Fridge Brilliance - Television Tropes & Idioms

Fridge Brilliance is the idea of gaining a new respect for something that you initially hate. One night, as you get up for a midnight snack, you open the refrigerator door and the light dawns on you, "This is the real purpose behind this plot!"

Because you had that epiphany, what once was a hated moment has became one of your favorites.

This is a personal moment for the viewer, so every example is signed by the contributor. If you start off with "This Troper", really, you have no excuse. We're going to hit you on the head.

Examples:

Live Action TV

I hated the portrayal of Sylar until about halfway through his big arc in the first season of Heroes, complaining that the character was "inconsistent." Over the midseason break it dawned on me that he was constantly tailoring and retooling his projected personality to suit his environment. —Tabby
I used to really hate Elliot from Scrubs, because I thought she had no flaws and was boring and whiny and less fun than everyone else. Then I realised how insecure and strange she really is and I like her a lot better now. —ilikejawbreaker
I really hated a certain episode of Angel where they needed Angel to lose his soul and become Angelus to further the plot of the season. The attempt failed, but led to information concerning a mystical weapon they can use to defeat their enemy. This lead to an Indiana Jones style temple of doom, and along the way, all hurt feelings are mended, romance resurfaces, father and son fight side-by-side, and the Beast is defeated. It was All Just A Dream. I hated the episode, thinking to myself "They can do better then this!" It wasn't until literally in the middle of the night, that I understood what the episode was about...Angel can save the world, but still he burns in the daylight and will lose his soul if he is happy. The dream represented Angel's desires and the ultimate darkness he must always be a part of. —KJMackley
I hated the first episode of Supernatural's third season because Dean was acting like a Jerkass/pod!version of his former self. It wasn't until Fresh Blood and the beautiful brotherly love scenes that I realised he was supposed to be like that. Sam's getting frustrated beyond belief, we're supposed to sympathise with him and we couldn't do that if Dean was acting like his normal self. And it wasn't until the finale when I realised that Dean was being a lying liar that lies when he said he was feeling good about everything, his unbelievably messed up state was just coming out in a different way that what I was used to. —Tinted
- Rewatching that episode (and, to a lesser extent - Bedtime Stories and Red Sky At Morning), Dean is much less jerkier and far more creepier than I remember. In the manic moments, he's all ducky-lipped and bambi-eyed but that's just surface. Look underneath and there's nothing there. He still doesn't think he deserves to live, he's trying to get Sam to hate him/move on/forget about saving him and when he makes that "I'll think I'll play craps" line in Red Sky At Morning, he's got a big smile but completely dead eyes. And it's only when Sam plays the little brother/it's all about me card in Fresh Blood that he gets a tiny bit better and starts opening up more. I still don't like watching it all that much but I can begrudgingly admit that was very clever of them. Bastards. —VAD
- So I'm watching Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things and I'm getting annoyed with the "What's dead should stay dead" anvil, right? I'm like "I get it! Dean hates the supernatural, now stop it.". Fast forward to All Hell Breaks Loose and suddenly it hits me: When Dean says "What's dead should stay dead", he really means "If I'm dead, I should stay dead". Stupid me. Clever show. Poor Dean. —RampampG
A weird case: Buffy The Vampire Slayer has an episode dedicated to Riley Finn return with his new wife, The Ace; she seems to be everything that Buffy is not (including annoying)... until you realize that Spike had absolutely no reason to use the alias of "The Doctor", but she would have, various minor, deniable clues were dropped to that effect.— Luc
I still hate Seventh Heaven; not only is every other scene an Anvilicious speech about dealing with certain problems or issues, but everyone in the family is a total drama queen about every little problem, especially in Season 5. I enjoy hating it by thinking of it as portraying how disastrously a typical sitcom family would face real-world problems. One of your daughters/sisters having relationship and money issues shouldn't send a real family into a state of depression, anxiety, and panic, but it would a sitcom family like the Bradys or Cleavers. And only real people actually explain things when there's a misunderstanding; sitcom characters don't. — Lale
The CSI episode Killer shows the titular Killer, an otherwise Sympathetic Murderer, a bank robber who kills the former drug addict who ratted him out. He is portrayed somewhat sympathetically (it's noted that he never harmed anyone during a robbery and at the end of the episode he even turns himself in so his wife doesn't lose custody of their son). However, at the very end, he cheerfully asks Grissom "So where did I screw up?". Grissom then says, flatly, "You killed two people." This is both Grissom's moral judgment, and is also literally true: He would've gotten away with the crime if he hadn't panicked and committed the second murder. — Luc
I was a bit put off by Harriet's reaction to a corpse in the film of the Lord Peter Wimsey book Have his Carcasse, thinking she was being shown as something of a weak woman. Then, I read how this scene in the book comments on how people in detective stories always treat discovered corpses nonchalantly, whereas a real person would act like Harriet. Now, I notice how omnipresent that unreality is in most mysteries — Jordan
My immediate reaction to the final Episode of Angel The Series, Not Fade Away, was initially something like "Joss, I loved you. BUT NOW I HATE YOU! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THIS?" But the more I thought about it (and once I bought the series on DVD and watched it a couple more times) the more I realized that it was basically the perfect ending, and showing Angel and Company charging into battle with little or no hope of winning was beautifully symbolic of the neverending nature of the battle against evil. Nonetheless, I was very excited when the Season Six comics came out so i could see what had happened to all my beloved characters.-Jamie
I can't say it radically changed my opinion of the show, because I already thought it was brilliant, but I became even more amazed at Arrested Development when I bought the DVD to re-watch it, with the very first episode. One of the plotlines in the third season is whether Lindsay was adopted, which would mean that George Michael and Maeby were not biological cousins, and free to pursue a romantic relationship. When this first aired on broadcast TV, naturally I had ceased to give too much thought to the names of the characters who had been around since the start of the show. Only upon re-watching on DVD did I realize they had been setting this up from the very first episode, when the narrator referred to "George Michael's cousin, Maeby" ("George Michael's cousin, maybe.") — Devils Advocate
The Doctor beating the Master in Series 3 is a victory for humanism over nihilism, by the way. —Man Justice League
- Unfortunately for the Doctor, the shooting death of the Master that followed was a victory of out-of-nowhere sadness endings over ridiculously sickly-sweet endings. And that was the only thing that stopped me from throwing up my hands and saying, "Well bugger this series for a game of soldiers."
  - It was also them preemptively just eating Gilligan. I mean, come on. Can you imagine Doctor Who with the Master as a companion?
In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Jenny refers to football as "my country's national pastime." Given that the title "America's national pastime" has traditonally referred to baseball, this is a Gretzky Has The Ball, and at first glance it seems like a needless one. But later in the season it's revealed that Jenny is secretly a Gypsy, whose name was Americanized from Janna Kalderash. So it makes sense that Jenny would make that kind of mistake about American culture, and at the same time she might be eager to make this kind of patriotic remark in order to affirm her cover story. —Ojuice5001
Whenever Stephen Colbert talks to his Companion Cube handgun, Sweetness, he holds it up to his deaf ear. I thought this was just weird until someone pointed out that this is to emphasise that the gun isn't really talking to him - the voice is in his head. All the impulses to kill the studio audience are his. —Rissa
Another Angel The Series one: I thought it was a bit incredulous about how big a deal they make out of humans not being able to handle the Visions, but when Cordelia is shown by Skip an alternate reality where she was doing great in her movie career, doing fine, but in her perfect world, she is yanked out to help her friends and eventually finds Angel tormented by the Visions, where she kisses him and takes the Visions for herself again, I kinda eyerolled at it, wondering why Angel was affected so badly even he himself was a demon. But then I realized Cordelia had been repeatedly set up as a terrible actress in the series and that this whole thing was just part of Jasmine's plot to get herself incarnated into the world. Granted, it put the Idiot Ball in her court, but it was good for foreshadowing Skip wasn't on the level. — Peteman
I absolutely hated PrettyGuardianSailorMoon at first. Be it for Princess Serenity's Heroic BSOD Also Super Powered Evil Side. And Venus's tumor, but that's another Just Bugs Me case for another time. However, the series actually came together quite well in the end.

