Best crime TV plot holes of all time

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Bad Girls picture

Show generally

Plot hole: In series 5 episode 13 where Jim Fenner frames Karen Betts, the CCTV footage shows this to be July 2003. Yvonne Atkins is killed a few episodes later. In season 7 episode 10 it is said to the be the 1 year anniversary of Yvonne's death, placing this as sometime after July 2004, yet Jim Fenner's tombstone shows a death date of 12th July 2005. In series 7 episode 1 Tina O'Kane sets fire to a clothes shop and is sent to Larkhall, where in series 8 episode 7 it is said she has served 4 months on remand and set free. But in series 7 episode 11, Neil Grayling tells police that Jim Fenner has only been in the post for a few months. The time periods of all of these events cannot be reconciled.

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Liar picture

Episode #2.6 - S2-E6

Plot hole: Laura is spotted at an airport where it is assumed she goes to Edinburgh. Although she mentioned later on she broke her bail by leaving the 30-mile radius by her bail conditions. This wouldn't have been possible as part of her bail was to surrender her passport.

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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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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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Magnum P.I. picture

Mondays Are for Murder - S2-E13

Plot hole: In an effort to keep Glenn's death as quiet as possible, Higgins hires a private pathologist to do an autopsy to see if there were any foreign substances or poisons in his system when he died. A few scenes later it is revealed that Glen was undergoing chemotherapy. How is it possible that the pathologist missed the cancer and the chemo treatment in his investigation? What he found was an excess of antacids.

toroscan

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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

More Trial & Retribution plot holes

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