Published Jun 3, 2026, 8:06 PM EDT
Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it’s a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she’s not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV.
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The mark of a good show is its ability to keep you invested enough to want to see it through to the end. I usually like to give a show two-to-three episodes before I make a final judgment call on whether or not it’s worth continuing to watch. But on rare occasions, I don’t need that long: a crime drama, especially, can hook you in its first 10 minutes. When this happens, you can be confident that the show will be a masterpiece.
There are a few shows that fall into this category, instantly enticing fans to want to know more about this story and character. Some of the scenes are perfect setups for the stories to come, some interesting flashbacks or flash forwards to pique curiosity about how it gets to that point. But every last one is brilliant.
“Tonight’s the night.” These iconic words are the first we hear as Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) drives through the streets of Miami in Dexter, describing his compulsion, his Dark Passenger, as he hunts a crooked pastor. It sets up his entire procedure. We see Dexter stalk his prey while explaining who he is and what he has done through inner monologue narration. He gets the man on his signature plastic-wrapped table and scolds him for the wrongs he has done. We watch as Dexter completes the ritual by dumping the dismembered body parts into the ocean and adding the blood slide to his collection.
This is wonderfully juxtaposed by Dexter’s later inner monologue introducing the other side of who he is in a much lighter voice, the one he puts on for others in this fantastic detective show with great acting. His faked smile, his casual conversation with others, his explanation of his backstory, and the appearance of Harry (James Remar) in a flashback, beautifully paints a picture of who this mysterious character is. It’s impossible not to want to know more.
Young FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) in The Night Agent is on a train when all seems well. He even gets up to give his seat to a mother carrying groceries with her young daughter. But when he notices a suspicious man in a black hoodie sliding a backpack under a seat, he knows something is wrong. He finds a bomb inside and calmly pulls the brakes, then orders everyone to get off immediately.
The scene is one of the best openings of a TV show of late and explains why The Night Agent went on to be one of Netflix’s most-watched scripted shows, a crime thriller show that’s perfect from start to finish. Once Peter has saved countless lives, including that mom and child, he spots the man in the crowd and a chase and physical fight ensues. These 10 minutes perfectly demonstrate who Peter is, what he stands for, and how high action this show is about to be.
The opening scene in Breaking Bad depicts the beautiful scenery of Albuquerque, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) frantically driving an RV through the desert in his underwear while wearing a gas mask. It crashes, and he’s visibly concerned and terrified, especially when he hears sirens. With bodies in the back, a young man hunched over in the front seat, he’s in a desperate pickle. Walter grabs a video camera and addresses his family in a shaky video, admitting to things they will come to learn about him that might disturb them.
As he stands in the middle of the road in a green button-down shirt and his underwear, holding out a gun, you know something major is about to happen. The scene flips to Walter’s seemingly boring and average home life, followed by his time in the classroom teaching bored high school chemistry students. It’s a wonderful teaser to make you itch to find out how this man came to be and where we learn he ends up.
Those familiar with the Alex Cross novel series written by James Patterson and the titular character have an idea of what it’s about. But previous portrayals of the character in movies by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry are a far cry from Aldis Hodge in Cross, who captures the essence of Cross like no other. It’s in the opening scene of this series that really drives that home. In the first minutes, we get the set-up of why he’s in the mental place he’s in, showing the tragic murder of his wife a year earlier. But it’s what comes after that really draws you in.
While we know Cross is a homicide detective, he’s also a forensic psychologist, and this is the aspect about him that is most intriguing, and that is leaned into right from the jump. We see Cross interrogating a suspect in a dark room, a clearly racist man accused of killing his pregnant wife. Cross’ presence is both calming, menacing, and even slightly uncomfortable. But in just a few minutes, he shows why he’s so sought after, getting the man to crack by craftily getting into his head. The scene is so fascinating, there’s no way not to continue.
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
One of the HBO shows I knew would be masterpieces after the first 10 minutes, True Detective begins with a dark night scene as a man carries a body into the forest. There’s a fire, and you instantly know this is going to be a case that’s central to the plot. The scene flips to officer Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) in present day talking about his former partner and that cold case, then to Rusty Cohle (Matthew McConaughey), whose life has seemingly taken some wrong turns since he was working with Marty decades prior. It’s heavily hinted that the case in question took its toll.
