There’s far more focus on Discovery’s reality shows than there used to be on Max. That’s especially clear when you see that over half of the most popular shows on Max are, shall we say, not living up to the HBO branding that this streaming service used to be measured by. That’s why we’re throwing the spotlight on three underrated shows on Max that you should check out.
This month, we’ve chosen a horror series from Spain, a classic HBO drama, and a short-lived drama that really turned up the heat on TNT. These are the three underrated shows on Max that you need to watch in November.
30 Coins (2021-present)
Either brush up on your Spanish or turn on the captioning for Max’s 30 Coins, a horror series from Spain that is back for a second season. The show takes place in Pedraza, Spain, which has suddenly become a supernatural hotspot. The town’s mayor, Paco (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), and the local veterinarian, Elena (Megan Montaner), want to know why their home is going to Hell.
It may have something to do with the town’s new priest, Father Manuel Vergara (Eduard Fernández), an exorcist who has been banished there by powerful members of the Catholic Church. But more likely, the cause is in the title of the show itself: The 30 silver coins that Judas Iscariot got for turning in Jesus Christ to the Romans. Those pieces of silver are now supernaturally empowered, and someone is trying to bring them all together.
Watch 30 Coins on Max.
Rome (2005-2007)
If your history lessons weren’t as interesting as HBO’s Rome, it’s probably because your teachers left out all of the fun parts. Rome was HBO’s biggest attempt at an epic series before Game of Thrones, and it made Kevin McKidd and the late Ray Stevenson into stars. The show primarily followed two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus (McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Stevenson).
Although Pullo and Vorenus rarely see eye to eye while in the service of Julius Caesar (Ciarán Hinds), they form a close bond of friendship as some of the most important events in Roman history play out around them. Unfortunately, this is also a time and a place where loyalty to the wrong man can get you killed.
Watch Rome on Max.
Good Behavior (2016-2017)
Downton Abbey‘s Michelle Dockery takes on a much darker role in Good Behavior, a series that originally ran on TNT in America. Dockery plays Leticia “Letty” Raines, a woman who was released from prison early for her crimes, but she’s not really interested in reforming. What Letty really wants is to reclaim custody of her son, Jacob (Nyles Steele), from her mother, Estelle (Luisa Strus).
Javier Pereira (Juan Diego Botto) is the new man in Letty’s life, but not in any conventional way. Instead, Letty discovers that Javier is a hit man when she overhears his plan to kill someone. When Letty attempts to prevent that murder from happening, Javier forces her to work for him.
Watch Good Behavior on Max.