As fans of Sci-Fi and fantasy stories, we have all developed the skill of suspending our disbelief in some of the more fantastical elements of the stories we enjoy. We read a fantasy story and don’t ask why the spell works when you say funny words. When we read a Sci-Fi story, we don’t ask how a ship can be powered by a black hole. For some TV shows, we don’t ask why people want to live in a town that has an enormous fatality rate (R.E. Sunnydale, Eureka, or any place that Jessica Fletcher lives.) We either accept or intentionally overlook these strange elements so that we can enjoy the stories.

But there comes a time, even in the the best of our favorite stories, where some event or explanation smacks your suspension of disbelief into a wall and you are hit with an “OH, COME ON! What are you thinking?” moment (I’ll call it the “OCO!” moment to save space). The moment can take you out of the scene and turn a serious story into a parody. In the worst cases, it is called “Nuking the Fridge”.

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