Entertainment News - TV

THIS ISSUE: The Americans, Arrow, Survivor, Empire, Nashville TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT The Americans Does Its Worst FX BECAUSE: We've said it before, we'll say it again: poor, poor Martha. But a big round of applause to Alison Wright, this season's MVP, for acting the hell out of this broken woman. And by Wednesday's episode end, Martha is well and truly broken by her run from both the FBI, and the KGB's most dangerously dysfunctional couple. So when Philip finally catches up to her and gets her to a safe house, he decides to top her terrible day off with a little heart-shattering news: she'll be sent to Russia, leaving her life, her family, and everything she's ever known behind. And he won't be coming with her: "I'll be alone," she says. "Just the way it was before I met you." READ OUR RECAP Arrow The CW WHAT HAPPENED: It's official: there's no Lazarus Pit, no resurrection stone, no resurrection rock, no resurrection... boulder (?) that's bringing Laurel back on Arrow. Tuesday's episode spends an appropriately great deal of time mourning her loss, and as this is Arrow, everyone trades off blaming themselves while also trying to defeat a Black Canary imposter. Surprisingly, it's Oliver who's able to be somewhat logical about Laurel's death and at her funeral -- aka the flash-forward that started it all -- the real goal for the rest of the season is set into motion. Though Oliver is doubtful of his ability to defeat Damien Darhk's special form of dark magic, Felicity tells him if they don't, Darhk wins, and Laurel's death would have been for nothing: "You have to kill that sonuvabitch ... for Laurel, for the city -- for all of us." No pressure, though. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: As in the comic books that inspire it, death is a fickle and fluctuating thing on Arrow so we'd understand if you find it hard to believe that Laurel is really gone. As the A.V. Club reminds, "No one is cruel enough to point this out, but tonight's episode marks the third time Quentin Lance has buried a daughter, and he's only got two of them. (And the other one is still alive!)" But we're taking a little faith in the validity of our own mourning process in the fact that Lance does finally seem to come around to the finality of Laurel's death. Though the A.V. Club still has a little hope for the comic-book-ness of it all: "Maybe Laurel really is dead, but can we please get Lance seeking out the help of one John Constantine to try to bring her back? Hell, let's throw in Alex Kingston as Dinah for one hell of a trio." READ OUR RECAP Survivor CBS WHAT HAPPENED: EW recapper Dalton Ross has a question about Wednesday night's episode of Survivor: "Did we just watch a one-hour confessional interview with Jason, or was it his same short interview just replayed on a continuous loop over and over again?" Indeed, the hour contained a lot of Jason lamenting his swift drop to the bottom of the tribe following Tai's blindside of Scot last week. Ultimately though, it wasn't top-billed star Jason who was sent home at Tribal Council, but he doesn't exactly have himself to thank for that. He and double-crosser Julia tried to lure Michele and Cydney back over to their sides for another of this season's patented #blindsides, but in the end, they both stuck with the majority, and the real surprising maneuver came when that majority decided to vote out Julia for her perceived threat-status, rather than Jason with all his polarizing bravado. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: There was one much more subtle strategic move (or not strategic, as it were) in Wednesday's slightly less eventful episode that host Jeff Probst discussed with EW: At Tribal Council, after hearing his name thrown around a number of times as a healthy alternative to either Jason or Julia, Tai asked unofficial majority leader Aubry if she thought he should play his idol. And she said no. But whether he needed it or not, wouldn't flushing the idol have been her strongest play? Probst says it's "the kind of question that keeps players up at night ... My best guess is that Aubry made a move that she thought would connect her to Tai. Tai likes to play from a foundation based on moral code. He seems to respect that kind of gameplay. If that's true, then Aubry may have just solidified her strongest alliance by showing Tai ... 'I get you, and I won't lie to you.'" Or she may have just solidified her biggest threat. Waiting to see how one tiny move plays out is all part of the Survivor package, folks. READ OUR RECAP Empire Fox WHAT HAPPENED: Exactly what is Cookie Lyon up to? We sure hope itssomething because the idea that she'd trust Lucious, let alone go into business with him again is beyond believable. And yet -- here we are. The Lyons are doing their best to present a united front in Wednesday's episode so Empire's board won't install a non-Lyon businessman as CEO. But considering that everyone's always threatening to kill the mother of their grandchild, or hell, kill each other, it's kind of tough going. The three boys at least are able to come together for some bonding where they fret over how it seems like Cookie might be falling for Lucious again, to which we say, ew. But it's not up to us -- when the boys all bail on the Lyons' big event for bipolar disorder (Andre because he just found out his grandmother is alive), Cookie saves the moment by announcing to the crowd that the Lyon family -- "the First Family of Music" -- will be performing together at the ASA Awards. And as a result, the board members inform Cookie and Lucious that they have chosen a CEO: both of them... WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: To which we, again, say, ew, but Cookie and Lucious seem downright thrilled. That is until they share a hug over the big joint CEO news and Lucious gets an evil glint in his eye, hissing, "I got your back." The audience can't see Cookie's face during the hug, and it is our greatest hope that her look was just as conniving. Empire showrunner Ilene Chaiken seems to agree. Of the Lucious/Cookie developments in Wednesday's episode -- which she called one of her three favorites from this season -- she told Variety, "I think Lucious and Cookie as co-CEOs is not smooth sailing by any means. The relationship between Lucious and Cookie will always be complicated because they will always love each other, but there will always be scheming of some kind." Hopefully it's scheming of the Cookie-comes-out-on-top kind. READ OUR RECAP One More Thing... Nashville Blazes On With A Bratty Storyline ABC SWEET 16: Wondering if it's safe to tune back into Nashville in the wake of Maddie taking her spoiled behavior into high gear with that emancipation plotline? Nope, you're still in the splash zone -- but we'll be here to let you know when all the teen angst has cleared up.