Category: Around the World

Just finished watching Furious and wondering what to watch next? These gripping crime, mystery and thriller series share themes and storylines with the dark drama.

As part of our So You’re a Fan Of entertainment series, we’re matching fans of popular TV shows, films, books, authors and podcasts with their next great recommendation.

Content warning: violence and sexual assault.

If you can handle something dark, Furious is an extraordinary, uncompromising watch. The series challenges familiar crime-thriller conventions, particularly the recurring storyline in which the body of a dead woman launches an investigation.

Instead, Furious begins with a woman killing a man, and doing so without hesitation. It is an uncomfortable premise partly because it overturns the expectations often placed on women: that they should be maternal, caring, helpful, obedient and merciful.

The series stars Emmy Rossum as FBI agent Alice Black, who is new to the bureau after working as a NYPD homicide detective. Alice is asked to join several former colleagues investigating the murder of a man. She soon believes the killer is a woman who may be a serial murderer.

Emmy Rossum delivers a brilliant performance, alongside Lola Petticrew as Catherine Grace, the killer, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Nora Washington, head of the FBI’s sex crimes unit. The cast also includes Scoot McNairy as Danny Kelly, Alice’s friend and former NYPD partner, and Jake Lacy as another NYPD detective.

As Alice digs deeper into the case, the series gradually reveals more about her complicated past and Catherine’s motivation for the killings. The story raises difficult questions about morality, justice and whether Catherine should be punished or allowed to go free.

Furious is dark and emotionally heavy, exploring difficult subjects and situations that many women may recognise. If you have not watched it, it is well worth seeking out. If you have finished the series and need something lighter, these shows offer similar themes and compelling female-led stories.

I May Destroy You

Although I May Destroy You and Furious have very different plots, the experience of watching the two series invites comparison. Both are difficult but exceptional dramas.

Released in 2020, I May Destroy You was described as a black comedy, though its subject matter is deeply disturbing. Created by Michaela Coel and based on her own experience of sexual assault, the series follows Arabella, a Twitter star with a new book deal.

While trying to meet a deadline, Arabella agrees to go out for a couple of drinks. The next morning, she is confused and realises that she was drugged and raped.

The series is beautifully crafted but difficult to watch, with experiences that many women may recognise. Like Furious, it features complicated, messy characters rather than the “perfect” victims that television often portrays. Both shows explore trauma, the long-term psychological impact of sexual violence, and the ways law enforcement and justice systems can fail survivors.

Watch it on: HBO Max

Killing Eve

Killing Eve is the series most often compared with Furious, and the similarities are easy to see. Both feature a female killer, but Killing Eve is more of a black dramedy, bringing humour and lightness that Furious largely avoids.

The series stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Oh plays Eve, a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturing Villanelle, a psychopathic assassin played by Comer.

The cat-and-mouse relationship between the two women echoes the tension in Furious. Both series also blur the boundaries between right and wrong, encouraging viewers to question their own ideas about morality.

Watch it on: Netflix or Neon

Sharp Objects

Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects is one of the most disturbing crime novels of recent years, and the television adaptation is just as dark and brilliantly acted. Like Furious, it offers very little relief from its unsettling atmosphere.

The series stars Amy Adams as Camille, a crime reporter who struggles with alcoholism and has recently been discharged from a psychiatric hospital after years of self-harm. She returns to her small Missouri hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls.

Camille is forced back into contact with her estranged mother, stepfather and half-sister while staying in their Victorian mansion. She must also confront the past, including the breakdown in her relationship with her mother following the death of Camille’s younger sister from an illness.

As the investigation continues, the story becomes increasingly disturbing and more hidden secrets emerge. Like Furious, the series focuses as much on its troubled protagonist’s inner life as it does on solving the crime.

Watch it on: HBO Max

Mare of Easttown

Mare of Easttown is a compelling next watch, particularly if Kate Winslet’s starring performance is not already enough to persuade you.

Like Furious, the series follows a tough but emotionally burdened woman in law enforcement as she enters a psychological grey area where “right” and “wrong” begin to overlap.

Winslet plays Marianne “Mare” Sheehan, a police detective and local hero after scoring the winning basket in a high school basketball game that secured Easttown’s first state championship 25 years earlier.

But Mare’s heroic reputation is under pressure. A missing-girl investigation has remained unsolved for a year, and a teenage mother has now been found dead. At the same time, Mare’s personal life is collapsing. She is recently divorced, grieving the suicide of her son and involved in a custody dispute with her son’s former heroin-addicted girlfriend, who is the mother of her grandson.

Gritty and emotionally demanding, Mare of Easttown is another expertly made crime drama about a woman trying to hold together a fractured personal life while pursuing the truth.

Watch it on: HBO Max

Long Bright River

Like the other series on this list, Long Bright River follows a woman determined to uncover the truth behind a case that is deeply personal. Her own history and trauma collide with the investigation, while male-dominated systems are shown to be profoundly corrupt.

Amanda Seyfried, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for the role, plays Mickey Fitzpatrick, a patrol officer and single mother working in a high-crime area affected by the opioid crisis.

Mickey heads out with her newly assigned partner to speak to sex workers when the day takes a dark turn: a dead woman with pink hair is found on the train tracks. Mickey begins to panic. She has not told her new partner or anyone else at the department that her sister, who has bright pink hair and struggles with addiction, has been missing for weeks.

Although the dead woman is not her sister, Mickey continues searching for her while more women from the avenue are found dead. The department wants to record their deaths as overdoses, but Mickey is determined to uncover the truth.

Watch it on: Three Now

About the author

Alice Hampson is the co-founder and head of content at Capsule. She primarily writes about issues affecting NZ wāhine, including health, motherhood and divorce, as well as entertainment and travel.

Alice has more than 20 years of media experience. She began her career at TVNZ before becoming an award-winning magazine editor. She spent nine years editing the teen magazine Creme, followed by New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. Alice is a mother and stepmother and lives with her husband and their two sons in Auckland.

You can read other stories by Alice here or email her here.

Source: capsulenz.com