‘The Testaments,’ ‘Shrinking’ Finale, ‘Boys’ Are Back, Elephant in the Room

The Testaments

The handmaids remain almost entirely off-camera in this stark sequel to the Emmy-winning The Handmaid’s Tale, which returns to author Margaret Atwood‘s dystopian world of Gilead, where America has become a repressive patriarchy and young women are denied basic rights and freedoms. The focus in this series turns to the pampered, sheltered daughters of the all-powerful Commanders, attending a finishing school led by the formidable Aunt Lydia (the terrific Ann Dowd) that grooms the young ladies to become submissive wives and, if lucky, mothers. Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) stars as Agnes, living in a seemingly blissful ignorance of who her real parents are. (Fans of the series will understand instantly.) Her life changes forever when Agnes is assigned to mentor the school’s latest recruit from sinful Canada, Daisy (Lucy Halliday), who’s not nearly as naïve as she appears. The series launches with three episodes. (See the full review.)

Shrinking

With his daughter graduating and moving across the country, his neighbors traveling, and his mentor retiring, neurotic therapist Jimmy (Jason Segel) is facing a solitary future as the third season of the poignant comedy ends on a wistful yet hopeful note. “Alone doesn’t have to mean lonely,” Jimmy tells one of his clients, but does the forlorn widower truly believe it? Among the hurdles before he can move forward: clearing the air between him and Paul (Harrison Ford), his former boss and forever father figure, who left town with much still to be resolved in their relationship.

The Boys

The gleefully bloody, wildly entertaining superhero romp returns for an epic fifth and final season, with the villainous narcissist Homelander (Antony Starr) crowing, “My power is absolute.” Not if the gruff Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and his intrepid vigilante “Boys” have their way. But it will be an uphill battle against the corrupt forces of evil, with Homelander seeking a path to immortality while Butcher plots to weaponize a virus that could send all the “Supes” into oblivion. Whoever’s left standing, it’s going to be messy. The season opens with two episodes.

Nature

Some of the greatest nature stories require a human touch. That’s the case with this moving two-part Nature docuseries, Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti, depicting the bond between orphaned elephants and their keepers from the Samburu tribe, who’ve rescued the animals and tend to them within the Reteti elephant sanctuary in Kenya. Whether nurturing the very young, including a calf who lost his trunk during a hyena attack, or preparing the older elephants to return to the wild, the connection between the animals and their protectors runs deep. Good luck finding a more heartwarming story.

Scrubs

J.D. (Zach Braff) is walking tall as Sacred Heart’s new chief of medicine, and it will take a lot to knock him off his confident stride. Or maybe it just requires a return visit by his mentor and tormentor, Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), whose “dark tableau” disrupts his cowed disciple’s “positivity filter.” Turk (Donald Faison) challenges his buddy by asking, “When are you going to stop needing his approval?” The answer is probably never, but when Cox unexpectedly reveals a more vulnerable side, J.D. will be the first in line to help.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

· The Floor (8/7c, Fox): Activate the randomizer! The fast-paced trivia game show, hosted by Rob Lowe, returns for a fifth season with a two-hour opener, introducing a new game advantage that sends one of the 100 contestants into the final stages of the competition.

· Chicago Med (8/7c, NBC): Dr. Charles’ (Oliver Platt) life is on the line in the conclusion of a two-parter. Followed by Chicago Fire (9/8c), where Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) investigates the source of a fire at a surgery center, and Chicago P.D. (10/9c), with tension growing between Voight (Jason Beghe) and Imani (Arienne Mandi) as Intelligence responds to a wave of ATM robberies.

· Survivor (8/7c, CBS): Accusations of betrayal erupt after the triple elimination during last week’s Blood Moon tribal council.

· Love & Hip Hop: Miami (8/7c, BET): The seventh season resumes with more romantic complications in the lives of ambitious players in Miami’s music scene.

· Abbott Elementary (8:30/7:30c, ABC): There’s trouble in romantic paradise when Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) can’t get on the same page regarding their upcoming vacation. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) is also in for a rude awakening when a prized former student returns, having learned some of her street-smart lessons a bit too well.

· The Greatest Average American (9/8c, ABC): How well does well-traveled host Nate Bargatze know the U.S. states? We’ll find out in the latest round of the comedic quiz and trivia game show.

· World’s Tallest Man (9/8c, TLC): A special checks in with Sultan Kösen, the Turkish farmer who holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s tallest living man at 8 feet, 3 inches.

· America’s Culinary Cup (9:30/8:30c, CBS): How sweet it is! The eight remaining master chefs focus on desserts, one heavenly and the other devilish (including a surprise ingredient picked by their rivals), with World’s Best Pastry Chef Nina Métayer serving as a guest judge.

· Trust Me: The False Prophet (streaming on Netflix): A four-part true-crime documentary depicts the malign influence of cult leader Samuel Bateman, the heir apparent to the FLDS’s notorious Warren Jeffs, when a mole infiltrates their circle to expose the successor’s crimes of child sexual abuse and trafficking.