Fletcher Peters

Gilles Mingasson/DisneyThe second coming of Christ has arrived on Abbott Elementary: Ava Fest is back. Now named “2 Ava 2 Fest,” this year’s celebration—which is just Abbott’s Open House rebranded as a celebration of Ava (Janelle James)—plans to feature Questlove as a headliner. But after Lauryn Hill didn’t show up at last year’s festival, can anyone trust Ava to actually pull it off now?No, of course not. But Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph), Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter), and Jacob (Chris Perfetti) are all aware of this and try to do damage control before too many parents get their hopes up. But Ava is so delusional that she thinks an appearance from Questlove is actually happening—they’re friends! They go way back! Ava almost “Yoko Ono-ed” The Roots, and Questlove owes her for not following through. He’ll show up.But Melissa, Barb, and Jacob are still uncertain. To put a few fires out before they even start, Jacob whips out Canva—of course Jacob is a Canvanator—to make a new graphic. “QUESTLOVE WILL NOT BE PERFORMING,” reads the new invitation for 2 Ava 2 Fest. They’ve saved their asses this time around, and to replace Questlove, Melissa promises to do a few questionable celebrity impressions to really woo the parents.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Hopper Stone/HBOThe Sympathizer begins in the future. Told almost entirely as a flashback, the first episode of HBO’s new show jumps around from time period to time period with Captain (Hoa Xuande), a mole for North Vietnam working undercover in South Vietnam’s special police forces. “All wars are fought twice,” the opening credits read. “The first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory.”So into Captain’s memories we go. But before that, we see where he is in the present day of the show: stuck in prison, forced to write the same confession over and over again. He had been a spy, a communist agent installed in South Vietnam, he inks on a piece of paper, his hand worn out from all the writing.Back in 1975, four months before the fall of Saigon, Captain meets with Claude (Robert Downey, Jr.), a CIA operative working with South Vietnam to take down North Vietnam spies. Little does Claude know that he’s actually working with the enemy—Captain has a great poker face. The pair are going to see a movie (the 1974 version of Death Wish), but it’s all a ruse; inside the theater, the South Vietnam forces plan on torturing a communist woman for information. There, we also meet Captain’s boss, the General (Toan Le), a savage man who giggles while a woman is brutally assaulted on the stage in front of him.Read more at The Daily Beast.

ABCOne of our beloved Abbott Elementary teachers may be leaving the school for good. After accepting a fellowship with the district at the beginning of the year, in this week’s episode, Janine (Quinta Brunson) is offered a full-time, permanent position working under the superintendent (Keegan Michael-Key). Sure, she’d be allowed to still visit Abbott—but really, the elementary school wouldn’t be the same without her.Janine breaks the news to her former colleagues, informing them that it’s all really a done deal—she’s accepted the job, and now Ava (Janelle James) can happily find her replacement. (Anyone without a signature jellybean belt like Janine’s will do, but hopefully they’re also above 5 feet, 5 inches this time.) Jacob (Chris Perfetti) is bereft without his bestie. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) doesn’t really care. Naturally, Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) has the kindest words: “I am proud of you. You have worked so hard and they are lucky to have you.” Does she ever tire of being the best?But one person is missing from this big announcement—Gregory (Tyler James Williams), Janine’s former love interest, is putting out fires elsewhere in the school.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/HBOSomeone has to die in The Regime’s finale. It’s just a simple fact, seeing as Herbert (Matthias Schoenaerts) and Elena (Kate Winslet) are now on the run; they can’t both make it out alive. The real question is: Can either one of them survive the ongoing civil war?Elena and Herbert escape the palace via underground tunnels that lead them to a nearby empty field. Herbert wants them to move quickly, but Elena wants to stay in one place. Actually, no: Elena would like to retreat back into the tunnels, return to the palace, and hide out within its inner sanctum. Herbert pins her to the ground. “Listen to me!” he screams. “Your government has fallen.” Yelling, as we’ve learned, is the reason why Herbert is as powerful as he is today. He has a really loud voice. This convinces people—like Elena—that he should be in control.On the flip side, Elena has received all of her power by whining hard enough. She wants Herbert to call a helicopter but has no idea how to actually get that done. After tromping through a barren forest, Elena and Herbert finally stumble on a radio that fills them in on what’s going on in the nation. “The Vernham regime has been defeated,” a journalist announces. “The country is yours.” We also learn that the Westgate resistance has taken control of the palace, which really infuriates Elena. Her next plan: Find Nicholas (Guillaume Gallienne) in Switzerland, and get the hell out of this ungrateful country.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Miya Mizuno/HBOWarning: Spoilers for the finale of The Regime follow.The Regime has come to a close on HBO, but Chancellor Elena Vernham’s (Kate Winslet) fictional European reign is far from over. That whole shtick with new beau Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schaoenaerts) and hating America? That was nothing. It was all just a “wobble,” Elena says, after nearly being killed in a civil war that takes place in her country.