Best mystery TV character mistakes of all time

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Wayward Pines picture

Time Will Tell - S2-E7

Character mistake: A shot shows Djimon Hounsou completing his year entry on a large chalk board. The entries are 20 years apart. The third entry on the second line is 2274, the next should be 2294, but instead it records 2394. The one after corrects the sequence with 2314. Considering there is an entry only every twenty years, you would think he'd be more careful. (00:20:15)

The24fretking

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Blindspot picture

This Profound Legacy - S3-E5

Character mistake: Congressman Weitz tells the FBI task force that Kazahrus is an "absolute monarchy." Director Hirst interrupts him to state that this means "the order of succession is based solely on heredity," which she implies is well-known to students of civics. An absolute monarchy is one where the monarch's powers are unrestricted (such as by legislative or judicial branches of government). Hirst is describing a hereditary monarchy, but not all hereditary monarchies are absolute (for example, England's constitutional monarchy is hereditary), nor are all absolute monarchies hereditary (the Vatican's elective monarchy is absolute). What Hirst says is true of Kazahrus, but not of absolute monarchies, the term Weitz was defining. Weitz is presented as an expert on the topic, but doesn't correct her.

DavidK93

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Murdoch Mysteries picture

24 Hours Til Doomsday - S9-E5

Character mistake: When first discussing the projectile Murdoch has written on his board that 2 (sin45) =1. This is obviously incorrect to anyone who's studied even basic trigonometry. (00:05:54)

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FBI: Most Wanted picture

Predators - S1-E8

Character mistake: The FBI team responds to a murder crime scene. The victim is lying face down in the bed with blood everywhere. The team leader takes the victim's wrist with his bare ungloved hand. A trained FBI agent would never touch a murder victim without gloves - one to protect himself and two not to contaminate the crime scene. (00:10:00)

Snag.1

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Dexter picture

Circle Us - S5-E7

Character mistake: Searching for clues to identify a suspect, Masuka takes fingerprints from the interior of a truck. Back at the lab, he says he had two dozen prints and they all belong to the same person. Unless the prints are all of the same FINGER, there is no way he could know the prints were all from the same person without a suspect to compare them to. Masuka is a forensic expert and should know better. (00:15:40)

djm

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Fringe picture

What Lies Below - S2-E13

Character mistake: When Walter is saying his father was a scientific pioneer at the university of Berlin, Peter reacts by saying: "Yeah, I know. Who came here in 1933, which is long before the Nazi's ever took power." In fact it is EXACTLY when the Nazi's took power: 30 January 1933. (00:19:00)

jarco

More Fringe character mistakes
Alias picture

Show generally

Character mistake: In season 4 episode 13, "Tuesday," when Marshall is meeting with Ulrich, he is both able to understand and reply in German. In season 5 episode 15, "No Hard Feelings," Marshall almost misses the opportunity to change the street light from red to green, because the text is all in German. Jack has to tell Marshall which word is green, indicating that Marshall does not understand the German language.

Cerridwen

More Alias character mistakes
Alfred Hitchcock Hour picture

The Jar - S2-E17

Character mistake: Charlie tells Thedy that the hair ribbon embroidered with her name cost 65 cents, "five cents a letter." But her name is Thedy Sue Hill, which is only 12 letters - or 60 cents worth. (And no, the extra is not due to a sales tax, which in 1962 would have been two cents, tops, and didn't even exist yet in many states.). (00:12:00)

Jean G

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

Suggested correction: This was not an error. Charlie is a bumpkin. He was ripped off due to his lack of intelligence.

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Life on Mars picture

Episode 4 - S1-E4

Character mistake: Sam encounters Marc Bolan in the club and warns him to "drive carefully", aware of Bolan's future death in a 1977 car accident. However, Bolan never learned to drive and he was actually a passenger in the fatal accident. (00:07:55)

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The Outer Limits picture

Soldier - S2-E1

Character mistake: Dr. Kagan, who's a scientist and should definitely know better, points to Earth's solar system on the chart and calls it "our galaxy." This is roughly the equivalent of mistaking a dot this size [.] for the entirety of North America. (00:23:30)

Jean G

More The Outer Limits character mistakes
Perception picture

Caleidoscope - S2-E4

Character mistake: The chess set in Dr. Pierce's home office is set up incorrectly. When the men are set up properly, each player has a light colored square in the right-hand corner. The board as it appears in the show is set up so that the light-colored square is in each player's left-hand corner. This "beginner" mistake puts the king and queen in the wrong positions.

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Friday the 13th: The Series picture

Scarlet Cinema - S2-E16

Character mistake: Ryan tells Jack that Darius turned into a werewolf right in front of his and Micki's eyes. Ryan and Micki never witnessed Darius' transformation into a werewolf at all.

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Outer Range picture

The Family - S1-E6

Character mistake: The pharmacist says she's sorry, but they don't have the drug Lamotrigine in stock, so would the generic be okay?Lamotrigine is already the generic form of the drug Lamictal. (00:28:23)

TXTerry

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Lost picture

Show generally

Character mistake: Throughout the whole series Jin and Sun refer to each other as "yobo." The subtitles continually translate "yobo" as either "Jin" or "Sun" which is incorrect. "Yobo" is Korea's version of "dear" or "sweetheart."

maximus92

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Without A Trace picture

The Line - S2-E14

Character mistake: While discussing an ex-con with Danny, Jack uses the redundant acronym "PO officer." Since, by definition, the phrase is redundant, his use of "officer" is unnecessary. (00:13:25)

Cubs Fan

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Relic Hunter picture

Smoking Gun - S1-E2

Character mistake: When the bad guys put the generator in front of the air vent, Nigel looks at the white smoke and pointing at it says "Carbon monoxide." Carbon monoxide is colorless, white smoke is mostly condensed vapor. (00:35:20)

Sammo

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