Sci-Fi Shows People Still Don't Understand
Featuring plots made up as they went along and cliffhangers left forever unresolved, these sci-fi shows have left some fans scratching their heads for decades.
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00:00Featuring plots made up as they went along, and cliffhangers left forever unresolved,
00:05these sci-fi shows have left some fans scratching their heads for decades.
00:10Netflix's Altered Carbon ran for two seasons, with two different lead stars, Anthony Mackie
00:15and Joel Kinnaman, playing the same character.
00:18And that's the least befuddling part about it.
00:20A cyberpunk thriller, Altered Carbon is set in a future where people can receive new bodies
00:25and swap minds.
00:26Much of the confusion for this show comes simply from its complex fictional universe,
00:30where unusual political and social structures play key roles.
00:34New ideas are often given awkward slang terms that can be tough to pick up.
00:38Factions like the Envoy and the Praetorians have motives and agendas that aren't always
00:42easily defined.
00:44Characters receiving new bodies, or sleeves, thanks to their stack, a disc that contains
00:48their memories and consciousness, is just the tip of the iceberg.
00:52But moving past some already bewildering terminology and intricate world-building,
00:56the series is also a murder mystery that's just as compelling and confusing as anything
01:01you'll find this side of True Detective.
01:03Like many on this list, Altered Carbon is a strange journey through a bizarre sci-fi
01:07world that requires some focus and thought to follow, leaving plenty of audiences perplexed.
01:13Arguably one of the most disappointing sci-fi series of the past 20 years, Under the Dome
01:18was based on an acclaimed Stephen King novel and showed incredible promise in its first
01:23season.
01:24Telling the story of a small town that suddenly finds itself encased in an invisible dome
01:28and cut off from the outside world, the initial batch of stories amounts to a successful mystery
01:33and a suspenseful thriller.
01:35But trying to turn a one-off novel into a multi-season show proved problematic, as the
01:39creators introduced many wildly different elements that seemed to come out of nowhere
01:44to extend the story.
01:45This includes a war among the townspeople, an alliance with aliens, and even an episode
01:50that introduces an alternate reality.
01:53Suddenly, what had initially hooked audiences as a compelling but relatively straightforward
01:57mystery and character drama devolved into baffling sci-fi schlock.
02:01To make matters worse, audiences were left dumbfounded as new storylines came and went
02:06with no explanation.
02:07As a result, ratings fell, and by the time the show was canceled, there were too many
02:12unanswered questions to wrap up the show in any kind of satisfying way.
02:16But despite all the unresolved plotlines, the ending of the show still tries to shove
02:20in a few more in the last episode.
02:22A decade later, Under the Dome is sadly remembered as a frustrating sci-fi adventure that makes
02:28little sense.
02:29In 1978, Battlestar Galactica mixed the fast-paced sci-fi adventure of Star Wars with the wild
02:35theories of so-called ancient astronauts.
02:38It only lasted a year, but garnered a cult following that led to a long-awaited revival
02:42in 2004.
02:44The newer series greatly expands on the mythology of the show, but for some, the added complexity
02:49just makes it more of a puzzle.
02:50In this beloved series, a race of sentient robots known as the Cylons decimates a thriving
02:56civilization whose survivors flee to the fabled lost world called Earth.
03:00The twist?
03:01Some of the human characters are secretly robots in disguise, which was enough to bewilder
03:06plenty of viewers as the show tried to write around its own retcons.
03:10We're Cylons.
03:13And we have been from the start.
03:19The importance of a certain Bob Dylan song also made little sense, even when they tried
03:23to explain it as some kind of prophecy.
03:26But when you learn that series creator Ron Moore has admitted that the Cylons had no
03:30overarching plans, the confusing nature of the show's plot starts to make more sense.
03:34Of course, the most downright frustrating aspect of the series might be its shoehorned
03:39religious ideas of destiny and faith, which often feel like exercises in holosymbolism.
03:44In the final episode, a major character is implied to have been a heavenly angel all
03:49along, and an attempt to hastily resolve a series-long riddle suggests everything was
03:54just God's doing.
03:55For a show whose initial appeal was its grounded, gritty realism, it still went on to confuse
04:00plenty of hardcore sci-fi fans.
04:03The epitome of serialized stories that were sort of made up as they went along, Lost starts
04:07as a plane crash survivor character drama.
04:10But before the end of the pilot episode, the series becomes a captivating supernatural
04:14mystery as new sinister forces are revealed on the island.
04:24By the end of its run, the story includes time travel, alternate realities, and even
04:28some religious symbolism.
04:30For the most part, though, the addition of the more fantastical elements works.
04:34It's just that there's so much going on that it becomes overly complicated, and, as a result,
04:39fans have been left puzzled for years.
04:41While some audiences were more than confused by much of the show's story, those with a
04:45keen eye were able to follow along.
04:47But with so much to keep track of, it often feels like much of the larger philosophical
04:51issues at play are left to languish.
04:54The show's focus on fate and free will kind of fizzles out, and some plot points and characters
04:58that are implied to have deeper meanings are pretty much dropped altogether.
05:02A lot of this can be chalked up to the writers acknowledging that they had no idea where
05:06they were going with the story, or they kind of had an idea but had to change it to keep
05:10network executives happy.
05:12Not that it's any consolation to confused viewers.
05:15The sci-fi conspiracy thriller Mr. Robot stars Rami Malek as cybersecurity engineer and hacker
05:21Elliot Alderson, who is enlisted by an enigmatic figure called Mr. Robot to aid in his hacktivist
05:27causes.
05:28In a world of intricate and complex conspiracies involving monolithic corporations, faceless
05:33governments, and shadowy agents, the web of lies and back-alley deals in this fictionalized
05:38New York City gets tricky to follow.
