The mode of salvation they arrive at is both a surprise and a letdown, rather like the punchline of a shaggy dog story.
The final revelation proves to be both a genuine surprise and a mild letdown, ingeniously deployed but thematically obvious.
Few seemed surprised that the game was a letdown when it was released; after all, it was just another Barbie game.
Should we be surprised, then, that the climax is a letdown?
The potential for upsets, letdowns and surprises looms every week.
But at least for now, before conference play fully kicks in and the potential for upsets, letdowns and surprises looms every week, No. 1 Southern California, having eviscerated the former No. 5 Ohio State, 35-3, hasentnt an ominous message to the rest of the college football world -- let the race for No. 2 begin.
"That way, it's not such a big surprise if I am playing, and it's not such a big letdown if I'm not".
The bar was set unexpectedly high by Dinosaur Jr.'s 2009 album, "Farm," so it should be no surprise that "I Bet on Sky" registers as a bit of a letdown.
It's always better to be pleasantly surprised (like we were in Game Six of this year's World Series) than to sit through a relative letdown (like we did with the perfectly adequate Game Seven).
But in a minor surprise, Davies said she doesn't regard a major tournament as, well, a major, mainly to protect herself mentally from a letdown if she doesn't win.
