‘Dexter’ Finale, Spike Lee’s ‘Highest 2 Lowest,’ ‘Great British Baking Show,’ War Brewing in Hawaii

“This was not on my list of ways to die,” grumbles the seemingly immortal Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) as he surveys the latest fine mess in which the killer of serial killers finds himself as the first season of the Dexter spinoff wraps on a suitably macabre note. He’s trapped in the secret vault of billionaire Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage), a death fetishist who’s created a shrine to killers like Dexter — although Prater has yet to recognize how Dexter’s “code” sets him apart. With a lavish gala aboveground attended by many of New York’s top police officers, Dexter must find a way to reach out to his son Harrison (Jack Alcott) for help, but it won’t be easy to turn the tables on the well-connected madman. The episode airs Sunday on Showtime.

After a limited run in theaters, Spike Lee’s New York-ified adaptation of Akira Kurosawa‘s iconic 1963 crime thriller High and Low makes its streaming debut. It’s Lee’s fifth collaboration with star Denzel Washington, who plays David King, a music mogul living large in contemporary New York City when he and his chauffeur, Paul (Jeffrey Wright), become entangled in a morally challenging ransom plot. The supporting cast includes Dean Winters, Wendell Pierce, ASAP Rocky and Ice Spice in her film debut.

I don’t know about you, but some comfort-food TV sounds like the perfect respite from these stressful times. And nothing fits that bill more sumptuously than this fan-favorite baking competition, returning for its 13^th “collection” with weekly episodes. Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are once again the discerning judges, always on the lookout for the dreaded soggy bottom, though happier to encounter a perfect pastry. The new cast of amateur bakers, a dozen in all, includes a scientist, an engineer, a medical student, two hairdressers, an amateur drag queen and a jujitsu blue belt.

The episode title, “Day of Spilled Brains,” should be a tipoff that this pivotal episode of the historical epic starring and co-written by Jason Momoa won’t end well for the Hawaiian villagers. Ka’iana (Momoa), who has lived in the world beyond the islands, warns Kamehameha (Kaina Makua) that the European interlopers currently offshore aren’t to be trusted, but the future king is still leaning into his philosophy of peace first, war later. Too bad he doesn’t realize that it’s coming sooner.

Will we see a rematch of the Wimbledon finals this weekend with men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the U.S. Open finals? That depends on how today’s semifinal matches play out. First, Alcaraz faces the resilient No. 7 seed, Novak Djokovic, a four-time U.S. Open winner and at 38, the oldest man in the Open Era to make it to the semifinals in all four Grand Slams in a year. Then at 7 pm/ET, No. 1 Jannik Sinner, last year’s Open champ, takes on the resurgent No. 25 seed, Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Outlander: Blood of My Blood (8/7c, Starz): It’s a traumatic time for 20^th-century transplants Henry (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia (Hermione Corfield), when Henry’s search for his missing wife hits a fateful roadblock while she goes into labor for one of the more harrowing deliveries in recent TV memory.
• The Rainmaker (10/9c, USA Network): Newbie lawyer Rudy (Milo Callaghan) has to choose between his girlfriend and his client when Sarah (Madison Iseman) mistakenly lets slip information that could help his case.
• Dateline NBC (10/9c, NBC): In a new episode, Andrea Canning reports on the sensational murder case of Colorado dentist James Craig, who was found guilty in July for the 2023 murder of his wife Angela, a mother of six, by poisoning her protein shakes with cyanide and eye-drop medication.

ON THE STREAM:

• NFL on YouTube (8 pm/ET, YouTube and YouTube TV): The NFL‘s reach now extends to YouTube, presenting its first exclusive live pro-football broadcast with the Kansas City Chiefs facing the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil’s Corinthians Arena. Latin music star Karol G performs at halftime.
• Memphis to the Mountain (streaming on Hulu and Disney+): An inspiring three-part docuseries from Andscape depicts a group of young climbers from the South Memphis climbing gym Memphis Rox, who take on the formidable challenge of scaling a 16,000-foot rock tower on Mt. Kenya, Africa’s second tallest peak.
• Dish It Out (streaming on Prime Video): Tilly Ramsay (daughter of Gordon) cooks up a storm for family and famous friends in a series dropping eight episodes a week for four weeks.
• Rel Talk (streaming on Tubi): Lil Rel Howery (Get Out) delivers a stand-up comedy set from Chicago’s What’s Funny Comedy Festival.
• Invasion (streaming on Apple TV+): The slow-burning sci-fi drama brings some of its disparate strands together when Aneesha (Golshifteh Farahani), a doctor now living in suburban comfort in Idaho with Clark (Enver Gjokaj), opens her door to Travante (Shamier Anderson) and Jamila (India Brown), who bear unwelcome news about the next wave of the alien invasion they fear is imminent.
• Love Con Revenge (streaming on Netflix): Her true-crime story of romance fraud was told in the Netflix series The Tinder Swindler. Now Cecilie Fjellhøy returns, teamed with private investigator Brianne Joseph, to help other victims expose their larcenous online lotharios and bring them to justice in a six-part docuseries.
• Friendship (streaming on HBO Max): The cringe comedy, starring Tim Robinson as a nebbish desperately wanting to befriend his cool-cat neighbor (Paul Rudd), makes its streaming debut. The film premieres on HBO on Saturday.