tv_talk | TV Tuesday: Plot Smarts

They're not exactly characters but when I'm watching a home reno show I'm furious when they start knocking down walls without finding out if they have to put in a gigantic header or if they "forget" to find out if there are major plumbing or electrical issues so they have to make a dramatic phone call to get the homeowner to cough up more money. Which would be in the contingency fund if they weren't too dumb to have one.

Ugh, that's even worse because those are real world issues /o\

Yes, the manufactured drama gets a little annoying.

I don't mind horror franchises where people do "dumb" things. I figure that in a horror situation people are going to make bad choices because they're scared! But I hate it when people in any genre make inexplicable choices because, it seems, they've read the script and know that's what they need to do next.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a specific example, but it sure seems to happen a lot.

It's hilarious that you should say that, because my partner has adopted that as a phrase. Particularly when I ask how someone could have known something that they really shouldn't be able to know, he says "It's because they read ahead in the script." Or if they do something dumb he'll say "They read ahead in the script so they know it turns out ok."

Agreed! This is one of those things that goes both ways, where I'm frustrated when characters make inexplicable choices—smart, stupid, or just curiously disconnected from the situation—because they're being written as though they've read the script and know either what they need to do next, or that they don't need to anything because this subplot that the audience is expected to be invested in at this moment won't end up mattering.

I know what you mean, but also struggle to think of any examples. The most I can come up with is:

"Just press the button."

"Josh, you'll blow up the whole building!"

"I know what I'm doing."

While people do have to take significant risks IRL too, mostly they're doing it because they know it will have to be okay.

I'm not talking about situations where a character has to make a horrible choice, but where the character is 100% sure a very dangerous plan that could cause mayhem, casualties and lawsuits will turn out just fine.

Not that I think I will ever plant a bomb with a timer, but if I did, I wouldn't feel I was under oath and had to put a truthful countdown on the timer. Just once I would like to see a countdown saying there were four minutes to disarm the bomb...and it blows up in 82 seconds.

Yes. This is less a trope/cliche problem and far more a problem of lazy writing and it is SO ANNOYING.

Secrets are a big one. Sometimes they work, but mostly they are used to pointlessly amp up the drama between characters who should really trust each other. It's so often used for big tearful fight scenes, and it's so often unnecessary.

Also, slightly related: When someone is talking to another person over the phone or radio and something unusual or ominous has happened, they never explain what it is over the line. Nope, it's "you have to come see this!" This is especially annoying if it's a trained professional talking, like, use your words already.

Or something I've seen in Highlander and what feels like a lot of old crime shows, where someone is searching for the villain of the week, finds their hideout, and doesn't bother alerting anybody, instead choosing to go snooping by themselves. They are of course either killed (if a bit player) or captured so the heroes can rescue them. Amateur sleuths might be forgiven, but again, these are mostly trained professionals behaving this way, making everybody else's jobs harder.

Yes, very true about secrets. And YES, it drives me NUTS! If nothing else, shouldn't they be aware that nothing good comes of that? (It's SUCH a trope in mystery stories, and they always wind up dead).

And yes, lack of backup or alerting people to locations. Just idiotic.

OMG, all the time in the soap operas my co-worker makes me watch at lunch! I just sit there an complain about the idiocy.

Secrets are a big one. Sometimes they work, but mostly they are used to pointlessly amp up the drama between characters who should really trust each other. It's so often used for big tearful fight scenes, and it's so often unnecessary.

Especially when we're supposed to sympathize with the person who kept The Secret, but instead they just look idiotic.

Yes, at least two of these were what I was thinking of!

Evil character: you have to work for me and not tell your team or I'll kill them.
Silly character: /does what they're told
instead of
Smart character: hey guys, Evil character wants me to work for them, so I need to pretend I am until we can defeat him. I might need to do some questionable stuff that looks like we have a traitor, let's discuss.

"You have to come see this"/ "I can't tell you over the phone" from someone with Important information who will almost certainly be dead by the time the person on the other end gets to them, leaving them still in the dark. "No, tell me now, I'm on my way," would be better.

"I can do this alone" annoys me too. Isn't it ingrained in most people that you don't go off to meet strange people let alone go off on a dangerous fact finding mission without telling someone else what you're up to?!

Smart character: hey guys, Evil character wants me to work for them, so I need to pretend I am until we can defeat him. I might need to do some questionable stuff that looks like we have a traitor, let's discuss.

That's a very good point. Isn't it also safer for your team, so they know there's a plan?

Edited 2024-02-09 12:37 (UTC)

Absolutely! But it always ends up with someone accusing them or worse an innocent teammember of being a a traitor; and/or someone getting hurt. If everyone knows there's a plan they can work together. Unless the person forced to be a mole is bugged 24/7 there has to be a way they can discuss their problem with the rest of their friends!

JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER OMG.

When characters start acting stupid or doing inexplicable things, I usually start forwarding. It's only when I'm really hooked on a show that I'll sit through that. Or if I'm watching with someone else, but it can get so frustrating I'll leave the room.

S3 of Locke and Key was like this for me. One stupid decision after another -- people not telling one another things, being careless with dangerous artifacts, a mother being more reckless than her 12 year old, doing things with no safety precautions... I'd be more specific but will not to avoid spoilers. If everyone employed reasonable common sense the season would have been 3 episodes long.

I am very annoyed by everything others here are annoyed by!

One thing that will throw me right out of the show (unless the characters are teenagers) is problems that can be easily corrected if one person will just tell the other one! If the whole plot depends on that I can't stay with it.

