HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: It’s been a fast, furious and sometimes perplexing season for True Blood, with subplots both sublime (Tara and Pam) and ridiculous (the post-Lost Smoke Monster). And tonight’s fifth-season conclusion has Russell (Denis O’Hara) finally achieving his obsessive goal, and drinking of fairy blood. So now, intoxicated and empowered by the taste of the late fairy queen, he now takes aim at all the other fairies – including Sookie (Anna Paquin).
AMC, 10:00 p.m. ET
Last week’s episode ended with Walter (Bryan Cranston) staring coldly, and Jesse (Aaron Paul) screaming frantically, as an angry Mike (Jonathan Banks) aims a gun at Walter’s head. “Everybody wins,” Walter tells him calmly, when Jesse begs that Walter has a plan to solve all their problems. Tonight, we hear the details of that plan. However, I’m not as optimistic as Walter is about things ending well. Not on this series.
BBC America, 10:00 p.m. ET
In tonight’s second episode of this boldly different new police procedural, Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones) solves the case of the dead little girl – while trying to protect someone who looks very much like her. And with good reason.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: Based on the promos, a lot is packed into this week’s first-season finale, including a stalker who’s sent death threats to Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), who ends up in the hospital. But that’s not Will’s only serious problem. Also in this episode, he meets with network owner Leona (Jane Fonda), who compliments him in one sentence, then fires him the next. But The Newsroom will return next season, so expect Will McAvoy to do the same. Sorkin’s clever enough to work it out: Where there’s a Will, there’s a way.
Showtime, 10:30 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: Last season, this series ended with a cliffhanger so dramatic, especially for a comedy, that it took me by surprise. Tonight’s season ender has its surprises, too – and its twists, including the jealous announcement by Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins), the mistress of John Pankow’s TV executive Merc, that Merc’s blind wife is having an affair – with Matt LeBlanc, the star of one of Merc’s shows. We viewers have known that all along, but watch what happens when Merc finds out.