Trying to figure out what's going on in these shows can be mentally exhausting. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the shows that started out intriguing, but wound up too convoluted for their own good.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the shows that started
00:09out intriguing, but wound up too convoluted for their own good.
00:13This is your spoiler warning.
00:24Number 10 – Outer Range
00:34This show joined a string of prestige westerns on TV, this time with a unique sci-fi twist.
00:46A rancher family's lives are turned upside down after the discovery of a mysterious,
00:50seemingly bottomless pit on their land, which has time travel properties.
00:53It's an intriguing premise, and the cast is great.
00:56However, as the show goes on, the rules behind the time travel get more confusing and contradictory.
01:01Unfortunately, given that Amazon cancelled the show, audiences are unlikely to get a
01:05satisfying wrap-up to the series to untangle everything.
01:14Number 9 – Pretty Little Liars
01:20This teen series follows a group of friends whose secrets and lies are threatened with
01:24exposure by an anonymous blackmailer years after the disappearance of one of their friends.
01:28The combination of soapy teen drama and many twists and turns help to gain a loyal following.
01:33However, even the most loyal fans must admit that the show's plot got a little too convoluted
01:38over time.
01:50Some reveals contradicted previous ones, creating increasingly frequent plot holes.
01:54And sure, we're not expecting prestige drama here, but is a little consistency in storytelling
01:59too much to ask for?
02:10Number 8 – Fringe
02:18An underrated sci-fi masterpiece, Fringe sees a group of FBI agents team with a quirky scientist
02:23to solve cases involving unusual or bizarre science.
02:27Although the series begins as a procedural, Fringe gets increasingly more serialized over
02:31time, such that casual viewers probably had difficulty keeping up.
02:35Parallel universes, time travel, and dystopian futures all play major parts in the storyline.
02:49Those aren't exactly known for being simple, straightforward plot elements.
02:52It's a fantastic show, with great character development and lore that remains surprisingly
02:56consistent.
02:57Still, we don't blame the network TV crowd for getting as confused by it as Walter Bishop
03:01is on any given day.
03:09Number 7 – The Witcher
03:23Based on the highly popular fantasy books and video games, The Witcher follows the monster
03:27hunter Geralt.
03:28There's also his younger charge, Ciri, love interest Yennefer, and a bevy of other supporting
03:33characters.
03:34Honestly, the show starts pretty complicated, given that it purposely splits its narrative
03:38into several different time periods that come together over the course of the first season.
03:50Things don't really get any more coherent from there, given that subsequent seasons
03:54introduce various subplots and more political scheming.
03:57While there's some of the quality that made the franchise a big hit in other mediums on
04:00display, a lot of the nuance and detail has been diluted.
04:08Number 6 – Doctor Who
04:24Given that it's THE time travel show, it's no surprise that Doctor Who can often get
04:28more complicated than it needs to be.
04:30Admittedly, many of the Doctor's adventures throughout time and space can be relatively
04:33self-contained.
04:35But when the show delves into obscure bits of its extensive lore, or starts using time
04:39travel as a plot element rather than a way to change settings, that's when things can
04:43get hard to follow.
04:54Doctor Who has been around over half a century, and although it has a lot of love about it,
04:58its long history also makes it tough to keep track of everything, and that's not even
05:01considering the extended universe.
05:10Number 5 – Riverdale
05:18Who would have thought an adaptation of Archie Comics would escalate so quickly?
05:22Despite beginning as a murder mystery, Riverdale branches out into several other genres, which
05:26include time travel and various supernatural events.
05:29New plot points and character decisions can tend to contradict previous ones.
05:33By the final season, Riverdale is barely recognizable as the same show.
05:52The fact that chilling adventures of Sabrina and Katie Keene are evidently set in the same
05:56universe doesn't make things any easier.
06:09Keeping track of everything in a show based on Archie should not be this difficult.
06:13Number 4 – Westworld
06:24Films rebelling against their human creators in a western theme park makes for great TV,
06:28don't get us wrong.
06:29The incredible performances, timely themes involving artificial intelligence, and great
06:33twists and action make Westworld a fantastic show.
06:37However, there's no denying that its presentation can get a bit too complicated, especially
06:41as the seasons continue.
06:49The themes are philosophical and complex enough, never mind that the show takes place across
06:53multiple time periods and partially inside simulations, and simulations within simulations.
06:58Add to that the confusion over who's a host and who's not, and we can see why Westworld
07:02proved tough to keep up with.
07:12Number 3 – Lost
07:27This series really lived up to its name for some viewers.
07:30A landmark show in serialized storytelling, Lost debuted to much fanfare.
07:34Its story about a group of plane crash survivors on a mysterious island is augmented by flashbacks
07:39to the characters' past before the island.
07:50Each new mystery and twist had everybody talking and theorizing.
07:53However, between the flashbacks, flash-forwards, time travel, and alternate timeline, Lost
07:59could become more than a little difficult to keep track of for the average viewer.
08:02Plus, it arguably became the poster child for why mystery box storytelling can sometimes
08:06backfire with some of its many questions failing to be answered.
08:18Number 2 – Twin Peaks
08:31Finding something David Lynch has done that isn't confusing is a Herculean task, and
08:35Twin Peaks brings the director's own brand of weird to the small screen.
08:39The show initially follows the investigation into the murder of Laura Palmer, but as it
08:43goes on, Twin Peaks becomes more about the various bizarre mysteries in the eponymous
08:47town.
08:48While the quirky and endearing characters are memorable, the ambiguous and surreal events
09:03can make unraveling what's actually going on pretty difficult, and anyone wishing for
09:07closure or at least explanations after the show was revived probably had these hopes
09:11dashed.
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09:42Number 1 – Dark
09:54The setup of this German Netflix series is simple enough.
09:56A kid goes missing in a small town, and long-buried secrets come up during the investigation.
10:01But it's the execution that makes Dark one of the most fiendishly complicated shows
10:04to ever air.
10:09There's a lot of time travel involved.
10:20The show takes place across multiple time periods and timelines and features a few dozen
10:25characters played by multiple actors.
10:27Keeping track of who's related to who could be a full-time job on its own.
10:30Even characters have trouble keeping things straight.
10:37What complex show had your head spinning?
10:39Clarify things for us with your picks in the comments.