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Yo-Yo Plot Point: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.YoYoPlotPoint 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.YoYoPlotPoint, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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{{trope}}
Some writers just don't realize there's such a thing as "flogging a dead horse." Very often, there will be an aspect of the plot that can only be effective as a source of tension for as long as it is not resolved. [[Will They or Won't They?]] is probably the best known example, but other possibilities include psychological issues that are a handy source of ([[Wangst|w]])angst, a long-term goal that the protagonist has set him or herself, or simply character development as a whole since, with the exception of certain genres that favour the [[Reset Button]], personal identity is something that evolves over time.
Here's the difficulty: If you spin out this plot point for too long, you risk annoying the fans and stretching believability beyond its limits. If you do resolve it, you need to rethink your story formula: an actual romantic relationship is a very different beast from a will-they-won't-they relationship. It's generally accepted that one of the hallmarks of a good writer is the ability to cope with such transitions and depict them appropriately.
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Which could actually have worked, had the writer left it there. It might be a bit of a downer, thwarting the audience's expectations and putting a melancholy slant on things: having the characters enter into a love affair, only to have they realize that [[Better As Friends|while they're great friends, they don't work as lovers]], or having the earnest Ronin realize that he just isn't clever enough to keep pace with university work. However, it'd be an entirely valid plot development and would still contribute to the character's "[[Character Development|evolution]]."
So it's a pity that few writers opt to do that. Instead, they devolve their characters back into the way they were before the plot point was resolved. It's not quite a [[Reset Button]] job -- the scenario will be methodically taken apart -- but the characters don't seem to have learned anything. The instant the couple breaks up, one half will decide that they really want their partner back, and will set off in pursuit, turning the will-they-won't-they into its more annoying cousin: the on-again-off-again relationship. [[The Hero]] is demoted out of his position as Commander, but rather than look for a new career, he rounds up his [[Five
What's worse, however, is that they will repeat this process over and over again. Periodically. To the point that the fans don't even care any more, and would happily consent to having the participants executed just for a change of pace and so that they don't have to watch this train wreck of a plot any more.
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** Ax's "Am I an Andalite or an Animorph first?" dilemma.
* ''[[Harry Potter (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'': Harry is loved by all, Harry is despised and ostracized. Specifically, separate events in years 1, 2, 4, and 5 tarnish the attitude of Hogwarts students toward their local celebrity, but his reputation is usually fixed by the end. (In year 7 he becomes "Undesirable Number 1" after {{spoiler|the bad guys take over the government and the school}}, but it's not as clear what the general opinion of him is.)
* Zoey's [[Unwanted Harem]] problems in ''[[The House of Night]]''. The first couple of books had her being torn among her boyfriend Erik, her jock ex-boyfriend Heath, and poetry teacher Loren. The third book resolved the love polygon, albeit in an abrupt and contrived way that [[Hormone
== Live Action TV ==
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* Due to their neverending nature, decades on the air, and poor quality of writers at the helm of most, soap operas suffer greatly from this. Granted, it was never uncommon for a supercouple to get divorced and remarried several times over. However, it seems like couples divorce and remarry each four or five times over the course of ten years. The trouble is, the things that break the couples up in the first place is never addressed or rectified. It's usually some variation on [[Your Cheating Heart]], however.
** Egregious example alert: On ''[[General Hospital]]'', Carly Benson and Sonny Corinthos have been married...and divorced...''four times''. ''In the past decade''.
* ''[[Friends]]'', goddamnit, ''Friends''. In particular, Ross and Rachel's [[Will They or Won't They?]], [[Make Up or Break Up]], Off-Again-On-Again relationship.
** Averted, however, with the Chandler/Monica relationship. Once they got together, they stayed together, and their relationship evolved realistically in a way that benefited the show.
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'': Ted and Robin's relationship. The first episode ends by saying she's not the mother, the first season ends with them getting together, they break up, they relapse, they wind up living together, have a friends-wish-benefits thing going on for a bit, she dates Ted's best friend for a while, then Ted realizes he wants her back... a minor theme of seasons 6 and 7 has been the strain of Robin being best friends with two of her most serious exes, with hints that there's still something between her and Ted.
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** Besides, everyone familiar with just about every other version of the Superman canon already knows where [[Foregone Conclusion|that one is going]]...
** The earlier seasons of ''Smallville'' also had this a problem with Lex Luthor, who was repeatedly shown to be good, then evil, then good again, then evil again. Repeat ad nauseum.
** The Silver Age was worse, the love triangle was only resolved by {{spoiler|the [[Kill
** ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' had it bad too, marrying the eponymous characters twice before they finally married for real. (To the point where the actual marriage episode was entitled "Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding.") At least one of the marriages involved the Frog eating clone of Lois Lane. Yeah...
* ''[[Lost]]'''s love triangle between Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Kate just keeps bouncing between those two guys like a ping pong ball well into the fourth season. Lampshaded when she leaves Sawyer for Jack yet again, and Sawyer doesn't react at all, telling her to her face that he knows within a few days she'll have found some reason to get mad at Jack again and come back to him.
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* ''[[Queer As Folk]]'': Brian and Justin's relationship is a bit like this, as they break up and get together again about once a season. Of course, being Brian and Justin, it's never quite resolved even when they ''are'' together.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'': Thanks to multiple writers and a poorly fleshed-out character background, [[The Spock|Spock's]] [[Can Not Tell a Lie|ability to lie]] and lack of emotions tended to bounce around from episode to episode, with some of them determing that his emotions were always on the verge of constantly boiling over and others treating him as an automaton with a physical inability to tell a fib. The writers attempted to resolve this long-running subplot in [[The Movie|the Motion Picture]] and its sequel, where it is fully established that Spock has embraced his human side just in time to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] at the end of the movie, cleaning wrapping up his [[Character Arc]]... And then they [[Back From the Dead|brought him back]] in the next film and it turns out [[Reset Button|he has forgotten]] [[Yo Yo Plot Point|everything he learned.]]
* Averted in ''[[Frasier]]'': after seven years of [[Will They or Won't They?]], Niles and Daphne finally got together in the season 7 finale. However, in the beginning of season 8 it looked like the writers were gonna use various plot elements (mainly Niles' ex-wife Maris) to stop them from actually being together. Thankfully, though, these issues were resolved in a handful of episodes, and the writers managed to integrate Niles' and Daphne's relationship into the series for its final four seasons.
* On ''[[Boy Meets World (TV)|Boy Meets World]]'', Cory and Topanga have ''three'' major breakup arcs after they first officially get together at the start of season three, and two of those arcs happen ''after'' their relationship was [[Retcon|retconned]] into being life-long true love.
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