‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Returns, ‘Roots’ Flips the Script, ‘Alert’ to Tragedy, ‘Will Trent’ Cracks a Cult

The Handmaid’s Tale

The fight for freedom, and one woman’s struggle to reunite her broken family, continues in the Emmy-winning allegory (from Margaret Atwood‘s novel) about a dystopian society that imagines the United States as a repressive, authoritarian land now called Gilead. Returning after a nearly three-year absence into a climate many will consider especially timely, the premiere includes this loaded dialogue, reflecting anti-immigrant sentiment on both sides of the border: “It’s not a good time to be an American in Canada.” The series picks up with freedom fighter June (Elisabeth Moss, who directs the first two episodes) and her former nemesis Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), now with an infant of her own, embarking on a perilous train journey that will experience its share of harrowing detours. Launches with three episodes.

Finding Your Roots

The enthralling genealogy series turns the tables on its affable host, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in the Season 11 finale, by putting his own family tree in the spotlight. “I feel naked over here,” he jokes to genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, who presents Gates with his own “Book of Life” while clearing up mysteries involving his great-great grandmother June Gates, “the oldest Gates on record,” an enslaved woman. “I’m floored,” he says, choked up when Moore presents new information about his lineage. Also impressed: Laurence Fishburne, who enlists Gates to help him discover the identity of his biological father. He gets his wish, and then some, declaring, “It’s better than any movie script or television play I’ve ever read.” Hard to argue.

Alert: Missing Persons Unit

Who’s missing from the unit? Team leader Nikki (Dania Ramirez), who was shockingly killed in last week’s episode, leaving her detective husband Mike (Ryan Broussard), her ex, Jason (Scott Caan), and the show’s fans bereft. And yet the work goes on, and while his colleagues worry Mike is deflecting his grief, their new case is especially urgent, when a mother reports her son missing, who’s needed for a bone marrow transplant within the next 48 hours for his brother.

Will Trent

Like Mike in Alert, GBI agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) probably should have stayed on desk duty, still dealing with his trauma from a recent tragic shooting. But he’s already infiltrated a sinister cult known as the Olas Collective, run by a controlling and charismatic leader, Rain (Deadwood‘s Robin Weigert, late of Tracker). When he goes back undercover, the GBI and APD are poised to take action should his identity become known.

Daredevil: Born Again

Could Mayor Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) swank Black and White Ball be a metaphor for the fight between good and evil playing out in his corrupt and murderous administration? Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) certainly thinks so, telling his colleague Kirsten (an underused Nikki M. James), “We’re not serving justice here. We’re babysitting chaos.” The season’s penultimate episode builds to the elite fundraiser, where an uninvited guest promises to bring even more chaos.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• FBI (8/7c, CBS): While the team investigates the shooting murder of a rapper and two fans on a tour bus, Special Agent in Charge Isobel (Alana de la Garza) considers her future with the agency. Tom Cavanagh (The Flash, Ed) guest-stars as her husband, Phillip. Followed by FBI: International (9/8c), where Agent Tyler Booth (Station 19‘s Jay Hayden) returns to help the Fly Team find a psychologist with national security ties who vanished in the Swiss Alps; and FBI: Most Wanted (10/9c), with the case of a TV home-renovation star who goes on the lam after his wife and co-star is found dead.
• The Rookie (9/8c, ABC): The squad looks into who’s responsible for anti-LAPD billboards popping up all over town.
• All Access PD: Grand Rapids (10/9c, Investigation Discovery): A docuseries embedded within the Grand Rapids, Michigan police department opens with detectives seeking the masked murderer of a 15-year-old.
• Bad Romance (10/9c, ABC): The cautionary true-crime series revisits the 2018 shooting death of Molly Watson, killed two days before her wedding to James Addie, who unbeknownst to her already had a wife.

 ON THE STREAM:

• My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (streaming on Netflix): The latest installment of the unconventional talk series features David Letterman’s interview with WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.
• The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox (streaming on Netflix): An immersive sports docuseries follows the Boston team through the 2024 season.
• Spy High (streaming on Prime Video): A four-part docuseries from executive producer Mark Wahlberg explores the spyware scandal that erupted when 15-year-old Blake Robbins accused his prestigious suburban Philadelphia high school of invading his digital privacy and spying on him after he was accused of selling drugs.