An ‘Evil’ Chatbot, Peacock’s Ancient Rome Melodrama, ‘Boys’ Finale, ‘Cobra Kai’s Beginning of the End, ABC’s ‘Lucky 13’

Evil

The supernatural thriller, nearing the end of its brilliant final season, confronts the specter of A.I. in one of the team’s more provocatively ambiguous cases. Their target: a software program called Last Connection, a “griefbot” chatbot that allows people to stay in conversation with those who have passed. Tony winner Santino Fontana (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) guests as the chatbot’s concerned overseer, who believes the software’s algorithm has been hacked by demonic forces. Sounds like a job for Kristen (Katja Herbers), David (Mike Colter) and Ben (Aasif Mandvi)—who each try the software at home with wildly divergent and disturbing results. Also disturbing: the wicked Leland’s (Michael Emerson) response to Cheryl’s (Christine Lahti) defiant baptism of the Antichrist baby Timothy, with the deadline looming for the satanic ceremony declaring “The Beginning of the End.”

Those About to Die

The philosophy of this lurid melodrama set in 1st Century Rome in a nutshell: “Enough is good. More is better. Too much is perfect.” This from Tenax (Game of Thrones’ Iwan Rheon), an expert at excess who revels in his anti-hero antics as a street-smart hustler working his way up Roman society through his connection to the chariot races and gladiator fights that are designed to quench the mob’s bloodlust. And blood flows throughout the 10 episodes, from the derivative credits onward. Anthony Hopkins, as ailing Emperor Vespasian, is the cast’s biggest name, with Victoria’s Tom Hughes as his warrior son and Jojo Macari as the sniveling spare heir waging a ruthless battle for succession. More engaging are scrappy characters like Sara Martins’ Cala, a cunning mother who’ll do anything to free her abducted children from slavery and the gladiator ring, and Dimitri Leonidas as Scorpus, a boastful charioteer who’s a pawn in the elite’s power games. Launches with all 10 episodes.

The Boys

The outrageous superhero satire ends its fourth season with political allegory that’s anything but subtle. Homelander (Antony Starr) makes a move against VP-elect Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) that could throw the certification of her and President-elect Bob Singer (Jim Beaver) into turmoil—on Jan. 6, no less. While the Boys try to protect Singer from assassination, (Karl Urban) makes a desperate move to get young Cameron Crovetti away from Homelander, which as usual risks all manner of calamity.

Cobra Kai

The Karate Kid spinoff is gearing up for a very long goodbye, with five episodes launching the sixth and final season (with another batch to come Nov. 15 and the final five sometime in 2025). It’s going to be an eventful exit, as Ralph Macchio and William Zabka brush off Cobra Kai’s elimination from the Valley, and the senseis and students prepare to train for the Sekai Taikai—the world championships of karate. But there’s that nagging matter of über-villain Martin Kove faking his death and escaping from prison.

Lucky 13

Here’s how to win $1 million on this quiz show: Get all 13 true-and-false answers right and have the confidence to predict your prowess on the nose. The suspense in Lucky 13, hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and a spirited Gina Rodriguez (late of Not Dead Yet), comes from each contestant making a wager about how many questions they believe they answered correctly. Get too few or too many correct and you may leave empty-handed. My beef is that it takes too long to go through the questions, and later the answers. (But if you play along and predict your own results, it’s more fun.) The production values are reminiscent of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, but mainly remind you how much better that game is when played the classic way. Preceded by the season premiere of Press Your Luck(8/7c), hosted by Elizabeth Banks.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Republican National Convention (8 pm/ET, PBS): Coverage of the final night of the GOP gathering in Milwaukee will blanket the news networks, with PBS going wall-to-wall in prime time, NBC joining in at 9 pm/ET and ABC and CBS going live at 10 pm/ET. Following the events, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is expected to go live (approximately 11:30/10:30c), and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (approximately 11:35/10:35c) follows suit with Senator Bernie Sanders as the scheduled guest.
• The Commandant’s Shadow (9/8c, HBO): In a real-life companion piece to the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, a documentary profiles Hans Jürgen Höss, the 87-year-old son of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, as he reflects on a childhood in the shadow of the notorious concentration camp and as an adult grappling with his father’s dark legacy. The centerpiece of the film depicts his meeting 80 years later with camp survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a Jewish cellist who played her instrument to stay alive.
• The West Coast Hustle (9/8c MTV): A reality series follows TV personality and recording artist Chanel West Coast as she balances new motherhood and career.

ON THE STREAM:

• My Spy The Eternal City (streaming on Prime Video): Dave Bautista returns in the sequel to the 2020 action comedy as CIA agent JJ, who finds danger when chaperoning his 14-year-old stepdaughter and spy wannabe protégée Sophie (Chloe Coleman) to Rome, where they get caught up in a nuclear plot targeting the Vatican.
• How I Caught My Killer (streaming on Hulu): The second season of the true-crime docuseries features 10 more cases in which clues left behind by a victim—often through their digital footprint online or on their phones—lead to the apprehension of the killer.
• Kite Man: Hell Yeah! (streaming on Max): Spinning off from Harley Quinn, an adult animated action superhero comedy finds the hapless titular hero (voiced by Matt Oberg) opening a bar with his beloved Golden Glider (Stephanie Hsu) in a sketchy neighborhood near Lex Luthor’s Legion of Doom.
• Tyler Perry’s Bruh (streaming on BET+): The dramedy about male friendship in Atlanta returns for its fourth season with new relationship and career challenges.