Film

This trope is what dropped Troll 2 in my opinion from being the epitome of So Bad Its Good to merely an excellent example. Originally, it seemed the goblins were all destroyed and their appearance at the end was a totally nonsensical Plot Hole. Comedy! That is, until I realised that a Chekhovs Gun set up earlier in the film was that the family was making a home-exchange with some people who later turned out to be goblins. Suddenly, the ending made sense and lost its comedy value (although this was muddied by limited costumes, and the fact that the home exchange family briefly reappeared in a later scene due to them having "car trouble"). —Schrodingers Duck
- On the other hand, it doesn't explain why those goblins weren't killed along with the rest of them, or why their magic still works. - Man Without A Body
My mother had this reaction after watching Miller's Crossing. —CTrombley
The Ninth Gate had everyone I know making that noise Scooby-Doo makes when he's confused. And sometime later, the ending hit me: The girl was Satan herself, and Korso had found the ninth gate and used it. —Indigo
- What I got from the film was that Korso was an amnesiac Satan and the girl was a witch or demon who was trying to guide him to the ninth gate. —Vashthe Stampede
That's exactly what happened to me with Richard William's The Little Island. The first time I watched it, after five minutes I skipped ahead to see if anything actually happened, and was convinced it was a horrible waste of time. But then I went back, watched the whole thing, and still didn't like it. A couple of day's later, I finally "got" it, and now I really like it. —Evalana
In The Phantom Menace, a lot of people complained about the submarine having force-field windows, including me. Then I suddenly realized "Wait a moment. It's a Gungan submarine. Gungans are amphibious, so for them those windows are a safety feature!" —Whitewings
- While I was always far more forgiving toward the prequels than many people, one part that seemed too dumb to put up with was Anakin's conception: Jesus rip off? Born of The Force? Gimme a break. But then Palpatine explained his master's preoccupation, and the stupidest part of the prequel trilogy suddenly became the most ingenious. — Eric DVH
  - My uncle described a moment of Fridge Brilliance he had with that same conversation. Palpatine described the perspectives of the Jedi and the Sith; the Jedi are inherently selfless, forsaking personal things to benefit the Republic while the Sith are inherently selfish, "Treachery is the way of the Sith." Yet the Sith learned to control the force to create life and prevent death. The Jedi found a way to achieve immortality for themselves after death. Both are essentially contrary to the philosophical beliefs of the two factions, one discovering a power to help others and one discovering a power to benefit themselves. —KJMackley
  - I was also confused by the contradiction of the ultimate expressions of the Light and Dark sides of the Force. It didn't make sense that the ultimate expression of the Light side was a form of immortality for oneself, while the ultimate expression of the Dark side was a technique to create life and preserve others. Then it occurred to me: the power of the Light side isn't about benefiting yourself; it's about becoming a part of the living Force itself to act as a guide for others. The main reason Force Ghosts exist is to guide the living. It's the ultimate act of selflessness, helping others even from beyond. OTOH, the ultimate power of the Dark side, creating life, represents the complete subjugation of the Force. It grants the Sith power over both life and death, essentially making him/her into a god. The Light is about acceptance and harmony with the Force, becoming part of it, and the Dark is about defying and controlling it. - M84
- Little worried I'm misusing the phrase, but here goes: Jar Jar Binks. I was indifferent at first, then annoyed, then I watched The Phantom Menace again three days ago. I realized Jar Jar was not an idiot, nor hyper, nor a total goofball, just a poor, clumsy guy who was always in the wrong way at the wrong time. He was even capable of solemnity, at certain points, even in Episode I. Now, I actually respect Jar Jar as a decent member of the group! And then, in a further bit of Fridge Brilliance, I realized that Lucas probably didn't mean anything by using semi-real accents for certain species! These races likely didn't have Basic as their first language. They're probably taught something else during their childhood. The language shapes the mouth, and gives the accent, and do you expect a writer to make an accent up out of thin air? He's going to borrow from something he's seen! So no offense was meant! — Lhikan
  - Still wouldn't justify the Uncle Tom accent instead of, say, French. —Scorpio3002
- While I always liked the TPM, there was one thing that I think I completely misunderstood. At first, the Jedi Council is dead set against training Anakin, because he is too old, and there are all those Mommy issues... Then, in the end, the Council agrees, though Yoda still is against it. I always thought that they agreed because it was Qui-Gon's last wish and they maybe felt that they owed him. Or something. But, that wasn't the reason. At least, it wasn't the only reason. Anakin is the Chosen One (the Council never really doubted that after testing him) who is supposed to bring balance, that means, eradicate the Sith. First, when Qui-Gon tells about his encounter with Darth Maul on Tatooine and that he thinks Maul is a Sith, Mace Windu is incredulous. The Sith died out, he thinks. Without Sith, they don't need a Chosen One who is a potential loose cannon. But, when Yoda makes states the Council's decision in the end, he also explains that Darth Maul was indeed a Sith, they are sure of that now. And that is why the Council changed their minds. And, since there will be a second Sith, they will actually need The Chosen One. So he must be trained. It had nothing to do with Qui-Gon dying, but with realizing there actually was a Phantom Menace out there and they could not do without Anakin. - Liliedhe
I didn't like the non-linear narrative in Pulp Fiction. Until some time later when I realized that the proper dramatic climax of the film was Jules's conversion and talking down the two thieves in the diner (rather than simply killing them). And just because the climax occurred around the chronological middle of the story, that didn't mean it shouldn't have its usual placement near the end of the film. — Devils Advocate
To many, Indiana Jones surviving a nuclear blast in Kindgom of the Crystal Skull is a Wall Banger already being known as "Nuking the Fridge". To me, if he had merely gotten in and survived, I would have thought the same. The fact that the fridge was flung through the air, while everything else was disintegrated, and that he came out with barely even a bruise, just tells me that this is Refuge In Audacity. — Lord TNK
- Heh, those guys didn't understand being over-the-top was one of the series' major selling points. — Medinoc.
Southland Tales is one of those movies that unfolds and unfolds and unfolds. But as soon as the end credits started, I immediately realized what it all meant...well, what I think it all meant. The main character being the Antichrist, who is killed as he almost ascends to godhood with the help of Fluid Karma, thus making the whole "dethrone God" thing completely literal. Then I went out to the car and sat there while my girlfriend had a cigarette, playing it all over in my head, and suddenly realized that within the Apocalypse symbolism, Krysta Now is the Whore of Babylon, making it even more brilliant. Assuming that any of that is true. - ROBRAM 89, your friendly neighborhood seizure gardener
