8 Shows Like You Fans Love to Watch
If you’re delighted and captured by your morbidly curious side, here are eight shows that will deepen that part of you and fill your need for psychological tension, secrets, crime, and characters you can’t figure out. This list encompasses psychological thrillers, crime dramas, horror, and mystery shows.
8 Shows Like YOU
1. Dexter
Dexter is a great choice for fans of You’s dark psychological side. This crime drama follows Dexter Morgan, a blood-spatter analyst and vigilante serial killer, and aired from 2006 to 2013.
Dexter is morally ambiguous like Joe, but instead of Debsum, his foster father, Harry, taught him a code about who deserves to be punished. Like Joe, Dexter also struggles to keep his true self a secret while trying to maintain a normal life.
This show is fantastic because it raises questions about morals and what true justice is, while also considering a person’s true identity versus their false persona. Dexter has to keep his double life a secret while also maintaining his normal life and responsibilities.
This show is fantastic because it raises questions about morals and what true justice is while also considering a person’s true identity versus their false persona. Each season features a new, even more threatening, bad guy who puts Dexter’s normal life in danger. His relationship with his sister Deb adds even more emotion to the show.
Like You, Dexter keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. The intertwining plots of dangerous secrets and morally grey characters result in binge-worthy TV.
2. Castle Rock
If you’re in the market for some psychological suspense with a touch of the supernatural, then Castle Rock is the series for you. Premiering in 2018, the series draws on the work of Stephen King.
The series is set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, which appears in several of King’s works. Each season focuses on new characters and storylines, but always ties back to the town and its troubling past.
What makes this series so enjoyable is the incorporation of psychological horror, mystery, and the supernatural. In doing so, the stories create an unsettling backdrop as they slowly uncover Castle Rock’s secrets.
The cast adds so much to the series as well. André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, and Bill Skarsgård bring to life some of the more complex characters of the series.
The series takes on a supernatural aesthetic through strong production design, costumes, cinematography, and great music. If you’re a fan of the mysteriously unsettling side of You, then Castle Rock will draw you in with its supernatural tension.
3. Killing Eve
This series focuses on the intersection of the lives of two women, Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Eve is an intelligence officer who becomes obsessed with tracking down Villanelle, a psychopathic assassin.
The series is unique in that it blends multiple genres, including crime, drama, espionage, and dark comedy. The story keeps the audience on the edge of their seats with quick shifts from serious, suspenseful scenes to dark, humorous ones.
Sandra Oh’s performance as Eve is superb, as her professional and personal lives overlap and she becomes obsessed with Villanelle. Jodie Comer’s performance as Villanelle creates an interesting juxtaposition of charm and a distressing nature.
Since its release in 2018, Killing Eve has won multiple awards and earned many more nominations. Its unconventional storylines and central relationship have given the show a dedicated following.
Your psychological obsession has (Eve and Villanelle) a similar relationship that many have found appealing.
4. The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House is a supernatural horror series that was released on Netflix in 2018. It adapts Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel of the same name and follows the Crain family as they encounter the mysterious Hill House.
Using two timelines, Mike Flanagan’s series tells Hill House’s haunting story unconventionally. One timeline follows the Crain family as they reside in Hill House, and the other follows the family in the years that follow. The two timelines gradually merge as the house’s secrets are revealed, along with the Crain family’s past.
Carla Gugino, Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Victoria Pedretti deliver strong performances that give the family story emotional depth and resonance as they navigate the supernatural events of Hill House.
This series goes beyond standard jump scares. It explores themes of grief, trauma, and family relationships. It shows the impact of tragedy and painful experiences. The series leaves a mark with its poignant visuals and captivating interpretation of space and time.
You and The Haunting of Hill House may have different tones and styles, but if you enjoy psychological thrillers with hidden secrets, you will likely enjoy both of them.
5. Mindhunter
Mindhunter focuses on the psychological aspects of crime. In the late 1970s, the FBI’s Thomas Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) and Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) interrogate criminals better to understand the thoughts and actions of serial killers.
