We’re still deep in the puzzlebox era, I’m sad to report. You know what I mean: eight- to 10-episode TV arcs that revolve round a mystery, revealing the prestige of it via incremental steps and breadcrumbed clues, ideally with a couple of flashback scenes that seed more context as the story unfurls.
This has been going on for ages – True Detective or Lost or that first, good series of Westworld. You could argue conceptual comedy such as The Good Place or Russian Doll contribute to the genre; I mean, you could argue that every sleepy murdery-mystery show since the 90s has been one, too. Was Line of Duty all a puzzlebox? People were making wallcharts about it, so I’m going to say yes. I’d even count The White Lotus as, if not full puzzlebox, then at least puzzlebox-adjacent – a body washes up on the shore, a cast of characters are introduced, you watch the whole thing with a dreadful anticipation as to who, out of everyone, might die. We love puzzles, don’t we? I mean look how mad we all went for Wordle!
