Not just a specific scene, or episode, but characters repeatedly surviving when they shouldn’t.
Game of thrones basically checked twitter which characters are fan favourites and the popular ones get the most plot armour. Which is super funny for a show that became famous for killing off characters.
That little waif that got stabbed a dozen times in the gut then thrown off a bridge into sewage water… and lived… then became the one who killed the series big bad with extremely limited on screen training time, without using her signature face changing ability she learned from her assassins guild?
To me Bronn was always the worst offender. He was pretty much just a dude, then they realised people like him or his actor so he almost became a main character. It felt like a sitcom at that point. Or Jamie, surviving his hand getting cut off i. The worst conditions ever… Okay i guess. But when he then fell into the lake with full armour and a bronze hand… Of course sidekick Bronn had nothing better to do than watch him and pull him out. Fuck, i just remember how aweful that show got by season 5 or 6. I still can’t believe they were noth of the wall stuck on that lake and were like: you are a fast runner, right? You go and get help, we chill here.
Tbf, and I’d never defend the show after that finale, iirc Bronn was watching Jamie charge at Dianarys and her dragon and as Drogon began to charge up his fire breath Bronn tackled Jamie into the lake to save him. Still shit writing but it makes slightly more sense.
Don’t you see his pov where he goes down into the lake and he’s already like a few meters under water for dramatic effect. And in the next episode he just pulls his arm out?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSf5K-GT3Oc
It starts at about 4:00. It makes zero sense that the water is that deep btw but maybe it’s just me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk5yIVomPWI
He doesn’t even pull the arm out he’s just magically saved from the meters deep water in the next opening…
Yep, the waif who was wandering round in broad daylight despite knowing assassins were trying to kill her. And yet was surprised when she got stabbed
The way GoT got is indefensible. The writing got so, so bad and it severely damaged the franchise. It’s just… shit.
You know what’s interesting? When GoT went downhill at season 6 or whatever, i still thought that they could turn it around (lol) and even if they didn’t, i could still come back and enjoy the good seasons.
But that’s not true, at least for me. I never seen a show salting the earth so hard that i still never even thought about rewatching it. And i don’t think i ever will.
I know, I was the same! It had been so strong and there were excellent episodes in S6, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. S7 felt rushed and wasn’t amazing, but still better than most telly so I thought they were focusing on an epic S8. But then it was ABYSMAL and so bad I can’t watch earlier seasons. The whole point was the story was going to have a beginning, middle and end, they’re not stand alone seasons like true blood. But it was all for nothing
The Sheriff from Stranger Things. I think it was in season 3 when he was crawling around in spore-filled tunnels that had already killed people and he just got a mild headache. Not even going to mention the Russian prison in season 4.
The A-Team
Any prequel. I’m watching Star Trek Strange New Worlds. It’s 10 years before the original series. So there is no way Spock, Urua, Chapel, or Pike (well sorta on him) can get too messed up.
GI Joe supposedly features the best of the best fighting against the best of the worst and no one can manage to shoot anything.
I feel like Handmaid’s Tale deserves a mention. Throughout the series we see June’s peers swiftly mutilated or killed even for minor offenses.
June herself, past a certain point, is Gilead’s public enemy number one. Which would be fine if they wanted to tell the story of her as an activist in exile, or a resistance leader who always manages to escape by the skin of her teeth. But no, she keeps getting caught and nothing ever comes of it.
How I Met Your Mother’s crew friendship with Robin surviving multiple breakups with Ted after they pretty much just met her. IRL they would have 100% picked sides with Ted and booted her. Also Marshall and Lily surviving her SF stint
Lily always was the worst member of the group, and she’s the one who pushed for Robin to stay in
Haaaaaaavvvveeeee ya met Ted?
Groundhog day. That guy survived being stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned.
Rings of Power.
The show immediately starts with our main character causually defeating a troll by herself.
Later, amonst other things, she swam across an ocean and stands in a volcano’s pyroclastic flow like it’s a summer breeze.
This is why I’m generally not a fan of prequels. Everyone has inherent plot armor, since we know for a fact that they survive.
As for Tolkien’s universe, I can forgive a certain amount of plot armor, since he structured things to work that way throughout the stories. It’s not just the show runners.
Agreed.
“Prequel armor” is like super plot armor because you know the character will never die. At least with plot armor you might wonder if it will eventually get removed.
I’m never worried for them when Galadriel or Elrond are on screen because I know they’ll be just fine and live happily ever after.
I feel the same for Spock in strange new worlds.
When she swam from Bermuda to Portugal, I gave up on trying to enjoy the show. That was… much too much.
Plot armor is literally a plot point towards the end of Supernatural.
In Blue Eyed Samurai, the main character brushes off several life altering injuries like she’s a character in a jrpg.
Not exactly plot armor. Well kinda. Definitely loss of suspension of belief.
Obi-Wan escorting Leia under his trenchcoat through a giant active hangar. The chase through the trees earlier in the series was obviously a cost cutting sound stage scene that I could cross my eyes and say “this is like a stage play, sure”, but that hangar scene? Cmon guys, you can do better than that. Put her in a box and push the box with a cart. Like, it could have wheels for crying out loud. You could’ve spent less on a box and a cart then you did on that ridiculous rain coat
Arrow.
In later seasons their tech support eye in the sky character ends up getting into several fist fights with League of Shadow ninja assassins, and holds her own. In a pencil skirt and heels… it’s so dumb
The Smoking Man from X-Files has survived cancer, being thrown down the stairs, a missle strike, and getting shot by mulder and falling into a river
Currently watching Touhai: Ura Rate Mahjong Touhai Roku, which is about an absurd number of people getting murdered over a board game. I lost count. Almost no one is safe, but…
Episode 23-24
Episode 23 ends with the main character himself gettin hanged, which is apparently all just part of his own plan somehow.
Episode 24, they explain that hanging is not instantly fatal, and if his substitute can win the next hand within five minutes (we’re operating on Frieza time scales here apparently, since this takes the whole episode), they’ll be allowed to get him down. They then have to negotiate with the villain for a defibrillator in exchange for sparing the villain’s life.
Waiting for episode 25 to drop to find out if this plan actually works, but, like, ain’t no way, right?