There is a certain deleted scene on the DV Ds of Donnie Darko that is purest Fridge Brilliance, explaining why everything in the film happens in one of the most beautiful lines ever spoken by a man dressed in a Nightmare Fuel rabbit suit. - Eli
My creative writing class showed Blue Window, based on the play by Craig Lucas. It intercuts between several groups of characters, all of whom are going to go to a party, talking to themselves or each other. It's very Slice of Life and it seemed random and pointless, including when they're at the party. Halfway through (i.e. an hour through the 2-hour show), I got into it, and the first hour seemed relevant too. —Professor Thascales
Andrey Tarkovsky's movie Solaris is slow and meditative. I was bored for a long time, but an hour in it clicked, and the whole thing seemed hypnotic and graceful and artistic and compelling. —Professor Thascales
As a teenager, I found Princess Aurora to be the most pathetic, flat, boring, biggest-disgrace-to-women-everywhere of all the Disney princesses. As an adult, I still do, but I also believe Sleeping Beauty is Disney's strongest pro-feminist film because of the roles of Three Fairies. The princess may be a Flat Character, but so is the pretty boy of a prince. After the fairies rescue him from the witch and protect him from every threat during his escape, they also slay the dragon! Talk about girl power! — Lale
- I always liked this movie, but Lale's point is extremely valid. Indeed, the fairies actually seem to get the most screentime; and this entry helped me realize the film is their story more than anyone else's. Their character arc is more touching than some A-plots in other Disney Animated Canon entries. - Sapphire
- I always felt Maleficent was one of the best Disney villains, if only for she's the only one (that I can think of, anyway) to explicitly call on the powers of Hell.
  - Judge Frollo called on the powers of Heaven(they didn't answer him, obviously, but the fact that he truly believes that he is on God's side is why I consider him to be the best Disney villain). I now suddenly want to know what would have happened if Frollo had been part of Maleficent's Council of Evil in the first Kingdom Hearts...
At the end of The Matrix Revolutions, Smith demands of Neo, "Why, Mr. Anderson?! WHY DO YOU PERSIST?" to which Neo calmly responds, "Because I choose to." Now, the entire 'conversation' up to that point had been about purpose, and it just seemed like the logical flow, from a dialogue and plot standpoint, would be for him to say "It's my purpose." And it is, that's what the One is there to do (his Karma, as a program explains earlier), it's his purpose in this vast system, to eliminate his negative (Smith) and balance the equation. However, upon closer inspection, the question of how choice affects purpose is brought up many times, especially in reference to this vast scheme of the Oracle's. So, while it is indeed his purpose to continue fighting Smith to the very end, he continues to do so not because he must but because he chooses to. It also helps to highlight the differences between Neo and Smith: Neo chooses to continue fighting until his inevitable corruption, Smith has no choice, he cannot deny his purpose at all. See Smith's earlier comments in Reloaded about why he went rogue: "I knew what I was supposed to do but I didn't. I couldn't. I was compelled to stay...", he never says he chose to stay. -Jarl
The Dark Knight spoilers: The scene where the Joker sets all the money he is paid by the mob bosses on fire was fairly interesting, and one of the few moments where the Joker stops being profoundly terrifying for a minute and is funny again. Until half an hour after walking out of the theater, when I thought back, and remembered that there was a man, bound and gagged, sitting on top of the money. And the camera cuts had managed to make me forget about it by simply not showing him. It turned the scene all the way around to "creepy" again. —Kefkakrazy
- This troper realised, coming out of The Dark Knight, that the Joker's constant lip-licking is exactly the kind of habit someone might develop while uncertain of the corners of their mouth...
  - Oh yes. This troper realised partway into the film that it wasn't just a drug addict-like tic, but something he might have picked up while the scars were still fresh- because accidentally having whatever was in your mouth seep out through raw, roughly-healing scar tissue must hurt like hell. It's to clear out anything that might be... lurking in there, as well as keep them fresh. A persistent reminder. (And they'd probably been fresh for quite a while, given his mild masochistic streak...)
- This troper thought Batman's city-wide cellphone-based sonar system, and the sonar implants in his mask used at the end of the film were fairly impressive, at first, but it wasn't until the next morning that I realized the true brilliance of it: real bats use sonar to navigate at night!
- This troper thought the already brilliant and heartrending "rescue Dent or Rachel" dilemma became even more brilliant when he realised that the only truly guilt-free way to choose between the two of them would be to do it randomly - flip a coin.
  - And this troper only realised when someone pointed it out to him that the Joker lied! Batman goes to rescue Rachel and sends the police after Dent. But it's Batman who rescues Harvey and the cops who see Rachel blow up. Knowing that the Joker does things like this adds another layer to the scene with the two boats... - Daibhid C
  - The Joker's dual back stories. I realized several hours later that the back stories have not one, not two, but three completely separate layers. Layer the first. He's trying to scare Gambol and Rachel by telling them about his scars. Layer the second. Each story is tailored to the listener. Rachel is a woman about to be married... so he tells her a story about how his wife committed suicide. Gambol is a gangster, likely with a higher emphasis on family... so The Joker tells him a story about how his father was an abusive alcoholic. Finally, both scenes are parodies of the stock standard Freudian Excuse in comics. Where the majority of supervillains were either abused by their fathers (literally, 90% of all male supervillains), or had self-inflicted misfortunes (Penance, anyone?). -Mike Arrow
  - Now you've got me wondering what story he was going to tell Batman. - Ronfar
  - Probably that he used to be a cop until some crook went all Reservoir Dogs on him. You know, "Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right."
- This Troper actually came to the exact opposite conclusion. He and many other were bemused by what Gordon said to Dent during the climax We chose to save you. We were all trying to figure out why that would calm Dent down, whether that was really the case and so on. Then I considered something. That was what Gordon tried to do, it was also a combined effort with Batman to try and save both Harvey and Rachel. When faced with the horrible view of the world that the Joker put before them, when faced with the dilemma of having to choose a horrible choice, Harvey resorted to flipping a coin while Gordon and Batman tried to choose both sides.
