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.
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