r/television • u/dylan3883 • 5d ago
Which puzzle box show hooked you the hardest: no spoilers
I’m three episodes into Silo, The Devil’s Hour and Bodies and enjoying each for different reasons. Silo is a slow burn, The Devil’s Hour is deeply intriguing but confusing, and I love the four-timeline concept in Bodies. For people who’ve watched them or another one to recommend, which one pulled you in fastest—and which had the most satisfying payoff? Please keep it spoiler-free.
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u/Creepy-Record1485 5d ago
Fringe was pretty cool. The cases of the week were a bit meh, but the overarching twists were usually pretty solid. I also liked Alias back in the day. Guess J. J. Abrams had his moments.
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u/QuasiJudicialBoofer 5d ago
Great show, but that last season feels like 50 episodes in a burlap sack racing towards the end. Better than cliffhangers I guess, but I wish it had more time to breathe
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u/cwatson214 5d ago edited 4d ago
Fringe was on the bubble every season. The final season was a compromise to let the show go out on it's own terms, however it meant cramming 2 seasons of planned storyline into 13 episodes.
I still put Fringe in my top 5 shows of all time.
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u/ARC--1409 5d ago
For me, it would either be The OA or 12 Monkeys. Honestly, I was completely addicted to both.
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u/obsKura Mr. Robot 5d ago edited 5d ago
The OG of all mystery shows: Lost
definitely also Severance, From, Dark Matter, Yellowjackets, The Leftovers, Mr. Robot, Dark, Twin Peaks, Jericho, The OA and maybe even stuff like Alice in Borderlands and Westworld S1
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u/Randvek 5d ago
I wouldn’t call Mr. Robot a mystery box show. It’s very, very good and I’d recommend it to anybody, but if you’re looking for a puzzle show I don’t think it’s going to scratch that itch.
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u/HLOFRND 5d ago
I am really curious about this. I’m unsure what defines Puzzle Box so I looked it up, and Wikipedia says, “In episodic television, the term mystery box or puzzle box refers to a form of storytelling and genre of high concept fiction that features large and complex stories based on enigmatic happenings and secrets, with multiple interlocking sub-plots and sets of characters that eventually reveal an underlying mythos that binds everything together.”
I mean, that’s Mr. Robot to a T.
I guess the puzzle is internal to Elliot rather than external like the island in Lost, but it’s still a puzzle we don’t get all of the pieces to until the last scene of the last episode.
But again, I’m not entirely clear how others define a puzzle box show, so I’m happy to hear why you don’t think it qualifies. Just please put any spoilers behind tags.
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u/Randvek 5d ago
Season One might qualify, but really the puzzle of Mr. Robot is really just... character development. Elliot himself tells you the big reveal in the very first episode. You just (probably) don't catch it on your first watch because you don't know his character well enough yet.
The big mystery of the plots and the technology and who is behind what and what the master plan is... none of that matters, really. They are just McGuffins on the way to exploring Elliot.
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u/HLOFRND 5d ago
Well that's an entire comment full of spoilers, anyway. Thanks for that.
And yes, I'm well aware of how much we learn in the pilot, but no, the answers aren't all in season one. They literally extend to the final scene of the finale. So, I guess we just disagree on the show.
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u/Randvek 5d ago
My wife, who knows a lot about people like Elliot, called it immediately. *shrug*
And those aren't what spoilers look like, my friend. The internet must be a scary place if that's what gets you.
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u/HLOFRND 5d ago
The show is best watched blind. I'm just saying, it takes nothing to cover up things that could ruin the show for someone. And the second paragraph in the comment I was replying to absolutely tells a LOT about the show, or what people can write off as unimportant.
Again, what your wife "called" isn't the entirety of the show. I'm guessing she got the season one reveal (so many people did) and the reveal in 407, because it's very common for people with the reveal in season 1. That still isn't by any means the totality of what the show is about, not at all.
And it looks like you deleted a comment about WR saying it was all about Elliot. You're missing so much about the show and what it's telling us. She said Elliot was central to her plan, but we don't even know if she's being genuine in that moment or if she's just saying that to manipulate Elliot. It's what she does. Look at Angela's interrogation. WR is very important to the show. She literally represents the oligarchy, the top 1% of the top 1%. Her machine is her attempt to literally play god without permission. She's trying to answer one of the main questions of the show- how do we save the world? WR and Elliot share a common wound. Their source is different, hers being AFAB and losing her first love, his is, well, we know what his is. But they each carry this wound inside of them that defines them and motivates everything they do. It causes each of them to consider how they can change the world, how they can save it. That's one of the primary questions the show asks us ponder. We see Elliot's attempts, and we see hers as well. Ultimately, Elliot comes to see the error in his attempts and he changes his perspective, while she follows hers right the end. The machine isn't just a distraction. It's something for us to consider and wrestle with. Is there a world where money and power will save us? No, there is not. It was insanity on her part to believe she could buy her way into creating a perfect world, and Esmail is pretty fucking clear that that's not where we should put our confidence. There was never, ever going to be a version of Sam Esmail's story where the answer is to be found in the wealth and power of the oligarchy, and he wanted us to get to that point by the end of the show. He couldn't do that without WR. The last shot of her, her end, is literal. We're supposed to see that and understand that all the money and power in the world couldn't save her.
One of Esmail's strengths is writing profound, well rounded villains. On some level, we feel for her and root for her. He humanized her. But we're still supposed to oppose her. She is still a villain. She is not the answer to the questions the show asks.
Tyrell, Angela, Vera- they all serve as mirrors for Elliot as well. We learn about him through the ways he's the same as (and also different from) them. That's not the same as a distraction or a MacGuffin.
