History Main / NotSoEpisodic

* In ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', most of the seemingly unrelated cases the Garan-no-dou agency investigates in the early episodes (as well as, to a lesser degree, Shiki's car accident) are revealed to have been the handiwork of Buddhist monk-turned-MadScientist Araya Souren, half-way through the series. Even after Shiki kills him, two more chapters are devoted to cleaning up the mess left behind after his master plan was foiled.

ArcWelding is similar, but involves a {{Retcon}} of the originally genuinely standalone episodes into a new MythArc. Compare also ContinuityCreep, where an episodic plot gains more and more continuity but not necessarily incorporates early episodes into it; and ConnectedAllAlong, which is about characters and their relationships (rather than plot events) being interconnected. Also see InnocuouslyImportantEpisode.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': The season 2 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E09WejDuj wej Duj]]" starts off as a seeming LowerDeckEpisode (yes, for a show already about lower decks) on three different ships (the ''Cerritos'', the Klingon Bird-of-Prey ''Che'ta[='=]'', and the Vulcan cruiser ''Sh'vhal''). Except all three storylines eventually converge and serve as TheReveal of the season's plot arc. Just for fun, they also show brief scenes on the lower decks of a Pakled clumpship (showing Pakleds talking about food) and a Borg cube (showing regenerating drones).

* In ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', most of the seemingly unrelated cases the Garan-no-dou agency investigates in the early episodes (as well as, to a lesser degree, Shiki's car accident) are revealed to have been the handiwork of Buddhist monk-turned-MadScientist Araya Souren, half-way through the series. Even after Shiki kills him, two more chapters are devoted to cleaning up the mess left behind after his master plan was foiled.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' starts off as a "LighterAndSofter ''[[Series/TheXFiles X-Files]]''" with a MonsterOfTheWeek format. The ongoing plot arc doesn't really get going until late in season 2--but after that, the writers have great fun referring back to the events of the early episodes (which can be done in creative ways as the arc involves [[spoiler:{{Parallel Universe}}s]]).

* In ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', most of the seemingly unrelated cases the Garan-no-dou agency investigates in the early episodes (as well as, to a lesser degree, Shiki's car accident) are revealed to have been the handiwork of the overarching villain, Araya Souren, half-way through the series. Even after Shiki kills him, two more chapters are devoted to cleaning up the mess left behind after his master plan was foiled.

''Much of Literature/''HarryPotterAndThePhilisophersStone'' feels like a series of unconnected vignettes about life at Hogwarts. At the end, nearly everything that happened is shown to be relevant to the conflict with Voldemort over the Philosopher's Stone.

*** The fourth and fifth case of the second game: [[spoiler:Gregson was killed by Seishiro Jigoku, an associate of Stronghart, to keep him from blabbing about the cosnpiracy]].

** In the first ''VideoGame/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' game, the first three cases involve a murder of a detective, an interpol agent, and a butler, as well as a kidnapping. All three of the culprits turn out to be connected to a foreign smuggling ring run by the BigBad (though the third one only tangentially), and the last two cases bring the pursuit of this criminal to the forefront.

