[Aquinasfan]

It's called artistic license. Many dramas, and even comedies, revolve around artificially removing certain options either through plot twists or just ignoring them.

I've been on a deus ex machina kick since I learned the meaning of the term a few weeks ago. It can be pretty funny when you look for it.

[discostu]

Although this is actually kind of the opposite of deus ex machina, instead of some lame twist to get them out of a poorly plotted situation they use a twist (or conveniently forgotten fact) to get them into a situation. I'm not sure that has a name. I agree deus ex machina can be a lot of fun to look for, sure sign of a writer that is bad at logical problem solving, he can write good dramatic situations but has no idea how to get his characters out of them.