Alaqua Cox's Echo Shakes Up the Marvel TV Universe

Looking for your next binge-watch, or just need to fill an hour? Welcome to Your Weekly Watch List, our curated collection of the best shows on television. Here's what to watch from Sunday, January 7 through Saturday, January 13.

Who says January is a slow time in the TV world? This week brings a host of major premieres, from Marvel spin-off Echo to a new, celebrity-filled season of The Traitors. Plus, Apple TV+'s Criminal Record enters the battle for British crime drama supremacy, All Creatures Great and Small keeps calm and carries on amid World War II, and more.

All Creatures Great and Small Season 4 Premiere

Sunday, 9:00 PM ET on Masterpiece on PBS

While it remains one of TV's most delightful shows, All Creatures Great and Small is getting a mini-makeover. In Season 4, the residents of Skeldale House attempt to move forward in the wake of Tristan's (Callum Woodhouse) departure for the war front, but with the Germans advancing across Europe, establishing a new normal proves more difficult than anyone could have imagined. Further complicating matters are the many changes coming to their home and the practice: As James (Nicholas Ralph) and Helen (Rachel Shenton) prepare for their first child, Mrs. Audrey Hall (Anna Madeley) considers her future with Gerald (Will Thorp), and Siegfried (Samuel West) begrudgingly takes a new veterinary student, Richard Carmody (James Anthony-Rose), under his wing.

Given its focus on World War II, All Creatures Season 4 is decidedly darker than previous outings, but the show doesn't let the cloud of war dim its hopeful outlook. If anything, the British drama is more confident than ever in humans' inherent goodness, which is extended to animals and people in equal measure throughout the season.

Echo

Tuesday, 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT on Disney+ and Hulu (Full Season)
*Our must-watch pick of the week

Disney is trying something a little different with new spin-off Echo, which is the first Marvel Studios series to debut as a binge release. Set in the aftermath of Hawkeye, Echo follows Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) as she flees New York City following her encounter with crime lord Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio), her adoptive uncle turned adversary. When Maya ends up in her hometown in Oklahoma, she's forced to confront her past, forever changing her relationship to her family and the Native American community where she was born.

In addition to furthering the action in Marvel's Phase Five — Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil will also make an appearance — Echo serves as an origin story for the Deaf, Native American hero. The studio has made an effort to honor her journey by recruiting Indigenous voices behind and in front of the camera, including director Sydney Freeland and co-stars Devery Jacobs, Graham Greene, and Zahn McClarnon (who reprises his role as Maya's late father). That added layer of authenticity promises to inject some life into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is coming off a difficult year.

Perhaps in an acknowledgement of those struggles, Marvel has opted to release the five-episode limited series concurrently on Disney+ and Hulu, broadening the potential audience for the violent spin-off. (In yet another first, Echo is the only Marvel Studios show to receive a TV-MA rating.) However, Echo will only be available on Hulu until April 9, at which point it will become a Disney+ exclusive, so fans have a limited window to watch Cox's martial arts expert take down Wilson Fisk and his cronies on two different streaming services.

Criminal Record

Wednesday, Apple TV+

Amid a seemingly endless supply of crime dramas, Criminal Record tells a different kind of good cop/bad cop story. When an anonymous caller tips off the police to a wrongful conviction in an old murder case, Detective Sergeant June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) sets out in search of answers. June is hopeful her investigation will correct this miscarriage of justice, but she quickly realizes that she's run afoul of Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi), the corrupt cop responsible for Errol Mathis' (Tom Moutchi) murder conviction a decade prior. Determined to cover his tracks and keep Mathis in prison, Hegarty quietly discredits June's investigation, sending them on a collision course that threatens to destroy each of their careers.

Unlike other shows of its ilk, Paul Rutman's thriller never glorifies the police; instead, it acknowledges the corruption, racism, and sexism baked into the institution and the damage done to innocent people as a result. That message — amplified by strong performances from Jumbo and Capaldi — gives Criminal Record a sense of urgency that helps it stand out in a crowded field. Two episodes drop today, with subsequent episodes premiering Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

The Traitors Season 2 Premiere

Friday, Peacock

The only thing better than a new season of The Traitors? A new season of The Traitors with an all-celebrity cast. For the next two months, 20 reality television personalities — including The Challenge's Johnny Bananas, Survivor's Parvati Shallow, and Big Brother duo Dan Gheesling and Janelle Pierzina — will be sequestered in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, where they'll compete in a series of challenges in hopes of winning a $250,000 prize. With a group of Traitors working behind the scenes to steal the cash, paranoia is at an all time high, making the game as much about clever strategy as it is managing emotions.

The Traitors' casting shakeup likely won't change the competition itself, but it should elevate the group's gameplay, as last season's normies were repeatedly outsmarted by their famous counterparts. Season 2 also premieres weekly rather than all at once (as was the case last year), a model that better fits the show's rapid-fire pace and many twists. Three episodes of the Alan Cumming-hosted series hit Peacock on Friday, followed by one episode every Thursday through early March.

If You Have...

An Hour

Pete Davidson: Turbo Fonzarelli: Tuesday, Netflix
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 4 Reunion (Part 1): Tuesday, 8:00 PM ET on Bravo
La Brea Season 3 Premiere: Tuesday, 9:00 PM ET on NBC
For All Mankind Season 4 Finale: Friday, Apple TV+

An Evening

81st Golden Globe Awards: Sunday, 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT on CBS and Paramount+ with Showtime
CFP National Championship: Michigan vs. Washington: Monday, 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT on ESPN
Safe Home: Tuesday, Hulu
The Trust Episodes 1-4: Wednesday, Netflix

A Full Day

Break Point Season 2: Wednesday, Netflix
Boy Swallows Universe: Thursday, Netflix
Champion: Thursday, Netflix
Ted: Thursday, Peacock

Up Next

True Detective: Night Country: Sunday, January 14 on HBO
Monsieur Spade: Sunday, January 14 on AMC
Death and Other Details: Tuesday, January 16 on Hulu
Fargo Season 5 Finale: Tuesday, January 16 on FX

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.