History MindScrew / LiveActionTV

* ''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''

* During the taping of one of his comedy specials, comedian Howie Mandel once executed a MindScrew on a person from one of the front rows who got up to go to the restroom. As soon as the poor unfortunate was out of earshot, Mandel had the audience in the vicinity of his seat rearrange themselves, and then continued with his act. When the audience member returned and stood, confused, in the aisle trying to find his seat again, Mandel stopped his act to "help" him for several minutes while the audience went wild, before revealing the gag and letting everyone go back to their original seats.
** Additionally, comedian Mark Watson will frequently extol the virtues of randomly chasing people, and will do so if people get up. If he fails to catch them, he will MindScrew them by sitting in their seat, waiting for them to return.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E22Restless Restless]]". [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E21Primeval The previous episode]] is the climactic battle against that season's BigBad; the actual final one is some kind of shared dream/hallucination involving a guy with cheese on his head. (Creator/JossWhedon said that when he set out to write it he realized after a bit he was attempting a forty-minute tone poem.)
** The mind screw aspect comes from the fact that it's possibly the most realistic dream sequence ever in terms of the bizarre scene transitions and staging--all four segments of the dream sequence are presented as one coherent scene, locales change nearly at random, characters appear and disappear, damn near everyone speaks in non sequiturs, and all plotlines and the characters in them are subject to change at random (with the exception of the [[spoiler:First Slayer]] trying to take advantage of YourMindMakesItReal to assassinate the Scoobies.) However, everything in that episode turns out to be {{Foreshadowing}} (except for the cheese man) so the episode becomes less mind-screwy in retrospect.
** There was also "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E17NormalAgain Normal Again]]" in which Buffy is poisoned by a hallucinogen-producing demon and is torn between two realities: being a Slayer and [[spoiler:being an insane girl in an asylum, with parents who love her and are trying to make her sane again with the help of a psychiatrist. But then, when the episode ends, it does so with an image of Buffy in her normal-crazy-girl reality, ''not'' as Slayer Girl, leaving you with the impression that the ''entire show'', including the ''later seasons'', are all a product of an insane girl's overactive imagination.]] Joss Whedon said he considers the series to be actually happening, but put that in just for fun, and if people want they can consider the whole series to be the delusions of Buffy.
** Which would also make the entire ''Series/{{Angel}}'' series part of that hallucination, too. At least it's not as bad as that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_hypothesis Tommy Westphall crap]]...

*** 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.

** River and the Doctor's reversed parallel timelines. How she manages to keep it all in that little journal is beyond comprehension...
*** It’s not even accurately reversed either. There’s a general trend for them to encounter each other in reverse chronological order, but beyond this it’s hopelessly out of sequence.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice Amy's Choice]]": It turns out that [[spoiler:both options are really dreams and that neither one is reality.]]
*** One of the realities the Doctor, Amy, and Rory are shown is the TARDIS, stranded in space; and one is the sleepy English village of Leadworth. The interesting thing is that Rory starts to believe that the TARDIS reality is the false one because it’s full of sci-fi tropes like time machines and spaceships and aliens, whereas the Doctor starts to believe that the Leadworth reality is fake because it ''isn’t''.

*** In fact that zoom in on Buffy’s face at the very end of the opening credits that the show had in various forms throughout its entire run is, in season seven, a zoom in on ''The First-as-Buffy’s face''. Which makes this deliberately meta.

*** In fact that zoom in on Buffy’s face at the very end of the opening credits that the show had in various forms throughout its entire run is, in season seven, a zoom in on ‘’The First-as-Buffy’s face’’. Which makes this deliberately meta.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E2TheMindRobber The Mind Robber]]": Episode one was written in a hurry with NoBudget (hence the 'void' set and the robot costume re-used from a version of ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'') The weird dream-like setting of episode 1 coupled with the metafictional setting of the rest of the story and the disappearance of one of the characters at the end gave the impression that episodes 2-5 were all a dream.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]]: The audience never learns who, what or ''how'' the monster was, why it took over Skye 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.

** Some of [[spoiler:the TARDIS' stranger attempts to warn the travellers where they're going]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeOfDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]".

** The sequences set inside the Matrix in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]".

** And then there's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight Midnight]]". The audience never learns who, what or ''how'' the monster was, why it took over Skye 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.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]", the entirety of time is taking place at the same time because River [[spoiler:prevented the Doctor's unpreventable death]]. Which means the Doctor has to [[spoiler:recruit the shape-shifting Teselecta (which he never would have met had he not tried to avert his death) to avoid his death to ensure his death in the eyes of the universe by having the Teselecta "die" in his stead. Meaning he has to cause his death to avoid his death to cause his death to avoid his death to cause his death...]]
** From the ExpandedUniverse: ''The Blue Angel''. Parallel universes. Space warthog Valkyries. The Doctor [[spoiler:''giving birth to a winged baby from his leg'']]. Claims that the Doctor's mother was a mermaid. Giant space owls. A ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody starship called the ''Nepotist''. One character is an elephant (a green one, no less!), another gets turned into a giant squid for no adequately explained reason. Parallel universe Dalek-analogues who are humanoids made out of ''glass''. Twenty questions that manage to be clever, patronizing, and headache-inducing all at once... yeah, [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs it seems to be a product of an acid trip during a Classic Who marathon]].
** ''Campaign'', a [[MissingEpisode book that was rejected due to how weird and incomprehensible it is]] — not least that it was originally pitched as a pure historical but mutated enormously when the author tried to write it. The "plot", insofar as there is one, concerns the "Game of Me", which creates multiple iterations of the TARDIS crew in different parts of the TARDIS and wipes their memories of the game every time they die, and it is somehow linked to Alexander the Great's campaign in Asia and Aristotle's ten things that define a person. Only it's also about the creation of the show itself, with the multiple TARDIS crews using multiple different names and character concepts based on early production documents and various CaptainErsatz versions of the companions from old annuals. The final part of the book is done in the style of the old comics. Whole pages are told in word art. Ian [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence]] (?). [[http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/campaign/ A free download of the PDF is available here]].