05:40But to add an extra level of confusion, Alderson suffers from serious anxiety, depression,
05:45and multiple personalities, meaning he can often be an unreliable narrator.
05:49To emphasize Alderson's troubled mental state, the show is often intentionally confusing.
05:54Even the show's most passionate fans have commented that serious attention is required
05:58to fully grasp the story and connect every dot.
06:02Major revelations as early as season one proved mind-boggling to many viewers, while others
06:06insisted that all will be explained by the series finale.
06:09But no matter how many times some fans watch it through, there's just so much densely
06:14plotted action on top of confusing themes that it sometimes feels like Mr. Robot is
06:18more trouble than it's worth.
06:20Even those critical of the show have acknowledged the quality of its writing, acting, and directing.
06:25So if you're willing to put in the work to understand Mr. Robot, you'll be handsomely
06:28rewarded.
06:30Running three seasons, the Netflix series Dark revolves around a child kidnapping that
06:34reveals an elaborate scheme by sinister forces that stretches back decades.
06:39Between its convoluted time-travel plot and examination of the human condition, Dark was
06:43called mentally exhausting by Paul Tassi of Forbes magazine — and for good reason, as
06:48we're still struggling to figure everything out years later.
06:51Even when binged, as many did in 2020 when the series was coming to a close and millions
06:56were trapped inside, Dark proves elusive to understand.
06:59The series explores time travel in a way that few others have, and forces you down a maze
07:04of ancestry that can be very challenging to keep track of, unless you've printed out
07:08a family tree.
07:09We meet characters when they're young and old.
07:12We meet their forebears, their descendants, and sometimes the ways in which they are related
07:16isn't always so obvious.
07:18But that's hardly the only challenge, as we also discover much of the series is set in
07:22divergent timelines, adding a whole other layer of complexity.
07:26The series never lets up, either.
07:28It continues introducing new and confusing elements right up until the end, giving you
07:32no time to get acclimated to changes and fluctuations in time and dimension.
07:37Like a turbocharged X-Files, Fringe follows an FBI agent thrown into the world of the
07:42bizarre.
07:43This series also deals with more than just aliens and the paranormal, though.
07:46In fact, by the end of the show's first season, it has introduced an entire parallel earth
07:51in an alternate timeline that is seemingly at war with our own.
07:55With multiple versions of the same characters, each with hidden agendas, things only get
08:00more complicated.
08:01Some viewers had trouble figuring out how things are connected, who is doing what, and
08:05why.
08:06Then there's the war between strange visitors from an alternate future, whose own motives
08:10seem to shift from season to season.
08:12The problem with this one, however, might be the opposite of Lost, as Fringe seems to
08:16have been planned a little too well at times.
08:18The show does a good job of dropping hints about future storylines, but they are often
08:22buried a bit too deep.
08:24I realize, whoever you are, that this must seem very complicated.
08:29It is.
08:30Extremely.
08:31The series may have bitten off a little more than it could chew in season four, where both
08:35realities merge and still makes for a confusing viewing experience today.
08:39Meanwhile, stories that push the envelope with intentional misdirects only serve to
08:43further muddy the waters.
08:45With a vast and intricate mythology that can be hard to understand, there are still
08:49plenty of questions left unanswered on Fringe.
08:52We've seen shows that are confusing because of intricate webs of plot, and stories that
08:56were written on the fly and are filled with plot holes.
08:59But The OA is something else entirely, a series that is baffling but might have been comprehensible
09:04were it not unceremoniously canceled before it could resolve its biggest questions.
09:09A series that ends on one of the most jaw-dropping twists in TV memory, it begs for a follow-up
09:14season that never came.
09:16The OA stars Britt Marling as a young blind woman who has been missing for seven years
09:20but pops up with a new name and her vision restored.
09:23She speaks only to a small group of allies, and reveals that more missing persons can
09:27be saved through a strange dimensional portal that serves as a gateway between multiple
09:31realms.
09:32But if that sounds strange, wait until you get to the more magical and mystical parts
09:36of the show, including characters who suddenly manifest supernatural powers.
09:41This includes one young woman who can communicate across realities, a psychic nightclub octopus,
09:46a shadowy mystic with a mysterious past, robots, and a quantum-leap style body transfer that
09:52allows characters to inhabit their own selves in other realities.
09:56Think you're confused after that brief description?
09:58Wait until you watch it.
10:00Just don't expect to get any answers, as we're still trying to figure it out, even knowing
10:03we will never get a resolution.
10:06Decades before every other entry on this list, the British sci-fi mystery thriller The Prisoner
10:11was well-known for its mystifying story and mind-bending visuals.
10:15Due to the technological limitations of the era, it's remembered more for sheer weirdness
10:20rather than special effects, making The Prisoner a spiritual precursor to the likes of Twin
10:25Peaks.
10:26The series starred Patrick McGowan as a secret agent who resigns from his post only to be
10:36abducted and held captive on a strange island where nothing is as it seems.
10:40Beyond its odd nature, The Prisoner became a groundbreaking landmark series that influenced
10:45multiple genres, but despite its legacy as arguably one of the greatest single-season
10:50TV shows of all time, it's also one of the most confusing ever produced.
10:54McGowan's intelligence agent is only ever called Number Six, while his captors attempt
10:59to break his will week after week for some nebulous purpose.
11:02Meanwhile, strange sights like giant balloons that can incapacitate people, as quaint as
11:07they might seem to audiences today, were unlike anything anyone had seen at the time.
11:11But beyond its unusual style, the story is less than literal, playing out largely in
11:16metaphor and allegory, with every prop and plot beat seemingly hiding some kind of deeper
11:21meaning and significance.
11:22A series meant to be experienced and pondered, the story had little in the way of a concrete
11:27conclusion, and fans have debated its meaning for nearly 60 years.