What To Watch This Week: Stream Our Top 7 TV and Movie Picks (April 7–13)

New on TV this week

This week’s What To Watch picks include the second season of HBO’s freaky fungus show The Last of Us, the fourth season of the Max comedy Hacks, the sixth (and final) season of Hulu’s depressing/terrifying The Handmaid’s Tale, the seventh season of Netflix’s sci-fi mind-fffffudge anthology series Black Mirror, and more. Let’s hit the couch!

The Handmaid’s Tale | Hulu | Drama

Season six premiere, Tuesday, April 8: I’ve seen only two seasons of this show that already makes a lot of its avid fans queasy (urp). Now that it’s almost sorta kinda a documentary, I think we’ll all need big ol’ chuck buckets. That is, unless this sixth and final season of this dystopian, totalitarian nightmare with real-world resonance somehow ends happily. Three episodes drop today, with the rest of ‘em coming weekly until The End. What happens this season? Let’s keep it general and spoiler-free by regurgitating the synopsis: June gets pulled back into the fight to destroy Gilead and the final season “highlights the importance of hope, courage, solidarity, and resilience in the pursuit of justice and freedom.” That sounds … hopeful?

Black Mirror | Netflix | Sci-fi, drama

Season seven premiere, Thursday, April 10: Let’s keep the dystopian vibes vibin’! Talking to the Netflix in-house publication Tudum, Charlie Brooker—creator, writer, and showrunner of this mind-humping sci-fi anthology series—said this seventh season of Black Mirror is goin’ back to its disturbing, horrific roots. Does that mean he’s teasin’ that he’ll top something like the premiere pig episode? Well, not much in the Black Mirror universe is ever what it seems to be, but you can count on a sequel to a Season 4 episode, a trip back to Tuckersoft (from the Black Mirror movie Bandersnatch), and appearances from Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd), Issa Rae (Insecure), Peter Capaldi (American Horror Story), Paul Giamatti, and Awkwafina. All six episodes land today.

Hacks | Max | Comedy

Season 4 premiere, Thursday, April 10: At the end of Hacks’ third season, Ava (Hannah Einbinder) blackmails Deborah (Jean Smart) into giving her the head writer gig on Deborah’s late-night show—which the comedian had promised, then snatched away. In Season 4, Max teases rising tensions between the two as they try to get the show off the ground. Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Eastown), Michaela Watkins (Casual), Eric Balfour (24), and more join the cast this season. Two of 10 episodes stream today, with the remainder coming weekly.

North of North | Netflix | Comedy

Series premiere, Thursday, April 10: Is this comedy (Netflix’s first Canadian production) what you get when you cross Northern Exposure, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, and Reservation Dogs? Young Inuk woman Siaja (Anna Lambe, True Detective: Night Country), navigates life post-divorce in the tiny Arctic village of Nunavut—and you know how small towns can be. Can a modern woman get along in such a traditional place? You can stream all eight episodes on Netflix today.

Your Friends & Neighbors | Apple TV+ | Drama

Series premiere, Friday, April 4: From Jonathan Tropper (Banshee) comes this series about Coop (Jon Hamm, Mad Men) a newly divorced and disgraced hedge fund manager who, after getting fired, pivots to a new career as a burglar. Except breaking into his rich neighbors’ homes yields more than the contents of their safes. Coop also learns their perilous secrets. The tea must be delicious, ‘cause the show’s already renewed for a Season 2. Amanda Peet, Mark Tallman, and Lena Hall also star. Two episodes drop today, with another seven slated through May 30.

The Last of Us | HBO, Max | Drama, horror, sci-fi

Season two premiere, Sunday, April 13: I’m recommending another bummer show, so I’ll stop pretending we don’t love them. Tales of totalitarian patriarchal societies, miscellaneous sci-fi dystopias, or an apocalypse of zombie-like creatures that infect us via nasty fungal tendrils— They’re all good, gripping TV fun. In Season 2 of the Emmy-nominated The Last of Us, it’s five years after the events of Season 1, Joel and Ellie arrive at cross purposes, and the fungus-ridden world is somehow worse. Fans of the videogame series from which this show derives will be pleased to see characters Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) from the game’s second iteration. TV and film fans will note a guest appearance from Catherine O’Hara. And Pedro Pascal fans will fangirl. The first of seven episodes premieres tonight, with the rest coming weekly through May 25.