Television series
The Fixers
A breezy odd-couple caper about two fixers who clean up messes for the ultra-rich — think concierge service with a body count. Christopher Lee and Shou Lou trade banter while untangling absurd rich-people crises, until a shadowy competitor starts sabotaging their jobs. It's fast, glossy, more interested in charm than menace, and perfect for anyone who wants their crime drama light on its feet.
If you liked this
Leverage2008
A crack team of grifters fixes wrongs for people the system failed, each episode its own slick little con — funny, propulsive, and endlessly satisfying when the plan clicks into place.
But The formula repeats hard; if you don't like the reset-every-episode structure, five seasons of it will wear thin.
Burn Notice2007
A literal professional fixer, burned by his own agency, solves other people's problems for cash while working his own case on the side — wisecracking, sun-soaked, deeply comfortable.
But The voiceover explaining spy tricks gets cute fast, and the show never really wants to surprise you.
White Collar2009
A conman and the fed who catches him team up, and their prickly, reluctant partnership carries the whole show — stylish crimes, warm chemistry, low stakes done well.
But It's gentle where you might want teeth; nobody here is ever in real danger.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Sting1973
This is the blueprint The Fixers is riffing on — the stylish odd-couple con, playing sharper crooks off richer marks, done with total confidence back in 1973.
Two con men, one seasoned and one green, run an elaborate long con against a dangerous mark, all ragtime charm and impeccable style — the mismatched-grifter formula decades before it got a Netflix budget.
But It's a slow burn by modern pacing standards, and its twists reward patience rather than spectacle.
More like this (8)
Killing Eve2018
Two women locked in a fatal game of cat-and-mouse across glamorous cities, shot through with dark, unpredictable humour — a mismatched pair whose dynamic is the whole engine.
But Later seasons lose the tonal control of the first, and the ending divides people badly.
Lupin2021
A magnetic conman pulls elaborate heists against Paris's elite, powered by pure charisma and old-fashioned style — if you want the fixer's swagger without the cynicism, start here.
But The plotting is looser than it looks; some twists rely on luck more than cleverness.
House of Lies2012no page yet
Slick management consultants scheme and manipulate their way through corporate messes for rich clients, all fast talk and moral compromise — same fixer-for-hire DNA, sharper suits.
But It's cynical almost to the point of exhausting, and the characters are hard to root for.
La Casa de Papel2017
A crew of professionals with code names pulls off audacious jobs against impossible odds, all operatic tension and stylish confidence — big, glossy, unapologetically fun.
But It runs long and repeats its own tricks; the melodrama can tip into soap opera.
Barry2018
A hitman trying to go straight gets pulled between two lives, and the mismatched relationships around him generate both huge laughs and real dread — pitch-black comic control.
But The comedy curdles into something much darker as it goes, which isn't what you'd want if you're after pure lightness.
Fargo2014
Each season drops an odd, mismatched pair of criminals and cops into a fresh crime story soaked in dry Midwestern humour and sudden violence — endlessly inventive anthology crime.
But The tone swings harder into bleak, brutal territory than anything comic in The Fixers, and each season demands ten-plus committed episodes.
In Bruges2008
Same double-act chemistry and dark wit as The Fixers, but pushed toward guilt and consequence instead of caper fun — what the premise looks like once the stakes are made real.
Two hitmen holed up in a Belgian town trade brilliant, filthy banter while waiting on orders that will change everything — the same mismatched-partner comedy, but with real moral weight underneath.
But It swerves from riotously funny to genuinely tragic without warning, so go in ready for that whiplash.
Spy×Family2022
Swap 'fixers for the rich' for 'spy family' and it's the same engine — two skilled operators with secret lives, forced into a partnership neither chose, playing it for laughs.
A spy and an assassin pose as a married couple, each hiding their true profession from the other, in a warm, wildly inventive comedy about mismatched professionals faking normal life together.
But It's anime, it's frequently silly, and the family-sitcom sweetness is a world away from crime-drama cool.
