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I've done it, Watson! I've put the pieces[br]together at last! This video was sponsored

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by Campfire Blaze!

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You know, most of the time when I read books[br]or watch shows I kinda can’t stop myself

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from overthinking them. I think it’s just[br]a side effect of the critical analysis stuff

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plus approaching art and media from my weird[br]pseudo-professional angle - I usually can’t

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really engage with a story without trying[br]to pick

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it apart and see how it works. You know, like,

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I’ll… listen for how an actor’s doing[br]their performance or clock what trope we’re

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doing and judge the plot from there, stuff[br]like that.

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The one genre that breaks this rule for me,[br]funnily enough, is mysteries. The one story

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format the audience is supposed to critically[br]engage with - I don’t. More accurately I

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can’t. It might just be that I’m really[br]bad at noticing stuff in general so I skim

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over the sneaky clues, it might be that I’m[br]really bad with names so I can’t keep the

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suspects straight anyway. But honestly, even[br]the really well-written mysteries that differentiate

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the characters and give the audience enough[br]clues to theoretically crack the case don’t

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grab me - I have a higher success rate just[br]guessing

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from the tropes. Like if it’s an Agatha

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Christie number, even odds the killer’s[br]gonna be

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the most eligible bachelor in the cast. I’ll

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still read ‘em and enjoy ‘em, but most[br]of the time the ending will totally blindside

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me. I’m not good at putting the pieces together[br]for myself.

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Which is why I love and appreciate the character[br]archetype central and foundational to the

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mystery format - the detective. The one character[br]tasked with putting all the pieces together

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and revealing to the audience what the actual[br]plot is. Without the detective, people like

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me - the watsons of the world - wouldn’t[br]get anything out of mystery stories.

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Now detectives aren’t exclusively found[br]in mystery

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stories, but they are pretty inextricably

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linked with the genre. Detectives investigate[br]situations and solve puzzles - mysteries are

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centered on the process of solving that puzzle,[br]but mysteries and mystery-adjacent plots are

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present in stories of all stripes, which means[br]the detective archetype can be organically

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integrated into almost any genre and narrative[br]structure. If there’s a puzzle of any kind

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happening in the plot, you can have a detective[br]in the plot too.

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Now “detective” is a job and a narrative[br]role, not a character type, so theoretically

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any character archetype can fill the role[br]of a detective - but there are some majorly

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popular subtypes that are essentially stock[br]characters. The “Hard-Boiled Noir

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Detective” type is typically a tortured

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alcoholic or general addict with a constantly[br]running inner monologue, a jaded and world-weary

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perspective on life and a disproportionate[br]number of morally questionable dames slinking

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into their office for shenanigans - which[br]is funny, because while this archetype is

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very well-known, classic noir detectives have[br]almost nothing in common with the tropes they

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spawned. Sam Spade, the detective in the Maltese[br]Falcon, the most iconic noir ever - has almost

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no personality, no tragic or tortured tendencies,[br]and he doesn’t even react to the death of

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his

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partner with much more than mild frustration.[br]The Hardboiled Noir Detective archetype has

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more in common with Dick Tracy than any proper[br]noir protagonist. Then there’s the Gentleman

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Detective, almost the polar opposite of the[br]Hardboiled Detective, a classy and frequently

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aristocratic adventurer type, unilaterally[br]well-educated and almost always British, frequently

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butting heads with a bumbling police department[br]coincidentally full of lower-class people.

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Sherlock Holmes, the most popular detective[br]ever written, kinda spawned off a whole set

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of Sherlockalikes - all eccentric, brilliant,[br]usually mostly focused on a forensic investigative

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approach, and generally accompanied by a long-suffering[br]guy friend who narrates the actual adventures.

