Tonight in HD: November 23

SoHo Highlight: The Killing (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) Sarah and Holder track down a potential witness to the murder and are led to a new suspect. By episode three, Time magazine pointed out “the most gripping—and sometimes hard to take—project of The Killing is to reverse the audience’s desensitization to murder itself as a plot device.” Whereas US crime dramas traditionally “have treated murder as, if not a game, then a puzzle … it’s the beginning of a world of agony for the survivors. [This] episode, El Diablo, explored that on the investigative front by filling in the picture of Rosie’s life and the last hours of it.” In its B assessment, The AV Club argued The Killing owes less to Twin Peaks than the movies of David Fincher: “It’s pretty much unrelenting gloom, with some moments of overwhelming menace thrown in for good measure.” Said HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall: “El Diablo is the episode where The Killing really settles in and preps us for the long haul. We know most of the players, so now it’s time to see how things slowly play out.” ✭✭✭✭

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Rachel’s sister (guest star Christina Applegate) gets Emma’s ears pierced; Phoebe keeps ruining Mike’s chances of proposing. ✫✫✫

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Maxwell launches a rebellion; Luke struggles with torn loyalties; Hunter takes a turn for the worse. ✫✫✫

Bigger Faster Better Stronger (TV3, 8.00, R) Greg Page and James Coleman redesign the BBQ: one unleashes the power of microwave on his sausages, the other creates a pressure cooker/bomb. ✫✫

Underbelly: Razor (TV3, 8.30) Kate Leigh understands Wally Tomlinson’s loyalty to his slain mate Barney, but she believes he’s putting his own head in a noose by naming Tilly Devine’s gunman. A few days after this episode, The Sentimental Bloke, aired in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Daniel Burt penned a witty, accurate assessment of the series to date, including its gaffes, fashions and the performances of Kiwis Danielle Cormack and Chelsie Preston-Crayford as the feuding brothel-keepers. “The main actresses get to have fun with lines such as, ‘No Johnny’s going to want a girl with scabby titties.’ But just because I enjoy their performances doesn’t absolve them from the fact that they’re both from New Zealand.” ✫✫✫✫

Harry’s Law (TV One, 9.30) Tommy convinces Harry to help him represent a rare group of people looking to live the American Dream; after Jenna’s car is stolen, the thief asks the firm to represent him. ✫✫

The Borgias (TV3, 9.30, 5.1) Paolo helps Lucrezia and Giulia escape Giovanni’s estate, but the women wind up as captives of the advancing French army. ✫✫✫✫

V (TV2, 10.40) Anna secretly has an invading fleet of breeding vessels, while Eli Cohn tries to convince the Fifth Column it’s time to assassinate Anna. ✫✫✫

CSI (TV3, 11.20, 5.1, R) Two beautiful women are murdered in a Las Vegas hotel and the CSIs uncover an unusual killer during their investigation while Langston continues to hunt ‘Dr. Jekyll’. ✫✫