“That’s right, a ‘wobble!’” The Regime creator Will Tracy says with a laugh on a Zoom with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. “That’s the only way you can phrase it without having a complete collapse in her brain.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Miya Mizuno/HBOThe Regime is taking a page out of the Succession book in the penultimate episode of the season. Herbert (Matthias Schoenaerts) wants to play bitey with Elena (Kate Winslet). He’s been chomping on her fingers super hard, “almost chewing them off,” in his dreams. The new couple sit with a dream therapist to discuss these odd visions on Christmas day in the palace.“Biting doesn’t necessarily signify aggression,” the therapist suggests. He’s wired to equate love with pain, and his dreams are a safe space to explore that. To practice a healthier mindset, Herbert should try placing Elena’s hand in his mouth but not bite it, which could create a nonviolent feedback loop in his dreams. Later, as Herbert and Elena have some intimate time—it’s a nightmare to watch these cringey scenes; get me to that dream therapist—Herbert sucks on her fingers, but doesn’t clamp down on them with his teeth. Elena applauds him, as if he were a rescue dog learning not to munch on humans. They’re “two little lunatics who fit like a glove,” Elena says, an apt title for their oddball relationship.Christmas at the palace is full of chipper music, holly jolly decorations, and the distant sound of bombs coming from a rebellion just a dozen miles away from the palace. Luckily, the explosions are light rumblings, not loud enough to completely distract from the murmurs of “Jingle Bells” on a nearby boombox at the palace. Elena calls for a family photo in front of the tree with young Oskar (Louie Mynett)—whose mother is actually Agnes (Andrea Riseborough)—and Herbert, her bodyguard-turned-live-in boyfriend.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/ABCEach new guest star on Abbott Elementary feels like a special treat. There have been a plethora of surprise visitors during the ABC sitcom’s third season, from big Hollywood names like Bradley Cooper and Keegan-Michael Key to internet sensations like Sabrina Brier and Casey Frey. Even Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s brother Jason Kelce stopped by for a quick scene! Every guest has been as delightful as the last—but Abbott needs to wrap this shtick up, stat.Why, you may ask, should Abbott Elementary put an end to the guest stars if they are so fantastic? While there are no problems with the guest stars themselves, the real issue derives from the fact that they take away time from the main roster of characters in the show. Cooper visits the show after losing an Oscar—a great get. Hilariously humbling. Miraculous and noteworthy. But as that’s happening, Gregory (Tyler James Williams) hasn’t had a real arc this entire season.This is less of a concern for the main cast, though, who still have an array of episodic storylines and—like Janine (Quinta Brunson) at the district—overarching growth over the course of the season. It’s the secondary characters, like Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) and Tariq (Zack Fox), who are now haphazardly tossed into the plot instead of given thoughtful storylines.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Gilles Mingasson/DisneyThis week’s episode of Abbott Elementary takes place after hours, giving the teachers an opportunity to be a little more PG-13—or even R-rated—on the show. We’re not talking about a little bit of cursing here. We’re talking about sex, violence…and death. (The death of CPR training mannequins, that is.)Most of the Abbott teachers are participating in state mandated CPR training this week, led by firefighter Captain Robinson (Mike O’Malley) and paramedic Avi (Karan Soni). Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) pair up, while Jacob (Chris Perfetti) and a visiting Janine (Quinta Brunson) also take a dummy together. This is pretty imperative knowledge for the teachers—naturally, they don’t really take it all that seriously.It could be because Captain Robinson and Avi are participating in extracurricular activities with Melissa and Jacob, respectively. Melissa has been casually seeing Captain Robinson, which Jacob has heard all about, seeing as the two now (somewhat randomly) live together in Melissa’s home. Jacob is also hooking up with Avi, having recently broken up with Zach (Larry Owens)—although absolutely no one knows about Jacob’s private, new romantic life.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Aldara Zarraoa/Getty ImagesThere may be a new James Bond hitting the streets of London very soon. The name’s Taylor-Johnson. Aaron Taylor-Johnson.Alright, that may not have the same ring to it as “Bond. James Bond,” but worth a shot, right? A new report from The Sun alleges that Taylor-Johnson has been formally offered the role of Bond. Taylor-Johnson has been a rumored frontrunner to replace Daniel Craig since 2022 after screen testing for Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.Taylor-Johnson reportedly beat out big names like Idris Elba, Henry Cavill, James Norton, and even Cillian Murphy, who just won Best Actor at the Oscars for Oppenheimer.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/HBOA few months have passed, and now, Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) has almost completely taken over Elena Vernham’s (Kate Winslet) chancellorship. The Regime is changing hands. Everyone in the palace is drinking tea brewed in wormy dirt. How scrumptious.But even the muddy tea is complicated: It requires the use of three soils from three different areas of the country in the warm water. If any of the palace staffers screw this up in the slightest, they’ll be ousted. Most of Elena’s employees have grown jumpy, Nicholas (Guillaume Gallienne) warns Elena: “Not hugely terrific for morale, is it?” he asks.“No baby fat,” Elena snarks.Read more at The Daily Beast.