deus ex machina

[Camy]

I've just watched an episode of CSI which starts off with a girl getting part of her hair cut off. It turns out there's a freak doing this, who then escalates to murdering the women he's cut hair from, and dressing them up.

The plot isn't the point. Actually, it was quite a good episode. But, in order to get more evidence and close the case, one of the women who is in the middle of being attacked, and is tied up, manages to phone a CSI and says "HELP ME! He's just gone to get something he's forgotten." Yeah, like her mobile phone just happens to be on the floor next to her.

So what's your opinion? Is deus ex machina a reasonable way of aiding plot development, or is it a cop out?

[Guest Dabeagle]

There are several reasons why I'd agree that it's a cop out. For one, it's boring and breaks the spell of believability. Spectators, readers - we try to create that bubble where they can suspend reality but if we poke too hard at that bubble it collapses, and so does the story.

The only reason to go with it, in my opinion, is the fact that sometimes 1 in 175,223,510.00 odds do happen - which is, by the way, the odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot. Hey, you never know.

[Cole Parker]

Definitely a cop out. It could be made to work, of course, by setting it up, but just to happen to have it there when needed, and left there by the crook, boggles the imagination. Maybe the writers were on deadline and it was fast approaching. I've never seen CSI, but it's a top rated show. They should have better writers than that!

C

[EleCivil]

It could be made to work, of course, by setting it up, but just to happen to have it there when needed, and left there by the crook, boggles the imagination.

This.

If you need to do something like this, and you set it up right, it can become a fun "Oh man, if they hadn't missed this one tiny detail..." scenario. But then again, that would mean it's not a deus ex machina anymore.

[blue]

I've seen a couple of dues ex machina situations recently where it was clever enough and fit well enough that you were left with a wow factor or a, never saw that one coming, factor.

To me, it needs to fit well to be believable, about like already said. I don't like when it's an easy, obvious out.