21 Years Ago, a Brilliant Sci-Fi Series Changed TV Forever With One Last-Minute Change

Every mystery box has the same inherent problem: Eventually, you have to open it. The questions that keep an audience obsessing over a TV show from week to week can lose their power the moment we finally get some answers. Explain too little, and viewers feel frustrated. Explain too much, and you run the risk of deflating the entire story. There’s always the third option, however, which is to answer questions with details that generate even more questions. Instead of a mystery box, why not make it a nesting doll of secrets?