Is Brendan Fraser's 'Scrubs' Episode The Greatest TV Plot Twist?

The Set-Up: The episode “My Screw Up” shows Ben (Brendan Fraser), Dr. Cox's best friend and Jordan's brother, returning. Ben follows Dr. Cox around the hospital much of the episode. Ben gives his friend life advice, specifically pushing him to a birthday party.

The Twist: Ben is not alive. He died of leukemia. Dr. Cox spends most of the episode trying to handle his friend's death. Dr. Cox does not avoid a birthday party; he attends Ben's funeral.

Why It’s So Memorable: Like The Sixth Sense - This episode pays homage to The Sixth Sense. The episode hits the viewer and characters like a punch. Knowing Dr. Cox and Ben are best friends makes watching him fail to accept his friend's death haunting. This revelation also strikes anyone who struggles to accept a loved one's death.

The Set-Up: For most of its first season, The Good Place focuses on Eleanor. She thinks she accidentally got to the Good Place, which is like Heaven. She makes friends with others, each holding a secret belief they are in the wrong spot. An angel-like figure named Michael watches them. As the season moves forward, they start turning on each other.

The Twist: The season one finale reveals the truth: they were in the Bad Place. Michael led them to turn on each other. Michael planned the whole thing to make them torture themselves better than demons could.

Why It’s So Memorable: This plot twist seems obvious now, but it is cleverly hidden. Eleanor is a strong protagonist, so the viewer identifies with her situation. This makes the depth of Michael's deceit clear late. The twist changes everything the viewer thought they knew about what came before. It also changes the characters' futures, including Michael's, whose fate becomes tied to his human victims.

The Set-Up: Throughout its first three seasons, Game of Thrones The various factions fought wars for the Iron Throne. Robb Stark, Ned Stark's son, plays a key role, but he shows his mistakes, especially when he rejects a marriage with a daughter of Lord Walder Frey for the commoner Talisa.

The Twist: Lord Frey insulted Robb by rejecting his daughter. Still, Frey invites him to the wedding of Robb's uncle, Edmure. This is a trick. Spiteful Frey allied with the Lannisters. Roose Bolton, Robb's supposed ally and liegeman, joined the plot. The trap fires. Robb, nearly all his key bannermen, and his mother, Catelyn, die.

Why It’s So Memorable: This moment shocks television history. Main characters rarely die in a season's last episode. Killing Robb, his mother, and several North men clears the political field. It also creates great trouble for the remaining Stark siblings, who lost both parents and their older brother.

The Set-Up: Mike Flanagan adapts Shirley Jackson’s novel.The Haunting of Hill House The series focuses on the Crain family and their encounters in the title's sinister house. Daughter Nell suffers greatly. She lives haunted by the Bent-Neck Lady, an apparition that repeatedly harms her life.

The Twist: Nell returns to Hill House. She reconnects with her mother, who puts a locket around her neck. The twist: the locket is a noose. Nell is the Bent-Neck Lady. All her visions showed her own doom. She cannot escape the death waiting for her at Hill House.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist hits hard, like other parts of the series. Poor Nell suffered much before this episode. She was haunted by the Lady. She saw loved ones die, watched her brother succumb to addiction, and saw her family split. Learning death waits for her is tragic. Yet, it offers her some peace.

The Set-Up: This twist has two parts. Dexter marries Rita, which balances his troubled life. Dexter also gets close to a notorious serial killer, Arthur Mitchell.

The Twist: Dexter kills Mitchell. He does not know his victim already got his revenge. Dexter kills Rita and leaves her in the bathtub for him to find.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist hits Dexter and the audience hard. Dexter tried hard to shield Rita from the killer Mitchell. He even set up a honeymoon so they could avoid this. But Rita fell into the trap. Her death shifted the whole series and Dexter’s life.

