Perfect TV shows are hard to come by. In fact, it would be downright impossible to find a show that absolutely every person would categorize as a ten out of ten. This is especially true in the age of streaming, since there are more shows than ever before premiering around every corner, and the vast majority will ultimately fall flat. Netflix, for example, has produced several hundred original TV shows since its inception, and only a handful could be considered definitive masterpieces.
While there will never be a show that receives universal praise, Netflix has managed to produce a few that are regarded with overwhelming positivity. It’s no easy task to get either a critic or an audience score above 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, but there have been several projects over the years that have actually managed it. Netflix even has one that did the rare job of achieving a perfect 100% critic score, indicating that each and every person who wrote a professional review of the series deemed the watch a positive experience.
If you’re on the lookout for something great to watch among Netflix’s original TV shows, this is a great place to start. Of course, you might not necessarily agree with the majority. You may find yourself let down by what others might define as perfect. However, at the very least, we can guarantee that not a single episode within these shows goes to waste. Each and every one contributes to the powerful themes or concepts at the center of the story.
Mindhunter
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Mindhunter is really unlike any other crime thriller out there. The series, set in the 1970s and 1980s, is created by Joe Penhall and David Fincher and is based on the non-fiction book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. The story follows FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) as they travel to maximum-security prisons across the country to interview serial killers. The idea is that this information will allow the FBI to understand psychopathic behavior better, and, therefore, be more effective at solving murders.
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This is an extremely meticulously crafted series. Each episode is constructed to be perfectly era-accurate. Mindhunter is also less about gore and action than it is a battle of the minds. The dialogue written for these characters is calm and careful. Each word means something, and with that tone, they create a visceral sense of danger and fear. It allows the series to be a masterclass in tension, and across all 19 episodes, you won’t find a single moment of meaningless filler.
Baby Reindeer
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Baby Reindeer is a 2024 dark-comedy miniseries created by and starring Richard Gadd. The story is inspired by Gadd’s real-life experience with a stalker. In the Netflix series, Gadd plays a fictionalized version of himself, Donny Dunn, who is a comedian and bartender. One night, Donny offers a customer, Martha (Jessica Guna), a free cup of tea, and this leads to years of emails, voicemails, and other inappropriate behavior.
The premise of Baby Reindeer certainly makes it intriguing, especially with that inspired-by-real-life angle. However, this was no guarantee for an excellent series. What made this show work was its meticulously constructed pacing and unabashed exploration of trauma and morality. Gadd doesn’t present Donny as a perfect character and definitive victim, instead exploring how he contributed to and even enabled Martha’s obsession. Baby Reindeer is vulnerable, darkly comedic, and brutally honest, with not an ounce of filler, and every episode is near-perfect.
Squid Game
Squid Game took the whole world by storm, and this was no accident. The three-season series is a South Korean dystopian survival thriller created for Netflix by Hwang Dong-hyuk. The story follows a compulsive gambler, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who becomes desperate enough to join a secret series of violent children’s games to earn a large fortune. There’s no doubt that Squid Game is twisted, making it an absolute spectacle on screen. However, there’s so much more to it than blood, gore, and gritty corruption.
The themes of Squid Game are deeply meaningful and relevant. While it’s difficult to take pleasure in the events of each episode, the series maintains its impact. Squid Game is essentially a nothing-held-back mirror against capitalism and class disparities. It explores the relationship between morality and desperation, highlighting the very worst of human impulses while finding moments to celebrate genuine goodness.
Adolescence
The four-part British crime drama Adolescence is another Netflix series that really packs a punch. Created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, the series revolves a 13-year-old boy, Jamie Miller, who is arrest for the murder of his female classmate, Katie Leonard. Adolescence doesn’t challenge the idea that he is responsible for the crime. Rather, this series explores the psychological and social explanations for why the murder happened.
Every episode of Adolescence dives further into the disturbing reality of Jamie’s actions, to the point that it quickly becomes about far more than just this child. The series explores toxic masculinity and the family unit’s responsibility in that mindset. Online incel culture takes a front seat as Adolescence challenges what might be considered normal behavior. What makes this series even more spectacular is the way that each episode is done in a single, real-time take with no cuts. It’s truly a masterpiece, though certainly a dark one.
The Queen’s Gambit
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Netflix’s 2020 miniseries, The Queen’s Gambit, was created by Scott Frank and Allan Scott. Based on the 1983 novel of the same name, the story follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), a genius chess prodigy who grows up in a 1950s orphanage. Beth develops a spectacular skill and passion for chess, but after years of overmedication at the orphanage, she becomes entirely dependent on drugs and, later, alcohol.
The Queen’s Gambit is all tight storytelling and quiet, intelligent glamour. The story itself explores the all-too-common relationship between genius and personal torment, as well as the desperate need for even the best and brightest to develop a community of support. The Queen’s Gambit explores themes of feminism, xenophobia, trauma, and more, all while showing profound respect and admiration for the game of chess. Between all of this and Taylor-Joy’s stellar performance, it just doesn’t get much better.
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It’s no easy job to get a perfect 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, Arcane is one of the very few Netflix originals to do so. This animated series is set within the universe of the League of Legends video game franchise, and revolves around estranged sisters Vi and Jinx as conflict breaks out between the upper-class city of Piltover and the destitute underground nation of Zaun. Though Arcane is based on a video game, there’s no need for viewers to have any prior knowledge of that franchise. This stands fantastically well all on its own.
Animated series don’t often stand out on Netflix, but Arcane is the exception. The visual art combines hand-painted textures and CGI, which is especially striking in combat and other high-action scenes. While action is a key player, the true center of Arcane is the exploration of human emotion and connection. It’s all about social struggle, trauma, and complicated family dynamics. No one is just good or bad; rather, every character has their own sympathetic elements. Somehow or another, Netflix actually managed perfection here.
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