Tonight in HD: November 28

SoHo Highlight: Game of Thrones (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) Ned makes a controversial decree; Tyrion confesses to his ‘crimes’; Viserys receives final payment for Daenerys. “Two thirds of the way through is often when a series can start to lag,” The Daily Telegraph pointed out. “Not a bit of it here. Tonight’s episode was a corker: an hour of subterfuge, skulduggery and one of the more brutal and inventive meetings of maker that HBO has yet managed.” It’s probably no coincidence that, as the Los Angeles Times reported, “the big news about this week’s episode is that George RR Martin is credited with writing the script himself. That may have been because he was the best-equipped writer to do the necessary triage: this one has to telescope a lot of plot movement into 58 minutes. In the course of a single episode, we get the gradual collapse of the Stark family, the beginning of the War of the Five Kings, Tyrion’s alliance with the mountain clans, negotiations at the Eyrie, a couple of Dothraki battles, a direwolf dining on fingers and a freaking zombie attack at the Wall.” Even so, The Guardian said the focus was on brotherly love, “aside from a gilded death and the devouring of a stallion’s heart”, with the ratio of violence to nudity high to low. ✭✭✭✭

X-Men 2 (TV3, 8.30)

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) While Monica slaves over Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the gang run late due to a baby beauty contest and a Rangers game. ✫✫✫

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Vinnie’s happiness is short-lived; Hunter slips out of one noose and into another; Nicole tries to fight back. ✫✫✫

Criminal Minds (TV One, 8.30, R) A series of family murders brings Hotch and Prentiss face-to-face with one of the most horrific killers from the BAU teams’ past. ✫✫

The Mentalist (TV2, 8.30) Patrick Jane is confronted with two botched robberies: one that leaves a repair shop owner dead and the other involving a man he personally hired to break into LaRoche’s home. ✫✫

Movie: X-Men 2 (TV3, 8.30, R) After an anti-mutant ‘black ops’ specialist abducts Xavier, imprisons his students and steals Cerebro, the fugitive X-Men and newcomer Nightcrawler join forces with magneto to rescue their brethren and forestall a holocaust. Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin and Patrick Stewart star. (2003) ✫✫✫

Shameless (TV2, 11.00) After a lonely Debbie steals a little boy from a birthday party, the family hatches a plan to return the toddler safe and sound without attracting attention from the Chicago Police. ✫✫✫