(This is why I gave up on what should have been a wonderful SF book called "The Red Scholar's Wake". One character just blew off telling another character a hugely important thing that had massive implications. Which the first character knew about! And just... didn't mention.)

100% this.

I am so sick of women characters screaming when they come across a dead body. (I watch a lot of NCIS and similar.) I don't mean it drops in front of them or some other thing where a jump-startle reaction might be expected, but they just find it lying there, doing nothing. The most recent -- the hotel maid opened the bathroom door and found a dead body. The reaction is never an "Oh my god!" or a "Dear lord!" or a sharp gasp/indrawn breath, but always -- ALWAYS -- a full-throated rip-roaring scream. I wouldn't even mind a short, bitten-off yelp, but nooo... it's always full-scale, go-for-broke. Can we have a little variety and originality?

(I've screamed like that once in my life -- when I literally thought I was facing death by multiple bee-sting. (Fortunately, I was wrong.) A sight that's merely ugly and disturbing -- even if it's very ugly and disturbing -- just doesn't warrant that.)

*snort* I know what you mean. It's stuff amped up for the sake of drama. (Another example is how people break things when they're angry -- and it's usually glass or other very smashy items, as if we can't figure out any other way that they're VERY UPSET.)

Yes. For some characters it fits and for some circumstances absolutely. But unless it's very surprising and/or horrific it seems a bit OTT. In fact given how people react differently, a sharp breath and running for help barely able to speak would be just as likely but that's not ~dramatic enough!

I don't know if this is relevant to the topic, or if it's something that comes up in other police shows a lot but... The Sci-Fi channel here in Canada has been airing episodes of "Castle" weekdays during the supper hour (2 eps back-to-back from 5:00 to 7:00) so I often have that on in the background as I'm preparing supper. And I've noticed that almost every single episode, the investigation will hit an apparent impasse because of something like they can't connect the suspect to the victim, or can't place the suspect at the scene of the crime, etc., and without that vital breakthrough, the case can't progress. And then, Detective Ryan -- and it's ALWAYS Detective Ryan, walks into the scene saying "I may have the answer" or "I just found out something that might help", etc. Every single episode (at least, that's what it feels like). I'm at the point now where I find myself saying "and cue Det. Ryan..." and he appears on screen right on schedule.

Maybe this happens in other police shows and I just notice it more in Castle because of the 2 eps back-to-back 5 days in a row thing.

Also, why, when characters enter their home/apartment, and it's dark, do they NEVER turn on a light first thing? In some shows, they even wander around in their house/apartment without turning on a single light. WTH? Who does that?

Also, the universal signal of "person is working late" is "person sits at desk with desk lamp on but rest of office is dark and windows outside are dark because LATE". Even in these days of budget austerity they could turn on the damn lights in the office. I quit watching Millennium because the medical examiner's office had only about one light bulb. Medical examiners' offices are never cheerful places, but they sure are well-lit.

Funny -- I watched all of Castle and never noticed that specifically about Ryan 😄 Binging can definitely make writing habits more obvious.

But re: lights, it's like the fact that doors never seem to be locked on TV unless for some plot reason it MUST be locked for TV. We just watched Queen Bees on Netflix (sounded like a great idea, but was sadly unfunny and Hallmarky). It stood out to me that the main character locked herself out of her home multiple times -- because normally no one locks their doors!

My partner also noticed that almost no one says "good bye" when they're speaking on the phone on TV. They just hang up.

Some of my pet peeves have been mentioned but what about when otherwise competent cops/feds approach a suspect and instead of surrounding them and cuffing them, they scream "Police" or "Federal Agent" down the street. So the suspect can run off and we can have Dramatic Chase just to pad out the episode.

Related, why when they've got multiple agents staking out a place like a ransom dropoff they're supposed to be dressed 'undercover' yet they're still in all dark clothing with hair tied back. No casual clothing or bright beanie hat or something. You still look like feds!

Yes, not to mention how easy doors are to break down on TV. Anyone can do it!

Speaking of dressing and being undercover, it reminds me of how when people are supposed to be masked for whatever reason, they inevitably take them off to speak or for us to get a shot of a main character looking around. It's like we can't remember who we're looking at unless they do this.

Hey, they SHOULD be identifying themselves, you can't just pull guns on or cuff people unless you have some kind of authority. The prosecution case is going to be compromised if the questioning or arrest did not include identification, and very likely a Miranda warning or caution (depending on which country).

Or when the cops start providing described video -- like the camera shows a close-up of a door that has been visibly forced open and the cop turns to their partner and says "Looks like someone broke in." Then they enter the house/apartment/whatever and it's been visibly trashed -- broken furniture, ripped pillows/couch cushions, shit knocked over, books all over the floor, etc, and cop says "Looks like they trashed the place". Like, no shit sherlock!

When the body has been decapitated: "Can we rule out suicide?"

An unmarked Crown Vic can be identified from space as a cop car.

Oh, yes. Similar thing, the speedy and perfect enhancing of a CCTV screengrab which then runs through the facial recognition database in milliseconds!
(subverted in comedy "Wellington Paranomal" where to enhance the coppers just had to lean closer and closer to the screen)

Characters who are goaded into doing something extremely stupid because another character said, "Why? Are you scared?"

"Yes, I am scared that you are so brainless you will be dead in the next hour."
"Yes, and I question my friendship choices."
"Yes, because I have far better things to do than this stupid thing."

TV Tuesday: Plot Smarts

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Communication Breakdown

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