Best action TV plot holes of all time

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JAG (1995)

JAG picture

Cowboys and Cossacks - S2-E14

Plot hole: When the radar man of the USS Cayuga describes a radar reading to likely be "One of the Russian cruisers", the commanding officer of the USS decides not to pursue it saying, "We are after bigger fish today - I want the Vasilyev". In the film, the Vasilyev is depicted as a destroyer, which is a smaller and lighter ship than a cruiser. In this context, the cruiser would be a "bigger fish" than the Vasilyev and the CO should pursue it instead if he was after the larger, more dangerous vessels as he seems to declare.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles picture

Worlds Collide: Part 3 - S3-E6

Plot hole: In their previous encounters with the Triceratons, the Turtles had to learn the hard way that the Triceratons breathe not oxygen but a combination of nitrogen and sulfur, which is detrimental to most Earth lifeforms, and thus had to wear special rebreathers. When the Turtles, Splinter, April and Casey enter Zanramon's throne room along with Traximus, none of them wear any breathing equipment to protect themselves from the hostile atmosphere.

Daniel4646

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds picture

The Serene Squall - S1-E7

Plot hole: In Episode 1-7: The Serene Squall, the Enterprise is at the edge of Federation space, and it is stated that it would take two days for a message to be received by Starfleet. Later in the episode, they have no problem establishing a real-time connection to Vulcan, which, according to canon, is only 16.5 light years away from Earth.

wizard_of_gore

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True Lies picture

Independent Dependents - S1-E7

Plot hole: When Helen goes into the air ducts, she simply removes the grates. They would not be loose like that, they would be firmly attached. When the team enters the basement they go through an ordinary door by picking an ordinary lock. A very high security installation like Axe Industries would not have such an insecure entry, even into the basement.

Leicaman

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Batman: The Brave and the Bold picture

Triumvirate of Terror! - S3-E8

Plot hole: After Superman thwarts Lex's plan and knocks the Kryptonite into the sewers, Lex yells in frustration, splits his power suit off and flies away on a jet pack. Superman just lets him go. Wouldn't Superman chase him and catch him, especially seeing as how weak Lex would be like that? (00:07:35)

Quantom X

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Batman: The Animated Series picture

Two-Face (2) - S1-E18

Plot hole: When Two-Face and his men have broken into the new D.A.'s office to find dirt on Rupert Thorne, one of his men finds a file detailing Thorne's record of Swiss bank accounts, money laundering, blackmail and payoffs that Two-Face tried for years to subpoena when he was D.A. When Thorne finds out that Two-Face has the file, he states that he will be ruined if Two-Face gives the file to the police. If Two-Face tried unsuccessfully for years to subpoena the file, then in all likelihood that means Thorne paid off the right people to prevent the subpoena from happening, so Two-Face giving the file to the police shouldn't be a problem for him. Additionally, if giving the file to the police would be all that it would take to bring Thorne down, then the new D.A. could have already done so. If the new D.A. was also paid off by Thorne, then it wouldn't make sense for Thorne to allow the D.A. to keep the file since they could easily lose the file or even double-cross Thorne. (00:10:45 - 00:14:20)

Phaneron

More Batman: The Animated Series plot holes
Batwoman picture

Down Down Down - S1-E3

Plot hole: The demented villain is not keeping tabs on the elevators! The rescue teams can move freely around the tower, the elevator doors can be pried open with ease like Sophie and her husband do, so his threat is completely empty and ineffective, somewhat surpassed in idiocy only by Batwoman's response, who during the ultimatum gets back home and keeps busy spraypanting the suit and finding a wig for her date with the crazy guy at the top of the hour rather than taking 10 minutes or so to free the people trapped in the 7 elevators first, unopposed as she is, and go challenge the idiot later when he has no more hostages. It shoud also be noted that the villain made the "hostage" situation and the "one hour" ultimatum known only to Kate! The police and the Crows have no reason at all not to intervene with full force to check out who the crazy bomber guy is, but the police does not swarm the building and nobody finds odd to see a madman on top of the building under terrorist attack.

Sammo

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Mobile Suit Gundam picture

Escape from Luna II - S1-E4

Plot hole: White Base and the interior of Luna II withstand without a scratch the explosion of the thermonuclear reactor from the Magellan from just a few meters, while the blast literally vaporizes the Zaku far away from the entrance and threatens to damage the Musai, hundreds of meters away.

Sammo

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The Originals picture

Show generally

Plot hole: Lucien, Trustan and Aurora are somehow compelled to believe they are Mikaelsons, when no-one knew how to compel until Elijah compelled Aurora by mistake when they fled. So when did this supposed compelling happen? Did Elijah go back and do it later on? The siblings all had knowledge of him compelling them, so I'm confused exactly when they all learned of their ability.

