Image via Netflix
Published May 28, 2026, 9:49 PM EDT
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I usually get tired of Netflix shows very quickly because a lot of them are not properly built around the story they’re trying to tell. The ending is always like the writers are trying to stretch a simple thing into eight hours. That is why I almost completely stopped trusting the hidden gem label attached to most shows. Because I think most of the time, those shows are forgotten for a reason.
Still, there is hope. Every once in a while, a series comes out that shocks me and restores my faith in cinema, and these series are proof. These eight shows never became massive mainstream obsessions, though all of them came surprisingly close to being perfect television for me.
8 ‘Kingdom’ (2019–2020)
Image via NetflixThe first thing that makes Kingdom different from most zombie shows is its story. The story takes place during Korea’s Joseon period, when Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) is already facing political pressure within the palace before the outbreak even begins. Rumors start spreading that the king is ill, though nobody is being allowed to see him. At first, the problem looks political. Ministers are hiding information, power is shifting quietly, and Lee Chang is being pushed further away from the throne.
Then the dead start coming back. What makes the series work so well is how quickly panic spreads once the infection reaches ordinary villages. People are trapped behind gates, entire towns collapse overnight, and even the environment starts feeling dangerous after sunset. The political side also never disappears. While Lee Chang is trying to understand the outbreak, powerful families inside the court are still treating the situation as something they can manipulate for advantage. That combination of palace politics and full-scale zombie horror gives the show a momentum that barely slows down once it starts.
7 ‘Giri/Haji’ (2019)
Image via BBCGiri/Haji begins with Tokyo detective Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira) being sent to London after his younger brother Yuto (Yōsuke Kubozuka) is accused of murder. The problem is that Yuto was believed to be dead already, and his return threatens to restart tensions between rival yakuza groups back in Japan. Kenzo arrives in London expecting a straightforward search, though very quickly the situation becomes far messier than he imagined.
A large part of the show works because Kenzo feels uncomfortable almost everywhere he goes. He barely understands the city, struggles with the language around him, and keeps running into people who know much more than they first reveal. Sarah (Kelly Macdonald), a detective from London, becomes part of the investigation, while Rodney (Will Sharpe) adds energy to the story that constantly pushes scenes in unexpected directions. At the center of everything is still the relationship between the two brothers. Kenzo wants to believe Yuto can still come back from what he has become, though the deeper he gets into the situation, the harder that becomes.
6 ‘Delhi Crime’ (2019–2022)
Image via NetflixDelhi Crime follows the investigation that begins after a brutal gang rape case in Delhi. Deputy Commissioner Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah) and her team are put under enormous pressure almost immediately because the attack has shaken the entire city. The show spends a lot of time following the actual police work behind the investigation. Officers track phone records, search buses, question witnesses, and move through different parts of the city trying to identify the men involved before they disappear.
The officers are exhausted, constantly moving, and often working with incomplete information. At the same time, the show keeps returning to the emotional effect the crime has had on the victim’s family and the people investigating it. Vartika herself becomes the center of much of that pressure because she is trying to keep the case moving while the entire country is demanding answers. The show never treats the investigation like entertainment first, and that restraint is a big reason it works so well.
5 ‘Unbelievable’ (2019)
Image via NetflixOne thing I appreciated about Unbelievable almost immediately was how differently it handled the investigation compared to most crime shows. Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) reports that she has been raped, though instead of finding support, she slowly ends up trapped in conversations where every small inconsistency gets treated like proof that she might be lying. Friends begin pulling away, detectives start doubting her story, and before long, Marie feels cornered into withdrawing the report entirely. Watching that happen is genuinely upsetting because the show never rushes through how humiliating and lonely that experience becomes for her.
Years later, detectives Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) and Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) begin investigating similar assaults in another state. The difference in the way they speak to victims stands out almost immediately. They pay attention, stay patient, and start noticing details that connect the attacks. The series stays focused on people first, and that is exactly why the investigation hits as hard as it does.
4 ‘Dark’ (2017–2020)
Image via NetflixThe first few episodes of Dark genuinely made me feel lost in the best possible way. A boy disappears in the town of Winden, families begin panicking, and almost everybody seems connected through some relationship that goes back years. Then strange things start happening near the caves outside town, and the story slowly reveals that people are not simply disappearing. Time itself is involved, and the characters are stepping into different decades without fully understanding what they are changing by doing it.
Jonas Kahnwald (Louis Hofmann) becomes one of the main emotional anchors because so much of the story keeps circling back to his family and the people around him. Parents meet younger versions of their children, children discover secrets about their parents, and entire lives begin folding into each other in disturbing ways. What kept me invested was that the show never treated those reveals like clever tricks only meant to shock the audience. Almost every discovery changes how somebody understands their own family, grief, or past.
3 ‘Godless’ (2017)
Image via NetflixWhat stayed with me most about Godless was the town itself. La Belle already feels fragile before the main conflict properly arrives because most of the men died in a mining accident years earlier. The women are the ones running stores, raising families, protecting property, and holding the place together. Into that town comes Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), an injured outlaw hiding from Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels), the gang leader he betrayed after stealing from him.
Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery) gives Roy a place to recover outside town, though everyone understands fairly quickly that Frank will eventually come looking for him. The series spends a lot of time around ordinary moments before the violence arrives. People eat together, argue, work, and quietly prepare themselves because they know what Frank’s gang has already done in other towns. Sheriff Bill McNue (Scoot McNairy) is trying to keep some kind of order while his eyesight continues getting worse. That long stretch of waiting makes the final confrontation feel tense long before the shooting actually starts.
2 ‘Babylon Berlin’ (2017– )
Image via ©Netflix/Sky 1 / Courtesy: Everett CollectionThe first thing that pulled me into Babylon Berlin was how alive the city felt. Berlin in 1929 is crowded, loud, restless, and constantly on edge. People are partying in packed clubs at night while political groups are fighting in the streets the next morning. Into all of that comes Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), a police inspector arriving from Cologne to investigate a blackmail case that quickly grows into something much larger than he expected.
Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) becomes just as important to the story because she is trying to build a future for herself while moving through parts of Berlin that Gereon barely understands. The show keeps shifting between luxury hotels, underground clubs, poor neighborhoods, and political meetings, and every part of the city seems to be hiding something. Even during quieter scenes, there is always the feeling that everything around these characters could collapse very quickly.
1 ‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)
Image via NetflixI honestly did not expect Midnight Mass to stay with me the way it did. At first, it seems like a very small story about a fishing community living on Crockett Island, where almost everybody knows each other, and nearly everybody is carrying some kind of regret. Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns home after serving time in prison, and around the same time, a new priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), arrives to temporarily replace the town’s elderly monsignor. Soon after that, strange things begin happening around the island. Sick people start recovering, old problems begin disappearing, and many residents start believing they are witnessing miracles.
The series is popular because gradually everything changes. Father Paul’s sermons become more intense, the church gains more control over the town, and people begin justifying frightening things because they believe they are part of something holy. Riley, Erin Greene (Kate Siegel), and Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli) slowly realize what is really happening, though by then most of the island is already deeply pulled into it.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
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