You know those moments in a story that look like they make sense? Maybe it’s a moment that’s swiftly passed over, maybe a character explicitly draws attention to it and offers a half-sensible excuse that doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny, or maybe (and often worst of all) it becomes a crucial point of the story, that everything hinges upon…despite really not making any sort of logical sense.
The internet’s favourite rabbit hole, TV Tropes, calls these moments Fridge Logic. Reddit might consider them to be a type of shower thought. But however you think of them, you’ve probably experienced them at least once or twice. I’ve even touched on them before in this blog, through the lens of Tolkien’s On Fairy Stories. A wait what?…moment threatens that internal reality of a world, when noticed. It disturbs the viewer, causes them to question the sub-created logic.
So, because I have nothing better to do with my time, and nowhere else to write the things that baffle me down, welcome to this new series, where I’m going to document those things that make me ask wait, what? Plot holes, illogical contrivances, uncharacteristic decisions, and anything else that might bother me in a story. I generally don’t try and look for these flaws, either – this isn’t meant to be a nitpicky series. Just my own little catalogue of times when I’ve had to ask, wait, what?
I can’t promise that every Wait what?… will be an original thought or question, but it will at least be original in the sense that I won’t be ‘stealing’ them from anywhere else…any time I experience a ‘wait what’ moment, I’ll jot it down here. These aren’t meant to be deep or meaningful insights – if anything, it’s just for my own private amusement. Because sometimes, when you spot something that just doesn’t make sense, you’ve gotta talk about it…right?
I’m also not gonna try and precisely define what my own wait whats?… might be. Some of them might be genuine plot holes, others might be gaping gaps of logic, and others might just be very poorly explained narrative moments. A Wait what?… is also not a comment on the overall quality of the film/show/book being discussed (though needless to say, the most fruitful ground on which to find a Wait what?… will likely be stories of, ahem, lesser quality). Rather, they are narrative moments that, well, makes me ask, wait? What?
