The best Netflix shows you can watch in Singapore right now
Looking for something new to binge-watch over the weekend? Look no further.
No better way to spend the weekend
Netflix has grown even bigger despite the launch of high-profile competitors like Disney+ and Apple TV Plus. Its Q4 2019 results show that membership grew globally and in the US on a year on year basis, adding about 8.8 million new subscribers over the previous three months. To be fair, a lot of this growth comes from territories outside of the US and Canada, and none of its rivals even come close to its huge global footprint at the moment.
The streaming juggernaut has got some exciting stuff planned for the future too, including an animated series set in The Witcher universe and a total of 21 classic Studio Ghibli movies.
But if you want something good to watch right now, I've got plenty of ideas for that too. Here are some of the best shows to watch this weekend as you try to ignore your extended family.
Money Heist
This is a heist film at its core, but this is no Ocean's Eleven. Money Heist is smart, riveting, and super gripping. It's also dead serious, upping the stakes at every turn and making you seriously question if our heroes – yes, I really mean the thieves – will make it out alive. The show does a remarkable job of making the would-be villains sympathetic. After all, they comprise an awkward, maladjusted mastermind and a bunch of clearly dangerous criminals who are alternately violent, mercurial, and slightly crazy (among other undesirable traits). But this is a Robin Hood story, and the outlaw is the one you'll want to see come out on top.
With a masterfully written script, tight pacing, and unexpected twists, Part 3 of the series is also its most thrilling yet. They're breaking into the Bank of Spain, and if you enjoy hearing about elaborate plans and their careful execution, you'll enjoy Money Heist to no end.
Titans
If you like dark and gritty superhero flicks, you’ll love Titans. I basically think of it as emo Robin mentoring a bunch of disillusioned teens, one of which has a demon for a father. The acting is solid and the camera work is beautiful, and the show also draws on the rich lore of the DC Universe to build out something that feels new and fresh. More importantly, you get to see Superboy and Krypto the Superdog make their debut. I mean, a very good boy with super powers? Sign me right up. Season 2 only dropped recently, so it’s a perfect time to dive right in if you haven’t already.
The Umbrella Academy
Based on the comic book series of the same name, The Umbrella Academy is a refreshing take on the superhero genre. Instead of near-perfect Adonises, the heroes in the series are deeply flawed and selfish individuals that constantly struggle with the implications of their powers. Adopted at birth by the eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves to be a super-powered crime-fighting squad, Numbers One to Seven form a dysfunctional family that, with the exception of One, have all turned their backs on the team over the years.
The series impresses with some crackling energy and occasionally dazzling shows of our heroes' gifts, which span the range from banal to downright odd and immensely destructive. Luther has super-strength, Klaus can talk to the dead, Allison can manipulate reality with a single phrase, while Five can jump through space and time. Despite all that, the series is oddly easy to relate to, and it's a perfect example of how the best intentions can sometimes give rise to the worst – and in this case potentially apocalyptic – outcomes. As a side note, I'd even argue that it's worth watching just to see Ellen Page, who plays Vanya, in that suit.
Bodyguard
Bodyguard showcases Richard Madden as a major talent that can do so much more beyond trying to bring the North together as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones. Madden plays David Budd, a military veteran promoted to head of security for Julia Montague, a conservative politician with her share of controversial views. The show is in a word, thrilling, featuring a riveting political conspiracy that oozes mystery at every turn. And according to certain measures, this is the highest-rated British drama since either 2011’s Downtown Abbey Season 2 finale or the Doctor Who Christmas special in 2008. Now, you’ve got to see what the fuss was all about.
The Protector
Netflix has invested a lot in foreign language films lately, and The Protector is one gem of a series that shows that the investment is really paying off. The Turkish series may seem a little cliched at first, pivoting as it does around impending doom and an unwilling saviour born into his burden, but it speeds along at a light-hearted clip that makes it a really enjoyable watch.
