Best crime TV plot holes of all time

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Lupin the 3rd picture

Farewell My Beloved Witch - S1-E3

Plot hole: Lupin was captured by chance, and he did not plan for that, nor he seemed to have previous knowledge of Stern's appearance, but he escapes regardless using a Mission Impossible-like perfect mask of him. He also somehow kept his own blazer, tie and shoes underneath the uniform and boots he stole and wore. (00:16:00)

Sammo

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High Potential picture

Partners - S1-E12

Plot hole: The poison is in the dog collar. Anson gets the poison from touching the collar. Why didn't the dog get any poison from the collar?

Leicaman

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

Suggested correction: The poison cannot penetrate the skin as dogs don't have sweat glands on their bodies (except on the paws).

Andy Benham

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And Then There Were None picture

Episode #1.3 - S1-E3

Plot hole: The killer is meant to create the perfect crime, but the angle of the shot would make obvious to any forensics examiner that it's a suicide. There is practically no possibility for a person supposedly positioned across a long dining table to kill someone else with a shot under the chin. (00:55:50)

Sammo

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The Rockford Files picture

The Countess - S1-E4

Plot hole: Rockford and Carl Brego are punching and kicking each other on the beach. Someone shoots him down with a rifle. The INSTANT Rockford goes to check out if he's still breathing, two people randomly happen to walk on him popping over from behind a rock as they were having a super casual and amused chat, but see Rockford by the shirtless brute and make a horrified face. Later in the episode the two identify Rockford and say that it looked like the two were fighting. Their facial expressions at the time don't make sense as depicted. Even if we assume that they did not see anything at all and they played it up/filled the blanks in their mind later, the two are not deaf and yet they were not perturbed or curious in the slightest after the loud bang of a gunshot. The way the scene was shot, the only thing tipping them off about anything was seeing Rockford over the corpse (which had barely a small dot of blood visible at the time and would hardly tip anyone off at first sight). (00:18:45)

Sammo

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Mission: Impossible picture

Holograms - S1-E3

Plot hole: The mysterious neurosurgeon Dr. Quinn was mentioned by the fake Myles Taggart under the pretence that his presence was announced by the local newspaper. It turns out that his invitation by the university was a lie - presumably no newspaper story existed at all then, or the university would have acted on that. Taggart is exposed as a fraud, Quinn's link to him is so direct that he was even the one who invited him (instead of goading the Colonel into inviting him like it was his own idea) and yet the Colonel continues to trust Quinn blindly - he even has the whole night and day to think about this simple fact, nothing was decided on the spur of the moment.

Sammo

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The Event picture

Show generally

Plot hole: Episode 1: All passengers on cruise ships have a passenger card with their name and cabin number imprinted. They are not just identical key cards like in hotels.

Jacob La Cour

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Baywatch Nights picture

Just a Gigolo - S1-E5

Plot hole: Garner is absolutely rubbish at playing basketball in this episode. The problem with this is that in an episode of Baywatch ("Lifeguards Can't Jump") - which happens in the same universe - his character is shown as being a very skilled basketball player.

swordfish

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The Shield picture

Blowback - S1-E5

Plot hole: Detective Vendrell and his girlfriend are out looking for his stolen black Navigator, but they pull over and interrogate drivers of a blue Navigator.

bnemirow

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Narcos: Mexico picture

Camelot - S1-E1

Plot hole: In the bathroom, Kiki Camarena tells El Azul he has blood on his shoes. Kiki doesn't even raise an eye to this. This is not deliberate either - we can tell Kiki isn't new to busting drug lords - so why would he miss this?

