Television series

Panic

Name: Panic
Genre: Drama
Released: 2021
Cast: Olivia Welch, Mike Faist, Jessica Sula, Ray Nicholson, Enrique Murciano

Panic follows graduating seniors in a dying Texas town competing in an escalating series of deadly challenges for prize money. It's a high-stakes thriller that trades in genuine dread: watching ordinary kids navigate moral compromises, loyalty tests, and genuinely dangerous stunts. The show finds horror in how easily desperation erodes judgment. For anyone who loved The Hunger Games' tension but wanted something grittier and more psychologically real.

TVMaze rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like stories about young people backed into impossible choices, where a high-concept premise is taken seriously and the grounded Texas small-town texture makes the desperation feel earned.

Skip it if you want a lighter summer watch, since the tone stays bleak and the games play out with little relief between tense set pieces.

What it asks of you: Ten episodes of roughly forty-four minutes each, so it moves in brisk, binge-sized chunks, but it demands sustained attention to keep track of the many contestants and their rivalries.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Hunger Games2012

The obvious comparison, but for good reason: teenagers in mortal competition, class anxiety as the engine, and the question of how far you'll go when survival is at stake. Delivers spectacle without sacrificing character.

But The sequels lose momentum badly, and the love triangle subplot feels like homework. Also genuinely four films when three would've done the job.

Yellowjackets2021

Survival horror that flips between a plane crash's aftermath and years later. Like Panic, it treats teenagers as real people with real stakes, and it's obsessed with how trauma reshapes identity. Genuinely unsettling.

But The mythology gets increasingly convoluted and the pacing can drag. Some viewers find the tonal shifts between timelines disorienting.

The Summer I Turned Pretty2022

Another show about the last summer before adulthood, though this one leans romantic and nostalgic instead of dystopian. Still captures that specific vertigo of watching your childhood end. Warm and melancholic without being heavy.

But It's fundamentally a love triangle show, and if that's not your thing, the whole structure feels thin. Also very much aimed at a younger audience than Panic.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Panic

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Raid 22014

Both pit a protagonist against an escalating gauntlet where the rules are rigged and each trial reveals something fundamental about who you are and what you're willing to sacrifice.

A martial arts masterpiece about a cop embedded in a criminal underworld, navigating loyalty and survival within a system designed to destroy him. Like Panic, it's about someone trapped by circumstances escalating through a series of impossible choices. The action is balletic and merciless.

But Extremely violent in sustained, graphic ways. No emotional manipulation—just consequence. Also Indonesian with subtitles, and pacing is deliberate. If you need dialogue to stay engaged, this will test you.

Riverdale2017

A murder mystery set in a small town where teenagers are the main players in something sinister. Dark, campy, and willing to let the plot get genuinely weird. If you want supernatural stakes plus small-town paranoia.

But It descends into absolute chaos by season three and never really recovers. Watching it is partly about ironically enjoying how badly it lost the plot.

The Wilds2020

Stranded teenage girls, class and survival, social hierarchies breaking down. It's deliberately constructed and twisty, with a real propulsive energy. Great ensemble cast making you care about people fast.

But Cancelled on a cliffhanger after two seasons. The second season's mythology reveal polarized people. Also significantly less grounded than Panic.

Nerve2016

A dare-based competition app forces teenagers into increasingly dangerous public challenges. Lean, sleek, and genuinely tense—closer to Panic's specificity than The Hunger Games is. Great chemistry between leads.

But The third act simplifies the moral complexity the first two-thirds built up. Also very much a 2016 movie with a 2016 understanding of internet culture.

Cruel Summer2021

A kidnapping mystery told in reverse, with shifting perspectives and genuine surprises. Absolutely gripping and genuinely twisted. If you want a show that respects its audience's intelligence and patience.

But The backwards chronology can feel gimmicky, and some plot turns strain credibility. Also heavily invested in creating shocking reveals, which doesn't always land.

Into the Badlands2015

Post-apocalyptic world where young people are groomed as warriors. Gorgeous to look at, philosophically ambitious, and genuinely moving about what it costs to raise kids as weapons. Martial arts but also actual stakes.

But Cancelled before its planned ending. The mythology gets dense and not every thread pays off. Also a very different tone—far more meditative and less propulsive than Panic.

The Midnight Club2022

Teenagers at a hospice tell each other horror stories. Uses the frame to explore mortality, connection, and how we find meaning when time is limited. Genuinely eerie and surprisingly moving.

But Relies heavily on atmosphere over plot, which some find glacial. Also cancelled after one season. Mike Flanagan fans will connect more easily.

mid90s2018

Both understand that the real danger for teenagers isn't external—it's the speed at which your friends become your entire moral universe, and how far you'll go to stay in their good graces.

Jonah Hill's directorial debut about a lonely kid finding his people in LA's skateboarding scene. It's all atmosphere and belonging—the opposite of competitive. But it has Panic's insight into how quickly summer can reshape who you are, and how peer pressure moves from friendship into something darker.

But Almost aggressively unstructured. Nothing dramatically 'happens.' Also shot on 16mm, so it has a deliberately dated look some find distracting. Requires patience.

Squid Game2021

Both use competition as a machine to expose what people value and what they'll destroy to survive. The games are the plot; the psychology of desperation is the point.

Korean series about debt-ridden adults competing in childhood games for enormous prizes. It's Panic's spiritual ancestor: desperate people, escalating stakes, and a show that actually commits to consequences. Visually stunning and morally pitiless.

But Relentlessly dark and often brutal. Not escapism. Also requires the full attention subtitles demand, and the emotional weight accumulates—watching it is exhausting in the best and worst ways.