Shock and awe, right off the bat! Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the mind-bendingest plot twists from the very first episodes of TV shows. There are obviously going to be a few spoilers.
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00:00 Quite the little climber, aren't you?
00:03 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the mind-bending plot twists from the very first episodes of TV shows.
00:13 We'll be leaving off animated shows, and there are obviously going to be a few spoilers.
00:18 - Do you want to meet Grandpa? - You're kidding? She's one of us now. Let me see your little sticker.
00:23 Number 10. Aunt Robin, How I Met Your Mother
00:29 As this sitcom opens, future Ted assures us he'll be telling us the story of how he met the mother of his children.
00:36 It was like something from an old movie, where the sailor sees the girl across the crowded dance floor, turns to his buddy and says,
00:43 "See that girl? I'm gonna marry her someday."
00:46 The pilot's meet-cute between Ted Mosby and Robin Scherbatsky is certainly romantic,
00:51 with twists and turns that promise it will be one happily of an ever after.
00:56 But just at the end, narrator Ted unexpectedly reveals to his kids that the would-be bride is their aunt, not their mother.
01:03 Because that, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin.
01:08 - Aunt Robin? - I thought this was how you met Mom.
01:12 Sure, we don't expect them to just get it right away, but the two just seem like such a superb fit,
01:17 that it's shockingly subversive to learn that Robin isn't the one.
01:21 True, the divisive finale complicates this eventuality, but when the series began,
01:26 this crazy twist had us scurrying like a cockamouse for more.
01:30 I'll miss this private war of ours. I grew to admire your tenacious holy mother of God.
01:35 It's headed this way!
01:37 A place to be free, to stake out our dreams.
01:46 A place with unlimited possibilities.
01:50 At the start of this increasingly complicated science fiction series, James Marsden plays Teddy,
01:55 whom we think is a human patron of a western-themed amusement park full of android hosts.
02:00 However, during a shootout with a group of bandits, he is killed by another guest, the sadistic Man in Black.
02:07 Goddamn, feels good to be back.
02:10 Let's celebrate!
02:12 Teddy's subsequent return to the park with his brain wiped for another day of playing out stories for wealthy park guests' entertainment,
02:18 clues us into the show's existential themes.
02:21 Teddy's death also teaches the audience how we have to watch this show.
02:25 Everything about this world, and everyone in it, is a big question mark.
02:29 You came back.
02:31 I told you I would.
02:33 What's wrong?
02:42 This acclaimed series begins with chemistry teacher and rookie drug kingpin Walter White fleeing through the desert in an RV,
02:49 wearing only his underwear and a gas mask.
02:52 The sounds of sirens fill the air, and he realizes he's caught.
02:56 Things, things that you'll come to learn about me in the next few days.
03:01 I just want you to know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart.
03:09 It's a bracing introduction to an average Joe in way over his head.
03:13 The rest of the episode is a flashback, telling us why he changed careers.
03:18 You got nothing. Square one.
03:21 But you know the business, and I know the chemistry.
03:26 But the end of the episode returns us to this first scene, and reveals that the sirens belong to passing fire trucks,
03:32 and they had nothing to do with his criminal activities.
03:35 It's a huge relief for him, but it also gives him the confidence to take his new and dangerous career even further.
03:42 Jen and Judy meet in a support group for people dealing with grief.
03:51 Excuse me. How do you forgive someone who hits your husband with their car,
03:55 and then drives away, leaving him to bleed to death on the side of the road?
03:59 How do you forgive that?
04:00 Jen lost her husband in a yet unsolved hit-and-run car accident, and Judy has suffered multiple miscarriages.
04:07 But as we come to find out, Judy's not in Jen's life by accident.
04:11 As the first episode closes, Judy visits a storage unit where the car that hit Jen's husband is hidden.
04:17 Shout hallelujah. Come on, get happy.
04:19 If Judy seemed just a little eccentric up to this point, the audience now has no idea what to expect from her.
04:26 The suspense this revelation introduces to their budding friendship over the first season is pretty much what makes the entire show tick.
04:33 Be nice having you there.
04:35 Thank you.
04:38 Now can I give you a hug?
04:40 No.
04:41 Come here.
04:50 The first iteration of Rod Serling's anthology series introduced his fondness for twist endings.
04:56 We got that much settled, I'm an American.
04:58 You see, there's some question about my identity.
05:02 Let me put it to you this way, I'm not sure who I am.
05:05 Our very first look into the Twilight Zone found a man with no memories, wandering in a world devoid of people.
05:11 Driven to the brink of insanity, the man is revealed to be an astronaut,
05:15 participating in a sensory deprivation exercise, training for an eventual solo mission to the moon.
05:20 His feeling of being watched was real, although the rest of the hallucination was not.
05:25 On top of capturing the space race era's fascination with the moon, it set a standard for the show's iconic surprise endings.
05:32 Next time it won't be just a box and a hanger, will it?
05:35 No, Mike. Next time you'll really be alone.
05:39 The Doctor and Susan are time-traveling aliens.
05:44 Doctor Who.
05:45 What are you doing here?
05:46 We're looking for a girl.
05:48 Really?
05:49 Before it was one of the most well-established TV franchises in history,
05:52 audiences had no reason to expect what strange delights would be revealed in this BBC science fiction oddity.
05:58 The time-traveling, shape-shifting Doctor is introduced as a curmudgeonly old man,
06:04 who lives in a junkyard telephone box with his first companion, his granddaughter Susan.
06:08 So tell everybody about the ship now.
06:10 Ship?
06:11 Yes, yes, ship. This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know.
06:15 You mean it moves?
06:17 The TARDIS can go anywhere.
06:18 TARDIS?
