What to Watch This Week: October 22 to 27

From Canadian music heroes and Russian leaders to masked madmen and zombie warriors, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

 

1. The Walking Dead – Sunday, October 22, 6 p.m., 9 p.m. & 10:36 p.m., AMC | Season Premiere

The eighth season of the smash-hit series kicks off Sunday, with its 100th episode. As has been the case in seasons past, AMC is offering scant few details on what lies ahead, lest spoilers be revealed. But the end of last season pretty much told fans what to expect: a fight to the finish between Team Rick and Team Negan.

What’s more, we know the new season will throw fans a curveball, via some sort of flash-forward storyline, as evidenced by a trailer that features Rick (Andrew Lincoln) sporting a grey beard and cane. At least one episode will be devoted to season-seven villain Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) past and how he became the bat-wielding brute responsible for the deaths of two regular characters. And we’ll be meeting two new “good guys” this year in Dillon and Abbud. Per TVLine, the former is “a sexy, blue-collar twenty-something whose survival skills include sarcasm,” while the latter is “an innately likable Muslim-American whose nerves are, let’s say, jangled, because he’s flown solo for too long in zombieland.”

 

2. Gord Downie’s The Secret Path in Concert – Sunday, October 22, 9 p.m., CBC

For fans of The Tragically Hip, the late Gord Downie’s revelation he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer was met with shock and sadness, which Downie and the band transformed into a national celebration when they embarked on one of the most phenomenal, bittersweet farewell tours in rock history. Following the end of the tour, Downie had more to say in his book/album project The Secret Path, tackling one of the more shameful chapters in Canada’s history by setting to music the true story of Chanie Wenjack. This young First Nations boy died in 1966 while trying to escape the horrors of the residential school he was forced to attend, the nation’s ill-fated attempt to “assimilate” indigenous children into mainstream Canadian culture (a failed experiment resulting in the deaths of more than 6,000 kids like Chanie). This one-hour special documents Downie and The Secret Path Band in concert, performing songs from the album.

 

3. Outlander – Sunday, October 22, 9 p.m., W Network

It’s no secret that viewers have flocked to this epic time-travelling romance, often because of a dedicated interest in the unlikely bond between era-crossed soulmates Claire and Jamie. Alas, thanks to a trip through a time portal, so far this season the headstrong 1940s gal and the rugged Scottish revolutionary have been cut off from each other, living separate lives in different centuries.

That all changed last episode, as Claire finally stepped through the stones to Jamie’s time and came face-to-face with her long-lost love (who promptly fainted). Tonight, they begin the somewhat uneasy process of reconnecting, but having been apart for two decades, are they really the same people who met and fell for one another on the moors?

Not to worry. The episode description has the pair “rekindling their emotional and physical bonds,” which is code for “steamy love scene that will have fans buzzing.” This being Outlander, however, things won’t stay blissful for long, as some of Jamie’s shady business dealings come home to roost, threatening to undermine their future together. All we can say is, it’s a good thing Claire’s a doctor now.

 

4. Halloween – Monday, October 23, 6 a.m., Noon, 6:30 p.m. & 12:30 a.m., AMC

In 1978, John Carpenter singlehandedly invented a new genre of horror, with this masterpiece of tension and atmosphere. The story of Michael Myers carving up a town of horny teens on his way to Jamie Lee Curtis has yet to be equalled by any slasher flick that followed.

 

5. 2017 World Series – Tuesday, October 24, 5 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific & Fox

The last teams left standing in the American and National Leagues embark on a best-of-seven crucible for the Commissioner’s Trophy. Dingers will be belted, legends will be born, junk food will be devoured!

 

6. Frontline – Wednesday, October 25, 7 p.m. & 12:30 am, WTVS; 10 p.m. KCTS

In the first instalment of two-part documentary Putin’s Revenge, filmmaker Michael Kirk helms a riveting investigation into how the United States struggled to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election, also exploring how Putin’s thirst for revenge may have compelled him to target American democracy. The two-part presentation contrasts official U.S. responses under Presidents Obama and Trump.

 

7. Top of the Lake: China Girl – Wednesday, October 25, 9 p.m., CBC | Season Premiere

When the body of a young woman washes up on Bondi Beach, it launches Detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) into an investigation of Sydney’s darkest recesses. But while prostitution and human trafficking become the focus of the case, it’s once again Robin’s own struggles that take centre stage in the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Top of the Lake.

While personal issues meddling with work isn’t a new concept, few can drive a narrative as intensively as writer/director Jane Campion, who once again returns to helm the six-episode series with co-creator Gerard Lee. New cast members include Campion’s longtime friend Nicole Kidman. The Oscar winner joins the series, in a role many would describe as very unglamorous. “I consider myself a character actor, so when a director gives me the chance to really find, physically and emotionally, the character, I’m just thrilled,” says Kidman.

 

8. Chicago P.D. – Wednesday, October 25, 10 p.m., Global & NBC

Voight and the Intelligence Unit stumble into a child re-homing scam, in which foreign kids are adopted and then abandoned so that they can be sold online. Meanwhile, Atwater faces some tough questions of his own as he decides whether Chicago really is the best place for his siblings.

 

9. Stranger Things – Friday, October 27, Netflix | Season Premiere

A year has passed since Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) was rescued from the clutches of the Upside Down by his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hawkins’ Chief of Police Jim Hopper (David Harbour), but while things appear calm, strange things still lurk under the surface in this seemingly idyllic Indiana town.

After appearing to expel something from that dark dimension into the town’s water supply at the end of the first season, the question Will continues to face is whether these visions he is having are real or not. Odds are that these snowy vistas are not a symptom of PTSD. “Something is not right and there are all these things going on in town,” says Ross Duffer, who co-created the show with his brother Matt. “You start to realize how they’re all connected to this singular threat.”

After the showdown at the end of last season where both Eleven and the Demogorgon were disintegrated, the boys never expect to see their Eggo-loving friend again. But there can be no Stranger Things without Eleven, nor the young actress who plays her, Millie Bobby Brown—the breakout star of season one. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my god, people love Eleven, we have to find a way to put her in season two,’ ” says Ross Duffer. “She was always going to be a part of the story moving forward. Her journey is very different than it was last year. She learns more about exactly where she came from.”

 

10. Blindspot – Friday, October 27, 8 p.m., CTV & NBC | Season Premiere

From the moment Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) crawled out of a duffel bag in Times Square, naked and covered from head-to-toe in tattoos, we knew this was a series that was going to be rife with mysteries. This week’s third-season premiere promises to up the ante yet again, when it picks up after that two-year time jump from last season’s finale. With the team M.I.A., it’s up to Jane and Weller to reunite, track down their friends and find some answers, but not before finally coming face-to-face with their own pasts from the previous two years.