Mid-Season Twist

aka: Mid Season Wham Episode

So you've been watching a show for a few weeks now, you like the characters and are just getting comfortable with the routine of how things work. You tune in expecting another Monster of the Week when all of a sudden the writers pull a fast one.

This is done to showcase something that's been teased at, raise the stakes, or change the game somehow to keep things more interesting.

The point when the Exposition stops and the real plot begins. Typically falls on episode 7 - roughly halfway through the first 13 episode season, or 1/4 of the way through your 26 episode season if you get renewed. Sometimes it's only in the first season to establish tone for the series, or once per season to introduce new story arcs since it's one of the few acceptable times to change the Status Quo.

All examples that don't specify the episode number actually do land on episode 7 exactly as per the former Trope Name - aka Seventh Episode Twist, although this is not a hard and fast requirement for the trope.

Warning: Examples may count as spoilers, but since they're so early in the series, most are probably closer to Late-Arrival Spoiler.

Sub-Trope of Wham Episode (an episode that permanently changes the status quo, shocking the viewership) and Layout of a Season (the kinda Strictly Formula structuring of a show's seasons). Compare First-Episode Twist when the plot kick-off twist is part of the original premise. Closely related to other exposition and pacing tropes as it usually indicates the end of Act 1, end of the Debut Queue, the crossing of the first Threshold, etc. Compare and contrast the Halfway Plot Switch, which usually occurs later in a work or arc's lifetime.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Appleseed XIII: The pilot of the renegade Hecatonchires mech is revealed.
• Chapter 9 of Attack on Titan reveals that Eren did not die in battle. Not only that, he also has the power to transform into a Titan.
  • Corresponding, the anime gives us an exact example in episode 7, when Mikasa is saved by the appearance of an Rogue Titan that kills another Titan. Then it goes even further in the following episode, which reveals the Titan is a transformed Eren.
• Aquarion Evol: In episode 13 (halfway through the series) Jin learns first hand the meaning of Redemption Equals Death and it falls like a bomb in the lives of his newfound friends (specially his love interest).
• Bleach: The story takes a twist when the events of Chapter 1 finally catch up with Rukia. Turns out what she did was illegal and now she's going to be executed for the crime. Cue the story-changing to a quest to save her life which is what triggers the true myth arc of the tale the fallout of the thousand-year-war between Shinigami and Quincies.
• Black Cat: Episode 6 has Saya murdered and Train injured, leading to Sven rescuing the latter and pushing Train to his Heel–Face Turn.
• Bomberman Jetters: White Bomber discovers his big brother Mighty has been dead all along. Shout's sad backstory is also explained and Max is revealed to be the one who killed Mighty. These are in 23, 24 and 25, but to be fair, it's a 50+ anime series.
• Buso Renkin: Dr. Butterfly resurrects Papillon.
• CLANNAD - People are starting to forget Fuko.
• Code Geass:
  • Season 1 - What's left of the JLF is destroyed by the Black Knights. Shirley discovers Zero is Lelouch.
  • Season 2 - Jeremiah does a Heel–Face Turn. Rolo murders Shirley.
• The Daughter of Twenty Faces is very difficult to discuss without revealing what happens in the sixth episode.
• Digimon Adventure: Hit's one episode later, Devimon the first Big Bad makes his first official appearance in episode 8
  • Digimon Adventure 02: Episode 8 again, Davis finds out that Ken is the Digimon Emperor, though the audience knew much earlier.
  • Digimon Tamers: Episode 7 is the first time the core trio works together as a team and when Yamaki uses the Juggernaut program for the first time, but Episode 8 is when Guilmon finally digivolves.
• Episodes 7 and 8 of Dragon Ball revealed that Muten Roshi was a powerful martial arts master and that Goku's Grandpa Gohan was his pupil.
• In Episode 8 of Elfen Lied, we begin to learn of Lucy's traumatic backstory, and as such some of her motivations.
• In Fullmetal Alchemist, we have the demise of Maes Hughes.
  • A bit earlier, the series' first real Tear Jerker happens when Nina's father combines her with a dog to make a talking chimera so he could extend his State Alchemist license for another year.
• Gundam:
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Episode 6 is when you learn Domon and Kyoji's backstory and he activates supermode for the first time.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: The five Gundam pilots come together for the first time and end up getting played by a superb Batman Gambit, which leads to the first of many major power shifts in the series.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED's first half is about the crew of a prototype ship trying to get to their main base, and shows the enemy try to take it every week with a different tactic. And then, halfway through, the main character's childhood friend turned rival goes berserk after seeing his friend killed, and the two have a fight that ends with the main character apparently dead. Also counts in a meta sense: up until that point, SEED had been mirroring almost episode-for-episode the plot progression of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and then suddenly it did something completely different and new, moving into unexplored territory.
• In Final Fantasy: Unlimited, the seventh episode introduces new character Lou Lupus and new threat Omega.
• Hell Girl adds the perspective of Hajime and Tsugumi to the episodic format in the eighth episode.
• Inuyasha: He claims the sword Tetsusaiga.
• Love Flops seems like a rather standard harem anime at first, albeit with a lot of wacky hijinks and increasingly Contrived Coincidences. Halfway through the anime, it's revealed that the entire harem setup is actually a virtual simulation that main character Asahi willingly took part in. Each member of the harem was actually an Artificial Intelligence, and the simulation was meant to teach A.I.s how to love.
• Love Lab: The school finds out about Sayori's boyfriend and makes her quit the student council. For such a wacky and un-serious show, it's practically a Wham Episode.
• Love Live! Sunshine!!:
  • Season 1 episode 8 reveals that Aquors performance in Tokyo didn't just end with them ranking last, they end up with zero votes, showing how far behind they are compared to other school idols. In addition, this episode reveals that the Third-Years Kanan, Dia, and Mari were in an idol group back in their first year, which failed to perform in Tokyo when Kanan apparently got stage fright.
  • Season 2 episode 7 has Aquors failing to meet the required number of applicants for Uranohoshi to continue to be open.
• Macross Frontier: The first major space battle (earlier engagements were just small skirmishes), with the first Vajra capital ship making an appearance...folding through a fold fault, which was supposed to be completely impossible. Then the Macross Quarter gets to show off why it deserves the first part of its name...basically, episode 7 seriously upped the ante in terms of action. And then, at the very end, Brera plays Aimo on his harmonica, hinting at his connection to Ranka for the first time.
• Episode 4 of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha introduces Fate and turns the Jewel Seed hunt into background noise.
