1. The Pitt Season 2 Ep. 11
95/100 – HBO MAX – Next Ep. March 26 – 9 PM*
One thing The Pitt does is deliver in its important conversations while maintaining the feel of a real ER as best they can, and in Episode 11 the show elected to show the sequences that happen when an ICE agent comes into an ER with undocumented individuals getting treatment. It’s a powerful and emotional episode that dwells and comments on not just this, but on suicide, and what it takes to be a nurse and the dangers it involves. Every episode of The Pitt is typically outstanding and consistent but Episode 11 stands out as the Show’s greatest episode it will possibly ever release, as its delicate navigation of such important issues was done absolutely perfectly, its an unforgettable moment for the Show’s history in television.
2. Hell's Paradise Season 2 Ep. 11
88/100 – Crunchyroll – Next Ep. March 29 – 7:45 AM*
We return back to Gabiamru and Sagiri’s battle as we finally get a full flashback to Gabimaru’s life with his wife before he is on the island and loses his memory, supporting the idea that his memories are real and not a made-up story of manipulation. The combination of the design of the Tengen being the best of the series and Gabimaru’s animation and well-choreographed fight scenes with Sagiri, Episode 11 is one of the highlights of the season. The combination of the new Tao healing factor and the way that the flames light up the screen during battle sequences highlight why this show is so well thought of and why it’s closing out its second season with a slew of great fight scenes. As things begin to unravel and the reinforcements that pose as much of a threat to our main characters as they do to the Tengan arrive, the show is coming to a wild finale conclusion.
3. Invincible Season 4 Episodes 1 - 3
87.3/100 – Prime Video – Next Ep. March 25 – 4 AM*
The most successful, and in my opinion best animated superhero show of all time, returns for its fourth season and picks up directly where it left off with 3 amazing new episodes to start us off. With a combination of Mark, Eve, and Oliver navigating the world post-catastrophe and trying to rekindle and reconnect with both the population and the other heroes of the world to be more prepared, and Nolan and Allen working together to gather a crew of aliens to fight back against the Viltrum empire, its a brilliant start. The value of getting smaller villains to help tell the story of how our characters are developing with the looming doom of the Viltrumites returning to earth, makes Season 4 set-up to be a much more episode-by-episode rendition of the Show that looks to be extremely successful. Adding more backstory to Nolan as a kid before the genocide of the Viltrum people was another brilliant addition that adds so much depth to his character, not only as a rebel now, but also as a poor father, Season 4 promises to be one of the best things on television for the weeks to come.
4. Paradise Season 2 Ep. 6
87/100 – Hulu – Next Ep. March 23, 12 AM*
Season 2 has become a defining of characters for much of its season continuing the extremely well-designed story while also riveting backstories for its new and returning characters alike. Episode 6 is the episode that outlines how Jane became who she represents and adds more context to her story in yet another wonderful design. We also get Xavier as he moves on the train to save his wife while revealing that his new friend is actually a lot more sinister in intentions than he anticipated. It’s another great addition to the second season.
5. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Ep. 11
87/100 – Crunchyroll – Next Ep. March 25 – 8:26 AM*
The conclusion to the battle between Megumi and Reggi3 takes all of Episode 11’s runtime as the first part of the Culling Games reels to an end, with a greatly animated and exciting final sequenced battle scene. Reggie versus Megumi take us through Megumi’s difficulty with building his domain while managing the powers that Reggis has up his sleeve with the receipt-cursed technique. It’s an episode that still doesn’t live up to the best New Gen anime hype it’s receiving, but certainly delivers another great episode that is near the top of the season. Yuta’s return to the series happens next week and will surely be another peak of quality.
6. Abbott Elementary Season 5 Ep. 16
87/100 – Hulu – Next Ep. March 25 – 8:30 PM*
Abbott Elementary is so consistent in its weekly comedy that it feels so easy for its audience, and occasionally they catch fire with a few bits in an episode that stands out as even better than their typical high rating, and Episode 16 is a great example of that. Gregory and Barabra are hilarious in their classroom switch here, while Ava and Jacob are equally funny in their campaign training, it just combines for one of the better comedic episodes of the show’s fifth season. Episodes like this are a reminder as to why Abbott Elementary is here to stay in a way that is seemingly unmatched in the current TV landscape.
7. Sentenced to be a Hero Ep. 11
85/100 – Crunchyroll – Next Ep. March 26 – 6:30 AM*
Sentenced to be a Hero, Season 1 is coming to an end with the final battle beginning between Xylo / Teoritta, and the demons looking to take over the kingdom and kill the goddess. As the episode progresses the war ensues and we see perhaps the best animation the show has produced since its smash-hit first episode, with an amazing, beautiful, visual battle sequence. It’s the climax of the concept of the sentencing to be a hero and whether their past lives return to their legacy after they are reincarnated. Xylo seemingly wins the fight near the end of the episode, but with one episode left, the audience is left in suspense as to how the finale is going to go. Perhaps the dialogue here is not too great, but the action and animation for an underground first season of a new series is wonderful and extremely promising.
8. Fire Force Season 3 Ep. 23
85/100 – Crunchyroll – Next Ep. March 27 – 10 AM*
Episode 23 of Season 3 continues to move towards the finale of the series as Shinra and his brother try to figure out a solution to stopping The Cataclysm while the rest of the Fire Force work to protect their people from the Flames of Despair that are taking over the world. It’s a level of episode that remains on par with the past couple that have sat at the top of the TV Weekly rankings, however, it feels more like a “let’s-figure-things-out-before-the-final-battle, next-episode” type of narrative, with both problems being set up and anger being incited by the antagonists. Still, Season 3 remains the absolute best of the series, and this back-half, part two is absolutely stunning in both storytelling and animation; the question is, can they stick the landing?
