Random Musings

In television series, there are always a number of popular devices being used to spice up the dramatic quotient, as well as move the story forward.

I hesitate to use the word “cliches’…I think “devices” is a much nicer word.

Over the course of time, I may slowly share more of these devices, but for today let us just focus on one very popular one.

I call it the “I-happen-to-overhear-your-phone-conversation-just-at-the-extraordinarily-coincidental-moment-that-you-are-saying-the-most-hurtful-and-life-altering-things-that-I’m-not-supposed-to-know-about” device.

Or you could just call it the “I Overheard You” device.

This device is used to inform the protagonist of some earth-shattering secret that she is otherwise not supposed to know about.

The most common scenario would be the protagonist is about to enter a room and just as she is about to open the door, she hesitates as she hears a telephone conversation taking place inside the room.

Thus, she will become curious and place her ears close to the door (and put on a look of deep distress) so as to hear the earth-shattering secret that is somehow being blurted out in its entirety at precisely that very moment.

A very common coupling device for this would be the “I-try-to-run-away-in-shock-after-hearing-the-secret-but-somehow-knock-down-a-massive-object-in-my-path-thus-causing-a-huge-commotion-which-alerts-the-person-in-the-room-of-my-eavesdropping” device.

In other words, you could call it the “I Kena Discovered While Overhearing You” device.

If you want the person in the room to know that she heard the secret, then you would use this coupling device, whereby the person in the room will duly rush out of the room only to meet with the startled gaze of the eavesdropper, who has just taken a tumble and is now struggling to get back on her feet.

If not, then the massive vase will not be placed in the hallway and she will just walk away without knocking over anything, en route to heading out to the park to cry her heart out under the night sky.