I don't see any arguement; just discussion. It sounds like we are on opposite sides of the coin. As much as I do like simple stories sometimes, I love media with some head-scratching, mind-bending mystery. Part of what makes the Scream series so fun is trying to figure out who Ghostface is; guessing the killer in the Happy Death Day films; or the reveal of the twist in each Saw film. Then there are the movies that actively try to screw with your brain like Donnie Darko, mother!, Predestination and Coherence. Love them all.
I can't speak for Star Trek Picard; other than Firefly or Red Dwarf, I could never get very far into the space genre like Star Trek or Star Wars without losing interest quick. But when it comes to JJ Abrams, I did love Lost and all the mysteries that came with it.
As much as you seem to think the Mystery Box trope is overused, for me it has to be the Downer Ending trope. It used to be in the movies of yesteryear, you'd at least have a Final Girl who defeats the villain and gets a semi-happy ending. Nowadays, the villains always wins and nothing goes right for the protagonists. The steaming turd of a movie that best illustrates what I don't like in movies today would be Hereditary. And even if it actually did end on a good note, it still couldn't save it from the rest of it's runtime. That's 127 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
It's difficult to convey emotion in text, so I just wanted to say I mean no ill will.
I'm always on board for a good mystery, I just feel a lot of shows and video games drag their mysteries on for way too long without a payoff. I used to love watching The Blacklist (90% of the reason being James Spader lol), but after I think 6 seasons, it was becoming clear to me that the showrunners had very little interest in actually answering questions and preferred to introduce more mysteries. Now people like you dig that, and that's great, but I just got tired of waiting and lost interest. I just don't feel that every story needs to be Lost, but because JJ Abrams has become so popular, many people have copied him, and it's become a trope. I'd just like some answers to the first dozen questions before you introduce two dozen more.
And yes, 100% agree on the Downer Ending trope. I have no issue with stories having sad endings, but not every story needs to be that way. You play a 100 hour RPG, you want a triumphant ending, or at least one that can be wrapped up in a nice bow. If it needs to be a more bittersweet ending, at least give good reasons for it, like a necessary sacrifice for the greater good or a warm message about cherishing the people you love. It's the difference between Final Fantasy games like VII, IX, and X, that did have some sad parts of the ending but were overall positive, and XV and XVI, which I won't get into due to spoilers (and at least XV had an extremely emotional scene between the main 4 bros that softened the blow of the ending). It's one of the reasons why Xenoblade 3 really rubbed me the wrong way. Xenoblade 1 and 2 have such hopeful, beautiful endings, and 3 comes along and essentially invalidated all of that. It was depressing as all hell. And yes, I know the ending wasn't actually a downer, but it was 100 hours of a downer game and I was over it at the end.
I mean god, look at Rise of Skywalker. What a dour ending to the Skywalker saga that was. Oops, I brought up JJ Abrams again. I'm not trying to shit on him. He made Super 8! That movie was great (until the last 10 minutes lol). My mind just jumped to Star Wars.
I suppose both the Downer Ending and Mystery Box tropes are kind of commentaries on current society. Movies are escapes, yes, but they also reflect their era's concerns and problems. Writers write what they know, after all, and so many people are terrified of what tomorrow holds. They've lost hope and only see despair on the horizon. Nihilism and fear of the unknown have led to fiction leaning more toward these tropes in response. What should be guaranteed pick me up movies like the new Indiana Jones still have those notions of misery in them (Indy is a grumpy divorcee whose son is dead, how charming). Yes, people didn't like that movie, but you can't entirely fault the writers from misreading the room. Our society and political climate right now is teetering on extreme cynicism.
Jesus, I made that depressing. Sorry about that!