9. Shrinking Season 3 Ep. 8
85/100 – Apple TV+ – Next Ep. March 24 – 9 PM*
Shrinking Episode 8 sees Jimmy finding his footing with a new date, as Gabby has to deal with the consequences of taking on more traumatic patients, making the episode another sweet, but high-drama entry that feels like the definition of the common episode you see from the show. It’s a solid plot that with some witty storytelling will likely lead to Season 3 being the most dramatic and nuanced season yet.
10. Survivor Season 50 Ep. 4
85/100 – Hulu/Paramount+ – Next Ep. March 25 – 8 PM*
Survivor Episode 4 may have just become the most controversial episode in the show’s history for an odd reason. I, as a viewer, didn’t seem to mind too much. The show runners, in an attempt to draw more audiences, introduced a celebrity into the reward and spent close to half an hour on it, taking away for many people the strategic aspect of the game, and away from confessionals from the cast. It’s a valid complaint that I can’t say I wasn’t affected by, but with the great strategy from Christian to orchestrate a 3-2-1 vote, one of the more complex strategies in the show, it delivered a fantastic blindside of Mike White and made the tribal council atmosphere shine more than others this year, and in recent time, getting the episode to an 85 for this week, despite the large amount of hate it has received.
11. Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Ep. 9
84/100 – Crunchyroll – Next Ep. March 27 – 7 AM*
After a top-tier episode last week from Frieren Season 2, the crew reunites together and continues on their journey to the next location of the slice-of-life medieval story. It’s an episode that may have been met with some criticism if it had not come off the context of a great pace switch last episode, it’s a quieter, well-timed transition episode that still remains intriguing to the development of our two young, aspiring heroes. With one episode left in the short season, Frieren Season 2 is leading into a very controversial and much-talked-about, up-and-down season for its return.
12. Rooster Ep. 3
81/100 – HBO MAX – Next Ep. March 29
– 10:00 PM*
Rooster moves through the beginning of its premiere season with Episode 3 taking Greg through the comedic troubles of teaching a college class for the first time in his life, despite never having gone to college. His continuous troubles to teach without getting himself into the Dean’s office, where Dylan has taken over the job, is both comedic and dramatic in a way that seems to be the most effective bit of the season, so far. The story seems to be pushing to Greg having a realization of just how lonely he is in his life, and having an inflection point because of it. After three episodes, Rooster seems to be settling in as a film-shot adult comedy-drama that, while funny and smartly written, clearly caters more to an older audience than to younger viewers.
13. Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat
80/100 – Prime Video – Next Ep. March 27 – 12:00 AM*
The Jury Duty concept returns with an almost equally funny beginning of a company retreat that takes the same concept and throws it into another creative and fun setting. The new main character, Anthony Norman, is another light-hearted and kind man that is willing to take the fall for the crazy cast around him and have fun around all the chaos that is thrown his way, he is yet another great person to center the story around and produce a great new season. The first three episodes make for a consistently solid Comedy focused premiere that may be getting better as it goes, but it still needs a few extra comedic turns to elevate it to the level of the first season and make the concept feel like a fully successful experiment. Nonetheless, the show is another good start to one of the most unique ideas in all of television and I am excited to see how it fully falls into place moving forward.
14. DTF St. Louis Ep. 4
79/100 – HBO MAX – Next Ep. March 29
– 9:00 PM*
In Episode 4 of DTF St. Louis, the show continues to find the motive for each of the two most connected characters to Floyd’s death, as Clark buys and pays for many of the clearly struggling and important parts of his life including life insurance, that gives Linda a motive for the murder. It’s an episode that continues on the same path of the first four, but honestly doesn’t contribute much more to the plot from what has already been established. It’s an episode that takes things and ideas that have been said and shows us how they happened, when the idea of the mystery and dark satirical comedy aspects are much more intriguing to the enjoyment of the show. DTF has become a solid show, but Episode 4 makes its audience concerned as to how they are going to wrap this up and continue the story in a nuanced and darkly comedic way. Taken as a whole, the episode provides nothing new.
15. My Hero Vigilantes Season 2 Ep. 11
78/100 – Crunchyroll – Next Ep. March 23 – 6 AM*
My Hero Vigilantes moves toward the end of its second season with a clear central conflict as Villain Number 6 begins to make his move, forcing the group to confront deeper challenges. At the same time, the episodes have shifted more and more toward Captain Celebrity, and the increased reliance on cameos over actual scenes with Koichi is beginning to lose the audience, even as the show continues to deliver some thoughtful backstories.
16. Monarch Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Ep. 4
77/100 – Apple TV+ – Next Ep. March 26 – 10 PM*
Monarch is increasingly committing to a thriller-drama mode rather than a monster-catastrophe story, and while this new episode is slightly better than the last, it still does not feel like the kind of tale that needs to be told in this universe. The group’s next stop is a corporate facility that is secretly housing the invention they need to regain control of to stop the looming crisis, only for it to be revealed that there are also monsters poached from Skull Island stolen by the same company. The episode frames this as a heist-like mission to extract the tech and builds more anticipation than before, but not enough to redefine the series as anything fresher or more exciting than expected.
17. Imperfect Women Episode 1 & 2
76/100 – Apple TV+ – Next Ep. March 24 – 12 AM*
Imperfect Women is the latest Apple TV+ novel adaptation, following the aftermath of the murder of one of three lifelong friends as the survivors try to solve the case while dodging their own unresolved problems. The premise itself is not especially original, and at this point the series feels merely well-made and well-produced rather than compelling enough to generate real traction. However, with only two episodes released and so much of the story still in setup mode, there is plenty of room for it to evolve, and future installments may shift its impact in meaningful ways.
