Discussion Main / MidSeasonTwist

I feel like this is too specific a name for this structural phenomena. There is a twist that happens around episode 7, but it can easily be episode 6 or 8 — or even 9.

Buffy season 5's big episode was 6, not 7. The Big Bad turns up, significant questions regarding a new cast member are resolved and more are brought up. Lost's big early twist happened in 8, with the appearance of the French Woman and the reveal that there were others on the island. Dollhouse's sixth episode is probably more important than its seventh (in both seasons!) given that it significant changes up the game of the season and reveals several significant plot twists.

Plus, there are seasons out there that only have eight episodes, or less. (Take Oz, for example.) There are episodes that serve a similar function to the type of episode that the trope considers, but they occur in the second or third slots, instead of the seventh and possibly penultimate slots. If you're really ramping up the action and removing the exposition just before the final episode (like the trope suggests that this quintessential episode to provide) then you're probably doing something wrong with the show's construction. It strikes me that the episode is describing an episode of structural significance about 1/3 of the way through the season (marking the shift from the classical first to seconds acts) instead of happening arbitrarily during the seventh episode.

The explanation also misses the importance that Sweeps place on the narrative construction, and on seasonal breaks. The biggest episodes are always 1/3 and 2/3rds of the way through the season because they occur just before a break (and therefore need to build to a climax) and because ratings periods tend to occur during those points (cause and effect is a complicated issue here). The reason being, seven or so episodes are the largest ammount that shows can easily pump out before the dead ratings period of Christmas.

Is there a better place on this wiki to suggest this change?

And that Doctor Who example is really ropey. It means that the Christmas Special, and episode that's aired in isolation and technically considered to be part of the previous season's production should be considered the first episode of the next season.

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I really can't approve of the revamping of this page, Seventh Episode twist and Mid Season twist should be separate Tropes not one a renaming of the other. The fact that even most Buffy examples listed are no longer the actual Seventh Episode really frustrates me, Buffy is half the reason the Seventh Episode is considered important regardless of if it's halfway through or not.

Maybe the Kingdom Hearts series should be included. Dream Drop Distance revealed several major plot twists to the story, including Master Xehanort's plans to start another Keyblade War with the seven lights and thirteen darknesses. Also, not including remakes, 3D is the seventh game in the series as a whole, so it could count as a 7th Episode Twist.

how is this trope different to mid-season wham episode, they sound pretty much the same to me.

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I'm surprised by no Battlestar Galactica reboot examples.

Season 1: Baltar is first suspected of Treason by Roslyn and Adama, Six is first encountered by main characters other then Baltar. I don't remember what happened with Helo and Athena.

Season 2: Inverted I would say, it's then that the show finally reutrns to the Status Quo following how Seaosn 1 ended (Or as close as it got to the original Status Quo).

Also what about Noir and Madlax for Anime? Their 7th episodes are arguable important, the actual moment is latter.

• Gurren Lagann: Episode 8. Nuff Said.

Nope. Nuff not said. Examples need details — see Tips Worksheet, rule 13.