After watching The Usual Suspects, while coming home from the cinema, I suddenly realised that Keizer Soze was not the lawyer, who would have paid the cop to deliver him Verbal Kint in order to kill him (as to how the hell I came to this conclusion, I sincerely wonder myself), but Verbal Kint himself, and that the flashbacks were all lies. Pure Fridge Brillance... -Vincent
I winced all the way through the the scene in the Get Smart movie where Max is in the airplane bathroom, trying to undo his twist-tie handcuffs with the weird little ballista tool in his Swiss Army knife. It seemed so stupid, so weird and gratuitous and painful-looking and I just couldn't figure out why it was in the movie at all, other than for shock value. Then three hours later at dinner I realized that the joke was that it was a Swiss Army knife, and he could have cut the handcuffs off at any time with its perfectly normal function. DUH. Suddenly a nauseatingly painful and unfunny scene became hilarious. — kenaz
- Or the laser.
I got it early on, but a lot of people are surprised and impressed at the hidden depth of The Fifth Element. Everyone thinks "Yay, Waif Fu saves the world, go Leeloo!" until a later re-viewing reveals that the fifth element is not Leeloo. It's love.—Indigo
- I respectfully disagree. I saw Leeloo as akin to the four stones (physical manifestations of the elements), being the manifestation of the fifth element life. Love is the activation of her, as the stones are activated by what the element does: wind blows, rain falls, fire burns... (paraphrased). Hence: life loves.-Moonshade
For this troper, The Core caused a moment of Fridge Brilliance. After thinking about the depth of the absurdity that the movie sank to, I realized that the movie was in on the joke. It was like Airplane, but played completely straight. There's even an exchange where they list every reason why the very premise of the movie is impossible, why they can't go to the core. Which is followed by, "Yes. But what if we could?" After a second viewing, it became obvious to me that every aspect of the movie knows how ridiculous everything is: the script, the actors, the director, everyone. It's all played straight, but the movie throws you a sardonic wink every now and then to make sure you know that they know everything is BS. It even takes Refuge In Audacity every now and then (lightning bolts causing stone to explode?). ==Korval
Though I absolutely LOVED WALL-E from beginning to end, I couldn't understand the decision to insert live action footage of humans then switch to CGI. It was only when I heard someone discuss the sequence where all the captains' pictures are shown (where they gradually "morph" from realistic to cartoonish CGI, which I didn't notice at the time) that the point was to show that in the intervening years between Earth's abandonment and the time the movie is set, Humanity has decayed and basically become a caricature of itself.
- I was really irritated by the portrayal of future humans as morbidly obese, lazy to the point of helplessness, and entirely self-absorbed...until I realized that the point was not to be a slam against fat people, but to liken the humans to infants. It really clicked for me when it occurred to me that they all wear one-piece jumpsuits (rather like layettes) and consume only liquids. And then I realized that even their obesity has kind of a cuddly appeal, like the chubbiness of well-fed babies. It's not that they're all gluttonous, disgusting slobs, it's that too much luxury and not enough challenge has robbed them of their independence. (And then I wondered how I ever could have made the first assumption, when it is a Pixar film—no one who works for John Lasseter would ever mistake fatness for an indication of laziness!) —Karalora
To be honest, I originally thought The Princess Bride was going to be a cliched and sappy romance film. There's a funny story to the experience, in fact. I got the DVD for Christmas, while my brother got This Is Spinal Tap. I looked from his movie to mine and bluntly stated; "How come I get the sucky one?" I soon found that I in fact had the better one of the two after watching them the same day. - Dark Insanity 13
- And by the same director, no less.
I got so much new respect for Slither when I realised that the main characters are all subversions of their traditional roles in horror. Including the villain. Especially the villain. -Whatever
At first I hated the intro of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me for making Vanessa a fembot. It ruined the first movie for me when I first saw it happen. I realized it was a satire on disposable Bond girls, but it still seemed like a Wallbanger. Then I realized that this scheme illustrates just how much Dr. Evil hates Austin Powers. Dr. Evil had actually set up a Xanatos Gambit in the first film. The real purpose of the scheme was to get Austin to fall in love with Vanessa during the crisis; to set him up to be killed in the most emotionally painful way possible. Of course, this being a satirical series and Austin Powers being a Kavorka Man, he gets over it really fast. -M84
At first I thought the midichlorians in Star Wars was a stupid way to explain away the Force. But then I realized that Star Wars is a combination of science fiction and fantasy, with your wizards flying in starships and whatnot. So, the magic of the Force having scientific roots is very fitting, and it explains why everybody in the Star Wars universe doesn't use the Force, because they can't. Even then, the Force is not generated by the midichlorians, the Force is still that mystical energy that surrounds and binds us, but the best way for humans to use it is to quiet your mind and listen to your midichlorians, who just happen to be the best conductors of the energetic Force. -washington213
- This troper is partial to the explanation that midichlorians aren't in any way force generators. A high midichlorian count is simply a symptom of somebody being highly sensitive to the force. - Skarmory The PG
- This troper juuust realized that the R2 units on X-Wings are supposed to emulate the round observation dome on top of bombers. — Jonn
My appreciation of Star Trek: Generations increased a lot after I realised the Nexus is a lot cleverer than it initially seemed. It's supposed to give you whatever you want, and it did exactly that. It gave both Picard and Kirk what they thought they wanted, but did it in such a way to make them realise that it wasn't what they actually wanted. Then it gave both of them the means to do what they truly wanted: make a difference.
This troper actually had one of these with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie Parts: The Clonus Horror. She didn't see the point of all the exercising shots at the beginning until she later realized they were being used as sources of organs. What better way to make sure the organs would be in good shape than to make sure everyone was supremely fit? The movie is still bad, but at that point she realized it was possible to salvage it. - theorc
This troper dismissed Michael Bay's Transformers as human-centric gun porn until he realized why it was necessary to make the robots vulnerable to human weapons. If there were absolutely no chance of a robot being taken down by armies of lesser beings, then there would be no reason for them to be in disguise to begin with, and the central premise would fall apart.

