Thriller is my favourite genre. Be it movies or shows, I love watching a good suspense story. But it can be hard to find such shows or movies that remain unpredictable as well as entertaining till the end. If you love a nice thriller series that keeps you on the hook in every scene, Netflix has some of the best created thriller series ever.
Here is the list of 5 thriller series I watched in 2024:
- Black Doves (2024)–
It’s a Keira Knightley starrer British spy thriller that became one of the highest rated shows of 2024. Black Dove is a mercenary spy organisation that sells secrets to the highest bidder. Knightley portrays Helen Webb, wife of Wallace Webb, the Secretary of State for Defence. She gets the news that her lover, Jason has been murdered. Sam (Ben Whishaw), a trigger man is called to protect her and investigate the matter.
It’s a festive thriller with aesthetics. It’s witty but not serious. Helen and Sam’s friendship dynamic is the best part of the series. It’s a character driven action thriller. Character development takes the focus instead of the plot. Helen is a merciless killer as well as a loving mom. Sam is an assassin with a heart. Whishaw added dimensions to his character. Sam is more hurt than angry at the destruction his profession has caused in his personal life. The series explores the themes of trust, betrayal and identity and combines raw human emotions with some over the top intriguing action.
2. Bodyguard (2018)-
Another British thriller that became BBC’s most watched new drama in a decade. It’s a political thriller starring Richard Madden as David Budd, a war veteran who struggles with PTSD. Right in the opening scene, he is put into a complicated and stressful position. He foils a suicide bomber’s plot to blow up the train he is travelling in with his children. After that, it’s one crisis after another. His heroism gets him a job as the personal security of Home Secretary, Julia Montague. Julia is a conservative MP who advocates for increased government surveillance. She has a lot of enemies. The series has a lot of women who hold a position of power and are not afraid to take a stand. This series doesn’t let you breathe. It’s maddening. It only has six episodes making it perfect for binge watch.
3. Mindhunter (2017)-
‘The world doesn’t make any sense, so the crime doesn’t either’- Holden Ford.
It’s a psychological crime thriller starring Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany and Anna Torv. It is based on the 1995 true crime book ‘Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit’ by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. It follows the founding of the Behavioural Science Unit in FBI in the late 1970’s and the beginning of criminal profiling. FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench with psychologist Wendy Carr launch a research project to interview imprisoned serial killers to understand their psychology and apply that knowledge in solving ongoing cases. It may not seem like a big deal now but it was a revolutionary idea at that time. To deduce what behaviour motivates a specific violent act was like witchcraft. Several dangerous criminals are shown to be interviewed such as like Ed Kemper, Richard Speck, Montie Russell, Elmer Henley Jr. and Charles Manson.
The series is gruesome but classy. It is told completely from the point of view of the criminals with no flashbacks keeping it all in the present, which makes it even more upsetting and real.
It is brutal and disturbing. It gives you a nagging feeling that there is something deeply wrong with the world. People have been obsessed with serial killer dramas lately and this one shows you a more technical and non-dramatic side of it.
4. The Stranger (2020)-
This British miniseries is a mystery thriller. Richard Armitage plays Adam Price, who is approached by a mysterious and seductive woman. She reveals a secret about Corinne, his wife. Soon after Adam confronts Corinne about it, she goes missing.
Family and marriage is at the centre of this series. It’s an adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel of the same name.
In this series, a stranger goes on a rampage to unravel the dark, embarrassing and threatening secrets of people. But she becomes less and less interesting the more is revealed about her. She likes to believe she is doing it for a noble cause (no one should have secrets in a relationship) but it’s really just a sadistic desire to cause chaos in people’s lives because she suffered in hers.
It is full of twists and turns that keep you on the edge, however, the ending can seem underwhelming. There’s a lot of subplots to keep up with but they also make it an interesting watch.
5. The Lincoln Lawyer (2022)-
Everyone loves a good legal drama. A bunch of hotshot lawyers in fancy suits. It can never be boring. The Lincoln Lawyer is based on Michael Connelly’s books and stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller, a defence attorney in Los Angeles who has a Lincoln navigator. Out of the blue, he inherits the legal practice of a lawyer who was shot dead. Now he is in charge of the high-profile case of the murder of a tech CEO’s wife and her lover.
It’s a series about a lawyer who uses his Lincoln as his office. But the fact that he has an actual functional office pretty much defeats the purpose of the title. Haller is the kind of lawyer who is not afraid to bend the rules to get a win which makes the show a gripping watch.
Do you love watching thriller shows? What are some of your favourite thrillers? Share them in the comment section below.
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