They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot Cleanup

I wanted to ask about a few entries:

South Park S 16 E 7 Cartman Finds Love:

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The episode ends with the entire stadium believing Cartman and Kyle are a couple. This never gets brought up again.
  This is not a wasted plot, this is simply a joke for the end of the episode, and South Park has mostly Negative Continuity so it's not surprising that it wasn't brought up.

Only Fools And Horses S 1 E 05 A Slow Bus To Chingford:

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The episode isn't considered a bad one by any means, but it's one that suffers from the lower budget afforded to the first season, which generally only allowed two or three guest actors per episode. Had it been made when the show was more established, then doubtless they'd have shown Del leading a group of unsuspecting tourists around backwater parts of London and spinning stories about their supposed history. Instead, we just get Del telling his stories to Rodney and Grandad on an empty bus, which is still funny, but can result in the episode's second half feeling repetitive.
  This doesn't sound like a wasted plot, just the entry complaining about how the show had a low budget when this episode was made, and wanting a different high budget plot.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (IDW) Issue 81:

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Throughout the show, there have been numerous episodes with Scootaloo struggling with her inability to fly, or implicitly wishing that she could fly. Here, a practical solution for her Dream-Crushing Handicap is pretty much shoved in her face. By all logic, one would expect her to be absolutely ecstatic over the prospect of finally having the means to fly, but she never offers the slightest acknowledgement that she might benefit from Wind Sock's invention. Not to mention Rumble certainly isn't the one who needed the comic's message of overcoming adversity - it's highly unlikely that missing out on this air parade due to a minor injury would affect his chances of getting into the Wonderbolts in the future.
  This entry just sounds really complaininy, I'm not too sure about it.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S4 E16 "Tortured"

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Kunsong is introduced with a fascinating background, as a Tibetan political asylee and survivor of torture. This ends up having nothing to do with her murder.
  I feel this is wanting a different episode since the focus on the episode revolves around a supposed foot fetish in the killer. Also the survivor of torture part is kind of relevant since the killer in the episode is one as he was beat by his mother to the point of brain damage.

I agree the Cartman and Kyle plot isn't wasted. It would only count as an example if it was post-season-18 when continuity between episodes became the norm and not the exception.

From YMMV.Marvels Spider Man 2

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Harry only becomes Agent Venom for three missions worth of the story, of which there are only two he actually appears in. Not only do he and Peter establish a name for themselves and act as a genuine team when they first fight together, but there were a few hints suggesting that he would stick around a bit even after that,^note Miles gets a call from Peter where he explains Harry's powers, to which he responds by asking if he's "one of them" now, and he can run into him during crimes, in which he welcomes him to the team. yet this possibility is quickly nixed in favor of Peter getting the Black Suit earlier. Had things taken a bit more time, there could've been a level or two with a trio of Spider-Men instead of a duo.
  • Using the Symbiote suit during The Flame mission that initiates a boss fight with Wraith. Because you can enter this mission with or without the suit, we don't even see Spider-Man vent his frustrations and calling her out on her recklessness, seeing as he had no intention to kill The Flame, but Yuri does. At that point, Peter was already in a stressful situation where the Hunters and Kraven are chasing after The Lizard, and suddenly Took a Level in Jerkass, which Miles notes. Hell, he doesn't act like a Jerkass to her and instead acting like his usual self. He does voice a frustration at the end, but not at the level where the Symbiote has an influence on his behavior.

The first one is probably fine, but the second one seems more like fans wanted then an interesting plot point that was introduced but not explored properly.

Edited by Bullman on Jan 18th 2024 at 12:26:35 PM

I think the first is alright too and I agree the second is misuse since it doesn't seem to involve a potentially interesting plot that wasn't explored.

(x3)

• Same as what you and said. (Granted, it's already been cut by now.)
• I agree that it's not a wasted plot and is just complaining about the episode.
• It doesn't come off as a wasted plot line to me and comes off like complaining that a character didn't do something the writer wanted or something like that.
• Maybe it could count as They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character if she's underused as a character. However, I agree it doesn't count as They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot since it doesn't involve a plotline being underused.

From YMMV.Percy Jackson And The Olympians 2023

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The change from Poseidon giving the group three pearls in the book to four in the show— enough to save them plus Sally— is rendered moot after Grover's original pearl is eaten by Cerberus, making people wonder what, exactly, the point of that change was.

Does this really fit "interesting plot introduced but not explored"? It doesn't even feel like a plot based on the entry, but rather just a needless change.

Edited by Bullman on Jan 24th 2024 at 12:07:57 PM

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • A few fans feel that this show could have served as a return for characters such as Blaze or Silver, two characters from an alternate timeline. Instead, the show seems to only present generic-themed dimensions such as jungles and pirates.
  • A fair number of fans feel that the series' multiversal nature is woefully squandered by using Original Generation realities instead of the franchise's own history. While the realities of the Shatteredverse are certainly interesting in their own right, it still feels like a major waste to do a story about Sonic visiting other realities and not going the obvious route of having his counterparts and characters from past adaptations like Adventures, SatAM, Sonic Underground, and the Archie Comics, or even newer adaptations like the live-action movies or the IDW comics.

From YMMV.Sonic Prime. As neither concept is either hinted at within the work itself (the nature of the work’s multiverse is each universe (or “shatterspace” as referred to in-universe) is an aspect of the original whole universe split off into its own world), I’d call it classic misuse.

from your explanation that sounds like an easy cut. it feels just like a needless change to me- it doesn't make any sense to add to the story, but it doesn't fit this particular trope. cut.