Literature

I used to have this with Jane Austen. I just couldn't get my head around the way she constructs her sentences, and thought it was all unnecessarily wordy and complicated. And it's just about groups of people who go about their daily lives and fancy each other and there's no real plot. But then somehow it just clicked in my mind and I think her writing style is really sophisticated and interesting and now I think she's terrific. —ilikejawbreaker
The first time I tried to read The Three Musketeers, I got about halfway through and fell apart. I couldn't take it—too melodramatic, too boring. The second time, several years later, I started it again, skimmed through everything I'd read before, reached roughly the same point... and then started to laugh. I realized it was supposed to be funny! I enjoyed the hell out of it after that. —Scifantasy
This troper hated the first book of A Song Of Ice And Fire when he read it. There was so much foreshadowing of the imminent invasion of the local equivalent of the Legions Of Hell that the political intrigue that made up the bulk of the novel felt like a meaningless subplot of no importance whatsoever. I enjoyed the rest of the series more when I changed my expectations and read with the understanding that all the supernatural stuff was the relatively unimportant subplot, and nobody is going to become the Knight In Shining Armor action hero and save the day. - Ronfar
I was ready to dismiss The Brothers Karamazov outright while Dmitri was raving on about his problems in the gazebo to Alyosha, and the Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic aspect was about to drive me crazy. Then I noticed the text kept mentioning a bottle of cognac Dmitri was waving around. I suddenly realized he was drunk. And then it all made sense. - Zephid
I absolutely hated how, in a sci-fi setting, humans were always the most genetically diverse while all the other alien species were homogeneous to the point that the only true physical differences (if any) were between males and females. The explanation for this was usually Hand Waved as humans couldn't tell them apart. Then I read Mass Effect: Ascension which offered an explanation so brilliant and so obvious that I don't know how I never saw it before: It's an accepted theory that the discovery that one is not alone in the universe would have the effect of uniting the entire species into one group instead of nation states and ethnicity. However, the consequence of this would be that, over time, all ethnic groups would eventually blend into a select few if not one. Since humanity is frequently the newcomer in the galaxy, this has yet to happen to them. — Red Viking
- I understand where you were coming from, I too was bothered by all these one hat planets until I came across some cheezy old 70s science fiction novel called Spaceways which was left on a train. I was going to be traveling for the next few hours anyway so I read it; while there was a lot of Zeerust aspects to the story, the concept that grabbed my attention the most was the 'fact' that almost all humans in the universe had dark brown to black hair, brown eyes and dark completions, the rare humans who are naturally born with features like light skin, blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair are considered genetic throwbacks. It was at this time that I realised that in this book at least, humans became the One Hat species. It was brilliant. — Inkki Bookman
I started reading the Discworld series in 5th grade, so it's no surprise I had a few Swiss Moments ("Oh... That's what they meant about the Seamstresses...") but some were much more epic than that. For instance, on rereading The Fifth Elephant, I found myself suddenly basking in awe at the Xanatos Gambit Lady Margalotta was pulling. Something similar happened with Jingo (Vetinari is just... wow), and the sudden realization that Feet of Clay is one of the best mysteries I've ever read. — Phoenix Fire
- I just was re-reading Hogfather. I knew Teatime was using teeth to control people. I knew Banjo was intensely loyal after he punched him in the jaw. It wasn't until the third reading I realized the reasoning behind Banjo's line "I lost a tooth." Brilliant.
  - This troper has read the book at least three times, and completely missed that. You Sir/M'am, have just blown my mind.
- I must have read Hogfather at least three times (and seen the movie) before spotting the significance of the fact that there is a lifetimer for the Tooth Fairy. — Captain Crowbar
I was rather ambivalent towards the character of Sansa Stark from A Song Of Ice And Fire, thinking her an idiot, until I realized that she was supposed to be a reader of idealistic fantasy, who deals with life by going entirely by what she reads, but is eventually disillusioned by the reality to the point of rejecting said fantasy entirely. She's entirely a joke on the audience who enjoys happy romantic fantasy. Basically, she's supposed to be somebody who enjoys fantasy completely unlike A Song Of Ice And Fire, or a heroine from another book series displaced into the Crapsack World of Westeros, and subjected to Deconstruction to show how they would react. I only realized this after meeting somebody similar to (though not as idiotic as) her in Real Life. ==Narvi
