The pandemic lockdown continues, and so does the search for more great content to binge. I’ve already offered my list of the top ten most bingeable shows and the top five best spy series, and today I bring you another set of great binge-worthy suggestions for my top ten best crime shows to watch while you are stuck at home.
As always, these are my personal picks, and there are of course plenty of other shows that were contenders and could’ve made it onto the list as well. But these are the shows I feel represent the highest quality, encourage eager binging, and hold up for the widest modern audience possible.
- The Wire — The gold standard of crime series, beginning at the street level and working its way to drug lords, politicians, and the press in a stunning indictment of the failed “war on drugs.” With one of the greatest ensemble casts in television history, perfect writing and directing, and amazing complex characters, it bluntly demonstrates how few people are ever fully good or entirely bad, in a world forever stranded in the gray in between.
- Peaky Blinders — Cinematic quality in every episode, with a powerful cast and engrossing stories constantly upending all expectations. Watching a local street gang rise to power in the underworld, then in business, and finally into politics against the real-life backdrop of war and social unrest (even the gang is loosely based on a real criminal enterprise), this is a show that will blow your mind the first time you see it.
- Top Boy — If you like The Wire, this is a similar hyper-realistic, streets-eye-view of organized crime and the drug trade, and the rampant corruption throughout our social institutions which use crime as an excuse for oppression and to disguise official corruptions. Following characters around the world and back home again, it is a tale of brutal moral ambiguities rarely given such exceptional, honest examination.
- Better Call Saul — Yes, while perhaps not as purely, rawly entertaining as the show from which it sprang, this series is pound for pound subtly yet unmistakably superior in terms of writing, craftsmanship, and performances. A slow burn in which anticipation and foreknowledge only increase our uncertainty and unease with each new turn of the screw, it’s a master class in painful character-driven tragedy.
- Breaking Bad — While its prequel might surpass it in ultimate quality, there is no denying the visceral strength and strong entertainment value that makes it easy to watch many episodes back to back in one sitting. It is endlessly rewatchable, and each time through a new binging of the series you’ll find yourself questioning prior opinions about who to root for and against, and develop mixed feelings about the implications of those choices.
- Ozark — It seems a crime itself that this show isn’t higher on the list, as it is exceptional in every regard and features emotionally devastating, award-worthy performances. But that’s a testament to how great the other list entries are, and make no mistake, this is one of the most addictive, high-quality series on television. Few shows can keep you in suspense and surprise you as consistently as you’ll see here.
- The Night Of — A wonderful but emotionally infuriating miniseries examining bias and inequality in the justice system, with a great cast and sharp, insightful writing. As a miniseries, it’s a fast watch and steadily paced, smart, edge-of-your-seat storytelling. It is particularly good at demonstrating how good people can become caught in impossible situations which force them to compromise their values just to survive.
- Narcos — The ultimate narco-cinema series does a remarkable job telling the tale of the most notorious drug lord in the world, and how he built the most powerful, richest, and most dangerous drug cartel in history. Spanning two decades of the history of the Medellín Cartel and Cali Cartel, the show features incredible performances and graphic depictions of the drug trade, as well as related politics and law enforcement efforts and corruption.
- True Detective — The first season is widely hailed as some of the finest writing and acting in hour-long drama TV. Season two had a more mixed reception, but it’s still a thrilling tangled web of whodunit storytelling and grand performances. Together, the two seasons provide tangentially connected horrific tales of flawed people navigating a storm of death and coverup, in pursuit of ugly truths where nobody escapes in one piece.
- Snowfall — Centered on the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, this series explores the impact on communities in LA at the time, from gagsters to law enforcement, to families and neighbors. Less purely interested in typical focus on violence and provocative inside details of the drug trade, the show instead relies on powerful performances and the nuances of everyday life for those on all sides who lived through the era.
And there you have it, dear readers, my picks for the top ten best and most bingeable crime series for your COVID-19 lockdown viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy some or — ideally — all of these shows, find some you haven’t seen before, and revisit the ones you’ve already enjoyed. Be safe, and check back soon for more lists of suggested series.
