Older man with kids hires a quirky nanny who melts his heart and learns how to love and care for others in the process.

If you can stomach stepsibling plots, ridiculous supporting characters, possessive x passive ships, and moments of beautiful cinematography or acting that are too good for their respective shows, then look no further for messed up yet oddly compelling watches.

If you are able to stomach the frank depictions of sexual assault, you will be rewarded with an engaging story that firmly takes the victims' sides no matter how hard things get. Scumbag characters may victim-blame, but neither show itself does.

Creepy boarding schools with abusive teachers that insist on being called "Master" and hypnotize their students as a form of advanced gaslighting, all while becoming surrogate parents to those very same kids? Yeah. Two nickels.

Aside from sharing an actor (Fiat plays Korn in The Gifted franchise and Trin in Shadow), they're both about boys joining a class at an elite and highly sinister school who are determined to discover the truth through the power of friendship and see justice done at great personal risk.

I'm surprised this recommendation hasn't been made already! Tseng Chih Hua is mesmerizing to watch, so why stop at only one of his works? Especially if you're a fan of queerly bittersweet coming of age stories.

I've dubbed this the homoerotic murder cake cinematic universe. You have your slapstick comedy, surprisingly nuanced portrayals of trauma and abuse, unlikely friendships between members of an ensemble cast, and the ever-classic story of a high school bully and his victim reconnecting years later and quickly becoming an old married couple in all but name. Did I mention the homoeroticism?

A dark comedy where the plot begins when the female lead comes into possession of her boyfriend's* illegal cash? Where have I heard that one before? Oh right. P'Jojo loves his homages to turn of the century media (and now I feel old for even calling it that) as we all know. Take 6ixtynin9 plus OR, modernize it, Jojo-ify it, and voilà! Dirty Laundry.

The same actors in equally lavish and beautifully filmed productions. Come for the cinematography, stay for the performances. Whether a fight, dance, or NC scene, the choreography and chemistry are undeniable. Did I mention they're visually stunning? The shots too (lol).

If you enjoy wuxia-setting mystery bromances, look no further. Mysterious Lotus Casebook has more emphasis on the bromance while Ancient Detective has more focused mysteries, but both are visually stunning and thoughtful shows with fleshed out casts and enjoyable writing.

Both are colorful, quirky, and surrealist ensemble comedies directed by P'Jojo Tichakorn that were released around the same time and hold similiar messages about redemption, sex positivity, and the necessity of community for survival under late-stage capitalism.

A similar premise takes opposing turns in these two 2023 releases of poor women each finding themselves in possession of an illegal fortune.