The Set-Up: Initially, Oh Il-nam is Player 001. He befriends Gi-hun. The two build an unusual bond as they risk their lives in the Squid Game.

The Twist: Player 001 is not just a player. He created the Squid Game. He made the game for rich people bored with life. He joined the games just to get a quick look back at his childhood.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist changes how viewers see this character. His old exterior hides darkness. It takes a twisted mind to invent the Squid Game just to stop boredom.

The Set-Up: Bernard first looks human. He runs the park and creates hosts. Everything about him suggests he is human, especially his strong memories.

The Twist: Bernard is actually a host. Dr. Robert Ford created him. Ford made him a new version of his partner Arnold Weber (his name is an anagram of Weber’s).

Why It’s So Memorable: Clues suggested Bernard was a host from the start. This reveal was still huge. It cleared up many show issues while raising new questions. Bernard’s real identity added another layer to the show’s focus on artificial intelligence and robot rights.

The Set-Up: Chuck Shurley appeared in the fourth season of Supernatural, and his book series titled Supernatural detailed the Winchesters' adventures. At first, Chuck seemed like a Prophet of the Lord, his books acting as new gospels.

The Twist: Chuck is more than a prophet. He is God, as he shows in the eleventh season. Afterward, Chuck became an enemy of the Winchesters, revealing he is far from a good creator.

Why It’s So Memorable: The series showed hints about Chuck’s real identity across seasons. This made the reveal make sense, not random. As the show continued, it became clear how much this God drank his power and will destroy anyone who challenges his rule.

The Set-Up: From the very beginning of WandaVision, Something feels wrong with the universe Wanda built for herself. Beneath the sitcom look—early episodes use styles from past sitcoms—there is a feeling things are bad. Neighbor Agatha stands out; she seems too happy, too knowing.

The Twist: Agatha reveals she caused chaos in Wanda’s life, including bringing in her dead brother, Pietro. She also killed the family dog, Sparky.

Why It’s So Memorable: Kathryn Hahn's delivery makes this reveal stick. She looks like she's having a great time; the song “Agatha All Along” is a top TV song now. The twist also makes Agatha a major MCU villain, someone who bends others to her will, no matter the cost to them.

The Set-Up: Young boy Brock is one of the few simple relationships in Breaking Bad hero Jesse Pinkman. As Pinkman’s girlfriend’s son, he becomes a surrogate son. This makes his near-death illness at the end of season four much harder to bear.

The Twist: Initially, Gus Fring seems responsible for the poisoning. But the viewer, and Pinkman, see Walter White poisoned the boy using Lily of the Valley. The symptoms matched ricin, so Pinkman suspected Gus and joined White against him.

Why It’s So Memorable: By this point, White shows little restraint in manipulating people, especially Pinkman. Still, this is a new low for White. Poisoning Brock shows how far he has gone toward villainy and damnation.

The Set-Up: In the two-part episode “Who Shot Mr. Burns?”, Mr. Burns is shot after stealing oil from Springfield Elementary. He also plans for the town to depend on his plant for heat and light. His actions anger almost everyone in Springfield—Smithers and Homer included—but when he is shot, everyone thinks anyone could have done it.

The Twist: When Mr. Burns tried to steal candy from Maggie, his gun went into her hands and fired, then slid under Homer’s car seat. Burns tries to get Maggie arrested, but Chief Wiggum is right and refuses to act.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist only happened during Fox's run. The show aired its two episodes months apart. It takes the whodunit cliffhanger genre and makes it funny.

The Set-Up: One lasting mystery exists in the first two seasons of Veronica Mars revealed who raped the main character.

The Twist: The perpetrator surfaced in the second season finale: Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas raped her, giving her chlamydia. He also caused a bus crash killing several people, many of whom, like Beaver, suffered sexual assault. Facing the truth of his crime, he chose suicide over facing the consequences.

