Entertainment News - TV

THIS ISSUE: BrainDead, The Night Of, Ray Donovan, Preacher, Big Brother TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT BrainDead Attacks Its Lead CBS BECAUSE: If you've been wondering how exactly all of your BrainDeadfavorites have been managing to avoid alien ants eating half their brains and taking control of their frontal lobes for so long, wonder no more. No, Laurel, Gustav, and Luke haven't figured out a way to stop Washington, D.C.'s bug infestation, but one of those bad boys did finally make it into Laurel's ear by the end of the episode. And if Laurel's infected, well -- hold onto your heads. The Night Of HBO WHAT HAPPENED: Nobody said watching The Night Of would be easy. No one ever said it would be quite this hard, either. Sunday's episode follows Naz through his first days at Rikers Island, as his parents try to figure out how they're going to afford his legal needs back home. It's so helpful then when big-shot lawyer Alison Crowe offers to take Naz's case pro bono. She brings her firm's only Indian-American lawyer with her to speak to the Khans, and they can't resist Crowe's low price tag -- no matter what her motives may be. As a result, Naz is tasked with telling Stone that he's off the case. Yes, Stone might need the $50,000 retainer this case would have provided him -- but he was also bringing Naz clothes, getting to know him, and spending time with him when he got the axe. Naz needs friends right now, considering how he's "a Pakistani Muslim, who everybody thinks is Arab, accused of raping and stabbing a white girl 22 times," as EW recapper Joe McGovern puts it. In prison, friends come with a price, and when Naz refuses an offer of "protection" with unclear reciprocation terms from an inmate with godlike power of the prison population, his bed is promptly lit on fire. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Mystery shrouds just about every offer to protect and defend Naz Khan in Sunday's The Night Of, including those from his potential lawyers, Stone and Crowe. The A.V. Club notes how the nuance with which the series addresses each lawyer's complex motives "suggests that who people really are can shift depending on the specific context." Furthermore, "the diligence that Naz sees [in John Stone] and the avarice his parents see may appear opposed, but it's all consistent when understood from Stone's perspective. He can be genuinely good for Naz and genuinely bad for the Khans as long as he's always doing what's best for himself. Naz understands the former well enough that he's not inclined to care for the latter, and vice versa for his parents. And in all this, we see the real question hidden away: How can Naz like, or even kind of like Abigail Crowe when she's not yet taken the time to meet him?" Good question. Ray Donovan Showtime WHAT HAPPENED: Sunday night's episode of Ray Donovan treats fans to the gift that is Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight sitting in a car together, doing their best work. The stakeout to track down $4 million, remove Belikov from prison, and get Ms. Kovitsky off the Donovans isn't quite as much fun for Ray and Mickey, of course. Ray has to deal with Mickey's "piss jar" and Mickey has to deal with, well, the fact that he is Mickey. Among the great moments they share in Sunday's episode is Mickey attempting to mend fences by telling Ray he was always his favorite, and he did the best he could: "Fatherhood is a riddle, son. Always has been." (And no one embodies a walking riddle more than Mickey Donovan.) Together, Ray and Mickey force Ed to lead them to Pinky's trailer with the millions. Pinky promptly freaks out and douses the money in gas, though it seems like Ray will keep him from lighting it. But then Mickey shoots at Pinky, causing him to light himself on fire. Ray snags the money, and the Donovan guys are on the move. However, an ill-advised call to Sylvie leads Primm and his men right to them -- and the money. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Thanks to Mickey, his plan to get back in with his family was all for nothing. It seems that riddle he was talking about is a particularly self-destructive one. It remains to be seen if that self-destruction includes his suggestion that he turn himself in for the murders of the Armenians to get Belikov out of prison and stop the Russians from bothering his family. Successful or not, Ray and Mickey working together on Sunday makes for a great hour of TV. As Vulture says, "Ray Donovan is at its best when it focuses on the Donovans themselves -- which could explain why the writers never quite know what to do with their guest stars -- and this week's episode does exactly that." The other side of that, they point out, is that characters like Bridget's teacher-boyfriends and all the time we spent on that storyline fly out the window in a matter of seconds: "Everyone but the Donovans is expendable." Preacher AMC WHAT HAPPENED: At one point in Sunday's episode of Preacher, the Adelphi call heaven for some help, but no one is picking up the phone -- literally. (Is it just us, or does that feel like a metaphor? Preacher is full of them, after all.) The hour opens on The Cowboy in 1881 as he exacts his revenge on a saloon full of people with what EW recapper Sara Netzley is beginning to think is "the typical Preacher style: ultra-violence that's only hinted at." We move on to Tulip casually mentioning to Emily that Cassidy is a blood-sucking vampire, and since she's on her way to kill a fella, she needs Emily to give him his hamster meals. She does, but when the critters prove unfulfilling to the recovering vamp, she lures her "boyfriend" Mayor Miles over to provide a full three-course shebang. Jesse and Cassidy make up after the whole "lighting him on fire" thing (since Jesse also put him out). Then Jesse has an epiphany and tells Tulip, "It's just you 'till the end of the world," and he figures out a way to get someone to pick up on the heaven hotline. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: While things are looking decidedly up, we'd be remiss not to point out Sheriff Root’s line when he (unsuccessfully) attempts to deliver Jesse to jail: "Preacher, you gonna wish you was in hell." Indeed, hell seems to be a theme in this episode, and it's exactly where DeBlanc and Fiore end up after booking a direct trip through a helpful travel agent. Those two were extra fun on Sunday night. When asked for their occupations for the paperwork on their hell travel, they respond in unison, saying "Serial Killer" and "Architect." TVLine has a working theory about this: "Was it just me, or did you get an extra couple-y vibe from the duo this week? Between Fiore's anxiety about the possibility of heaven separating them forever and the sweet way that DeBlanc called him 'my dear' when he wasn't allowed to take his comics to hell, they sure seemed like more than colleagues." And since The Cowboy just shot DeBlanc, we're sure hoping that angels still re-spawn in hell. One More Thing... Big Brother Opens on Anarchy CBS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: Sunday's Big Brother starts with Victor's triumphant return to the game. Judging by his screams, he's mad as hell, and he's most definitely not going to take it anymore.