One of the best TV shows of the 2010s, The Fall should be on every crime thriller fan’s watchlist. Crime dramas are a staple for many people with their intense stories, nuanced characters, and mysteries that are engaging from start to finish. But with the number of crime thrillers now available to watch, both new and old, finding one that stands out is no easy feat.

The Fall boasts an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score from both critics and audiences, proving that it’s an underrated series that should have garnered more attention when it aired. With its incredibly talented cast and high-stakes game of cat and mouse, The Fall brings a beloved crime thriller storyline to life, with a suspenseful mystery that will have everyone watching hooked.

Gillian Anderson & Jamie Dornan Play A Game Of Cat And Mouse In The Fall

Anderson & Dornan’s Characters Are Evenly Matched Foes

Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) is invited to Belfast to review the unsolved case of a young woman, Alice Monroe (Gemma McCorry), who was brutally murdered by an unknown assailant. As she delves into Alice’s case, she begins to notice similarities to another murder of a professional woman who was also in her 30s. However, her boss asks her to treat the two murders as separate cases.

When Sarah Kay (Laura Donnelly), who also resembles the two dead young women, is killed, Superintendent Gibson is convinced that they were murdered by the same person. Meanwhile, the killer, Jamie Dornan’s Paul Spector, continues to look for his next victim, until one mistake puts him at the top of Superintendent Gibson’s suspect list.

From its first episode, The Fall reveals who the culprit behind the serial killings in Belfast is. While Gibson isn’t aware that Spector is the murderer, he knows who she is and works to ensure that she doesn’t catch him. What follows is a game of cat and mouse between the serial killer and the law enforcement officer, with one of them eventually winning.

The Fall is such an engrossing crime thriller because its primary protagonist and antagonist are well-matched and can outwit each other at every turn. Even when Spector knows that Superintendent Gibson is onto him, he keeps murdering women, resulting in an intense battle of wits between the two characters that’s incredibly enthralling to watch.

The Fall Is Consistently Good Across All Three Seasons

Every Season Of The Fall Is Filled With Suspense

Some crime thrillers begin to lose their quality or the factor that made them such a joy to watch after their first season. The Fall, however, is different because all three of its seasons are consistently good. This lies in the fact that the first two seasons end on cliffhangers, with the final installment of the crime drama tying up loose ends.

In The Fall season 1, Gibson is intent on finding Spector, but just as she identifies him, he flees the country, so she isn’t able to make him answer for his crimes. The second season of the psychological thriller sees Spector return to Belfast, thus continuing the mental battle between him and the police officer.

It’s in the final and last season of The Fall that everything comes to a head as Spector is arrested. While it’s easy to see how The Fall simply focusing on the serial killer and the superintendent for three seasons could be boring, the opposite is true for the crime drama.

There isn’t a dull moment in the series as the antagonist of the show becomes even more unhinged, and Superintendent Gibson doesn’t tire of trying to get justice for the victims. All three seasons of The Fall are beautifully written and are equally intense, making it the perfect crime thriller for fans of the genre.