3 hot new Netflix documentaries to stream this weekend (May 1-3)
It may be May, but documentary zealots still have a few new titles to check off their lists on Netflix that squeaked in at the tail end of April, and are just getting traction on the streaming service now. Which is really good news, because as we enter the month and wait anxiously for everything coming to Netflix to arrive, there are still some good doc options to be had for U.S. subscribers.
Chief among them are the three stellar picks below. One is a romance conundrum of murder and morality that no one should ever be caught up in, another is a scandal in the world of New Jersey dressage that ended in gunfire and a messy trial, and the last is a palate-cleansing portrait of one of the most charismatic soccer players in the history of the sport.
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Should I Marry a Murderer?
Till death do you part … or if you’ve killed someone
This is one of those juicy, real-life stories that documentaries are made for—an unbelievable tale so sordid and titillating that you can’t believe it wasn’t dreamed up by John Grisham or something. Should I Marry a Murderer? is Netflix’s latest true crime thrill ride, a three-part, head-spinner from Britain that tells the story of Dr. Caroline Muirhead, a forensic pathologist in Scotland. In 2020, Muirhead swiped right on Tinder and fell in love with Highland farmer and gamekeeper Alexander McKellar (whom friends called “Sandy”). In less than a year, the couple was engaged and preparing to spend their lives together.
This is where the needle scratches across the record, folks. Maybe it was her forensic curiosity, but when Muirhead asked McKellar if he, you know, had any skeletons in the closet she should know about. It turns out he did. McKellar then confessed that the quite literal skeleton was 63-year-old Royal Navy veteran Tony Parsons, whose body McKellar and his twin brother, Robert, had buried in a Highlands peat bog after they had accidentally run him over in 2017. For three years, Parsons was treated as a missing person, a secret that plagued McKellar … until he met Caroline.
Muirhead tells the story, in her own words, of how she wrestled with the heartbreak and moral implications of Sandy’s confession, while staying engaged to him as she gathered evidence and even convinced him to lead her to the body. The thrilling docuseries includes never-before-seen footage from Muirhead’s own archives and candid interviews with those involved in the case. It’s early for Rotten Tomatoes ratings, but Should I Marry a Murderer? is a fascinating, spiraling true-crime ride.
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Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill
An Olympic equestrian, his dressage student, and two bullets to the chest
The fourth instalment in the sixth volume of Netflix’s popular Untold series of documentaries, The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill premiered on April 21 and is 73 minutes of scandal, a tragic shooting, and a wild high-profile court case—who knew the world of dressage could be so cutthroat?
Directed by documentarian Grace McNally (Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey), this quick watch gallops into the much-publicized 2019 shooting at the Long Valley, New Jersey, equestrian training facility known as Hawthorne Hill, which was owned and operated by Michael Barisone, a world-class dressage competitor, Olympian, and renowned coach.
But something was building up between Barison and one of his students, Lauren Kanarek, drawing police to the facility several times over the course of 10 days. Things came to a head on August 7, 2019, when, after a heated altercation with Kanarak and her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, Barisone shot Kanarek in the chest twice.
Using archival footage, accounts from investigators, and dramatic interviews with Kanarek and, for the first time since his acquittal, Barisone, The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill examines the near-fatal shooting, the bizarre story of what led to it, and the court case that followed.
Quiz
Which Netflix hit is this quote from?
Trivia challenge
These lines could belong to almost any show — but only one is right.
Sci-FiDramaHorrorActionMystery
Which show contains the line: “The darkness doesn’t scare me. It never did. It’s the light that lies.”
Correct! This brooding line belongs to Wednesday Addams in Wednesday, perfectly capturing her gothic worldview and distrust of cheerfulness. The show leans heavily into Wednesday’s sardonic philosophy, making lines like this feel entirely at home in her deadpan delivery.
Not quite — this line is from Wednesday. While Dark and Stranger Things both deal heavily with darkness and fear, this particular sentiment belongs to Wednesday Addams, whose entire worldview is built on embracing shadow and suspecting the sunny side of life.
Which show contains the line: “We didn’t travel through time to save the world. We traveled through time because someone had to remember it.”
Correct! This reflective line is from Dark, the German sci-fi thriller that made time travel feel less like adventure and more like a haunting responsibility. Dark is known for its philosophical weight, and its characters often speak about time with grief rather than wonder.
Not quite — this one belongs to Dark, Netflix’s mind-bending German series. Stranger Things uses time and alternate dimensions too, but Dark treats time travel as a tragic burden rather than an exciting power, and that distinction shows in lines like this one.
Which show contains the line: “I didn’t come this far to be someone else’s story. I came to write my own.”
Correct! This defiant declaration is pure Monkey D. Luffy energy from One Piece. Netflix’s live-action adaptation kept the spirit of Eiichiro Oda’s original manga alive, and Luffy’s dream of becoming King of the Pirates fuels lines exactly like this one throughout the series.
