History MindScrew / LiveActionTV

* Once upon a time (June the 11th, 1934, to be more precise) in UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}, a child was born. This wasn't especially uncommon in itself, but it just so happened that this child was named Staffan Westerberg... One day, when he was 41 years, 2 months and 22 days old, (in other words, it was now September the 1st, 1975) [[ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime Staffan became the producer and show host]] of what was ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids supposedly]]) a children's show, ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Vilse i Pannkakan, Lost in the Pancake]]''. This show featured finger puppets that Staffan played with, all of them with [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Names]], like the titular main character, Lost. It also included, amongst many other things, a CorruptCorporateExecutive potato, a [[{{Hobos}} Hobo]], a firefighter who [[FireMenAreHot gets it together]] with a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent motorized angel]] and, naturally, a moose; [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs all living on the titular pancake]]. Oh, and the show was actually AnAesop about society and politics... These days, [[NightmarefuelStationAttendant Staffan Westerberg]] is [[NiceJobBreakingItHero singlehandedly blamed for the psychological problems of the entire 70's generation.]]

** The plot of the Silence throughout Season 6 is particularly convoluted, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Q5baJ223M this]] video humorously points out.

** They did it again with "Mystery Spot". Was it all just a dream? Did Dean actually die and go to hell? The people that were killed (by Sam and the Trickster), do they remain dead? And the fact that Dean's "We can't be martyrs anymore" speech (which has so many things wrong with it that I don't know where to begin) in ''No Rest For The Wicked'' is almost an exact copy of the Trickster's speech just carries the MindScrew further.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}''. They can fill the rest of this page with arguments back and forth about whether or not ''Lost'' is "really" that much of a Mind Screw, but, in all honesty, this trope is the show's whole reason for being. Either ''Lost'' ''is'' a Mind Screw, or else this either isn't a trope or ''Lost'' isn't a show. You decide which. Like ''Lost'' does. Some examples from the show include its dream sequences and some particularly odd bits surrounding a cabin. One trippy episode was even set to be directed by Creator/DarrenAronofsky.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]]: The audience never learns who, what or ''how'' the monster was, why it took over Sky and wanted to kill the Doctor, if there even ''was'' a monster or just a bunch of terribly conjunctive mishaps... the only thing we can be sure of is HumansAreBastards. And it's one of the best episodes of the show.

* "Failed {{pilot}}" ''Virtuality'', which can only be described as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' meets ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' meets ''Series/BigBrother'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]] (with some ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' and ''Film/{{eXistenZ}}'' for flavor) from the producers of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''. The Mind Screwiness is made worse by the fact that it's an ''unfinished'' pilot. Breaking it down:

* ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'': Considering it was heavily influenced by ''Series/TwinPeaks'', this is unsurprising.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. The name says it all.
** Especially when the AlternateUniverse aspect really kicks in at the end of the second season.

** Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' managed its MindScrew with the middle four episodes of [[StoryArc "The Trial of a Time Lord"]] (it being called "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E2Mindwarp Mindwarp]]" should have been a clue). [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe The final two episodes]] of the arc attempted to clear up the MindScrew elements. Due to a number of reasons, especially ExecutiveMeddling and AuthorExistenceFailure, it failed miserably.

* ''Reichenbach Falls''. A [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Four]] one-off drama based on an idea by Ian Rankin. DCI Jim Buchan is an Edinburgh policeman whose personality and cases are similar to those of Rankin's Inspector Rebus (the ''Literature/{{Rebus}}'' novels sometimes tend towards mildly Mind Screwy in any case). He resents his former friend Jack Harvey (a pen-name used by Rankin) who is a famous crime novelist and occasionally argues with the ghost of [[SherlockHolmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] (hence the title). He gradually becomes aware that [[spoiler: he's a fictional character created by Harvey, and the author is planning to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Drop A Bridge On Him]]]] (again, hence the title). He, therefore, decides, at the launch of Harvey's new book, that he's going to kill the author first. After that, it gets ''weird''.

** [[BigBad The First Evil]] likes to pretend it is other people in order to make its chosen targets do its bidding, go insane, commit suicide, etc. In season seven, it liked to imitate Buffy. We are usually shown when this is the case but there are times where she acts so out of character it raises the possibility that the audience is not actually watching Buffy, but The First.
** The title sequence of the show always ends on a zoom in to Buffy’s face; but in season seven, this is actually a zoom in on ''The First-as-Buffy’s face''. Which makes this deliberately meta.

** The plot of the Silence throughout season 6 is particularly convoluted, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Q5baJ223M this]] video humorously points out.

** Season two ups the ante. Season one ends with the show canceled, which means when ''the executive producer steps in and personally covers the camera,'' that should be the end of their whole existence. Yet... here comes season two, with a recap of season one that is only about 75% accurate, and what happens in the Delusion World affects what happens in the real world. Oh, you know how back in season one, during the battle that first tore open an entrance to the real world, there were actually ''two'' rifts? Yeah, it turns out the rift Marushina ''didn't'' step through is important. ''Very'' important. In the interest of avoiding massive spoilers and a more massive WallOfText, let's just say the {{Mind Screw}}-itude will be '''doubled.'''
* ''Film/TooManyCooks'' - what starts out as a parody of family sitcoms becomes a work com, a cop show, a ''Franchise/GIJoe'' pastiche, and a ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' pastiche, all of which is revealed to center on a reality-distorting cannibalistic serial killer on the run from space police... and ''then'' it starts to get weird.

* ''Series/RussianDoll'' dips its feet into this regularly, especially in the last few episodes where [[spoiler:things start disappearing and the deaths become much more surreal, such as Nadia coughing up a glass shard while a younger version of herself stands directly in front of her, spouting cryptic messages.]]

* Every last damn thing about the ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' season 3 finale. "There's too much confusion", ''indeed''.

* RealityTV example: ''Series/CrissAngelMindfreak''. Much like the name of the trope itself, it is also a watered down version of the term best used to describe his feats.

** The protagonist's nightmares in "The Two Faces of Evil".

** Mikey and the Llama. Enough said.

** You can't ignore it, they have [[http://i.imgur.com/UyNxJiv.jpg charts]]!

* Sarah's dream sequences in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''.

* ''Series/TwinPeaks'' is known for this. Even from a non-story perspective, it's very weird.
* There's a great Japanese show called ''Uchu Keiji Shaider''. You can bet it will contain something like mind-controlling dolls, or people doing a demonic dance or some really odd-looking chroma key!

* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' can easily be renamed: MindScrew: The Show.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' :

* ''Series/RussianDoll'' dips it's feet into this regularly, especially in the last few episodes where [[spoiler:things start disappearing and the deaths become much more surreal, such as Nadia coughing up a glass shard while a younger version of herself stands directly in front of her, spouting cryptic messages''

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%%* In the introduction for the "Wrestling/WrestleMania Roundtable" of ''Series/TheWrestlingKennection'', Zack and Ken weren't sure what to expect for the opening video. However, given their slack-jawed expressions, they certainly were not expecting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSnwQsZybN8&feature=share&t=24m3s this]].
%%* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' can easily be renamed: MindScrew: The Show.