Instant Mystery, Just Delete Scene: Difference between revisions

 

This has become almost a staple of murder mysteries, especially in [[Live Action TV]] shows like ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]]'' and ''[[Monk]]''.

{{examples}}

 

== [[Film]] ==

* An unintentional example of this inspired the ''[[Grindhouse]]'' cut of [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s ''[[Death Proof]]'', which has a 'missing reel' (restored on the complete cut). He had once seen an Italian crime movie with a missing reel which he felt made the film more interesting, because it obscured whether or not the detective had slept with the girl (he said he did, but the girl said he didn't).

** The other half of the feature, ''[[Planet Terror]]'', played it gloriously straight with a reel that was never shot. The film cuts from El Wray and Cherry starting to have sex, says "MISSING REEL", and when it cuts back, '''everything is on fire''' and we'll never know why. We'll also never know just ''who'' El Wray really is and why the police chief suddenly has the utmost respect for him.

 

* ''[[Without a Trace]]'' does this to set up every episode.

* ''[[Leverage]]'' uses this trick to hide some of the crew's [[Crazy Prepared|cleverer preparations]]: the audience usually isn't let in on the entire scheme until it actually goes down, when the missing steps are revealed in flashbacks.

* ''[[Home and Away]]'' has used this, with the audience never being quite sure about certain things such as Hugo's role in the 2009 mystery, or what the hell actually happened at the Sands on the night Penn died (assuming British viewers have caught up, here's one for those just starting to watch the week of this writing: Will killed him in self-defence after he threatened Shandi/Daria). They usually accomplish this by showing another storyline that ties into the characters involved in the scene.

 

* Possibly unintentional, but Hinder's "Lips of an Angel" starts off with the the singer getting a call from his old flame. He asks why she's calling so late and why she's crying, but we never find out the answers, as the rest of the song is immediately hijacked by him singing about how he still has feelings for her.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* A few ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' cases start this way, featuring stills of two characters talking and the insinuation that action occurs, but no identification of the speakers or display of the murder itself. Others involve a relatively coherent scene, but the criminal is shrouded in shadows and unidentifiable—and due to the text-based nature of the game, identification by voice is also impossible.

 

* ''[[Drowtales]]'' does it [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=863 here].

* ''[[Fleep]]'' plays with the reader by cutting from the initial shot of the protagonist entering a phone booth and him waking up in ''another'' phone booth surrounded by concrete. As it turns out, that interval is a ''lot longer'' than you might expect...

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' does it [http://egscomics.com/?date=2004-12-01 here].

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' likes to show scenes in whatever order seems most dramatically convenient. It often leads to the narrator lampshading how we're DEFINITELY going to see what's coming next.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Show Parts]]

[[Category:Flashbacks and Chronology]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]