Nyx

Uncle Owen: What do you want to leave the planet for, huh? Treason here not good enough for you all of a sudden? We’ve got plenty of laws to violate right here.

Luke: I want to make a difference!

Disaster Lineage + Screentime

My page illustration for @hope-astarwarszine

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Okay so I get what you mean, but most of the time when I hear "plot armor" it's not actually about a character surviving, it's normally about the protagonist repeatedly winning against their opponents beyond what audience deem is deserved.

Like. I hear the "only win because of plot armor" or "plot armor too strong" criticism the most against male power-fantasy genres. Totally valid, if you're into that kind of thing. For things like Shonen or other more competitive actiony stuff power scaling is a Big Deal. So it's understandable that the target audience expect the odds to feel plausible, even while they root for the underdog. It's a complicated balance.

If it seems like author bestow too much favor on certain characters (like the protag) then some audience would end up rooting for the villains. Or become apathetic to protagonist's victories. "We can't keep letting him get away with this." <That mood.

Even in the case of survival or miraculous escapes, the author has to give plausible enough reasoning and compelling scenario for the audience to care. If a character repeatedly survive miraculously the audience aren't going to cry when they "die" anymore, or hold their breath when they're in danger. Boy who cried wolf logic.

So that's actually what people mean when they say "plot armor", author failed to sufficiently justify (narratively/emotionally) miraculous odds.

The characters need to drive the plot. The plot can’t drag the characters.

If the future plot is the only reason that a character is in x position, be that surviving, winning, or whatever, that’s plot armor to me. It’s deciding that the reason or rationale for something happening doesn’t matter as long as that something means the future plot continues on track.

the bus: basically some sort of limbo between life and the afterlife that House and Amber are currently in. They got into a bus accident it doesn't matter just go with it.

your bare feet don’t quite touch the ground,

but mine do.

I pay no mind to it right now,

but soon enough, the difference will be clear.

There was just this shot of Amber swinging her feet that wouldn't leave my mind. It's so specific. I briefly wondered if this was on purpose, meant to signify some sort of ascension to heaven that some believe people go through when they die. Amber dies, House lives. That's why his feet stay planted on the ground. At the moment, House is entertaining the idea of dying himself, so he doesn't quite see the difference, but once he wakes up, he'll understand.

we sit here in silence

for about fifteen minutes.

Not that it matters to you,

but it does to me.

time is irrelevant once you're dead.

I count ninety-seven seconds before speaking:

“Where is the bus going?”

97 seconds is a reference to a notable episode of House where he basically tries to almost kill himself so that he could take a brief peek into the afterlife, after a patient tells him that the 97 seconds his heart stopped were the best of his life.

you laugh as you tell me you had reached the end of the line

about an hour ago already.

When the bus limbo scene happens, Wilson had already taken Amber off by-pass. The end of the line is also a transport pun for death I'm so sorry.

I say: “the bus is still going, can't you see it?”

to which you respond: “this bus won't take you anywhere that matters.”

Whatever happens after death is meaningless in the land of the living.

It's a reasonable answer, but it won't ever satiate my curiosity,

After the events of 97 seconds, House just forms some weird obsession with the afterlife that is almost suicidal and he won't fucking let it go.

I think you know this, because as you ask me to get off the bus, your kindness briefly slips away.

Amber has never been known for being kind, except once she's dying. Wilson points this out to her, to which she responds, "i don't want my last feeling to be anger"

for just a moment, i think i see your feet grazing the ground.

House associates Amber's harshness with her livelihood. He sees her be more herself, and briefly feels like she's still alive.

(this memory will come back to haunt me at my worst.)

House hallucinates Amber later on the show.

I confess that I quite like it on this bus with you.

Right now i think there isn’t much outside the bus waiting for me.

In the scene, when Amber tries to persuade House to leave the bus, he confesses he doesn't want to live because he doesn't want Wilson to be mad at him.

(I have always been insensitive, but this is where i peak:

you would give anything to get off this bus; i would give anything to stay inside.)

While House feels alone and unloved, Amber dies knowing she had not only Wilson's love, but also the rest of Houses fellows', which had previously claimed to hate her. Their love is something that she'll miss out on, being dead, which is unfair. House is being incredibly insensitive by claiming there's nothing in the land of the living waiting for his return, when he's surrounded by all sorts of loving people she'd give anything to see again.

“Against all odds, there are people outside this bus who love you very much,” you say.

“You owe it to them to stay alive.”

Despite being perhaps the most messed up individual ever, House is surrounded by some of the most loving people on this earth.

When House says Wilson might hate him, she says "you kind of deserve it." It normally wouldn't help her case, but it's her way of saying you better stay alive for him anyways.

As my feet drag me off the bus, i think:

If we all honored that debt,

then the bus would run out of business.

House stays alive for Wilson, but Wilson won't honor this sacrifice later on. Even after House ask him to get his cancer treated, he still chooses to let it run it's natural course (death). Like Wilson, House has seen thousands of patients that, despite having a strong support system, still have a death wish. He thinks many deaths could be avoided if we all just stayed alive for the people we love.