Clone High

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The revival tends to do this a lot.
  • Season 1 was most likely setting up a blended family drama plot, where Toots and Cleo's Drunk Foster Mom got married, forcing archenemies, Joan and Cleo to become sisters. However, this plotline was destroyed in the revival, when they had Toots killed offscreen and written out of the show, completely.

Possibly valid? I was under the impression Toots and DFM were only dating / hooking up for that episode, but Joan and Cleo living together was a valid premise they set up yet abandoned in season two.

• The revival's premiere, "Let's Try This Again", could have been an episode about all the first-generation clones (except Joan, who's part of the Inclusivity Committee) getting canceled by the second-generation clones for using outdated slang from 2003, leading to all of the G1 clones getting sent to the canceled corner and ultimately, a war between the two generations on the battlefields of the school grounds. Joan would have to end it all by calling out the second-generation clones for being so impatient and unforgiving against people from a different time, helping reunite the two generations for unity week. Unfortunately, the new writers hated Abe's character so much, that they turned the episode into a humiliation conga for him, where he was the only G1 clone to get canceled ^note (This also creates a plothole, as somehow, all the other G1 clones somehow automatically knew not to use this kind of verbiage, despite coming from the exact same time as he did.) and ended up becoming a social pariah and getting physically abused by everyone else in the entire school.

This reads like "this is how I'd want this plot to go" misuse, as well as super complainy.

• The episodes "Saved by the Knoll" and "Spring Broken" could have carried out a well-done arc about JFK cheating on Joan with her best friend, Harriet and even sleeping with her. However, the writers made JFK act uncharacteristically nice this season and downplayed their little affair as much as possible, so that no real conflict could take place and Joan could immediately forgive them both. They also had her take out all her anger on Abe, because of course he needs to suffer the most, for having the nerve not to tell her about this affair, even though he knew this would have killed her. Even if they wanted to make her unfriend Abe over this, they could have at least had her dump JFK and unfriend Harriet too, setting up a story about her having to deal with everyone she trusts betraying her.

That plot was resolved, it just didn't go the way the viewer wanted (once again it's complainy as hell, too). It also did have consequences for the Joan/Abe arc, the viewer just didn't like them.

• Topher blackmai-(ahem) "white leveraging" Abe into staying away from Joan went nowhere, since Topher didn't make a move on her or even really have a single interaction with her beyond this moment. There could have been a story about Topher hitting on Joan, which would have been a solid story, no matter which direction they took it. Yet, they did nothing with it and had JFK destroy Topher's evidence between his buttcheeks, making this plotline ultimately worthless.

I think this is valid. Topher's attraction to Joan was an Ass Pull that didn't really come back even when they had a small arc together in Season 3.

Found these at YMMV.Touken Ranbu Warriors and I'm unsure of it

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Omokage is a composite being made up of multiple swords, with his "primary" soul being a sword called Omokage that was part of the Rai school, making him potentially related to Kuniyuki, Hotarumaru, and Aizen. Had any of the other Rai swords been in the game, how they feel about one of their relatives being a composite of other swords could have been explored, however, this plot point is instead tackled through the use of Tomoegata, who the writers liken to him due to both being composite Touken Danshi without a proper origin.
  • Oochidori Juumonji Yari is absent from this game, despite the fact that a portion of the story focuses on his former master, Sanada Yukimura, and his status as Japan's greatest warrior. Oochidori takes great pride in the fact that he was wielded by the Yukimura, even claiming that he is the greatest spear in Japan because of it, so it could have been interesting and possibly humbling for him to learn that, as Mikazuki points out, despite being considered the greatest warrior, Yukimura was, in the end, just an ordinary human man. At the very least, we could have gotten his opinion on it.

I found this on YMMV.Barbie 2023

• Gloria never finds out that her daughter is implied to be the Alpha Bitch at school and is definitely a vicious bully, nor does the movie touch on the fact that Sasha is so cruel when meeting Barbie that she reduces her to tears, since Barbie is AOK sharing a car with them and Sasha's meanness is just side stepped completely.

This does not sound like this trope.

Agreed. Cut it.

Yeah this doesn't really fit in my eyes so cut.

That's just Sasha being Unintentionally Unsympathetic which is listed elsewhere.

Okay. Removed.

That just sounds like complaining

Found these on YMMV.Touken Ranbu Warriors and I'm unsure of them.

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Omokage is a composite being made up of multiple swords, with his "primary" soul being a sword called Omokage that was part of the Rai school, making him potentially related to Kuniyuki, Hotarumaru, and Aizen. Had any of the other Rai swords been in the game, how they feel about one of their relatives being a composite of other swords could have been explored, however, this plot point is instead tackled through the use of Tomoegata, who the writers liken to him due to both being composite Touken Danshi without a proper origin.
  • Oochidori Juumonji Yari is absent from this game, despite the fact that a portion of the story focuses on his former master, Sanada Yukimura, and his status as Japan's greatest warrior. Oochidori takes great pride in the fact that he was wielded by the Yukimura, even claiming that he is the greatest spear in Japan because of it, so it could have been interesting and possibly humbling for him to learn that, as Mikazuki points out, despite being considered the greatest warrior, Yukimura was, in the end, just an ordinary human man. At the very least, we could have gotten his opinion on it.

If it starts with "this character is not in the work...", it's not an example.

Not using a character and any associated hypothetical plots they might have is not a waste of a plot anymore than not driving for an hour is a waste of gas.