Sudeikis haunts dark ‘Hit-Monkey’
No more Mr. Nice Guy. Perhaps sensing that his strenuously pleasant “Ted Lasso” act has run its course, Jason Sudeikis lends his voice to “Hit-Monkey,” among the more pointlessly violent and unpleasant series I’ve run across.
Based on a Marvel comic and streaming exclusively on Hulu, this animated story begins with Bryce, a glib assassin (Sudeikis) gunning down a popular Japanese politician, voice of a youthful movement against corruption. Bryce shares a set of piercing blue eyes with the spoof secret agent “Archer.” Fans of that FX cartoon series may enjoy Bryce and his penchant for rattling off pop culture non sequiturs and puns while facing down other killers or going about his grim business. In some ways, his cynical monologues take the old James Bond conventions to their most morbid extreme. Every blood-splattered termination is punctuated with wordplay. It must seem clever to the terminally adolescent.
After snuffing out the flower of Japan’s hopes, Bryce makes some Lee Harvey Oswald jokes and sets out to collect his payoff. A bloody double-cross sends him into the mountains where he encounters an enclave of snow monkeys, those adorable photogenic creatures who lounge about in steaming hot springs.
His arrival and pointless jabbering set off a tiff between primate alpha males that comes to a sanguineous crescendo after the hit squad sent to kill Bryce riddles the cute furry creatures and stains the fluffy snow with their puddling blood. One monkey survives the melee, and Bryce lives long enough to challenge him to avenge him and his fallen comrades.
Without explaining how he understands human language, this young biped becomes the series’ titular hero and will go on to bludgeon members of Japan’s underworld, with Bryce’s ghostly voice to “mentor” him. Apparently, not even the death of his character can get Sudeikis to shut up.
› “Tiger King,” the docuseries most closely associated with quarantine binging at the outset of the COVID pandemic, returns for a second season of big cats and peculiar human behavior. Help yourself.
Also streaming on Netflix, the 2021 holiday romance “Christmas Flow” concerns a brash rapper and a feminist journalist who become an unlikely pair just in time for the holidays. In French with subtitles.
› Better known for following teams in training camp, “Hard Knocks in Season” (10 p.m., HBO, TV-14) brings the cameras into the fall schedule with a look at the team dynamics of the Indianapolis Colts.
› Once principally known as the pneumatic arm candy of the frail and superannuated Hugh Hefner, Kendra Wilkinson has reinvented herself as a real estate agent — at least on TV. Look for “Kendra Sells Hollywood” on Discovery+.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› A secret investigation on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-14).
› A capsized boat taxes the squad’s endurance on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-14).
› “NOVA: Universe Revealed” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) discusses how more powerful telescopes have helped scientists explore and understand black holes.
› Burgess’ status remains touch-and-go on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-14).