# Imaginary character plot twists in movies and TV (SPOILERS AHOY) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2018, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973 "2018-05-11T09:08:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/1 "2018-05-11T09:08:08Z")
I want to see if we can build a list of titles where this has been a major plot point. It’s inevitable, of course, that this may spoil stuff not everyone reading has seen, so if that worries you, get out now! I actually normally hate spoilers, but I hate this trope more, so any movie/show I haven’t seen that is listed will actually do me the favor of letting me avoid wasting my time. I’ll kick it off with the movie I just saw in the theater that aroused my ire: _Tully_. This 90-minute movie (96 including the credits) was so very good for the first 75 minutes, and then it got ruined by this twist (actually, technically the twist showed up more than 75 minutes in, but it was already going downhill in anticipation of the reveal). A famous example of the trope is of course _Fight Club_. I can’t think of others off the top of my head, but I _know_ there are lots more. Let’s define the parameters right off the bat: (1) While there may be hints that make sense in retrospect, and some sharp-eyed viewers may guess the twist, there can’t be any absolute confirmation that the character is imaginary until relatively late (more than 50% of the way through a movie, or after several episodes of a TV show). (2) Also excluded: movies that have characters that _might_ be imaginary according to some fan theories. I see this a lot, but it doesn’t count for the genre. The movie or show has to make it seem like the character is real for a while, but then make it clear they are not at some point before the end. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/2 "2018-05-11T10:44:11Z")
Dexter season 6 - Colin Hanks character had an “imaginary friend” who was portrayed as real to the viewer initially ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/3 "2018-05-11T11:13:09Z")
Good to know! I have heard more generally that “Dexter” went downhill toward the end. James Berardinelli’s review provides three potential nominees for the list: > [@](#): > > Had I seen Tully a couple of years ago, maybe I would have perceived the ending to be clever or unexpected but, as I mentioned above, this has become a go-to plot contrivance of far too many films that want to inject fantasy elements into an otherwise “grounded” story: Double Lover, Entanglement, Aardvark, and others. Although I haven’t seen any of the three, and his verbiage of “fantasy elements” may mean they don’t quite fit into my narrow parameters. There are movies that do that more broadly that I really like: “Ricky” and “The Shape of Water” come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/4 "2018-05-11T11:15:16Z")
I can think of two from anthologies. Everybody remembers Karen Black being chased around by a Zuni fetish doll in the final segment of _Trilogy of Terror_, but in one of the earlier segments she plays two sisters, one prim and repressed and the other all sexy and evil. You can guess how that turns out. Along similar lines in the film _Asylum_, Charlotte Rampling is a girl who’s had a mental breakdown and is being carefully watched by her bullying older brother and a nurse. But her friend Britt Ekland encourages her to rebel, to start taking drugs again and do other, more violent things. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/5 "2018-05-11T11:25:53Z")
So Britt Eklund is imaginary? I’m tempted to say this happens on the FX show 'Legion", but it’s ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/6 "2018-05-11T11:34:53Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So Britt Eklund is imaginary? Yes. Not that you realize that at first. When she first appears, it’s like an old friend coming by the house to see Charlotte, who’s just been released from the hospital, and her encouraging Charlotte to start popping pills again to rebel again her brother seems like the kind of thing an old druggie buddy might do. And then suddenly there are scissors and knives, and no one but Charlotte has actually seen Britt. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/7 "2018-05-11T11:42:07Z")
Did the original audiences for “Psycho” think Norman’s mother was real? Or, that is, alive? ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/8 "2018-05-11T11:44:03Z")
Brendan Frasier on “Scrubs.” I was beat down after a long and stressful week when I watched that episode. The final scene had me crying, and of course, that’s when I got a phone call from someone out of state who, hearing me bawling, was about to drive 200 miles to make sure I was okay. I had to hang up and take a few minutes before I called them back, letting them know that I was fine, but just saw an episode of a sitcom. Not my proudest moment. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/9 "2018-05-11T11:49:59Z")
Oh right, I remember that! Good one. Now that you say this, I have the feeling there are several cases of this being done for a single episode of a show using a guest star. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/10 "2018-05-11T12:06:57Z")
In _A Beautiful Mind_ we discover that at least three characters Nash has been interacting with the whole movie are imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/11 "2018-05-11T12:37:34Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > In _A Beautiful Mind_ we discover that at least three characters Nash has been interacting with the whole movie are imaginary. And they didn’t seem magical or supernatural earlier? ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/12 "2018-05-11T12:52:23Z")
I think that the 2003 movie [Swimming Pool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_Pool_(film)) would qualify. A writer borrows a country house to have seclusion while she writes a new novel. The owner’s daughter shows up, and lots of things happen. At the end, it turns out that the daughter may have been a figment of the writer’s imagination that helped her write her book. Not a bad movie. Lots of nudity, if that’s your interest. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/13 "2018-05-11T13:31:23Z")
In the pilot episode of Raines, we know that the main character “sees” dead people (in reality, hallucinations, and he knows they are hallucinations), but it is not obvious until the end of the episode that a close friend character seen throughout the episode is also just a hallucination. Elementary had a recurring character at the end of the last season that turned out to be imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/14 "2018-05-11T14:30:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > And they didn’t seem magical or supernatural earlier? Correct. Eventually you notice that the niece is the same age as when Nash first meets her and that’s the biggest clue. But everyone in the audience thought Charlie was a real character until the reveal, although if you watch closely you see that he doesn’t interact with anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/15 "2018-05-11T14:51:42Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I think that the 2003 movie [Swimming Pool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_Pool_(film)) would qualify. A writer borrows a country house to have seclusion while she writes a new novel. The owner’s daughter shows up, and lots of things happen. At the end, it turns out that the daughter may have been a figment of the writer’s imagination that helped her write her book. > > Not a bad movie. Lots of nudity, if that’s your interest. I really liked that movie, and “lots of nudity” doesn’t adequately convey how incredibly hawt that character is. 😃 But IIRC, I’m not sure it strictly qualifies, because it’s still possible she was real. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/16 "2018-05-11T15:27:10Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’ll kick it off with the movie I just saw in the theater that aroused my ire: _Tully_. What kind of twist can there be in a movie about a pilot who lands a plane on the Hudson? 🙂 I nominate Mr. Robot, the hacking TV series on USA. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/17 "2018-05-11T15:41:07Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What kind of twist can there be in a movie about a pilot who lands a plane on the Hudson? 🙂 > > . it would REALLY be a twist if it turned out he was imaginary! Twilight Zone material, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/18 "2018-05-11T15:42:27Z")
[The Other](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/), a little-remembered 70s horror movie starring Uta Hagen and Diana Muldaur. The story centers on the life of twin boys living on a farm. One boy is a good boy and seems to have a degree of psychic ability. The other boy is… (dun-dun-DAH!) I suppose it’s debatable if the “imaginary character” is truly an imaginary character, as this character used to be alive and died. But the movie leaves open to interpretation as to whether it’s a ghost or a figment of one person’s imagination. Would [Harvey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(film)) count for this list? ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/19 "2018-05-11T15:51:20Z")
Does _The Sixth Sense_ count? That’s the one that popped into my head. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973/20 "2018-05-11T15:58:03Z")
If a character that the audience sees turns out to be imaginary later in the show/movie, then I feel the audience has been lied to. The primary character may be delusional enough to see imaginary people and/or events, but we the audience are _not_. How much of the rest of the story was also delusion? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-character-plot-twists-in-movies-and-tv-spoilers-ahoy/813973.md?page=2)