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Vol. 2 · TV · Thought-Provoking
Chapter Two
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The Thought-Provoking Files

Films that make you think long after the credits.


These 40 films have been quietly catalogued into a collection the editors call, simply, “Thought-Provoking.” They are not ranked by box office. They are not sorted by release. They are arranged by something harder to measure — a shared emotional frequency, a kinship of mood. What follows is the reading list. Begin where you like. Read until you find the one that looks back.

  1. 01.
    Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television

    Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television

    1977·Created by Francis Ford Coppola·9.5

    A seven-hour chronological edit of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, expanded with over an hour of restored scenes to trace the Corleone family’s rise from Vito’s youth in Sicily to Michael’s reign in 1950s America.

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  2. 02.
    The Wire

    The Wire

    2002·Created by David Simon·9.3

    Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.

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  3. 03.
    Vale Tudo

    Vale Tudo

    1988·Created by Gilberto Braga·9.1

    Fátima Accioly is a young, callous woman who wants to be rich and successful at any price. After selling her family's house in the country, she heads to Rio and gets to know dress man César who is unscrupulous himself. Meanwhile, her mother Raquel stays behind without home and money, but finally tries to find her daughter in the big city. Both women come in contact with the rich Roitman family which changes their lives forever.

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  4. 04.
    Attack on Titan

    Attack on Titan

    2013·9.1

    100 years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!

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  5. 05.
    Panchayat

    Panchayat

    2020·Created by Chandan Kumar·9.0

    Panchayat is a comedy-drama, which captures the journey of an engineering graduate Abhishek, who for lack of a better job option joins as secretary of a panchayat office in a remote village of Uttar Pradesh. Stuck between crazy villagers and a difficult village lifestyle Abhishek starts his job with the sole motivation of getting out of there as soon as possible, for which he even prepares for CAT.

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  6. 06.
    Legend of the Galactic Heroes

    Legend of the Galactic Heroes

    1988·9.0

    War rages between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance. With two new brilliant young leaders at the helm, anything can happen in this military space opera.

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  7. 07.
    The Twilight Zone

    The Twilight Zone

    1959·Created by Rod Serling·9.0

    An anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.

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  8. 08.
    Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

    Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

    2023·8.9

    Decades after her party defeated the Demon King, an old friend's funeral launches the elf wizard Frieren on a journey of self-discovery.

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  9. 09.
    The West Wing

    The West Wing

    1999·Created by Aaron Sorkin·8.9

    The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the nation's capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humor and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life.

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  10. 10.
    Dekalog

    Dekalog

    1989·Created by Krzysztof Piesiewicz·8.9

    The Ten Commandments, exact and uncompromising, literally cast in stone, continues to provide a source of moral conflict in contemporary society. In the ten part epic masterpiece, The Decalogue, Krzysztof Kieslowski examines the dilemma of fundamental sin in the lives of ordinary Warsaw citizens.

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  11. 11.
    Undercover

    Undercover

    2011·Created by Dimitar Mitovski·8.9

    Just an ordinary boy from the Sofia suburbs becomes the first bulgarian undercover cop. Forced by his father when he was young to lie and cheat, Martin becomes the perfect liar. That skill, and also the hatred of the 'underworld' makes him the perfect match for a dangerous mission - to infiltrate the crime organisation of a rich and powerful businessman. While infiltrating and living in fear of being uncovered, Martin falls in love with the most inappropriate woman - Djaro's girlfriend, Suni. Just when he gains the trust of the mobsters, it appears that the real enemy is in the police. Martin is alone against all, facing difficult decisions.

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  12. 12.
    True Detective

    True Detective

    2014·Created by Nic Pizzolatto·8.8

    An American anthology police detective series utilizing multiple timelines in which investigations seem to unearth personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within or outside the law.

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  13. 13.
    BoJack Horseman

    BoJack Horseman

    2014·Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg·8.8

    Meet the most beloved sitcom horse of the '90s , 20 years later. He's a curmudgeon with a heart of...not quite gold...but something like gold. Copper?

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  14. 14.
    Six Flying Dragons

    Six Flying Dragons

    2015·8.8

    The ambitious success stories of 6 people surrounding Prince Lee Bang Won, and the ideological and political conflict between Prince Lee Bang Won and Jung Do Jeon, the man instrumental in helping King Taejo establish the fledgling Joseon nation.

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  15. 15.
    I, Claudius

    I, Claudius

    1976·Created by Martin Lisemore·8.8

    Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.

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  16. 16.
    Oz

    Oz

    1997·Created by Tom Fontana·8.7

    The daily lives of prisoners in Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison where ingroups - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to their mutual friends and terrorize their mutual enemies.

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  17. 17.
    Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

    Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

    2006·8.7

    Japan has been invaded and conquered by the Britannian Empire. Japan is now known as Area 11 and its citizens known as Elevens. The Britannian Empire takes away Japan's autonomous power and imposes its rule through the use of Knightmares. The Empire's rule has never faltered, but cracks have begun to show...

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  18. 18.
    The Bureau

    The Bureau

    2015·Created by Éric Rochant·8.7

    Within the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), a department called the Office Of Legends (BDL) forms and remote pilot the most important agents of the French intelligence services: Clandestine. Immersion in hostile country, their mission is to identify individuals who may be recruited as sources of information. Operating "under caption", that is to say in a fabricated identity from scratch, they live for many years in a permanent duplicity. Our hero just returned from a clandestine mission six years in Damascus. But contrary to what is required by safety rules, he does not abandon his legend and the identity under which he lived in Syria, thus putting in danger the whole system.

