10 Near-Perfect Netflix Miniseries With Less Than 10 Episodes Each

Prime candidates for a weekend binge-watch

Real-life horrors can also serve as inspiration, which is the case with HBO’s Chernobyl, which uses five harrowing episodes to examine a catastrophic tragedy and the true cost of it. At other times, an existing franchise can lead to an in-universe offshoot like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, whose first installment is the definition of perfect storytelling. Netflix is home to a wide variety of miniseries, thanks to an audience that is increasingly partial to the binge-watch model. Although the results have been a mixed bag, several competent miniseries are Netflix originals.

Without further ado, here are 10 near-perfect Netflix miniseries with less than 10 episodes each.

1 Unorthodox

In Unorthodox, a young Jewish woman named Esty (Shira Haas) escapes an ultra-conservative community and unhappy marriage to seek refuge with her estranged mother in Berlin. The adjustment period is grueling, since it isn’t easy to let go of the beliefs Esty grew up with. With her husband on the lookout for her whereabouts, Esty must outrun the life she left behind while embracing a new one. Unorthodox accomplishes a lot with only four episodes, with Haas’ lead performance creating a compelling look at one woman’s difficult internal struggles. This is an atypical coming-of-age story about breaking free from societal shackles and living life on one’s own terms.

2 Bodies

It’s tempting to classify Bodies as a tense procedural, but this genre-hybrid whodunnit is also an enthralling sci-fi mystery. The story follows the sudden appearance of a dead body in London — not just in the present timeline, but in four different points in time. The same body crops up in the same area, prompting four investigators to get to the bottom of the case with the fragmented facts available to them. But is carrying out a thorough investigation without good old time travel even possible? Bodies makes the most out of this fun premise, allowing each time period to approach the same dilemma through a distinct lens. There are plenty of chase sequences and shootouts to scratch the itch for an action-oriented detective mystery, which is just one of many reasons why Bodies is worth your time.

3 The Queen's Gambit

A coming-of-age period drama about a chess prodigy doesn’t exactly fit into the mainstream mould, but The Queen’s Gambit turned into Netflix’s most unlikely hit for good reason. Spanning the mid-1950s and the early ‘60s, the show follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), a chess prodigy who rises up the ranks while dealing with addiction. The Queen’s Gambit is mostly grounded in its portrayal of chess as a slow-paced but high-stakes game that, like most passionate pursuits, can bring the best and worst out of people. Beth’s journey is complex, wherein she battles internalized misogyny at some points while also receiving genuine support from her male peers. The Queen’s Gambit is a well-woven story about the true cost of genius, and what it means for a gifted woman like Beth to claim victory after overcoming countless personal trials.

4 Ripley

Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley has already been adapted into a wonderful 1999 film adaptation starring Matt Damon and Jude Law. Even so, Netflix’s Ripley understands the titular anti-hero better. In this version, Tom Ripley (a brilliant Andrew Scott) is a petty white-collar criminal in New York, completely devoid of the boyish charm that Damon’s version embraced. This omission is deliberate: Ripley is meant to make us uncomfortable, and that discomfort extends to his relationship with himself and the world he is eager to exploit. Shot entirely in monochrome, Ripley checks all the boxes of a gripping noir thriller that understands that the lead’s unsettling aura is part of his appeal.

5 Pluto

You might’ve heard of Osamu Tezuka's legendary Astro Boy. One of its story arcs, “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” was adapted into Pluto, an eight-episode ONA that follows the Europol robot detective Gesicht. Pluto is a must-watch for anyone who likes sci-fi stories with complex themes about artificial intelligence and memory, along with the role that humans play in bringing about widespread destruction. The anime miniseries also uses nuanced geopolitical parallels to flesh out its central conflict, bringing a compelling weight to a classic that has been reimagined through a darker, more mature lens.

6 Godless

Westerns on television tend to rely on longer formats for effective storytelling, as is the case for genre standouts like Gunsmoke or Yellowstone. Netflix’s Godless, however, makes excellent use of the miniseries format to subvert classic tropes associated with gritty frontier dramas. The show follows a young outlaw named Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), who runs away from his abusive mentor and ends up in a town almost entirely populated by women. This is a far cry from typically male-dominated settings, which the show leverages to tell a rich, unique story that is more gradual and atmospheric than the expected adrenaline-soaked violence of a Western.

7 Baby Reindeer

Donny (Richard Gadd) offers a free cup of tea to a distressed middle-aged customer named Martha (Jessica Gunning) during his bartending shift, but this simple act of kindness comes with horrific repercussions in Baby Reindeer. Martha’s obsession with Donny spirals into something dark and unpredictable, but the show takes a surprising turn by positioning Donny as an imperfect victim. As Donny is forced to confront aspects of his own behavior, he starts viewing Martha’s actions with a mix of fear and sympathy, which turns into a confusing cocktail of emotions. Baby Reindeer is chilling in its portrayal of stalking and the trauma it induces, holding up a much more complex picture of shame and culpability.

8 Midnight Mass

Mike Flanagan mastered the art of blending beautiful monologues with traditional horror in The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. While these entries are stellar, Midnight Mass is a brilliant, lightning-in-a-bottle phenomenon that exemplifies the best aspects of Flanagan’s talents as a storyteller. Set in the isolated religious setting of Crockett Island, Midnight Mass follows Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford), who has returned home after spending four years in prison. As Riley grapples with his dwindling faith and escalating existential dread, the island’s inhabitants are haunted by something worse than blind zealotry and misplaced self-righteousness. An exceptional central performance by Hamish Linklater ties this ambitious show together, allowing it to effortlessly blend genres over the course of seven episodes.

9 When They See Us

The Central Park jogger case of 1989 is a harrowing reminder of 20th-century racial injustice and state violence. Five teenagers, all people of color, were wrongfully accused of the horrific assault and rape of Trisha Meili, who was out on a run. Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us dramatizes this real-life incident by humanizing the Central Park Five and focusing on their lived experiences amid sensationalized headlines and targeted racial harassment. This portrayal is both devastating and authentic, given that the show shines a light on systemic flaws in the U.S. justice system. An institutional failure of this level is hard to stomach, but When They See Us doesn’t shy away from any of the ugliness. DuVernay fleshes out the lives of those affected with the utmost sensitivity, while questioning the effectiveness of a broken system that is ideally meant to protect the most vulnerable sections of society.

10 Adolescence

Every episode in Adolescence is shot in one continuous take, but this technical mastery is only one aspect that makes the show a vital must-watch. A schoolboy named Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is abruptly arrested for the murder of a young girl in his school, leaving his family devastated amid community backlash. Adolescence digs into the online radicalization of young boys, how misogynistic content fuels their toxic masculinity, and how such noxious mindsets can lead to real-life violent crimes. The one-take approach intensifies the tension, as Owen doesn’t immediately seem like an aggressor, but a confused and scared child. The show gradually peels away this facade, exposing the toxic reality of severe online manipulation and patriarchal mindsets.