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That third-person narration angle isn’t[br]a Holmes exclusive

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- in fact, it’s one of only a few ways to

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present a mystery to an audience.[br]See, the problem with a mystery is the audience

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isn’t really allowed to know everything[br]that’s

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happening in the plot until the end. There

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always has to be something hidden for the[br]reveal. This means the audience can’t have

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a third-person omniscient perspective but[br]they also usually can’t have a full first-person

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perspective on the detective, because almost[br]all mysteries have a denouement at the end

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where the big twist is revealed and everything[br]falls into place. This denouement starts when

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the detective reveals what’s going on, not[br]when the detective figures out what’s going

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on, so if the audience is already in the detective's[br]head, we get that information too early. Some

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stories will kinda fudge this by giving us[br]the

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detective’s perspective and having them

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think stuff like “of course! that must be[br]it! everything makes sense now!” and then

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reveal the actual information they figured[br]out during the denouement

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proper. Failing that, most detective stories

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will take a third person perspective, either[br]from a less-than-omniscient vague third-person

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narrator or from the perspective of another[br]character who isn’t the detective and serves

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as an audience surrogate.[br]This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, though.

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There’s kind of a gradient here that sort[br]of determines what kind of story - and what

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kind of detective - we’re going to get.[br]On the high end of the scale, some mysteries

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show the audience almost everything. This[br]is pretty rare, and it’s arguable that stories

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of this type aren’t exactly mysteries at[br]all. Probably the most iconic example of this

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format is Columbo,

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a very popular detective show from the 70s[br]where every episode begins with a full, comprehensive

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view of the murder. We know who did it, how[br]they did it, how they covered it up and usually

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even why they did it. The “mystery” element[br]is not who did the crime, but how is Lieutenant

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Columbo going to catch them. In true mystery[br]form the episodes all have an ending reveal

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of various kinds, but they’re usually revealing[br]something Columbo did or discovered offscreen

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- the twist isn’t in the crime, but in the[br]solving of the crime. This is also not uncommon

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in stories where the detective character is[br]technically the antagonist and the protagonist

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whose POV we’re following is the actual[br]criminal they’re trying to catch - these

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stories will often turn into battles of wits[br]where

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the audience has more knowledge than any of

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the individual characters. Even some Sherlock[br]Holmes stories technically fall into this

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category - there’s no mystery in A Scandal[br]In Bohemia, the surprise reveal at the end

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is that Irene Adler fully saw through Sherlock[br]Holmes’s sneaky disguise and totally outmaneuvered

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him to leave the country with her new husband[br]and the photo he wanted.

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It’s more common for a mystery to give the[br]audience something like 70-80% of the relevant

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information. We typically don’t know who[br]did it and we don’t necessarily know the

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motive - so in order to keep those vague during[br]the investigative process,

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the suspect’s character backstories will

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usually be somewhat muddled or obscured, since[br]otherwise it’d be too easy to eliminate

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people and narrow it down.

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These mysteries will usually give us something[br]of the method - like if someone was poisoned,

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a forensic report will say what poison it[br]was - and a large pool of suspects to identify

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the criminal from. The reveal of the criminal[br]almost always involves a reveal of some hitherto-unknown

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element of their backstory or characterization[br]that the detective has worked out without

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the audience’s knowledge. In these stories,[br]the detective character is usually digging

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up clues about the crime to piece together[br]an empty profile of who the criminal is, and

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then finding out who in the cast fits that[br]profile. How they do that depends on the individual

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detective and their personality.[br]But before we get into that, I wanna touch

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on

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the last category - because some mysteries[br]give the

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audience very little information. And this

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is… usually bad. Like, actually bad writing,[br]and I don’t say that lightly. Hiding too

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much information from the audience can be[br]seen as a sign of bad faith on the part of

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the author. If the audience couldn’t reasonably[br]guess the solution from the information given,

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it’s a violation of mystery convention.[br]For instance, if the killer is a hitherto-unmentioned

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character who just happened to be in the area,[br]that’s completely plausible and it might

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even make more sense

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in context than any of the main cast doing[br]it, but it’s not a fair conclusion

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to a mystery that’s supposed to be fair

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to the audience. All these things[br]serve to undercut the integrity of the mystery

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plot.