To support their efforts and develop a new approach to criminal science, the agents incorporate the behaviors and motivations of the criminals they interrogate.
By focusing on the psychological aspects of violent crime, Mindhunter becomes a unique crime drama. The FBI agents’ conversations with criminals are often uncomfortable, as they try to empathize with people who are typically outside the realm of most ordinary people.
Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany give strong performances as the two agents, while Anna Torv adds another important perspective as Wendy Carr.
The show’s attention to the late-1970s setting also helps create its distinctive atmosphere. The costumes, locations, dialogue, and production design reinforce the period in which the story takes place.
Mindhunter may move at a slower pace than You, but if you are a You fan with a psychological criminal framing, you will enjoy Mindhunter as well.
6. Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars (PLL) is a teen drama with elements of mystery, secret-keeping, romance, and suspense. It adapts the book series by Sara Shepard and spans seven seasons (2010-2017) on ABC Family (now Freeform).
After the girls’ friend, Alison, goes missing, the main characters, Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, begin to receive messages from a person known as ‘A’.
‘A’ is a tormentor and a blackmailer who knows the girls’ secrets and will do anything to exploit them. The girls must uncover the secrets beneath the other secrets people around them are keeping.
The main mystery of who ‘A’ is serves as the overarching plot device that keeps the series moving. Each episode leaves the viewer with more questions and continues the last, creating a compelling need to keep watching.
The series touches on various personal topics including bullying, body image, and mental health. The series’ mystery keeps the audience on the edge of their seats while giving the characters depth.
Like You, Pretty Little Liars uses manipulation and hidden identities with a healthy dose of secrets and twists. If you like shows where the main draw is figuring out who is behind the threats, this series is for you.
7. The Fall
The Fall is a psychological crime drama set in Northern Ireland. It focuses on Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) as she tracks down a serial killer, Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan).
Allan Cubitt created the series in 2013, and it consists of 3 seasons. Unlike other shows that leave the killer a mystery, the show focuses on Gibson and Spector.
Stella Gibson is calm and intelligent, and Gillian Anderson plays her beautifully as she sets out to understand and apprehend the killer. Paul Spector, on the other hand, is a dark, psychotic character, superbly played by Jamie Dornan, who is known for romantic leads in other films.
The show thrives on the contrasting personalities of the detective and the psychopath, and the Battle of Wits that slowly unfolds as a result.
The Fall covers a multitude of other topics, including the social justice of how women are treated, power, and sexism, all of which are embodied in the crime narratives.
This show is a must-watch for fans of You, as it covers a similar theme of a psychopathic killer and delves into the battle of Wits between a killer and the detective who is chasing him.
8. Dirty John
Dirty John is a true crime drama based on the podcast of the same name. It sheds light on the dangers of emerging revelations in criminal and social psychology, as well as manipulation and deception in modern-day relationships.
This series follows Debra Newell, a successful interior designer who discards her better judgment when she falls in love with a charming yet dangerous man named John Meehan.
Debra learns the truth about John. His relationship manipulation and assaults on women are devastating to discover.
Connie Britton portrays Debra Newell and Eric Bana portrays John Meehan. The two actors deliver performances that intensify the web of lies Debra walks into.
The show is a study of the risks of trusting others and the consequences of engaging with people who may be deceitful. Since the show is based on real events, the developments that shock and disgust ultimately deliver a sense of unease that is almost palpable.
If you appreciated the manipulation and messy relationships in You, Dirty John is a must. It centers around a person who is rather normal and deceitful, like an everyday Joe.
Conclusion
You finished your binge session of manipulative and messy relationships? Check out these 8 shows!
For some crime and psychological thrillers, try Dexter, Mindhunter, or Killing Eve. For some psychological horror and supernatural thrillers, try The Haunting of Hill House or Castle Rock. For some mysterious and secretive thrillers, try Pretty Little Liars, The Fall, or Dirty John.
They are all binge-worthy!
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