Aarcflick

Non-linear narrative wasn't invented by Christopher Nolan; it's a tool as old as literature and cinema. Early examples apparently include Homer's Iliad, Vyasa's Mahabharata, and several stories from One Thousand and One Nights. In cinema, Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr., Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane can all be credited for perfecting this trick and making it accessible to general audiences.  On television, shows like True Detective (the first season), Pachinko, Sharp Objects, Dark, and The Haunting of Hill House are the pinnacle of non-linear narrative, at least for me, mainly because the time jumps gave themes so much depth and developed characters in ways that wouldn't have been possible if they had been given to us straight away. However, as with anything popular, some untalented people jumped on the bandwagon to fully exploit this narrative technique without much thought, resulting in a number of projects that turned out t...