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These stories feel worse for the audience[br]to engage with. They also sometimes don’t

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make much sense in hindsight, since without[br]enough information in the story to piece it

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together, it might not actually hold together.[br]Writing a mystery is hard - you usually have

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to do it backwards from the way it’s presented[br]in the plot, starting from the crime and working

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through what clues and hints that crime would[br]leave, rather than starting from the mystery

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and figuring out who’d make the best criminal[br]as you go. If the writer sets up a mystery

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without

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actually knowing the solution beforehand,[br]the story’s

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not going to hold together as well. And if[br]the writer DOES know the mystery going into

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it but drops, like, tiny tiny clues that don't[br]actually combine to form the bigger picture,

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that kind of has the same problem where the[br]audience can't really engage with the mystery

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because they don't have enough information.[br]This brushes

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up against the same problem I talked about[br]in the plot twists video - twists for the

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sake of shocking and surprising your audience[br]are good if you, the writer, like feeling

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smart, but bad if you, the writer, want your[br]audience to actually critically engage with

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your work. The audience needs to be able to[br]follow along, and since the audience can’t

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know

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more than the author, at the bare minimum,[br]the author needs to know the solution before

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they start constructing the clues what audience[br]gets. And ideally they also need to give the

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audience enough clues that they could theoretically[br]extrapolate the actual solution in kind of

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the same way the detective is theoretically[br]supposed to.

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In the[br]ideal mystery format, the audience is only

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missing

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one key piece of information by the end of[br]the story, so when the detective does the

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reveal of that one key piece it makes everything[br]else fall into place. But frankly it’s easier

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to write a mystery where the crime leaves[br]almost no clues and the detective figures

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out the solution by……… knowing what[br]the author needs them to know and being right

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because the author said they were. That way[br]there’s

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no chance of the audience figuring it out

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before your detective does and thus undercutting[br]your detective's incredible super geniusness.

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For instance,[br]while Original Sherlock Holmes definitely

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had some pretty outrageous deductive leaps,[br]extrapolating whole character backstories

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from ink stains and muddy boots, some of the[br]adaptions take this a step further. Like when

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BBC’s Sherlock adapted A Scandal in Bohemia[br]into A Scandal in Belgravia, it added in this

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little background mystery because the closest[br]thing the main plot of that episode has to

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a mystery is what is Irene Adler’s Phone[br]Password, which isn’t… you know… interesting.

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And it’s the first half of Sherlock’s[br]name because she’s in love with him now,

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and that’s the kind of basic-ass romantic[br]subplot nonsense the audience could see coming

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a mile away, so that doesn't really scratch[br]the "my detective needs to be smarter than

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the audience" itch. But the mystery sideplot[br]centers

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on the unexplained death of a tourist by blunt

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force trauma to the back of the head with[br]no apparent weapon and no sign of the killer

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in the middle of an empty field. Sherlock[br]brushes this off immediately, claiming that

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he’s figured out the answer just from the[br]position of a car that backfired relative

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to the tourist and from the fact that the[br]tourist was killed by a blow to the back of

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the head. This is the last we really hear[br]of it for a while until Adler

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reveals to Sherlock that she has also solved[br]it, and explains that the tourist was killed

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accidentally by his own boomerang. Does this[br]make sense from the information given? K-uh…

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…kinda.

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It theoretically fits the lack of any killer[br]or murder weapon, since the boomerang flew

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merrily away after clocking the dude, although[br]it is a little questionable if the boomerang

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could've done that kind of killing impact[br]and then flown like a hundred feet away and

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landed in the nearby creek, but that's okay.[br]Is that

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something the audience could’ve been expected

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to guess from “the position of the car relative[br]to the hiker at the time of the backfire”

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and “a single blow to the back of the head”?[br]Absolutely the f*ck not, come on. It’d be

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just as valid to assume (and probably easier[br]to believe) that he got hit by a very

0:09:03.360,0:09:05.740
small meteor. What were the odds? I dunno!

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This mystery isn't fun to solve or see solved[br]because the audience doesn't even get a chance

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to think about it.

