Best mystery TV plot holes of all time

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Point Pleasant picture

Season 1 generally

Plot hole: In episode 1-7: "Unraveling," Christina and Jesse get on a bus to New Haven, first thing in the morning. Christina left the Kramers's house before breakfast. Then, they ride on the bus all day until getting trapped in a terrible storm in the dark of night. But New Haven, CT, is less than a seven hour bus ride from the Jersey shore, so anything that happened to them on the way there should have been in full daylight.

DavidK93

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Quincy M.E. picture

Hit and Run at Danny's - S2-E6

Plot hole: There are three mistakes in one scene when Quincy talks to the driver of the hit and run car and he finds seatbelt bruises on the right side of the throat under an arm sling. First mistake: The bruises will hurt a lot and won't heal if they are under a sling. Second mistake: At the beginning, when the driver struggles with the kidnapped lady while driving he has no seat belt on which touches his throat. Third mistake: When you put a seat belt on sitting in the driver seat the belt will surely touch the left sight of your throat - not the right. (00:39:05)

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Twin Peaks picture

Episode Sixteen - S2-E9

Plot hole: In the bait and switch section, why does anyone involved agree to Leland being Ben's attorney when both victims are relatives of Leland? Neither Ben nor any of the police are in on Cooper's plan, and it seems implausible at best that they would agree to this.

pinkwafer

More Twin Peaks plot holes
Sherlock picture

His Last Vow - S3-E4

Plot hole: Sherlock manages to convince Janine to let him into Magnussen's quarters after deceiving her into thinking he is going to propose. Several days later, she is enjoying her "revenge with profits" on Sherlock for his duplicity. Problem: There is no way she could have found out. She was out cold moments after letting Sherlock in, and Sherlock himself was shot by an assailant, which he had misidentified. Only Watson knew Sherlock's true intention, but we know he did not reveal it. The shooter and Magnussen did not know and had no opportunity to tell Janine anyway. (Plus, Magnussen's credibility is too low.) In fact, if I were the director, I wouldn't bother making up a motive for being a "grasping, opportunistic, publicity-hungry, tabloid whore" (film's own quote). Such a person loves "profits", not just "revenge with profits." (00:31:00 - 00:43:00)

FleetCommand

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Lost picture

Adrift - S2-E2

Plot hole: Seeing as Jin dived in right after Sawyer, to save him, when Sawyer came up Jin should have been right next to him, or at least in view. However Sawyer hears Jin's voice as if he is miles away when he surfaces, and he is not visible at all.

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Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo picture

The Scarab Lives! - S1-E1

Plot hole: There is a "scarab alarm" when the blue scarab arrives, Shaggy even comments on hearing this. The problem is, The Blue Scarab is a comic book, so the villain and Shaggy wouldn't know what the Scarab alarm sounded like.

Dan Moat

More Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo plot holes
Kyle XY picture

The Homecoming - S2-E2

Plot hole: When Mr. Ballentine is telling Emily about her assignment, he sets the blue folder down near his side of the desk before he gets up. Then we see Emily pull it across the table and quickly peek in it. When Ballentine turns around, the folder is still close to Emily, which shows that she at least tried to look in it, yet Ballentine says nothing about it no longer being in the spot where he set it down. If Emily thought that it was okay for her to look in the folder, she wouldn't have waited for Ballentine to turn around before she touched it.

More Kyle XY plot holes
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! picture

That's Snow Ghost - S1-E17

Plot hole: It's established at the end that Greenway used transparent skis to create the illusion that the Snow Ghost could fly. But there's no way skis could have enabled Greenway to fly over the gorge, especially from a standing position. (00:05:30)

Chimera

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13 Reasons Why picture

Season 3 generally

Plot hole: When Bryce's body is found, there is a gaping hole in the back of his head, leading to speculation that he was shot. It is later determined that the hole was from blunt force trauma. However, when we actually see his death, he is simply pushed off the pier and ends up drowning. It wouldn't have been caused by his fight with Zach, as he would have been dead long before he could have been pushed into the water. And if the wound was somehow caused by aquatic predation, the forensics experts would know the difference between that and blunt force trauma.

Phaneron

More 13 Reasons Why plot holes
The Outer Limits picture

The Man Who Was Never Born - S1-E6

Plot hole: Andro has memorized "every detail" of Cabot Jr.'s life, including his mother's name, Noel. Yet when he travels to the past, meets Noel and learns her name, he still mistakes Cabot Sr. for Cabot Jr., who isn't born yet. Having memorized all those details, he would have known the moment he met her that Noel was Jr.'s mother. Andro's confusion makes no sense. (00:28:00)

Jean G

More The Outer Limits plot holes
Homeland picture

Casus Belli - S6-E5

Plot hole: Later in the evening, after NYPD takes Quinn into custody, Carrie finds his cell phone, with pictures showing their home had been spied upon from across the street, as well as other evidence of a conspiracy. He had tried to hand her the phone right after the police broke in, but it was knocked from his hand and she discovered it under the smashed door. In the real world, Carrie's home would have been considered a crime scene and the police would have searched it thoroughly, top to bottom, undoubtedly finding the phone themselves, but are shown driving away after the confrontation.

stevewaclo

More Homeland plot holes

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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Haven picture

Over My Head - S3-E4

Plot hole: Daphne was able to hurt Duke because his name appears on her cell when he called, but names only show up on a cell phone if the person's number and name are programed into the phone, and Duke has already said he doesn't know her.

brianjr0412

More Haven plot holes
Midsomer Murders picture

Show generally

Plot hole: In the Pudding Club episode, when they visit the secret room, all the candles are lit even though no-one is in there.

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Murder, She Wrote picture

Sticks & Stones - S2-E10

Plot hole: When Beverly is killed the killer shuts off the main power switch which would have turned all the lights off in the house, not just those in the bathroom. (01:31:00)

More Murder, She Wrote plot holes
The Adventures of Tintin picture

Tintin and the Picaros: Part 2 - S2-E9

Plot hole: When the helicopter flies over the jungle, Haddock inadvertently walks in view of the helicopter and the pilot of the helicopter notices him, assuming it to be a Picaro. Haddock then trips into the river, but despite being watched by the pilot of the helicopter the entire time, the helicopter pilot doesn't notice him falling into the river and instead assumes he just disappeared. (00:26:20)

Casual Person

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Silent Witness picture

Show generally

Plot hole: When Nicky goes into prison in Mexico to give a criminal a shot of insulin, two errors are seen. 1) The needle and syringe are far too big for an insulin shot, which takes a one ml syringe and a small sub-cutaneous needle. 2) When we first see the syringe, there is a small amount of insulin in it, but it grows the more times we see it, until a large syringe is two-thirds full - insulin is enough in a one ml syringe.

kh1616

More Silent Witness plot holes
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
Father Brown picture

The Daughters of Jerusalem - S2-E6

Plot hole: Dinah Fortescue's fingerprints are supposed to be on a teacup but she's wearing gloves in the flashback. So how did they get there? (00:24:35 - 00:33:34)

More Father Brown plot holes

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