King Cobra

If you want a crime drama that treats its mystery as more than a puzzle, King Cobra is available in the US on Philo and AMC Plus Apple TV Channel right now. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. 488 viewers have already rated it on TMDB — the kind of consensus that does not happen by accident. Garrett Clayton sets the tone, and the ensemble matches it scene for scene. Start it on Philo whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

There is a reason King Cobra keeps coming up in conversation. The plotting gives King Cobra its backbone, but it is the characters you come back for. It’s 2006, YouTube is in its infancy, and internet porn is still behind a paywall. Taking the stage name Brent Corrigan, a fresh-faced, wannabe adult video performer is molded into a star by Stephen, a closeted gay porn mogul who runs the skin flick empire Cobra Video from his seemingly ordinary suburban home. Garrett Clayton and Christian Slater lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2016. King Cobra is at its best in the quiet scenes between the plot beats, where the character work actually happens. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Crime and mystery fans will find exactly what they are after in King Cobra. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Garrett Clayton anchors it, but the writing does the real work. If you are going to commit to one crime drama this month, make it this one.