Times when the storyline makes the ending obvious.

[MJN SEIFER]

Storylines often get reused, and as such, so do their endings at times. Even when the ending is supposed to be a twist, we often see it coming because it's been done before.

Sometimes though, it's blatently obvious what's going to happen even if this is the first time you've seen this storyline, and this is mostly what this thread will be about.

Here is my example; Picture a storyline were a character has an evil version of himself for some reason - it could be a clone, a parralel version from another world, or whatever. The storyline always seems to end when a third character has to kill the evil version, but can't differentiate him/her from the real one, and there's a lot of hesitating, as both versions try to prove that they are the real deal, until one of them either does something that ultimately proves that s/he is the original, or gives a moving speech about how the friend character should just kill both versions to be on the safe side - this leads to the friend character killing the other one.

And, of course the big "shocking" twist is that the friend character killed the real one after all - the clone knew that s/he would make that mistake (admittedly, one old episode of South Park puts a newish spin on it, as it is the alternate version who the friends want to survive, as he was nicer than the original - they end up killing the alternative, after being tricked by the original, but the principal is the same EDIT: he may have just been sent back to his own world, rather than killed).

Any other options?

[Old Manus]

When there are zombies about, you just know that if they're naked, they must be twice as hard, and you're in the final dungeon.

[AngelWings8]

When a son/father/friend/whoever have a heartfelt scene when they're separating and going off to war (or anything for that matter)...and one of them says "I need to tell you something...but we'll talk about it when we get back."...you can be sure one of them is gonna die before they can

[Del Murder]

Yeah, every time someone says they are going to tell the main character something later they always bite it.

If the main character has a 'best friend' from school/childhood/whatever, yet they aren't getting a lot of screen time, they're gonna get the axe.

How about the villain 'leaving the hero to die' without bothering to finish the job or check if they're dead, then the hero somehow gets out of it.

And here's one that's true a lot of the time: if a character 'dies', but there's no body, they ain't dead.

[NorthernChaosGod]

So is this basically a thread about tropes?

[Hot Shot]

I like when a dad is a real jerk to their son/daughter and you later find out that they really cared about them and were harsh to them because they believed they could be great or whatever.

[MJN SEIFER]

I like when a dad is a real jerk to their son/daughter and you later find out that they really cared about them and were harsh to them because they believed they could be great or whatever.

Isn't that Final Fantasy X?

[10-Breaker]

Yes there aren't much free minds there. Everyone gets taught, that line is good, that has to end like this. And if ever someone invented a new form, we would have the same discussion 5 years later "That is like soooo used".

Yes I hate it how easily it can be recognized who's the baddie, who's gonna die, how this ends.

[Dante WolfWood]

As soon as I saw aerith I knew she was going to die....

[Wolf Kanno]

I think about how every time a religion gets introduced, it always turns out to be evil or misguided.

If its a story about an advanced civilization meeting a more tribal culture, the advanced society is always irredeemably evil but ironically it requires a sympathetic member of said advanced culture to lead the natives to victory despite history pretty much showing that's never the case.

If a story sets it up that someone is going to die by the end very early, and they are aware of it, you can bet the story will either find a way for the character to survive, either by some Deus Ex Machina (Secret of NIHM, BoFV, FFXIII) or some other character (usually the dying characters love interest) sacrificing themselves for the other to live (FFX, MGS4, Titanic).

Most love stories, even worse when the film has a sequel and the love interests have "broken up" just so the writers can force in the same love story from the original, I'm looking at you National Treasure.

Any family film, comedy, and most chick flicks will always have a happy ending. So no matter how messed up things become, you are always relieved with the knowledge its all going to get resolved for the better in the last ten minutes.