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When a mystery gives the audience too much[br]information, there’s not much of a mystery,

0:09:13.699,0:09:16.350
since there’s nothing to figure out - but[br]if a mystery gives the audience too little

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to go on, it’s not gonna keep them guessing[br]- it’s going to lose their engagement. It’s

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like, you need to give them enough pieces[br]of the puzzle that they can guess what the

0:09:22.970,0:09:26.340
final picture is gonna look like - not all[br]of them, or they’d know for sure, and not

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just a few edge pieces or the monochrome sky[br]background, because that’s not interesting

0:09:30.160,0:09:33.880
for the audience to engage with. At its worst[br]it actively discourages the audience from

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trying to solve the mystery. It’s a tricky[br]balance to strike.

0:09:36.950,0:09:40.779
But at the heart of the mystery story is the[br]detective. As the character at the center

0:09:40.779,0:09:44.500
of unraveling the mystery, or, more broadly,[br]revealing the plot, the detective is, in some

0:09:44.500,0:09:48.020
ways, the center of the mystery and the narrative[br]overall. And how they navigate that mystery

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depends a lot on their individual character.[br]The first place we tend to look to understand

0:09:51.759,0:09:53.199
a character is their character

0:09:53.199,0:09:56.680
motive. Most characters have a clear reason[br]for doing what they do - but that’s not

0:09:56.680,0:10:00.162
always true for detectives. While some are[br]motivated by a general goodness or a sense

0:10:00.162,0:10:04.500
of duty or a general intellectual curiosity,[br]some detectives have next to no personal investment

0:10:04.500,0:10:07.670
in solving crimes or mysteries - it’s just[br]their job. The more jaded ones might even

0:10:07.670,0:10:08.670
complain

0:10:08.670,0:10:11.639
about it. Ironically, for a detective, motive[br]is one of the least important facets of their

0:10:11.639,0:10:13.990
character.[br]Instead, there are three important aspects

0:10:13.990,0:10:17.339
of the detective’s character, and they mirror[br]the narrative structure of the mystery. First,

0:10:17.339,0:10:20.699
there’s their investigative method. How[br]a detective gathers clues and information

0:10:20.699,0:10:24.911
depends almost entirely on their character,[br]personality and skillset. For instance, Sherlock

0:10:24.911,0:10:28.519
Holmes takes a forensic focus, observing and[br]gathering trace physical evidence to paint

0:10:28.519,0:10:31.879
a picture of the crime. Then he often does[br]more on-the-scene investigating, frequently

0:10:31.879,0:10:35.499
in increasingly ridiculous disguises to gather[br]information without putting people on-edge.

0:10:35.499,0:10:39.390
In contrast, we get detective characters like[br]Miss Marple, who’s a purposeful trope subversion

0:10:39.390,0:10:43.350
- she looks like a totally different stock[br]character, a pleasant but slightly vague gossipy

0:10:43.350,0:10:47.329
old lady who also happens to have an encyclopedic[br]understanding of the human psyche, and solves

0:10:47.329,0:10:50.589
the crimes she investigates through nothing[br]but psychological profiling and her general

0:10:50.589,0:10:54.370
understanding of how people work, relying[br]on other people to do the actual clue-gathering

0:10:54.370,0:10:58.249
legwork. In a similar vein, Agatha Christie’s[br]other detective hero, Hercule Poirot, also

0:10:58.249,0:11:02.880
focuses more on the psychological angle, though[br]he does more in-person investigating and clue-gathering.

0:11:02.880,0:11:06.839
Instead of broad psychological profiles, Poirot[br]focuses more on understanding the motive behind

0:11:06.839,0:11:10.579
the crime and deducing the criminal from there.[br]Columbo is another deliberate subversion - he’s

0:11:10.579,0:11:14.690
a proper police detective, but he comes across[br]as a befuddled and disorganized dude, dresses

0:11:14.690,0:11:18.330
pretty sloppily and drives a car so old he’s[br]frequently asked if he’s undercover. He

0:11:18.330,0:11:19.330
tends to do

0:11:19.330,0:11:21.850
a first pass spotting physical evidence[br]the forensic guys don’t always catch cuz

0:11:21.850,0:11:23.350
they don't realize what they're looking for,[br]but

0:11:23.350,0:11:26.650
the bulk of his investigative method relies[br]on interviewing slash pestering the killer

