Stumptown

Stumptown is the kind of character-driven story that stays with you. It is currently available in Australia on Disney Plus, and in the UK on Disney Plus, so there is no reason to keep putting it off. A 7/10 rating means the audience agrees — and those who disagree tend to be in a clear minority. The production does not waste your time: every episode earns its place in the run, and the pacing is calibrated to keep you watching rather than checking how much time is left. The run length is exactly right for the story being told. Cobie Smulders is the anchor, but the depth of the supporting cast is what elevates it. Start it tonight and see for yourself why the ratings are where they are.

Originally commissioned by ABC, Stumptown quickly became exactly the kind of show that viewers rearrange their evenings for. Dex Parios is a strong, assertive, and unapologetically sharp-witted Army veteran working as a P.I. In Portland, Oregon. With a complicated personal history and only herself to rely on, she solves other people’s messes with a blind eye toward her own. It aired in 2019–2020. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping every episode in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

If you are looking for television that takes its characters seriously and rewards patient viewing, Stumptown is exactly that. The structure gives the show room to develop relationships over time in a way that episodic television rarely manages, and the writers take full advantage of that space. Fans of Backstrom will find the same commitment to character here, with its own distinct sensibility and setting. Worth starting sooner rather than later — the earlier you get to it, the longer you will have to think about it.