We don’t talk enough about miniseries.
Sure, long-running shows are interesting. There’s nothing quite like watching Jamie Lannister redeeming himself or Elliot Alderson slowly going insane. There are seasons worth of build-up and character arcs. We’ve been far too invested for far too long.
But miniseries?
Miniseries grab you by the neck, hold you hostage for a few hours and when you come out, you’re a changed person. Here are a few such miniseries that we have loved.
Chernobyl
Telling the true story of the devastating accident of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion in 1986, this miniseries is a horrifying depiction of one of the worst disasters mankind has ever faced.
Usually a wreckage of that scale is overlooked. Desensitization to bygones isn’t something new. But the show illustrates how enormous the damage was. It breathes life into past horrors, it drags you back in time and makes you witness all the pain and loss.
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Aside from the unapologetic way it explores varying storylines, Chernobyl is also captivatingly shot. It feels gritty and real. In five episodes, it manages to give detailed information through well-written scripts, makes us invested in the characters, provides fantastic score with horrifying images on screen and shows us the enormity of a disaster that changed the course of history.
True Detective
Some people will argue that this is not a miniseries. After all, it has a second and a third season. But each season is an anthology, with new casts, new stories, new sets and no connections to one another.
The first season of True Detective is a miniseries. And a masterful one at that. We follow two detectives, Rust and Cohle, as they are put together to solve a serial killing case. The unlikely partners deal with obstacles in their path while battling the demons that exist inside them.
The two characters, played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, have fantastic chemistry and character arcs. The underlying mystery of the murders is nothing short of horrific. Add to it bits of philosophy, gritty music, long uncut scenes, remarkable acting and a beautiful script and you have one of the most unbeatable murder mystery shows every crafted in television history.
The Night Of
The Night Of has a simple premise: A Muslim-American student goes to a party with his friends. On his way back, he meets a woman who suggests going back to her place. After a drug-infused encounter, he goes to sleep. When he wakes up, he finds that the girl has been stabbed to death.
What follows is an arrest, a long trial, prison sentencing and a slow descent into addiction.
The Night Of isn’t just a crime thriller, it’s not just a mystery to be solved—it has elements of Islamophobia, false incarceration, its consequences, the loopholes inside justice systems and how lawyers misuse them, addiction, racism and so much more. All that make for an interesting and gripping watch.
Sharp Objects
You know a show is going to be fantastic when it’s HBO produced, has an A-lister cast, and a story from the plot-twist queen Gillian Flynn. If there’s one thing you need to know before getting into this, it’s that this show is dark. And we mean pitch black dark. But what keeps you hooked is how palpable trauma is in the show.
Self-harm, depression, child endangerment, murder are just a few of the elements of the show. Keep watching and you’re sucked into the horrors of a small town in Missouri—a horror that our main character, Camille Preaker, has to revisit as she returns to her birthplace after the murder of a young girl. Now a journalist, she’s looking into the investigation and the untimely death while dealing with a past that drove her away from the town in the first place.
Band of Brothers
Very few shows have held as much intrigue and relevance as Band of Brothers. Produced in 2001, this miniseries follows a platoon called Easy Company of the U.S. Army throughout their time during World War II.
The story begins with the platoon’s training days, depicts the start of the war, the losses between and ends only after the war is over. It might feel like the story has been covered a thousand times. But let us tell you, nothing will ever live up to what Band of Brother has managed to illustrate. More than war, cliché as it might sound, this series is about friendship. It’s about finding family in the most unlikeliest of places, and getting up and fighting despite hopelessness.
Band of Brothers isn’t just a fictional story, it’s the realest, most hard-hitting depiction of a battlefiled. Don’t expect cool, spy shenanigans or unlikely action sequences. This is the truth.
Surviving R.Kelly
Many of us aren’t familiar with this “King of R&B” and understandably so. After all, his career reached its peak during the 90s and early 2000s. So when news of his arrest for sexual misconduct with minors and child pornography came out, the hype wasn’t comprihensible.
Surviving R. Kelly is a mini-documentary that interviews women R. Kelly was involved and associated with as they dig into his past, his conducts and activities that led him to prison. It highlights Kelly’s talent at a young age, his rise to fame and the ultimate spiral into sexual activities with minors.
In a horrifying reveal, the documetary also unearths how Kelly was able to continue producing and participating in child pornography and enslaving young girls at his residence without legal consequences.
It’s widely believed that this series is what finally got R. Kelly arrested. The documetary also raises questions on the legitimacy of all the things that happen behind closed doors in the music industry—which is exactly why it’s a must-watch.
