User blog comment:Blarble Blornets/Cliches and Cleeshays/@comment-25624120-20141207125747

It's definitely a cliché/poor plot device if the story ends up being 'all just a dream' but I've noticed that a lot of stories are using the bait and switch version these days. I mean that the ending will be set up to make it seem like it was all a dream and then a certain detail will be revealed that leaves the audience thinking (see the ending of 'Click' or the spoof breaking bad/Malcolm in the middle ending). As such I would say that the avoidance of the original cliché has in itself become a cliché...or maybe a cleeshay I suppose :P