Plot Ex Machina

Well, that's awfully convenient, innit?

When it isn't a person or thing that Saves The Day but instead a plot-convenient event. Spacetime is the most powerful force in Plot Ex Machina. It's free to arrange objects around the Main Cast however it pleases to play a number of other UnTrashes. Near-Death Experience is a good example of one of these UnTrashes. A protagonist who's about to plummet to their demise can count on an ever-helpful ledge or stray tree root to grab to rescue themselves from a grisly end. Mere Inches Away and Mere Moments Away, both pertaining to space and time respectively, are other examples that can form an UnTrash Team with Plot Ex Machina. The writer taking the time to step in and save their protagonists from real danger hardly ever sits right with the audience. It's a cop-out move that destroys tension to make way for the inferior sense of Fake Danger.

Depending on when it's played, Plot Ex Machina can be deployed to force a positive outcome ranging from Happy Ending to Save The Day. Its presence in familiar franchises leans more towards a Happy Ending for the Main Cast. If the Main makes a mistake that could later result in an Unhappy Ending, they can hope a Plot Ex Machina neutralizes the conflict by the plot's end. Say they break a Bird's Egg of great value to their friend only to find out that the Bird's Egg was destroyed several times before. All the time the Main wasted on fretting over their friend's precious belonging is realized before the two laugh it over and the plot wraps up. It's annoyingly dissatisfying to the audience that the Bird's Egg just happened to be a regular visitor to Accidental Obliteration so the Main wouldn't have to feel bad about wrecking it. It may also be hard to believe the Main's friend was so careless with the Bird's Egg in the past yet it shows no Battle Scars when the Main first handles it. Change Of Heart tends a bit closer to a basic Ex Machina, though it may stem from forces beyond the cast's control. Somebody may alter the way they perceive a situation or other person just in time for the story to resolve on a high note. When this happens while the audience is looking the other way, it comes off as a requisite purely for Happy Ending to work. The best the viewers can hope for is hearing a Sock Puppet Explanation behind the abrupt emotional metamorphosis. Even with one provided, it might not convince the viewers that it's more than a desperate effort at legitimizing the Change Of Heart.