Getting Even - S4-E3
Plot hole: At the end of the episode, having conned Veronica Powell out of £600,000 - the purchase price of the house and contents they sold her - Danny taunts her by telling her that they did nothing wrong, implying that she has no legal recourse to recovering her money. He's wrong. One of the gang, Billy Bond, bids against her in the auction for the house, boosting her bid from £220,000 to her final offer of £600,000. Bond has no money and no access to any, and no assets that could be realised to cover the bids he made, something that would be easy for a lawyer to prove. It's called shill bidding and it is very illegal indeed. Since Bond and Ash Morgan (who gave Powell false information during the auction, spurring her on to bid against Bond) are both standing next to Danny when he makes his announcement I find it hard to believe that a shrewd, hard-hearted businesswoman like her would not realise that she had been conned and would not get her lawyers and the police on the case on the spot.
The Sinner and the Sandman - S5-E2
Plot hole: Ian Avery-Cooper loses his lottery ticket which is immediately picked up and appropriated by Leonard Corbyn. However, Avery-Cooper immediately reports the loss to the shopkeeper who sold him the ticket. All lottery sales staff are trained in what to do under these circumstances, because it happens a lot - they cancel the lost ticket and issue a new one. Since Avery-Cooper used the same numbers every week this would not pose a problem, but even if he didn't the ticket would be recorded on the seller's computers and could be precisely reconstructed. This would be even easier since Avery-Cooper reports the loss within a minute of it happening and we see that he has the receipt for the sale in his hand. Corbyn's stolen ticket would be worthless and Avery-Cooper would be able to claim his rightful winnings. If nothing else Ian could have simply bought another ticket with the same numbers.
Plot hole: Fletcher and Warren steal what they think is the right paper, so Godber can study it before he sits the exam. They are adamant that he has a very short time to go through it as they have to put it back before anyone misses it. After Godber refuses to cheat by reading it, Fletcher berates him, throws the paper on the cell floor, and storms out. What happened to replacing the stolen exam paper?
Christmas Special: Part 2 - S3-E2
Plot hole: Lee and Dawn overstay their tourist visa in the US, then fly back to the UK for the Office Christmas party. They then get into a taxi to go out to the airport in order to return to the US. They're kidding themselves. As I know (to my cost) when you overstay a tourist visa, the US Immigration Service finds out when you check in at the airport on departure. They'll be refused reentry, and probably barred from entering the US for up to six years. (I got a three year ban.) Neither Lee nor Dawn could possibly be unaware of this nor think they could beat the system as they would have been arrested when they checked in in Florida on departure (as I was), and they would have remained in small holding cells until the paperwork banning their return had been processed and their passports stamped 'Invalid for U.S. Entry', as mine was. (All this takes about seventy two hours, so they'd have missed the Christmas party anyway.) The mistake is NOT that they were able to leave the USA - that is explained (it's still not possible, but in the context of the show and the suspension of disbelief we are meant to believe it) the mistake is that they are on the way back to the airport to return. That's absurd. They would have been under no illusions as to their banned status re reentry to the USA.
Plot hole: Caroline helps Max get her degree, since Max didn't graduate high school. However, in episode 5 of season 1, Caroline and Max are raising money to pay off Max's student loans.
Plot hole: Unless Jarvis Goodland has the world's most stupid lawyer, he has nothing to worry about. Columbo searches the greenhouse and uses a metal detector to find the bullet which, supposedly, shows Goodland's gun is the murder weapon. He conducts the search without a warrant and against Goodland's wishes - he asks him several times to desist with the search and leave. Any evidence discovered or collected during the search is inadmissible in court.
Mr. Monk and the Astronaut - S4-E14
Plot hole: There is no drug in the world that could render a healthy adult unconscious for two days with a single dose, but let's go with the dramatic licence and allow that there is. Any such drug would be instantly detectable in any one of a dozen toxin screens carried out during an autopsy, and isn't someone going to wonder how a comatose woman hanged herself?
Plot hole: At the end of the episode McCoy and his team tape a conversation between Melissa Corbin and her mother Lorraine in order to record her admitting to murdering Alan, her first husband. Trouble is, she says nothing incriminating. The closest they get is Lorraine asking her why she killed Alan, and she replies "You didn't have to sleep with him." That means nothing, and in fact Lorraine says absolutely nothing of any legal significance during the entire conversation.
The Excelsior Acquisition - S3-E16
Plot hole: In Series 1, Episode 7, "The Dumpling Paradox, " Sheldon makes an oblique reference to his financial status: "Frankly, if I could afford the rent, I'd ask you [Leonard] to leave, " meaning he cannot pay the rent on his two bedroom apartment by himself - not that he doesn't want to, he can't. However, in "The Execlsior Acquisition, " we find that he does not even cash his pay cheques. He doesn't even deposit them into a bank account - he leaves them in a drawer in his desk. In Series 2 Episode 14 "The Financial Permeability", he lends Penny a large amount of money from a huge bankroll he just happens to have lying about - again, without cashing his pay cheques! He is obviously independently wealthy. Either he doesn't have enough money to afford the rent or he has enough to work without being paid while practically giving large amounts of cash away. Can't be both.
Suggested correction: Not being able to afford doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have the money, especially a man like Sheldon. He works with a budget and he sticks to it. In his budget he has a certain amount set aside for rent, anything more than that and he can't afford it alone.
Nonsense. If he was sticking to a "rigid budget" he wouldn't have even thought of lending a hopeless credit risk like Penny a single cent. Instead he throws a huge bankroll at her without even discussing a repayment plan.
Rubbish, I stick to a strict budget but still have the money to lend to close friends. Like Penny is to him.
