Best mystery TV character mistakes of all time

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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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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

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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

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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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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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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

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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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Life on Mars picture

Show generally

Character mistake: When Hunt was interviewing Rocket, he asked him who killed the "P*ki". At the time, the Asian man who had been shot was still alive in hospital, only to die later in that episode.

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Crossing Jordan picture

Four Fathers - S1-E14

Character mistake: Mahershala said the child found in the cement had "osteoportrosis", instead of osteoporosis. Then the grief counselor repeated the same incorrect word.

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Are You Afraid of the Dark? picture

The Tale of the Manaha - S5-E7

Character mistake: Near the beginning as the leader is about to set off with the boys, he says, "About face!" and turns to the left, and the boys follow suit. But "About face" means to turn 180°. He should have said "Left face" to get them to turn 90° to the left. (00:04:25)

Knever

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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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Leverage picture

The Rundown Job - S5-E10

Character mistake: Upon finding the Spanish flu virus missing, Hardison freaks out about it killing 50m people 100 years ago, saying it would be even more deadly today due to the higher population. There's no reason to think so - the death toll in 1918 was massively exacerbated by the aftermath of WWI. Not to mention today we have vaccines, plus most deaths then were actually caused by bacterial pneumonia, which today is easily treated with antibiotics.

Jon Sandys

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