Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Of asspulls and diaboli
So the local high school is making our son jump through hoops in order to be placed in junior level math (math analysis – trigonometry) as a freshman. Score 86 or better on this test, they tell him. Then it’s score 80 or better on this test. Sorry, you got a 78, which is close but no cigar. But we’ll let you re-take the test . . . but now you have to score a 90 or better!
From the website TV Tropes, this “score 90 or better” business is known as an asspull:
An Ass Pull is a moment when the writers pull something out of thin air in a less-than-graceful narrative development, violating the Law Of Conservation Of Detail by dropping a plot-critical detail in the middle, or near the end of their narrative without Foreshadowing or dropping a Chekhov’s Gun earlier on. [Hyperlinked text back at the TV Tropes website.]
And what the Principal pulled with his “score 90 or better” bit was a special type of asspull, the feared Diabolus Ex Machina:
Enter: Diabolus Ex Machina, the Evil Twin of Deus Ex Machina — a last-second twist designed to ensure, if not a Downer Ending, then certainly an extension in the villain’s favor. Drop a bridge on the hero’s girlfriend, Shoot The Shaggy Dog, and whip up a good pot of Deus Angst Machina with a side-order of Outer Limits- or Twilight Zone Twist. Do whatever it takes, as long as you make absolutely sure that everyone goes home depressed. [Once again, hyperlinked text back at the TV Tropes website.]
Needless to say, things are gloomy at Chez Walnut. Oh, my friends, it’s a crapsack world.
D.
