Will This Be the Year of the Mystery?

Two recent series, both on Netflix, have hinted that this may be the year mysteries make a comeback for streaming viewers. 

Mysteries were a big thing years ago. There was Agatha Christie’s Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury, that my mom watched religiously, and detective shows and legal dramas often had a mystery-based plot driving them. But, sadly, these shows seemed to fall out of favor to be replaced by character-driven shows focusing on action. 

I always appreciated the writing a good mystery demanded and could never figure out why studios seemed to abandon a good thing. Mysteries were always guaranteed to draw in an audience. People loved trying to figure out who the culprit was before it was revealed. 

Are Mysteries Back?

Recently there have been two mystery series on Netflix that make me wonder whether mysteries are making a roaring comeback. 

Knives Out and The White Lotus are two different formats. Knives Out uses a movie format, while The White Lotus is aired as a series. But they feature a murder to start the plots rolling in each. They also both have had two productions under their belts, and the producers promise us more. 

They also were both tremendously successful and spawned countless blogs and articles talking about the details of the plots, what certain scenes meant to the storylines of the shows, and which characters were the most suspicious. White Lotus, as the more drawn-out series, garnered most of the online chatter. 

But all these articles and blogs cheered me up to think that a modern audience was discovering the intrigue and fun a well-written and well-thought-out mystery could provide. I hope that the trend continues to showcase mysteries. After all, the evil husband of Tanya in White Lotus has to pay for her murder at some point, doesn’t he?