10 Crime TV Shows With Brilliant Plot Twists, Ranked

Image via AMC Published Sep 5, 2026, 9:02 AM EDT Ryan Heffernan is a Senior Writer at Collider. Storytelling has been one of his interests since an early age, with his appreciation for film and television becoming a particular interest of his during his teenage years. This passion saw Ryan graduate from the University of Canberra in 2020 with an Honours Degree in Film Production. In the years since, he has found freelance work as a videographer and editor in the Canberra region while also becoming entrenched in the city's film-making community. In addition to cinema and writing, Ryan's other major interest is sport, with him having a particular love for Australian Rules football, Formula 1, and cricket. He also has casual interests in reading, gaming, and history. Sign in to your Collider account Everybody loves a good plot twist, and crime television has proven itself at being adept at delivering some of the very best that the medium has ever seen. The genre’s ability to combine high-stakes tension with propulsive, energy-charged story pacing while exploring profoundly interesting characters in extraordinary depth imbues it with a penchant for delivering shocking revelations that completely recalibrate the narrative while leaving viewers in a state of shock. Ranging from murder mystery miniseries that end on soul-shattering twists to long-running descents into the criminal underworld that never stop shifting the narrative, each of these crime series offer a masterclass in how to execute a perfect plot twist. Some are viscerally disturbing; others present relentlessly exciting tales of life-and-death drama. All of them are must-see masterpieces of the genre. 10 'Prison Break' (2005–2009; 2017) Image via Fox Prison Break is a fascinating series to analyze. Its first season is a masterclass in taut tension and excellent thriller storytelling as it operates as a high-stakes heist tale in reverse of sorts. However, its premise proved to be difficult to sustain over a longer run, even when the series returned for a sixth season in 2017. However, there is no doubt that, while elements of the show do falter, it always has a talent for delivering a terrific twist. Following an engineer as he breaks into jail to help his falsely accused brother escape and avoid facing the death penalty, Prison Break excels at placing highly intelligent characters in pressurized situations where every little mistake has drastic consequences. From character decisions that alter the course of the story to major reveals that completely dismantle the audience’s perception of what they’re seeing, Prison Break’s brilliance is largely defined by its ability to implement twists that serve and further the narrative rather than just surprising the audience. 9 '24' (2001–2010) Image via 20th Century Fox Television Combining its unique real-time approach with a frenetic, action-packed premise, 24 is a hallmark of high-octane television intensity. It follows Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), an officer for L.A.’s counterterrorism unit, as he thwarts everything from assassination attempts on the U.S. President to the imminent threat of nuclear attack. Each season of 24 focuses on a different crisis, with each episode of the 24 episodes covering one hour of the day. At its best, 24 excels at delivering exhilarating plot twists en masse, be it the shocking reveal of a traitor among Bauer’s colleagues or a chilling discovery that some of the atrocities being investigated and prevented are actually being conducted by those in the U.S. government. Every success from Bauer and his team immediately unearths new depths to the conspiracy, ensuring 24 maintains a propulsive and absorbing energy through its chaotic, twisty storytelling. 8 'You' (2018–2025) Image via Netflix Addictive, taboo, and brimming with plot twists that left fans gobsmacked, You has become one of the defining small-screen thrillers of the past decade. As ceaselessly gripping as it is frightfully tumultuous, it centers on Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), a man whose charming and accessible demeanor conceals an intense obsession that sees him inject himself into the lives of women who allure him with deadly consequences. Its five-season run is a procession of jaw-dropping moments that range from revelations of characters being hallucinations, morbid twists that showcase innocent figures might not be so innocent, and even a shocking instance in which a thought-to-be-dead character turns out to be alive. While there is a definite reach for shock value in some of its narrative beats, You uses this endeavor wisely to conjure a series of absorbing unpredictability that revels in ideas of lust, love, and desire at their most horrific. 7 'Mare of Easttown' (2021) Image via HBO Released by HBO, Mare of Easttown marks one of the defining miniseries of the 2020s thus far. Imposing itself on viewers with its air of bleak despair and hopelessness that revels in the economic depression of modern working-class America, the series follows jaded detective Marianne Sheehan (Kate Winslet) as she investigates the recent murder of a teenage mother while navigating a litany of family issues including her son’s suicide and custody of his child, her own divorce, and the community disapproval of her skills tied to an unresolved missing persons case from a year prior. The seven-part series occupies an air of atmospheric gloom with sublime conviction and craft. It serves less as a thrilling crime mystery and more as a devastating human drama laced with twists that only add to the weight and severity of the story. Some are abrupt and shocking, like the murder of one of Mare’s fellow cops, while others are more subdued and disturbing, such as the revelation of the actual killer. All of them work to make Mare of Easttown an intriguing albeit confronting triumph of crime drama television. 6 'True Detective' (2014–Present) Image via HBO While the series is defined by the brilliance of its impeccable first season, True Detective as a whole has maintained a penchant for rewarding and surprising plot twists even as subsequent releases haven’t been as strong in other respects. Each of True Detective's seasons thus far has focused on horrific crimes and the complex personal lives of the detectives who investigate them, with each new lead bringing about a twist that leaves viewers stunned. Whether it’s Season 1’s reveal that the occult murderer they’re looking for is being protected by institutional powers, Season 2’s winding descent into urban corruption, or the uncovering of what truly happened to the Purcell kids in Season 3, True Detective is adept at building towards major twists with suspense and then unveiling them at the perfect time. At its best, it is the most compelling and shocking crime series television has seen. Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would BeYour Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back. 🎖️Rambo 🍸James Bond 🏺Indiana Jones 🔧John McClane 🎭Ethan Hunt FIND YOUR PARTNER → 01 You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you. ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged. NEXT QUESTION → 02 You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission. AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method. NEXT QUESTION → 03 You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of. ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive. ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead. NEXT QUESTION → 04 The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are. AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation. DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability. APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership. AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there. BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters. ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there. BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had. ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested. CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up. NEXT QUESTION → 09 Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together. AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down. EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked. NEXT QUESTION → 10 It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one. AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending. Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next. ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been. REVEAL MY PARTNER → Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse. RamboYour partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know. James BondYour partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing. Indiana JonesYour partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them. John McClaneYour partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay. Ethan HuntYour partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 'Fargo' (2014–2024) Image via FX In 1996, the Coen Brothers released Fargo, a quirky crime-comedy that uses the filmmakers’ unique, eccentric style to present a fiendishly enjoyable and delightfully twisty thriller. Inspired by the movie, FX’s hit TV show of the same name excels in the exact same fashion, with the anthology series delivering five invigorating stories that revolve around criminal ambition, honest and morally decent cops, and opportunistic ordinary people caught in the midst of the chaos. With each season featuring an ensemble of major characters, Fargo creates an air of unpredictable energy that suggests any character can die at any time. Furthermore, with each character having their own aspirations, each season conjures a web of clashing motivations that always lead to eruptions of violence and chaos that completely reset the trajectory of the story. From abrupt character shifts to absurdist spins like the appearance of a UFO, Fargo keeps viewers on their toes to make for a remarkably arresting viewing experience. 4 'Line of Duty' (2012–Present) Image via BBC One of the most underrated series of recent decades in any genre, Line of Duty soars as a viscerally compelling police procedural crime show revolving around an internal affairs unit working within Britain’s Central Police. With each season featuring different stars, the show maintains a ferocious unpredictability as any character can be killed off at any point in time, a quality the series uses to perfection to ensure every scene is a masterclass in suspense. Furthermore, while individual seasons explore different cases of police corruption, the series as a whole centers on the unit’s investigation of a high-ranking official in the department with ties to organized crime. Every step towards revealing "H"s identity offers a revelation that completely recontextualizes key elements of the story and the danger primary characters find themselves in. 3 'Sharp Objects' (2018) Image via HBO Based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, Sharp Objects enraptures viewers with its slow-burn intensity and overwhelming Southern Gothic atmosphere while delivering one of the greatest twists in television history. It follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), a crime reporter who returns to her hometown to investigate the murder of two young girls. As she grapples with the horrors of the case, she must also confront demons from her own traumatic past and tumultuous family life, which come flooding back. The eight-part miniseries as a whole is rife with clever revelations that pry deeper into the characters and their pasts, but its climactic reveal of whom the actual killer is—delivered only moments before the credits roll—is entrenched as one of the most viscerally striking plot twists television has ever seen. In many ways, it defines the impact and piercing intelligence of the series while doing a phenomenal job of bringing Flynn’s disturbing story to the screen with every ounce of gravitas it deserves. 2 'Twin Peaks' (1990–1991) Image via ABC A masterpiece of surrealist drama, Twin Peaks epitomizes David Lynch at his enigmatic and enthralling best as it follows FBI agent Dale Cooper’s (Kyle MacLachlan) investigation of a murdered teenage girl in the small town of Twin Peaks. It thrives as a transfixing crime mystery, but it also incorporates elements of supernatural dread, piercing black comedy, and profound character drama, making for a series that leaves viewers with no idea what will happen next. The genre-blending brilliance sets the scene for a winding, mystifying procession of surprising revelations. Everything from Cooper’s discovery of an alternate realm to the uncovering of the true culprit of Laura Palmer’s murder is handled expertly, allowing the series to be consistently shocking and ceaselessly engaging. Such is its enduring popularity, Lynch returned to make Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017, with the legacy sequel series being every bit as spellbinding and stupefying as the original. 1 'Breaking Bad' (2008–2013) Image via Ursula Coyote / © AMC / Courtesy Everett Collection Heralded by many as being the greatest TV show of all time of any genre, Breaking Bad delivers an engrossing story of moral decline and ambition that features plot twists in abundance. When high school science teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, he applies his knowledge of chemistry to the manufacturing of crystal meth, hoping to make some quick money for his family. As he is dragged deeper into the drug trade, however, he begins to develop an egomaniacal lust for power that sees him go from a family man to a cutthroat criminal. Every step of his descent into inhumanity is marked by shocking turns that reveal both the brutality of the world he is stepping into and his own diminishing morality. Walter watching Jane (Krysten Ritter) overdose and the revelation that he poisoned a child just to manipulate Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) are just two of the more memorable abrupt twists that make the series the most shocking crime series in the history of television. Breaking Bad Release Date 2008 - 2013-00-00 Network AMC Showrunner Vince Gilligan