For viewers of crime genres, these shows provide eerie, intense and thrilling feelings that are all too familiar. With the assistance of streaming platforms, obsessively binge-viewing these series’ becomes extremely convenient. It’s this convenience that pulled me into the world of cable crime television, and keeping away has proved to be a challenge of its own.

Over sandwiches and “Law & Order: SVU” this winter break, I had a very long, open conversation with a boy I fell for in high school but never pursued because of my own personal fear of opening...