How could anyone possibly be surprised by this plot twist? (Open Spoilers)

Spoilers ahoy! If you don’t box yours, please at least name the book/show/movie/play you’re spoiling near the top of your post and leave some blank lines in the midst. That’s what Aslan would do if he were about to spoil one of the best Angel episodes, which I’m about to.

Not long ago, while getting ready for work, I was watching an Angel rerun on TNT. It was the third-season epsiode after Angel’s infant son Connor is kidnapped by his friend and partner, Wesley, and given to Angel’s arch-enemy, who then takes the baby off into another universe, presumably to be eaten by rabid mongooses. Wesley commits this betrayal out of love, not perfidy; he’s trying to avert a prophecy that Angel will murder his own child, presumably fearing this means that Angel’s evil alter-ego, Angelus, is about to return.

At the end of the episode, Angel visits Wesley in his hospital bed (oh, just watch the episode) and tells Wesley that he understands why Wes did what he did ad that that he hasn’t changed back into Angelus; it’s very important that Wesley understand that this is his friend and partner talking, not the soulless villain.

When Wesley nods, Angel immediately scowls, grabs a feathered smothering implement, and initiates to the attempted murder part of the evening’s entertainment, screaming. “You think I forgive you? Never! You took my son! You son of a bitch, you bastard–”

–and so on till he’s pulled off.

Now this was fairly effective dramatic set piece. But I have to wonder: who could possibly have been surprised by the final twist? The list of men who wouldn’t react to such a betrayal in this way consists of Jesus, Buddha, and the sage Mahavira, and I’m not sure about Jesus. Superman would be roasting Jimmy Olsen inch by inch in the same circumstance; it’s utterly unreasonable to think that an ensouled vampire would be willing to forgive.

Which brings us to the thread question: what supposed plot twists stick out your mind as being entirely predictable because they were so completely inevitable? Andy, by contrast, what plot twists have been overlooked even though there seems no belivable way to avoid them?

The killer in the film Murder at 1600 is obvious very early on, using Ebert’s “Law of Conservation of Characters.”

Angel’s behaviour may have been normal for a human being, but it wasn’t for a TV character. That’s what made it so effective. We expect characters on TV shows - especially characters who are friends and comrades in arms- to display understanding and forgiveness at best, renunciation at worst, but certainly not homocidal rage. Seeing an actual real-to-life response was pretty damn shocking.

It’s been too long since I first saw it to recall whether I was surprised by the twist or the specific pillow-on-face moment, but certainly you can see why it’s shocking. Angel is built entirely on the notion that redemption and forgiveness is possible. Angel was largely motivated by the hope that he would be redeemed and under the Shanshu prophecy reclaim his humanity. That Angel of all charcacters would deem something unforgivable is shocking.

Seven:

What’s in the box? Could it possibly be YOUR WIFE’S SEVERED HEAD?

Saw that whole thing coming a mile away.

In Stargate, there’s a scene where the main alien baddie give James Spader a weapon and commands him to shoot his fellow earthlings. After levelling the weapon against his teammates…

Spader’s character whirls and shoots the alien bad guy instead.

Yeah. I bet nobody saw that coming.

Color of Night.

Apparently you are not expected to RECOGNIZE Jane Marsh as three separate characters. Had they lifted a finger to mask her appearance it might have worked. Instead, I’m sitting there wondering why the hell nobody is supposed to figure out who she is, when she’s just wearing a collection of wigs.

The Prestige

Many things, like how could anyone be surprised when Hugh Jackman’s character ends up being duplicated. They show the duplicated hats and the duplicated cats half-way through the movie. (“They are all your hats, Mr. Angier”)

That Christian Bale’s character and the assistant are twins. First time I got a decent look at the assistant, I said to UncleBeer, “Does that guy look like Batman to you?” (at home, not in a movie theater; I never talk at the theater.)

I know, you don’t see it because you’re not really looking. :smiley: I did enjoy the movie; I just wasn’t surprised by much of it. I liked the descent into madness and loss of humanity played out through obsessive revenge.

The Village

Takes place in the present day. Figured that one out within a half hour or so.

I did not enjoy this one - I thought it was crap - bad story, bad pacing, and that the village elders were completely reprehensible people, and especially reprehensible parents in many ways.

The Illusionist

She’s not really dead! REALLY!

Though again, I enjoyed this one. Edward Norton is always very good in anything he’s in.

Hell, I had this one figured out just by watching the trailer. The only way that M. Night Shyamalan could really suprise anyone with half a brain any more is to make a film in which the suprise twist is that there is no suprise twist.

Pretty obvious from the way it was filmed, and I don’t think even Norton was very good here. He seemed…bored. And the magic tricks were clearly only capable with CGI, which is a cheat in and of itself. The only redeeming value in the film was Paul Giamatti’s performance.