The world building is really fun as well. Set in modern day Istanbul, The Protector follows Hakan as he is abruptly thrust into an ancient order tasked with serving the Protector, the only one who can defend the world against the Immortals. These mystical beings are said to wreck death and destruction wherever they go, but past Protectors have managed to kill enough of them such that there is only one left. As Hakan learns the ropes and tries to find out who the last Immortal is, there is just enough intrigue and mystery to keep you at the edge of your seat.
Dolemite is My Name
This will be a treat to fans who miss Eddie Murphy's glory days in comedy. Dolemite is My Name is a biographical comedy on Rudy Ray Moore, played by Eddie Murphy. Rudy's a filmmaker, but more famously known for portraying Dolemite, a controversial character he made up. This movie has a pretty stacked cast, featuring Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Titus Burgess, Wesley Snipes and even Snoop Dogg!
Big Mouth
Puberty is an awkward, acne-studded horror, and Big Mouth pays tribute to that in gloriously hilarious fashion. It follows a group of 7th graders as they navigate the tortuous, and torturous, struggles of being a teenager. This sitcom may look cartoonish, but its irreverent and almost rude humour was crafted to elicit laughs from those of us who can’t even remember what it’s like to be 13 anymore.
Santa Clarita Diet
Santa Clarita Diet may have been cancelled – why, Netflix? – but that won’t stop me from recommending it because it is pure comedic gold. What would you do if your wife suddenly became violently sick, threw up a gross-looking red ball, and then basically died and became a zombie? Fortunately or unfortunately, she's still herself for the most part, except she only eats humans now. That's what Joel Hammond has to deal with, and Santa Clarita Diet is a hilarious look at Joel and Sheila's antics as they try to feed Sheila and find a cure for her.
The series is morbid, bloody, and plain absurd. The Hammonds have buried bodies in the desert, chopped up others in their home, and kept a disembodied talking head in their basement like a small pet. It gets weirder still. That red ball I mentioned? Apparently, if you leave it at room temperature and don't freeze it like Sheila did, it grows legs and scuttles around like a disgusting critter. At its very core though, Santa Clarita Diet is heart-warming and superb comedy, making it a zombie flick that truly stands out from the crowd.
You
At its heart, You is a trashy stalker drama, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Penn Badgley (you may know him as Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl) plays Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager who becomes smitten with Guinevere Beck, a grad student in poetry. Joe doesn't just have any ordinary crush though, and he soon begins obsessively trawling social media for information about Beck, as she prefers to be called, even stealing her phone one night so he can read all her texts.
Of course, he stalks her as well, standing outside her window to eyeball her other suitors. As if that weren't crazy enough, Joe is actually homicidal, going so far as to remove – that is, kill – people he deems to be obstacles in his path to get Beck. It's all very creepy and disturbing in a delightful way, which is what makes it so enticing. The narrative is also interspersed with moments of comic absurdity, such as when Beck's rich brat of a best friend insists that she can only have alcohol of a certain pH because of a medical condition.
Season 2 has just been released, so you can dive right back in and hang out with Joe the stalker again.
Mindhunter
If you enjoy cerebral, procedural dramas, Mindhunter should keep you entertained. Based on true events, it follows two FBI agents from the bureau’s Behavioural Science Unit in the 1970s. They interview incarcerated serial killers to try to understand their actions, with the goal of ultimately creating a profile for the FBI to catch similar killers. It’s engrossing and absolutely absorbing, essentially taking you for a walk through the annals of American serial killer history. The depictions of notorious killers like the Son of Sam and Charles Manson are fascinating to watch, and it’ll have you wanting to know more at the end.
Elite
If you watched Money Heist, you'll also recognize some familiar faces on this Spanish teen murder-mystery drama.