• Chapter 7 of Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force sees the resident Lady of War Signum utterly and messily fragged by a newcomer villainess, establishing a much more gory mood of this manga compared to the previous installments.
• MÄR doesn't exactly have a twist on episode 7 per se, aside from the fact that Snow exists (something you could figure out by watching the OP) but it is where the plot actually starts.
• My-HiME, episode 8. We learn what happens when a HiME is defeated- the person most precious to her dies.
• Naruto: Episode 7 is when Zabuza is formally introduced, and the show jumps from being about a kid in ninja school to an A-rank protect against an evil assassin mission.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: In the first anime, Evangeline isn't revealed to be a vampire until episode 6, and Chachamaru to be a robot until episode 7 (though at least she has some foreshadowing.) It happens even later in the manga, with the revelation not coming until after the 8th grade exams, which were episodes 12 and 13 in the anime.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Another Eva pilot gets a passing mention, manning another Evangelion in Germany, Unit 02. Episode 8 formally introduces her - Asuka Langley Soryu. The series goes into a temporary Monster of the Week format following her arrival, until episode 16... then hits Cerebus Syndrome.... hard.
• Phantom of Inferno: (Anime) Episodes 7 and 8 reveal Zwei's true past and identity.
• Pokémon: The Original Series: In the seventh episode, Misty is revealed to be a Gym Leader.
• Prétear revealed in episode 7 that the previous Pretear fell under darkness and became the Big Bad.
• Princess Tutu's 7th episode introduced the Dark Magical Girl, Princess Kraehe, and the 14th episode showed that the Happily Ever After isn't quite so happy.
• Psycho-Pass had episode 11, in which the first Big Bad was revealed. He was the same person involved in an important case years before (the one that triggered Kogami's Start of Darkness) and was revealed to be immune to the Sibyl system, which left him free to murder Akane's friend right in front of her.
• Despite being short lived, the twelve-episode long Puella Magi Madoka Magica had heavy whams on the 1/4, 1/2, 2/3, and 3/4 marks exactly.
  • Episode 3: Mami's death
  • Episode 6: The other girls find that upon making a contract, they cease to be human.
  • Episode 8: Sayaka becomes a Witch; Kyubey is killed by Homura, but reappears immediately; Homura reveals Kyubey's true name.
  • Episode 9: Sayaka and Kyoko are both killed.
• Rosario + Vampire: The first seven chapters establish the series as a Monster of the Week ecchi and introduce the protagonists- by chapter eight, however, the hints of a larger plot start to show, with the return of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council.
• The first two episodes of Rumbling Hearts seem like a sweet high school romance until the last two minutes when Haruka gets hit by a car and goes into a years-long coma. The show then jumps ahead three years, advancing most of the leads into their post-high-school years and giving them new character designs. Also, the reguilar title sequence doesn't appear until episode 3. Oh, and it gets a lot less sweet.
• Rurouni Kenshin Episode 7 had Kenshin temporarily revert to being a manslayer for the first time in order to fight Jinei, the first Big Bad.
• Samurai Flamenco: The series starts off as a light-hearted Affectionate Parody of the Tokusatsu genre, its more serious moments balanced out by comedy and bromance. The 7th episode seems more somber than the rest, with Masayoshi learning that his parents were murdered...and then, in the last five minutes before the credits, a giant chest-guillotine-wielding gorilla from nowhere bursts onto the scene and kills several cops. Nobody in the fanbase saw this coming.
• Sailor Moon: In the first anime, we meet the first member of the team apart from Sailor Moon herself, Sailor Mercury, and leave behind the strictly Usagi antics in Episode 8.
• Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas episode 6: the death of Pisces Albafica, showing the series as Darker and Edgier and Anyone Can Die.
• Saint Seiya Omega has several. Despite people's belief it was a lighthearted series, several were shocked with the revelation that the director from Palestra is revealed as one of Athena's strongest Saints but has betrayed her and is sacrificing several young soldiers. Another twist involves in mid first season when a main member from the cast, Aria. is Killed Off for Real despite the previous series' Not Quite Dead. Several fans refused to believe she was killed and expected the next episodes to reveal she was alive. They were wrong.
• School Rumble (manga): Harima accidentally confesses his love for Tenma, to Eri.
• Seven Senses of the Re'Union: Clive (revealed in the next episode to be a shapeshifter) backstabs Haruto and leaves him for dead, though it's the next episode coupled with the previous episode that cultivates the major plot twist of the show. Senses can be used in reality and that Asahi's Prophet Art is actually a future-bending power that a group called Gnosis wishes to harvest from her.
• Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry looks like it's going to avert this with a fanservice filler episode, until Lavinia's antics accidentally land Emily in a garbage truck. Episode eight follows, with an almost-kiss, Sara meeting the other Emily, Carris having A Death in the Limelight, and Sara confronting Ralph only to be exposed to Lottie and the Libertad.
• Soul Eater: Introduces the (or a) Big Bad into the series. Also, Soul is infected with the Black Blood, which pretty much initiates the plot.
• Soul Eater Not!: Tsugumi and friends attend the lower level class and have minor adventures up until episode 7, where Eternal Feather-sempai is mind-controlled by a witch and then ordered to kill herself.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Episodes 7 & 8 — The first ones that really start to kick the plot in gear, and Kamina dies.
• Trigun: Episode 5 is the first time Vash gets completely serious in a fight, and the villain of the episode is later revealed to be part of a mercenary family. Likewise, episode 9 introduced the Gung-Ho Guns and reveals Vash's many scars.
• Wedding Peach: Switches from Jama-P controlling the Victim of the Week every episode to a more standard Monster of the Week format, in addition to having Jama-P join the team proper.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: The first in what would become a long list of Wham Episodes was episode 7. The first appearance of Xyz Summoning in the show, revealing that this series would utilize all Extra Deck summoning methods (whereas previous series Zexal ignored Synchro summoning entirely), the first appearance of Knight of Cerebus and Identical Stranger to the protagonist Yuya, the first mention of the mysterious Academia and their connection to the local MegaCorp... This was the episode that sparked the Cerebus Syndrome the rest of the show is known for.
• YuYu Hakusho episode 6 - Yusuke gets his first assignment as spirit detective.
• Zatch Bell!: The first few episodes revolve around Zatch meeting Kiyo as well as understanding what the plot is, revealed in Episode 4. However, matters truly take a twist in the 8th episode, where Zatch and Kiyo meet the first truly kind mamodo. Furthermore, when she returns to the mamodo, this is where Zatch gets his reason and motivation. His goal is to become a kind king.