* The ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Awakening" ends with a MindScrew. [[spoiler:The entire ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-inspired segment where Angel saves the day and ends up with Cordelia is all a fantasy in his head as his soul is removed]]. Even bigger is the reveal that [[spoiler:the entire series has been a GambitRoulette to bring forth [[PowersThatBe Jasmine]]. According to Jasmine]].
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' has a mind screw in a film within the show: in the episode "The Ocean Walker", Maeby can't think of a satisfying ending for a movie she is producing, and decides to end it with the two main characters inexplicably walking across the ocean. She says the ending will be so confusing that viewers will have to say they liked it (to avoid looking stupid for not understanding it).

** [[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 are not actually watching Buffy, but The First.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has "Won't Get Fooled Again": Crichton is suddenly on Earth again, having apparently crashed his module and never gone through the wormhole... except he starts to see his crew mates around, acting extremely out of character, and no one seems to notice that they're, well, aliens. It just gets weirder from there, involving Rygel in bondage, D'Argo as a CampGay, repeated recurrences of Crichton's dead mother, Crais as a high-heels wearing police officer, and Scorpius trying to get Crichton to pay attention to him. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that Crichton was kidnapped by a Scarran who's been frying his brain in order to get the information Scorpius wants out of his head. Also, there are ''two'' Scorpius in the illusion, because one of them is... something else.]]

* Done on the Belgian talk show ''De Laatste Show''. One of the guests asked "Can I mind screw my kid?" He then turned to the camera and said "Oh, look. Daddy's on the screen, but he's also right next to you on the sofa. How can that be?"

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' has always had NoFourthWall. But once the cast appeared on CBS Morning to talk about the new ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movie. Mike, Tom and Crow talked about their roles on the show, implying all the Bots on the show appear [[AsHimself as themsleves]]. But next Bill and Kevin come out and talk about ''their'' roles on the show. So the Bots know they're on a show, but not that they're puppets?

** And back in KTMA, there was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkjhCBKDY4 this doosey of a journal entry from Servo]].

* ''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''.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': [[Recap/SherlockSpecialTheAbominableBride "The Abominable Bride"]] starts with "PreviouslyOn ''Sherlock''... wait, no, what if our Sherlock Holmes existed at the time Sherlock Homes did in the original stories?" Then it skips to this Victorian version and starts a story there, with nothing but some stray comments hinting that this isn't a straight-up alternative version with no {{continuity}} with the original modern-day series. But then, after a while, it returns to the modern era, and all of that is revealed to have been a kind of simulation the modern Holmes is running in his head to help him solve the analogous mystery he's currently facing. But ''then'' it's revealed that, according to the story set in the past, the modern-day story is also a projection happening in that Holmes's mind. In the end, both versions of the story seem to be given about equal weight, so there are two intertwined stories that are an unusual version of MutuallyFictional... although the past story doesn't make ''quite'' as much sense because one question that Holmes has about the crime is left unanswered when those events break down and become dreamlike, interpretable only as part of the modern-day-centred story. Along the way, there are also other reality-breaking scenes like a scene in the present that turns out to be OnlyADream too. Still, this MindScrew is ''mostly'' explained by the end of the movie, even if the answer is rather strange.

* Elsewhere in the ''Trek'' franchise, ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'', ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'', and ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' had their share of these episodes -- and most can be traced back to one inveterate Mind Screwer. Brannon Braga absolutely ''loves'' stories like this, and SchrodingersButterfly in particular. The results are mixed: Braga's Mind Screws include some of the best ''and'' worst episodes of these shows.

** Dean's fantasy world in "What Is And What Should Never Be". Would that sweet little 4 year old in the pilot have turned out to be a {{jerkass}} if it wasn't for emotional abuse, neglect, a tight leash and a massive martyr complex or does he just think that little of himself? Does he think that Sam's a wuss, Mary's perfect and his soulmate is death or were they all part of him? But whatever way you look at it, it's still a profoundly disturbing {{tearjerker}} that sets up the downward spiral of events of the finale nicely.

** And then there's [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E18TheMonsterAtTheEndOfThisBook "The Monster At the End of This Book" (S04, E18)]], when Sam and Dean come into contact with the ''Supernatural'' book series...

*** To answer the question about the [[spoiler:simulation of a gynecologist, Alice is using her VR module to imagine the pregnancy she's not allowed to have being aboard the ship.]] Maybe. [[spoiler:We conspicuously never see her break character or take off the module. And there are a lot of unnecessarily details: magazines, waiting room, that make her seem less in control of the program.]] In essence, it's a question that may never be answered.

