Good mysteries are exhausting to do effectively.
It’s important to play honest, giving the viewers sufficient clues to determine the reality however not so many clues that the reply is clear.
Some TV mysteries had been so effectively completed that we kicked ourselves for not realizing the answer earlier than it was revealed, and we’re celebrating these mysteries right now.
Ideally, all reveals ought to have a little bit of thriller, so a few of the finest ones are reveals you would not count on, comparable to cartoons or comedies.
Each style of present can maintain sure issues secret, teasing viewers with clues in order that they assume they know what is going on on however should tune in to search out out in the event that they’re proper.
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Please scroll down to take a look at our high 9 mysteries. A few of these we solved ourselves, whereas others we could not imagine we missed.
[NOTE: This list contains spoilers, as it reveals the solutions to mysteries, so keep that in mind if you haven’t watched all the shows on our list.]
1. The Identification of the Mom – How I Met Your Mom
Though How I Met Your Mom is usually related to Neil Patrick Harris’s Barney, the present’s premise rested on a season-long thriller: who was the mom the principle character informed his youngsters about?
The Mom, ultimately revealed to be named Tracy, was hinted at as early as the primary season, with what appeared to be a joke about Ted assembly a stripper named Tracy.
Clues had been sprinkled all through the remaining seasons, most famously when Ted spent quite a lot of time with the Mom’s roommate, Cindy, who was consistently jealous of her roommate.
After the sequence ended, followers had been outraged by the Mom’s random demise, which meant that Ted and Robin might get collectively quite than the Mom turning out to be any of the principle characters.
However, there have been sufficient clues that sharp-eyed viewers might have found out this plot twist earlier than the tip.
2. Who Rose Quartz Actually Was – Steven Universe
Steven Universe was a unusual Cartoon Community sequence a few boy who lives with the Crystal Gems, mineral aliens with magical powers, and whom he helps on numerous adventures.
All through the sequence, Steven learns extra in regards to the Crystal Gems and that the alien race has a questionable previous. He has to unravel numerous mysteries alongside the best way, one in every of which entails the identification of Rose Quartz.
Rose Quartz is a Crystal Gem initially launched as a frontrunner who led a profitable revolt in opposition to the Gem Empire.
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All through the sequence, Steven learns extra in regards to the conflict between the Crystal Gems and the Empire, together with that his mom was assassinated by somebody named Pink Diamond — who seems to nonetheless be alive and, the truth is, is Rose.
Rose was usually depicted as a nonconformist who strongly believed in making one’s destiny quite than accepting the identification given to 1. She usually wearing pink, which was one other clue to her identification.
3. Who Killed Laura Palmer? – Twin Peaks
Thirty years earlier than the Showtime reboot, Twin Peaks was a unusual sequence a few small city filled with secrets and techniques. It revolved across the thriller of who killed native teenager Laura Palmer.
The sequence mixed customary clues with supernatural and different unusual happenings all through the primary season and a half.
This could have tipped viewers off that the answer to the thriller can be something however conventional!
One early sequence had Laura’s father, Leland, develop a head filled with white hair in a single day, suggesting one thing was incorrect with him.
This foreshadowed the concept Leland was possessed by BOB, an evil entity that drove him to kill his daughter in a match of rage.
4. Henry Thorpe Is the Primary Antagonist – Sugar
Jason Butler Hamber’s presence might need given away his character’s true identification for some viewers. This actor is presented at enjoying seemingly beautiful guys who turn into evil.
Henry Thorpe was exactly that form of character on Sugar.
He appeared incapable of injuring anybody, first showing at Ruby’s occasion and seeming so timid and inconsequential that nearly no person observed him.
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All through the season, nonetheless, Henry turned more and more consequential to the story.
By the tip, the reveal that he was an alien who tortured human girls as a part of sinister experiments is each stunning and utterly logical.
5. Crowley’s True Intentions – Rabbit Gap
Jason Butler Hamber additionally seems on Paramount+’s Rabbit Gap, a one-season sequence during which Kiefer Sutherland performs an espionage agent framed for homicide, however he isn’t the principle villain.
He once more performs a man who appears to be a very good man however helps Crowley, the principle antagonist.
Crowley’s evil intentions had been once more extra obvious on reflection than upon first viewing, particularly for viewers aware of Peter Weir, who performed him.
Weir virtually at all times performs a villain, so why ought to this character have been an exception, particularly with a reputation like Crowley?
6. Patrick Lloyd is An Overly Apparent Villain — Designated Survivor
I do know Terry Serpico as Regulation & Order: SVU’s Chief McGrath, who just lately resigned after years of being an annoying division head.
Nonetheless, he additionally performed the villain within the first season of Netflix’s Designated Survivor.
Designated Survivor is, because the title implies, about the one survivor of a lethal assault on the Presidency ascending to the highest place whereas looking for the perpetrator.
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Serpico’s character, Patrick Lloyd, was the CEO of a now-defunct army agency who would have had entry to poison fuel and a powerful motive to kill the President.
This was a case of basic misdirection, during which the answer to the thriller was so apparent that viewers thought it could not presumably be right.
7. Lily Kane’s Killer – Veronica Mars
The primary season of Veronica Mars centered on the title character’s seek for solutions after her finest buddy was murdered.
Lilly Kane’s killer was performed by Harry Hamlin, which was one main clue. Hamlin is finest recognized for L.A. Regulation however usually performs villains, and this function was no exception.
This season-long thriller included false leads and pink herrings earlier than revealing who killed Lilly and why.
Every episode contained sufficient clues that sharp-eyed viewers might work out the thriller, despite the fact that it wasn’t essentially straightforward.
8. Who Susan Twist Was Taking part in – Physician Who
The most recent season of Physician Who concerned two mysteries, and one in every of them was extra solvable than it appeared.
All through the eight-episode season, actress Susan Twist appeared in bit elements in every story.
Showrunner Russell T Davies purposely led viewers to imagine she was enjoying the Physician’s granddaughter, Susan, just for it to be revealed that she was a vessel for Sutekh, the god of demise who had final appeared 50 years earlier.
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This thriller was simpler to unravel should you had been a long-time fan aware of the unique story, however there have been references to Sutekh all through the episodes.
Episode 7 additionally contained an anagram fakeout that additionally included the actual reply. Susan Twist was revealed to be Susan Triad, and her firm was Sue Tech, a homonym of Sutekh.
9. The Identification of the Erinsborough Poisoner – Neighbours
The Australian cleaning soap Neighbours just lately supplied a compelling thriller with an answer underneath our noses.
Ever since Dr. Gavin Bowman got here to Erinsborough, he appeared shady and was quickly revealed to be a serial sexual harasser who threatened Remi when she reported him to HR.
Nonetheless, Holly’s idea that Bowman was poisoning folks so he might play the hero on the hospital and get out of hassle appeared like one more wild hypothesis on her half, particularly after she was incorrect twice earlier than and practically bought arrested for attacking a podcaster she thought did it.
But Holly was right, and the clues added up as soon as she laid them out for her pals, not that anybody listened to her.
Over to you, TV Fanatics.
Which TV mysteries have you ever solved these days?
Hit the feedback and tell us!
Jack Ori is a senior employees author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is out there on Amazon. Observe him on X.