Fan Works

• In David Gonterman's Sailor Moon fanfic American Kitsune, the seventh chapter reveals that Serena and David are long lost siblings.
• Cinders and Ashes: the Chronicles of Kamen Rider Dante has a few mid-season twists due to having its story split into arcs.
  • Cinder Road's mid-season twist is that Hoshi rewrote the Kamen Rider Dante fanfic so that Re:Shocker are instead straw representations of the bullies that harassed Setsuna into suicide, all while Altair officially recruits Magane onto her side by having her go after both Hoshi and Souta.
  • Cinder Fall's mid-season twist (and by extension, the entirety of the fanfic), is The Reveal that Shimashima is Setsuna's estranged father who had been working with Altair to avenge her and that he had been given the means to become a Kamen Rider himself.

Literature

• Fitting with the family's progressive inability to tell fact from fiction after participating in the reality show, which is also fond of such manipulative tricks, the exorcism and the revelation that Merry isn't talking to Rachel because of the exorcism, but because of a murder/suicide that killed her entire family except her, occurs halfway through A Head Full of Ghosts, which also marks a Genre Shift.
• The seventh of the thirteen books in A Series of Unfortunate Events marks a huge change in the series' status quo, as the Baudelaires are now fugitives from the law.
• The Dresden Files book 12, Changes, is this. Though there were hints of it before, that book is where the plot's scope gets global (the Red Court's extinction) serious changes start to take place in the protagonist's mind (he finally makes a Deal with the Devil and must handle the repercussions) and the Apocalypse How scenario is revealed, or to be exact, certain developments in the plot take place that will eventually reveal it.
  Jim Butcher: For me personally, CHANGES – GHOST STORY – COLD DAYS is the big three-part special episode that comes in the middle of the season like they used to do in the old shows, like in the 70s and 80s. “This is the HUGE, EPIC episode!” and they’d occasionally pre-empt the whole evening to show it to you. That’s what those three books are to me.
• In Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort's physical resurrection and open declaration of his quest to become the ruler of the wizarding world at the end of Book 4 arguably serves as a shift from the more lighthearted tone of the first four volumes with their clearly sperarated adventures of the year to the existential themes constantly present in the rest of the series.
• Temeraire: At the finale of Book 4 of 9, Captain Laurence abandons his My Country, Right or Wrong attitude to deliver the Dragon Plague cure to England's enemies. Book 5 is his Darkest Hour: convicted of treason, he loses his family, friends, fortune, and command; his death sentence is eventually commuted to transportation for political reasons, but he and Temeraire have to rediscover who they are in the world.

