What do you want to watch tonight?
Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.
Closest to Homeland first
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan 2018
Series
When CIA analyst Jack Ryan stumbles upon a suspicious series of bank transfers his search for answers pulls him from the safety of his desk job and catapults him into a deadly game of cat and mouse throughout Europe and the Middle East, with a rising terrorist figurehead preparing for a massive attack against the US and her allies.
The sides of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan
- A CIA analyst pulled out from behind his desk
- Suspicious bank transfers
- A manhunt across Europe and the Middle East
Good for you if
- you like a desk analyst racing to stop an attack.
- you like a hero who reads reports and then has to run.
- you like spies, generals and governments playing for keeps.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch bombings and executions on screen.
- you want a character study, and this is a mission thriller that keeps Jack on the move.
About: duty · terrorism · loyalty
Battlestar Galactica 2004
Series
When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth.
The sides of Battlestar Galactica
- The last humans fleeing in an old warship
- Machines that look like people
- A search for a planet called Earth
Good for you if
- you can take a story where humanity almost loses everything.
- you like never knowing who on board is a Cylon.
- you like a president and an admiral fighting over how to save the last humans.
Bad for you if
- you want a finale that explains everything plainly.
- you can't take suicide bombings, occupation and grief on screen.
About: survival · faith · what makes us human
Gone Girl 2014
Film
On their fifth wedding anniversary, a man's wife disappears, and as the police and the press dig in, he becomes the main suspect.
The sides of Gone Girl
- A marriage seen from both sides
- A trial on television
- A story that changes shape halfway
- Cold, precise, and darkly funny
Good for you if
- you love it when the floor drops out from under you halfway.
- you like a lead performance you can't look away from. Rosamund Pike holds every scene Amy is in.
- you like people who are hard to like.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather skip sex scenes, or you're watching with family.
- one sudden, very violent scene would ruin the evening for you.
About: marriage · lies · the media · image
How to Get Away with Murder 2014
Series
A sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor. They become entangled in a murder plot and will shake the entire university and change the course of their lives.
The sides of How to Get Away with Murder
- A law professor who teaches how to win at any cost
- Five students caught in a murder
- A story told in flash-forwards
Good for you if
- you like a flash-forward that changes what you thought you knew.
- you like Viola Davis as Annalise Keating.
- you like students hiding a body and lying to everyone.
Bad for you if
- you need law school and the courts to look like the real thing.
- six seasons is too much for you.
About: guilt · ambition · secrets
Prisoners 2013
Film
When his young daughter and her friend disappear on Thanksgiving, a father takes the law into his own hands while a detective works the case.
The sides of Prisoners
- A detective who won't let go
- How far a father will go
- A case built like a maze
- Rain, cold, and grey light
Good for you if
- you like being tense for two and a half hours straight.
- you like collecting clues and trying to get ahead of the detective.
- you like watching an actor go somewhere raw. Hugh Jackman does.
Bad for you if
- a child in danger is too much for you.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: faith · revenge · guilt · fatherhood
The Blacklist 2013
Series
Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.
The sides of The Blacklist
- A wanted criminal who turns himself in to the FBI
- A list of criminals nobody knew existed
- A rookie profiler he will only talk to
Good for you if
- you like James Spader's Red Reddington, a hat, a smile and a long story before every threat.
- you like a new criminal from Red's list in almost every episode.
- you want to know why Red chose Elizabeth Keen.
Bad for you if
- ten seasons is too much for you.
- you can't stand regular executions and shootouts.
About: secrets · loyalty · redemption
Andor 2022
Series
In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian Andor will discover the difference he can make in the struggle against the tyrannical Galactic Empire. He embarks on a path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.
The sides of Andor
- A thief who becomes a rebel
- A prison where inmates build parts for the Empire
- A secret network financing the rebellion
Good for you if
- you like the start of a rebellion told through spies, money and politics.
- you like a slow build told in three-episode arcs, each ending in a big payoff.
- you like long speeches about sacrifice, like Luthen's.
Bad for you if
- you want a light Star Wars adventure with Jedi and fun.
- you need some hope, and here freedom costs nearly everyone something.
About: rebellion · sacrifice · tyranny
24 2001
Series
Counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer fights the bad guys of the world, a day at a time. With each week's episode unfolding in real-time, "24" covers a single day in the life of Bauer each season.
The sides of 24
- One day of a season told hour by hour
- A counterterrorism agent racing the clock
- Moles inside CTU
Good for you if
- you like a ticking clock on screen in every episode.
- you like Jack Bauer doing whatever it takes before the hour ends.
- you like never knowing who the traitor is.
Bad for you if
- you can't sit through torture scenes.
- nine seasons is too much for you.
About: duty · sacrifice · betrayal
The Handmaid's Tale 2017
Series
Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.
The sides of The Handmaid's Tale
- A woman forced to bear children for a ruling family
- A religious dictatorship in America
- A resistance in whispers
Good for you if
- you like Elisabeth Moss saying everything with a stare into the camera.
- you like every conversation in Gilead feeling like it could be a trap.
- you like seeing how a regime controls women's bodies and words.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch rape and torture on screen.
- you can't stand hangings and mutilations.
- you need some hope, and here the hope comes slowly over six seasons.
About: freedom · motherhood · resistance · faith
Locked Up 2015
Series
Set up to take the blame for corporate fraud, young Macarena Ferreiro is locked up in a high-security women's prison surrounded by tough, ruthless criminals in this tense, provocative Spanish thriller.
The sides of Locked Up
- A young woman jailed for her boss's fraud
- A women's prison run by its inmates
- A cold, fearless inmate named Zulema
Good for you if
- you like a newcomer learning the rules of a prison where one mistake costs her.
