The story of how Walter White ended up standing in the midst of the New Mexico desert in his underwear is well-known. Everyone wants to be friends with the juvenile delinquents on the Outer Banks, and Penn Badgley has built a reputation as the psychotic heartthrob in the Netflix original thriller series You. True crime podcasts and documentary series like Making a Murderer and Joe Exotic: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness have thrived in recent years, as have addicting and deadly crime series.
Netflix is presently a hotspot for criminals, hosting a number of critically regarded programs such as Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Squid Game, and others. With blockbuster shows like You and Narcos: Mexico releasing fresh seasons, the streaming service shows no signs of slowing down its production of petty thieves. But the wrongdoings don’t have to end there, as the streaming service has countless more stories of lawless crooks hiding in the shadows of the more visible outlaws. Here are the fifteen most underappreciated crime shows currently available on Netflix.
Alias Grace (2017)
Alias Grace is a perplexing whodunit mystery thriller that will have you doubting everything by the end of the series. Alias Grace is based on the real-life figure Grace Marks, an Irish immigrant and maid who was accused of murdering her boss and his housekeeper in Canada during the 1800s. It is adapted from Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Grace (Sara Gadon) claims she doesn’t remember committing the murders or the circumstances that led up to her bosses’ gruesome deaths, and the entire limited series is like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that refuse to fit. Grace shows to be an unreliable narrator who is tough to understand when an impressionable doctor begins interviewing her in order to acquire a thorough picture of what really transpired.
Aquarius (2015-2016)
Take a trip back in time to the 1960s, when hair was longer, skirts were shorter, and the Devil had arrived in the person of Charles Manson in Los Angeles. In the NBC historical drama Aquarius, David Duchovny plays Sam Hodiak, a detective on the lookout for a teenage fugitive who is hot on the trail of Charles Manson. Emma (Emma Dumont), a 16-year-old runaway, flees home after meeting the Manson family at a party and adopting their violent, drug-fueled lifestyle while attempting to forget her previous, picture-perfect life. If you like Mad Men and want to see more of the swinging 1960s, Aquarius is the perfect follow-up, as it is filled with pop culture candy while also presenting a darker side to the iconic and revolutionary era. The series is immersed in dread as it leads up to that terrible night in August 1969 on Cielo drive, and actor Gethin Anthony (Game of Thrones) offers an eerily spot-on performance as Manson.
Not seeking for a long-term relationship? New Brand Cherry Flavor, a Netflix original limited series, is the ideal binge-watch that can be finished in one weekend. The series follows one woman’s search for revenge among supernatural monsters and power-hungry media moguls in early 1990s Los Angeles, which is soaked in Hollywood glitter and cigarette smoke. When hotshot producer Lou Burke (Eric Lange) defrauds budding filmmaker Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) of the opportunity to direct her picture, she enlists the help of the ancient witch Boro (Catherine Keener), who acts as a hippy-loving L.A. woman, to cast a curse on him. The numerous methods in which the ladies wreck his life are both cruel and terrible, and Eric Lange’s portrayal of a deceitful, entitled producer will make your skin boil. In this Lynchian tale of a twisted paradise lurking beneath the glitz and glam of Hollywood, Rosa Salazar provides a rage-filled performance as violent as a tornado, and the result is a mind-boggling experience. Although the Brand New Cherry Flavor may not be to everyone’s taste, the explosion of tastes creates an amazing dinner that is exclusively for the boldest of customers. This unsentimental indictment of tinsel town, rife with dishonorable men and artists prepared to sell their hearts to become stars, demonstrates that not everything that glitters is gold.
Dare Me (2019-2020)
Dare Me, a USA drama, examines the holy bond between two cheerleaders, Addy (Herizen F. Guardiola) and Beth (Marlo Kelly), as well as the manipulative power dynamics that lurk beneath their lovely smiles. Colette French (Willa Fitzgerald), a previous hometown hero, returns to town as the new head cheerleading coach, and her no-holds-barred attitude pushes the girls to their breaking point, causing them to fracture under pressure. Dare Me is a ticking time bomb of suspense and glitter, a flashy neo-noir mystery that foreshadows a murder is waiting in the wings for one of the town’s residents. The show struggled to find its audience throughout its first season, and it was cancelled before anyone realized what they were losing out on. If you’re eagerly expecting the return of adolescent thrillers like Euphoria and Riverdale, enter the dreamy world of backstabbing, backflipping young females in Dare Me, based on Megan Abbott’s 2011 novel.