Not a dislike, but when I read the Dragaera book Orca and found out that Sethra and Kiera are the same person, I had to go back and see where this was hinted at in earlier books. Then, I noticed in Taltos how at a point where Vlad is unwilling to climb Dzur mountain to meet with Sethra, Kiera shows up out of nowhere and gives him a peptalk. Also interesting is her promise that if Morrolan kills Vlad, he will be dead in less than a year. Sounds a lot different when you realize that the speaker is an insanely powerful sorceress. — Jordan
- Orca also has one that is less a dislike than a realization of the author's cleverness. It's been remarked how in one scene in the book, Kiera notes in her narration about an odd expression on Vlad's face. It's been suggested (and I agree) that this was indicating that he and his familiar were telepathically making snarky comments.

—((Jordan))

I originally read 'Orca' a number of years ago, but reread it a few weeks back and was stunned and awed by the resemblance of the financial disaster at the core of the book to the current mortgage meltdown in 2008. Not only did I have a better appreciation and understanding of the book now than I did before, but Vlad's explanation, in relatively simple language, of the cause and effect of lending and finance helped me understand a bit more what is going on now in real life.
- I didn't really care for Vlad's bullying of humans in Dzur nor the very bleak tone of the most recent book Jhegaala. Then, it hit me how the latter shows his development in the books set chronologically later. In the earlier books in the series, Vlad talks a lot about how Dragaerans, even the ones he likes, are scum. Notably, after experiencing cruelty from fellow humans in Jhegaala, he generally stops making such comments and is more willing to judge them by the same standards as humans. This also explains his behavior towards humans in Dzur- for better or worse, Vlad now treats everyone equally.— Jordan

I had to read the Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency at least twice before I realised that everything in the entire book tied together and led logically to the conclusion. Every. Single. Thing. Even things you thought were throwaway one-liner jokes. Even lines you'd completely forgotten. EVERYTHING. -Calla
When I first read the Diana Wynne Jones book Deep Secret as a kid (around 12/13 years old), I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had the rest of DWJ's books. I liked the characters (and the fact that the ugly girl gets the guy in the end), but the setting seemed strange, it wasn't as "magical" as her other books, and the ending seemed rushed. While I still think it ends a bit quickly, it's now my absolute favorite of all her books. I finally "get" the setting. It's set at a Fan Convention, and much of the story is simply spent observing geeks in their natural habitats—cosplaying, buying unusual porn, writing Filk Songs, and other nerd activities. And it does a strikingly good job of portraying this as well, in addition to being just plain funny otherwise. Now that I understand that aspect of it, I can't not love that book. -Freezair For A Limited Time
So I started reading Wuthering Heights, and for the first half of the book, I couldn't stand it. Heathcliff wasn't a hero. None of the characters were in any way likable. The romance was between Heathcliff and Catherine was creepy and weird. And it wasn't until halfway through that I realized; that's the point. Heathcliff isn't a romantic figure or a hero; he's a corrupting influence that taints and destroys everything he comes into contact with; everything and everyone is so bitter and twisted because he's twisted them such. It's most perfectly illustrated with Cathy Earnshaw, Catherine and Edgar's daughter; when we first meet her, she's a vicious and cruel bitch, but it's because Heathcliff's cruelty and hatred twisted her into being such; we later learn that before she met Heathcliff, she was a sweet and loving young woman, and after Heathcliff dies we see her with the man she has fallen in love with, and freed from Heathcliff's influence she's once again kind and caring. Heathcliff's presence corrupts everyone in the novel, and it's only when he's gone that they can redeem themselves. This is partially the wool that had accumulated after decades of the Misaimed Fandom around Heathcliff and being told he was a romantic hero falling away, but it's now one of my favourite books. ~ Doctor Nemesis.
While I'm still not that much of a fan of the series, I thought it was kind of interesting to learn from The Other Wiki that in the Narnia books, the god Tash of Calormene was based upon Medieval demonizations of Islam. I think this definitely shows Lewis' intellect and suggests that rather than necessarily believing that Muslims are devil-worshippers (Jack Chick is hopefully one of the few people who think this way), he was using the medieval idea to add to Narnia's overall "storybook" quality.