Stranger

I actually was somewhat surprised by the plot twist in the OP when recently watching the series straight through for the first time, even knowing that Wesley was estranged from Angel Investigations for the last bit of S3 and the first of S4. The sheer rage, while understandable, just wasn’t typical of his character. Even Angelus was more cold and clinical.

I thought Norton did a fantastic job, considering that the screenwriter somehow forgot to give him a character to play. He was so terribly underwritten he came across as not so much a person as a plot device. That Norton was able to anything at all with the role is pretty impressive.

Well I can’t argue with that; it’s tough for an actor to do something with a character who does nothing. Even worse, he’s supposed to be sufficiently devoted to Jessica Biel’s character even though, despite being blandly pretty, she’s as limp as an eel. Still, it not one of his more memorable performances.

Stranger

My thought of what was in the box was much better in my opinion-

His wife’s fetus.

The completely unsurprising plot twist on Buffy, at the end of season 6: [spoiler]Ohhhh, Spike wants a soul, not the power to kill Buffy? Really? Shocker.

What would’ve been completely awesome: Spike gets his soul back, wins back Buffy’s trust, then deliberately tries to kill her. If he’d come up with a grand master plan and come closer than anyone else to actually taking Buffy out, that would’ve been awesome. Instead we end up with Bad Boy Make Good example #438,311.

Yes, I know people like Spike. Heck, I like Spike. But I don’t think he was used as well as he could’ve been.[/spoiler]

Hell, I figured that one out from the trailer. Although perhaps not for the right reason. They kept showing “strange markings” on the doorways. I though "Gee, that looks like spray paint. Oh, I get it. They’re really in the present day and the monsters are going to be backhoes from a demolition crew or something.

How’s this a plot twist?

“The Sixth Sense”

My brother and I saw it cold, having heard little about it, except the ubiquitous “I see dead people.”

As soon as Marky Mark’s brother shot Bruce Willis, I turned to him and said, “Oh, Jesus Christ, Bruce Willis is gonna be dead the whole movie and not know it.” My brother said, “No way would they try to pull off a BS twist like that in this day and age.” Wrong, my bro.

Not that we are story geniuses or anything of that nature, it is just an old, tired cliche, and having grown up on Matheson, Beaumont and the like, it was fairly easy to spot.

Sir Rhosis

Right. Remember how hard he worked to save Faith, even going so far as to tell Buffy to get the hell out of LA and put Wesley in danger. He was going to save Faith whether she wanted to be saved or not. In Are You Now or Have You Ever Been he forgave Judy for betraying and “killing” him. In fact, he wouldn’t see killing him as a betrayal, and he applauded Wesley and Cordelia several times for their willingness to do just that (though of course we find out later that Wes couldn’t actually go through with it).

And more than that, Angel is Wesley’s world, in the sense that Wes saw in Angel everything that was good about the world. He respected Angel’s mission, and he respected Angel as a person. In Wesley’s first ep on AtS, he had that little breakdown about how worthless he is and how the CoW fired him–and Angel very calmly gave him a task he knew Wes could handle and then made it a point of thanking him for his help. IOW, Angel was the first person who ever respected Wes in his life. To know that Wesley was acting out of a place of love, and to know that Angel understood that, and still attacked him–that’s pretty shocking and devastating. Especially given all the crap Wesley forgave of Angel before that.

Of course, one could argue that Angel never met to kill Wesley, only to punish him. And Angel would know a thing or two about punishment. What would be worse for Wes? Being dead or knowing that your best friend wishes you were dead and would never forgive you? Given Angel’s continual emphasis on forgiveness, I think knowing you could never have his would be a much harsher punishment. After all, Angel could have snapped his neck–no muss, no fuss. Or smashed his head in. And I’m sorry, but it would take a lot more than that to pull Angel off somebody if he wants them dead.

I have really been posting a lot about Angel today, haven’t I? Forgive me. I’ve been reading the new comic and plotting a paper I plan to give at a conference about Angel, so I’ve been watching the episodes and thinking about the show a lot. Plus, I just enjoy thinking about the show.

RE: The Sixth Sense, I so agree. Every time somebody calls it a plot twist, it makes me angry. Every time somebody calls it a good plot twist, I see red. I know everybody else saw the beginning of the movie and huge fucking hole in the middle of Bruce’s body. Modern medical science is pretty amazing, but I don’t think it’s found a cure for a giant hole in the body.

Hey! Wait a minute…my husband’s working on a paper for, I’m sure, the same conference! I bet you two geeks know each other IRL! (I say “geeks” with all due respect and awe, of course.) :smiley:

Heh, well, if we don’t know each other IRL yet, we probably will after the conference! Especially if he’s talking about BtVS or AtS.