Netflix Recommendations | 2018

I’d choose a cosy night in front of the telly over a drunken night out on the town any day of the week. A Friday or Saturday night is when most people my age would be getting together with their friends to have a few drinks or to wind down from the hustle and bustle of the working week. Not me, I’m inside hibernating under about 10 layers of blankets trying to feel as cosy and relaxed as humanly possible, with a big mug of hot chocolate in one hand and the TV remote in the other. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my fair share of alcohol infused fun whilst at university but I graduated over 3 years ago now and I’m more interested in ordering a cheeky takeaway, relaxing with my boyfriend and watching a good film on Netflix.

There have been some absolutely amazing Netflix originals over the past couple of years and I’ve been totally engrossed in the majority of the content they’ve been producing, so I wanted to create a list of my favourite films and TV shows that I’ve been watching on Netflix this year.

Santa Clarita Diet

Santa Clarita Diet is one of the most original TV programmes I’ve watched in years. I remember watching the first season last year and instantly becoming completely hooked, I’m a huge fan of Drew Barrymore and I originally watched this show not knowing anything about it aside from that she played the main character. I am so glad I started to watch it because it's been one of the most charming and funny TV shows I’ve seen in years. Season 2 was released this year and it didn’t disappoint, it was just as funny and entertaining as the first and kept me wanting to know what would happen next.

If you’re not familiar with the show it’s about an average American couple who get into a spot of bother when Sheila (Drew Barrymore) becomes ‘undead’ and gains an appetite for human flesh. It’s a hysterically funny story of a married couple and their daughter trying to investigate why this has happened whilst also covering up any mishaps that occur along the way. I absolutely love this show and would recommend it to anyone who loves comedies and is interested in a modern and completely unique take on ‘zombies’ in film and TV.

The Good Place

The Good Place is unlike anything I’ve seen before. It didn’t grip me straight away but once I watched a few episodes I couldn’t stop watching or laughing. I think almost everyone in my family has watched this show now because it has such an intriguing plot and storyline that whoever I spoke to about it, had to give it ago. I remember when I first explained the plot to my boyfriend and then showed him an episode, he was shocked at the genre and style as he was under the impression that it was going to be a serious drama. If you haven’t seen the show, it is in fact a very light-hearted comedy with a very thought out and deep synopsis, which could be misleading when you quickly explain the plot to somebody. The first series is about Eleanor (Kristen Bell) who dies and goes to ‘the good place’ due to her good behaviour whilst she was on earth, however there has been a mix up and she quickly realises that she has in fact taken somebody else's place in ‘the good place’ and that she belongs in ‘the bad place’, she then decides to pretend to be good to avoid being sent to ‘the bad place’. This of course, proves tricky as it’s second nature for her to be bad. There’s not much more I can talk about without giving too much away. To those of you who haven’t yet watched the second series, I’d advise that you do, as the plot thickens and develops lots of surprising twists and turns. I am very excited to see what season 3 has to offer (I've watched one episode so far - as it was just released on Friday). 

Riverdale

I know quite a few people who can’t get into Riverdale and who don’t enjoy it. I however, love it. When I first watched series 1 I wasn’t the biggest fan, I found it a little bit weird and difficult to get into. All of the residents of Riverdale seemed very strange, most of them had ginger hair which felt very unrealistic and the show seemed to have a mixture of different tones, like it didn’t know what genre it wanted to be. To put it simply my first impressions of the show was that is was very odd and I couldn’t quite figure out if I liked it or not. I obviously liked it enough to carry on watching and probably by the middle of the first series I was hooked. I love a good edgy ‘teen drama’ where you can properly invest into each character and get to know who they are. There are too many films in particular these days that jump straight into the action without setting up the characters and individual storylines first, I’ll very rarely enjoy a film or TV show if it doesn’t give me the opportunity to connect or relate to any of the characters. Riverdale is very good at setting up its characters and giving them all individual personalities that the audience can grow to love.

In my opinion Riverdale season 2 is much better than the first series, I feel very invested in the storyline and I can not wait for season 3 that’s coming out in October. My favourite characters are Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) and Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), I can't get enough of their storylines individually and as a couple, I’m always wondering what will happen next and being kept on the edge of my seat as to what is happening with the characters around them too.

If you don’t already know, Riverdale follows a group of teenagers who live in a small town that soon becomes riddled with multiple murders and crippling lies that affect everyone living there. It has some very dark themes and a very gripping plot. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, so I’ll just say, it’s worth a watch, especially when you get to season 2.

13 Reasons Why

By this point I don’t know anyone who hasn’t seen 13 Reasons Why, there is probably no point in me explaining the plot because even if you haven’t seen it, you probably know what it’s about. I’ll briefly explain it anyway just in case anyone's been living on a different planet for the past 2 years. It’s about a young girl called Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) who commits suicide and leaves 13 tapes explaining the 13 reasons why she did it. It follows the journey of her friend Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) as he discovers her reasons and is left to deal with the disruptive and emotional aftermath they cause. The show can feature some very dark scenes which aren’t suitable for anyone who is easily triggered by suicide or emotional and sometimes physical abuse. I loved 13 Reasons Why because it was engaging all the way through, there was never a dull moment and it dealt with current and widely unspoken issues we should be hearing and talking about more in real life. It is genuinely a brilliantly emotional show that had me on the edge of my seat for the entire 2 seasons. At the end of each episode I not only wanted to know what happened next, but I desperately needed to know the outcome.