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Trial & Retribution picture

Tracks: Part 1 - S11-E9

Plot hole: When Mike Walker is out looking for his son Connor calls Satch and asks, "What's up with Mike?". She couldn't know that there was anything up with him, she left before he heard his son was missing. Had she called Walker on his cell, he would have explained what was going on, as he was very eager to tell her. Obviously a set-up so that Satch could tell her that the boy was missing.

littlestar

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Signora Volpe picture

A Deadly Net - S2-E2

Plot hole: S2E2 A Deadly Net Midway through the episode, Sylvia and others in the cast bid people goodnight, offer after-dinner drinks, but the sun is shining brightly and continues to do so for quite a period of time as events continue to unfold.

bnemirow

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The Fugitive picture

Second Sight - S4-E7

Plot hole: Kimble enters the bar in the midst of a fight between photographer Howie and a man he tried to blackmail. Kimble comes in too late to hear what the scuffle is about, yet after breaking it up, he somehow knows all about the incriminating photo that sparked it. (00:06:00)

Jean G

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The New Batman Adventures picture

Beware the Creeper - S2-E10

Plot hole: During Ryder's report, as Bruce and company watch it on TV, the camera suddenly zooms in on Joker standing on a catwalk above Ryder, and none of the crew, especially not the camera man who caught the villain, makes a comment about this. They may have thought the Joker (or rather an impersonator) was perhaps a surprise gag in the show, but since this is supposed to be a serious documentary report, it is still strange that they wouldn't point it out.

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Ray Donovan picture

Walk This Way - S2-E7

Plot hole: It's revealed that the gym owned by Ray and Terry is a front for Ray to launder his income. This is why he doesn't want or can't sell it. Any person auditing that gym would know it doesn't bring enough income if the floors are in disrepair and the equipments garbage as Terry tells Pie when he gives him money to fix it up after Mickey pays him. Ray runs a consulting firm, he could launder millions through consulting, he has an office with employees. Get vending machines, anything that's cash. (00:42:00 - 00:44:20)

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Line of Duty picture

Episode #4.1 - S4-E1

Plot hole: When DCI Roz Huntley kills Forensic Coordinator Tim Ifield the crucial piece of damning evidence is her DNA under his fingernails after scratching her arm. Problem being, at the time of his murder, he was wearing surgical gloves. (00:56:40)

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Murder on the Orient Express picture

Episode #1.2 - S1-E2

Plot hole: Contrary to any other version (including the novel), here the mastermind behind the murder realises in timely fashion that burning the letter was a mistake, it was not actually part of the plan. With this change, they'd have still all the time in the world to go back to the compartment and get the burnt remains, but they simply do not.

Sammo

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Martial Law picture

Deathfist 5: Major Crimes Unit - S2-E15

Plot hole: The whole case is solved because of astronomical coincidences, since the culprit is someone related to the actor, who is teaming up with the investigators for an entirely unrelated reason. Los Angeles is kinda too big for this sort of 'coincidence'. Moreover, had they committed the crime any other day (there was no particular reason) there would have been no connection.

Sammo

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City on a Hill picture

Is the Total Black, Being Spoken - S2-E3

Plot hole: Jimmy was willing to give Cathy $10k in cash for her troubles and to help her out. She wanted to sell drugs instead of getting his charity. Now he's having a problem fronting her the same amount of money worth of drugs. He's saying his dealer will hurt him if he doesn't pay him back. Makes no sense how he had $10k to give her and now he needs her to pay back the $10k front of product he gave her. What happened to his $10k worth of charity? Why can't he use that to pay it off? (00:42:04 - 00:43:25)

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Perry Mason picture

The Case of the Deadly Toy - S2-E27

Plot hole: Claire Allison spends the night in an upstairs bedroom in the Jennings' home. In the middle of the night, she opens a walk-in closet to get another blanket and finds a small printing press. Later in the day, Claire returns to the home, accompanied by Perry Mason, who tells Mr. Jennings that Claire has received threatening letters from Mrs. Jennings' former husband, who still has a key to the Jennings' home, and the printing press may have been used to address the envelopes. Mr. Jennings says, "We'd better investigate" and immediately goes upstairs and opens the closet, even though neither Claire nor Perry Mason said where Claire saw the printing press.

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