0:11:26.650,0:11:29.839
about the problems he’s noticed in their[br]story in such a good-natured and innocent

0:11:29.839,0:11:31.459
way that they get so rattled they end up

0:11:31.459,0:11:35.660
incidentally revealing the truth. Other detectives[br]have other methods - the grittier, more hard-boiled

0:11:35.660,0:11:39.120
ones will sometimes threaten or even torture[br]people for information, the more gentlemanly

0:11:39.120,0:11:42.319
ones usually rely on their book-learning and[br]scientific knowledge to piece things together,

0:11:42.319,0:11:46.319
etc etc. Since this clue-gathering usually[br]takes up the bulk of the mystery in one way

0:11:46.319,0:11:49.209
or another, this is the side of the detective[br]that usually reveals the most about their

0:11:49.209,0:11:51.871
fundamental character.[br]The second aspect of the detective’s character

0:11:51.871,0:11:55.720
is how they put it all together. This is much[br]subtler than the clue-gathering because most

0:11:55.720,0:11:59.579
of the time we don’t actually see how this[br]works - it’s an internal process wherein

0:11:59.579,0:12:02.800
the detective figures out what exactly has[br]been going on, and if the audience gets too

0:12:02.800,0:12:06.279
clear a look at it, they’re gonna find out[br]the big reveal too early. But even if it’s

0:12:06.279,0:12:09.681
largely invisible, it’s still a fundamental[br]facet of the detective’s character. Maybe

0:12:09.681,0:12:13.209
they put things together in sudden bursts[br]of clarity and inspiration and run off without

0:12:13.209,0:12:16.550
explaining anything first, maybe they take[br]careful and methodical notes and collect the

0:12:16.550,0:12:19.689
dots more slowly, maybe they chase down a[br]hunch or two before they hit on the right

0:12:19.689,0:12:23.170
angle. If the audience has a more omniscient[br]perspective and already knows what the detective

0:12:23.170,0:12:26.399
has to figure out, we’ll sometimes see the[br]detective putting the pieces together mostly

0:12:26.399,0:12:30.300
for the audience’s benefit - spotting a[br]clue we’ve already seen, noticing a discrepancy

0:12:30.300,0:12:33.839
we’ve already realized doesn’t work, looking[br]befuddled for a moment before silently realizing

0:12:33.839,0:12:37.730
something, or (in contrast) calmly and immediately[br]figuring out the information the criminal

0:12:37.730,0:12:41.430
has tried very very hard to hide and explaining[br]how they came to that conclusion so we, the

0:12:41.430,0:12:42.430
audience, know

0:12:42.430,0:12:45.339
they weren’t cheating - there’s all sorts[br]of ways to play it depending on the detective’s

0:12:45.339,0:12:47.800
character.[br]And finally, the third aspect of the detective’s

0:12:47.800,0:12:50.959
character is how they handle the big reveal.[br]When they finally put the pieces together

0:12:50.959,0:12:54.079
and lay it all out for the audience so we[br]get the full story for the first time, how

0:12:54.079,0:12:57.880
the detective handles that says a lot about[br]them. Some are very flamboyant and bombastic,

0:12:57.880,0:13:01.000
hitting on the right answer with a big speech[br]and a room full of awed listeners and one

0:13:01.000,0:13:04.209
not-so-secret criminal in the throes of a[br]third-act breakdown. Some are the complete

0:13:04.209,0:13:08.029
opposite, entirely subdued and maybe even[br]sad at the whole tragic picture. Some might

0:13:08.029,0:13:11.490
be businesslike or methodical, with only the[br]barest hint of an emotional response peeking

0:13:11.490,0:13:15.040
through. Sometimes there’s no triumph and[br]no victory - this is more common with the

0:13:15.040,0:13:18.879
hardboiled detectives, who tend to be broadly[br]pretty jaded and depressing even on their

0:13:18.879,0:13:21.940
best day, but you can also get this with the[br]more emotionally sensitive detectives when

0:13:21.940,0:13:25.680
a particularly depressing case rolls around[br]- like if the criminal was a victim of circumstance

