Need a break from Christmas? Binge this thriller series on Netflix that ‘you can’t top’

If you’re oversaturated with festive cheer, forced merriment, and one too many Christmas films, Netflix has quietly dropped a perfect antidote: The Red Road.

The series is described as a dark, brooding American thriller that viewers insist is ‘impossible to top.’

Originally airing on SundanceTV between 2014 and 2015, The Red Road ran for just two seasons and 12 episodes – a fact that still enrages fans more than a decade later.

But that brevity only adds to its binge appeal, as it’s a pretty manageable commitment for those blurry days between Christmas and New Year.

Set in a fictional New Jersey town bordering New York, the series centres on police officer Harold Jensen, played with quiet desperation by Martin Henderson.

Harold is barely holding his life together: his wife Jean struggles with undiagnosed schizophrenia and alcoholism, his family is on the brink, and a buried secret threatens to implode everything.

The main character, Phillip Kopus, is portrayed by Jason Momoa in what many fans still call one of his finest performances.

Kopus is a member of the Ramapough Mountain people, a state-recognised Native American tribe living in the Ramapo Mountains. He’s magnetic, volatile, and morally unreadable — and the uneasy relationship between Kopus and Jensen forms the tense backbone of the show.

What elevates The Red Road beyond standard crime drama is its grounding in real-world injustice.

The story draws inspiration from the plight of the Ramapough Lenape Nation and the toxic dumping at the Ringwood Mines landfill, where industrial waste poisoned generations of residents.

Rotten Tomatoes user reviews make one thing clear: people didn’t just like this show — they loved it.

One viewer wrote that they were ‘thoroughly pissed to the max’ when season two ended with no closure, while another lamented that the series never got the space it deserved.

‘It wasn’t finished, and I miss it!’ they wrote, praising the writing, performances and emotional restraint.

Jason Momoa, they added, brought rare depth to Phillip Kopus, a character that ‘wouldn’t have been so layered’ in anyone else’s hands.

Another fan admitted they watched all 12 episodes in a single weekend, only to be furious when they discovered the show had been cancelled before a third season. ‘That was a big mistake,’ they wrote. ‘The fans deserve a proper ending.’

One reviewer didn’t bother with restraint at all: ‘You can’t top this. This is the most well-written, well thought-out, well produced… the best of everything is right here in this show.’

The cast only strengthens the show’s emotional pull. Julianne Nicholson delivers a raw, painful performance as Jean Jensen, while Tamara Tunie, Kiowa Gordon, Annalise Basso and Allie Gonino flesh out the world of the show.

Yes, The Red Road ends on a cliffhanger. Yes, you’ll probably be angry about it. But if you’re looking for something sharp, morally complex, and refreshingly un-Christmassy, this is exactly the binge you need right now.

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