The debut on Netflix over the weekend of a new French crime drama — Furies, which I described in a separate post as sort of like a female version of the John Wick movies — is the latest example of the streamer’s many international crime dramas that have kept me hooked from start to finish.
In fact, while the streaming giant remains very much the home of everything from trashy, dumb reality shows to swoon-worthy K-dramas and prestige series like The Crown and Squid Game, I will certainly remain a happy subscriber for the time being thanks to shows like Furies and the many other gritty crime sagas like it — series that, more often than not, are springboards for some of the best storytelling and make for particularly engrossing character-based drama.
Below, I’m going to share five of my favorite Netflix crime series and why I think you should watch them. They include everything from big, established franchises to hidden gems that shouldn’t be missed.
Narcos: Mexico
There are two different but connected Narcos franchises available to stream on Netflix. This one, set in Mexico, is in my opinion the superior watch. It’s partly because the original Narcos series tracks the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the larger-than-life and sometimes cartoonishly evil Colombian drug lord whose story you might or might not be interested in.
The follow-up Netflix series, however, told a much more interesting (to me) story about an entrepreneurial-minded drug kingpin named Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. He somehow convinced the many feuding cartels to band together and that wars are bad for business. The action, the storytelling, even the Narcos: Mexico Season 3 narration from actress Luisa Rubino, who plays a fictional newspaper reporter — all of it combines to give viewers a tour de force of a crime series, wherein we’re shown a slight twist on Lord Acton’s famous dictum. The one about the corruptibility of absolute power.
When you add money and bricks of cocaine to that mix, what you also get alongside that corruption is a war without end.
Peaky Blinders
Those of you, like me, who’ve already raced through all six seasons of this next series about the flap cap-wearing gangsters from Small Heath will understand how I feel — that Cillian Murphy is so good, so steely, memorable, and menacing as Tommy Shelby that it’ll be hard for me not to see at least a trace of Tommy from now on, in every project that Murphy does.
If there’s such a thing as a perfect TV show, Peaky Blinders is one. The character of Tommy Shelby offered Murphy a chance to turn in arguably the finest work of his career, bringing to life this World War I veteran-turned-gangster-turned-businessman, one who wants to go straight but is constantly pulled back to the dark side. Cillian loses himself completely in the role and makes you feel like you’re actually watching Tommy, with his buzzed haircut, stylish suits, and the hardscrabble edge to his accent.
The writing is fantastic and has generated a slew of memes and beloved catchphrases, many of which aren’t fit to repeat here. Crime thrillers don’t get more stylish or addictive than this Netflix series, the theme song of which heralds: “On a gathering storm / comes a tall handsome man / In a dusty black coat / with a red right hand.” I’ve also rounded up some of my favorite quotes from the series, which Peaky fans can check out right here.
Snabba Cash
Sometimes, the best crime series aren’t about villains in the classical sense — but, rather, they’re snapshots of the men or women who have pure intentions yet step over the line in an attempt to get from Point A to Point B in life.
The title of this Netflix series is Swedish for “easy money,” which should tell you all you need to know about the animating force behind the story. At its center is a wannabe entrepreneur named Leya, who has all the grit, determination, and know-how in the world — minus the privilege and good luck that makes this show’s swaggering business titan who she idolizes able to deliver cringey proclamations like “I am the system.”
In the Sweden of Snabba Cash, life is a hustle that never ends, and entrepreneurs are always after the big score, quick cash, and the bling and baubles of success. From hungry startup founders to ruthless dope dealers, everyone here is chasing the same thing: That one elusive win, whether it’s squeezing out rivals, taking a startup public, or gobbling up territory. Whatever it takes to win.
Blood Coast
Blood Coast is a six-episode cops vs. drug gangs saga in which police desperate to clean up the mean streets of Marseilles hunt down a dangerous criminal. The series, directed by César Awards winner and former police officer Olivier Marchal, also takes some of the most familiar elements of the streamer’s best crime dramas — like rogue cops, violent drug dealers, and the setting of a gorgeous European city — and puts it into a blender to cook up yet another addictive release.
The show is basically about a Marseille DEA captain and his team as they close in on an elusive drug ring. From Netflix’s official summary of Blood Coast, which was filmed in Marseilles and Paris: The police captain’s team is so desperate to fight the bad guys that their, shall we say, “unorthodox” methods have triggered an investigation by internal affairs.
The captain has “left bystanders with gunshot wounds, endangered the public, and bloodied a drug dealer in his custody. So he’s on thin ice when a new officer with a flawless record arrives on the scene straight from Interpol. Captain Alice Vidal is assigned to (Captain Lyès) Benamar’s case and becomes his partner. While their approaches may differ, they share the same objective: Track down the vicious drug lord Franck Murillo — by any means necessary.”
Suburra: Blood on Rome
HBO’s Gomorrah will go down as the greatest TV mafia drama of all time, and while Netflix doesn’t have any series that can top it, I’ll just say — if, like me, you were a fan of Gomorrah’s sprawling, bloody saga that unfolded in Naples, then you definitely need to give Netflix’s Suburra a try. It’s not as good, but it comes reasonably close.
This series — the title of which basically means “slum” — is set in Rome and sucks you into a similarly sprawling nexus of criminal gangs, dirty politicians, and the church wielding its influence over all of them. Per Netflix, Suburra is “a crime thriller set in Rome that describes how the Church, the state, organized crime, local gangs and real estate developers collide and blur the lines between the legal and the illicit in their quest for power. At the heart of the story three young men with different backgrounds, ambitions and passions will have to forge alliances to achieve their deepest desire.”
There’s also a spinoff series, Suburræterna, that continues the Suburra story across eight new episodes.
