Netflix is my safe haven. If I’ve had a bad day, this is the first thing I gravitate towards. If you know me very well, you’ll know that I’m really into personality types. I’m an ISFJ, which is a very introverted personality type. Because of this, I spend my time “recharging” by myself. Most of the time, I’m either reading, writing, or watching Netflix because it puts me in my most peaceful mindset. Here I’m going to share my favorite things I’ve watched on Netflix so far (and what’ll you’ll find me watching over and over again)! I would be majorly surprised if you haven’t heard of most of these, but I promise, this is a good list.

Safe

You’re about to see that I’m a big fan of crime shows. Unfortunately enough for you guys, my favorite crime show is on Hulu (it’s Numb3rs by the way). But this is a really close second! This show has a more continuous storyline unlike shows like Numb3rs and Law & Order: SVU (another one of my favorites). This British show follows a single dad who goes searching for his daughter after she and her boyfriend go missing. The investigations in this show always leave me wanting to know what happens next, even though I’ve seen this show three separate times. Situations in this show can be really tense and makes you feel like you’re experiencing it yourself. In my opinion, that’s the best kind of show!

Girlboss

This would be extremely easy to watch if you’re needing a quick binge session! There’s only one season that consists of thirteen 30-minute long episodes. Girlboss follows the story of Sophia Amoruso, who’s known for founding the online boutique Nasty Gal. It is loosely based on her autobiography of the same name. It’s her rags-to-riches story on how Nasty Gal was created and the bumps in the road on the way there. It’s comical and something any college girl could relate to in one way at the very least! Although there’s only one season, it’s super easy to watch if you’re needing a quick binge (especially if you’re waiting for some new releases).

The Mist

I mean, just by the title, you had to know this was based on a Stephen King story, right? It started out on Spike, where it was later cancelled in 2017. Netflix picked it up, which is where I watched it for the first time with my roommate. Let me tell you, if you’re into ominous, thriller shows, you need to watch this ASAP. It’s set in a small(ish) town in Maine and an unexplained mist starts to slowly envelope the town.

What the townspeople don’t know is that the mist will attack and kill those that come in contact with it. It can even create visions or hallucinations that can either help or kill them, depending on how severe their reaction is! The show follows around ten main characters who are spread out around town seeking refuge from the mist. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, and for those of you that like strategy, you won’t be able to stop watching!

The Staircase

Like I said earlier, I’m a huge fan of crime shows. But what tops crime shows are true crime shows! There’s something about something being 100 percent true that makes it so much more interesting to me. The Staircase is a Netflix Original docu-series documenting the trail of Michael Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife, Kathleen. The series is made up of thirteen 45-minute long episodes. It starts out with Michael calling to report that his wife had fallen down a set of stairs in their home and had died. The series follows his defense, how the authorities disbelieved his story and the process leading up to his conviction. It is EXTREMELY interesting and will have you questioning so much while watching!

Evil Genius

I really hope you guys like true crime as much as I do, because I’m not done yet! I had heard quite a few people on campus talking about Evil Genius, so I decided to check it out. I’m so glad I did! This was so easy to binge because there is only one season that consists of four 45-50-minute long episodes. It was so easy to squeeze in episodes between studying and was easy to finish in one sitting if I needed answers right then and there.

This followed the death of Brian Wells: a case that had gone completely cold. Evidence came up that suggested that Brian have been forced to commit a robbery with a bomb strapped to his neck. It is a very bizarre story and the depiction of the case in the docu-series is intense. It will definitely leave you wondering how anyone was able to pull this off!

Making a Murderer

Still not done with the true crime genre, are you surprised? This is a show that my mom and I have talked about endlessly. Most people have heard a lot about this show but haven’t actually watched it themselves. This show will shake you to your core! It shows the story of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who served 18 years in prison for a wrongful conviction. Avery was later convicted again for a murder. It also tells the story of Brendan Dassey, who was accused and convicted of being an accessory to the murder Avery committed.

The show focuses on accusations of false confessions and ineffective counsel during trials. It really pieces together how Avery was framed for these crimes. It also shows how Dassey was manipulated by prosecutors to admit to things he didn’t do and how his constitutional rights were violated. The show itself is so controversial and will definitely raise some strong opinions!

The Vampire Diaries

Who doesn’t love the Salvatore brothers? I was skeptical to start this show at first because I loved Twilight so much. While a lot of people compared the themes of the two and found them to be similar, I was scared that I wouldn’t like it as much. I was finally convinced in August, and I was pleasantly surprised. This show is good! It’s got a lot of my favorite elements in shows I watch: romance, action, drama, and that supernatural theme. If you’ve never seen or heard of it (surely you’ve heard of it), it consists of 8 seasons. You get 171 episodes to binge watch! It surely can’t get any better than that. You will get so wrapped up in the world of Mystic Falls and every character involved. I’ve gotten so invested and you will too!

