Your TV guide for stress-inducing shows of 2023
In 2023, viewers and awarding bodies saw an uptick in stress-inducing tv shows on our small screens. Undoubtedly, these nerve-wracking series are easier to appreciate than to enjoy.
But what makes it attractive to viewers? Does it mean those seated for this kind of show are downright sadistic, given the mounting stressors of daily life?
For someone who finds joy in consuming the shows to be mentioned, the answer would be: characters with aching humanity straddled with tension-filled premises can be both entertaining and relatable. Those grappling with rejection and not to be crass – daddy issues find solace in Kendall’s character from Succession. Or 70-minute one-take series finale of ‘The Bear’ viscerally depicted the hostile environment in a professional kitchen. Nonetheless, the whip-smart writing and meticulously crafted flawed characters compel the audience to watch for more.
Here are five (5) shows of 2023 to binge that does what it does best: keep their audience at the edge of their seats.
Your TV guide for stress-inducing shows of 2023
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for shows: Barry, The Bear, Euphoria, Beef, and Succession.
Barry
IMDb | “Barry”
Bill Hader, a Saturday Night Live alum, co-created and stars in HBO’s popular series “Barry,” a dark comedy that juggles macabre combat scenes and absurdist gags. Hader, Henry Winkler, Anthony Carrigan, and Stephen Roots are among the comedians that took a dramatic pivot on the show.
At the heart of the series, Barry Berkman (Hader), ex-marine turned aspiring actor, attempts to cut ties with contract killing and immerse himself in his newfound career under the mentorship of acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Wrinkler). But his violent past would not let him get off easy.
Although the series has two rival cartels forging a bond at Dave & Bruster’s, Barry’s crippling remorse and murderous rampage are no laughing matter. The dream sequence where all his past victims gather near the ocean and Barry tries to act cordial to his long-time friend Chris, who he mercilessly killed, proves Hader’s nose for dark comedy.
Hader made “Barry” as comedic, action-filled, and melancholic – sometimes more than one of those at the same time. If Noho Hank (Carrigan) is not a goofy Chenchen mobster and has a one-sided friendship with Barry, he alternately orders the kill of whoever goes against his kingpin dreams. Tragically, even Cristobal Sifuentes (Michael Irby), former Bolivian mafia leader, his business and in-life partner, cannot escape his unflinching commitment to building his sand empire.
Barry was stress-inducing to watch, not much for the bloodshed but the emotional violence it carries.
The Bear
IMDb | “The Bear”
FX’s ‘The Bear’ ensues culinary chaos seasoned with familial trauma in the span of two critically acclaimed seasons. Created by Christopher Storer, Jeremy Allen White stars as decorated chef Carmy Berzatto returns to run a family-owned Chicago sandwich joint – The Original Beef of Chicagoland, after his brother’s suicide. Stricken by grief, Carmy teams up with a colorful set of characters in the kitchen, with the likes of ambitious chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), foul-mouthed Cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and baker Marcus (Lionel Boyce). Within months, all hell breaks loose as he endures exploding toilets, burgeoning debt, grief, and hazing from his co-workers.
The half-hour series also hits home for many restaurant industry professionals as they relive their past horrors in the field. Some find it ‘triggering’ and cannot stomach to continue watching due to themes of verbal abuse, sheer exhaustion, and kitchen-related night-time terrors that are viscerally spot on. To top off the dark humor of the “comedy series,” Storer employs fast cuts and fast-paced scenes that keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
In its sophomore season, the Bear masterfully crafts another stress-inducing episode following the revered first season finale. The star-studded episode “Fishes” serves as a climactic flashback of the Berzatto clan’s nauseous Christmas dinner and last holiday with their late family member Mikey.
Euphoria
IMDb | “Euphoria” Late actor Angus Cloud as Fezco.
Sister series of Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) and Sam Levinson’s “The Idol” joint, HBO’s hit show ‘Euphoria’ regrettably oil the early test of Levinson’s obsession with “torture porn,” according to Rolling Stone Magazine. But unlike the widely scorned series, the turbulent teen drama had some saving graces.
