True to its name, Enigma opens with a student sharpening a pencil menacingly before ferociously stabbing a teacher. Encased by stunning visuals, the story gets severely darker when another student troubled by an unseen entity drowns in a swimming pool. Farinda, a daydreamer who’s undeniably intelligent, notices that the incidents coincide with the presence of the new clumsy biology teacher, Mr Ajin. Superb transitions and editing and a solid dose of gore strengthen the underlying criticism of rigid schools that stifle their students from experiencing more than just good grades. It’ll be hard not to watch the [dark] magic continue to unfold. 

Bates Motel is a prequel to the 1960 Hitchcock cult classic Psycho. Need I say more? Set in modern-day Oregon, It portraits the unusual relationship between protagonists Norman (Freddie Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) as they go about their lives inside the Bates Motel. While it is a great show in every way, nothing beats the premise, it’s wildly interesting to discover what Psycho’s Norman Bates’ teenage years would have looked like. You guessed it: Lots of murder, intrigue, and a healthy dose of psychopathic disorders.

This psychological horror drama’s clever writing and splendid performances do a great job of building tension and making the viewer feel uncomfortable, not to mention keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout its 5 seasons.

Fans of the iconic crime series 24 will find much to like in Rabbit Hole, not least because Kiefer Sutherland reprises a similar role as an above-average agent embroiled in high-profile criminal cases. Despite the years between those two shows, Sutherland still turns in a top-notch performance each time, regardless if he’s in a high-stakes chase or a charged tête-à-tête. 

Filled with twisty mind games and action-packed scenes, Rabbit Hole is a must-watch for fans of excellent thrillers.

Tour de France: Unchained is an intense sports docuseries depicting the ins and outs of the prominent cycling race. While cycling is an individual activity, Tour de France is structured to be a team sport — usually comprising around 20 teams with eight riders each. The first season depicts the 2022 run from Copenhagen to Champs-Élysées, the comeback after the pandemic, with players looking to defeat two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). If you’re up to date with cycling news, you’ll know how this one ends. However, it’s still a worthwhile watch, as the show goes behind the scenes to witness the team dynamics, the severe falls, and the steep challenges. With this in mind, Tour de France is very watchable, especially for fans of the sport.

Mysterious and hair-raising, Revenant is a supernatural drama whose demonic possession deals with modern-day detectives and Korean folklore. This strange mix of genres makes the show’s premise slow to unfold, taking time to introduce the complex agents in each part. At front-and-center is working-class woman Gu San-yeong, who gets possessed by a demon. Kim Tae-ri’s expert acting makes both believable, simultaneously terrified and terrifying in equal measure. To be free, Gu accepts the help of folklore professor Yeom Hae-sang, who has been hunting down this demon after his mom’s death. With his mom’s death, as well as many others, being dismissed by the police as suicides, the show questions the reasons behind Korea’s high suicide rate. Acknowledging the struggles of Hell Joseon, Revenant suggests what Yeom advises: To listen, pay attention, and learn the reasons why they’re here.

The Killing Vote takes the “vote to kill” storyline and pairs an anonymous vigilante with an ambitious yet apathetic officer, creating an intriguing setup that questions how everyday inequalities extend to the justice system. The first episode is quite disturbing as it tackles child pornography, but with this pilot, the series is able to cement an expectation it fulfills in succeeding episodes: this is a severe show that tackles severe cases and severe criminals. Coupled with immersive performances across the board (the star-studded cast includes K-drama staples Park Hae-jin, Park Sung-woong, and Lim Ji-yeon), The Killing Vote is already off to a high-intensity start. If it keeps this up, it very well could be one of 2023’s best.

Based on the 1962 award winning novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High castle presents a world in which World War II concluded with the victory of the Axis powers, dividing the United States of America into two powers on the verge of conflict, the Greater German Reich and the Japanese Pacific States. The show follows Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos) and her boyfriend Frank Frink (Rupert Evans) as their lives quickly turn into chaos when they come across a film reel that shows a glimpse into the world that could have been, ours, bringing the couple to the restless attention of both governments and of the resistance. The Man in the High Castle will captivate you with excellent writing, a superb cast, and a carefully crafted world that is as believable as it is terrifying.

Shining Girls is painful to watch. How could it not be, when it follows the serial and brutal murders of female victims? Even when the series is told through the lens of sole survivor Kirby (played by the excellent Elisabeth Moss), we witness the indelible effects of assault and trauma. Kirby’s sense of reality shifts; time is circular and memories are provisional. She’s an unreliable source in her own story. 

And yet Shining Girls is also necessary to watch. It’s one of those stories where pain is the point, and it brings you close enough to the scene of the crime that it feels wrong to pull away too soon–not until you pull through the ending. 

As always, Moss is unrelentingly intense as she takes us through the deepest corners of the victim she portrays, but a strong supporting cast also rounds off the performances. Jamie Bell is particularly haunting as the yet-to-be-discovered killer. 

Once you get past its kiddy dialogue and somewhat overenthusiastic voice performances, Maya and the Three delivers one of the most thrilling action spectacles for children’s television. Taking its cue from Mesoamerican folklore, this nine-episode miniseries is draped from head to toe in lavish, intricate visuals and is directed with a surplus of stylistic choices, with characters frequently breaking out of the frame itself. And once the action starts, it almost never lets up. It never becomes too frightening for kids, and it’s mounted on a seriously impressive scale that any adult should appreciate. The fights are dynamic, intense, and beautifully constructed almost like dances—giving kids and kids-at-heart lots to marvel at together.

It’s hard not to roll your eyes at what looks like yet another white-centered story set in a foreign land. But Tokyo Vice, thankfully, is hardly that. Co-produced by crime drama auteur Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice), the HBO series is a stylishly thrilling and comprehensive look at the yakuza crime ring running Tokyo from the underground.

Ansel Elgort’s Jake, an investigative journalist, may be our way in, but it’s the rest of the characters who grip our interest. They’re gangster tropes fleshed out with rich and complicated backstories. Ken Watanabe’s Katagiri is a hardboiled detective—so effectively cool and scary—who you’d like to believe is good, but also has his own secrets lurking in the shadows. Rachel Keller’s Samantha is a sultry hostess who, unlike in mob films past, actually has character, motivation, and specific problems she figures out on her own. Sato (Sho Kasamatsu) and Emi (Rinko Kikuchi), Jake’s yakuza friend and newspaper editor respectively, are also given stories that genuinely intrigue and compel on their own.

Lit by Tokyo’s neon glow and set to Mann’s signature fast pace, this is a series not to be missed by action-crime fans.