‘Good Doctor’ Reels from Tragedy, ‘Shogun’ Regroups from Betrayal, ‘Finding Your Roots’ Among Non-Celebrities, ‘FBI’ Crossovers
The Good Doctor lost one of its own last week, but grieving takes a back seat to a medical emergency. As FX’s epic Shōgun nears its end, another death and a familial betrayal force Lord Toranaga to retreat. In a first for PBS’ Finding Your Roots, Henry Louis Gates Jr. investigates the family trees of everyday Americans. Characters from the FBI mothership visit the spinoffs, with Jeremy Sisto guesting on FBI: International and John Boyd on FBI: Most Wanted.
The Good Doctor
Spoiler alert for those who missed last week’s episode: As the staff of San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital gather to mourn Asher (Noah Galvin), killed in an anti-Semitic and anti-gay hate crime, Lea (Paige Spara) warns a closed-off Shaun (Freddie Highmore), “When the loss finally hits, it can be really intense.” The doctors’ grieving is cut short by a mass casualty, with more than 25 patients flooding into the hospital after a driver plows his car through a crowd of people. Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) puts Shaun in charge, figuring he “won’t let his emotions get in the way.” But all bets are off when the crises pile up, challenging the autistic savant surgeon to stay focused.
Shōgun
Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) is also dealing with personal loss: His hot-headed son Nagakado (Yuki Kura) perished foolishly while attempting to kill his uncle, Toranaga’s brother, who revealed that he had usurped Toranaga’s place on the Council of Regents. Reeling from these setbacks, Toranaga retreats to Edo, while English pilot Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) once again assesses his loyalties in this strange and dangerous land of 1600s Japan.
Finding Your Roots
Most weeks, this fascinating genealogy series delves into the ancestral past of well-known celebrities and public figures. In a first, the Season 10 finale brings Henry Louis Gates, Jr. together with three everyday Americans whose family histories are just as compelling. The subjects, found after a nationwide search: Terrie Morrow of Birmingham, Alabama and two from Pennsylvania: Megan Robertson from Harrisburg and Philadelphia’s Joyce Willis. As is his custom, Gates sheds light on the mysteries of their heritage, often illuminating American history in the process.
FBI
In what is becoming something of a theme on Tuesday procedurals, the FBI team, especially Agent Tiffany Wallace (Katherine Renee Kane), is grappling with a death within their unit: the fatal shooting in the Season 6 premiere of intelligence analyst Trevor Hobbs (Roshawn Franklin) after Tiffany urged him to follow a suspect into a bathroom. In this episode, the agents hunt for the killer of an Army employee. Then it’s time for some of the mothership’s main characters to visit the spinoffs. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) heads to Budapest in FBI: International (9/8c) on a personal mission, to help the Fly Team and the CIA bring down the cartel responsible for the murder of his former girlfriend and colleague. Then Special Agent Stuart Scola (John Boyd) pops in on FBI: Most Wanted (10/9c) to clash with the relocated Nina (Shantel VanSanten) over parenting issues.
INSIDE TUESDAY TV:
- Will Trent (8/7c, ABC): Georgia Bureau of Intelligence agent Will (Ramón Rodríguez) hopes to make some peace with his tortured past when he finally meets his long-lost uncle, Antonio Miranda (John Ortiz). A judge’s murder is the case of the week, with Will’s partner Faith (Iantha Richardson) once against distracted by her increasingly serious relationship with crime reporter Luke (Ser’Darius Blain).
- Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion (9/8c, HBO): A documentary exposes the toxic workplace environment and alleged discriminatory practices of the trendy clothing brand for young girls, also finding environmental abuses in the industry of mass-produced fast fashion by traveling to polluted landfills and waters in Ghana.
- Mud Madness (9/8c, Discovery): No one stays clean for long in this reality series set in the world of extreme off-road UTV mud racing.
- The Rookie (9/8c, ABC): This was bound to happen. After their adventure in foster parenting, Bailey (Jenna Dewan) tries to convince John (Nathan Fillion) to rethink his resistance to having children.
- Password (10/9c, NBC): Jimmy Fallon goes up against two former WWE stars when twins Nikki and Brie Garcia guest on the lively word-game show.
- Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise (10/9c, Freeform): The beautiful people in this exotic reality “docu-soap” can never totally relax in their getaway of sun, sand and scandal. “Even in paradise, it’s hard to know who [to] trust,” says Elizabeth Chambers, still facing rumors tied to her ex, disgraced actor Armie Hammer.
- Surviving Hamas: A Benjamin Hall Special (streaming on Fox Nation): Reporter Benjamin Hall, catastrophically injured while covering the war in Ukraine, provides a two-part report on survivors and families of the Oct. 7 Gaza attack on Israel as the conflict reaches its sixth month.
- Neal Brennan: Crazy Good (streaming on Netflix): The comedian delivers his third special for Netflix with observational riffs from the stage of L.A.’s Fonda Theatre.