Video Games

• Age of Empires III
  • First game.
    • Blood: The Ottomans are defeated but a new threat arises in the form of the Circle of Ossus.
    • Ice: The Big Bad Governor Warwick makes his appearance.
    • Steel: Amelia heads for South America to stop the Circle from stealing the remaining water of the Fountain of Youth.
  • The War chiefs.
    • Fire: The Battle of Trenton.
    • Shadow: The peace settlement between the whites and Indians fall apart.
• Command & Conquer: Generals
  • First game.
    • China: America enters the war.
    • GLA: Jarmen Kell is introduced.
    • USA: US begin reconquest of Kazakhstan.
  • Zero Hour
    • USA: First time we hear of Dr. Thrax.
    • GLA: The GLA sinks a US aircraft carrier, forcing them to retreat from Europe.
    • China: China begins liberating Europe.
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series
  • Part 1: The Allies and Soviets discover about each other's super weapons.
  • Part 2
    • Allies: The Allies begin liberating the US with the aid of European nations.
    • Soviets: We first see signs that Yuri is controlling the Premier.
  • Yuri's Revenge.
    • Allies: After the end of the original war, the Allies and Soviets band together against Yuri.
    • Soviets: After the Soviets change the course of history, the Allies surrender and join the Soviets against Yuri.
  • Part 3
    • Soviets: The Empire is driven out of Russia but an attempt is made on Cherdenko's life.
    • Allies: The Allies and Soviets band together agains the Empire.
    • The Empire: The Empire conquers Russia, but is suddenly attacked by the Allies at Pearl Harbor.
• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series
  • Tiberian Dawn: Kane makes his appearance in the GDI campaign.
  • Tiberian Sun: The game gets a sci-fi makeover when the Tacitus is introduced.
  • Firestorm: Nod kills the mutant leader Tratos, and Cabal rebels against Nod and attacks everyone.
  • Tiberium Wars: The deposit of Liquid T. beneath the Temple of Nod detonates, killing millions and attracting an Alien Invasion.
  • Kane's Wrath: The player is revealed to be a computer AI.
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey: Chapter 7 is the first one where we get to play as Kian and April, kicking the plot into gear. It also features April meeting the White Kin and the Guardian of the Balance, serving to integrate Dreamfall into the established mythology of The Longest Journey.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy VII: Someone or some-thing who looks like Sephiroth has suddenly appeared and violently murdered President Shinra, and now you must venture across the world to unravel the mystery behind his reappearance.
  • Final Fantasy VIII: After passing your SeeD test and graduating to a full-fledged mercenary, Cid sends you to Timber to meet with the resistance group you'll be helping. At last, you meet their leader, and it's...the cute girl you danced with at the graduation party? And she wants you to kidnap the president of Galbadia?
  • Final Fantasy IX: The party has busted their ass rescuing Garnet from Alexandria and taken her to Lindblum for safeguarding. Except she's pissed Regent Cid won't do anything, so she slips sleeping drugs into everybody's food and runs back to Alexandria to settle the problem on her own.
  • Final Fantasy XIII: Chapter 7 serves to introduce The Sixth Ranger Fang, who finally reveals her and Vanille's role in causing the Purge, as well as to end the long-running arc of Hope's pursuit of revenge upon Snow. All in all, it marks the turning point where the l'Cie stop working against each other and instead try cooperate henceforth.
• Occurs in many Fire Emblem titles. Each game is divided up into 24~30 Chapters (excluding sidequests) that feel very much like a season of television or a ~26 episode series.
  • In Genealogy of the Holy War, Chapter 6 (which is technically the seventh map) reveals that following Sigurd's death, Arvis has taken over the known world. Fortunately, seventeen years down the line, Sigurd's son Seliph is all grown-up and ready to pick up where Dad left off.
  • In The Binding Blade, Chapter 7 and 8 see The Starscream in Hector's court make his move to overthrow Ostia and sell out Lycia to Bern. If you're lucky, defeating this rebellion will put you on the path to reclaiming the legendary sword Durandal - thus beginning the Divine Weapons sidequest required to get the True Ending.
  • In The Blazing Blade, Chapter 7 is the first time we are introduced to the struggle between the Black Fang and Ninian and Nils, which is the major plot for most of the game. Eliwood and Hector, the game's other two protagonists make cameo appearances in the same chapter.
  • In The Sacred Stones Chapter 7 and 8 are essentially a two part chapter (the first to occur without going back to the main map) that ends Eirika's solo journey, reunites her with Ephraim, and gives the player the choice of who to follow for chapter 9 and onward. Chapter 7 also starts with a team rally, similar to the ones that usually start the final chapter in this series so you know its important.
  • In Path of Radiance, Chapter 7 is when the split-up Greil Mercenaries regroup. Some hours after the battle ends, Greil fights and is killed by the Black Knight, forcing Ike to go from rookie mercenary to the company's commander at the beginning of Chapter 8.
  • In Radiant Dawn, Chapter 7 is when Tormod reunites with Sothe, and informs him that the evil doers in Begnion are led by a sect of Senators, not the Apostle Sanaki. The reveal of the rift in Begnion's leadership defines the politics of most of the game. Like the Blazing Blade example, this is really a teaser that becomes more important after the extended prologue.
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Chapter 6 reveals that Marth is a woman who somehow knows of the future. Also introduced is Validar, the Big Bad from the Premonition Chapter, who afterwards proceeds to meet the Fell Dragon Grima in human form for the first time (who is obviously the Greater-Scope Villain). Chapter 7 is when Emm gives Chrom the Fire Emblem to protect as she splits with the rest of the team to lead the war against Plegia.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: The name of the world's goddess is dropped about halfway into Part 1, and it's Sothis, the amnesiac girl Byleth sees in their dreams. It's also around this time that the more sinister aspects of the Crests and Heroes' Relics are revealed. The end of Part 1, the rough halfway point of the game, marks its biggest Wham Episode: Edelgard is the Flame Emperor and she declares war on the Church and the rest of the continent, and Rhea is revealed to be a dragon, setting up the Time Skip.
• Chapter 6 of 18 of Ghost Trick offers a major one: Lynne, your sidekick, shot and killed Sissel at 7 PM at the junkyard.
• Guild Wars 2 features the Living Story, periodic updates with new storylines outside of the original release. The first half of the first "season" had a number of seemingly disparate plot lines. In the very middle of the season Scarlet Briar was revealed the be behind many of the earlier plotlines and became the driving force behind subsequent events.
• For the first six episodes of Halo 4's Spartan Ops, the Infinity is using the Spartan-IVs to try and learn more about Requiem, trying to keep a step ahead of the Covenant. Business as usual. But when episode seven rolled around, things on the Infinity get shaken up: Prometheans teleport aboard, and the Covies board her. To make things worse, the artifact is telling Requiem to tether Infinity through slipspace, so they can't get out of the range of the Promethean teleporters.
• Mother 3: The end of chapter 7 is when it is officially revealed that Porky Minch is the Pigmasks' "King" responsible for all of the evil that has befallen the island (though anyone familiar with Earthbound and Super Smash Bros. Brawl has had plenty of clues by that point).
• Red Dead Redemption 2: the end of Chapter 4^note the game has 6 main chapters, plus 2 epilogue chapters:The well-planned Saint Denis bank heist ends horribly, the Pinkertons get wind of the robbery, Hosea and several others are killed, and Arthur, Dutch, Micah, Bill and Javier escape on a boat to flee the Pinkertons pursuing them.
• The Secret World: Lilith is the Big Bad, resident Creepy Child Emma is the daughter of Gaia, and the local zombie virus has infested the World Tree.
• Spec Ops: The Line: Chapter 8 (of 15) features the white phosphorous incident, which signals a massive shift in both genre and tone for the entire game.
• Starcraft
  • First game.
    • Terrans: The player becomes a outlaw for accepting aid from the Sons of Korhal.
    • Zerg: The creature inside the chrysalis is Kerrigan.
    • Protoss: The player defects to the side of Tassadar.
  • Brood War
    • Protoss: A new Overmind is emerging.
    • Terrans: The UED assaults the Dominion capitol but Mengsk is rescued by Jim Raynor.
    • Zerg: Kerrigan betrays the alliance she forged against the UED and kills Duke And Fenix.
• StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty: Zeratul appears to Raynor and tells him that he must save Kerrigan as she is their only hope in defeating the Dark Voice.
• Starcraft II Heart Of The Swarm: Raynor's death after being captured by the Dominion was staged. He's still alive in captivity.
• Starcraft II Legacy Of The Void: The Protoss were not meant to be uplifted by the Xel'naga as was commonly believed. Amon did so on his own.
• Syphon Filter:
  • Part 1: Lian is (seemingly) killed.
  • Part 2: Gabe kills Archer and gets back the data discs.
  • Part 3: Gabe sinks the SS Lorelei.
• Tenchu
  • Part 1: First appearance of Onikage.
  • Part 2: Rikimaru and Ayame discover that Tatsumaru has amnesia and is fighting for the Burning Dawn.
• Thief
  • Thief: The Dark Project: Garrett gets hired to rob someone named Constantine.
  • Thief II: The Metal Age: Garrett discovers that Sheriff Truart is working for the true villain Karras.
• Warcraft 3
  • Reign Of Chaos:
    • Alliance: The Cult of the Damned is defeated but Kel'Thuzad vows that its not over yet.
    • Undead: Arthas is commanded to invade the Elven land of Quel'thalas..
    • Horde: Thrall discovers the Alliance have also fled to Kalimdor.
    • Night Elves: Furion Stormrage is awakened.
  • The Frozen Throne
    • Night Elves: Illidan recovers the Eye of Sargeras.
    • Alliance: The Blood Elves are imprisoned for accepting aid from the Naga.
    • Undead: Sylvanas turns against the Dreadlords.
• Roughly halfway through the first season of The Walking Dead (Telltale) (at the end of Episode 3), Lee discovers that Clementine's walkie-talkie ''isn't broken'', and she has been communicating with someone who claims to know where her family are.
• Chapter 5 of Xenoblade Chronicles X ends with your player character's arm being blown off by an enemy mech, leaving behind a metal stump filled with wires and leaking a blue liquid. This is because you, along with every other human in New L.A., are being held in stasis within the missing Lifehold Core, and have been remotely controlling robotic bodies from there. This is also where we learn what the countdown on the BLADE Tower is for — it shows the Lifehold Core's remaining power, and if it hits zero before it can be recovered, everyone dies.