** ''Campaign'', a [[MissingEpisode book that was rejected due to how weird and incomprehensible it is]] — not least that it was originally pitched as a pure historical but mutated enormously when the author tried to write it. The "plot", insofar as there is one, concerns the "Game of Me", which creates multiple iterations of the TARDIS crew in different parts of the TARDIS and wipes their memories of the game every time they die, and it is somehow linked to Alexander the Great's campaign in Asia and Aristotle's ten things that define a person. Only it's also about the creation of the show itself, with the multiple TARDIS crews using multiple different names and character concepts based on early production documents and various CaptainErsatz versions of the companions from old annuals. The final part of the book is done in the style of the old comics. Whole pages are told in word art. Ian [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascends To A Higher Plane Of Existence]] (?). [[http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/campaign/ A free download of the PDF is available here]].

* 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.

* In the ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' episode "Brain Drain", Piper is drawn into a delusion where she is a patient in an insane asylum. The demonic forces try to trick her into giving up her powers, but they are unsuccessful and Piper reclaims her identity.

* ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'' is weird as all get-out, especially the final episode, but still straightforward. WordOfGod says [[spoiler: it was all in his head/he died]]. Individual interpretations may vary. The sequel series ''Series/AshesToAshes'' takes the MindScrew one stage further at the end of S2 when Alex [[spoiler: wakes up from her coma and she starts seeing images of 1982 communicating with her saying she is in a coma there]]. But it's finally clarified in the finale: [[spoiler: they're in a copper's purgatory, and they were all dead all along]].

* ''Series/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/ThePrisoner1967'' ended with such a colossal mind screw that fans reputedly harassed series star Patrick [=McGoohan=] for months demanding his explanation of the series. The remake's [[http://www.seekthesix.com/ website]] seems to be gleefully continuing this tradition.
* ''Series/TwinPeaks'' is known for this. Even from a non-story perspective, it's very weird.
* 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.

* ''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.
* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' is weird as all get-out, especially the final episode but still straightforward. WordOfGod says [[spoiler: it was all in his head/he died]]. Individual interpretations may vary. The sequel series ''Series/AshesToAshes'' takes the MindScrew one stage further at the end of S2 when Alex [[spoiler: wakes up from her coma and she starts seeing images of 1982 communicating with her saying she is in a coma there]]. But it's finally clarified in the finale: [[spoiler: they're in a copper's purgatory, and they were all dead all along]].
* ''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''.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E22Restless}} Restless]]". [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E21Primeval The previous episode]] is the climactic battle against that season's BigBad; the actual final one is some kind of shared dream/hallucination involving a guy with cheese on his head. (Creator/JossWhedon said that when he set out to write it he realized after a bit he was attempting a forty-minute tone poem.)

** There was also "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E17NormalAgain}} Normal Again]]" in which Buffy is poisoned by a hallucinogen-producing demon and is torn between two realities: being a Slayer and [[spoiler:being an insane girl in an asylum, with parents who love her and are trying to make her sane again with the help of a psychiatrist. But then, when the episode ends, it does so with an image of Buffy in her normal-crazy-girl reality, ''not'' as Slayer Girl, leaving you with the impression that the ''entire show'', including the ''later seasons'', are all a product of an insane girl's overactive imagination.]] Joss Whedon said he considers the series to be actually happening, but put that in just for fun, and if people want they can consider the whole series to be the delusions of Buffy.

** There's also the scenes in Buffy's mind in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E21WeightOfTheWorld}} Weight of the World]]", featuring lots of symbolism, doppelgangers, repetition, and Buffy's Issues.

