Solution: Baywatch
Answer: KINDER EGG SURPRISES
Written by Jonathan
These are descriptions of popular TV series in the last 2 years, with each line describing an episode. Within each series, the descriptions are in alphabetical order of the respective titles of the episode they describe in their TV series, indicating that the episode titles are important. More specifically, each series is missing exactly 1 episode, and the episode numbers for the missing episodes are unique from 1 to 9.
| TV series | Descriptions in episode order | Missing episode |
|---|---|---|
| Bridgerton | Households prepare matches for marriage, a scandal breaks out. [2nd episode missing.] A girl is matched with a prince, a letter is faked. A kiss is shared in a hedge maze, a duel is proposed. A couple must plead for their love, a marriage takes place. A couple goes on their honeymoon, a girl tries to get pregnant. Girl goes back home to London to help her sister debut, someone faints. The author is discovered, a boy is born. | 2. Shock and Delight |
| Inside Job | A president is being replaced by a robot, 2 people co-lead a team. Someone needs to get fired, clones escape. Someone struggles with hugging others, someone is put on trial for ripping another person's arms off. Someone tries to get a boyfriend using a dating app, 2 people have a Freaky Friday bet. A team travels to a town stuck in the 80s, someone is sucked out of a plane. A yacht hosts a wedding, a woman marries herself. One night stand leads to a clingy boyfriend, pension is drained to buy an island. A pair travels to the moon, someone was discovered to have been murdered. [9th episode missing.] A password is forgotten, someone is promoted to be the boss only to be replaced by her father. | 9. Mole Hunt |
| Invincible | [1st episode missing.] A planet is destroyed, an alien mistakes Earth for another planet. Someone attacks Mount Rushmore, a new team is put together. Martians abduct astronauts, a robot hires clones to build him a body. Teen almost gets his team killed, someone's cells are discovered to be invulnerable. College visit led to heartbreak, someone was confirmed to be the killer of another group. A clone euthanizes someone, news choppers capture a fight in a live broadcast. Thousands are killed, someone leaves Earth. | 1. It's About Time |
| Shadow and Bone | A team goes on a journey, someone lets off a burst of light. A convoy is ambushed, someone is tasked to kill a human trafficker. [3rd episode missing.] A team is in search of a stag, blueprints are stolen. A group infiltrates the palace to kidnap someone, a decoy is attacked. Someone is interrogated and killed, a ship sinks during a storm. A stag is killed, letters were discovered to have been intercepted. Someone wrongly believes he was betrayed, a stag chooses the girl. | 3. The Making at the Heart of the World |
| Squid Game | A guy deeply in debt plays a game at a train station, hundreds are shot. A detective's brother had gone missing years ago, a game is resumed. Workers are seen melting pots of sugar, a door has to be picked. A riot breaks out in the dormitory, groups of 10 are formed. [5th episode missing.] Marbles are won and lost, someone's dementia is exploited. Someone leaves an island, 3 people make it through. Someone is killed, someone falls into the sea. Someone commits suicide, someone wants to travel to Los Angeles. | 5. A Fair World |
| The Queen's Gambit | An orphan is delivered to an orphanage, a girl is discovered to be a protege. A teenager asks for $5 for an entrance fee, a tranquilizer pill is taken. An error in a past game was pointed out, a girl becomes co-champion. [4th episode missing.] A girl loses $5 repeatedly to the same person, a girl is the US champion. Girl oversleeps and arrives late for the final, a house changes ownership. Friends call in with advice, a game is played with the locals at a park. | 4. Middle Game |
| The Witcher | A guy is told of a girl in the forest who is his destiny, a kingdom is captured by its neighbor. Someone turns students into eels, a guy meets his singing travel companion. A girl is given the chance to transform her body into her ideal image, a monster is battled until dawn. An assassin kills the queen, a princess' hand is demanded in marriage. Someone gains wishes and uses his last wish to save a girl, someone kills another person and impersonates him. [6th episode missing.] A princess discovers her powers, mages decide to fight. A guy finally meets his destiny in the forest, someone channels a stream of fire before disappearing. | 6. Rare Species |
| Upload | A self-driving car crashes, a man's consciousness is saved. A woman discovers the accident was really murder, a woman needs to improve her customer service rating. A man attends his own funeral, someone wants to sue the car company. A woman is called in to assist a couple having sex, a woman reinstalls a dating app. Self-driving car drives into the ocean, someone buys hacks to enter a virtual party. Someone exploits bugs to get upgrades without paying for them, a woman kicks everyone out from dinner. A death is reported in the news, a bomb is planted and goes off. [8th episode missing.] A man decides to break up, man is demoted to the lowest data plan. An assassin tries to kill a woman, a woman commits to being together forever. | 8. Shopping Other Digial After-Lives |
| WandaVision | A couple settles into a new town, a couple hosts a last-minute dinner. A couple puts up a magic show, someone gets pregnant. The town's power gets shut down, someone disappears. An agency is called in to investigate a missing person case, people are cast in a sitcom. A drone is used to attempt to kill someone, a dog is found dead. People stand frozen in their positions, a town's space is expanded. [7th epsiode missing.] A witch was to be executed, a body wasn't allowed to be buried. A witch is trapped, someone goes into hiding. | 7. Breaking the Fourth Wall |
Once these are identified, we fill in the answer blanks at the bottom. The first number indicates the missing episode name to extract from, and the number in parentheses is the index into the episode title. This gives the final answer KINDER EGG SURPRISES.
Author's Notes
The hit Netflix shows Squid Game and The Queen's Gambit inspired me to rewrite this puzzle, especially since all our other puzzle ideas on TV shows all fell through and we did not have a single puzzle on TV shows. Hopefully this was also an easier puzzle that would help newer teams break in to the “looking for patterns”-type thinking that would have been necessary for extraction!