You immediately want to know what was so disturbing about this case beyond the obvious murder. Plus, what caused Rusty to become what appears to be a shell of his former self? When we see the two as younger cops investigating, it’s clear this journey started off much differently, and went on for some time. The set-up for what’s to come through the rest of the episodes is more than enough to convince anyone that this show is going to be incredible. It was and remains to be so with each passing season and new story.
Agent Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) arrives on the scene outside a dark building as police are trying to stop a crazed man from harming a victim he has kidnapped. While they are screaming demands, Holden takes a calmer approach. The idea that psychology is at the center of Mindhunter is made clear in this scene, and instantly has you hooked on finding out how this situation will go.
Later, as the scene flips to Holden in his kitchen, removing his shirt to wash it, when he notices blood on the cuff and sits staring into space, you know this show is going to include some deep, disturbing conversations. Seeing how Holden braces himself after tragedy and to head to work and hear about more awful things, is beautifully shot and acted. It will give you chills.
In Sneaky Pete, Marius (Giovanni Ribisi) is a career conman who uses information he gets from his naïve, chatterbox cellmate Pete (Ethan Embry) to assume the young man’s identity when he gets out. Marius visits Pete’s estranged extended family, who believe he’s the real person since they haven’t seen Pete since he was a child. This young man remembers and knows so much, so surely, this must be Pete. The first 10 minutes of the show help you understand why this unbelievable plot can be made believable.
You hear the real Pete talking about his childhood in such intricate detail, like he’s painting the perfect picture for Marius to study. Once you learn Marius is out in a few days, but that he owes money to a mob boss and can’t return to his hometown, it’s clear what’s about to happen. The turning point is when Marius looks over at Pete while they’re getting a shave and recognizes the ease at which he could pretend to be this man. Instead of rolling his eyes at Pete’s endless stories as he has been doing for three years, Marius starts opening up and asking questions. When he casually asks Pete, “Where is the farm?,” the moment sets up everything to come.
The Breaking Bad prequel series that turned out to be just as good as the original ties heavily to that show, providing a glimpse into what Saul Goodman’s (Bob Odenkirk) life was like before meeting Walter White. And ***Better Call Saul ***blends these universes immediately in its opening, showing Saul/Jimmy in a black and white scene working at a Cinnabon store in Omaha. Fans of Breaking Bad instantly recall that during a conversation in that series, Saul joked that his only option to stay safe when everything hit the fan would be to run away to Omaha and manage a Cinnabon. As suspected, he’s constantly looking over his shoulder, any big, burly male customer drawing suspicion, keeping him constantly on edge.
Knowing this is his actual future after the devastating end of Breaking Bad makes you want to know what led Saul to his position as a smarmy lawyer for criminals and low lives to begin with. When it flips back to the past, Saul psyching himself up for court while everyone is waiting for him in the room, you get a sense of familiarity with his charming storytelling. You’re happy to see the Saul you know and love. But this is Jimmy. And we are finally going to get to see who that version of the man is while already knowing what he becomes.
This Netflix crime show will hook you in the first two minutes; it doesn’t even need the entire 10. Ozark begins with a monologue by Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) about money and how it divides the haves and the have-nots. It becomes evident that he’s trying to justify something bad he has done, despite how it has negatively impacted his family. You want, no need, to know what he’s talking about.
Once the scene switches to Marty in his office talking to clients about their financial needs, you get a Walter White in Breaking Bad vibe. When his business partner arrives and starts talking up The Ozarks as a fantastic place to visit, your ears will perk up. As the scene switches to Marty having dinner at home with his family, you can tell that something is off, and whatever is about to happen is going to throw it off balance even more.
One of the best Canadian shows, Orphan Black is a joint production between Space in Canada and BBC America. The series stars Tatiana Maslany as numerous clones. But we first see her as Sarah Manning, a rebellious young single mother who comes across a woman with a striking resemblance to her in the subway station. When the woman jumps and is killed instantly, **Sarah takes it upon herself to steal Beth’s ID **and try to find out who this woman is. You can’t wait to find out, too.
The story eventually goes in a variety of directions involving what it means to be human and individual, and this scene tees that up beautifully. You see not only that Maslany is an incredibly gifted actor, but that she captivates the screen even when she doesn’t have any dialogue. You can’t help but wonder how this show will go once she is introduced as other characters. But it’s clear from the jump that the journey will be enthralling.
Science Fiction
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Space, BBC America
Ken Girotti, T.J. Scott, David Wellington, Grant Harvey, Helen Shaver, Aaron Morton, Brett Sullivan, Chris Grismer, Peter Stebbings
Sarah / Cosima / Alison / Helena / Rachel