Top 10 Craziest Twists in the First Episode
#10: Aunt Robin!?
“How I Met Your Mother” (2005-14) As this sitcom opens, Future Ted assures us he’ll be telling the story of how he met the mother of his children. The pilot’s meet-cute between Ted Mosby and Robin Scherbatsky is certainly romantic, with twists and turns that promise it will be one “happily” of an ever-after. But just at the end, Narrator Ted unexpectedly reveals to his kids that the would-be bride is their “aunt,” not their mother. Sure, we don’t expect them to just get right away, but the two seem like such a superb fit that it’s shockingly subversive to learn that Robin won’t be the one. True: the divisive finale complicates this eventuality… but when the series began, this crazy twist had us scurrying like a cockamouse for more.
#9: Teddy is a Host
“Westworld” (2016-22) At the start of this increasingly complicated science fiction series, James Marsden plays Teddy, whom we think is a human patron of a western-themed amusement park full of android hosts. However, during a shootout with a group of bandits, he is killed by another guest, the sadistic Man in Black. Teddy’s subsequent return to the park with his brain wiped for another day of playing out stories for wealthy park guests’ entertainment clues us into the show’s existential themes. Teddy’s “death” also teaches the audience how we have to watch this show. Everything about this world, and everyone in it, is a big question mark.
#8: Walter’s Close Call
Tony Soprano VS Walter White
“Breaking Bad” (2008-13) This acclaimed series begins with chemistry teacher and rookie drug kingpin Walter White fleeing through the desert in an RV, wearing only his underwear and a gas mask. The sounds of sirens fill the air, and he realizes he’s caught. It’s a bracing introduction to an average joe in way over his head. The rest of the episode is a flashback, telling us why he changed careers. But the end of the episode returns us to this first scene and reveals that the sirens belonged to passing fire trucks, and they had nothing to do with his criminal activities. It’s a huge relief for him, but it also gives him the confidence to take his new and dangerous career even further.
#7: Judy Is the Hit-&-Run Driver
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“Dead to Me” (2019-22) Jen and Judy meet in a support group for people dealing with grief. Jen lost her husband in a yet unsolved hit-and-run car accident and Judy has suffered multiple miscarriages. But as we come to find out, Judy’s not in Jen’s life by accident. As the first episode closes, Judy visits a storage unit, where the car that hit Jen’s husband is hidden. If Judy seemed just a little eccentric up to this point, the audience now has no idea what to expect from her. The suspense this revelation introduces to their budding friendship over the first season is pretty much what makes the entire show tick.
#6: It Was All a Training Exercise
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“The Twilight Zone” (1959-64) The first iteration of Rod Serling’s anthology series introduced his fondness for twist endings. Our very first look into “The Twilight Zone” found a man with no memories wandering in a world devoid of people. Driven to the brink of insanity, the man is revealed to be an astronaut participating in a sensory deprivation exercise, training for an eventual solo mission to the moon. His feeling of being watched was real, although the rest of the hallucination was not. On top of capturing the Space Race era’s fascination with the Moon, it set a standard for the show’s iconic surprise endings.
#5: The Doctor & Susan Are Time-Traveling Aliens
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“Doctor Who” (1963–) Before it was one of the most well-established TV franchises in history, audiences had no reason to expect what strange delights would be revealed in this BBC science fiction oddity. The time-traveling, shapeshifting Doctor is introduced as a curmudgeonly old man who lives in a junkyard telephone box with his first companion, his granddaughter Susan. Two of Susan’s school teachers follow her there, and the secret of the TARDIS is revealed to them and to the perplexed audience for the very first time. Initial reviews were mixed at best. However, if six decades of entertainment is any indication, the premise was plenty interesting enough to keep devoted fans hooked.
#4: Split Between Time Periods
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“This Is Us” (2016-22) Seemingly about a group of characters who just share the same birthday, “This Is Us” may have been a good but fairly conventional familial drama without its pilot episode twist. The premiere ends with the revelation that three of the characters we’ve been following don’t just share a birthday, they’re also siblings. Not only that, but two other characters are actually their parents from a past timeline. The show’s time period split became a component of every episode afterward. Glimpses into the past and the future injected the Pearson family’s present with suspense, scope, and emotional heft.
#3: Everyone is Related
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“Modern Family” (2009-20) Presented in the mockumentary style made famous by shows like “The Office,” this ABC sitcom initially presented three families with some unique characteristics. One storyline features a couple with an age gap, another highlights a same-sex couple adopting a child, and the third is about two parents finding it hard to allow their daughter to grow up. You don’t have any reason to assume the three wildly different family units are connected until the pilot’s last scene. The revelation that they are all part of the same extended family gives some meaningful context to their eccentricities and problems. The big twist of “Modern Family” is emblematic of what the show is ultimately about. They may be different, but they’re all connected.
#2: The Smoke Monster
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“Lost” (2004-10) Things began simply enough. A group of people awaken on a deserted island after a deadly plane crash. They all have their own backstories and traumas, but they’re all forced to work together to survive. That’s enough drama for an entire series. But “Lost” turned things up several notches by introducing an actual supernatural monster. As the survivors settle in for their first night, they hear its rumbling through the trees. Its destructive power is seen at the end of the episode, when the plane’s pilot is yanked from the cockpit and killed. The twist opened up an entirely new world of terrible possibilities. From then on, “Lost” was never just about people marooned on a remote island. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
Sam Tyler Wakes Up in 1973, “Life on Mars” (2006-07)
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What Starts as a Police Procedural Turns Into a Time-Traveling Science Fiction Piece
Mabel Knew Tim Kono, “Only Murders in the Building” (2021-)
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The Mandalorian Meets the Target, “The Mandalorian” (2019-)
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The Galactic Bounty Hunter’s Target Turns Out to Be an Infant Named Grogu
McDreamy Is the McBoss, “Grey’s Anatomy” (2005-)
That’s One Way to Make a First Impression!
#1: Bran Stark is Pushed From the Tower
“Game of Thrones” (2011-19) This epic HBO fantasy series announced its intentions to shock us right from the jump. If anyone was going to be safe in this world of sword-swinging warriors and the undead, surely it’s Bran Stark, the protagonist’s young son. At the conclusion of the series premiere, Bran catches siblings Jamie and Cersei Lannister in a compromising position. In response, Jamie viciously shoves Bran from a high window, presumably to his death. Fade to black, roll credits. We find out in episode two that he’s still alive, but what a way to end the episode. It was as much a twist as it was a warning to anyone watching that this show is not afraid to go to very dark places.