— Jordan

Video Games

I was one of those people who were very confused by the sudden Giant Space Flea From Nowhere final boss of Final Fantasy IX. Sometime later I realized that that guy represents some sort of inherent evil nature of mankind and that the Crystal World was supposed to signify that the final battles take place on some sort of plane above reality ( the crystal signifying the origin of the universe or something ). That realization put my whole image of the plot in a different perspective and I saw that it was actually a quite brilliantly made story about war between different people who are, in the end, only humans as well. —Fawriel
- Oddly enough, it struck me as the developers realizing that anything would make a better final boss than Kuja. —Lord TN Kq
- When I played it, I saw it as an Homage to Final Fantasy IV's last boss, who turned out to be the physical incarnation of the main villain's hatred; the power of the crystal turned Kuja's despair into what was essentially an Anthropomorphic Personification of despair that sought to unmake the universe. There's lots of Epileptic Trees about what Necron really is; as the game leaves it vague, the player can decide for himself what its significance is. - Ronfar
- This troper has always wondered why people are so confused by Necron. Perhaps the biggest theme in the game's story is the value and meaning of life. The characters are frequently faced with questions involving the meaning of their lives. Necron's ultimate goal is the destruction of life, claiming it is nothingness which all life desires. Necron is ultimately the antithesis of the game's central message. - Lizard Bite
- Heh... and after I thought about Necron's significance (not to mention all the underworld "wailing and gnashing of teeth" going on just before the fight), I kept coming back to the overarching theme of the entire game - that all beings strive to live. Even Kuja wanted more than anything else to have a soul, some true semblance of life. Once Kuja was defeated and dealt his final blow to the party, there was only one thing that Zidane and Co. could do, and that was fight death itself. -Delcan
I was one of the most vocal opponents of the story in Final Fantasy XII, due to the lack of wangst early on in the story, until I played through it again and realized, "Hey, maybe gaining freedom from the Occurians and even taking down a god/Hume hybrid made for an excellent story after all!". —HandleThis
The only way that I can truly appreciate the Final Boss fight of Earthbound (at least in terms of plot) is as a partial Deconstruction. Essentially, Giygas has become a Cosmic Horror. Physical attacks don't work on him. While Paula's Pray command appears to be effective, not even the entirety of Eagleland's Power Of Love is enough to destroy him. Ultimately, there is only one reason that Ness and them are able to defeat him... He's the final boss of a video game. Giygas loses so that the player can win. —Falcon Pain
- Meanwhile, I wasn't able at all to appreciate the game the first time I played it. It felt like it was taking the "children saving the world" thing way too far. It wasn't until later that I realized that the game was thematically about Cassandra Truth, the loss of innocence, and the consequences of abandoning one's humanity. It's now one of my favorites. —32_Footsteps
I initially couldn't stand Namine in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I thought she was a Canon Sue trying to usurp Kairi's position- And then I got further along in the plot, and things were cleared up, and I realized she's actually adorable in a universe's-Butt Monkey kind of way. ~~And wasn't getting in the way of my shipping after all. ... Hey, I was fourteen, gimme a break XD~~ —Insanity Prelude
- She sort of is usurping Kairi's position, given that she's Kairi's Nobody. But that doesn't get mentioned until the next game.
- I had a Fridge Brilliance moment with Namine as well, but a rather different one: she seems to be a Canon Sue, but she is in fact a subversion/deconstruction - she has incredible powers, and she does manage to get the main character to like her... but this is shown to be a horrible, damaging thing, since she basically has to erase his memories to do so. That and yes, the universe hates her, which also helps to de-sueify her. - Lucid Seraph
  - This troper must agree; neither Kairi nor Namine are Mary-Sues, despite what Fan Dumb may say. Xion, the female fourteenth member of Organization XIII with a keyblade, on the other hand, isn't looking too good right now. But I suppose we shall see...
I used to hate The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion because it was everything Morrowind wasn't re-hashing of utterly classical Sword&Sorcery fantasy with knights in shining plate armor and so on, completely Western-like culture anyone can instantly relate to, gothic architecture and radiant meadows everywhere for a major *yawn* of been-there-done-that, simplified mechanics to the max... Then I hit the painting quest which I found genuinely clever, and I started to play it as its own game rather than as Morrowind: Part Deux, and realized that, as far as classical RP Gs go, that one's really not bad at all. It grew on me from then on. —Kobal2
- Normally, I was always complaining about why my old Radeon 9550 video card won't be able to handle the awesome graphics of Oblivion, rendering it unplayable. But now that I've read this entry, I have a renewed respect for Morrowind. The cultures there are not totally alien and one can relate to them, but they're different enough to give the game an unique feel. You don't see the Arabic-like Hlaalu architecture everywhere. —Da_Nuke
At the risk of sounding like a Single Fandom Wonk, I initially hated the second sidekick, Double H, from Beyond Good And Evil. He wasn't as funny as the other main sidekick, Pey'j, his personality seemed to consist of nothing but "CARLSON AAAAND PEETERSSSSS!", and Jonas Quinns never go over well. But by the end of the game, I'd grown to like him a lot—and then I realized that we, as the players, see him as Jade sees him. When she first meets him, a combination of Easy Amnesia and the fact that they're trapped behind enemy lines means that only his "soldier side" shows through, so of course he comes off as strange and obsessed. As the game goes on, and Jade spends time with him, both we and her learn more of his personality, and he becomes more affable. By the Final Boss, the two of them are willing to give their lives for one another, and we players have come to like him too. The organic way the game builds their relationship means that the players come to trust him in much the same fashion Jade does. —Freezair For A Limited Time
