Altered Carbon (2018-20): Innovative series set in a future in which consciousness is digitized and stored, allowing people (with money, of course) to live forever by being “re-sleeved” into new bodies. 250 years after his death, a prisoner returns to life in a new body to solve a mind-bending murder to win his freedom. Stars Joel Kinnaman as the prisoner and Chris Conner as Poe, an artificial intelligence that takes the likeness of Edgar Allan Poe and runs the hotel that serves as Kovacs’ base of operations. First season only; second season is weak. (Netflix).
Black Mirror (2011-2019): British dystopian science fiction anthology series full of intelligence, wit and social commentary. According to creator Charlie Brooker, “If technology is a drug – and it does feel like a drug – then what, precisely, are the side effects? This area – between delight and discomfort – is where Black Mirror, my new drama series, is set. The ‘black mirror’ of the title is the one you’ll find on every wall, on every desk, in the palm of every hand: the cold, shiny screen of a TV, a monitor, a smartphone.” (Netflix).
Bordertown (2016-2019): Finnish series has quirky but brilliant police detective Kari Sorjonen using his incredible powers of deduction to solve despicable crimes all the while trying to keep his family together. He takes a new job in the Serious Crime Unit, in the city of Lappeenranta, near the border of Russia, and teams up with a Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) agent, Lena Jaakkola. The crimes are horrendous as would be expected in a Northern Noir series. (Netflix).
The Break (2016, 2019 — Belgium): Police detective Yoann Peeters moves from Brussels with h
The Bridge (Bron/Broen) (2011-2018): The Nordic Noir series begins when a woman is found murdered in the middle of the Oresund Bridge, right on the border between Sweden and Denmark. Police from both countries are called to the scene and what looks like one murder, turns out to be two. It’s a spectacular double murder: the bodies have been brutally cut in half at the waist and put together to form a single corpse. It’s also just the beginning of a wave of violence that plagues Denmark and Sweden. The detectives are an odd pair: Saga Norén from Sweden, who has poor social skills, and Martin Rohde from Denmark, a likable middle-aged man. (Amazon Prime).
Dead to Me (2019-2020): An oddball comedy series about the friendship that develops between Jen (Christina Applegate), a recently widowed real estate agent based in Laguna Beach, California, whose husband was killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Judy (Linda Cardellini), a messed-up young woman who is the hit-and-run driver. (Netflix).
Deadwind (Karppi) (2018 — Finland): When Sofia Karppi, a detective in her 30’s who is trying to get over her husband’s death, discovers the body of a young woman on a construction site, she triggers a chain of events that threatens to destroy her life again. A highly thrilling series that mixes crime investigation and personal drama. (Netflix).
Fleabag (2016, 2019): A thoroughly delightful British black comedy television series created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on her one-woman show first performed in 2013. It’s a hilarious and poignant window into the mind of a dry-witted, sexual, grief-riddled woman trying to make sense of the world. Winner of numerous Emmys and British Academy awards. (Amazon Prime).
Frozen Dead (Glacé) (2017 — France): A horrific discovery in a small town nestled high in the French Pyrenees begins to unravel a dark mystery that has been hidden for years. On an unforgiving winter morning, a group of workers discover the headless body of a horse, hanging suspended from the edge of a frozen cliff. The grisly find leads investigator Martin Servaz to links to the suicides of three teenage girls at a summer camp 15 years earlier and into a twisted dance with a serial killer in this six-episode icy thriller. (Netflix).
Jessica Jones (2015, 2018-2019) :Ever since her short-lived stint as a superhero ended in tragedy, Jessica Jones has been rebuilding her personal life and career as a hot-tempered, sardonic private detective in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. Plagued by self-loathing and a wicked case of PTSD, Jessica battles demons from within and without, using her extraordinary abilities as an unlikely champion for those in need. Especially if they’re willing to cut her a check. Stars Krysten Ritter as the eponymous lead. (Netflix).
Marcella (2017-2020): Despite marriage woes, a tragic loss, memory blackouts and her struggles as a mom, a London detective (Anna Friel) excels at what she does best: catching killers. Marcella Backland, a former London detective, returns to work to investigate an open case from 11 years earlier involving an unidentified serial killer who appears to have become active again. Marcella also has to deal with a hectic home life, where her husband has made the decision to leave her and, at first, send their two children to a boarding school; but later on (in the second season) he uses Marcella’s mental disorder as a means to take full custody. Billed as British “Nordic”-noir: it’s directed and produced by Swedish screenwriter Hans Rosenfeldt, creator of “The Bridge.” (Netflix).