It follows three working-class students who are given a chance to enroll in an elite private school in Spain following the collapse of their old school building. Samuel, Nadia, and Christian have to navigate the treacherous waters of their new prissy, upper-class social circle, and of course, plenty of drama ensues. Elite is basically what happens when Riverdale meets Gossip Girl, except no one is as annoying as Archie (I know, that's a low bar). Best of all, Elite is replete with thoughtfully written characters with their own stories and believable motivations, so this is a significant step above your average vapid teen drama.
The Alienist
A boy lies spreadeagled on a bridge. His eyes stare up at the inky night sky, unseeing, mostly because he doesn’t even have eyes anymore. The sockets are hollow dark pits, and a gaping hole has been carved out of his side. The Alienist pivots around disturbing imagery like this one, featuring captivating cinematography and foreboding backdrops. A serial killer is targeting children in 1890s New York, all of them young boys who work in the sex industry. The show sees a criminal psychologist team up with the NYPD’s first female employee and police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt to solve the mystery using psychological analysis and profiling, a cutting-edge technique at the time. It makes for an enthralling watch and is almost as beautiful as it is unsettling.
Marianne
Popular horror novelist Emma (Victoire Du Bois) is forced to return to her hometown of Elden, where she discovers that the past she thought she left behind isn't quite done with her yet. The evil she unwittingly unleashed as a child – a witch, really – is still very much present, and it's wrecking havoc on everyone around her.
Marianne is probably one of the scariest things I've watched in a while. The French series relies on masterful cinematography and camera work to deliver its scares, on top of an uncanny understanding of what exactly disturbs the human psyche. Creator Samuel Bodin has little need for jump scares and loud noises, not when he's so good at coaxing your imagination to conjure the horrors that lurk in its deepest recesses. Marianne is deeply unsettling, not least because of its artful use of disturbing imagery and ability to turn the most mundane things into a fount of horrors.
Veronica
This Spanish movie employs many of the usual horror movie tropes, but it hardly ever descends into overdone mediocrity. Veronica (Sandra Escacena) is a teenage girl who tries to make contact with her deceased father by using a Ouija board during a solar eclipse, which to no one's surprise, is a recipe for some supernatural disaster. Unsurprisingly, Veronica passes out during the seance, and really creepy things start to happen over the next few days. This movie is truly all your worst fears about a demon infestation rolled into one. Director Paco Plaza also directed 2007's REC, which is one of the scariest zombie movies ever made if you ask me, so Veronica is in some good hands.
To further amp up the fear factor, the movie is allegedly based on a true story. In August 1992, a young girl named Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro died in a Madrid hospital after months of seizures and hallucinations, which reportedly started after she performed a seance at school. You can easily look up reports on it by searching for the "Vallecas case", the name of the Madrid neighbourhood where Lazaro conducted the seance.
The Ritual
Four university friends go hiking along the Kungsleden in north Sweden. It sounds like an idyllic trip to honour the memory of a recently deceased member of the group, at least until one of them injures his knee and the group decides to take a shortcut through the forest. The Ritual reminds me vaguely of 1999's Blair Witch Project, sans all that found footage shakiness. It doesn't take long before the group starts to encounter strange things in the woods, from gutted animals to strange symbols carved into the bark on trees. Something's very wrong with these woods, and the movie taps into a very visceral source of dread as the friends start to realise they're hopelessly lost and that something they don't understand is stalking them.
If there's one thing that horror movies taught me, it's that you should never ever go into a forest. The Ritual is just further proof of that.
The Perfection
Charlotte Willmore (Allison Williams) is an immensely talented cellist who trained at Bachoff, a prestigious music school that caters to young prodigies. But that simple premise is soon upended as the movie puts you through some tortuous twists and turns that make for a dizzying but exhilarating ride. Without giving away too much, let me just say that The Perfection is part slasher flick, part revenge drama, and part psychological thriller. It defies categorisation, and even if it sometimes stumbles with its convoluted shifts in direction, it never feels boring. There's also a particularly gag-worthy scene where a knife tears its way down the length of someone's forearm to the sound of ripping flesh. Ugh.