0:13:25.680,0:13:29.411
or a lovable innocent bystander got hurt or[br]the situation is generally kinda fucked. Some

0:13:29.411,0:13:33.370
detectives will, in rare circumstances, actually[br]let the criminal off the hook, which can say

0:13:33.370,0:13:36.500
a lot about the detective and how much they[br]might be willing to bend the rules in rare

0:13:36.500,0:13:39.339
circumstances.[br]But that said, the greatest asset of the detective

0:13:39.339,0:13:42.389
character is also their greatest narrative[br]weakness - they’re inextricable from the

0:13:42.389,0:13:46.809
context of the mystery narrative. Some detectives[br]do have rich, personal lives on the side - for

0:13:46.809,0:13:50.350
instance, Dorothy L. Sayers’s detective[br]character Lord Peter Wimsey has a rich inner

0:13:50.350,0:13:54.550
life and eventually makes the slow shift from[br]Gentleman Playboy Detective to Love Interest

0:13:54.550,0:13:58.309
For The Author Self-Insert - it’s[br]really good, I promise, it's just so funny

0:13:58.309,0:13:59.309
to me that

0:13:59.309,0:14:02.410
that’s very obviously what happened. But[br]most detectives are kind of nonentities outside

0:14:02.410,0:14:06.269
the context of the case. Sherlock Holmes is[br]ferociously bored whenever he’s not on a

0:14:06.269,0:14:10.389
case and frequently self-medicates with technically[br]legal drugs, and that’s almost become narrative

0:14:10.389,0:14:13.569
tradition with the grittier detectives, who[br]will often be addicts struggling with current

0:14:13.569,0:14:17.379
or former dependencies with very depressing[br]non-lives outside of work. Sherlock Holmes

0:14:17.379,0:14:19.679
and his various[br]Holmesalikes also usually have next to no

0:14:19.679,0:14:23.059
social life or friends, and they’re often[br]framed as being consumed by their work and

0:14:23.059,0:14:26.291
the thrill of the case. That’s not to say[br]it’s impossible to write a detective character

0:14:26.291,0:14:30.110
with more to their life than just the mystery[br]- but it’s really not necessary most of

0:14:30.110,0:14:33.130
the time, so a lot of writers avoid it, since[br]the only parts of the detective’s character

0:14:33.130,0:14:36.959
that come up during the mystery-solving process[br]are the parts that tie into their role as

0:14:36.959,0:14:40.309
detective, not the rest of their life. Circling[br]back to Columbo again, we know that he’s

0:14:40.309,0:14:41.309
got

0:14:41.309,0:14:44.269
a life, and a pretty good one by all estimates.[br]From his various charming quirks and anecdotes

0:14:44.269,0:14:47.970
we know that he’s got a dog he never names,[br]a loving wife and a massive nebulous extended

0:14:47.970,0:14:52.019
family he’s on good terms with - but, for[br]instance, we never learn his first

0:14:52.019,0:14:56.190
name, and it's a running gag that his wife[br]never appears onscreen. He has a life outside

0:14:56.190,0:14:58.610
of work that we[br]catch blurry glimpses of, but it never matters

0:14:58.610,0:15:02.070
to the story, so glimpses are all we get.[br]You know, it’s funny, when I, uh, originally

0:15:02.070,0:15:06.430
sat down to write this script I was trying[br]to focus entirely on detectives and not go

0:15:06.430,0:15:09.290
off on mysteries too much.[br]But it wasn’t until I was halfway through

0:15:09.290,0:15:10.290
that

0:15:10.290,0:15:13.449
I realized you really can’t separate them.[br]The detective is fundamental to the mystery

0:15:13.449,0:15:17.160
and the mystery is fundamental to the detective[br]- even if the audience perspective changes,

0:15:17.160,0:15:20.529
that mutual structure stays constant. The[br]nature of the detective is to engage with

0:15:20.529,0:15:24.490
the mystery; they can have basically any character[br]outside of that, but how they engage with

0:15:24.490,0:15:26.949
the mystery is really what defines them as[br]a detective.

0:15:26.949,0:15:27.949
So… yeah.

0:15:27.949,0:15:30.699
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