Hihi, I'm going to be passionate about this, but I always believe originality to be overrated. I think that because plots are subconsciously collective human experiences (something I learned from literary criticism class) and I believe to be true. I mean it doesn't matter whether you were influenced or not, you would be able to come up with situations that you believe have never been done before only to find that it's been done already. So I think it's totally fine in using recurring plot devices ne~
(Gome I'm not making sense hihihi)