TV is tapping into our collective desire to rage against the machine

Back in January, we were treated to two TV shows that didn’t share a whole lot in common on paper: One was an unnerving, brainy suspense series set within the clinical walls of an office building, the other a dystopian political tale taking place in a bunker that’s run by a billionaire. But while quite dissimilar in tone and execution, Severance season two and Paradise both took aim and a similar target: greedy entities manipulating citizens for personal benefit. What’s more, the characters in each thriller questioned authority figures in the face of persistent disillusionment and outrage—and eventually defied those powerful few for deceiving, controlling, and exploiting them. And as it turned out, these early 2025 shows were early signifiers of the wave of resistance-related storylines on TV to come.  

Over the past six months, several series have captured, in ways big and small, audience’s gnawing sense of malaise about a whole host of issues: oppressive governments, labor woes, a scammy healthcare industry, an ever-expanding wealth gap, the commercialization of art, and corporate greed, to name a few. And they’re entertaining while being rooted in a rage-against-the-machine attitude in a time that calls for it. Despite their disparate genres, shows like Common Side Effects (a surreal animated production critiquing Big Pharma), Hacks (a Hollywood-set comedy that had an art-vs.-commerce through-line this year, much like Mythic Quest and The Studio), and South Korean phenom Squid Game (the upcoming third and final season of which relentlessly drills down on economic inequality) hit hard by weaving modern frustrations into its plots. They depict the paranoia and desperation that comes with political and commercial instability—and satisfyingly imagine what it might be like to fight back. 

No drama achieves this more achingly than Tony Gilroy’s Andor, which dissects the surveillance state and fascism through rebellion in its tense final round. Just look at episode eight, when the ruthless Empire slaughters peaceful protestors, with the Ghormans’ pleas echoing real-life atrocities almost in real time. As The A.V. Club‘s recap of the hour puts it, “The parallels aren’t subtle, because they aren’t meant to be. They’re bloody and brutal and naked and ugly and exhausting and heartbreaking. But subtle? What would be the point? We’re long past that.” 

Paradise is a comparatively cornier espionage thriller with a climate crisis twist. But the Dan Fogelman series, like Andor, also isn’t subtle about its ideology. The show revolves around a secret-service agent’s efforts to expose a billionaire for her unchecked abuse of power and hoarding of resources instead of rescuing those stranded on a destroyed planet. Essentially, Xavier’s (Sterling K. Brown) goal is to bring down a filthy rich, Elon Musk-esque founder who has wormed her way into government and the inner circle of a former POTUS. (Yes, this feels lifted directly from real events.) Unlike a few tiresome recent dramas about the wealthy getting away with their crimes, Paradise wants to hold them accountable. A similar galvanizing sentiment fuels The Handmaid’s Tale‘s final season, which sees June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and her allies finally start to destroy Gilead.