Visible crew/equipment: When Mohinder, Sylar, Maya and Molly are at Isaac's old flat (now Mohinder's lab), as Mohinder and Sylar walk down the stairs, you can see the moving camera crane reflected in the glass behind them.
Continuity mistake: In ep. 1-14 "Distractions", when Claire asks Meredith about her father, Meredith answers, "Well, that's complicated. Why don't you let me work on that for next time?" But when the same scene is shown in a flashback in this episode, Meredith says, "Well, that's complicated. He's kind of a big shot".
Deliberate mistake: The newspaper that shows Petrelli's victory has repeated paragraphs through the article. The article seems to be composed of three paragraphs. One paragraph starts with "I was," and two paragraphs start with "The."
One of Us, One of Them - S3-E3
Revealing mistake: When Tracey looks at Nikki's dead body in the coffin (both played by Ali Larter) we can see Nikki's eyelids flicker.
Continuity mistake: When Sylar comes for Isaac the painting of Hiro and the dinosaur is visible in the studio in several shots, even though Hiro took this painting to Linderman several episodes ago. The episode director even comments on it during the audio commentaries.
Factual error: The solar eclipses in the show that affected the characters' powers were referred to several times as "global events". In the episode with the second eclipse it's shown to be visible in locations thousands of kilometers away from each other at the same time. This is simply impossible, since a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a moving shadow that can be only about 250 km in diameter (for a total eclipse). The partial eclipse can be viewed in a much wider region, but the eclipse in the show was a total one. It's not a global event, but a local one.
Continuity mistake: Season one takes place over five weeks. Janice Parkman goes from not being visibly pregnant to being at least five or six months along during the course of those five weeks.
Continuity mistake: Season 2, episode 10, "Truth and Consequences": In the previous episode, "Cautionary Tales", when Noah was brought back to life he regenerated, then sat up, looked around him and said something sounding like "Home". In this episode, when the exact same scene is shown, we see Noah regenerating and sitting up, but this time he just looks straight ahead before lying back down, and does not say anything. (00:05:50)
Continuity mistake: This mistake is repeated in the next episode too. After D.L kills Linderman he is lying face down, his face is flat against the floor and we can see right into the hole in is head, he has already stopped moving. Then after the camera starts to pan around, Linderman's head is now facing right, and we get a good look at his face.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Mr. Bennet, Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague are at the used car lot, Ted is using his powers to defrost a blue station wagon. As the frost is melting you see "Automatic" written on the windshield. The shot cuts to Bennet and Matt talking by the pay phone. When the Shot returns to Ted, he's finished defrosting, but you see "Low Mileage! 1 Owner" written on the windshield instead. Ted didn't switch cars during the conversation because written on the used car beside the blue wagon is "Like New" for both shots.
Continuity mistake: When Peter and Claude are invisible and walking in New York, just after Claude has released his hold on the T-shirt rack, they bump into a man in a coat. Cut to a different angle, showing the two on camera, and the man in the coat is gone. Instead there are two girls and a man with glasses walking directly behind Peter and Claude, none of whom were there a split second ago. (00:02:05)
Company Man - S1-E17
Continuity mistake: When Claire gets killed she is wearing reddish brown boots, with her jeans tucked into them. She's still wearing them when her body is placed on the bed. A few moments later, running from the house with her mother, she's wearing sneakers.
Continuity mistake: Season 2, ep. 3, "Kindred". When Peter gets the box with his belongings back from the Irishmen, as Caitlin says "Well?" Peter's hands are in his lap. The angle changes to Peter, who answers "Well, what?" and he suddenly has both hands on the box, with no time to move them between shots. (00:35:55)
(Volume Two: Generations) Four Months Later... - S2-E1
Revealing mistake: After Kensei knocks Hiro down a goat licks Hiro's face. The kibble used to lure the goat in for the shot can be seen on Hiro's cheek and collar.
How to Stop an Exploding Man - S1-E23
Deliberate mistake: At the plaza, Peter tells Claire to shoot him because there is "no other way". Nathan then comes flying in and declares, "Yes, there is, Claire!" However, Nathan could not have heard Peter and Claire from the distance he flew in and the rushing of air past his ears.
Continuity mistake: Season 2, episode 11, "Powerless":. In Mohinder's kitchen, when Sylar cocks the hammer of the gun he is holding on Mohinder, he is holding the gun with his arm straight and the gun completely level. The angle changes just as Sylar says "Maya, I need you to stay calm", and now his arm is close to his body and bent so the gun is pointing at Mohinder at an upwards angle. There was no time for him to move his arm in between shots. (00:03:30)
How to Stop an Exploding Man - S1-E23
Continuity mistake: When Parkman is shooting at Sylar in Kirby Plaza, he fires four shots. But when we see the bullets hovering in the air before Sylar's hand, just before he flings the bullets back toward Parkman, there are five of them. (00:35:30)
Continuity mistake: When Hiro gives Charlie the Japanese phrase book, Charlie flips the book over to look at the back cover, then flips it frontwards again. In the next shot, she's instantly looking at the back cover again. (00:16:20)
Factual error: When Nathan goes to Cork to find his brother, he gets out of a black cab with a yellow license plate, both of which are characteristic of ENGLISH taxis, not Irish ones.
Continuity mistake: Episode 3x13, "A Clear and Present Danger": When Usutu is talking with Matt in Matt's apartment, Usutu's walking stick jumps back and forth from horizontal across his shoulders, to vertical in his hands, and back to his shoulders. (00:23:40)
Chosen answer: Because he's an idiot. From the story point of view, they needed the vault to actually be physically open so that the release of the virus would be a credible threat. Unfortunately, this required that Peter conveniently forget that he could simply walk through The Wall and use his telekinesis to tear the door open instead. Peter's increasingly large arsenal of abilities, where he ended up having pretty much any ability required for any situation, led to a situation where it became necessary to either have Peter apparently forget that he had a given power, as with the vault door scene, or become naively trusting, as with his refusal to scan Adam's mind to confirm his good intent. This problem, which simply made Peter look increasingly dumb as the show progressed, may well have been a key factor in the decision to severely reduce his ability during season three.
Tailkinker ★