* The ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Awakening" ends with a MindScrew. [[spoiler:The entire ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-inspired segment where Angel saves the day and ends up with Cordelia is all a fantasy in his head as his soul is removed]]. Even bigger is the reveal that [[spoiler:the entire series has been a GambitRoulette to bring forth [[PowersThatBe Jasmine]]. According to Jasmine]].
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** The episodes "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E13FarBeyondTheStars}} Far Beyond the Stars]]" and "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E02ShadowsAndSymbols}} Shadows and Symbols]]" heavily imply that the events of the entire series may have simply been the imaginings of a mentally unstable African-American pulp-fiction writer in the 1950s. "Shadows and Symbols" does, however, state that at least the latter one was a "false vision" the Pah-Wraiths attempted to use to trick Sisko. It has been said in the series companion book that there was discussion for the final scene of the final episode to be Benny Russell holding the series script standing in a studio lot (presumably at Paramount)... either implying that all of ''Star Trek'' is AllJustADream in-universe... or implying that all of ''Star Trek'' is a real vision of the future sent by the Prophets ([[MagnificentBastard holy...!]]).
** One early draft of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E08LittleGreenMen}} Little Green Men]]" (in which Quark goes back in time and causes the 1940s Roswell incident) featured a quick segment of a Lt. Roddenberry being inspired by the episode events to write a science fiction story...
** Another ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode that does this is "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E10Rapture}} Rapture]]." Because they never really explain whether the visions were actually an important message from the Prophets, and Sisko would have been fine without the surgery, or if they really were hallucinations from the accident and the surgery was necessary.
* Elsewhere in the ''Trek'' franchise, ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'', ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'', and ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' had their share of these episodes -- and most can be traced back to one inveterate Mind Screwer. Brannon Braga absolutely ''loves'' stories like this, and SchrodingersButterfly in particular. The results are mixed: Braga's Mind Screws include some of the best ''and'' worst episodes of these shows.
** One of the greatest Mind Screws in ''TNG'' is the episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe}} Remember Me]]". To put it simply:
--->'''Dr. Crusher:''' Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. What is the nature of the universe?
--->'''Computer:''' The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter.
** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E19FrameOfMind}} Frame of Mind]]" is a MindScrew for Commander Riker, up until [[MindScrewdriver the very end]].
** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E10Parallels}} Parallels]]" is this way for the first three acts or so, until it's proven that [[spoiler: Worf is shifting through increasingly divergent parallel universes.]]
** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E18Genesis}} Genesis]]" is also this, up until TheReveal [[spoiler: (The crew is de-evolving)]]. Practically everyone on the ship is behaving very strangely, especially Worf (he tears up his bedding for no apparent reason, takes a chunk out of Troi's cheek with his teeth and spits acid in Dr. Crusher's face), and no one knows why.
* Though ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is notable for being ''extremely'' straightforward in most respects, the scenes in the episode "[[Recap/FireflyE14ObjectsInSpace Objects in Space]]" involving River's hallucinations can be considered a mild MindScrew. It gets worse in [[TheMovie the Big Damn Movie]], where River's hallucinations become much more pronounced and vivid.
** On his commentary track for "Objects In Space," Whedon explains that the entire episode is his take on existentialism
* Even ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' got in on the act:
** Dean's fantasy world in ''What Is And What Should Never Be''. Would that sweet little 4 year old in the pilot have turned out to be a {{jerkass}} if it wasn't for emotional abuse, neglect, a tight leash and a massive martyr complex or does he just think that little of himself? Does he think that Sam's a wuss, Mary's perfect and his soulmate is death or were they all part of him? But whatever way you look at it, it's still a profoundly disturbing {{tearjerker}} that sets up the downward spiral of events of the finale nicely.
** 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.
** Also, ''The French Mistake''. It involves Jensen playing Dean playing Jensen playing Dean, and Jared playing Sam playing Jared playing Sam. Who also ends up with Ruby, except that it's not Ruby, it's her actress... Yeah. Mind Screw.
** And then there's [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E18TheMonsterAtTheEndOfThisBook "The Monster At the End of This Book" (S04, E18)]], when Sam and Dean come into contact with the ''Supernatural'' book series...
--->'''Dean''': I'm sitting in a laundromat, reading about myself, sitting in a laundromat, reading about myself. My head hurts.

** Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' managed its MindScrew with the middle four episodes of [[StoryArc Trial of a Time Lord]] (it being called "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E2Mindwardp 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.
** The final season of Classic Who is notorious for this sort of thing, mostly due to editing-room decisions made to shoehorn the stories into the X-episode serial format. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight Ghost Light]]" is especially full of it - even the DVD-issued Special Edition is best tackled with a notebook and pen.
** And then there's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight Midnight]]". The audience never learns who, what or ''how'' the monster was, why it took over Skye 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.
** Also, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E2TheMindRobber The Mind Robber]]". Episode one was written in a hurry with NoBudget (hence the 'void' set and the robot costume re-used from a version of ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'') The weird dream-like setting of episode 1 coupled with the metafictional setting of the rest of the story and the disappearance of one of the characters at the end gave the impression that episodes 2-5 were all a dream.

** The sequences set inside the Matrix in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]" and, again, the last seventh of ''Trial of a Time Lord''
** Some of [[spoiler: the TARDIS' stranger attempts to warn the travelers where they're going]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeOfDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]".

** Also in the new series, there is "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice Amy's Choice]]". It turns out that [[spoiler: both options are really dreams and that neither one is reality.]] Thankfully, [[WordOfGod Moffat has stated]] that it was supposed to be this way, as the arc isn't done yet. The Silence arc will carry over into Series Six, and will explain the cracks, the voice, River Song, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the ducks]].

** River Song, [[spoiler: Amy and Rory's child, grew up back in time with the child versions of her own parents. More mindfuckeringly, River (original name Melody) was named after Amy and Rory's childhood friend Mels, who is, of course, Melody. She is named after herself.]]