Ozark

Ozark season 1 was released in 2017 and I’m not going to sit hear and tell you that I watched it on a whim or that I watched it because the plot sounded incredible. I originally started watching Ozark because Jason Batman plays the lead character. He is one of my favourite actors and I wanted to watch Ozark because at a glance he appeared to have a substantial role. I very quickly learnt that despite Jason Bateman’s appearance in the show that it is a seriously good and gripping drama that I very quickly became invested in. My boyfriend and I binge watched the whole of the first series and it was no different when series 2 was released last month. Ozark is one of my favourite shows on this list that I couldn’t recommend enough, it has so much depth and grit and is incredibly shocking at times. It has just enough suspense and mystery to keep you watching episode after episode (it did for me anyway). To give you a quick synopsis, Ozark is about Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), a family man who must relocate his family to the Missouri Ozarks to successfully launder money for the drug cartel, it follows their journey as they learn how to be become criminals to keep their family safe. If you’re into crime dramas with a twist or you’re into thrillers, you need to watch this, it's so good and I wish there was more so I could snuggle up and continue to binge watch it right now.

Atypical

Besides Friends, Atypical is the most recent thing I’ve watched on Netflix. Season 2 just came out a few weeks ago and now that I’ve watched them all, I wish each series had more episodes. There’s only 10 episodes in a series so if you’re someone who works a lot or has a short attention span it’s probably the perfect show for you to sink your teeth into. Unlike the last 3 shows on this list, this is more similar to The Good Place or Santa Clarita Diet in terms of style. It’s a light-hearted comedy about a young man with Autism, It follows Sam’s (Keir Gilchrist) journey as his navigates his way through high school and his journey to finding a girlfriend and his independence.

Sierra Burgess is a Loser

This is the only film on my list, I’m not quite sure how it worked out like that because I’ve watched a ton of films on Netflix this year, it’s just that a lot of them are films I’ve seen before (some of my favourites, like the recently added Bridget Jone’s Baby or Just Go With It). Having said that, Netflix are producing some amazing Netflix Original films that I and the rest of the female population have fallen in love with. The Kissing Booth, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Sierra Burgess Is a Loser are to name a few. All three of these are amazingly funny, charming and down to earth teenage rom-coms that are undeniably relatable in some way or another. Sierra Burgess is a Loser is the most recent release within this category/genre and in my opinion the best of a very good bunch.

When the ‘bully’ at school gives out Sierra’s phone number to a boy as a cruel joke, she quickly falls for him, the only problem is that he thinks she’s someone else. The film follows the story of Sierra as she goes to all lengths to maintain her faceless online relationship by be-friending her ‘bully’ to act as her when she and the boy she loves talk on FaceTime or meet in person. As you can guess, this doesn’t go as smoothly as she hopes. If you’ve not seen this film yet I’d highly recommend it, although it is a light-hearted comedy, it has a very relatable and warm story which enhances the viewing experience.

Good Girls

The last TV show on this list is Good Girls, a comedy about 3 run down, drained and financially unstable mums who decide to rob a grocery store to better their families lives. Things don’t go as planned and they get caught, not by the police but by a criminal gang that own a money laundering business who were storing their money in the supermarket safe. They end up spending a lot of the money straight away and aren’t in a position where they can return every penny they stole, so they end up working with the gang to clean large sums of money in order to re-pay their debts and avoid getting killed.

Good Girls is was one of those programmes I just happened to click on because I was bored and didn't have anything to do (I'm sure you know what I'm talking about here – we've all been there). It turned out to be one of the best things I've watched all year, having gone into it having never heard anything about it before, I was shocked at how quickly I became hooked, I ended up watching the entirety of the first season in a matter of days. I've got my fingers crossed that a second season is released soon.

So there you have it, that's a complete list of my Netflix Recommendations for 2018, you may have noticed that this list is mainly TV shows and as I briefly mentioned earlier, this is because Netflix seem to be on a roll when it comes to creating some seriously amazing and original TV show content.

I love Netflix because it has created and introduced me to film and TV shows I otherwise wouldn't have access to. It's evident from this list alone that I've been watching a vast variety of styles and genres of programmes. Programmes that I love and some that wouldn't even exist without Netflix. I'm sure 90% of you, if not more have already seen most of these but if nothing on my list took your fancy or you've seen them all already I'd also highly recommend, Stranger Things, Queer Eye, Making a Murderer, Nailed It and Jack Whitehall: Travels with my Father.

I hope you've enjoyed this list and that I've given you a little bit of inspiration for what to watch next time you're scrolling through Netflix. Let me know in the comments if I've introduced you to anything new and let me know if you have any recommendations for me.