Invincible
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Invincible is a fantastic animated superhero series based on the comic of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley. The show follows Mark Grayson, the son of this comic book world’s version of Superman, who has to navigate the difficulties of both his burgeoning superpowers and the highs and lows of being seventeen years old.
The voice cast — headlined by Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons — is completely stacked, with celebs popping in to voice minor characters often enough that you’ll want to keep the IMDB page open when you can’t quite place why that voice sounds so familiar.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is reportedly the most expensive television series ever made, with $1 Billion committed to producing five seasons of episodes for Amazon Prime. While there are a handful of familiar names and locations, the series is set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s original trilogy during Middle-Earth’s “second age” — so even those who have worn out their extended edition DVDs of the movies will have plenty of new information and world building to dig their teeth into.
The first season gets off to a slow start. But by its finale, you’ll be well primed to watch the second, whenever it’s released.
The Expanse
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Though The Expanse began its life on regular television, Amazon Prime was the platform that came to fans’ rescue when Syfy unceremoniously canceled the show. All the better, as the show flows much better not having to follow the strict structural rules of airing on cable.
Based on a series of novels written by James S. A. Corey (a pen name for a writing duo), The Expanse is set in a future where humanity has expanded out into the solar system, and trends toward a grounded, hard sci-fi approach to its technology and space travel.
The show is filled with unforgettable characters and plot twists that will keep you glued to your screen the entire time.
The Boys
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The Boys and Invincible actually have a lot in common, though, unlike Invincible, The Boys is a live-action production. Set in a world not unlike our own — with the huge caveat that Superheroes happen to exist — The Boys is an edgy, violent, and occasionally horrifying deconstruction of the cape and tight genre.
Squeamish viewers will be put off by some of the more graphic scenes. However, if you can stomach it, The Boys is a unique, satirical look at what it would be like to live in the Marvel or DC Universe from the perspective of the tragically un-super.
Fleabag
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A co-production of Amazon Studio and the BBC, Fleabag is one of the best comedies on Prime. At only 12 episodes it is quite bingeable. Created by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the titular “fleabag” (we never learn her actual name), the series is a charming, raw, and occasionally cringe-inducing look at the life of a young woman in London who often breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the viewing audience. The show isn’t afraid to go to dark places and is sometimes quite heart-wrenching, but that is balanced out with some of the biggest laughs you’ll find on the platform.
The Man in the High Castle
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The Man in the High Castle isn’t perfect. Far from it. However, the highs outweigh the lows. The ambition in the storytelling and commitment to taking the initial premise to its logical conclusion make for a highly satisfying viewing experience.
This show is set in an alternate version of 1960s America. The allied forces in World War II were defeated by the Axis Powers in this story. As such, the show sneaks in an additional science fiction element as a hook in the pilot episode that it teases out for its four-season run.
Rufus Sewell is incredible here, giving arguably the most underrated, unsung performance in television history. Even when some of the other story threads underwhelm, he is more than enough reason to continue watching.
Reacher
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Fans of the Jack Reacher book series were famously less than enthused with the decision to cast Tom Cruise as the titular former military police officer in the two feature films produced in the 2010s. If you’re looking to cast someone to play a character described as extremely tall and with giant hands and incredibly broad shoulders, Cruise isn’t the first that comes to mind.
That isn’t an issue with Amazon’s Reacher series. Lead actor Alan Ritchson is quite large and quite imposing. The series also has a better handle on what the books are, and so far the first two seasons have been excellent pulpy, testosterone-fueled television.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
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Amy Sherman-Palladino of Gilmore Girls fame has crafted yet another whip-smart and superbly written series. Set in the 1950s, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel follows the burgeoning stand-up comedy career of Midge, an affluent housewife who finds her true passion after she is left by her failed comedian husband. Star Rachel Brosnahan gives a powerful, poignant performance, seemingly born to fire off Sherman-Palladino’s sharp dialogue. The rest of the cast is stellar as well, with Alex Borstein giving the performance of a lifetime as Midge’s manager. Yet another example of what an actor who may have otherwise been put in the “comedy” box can do with a meatier role.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
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Don’t let the fact that the original 2005 movie isn’t very good stop you from firing up the Mr. & Mrs. Smith series created by Francesca Sloan and Donald Glover. The key here is chemistry, and our two lead actors — Glover and Maya Erskine — have a lot more of it on camera than Brangelina ever did.
The initial setup is also far more intriguing. Here, Glover and Erskine are total strangers, recruited to be secret agents posing as husband and wife, with a romance developing between them as they bond through each mission. It’s fun, sexy, and full of plenty of shocks and surprises.
Patriot
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Patriot is the best series on Amazon Prime and one of the best television series produced in the last twenty years. It is an absolute crime that it was not renewed for a third season.
Created by Steven Conrad, Patriot is a dark comedy-drama about John, a psychologically damaged United States intelligence officer who must go undercover as an employee of a Milwaukee manufacturing company to clean up a mess created by an earlier botched bit of espionage. The highlight of the show is Kurtwood Smith, John’s manager at the firm who is rightly suspicious of this new hire and whose life becomes completely unraveled by his constant gaslighting. If you only watch one series on this list, make it Patriot (if even people start watching, maybe we’ll get a third season after all).