Missing (Saknad) (2017 — Sweden) Police superintendent Maja Silver (Helena Bergström) goes back to her old hometown in the Swedish Bible belt to see her daughter, when a terrible discovery — the body of a dead young woman found on the side of a road — paralyzes the small community. (MHz Choice).
Perry Mason (2020): Set in 1932 Los Angeles, the series focuses on the origin story of famed defense lawyer Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys), based on characters from Erle Stanley Gardner’s novels. Living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator, Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage. LA is booming while the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression — but a kidnapping gone very wrong leads to Mason exposing a fractured city as he uncovers the truth of the crime. Corruption, scandal and religious infidelity all play out on the gritty streets of LA. There’s plenty of twists and turns in this absorbing series, has been renewed for a second season. (HBO Max).
The Rain (2018-2020 — Denmark) The world as we know it has come to an end, due to a rain-carried virus that wiped out nearly everybody in Scandinavia. Six years after that event, two Danish siblings emerge from the safety of the bunker where they have been staying. After discovering all remnants of civilization gone, they join a group of fellow young survivors, and together they head out on a danger-filled quest throughout the abandoned land in search of signs of life. The survivors think they have been set free from societal rules of the past, but they quickly find that even in a post-apocalyptic world there is love, jealousy and other coming-of-age dilemmas that young people have always faced. Top-notch post-apocalypse survivalist drama, though the third and last season falters. (Netflix).
Russian Doll (2019): The comedy-drama series follows Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne), a cynical game developer, who repeatedly dies and relives the same night in an ongoing time loop and tries to solve it, leading to her finding a man, Alan Zaveri, in the same situation (portrayed by Charlie Barnett). Renewed for a second season. (Netflix).
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Spiral (Engrenages) (2005-2021 — France): The acclaimed Parisian cop thriller about the lawyers, judges, prosecutors and detectives at the heart of the French judicial system. Though it follows several plot lines and sub-stories, at its center is Captain Laure Berthaud and her crime squad and the crimes they must solve as they go up against bureaucratic nonsense and corruption. “Spiral” has been an export success, with sales to broadcasters in more than 70 countries. (MHz Choice).
The Tunnel (2013-2018): British crime drama — from the makers of the “Broadchurch” series. When a prominent French politician is found dead in the middle of the Channel Tunnel, straddling the border between the UK and France, detectives Karl Roebuck, played by Stephen Dillane and Elise Wassermann, played by Clémence Poésy, are sent to investigate on behalf of their respective countries. The case takes a surreal turn when a shocking discovery is made at the crime scene, forcing the French and British police into an uneasy partnership. Based on the original hit Swedish series “The Bridge.” (Amazon Prime).
The Umbrella Academy (2019-2020): On the same day in 1989, forty-three infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a billionaire industrialist, who creates The Umbrella Academy and prepares his “children” to save the world. But not everything went according to plan. In their teenage years, the family fractured and the team disbanded. Now, the six surviving thirty-something members reunite upon the news of Hargreeve’s passing. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Vanya and Number Five work together to solve a mystery surrounding their father’s death. But the estranged family once again begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse. Far-fetched but amazingly enjoyable. Renewed for a third season. (Netflix).
Westworld (2016-2021): The dystopian science fiction series begins in Westworld, a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populated by android “hosts.” The park caters to high-paying “guests” who may indulge their wildest fantasies within the park without fear of retaliation from the hosts, who are prevented by their programming from harming humans. But some of the hosts develop individual consciousness, and the seeds for a revolution are set into motion. In the second season, the hosts overthrow their human programmers; in the third season, the series’ plot expands to the real world, in the mid-21st century, where people’s lives are driven and controlled by a powerful artificial intelligence named Rehoboam. Based on the 1973 feature film directorial debut by Michael Crichton. The series is highlighted by a great ensemble cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Luke Hemsworth, James Marsden and, in the third season, Vincent Cassel. A fourth season is underway. (HBO Max).