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  19. 19.
    Rome

    Rome

    2005·Created by Bruno Heller·8.7

    A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

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  20. 20.
    Line of Duty

    Line of Duty

    2012·Created by Jed Mercurio·8.7

    A drama about the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anticorruption unit.

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  21. 21.
    The Shield

    The Shield

    2002·Created by Shawn Ryan·8.7

    The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.

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  22. 22.
    Black Mirror

    Black Mirror

    2011·Created by Charlie Brooker·8.7

    Twisted tales run wild in this mind-bending anthology series that reveals humanity's worst traits, greatest innovations and more.

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  23. 23.
    Peaky Blinders

    Peaky Blinders

    2013·Created by Steven Knight·8.7

    A gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham, England and centered on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, who means to move up in the world.

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  24. 24.
    House

    House

    2004·Created by David Shore·8.7

    Dr. Gregory House, a drug-addicted, unconventional, misanthropic medical genius, leads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey.

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  25. 25.
    Boardwalk Empire

    Boardwalk Empire

    2010·Created by Terence Winter·8.6

    Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition is a place where the rules don't apply. And the man who runs things -- legally and otherwise -- is the town's treasurer, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, who is equal parts politician and gangster.

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  26. 26.
    House of Cards

    House of Cards

    2013·Created by Beau Willimon·8.6

    Betrayed by the White House, Congressman Frank Underwood embarks on a ruthless rise to power. Blackmail, seduction and ambition are his weapons.

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  27. 27.
    The Crown

    The Crown

    2016·Created by Peter Morgan·8.6

    The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

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  28. 28.
    One-Punch Man

    One-Punch Man

    2015·8.6

    Saitama is a hero who only became a hero for fun. After three years of “special” training, though, he’s become so strong that he’s practically invincible. In fact, he’s too strong—even his mightiest opponents are taken out with a single punch, and it turns out that being devastatingly powerful is actually kind of a bore. With his passion for being a hero lost along with his hair, yet still faced with new enemies every day, how much longer can he keep it going?

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  29. 29.
    Andor

    Andor

    2022·Created by Tony Gilroy·8.6

    In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian Andor will discover the difference he can make in the struggle against the tyrannical Galactic Empire. He embarks on a path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.

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  30. 30.
    Merlí

    Merlí

    2015·Created by Héctor Lozano·8.6

    He’s surly, unorthodox, unapologetically blunt, and he’s about to change your life. Meet the new philosophy teacher, Merlí, who will help his students view the world in a whole new light, both in and out of the classroom.

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  31. 31.
    Marvel's Daredevil

    Marvel's Daredevil

    2015·Created by Drew Goddard·8.6

    Lawyer-by-day Matt Murdock uses his heightened senses from being blinded as a young boy to fight crime at night on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil.

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  32. 32.
    Person of Interest

    Person of Interest

    2011·Created by Jonathan Nolan·8.5

    John Reese, former CIA paramilitary operative, is presumed dead and teams up with reclusive billionaire Finch to prevent violent crimes in New York City by initiating their own type of justice. With the special training that Reese has had in Covert Operations and Finch's genius software inventing mind, the two are a perfect match for the job that they have to complete. With the help of surveillance equipment, they work "outside the law" and get the right criminal behind bars. 

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  33. 33.
    Making a Murderer

    Making a Murderer

    2015·Created by Moira Demos·8.5

    Filmed over 10 years, this real-life thriller follows a DNA exoneree who, while exposing police corruption, becomes a suspect in a grisly new crime.

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  34. 34.
    Borgen

    Borgen

    2010·Created by Adam Price·8.5

    40-year old political leader Birgitte Nyborg secures her party a landslide victory through her idealism and huge effort, then faces the biggest challenge of her life: how most effectively to use the newly won seats, and how far she is willing to go in order to gain as much influence as possible.

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  35. 35.
    Not Me

    Not Me

    2021·Created by Thanutnun Vitsivakun·8.5

    White returns to Thailand after years abroad to find his twin Black in a coma. Disguising himself as Black, he seeks to uncover the truth behind the betrayal.

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  36. 36.
    House of Cards

    House of Cards

    1990·Created by Andrew Davies·8.5

    Frustrated at a new moderate Conservative government and deprived of a promotion to a senior position, chief whip Francis Urquhart prepares a meticulous plot to bring down the Prime Minister then to take his place.

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  37. 37.
    Sacred Games

    Sacred Games

    2018·Created by Vikramaditya Motwane·8.5

    A link in their pasts leads an honest cop to a fugitive gang boss, whose cryptic warning spurs the officer on a quest to save Mumbai from cataclysm.

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  38. 38.
    Hannibal

    Hannibal

    2013·Created by Bryan Fuller·8.5

    Both a gift and a curse, Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey—he sees what they see, feels what they feel. But while Graham is pursuing an especially troubling, cannibalistic murderer, Special Agent Jack Crawford teams him with a highly respected psychiatrist – a man with a taste for the criminal minded – Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

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  39. 39.
    Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

    Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

    2024·8.4

    After learning heretical teachings about the Earth and the Sun, a child prodigy searches for his master's hidden research while evading the Inquisition.

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  40. 40.
    NIPPON SANGOKU: The Three Nations of the Crimson Sun

    NIPPON SANGOKU: The Three Nations of the Crimson Sun

    2026·8.4

    A revolution sparked by nuclear war, natural disaster, and misrule leads to the collapse of Japanese society. The country splits into three nations vying for hegemony, and the Sangoku era begins. Aoteru Misumi, a former agricultural officer, vows to reunify Japan. He rises through the ranks with only his knowledge and eloquence. Witness the legend of the man later hailed as a genius strategist.

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— End of Chapter —