Designated Survivor (2016-2019)
Designated Survivor is a political thriller that covers the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic attack on the United States Capitol during the State of the Union Address, which kills the President and nearly everyone else in attendance. Each year, a single cabinet member is chosen to be the designated survivor in the event of a terrible occurrence like this one, and hence does not attend the event. This time, Kiefer Sutherland plays Tom Kirman, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Now that Kirman has been sworn in as President, he must swiftly learn how to run a country while also tracking down the terrorists who carried out the attack. The series has echoes of the Fox thriller 24, and its pleasant banter between White House aides reminds memories of the classic political series The West Wing, with Sutherland in the lead. Maggie Q (Nikita), who portrays a tough-as-nails CIA operative who plays a perilous cat and mouse game with the anonymous terrorists, takes up the most of the action. Its third and final season was happily picked up and published on Netflix after it was cancelled after two spectacular seasons on ABC.
Good Girls (2018-2021)
Good Girls is what would happen if Breaking Bad were remade in the Midwest, and Walter White and Jesse Pink were changed into jaded, underappreciated bank robbers. Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman share the lead in this NBC comedy-drama series, and the three are a perfect combination as Beth, Ruby, and Annie, a group of moms barely scraping by in the Detroit suburbs. The women, fed up with their precarious financial status, decide to rob the local grocery shop and successfully steal the whole contents of the vault. When a violent drug dealer shows up on their immaculately maintained lawns and reminds them that the money they took from the business was his, and they now owe him, they receive a lot more than they bargained for. The trio is subsequently thrust into a life of money laundering and bank robbery, all while raising children and making cupcakes for school bake sales. Every episode is a well-oiled, thrilling machine, and the series aired on NBC for four thrilling seasons before the network terminated it and announced that the fourth season would be the final one. Good Girls has all the proper ingredients, with elements of screwball comedy and some nefarious crooks.
Happy (2017-2019)
Happy, an incredibly graphic crime series thanks to an unhinged performance by Christopher Meloni and outstanding special effects that literally explode off the screen and bathe you in blood, features lonely people filling a dark universe. Meloni plays Nick Sax, a formally disgraced cop who now makes his living as a cold-blooded hitman, in this funny SyFy original comedy. Sax’s life is a misery, and his job is made more difficult by his drunkenness and general depression. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and he discovers a new sense of purpose in life as he sets out to track down an evil Santa Clause who’s been snatching children all around New York City. The couple, with the help of an imaginary animated horse named Happy, played by Patton Oswalt, find a horrific neverland hidden within New York City. Happy will have you whistling Christmas melodies in no time, thanks to its violent mob bosses, cops, and a deadly Santa Clause.
Hap and Leonard (2016-2018)
In the Sundance series Hap and Leonard, a 1980s period piece soaked in southern charm and criminality, everything old is fresh again. The series stars James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams as Hap and Leonard, two best friends who are drawn into a dangerous world of drug traffickers and thieves. It is based on Joe R. Lansdale’s novel series of the same name. Things start looking up until Hap’s ex-wife, Trudy (Christina Hendricks), offers the couple a once-in-a-lifetime proposition that may make them wealthy. Hap and Leonard accept the offer and set out to find a rumored lost treasure buried deep within a local river teeming with hungry alligators and other crooks on the lookout for a fortune. Hap and Leonard is a good old-fashioned buddy adventure with hints of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Smoky and the Bandit, as it details two outlaws in way over their heads, accompanied by a great soundtrack that includes timeless rock classics from bands like Tears for Fears and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
In the Dark (2019-present)
If you’re tired of New York City’s hardboiled crime and the smog-filled air that blankets sunny Los Angeles, venture to Chicago, Illinois. In the Dark, a new CW thriller series, embraces Chicago and all of its Midwestern quirks while also providing a refreshing murder investigation that spans the chilly Lake Michigan and squeaky red line trains. Murphy (Perry Mattfeld), the lovable antihero, is a blind, alcoholic Chicagoan who lives on one-night encounters and reckless escapades. Her sole buddy, aside from her dog and roommate, is a sweet 16-year-old lad named Tyson, with whom she spends every night in the alley outside her apartment, complaining about life and listening to good music. Murphy arrives in the alley one night and stumbles onto Tyson’s dead body, but his body is gone by the time the cops arrive. Murphy’s friends and the detectives don’t believe she found Tyson’s body because she’s an alcoholic and blind lady, but that only fuels her desire to solve the case. In this darkly humorous Midwest thriller, Murphy becomes obsessed with discovering what happened to Tyson, leading him into a dark rabbit hole populated by sleazy politicians, heroic dogs, and enormous amounts of booze.