13 Reasons Why

I would be shocked if you haven’t watched this series yet. It’s so real, raw, and relatable. The first season revolves around Hannah Baker’s suicide and the aftermath it leaves on her friends, classmates, and school population. Before committing suicide, Hannah makes 13 tapes explaining why she did what she did. But it’s not so easy: there are a set of rules for listening to the tapes. They are to be listened to in order and they are to be passed on after listening to each tape.

Neither rule was supposed to be easy for the parties that were to receive the box of tapes. If the rules were not followed, copies of the tapes would be released in a very public manner by someone that Hannah trusted. The series can be hard to watch at times, but it goes through the often harsh environment high school brings and shows how your actions can lead to huge consequences. There’s three seasons in total, but I won’t spoil them for you. In true Hannah Baker spirit, you’re going to have to watch all of them!

You

I will ramble to my friends on and on about this show. “You” is based on a series of books by Caroline Kepnes. It follows Joe Goldberg who sets his sights on Guinevere (“Beck”). He believes it’s love at first sight and he does just about everything he can to make sure he gets her. He believes what he’s doing will be better for her in the long run and will allow the two to be happy together. There’s times I get so mad that Beck isn’t noticing a single red flag. But honestly, that’s what makes this show so great.

What’s even better for those of you that haven’t seen it, season 2 just came out on December 26! I can’t spoil it for any of you that may not have seen it, but just when you thought it couldn’t get crazier, it does. Season two is literally insane, and they just confirmed season three will come out in 2021. I couldn’t be more excited, and I really hope you jump on the bandwagon too!

Riverdale

When it comes to my guilty pleasures, this is one of them. I shouldn’t feel guilty for watching this, but I do. Way back when there was only one season, I used to rewatch it over and over again. It was getting a little ridiculous, but you can obviously tell by this list that I branched out. Like The Vampire Diaries, it combines all of my favorite things into one: romance, crime and action. It’s so easy to get involved in the storyline! It also helps that I loved The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as a kid, so having Cole Sprouse in this series is amazing. I’ve grown to love Lili Reinhart, KJ Apa and Camila Mendes through this show too!

Grey’s Anatomy

There’s just something about a good medical show that makes for a good binge. For those of you that don’t know what Grey’s Anatomy is, it starts off following five medical students and their journey to finding their niche. You get to watch them navigate the dating scene, the hardships that comes with their career, and so, so, so much drama. This has been really popular over the last couple of years among my friends and I. For you girls out there, just the thought of McDreamy and McSteamy is enough to keep you interested. Some of the bizarre medical conditions that are showcased on this show are enough to keep you entertained for hours. It definitely keeps your bingeing session interesting! Like I’ve been saying (and what you’re probably sick of hearing), it includes all my favorite genres. It never gets boring!

Stranger Things

At this point, who hasn’t seen this show? But on the off chance that you haven’t, you’re missing out. The show starts out with an introduction of four best friends: Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas. After the Hawkins National Laboratory opens up another dimension called the “Upside Down,” Will goes missing. The first season mainly covers the search for Will and the appearance of Eleven, a psychokinetic girl who escaped from the laboratory. Season one showcases Mike, Dustin and Lucas befriending Eleven in order to help find Will in the Upside Down. There’s two more seasons through which you can follow the rest of the story (with a season four on the way)! I’m not usually into the science-fiction genre, but this show is insanely good!

Victorious

There’s just something about this show that keeps me laughing no matter how many times I’ve seen it. It starts off with Tori who takes her sister’s place in a show for a performing arts school. She is offered a spot at the school and the rest of the series follows her life as she navigates the various assignments she is thrown into and the relationships she builds during her time at the school. It’s really hard for me to pick a favorite episode. All the characters are so relatable. Nickelodeon has made the characters pretty broad in terms of lifestyles and demographics! Mr. Sikowitz is probably my favorite character though. It wouldn’t be a Nickelodeon show without a few corny jokes here and there. When it comes to Nickelodeon, it brings me so much comfort and nostalgia. You can’t help but watch these shows over and over again.

The Haunting of Hill House

This can be a quick and easy binge! Netflix has really good original horror/thriller movies and shows, and this is one of them! The show itself is loosely based on a book by Shirley Jackson of the same name. The show itself alternates between a set of timelines that follow five siblings. These five siblings have all had paranormal experiences at Hill House that have followed them through their adulthood! This show has been talked about on just about every platform by every outlet if that gives you any insight to how good it is. It’s a must watch!

Cheer

I’m a sucker for a documentary series. I had heard so much about this before I started watching it, and I’ve only heard even more about it afterwards. It’s really catching on like wildfire! I was a cheerleader as a little kid and never got up to quite this level. I appreciate it so much though! I’ve always loved watching cheer routines so this show was everything I didn’t know I needed. It follows the 2019 Navarro College cheer team through their competition season. It was crazy to me how much these individuals have gone through and how hard they’ve worked to get where they are. Throughout the entirety of the show, it was mind bobbling how much stress they put their bodies through. “Cheer” will really help you respect cheerleading as the sport it is and appreciate the hard work they’re constantly putting their bodies through.

