Best drama TV plot holes of 2008

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

True Blood picture

Show generally

Plot hole: In the episode where Jessica went home to her family's house in season 2, Bill said "someone who lives here must invite me in." In this episode, Russell Edgington's wolf (Coota) invites Russell into Alcide's apartment. Also, in Season 6 Sarah Newlin recinds Jessica's invitation into Jason's house (which only Jason should be able to do).

More True Blood plot holes
Breaking Bad picture

Dead Freight - S5-E5

Plot hole: Preparing to steal methylamine from the train, Walt, Jesse and Mike measure off a predetermined distance from the railroad crossing, which happens to coincide with a handy arroyo, where they bury their tanks. Problem is that they couldn't have known that distance (calculated by knowing the position of the methylamine tanker car in the train) until Lydia told them. But she didn't call that info in until the night after they'd already buried the tanks.

Rattletrap

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

Suggested correction: They were counting on the tankers being at the back of the train, far enough away and at a curved angle so that the conductors wouldn't see them, and the hoses they were using would have been long enough to reach the tankers on either side of the one they stole from. Their heist hinged on a lot of educated guesses and luck, especially because they would have had to abort if the tanker was at the front of the train, but being lucky doesn't make it a plot hole.

Phaneron

I'd have to respectfully disagree. When they paced off the distance to the trestle over the arroyo, they had a particular number in mind (814). It's not explained whether this number represented knowledge of how far back the tank car would be if the engine stopped at the crossing. But if it did, how could they have known that? Not even Lydia knew until much later. And why would they assume the tank car would be toward the back of the train? Lydia doesn't mention that. When she calls Walt, all she says is, "I've got it." And even if she were to tell him, at that point everything's in place for the heist to happen at the location where the tank are buried.

Rattletrap

IIRC the crew contacted an expert on hazardous materials shipping for advice on the scene. Rail guidelines require tankers containing hazardous materials are at a minimum "six-deep", that is, six cars away from the engine. Lydia probably told them in advance how long the train would be in terms of cars, so they had a rough guideline for which three or four tankers could possibly contain the methylamine. From there, it seems like their hoses were long enough to get to any of the other cars.

The 814 feet was to ensure that the spot they chose would be far enough away from the conductors so as to not be seen. And they weren't assuming the tankers would be at the back, they were just hoping they would be. As I mentioned, if the tankers were at the front, they wouldn't have been able to move forward with the mission. Lydia told them they would only have 6 hours to prepare for the heist after she told them where the tanker would be. That wouldn't have been enough time for them to get an excavator out there and dig the holes for their own tanks to transfer the methylamine into, so they had to guess the best spot to do it ahead of time and hope that's where it would end up being.

Phaneron

More Breaking Bad plot holes
Fringe picture

And Those We Left Behind - S4-E6

Plot hole: The very ending scene where Peter (in this version died in the ice as a boy so Walter's wife never met him) takes off some of the dust covers then picks up a toy airplane. The toy airplane he got as a child from ... Walter's wife when she was trying to placate him in an earlier episode for trying to run "home". This toy airplane wouldn't have been his as a child in this version of the universe. (00:42:00)

juarlita

More Fringe plot holes
The Mentalist picture

Strawberries and Cream: Part 1 - S3-E23

Plot hole: In the heat of killing fake Red John, Jane forgot to notice that Craig O'Laughlin never knew about the mall setup to lure Red John. So definitely Gale Bertram himself was in contact with the serial killer which he may have missed first up, but all that time in jail afterwards he could have figured it out.

More The Mentalist plot holes
Leverage picture

The Hot Potato Job - S4-E5

Plot hole: Parker gains access to the external room using a valid security card, they figure out the CEO's passcode which opens the burn room door...and yet the room inside is still protected by a swarm of lasers. Was the CEO supposed to dance through the laser sensors like Parker does every time he goes in?

Jon Sandys

More Leverage plot holes
Sons of Anarchy picture

The Revelator - S1-E13

Plot hole: When the guys break into the safe house and free the witness against Bobby, they are wearing masks to hide their identities. Yet after freeing the witness, Jax and Tig decide to get involved in a fist fight inside the house which would leave their DNA all over the place. Since both are undoubtedly on the police database, it would take no time at all for the police to find at least two of the culprits who assaulted two officers, an ATF agent and intimidated their star witness.

The_Iceman

More Sons of Anarchy plot holes
Star Wars: The Clone Wars picture

The Deserter - S2-E10

Plot hole: When Lawquane spots the droids in the field, he identifies them instantly as commando droids. But as he had left the Republic Army shortly after the first battle on Geonosis (the one which started the war) and has lived as a farmer ever since, and since the commando droids are relatively new (see "Rookies"), how can he know what they are? With his lack of battlefield experience, he should simply call them battle droids.

Daniel4646

More Star Wars: The Clone Wars plot holes
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles picture

Samson & Delilah - S2-E1

Plot hole: When John inserts Cameron's CPU, she restarts nearly instantly. She recognizes John right away and speaks to him by name. Yet seconds later, we see through her eyes as her system reports recognizing him, but she already does.

johnrosa

More Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles plot holes
Ashes to Ashes picture

Show generally

Plot hole: At the very end of series two, there was a shootout during an armed robbery. WPC Granger somehow had access to a firearm. Surely the fact of her uniform rank would not have allowed this.

More Ashes to Ashes plot holes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.