by: Maddie Rowley
I wanted to get this out of the way first and foremost—yes, you’ll need subtitles to watch some of the below shows, but I’m guessing you’re probably running out of regular ol’ American-made crime shows to watch by this point in our unprecedented #quarantine2020, right? Time to branch out and explore crime in other countries!
The best part about it is that these shows are all so captivating that you’ll hardly notice the subtitles. Without further ado, let’s get into the list!
Shadow of Truth- Netflix
This Israeli true crime docu-series covers the gruesome 2006 murder of 13-year-old Tair Rada, who was found covered in blood in the girl’s bathroom after she failed to come home from school. Tair’s parents and neighbors searched the area to no avail and finally found her in the bathroom stall at school with her throat slashed and stab wounds all over her body. The murder was pinned on Ukrainian immigrant, Roman Zadorov, who was working at the school that day as part of a construction crew. But questions arose regarding Zadorov’s guilt when certain details didn’t add up and people started looking at a group of her classmates as possible suspects.
There are lots of shocking (and I rarely use this term) twists and turns in the case as new details are uncovered in each episode.
Quicksand-Netflix
We’re travelling to Sweden for this addicting crime drama that makes you question what it’s like to be a teenager over there because in this show they sure do get A LOT of freedom! The show is narrated from the perspective of 18-year-old Maja Norberg, who is accused of being one of the main perpetrators in a school shooting. She confesses to murder early on, but now the question becomes why and how it happened. This show is a slow burn and might be triggering for some, but I ultimately found the flashbacks of Maja’s life pre-shooting to be fascinating. It offers a peek into how these teens from a wealthy Swedish suburb lived life in the fast lane and reminded me of a sort of Gossip-Girl-Meets-crime type of mashup that chronicles all the things that could (and do) go wrong.
The Kettering Incident- Amazon Prime Video
When main character Anna Macy returns back to her hometown of Kettering, Australia after leaving at age 14, she finds that most of the forests in the area are marked to be cut down by a logging company, which has created tension between the townspeople and the logging corporation. While Anna is in town, a young girl goes missing and it seems as if history is repeating itself—one of the reasons Anna had left town as a young teenager was because her half-sister and best friend, Gillian, disappeared after they went on a bike ride through the forests. The new disappearance prompts Anna to embark on a mission to find out what’s happening in her old hometown, and there are some pretty crazy twists and turns along the way. I loved the whole dark, foresty, small-town vibe of this show and Elizabeth Debicki, the actress who plays Anna Macy, does an amazing job.
Dark- Netflix
Think of this German sci-fi/mystery tv series as a little bit of Stranger Things meets HBO’s The Outsider. I watched season one and loved it and now need to check out season two. In season one, the show follows the disappearance of a boy in town and the connections between four families as they work to understand a mysterious cave in the woods and a time travel conspiracy theory that might be the answer as to where the boy went.
Tabula Rasa-Netflix
At first, the premise of this Dutch show seems to be your pseudo classic car accident-results-in- amnesia tale—but you’ve got another thing coming if you think that’s where the plot ends. This show has it all: a spooky house, psych ward, amnesia, murder, and more. It begins when the main character, Annemie aka “Mie” is locked up in a secure psychiatric hospital after her accident. A detective comes to visit her and says she was the last person to see a man named Thomas de Geest alive, implying Mie had something to do with his murder. Mie must reach into the depths of her memories to try and recall what happened, but she encounters many puzzling flashbacks as her story unfolds.
Unit 42-Netflix
This fast-paced Belgian crime series chronicles the story of a widowed detective named Sam Leroy who links up with cyber hacker Billie Webber to solve high-tech crimes with the Brussels Digital Unit. It’s a police procedural, which might turn some people off, but the embedded storylines and character development make it much more complex and addicting. The episodes range from catching a webcam spy to looking into the death of a scientist who died in his self-driving car.
Money Heist- Netflix
Who doesn’t love a good Italian Job-esque heist, right? In La Casa de Papel, aka Money Heist, A group of criminals who specialize in various, specific skills work together to plan and execute Spain’s biggest heist in history. It’s one of the most-watched shows ever to stream on Netflix and has viewers everywhere begging for more. This show definitely keeps you on the tips of your toes and is very easy to binge in one sitting!
The Break- Netflix
I had to add a second Belgian/ French-speaking crime drama to the list because I’m totally hooked after watching the first few episodes of The Break. When police detective Yoann Peeters moves back to his hometown after experiencing some personal trauma, (have to note the pattern of characters moving back to their hometown here… always ominous!) he’s pulled onto a new case where everyone thinks the victim committed suicide, but Peeters knows it was murder. How does he navigate local politics to prove that the death was caused by a murderer? There are two seasons of The Break and the second one sounds just as good as the first!