10 Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Shows That Challenge Your Perception of Reality

Science fiction shows often put the audience in an uncertain position. Because they present unfamiliar worlds and rules, we rely on the show to explain them. When a show deliberately withholds information or changes the rules, it can be confusing, but also exciting, as viewers try to understand what’s happening and what it all means.

Sometimes, seemingly strange storylines in sci-fi shows eventually come together in a satisfying way, revealing a larger purpose (we’re hoping Severance will be a great example of this). When these shows are well-made, the oddness feels deliberate and ultimately leads to a conclusion that makes everything feel meaningful and justified.

Lost

2004-2010, 6 Seasons

The show Lost is famously mind-bending, especially considering the constant belief among viewers that characters were actually dead. It’s full of mysteries, and honestly, it can be tough to follow all the questions it raises. Like, is that button even real? What about Jacob? Why are these people on the island? And what’s the deal with the flash-sideways timeline where the plane doesn’t crash? Now they’ve even added time travel to the mix!

Some fans defend the confusing ending of Lost by saying the unanswered questions were intentional. Ultimately, the show suggests that everything boiled down to the characters finding peace and realizing their struggles were all part of an age-old conflict between good and evil.

Lost didn’t tie up all the loose ends, and that was intentional. The show was meant to be a reminder that life, like our time on Earth, is fleeting. We often get caught up in small details and lose sight of what truly matters.

Russian Doll

2019-2022, 2 Seasons

Season 2 of Russian Doll was even more complex and thought-provoking than the first. Nadia’s time loop evolved, letting her explore and deal with family trauma across different timelines, resulting in a strange, emotional, and captivating experience. The scene where she essentially gave birth to herself was particularly memorable and impactful.

However, Russian Doll demonstrates how exploring shifting realities can add depth to a story. The show raises questions like: Is the main character connected to her mother and grandmother—perhaps even inhabiting their past selves? She relives their experiences and gains understanding from their viewpoints, but this journey is ultimately about her own self-improvement, not about changing her family’s history. In this unusual way, she’s the one who has to overcome her own challenges and grow as a person.

Black Mirror

2011-Present, 7 Seasons

What often makes Black Mirror episodes so unsettling isn’t just how scary they are, but how vast and complex the ideas feel. A recurring theme is the idea of transferring or copying consciousness using technology, which suggests a terrifying possibility: living forever. In episodes like “USS Callister” and “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” people are trapped inside a video game, and it’s a permanent situation – they’ll be there indefinitely.

Viewers are captivated by Black Mirror because it feels frighteningly realistic. The show, particularly the episode “Common People” with its depiction of ads within medical devices, pushes current trends to their logical, and unsettling, conclusions, serving as a warning about potential dangers ahead.

Wayward

2025, 1 Season

Mae Martin’s Netflix series keeps viewers guessing alongside the characters as the story unfolds. The show uses a therapy called LEAP to explore past trauma, and through it, Leila (and previously Laura) becomes increasingly confused by Evelyn’s manipulative retelling of events. Like the characters, the audience is left questioning what really happened – did Leila actually kill her sister, and Laura her parents?

During Leila’s initial LEAP session, her attempt to remember her sister’s death is constantly disrupted by Evelyn, who pressures her to reveal what she believes is the real story. Both Evelyn and her patients are flawed, leaving it ambiguous whether Evelyn is fabricating memories or genuinely uncovering the truth – a distinction that has significant consequences for everyone involved.

From

2022-Present, 3 Seasons

The show From is definitely strange, but its latest season started to really focus on the confusing way time and space work within the town’s boundaries. While the location of the town has always been a mystery, the season 3 finale suggested that when things are happening is just as important a question.

After hearing Jade play the violin by the bottle tree, Tabitha suddenly realized everything. She exclaimed that she finally understood why she’d been seeing the children, and why she had multiple bracelets. It all came back to a past life – she and Jade had lived this before. She understood her connection to Miranda, realizing she was Miranda in a previous life, and Jade had been Christopher. They had been there at the very beginning, attempting to help the children, but failing because one of them was their own child.

