History Main / FlashbackBPlot

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations2'': Case 3 has two flashbacks to when the originating incident happened, with the rest taking place in the present and revolving around finally solving the incident.
* ''[[VideoGame/KatamariDamacy We Love Katamari]]'' has the main plot of the Prince and his cousins rolling Katamaris for their fans on Earth, but all of the cutscenes involve flashbacks to the King's troubled childhood.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': In season 1, the A-story of each episode focuses on life in the town of Storybrooke, while the B-story takes place in flashback showing life before the curse in Fairy Tale land. The flashbacks and the A-story focus on the same character, showing what their lives were like before and after the curse.

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Each episode in the first season follows the Crane siblings in the present time, but the B-plot of almost all episodes are flashbacks of their time as children in the eponymous haunted house, and are slowly telling the events that led to their mother's mysterious death.

[[/folder:Theatre]]

* Inverted in ''ComicBook/{{Katmandu}}'': The whole story is told this way: After the third issue onwards, the plot switches between stories told by Leahtrah to either Thorin or their children about her ancestor Liska, and how the latter became a warrior.

* In the ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfics ''Fanfic/HeroClassCivilWarfare'' and ''Fanfic/LockedInDigital'', the stories are arranged this way, with the main plot (the titular exam in the former, and Izuku trying to live a normal life in the latter) interspersed with past events (the 7 day prep of the villain team and Izuku going through his nearly year long [[TrappedInTVLand deadly simulation run]]) within the same chapters.

* ''Film/ThreeIdiots'', which focuses on the titular three idiots in the past and the future (separated by a five-year gap), inverts this. Although it begins and ends with the future plot, it's really more about the characters' lives as college students in the past, with occasional cuts to the future. Case in point, all of the film's [[FilmiMusic musical numbers]] happen in the past.

* ''Film/Deadpool2016'' combines this with HowWeGotHere: The present-day battle on the highway against Francis's goons is interspersed with flashbacks telling the title character's origin story, which explains why Deadpool is trying to hunt down Francis in the present.

* ''Film/{{Memento}}'' has a version of this, though because of the film's structure the more prominent story is told BackToFront. The main story sees Leonard interacting with people around town, while the secondary story consists of shorter black and white scenes of him in his room mostly talking about his memory condition, either on the phone with someone or to himself in SecondPersonNarration. [[spoiler:The two stories converge at the end, making the movie one story told from both beginning and end.]]
* Inverted and used in conjunction with FramingDevice in ''Film/MemorialDay'': WWII veteran Bud Vogel's war experiences are told through a series of flashbacks while he explains his them to his grandson Kyle, while the film also flashes forward to an adult Kyle developing his own war experiences similar to Bud's.

* Creator/AlanGarner: ''Thursbitch'' uses this trope with some crossover between times in a small hamlet in England.

* ''Literature/DarkPlaces'' takes place like this. The "present" story tells Libby's chronological attempts to figure out who murdered her family, while the "past" section chronologically retells [[ExtremelyShortTimeSpan the last day of Libby's mother's life from her perspective and that of her apparent killer, her son Ben.]]

* "Second Person, Present Tense" also by Daryl Gregory has a more downplayed version of this, with the second half alternating between the present day and the main character's foggy memories of before her overdose on the "Zen" drug.

* Each book in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' features a plot thread told in flashback, focusing on a different character. ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' focuses on Kaladin, ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' on Shallan, ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'' on Dalinar, and ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'' on Eshonai and Venli.

* ''Literature/UseOfWeapons'' has a version, as the story is told through chapters alternating between those going in normal chronological order and those in reverse order that reveal Cheradenine Zakalwe's past, which merge in the finale.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': ''[=SkyClan=]'s Destiny'' works this way, with the current-day story of [=SkyClan=] interspersed with chapters from Stick's point of view, back before he left the city, some time earlier than the main events of the book.

* ''Literature/WiedergeburtLegendOfTheReincarnatedWarrior'': {{Enforced}}. Multiple chapters per book open with flashbacks to the BadFuture that main character Eryk Vieger came from, which author Brandon Varnell started doing because it gave him an excuse to write sex scenes for Eryk before he formally got together with his BattleHarem in the PeggySue timeline (which takes until about volume 6).