* Most ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games are set up like this, with multiple self-contained murder cases ending up being linked through reveals in the final episode. The second game in the ''Investigations'' spinoff series is the best example though, as besides the killer of the first case being the victim of the second, the connections between each case are very subtle until the very end, leading them to feel like MonsterOfTheWeek plots at first. As a rundown:
** Case 1: The President of Zheng Fa? [[spoiler: Actually a body double who killed the real one and took over.]] One of his bodyguards? [[spoiler: The BigBad's childhood friend, whom, unbeknownst to him, said BigBad now hates, which is why he pushed him into murdering a fellow bodyguard.]] The totally-not-an-assassin ice cream salesman? [[spoiler: Hired by the BigBad to kill the fake president.]]
** Case 2: An ex-assassin inmate in the prison's high-security wing? [[spoiler: The BigBad's ParentalSubstitute due to the past event detailed in Case 5.]] The animal tamer at the circus? [[spoiler: The game's Big Bad, and the one behind everything.]] The prison warden? [[spoiler: Part of a conspiracy involving the fake president, which is why the BigBad sets her up to murder Case 1's killer.]]
** Case 3: The victim from the past? [[spoiler: Father of Case 1's killer, but the BigBad mistakenly thinks he's ''his'' father.]] A witness from the past who appears, much older, in the present? [[spoiler: The BigBad's REAL father, and fleeing the country after committing a murder resulted in the BigBad being put in an OrphanageOfFear, which led to him witnessing an assassination.]]
** Case 4: The senile old coroner? [[spoiler: Involved in Manfred von Karma's evidence forgery.]] The head of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee? [[spoiler: Part of the evidence forgery coverup in Case 3, and ''also'' the third part of the fake president conspiracy, who murdered multiple witnesses to keep them quiet.]]
** Case 5: The AdorablyPrecociousChild? [[spoiler: Biological son of the ''real'' president of Zheng Fa.]] This case's victim? [[spoiler: The fake president from Case 1, here killed by the BigBad.]] The SS-5 incident? [[spoiler: The assassination of the real president of Zheng Fa, which took place at the orphanage the BigBad was at, which was run by the warden from Case 2. The BigBad witnessed the president's murder as a child, and saved the hired assassin when the conspirators planned to go ContractOnTheHitman. This led to his extreme misanthropy, and his elaborate plot to make the three conspirators lives' hell by any means necessary.]] Phew.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': The season 2 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E09WejDuj wej Duj]]" starts off as a seeming LowerDeckEpisode (yes, for a show already about lower decks) on three different ships (the ''Cerritos'', the Klingon Bird-of-Prey ''Che'ta[='=]'', and the Vulcan cruiser ''Sh'vhal''). Except all three storylines eventually converge and serve as TheReveal of the season's plot arc.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': The season 2 episode "[[/Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E09WejDuj wej Duj]]" starts off as a seeming LowerDeckEpisode (yes, for a show already about lower decks) on three different ships (the ''Cerritos'', the Klingon Bird-of-Prey ''Che'ta[='=]'', and the Vulcan cruiser ''Sh'vhal''). Except all three storylines eventually converge and serve as TheReveal of the season's plot arc.

* In ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'', most of the seemingly unrelated cases the Garan-no-dou agency investigates in the early episodes (as well as, to a lesser degree, Shiki's car accident) are revealed to have been the handiwork of the overarching villain, Araya Souren, half-way through the series. Even after Shiki kills him, two more chapters are devoted to cleaning up the mess left behind after his master plan was foiled.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' starts off with the simple, goofy one-episodes conflict typically of children's shows, but steadily drops hints about the Crystal Gems' backstory and the nature of their kind. Then at the end of the first season it's revealed that [[spoiler: there are other gems who have sinister plots regarding the Earth]]. Now there's rarely an episode that doesn't contribute in some way to the [[spoiler: Homeworld Gems]] storyline or someone's CharacterDevelopment[=/=]HiddenDepths, [[BreatherEpisode though there are still a few]].

* ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'' starts off looking like it will be a road story about the Elric brothers visiting various AdventureTowns and [[WackyWaysideTribe Wacky Wayside Tribes]]. Around the time of the first encounter with Scar, however, it becomes clear there’s a much bigger plot afoot and that many of the previous misadventures [[InnocuouslyImportentEpisode were more important than they seemed]].

* ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'' starts off looking like it will be a road story about the Elric brothers visiting various AdventureTowns and [[WackyWaysideTribe Wacky Wayside Tribes]]. Around the time of the first encounter with Scar, however, it becomes clear there’s a much bigger plot afoot and that many of the previous misadventures [[InnocuouslyInnocentEpisode were more important than they seemed]].

* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' is all light-hearted one-off stories. Season two introduces [[KnightsOfCeberus Lord Dominator]], and each episode deals with her threat in some way or another. Even in episodes when she doesn't appear, she is mentioned at least once as someone that needs to be dealt with.