Imposters (2017-2018)
In the dark comedy series Imposters, a trio of devastated, blooming crooks will stop at nothing until they track down and avenge one of the game’s greatest con artists. Meet Ezra (Rob Heaps), Richard (Parker Young), and Julia (Marianne Rendon), three strangers on the hunt for their ex-girlfriend Maddie (Marianne Rendon) (Inbar Lavi). Maddie, a skilled thief, duped each of them into believing she loved them, then married them, stole all of their money, and vanished. As the newly acquainted threesome quit their day jobs and drive cross country in search of Maddie, they become entangled in a far larger conspiracy, with dangerous criminals and undercover FBI agents rushing to find her as well. Imposters is an incredible experience thanks to hilarious acting and superb writing. It’s a story about crooks doing dirty transactions on park benches and hiding under neon motel lights. The series respects its antecedents while also becoming a lawbreaking beast of its own, referencing classic flicks like The Sting and The French Connection. The series features a diverse cast of villains, with Uma Thurman standing out as Lenny the shark, a cold-blooded killer. This narrative of strange suspects lasts two seasons and proves that the greatest con a human can ever pull off is love itself.
Longmire (2012-2017)
Longmire, a Netflix original neo-western series, is a unique spin on the cop procedural, replacing skyscrapers with Wyoming mountains. Sherriff Walt Longmire is followed as he solves several murders in the vast Absaroka County while also dealing with inner demons and a tumultuous background. Longmire is based on Craig Johnson’s long-running novel series. He is a grizzled cowboy among the last of his type. Longmire’s daughter, Cady Longmire (Cassidy Freeman), and local bartender Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips) are among the supporting characters that come to Longmire’s help when he hunts down a colorful swarm of cowboys and thieves in the brutal Wyoming wilderness.
Seven Seconds (2018)
When Brenton Butler, a fifteen-year-old black adolescent, is killed in a hit-and-run by a white cop, a cover-up develops as the corrupt police department tries to protect the cop who fled the scene. Regina King provides a dramatic and timely performance as Latrice Butler, Brenton’s feisty and stubborn mother, in the Netflix original limited series Seven Seconds. The series offers a picture of a dysfunctional system in desperate need of repair as Latrice battles for justice while grieving. Veena Sud, the series’ creator and co-writer, is also the creator of The Killing, a gripping murder mystery series, and she’s right at home as she creates yet another intricate picture of loss amid shady suspects, irredeemable crooks, and city lights. The film features an all-star ensemble cast, including Clare-Hope Ashitey (Children of Men) as an alcoholic attorney, Michael Mosey (The Sinner) as a negligent investigator, and Russel Hornsby (The Affair) as Brenton’s stoic father.
Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020)
Are you tired of the same old hackneyed teen dramas in which first-time smokers and beer drinkers take their first cigarettes and beers, and the worst heartbreak is delivered at the high school prom? Try Adolescent Bounty Hunters, a Netflix original about two Jesus-loving teenage girls who succumb to a life of crime while still attending church on Sundays. Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and Blair Wesley (Angelica Bette Fellini), fraternal twins, are devout Christians who have always obeyed the rules. That all changes when they collide with and damage the automobile of Bowser, a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter (Kadeem Hardison). Sterling and Blair make amends by assisting him in catching his current target, and the trio thereafter works together to bring criminals to justice. The series is a funny comedy that pokes fun at what a modern-day southern girl should appear and act like. But nothing nice lasts forever, and the show was doomed from the start, with Netflix canceling it after the first season.
The OA (2016-2019)
The OA, a Netflix original fantasy series, is not only one of the most unique but also one of the best series to come out of the twenty-first century. When Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling) reappears seven years after going missing, incredible things begin to happen. She refuses to tell the detectives or her parents about her whereabouts during her seven-year absence, including how she miraculously regained her sight after being blind for most of her life. Recovering her vision is only the beginning; as the story progresses, we learn more about what happened to Prairie during her absence. Prairie enlists the help of four problematic lads to go on a high-stakes quest involving numerous mythological animals, angels, and devils as she returns to her former life and moves back into her parents’ home in the dismal, grey-sky suburbs of Michigan. The trio embarks on a perilous voyage with the help of a sweet local English teacher, played by Phyllis Smith (The Office), that takes them far from their mundane small-town life in the Midwest. When Netflix discontinued the series after two seasons in 2019, it was just getting started, but don’t let that stop you from watching this beautiful spectacle loaded with profound ponderings on the meaning of life.
Wynonna Earp (2016-2021)
Wynonna Earp, a Syfy original horror series based on the comic book series of the same name, gives the wild west a modernized, supernatural twist. Melanie Scrofano plays Wynonna Earp, the gun-toting great-granddaughter of Wyatt Earp, the famed gunman. She resurrects several vengeful demons known as revenants when she returns to her hometown of Purgatory after years away, and all hell breaks free. Wynonna confronts the revenants with the help of her sister Waverly (Dominque Provost), Deputy Marshall Xavier Dolls (Shamier Anderson), and the immortal Doc Holiday (Tim Rozon), Wyatt Earp’s old best friend, seeking vengeance after her great-grandfather killed them over a century ago. Wynonna Earp includes aspects of old B-Horror movies, as outlaws in cowboy boots and southern twangs combat terrible creatures spitting fire and weapons.
