Enjoy the last three episodes of the epic fantasy before Henry Cavill vacates the role of Geralt of Rivia, turning the monster-hunter reins over to Liam Hemsworth for Season 4.
• Happiness for Beginners (streaming on Netflix): Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Ellie Kemper stars in a romcom (based on Katherine Center’s novel) as newly divorced Helen, whose fresh start begins with an adventurous hike of the Appalachian Trail with other misfits—and her brother’s handsome best friend (Yellowstone’s Luke Grimes).
• The Heiress and the Heist (streaming on Sundance Now): A three-part docuseries tells the story of English heiress Rose Dugdale, who rebelled against her privileged roots by joining the IRA and masterminding burglaries including the 1974 Russborough House heist that netted 19 paintings worth roughly $90 million today.
• Mother Undercover (streaming on Hulu): A four-part true-crime docuseries from ABC News Studios follows four mothers who go to extremes in covert operations to protect or seek justice for their children.