** From the ExpandedUniverse: ''The Blue Angel''. Parallel universes. Space warthog Valkyries. The Doctor [[spoiler: ''giving birth to a winged baby from his leg'']]. Claims that the Doctor's mother was a mermaid. Giant space owls. A ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody starship called the ''Nepotist''. One character is an elephant (a green one, no less!), another gets turned into a giant squid for no adequately explained reason. Parallel universe Dalek-analogues who are humanoids made out of ''glass''. Twenty questions that manage to be clever, patronizing, and headache-inducing all at once... yeah, [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs it seems to be a product of an acid trip during a Classic Who marathon]].
** ''Campaign'', a [[MissingEpisode book that was rejected due to how weird and incomprehensible it is]] - not least that it was originally pitched as a pure historical but mutated enormously when the author tried to write it. The "plot", insofar as there is one, concerns the "Game of Me", which creates multiple iterations of the TARDIS crew in different parts of the TARDIS and wipes their memories of the game every time they die, and it is somehow linked to Alexander the Great's campaign in Asia and Aristotle's ten things that define a person. Only it's also about the creation of the show itself, with the multiple TARDIS crews using multiple different names and character concepts based on early production documents and various CaptainErsatz versions of the companions from old annuals. The final part of the book is done in the style of the old comics. Whole pages are told in word art. Ian [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascends To A Higher Plane Of Existence]] (?). [[http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/campaign/ A free download of the PDF is available here]].
* Sarah's dream sequences in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''.
* ''Series/StElsewhere'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_hypothesis The Tommy Westphall Universe hypothesis]]. It is best just to ignore it, it gets even deeper when you consider the ending to ''Newhart'', its connection to ''The Bob Newhart Show'' and that it crossed over directly with St. Elsewhere.
** You can't ignore it, they have [[http://i.imgur.com/UyNxJiv.jpg charts]]!
* Quite a few ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketches, and all the {{Deranged Animation}}s. Not due to an over-reliance on symbolism, but rather ignoring everything except the RuleOfFunny.
** "Tonight, on ''It's the Mind'', we examine the strange phenomenon of ''Déjà vu''..."
*** ... lemon curry?
*** "Good lord. I'm on film! How did that happen?"
* 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/{{Carnivale}}'': Considering it was heavily influenced by ''Series/TwinPeaks'', this is unsurprising.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' relies on this to an extent. Much of the symbolism (the "symbol", cockroaches, etc.), the [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic religious subtext]], and the obvious puberty / HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster themes that generally pop up in this genre. And that's not even getting into the [[MindRape Season 3 finale]]...
* During the taping of one of his comedy specials, comedian Howie Mandel once executed a MindScrew on a person from one of the front rows who got up to go to the restroom. As soon as the poor unfortunate was out of earshot, Mandel had the audience in the vicinity of his seat rearrange themselves, and then continued with his act. When the audience member returned and stood, confused, in the aisle trying to find his seat again, Mandel stopped his act to "help" him for several minutes while the audience went wild, before revealing the gag and letting everyone go back to their original seats.
** Additionally, comedian Mark Watson will frequently extol the virtues of randomly chasing people, and will do so if people get up. If he fails to catch them, he will MindScrew them by sitting in their seat, waiting for them to return.

* "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:
** ''2001'': The crew is trapped on a very long journey with a possibly [[AIIsACrapShoot unreliable AI]]. Hypersleep is averted because the ship is propelled through space by carefully exploding small nukes, which everyone needs to be awake for.
** ''Brother'': In order to help with funding (I think, I missed the first 30 mins), the ship has become a Big Brother-style house, complete with ConfessionCam booth.
** ''Lain'': [[spoiler: When the captain is killed by an inexplicably malfunctioning airlock, a crew member mysteriously finds his VR goggles in her quarters. She goes into his last simulation, and discovers that the captain's consciousness may have survived.]]
** ''Ghost'': [[spoiler: One of the crew members is raped while inside her own simulation, and it appears that another crew member knows the assailant, a program(?) posing as a gynecologist. However, why would they need a simulation of a gynecologist?]]
** ''eXistenz'': [[spoiler: The captain flexes his hand as though he's still in a simulation when the VR developer/psychologist asks him if he's certain of reality, and, again, ''why would they need a simulation of a gynecologist?'']]
*** To answer the question about the [[spoiler:simulation of a gynecologist, Alice is using her VR module to imagine the pregnancy she's not allowed to have being aboard the ship.]] Maybe. [[spoiler:We conspicuously never see her break character or take off the module. And there are a lot of unnecessarily details: magazines, waiting room, that make her seem less in control of the program.]] In essence, it's a question that may never be answered.
* ''Series/WeAreKlang'' is generally surreal, but balanced with 'realistic' comedy. ''Alien'', the last episode of series one, however, is essentially a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid and ends on a borderline GainaxEnding.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'', (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.]]
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has "Won't Get Fooled Again": Crichton is suddenly on Earth again, having apparently crashed his module and never gone through the wormhole... except he starts to see his crew mates around, acting extremely out of character, and no one seems to notice that they're, well, aliens. It just gets weirder from there, involving Rygel in bondage, D'Argo as a CampGay, repeated recurrences of Crichton's dead mother, Crais as a high-heels wearing police officer, and Scorpius trying to get Crichton to pay attention to him. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that Crichton was kidnapped by a Scarran who's been frying his brain in order to get the information Scorpius wants out of his head. Also, there are ''two'' Scorpius in the illusion, because one of them is... something else.]]
** You can just stop at Series/{{Farscape}}. The series as a whole dipped into this so often that Crichton himself lampshaded it in a late episode when he realized their minds were being toyed with by the alien of the week.
* The Stargate episode "Forever In A Day" happens inside Daniel Jackson's head. His wife (Sha're) is sending him a message by slightly twisting Amonets's (the goa'uld who has take her host) usage of her kara kesh (torture device). The episode starts Sha're 'telling' Daniel Teal'c was going to kill her, and then a few seconds later (which seems like months to Daniel) Teal'c actually kills her. Having already gotten over it (with help from Sha're) Daniel manages to begin to forgive Teal'c almost instantly. He admits Teal'c did the right thing, which he now knows Sha're would have asked Teal'c to do.
* The end of one episode of ''Series/TheColbertReport'' had Stephen read a story from his book "Colbert Report Bedtime Stories." It gets complicated, to say the least. It can be viewed [[http://is.gd/5aRkCU here.]]
* ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'' is a very strange parody of the SuperSentai series in a whole, complete with lampshading and direct references. How does this mindscrew begin? At the very end of the first episode, when the Akibarangers' professor mentor tells them that the battle they just had was just a battle in an imaginary world, or to put it short: AllJustADream. Though you think it'd be just that simple, right? Well, not really. [[spoiler: Soon, the BigBad manages to step into the real world, and after that, the Akibarangers can also break into the real world. Then TheHero manages to become a RealityWarper and transform into an Akibaranger without having to step into the delusional world. Then after he gets replaced by TheAce, he manages to find out that they exist inside a TV show and that his replacement, along with some other changes, were a result of ExecutiveMeddling]].
** 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.'''
* In the ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' episode "Brain Drain," Piper is drawn into a delusion where she is a patient in an insane asylum. The demonic forces try to trick her into giving up her powers, but they are unsuccessful and Piper reclaims her identity.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' has a mind screw in a film within the show: in the episode "The Ocean Walker", Maeby can't think of a satisfying ending for a movie she is producing, and decides to end it with the two main characters inexplicably walking across the ocean. She says the ending will be so confusing that viewers will have to say they liked it (to avoid looking stupid for not understanding it).

