The Mystery Revolution

English exam today. It was funny, I was scared it would bite me, or like... they'd gas us when we went into the exam room. And on the other hand, I was excited, because it would be the final exam I would have to do for months, until the next cursed exam period showed its dirty face on my side of town again. I was also excited because I had no idea what they'd test us on, and there was that small chance that they'd test me on exactly what I'd been frantically reviewing in my last few seconds of free air.

Then I got into the exam and was completely disappointed. The exam was mundane and my mind had built up some kind of magical super-exam that I was to be taken. It's like when you watch a murder mystery and in the end the butler did it. Like... totally not expected.

And there's a thought. Why is everything a mystery or crime fiction these days? What was it before? Of course, I'd rather see a week of CSI: Miami than watch a minute of reality tv like Punk'd or Dancing with the Stars. But it seems people have found a winning set of conventions and have stuck with them forever. There's a little bit of change, but for the most part it comes down to some very specific generic conventions. So here are the conventions of the Mystery Revolution:

Firstly, the victim is presented being taken down. This is one of the major themes in the new Law & Order style crime tv. Check it out, we've got your traditional shows like CSI or Law & Order (which by the way I will never forgive them for replacing Goren with Logan in Criminal Intent), but then you have the more abstract ones like House or even Supernatural. The criminal, demon, disease, virus, crim, pickle or alien comes down and kills the victim, or seriously injures them. FLASH!

And we're in the next part of the Crime Fiction. Lately they've been trying to humanise our heroes. We end up getting snapshots, like Denozo in NCIS trying without much luck to hit on his female comrades. No surprise it comes from the director of JAG (the most awesome Crime Fiction/Courtroom Drama until Boston Legal). We used to get the extended story arcs of Harm and Mackenzie, and all our favorites. But this is the section where we get a snapshot of their lives, before they are rudely interrupted by the crime/disease/pickle. They remain above the action, and figure out how to solve the crime/disease/pickle without descending into the madness of the situation.

This next part is optional. Another victim(s) is struck down. This time we don't see it from their perspective, they just arrive at the hospital/morgue/picklejar and the detectives must link the cases together. Then comes the solving of the mystery. This is where it gets interesting. Each show does their investigating differently.

In a show like CSI or NCIS, they go straight to the lab, taking out all the forensics that could be given to them. In shows like Supernatural or House they go to the books, checking out previous cases. I believe this is how it used to work on Angel, Buffy, and a range of that type of drama/mystery. And then you get the really obvious and extreme examples such as Smallville, where you can almost undoubtedly blame either: Kryptonite or Luthercorp. Chloe almost always finds the criminal in this case (bless her heart).

Then you get the real action as they bust some ass. Clark does his thing, Sam and Dean go shoot or exorcise those demons, Gibbs goes and shoots someone, anyone. The theme is pretty solid here. You don't get anyone beating the other at chess. "What about our old friend, House?" you might ask. Well he kicks the most ass, because he basically shoots up random things in their body before the disease dissipates from a last minute risky business.

And then comes the resolution, where the heroes go back to their daily life and the victim's family, friends and fellow pickles are ignored.

And that's Crime Fiction for you.