Lisey's Story is a virtual matryoshka doll of mysteries, but the sneakiest mystery of them is what exactly caused Scott's (Clive Owen) death. Early in the first episode, Lisey (Julianne Moore) flashbacks to watching a crazed fan shoot her husband at a college event. However, she thwarts the assassination attempt with a shovel (which Scott later keeps in his office).

What's more is the show goes out of its way to make sure the audience knows Scott survives the shooting. Afterwards, Lisey visits her wounded husband in his hospital room where he's nipped off to the magical realm of Boo'ya Moon to speed up his healing process. Unless some sort of complications arise in future episodes, Scott seemingly lives beyond the attempt on his life.

And yet, at the start of the series, it's been two years since Scott's death, so something major must have happened after his release from the hospital. Given Lisey's Story's penchant for bouncing through time with flashbacks nestled inside flashbacks made all the more confusing with intricate dream sequences, it's hard to know where or when the characters are sometimes — which may very well be by design.

The show is, by and large, told from Lisey's perspective, with the occasional detour to check in on her catatonic sister Amanda (Joan Allen) or Scott's deranged fan Jim Dooley. It's through Lisey's eyes that the viewer gets to meet Scott, and understand the marriage at the foundation of the story. But the fragmented way in which her memories are presented suggest there's something Lisey is repressing, and that may very well be the mystery surrounding Scott's death.