The Sleeper Hits You Missed This Week

Netflix dropped "The Octopus Murders" this Tuesday, and the true crime crowd devoured it by Wednesday. Fair enough. The documentary delivers on conspiracy theories and archival footage. But while you scrolled past thumbnails looking for your next binge, three better options landed with zero fanfare.

"Ripley" hit Netflix last week after a quiet theatrical run in select cities. Andrew Scott plays Patricia Highsmith's con artist in stark black-and-white, and director Steven Zaillian stretches each scene until the tension cracks. No quippy dialogue. No needle drops. The camera lingers on Scott's face while he decides whether to kill someone, and you watch every micro-expression. Eight episodes feel like a slow-motion panic attack. If you loved "Slow Horses" for its patient pacing, start this tonight.

Over on Apple TV+, "Sugar" stars Colin Farrell as a Los Angeles private detective who takes increasingly weird cases. The first episode plays straight noir. Fedoras, jazz clubs, a missing person. Then episode three tilts sideways into something stranger, and I won't spoil the pivot. Critics buried this show under think pieces about "genre deconstruction," which made it sound like homework. It's not. Farrell plays the role with wounded charm, and the plot moves fast enough to finish the season in two sittings.

The real gem hides on Max. "Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show" films the comedian's life for eight weeks while he searches for love, confronts his family, and spirals through therapy sessions. Carmichael produces and directs, so he controls when the cameras roll and what footage makes the cut. The result feels raw without performing rawness. He goes on bad dates. He fights with his boyfriend. He sits in silence. Episode five shows him arguing with his mother about religion for twenty uninterrupted minutes, and neither of them blinks. If you skip this because you don't know Carmichael's stand-up, you miss the best thing on television right now.

None of these shows topped the streaming charts this week. They won't spawn Halloween costumes or Reddit threads. But they reward attention in ways the algorithm favorites don't. Pour a drink, turn off your phone, and watch something that trusts you to keep up.