Basic Trope: An episode consists of a few smaller segments.
- Straight: On Big Applesauce, episodes usually run with a consistent 22-minute plot. One episode has a Framing Device of Mary, Spencer, and Jones sitting down together and reading off stories that they wrote, which are each 7 minutes and aren't connected.
- Exaggerated: Mary, Spencer, Jones, Albert, Kyle, and Charlie all read off their own stories, which take up 3 minutes each (leaving one minute for a wraparound).
- Downplayed:
- The first act of the episode is about the characters writing their stories. The second act is entirely Mary's story, while the third act is entirely Spencer's.
- Mary's, Spencer's, and Jones's stories are only 4 minutes long, with the Framing Device taking up almost as much time as the main episode.
- Justified: Mary, Spencer, and Jones all want to give everyone an equal amount of time to share their story.
- Inverted: An anthology series has one episode that just consists of one entire story.
- Subverted:
- We see Mary, Spencer, and Jones all sitting in a circle with their stories, suggesting this is what the episode will be spent on. However, a loud noise interrupts their meeting, and they go together to see what it could be, effectively giving the episode a Halfway Plot Switch.
- As the stories unfold, it slowly turns out that they are connected to the same event, meaning the entire episode was about a single subject.
- Double Subverted:
- Once the three take care of the noise, they share their stories for real.
- They write new stories about what they think the noise could be, and these become the real vignettes.
- Zig-Zagged: The episode rapidly alternates between Mary, Spencer, and Jones's stories, the Framing Device, and an irrelevant subplot.
- Averted: No episode is composed of smaller vignettes.
- Enforced: The writers had ideas for stories that they couldn't stretch out without extensive Padding. So they decided to cram them all into one episode.
- Lampshaded: "Glad you two could make it! We've got three stories to listen to today!"
- Invoked: "Why don't we all take turns reading our stories out loud?"
- Exploited: Spencer doesn't think that anyone would want to listen to his story on his own. So he arranges a meeting so other people can hear it, even if it's alongside Mary's and Jones's.
- Defied: Mary likes to read to herself and not share it out loud, Spencer says his story isn't finished yet, and Jones wants to hold off on his until it's later.
- Discussed: "Three separate stories by different people that aren't connected? Who'd want to see that?"
- Conversed: "I think this is one of those episodes that just feels like three smaller ones."
- Played for Laughs: Mary, Spencer, and Jones are telling silly stories full of Stylistic Suck.
- Played for Drama:
- Each story is based on a sad real-life event that's happened to them.
- Mary's story hints at some repressed sadness she's feeling, which Spencer and Jones pick up on.
- Played for Horror:
- Mary, Spencer, and Jones are telling horror stories.
- The stories come from an Apocalyptic Log.
Tell your own mini story after you return to Vignette Episode.