Why It’s So Memorable: Like all great twists, this one feels both satisfying and sad. Beaver lived a deeply traumatic life, and the events he faced turned him into a dark person capable of terrible violence. As Veronica Mars shows, violence creates a cycle that grinds everyone down.

The Set-Up: In the first and second seasons of The Mandalorian, most of the series' focus stayed on the main character's growing bond with the small creature Grogu (also called “Baby Yoda”). He worked hard to shield the little being, especially from Moff Gideon, who wanted Grogu’s blood. As the second season peaked, the Mandalorian saved Grogu (with help from Bo Katan and others), but defeat seemed likely. Moff Gideon is a tough opponent, and his Dark Troopers are nearly unbeatable, even against the Mandalorian and a powerful Force user like Grogu.

The Twist: Luckily for them, redemption comes. A seemingly bad person appears, but everyone sees this is a Jedi Knight, not Gideon’s ally. Luke Skywalker actually arrived to take Grogu and teach him the Jedi ways.

Why It’s So Memorable: Seeing Skywalker in a Star Wars film is good, even if the CGI de-aging Mark Hamill looks strange. His appearance signals an important step for young Grogu, who will finally get the Force training he desperately needs.

The Set-Up: For most of its run, this HBO miniseries followed crime reporter Camille Preaker as she investigated the murder of two young women. At the same time, she dealt with her mother Adora's cold and smothering presence, plus her troubled younger half-sister, Amma.

The Twist: Adora likely caused the murders until the end, especially since she has Munchausen syndrome by proxy, keeping her daughters dependent on her. However, the finale reveals the killer is Amma. Amma used her victims' teeth to line her dollhouse floor.

Why It’s So Memorable: This revelation hits like lightning at the series' end. It shocks and unnerves Camille and the viewer. The audience already saw how Amma, like her sister, suffered under her mother's bad influence. Amma's own morals are clearly ruined. The series leaves viewers feeling uneasy about what happened to these characters.

The Set-Up: Richie dislikes Tony Soprano's control. Richie shares a strange symmetry with Soprano’s sister, Janice, who sees an opening for power. Like others, Richie faces death by Soprano.

The Twist: After Janice and Richie fight, Richie punches her. She leaves and gets a gun. She then fatally shoots him. She then asks Soprano to help her escape the trouble she created.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist shows Janice shares traits with her brother. Though she clashed with Soprano and wanted power, she would not tolerate anything from Richie, especially violence. As often happens in The Sopranos, Violence creates endless violence.

The Set-Up: During the first three seasons of the long-running series, Lost, Viewers thought scenes of characters off the island always showed the past. Jack and Kate feature in a Season 3 episode. Jack almost commits suicide. This action makes a driver crash his car and die.

The Twist: This twist is famous in a series known for plot turns. Instead of flashbacks, the scenes were flash-forwards. Viewers learn at least Jack and Kate escaped the island.

Why It’s So Memorable: The plot twist changes everything before it, messing up the show's internal logic. A weaker show than Lost would lose its thread after this. Instead, this twist lets the show take new, interesting paths, posing fresh questions for viewers and characters.

The Set-Up: Mare Sheehan investigates who killed local woman Erin and another disappearance. Mare follows the case through twists and turns until she thinks she finally found the answer. John, Erin's older cousin with whom she had an affair, killed Erin.

The Twist: The twist is worse. John did not kill Erin. His son, Ryan, found out about the affair. Ryan threatened Erin with a gun, hoping she would stop seeing his family. Things went wrong. After Erin died, his father planned to cover up the truth, even if it meant taking the blame.

Why It’s So Memorable: Mare of Easttown Mare of Easttown shows a sharp, unpleasant look at the messy life in a small Rust Belt town. The fact that Ryan killed her proves tragic. He did not intend to kill Erin. He was just a foolish teen trying to protect his family. This twist shows how no one in this show is above blame, and tragedy waits for nearly everyone.