-->'''Frankie''': "You've each been selected for this mission because you're unknown to the enemy and you each have a special skill. [[Creator/StephenHawking Professor Hawking]], John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Music/WuTangClan, Music/{{Usher}}, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Creator/DanielDayLewis! Welcome to Operation Mind-Fuck!"
* 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]].

** The season finale of PrimevalNewWorld gets fairly mind-screwy as well, what with us not being sure how much is real and how much was hallucinated, where the ''Albertosaurus'' came from and what its own personal timeline even was, what parts were a stable time loop and what created alternate timelines, and how this all ties in with the ARC.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' has always had NoFourthWall. But once the cast appeared on CBS Morning to talk about the new ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movie. Mike, Tom and Crow talked about their roles on the show, implying all the Bots on the show appear [[AsHimself as themsleves]]. But next Bill and Kevin come out and talk about ''their'' roles on the show. So the Bots know they're on a show, but not that they're puppets?
** Mikey and the Llama. Enough said.
** And back in KTMA, there was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkjhCBKDY4 this doosey of a journal entry from Servo]].
** In ''Prince of Space,'' the Mads and the SOL crew had to chase after Bobo after he fell into a [[OurWormholesAreDifferent wormhole.]] One of the results of the wormhole was Mike, Tom, Crow, and Gypsy's positions in the time-space continuum [[JustOneSecondOutOfSync were put out of sync compared]] to Cambot's (and the audience's). It makes as much sense as it sounds.
* ''Series/HammerHouseOfHorror'':
** "Rude Awakening" is about an ordinary man plagued by a series of recurring nightmares -- or is it about a man with a nightmare existence relieved by a series of dreams about living an ordinary life?
** The protagonist's nightmares in "The Two Faces of Evil".
* ''Series/BeyondTheWalls'': Do the memories of Lisa influence the House or does the House screw with her memories? Is the little girl [[spoiler: really the spirit of Lisa's dead sister or a construct of her mind --or worse: of the House itself?]] Does the House exist within its own physical laws or is it malleable, depending on who's in it and what they are doing? Does it run on metaphors? ''Is the whole thing even real?''
* ''Recap/SherlockSpecialTheAbominableBride'' starts with "PreviouslyOn ''LiveActionTV/{{Sherlock}}''... wait, no, what if our Sherlock Holmes existed at the time Sherlock Homes did in the original stories?" Then it skips to this Victorian version and starts a story there, with nothing but some stray comments hinting that this isn't a straight-up alternative version with no {{continuity}} with the original modern-day series. But then, after a while, it returns to the modern era, and all of that is revealed to have been a kind of simulation the modern Holmes is running in his head to help him solve the analogous mystery he's currently facing. But ''then'' it's revealed that, according to the story set in the past, the modern-day story is also a projection happening in that Holmes's mind. In the end, both versions of the story seem to be given about equal weight, so there are two intertwined stories that are an unusual version of MutuallyFictional... although the past story doesn't make ''quite'' as much sense because one question that Holmes has about the crime is left unanswered when those events break down and become dreamlike, interpretable only as part of the modern-day-centred story. Along the way, there are also other reality-breaking scenes like a scene in the present that turns out to be OnlyADream too. Still, this MindScrew is ''mostly'' explained by the end of the movie, even if the answer is rather strange.
* The 2003 BBC TV drama ''Home'', adapted from J.G. Ballard's story "The Enormous Space", is about a man who decides not to go back to work after an accident but to remain inside his house and see how long he can stay there, living off whatever resources he can find. Not surprisingly, he soon runs out of food and drink (apart from water) and after a couple of months he's become convinced that his house is...''doing things''. Specifically, that the upstairs rooms are ''getting bigger''. Since we see everything from his perspective, we experience this too. Towards the end, he briefly wonders if he's just imagining everything, but he tells himself that he isn't.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this in the final episode of the fourth season. The second-last episode is the climactic battle against that season's BigBad; the actual final one is some kind of shared dream/hallucination involving a guy with cheese on his head. (Creator/JossWhedon said that when he set out to write it he realized after a bit he was attempting a forty-minute tone poem.)

** ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' also has an episode in season 6 in which Buffy is poisoned by a hallucinogen-producing demon and is torn between two realities: being a Slayer and [[spoiler:being an insane girl in an asylum, with parents who love her and are trying to make her sane again with the help of a psychiatrist. But then, when the episode ends, it does so with an image of Buffy in her normal-crazy-girl reality, ''not'' as Slayer Girl, leaving you with the impression that the ''entire show'', including the ''later seasons'', are all a product of an insane girl's overactive imagination.]] Joss Whedon said he considers the series to be actually happening, but put that in just for fun, and if people want they can consider the whole series to be the delusions of Buffy.

** There's also the scenes in Buffy's mind in ''Weight of The World'', featuring lots of symbolism, doppelgangers, repetition, and Buffy's Issues.

** The episodes "Far Beyond the Stars" and "Shadows and Symbols" heavily imply that the events of the entire series may have simply been the imaginings of a mentally unstable African-American pulp-fiction writer in the 1950s. "Shadows and Symbols" does, however, state that at least the latter one was a "false vision" the Pah-Wraiths attempted to use to trick Sisko. It has been said in the series companion book that there was discussion for the final scene of the final episode to be Benny Russell holding the series script standing in a studio lot (presumably at Paramount)... either implying that all of ''Star Trek'' is AllJustADream in-universe... or implying that all of ''Star Trek'' is a real vision of the future sent by the Prophets ([[MagnificentBastard holy...!]]).
** One early draft of the episode "Little Green Men" (in which Quark goes back in time and causes the 1940s Roswell incident) featured a quick segment of a Lt. Roddenberry being inspired by the episode events to write a science fiction story...
** Another ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode that does this is "Rapture." Because they never really explain whether the visions were actually an important message from the Prophets, and Sisko would have been fine without the surgery, or if they really were hallucinations from the accident and the surgery was necessary.

** One of the greatest Mind Screws in ''TNG'' is the episode "Remember Me." To put it simply:

** "Frame of Mind" is a MindScrew for Commander Riker, up until [[MindScrewdriver the very end]].
** "Parallels" is this way for the first three acts or so, until it's proven that [[spoiler: Worf is shifting through increasingly divergent parallel universes.]]
** "Genesis" is also this, up until TheReveal [[spoiler: (The crew is de-evolving)]]. Practically everyone on the ship is behaving very strangely, especially Worf (he tears up his bedding for no apparent reason, takes a chunk out of Troi's cheek with his teeth and spits acid in Dr. Crusher's face), and no one knows why.
* Though ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is notable for being ''extremely'' straightforward in most respects, the scenes in the episode "Objects in Space" involving River's hallucinations can be considered a mild MindScrew. It gets worse in [[TheMovie the Big Damn Movie]], where River's hallucinations become much more pronounced and vivid.

** Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' managed its MindScrew with the middle four episodes of [[StoryArc Trial of a Time Lord]] (it being called ''Mindwarp'' should have been a clue). 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.
** The final season of Classic Who is notorious for this sort of thing, mostly due to editing-room decisions made to shoehorn the stories into the X-episode serial format. 'Ghost Light' is especially full of it - even the DVD-issued Special Edition is best tackled with a notebook and pen.
** And then there's "Midnight". The audience never learns who, what or ''how'' the monster was, why it took over Skye 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.
** Also, the Troughton story "The Mind Robber". Episode one was written in a hurry with NoBudget (hence the 'void' set and the robot costume re-used from a version of ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'') The weird dream-like setting of episode 1 coupled with the metafictional setting of the rest of the story and the disappearance of one of the characters at the end gave the impression that episodes 2-5 were all a dream.
** "Castrovalva" is set on a planet that is [[spoiler: a figment of Adric's imagination]] and towards the end turns into a complete perversion of logic and geometry.
** The sequences set inside the Matrix in ''The Deadly Assassin'' and, again, the last seventh of ''Trial of a Time Lord''
** Some of [[spoiler: the TARDIS' stranger attempts to warn the travelers where they're going]] in ''The Edge of Destruction''.

** Also in the new series, there is the episode: "Amy's Choice". It turns out that [[spoiler: both options are really dreams and that neither one is reality.]] Thankfully, [[WordOfGod Moffat has stated]] that it was supposed to be this way, as the arc isn't done yet. The Silence arc will carry over into Series Six, and will explain the cracks, the voice, River Song, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the ducks]].

** In "The Wedding of River Song," the entirety of time is taking place at the same time because River [[spoiler:prevented the Doctor's unpreventable death]]. Which means the Doctor has to [[spoiler:recruit the shape-shifting Teselecta (which he never would have met had he not tried to avert his death) to avoid his death to ensure his death in the eyes of the universe by having the Teselecta "die" in his stead. Meaning he has to cause his death to avoid his death to cause his death to avoid his death to cause his death...]]

* ''Series/StElsewhere'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_hypothesis The Tommy Westphall Universe hypothesis]]. It is best just to ignore it, it gets even deeper when you consider the ending to ''Newhart'', its connection to "The Bob Newhart Show'' and that it crossed over directly with St. Elsewhere.

* OnceUponATime, (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.]]

* 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 [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSnwQsZybN8&feature=share&t=24m3s this]].

* ''Series/ThePrisoner'' ended with such a colossal mind screw that fans reputedly harassed series star Patrick [=McGoohan=] for months demanding his explanation of the series. The remake's [[http://www.seekthesix.com/ website]] seems to be gleefully continuing this tradition.

