Deus Ex Machina

(IPA: [ˈdeɪʌs ɛks ˈmakʰɪna] literally "god from the machine") A plot device in which a surprising or unexpected event occurs in a story's plot, often to resolve flaws or tie up loose ends in the narrative. Neoclassical literary criticism, from Corneille and John Dennis on, took it as a given that one mark of a bad play was the sudden invocation of extraordinary circumstance. Thus, the term "deus ex machina" has come to mean any inferior plot device that expeditiously solves the conflict of a narrative. See Battlestar Galactica.