I’ve been on Netlfix for a few years and super excited that TV and movies are moving away from ad-saturated, lame cable TV. Even when it wasn’t available in Lebanon, I showed you guys how to use VPN services to access it. Now that it’s available for everyone without needing to hide your locations, here are a few shows I really recommend to jumpstart your Netflix experience. (Because of copyright deals, some might not be available in Lebanon, so just use a VPN with the US or UK location)

Netflix Originals

When it comes to producing shows, Netflix is heaven-sent. Take House of Cards for example, it was pitched to a few networks, but they didn’t take it or didn’t give the House of Cards team the creative freedom to keep it as-is (like what happened with Hannibal and the episode that NBC never released cause they felt “it was too much”). Netflix on the other hand, doesn’t need to worry about advertisers and conservative agendas, so they’re like “ok, here’s the money, do a good show”, and there’s been several already with many, many more coming out in 2016.

House of Cards (3 Seasons) [USE VPN: USA]

If you haven’t watched this, you should. Even if you’re not into US politics (if you are, you’re gonna love it even more) it’s an awesome watch. Kevin Spacey is one of my favorite actors, so seeing him in the lead means I already like the show. Robin Wright as Clair Underwood was also an absolute pleasure (and terrifying!) to watch. Sadly, for some reason, this isn’t available on the Lebanese Netflix, so use your favorite VPN service to mask your location (suggestion: USA or UK with Hola).

Narcos (1 Season)

If you haven’t seen this, come on, what’s wrong with you. It’s what got El Chapo jealous enough to try to make his own movie, which is probably what led to his recapture a third time! If you like Narcos and Pablo Escobar’s story peaked your interest, I highly recommend you watch”El Patron del Mal”, a Spanish-speaking series that’s also cool and apparently more accurate about the infamous drug kingpin.

Marco Polo (1 Season)

Think Game of Thrones, but without 700 characters that look similar and have similar names. Also, much less floppy penises (thanks George RR Martin). What I loved about this show is how beautiful the sets and scenery is and how interesting it was to see a series about the time of the Mongols and the Han Dynasty in Southern China. I don’t know about you, but I feel like not enough has been done about the empire that stretched from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Netflix also recently released a bonus episode about a mysterious character “One Hundred Eyes” while we wait for the second season.

Master of None (1 Season)

This is the show that I feel most fellow millennials can completely relate to and get. The dating world, family, work are not the usual movie-like, larger-than-life stuff that we all know doesn’t really happen in real life. It’s a funny, witty commentary on today’s life in a connected urban world. I personally love Aziz Ansari and find him hilarious, so that definitely helped make the show for me. It’s lighthearted, funny and has a lot of “that’s soooo true” moments in it. No dragons or murders or magic, but hey, no floppy weiners either!

Daredevil (1 Season)

The trend when it comes to superhero movies and series has always been a black-and-white, boring good-vs-evil scenario where the villain and hero are obscenely exaggerated either for better or for worse. This show didn’t do that. Instead, Murdock seems a LOT more believable than the movie and the show overall has a darker mood to it. The hero does get a beating, doesn’t always get away with unexplainable feats that usually ruin superhero flics for me. I must add, Vincen D’Onofrio did a fantastic job portraying the Kingpin, so if you’re usually a fan of the villain in a show, you shall not be disappointed.

Jessica Jones (1 Season)

Everything Netflix got right in “Daredevil” was greatly improved upon in “Jessica Jones”. Given that no blockbuster movies have come out about the Marvel hero, for me, the series was discovering a heroin that easily became one of my favorites from the Marvel universe. At times, you wonder if she’s actually the hero or the villain. The same fantastic dark mood prevails in this show as well, making Jones less “hero-for-kids” and more of a character that peaks your interest and makes you wonder what it actually means to be “good” or “evil”. Rachel Taylor was perfect for the role, she did a fantastic job, I highly recommend this, especially for comic book geeks or folks that wanna explore that genre a bit more.

Enjoy!

I hope you have fun, and that your Internet connection and bill allows you to keep streaming instead of buying bootleg DVDs. This first post was focused on Netflix Originals, especially those available in Lebanon. Next week, I’ll post some of my favorite, slightly more obscure series that I have discovered and fallen in love with on Netflix over the past few years.