Matty Potter's Favorite Harry Potter Moment
Matty Potter's Favorite Harry Potter Moment
Apr 28
There’s something incredibly compelling in geek entertainment about the No-Win Scenario*.
Of course, the most famous No-Win Scenario saw Captain James T. Kirk defeat the Kobayashi Maru test during his time at Starfleet Academy. JJ Abrams brought that sequence to life in his Star Trek flick last summer; we first heard about it in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Later in that movie, Kirk conquers yet another No-Win Scenario, with a gutsy, naked bluff that allows the Enterprise to lower the Reliant’s shields, thus narrowly clawing out a victory over his arch-enemy.
There’s a couple great No-Win Scenarios in Star Wars. From Empire Strikes Back, we have Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids desperately weaving their way to avoid any Imperial entanglements before narrowly escaping into the bowels of a giant space worm. Then in Return of the Jedi, the tremendous moment when Luke is walking the plank on one of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barges, steps toward the sarlacc pit, only to grab the edge of the plank and catch a lightsaber hurled into the air by R2-D2. (Minor Matt note: Some twenty-odd years after first seeing that flick, that moment still gives me goosepimples. Just typing this gave me some.)
We love the No-Win Scenario because it isn’t the No-Win Scenario at all; it takes us to the brink of a character’s darkest moment, but flips the script toward the dawn of victory, usually in an unexpected way. Geek entertainment, with its superheroes and Jedi and giant space-faring Horatio Hornblower starships, provides a unique opportunity for amazing feats that transform a No-Win Scenario into a thrilling win.
My favorite moment in the Harry Potter series is a classic No-Win Scenario. It comes near the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when everything looks to be at its worst. Buckbeak the hippogriff has been slaughtered, Lupin’s been outed as a werewolf, the true betrayer of the Potters has escaped, and Sirius Black is destined back for Azkaban prison. Even worse, Snape’s gonna take all the credit.
That’s when Dumbledore, that twinkle-eyed magical Obi-Wan Kenobi, reminds Harry and Hermione about the time-turner. A bauble the super-studious Hermione had used to live parts of her days twice so she could take extra classes, a single flip of the item transports the pair back to the point just before everything went south. They can relive the entire finale of the book and make things right.
If you have half a brain, maybe you anticipated this nifty twist on the No-Win Scenario. I myself was totally surprised; my heart sank after watching everything go horribly wrong. You believe the good guys lost and the bad guys won…only to have this tiny little plot point slipped into the face of the heroes by Dumbledore.
It’s a deus ex machina, sure, but it’s also a perfect story moment. It’s something we’ve all secretly dreamed about every time we’ve had an awful day; we yget to watch the characters relive these dark moments, only this time they can impact and change them so that the good guys win.
I don’t believe in the No-Win Scenario, except when I do. J.K. Rowling made me believe in Prisoner of Azkaban.
Don’t forget–our big Harry Potter giveaway ends this Friday! Click here to leave a comment about your favorite character and you may win a Harry Potter paperback boxed set and a $50 Visa Check Card! Alohomora!
*The No-Win Scenario is remarkably similar to the “All Seems Lost” moment, which Charlie Jane Anders wrote an excellent post about just yesterday. I swear to Gods, I started this before I even read that post. Must be a common idea in the metabrain.
