Finale Frenzy (ABC Dramas, ‘Hacks,’ ‘Star Trek: Discovery’), South Korea’s ‘Pyramid Game,’ Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘Eric’

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Having made a successful transition from Fox to ABC, the first-responder drama has plenty on its plate for the Season 7 finale. Fire Capt. Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) lies in the hospital, having suffered cardiac arrest after his house burned down, and his police sergeant wife Athena (fierce Angela Bassett) wants answers: “The only thing holding me upright is rage,” she seethes. There’s more personal trauma among the 118 staff, with Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) plotting to win back the foster daughter who was taken from them, and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) begging for forgiveness from son Christopher (Gavin McHugh) after he glimpsed the doppelgänger of his late mom hugging his dad. Yikes.

Grey’s Anatomy

The longest-running prime-time medical drama wraps its 20^th season with a crossover featuring cast members of its canceled spinoff Station 19 (10/9c) as a raging wildfire threatens Seattle. Grey Sloan’s ER is overrun, adding to the stress as the doctors worry about the fates of their firefighter friends and lovers. The Station 19 series finale promises to reveal where the dedicated souls of that firehouse are headed—several no doubt making cameo appearances, if not more, on Grey’s Anatomy in the future.

Hacks

The show-biz comedy’s triumphant Season 3 finale brings the legendary comic Deborah Vance (Emmy winner Jean Smart) to a new career pinnacle, with the prospect of hosting a late-night show. But will she be able to keep her conflicted protégée and comedy writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) on board? Few shows depict the bitter realities of show business with as much flair, and only one thing can be counted on, in the words of Deborah’s estranged sister (J. Smith-Cameron): “The show isn’t going to make dealing with you any easier, is it?” TV legend Hal Linden (Barney Miller) makes a memorable appearance as an iconic TV exec with sage advice for the comeback queen.

Star Trek: Discovery

After five seasons, the first of Star Trek’s streaming spinoffs adheres to the franchise’s hopeful and humanistic traditions in its series finale. But to get there, Capt. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) navigates a metaphysical head trip while trapped in an alien portal alongside the combative Moll (Eve Harlow), each seeking the Progenitors’ technology that promises the power of creation. Concurrent with her mission, Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) puts off his wedding to try and exercise diplomacy with the menacing Breen, who engage the Discovery crew in one of their fiercest battles to date. As often happens in series finales, a flash-forward provides clues to the future of this Starfleet family.

Pyramid Game

The stakes may not be quite as high as in the infamous Squid Game, also from South Korea, but try telling that to the tormented adolescents subjected to shame and violent bullying in this gripping though bloated 10-part melodrama. The “pyramid game” is a popularity app invented at an all-girls’ high school where anyone ranked an “F” (no votes) is subjected to a torrent of cruel abuse. When new arrival Su-ji (Kim Ji-yeon) is exposed to the game, she decides to fight back against the sociopathic and well-connected ringleader Ha-rin (Jang Da-ah) and take down the system. It’s a long haul, but there’s no doubting these mean girls mean business. (See the full review.)

Eric

The grittiness of New York City in the 1980s, including an underground culture living in the squalid subway tunnels, is the most authentic aspect of Abi Morgan’s strained six-part limited series. Benedict Cumberbatch stars, giving it his all in an impossible role as Vincent, an arrogant, self-pitying master puppeteer who alienates everyone on the staff of his popular children’s TV show. And that’s before his 9-year-old son Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe) suddenly goes missing, leaving behind drawings of a large fuzzy blue monster named Eric, who begins haunting and taunting Vincent. Scenes in which a spiraling Vincent talks back to Eric in public earshot come off as silly rather than disturbing, throwing off the tone of an overlong and relentlessly dark urban panorama of civic corruption, racism, homophobia and general dysfunction. The strong supporting cast includes Gaby Hoffman (Transparent) as Vincent’s distraught wife and McKinley Belcher III as a closeted missing-persons detective looking for Edgar, tying the case to that of a missing Black boy whose earlier disappearance garnered far less media and police attention.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• 60 Days In (9/8c, A&E): The docuseries’ ninth season opens with seven volunteers preparing to go undercover inside the Utah County Jail to discover flaws in the prison system. Followed by Season 2 of Inmate to Roommate (10/9c), in which newly released prisoners move in with strangers to acclimate to society and its rules.
• Elkhorn (9/8c, INSP): While wildfires rage on Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19, the historical drama also deals with a blaze that endangers Theodore Roosevelt’s (Mason Beals) Elkhorn Ranch, forcing the future president to sell off some livestock, creating conflict when he won’t take the town founder’s low offer.
• Outchef’d (9:30/8:30c, Food Network): Home cooks are ambushed by host Eddie Jackson when their supposed audition turns out to be a head-to-head battle with a renowned chef. Season 3 opens in Boston, when an unsuspecting cook learns he’ll be facing his childhood hero Andrew Zimmern in a cookoff involving wild grains.

ON THE STREAM:

• Evil (streaming on Paramount+): The whimsical supernatural thriller sends the team to investigate a werewolf sighting that has a rather mechanical payoff. Ben (Aasif Mandvi) tries to use science to deal with his djinn visions, while devil disciple Cheryl (Christine Lahti) takes on her male bosses and gets a hilarious demonstration of the proverbial glass ceiling.
• We Are Lady Parts (streaming on Peacock): The Peabody-winning comedy returns for a second season, with the all-Muslim women’s punk-rock group riding a wave of success after their U.K. tour. They head into the recording studio for their first album, fueled by the arrival of a rival band. Guest stars include Nobel Peace Prize laureate and activist Malala Yousafzai.
• The First Omen (streaming on Hulu): The prequel to the hit horror franchise makes its streaming debut, starring Nell Tiger Free (Servant) as a novice nun who discovers a conspiracy in Rome that leads to the birth of the Antichrist known as Damien. Evil’s Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson) will no doubt be watching.