Expository excuses

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

An expository excuse is a trope of TV writing that has been used so many times, lazy writers assume that no one will mind seeing it again.

Noted expository excuses include:

• The surprise confession on the witness stand
• The dramatic revelation of crucial evidence
• The surprise return of a character who was assumed to have already left for the airport, never to see his/her true love again
• The last-minute destruction of evidence needed to clear a character's name or prove they were right in their belief of some fantastic phenomenon.
• The arrival of the police to arrest and/or kill a villain just as he is about to attack the hero or heroine.
• The million-to-one shot that wins the big game.
• The parent-child talk that imparts a valuable life lesson and makes everything OK in the end.
• The retainer's convenient death by ritual suicide to protect the honor of his master. (May only apply to Japanese TV.)