Not quite — this line is from One Piece. Squid Game is also about survival and self-determination, but its tone is far bleaker. One Piece thrives on bold, adventurous declarations of freedom, which makes this quote a natural fit for Luffy and his crew chasing the Grand Line.
Which show contains the line: “They don’t come from another world. They come from the part of this one we buried.”
Correct! This line is from K-Pop Demon Hunters, where the mythology ties demonic forces directly to suppressed cultural trauma rather than alien dimensions. The show cleverly roots its supernatural horror in the idea that what humanity represses eventually resurfaces in monstrous form.
Not quite — this is from K-Pop Demon Hunters. It’s easy to guess Stranger Things here since the Upside Down has similar vibes, but K-Pop Demon Hunters distinguishes itself by framing its monsters as manifestations of buried history and cultural wounds rather than extradimensional invaders.
Which show contains the line: “The rules were never meant to protect us. They were meant to protect the people who made them.”
Correct! This line cuts to the heart of Squid Game’s central critique of capitalism and systemic inequality. The show’s entire premise is built on the idea that the powerful design games — and societies — in ways that guarantee their own survival at everyone else’s expense.
Not quite — this one is from Squid Game. One Piece also challenges corrupt authority figures like the World Government, but Squid Game delivers this message with raw, contemporary urgency. The show uses its brutal game format as a direct metaphor for economic systems rigged against the vulnerable.
Which show contains the line: “I’ve seen things in that lab that would make you stop believing in coincidence forever.”
Correct! This line belongs to Stranger Things, where Hawkins National Laboratory serves as the epicenter of government experimentation and supernatural horror. The show repeatedly frames the lab as a place where the boundaries of science and ethics were catastrophically crossed, changing everything for the town of Hawkins.
Not quite — this is from Stranger Things. While Dark also features scientific experiments with devastating consequences, the specific reference to ‘that lab’ points directly to Hawkins Lab, the shadowy government facility that accidentally tore open a gate to the Upside Down in season one.
Which show contains the line: “Smiling is the costume everyone wears before they show you who they really are.”
Correct! Classic Wednesday Addams. This line is from Wednesday, and it captures her signature suspicion of warmth and social performance perfectly. The show is full of her sharp, cynical observations about human behavior, delivered with the same flat affect that made the original character iconic.
Not quite — this is from Wednesday. Squid Game might seem like a strong guess since it’s all about masks and hidden motives, but this particular brand of dry, gothic cynicism belongs squarely to Wednesday Addams. Her entire character arc in the show involves learning — reluctantly — that not every smile hides a monster.
Which show contains the line: “Every stage you survive just means they’ve found a better way to kill you next time.”
Correct! This line is from Squid Game, where the escalating lethality of each game is both the show’s dramatic engine and its darkest joke. Contestants quickly learn that surviving one round is never cause for relief — the next challenge is always designed to be more psychologically and physically devastating.
Not quite — this one is from Squid Game. The show’s genius is in how it turns children’s games into elimination rounds with mounting dread. Stranger Things has its own escalating monster threats, but Squid Game makes the manufactured, deliberate cruelty of each new stage a core part of its social commentary.
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1
Ronaldinho: The One and Only
The man behind the smile that ruled world soccer
Even if you were a passing soccer fan, like me, during the early 2000s to the early 2010s, chances are good that you were blinded by the infectious, toothy smile of Ronaldinho on TV, as the world-famous FC Barcelona/AC Milan player and World Cup winner ran up and down the pitch. Fans of the legendary player are going to want to check out this new three-part Netflix docuseries, Ronaldinho: The One and Only, that traces the charismatic Brazilian’s epic career, through the highs and the lows, and to the present day.
Like any good biographical doc, it starts at the beginning, using rarely seen home videos and archival footage from the childhood of Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, and works its way through—from his hometown of Porto Alegre to joining Barca at just 23 years old to winning two La Liga titles and a Champions League before moving to AC Milan in 2008. And, of course, it highlights the 2002 World Cup, where he played alongside legends Ronaldo and Rivaldo. Ronaldinho: The One and Only also takes a look at some of the darker moments in his career and personal life, including his party years and notorious stint in a Paraguayan prison.
Broken up into three episodes titled “Everything Was Part of a Plan,” “The Best in the World,” and “Who Said I Was Finished?”, the highlight of the series is the interviews. They include tons of on-screen time with present-day Ronaldinho himself, as well as with some of the sport’s biggest names, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr., and more.
Netflix is the home to all kinds of excellent documentary movies and series, but they’re not always the easiest to find. We put out weekly lists like this to help, but if you ever want to dig deeper on your own, try Netflix’s handy search codes.
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Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.
