These 4 Prime Video thrillers are dangerously easy to binge
These 4 Prime Video thrillers are dangerously easy to binge
These shows mix con men, CIA conspiracies, secret programs, and one very large former military investigator.
Prime Video has taken a few swings in the thriller space in the last few years, mostly focusing on crime/spy action and adventure stories vs. psychological thrillers (though there are a few great ones, including “The Girlfriend”). This list is mostly made up of the former, and there are some pretty famous shows on my list. Some are wrapped up, while others are still going, but in both cases there are multiple seasons to get into and enough episodes to make a binge worthwhile. So, here are the best thrillers to binge on Prime Video right now.
Best binge-worthy thriller shows streaming on Prime Video
Best con-man binge: ‘Sneaky Pete’
I knew exactly one thing about actor Giovanni Ribisi before watching him in “Sneaky Pete” — that his performance as Phoebe Buffay’s half-brother in “Friends” is legendary. But once you’re done with this show, he’ll be “Pete” from now on. That’s how good this fusion of con-man, dark comedy, crime thriller, and family drama really is. Giovanni Ribisi plays Marius Josipović, a career con man who gets out of prison with a serious problem waiting for him. Instead of returning to his old life, he steals the identity of his former cellmate, Pete, whose family hasn’t seen the real Pete in years.
So right from the start, there’s the tension of waiting and watching to see if Pete’s new “family” will find him out. That’s the binge engine. And it’s super entertaining watching Pete squirm, lie, improvise, and keep afloat while he works in the new family business: bail bonds. An industry that just so happens to put him into regular contact with criminals and cops alike. But the real pressure comes from the family, where Margo Martindale plays Audrey Bernhardt, Pete’s very suspicious grandmother. And as his lies keep multiplying, his house of cards always teeters on the edge of collapse. I never got tired of watching Ribisi weasel his way out… and he IS a weasel, perfectly built for this role as he thinks on his feet and keeps his many ruses alive… until it falls. Eventually, and waiting for that moment is what will keep you binging this show until the very end.
Sneaky Pete
A con man on the run from a vicious gangster takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of his prison cellmate, Pete, “reuniting” with Pete’s estranged family, a colorful, dysfunctional group that threatens to drag him into a world just as dangerous as the one he’s trying to escape - and, just maybe, give him a taste of the loving family he’s never had.
Best coming-of-age binge: ‘Hanna’
A great thriller doesn’t have to have a complicated premise to work. “Hanna” has a pretty simple one: who is Hanna? On the surface, Esme Creed-Miles’ character looks like a girl raised in isolation in the wilderness by Joel Kinnaman’s character (Erik Heller) to be trained in combat and survival skills. That is until Marissa Wiegler, played by Mireille Enos, shows up as an intelligence operative and makes Hanna question everything she thinks she knows about who she is and why she’s been trained.
From there, you get a pretty awesome chase around Europe, with alliances, conspiracies, changing identities, and action set pieces to keep your heart rate elevated. But what makes this show different is really the coming-of-age story at the center. Hanna wants to know who she is and where she comes from. And watching her relationship with Wiegler evolve over the course of the series (especially the second season) is a big part of that. So if you’re looking for a thriller that’s a little different and maybe a little deeper, “Hanna” is your first stop.
Hanna
Follow the journey of an extraordinary young girl as she evades the relentless pursuit of an off-book CIA agent and tries to unearth the truth behind who she is.
Best high-stakes binge: ‘Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan’
If the stakes of the previous two recommendations just weren’t high enough for you, let me introduce you to “Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan.” John Krasinski (yes, believe it) plays a former Marine who now works as a CIA analyst. The basic idea is that he likes using his head more than his fists, but constantly gets pulled into crazy high-stakes missions involving something along the lines of nuclear weapons, terrorism, coups, and covert operations. Basically, he’s forced to use his fists in the situations his head gets him into.
As a binge, each of the four seasons (and one movie) has its own ticking-clock story. And of course, with a show like this, you’ll get all the cool international locations you want — the Middle East, South America, Europe and more. And it’s got a pretty clean escalation: Jack sees a pattern, his theory sounds crazy, his boss, James Greer (played by Wendell Pierce) slowly believes him, the threat gets bigger and bigger while they have less and less time to stop it. If that sounds like your kind of recipe, then dinner is served (with a side of explosion).
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan
When CIA analyst Jack Ryan stumbles upon a suspicious series of bank transfers his search for answers pulls him from the safety of his desk job and catapults him into a deadly game of cat and mouse throughout Europe and the Middle East, with a rising terrorist figurehead preparing for a massive attack against the US and her allies.
Best lone-wolf binge: ‘Reacher’
Alan Ritchson is kind of absurd in “Reacher” — in a good way. He plays Jack Reacher, a former Army military police investigator, a current guy who owns basically nothing and wanders around the country somehow finding murder everywhere he goes. Bad luck? Great luck for Prime Video. And yes, he’s enormous, but Reacher’s brain is really the thing. He notices some tiny detail everyone else ignores, decides something feels off, starts poking around… and suddenly he’s uncovered corrupt cops, assassins, government secrets, whatever nightmare happens to be waiting in this particular town.
And that’s pretty much why I keep watching. Every season is a new mess. New mystery. New people lying to him who really, really should know better. Reacher pulls at one thread, then another; things get increasingly insane, and eventually somebody decides “you know what, I can probably take this seven-foot-looking man in a fight.” They cannot. But the show doesn’t make you wait forever either — clues actually lead somewhere, people get caught, Reacher figures stuff out, punches happen. Lots of punches. It’s a mystery show disguised as a giant man beating people up show… or maybe the other way around? Either way, extremely bingeable.
Reacher
Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator, has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served.
More binge-worthy thriller TV shows on Prime Video:
‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Meet the Smiths: two lonely strangers, John and Jane, who have given up their lives and identities to be thrown together as partners – both in espionage and in marriage.
‘Goliath’
Goliath
Once a powerful lawyer, Billy McBride is now burned out and washed up, spending more time in a bar than a courtroom. When he reluctantly agrees to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the biggest client of Cooperman & McBride, the massive law firm he helped create, Billy and his ragtag team uncover a vast and deadly conspiracy, pitting them all in a life or death trial against the ultimate Goliath.
‘Bosch’
Bosch
Harry Bosch, an LAPD homicide detective, stands trial for the fatal shooting of a serial murder suspect. A cold case involving the remains of a missing boy forces Bosch to confront his past. As daring recruit Julia Brasher catches his eye and departmental politics heat up, Bosch will pursue justice at all costs.
‘The Man in the High Castle’
The Man in the High Castle
Explore what it would be like if the Allied Powers had lost WWII, and Japan and Germany ruled the United States. Based on Philip K. Dick’s award-winning novel.