5 Shows So Brilliant Yet So Heavy, You Will Never Want To Binge Them Again
Not the kind of guilty pleasure one can truly enjoy.
It's no secret that in order to connect with an audience, showrunners have to do their best to make them at least feel something. That's why there are so many sitcoms and cringe shows, because it's really easy to make people laugh if you give them great jokes and relatable humor.
It's also easy with the romantic shows, because nothing can be as relatable as a long and complicated love story with many heartbreaking obstacles that are still conquered in the name of love.
However, the longest aftertaste for fans comes from those complex TV shows that deal with serious topics most of the time. These shows are usually dark, and the connection they make with the viewer is much deeper and more emotional.
Even if we are satisfied with the first viewing and actually enjoy the show, once we realize it makes us feel unsafe or nervous, we probably won't watch it again. And here we have five examples of such shows that you will definitely need to watch once you feel you are ready.
1. When They See Us
Based on the horrific and heartbreaking story of the Central Park Five that happened almost 35 years ago, the show tells us about five teenagers of color whose lives were destroyed after they were wrongly accused and sentenced for a crime they never committed.
Despite the fact that they were innocent, the boys pleaded guilty and said that they were present when the young girl was attacked, but they weren't the ones who sexually assaulted her. The series gives us their perspective and leaves us with no choice but to feel deep empathy for these kids who spent decades before being given the chance to face justice.
2. The Last of Us
The sci-fi post-apocalyptic series largely follows Joel, portrayed by Pedro Pascal, on his way to transport Ellie, portrayed by Bella Ramsey, across the U.S. while the fungus-riddled country has proven to be a dangerous and poisonous place. The thing is that Ellie is the last hope for humanity to beat the virus that has taken over.
The worst thing the show does to you is to give you the highest note, only to follow it up with the scene that makes you hit rock bottom emotionally.
3. Dopesick
Dopesick focuses on the problems of discrimination among people with different medical conditions, specifically highlighting the problem of the opioid crisis that exists in America. The show also shines a light on the secret deals that pharmaceutical companies and the government are making behind closed doors.
The show is very hard to process because it gives you the knowledge of how many people are actually suffering because of the corporations that are responsible for these medical crises. And when you realize that people are in that condition because of greed and corruption, it just makes it so much worse.
4. Chernobyl
The HBO miniseries focuses on the real-life Chernobyl disaster that happened in 1986, which to this day is considered one of the worst nuclear disasters ever to befall mankind. The show tells the step-by-step story of what happened, why it happened, who was held responsible, and how the rest of the people turned out to be the heroes who helped deal with the consequences of the disaster.
Although the show is considered a historical drama, it gives off the strong vibe of a horror series because of the visuals and soundtracks, but even more because of the non-stop terrifying atmosphere of not knowing how many people are going to die next minute.
5. The Handmaid's Tale
Although there are many fans of this show, we doubt that any of them use the dystopian series as a form of entertainment when they come home late from a hard day at work. The show is set in the fictional, yet terrifying country of Gilead, where the simple rules of humanity no longer apply.
The show tells the story of June Osborne, a woman trapped and forced to work as a sex slave in Gilead. There are many more girls like June and they all suffer the terrible consequences of the new government. The show scares us from the first scene.