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Fantastic Four: The Animated Series picture

When Calls Galactus - S2-E8

Plot hole: When Frankie tries to get Johnny to chase her out into space, he tells her he can't follow and warns her to turn back due to the thin atmosphere not being able to keep their flame powers active, and indeed her flames die out, and she begins falling back to Earth. However, several minutes later in the episode, both of them are just outside of the Earth when Terrax arrives, and again at the end after she becomes the new herald of Galactus, Johnny follows her into space well beyond Earth before his flames die out. (00:03:15 - 00:06:03)

Phaneron

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Legends of Tomorrow picture

Left Behind - S1-E9

Plot hole: It's revealed that Chronos is Mick from the future after he was abandoned by Snart. However, in the episode White Knights (episode 4) the earlier version was able to sneak up on Chronos and surprise him with an attack from behind. If that was a future version of Mick then surely he would have remembered the attack coming and could not have been so easily caught off guard.

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Ash vs Evil Dead picture

Home Again - S2-E9

Plot hole: Old Ash travels back in time to 1982 to snatch the Necronomicon before Young Ash ever finds it (which should, presumably, erase all of the evil events from the original Evil Dead film right up to the present). Upon escaping the cabin, Old Ash finds that the timeline has self-corrected, and his amputated right hand has reappeared on his arm. But he is still in the 1980s. If the timeline had truly self-corrected, then Old Ash's car, his friends, and he himself would have vanished instantly from the 1980s, because the purpose of their mission never existed.

Charles Austin Miller

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Time travel is not real. The rules of it are dependent on what the writers deem fit. Ergo, this isn't a plot-hole.

TedStixon

By that rationale, plot holes don't exist in any films, because the screenwriters are making all the rules. But, of course, plot holes do exist because screenwriters forget their own rules. In this case, the screenwriters chose to go down the path of correcting the Evil Dead timeline, but then they forgot to correct the timeline.

Charles Austin Miller

Baal was messing with time.

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X-Men: Evolution picture

Grim Reminder - S1-E11

Plot hole: In the end of the episode, Wolverine is seen recuperating after surgery removes the microchip in his brain, and his head is bandaged. Performing invasive surgery on Wolverine's brain isn't possible, since that would require going through his adamantium-infused skull and no conventional material is capable of that. Only a less invasive technique (such as going through the cranial sutres or cranial foramen) would have been effective and that most likely would not have required Wolverine's head to be bandaged (especially with his rapid healing mutant ability).

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The Legend of Korra picture

Reunion - S4-E7

Plot hole: Guards at a security checkpoint attack Varrick and Bolin, because a wanted poster identifies them as fugitive traitors. The problem is that poster cannot have been there. Varrick and Bolin escape in the previous episode (Battle of Zaofu) but are captured minutes afterwards. (So, no posters needed.) The next day, they escape again by blowing up their imprisoning train car. Their captor, Bataar, thinks they are dead. Indeed, Varrick intended to die. Later, Bataar is actually shown reporting them dead. One might argue that the poster wasn't a wanted poster, but one that warned people about the empire making an example of the traitors.This argument is too flawed: The empire had many examples already, some very high-profile. And a propaganda poster must be placed in plain sight, not in a security booth corner especially designated to let security guards compare the passing individuals. (00:14:00)

FleetCommand

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Wu Assassins picture

Ladies' Night - S1-E8

Plot hole: The captain's wife tells him that she's taking his daughter with her, not giving him a chance to even say goodbye. During the episode it turns out that she's angry because he missed lunch with them, and when the Metal Wu texts the boss, it also turns out that all this just happens at 1:11 AM! It does not make much sense: she waited over 12 hours to complain to her husband, and she's driving her kid in the middle of the night.

Sammo

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Strike Back picture

Project Dawn #10 - S2-E10

Plot hole: After Grant finishes her video confession, Latif puts the video recorder in his cargo pant pocket. A few scenes later, he's blown up without ever having taken the video camera out of his pocket. He was at the epicenter of the explosion and he and his clothes were very much on fire, which should have completely destroyed the video camera and its recording.

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Justified picture

When the Guns Come Out - S3-E6

Plot hole: Raylan has a hunch that Winona took the money again from the evidence room, so checks the locker, finds the empty box, and assumes she stole it. When they returned the money in the previous season, he said "Put it back anywhere except for where you found it", so as to make it easier for someone to assume it had been misplaced, rather than lost. So the locker being empty is hardly a smoking gun for him to assume Winona's taken the cash.

Jon Sandys

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Dark Angel picture

Pilot (2) - S1-E2

Plot hole: In the hoverdrone footage, Peter goes down suddenly during the gunfight, apparently from a wound to either the head or torso. However, there is no wound or blood on him and even his bulletproof vest has no marks except for the normal studs. If he had been hit in an extremity he would not have limply collapsed instantly. Sonrisa's goons are using automatic weapons that should have no trouble hitting him many times from that range of only a few meters. (00:54:00)

Phoenix

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What If...? picture

What If... Ultron Won? - S1-E8

Plot hole: At the end of the previous episode, the Watcher gets surprised (literally saying "wait, what?") by the arrival of Infinity Ultron inside Party Thor's universe.In this episode we find out the story of Ultron.Ultron realises for the first time that there are other universes to conquer right then because he can'hear' the Watcher talk (to whom?) and goes after him.So the two episodes don't match;Ultron couldn't have reached the other universe "before" his realization, and Uatu is again surprised by it.

Sammo

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