Visual Novels

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice:
  • Case 2 reveals that Nahyuta knows Apollo personally; we just don't know how exactly.
  • Case 3 reveals that Dhurke is Nahyuta's biological father and Apollo's foster father.

Web Animation

• Battle for Dream Island: Out of nowhere in BFB 16, Two, an anthropomorphic number akin to Four persuaded 40 of the 54 remaining contestants to join his Object Show called The Power of Two (Or TPOT for short) without caring if . This split divided the BFDI fanbase as to whether the change was for the better or the worse.

Webcomics

• Tripping Over You: In the tenth chapter out of a planned twenty, Liam leaves school, comes out to his father, and plans to move in with his boyfriend, ending the stresses of their Secret Relationship and setting them on the path to navigating their adult lives together.

Web Original

• Red vs. Blue - ends with a teaser stating a character would die in the next episode (which happens to be episode 7). Of course with the nature of this show, the character who dies comes back (as a ghost). His death pretty much sets off the plot of the rest of the series.
  • The rest of the seasons continue this trend, particularly after Cerebus Syndrome kicks in. Season 12 especially, when halfway through the season Felix is revealed to be Evil All Along.
• Season 2 of The Penumbra Podcast has "Juno Steel and the Promised Land", in which the apparent main villain of the season is killed off and the true main villain of the season is revealed to be Ramses O'Flaherty, the kindhearted mayoral candidate that Juno has been working for. Also, the cast learns that the Free Dome (which they've been trying to find for most of the season) doesn't exist.

