--- title: "Unorthodox Fits Its Story Into Four Episodes, and Ten Other Short Series Do the Same" description: "If you want a complete story without a long commitment, these series run from four to nine episodes." url: https://gaming.skoop.news/10-near-perfect-netflix-miniseries-with-less-than-10-episode-499ad1/ published: 2026-11-02T15:31:28.273821-05:00 modified: 2026-11-02T15:31:28.273849-05:00 section: "Gaming & Streamers" publisher: "skoop.news" language: en keywords: ["Dotted Line", "First Love", "Midnight Mass", "Tear Along", "Central Park Five", "Father Paul Hill", "Giri", "Haji", "Japan", "London"] hashtags: ["#DottedLine", "#FirstLove", "#MidnightMass", "#gaming", "#gamingclips"] image: https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Central_Park_New_York_October_2016_panorama_1.jpg/1280px-Central_Park_New_York_October_2016_panorama_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail --- # Unorthodox Fits Its Story Into Four Episodes, and Ten Other Short Series Do the Same > If you want a complete story without a long commitment, these series run from four to nine episodes. Published 2026-11-02 · Updated 2026-11-02 · Gaming & Streamers, [skoop.news](https://skoop.news/) ## In brief - Unorthodox has four episodes, which is all it needs to follow Esty, a young Jewish woman who escapes an ultra-conservative community and unhappy marriage [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). - In Bodies, a dead body suddenly appears in London in four different points in time [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). - The Queen's Gambit spans the mid-1950s and early 1960s and follows chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), who rises up the ranks while dealing with addiction [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). ## Four episodes in Berlin Unorthodox has four episodes, which is all it needs to follow Esty, a young Jewish woman who escapes an ultra-conservative community and unhappy marriage [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). She seeks refuge with her estranged mother in Berlin [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). If you want a short series, this is the shortest one in this roundup. Tear Along the Dotted Line runs six episodes and focuses on Zero (Zerocalcare), an Italian cartoonist [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). Pluto is an eight-episode ONA that follows Europol robot detective Gesicht [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). ## Mysteries and crime In Bodies, a dead body suddenly appears in London in four different points in time [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). Four investigators work to solve the case of the same body appearing in the same area [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). Ripley stars Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, a petty white-collar criminal in New York [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). It is based on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley and is shot entirely in monochrome [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). Giri/Haji centers on Tokyo detective Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira), who travels to London to search for his presumably dead brother [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). The brother's connection to a killing threatens to ignite a yakuza war back in Japan, and the series uses eight chapters to tell the story [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). ## Period pieces and true events The Queen's Gambit spans the mid-1950s and early 1960s and follows chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), who rises up the ranks while dealing with addiction [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). An orphaned girl discovers, with the help of custodian Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp), a gift so extraordinary that the game becomes both an obsession and an escape [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). The Collider list calls it a compact seven-episode run [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). Godless follows outlaw Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), who runs away from his abusive mentor and ends up in a town almost entirely populated by women [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). In the Central Park jogger case of 1989, five teenagers of color were wrongfully accused of the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, who was out on a run [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). When They See Us, created by Ava DuVernay, dramatizes the case by humanizing the Central Park Five [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). ## Love, obsession and faith First Love is set in late 1990s Japan and follows teenagers who fall in love and dream of a future together [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). Adulthood, personal tragedies, and unexpected circumstances tear them apart, and the story takes nine episodes [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). In Baby Reindeer, Donny (Richard Gadd) offers free tea to a distressed middle-aged customer, Martha (Jessica Gunning) [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). Her obsession with him then becomes dark and unpredictable [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). Midnight Mass has seven episodes [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). It follows Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford), who has returned home after spending four years in prison, on the isolated religious setting of Crockett Island [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). A mysterious priest, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), arrives there, and the strange events that follow begin to reshape the town's desperation, fear, and faith [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). The seven episodes are slow-burning but never feel wasted [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). ## What this means for you If you have time for four episodes, Unorthodox is the pick, and Tear Along the Dotted Line takes six [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/) [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). The Queen's Gambit and Midnight Mass each run seven episodes [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/) [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/). Pluto and Giri/Haji each run eight episodes or chapters, and First Love runs nine [[1]](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/) [[2]](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/). ## Sources 1. [10 Near-Perfect Netflix Miniseries With Less Than 10 Episodes Each](https://www.polygon.com/netflix-miniseries-near-perfect-binge-watch/) — Polygon 2. [The 10 Best Netflix Shows With Less Than 20 Episodes, Ranked](https://collider.com/best-netflix-shows-shorter-than-20-episodes/) — Collider Image: Photo: King of Hearts / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_Park_New_York_October_2016_panorama_1.jpg) --- Written from the sources above and checked twice (rules and an independent model) before publishing. How we work: https://skoop.news/how-we-work/ · Corrections: https://skoop.news/corrections/