Since 2015, a niche has developed among Netflix users who are enticed by science fiction, crime and psychological thriller shows. I know this, because never before had I had an interest in such a genre before I was sucked into this vortex.
If you're like me and you have a plan that only consists of one screen then you'll understand my need to finish an entire TV show in one sitting because I'm afraid my dad will get in and I'll be forced to think about who killed who for hours before I can start watching again. It may not be the psychological torture in comparison to the actual things that go on in these shows, but to a degree it is when the shows are that good.
Black Mirror is a series centered around the darker components of modern society consequently as a result of new and advanced technologies. Every episode is different, and each chapter a new aspect of technology is dissected.
The allure of Black Mirror lies in the simplicity and mundane-ness of every episode. It hits really close to home, literally to the point where I ended up sticking bits of paper over the webcam of my laptop and watching what I say online more so than I did before watching the show. It's horrifying but in a realistic way, and delves into topics that seem entirely possible considering the rate at which technology is accelerating at. The lesser known actors and actresses make just as much as an impact as the renowned ones, because the story-lines themselves are so captivating.
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The OA is an american sci-fi mystery drama following the sudden reappearance of the formerly blind girl, Prairie Johnson. She refuses to tell the FBI anything and instead recounts her journey to five local people. Her main motive is to find and help the others who were kidnapped with her.
The OA is still a show that I am not sure how I feel about, which is why I'm exhausted waiting for the second season. Nevertheless, I watched it all in two days. It charmed the hell out of me. I'm big into supernatural stuff, the combination of this and science-fiction was really gratifying. It's full of suspense and I was shocked numerous times throughout the series. The directors play with an really interesting concept and I'm excited to see what pans out next.
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13 Reasons Why follows a teen boy and collection of tapes that fall into his possession after the girl and a former friend who made them, commits suicide.
These tapes form a diary for her to express and emit the anguish of her teenage life that ultimately ends with her demise.
This show doesn't directly correlate with the genre that I originally entailed above, but I feel like it should be mentioned. I think I liked this show more so because this facet has never really been incorporated into another TV show with as much detail and vigor. It was full of suspense and I found myself and surely every other person in it's audience, watching intently and listening for clues. I was shocked by the ending even though I was informed what was going to happen several minutes into the first episode, and constantly reminded of too throughout the entire series. I found that very impressive.
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The Keepers is a 7 episode documentary focused on the unsolved murder mystery of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a Drama and English teacher who taught at an all girl school dictated by sexually abusive Priests. The belief is that her murder had been covered up by Law Enforcement and members of the Church of Baltimore. The investigation is conducted by former students of Sister Cathy Cesnik.
This TV series had a familiar impression on me as Making a Murderer had. In the sense, that I found the evidence to clearly say that Cathy Cesnik had been murdered and her death was a cover-up, but there wasn't enough supporting proof to incriminate anyone. Once again, it was another TV series that illuminated how corrupt systems, like Law Enforcement and Clergies, really are. Truly a teeth-grinding documentary. It's heartbreaking to see people grieving over a woman that ultimately had never done any wrong, and was killed for trying to emancipate the students of Archbishop Keough High School. It's so distressing that I literally get angry thinking about what happened to those people, and how little was done for them until now.
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Bates Motel is the re-imagined prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho. It tells the Story of Norman and his mother, Norma Bates proceeding the event that consequently causes Norman to become the notorious serial killer.
Bates Motel really did start my interest and engagement with the ideas and concepts behind TV series and films regarding psychological behaviors. What is more compelling than problems with the human psyche? Not a lot, is the answer. I guess the show purposely doesn't put Norman in the spotlight, but If it did I don't think I'd like it as much. I loved Norma Bates, in particular the woman who played her, Vera Farmiga. A very dramatic television series that had me hating and somehow sympathizing with the antagonist.
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The Confession Tapes is a crime documentary that poses six episodes wherein each one there is a supposed false confession given as a result of coercion or otherwise, that results in the eventual murder convictions of the people documented.
Another one of those true crime documentaries that really does play with your feelings. I found myself telling every person I possibly could what I believed to have happened. I have never second-guessed myself so much watching a TV show as much as I did watching this. It's documented so clearly and everything told is so simplistic, yet it elicits so many feelings watching it because you just don't know what to think however much information and evidence is given. The people are real and the murders are real, and I just can't get my head around who did what. It really shows the vulnerability of humans when faced with the perception of death. And also the unethical procedures that are taken by law enforcement agencies in order to make a conviction regardless of the culpability of the convicted.
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The Sinner is a crime mystery television series surrounding the events that follow after a young mother brutally kills someone and has no idea why she did.
Another show that delves deep into the psyche of murderous person, except this series was unlike anything else I've seen. Really makes you think what the difference between sanity and insanity is, when the boundaries between the two seem to be touching in this program. The series alternates between flashbacks and present time which normally I'm not a fan of, but the flashbacks really reinforced the difficulties that the protagonist is faced with present-time. The audience and the protagonist learn things about her at the same time which was ingenious because you're right there with her the whole way. This show had me guessing constantly, and boy was I wrong every single time.
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Mindhunter follows two FBI agents enthralled by criminal psychology, who interview convicted serial killers in hopes of applying the knowledge found to other ongoing cases.
Once again, what's more compelling than the human psyche? This show is so flippin' invigorating. After watching this, you'll want to study criminology. As awful as it sounds, I've always found murder scenes and things of the same nature really captivating. And this show certainly doesn't hold back. It's so enticing that you feel like you're there in the confession room. I love when shows have a degree of realness to them, and this show mentions the likes of Ed Kemper, Charles Manson and Richard Speck, but captures them as the real people appear to have acted. I've found myself more than a few times sitting in bed in the early hours of the morning reading about the murderers on death row or about the most notorious killers ever imprisoned. Unless something comes out between now and New Years and completely blows me away, this is going down as one of my favorite shows that I've watched. Ever.
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Please if you haven't watched, do so asap. I wouldn't waste my time writing about them if they weren't good, I also wouldn't spend entire days dedicated to a show if it weren't worth my time.
And. these. are. worth. your. time
And. these. are. worth. your. time
Been a bit AWOL, but I'm back (because I've watched everything deemed of importance on Netflix),
Lauren