Got a chance to watch “Desperate Lies” on Netflix? If you haven’t already, you really should. It is easily one of the interesting spectacles of 2024. The Brazilian drama series “Desperate Lies” was released for streaming on Netflix in July of 2024. The story follows Liana, a lady who dreams of bearing children of her own. However, her life takes a surprising turn when she learns her spouse, whom she has been married to for years, has been spending his nights with another woman. This sets in motion a series of secrets and mental agony that she never expected to face. On the same note, here are the five best shows you should stream if you like “Desperate Lies.”
1. The Secret of the Greco Family (2022)
The story centers around the Greco family, who seem to have it all—power, prestige, and the perfect life. However, under that shiny exterior, there are lingering secrets and lies that can blow up their world. The patriarch of the family is a successful businessman, but how he has amassed his wealth is a secret that he can’t afford to reveal. His kids each wrestle with their own issues. One is caught up in a forbidden love affair, while the other struggles with the burden of family expectations. If you like a show that’s comprised of drama or secrets, it doesn’t get any better than“The Secret of the Family.”
Both “Desperate Lies” and “The Secret of the Greco Family ” are similar in more ways than one. Secrets with far-reaching consequences for the protagonists’ lives are at the heart of the stories of both series. The protagonists and supporting characters in both series confront weighty moral questions and make tough choices that have personal and societal consequences. Similar to Liana’s life in “Desperate Lies,” it chronicles the rise and fall of a family who is surrounded by liars and their secrets.
2. The Other Side of Paradise (2017)
“The Other Side of Paradise” shares many similarities with “Desperate Lies” and Park Chan-wook’s praised magnum opus. “The Handmaiden.” In the show, veteran Bianca Bin’s character, Clara, leads a simple life with her grandpa, Josafá, in the quiet countryside of Jalapão. She falls head over heels for Gael Montserrat, heir to a wealthy yet morally bankrupt family. The problem is that Gael’s mom, Sophia, is a cunning and ambitious woman who someday learns that Clara’s land is sitting on a treasure trove of emeralds. Hungry for the green gold, Sophia cooks up a scheme to get Clara declared mentally ill and locked up in a psychiatric hospital.
Things get ugly, and Clara not only loses her land but also is torn away from her young son, Tomaz. After a grueling ten years in the hospital, Clara escapes with the help of Beatriz and returns to her town not as a helpless girl but as a powerful and wealthy woman. In both “Desperate Lies” and “The Other Side of Paradise,” the protagonists, Clara and Liana, face great pain and deceit. Liana copes with the news that her twins’ father is revealed, whereas Clara is sent to a mental institution by her mother-in-law. In both shows, the villains, Sophia and Tomás, use manipulation and betrayal for their own benefit. While Liana’s life is in shambles due to Tomás’s adultery and other misdeeds, ambitious Sophia destroys the life of an innocent girl just for the piece of land.
3. Revenge (2011)
For anyone who missed it, the riveting American drama series “Revenge” ran from 2011 until 2015. The drama takes place in the posh Hamptons and updates Alexandre Dumas’ famous book, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” to the present day. In order to get even with the rich Grayson household and their cronies for falsely accusing her father, David Clarke, of something he didn’t do, the protagonist, Emily Thorne (actual name: Amanda Clarke), goes back to the Hamptons under an alias. Suspense, twists, and turns abound in the show’s dense and well-written plotline, which never lets up.
You should also see the show for Emily Thorne’s outstanding performance. The show deals with heavy themes, including retribution, fairness, and atonement, and has no shortage of emotionally charged scenes. As for its similarities to “Desperate Lies,” both Liana (Desperate Lies) and Emily Thorne (Revenge) go through traumatic experiences and humiliation.
4. The Affair (2014)
“The Affair” is a one-of-a-kind drama that tells you the pros and cons (mostly cons) of getting into an extramarital relationship. It kicks off with Noah Solloway, who is a New York City schoolteacher and wannabe novelist. Noah is married to Helen and has four kids, but on a summer vacation in Montauk, fate pins him against Alison Bailey, who is a local waitress struggling with the recent loss of her young son and the toll it takes on her marriage to Cole. Noah and Alison start to see each other frequently, and they can’t help but get into an extramarital affair, knowing very well that it will change their lives in more ways than one. This drama deals with the two “Ls”—love and loss—and teaches us that it is our decisions, and not external factors, that get the better of us.
The story is organized in a novel way. Each episode has two halves that show the exact same events from two distinct characters’ points of view. This method of telling stories (known as Rashomon style in pop culture) in tandem shows how memory and perception are inherently subjective by presenting often conflicting versions of the same event. Both the shows’ protagonists, Liana and Noah, want to escape their present situations, so they seek peace and shelter in new, perhaps troubled partnerships.
5. Scandals (2012)
The character of Olivia Pope, portrayed by Kerry Washington, is a big name when it comes to crisis management. Members of her firm’s crew, whom she calls “gladiators,” are both highly committed and exceptionally competent. As the show opens, Olivia has left the White House to launch her own company, but she remains haunted by her troubled past, particularly her chaotic connection with President Fitzgerald Grant III. If political scandals and betrayals are something you cannot get enough of in TV shows, then “Scandal” is a show you mustn’t miss. “Scandal” was successful in large part thanks to Olivia’s father, Eli “Rowan” Pope, played by Joe Morton. He is the cryptic and brutal leader of the clandestine government group B613.
Characters in both “Scandal” and “Desperate Lies” deal with the fallout from keeping secrets and lying, both in their private and professional lives. Olivia Pope’s attempts to handle crises and negotiate her already messed up private life are the mainstay of “Scandal,” in contrast to Liana’s dramatic circumstances in “Desperate Lies” after finding that her husband is sleeping with another woman.
