(Credits: Netflix)

Open Netflix right now, and it is immediately obvious that the algorithm has completely lost its sense of restraint. This week’s most‑watched list is a mix of everything, and god forbid if all the seasons of Stranger Things are trending again.

Right at the top sits HIS & HERS, the limited series which apparently is the new favourite format of the Netflix audience. And with this show in particular, people are not just watching it; they are dissecting it, arguing about it, and rewatching scenes to catch what they missed the first time. Can’t blame them; the show is that good. The marriage at the centre of the story is so uncomfortable and so deliberate that you are bound to be uncomfortable. Turns out some shows are designed to leave people unsettled after their finale, and this is one of them.

Just below it is Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, which is living proof that classic murder mysteries still have room to surprise when they stop playing it safe. And if it is one of Christie’s classics, who can miss it? And please, do not confuse it with a dusty adaptation. Again, Netflix did a brilliant job making it a limited series, so it moves fast, and every revelation falls in place just in time. If you haven’t binged it yet and are planning to, make sure to bring your attention span with you because this is not one of those shows you can watch while scrolling.

Run Away, a limited series (AGAIN, no surprise), continues to climb the chart for the third week now. The story of this show feeds on mistrust as it pushes its characters into increasingly tight corners. But the main tension comes from how fast situations turn against the people you thought you understood.

And then there is Stranger Things, which at this point is not trending so much as occupying space. Season five has brought everyone back into Hawkins, but the real takeaway is how the older seasons have followed it straight into the charts. The show ended after a decade, and now people can’t help but rewatch the previous seasons.

That’s the reason seasons four, three, two and one sitting together feels like a reminder of how deeply this show is stitched into Netflix culture. People are doing more than catching up. They are reliving entire eras of the series all over again. Clearly, the internet is back to 2016.

Somewhere between monsters and government conspiracies, Emily in Paris season five is doing what it always does, which is pulling in viewers who know exactly what they are getting and are watching anyway. The appeal of this show has never been realism. It is its familiarity and the comfort that refuses to change its personality even slightly. And of course, the scenic locations it covers.

Rounding out the list, Marcello Hernández: American Boy stands out because it is doing something completely different. The response this special has got shows that audiences are just as willing to watch sharp stand‑up as they are sprawling fiction. And that winds up this week’s Top 10 global series on Netflix.

The most popular series on Netflix this week:

• HIS & HERS: Limited Series
• Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials: Season 1
• Run Away: Limited Series
• Stranger Things: Season 5
• Stranger Things: Season 4
• Stranger Things: Season 3
• Stranger Things: Season 1
• Emily in Paris: Season 5
• Stranger Things: Season 2
• Marcello Hernández: American Boy