Western Animation

• In Season 3 of The Amazing World of Gumball in "The Shell", Gumball accidentally causes her shell to have a crack which she reveals that it contains her true form. Gumball insisted Penny should come out of her shell despite her father forbidding her to do so and out of concern that Gumball may not like how she looks, she did and Penny reveals herself as a shapeshifting fairy but she runs away when she thought Gumball was thinking she looked bad but Gumball actually loves her true form. When Gumball managed to get to her after calling out her father for making her feel very insecure to the point of calling her a monster, Gumball finally confessed his feelings to her and they finally share their Official Kiss and become a couple with her true form now permanent from then on.
• In Amphibia:
  • In the tenth episode out of 20 in its first season (or 20 of 39 given the Two Shorts format), "Prison Break", Sasha, one of Anne's friends from Earth, becomes The Dragon to Grime.
  • At the very end of "Bizarre Bazar", Hop Pop secretly buries the Calamity Box.
  • In "After the Rain", Anne discovers Hop Pop buried the box and defied her, and learns the truth behind the death of Sprig and Polly's parents.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Episodes 7 and 8 are the two-part "Winter Solstice" episode that introduces the Spirit World, Aang's ability to talk to past Avatars, and the coming of Sozin's Comet. The goal of the characters solidly shifts from slowly teaching Aang all the elements to a Race Against the Clock where they need to take down Ozai in a year or the world gets destroyed.
  • The tenth episode of the second season ("The Library") has the group discover that firebenders lose their abilities during a solar eclipse, and that one is scheduled to occur within a few months, before the arrival of Sozin's Comet. In addition, Appa is kidnapped, devestating Aang and leaving the heroes without their primary means of transportation for awhile.
  • In the "Day of Black Sun" two-parter, beginning on episode 10 of the third season, the attempted invasion of the Fire Nation fails, Sokka learns that Azula has Suki imprisoned, and Zuko completes his Heel–Face Turn.
  • The Legend of Korra: Episode 6 of the first season ("And The Winner Is...") has Amon and his Equalists perform a terrorist attack on the pro-bending arena, with him formally announcing the beginning of the war between non-benders and benders. The focus shifts from acclimating Korra to Republic City to stopping Amon and learning about the conflicts/secrets within the upper echelons of the metropolis. The following episode, entitled "The Aftermath" reveals that Asami's father is a high-ranking member of the Equalists and has Lin Beifong resign as chief of police.
  • The sixth episode of Korra's second season ("The Sting") reveals that Varrick is not to be trusted, and has been exacerbating the Water Tribe Civil War for his own gain. The episode also ends with Korra being attacked by a dark spirit and losing her memories. The following episode is the start of a two-parter ("Beginnings") that has Korra get her memories back by reliving the story of the first Avatar.
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes:
  • The team forms at the end of the seventh episode produced during season one.
  • In season two, episode 7 is when the Avengers first become aware of the Skrull infestation. It also marks the end of Iron Man as leader of the Avengers, with Skrull Captain America leading only Hawkeye, Hulk and Wasp due to Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and Black Panther spitting off out of mistrust for the rest of the team. Interestingly, the production order lists this as the eighth episode of season two, but Marvel has confirmed that the chronological order designates this as the seventh episode.
• Beast Machines' mid-season three-parter, fittingly titled Revelations. The Maximals find out what happened to them upon returning to Cybertron and where the rest of their team is. Their objective turns from "run, hide and try to find out stuff" to "run, hide and save Cybertron."
• Big City Greens:
  • The first part of the 18th episode of Season 1, "Coffee Quest", ends with Cricket keeping his job at Big Coffee permanently, while "Phoenix Rises", the episode it's paired with, ends with the Greens' mother Nancy being released from prison.
  • "Reckoning Ball", the 5th episode of the first 10 of Season 2, ends with Chip Whistler assuming the position of Wholesome Foods CEO, having revealed he tricked the Greens into forgiving him so he can run them out of town forever. In the 14th episode, "Friend Con", the Greens realize Chip tricked them and he's still evil.
  • "Chipwrecked", the last of the "middle ten" of Season 2 — Chip fires his Mooks and replaces them with bouncers; sets up a Wholesome Foods expansion plan; manipulates Ms. Cho into giving him Big Coffee; fires Cricket and Gloria, leaving them jobless; and most of all, announces the expansion plan will be right where the Green house is, meaning the most important building that had been in the family for generations is going to be demolished for good if they don't fight back and find a way to defeat him.
  • "The Move", the de-facto middle of Season 3, sees the Greens leaving Big City and returning to their old home in the country with Remy in tow.
  • "Chipped Off" (the 5th episode of Season 4A): Chip's former Mook Greg realizes he's still standing since the Elkins Street battle, and Chip is now secretly planning even bigger revenge on the Greens and all of Big City for wronging him.
• Danny Phantom - "Bitter Reunions", the seventh episode of the first season, introduces Vlad Masters/Plasmius and establishes him quickly as Danny's Evil Counterpart and Arch-Enemy.
• Elena of Avalor:
  • The season 1 special "Realm of the Jaquins" (episode 22) ends with Elena facing a test: face a darkness rising somewhere and defeat it, or she'll never be queen of Avalor. That darkness is revealed to be her old foe Shuriki, restored to her youth and gaining her powers back with apprentices Victor and Carla Delgado, which sets up the arc for the second season.
  • "A Spy in the Palace", the 5th episode of Season 2, has Carla become an undercover spy in Avalor castle, with everyone completely fooled by her disguise. "Rise of the Sorceress", the 7th episode, has Elena and company witness Shuriki's return, and Elena has to defeat her once and for all.
  • In "Song of the Sirenas", the 15th episode, Shuriki is destroyed for good thanks to Elena using her Scepter of Light, and Fiero is turned to stone again.
