Too Late to Love Me

This is the kind of guilty-pleasure serial that knows exactly what it is. On the surface this is a Revenge serial, but underneath it is a story about payback served cold — and "Too Late to Love Me" plays both layers for all they are worth.

Eighteen years ago, during a violent uprising, Duke Jesse abandoned his five-year-old daughter to save himself and his heir. The show then spends its runtime on genuinely satisfying dramatic irony: the lowborn orphan the family tramples and nearly destroys is the very girl they cast away. Every humiliation lands twice — once for the audience, once for the reckoning being assembled.

Tropes on the menu: family bonds, strong female lead. Episodes are bite-sized, the cliffhangers are ruthless, and the payoff lands faster than most full-length shows manage in a season.