The X-Files

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Plot hole: The ability of the Faceless Rebels to impersonate other people completely defies logic. For one, when impersonating someone, the Faceless Rebel is able to speak despite the fact that they mutilate their own mouths shut. Secondly, as can be seen in many instances when a person is being attacked by a Faceless Rebel, the face of the person they are impersonating is merely a skin mask that can easily be pulled off. If the face of the person they are impersonating is just a mask, then any time a Faceless Rebel speaks you should be able to see their true face through the open mouth of the skin mask. Additionally, the face of the person being impersonated being a mask would also preclude the Faceless Rebel from blinking or moving the mask's eyes (similarly they mutilate their own eyes shut, so the eyes of the skin mask can't be their own).

Phaneron

E.B.E. - S1-E17

Plot hole: After less than 1 minute of investigation Scully found out that the photograph was bogus. It tells a lot about the "very best" specialists, mentioned by the Deep Throat later on, who had prepared the photo. (00:19:10)

Chop Luftmysza

Darkness Falls - S1-E20

Plot hole: At The End, a man is attacked while standing in the light of his automobile's headlights. Supposedly, though, the bugs were terrified of light. (00:38:45)

Darkness Falls - S1-E20

Plot hole: The bugs are related to a type of mite, and when they are shown under a microscope they look like a glowing lice without wings. The problem is they are swarming in the air so they have to be able to fly - no way to do that without wings.

Little Green Men - S2-E1

Plot hole: At his arrival at the Arecibo observatory, Mulder crushes the padlock on the door leading to the control building, and then he finds the native man, Jorge, in the toilet, who hid himself in the building. There's no way Jorge could enter the building and also lock himself in there with the padlock. (00:17:45)

Chop Luftmysza

Soft Light - S2-E23

Plot hole: If the shadow acts like a black hole and tears apart all atoms that enter it why does it only seem to affect people (but also their clothing and anything else on them)? Surely Dr Banton would be destroying everything around him.

Jack Vaughan

The Blessing Way (2) - S3-E1

Plot hole: Mulder is pulled from the escape hole previously dug by the hybrid aliens to escape the train car. When they pull him out they show alien bodies remaining in the hole. Mulder never revisits the train car despite knowing there's a high probability of finding hard evidence, in this case some actual bodies. There's no way Mulder would just assume there's no evidence remaining there and not go have a look for himself. Same goes for Cancerman who thought he had destroyed the evidence.

Nisei (1) - S3-E9

Plot hole: The guy who was standing at the back of the train car was somehow able to move to the front of it. This was impossible because the train car was sealed and no unauthorized person could enter it. (00:00:50)

Chop Luftmysza

Quagmire - S3-E22

Plot hole: When Mulder and Scully are going to the town/city where the disappearances took place Scully says they should stop so she can walk the dog. Mulder says OK because he has to ask for directions yet the next scene we see is Mulder and Scully interviewing Dr. Faraday. How did they find him if they didn't know where they were?. And after that we see them at a store where they do ask for directions. (00:08:30)

Synchrony - S4-E19

Plot hole: Scully's statement that she was 23 when she wrote her senior thesis in college throws off her timeline of college, med school, residency, FBI Academy, Quantico teaching assignment for two years, and X-Files assignment at 28. Her undergraduate degree in Physics should have been completed when she was 20 or 21 to allow at least 4 or 5 years for her medical training. (00:41:35)

Christmas Carol (1) - S5-E6

Plot hole: On the phone, Scully asks for the report on her sister to be sent to the San Diego F.B.I field office (since she is visiting her brother and his wife and so is not in Washington), but the package is sent to her brother's home. Even if 'Danny,' whom she asks for the file, decided to be helpful and send it directly to her, her brother's address is not likely to be the one in her personal file, plus she didn't mention that that's where she'd be staying.

