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I’m currently watching The White Lotus (which is great), but they only roll out one episode a week.
Given how we usually watch series these days (back-to-back, muttering ‘just one more episode’ as the hours stack up), it makes for quite a change.
For those who want to stick with the tried and tested and binge-worthy, Mashable has put together a list of the 10 best shows to binge-watch on Netflix right now.
We’ve trimmed it down to five, starting with…
Russian Doll
It’s short, with eight 30-minute episodes forming its first season. It’s bold, covering themes of mortality, trauma, and human connection against the backdrop of New York’s East Village. And it’s flat-out hilarious to boot.
Natasha Lyonne co-created and starred as Nadia, a woman who becomes trapped in a time loop after dying on her 36th birthday. Nadia’s Groundhog Day–esque adventure becomes increasingly complex as the series progresses and she races against the loop to discover why she can’t stop dying.
I’d go as far as to say you could watch all eight episodes, or the four hours in total, on a particularly lazy Sunday.
It does take a little concentration, but nowhere as much as something like Inception.
Sundays aren’t for concentrating.
Sweet Tooth
Sweet Tooth was a surprisingly fantastical addition to Netflix’s 2021 lineup, and its big bet on childlike wonder paid off in spades.
Even though its setting takes place after a deadly virus has decimated the human population and caused the collapse of civilization (yikes), Sweet Tooth is more of fairy tale told from the perspective of one of the other side effects of the apocalypse — a human-deer hybrid named Gus whose father sheltered him from the worst of the world until shelter became untenable.
You’ve done pretty well if you can make a series about a deadly virus that people still find entertaining.
Next up, we’re going a little old school.
One of the benefits of this series is that if you get into it, there are plenty of seasons to rifle through.
Friday Night Lights
A common misconception in shows about sports is that you have to be interested in that sport to be interested in the show. This could not be less true, especially in the case of Friday Night Lights.
Based on the movie that was based on the book of the same name, FNL is on its surface the story of a high school football team in Texas, but it’s actually the story of a community, of all the individual triumphs and systemic failures that add up to the crazy little thing we call life.
Five seasons, 76 episodes.
Quite a trip down memory lane.
Fourth, we have The Good Place
If you haven’t seen Mike Schur’s captivating tale of life after death, then you’re in for a mother forking good time. Starring Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, Jameela Jamil, D’Arcy Carden, Manny Jacinto, and William Jackson Harper, the series takes a hard look at what it means to be a good person through the best comedic lens since The Office.
As any true Good Place fan knows, you can’t detail the events of this series without risking giving something away. So, you’re gonna have to trust us. Get through the first episode, and we promise you’ll be hooked.
I love how people always have to throw in that disclaimer.
One episode I can handle, but when people say things like ‘power through the first season and it gets good’ then I’m out.
I’m ready to be done with this list, and we almost are.
The Queen’s Gambit
Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, this Netflix period drama follows chess prodigy Beth Harmon as she gradually rises to the top of her game while fighting off loneliness and addiction.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as Beth is intoxicating. There is a subtlety to the way she displays her emotions that fully absorbs viewers in each of her successes and failures. This makes the series’ triumphant conclusion all the more satisfying.
Sheesh – spoiler alert.
The series is so well made that it inspired a huge number of people to take up chess.
That takes some doing.
Right, Mashable has the rest of their top 10 here.
[source:mashable]
