5 Shows Like Straight to Hell: Netflix’s newest Japanese release (地獄に堕ちるわよ) is an ambition-fueled rise of a morally grey lead, who will go anything to overcome the obstacles in her life to get what she wants. The series dissects the cost of success and greed, bringing forth a thrilling watch that keeps viewers hooked. Thus, if you like shows that highlight the intoxicating mix of fame and manipulation and a rise-from-nothing arc, then these shows will surely keep you hooked.
5 Shows Like Straight to Hell
The Glory
This is a chilling revenge saga that follows school teacher Moon Dong-eun, a woman whose life revolves around revenge. Once incessantly bullied in school, she meticulously rebuilds her life to get back at those who once destroyed everything that she held dear.
Protagonist Dong-eun is patient, calculating and emotionally guarded, and it’s difficult to understand what she is thinking or what her next move is. The show is a compelling watch, which features a no-nonsense protagonist who prioritises intelligence over emotion. The series is a slow-burning, dark and unsettling watch that prioritises identity reconstruction and control, bringing forth a story that stays with you long after the credits roll.
Extracurricular
In this underrated gem, a model student runs an illegal business to fund his future, but, as a consequence, pulls his classmates with him into a world of crime.
The series highlights how success is often hidden and, for some, a morally questionable road to making money is worth all the consequences that they face. It’s a show that is full of tension, highlighting Ji-su’s double life and its parallels. With its commentary on youth, pressure and survival, it’s an extremely realistic show putting forth student life and struggles. It’s also extremely fast-paced, rushing from small choices that lead to massive consequences, leaving viewers completely shocked.
Inventing Anna
A drama inspired by a true story, this Netflix series delves into the life and crimes of Anna Delvey, who cons New York’s elite for her own gains. A journalist with a lot to prove investigates her life, exposing the dark secrets underneath.
In both these shows, an ambitious woman takes a path of manipulation and crime to achieve her dreams and blurs the lines of morality, making for a very interesting character study. They create influence through illusion and, with the media’s help, are able to amplify that illusion to a greater extent. Inventing Anna is a sharp critique of wealth, status and perception and is told with the help of an addictive, fast-paced storytelling. It’s glossy, chaotic and cynical, perfect for a quick binge.
Juvenile Justice
Taking a detour into the justice system, this Netflix drama follows Judge Shim Eun-seok, whose harsh stance on juvenile offenders makes viewers question her standing in society. While viewers expect empathy, Eun-seok is no-nonsense and doesn’t know how to cut slack to anyone. With complex cases and morally ambiguous situations, the drama challenges viewers’ notions of justice and whether absolute right exists in today’s world.
The series echoes Straight to Hell‘s moral ambiguity, presenting a protagonist whose choices defy societal norms and expectations, prompting us to question our expectations and everything that we know. Eun-seok operates in a morally grey space, where it’s difficult for audiences to determine who she is and where her empathy and loyalties lie.
Forcing us to question justice and society, the series leaves us on edge constantly, and the case-driven storytelling adds emotional depth. The social commentary is also relevant and leaves us seeing society and justice in a different light.
The Dropout
Based on the true story of Elizabeth Holmes, this series follows Holmes’s meteoric rise in Silicon Valley and the dark truth and deception behind her disgraced biotechnology company Theranos. Based on the ABC podcast of the same name, the series brings forth her motivations for deception, starting from her youth and the choices that she made along the way that destroyed her reputation and company.
Holmes’s story of building an empire on belief and illusion will hit close to home for many viewers of Straight to Hell, featuring a charismatic, headstrong protagonist who will stop at nothing to achieve her dreams, even if it means destroying others in her path. The series dives deep into how ambition turns into delusion, and into a complex female anti-hero driven by a perception that overrides reality.
Which of these dramas are you excited to watch next? Let us know in the comments below!
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