Squid Game: The Challenge is a smash hit on Netflix – but there’s a different gripping debut show you mustn’t miss
There was never any doubt over what show would top Netflix’s English-speaking charts this week. But A Nearly Normal Family is the real televisual treat
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
In news that won’t surprise you in the slightest,Squid Game’s reality show spin-offis at the top of Netflix’s charts for English-language shows. But something considerably less frantic and more cerebral thanSquid Game: The Challengeis topping its non-English charts, and that’sA Nearly Normal Family. It may not be as action-packed as the Squiddy spin-off, and it definitely doesn’t have as many characters. But you may find it more compelling –we were certainly intrigued by its twisty trailer.
The show has just debuted so there are very few reviews so far, but it’s currently sitting with a very respectable 86% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And the reviews that have been published are all pretty good.
What is A Nearly Normal Family about?
Based on the best-selling book of the same name,A Nearly Normal Familyfollows an apparently ordinary Swedish family whose lives are changed by a terrible event. Four years after the event, their teenage daughter is accused of murder.A Nearly Normal Familyshows what happens next.
The show doesn’t just stick to one point of view. Instead, it has three: the mother, the father and the daughter. The show constantly switches perspectives but not timelines, so you’ll see the same scenes told from the three different perspectives, but in such a way that they overlap to give you the bigger picture. And that picture is not as simple as it might seem, or as the family might hope.
The show asks each viewer a simple but huge question: how far would you go to protect the people you love?
PureWowsaysit’s “a gripping, edge-of-your-seat tale that will have you itching to watch more” while Decider gives it an all-capsSTREAM IT: while the pace is a little slow, “we appreciate the storytelling structure… which should reduce the chances of eye-rolling plot points and red herrings”. Readysteadycutsaysit’s “workmanlike” but a decent enough way to spend a few hours, and Heaven Of Horrorlovedthe “powerful portrayals” by the actors. “I was hooked from the start,” Karina Adelgaard says.
A Nearly Normal Familyis streaming now on Netflix –you can watch it here.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
You might also like
Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.
Arcane season 2 was reportedly going to run for five seasons, so why is my all-time favorite Netflix show ending after two?
Scavengers Reign co-creator says the hit Netflix show with 100% Rotten Tomatoes has been canceled and fans are heartbroken
Google Pixel Watch 2 plunges back down to lowest-ever price ahead of Black Friday
