abstract: To understand the dynamics of a rational self-map of the complex projective plane, it has been convenient to suppose that the map is `algebraically stable.' Unfortunately, several telling examples show that algebraic stability cannot be taken for granted. In this talk I will focus on some recent examples of Bell, Jonsson and myself to show that algebraic stability isn't always needed to prove e.g. equidistribution results for preimages of curves by a plane rational map.