  • In "The Magic Within", the 6th episode of the third season, Elena gets a new crystallized scepter and outfit which gives her new powers based on her emotions, and Ash turns against the Delgados. Esteban is also revealed to be in on Ash's scheme, and is banished from Avalor.
  • In "Dreamcatcher", the 11th episode, Elena officially disowns Esteban.
• Gravity Falls has "Not What He Seems" (Season 2, Episode 11), which reveals that the portal in basement was a gateway to other dimensions and that Grunkle Stan has been working for 30 years in order to bring his twin brother back from the other side. Said twin brother being the author of the journals, whom the other characters have been trying to figure out the identity of since the beginning of the series... and more shockingly, the REAL Stanford Pines (with Grunkle Stan's first name actually being Stanley). The following episode then reveals the Stan Twins' happy childhood, their growing apart as they got older, and the chain of events that lead to Grunkle Stan faking his own death as Stanley Pines and having to use his brother's identity until he could find a way to bring back Stanford Pines after he inadvertently caused his brother to be sucked through the portal. This twist was initially planned as the second season finale until it was decided to accelerate the show's Myth Arc so it could end at two seasons instead of three.
• Green Lantern: The Animated Series:
  • First Arc- "The Reckoning": Atrocitus learns that the heroes are still alive after apparently dying in the second episode; the existence of Atrocitus's invasion fleet is revealed, showing just how high the stakes really are and Razer learns that Atrocitus was behind all the strife on his home planet and the death of his wife in order to make him into a Red Lantern.
  • Second Arc- "Cold Fury": Aya disables her emotions, absorbs the power of the Interceptor's engines and uses it to defeat the Anti-Monitor, but in the process merges with the Anti-Monitor's remains, undergoes a Face–Heel Turn, and becomes the new Big Bad.
• In Season 2 of The Lion Guard, in "The Rise of Scar" (episode 5) Kion ends up using the Roar of the Elders in fury, and the hyenas throw the staff of Rafiki's apprentice Makini into the volcano to summon Simba's old enemy Scar as their spirit guide, which sets up the arc for the remainder of the season. In "Divide and Conquer" (episode 16), Kion manages to witness Scar just before he disappears.
• In the 13th episode of the 26-episode third season of Littlest Pet Shop (2012), Blythe's ability to talk to animals is no longer a secret kept only to herself and the animals she speaks to. The following episode, meanwhile, reveals that the Corrupt Corporate Executive Fisher Biskit is only underhanded when it comes to the pet supplies business and is a Reasonable Authority Figure otherwise, respecting Blythe for her kindness and generosity despite seeing her as a major hindrance in his company's operations. François is also rehired as the Biskit family's butler, relegating Monban strictly to security duties.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • "Lesson Zero" ends with Princess Celestia declaring that she wants friendship reports from all of Twilight Sparkle's friends, and only when they actually learn a lesson (as opposed to before when only Twilight sent them, and once a week). This allowed the writers to change the format up quite a bit and focus more on the rest of the cast without shoehorning Twilight into every episode.
  • "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" has the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally earn their cutie marks after nearly five years, which is probably the most important story event to occur in the show.
• Ninjago: Tick Tock is well known for revealing that Zane is actually a robot.
• Rick and Morty's sixth season finale has Rick claim that the seventh season would be dedicated to hunting down Rick Prime. However, the fifth episode of the ten-episode seventh season has Rick actually achieving this goal thanks to Evil Morty, though now that Rick Prime is dead, Rick finds he has no idea where to go from there.
• Seasons 3 and 4 of Sofia the First both follow this:
  • In season 3, "Minding The Manor" (the 5th episode) sets up the Secret Library arc, while episode 6, "The Secret Library" starts it up. Episode 14 , "The Secret Library: Olaf And The Tale Of Miss Nettle", has Miss Nettle pulling a heel face turn.
  • In season 4, the movie "The Mystic Isles", (episode 5), sets up the Mystic Isles arc while episode 6 (subtitled "The Great Protector") builds on the movie. Episode 14 (subtitled "The Falcon's Eye) sets up the Wicked Nine arc for the Mystic Isles.
• South Park has "You're Getting Old", where Stan becomes extremely cynical so as to literally see everything as excrement, and he was moving out as his parents were divorcing. By the end of the episode, neither got resolved like the show would usually do, although the latter did with the parents getting together again in "Ass Burgers".
• Episode seven of The Spectacular Spider-Man first introduces (in-costume) the Green Goblin, who will ultimately take over as Big Bad.
  • The following season's seventh episode ends with George Stacy all but flat-out admitting that he knows Peter is Spider-Man.
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series did this over the seasons:
  • "Enter the Punisher": Ends with Spider-Man succumbing to the full effects of his Neogenic Disease - transforming into Man-Spider.
  • "The Man Without Fear": Spider-Man learns Wilson Fisk is the Kingpin, The Man Behind the Man for many of his past battles.
  • "The Vampire Queen": The Black Cat leaves New York.
• Steven Universe:
  • Season 1's "Mirror Gem"/"Ocean Gem" two-parter introduced a new and powerful Gem named Lapis Lazuli as an Anti-Villain, who implies that the Crystal Gems shouldn't be trusted before flying off into space, revealing their species' alien nature and that the Crystal Gems aren't the Last of Their Kind. The two-parter also reveals that the monsters they've been fighting used to be Gems, too.
  • Season 2's "Catch and Release". Until then, the season had focused on the Crystal Gems trying to tie up all the loose ends left from the previous season, which includes catching Peridot (one of the villains that escaped during the season one finale). This episode has them succeed... only to find themselves entering an Enemy Mine situation with the Homeworld Gem to stop the Cluster, a monster that could easily cause The End of the World as We Know It, all while Peridot undergoes a gradual Heel–Face Turn.
