The five best series to watch on Netflix this weekend
In a world that appears to move faster than a supernova, weekends are deemed a luxury, a slow escape from the everyday hustle that we don’t really appreciate enough. However, once you’re halfway through the week, still stuck in your cabin, scrolling through minute-long reels of your favourite Netflix shows, you’ll realise just how precious weekends truly are.
But so that it doesn’t come to this, let’s turn the weekend around with an energetic deep dive into the series catalogue of Netflix.
Long gone are the days of slow-paced holiday content and the season of comfort, nostalgic viewing. And if you like to stay culturally relevant, you’d already know that gritty thrillers are back in style.
So, with a genre-mix leap, here are the five best series to watch on Netflix this weekend that will make you forget about routine life for a hot minute, with a surprise exception waiting for you right at the end.
The five best series to watch on Netflix this weekend
Hightown (Rebecca Cutter, 2020-2024)
Although this is practically the age of short-format releases, we believe nothing stands in the way of good storytelling, not even time. So, if you’re ready to invest, Hightown should be the first thing on your watchlist this weekend. While the gritty crime thriller is not exactly a Netflix original, the Starz series is currently available on the streamer across several regions.
Set in Cape Town, Hightown follows a National Marine Fisheries Service agent struggling with alcohol and substance abuse, Jackie Quinones, who discovers a body washed up ashore and unwillingly finds herself amid a dangerous local opioid investigation while pursuing sobriety. The event doesn’t just drag her into the case; now she also must head to rehab to avoid a DUI and keep her post. But then, is that enough to save her from her own dark past and secrets that threaten to ruin everything?
Just One Look (Marek Lechki and Monika Filipowicz, 2025)
Even though Netflix dropped a gripping Harlan Coben adaptation, Run Away, at the start of the year, we simply cannot get enough. If you haven’t already watched Just One Look, released in 2025, it could very well be your second pitstop on your weekend marathon. The Polish crime thriller centres on Greta, whose seemingly perfect life turns into a series of nightmares after she finds a 20-year-old picture of her husband, Jacek, with strangers, one of whose faces is concerningly crossed out.
Not long after her discovery, Jacek vanishes under mysterious circumstances, leaving Greta at a loss for direction as she desperately prays for his and her family’s safety. Just One Look revolves around Greta’s subsequent search for Jack that pulls her into a rathole of conspiracy involving his past and her own hidden traumas as she’s forced to confront with her buried memories and the truth about Jacek.
In From the Cold (Adam Glass, 2022)
Speaking of a thriller marathon, how can we ever really skip a spy thriller? In From the Cold is an eight-episode series on Netflix that centres on Jenny Franklin, a single mother living in New Jersey, who was once a severely feared Russian spy and assassin known as Anya Petrova. While she has long left the world of espionage, when she travels to Madrid for her daughter’s skating competition, the CIA exposes her true identity.
In From the Cold follows Jenny in the aftermath of this ambush as she’s forced to return to the world of espionage to stop a series of terror attacks and help stop an insidious enemy, while navigating her new life, protecting her family, and the dangerous past that seems to be catching up with her.
The Asunta Case (Carlos Sedes and Jacobo Martinez, 2024)
Coming to the final crime thriller of our weekend watchlist, we have The Asunta Case, based on the real-life 2013 murder of 12-year-old Asunta Baserra in Spain. The Spanish limited series takes viewers to September 21st, 2013, when parents Rosario and Alfonso reported their adopted daughter, Asunta, missing from Santiago de Compostela.
Hours later, Asunta’s body was found on a remote forest road, sparking an intense murder investigation. The Asunta Case follows the subsequent investigation, which uncovers inconsistencies in the parents’ accounts, revealing the tense relationship of their co-dependency and the tragic details leading up to Asunta’s final days.
Bridgerton (Chris Van Dusen, 2020-Present)
As we promised, there would be a surprise recommendation for this weekend’s watchlist because there’s no way we can ignore the fact that Bridgerton season four is finally here. So, if you’re someone who couldn’t make enough room in the workweek to watch the new episodes, make the most of Regency-era romance and drama on your weekend.
The first part of the fourth season of Bridgerton revolves around Benedict Bridgerton as he comes across his charming romantic interest at his mother’s masquerade ball. Although Benedict has forever loathed settling down, this encounter changes everything, as he grapples with making a choice between reality and his fantasy.