Jean G

10th Mar 2008

Monk (2002)

Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa - S6-E10

Plot hole: This episode's entire story line takes place in the six days before Christmas (Dec. 19-24). "Bad Santa" is shot in the right shoulder on the 19th, sustaining a wound serious enough to require wearing a sling for the next several days. Yet at the end, a mere few days later, he's recovered enough to have a knock-down-drag-out fistfight with Monk, wielding a knife and throwing powerhouse punches with his wounded arm as though no injury had ever occurred. (00:38:00)

Jean G

Shootout at Diablo Station - S2-E11

Plot hole: Curry slips out of his bonds and hides in the secret cubby hole beside the fireplace, right under the four dozing outlaws' noses. But when he's found, the wooden door over the hiding place has to be pried off - very noisily. No one else was free to nail that door shut, and there's no way he could have done it from inside - at least, not without waking up the outlaws. (00:30:30 - 00:34:50)

Jean G

Shootout at Diablo Station - S2-E11

Plot hole: Well within earshot of the others in the small room, Curry comments to Heyes (purely for the viewers' benefit, since Heyes already knows it) that if Lom Trevors is killed, their amnesty will go with him. This information should have blown their cover, but for some strange (and unbelievable) reason, no one wonders what he's talking about. (00:19:00)

Jean G

How to Rob a Bank in One Hard Lesson - S2-E2

Plot hole: Heyes convinces the deputy that they're not Heyes and Curry and rightfully pins the bank robbery on Harry, who forced him to break into the safe. But it had been previously stressed that only Heyes could have cracked that particular safe, something the governor knew. So the neatly tied-up ending doesn't really work. The governor would still know that Heyes (whose nitroglycerin method was based on a real bank robbery of the era) opened the safe.

Jean G

A Cup of Black Coffee - S2-E9

Plot hole: Diamond is in a very small town in the middle of rural nowhere, and it's the middle of the night. His car has just been wrecked, driven over a cliff by the bad guy. Yet on the same night, in the cafe at the end, he offers George a ride - for that same night - to New York. (00:25:30)

Jean G

Don't Get Mad, Get Even - S2-E21

Plot hole: In the bath house at the beginning, Heyes and Curry, who should be using their aliases, call each other by their real names several times while the proprietor, who's a stranger to them, is preparing hot water nearby. The man must not be up on "the two most successful outlaws in the history of the west," though: he doesn't race off to turn them in and collect the reward. (00:04:40)

Jean G

Show generally

Plot hole: Though they often had to race off leaving everything behind, and never carried more than two small saddlebags and a thin blanket roll on their horses, Heyes and Curry somehow always had the same heavy winter coats to wear, and the same dress hats and suits to change into whenever needed. Ben Murphy called this phenomenon "our magic saddlebags."

Jean G

The McCreedy Bust - S1-E2

Plot hole: Early in the episode, the sheriff starts going through his pile of wanted posters. According to the story line, 18 days then pass. At the end, the sheriff, standing in the exact same position and wearing the same clothes, is just finishing his search through the posters.

Jean G

The Badge - S4-E13

Plot hole: This episode comprises a flashback to the year 1866, but it sets up a chronology that completely contradicts the rest or the series. It contends that the Cannons moved west to Arizona in 1867. In the pilot and throughout the series, it was stated that they arrived in Arizona in the 1870s, at least ten years after the U.S. Civil War.

Jean G

Sangre - S4-E15

Plot hole: The scriptwriter here apparently never saw earlier episodes in which it was well-established that Manolito spoke fluent Apache. In a scene where he attempts to sneak past two braves while disguised as an Apache, he suddenly can't speak the language when they challenge him.

Jean G

12th Dec 2007

Hawaii Five-O (1968)

Trouble in Mind - S3-E2

Plot hole: McGarrett is hunting for heroin dealers who've laced the drug with arsenic. Yet when he and Chin Ho arrest Harry Parch and find his stash, McGarrett performs the TV cop cliché of sticking his finger into the white powder and tasting it. Even that small a dose of arsenic could be lethal, and seasoned cop that he is, McGarrett would know that. (00:29:30)

Jean G

Only the Bad Come to Sonora - S4-E3

Plot hole: Manolito trades clothes with the poor peon he meets on the road. But at the end of the episode, he has the same clothes that he gave away earlier (his usual outfit) back on again.

Jean G

Apache Trust - S3-E8

Plot hole: Somewhere in old Tucson, there must have been a merchant with dozens of identical hats to sell. Here, as in other episodes, Blue's hat is lost somewhere in the desert when he's captured by the Apaches. By the next episode, though, he has it (or one just like it) back again. Lost horses, sometimes even after being killed, had a similar habit of reappearing alive and well in the following week's episode. (00:44:40)

Jean G

Trail to Nevermore - S3-E7

Plot hole: When Manolito and Victoria jump from the wagon, her hat flies off and falls to the ground. The bandits ride on by, chasing the wagon, after which Mano and Victoria get up and start walking. She later laments losing her hat when they leaped, which makes no sense. Since the bandits and therefore the urgency had passed, there was no reason not to retrieve her hat before they left the area.

Jean G

Ten Little Indians - S2-E2

Plot hole: Manolito suffers a peculiar memory lapse in this episode. He's fluent in Apache, yet at first speaks to the children only in Spanish and urges Vaquero to translate. Later, though, he "recovers" well enough to speak to both Geronimo and the children in Apache.

Jean G

24th Jun 2007

The Outer Limits (1963)

Behold, Eck! - S2-E3

Plot hole: Eck gives Dr. Stone one of his eyes so the scientist can create a lens to improve the alien's vision. At the end, Stone hands Eck the lens, but not the eye. When Eck puts on the lens, his missing eye reappears out of nowhere. (00:48:30)

Jean G

16th Apr 2007

Hawaii Five-O (1968)

The Golden Noose - S12-E15

Plot hole: Nadira hides from the bad guy behind a screen - with her feet in plain view. Then, after capturing her, the bad guy inexplicably lets her go, even though her knowledge poses a danger to him. Given that he's killed without a qualm before, this makes no sense at all.

Jean G

12th Apr 2007

Hawaii Five-O (1968)

Season 8 generally

Plot hole: 8-22 "Love Thy Neighbor, Take His Wife": McGarrett has two unexplained clairvoyant moments in this episode. First, he divines that the Indian-style headband is turquoise without seeing it. Then, after the kidnappers' phone call proves untraceable, he somehow knows that it was made from a specific pay phone.

Jean G

12th Apr 2007

Hawaii Five-O (1968)

Season 8 generally

Plot hole: 8-22 "Love Thy Neighbor, Take His Wife": The police cars speed to Tanaka's house with their sirens screaming, warning him in plenty of time to allow him to escape. Apparently these guys never heard of the law-enforcement standard "silent approach."

Jean G

17th Mar 2007

The Outer Limits (1963)

The Man Who Was Never Born - S1-E6

Plot hole: Andro has memorized "every detail" of Cabot Jr.'s life, including his mother's name, Noel. Yet when he travels to the past, meets Noel and learns her name, he still mistakes Cabot Sr. for Cabot Jr., who isn't born yet. Having memorized all those details, he would have known the moment he met her that Noel was Jr.'s mother. Andro's confusion makes no sense. (00:28:00)

Jean G

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