Purple_Girl

All Souls - S5-E17

Plot hole: It is quite incomprehensible that only Mulder drew Scully's attention to the inverted cross. As a Catholic and experienced investigator Scully would know the significance of this symbol and would pay attention to such crucial detail. (00:16:30)

Chop Luftmysza

The End - S5-E20

Plot hole: Mulder asks Spender to rewind the tape to the crucial moment on the video, however he could not have seen that moment, because he entered the meeting too late to watch it. (00:08:40)

Chop Luftmysza

Two Fathers (1) - S6-E11

Plot hole: It is virtually impossible that such a conspiracy-experienced, cautious, and wise person as the Second Elder would be so naive and careless to just let the "Dr. Openshaw" faceless alien to his house, knowing from the CSM that Dr. Openshaw had died that evening. (00:15:10)

Chop Luftmysza

Two Fathers (1) - S6-E11

Plot hole: Agent Spender watches in horror as Alex Krycek stabs the neck of an alien directly in front of him and the usual bubbling green blood spills out. In every other instance of a human being in such close proximity to the green blood, the person has immediately taken a painful reaction to the substance, including severe damage to the eyes. Spender however is completely unaffected, as is Krycek, who was also close enough to feel the effects.

Purple_Girl

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

Suggested correction: The Syndicate is well aware of the effects that the alien blood has on humans and the inherent risk of being exposed to it. They would have inoculated Spender and Krycek in preparation for this.

Phaneron

There was no inoculation ever mentioned to counter the effect of the acidic blood. Also, Spender wouldn't have let someone randomly inject him with something with no explanation, it would be completely out of character, and he was surprised at what happened.

Purple_Girl

Suggested correction: I think that this is to do with where he is hit. I don't recall anyone suffering the toxic effects when the weak spot at the back of the neck is successfully hit with the spike weapon. When Mulder tried to kill the alien bounty hunter (think it was in Colony?) He missed the weak spot, which is why the blood had an effect on him and the bounty hunter survived.

Arcadia - S6-E15

Plot hole: Big Mike was attacked by the creature, because his bulb was broken just for a couple of seconds. It would mean that even if something like this happened to somebody else by accident, this person would also be killed by the creature. That would drastically increase the kill rate in the community. (00:16:15)

Chop Luftmysza

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

Suggested correction: That was the whole point of the creature, to enforce the HOA rules so that no violations occurred, even by accident. Although prior to the attack, Gene Gogolak describes Big Mike as a weak link that had to be dealt with, so the bulb was just an excuse to attack him.

Bishop73

The Unnatural - S6-E19

Plot hole: When Arthur wakes up on the bus, he sees an alien reflection in the window beside Josh, but it's not possible that the reflection could be seen at all - especially from the angle that Arthur first sees it - considering how much of the pillow is covering both Josh's face and the window. The pillow extends past Josh's face so he could lean on it as cushioning against the window, but somehow Arthur sees a full facial reflection.

Purple_Girl

The Unnatural - S6-E19

Plot hole: Josh Exley's 'real' face shouldn't be visible as a reflection on the window. It's not an illusion that he creates to fool people, whereby his real self could theoretically be seen in a reflective surface, but a complete physical change, as we've seen in many episodes of the X-files regarding the shape-changing abilities of the aliens. What his face appears to be while altered is essentially what it is, and the reflection should show as much.

Purple_Girl

The Unnatural - S6-E19

Plot hole: After Exley has gotten up after being hit by the ball, Dales notices green alien blood inside the glove where the back of Exley's head was resting. However, Exley was hit in the face, not the back of the head; not only was there no bleeding face wound while he was on the ground, but the glove was clean when Exley first gets up.

Purple_Girl

More mistakes in The X-Files

Triangle - S6-E3

Skinner: Use your head Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.

More quotes from The X-Files

Trivia: Scully's father and the man Mulder thought was his father were both named William. Mulder's actual father, Cancer Man, was played by William B Davis. Scully and Mulder's son was also named William.

More trivia for The X-Files

Trust No 1 - S9-E6

Question: After blowing up the car, when the NSA guy answers Scully's question, "How the hell do you know my size?" he says, "I know the name of your college boyfriend, your true hair colour, your ATM PIN number." This strongly suggests that red is not her true colour. Therefore, my question is: What is the true colour of Scully's hair?

Chop Luftmysza

Answer: He was being facetious. He doesn't specifically know that information, he was merely giving examples of the types of information he has access to.

I think so too.

lionhead

Answer: Actress Gillian Anderson's natural hair color is strawberry blonde, which she dyed fiery red. (Although in the revival of the show she wears a wig).

The question does not concern Gillian Anderson's true hair colour-it concerns Agent Dana Scully's true hair colour.

Chop Luftmysza

More questions & answers from The X-Files

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