Millie Bobby Brown No Shrinking ‘Damsel,’ ‘Hightown’ Finale, Poignant Farewell on ‘White Water,’ Travel Europe with Eugene Levy

Movie Premiere

As Eleven on Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown has faced her share of monsters. Though maybe not on the scale of the fire-breathing dragon she battles in her new medieval fantasy adventure. She’s Princess Elodie, whose wedding to a supposed Prince Charming is sullied by the catch in her betrothed’s vows: The “I do’s” are a pretext to a ritualistic sacrifice in which the bride is thrown into a pit to be consumed by the beastly dragon as part of what monster-in-law Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright) calls “a legacy of honor and duty.” This damsel may be in distress, but the resourceful heroine isn’t about to lie down and become royal barbecue.

Series Finale

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In the gritty crime drama’s series finale, the case is coming to a close with a battle for control of Cape Cod’s drug trade and newly sober cop Jackie (Monica Raymund) once again caught in the middle, picking a side after a chance encounter. Gang boss Shane Frawley (Garret Dillahunt) aims to gather allies by bringing longtime enemies together, while Detective Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale) and combative lover Renee (Riley Voelkel) make their latest deal with a devil.

Season Premiere

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The eighth season of the Gold Rush spinoff opens on a tragic note, as miner Dustin Hurt says a poignant farewell to his father, Dakota Fred (who passed away in July 2023, a day after his 80^th birthday), before heading back to the untamable Nugget Creek. Dustin is looking for redemption after he and his crew barely survived catastrophe the year before, hoping finally to triumph over Mother Nature and find gold beneath the treacherous waters.

Season Premiere

The wry travelogue starring Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Eugene Levy returns for a second season, this time on a more personal note. With a grand tour of Europe on his itinerary, Levy begins his latest journey by traveling to the land of his mother’s childhood: Scotland, where he dons a kilt to explore his family history while living it up at the picturesque Candacraig castle. The two-part opener also includes a visit to Sweden at Midsummer where moose calling and a river kayak ride are among the adventures. Future destinations include Saint-Tropez in France, a spa in Germany, and stops in Italy, the Greek islands and Spain. Wherever he takes us, we’re in good company.

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Doubling up with a two-parter in its final season, the police action drama begins with the team on the lookout for a Chilean arms dealer who kidnapped a woman and her daughter from a party. Subplots include Hondo (Shemar Moore) learning Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit) is considering a job offer that could mean hanging up his bulletproof vest, while Tan (David Lim) fesses up to his family about his divorce. In the second episode (9/8c), Street (Alex Russell) suspects a biker club’s deadly intent with stolen armor-piercing bullets while training with the Long Beach unit.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• RuPaul’s Drag Race (8/7c, MTV): The remaining queens “Werq the World” by performing an inspirational political anthem, with choreographer Jamal Sims the guest judge.
• True Crime Watch: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8) reports on FBI team newly assigned to the case of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, who vanished in 2009 during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, and how they tied her murder to convicted sex offender Raymond Moody. On Dateline NBC (9/8c), an episode bumped by last week’s breaking news features Dennis Murphy’s report on how surveillance footage helped solve the 2017 murder of a Baltimore firefighter.
• Real Time with Bill Maher (10/9c, HBO): As Oscar weekend looms, two-time winner and current nominee Robert DeNiro (Killers of the Flower Moon), who’s never afraid to speak his mind, appears for a one-on-one interview.

ON THE STREAM:

• First Time Female Director (streaming on The Roku Channel): Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Chelsea Peretti is writer-director-star auteur of a droll comedy about a novice theater director trying to wrangle a wacky ensemble including Megan Mullally, with Amy Poehler as her therapist and Max Greenfield as a snarky usher. Look for celebrity cameos throughout.
• Wonka (streaming on Max): Timothée Chalamet, currently packing them in movie theaters in Dune: Part Two, takes the title role in the whimsical musical origin story of Willy Wonka, making its streaming debut after a December theatrical run.
• Masters of the Air (streaming on Apple TV+): D-Day looms over the World War II drama’s penultimate episode, with the POW pilots (including newly introduced Tuskegee Airmen) wondering how they’ll be used as leverage after the invasion, and an exhausted Crosby (Anthony Boyle) in danger of collapsing under the pressure.
• The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (streaming on Apple TV+): The hilarious 18^th-century period parody finds the upbeat accidental Highwayman outlaw (Noel Fielding) chained to his nemesis, corrupt Thief Taker Jonathan Wilde (Hugh Bonneville), while trying to unload a cache of gold bars stolen from the criminal Syndicate. The great Tamsin Greig (Episodes) appears as the Syndicate’s ruthlessly capricious leader.
• Boarders (streaming on Tubi): A posh British boarding school welcomes—if that’s the word—five Black inner-city scholarship students in a spirited six-episode comedy series imported from the U.K.