“Your vengeance may sometimes be slow in coming, but I think that then it is all the more complete,” wrote French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas inThe Count of Monte Cristo, one of the most popular novels tackling thethemes of injustice, betrayal, and paybackof all time. It is indeed complex, meticulously planned, long-overdue retribution stories that are the most satisfying, and what better way to prolong the suspense, obtain justice, heal an emotional wound, and witness a villain’s slow downfall than through a well-written and well-performed TV show?
Here is a selection of compelling English, Korean, Spanish, and French-language titles that attempt to illustrate how delectable a vengeance dish tastes when it is served long after the original offense—whether the latter is assault, adultery, murder, imprisonment, social demise, bullying, physical and verbal abuse, espionage, or destitution.
ABC’s highly rated and aptly named series,Revenge, ran for 4 seasons and featured Emily VanCamp, Madeleine Stowe, Gabriel Mann, and Josh Bowman. Amanda Clarke (VanCamp) has had a difficult life ever since her father, David, was framed for terrorism and killed by the Graysons, a powerful family in the Hamptons.
Upon her release from juvie, she inherits David’s fortune, trains in the arts of combat under a Japanese sensei, assumes the identity of Emily Thorne, and sets out to bring down the Graysons and prove her father’s innocence. In parallel, she seduces the Grayson heir, Daniel (Bowman, and VanCamp’s real-life husband), and marries him.
“Before he died, he left a road map for revenge that led me to the people who destroyed our lives. Sometimes the innocent gets hurt. But one by one, the guilty will pay. Nothing ever goes exactly as you expect. And the stakes are life and death. Collateral damage is inescapable.”
Based on the novel of Venezuelan author Rómulo Gallegos,Doña Bárbara,La Doñais a two-season Mexican-American series produced by Telemundo. It follows the story of a powerful and ruthless businesswoman, Altagracia Sandoval (Aracely Arámbula), who seeks to bring down The Monkeys gang. When she was a young girl, the teenage gang members, all from privileged families, abused her, brutally murdered her parents and boyfriend, and left her pregnant.
Following this tragedy, she went to live with her aunt, who taught her the ways of seduction and black magic. And that is how the present-day protagonist turned into a bitter, dark, and manipulative seductress. To add more zest to the plot, and in typical telenovela fashion, Altagracia and her daughter Monica fall in love with the same man.
The ongoing global buzz around Netflix’s chilling K-dramaThe Glorycertainly warrants a place on this list.Written by Kim Eun-sook, the mastermind behindDescendants of the Sun,Mr. Sunshine,The King: Eternal Monarch, andGuardian: The Lonely and Great God, the story centers around Moon Dong-eun (megastar Song Hye-kyo), who exacts revenge on her formerschool bullies. Led by Park Yeon-Jin (Lim Ji-yeon), the teenagers used to burn her skin with a hair-curling iron, wound her with pins, and kick her down violently.
Nearly 20 years later, having kept tabs on all of them, Moon Dong-Eun meticulously destroys them one by one, both psychologically and socially, with the help of an abused wife and a handsome young doctor, Joo Yeo-jeong (Lee Do-hyun).
“Your feet that were eager to inflict pain on others and all the feet that walked next to them. Your lips that laughed at others’ misfortune and all the lips that laughed with them. Those leering eyes and all the eyes that gazed at them with affection. Your hand that mocked and broke others and all the hands that held it. And your soul that rejoiced in every single moment. That’s how far I’m planning to go.”
Related:8 Women Characters In Korean Dramas That Made Revenge Interesting
Blood Ties/Las Villamizar
Las Villamizaris an exciting and atypical Colombianperiod drama set in Spanish-occupied New Granada, produced by Caracol TV and streaming on Netflix. It follows the dangerous missions of three high-society sisters and spies, Carolina (Shany Nadan), Leonor (Estefanía Piñeres), and Isabela (María José Vargas).
Besides helping rebels fight the occupation, the ladies’ personal mission is bringing down all the corrupt officials responsible for their mother’s death, namely Spanish colonel José María Montenegro (Rodrigo Poisón). It is no easy feat to exact vengeance when Isabela falls for the colonel’s son, Carolina is forced to marry a collaborator, and Leonor is facing society’s homophobic persecution.
My Nameis a violent Netflix South Korean miniseries created by Kim Va-da and Kim Jin-min, featuring Han So-hee as protagonist Yoon Ji-woo, Park Hee-soon as drug lord Choi Mu-jin, and Ahn Bo-hyun as police detective Jeon Pil-do. After witnessing a hooded attacker gun down her father, a gangster, 17-year-old Ji-woo joins his crime ring and becomes its leader’s protégée.
After years of intense training, she infiltrates the police as the gang’s mole and attempts to identify her father’s killer, whom she suspects is a corrupt police officer. Besides the great chemistry between Mu-jin and Ji-woo, the show’s eerie soundtrack alone should warrant your attention. The main actors were nominated seven times, but only Ahn Bo-hyun won an Excellence Award at the 2022 APAN Star Awards.
Created by J.J. Abrams,Aliasis a suspenseful espionage show that spans five seasons and features Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, Ron Rifkin as Arvin Sloane, Michael Vartan as Michael Vaughn, and Bradley Cooper as Will Tippin. It follows the story of Sydney, a grad student who is fooled into thinking she is part of a spy ring for the CIA’s black ops. Once the truth is uncovered, she joins the real CIA as a double agent to bring down the real criminals.
Reborn Rich
Sometimes, you have to wait until your next life to exact revenge—through reincarnation within your enemies’ family, to be exact. That is the case of Yoon Hyun-woo (the prolific Song Joong-ki) in the2022 drama,Reborn Rich, directed by Jeong Dae-yun. After uncovering a tax evasion scheme for the Soonyang Group, loyal employee Hyun-woo is shot on a business trip overseas and framed for embezzlement. But then, he is reincarnated in 1987 as the family’s youngest grandson, which makes it easier for him to take over the company from within.
The Punisher
Marvel first introducedThe Punishercharacter in the 1974The Amazing Spider-Man #129, as an assassin hired by the Jackal to kill Spider-Man. Jon Bernthal (Shane inThe Walking Dead) plays the titular lethal vigilante inthis spin-offfromDaredevil, the first Marvel Netflix series, over the course of two 13-episode seasons.
It focuses on the PTSD and rage that plague former Marine Frank Castle, who sets out to brutally “punish” not only his wife and daughter’s murderers, but all criminals of the underworld, and uncovers a military conspiracy in the process.
“If you’re gonna look at yourself, as soon as you look in the mirror, you gotta admit who you are. But not just to yourself. You gotta prove it to everybody else.”
Bright-Eyed Revenge
Created by Franck Ollivier and starring Laëtitia Milot, Sophie Duez, and Benoit Michel, this suspenseful French crime series follows Olivia, a lawyer who infiltrates a mafia ring in Nice led by the powerful Chevalier clan. Her motives are not purely professional, though, as she suspects that the family leader, Etienne Chevalier, is the one behind the car accident that killed her mother and brother ten years ago. She is also determined to take down the corrupt judge who sabotaged the initial investigation.
Her Mother’s Killer
Netflix’sHer Mother’s Killer, formerly known asAna’s Revenge, is a 60-episode Colombian soap opera created by Clara María Ochoa and produced by CMO Producciones. Carolina Gómez stars as political strategist and adviser Analía, who is dead set on bringing about the downfall of corrupt presidential candidate Guillermo León Mejía, the man responsible for her mother’s death 30 years ago. Little does she know that she is closer to him than she thinks.