He might have different budgets for different things. People could get a higher margin because they could be of more use to the scientific mind of Sheldon.
Be Careful What You Witch For - S2-E22
Plot hole: When teenage Prue has run away with the demon, and Phoebe and Piper find her in the park, teenage Prue is 'killed'. Her sisters drive her home to get Leo to heal her, but shouldn't they have just been able to call to Leo to orb to them when Prue was first hurt, and heal her in the park, and save driving back to the Manor, risking Prue dying?
Suggested correction: I see orbing to the park but he didn't heal her, she was already dead and he can't heal the dead, that's why the genie brought her back - that's what Phoebe wished for.
But if they would have called for him right away - he would have been able to heal her before she died. However at this point in time I don't think they knew how to call for him.
They did, they first tried it in the episode when Piper was sick with an exotic disease and dying in the hospital.
It bothers me that they never used it again until Season 4. When Prue was held by Abby, Leo could have helped if she called, and so many other times... so annoying.
Abbey was not a demon, so calling out for Leo would have been revealing magic exists, and we all know what happened at the end of season 3 with that.
Plot hole: They're in the Clam complaining that they can't drink when they make the revelation that Brian can because he's technically 56. But Quagmire should be able to drink, as in a much earlier episode, he's revealed to be over 60.
Suggested correction: Quagmire considers the rest of them to be his best friends. He isn't drinking because they can't drink. He is complaining because since his friends can't drink - he won't drink, so he is still pissed.
It's still a plot hole considering Quagmire's age. I think the writers messed up big time.
You make a good point, but it's awkward to be that one person who is drinking while surrounded by people who can't. So, I understand the correction that was submitted above. Because his friends are not drinking, he now feels that he can't.
The Friendly Physician - S2-E29
Plot hole: The scientist yells for Igor to capture the escaping Castaways, to which Igor responds "capture them yourself" in Ginger's voice. The scientist appears surprised to find out Igor is not Igor, but how can this be? He had to be the one to pull the lever to switch everyone's personalities and bodies around, so he should have already known.
Plot hole: When Zach Young's grandfather died, Zach was said to be the sole heir of the fortune. However, Noah Taylor (the grandfather) had a daughter that appeared several times while Mike Delfino was looking for Deirdre. Where was Kendra Taylor while Zachary Young was spending Noah's fortune on dresses for Gabrielle Solis? Why didn't she claim her share? She simply disappeared.
Plot hole: In this episode, the Duboises make such a big deal about Ariel being old enough to finally learn to drive. However, two episodes previously ("Things to Do in Phoenix When You're Dead") Ariel drove to school with Joe, and Joe complimented her on her prowess.
Under & Out - S3-E11
Plot hole: Gretchen, Lincoln, and Sophia were able to visit Scofield and Whistler in Sona without Gretchen being recognized. She was taken in for questioning in episode 9, but she managed to escape and kill General Zavala and one other guard. The other guards knew that she was the one who killed Zavala but she was still able to sign in for visitation.
Plot hole: In order to build up suspense, Virgil and Brains stand on the Crab Logger as its dangerous fuel is pumped out, despite the fact that it is hanging on the edge of a precipice. In fact they could have left as soon as they had plumbed in the pipes to empty the fuel tanks - the whole procedure is controlled by Scott in Thunderbird 1 and they make absolutely no contribution to the operation at all. They do not need to disconnect the pipes; they are left behind and dropped from Thunderbird 1 as planned. They just stand there chatting about how much danger they are in until jumping clear at the very last second. Silly buggers.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - S3-E1
Plot hole: Can't fault this massive plot hole to the adaptation, but to the source material; the culprit (forgetting the stupidity of writing an incriminating letter detailing the plan to murder someone, and put it in a desk he shares with her) since there are people outside the room that are about to enter, tears the letter in 3 neat vertical strips, rolls them, puts them in the vase on the mantlepiece, and then opens the side door to slip away...instead of simply pocketing the letter and going through that same door. Nobody was going to search him or anything and could have burned it, torn it into confetti, anything, later. It takes way way longer to do what he did, which needed him to stay there in the room increasing the chances of being found out. And of course he and his accomplice do not retrieve the letter after.
Two Thirty - S4-E24
Plot hole: In this episode Arthur scams Deacon and several other parents for phony piano lessons because he doesn't actually know how to play the piano. However, earlier in the series (Art House episode, S1 - E24) we learn that Arthur can play the piano when he temporarily moves out and after his house warming party Doug says to Carrie, "Who knew Arthur could play the piano like that?"
Suggested correction: Lister can only see M-Corp products and M-Corp employees. Cat is not an employee of JMC or M-Corp, so he disappears. Lister is the only member of the crew who is employed by M-Corp at this point.
Suggested correction: Cat was a descendant of the cat Lister brought aboard Red Dwarf. Would it be possible that the new owners might have stricter security controls, and Lister was sent to Stasis for a different reason?
Andy Benham ★
Inventing Deux ex machina explanations for a plot hole doesn't make it any less of a plot hole. M-Corp erases all of the Jupiter Mining Corporation's equipment, personnel and infrastructure from Lister's life. In no way is Cat a part of that. He has no connection at all to the Jupiter Mining Corporation, and until he meets him in Episode 1 no connection to Lister, either.
If M-Corp only erased JMC equipment from Lister's life, then Kryten, who belongs to DivaDroid and not the JMC, wouldn't have disappeared either. He disappears as he doesn't belong to M-Corp, not because he belongs to the JMC. Cat has no connection to M-Corp, as he wasn't a part of the JMC (as you pointed out), and is therefore erased for Lister.