5 Best Shows To Binge Watch on Netflix This Weekend

Netflix has the largest library among all streaming services. While that’s a good thing, finding the perfect thing to watch is always challenging. Most subscribers thus settle for shows that are recommended on the front page, ignoring thousands of titles that are buried beneath the surface. A recent study revealed that 80% of content on the platform is discovered through personalized recommendations.

It’s in the company’s best interest to recommend what’s new or popular, or what’s similar to what someone has watched before. However, many households share an account, so chances are, you’re living with someone who’s messing up your algorithm. TV shows call for a bigger time investment, so it’s always important to make the right choice.

The team behind the streaming giant can be commended for offering more quality than quantity in the past two years, but you’re more likely to stumble into mud than knock your head on a ripe fruit if you go about the searching process casually. Feel free to rely on the following list of short and sweet shows — old and new, popular and obscure — that you’ll be done with and satisfied by come Monday.

Here are 5 great shows if you’re looking for something to binge-watch this weekend.

5

‘Narco-Saints’ (2022)

Miss seeing ruthless drug traffickers? Narco-Saints, also known as The Accidental Narco, tells the story of a disgruntled Korean mechanic, In-gu (Ha Jung-woo), who grows tired of the pennies he gets from his job and decides to move to the little-known South American nation of Suriname to take advantage of the thriving seafood market. There, he finds himself under the thumb of a ruthless preacher who secretly traffics drugs and keeps most of the country’s political class on his payroll.

Like Narcos, But Wilder

Jung-woo’s pithy gruffness has never been better suited to a role, and while he has mostly had to work under spare direction, things are quite over-the-top here, perfectly evoking the gritty Suriname world. Still, Hwang Jung-min has the most fun as the preacher plagued by morbid, murderous impulses. Most viewers will love how the show analyzes crime, the economy, religious indoctrination, and poor leadership through its string of eccentric characters. Here, you’ll find some of the best action sequences in a drug lord shows.

Narco-Saints won numerous awards, including three at the Asian Academy Creative Awards, one at the Baeksang Arts Awards, and one at the Korean Drama Awards. However, Suriname’s government hated it, arguing that the show damaged the country’s reputation by depicting it as a hub for drug trafficking.

4

‘She’s Gotta Have It’ (2017)

Nothing inspires you more to reassess your dealings with Cupid than a good romantic comedy-drama. A subtle, overlooked treat, She’s Gotta Have It is a highbrow production in the vein of Sex and the City and Sex/Life. Created and directed by Spike Lee, it is an update of the popular filmmaker’s 1986 movie of the same name, though you need not have watched the original to enjoy and understand it.

Events in the show revolve around Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise), a polyandrous and pansexual Brooklyn-based artist who is dating three men. There’s Greer Childs (Cleo Anthony), a charismatic photographer-model; Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent), a cantankerous married investment banker; and Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos), a bike messenger.

Creating the Perfect Person Out of Three People

Some patience is required with She’s Gotta Have It. After a monotonously slow build-up, the show suddenly wakes up and causes havoc at around the third-episode mark (like a layabout adult emerging after a lengthy lie-in) and redeems itself with a shocking vigour in the chapters that follow. It’s fun to watch as Nola’s bitterness over the unfulfilled areas of her life is gradually overcome by her evolving relationship with the three men. And even though it all looks odd, Lee does a great job of justifying the morality aspect of it all.

On the surface, the show might seem like it’s all about carnal lights, but it covers plenty of thematic ground. Mental health, gentrification, and female autonomy are but some of the topics explored in detail, making this version feel intellectually superior to the iconic ‘80s film. There are only two seasons and 19 episodes in total, so you’ll be done before you know it, especially if you lose yourself in the spellbinding soundtrack featuring artists like Sade and KRS One.

3

‘The Liberator’ (2020)

If a bawdy comedy-drama raunchy comedy is not your particular vibe heading into the weekend, then Netflix’s animated war series The Liberator could suit you better. Adapted from The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey by Alex Kershaw, the show tells the true story of infantry commander Felix “Shotgun” Sparks (Bradley James).

Shotgun led the members of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division in liberating the Dachau concentration camp during World War II. The unit was a unique one as it was an integrated group of Mexican Americans, cowboys, and Native soldiers. For their efforts, the soldiers received eight combat awards for service in France, Italy, Germany, and Central Europe.

Slaying Nazis

Visually, The Liberator is unlike anything you’ve seen. The miniseries pioneered the use of Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation, an advanced technique that blends live-action actors with CGI, kinda similar to Rotoscoping. What results is a ravishing, utterly dreamlike fable featuring some of the most remarkable visual set pieces in Netflix history.

All cast members deliver memorable, nuanced portrayals of their characters, tugging at the heartstrings as determined soldiers who push against impossible odds to make the mission a success. And there are tons of unforgettable scenes. In one of them, a morose enemy combatant protests against the dead-eyed protagonist so much that he responds by blowing his brains off, an act so shockingly ghoulish that the only logical viewer response to it is yelling.

2

‘Glória’ (2021)

Spy shows are in vogue at the moment, with The Night Agent, The Agency, and The Day of the Jackal all delivering excessive thrills, but if you yearn for something more laid back and realistic, settle for Glória. The show takes us back to Cold War-era Portugal, where young engineer João Vidal (Miguel Nunes) has just taken up a job at a European relay station in rural Glória do Ribatejo. Unknown to many, he is a KGB spy.

With stakes rising every day, João’s choices end up having huge consequences for his family and career. Unbowed and undeterred, the character sticks to his tasks. It’s an uncertain, dangerous life, but João takes some small pleasure in contributing to the course of geopolitics.

A Little-Known Player in the Espionage Game

Gloria is a booby-trapped thrill ride for the spy-loving adventurer in us all. It’s not Bond, but it leaves you shaken. It’s the first original Portuguese-language streaming series, and was also the most expensive TV production in Portuguese history. You can thus expect high production values, whether it’s the visuals or the sounds. The settings will also give you the urge to be a tourist.

Get ready for a proper history class. Portugal is rarely mentioned when the Cold War is being discussed, but it played a crucial role. The show extensively examines the story of RARET, a Radio Free Europe relay station that often broadcast anti-communist propaganda into the Eastern Bloc, changing the larger political narrative in the process.

1

‘Wednesday’ (2022)

Lastly, if you’re looking for a trending show with quirky characters and outstanding performances, Wednesday is what you need. Now is the best time to get into it, since the second season has just dropped its first four episodes, with the second half of the season set to drop September 3.

In the first season of the show, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) is expelled from her high school after unleashing piranhas into the pool and is sent to Nevermore Academy, a Vermont boarding school for outcast kids who are supernaturally gifted. There, she learns to handle her psychic abilities, makes friends, and falls into conflict with Principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie). Things get darker when a series of murders happen.

The Best Addams Family Story

Splendidly combining comedy and supernatural elements, Netflix’s irresistible Wednesday is a story about regularly flouting convention and realizing one’s full potential. With its live menagerie of monsters and human characters mirroring society’s usual pecking order, this remains intelligent, rousing entertainment for everyone at home. Some of the characters may annoy you, but whatever it is that ails them — solitude, lack of self-control, oppression — they happily clutch at the scraps of bliss that life can unpredictably let fall if one isn’t keen enough.

The show has been a huge success already. It became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series within three weeks of its release. It also won four Emmys, while receiving nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Ortega. Things are only going to get better, so surrender yourself to FOMO, jump on the Addams Family train, and enjoy the ride.