The 12 Shows You Have to Pay Attention to Most

Part of the fun of this prequel spinoff is seeing all the ways it connects to its predecessor, Breaking Bad. Character reappearances, visual callbacks, moments of foreshadowing — this show made an omelet out of Easter eggs.

BoJack Horseman might strike you as a high-concept animated comedy — about an anthropomorphic horse trying to reclaim his faded fame — but it’s a surprisingly deep dive into into the human condition. And it’s chockablock with low-key humor.

What seemed like an X-Files imitator in its early episodes — an FBI team investigating paranormal events — evolved into a knotty story involving alternate universes and alternate timelines. Did we mention the cast members who took on dual roles?

Many cop dramas present crimes committed and solved in 42 minutes. Not True Detective. Its storylines span seasons, its characters go on philosophical soliloquies, and its plot developments are not always clear. (We’re still trying to sort out Season 2.)

Inconsequential viewing this isn’t. Aaron Sorkin and the other writers of this political drama packed so much dialogue into each episode that you can’t be walking around your house during characters’ walk-and-talks.

This period drama isn’t known for its action sequences — unless you count an unfortunate lawn mower accident. Instead, viewers have to hang on to every word and every closeup to understand the power dynamics and culture shifts at play.

Macrodata refinement may be mind-numbing, but watching this show is anything but. With under-the-radar visual clues and seemingly-portentous dialogue, Severance has fans joining in on the Innies’ workplace investigation.

The moment the Lost castaways encountered a polar bear on their tropical island, we knew we were in for a series-long mystery. Turns out, it was a mystery that had us scouring recaps, bulletin boards, and officially sanctioned scavenger hunts for clues.

You’d certainly be in the dark if you didn’t pay attention to this sci-fi thriller. In the world of Dark, an underground wormhole beneath a German town relates to the disappearances of missing locals, and the story unravels over several timeframes.

Wait, it’s the Lannisters who rule the Westerlands, and it’s House Greyjoy on the Iron Islands? With its sprawling cast and its intricate worldbuilding, we needed both a glossary and an atlas when we started this fantasy epic.

What do cavewomen, Gary Busey, ferry-boat orgies, chain-smoking cults, Wu-Tang Clan, afterlife assassins, and Perfect Strangers have to do with a global, population-culling apocalypse? That’s for viewers of this supernatural drama to discover.

That there’s a four-hour long Twin Peaks explainer on YouTube proves how layered and inscrutable this show can be. It’s a murder mystery that quickly takes a turn for the surreal, and it’s up to the viewer what elements are symbolic and what’s just weird for weirdness’ sake.