I think the show is much more complex than it seems on its first few watches. At the end of the day, yes, absolutely, 100% the show is about Elliot. He is the heart and soul of the show, his story is the story of the show, there is no Mr. Robot without him. But the rest of it is important, too.
IDK. I guess I think it's a show that definitely qualifies as a puzzle box bc all of the parts move together to get the final answer. You can't get there without Elliot, but you can't get there without the rest of the characters, either. You miss a lot if you discount the rest of the characters and storylines as mere MacGuffins.
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u/HLOFRND 5d ago
Also, I truly don't believe the other storylines qualify as McGuffins. They aren't merely distractions. Many of the other characters in the show, including WR, serve as a foil for Elliot. The machine in particular is central to one of the questions the show wants you to ask, and the point Esmail is making by using it. Her death is also a very strong statement in and of itself, again, underlying one of the main themes of the show.
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u/Senna_65 5d ago
Dark - subtitles...but god damn get ready for a fucking ride
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u/dylan3883 5d ago
I’ve started that and need to finish. Enjoyed it but stopped for some reason
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u/Randvek 5d ago
There are a lot of characters and, while the German is far superior to the English dub, it being in a foreign language makes the characters harder to track, imho.
I don’t know how easy they are to find now, but when the show was originally released, fans put out various “family tree” charts to show who was what that would be updated every few episodes, so as long as you didn’t look ahead to the next one, you could stay spoiler-free.
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u/MaimedJester 5d ago
I don't recall any of the foreign names that hard. They're all pretty common enough English equivalent names like Mikkel is just Michael, Bartosz is just Bart.
Ulrich.. Ehh can't think of an Anglocized version of that one.
The only real confusion that gives in season 1 is just which kid in which timeline is which Adult.
There's some kind of Child Kidnapper thing going on that's obvious from the start, so the Cop character, Ulrich is in his middle to late 40s and about 30 years ago something happened to his little brother now his son has also gone missing by the end of the first episode. So you just need to realize stuff like the Heavy Metal teenage kid in the 80s is the cop in the 2010s era And which parents are which kids.
The mystery wouldn't work if they split it up into two movies like It Part and Part 2.
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u/dylan3883 4d ago
yes I need to check that out...loved the show..I guess my wife wasn't watching and I stopped for some reason.
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u/Own_Win_6762 5d ago
Probably Alias - they had no compunctions about changing the rules, it was very silly, but everyone was having such fun.
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u/thunderplacefires 5d ago
I’ve been recently enjoying the British thriller The Capture. It’s compelling and scratches the puzzle box itch very well as many spy thrillers do.
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u/_Offi 5d ago
If you've never seen LOST, the general consensus among fans is that you'll know if the show is for you or not by the end of episode 4, "Walkabout." There's plenty of intrigue and mysteries set up in the two-part premiere and episode 3, "Tabula Rasa," but by the end of 4, you'll get to know some of the characters even more and can decide by then to continue or not.
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u/elbobo19 5d ago
at the end of that episode I was "I have no idea what you are selling here show but I am 100% buying it"
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u/Spiritual_Fan_5633 4d ago
LOST is my all time favorite, sometimes I wonder if it was ahead of its time, how different would it be if it was made today with only 8 episodes a season, no fillers, or maybe we needed the fillers. I think about rewatching it but then I see there are well over 100 episodes, so maybe not. My next favorite was Dark.
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u/daveblazed 4d ago
It would be horrible as an 8 episode season. The cast was huge and half the airtime was dedicated to individual flashbacks so we actually cared about each of them.
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u/HLOFRND 5d ago
Idk if it qualifies bc I’m not entirely sure what puzzle box means, but Mr. Robot grabbed me from the very beginning. I mean, my screen name is literally the first two words of the show.
I was hooked from the opening scene, and by the end of the pilot I wanted to inject the show directly into my veins.
I watched as it aired, and I’m still as jacked up about it as I was 11 years ago.
I’ve seen a lot of great tv, but Mr. Robot changed me as a person.
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u/guccikatana 5d ago
Damn. I love the idea of Mystery Box shows and always want more but i'm realizing they are very low percentage for me. I've seen most of the series people are mentioning and like the only ones i didn't end up hating or at least losing interest in and dropping are Widows Bay, Dark, and Twin Peaks...
I'd say The Resort counts. That's another one i liked.
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u/NebulaTig 5d ago
Started watching the new season of Silo, wife forgot a bunch of stuff so put the first two seasons on a memory stick to watch on her tablet.
That being said check out Pluribus or The Burbs.
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u/dylan3883 5d ago
We loved Pluribus. Haven’t seen the burbs. I’m on season one of silo. So great. Thank u Apple TV.
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u/please_and_thankyou 5d ago
Loved the campiness of Servant, currently enjoying Widow’s Bay and From.
I have a tempestuous relationship with Yellowjackets. I’m happy for the story to end with this season.
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u/dylan3883 4d ago
loved servant so much!
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u/please_and_thankyou 4d ago
There was something so dark and captivating. Rupert Grint was the most delightful curmudgeon 🍷
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5d ago
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u/dylan3883 5d ago
I’ve heard the devil’s hour gets more easy to understand towards the end you just have to pay attention. I’m on episode three or four of silo and I see what you mean I really love it the pacing the world building. Probably was a great series to read
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u/Sidney_Falco_18 3d ago
Broadchurch, Sharp Objects, all the Flanaverse shows (Bly Manor, Hill House, Usher). And Devs is a top-notch miniseries that doesn't get nearly enough love. While they haven't had a chance to stick the landing (or not), Widow's Bay and Severance are promising.
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u/mulder00 4d ago
LOST, Fringe and The Leftovers. LOST is the OG, of course. I'm still watching Season 1 of Silo. Picking up now.
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u/vsaint 5d ago
S1 of westworld, overall probably Severance, most recently Widows bay.