* In the introduction for the "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 [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSnwQsZybN8&feature=share&t=24m3s this]].

-->'''Frankie''': "You've each been selected for this mission because you're unknown to the enemy and you each have a special skill. [[StephenHawking Professor Hawking]], John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Music/WuTangClan, Music/{{Usher}}, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Creator/DanielDayLewis! Welcome to Operation Mind-Fuck!"

* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' is weird as all get-out, especially the final episode but still straightforward. WordOfGod says [[spoiler: it was all in his head/he died]]. Individual interpretations may vary. The sequel series ''Series/AshesToAshes'' takes the MindScrew one stage further at the end of S2 when Alex [[spoiler: wakes up from her coma she starts seeing images of 1982 communicating with her saying she is in a coma there]]. But it's finally clarified in the finale: [[spoiler: they're in a copper's purgatory, and they were all dead all along]].

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

* ''Recap/SherlockSpecialTheAbominableBride'' starts with "PreviouslyOn ''LiveActionTV/{{Sherlock}}''... wait, no, what if our Sherlock Holmes existed at the time Sherlock Homes did in the original stories?" Then it skips to this Victorian version and starts a story there, with nothing but some stray comments hinting that this isn't a straight-up alternative version with no {{continuity}} with the original modern-day series. But then, after a while, it returns to the modern era, and all of that is revealed to have been a kind of simulation the modern Holmes is running in his head to help him solve the analogous mystery he's currently facing. But ''then'' it's revealed that, according to the story set in the past, the modern-day story is also a projection happening in that Holmes's mind. In the end, both versions of the story seem to be given about equal weight, so there are two intertwined stories that are an unusual version of MutuallyFictional... although the past story doesn't make ''quite'' as much sense because one question that Holmes has about the crime is left unanswered when those events break down and become dreamlike, interpretable only as part of the modern-day-centred story. Along the way, there are also other reality-breaking scenes like a scene in the present that turns out to be OnlyADream too. Still, this MindScrew is ''mostly'' explained by the end of the movie.

* ''Recap/SherlockSpecialTheAbominableBride'' starts with "PreviouslyOn ''LiveActionTV/{{Sherlock}}''... wait, no, what if our Sherlock Holmes existed at the time Sherlock Homes did in the original stories?" Then it skips to this Victorian version and starts a story there, with nothing but some stray comments hinting that this isn't a straight-up alternative version with no {{continuity}} with the original modern-day series. But then, after a while, it returns to the modern era, and all of that is revealed to have been a kind of simulation the modern Holmes is running in his head to help him solve the analogous mystery he's currently facing. But ''then'' it's revealed that, according to the story set int he past, the modern-day story is also a projection happening in that Holmes's mind. In the end, both versions of the story seem to be given about equal weight, so there are two intertwined stories that are an unusual version of MutuallyFictional... although the past story doesn't make ''quite'' as much sense because one question that Holmes has about the crime is left unanswered when those events break down and become dreamlike, interpretable only as part of the modern-day-centred story. Along the way, there are also other reality-breaking scenes like a scene in the present that turns out to be OnlyADream too. Still, this MindScrew is ''mostly'' explained by the end of the movie.

* ''Recap/SherlockSpecialTheAbominableBride'' starts with "PreviouslyOn ''LiveActionTV/{{Sherlock}}''... wait, no, what if our Sherlock Holmes existed at the time Sherlock Homes did in the original stories?" Then it skips to this Victorian version and starts a story there, with nothing but some stray comments hinting that this isn't a straight-up alternative version with no {{continuity}} with the original modern-day series. But then, after a while, it returns to the modern era, and all of that is revealed to have been a kind of simulation Holmes is running in his head to help him solve the analogous mystery he's currently facing. But ''then'' it's revealed that, according to the story set int he past, the modern-day story is also a projection happening in that Holmes's mind. In the end, both versions of the story seem to be given about equal weight, so there are two intertwined stories that are an unusual version of MutuallyFictional... although the past story doesn't make ''quite'' as much sense because one question that Holmes has about the crime is left unanswered when those events break down and become dreamlike, interpretable only as part of the modern-day-centred story. Along the way, there are also other reality-breaking scenes like a scene in the present that turns out to be OnlyADream too. Still, this MindScrew is ''mostly'' explained by the end of the movie.

* Even ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' got in on the act with Dean's fantasy world in ''What Is And What Should Never Be''. Would that sweet little 4 year old in the pilot have turned out to be a {{jerkass}} if it wasn't for emotional abuse, neglect, a tight leash and a massive martyr complex or does he just think that little of himself? Does he think that Sam's a wuss, Mary's perfect and his soulmate is death or were they all part of him? But whatever way you look at it, it's still a profoundly disturbing {{tearjerker}} that sets up the downward spiral of events of the finale nicely.

* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' is weird as all get-out, especially the final episode but still straightforward. WordOfGod says [[spoiler: it was all in his head/he died]]. Individual interpretations may vary. The sequel series ''AshesToAshes'' takes the MindScrew one stage further at the end of S2 when Alex [[spoiler: wakes up from her coma she starts seeing images of 1982 communicating with her saying she is in a coma there]]. But it's finally clarified in the finale: [[spoiler: they're in a copper's purgatory, and they were all dead all along]].