Tonight in HD: April 18

 Season Highlight: Sons of Anarchy (TV3, 9.30, 5.1) Jax and Tara glimpse life without SAMCRO, but discover that their reality is hard to escape. “This week, Sons of Anarchy addressed some of the aspects of the motorcycle-gang life that have most frequently prevented me from completely buying into this very good series,” Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker said. “No coincidence: I thought this week’s SOA, titled Hands, was the best episode of a very strong season.” Hit Fix critic Alan Sepinwall agreed: “It’s an hour that lays bare exactly what the show, and the club, are all about, that features outstanding performances by Charlie Hunnam, Maggie Siff and Ryan Hurst, among others, and that felt repeatedly like a kick in the gut.” And Time’s James Poniewozik welcomed the series at last choosing “which kind of show it’s going to be … Hands was a great showcase for Ron Perlman, who took his character [Clay] over the edge brazenly, as if to taunt us with the question of why we ever sympathised with him in the first place … I don’t know if Clay’s endgame will play out over the rest of this season or into next year. But what we saw in Hands makes me very excited for SOA’s future — as long as the show doesn’t set up another reason to bring him back from the point of no return.” ✮✮✮✮✮

Sky Movies Premiere: The Rite (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) A rookie priest has his faith tested when he becomes an exorcist’s apprentice in Rome, where the veteran hell-razer is struggling with demons of his own. The first half engrosses and unsettles but thereafter the filmmakers suffer their own crisis of faith -- in their material. Mikael Hafstrom directs Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue and Alice Braga. (2010) ✮✮✮

Home & Away (TV3, 5.30) Liam and Bianca try to save their marriage; April turns to Dex in her time of need; Casey and Henri share a moment. ✮✮

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Chandler can’t deal with Kathy’s handsome co-star; Rachel struggles to get a customer to ask her out; Monica misses being the hostess. ✮✮✮✮

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Roimata forces Henare to confront his lies; Luke loses out to the competition; Evan gets a reality check. ✮✮✮

Two and a Half Men (TV2, 7.30) Walden is trying his best to impress his new love interest, Zoey, when Bridget reappears in his life. ✮✮

2 Broke Girls (TV2, 8.00) Max and Caroline try to find Chestnut a job so the horse will have lodging and shelter for the winter; Peach auditions for reality TV’s Real Housewives of TriBeCa. ✮✮

Road Madness (TV3, 8.00) Two cars collide at 100km per hour; drivers that cross the white centre line pay the price; the dangers of crazy U-turns. ✮✮

Castle (TV One, 8.30) When an ex-con is mysteriously slain in an alley, Castle and Beckett suspect a vigilante. But efforts to identify their suspect are thwarted when they discover that the killer roams the city in a superhero costume. Sons of Anarchy’s Jamie McShane guest stars. ✮✮

The Big Bang Theory (TV2, 8.30) Leonard must face his fears after being contacted by his high school tormentor, while Penny realises that she might have been a bully herself. ✮✮✮✮

The Almighty Johnsons (TV3, 8.30) A dose of reality for the Johnson clan, when a virus turns their world order upside down. ✮✮✮

Happy Endings (TV2, 9.00) Dave worries that he’s leading a zombie-like existence, while Max and Jane square off in some silly zombie challenges. ✮✮

Harry’s Law (TV One, 9.30) Harry and Adam support a man suing a tobacco company for his wife’s death; Cassie represents a woman who is being threatened by her ex-husband; Tommy is sued by a woman who claims he led her on. ✮✮

The Walking Dead (TV2, 9.30) The situation about what to do with Randall is dividing the survivors; Daryl takes on the job of extracting information from Randall that reveals a new threat to the group. Said the AV Club: “Judge, Jury, Executioner continues the show’s post-winter break trend of rebuilding, and while there’s still too much talk and not enough tension, it’s promising how much more each episode has become focused on delivering distinct, beginning-middle-end stories. Last week, we had Rick and Shane fighting, and Beth’s suicide attempt. This week, it’s Dale’s attempts to save Randall’s life, and Carl’s journey into the heart of dumbness. Impressively, unlike last week, these two stories actually come together by the end, and they do so in way that, I’ll admit, I didn’t see coming at all.” ✮✮✮✮

Nikita (TV2, 10.30) Owen returns with information about the whereabouts of one of Percy’s black boxes; Nikita travels to London with Owen to retrieve the box, but she notices that he is acting strangely. ✮✮✮

CSI: New York (TV3, 11.15, 5.1, R) A frantic 911 call sends the CSIs into a vacant penthouse where they find a nearly 100-year-old corpse and have to navigate their way through booby-traps. ✮✮

This Is Not My LIfe (TV One, 11.55, R) Becky is having nightmares that may reveal more secrets, and Alec suspects they are being brainwashed. ✮✮