Which show was the worst offender of "No one ever talks to each other" trope?

Submitted by mavajo t3_11dqdpd in television

I've been burning through my usual on-in-the-background-while-I-do-something-else TV shows (I feel like the Germans should have a word for this), so decided to mix it up and start re-watching Lost. I've only re-watched it once since the original run. I'd forgotten how bad the characters were in this show about communicating with each other. A character will discover something important...and then tell no one else. It's maddening!

I love Lost, but it's easily the worst offender of this dynamic that I can personally think of. Anybody got some even better examples? Also, does this trope have a name?

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onebadmex66 t1_jaa6ycl wrote

Threes company. Every episode was the result of miscommunication or no communication.

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ChanandlerBonng t1_jabdhsa wrote

"Oh, I think this is the episode of Three's Company where there's some kind of misunderstanding..."

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Archamasse t1_jaa7kh8 wrote

Damn, Three's Company coming out of the corner swinging so far.

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Maninhartsford t1_jaa8usi wrote

Arrow's gotta be in the running. A whole team of vigilantes with enemies constantly trying to kill them who will not answer the phone if they're mad at someone. Whoever that someone is is usually getting kidnapped at that very moment.

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yodimboi t1_jaabx5q wrote

I don’t think this is much of a problem in Arrow. Definitely more of a Flash thing I think. Maybe not the exact same thing but terrible communication is definitely in The Flash a lot more than it is in Arrow.

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jlmurph2 t1_jacp2qu wrote

Dude every week was Oliver not telling his team something to protect them.

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Logical_Hare t1_jaaf0u3 wrote

I mean, you already said it, but LOST.

Scene: Daytime, jungle. Character A comes staggering out of the jungle after a freaky-deaky island experience involving visions, smoke monsters, dead people, or the Others. Since the survivors have to work together to survive, it would probably be prudent for them to report this kind of stuff to the group.

Character B: What happened?/What's wrong?/What did you find?

Character A: Nothing.

Character A walks away. Character B shrugs and asks no follow-up questions.

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jogoso2014 t1_jaaf7z6 wrote

I’m trying to remember how common this was besides with Locke.

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monsieurxander t1_jae4g4v wrote

I remember Kate not talking about what she found at the medical hatch until half a season later.

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Hollow_Rant t1_jaadxc9 wrote

Supernatural is both guilty and innocent of this trope.

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Samurai_Meisters t1_jac6bf0 wrote

Every season builds up to one of the brothers being fated to die, only for the other brother to secretly plan to sacrifice himself instead, while the first brother secretly plans to prevent the other brother from sacrificing himself.

Then the dead brother immediately comes back to life at the start of the next season.

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glenra t1_jab642x wrote

Evil is pretty bad in this regard. Long runs of episodes which one or more of the three main "investigators" perceive bizarre supernatural hallucinations/visions which they just...shrug off and don't tell the other two about. Which kinda defeats the whole point of being a 3-person investigative team that combines different areas of expertise.

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WaldenFont t1_jaa6wfd wrote

Geräuschkulissensendung.

You're welcome.

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mavajo OP t1_jaa8sgt wrote

Omg is this real or did you make it up lol

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WaldenFont t1_jaaddqz wrote

Well it's a bit of a cheat to give you a chuckle. As a German it's what I would say if I had to use a single word. Keep in mind that we don't put spaces between compound words, so it's easy to have "one word" for everything. Geräuschkulisse is a particular environment created by sound. Sendung is TV program.

In practice, I would refer to this as "ein Programm im Hintergrund anhaben" but that's more than a word.

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Chapter-Opposite t1_jaab4vi wrote

My immediate thought when I read the title was about The Leftovers. It was so aggravating to watch them not tell each other things. And then to top it off with the series finale was just fitting.

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doegred t1_jabm2j1 wrote

Idk, I thought there were some refreshingly honest scenes in there. Like at the beginning of season 2 where you could expect >!Patti's death!< to remain a secret hanging over Kevin's head but nope, >!dude goes and digs her up and then lets Nora and Jill know all (OK, almost all) about it and even how Matt helped out and by the way he smokes!<.

Edit: although yes to be fair the existence of an entire cult of people don't talk does speak (hm) in favour of the show's inclusion... Also Laurie's entire season 1 plotline and a certain secret of hers. But still to me it's less a case of 'people don't talk because the plot requires it for drama' and more 'the very premise of the show results in people not talking' (ie the trauma is so unfathomable and strange that people can't put it into words).

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rosecreamdream t1_jacj3aj wrote

Gossip Girl!! I know it was intentional but it was so frustrating. To be fair its not the highest quality content.

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