The Set-Up: The mystery of who killed Laura Palmer forms the main puzzle of Twin Peaks. Laura's death stains and traps every person in the town.

The Twist: The twist reveal in Twin Peaks is memorable and deeply disturbing. Laura was killed by her father, Leland, while he was possessed by a spirit named Bob.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist serves several jobs. First, it solves the question of Palmer’s murder. Second, it shows how far Leland had gone before Palmer died, and his end—under Bob’s control, he beats himself to death on a door—is tragic because he must face his actions.

The Set-Up: During its six seasons, The Americans follows two Soviet spies, Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, as they build a life in America. They have two kids, Henry and Paige. When the series ends, the Jennings plan to return to the Soviet Union. Henry stays in the US; Paige goes with them.

The Twist: As they near the border, Paige leaves the train, choosing to stay in the US while her parents go to the Soviet Union. They are left without either child, whom they may never see again.

Why It’s So Memorable: Viewers spend years with the Jenningses. Watching them sacrifice their children for the Soviet Union is wrenching. Paige's choice hurts her, yet she seems to decide staying in America is better. She believes this because she is deeply American and does not want to leave her brother.

The Set-Up: Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, The story focuses on the title character. Amon is one of her toughest enemies. His power is scary; he steals people's bending ability.

The Twist: Amon had a secret. His power to take bending from others comes from his own bending. He learned bloodbending, meaning he controls the fluid inside others.

Why It’s So Memorable: This twist is ironic. Amon appointed himself leader of a group aiming to remove bending from the world. He seemed to believe his mission to make the world equal, even while lying about his powers and trying to build his vision.

The Set-Up: Throughout the pilot episode of The Shield, The viewer learns a secret: Terry Crowley is a mole. He digs up info on corrupt cop Vic Mackey. Crowley even suggests they work together on a raid, which initially works to take down a drug dealer.

The Twist: Mackey knew about Crowley's deceit. After the dealer dies, Mackey shoots Crowley in the face at point-blank range.

Why It’s So Memorable: This shocked the first episode of a TV series. It works well because it shows how ruthless Mackey is and how far he will go to cover his crimes. This moment stays with the series until Mackey confesses at the end.

The Set-Up: Death and Other Details The story mainly focuses on Imogene. She boards an opulent Mediterranean cruise ship. Everything goes wrong with a murder, and she joins a detective to find the killer.

The Twist: Viktor Sams is the killer. He is actually Hilde, a supposed Interpol agent who is Imogene's mother, Kira. The bigger twist is that Kira was supposed to be dead for years. She also manipulated several rich families.

Why It’s So Memorable: Every good murder has a twist no one sees coming but seems fair later.Death and Other Details This twist solves many loose ends in the series. It lets Imogene finally make peace with her mother, though this requires Imogene to take responsibility for her actions.

The Set-Up: The entire series of Gossip Girl The series used the Gossip Girl blogger to frame the action leading to the reveal in the series finale. This includes the books that form the series.

The Twist: The finale shows Dan Humphrey was the Gossip Girl all along. He used this to connect with the Upper East Side social scene so he could get with Serena.

Why It’s So Memorable: This reveal makes sense looking back. Viewers admire a character's skill in building this fictional self. It also touches people because it shows how much Dan wanted to be with the woman he loved. They married, so it paid off.

The Set-Up: Throughout its six seasons, St. Elsewhere invited audiences into St. Eligius Hospital, focusing on key characters. Though the hospital looks old, its staff kept patients. The series offered a realistic medical drama.

The Twist: The finale suggests the whole series was Tommy, Donald Westphall's son, imagined reality. Final scenes show autistic Tommy with a snowglobe holding a St. Eligius model. Westphall appears as a construction worker, not a doctor.

Why It’s So Memorable: The twist frustrates fans. Fans invested in characters, but the whole thing was a multi-year dream sequence. This device was popular in '80s TV; it was frustrating and made people think. This earned the series a spot in TV history.