Worth Watching: Life After ‘Divorce,’ Wimbledon Begins, ‘Years and Years,’ ‘Code’ Returns
A selective critical checklist of notable Monday TV:
Divorce (10/9c, HBO): Believe me, you’re not the only one surprised that this bittersweet-to-maudlin comedy about a broken marriage is still carrying on. As the third season gets underway, Frances (Sarah Jessica Parker) moves to a city apartment, makes a career change and pursues life with a new beau (James Lesure). Her ex, Robert (Thomas Haden Church), has also moved on, and now must tell Frances and their kids that he’s about to start a new family with pregnant fiancée Jackie (Becki Newton).
Wimbledon (coverage starts at 6 am/5c, ESPN): Novak Djokovic and Angelique Kerber defend their 2018 titles as game play begins at the fabled All England Club in London. Can’t think of a better way to start the morning, and while away some afternoons, for the next two weeks.
Years and Years (9/8c, HBO): The anxiety level continues to rise in the second chapter of this enthralling near-future family drama, as world events rock the financial markets, causing stress and possible calamity for Stephen (Rory Kinnear) and Celeste (T’Nia Miller). Having witnessed the nuclear detonation on the opposite side of the world six months earlier, Edith (Jessica Hynes) returns to London, possibly a changed woman, as she laments, “The world keeps getting hotter and faster and madder, and we don’t pause, we don’t think, we don’t learn. We just keep racing to the next disaster.” And yet she champions disruptive political up-and-comer Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson) while attending a raucous rally with sister Rosie (Ruth Madeley).
The Code (9/8c, CBS): Bumped off the schedule in recent weeks, the midseason legal military drama is back to finish out its first season, with Abe (Luke Mitchell) and Harper (Phillipa Soo) investigating a Marine recruiter’s alleged misconduct. Their case is put in jeopardy when the key witness refuses to testify.
Inside Monday TV: Streaming highlights include a second season of the quirky Swedish dramedy The Simple Heist on Acorn TV. After successfully pulling off a bank robbery in the first season, fledgling thieves Jenny (Lotta Teijle), a math teacher, and her doctor pal Cecilia (Sissela Kyle) now target Kalmar’s aristocracy in planning an art heist… Netflix’s Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room presents the British-based single-mom comedian with her second stand-up showcase, telling stories about following a man to Japan and meeting her daughter’s #1 celebrity crush, Anna Kendrick… Executive producer Eva Longoria Baston can be seen in flashbacks as the late matriarch of ABC’s Grand Hotel (10/9c) in an episode where new wife Gigi (Roselyn Sanchez) once again clashes with heiress Alicia (Denyse Tontz)… Illuminating the plight of transgender inequality, the POV documentary Call Her Ganda (10/9c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org) tells the troubling story of Jennifer Laude, a 26-year-old transgender Filipina woman murdered by a 19-year-old U.S. marine who left her with her head plunged into a motel-room toilet. The documentary follows local female and trans activists who rally to her cause and fight for justice.