- you like a story where everyone, guards included, is breaking the law.
- you can't look away from Zulema, the inmate you shouldn't root for.
Bad for you if
- you can't take brutal fights and killings between inmates.
- you won't watch a Spanish series with subtitles.
About: survival · corruption · power behind bars
Squid Game 2021
Series
Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.
The sides of Squid Game
- Children's games where losing means death
- People drowning in debt
- A prize that grows with every death
Good for you if
- you like games where any move could be the last.
- you like getting attached to players you might lose.
- you can take a dark story about money and despair.
Bad for you if
- mass killings on screen ruin it for you.
- you won't read subtitles. It's in Korean (a dub exists).
About: debt · inequality · survival
Mr. Robot 2015
Series
A young programmer, Elliot, suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He wields his skills as a weapon to protect the people that he cares about. Elliot finds himself in the intersection between a cybersecurity firm he works for and the underworld organizations that are recruiting him to bring down corporate America.
The sides of Mr. Robot
- A lonely hacker at a security firm
- A group of hackers named fsociety
- A plan to erase all debt
Good for you if
- you like piecing together a hacking plot against the giant E Corp.
- you like the floor dropping out from under Elliot.
- you like living inside one troubled man's head.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand drug use, trauma and depression on screen.
- you need momentum, and some episodes sit inside Elliot's silence.
About: loneliness · reality · revolution · trauma
Silo 2023
Series
In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo.
The sides of Silo
- Thousands living in an underground silo
- A rule against wanting to go outside
- An engineer who starts asking questions
Good for you if
- you want to know who built the silo and why.
- you like a closed world with its own laws, levels and history.
- you like Juliette digging where she was told not to.
Bad for you if
- you need momentum. The truth comes out slowly.
- four seasons is a lot for you to give one underground mystery.
About: truth · control · survival
Attack on Titan 2013
Anime
100 years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!
The sides of Attack on Titan
- Survival against impossible odds
- Twists that flip who the enemy is
- War, freedom and what it costs
Good for you if
- you like humanity trapped behind walls with giants outside.
- you like a story that turns everything upside down halfway.
- you can take a dark, brutal war story.
Bad for you if
- giants eating people ruin it for you.
- you don't watch anime.
About: freedom · war · revenge
Game of Thrones 2011
Series
Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Friction between the houses leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest north. Amidst the war, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night's Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.
The sides of Game of Thrones
- Power games and scheming
- Nobody is safe
- Dragons, battles and a huge world
- Families at war
- Characters you change your mind about
Good for you if
- you like following a dozen families and their schemes at once.
- you like a show where loyalties shift and no one is ever safe.
- you like schemers fighting over the Iron Throne, where a whisper can matter more than an army.
Bad for you if
- brutal deaths and battle wounds ruin a show for you.
- you'd rather skip sex scenes, or you're watching with others.
- eight seasons is more than you want to start.
About: power · loyalty · family · war
Breaking Bad 2008
Series
A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer starts making meth with a former student to pay for his family's future.
The sides of Breaking Bad
- An ordinary man's slow corruption
- Crime as a business
- One bad choice that spirals
- Desert, tension, long silences
Good for you if
- you like rooting for someone you know you shouldn't.
- you like tension that builds for a whole episode before it breaks.
- you watch for how people change more than for what happens.
Bad for you if
- graphic violence ruins a show for you. Some scenes are hard to unsee.
- TV is how you unwind. This one keeps you tense.
- five seasons is more than you want to start.
About: pride · family · power · consequences
Split 2017
Film
Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him — as well as everyone around him — as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.
The sides of Split
- Three girls kidnapped
- A man with many personalities
- Something else waiting to come out
Good for you if
- you like one actor playing many people, each one different.
- you like a captivity thriller where escape keeps slipping away.
- you like an ending that changes what kind of film you were watching.
Bad for you if
- child abuse in flashbacks is too hard for you.
- you can't stand blood. The attacks in the last act are brutal.
About: trauma · identity · survival
Oppenheimer 2023
Film
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
The sides of Oppenheimer
- The man who built the bomb
- A secret town in the desert
- A hearing that decides his fate
Good for you if
- you like a lead performance carried by the eyes.
- you like rooms full of brilliant people arguing.
- you want to feel the first test in your chest.
Bad for you if
- three hours of talking is too much for one evening.
- you want action. It's mostly meetings and hearings.
- you want a story told in order. It jumps between periods.
About: guilt · power · science
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 2014
Film
After the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America is living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy—the Winter Soldier.
The sides of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- A conspiracy inside the agency
- A masked killer from the past
- A fight in an elevator
Good for you if
- you like a spy thriller where nobody can be trusted.
- you like close, hard-hitting fights.
- you like uncovering who's really giving the orders.
Bad for you if
- you need the science to hold up. A super soldier frozen for seventy years takes on flying aircraft carriers.
- you roll your eyes at speeches about freedom and doing the right thing.
About: trust · freedom · friendship
The Silence of the Lambs 1991
Film
A young FBI trainee asks Hannibal Lecter, an imprisoned psychiatrist and cannibal, to help her catch another serial killer who is still out there.
The sides of The Silence of the Lambs
- Conversations through the glass
- A young woman proving herself among men
- A race to save the next victim
Good for you if
- you like a performance you can't look away from, even when you want to.
- you like tension made of two people talking through a sheet of glass.
- you like a final stretch that has you holding your breath.
Bad for you if
- graphic gore ruins it for you. A few images are hard to forget.
- you can't take a story of women kidnapped and starved by a killer. One is held at the bottom of a pit in his basement.
About: fear · power · identity · ambition