You know those pet peeves that just make you facepalm (or worse) whenever you see them?
One of my big ones is centered around media, and TV shows and movies seem to be the biggest offenders.
I hate the easy out of tying up plot lines by revealing that everything has been a dream/hallucination/some other thing that changes the entire story. If it wasn’t used so much it might still be original, but now I just roll my eyes when it shows up in something.
I wrote a long, rambly bit about the latest season finale of House, but I think instead I’ll sum it up this way: sometimes, this cliche works. There have been hints throughout, or if it’s a drug overdose induced hallucination (hence the House reference), it’s in character and we’ve seen the signs that this might be coming.
But when used as a quick fix because a) the writers tried to solve everything because they thought they were getting cancelled, but then got renewed, b) the story’s been written into a corner, or c) everything needs to be tied up quickly, the sloppiness shows. It’s hard to use this twist well, and it will probably remain a pet peeve of mine.
Living Simply 