Television series
Betrayal
Other titles called Betrayal: the 1983 film, the 2012 film.
A photographer and a lawyer fall into an affair just as they end up on opposite sides of a murder case. Betrayal is a slick, propulsive drama about infidelity, ambition, and the cost of secrets in a world where everyone has something to lose. It's for anyone who loved the moral complexity of a good legal thriller, but wanted the personal stakes turned up higher.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like a soapy affair tangled up with courtroom maneuvering, where every private betrayal carries a professional price and the characters' loyalties keep shifting under pressure.
Skip it if you want a tight, fast legal procedural, since the courtroom story often serves the romance and marital scheming, and the romance can feel melodramatic at times.
What it asks of you: Thirteen one-hour episodes in a single season, an unhurried build, and steady attention to who is lying to whom and why.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Affair2014
Like Betrayal, it braids together an affair with a criminal mystery, but stretches the tension across multiple seasons with rotating perspectives. Each character's version of events contradicts the others, turning infidelity into genuine tragedy.
But Slower burn than Betrayal, and the emotional weight can feel relentless. Some find the shifting timelines more frustrating than clever.
Damages2007
Glenn Close leads a legal thriller that matches Betrayal's combination of courtroom stakes and personal corruption. Same DNA: powerful people making ruinous choices, consequences that spiral outward.
But Deliberately baroque plotting can feel convoluted. The first season is spectacular; later ones lose focus.
Scandal2012
Political intrigue, affairs with real consequences, and a murder mystery that resets but never really closes. The pace is relentless and the stakes feel genuinely unpredictable.
But By season three it's lost its moorings and becomes pure melodrama. The show knows it and leans in, which not everyone buys.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Betrayal
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Body Heat1981
Both hinge on a professional man compromised by desire and torn between two worlds—law and passion—where every choice destroys something else.
A steamy neo-noir where an affair between a lawyer and a woman he barely knows spirals into murder and betrayal. It's the template that Betrayal tries to modernize, and it still moves faster and hits harder—pure, propulsive seduction and double-cross.
But Shot through an 80s filter that some find dated, and the sexual politics are of their era. Also genuinely slow in places, which tests patience.
More like this (8)
Boston Legal2004
James Spader and William Shatner as morally compromised lawyers navigating cases that blur professional and personal. Lighter than Betrayal, but with the same pleasure in watching smart people bend rules.
But Tonally all over the place—veers from courtroom drama to absurdist comedy. The whimsy can kill the tension.
The Good Wife2009
A lawyer reconstructs her life after her husband's scandal, discovering her own capacity for ruthlessness and secrets. Combines legal procedural with character study in ways Betrayal reaches for but doesn't sustain.
But Takes several episodes to find its rhythm, and the early seasons can feel like prestige-TV homework.
House of Lies2012
Don Cheadle leads a show about corporate corruption and the people who enable it. Not a legal drama, but shares Betrayal's interest in smart people justifying terrible choices.
But Cynicism gets wearing after a while. The show never finds anything to believe in, which starts to feel thin.
Silkwood1983
A whistleblower's affair with a coworker becomes entangled with corporate crime. Like Betrayal, it asks what happens when personal loyalty and public duty collide, with real consequences.
But Methodical pacing and a deliberately unglamorous 1980s setting. Not a thriller; it earns its dread slowly.
The Lincoln Lawyer2011
A morally flexible defense attorney navigates a murder case that's not what it seems. Matthew McConaughey plays a man skating the edge of ethics, like Jack but with sharper humor and style.
But Relies on plot mechanics that buckle slightly under scrutiny. The twist doesn't quite land if you're watching closely.
Nightcrawler2014
Jake Gyllenhaal as an ambitious sociopath climbing over everyone around him. Same energy as Jack's moral flexibility, but turned up to terrifying extremes and played completely straight.
But Bleak and uncomfortable with no emotional relief. Gyllenhaal's character is so repellent that rooting for him requires a particular appetite.
Goliath2016
Both explore how ambition and legal knowledge become tools for self-destruction, but Goliath strips away the glamour Betrayal maintains.
A disbarred lawyer scrambles through impossible cases, making terrible choices for the right reasons. Like Betrayal, it's about intelligent people operating outside moral boundaries, but shifts the register to grittier, messier, more noir terrain.
But Deliberately ugly and deeply cynical. Billy Bob Thornton's character is not charming, and the show doesn't let you feel good about rooting for him.
Cléo from 5 to 71962
Both are built on the tension between public presentation and private turmoil—what we reveal versus what we hide—but Cléo finds poetry in constraint where Betrayal finds melodrama in excess.
A woman moves through Paris for ninety minutes, waiting for test results, and everything changes. Not a thriller—a character study filmed in real time. It teaches you to watch small shifts in behavior and mood, which is exactly what Betrayal needs.
But Almost nothing happens. French New Wave pacing. If you need plot momentum, this will feel like watching paint dry.
