‘Afterparty’ Whodunit Finale, a Haunting on the Reservation, ‘Scouts Honor,’ ‘Evolution Earth’

Season Finale

“This is not some Agatha Christie bullsh*t!” sputters one of the suspects as the stylish comedy whodunit’s second season comes to an entertaining close. But it kind of is, as former detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) and her sidekicks in amateur sleuthing, Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Zoë (Zoë Chao), piece together the final clues to deduce who slew the unfortunate groom (Zach Woods). But first, there’s exposition played out in genre form, including one suspect’s recollection of an incident that “felt like this campy horror film”—think a canine version of Child’s Play—and another with the look and tone of a Dynasty-style prime-time soap. Stay tuned past the solution for a clever coda providing a twist on the ”Hollywood ending” that Danner promised, with more fun celebrity cameos.

No two episodes of FX’s poignant comedy of Oklahoma reservation life are quite alike, and once again, the focus shifts away from the young pups to the adults—in this case, Bear’s (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) mom Rita (the excellent Sarah Podemski), who does some profound soul-searching when presented a life-changing opportunity. A familiar spirit from her past urges Rita to follow her son’s lead and look beyond the reservation, but the tug of responsibility among the Aunties to tend to their restless flock weighs mightily. Reservation Dogs has the rare ability to treat heavy material with a light touch, and it’s impossible not to be moved.

Documentary Premiere

Be prepared. An investigative exposé leans on testimony of survivors of abuse and former employees to reveal a systematic culture of secrecy within the Boy Scouts of America that hid so-called “perversion files” from public view, allegedly allowing sexual abuse within the organization to go unreported. The numbers are staggering, with a reported 82,000 victims. Could whistleblowing earn you a merit badge?

Documentary Premiere

10/9c

Animals don’t have the luxury of debating climate change. As a new docuseries reveals, they must learn to adapt or perish. Over five episodes traversing rugged and urban terrain, Evolution Earth shows how animals are migrating, changing their behaviors and otherwise evolving. The opening episode features humpback whales, butterflies, Fongoli chimps, and marine iguanas in the Galapagos region whose skeletons have shrunk to handle the extreme local climes.

A pivotal episode of the sci-fi drama zeroes in on its most fascinating character: Mitsuki (Shioli Kutsuna), the intuitive genius from the Japanese space agency who has been brought to the site of a crashed spacecraft. With revenge on her mind after the death of her astronaut lover, Mitsuki thinks she has figured out a way to hack into the alien’s communication system, which might give the humans an advantage against their seemingly unstoppable alien invaders. This could be good news as well for the series’ other lead heroine, Aneesha (Golshifteh Farahani), who finds her family in peril once again while being transported by the revolutionaries in the Movement she has yet to commit to.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• MasterChef: United Tastes of America (8/7c, Fox): The cooking competition hits the wall in a two-hour episode—quite literally, a 55-foot wall that separates contestants as they try to prepare a meal together.
• Superfan (8/7c, CBS): Five fans who are bullish on Pitbull compete to prove who knows the rapper best.
• Ultimate Cowboy Showdown (8/7c, INSP): An all-star season of the rugged Western contest is clouded by tragedy. After filming was completed, competitor Jackson Taylor died in July during a rodeo event, and this season, in which he prominently appears, is dedicated to his memory.
• Crime Scene Confidential (9/8c, ID): Former CSI Alina Burroughs is back for a second season of true-crime investigation, reopening murder cases and looking for fresh clues. In the opener, she travels to Ohio where she examines microscopic fibers that could help solve the January 1998 murder of single mom Margie Coffey, found strangles and frozen to death in a creek.
• Austin City Limits: Country (10/9c, Circle Network): The country-music channel launches a second season of the performance and interview series, opening with music from Willie and the Wheel (Willie Nelson paired with Asleep at the Wheel). Followed by a new season of Landmarks: The Stages of Country Music (11:30/10:30c), visiting some of the country’s top recording and performance venues, starting with country singer Ernest rhapsodizing about recording at Nashville’s Ocean Way studio.
• America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston (10/9c, PBS): The author-podcaster and nature enthusiast explores the great outdoors in the series’ second season. First stop: the wild wetlands, marshes and cave systems of the Suwannee River, traveling downstream from Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp to Florida, making the acquaintance of manatees and jet skiers.

ON THE STREAM:

• Never Let Him Go (streaming on Hulu): A four-part true-crime docuseries from ABC News Studios follows a brother’s search for justice over nearly four decades, when Steve Johnson began looking for answers in the 1988 death of his brother Scott, a gay American mathematician found at the bottom of an Australian cliff. Though it was initially ruled a suicide, Steve kept probing, revealing a pattern of violence against the LGBTQ+ community Down Under.
• The Little Mermaid (streaming on Disney+): The live-action version of the groundbreaking Disney musical, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, is available for streaming with bonus content, including a new song for King Triton (Javier Bardem) by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Also new to Disney+: a second season of I Am Groot animated shorts featuring the tree-like Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.