** This is a big part of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', with the first five seasons alternating between the present day and the five years that Oliver Queen spent on the island of Lian Yu (but also Hong Kong and Russia, unknown to everyone else) that [[HowWeGotHere turned him into the vigilante we see at the start of the series]].

** ''Series/TheFlash2014'' has a number of these, as you would expect from a spinoff of ''Arrow'':

*** "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S1E17Tricksters Tricksters]]" shows what really happened [[spoiler:with the Reverse-Flash and Harrison Wells after the former killed Barry's mother.]]
*** "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S1E20TheTrap The Trap]]" is somewhat of a SequelEpisode to "Things You Can't Outrun", in that it uses a similar format to show the time when Barry was in a coma (which was right after the accelerator explosion). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSqq2kLk0A0 A deleted scene]] would have added another flashback to the episode, from Caitlin's point of view.

** The ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' episode "Quid Pro Quo" uses this, with the A plot being Constantine trying to save Chas's daughter, and the B plot being a flashback to when Constantine accidentally made Chas [[Main/ResurrectiveImmortality semi-immortal.]]

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}:'' "[[Recap/FireflyE08OutOfGas Out of Gas]]" mixes this with AnachronicOrder. The episode begins with Mal collapsing to the floor of the dark and deserted ''Serenity''. As he struggles to treat his injuries and repair the ship, flashbacks alternate between [[HowWeGotHere the immediate lead-up to this event]] and the backstory of how Mal first purchased the ''Serenity'' and [[EveryoneMeetsEveryone assembled his trusty crew]].
* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': Used in the first two seasons, but eventually dropped. While the A-story would show what was happening to the characters in the afterlife, the B-story would use flashbacks to show what the characters were like while they were still alive.
* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Each episode in the first season follows the Crane siblings in the present time, but the B-plot of almost all episodes are flashbacks of their time as children in the titular haunted house, and are slowly telling the events that led to their mother's mysterious death.
* Not ''entirely'' told through flashbacks, but it's heavily centered around them: One season 1 episode of ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' focuses on the students seeking treasure and having their usual drama, but involves a subplot about [[WeUsedToBeFriends Victor and Sarah]] remembering moments from their childhood, told through flashbacks, in order to give more context about their complex relationship and Victor's [[ImmortalitySeeker quest for eternal life]].

* Played with in the mini-series ''Series/ThePrisoner2009''. The protagonist resigns from his job working for an intelligence organisation in New York, and shortly afterward finds himself trapped in a mysterious and isolated Village. As the A-plot follows his investigation of the Village, occasional scenes show his actions back in New York immediately following his resignation, apparently leading up to showing how he ended up in the Village at the beginning of the series. [[spoiler:It turns out that, due to the supernatural nature of the Village, the protagonist is simultaneously in the Village ''and'' still in New York, and the scenes in New York aren't flashbacks, but are happening at the same time as the other events of the series.]]
* The first two seasons of ''Series/{{Quantico}}'' jump back and forth between Alex's time at the titular academy (or, in the second season, her time at The Farm), and the present.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' Credenza has a series of [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy dreams]] showing her friendship with [[ChekhovMIA Uru]].
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the "The Legend of Diane" storyline is structured this way with flashbacks to Diane's past especially her dating history.

** "[[Recap/BojackHorsemanS4E02TheOldSugarmanPlace The Old Sugarman Place]]" follows two stories taking place at the titular Michigan home. The A-plot has [=BoJack=], having impulsively fled Los Angeles, spend a year fixing up the abandoned house with help from his new neighbor. The B-plot flashes back to the [=1940s=], when [=BoJack=]'s mother Beatrice spent summers there with her family, and [[TroubledAbuser the trauma that her family endured when she was still a child]].[[note]]While it's true the two stories don't focus on the same character, FlashbackEffects are used enough times to consider it this trope rather than MeanwhileInTheFuture.[[/note]]

* They are spread out over the course of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' with each Autobot on the Spacebridge crew getting one or two episodes focused on their past and how they came to be on the team.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' finale, Operation INTERVIEWS has the adult team revealing to the audience [[spoiler: and Father]] what happened on their final mission with [[spoiler: Numbuh 1]].