Summer hasn’t reached the halfway point yet, and the heat is here to stay for a while. As avid TV watchers, we feel that the best way to beat the heat is by staying home and bingeing the five great Amazon Prime Video shows that are perfect to watch in the summer.
Our picks for this list are admittedly action heavy, but that’s a genre that plays especially well during the summer. But just so romance fans don’t feel left out, we’ve also recommended one of Prime Video’s YA romantic hits, as well as a series that marries romance and black ops intrigue into a compelling package.
The Boys
The Boys is so far ahead of the curve that the recent fourth season finale eerily mirrored recent events. But this show, based on the comic book by Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, has an absolute disdain for superheroes, even though it is a superhero series. In this world, the heroes like Homelander (Antony Starr) are anything but heroic, with rare exceptions like Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty). She’s the one who discovers the hard way that the Justice League-esque team called the Seven are self-serving and even villainous.
Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is a black ops specialist who has hated the “supes” for years, and he recognizes that they have to be dealt with. Butcher sees something special in his latest recruit, Hugh “Hughie” Campbell (Jack Quaid), which he hopes to be able to use in his ongoing war with Homelander. However, Butcher also has a knack for pushing his friends away and doing all manner of immoral things to come out on top. All of those actions may come back to haunt Butcher in the end.
Watch The Boys on Prime Video.
Jack Ryan
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels were so popular that the character had five films and several reboots prior to the Jack Ryan live-action series on Prime Video. The show updates the premise and the stories to fit in the present, but the core of the lead character is intact. John Krasinski plays Jack Ryan as a CIA desk jockey who is roped into a mission to uncover a well-hidden terrorist threat.
Jack is so good at his job that he gets increasingly dangerous assignments over the next three seasons. Krasinski proved that he has action chops with this series, which always plays well during the summer.
Watch Jack Ryan on Prime Video.
Fallout
The Fallout TV series is Prime Video’s breakout show of the year, and it wisely stayed away from the trap that the recently canceled Halo series fell into. Fallout introduced its own set of new characters to follow rather than poorly adapting the stories that the video games had already told. The result was a series that felt true to the spirit of the games, while expanding the world in its own way.
Walton Goggins deserved his Emmy nomination for Best Actor as Cooper Howard in flashbacks and as the Ghoul in the present timeline. His character’s journey from faded Hollywood star to jaded mutant bounty hunter gave this show its gravitas. Ella Purnell was also a revelation as Lucy MacLean, a young woman who lived in a vault most of her life before emerging into the Wasteland to rescue her father, Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan), from raiders.
Aaron Moten rounds out the primary cast as Maximus, a young man raised in the cultlike Brotherhood of Steel who faces some harsh lessons about what it takes to thrive in this world. All three of their storylines intersect during the first season in a satisfying way.
Watch Fallout on Prime Video.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
It just wouldn’t be summer without The Summer I Turned Pretty. Season 3 may be skipping 2024, but romance lovers shouldn’t skip on the chance to catch up on this show from the beginning. Lola Tung stars as Isabel “Belly” Conklin, a teenager who has spent her summers in Cousins Beach alongside two brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Steven Conklin (Sean Kaufman).
The show picks up when Belly turns 16, and both of the Conklin brothers finally notice how beautiful she is and start developing romantic feelings for her. But there’s only one Belly and two brothers, so someone is inevitably going to get their heart broken by this love triangle. Even the bond between the brothers will be tested.
Watch The Summer I Turned Pretty on Prime Video.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Forget everything you knew about the Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Prime Video’s series adaptation has nothing to do with the film other than the name and part of the premise. Donald Glover co-created and stars in the series as John Smith opposite Blue Eye Samurai‘s Maya Erskine as Jane Smith.
Neither one of the Smiths are going by their real names, and they’re not even married. They’re simply freelance operatives who have taken a lot of money to pretend to be a couple while carrying out morally questionable missions. John and Jane spend so much time together that it’s almost impossible not to feel some level of romantic connection with one another. But in the world of spies and liars, trusting anyone may get them both killed.
Watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Prime Video.