The Devil Next Door

I had only just heard about this series from a friend in one of my classes. I can’t even believe I hadn’t heard of it sooner! This show follows John Demjanjuk… or so everyone thinks. John was suspected of being a Nazi extermination camp guard named Ivan Marchenko. As if that wasn’t enough, this guard was popularly known as “Ivan the Terrible.” The series follows the long series of legal battles that followed unmasking who John really was. I can’t spoil it, even though I really, really want to. So basically what I’m saying is that you’ll have to find out what happened to him yourself! You just never really know if people are who they say they are anymore.

Dexter

The idea behind this show is so incredibly genius to me. I found this show through my Uncle David (Dave… if you’re reading this… THANK YOU). The whole idea behind it is that Dexter, the show’s main character (obviously) is a serial killer of serial killers. Yes, you read that right. He is a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Metro police department by day. By night, he’s hunting down serial killers who have somehow slipped through the cracks of the justice system. In the first episode, it is explained that this all started from a traumatic event connected to the death of his mother, which happened when he was only 3-years-old. This show could honestly be talked about in a huge psychology lesson. It is so beyond interesting and AMAZING!

Quicksand

I personally haven’t even started this but I’ve heard enough about it from friends to know that it’s a must-see. Quicksand is based on a book of the same name by Malin Persson Giolito. It’s set in Sweden at Djursholm senior high school. After a school shooting, the main character, Maja, is the lone student left after the shooting. She is arrested and suspected of murder. The rest of the show follows the trial. The main focus was on why the shooting happened rather than whether she even did it. Throughout the six episode series, it is told entirely from Maja’s perspective. It seems so, so intense and I can’t wait to binge it!

Dead To Me

Surprise, I haven’t started this one either. But honestly, I’ve heard enough about it from one of my best friends that I could tell you that it sounds like a good binge! The series follows the friendship of Jen and Judy, both of which have recently suffered the losses of their fiancé/husband. Jen is trying to come to terms with her loss through therapy and mainly uses anger as an outlet for grief. This is how she meets Judy, who just lost her fiancé due to a heart attack. The show is full of dark comedy and so many twists and turns to keep you interested!

Imposters

The idea of this series was seriously so cool to me! Like “Dead to Me,” it is also considered a dark comedy. The series follows Maddie who makes a living as a con artist. Maddie gets involved in relationships with men and women before eventually leaving them with absolutely nothing. As part of a team, Maddie travels all over the country to do work for “The Doctor.” Her main method consists of making her targets fall in love with her, where she will later ingrain herself in their lives, and steal everything they have after marrying them. There’s two seasons that have 10 episodes each, so there’s plenty to binge!

Ozark

It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen this one, but I recommend it to just about everybody needing new shows. The show essentially revolves around a family that suddenly relocated from a suburb of Chicago to the Lake of the Ozarks! A lot of the excitement around this show for me is the fact that it is set an hour and a half from where I grew up! This all follows a money laundering scandal gone wrong. Marty (the main character) takes the operation to the Ozarks and tries to make amends with the Mexican drug cartel. The show stars Jason Bateman as Marty. The show itself is centered around so much dark humor, suspense and emotion.

Queer Eye

If any of you ever watched Queer Eye on Bravo, you’ll know it revolves around a team of gay professionals in the field of fashion, grooming, design, entertainment and culture. It features a “fab five” who perform a revamping makeover, typically for a straight man. If you liked that series at all, you’ll like the reboot! Netflix rebooted Queer Eye, and it follows a new “fab five”: Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk, and Jonathan Van Ness. With 37 episodes spanning through four seasons, there’s plenty to binge!

The Good Place

I’ve seen a couple of episodes of this show, and it’s hilarious. It’s super, super easy to binge. I’ve wanted this a ton with friends, and if you haven’t seen it at all, you’re missing out. Essentially, the setting is a highly selective utopia that is supposed to be similar to Heaven! As you probably guessed, it’s called The Good Place. The Good Place is supposed to be a reward for a righteous life. The show revolves around Eleanor (played by Kristen Bell) who arrives in the afterlife and is welcome by the creator of the Good Place. She realizes she’s arrived by mistake and has to go out of her way to make sure that her imperfect behavior doesn’t show through. Throughout the four seasons, you’ll be able to see Eleanor alter her personality to become a better person to earn her spot in The Good Place!

The Circle

I really thought I was going to hate this. I’m a journalism major, so sometimes I find it hard to connect to certain things. Things can really get a little too off the wall sometimes. However, this really intrigued me from the get go. It starts off with eight people. They don’t know what each other looks like, and they’re all in a competition to win $100,000. The contestants all move into the same apartment building, and throughout the entire competition, they are confined to their own rooms. There’s some rules: they are only allowed to talk to each other exclusively through a voice operated system.

Throughout the entire competition, they are creating and building a social media profile to hopefully win the game as the top influencer. But here’s the catch: they don’t have to play as themselves! They can essentially “catfish” someone else throughout the competition. Each go-around, they are trying to be in the top two influencers in order to stay in the game–the rest are at risk of being eliminated or “blocked.” It’s wild, but so, so, SO good!

Is there anything that you’d recommend that I missed? Let me know in a comment below!