06:19 Two of Susan's schoolteachers follow her there,
06:21 and the secret of the TARDIS is revealed to them and to the perplexed audience for the very first time.
06:27 Initial reviews were mixed, at best.
06:29 However, if six decades of entertainment is any indication,
06:33 the premise was plenty interesting enough to keep devoted fans hooked.
06:37 Are you coming, Susan?
06:40 Oh, no, Grandmother, no!
06:42 Get me going. Get back to the ship, child.
06:45 Hold it!
06:46 Number 4. Split between time periods.
06:49 This Is Us
06:50 Hey, big three.
06:52 Do you three know how much I love your mother?
06:55 I mean, do you even have any idea?
06:58 Seemingly about a group of characters who just share the same birthday,
07:01 This Is Us may have been a good but fairly conventional familial drama without its pilot episode twist.
07:07 The premiere ends with the revelation that three of the characters we've been following don't just share a birthday,
07:12 they're also siblings.
07:13 36 years ago, you left me at the front door of a fire station.
07:17 Now, don't worry, I'm not here because I don't want anything from you.
07:19 I was raised by two incredible parents.
07:22 I have a lights-out family of my own.
07:24 Not only that, but two other characters are actually their parents from a past timeline.
07:29 The show's time-period split became a component of every episode afterward.
07:33 How about you? Which one's yours?
07:35 None of them, actually.
07:37 Strangest damn thing.
07:39 Someone left a newborn at my fire station.
07:42 I didn't know what to do, so I brought him here.
07:44 Glimpses into the past and the future injected the Pearson family's present with suspense, scope, and emotional heft.
07:51 #3 Everyone Is Related - Modern Family
07:55 Presented in the mockumentary style made famous by shows like The Office,
07:59 this ABC sitcom initially presented three families with some unique characteristics.
08:05 We're very different.
08:07 Jay's from the city, he has a big business.
08:11 I come from a small village, very poor, but very, very beautiful.
08:16 One storyline features a couple with an age gap.
08:19 Another highlights a same-sex couple adopting a child.
08:22 And the third is about two parents finding it hard to allow their daughter to grow up.
08:26 You don't have any reason to assume the three widely different family units are connected until the pilot's last scene.
08:32 May I take your multicolored, coat-and-be-jeweled cap?
08:35 Yeah.
08:36 Hey.
08:37 Hey, Jay.
08:38 Gloria.
08:39 Hi.
08:40 How are you?
08:41 Hi, Gloria.
08:42 The revelation that they are all part of the same extended family gives some meaningful context to their eccentricities and problems.
08:48 The big twist of Modern Family is emblematic of what the show is ultimately about.
08:53 They may be different, but they're all connected.
08:55 Hey, you're a cutie, aren't you?
08:58 Look at this.
09:00 We're from different worlds, yet we somehow fit together.
09:06 Things began simply enough.
09:12 A group of people awaken on a deserted island after a deadly plane crash.
09:16 Hey, get in!
09:23 Get out! Come on! Come over here!
09:26 They all have their own backstories and traumas, but they're all forced to work together to survive.
09:31 That's enough drama for an entire series.
09:34 But Lost turned things up several notches by introducing an actual supernatural monster.
09:40 As the survivors settle in for their first night, they hear its rumbling through the trees.
09:44 Its destructive power is seen at the end of the episode when the plane's pilot is yanked from the cockpit and killed.
09:52 [screaming]
09:54 The twist opened up an entirely new world of terrible possibilities.
10:04 From then on, Lost was never just about people marooned on a remote island.
10:08 Did you see it?
10:10 No. It was right behind me when I dove into the bushes.
10:15 Guys, how does something like that happen?
10:20 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:25 Sam Tyler wakes up in 1973, Life on Mars.
10:29 What starts as a police procedural turns into a time-traveling science fiction piece.
10:34 Who the hell are you?
10:35 Gene Hunt, your DCI, and it's 1973. Almost dinner time. I'm having hoops.
10:40 Mabel knew Tim Kono. Only murders in the building.
10:44 A true crime podcaster knows more about a recent murder victim than she was letting on.
10:48 Because let's be honest, sometimes it's easier to figure out someone else's secret than it is to deal with your own.
10:58 The Mandalorian meets the target. The Mandalorian.
11:01 The galactic bounty hunter's target turns out to be an infant named Grogu.
11:06 Species age differently. Perhaps it could live many centuries. Sadly, we'll never know.
11:17 Mick Dreamy is the Mick boss. Grey's Anatomy. That's one way to make a first impression.
11:23 Dr. Shepard, we should pretend it never happened.
11:25 What never happened? You sleeping with me last night? Or are you throwing me out this morning?
11:29 Because both are fond memories I like to hold on to.
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11:48 Number 1. Bran Stark is pushed from the tower. Game of Thrones.
11:53 This epic HBO fantasy series announced its intentions to shock us right from the jump.
11:59 Brandon! I saw the king. He's got hundreds of people.
12:04 How many times have I told you? No climbing.
12:07 If anyone was going to be safe in this world of sword-swinging warriors and the undead, surely it's Bran Stark, the protagonist's young son.
12:16 I want you to promise me no more climbing.
12:20 At the conclusion of the series premiere, Bran catches siblings Jaime and Cersei Lannister in a compromising position.
12:26 In response, Jaime viciously shoves Bran from a high window, presumably to his death.
12:32 Fade to black. Roll credits.
12:34 Things I do for love.
12:36 We find out in episode 2 that he's still alive, but what a way to end the episode.
12:41 It was as much a twist as it was a warning to anyone watching that this show is not afraid to go to very dark places.
12:48 What series premieres left you speechless? Let us know in the comments.
12:53 I didn't picture that.
12:56 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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13:06 Thanks for watching!