My wife and I have this running joke about the mystery shows we watch: if there's a suspect by, say, episode 3, you can safely disregard them. We've gotten so familiar with mystery tropes and plot beats that we are seldom surprised anymore. Formulas can be helpful for providing structure that, counterintuitively, can give a writer the freedom to be creative, but slavish adherence to such formulas can result in ChatGPT-esque writing. Formulas have their place, but we shouldn't depend on them. That famous Picasso quote comes to mind: "Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist."