A patient arrives with strange symptoms, the doc sends a sample to the lab, and they get the pathogen sequenced (or a rare gene mutation identified) within minutes.
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This is not a plot device/trope, but I hate that so many books and movies etc don’t do even the simplest fact checking when it comes to science or medicine.
As an example, my bookclub recently read a book by Miranda July where the protagonist sees an alternative healer and is given a “tiny bottle” of a remedy and told that she is to put 10 cc of the liquid under her tongue for each dose. I mean the idea of a quack giving an under-the-tongue liquid remedy is spot on, but obviously there is no way 10cc will fit under a tongue. And how much does she imagine a “tiny bottle” can hold? A standard small vanilla bottle holds 29 ml, so not even 3 full doses, and yet the protagonist doses from the “tiny bottle” repeatedly. Why didn’t they just change it to “5 drops” or something? What is an editor for?!
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I hate it when the criminal in detective stories ends up targeting the detective or their family in some elaborate plot.
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“Boss, we’ll have DNA analysis in a few days”. Boss: “I WANT IT TODAY!!!” "yes boss.
I imagine some tech turning up the voltage on the electrophoresis tank to 11 (Spinal Tap reference) and melting/frying the gel!!
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This is similar to the infinite ammunition phenomenon that is sometimes seen. For example, Legolas (in Lord of the Rings) never runs out of arrows despite shooting numerous arrows in a battle.
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And when you do run out of ammo, refer post about hero taking out 10 people with bare hands.
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How about the trope in heist movies where the thieves somehow get their hands on the complete architectural blueprints of the building they’re about to rob (so they know how the ducts are laid out, etc. - and oh yes, somehow the details of the “impossible to break into” vault are also available)?
And that’s not all. They spend the time and effort to build an exact, to-scale 3D model of it all.
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In my opinion, 10 vs 1 fights can enhance the movie/show, if done well. However, they can also ruin the scene. As an example of done well, one my favorite movies is Ip Man, and the 10 vs 1 fight is one of the most highly praised scenes in the movie.
A video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmAZSnF46I . It’s in German, but the basic idea is during the Second Sino-Japanese war and Japanese occupation, Ip Man and fellow Chinese martial arts masters are forced in to a life of poverty where they struggle to survive. A Japanese general sets up an arena where Chinese martial arts masters can fight against Japanese black belts, in an effort to prove that Japanese style is superior. If the martial arts master wins, he gets one bag of rice per defeated opponent. After seeing his friend killed when trying to fight 3 black belts at once, Ip says he wants to fight 10 at once. Warning – it’s quite brutal and dark.
However, if it’s just a protagonist that is able to fight 10 persons at once with no explanation, build up, and poor quality fights; that’s a very different situation.
Or when it turns out the crime being investigated is related to something that happened in the detective’s own past/ own secrets. Yawn.
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I would like to see a Jurassic Park movie with no children in the plot.
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Characters who are trained shooters but can’t hit the target (usually the hero/main character) despite firing off multiple rounds in close proximity.
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Hey, I love Bond movies! Tropes are great because you can expect them!
My trope of annoyance currently is the protagonist who has that weird condition in which they are impervious to pain. This has been used for antagonistic characters too. And in a similar vein, mere mortals who walk away from what would absolutely be deadly car crashes/building implosions/explosions of all types. (Thinking of the most recent Mission Impossible, which I loved every minute of.)
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The problem is, adults are expendable and no one would see the movie if kids were chomped. Plus, there has to be a means by which the dinos get their comeuppance for killing innocent throwaway characters.
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True! 
I love those elaborate, over-the-top killing machines the villains devise to kill Bond.
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Contrived/silly “cliffhanger” endings. If the show is good, viewers will come back.
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I hate the trope of the bumbling husband/dad left home to “babysit” the kids and he somehow manages to have the washer overflowing with soap foam everywhere in addition to multiple pots boiling over on the stove while the smoke alarm is going off and the kids are playing naked in the streets.
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When kids get merit scholarships to colleges that never give them! MIT is a favorite.
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Back in the 1990s it seemed that every other serious work of fiction used recovered/revealed memories of child sexual abuse as a plot device. I mean I’m glad that society was finally talking about the very real problem of sexual abuse, but not in this way.
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Disaster movies/books in which the people fleeing the disaster have their vehicle stolen. This seems to be common trope now. Maybe if the people fleeing the incident had ever read a disaster book or seen a movie they would take a few precautions so this wouldn’t happen. (thank you The Day After Tomorrow for being one of the few where this doesn’t happen)
I read a lot of mysteries and can’t stand the fact that so many characters get into bad situations and find they can’t call for help because their phone has run out of battery.
And don’t get me started on the ones where the main character goes into the basement…everyone knows YOU DONT GO IN THE BASEMENT!
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