Glossing over the mounting controversies, the Emmy-winning series earns its flowers with the forthright depiction of drug addiction and the excruciating recovery through the lens of bereft teenager Rue (Zendaya). “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” rally to be the best – and most emotionally taxing episode of the series. Rue, in her intervention, angrily lets out the most vicious and deeply cutting insult to her family members, Elliot (Dominic Fike) and girlfriend Jules (Hunter Schafer). In her 24-hour stress-inducing escapade, Rue finds herself locked in the apartment and has to escape quickly as she was insinuated to be sold for prostitution to pay off her debt from losing the $10,000 worth of drugs placed in the suitcase from the eerie dealer Laurie.
As a normal person instinctively asks: “Where are their parents?” Well, they are busy with their own dark and twisted arc. Cal (Eric Dane), the strict patriarch of the Jacobs clan, fears for his life when the footage of his sexual encounter filmed without consent with underage and new-girl-in-town Jules is stolen by his conniving and deranged son. He turns out to live a double life, where he sneaks at night for sexual rendezvous with young men and transwomen.
Beef
IMDb | “Beef”
Netflix’s road-range thriller ‘Beef’ had lead actors Steven Yeun and Ali Wong break into hives on post-production of the emotionally laborious shoot of the series. Certainly, the audience will likely face the same ordeal for the whiplash of emotions translated to the screen.
Created by Lee Sung Jin, the series follows strangers, sad-sack failed contractor Danny (Yeun) and aspiring mogul of Calabasas Amy (Wong), who butt heads over a petty road-range encounter that sharply escalates from trivial pranks to heinous crimes and a web of manipulation. In short, they chose violence, literally.
It’s hard to pick which episode resonates with the aftermath of their drawn-out ‘beef,’ but the penultimate episode, “The Great Fabricator,” takes the cake. This time their rivalry not only affects them but drags those in their orbit. Troubling cousin Issac (David Cho) fires back at Danny by holding him and his brother Paul (Young Mazino) after framing him for the road range and robbery incident. Worse, Amy’s child, who he unwittingly took in his truck, is now kidnapped. Next to Wong’s character masturbating with a gun, her billionaire boss graphically crushed by the door is haunting.
It’s a shame Cho’s sexual assault allegation overshadowed the series’ success. But what’s more disappointing was the lackluster response of the show’s star producers (Yeun and Wong).
Succession
IMDb | “Succession”
Home of power suits, towering New York high-rises, and metaphor-cloaked insults, Jesse Armstrong’s ‘Succession’ recently bid its goodbye and crowned the final corporate king of Waystar Royco last May. Not only does it placate itself as one of the greatest television shows of all time, but the Emmy-winning series also joins the trend of shows this year being the most stress-inducing. Enough to take a geriatric man to drop – no foreshadowing intended.
For those still left out of references like “You Can’t Make a Tomelett Without Breaking Some Greggs,” the HBO series is an aching portrayal of the dysfunctional one-percent clan doused in power. Roy heirs, No.1 boy Kendall (Jeremy Strong), cutthroat Shiv (Sarah Snook), and battered middle child Roman (Keiran Culkin), try to outsmart each other for their birthright and dethrone their Murdoch-esque father Logan (Brian Cox) for the top billing job of Waystar’s CEO. Kendall, who falsely admits he’s the oldest son and falls off the wagon with drug addiction, goes to extreme lengths to give their dear dad the boot.
Estranged brother Ewan (James Cromwell), the grandfather of lanky Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), unveils a heartbreaking anecdote at Logan’s funeral and final “f*** off” that made his children see him in a new light. He carries the guilt that he caused the death of his sister Rose by bringing polio home from school. He is a product of his upbringing, similar to how his offspring are broken, deprived of love and validation.
Without spoiling too much, the last episodes center on the gamut of problems of the grief-stricken Roy siblings dealing with Shiv’s rocky marriage with Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and their fight against tech magnate Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) who dangled the carrot of being a CEO.
Honorable mentions of stress-inducing shows: Millie Bobby Brown-led Stranger Things,’ ‘Better Call Saul,’ Damson Idris crime drama ‘Snowfall,’ ‘White Lotus’ and ‘Severance.’
