Not conventional mysteries per se, but De Palma plays all kinds of games with “invisible” dissonance between the dialogue and the visuals in Dressed to Kill, Raising Cain, and heck even Mission: Impossible

I remember Wetherby (1985) doing a bit of this, with flashbacks showing how a particular detail was explained by something going on in a previous flashback. Not primarily exactly a mystery though (and I saw it forty years ago).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetherb...

more obvious to him bc he was trying to follow the plot based on nonverbal cues and reading the emotional vibes

my dad was living in belgium when this came out, didn't really speak french and accidentally went to see a dubbed version of this rather than subtitled and decided to stick around. he said he figured out that bruce willis was dead very early on bc it was obvious nobody else was interacting w/him

R-Point

Midsomer Murders (the good seasons, 1-8) did this from time to time. I won't give any spoilers.

Yes I call this general approach "hide the twist in what initially seems like bad writing/acting" and it's very effective.

This is a second category of TV trick I like where the writers play off common TV show conventions to set up twists or mysteries like when Dawn showed up on Buffy or everyone lists their memories on TNG and it wasn't automatically self evident that the new guy was an alien because new crew 1/2

Apple’s Afterparty was good at this

www.reddit.com/r/TheAfterPa...

I think you’re hitting on why this doesn’t happen; in the moment, “plot point you can dismiss as a continuity error” just looks like a continuity error and takes you out of it. even worse in a series, where fans can assume you’re retconning an actual continuity error

"Diarra From Detroit" and "The Residence" both had some of this (both highly recommended especially the former BTW).

It was extremely well received by fans (and used as proof of the showrunner’s brilliance etc) in part because it *was* a plot point based on a purely visual cue (and one you could easily assume was just an error) which as you say, you really don’t see that many of

Brokenwood (tv). Midsummer Murders (tv). Lynley (tv). Maigret (2025). Rivers of London books. The original Bosch books. Ludwig (2025 tv). Elementary (except the last season).

Not exactly what you’re saying but I’m thinking here of the Doctor Who plot where the Doctor loses his jacket and then suddenly has it back for one scene later in the episode and it’s later revealed as a deliberate plot point (involving time travel, obviously).

I think by definition I don't want books here (for once!).

I think by definition I don't want books here (for once!).

One amazing thing is Baker keeps saying, "of course it was different when I started my career, now professional women are so accepted, funny how attitudes have changed, we're very modern today", writing in 1939!

(I won't screenshot the whole thing but it's very entertaining and a great historical document too.)