  • Season 3's "Monster Reunion" finally reveals Homeworld's final attack on Earth to be what corrupted most Gems there into monsters. The very next episode, "Alone at Sea", has Jasper return after falling into a crack in the earth, becoming the Arc Villain for the rest of the season.
  • Season 4's "Steven's Dream" has Blue Diamond visit Earth to mourn Pink Diamond, and while there, meet Greg, who she becomes fascinated with and decides to take back with her to Pink Diamond's Human Zoo, forcing the Crystal Gems to go into space to rescue him. Over the course of the next few episodes, they succeed, but Blue gains a greater desire to preserve human specimens, which leads to the human disappearance arc at the end of the season.
  • Season 5's "A Single Pale Rose" reveals that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were the same person, which changes the context of the whole series. From there, the latter half of the season is the main cast coping with this discovery which transitions into a trip to Homeworld that concludes the series' Myth Arc.
• Super Dinosaur:
  • Near the end of "Invasion of the Dynamo Dome" (Episode 12), it's revealed that Maximus might know a thing or two about Dr. Dynamo's absent wife...
  • "Minimum Requirements" (Episode 13) introduces Minimus, a clone of Max Maximus made to continue commanding the Dino-Men in case the original ever got incarcerated.
• For a mostly stand alone cartoon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) shook things up a bit in the 7th episode of its second season, "Enter the Fly." Baxter Stockman is permanently mutated into a fly creature, Bebop and Rocksteady returned as the Shredder's main henchmen after spending the entire first half of the season on the sidelines, and Shredder attempts to draw the Turtles out by actually trying to kill April by lethally poisoning her.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003):
  • Season 1: "The Way of Invisibility" has the Turtles fight the Foot-Tech ninjas for the first time.
  • Season 2: Episodes 6-8, "Secret Origins", have the Turtles reunite with Master Splinter, discover the truth behind their creation and reveals that the Shredder is really a rogue Utrom.
  • Season 3: Episode 6, "Worlds Collide Part 3", in which the Turtles fight Bishop for the first time and the Fugitoid sacrifices himself to stop an alien invasion of Earth although he secretly backs his mind up.
  • Season 4: Episode 8, "Bad Day", reveals that Karai has begun a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Turtles for the defeat of her master.
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), April begins her training with Splinter and the Turtles acquire and actually manage to keep a live canister of Ooze.
• In Teen Titans Season four, episode seven is when Raven reveals her true nature and destiny to the other Titans.
• ThunderCats (2011): Episode 7, "Legacy" is a Wham Episode, where we learn the origin of the Thundercats, their relationship with Mumm-Ra, and the game changes for the characters. They don't just need the Sword and Book of Omens, now they need to unite the Animals and find three new mystical stones as well.
• TRON: Uprising episode 7 has Beck getting his hands on a dangerous Upgrade Artifact and using it despite Tron's warnings. With Great Power Comes Great Insanity ensues, resulting in Beck nearly getting Able killed.
• Ultimate Spider-Man has a notable twist that pulls a fast one on long time comic book fans: Harry Osborn is Venom!
• Winx Club:
  • In the 13th episode of Season 1, Bloom finds out and learns Mike and Vanessa adopted her and she's not from Earth, and she's determined to discover all she can about her biological family and where she originated.
  • In the 17th episode of Season 4, the Winx have successfully freed the Earth Fairies, and then they plan on taking revenge on the Wizards of the Black Circle, and the people of Earth for imprisoning them. Now they have to stop the Earth Fairies from attacking Earth.
• X-Men: The Animated Series has a couple:
  • Season 1: The X-men return home from a rescue mission only to find the mansion completely destroyed.
  • Season 2: Bishop returns to the past to prevent another disaster from destroying his future, in this case a plague that has been infecting humans, engineered by the Friends of Humanity to pin the blame on mutants and eventually infect them with as well. Cable, who's been researching the events, discovers that the plague was actually created by Apocalypse and that Bishop's actions are actually wiping out his own timeline.
  • Season 3: Jean Grey, now merged with the Phoenix, must sacrifice herself to seal the M'Kraan Crystal before it destroys all existence.
• X-Men: Evolution
  • Season 1 - Rogue's Heel–Face Turn and the existence of Mystique to the team.
  • Season 2 - Introduces Angel as well as Magneto's first on screen appearance since his apparent death the previous season finale.
• For Young Justice (2010):
  • "Depths" in season 2 kicks the plot into gear by revealing that Aqualad is a Fake Defector and he, Nightwing, Kid Flash, and Artemis are the only ones who know this. Aqualad fakes killing Artemis so that she can join him as backup, magically disguised, to infiltrate the Light and figure out who their "partner" is. Lagoon Boy is also captured by Aqualad's forces, and we get the belated backstory on why Superboy and Miss Martian broke up and how long she's been brain blasting her opponents into submission— all of which are necessary set-up that lead to the midseason finale in episode 10.
  • "Evolution" in season 3 is a Villain Episode that details the backstory of Big Bad Vandal Savage. Savage is a Visionary Villain and an immortal caveman, and also was Genghis Khan and the Babylonian demigod Marduk, and also the father of Nabu, the Lord of Order spirit that possessed Zatara in season 1, and also the originator of the mutation that led to humanity's metagene potential, the common ancestor of all metahumans. He also murders his elderly daughter in cold blood because her dementia causes her to be fast and loose with the secret plans he's been planning for humanity's evolution for the last 50,000 years. His links to Darkseid, hinted at throughout season 1 and confirmed in the final scene of season 2, are finally explained— Darkseid thinks the metagene mutations Savage's offspring demonstrated will help him solve the anti-life equation, and until then, they'll conquer the galaxy together... until only Earth and Apokolips remain. The scope of the series blows out to truly insane proportions here, tying plot threads from Young Justice: Legacy and the metaplot of season one all up into an exquisitely intricate bow.

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