Final Fantasy staff chicks tend to do this to me, for some strange reason. First came Aerith, who I was sure was going to be a pathetic, throw-away love interest, but actually turned out to be a strong person who had to deal with being the last of her kind, being chased down by a Corrupt Corporate Executive, and just, you know, stopping the end of the world, and still kept a smile on her face. Then came Yuna, who was shy and quiet like the most stereotypical staff chick in the world, yet still managed to have a few moments of awesome, and had a heartbreakingly wonderful mantra-"Look, if I have to die, fine. If I have to take down a Cosmic Horror, fine. I just want to make the world a better place." —P0W4H-L4D33
The Beauties from MGS4. At first I thought they were cheesecake, but then I realized that the contrast between their attractive outsides and their horribly, horribly damaged insides made them even creepier. -Jonn
At first, this troper thought that Mithos turning into a bright and colorful killer robot at the end of Tales of Symphonia was just a nonsensical excuse for a final boss fight with multiple forms. Then after a while I remembered The traps that Mithos had set in Derris-Kharlan that pitted Lloyd and Co. against their inner demons (including actual physical fights with bright and colorful killer robots representing their inner demons.) While the group overcame them, we immediately see after each one that Mithos never could. So when he's beaten initially during the final boss battle, his inner demons rage out of control and continue the fight. — Super Llama
This troper never understood the point of Gogo in Final Fantasy VI. Of course, he was an very useful character and was this troper's trump-card of choice, but the character always seemed bland. Heck, UMARO had more backstory and foreshadowing then Gogo. Years later, this troper plays through the GBA remake of Final Fantasy V and realizes that Gogo is not only a funny cameo of a boss in Final Fantasy V, but his entire skill-set changing gimmick is a throw-back to how Mimics worked in V, just like Gogo, they could change their entire skill-set, even throwing out the Item command. Suddenly, the most personality-lacking character became a hilareous cameo. It only got better when the remake of VI came along and revealed that Gogo was mimicking the main characters all along; they were saving the world, so he would save the world too. All in the name of the "true path of mimicry". Hilarious -Enlong
Like many Nintendo fans, I was baffled at how even though they were working on the next Mario, Zelda and Pikmin games, they hardly even mentioned them at the 2008 E3. About a week later, I noted that both The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros. Brawl suffered from mild-to-moderate cases of Hype Backlash thanks to being revealed to the public two years before release, and then their course of action made a lot more sense: they're trying to keep the hype for their future games from getting out of hand! -Bron Raven
I liked Silent Hill 2 from the start, but I did feel mildly squicked by what I saw as an undercurrent of misogyny running through it; the monsters generally taking the form of mutated women (or disembodied bits of them), the Pyramid head rape scenes, a lot of Maria's scenes... Then somewhere towards the end, everything clicked into place. There was indeed a streak of misogyny and issues-with-women running through the game, but the issues were the protagonist's, not the designers'. James was forced to kill creatures resembling young women over and over again because Silent Hill was playing on his darkest memories and fears; Maria behaved like a cliched male fantasy because, essentially, she was one. - Calla
- "They look like monsters to you?"
At first I thought the method of winning the final battle of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter ( maintaining a Beam O War until your meter reaches 100%, something you've been trying to avoid for the entire game that usually results in a Nonstandard Game Over) was a Guide Dang It leading into a cliche. It wasn't until later that I realized it was actually a Heroic Sacrifice on the part of the player. You can only win by giving literally all you have, beyond the point where you should be dead. - Socran
Team Fortress 2 is, upon further examination, very deep. It is the classic struggle of creation versus destruction. A construction company (BLU) and a demolition company (RED) hire mercenaries to kill each other, showing that industrialization can only lead to the destruction of traditional ideals and oh no I've gone cross-eyed. - G-X
- Maybe someone can explain why, then, Reliable Excavation Demolitions(RED) is always on defense in linear point control maps and why Builder's League United(BLU) is always on offense. You'd think it'd be the other way around... - Dan Da Man
  - You know, trying to justify this, I just had a moment of discovering Fridge Brilliance. I asked, "WHY does BLU destroy, and WHY does RED protect?" I toyed with the obvious "BLU hates RED for smashing their stuff," but that didn't seem too right. Every time BLU is making it a push, they're after a specific target. In Dustbowl, for example, BLU is attempting to destroy RED's missile. They only destroy to prevent more destruction. Still, they're compromising everything they stand for to destroy an eerily familiar enemy, which means that I've missed the obvious answer all this time: they're not so... well, you know... -Ankh
  - Specially since when the round is done, everybody switches sides.
This troper was like thousands of others who got really, really annoyed with the Recessive And Dominant Genes Rant Liquid gives in Metal Gear Solid, until a bit of a replay and then some reading of a certain webcomic made this less of a wallbanger but some sheer brilliance. What's the best way to raise a Super Soldier that will do anything? Fuck with this mind. Tell him he's the child of the world's greatest soldier, but that he wasn't chosen to be a successor, because he's weaker, and that he was rejected in favor of his brother, do this to him all his life, while making him go through the most rigorous training in the world, courtesy of SAS, and oh yea - tell him that he can't get a pat on the back by daddy because his brother killed him, and destroyed the Warrior Paradise that Daddy spent the latter part of his life constructing. The Dominant and Recessive Genes is just a way to drive Liquid off-rails, if he didn't break under the pressure, he would be insanely devoted to proving everyone wrong, he just a little nudge for how to do so. - Shini
- Not to mention the sheer, and utter mixture of Hilarity and Horror that the entire Shadow Moses Incident can be caused by someone having a major jealousy-induced temper tantrum taken up to eleven, hilarious because the motive was because Liquid didn't like being the "inferior" brother, and horrifying because of just how easily someone that unstable can take over a nuclear disposal site and hijack a Metal Gear - Shini
I remember thinking that Kingdom Hearts was boring and ridiculous when I first saw the commercials and played the game. I gave

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