The Haunting of Hill House
Sometimes, leaving the haunted family home doesn’t mean being free of it. The five Crain siblings haven’t been back to Hill House in 26 years, but they’re now forced to confront the past after tragedy strikes again. Created by Mike Flanagan, whose known for his work on horror films like Oculus, Hush, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep, it’s little wonder that Hill House is such a terrifying masterpiece. A sense of dread permeates the show, and the writers skillfully ratchet up the tension before a big release in the form of the chilling revelation at the show’s end. I think the eeriest horror shows have an intimate understanding of the macabre, and Hill House is up there with the best of them. Hang on a second, isn’t that man a little too tall?
Read next: 10 horror shows to check out on Netflix this Halloween
The Dragon Prince
This is one of the best fantasy shows on TV right now, and I’m not even exaggerating. The Dragon Prince is a tale of epic proportions, featuring elves, dragons, and other magical creatures, all tied together with a rich history and ever expanding lore. Co-creator Aaron Ehasz was head writer of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the two shows share a lot of tonal similarities. That’s not to say that The Dragon Prince is not original. The world-building and associated mythos is absolutely stellar, and I’m not sure I can ever get enough of the magical land of Xadia. It pivots on heartwarming stories of love, friendship, and hope, flush with a rosy innocence that is immensely uplifting.
The Witcher
In a post-Game of Thrones era, The Witcher wants to be the show to swoop in and fill that vacuum. It checks most of the right boxes, being a fantasy epic that spans multiple timelines and stories until they converge, GoT-style. Whether or not you think Henry Cavill is too buff to play Geralt, the stunning fight sequences are thrilling to watch and impeccably choreographed. The cast turns in a great performance too, with Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer being a standout in particular. The show is based on the fantasy books written by Andrzej Sapkowski, and not the hit video game series, but The Witcher will make you want to dive back into both for a deeper exploration of the world.
Dracula
Come here for gore, good fun and a villain with impeccable 19th-century manners. This is Dracula fashioned for the modern age, with just the right amount of visual and narrative callbacks to the book and films that have come before it. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the same people who gave us Benedict Cumberbatch's beloved Sherlock, Dracula is a creative reimagining of a century-old novel that feels both modern and refreshing while still staying true to its roots. It’s irreverent and hilarious at times, reveling in traditional horror movie fare while offsetting it with humourous exchanges between the characters and an indulgent sprinkling of camp.
Altered Carbon
Season 2 of Altered Carbon releases on 27 February, so now’s the perfect time to catch up on the first season. Set over 300 years into the future, this high-concept series is a neon-drenched cyberpunk dystopia distilled down to its most defining elements. Humans can now quite literally shrug off the mortal coil and take on another body, or “sleeve”, once the current one dies or becomes damaged, which means that no one really dies. It’s a compelling take on a genre which also includes books like Neuromancer and Snow Crash, featuring slick action sequences and a gritty world that is every bit worthy of its big budget.
Love, Death & Robots
Helmed by David Fincher and Deadpool director Tim Miller, Love, Death & Robots is a fun, gory experience that packs a surprise at every turn. The 18-episode series is also another example of Netflix's willingness to experiment with different forms of storytelling. Instead of lengthy expositions, each episode is a bite-sized peek into a fascinating universe that somehow manages to pack an impressive amount of world-building into mere minutes. The episodes range from six to 17 minutes in length, and are alternately absurd, whimsical, and violent in a visceral way that few other shows are.
Myth, legend, and folklore are deftly infused with futuristic elements that make for a supremely compelling ride. If you're a fan of science fiction, Love, Death & Robots is a must-watch that will send you careening from one outlandish world to the next, even mixing realistic CGI with various animation and art styles. Standout episodes include Sonnie's Edge, Three Robots, and Suits.
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