Right now, this plot point feels confusing. The show unfolds like a puzzle, gradually revealing details and offering glimpses of understanding before the full story comes together. That’s what makes this spooky mystery so enjoyable.

Homecoming

2018-2020, 2 Seasons

The unsettling feeling in Homecoming comes from the characters—and the audience—not being able to trust their own memories. Key plot points are obscured because memories have been chemically erased, leaving everyone vulnerable to manipulation by the Geist Group. As false stories replace real ones, the characters’ understanding of everything around them becomes distorted and unreliable.

Season 2 really shakes things up by revealing that characters aren’t what they seem. The show takes a dark turn, making viewers question whether the main character is actually a hero. Especially with Janelle Monae’s character, Jackie/Alex, losing her memories, we’re left wondering if the person she is now is still the same person she once was.

Severance

2022-Present, 2 Seasons

Image via Apple TV+

The idea of “work-life balance” is surprisingly complex in this situation. The separation process, though seemingly straightforward, leaves both the ‘innie’ and ‘outie’ versions of employees extremely vulnerable. It’s easy for them to be misled about each other’s experiences, making everyone on the severed floor completely reliant on Lumon for information about their own lives.

The show sets up major twists and betrayals, impacting both the characters and those watching. Severance initially draws viewers in by letting them see Ms. Cobel interacting with Mark’s outside self. However, the show later cleverly misleads the audience right alongside Mark’s inner self when Helena pretends to be Helly, causing a lasting breakdown of trust.

The final scene of season 2 sparked a lot of debate among fans about whether it was Helly or Helena we actually saw. Now, it’s clear that no one can truly be trusted, and appearances can be deceiving.

Pluribus

2025-Present, 1 Season

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It’s hard for the main character, Carol, to grasp the idea of an apocalypse without any real threats, and it often leaves her feeling stuck. She’s eager to take action and fix things, but it’s increasingly uncertain whether she even needs to. The first episode of Pluribus creates a frightening and suspenseful atmosphere, similar to many stories about the end of the world. Carol later acknowledges this feeling, stating, “I’ve seen this movie before.”

Everything Carol expects is turned upside down as people who should be enemies lavish her with attention. This constant pampering is incredibly confusing. The existence of the Pluribus virus makes her question everything about typical apocalyptic stories, the idea of free will, and what it means to be a community.

Maniac

2018, 1 Season

Stories about drug trials are complicated by the fact that the people involved often have unreliable memories or perceptions. While Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech is clearly untrustworthy, the participants, Annie and Owen, are equally unreliable, leaving the audience lost in a confusing web of deception stemming from the drug, the company, and their mental health struggles. It’s impossible to find a solid grasp on what’s actually happening from the very beginning.

The discovery that Annie was secretly using the drug before the program began, while Owen wasn’t using it at all, makes everything feel uncertain. It’s now hard to know what was actually happening and what was just a hallucination.

The Leftovers

2014-2017, 3 Seasons

In the show The Leftovers, the sudden disappearance of 2% of the world’s population is surprisingly accepted as a fact, and even has a possible scientific explanation. Meanwhile, Kevin experiences increasingly bizarre events in an attempt to avert a global catastrophe. However, the series constantly makes you wonder: was there ever a real threat to begin with?

Even so, something felt deeply wrong in the world of The Leftovers. Kevin found himself in a strange, almost afterlife-like place, meeting alternate versions of himself and people he knew. What happened there was often strangely funny – like when Kevin had to sing karaoke to “Homeward Bound” – but it always felt incredibly significant.

In one case, a deeply religious man named Matt believed he encountered God, an experience so intense it shattered his understanding of everything he held true. Whether this being was actually divine might not even be important. This concept appears repeatedly in the sci-fi series: the show suggests that what’s genuinely real isn’t the main focus, but rather the power of the experience itself.

2025-12-06 20:01