A ‘Yellowjackets’ Trial, Streaming ‘Nickel Boys’ and Animated ‘Lord of the Rings,’ a Severed Relationship, Oscars Preview

Yellowjackets

What are the chances that justice will be served on what its defendant calls “a high-school mock trial at the end of the f***ing world?” Such is Coach Scott’s (Steven Krueger) dilemma as he awaits judgment from the soccer team that he once assistant-coached, many of whom believe he was responsible for burning down their cabin in the woods. This is the most gripping episode to date of an uneven third season, and there’s even an enjoyable present-day subplot, with adult Shauna’s (Melanie Lynskey) remorseful husband Jeff (Warren Kole) deciding the family is in a “serious karma deficit” and insists they do something good — but where he chooses to exercise his altruism doesn’t sit well with his wife.

Nickel Boys

Nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay Oscars, director-cowriter RaMell Ross‘s acclaimed version of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel makes its streaming debut. Ross employs a riveting first-person POV perspective to tell the wrenching story of two Black teens (Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson) who bond while trying to survive brutal conditions at a reform school in Florida during the Jim Crow 1960s.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Also new to streaming (and premiering Saturday at 8/7c on HBO): an anime treatment of a story inspired by Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings appendices. Succession‘s Brian Cox provides the voice of Helm Hammerhand, the King of the Rohan, whose daughter Héra (Gaia Wise) rises to become a warrior when the house of Helm faces a brutal enemy.

Severance

Streaming’s buzziest drama gets even trippier than usual — and that’s saying something — in a powerful episode that explores the relationship of Mark Scout/Mark S. (Adam Scott) and his beloved Gemma (Dichen Lachman), the wife he thought he’d lost — and who’s somehow trapped within the mysterious corridors and locked doors of Lumon Industries in the guise of Ms. Casey. How they met, and more details of her severed existence, unravel in a way that’s bound to leave fans disoriented and dazzled.

Fire Country

Constance Zimmer (UnREAL, Big Sky), who’s been known to stir things up on any show where she appears, makes a guest appearance as Vince’s (Billy Burke) ex-girlfriend from high school. Will sparks fly, as they’ve been known to do on this procedural? Elsewhere, a county baseball game is disrupted by a fire in the dugout. Followed by S.W.A.T. (10/9c), where there’s never a day of rest, as Powell (Anna Enger Ritch) and Gamble (Annie Ilonzeh) discover when they discover an illegal weed farm while hiking and end up taking on a cartel.

Countdown to the Oscars with Robin Roberts: A Special Edition of 20/20 (8/7c, ABC): The Good Morning America host previews Sunday’s Oscar ceremony with interviews including Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo — plus a visit with the film’s Oscar-nominated costume designer Paul Tazewell — and A Real Pain‘s star/writer Jesse Eisenberg. Correspondent Chris Connelly chats with first-time Oscar host Conan O’Brien to tease what’s in store on the Dolby Theater stage.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• RuPaul’s Drag Race (8/7c, MTV): Designer Betsey Johnson is the guest judge as the queens rock stunning looks.
• NCIS: Sydney (8/7c, CBS): After a car owned by a U.N. Navy cyber engineer explodes, the team investigates the underworld of online conspiracies.
• True Crime Watch: Blayne Alexander joins Dateline NBC (9/8c) as an official correspondent with a report on the 2016 Texas murder of 25-year-old Chantay Blankinship, whose body was found in an abandoned building known as the “Haunted House.” On ABC‘s 20/20 (9/8c), GMA3 co-anchor Eva Pilgrim revisits the 2012 death of Toni Henthorn, who fell to her suspicious death off a 160-foot cliff while hiking with husband Harold in Rocky Mountain National Park.
• Great Performances: Andrea Bocelli 30th — The Celebration (9/8c, PBS): The renowned tenor marks his three-decade career with a concert from an amphitheater in his Tuscany, Italy hometown, with an impressive roster of guest stars including Ed Sheeran, Johnny Depp, Sofia Vergara, Jon Batiste, Will Smith, Shania Twain, Sofia Carson, David Foster and Katharine McPhee. Not to worry, Bocelli sings the classic “Nessun Dorma” aria solo.