Best action TV plot holes of all time

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Thunderbirds picture

Path of Destruction - S2-E2

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.

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Prison Break picture

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.

gordy16

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Justice League picture

Fury (1) - S1-E14

Plot hole: Hippolyta tells Hawkgirl of Aresia's background of being born in the outside world, the war in her country and right up to her drifting to the shores of Themyscira. It would be impossible for her to know anything of Aresia's background as in part two, it's explained that the captain of the ship who saved Aresia died shortly after reaching Themyscira and therefore would not have been able to tell Hippolyta anything.

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Star Trek: Voyager picture

Elogium - S2-E4

Plot hole: In this episode Kes states that she has to decide now whether to have a child or not because Ocampa women can only get pregnant once and deliver one child. If that was the case they would have died out a long time ago, or never even evolved, as two people only getting one offspring would reduce the population to 50% of the original figure each generation.

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

Suggested correction: It's also possible that it's simply required of Ocampan women to give birth the first time they go through it, and can then experience it again.

Greg Dwyer

Nothing in the dialogue suggest Ocampa's can have additional children. While we can speculate about fictitious species, it's still a plot hole due to writing. Kes states she's going through the "elogium" which is a time of change where her body prepares for fertilization. She then explicit states the "elogium" only occurs once. While the doctor compares it to puberty, the elogium is both sexual maturity and "heat", that is, the time a female is ready for fertilization.

Bishop73

But it doesn't ever state the normalcy of birthing for Ocompans. Perhaps sextuplets is the norm?

Kes frequently used the word "child." If it was normal to give birth to more than one, she would know this and should say "children."

Bishop73

Do not forget that this is all done through the universal translator. For all you know the Ocompan word for child and children is the same so the translator cannot tell the difference.

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The Blacklist picture

Berlin: Conclusion - S1-E22

Plot hole: At the end of this episode Red takes off his shirt revealing his burned back, which leaves us to think that he might be Elizabeth's dad. However, this particular mark should have been noticed and written down in Red's prisoner file when he was taken into custody the first time (Episode 1). In that case Elizabeth would already know that Red is burned and could have asked some questions about it.

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Lupin picture

Chapter 1 - S1-E1

Plot hole: The protagonist gets in the exclusive, multi-millionaire, invites-only auction because the invitation is on a printed letter that he faked. This means that the guards at the entrance don't have a guest list to check, and since nobody knows who this person is, the staff does run a background check on his identity when he makes the first outrageous bid...by looking his name up on Wikipedia. That's mighty low standards of security, especially for an auction that was supposed to be for a selected audience and the most important in France.

Sammo

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer picture

What's My Line? (1) - S2-E9

Plot hole: If Spike and his gang only take a few hours to break through the door to Ford's club in 'Lie To Me' (which we are told is six feet of solid steel), why can't Angel break through a thin wire door that visibly shakes every time he hits it, given the same amount of time? (00:38:05)

Shay

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The Incredible Hulk picture

Darkness and Light: Part 1 - S1-E11

Plot hole: When Hulk and Banner have been physically separated by the nutrient bath, they are both wearing tattered pants. Given that Hulk and Banner were previously occupying the same body, this should not be possible. Hulk was the one that went into the nutrient bath, so if Banner's body was separated from Hulk, then Banner should be naked.

Phaneron

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

Suggested correction: It was done deliberately as a form of censorship. They didn't want to show Bruce's genitals.

Explaining why the mistake occurred doesn't invalidate it. Unless you're suggesting the nutrient bath also was able to duplicate the pants.

Bishop73

I am not. I am just explaining the reason behind this error.

Do you have a source for this explanation? If not, I would call it conjecture and while it doesn't invalidate the mistake, it does change it to a deliberate mistake if true.

ctown28

You realise a character can be drawn naked without actually showing their genitals (and/or breasts in the case of women), right? The Little Mermaid is a good example of this.

Phaneron

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The Thundermans picture

Weekend Guest - S1-E6

Plot hole: It turns out that the Venus Fly Trap ate Dr. Collosso, but this doesn't make sense for a few reasons. 1. There's no way that it could've opened the kennel without completely destroying the door. 2. The shot was off it for only 3 seconds, it couldn't have eaten him in that amount of time.

ryderpoints

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The Man From U.N.C.L.E. picture

The Quadripartite Affair - S1-E3

Plot hole: Solo blows open the ceiling vent of Illya and Marion's cell, and she stands on Illya's shoulders until Solo can reach her and pull her out. This leaves Illya with nothing/no one to stand on, no way to reach the vent and no apparent way out of the cell. But he's out just the same in the next scene, with no explanation as to how. (00:42:40)

Jean G

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Stargate SG-1 picture

Family - S2-E8

Plot hole: Huge plot error: Apophis and Clorell (Skara) should not have survived the explosion in Season 2, Episode 1 (when they attack Earth with two ships). In "Family" they explain that Apophis and Clorell survived by escaping through the stargate aboard Clorell's ship moments after Daniel Jackson did the same. However, when Daniel Jackson escapes through it, Apophis and Clorell are not even on the right ship, and there is 1 second left on the C4 timer when Daniel escapes. They actually show Daniel Jackson escape, and then cut to Apophis and Clorell still aboard their ship. So apparently, Apophis was able to "ring" from his ship over to Clorell's ship, make it to the stargate room, dial an address, and escape through the stargate all within literally 1 second. Is this guy related to The Flash?

AutofireDev

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

Suggested correction: That's not what happened or what was said. Daniel suggested Apophis and Klorel used the rings after he did, not that they used the Stargate after him. In "The Serpent's Lair", we see Apophis and Klorel use the rings BEFORE Daniel uses the Stargate. But we don't actually know how much time is meant to be left on the C-4 when they use the rings. They ended up using the Stargate before Daniel did and they never cut to them on board after Daniel escapes.

Bishop73

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24 (2001)

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Emergency! picture

The Promise - S3-E11

Plot hole: When Bo Jenson visits Richard Allen, he takes the elevator at the far south end of the ER wing, near the ER nurses' station, straight up to the 6th floor and then turns left to get to Richard's room in the short hallway, by the windows. When Richard jumps out the window and lands on the ledge, we see he's on the south side of Rampart's main building. Considering the actual floor plan of the hospital, this is completely impossible. The ER is located in the south lower wing and only has two floors, so Jensen could not have gone up to the 6th floor from the elevator he took.

Super Grover

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Tru Calling picture

Show generally

Plot hole: Throughout the series, auxiliary characters are always far too willing to give all kinds of information to Tru. Doctors and registrars constantly give her privileged information about patients and students. Tru is often able to retrieve information like addresses and phone numbers from people's service and utility companies, when normally you must verify your own information before they will even talk to you about your account. Of course there can't be an episode if Tru doesn't quickly find the person who asked for her help, even though she doesn't usually know much more than their name, but it's still a bit conspicuous.

DavidK93

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Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers picture

A Friend in Need (3) - S3-E3

Plot hole: Somehow Bulk and Skull know that the Rangers use the phrase "It's Morphin' time" and also reach behind their belts. They're not supposed to know this, unless they know the Rangers' identities (which of course they don't know despite their "efforts").

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Power Rangers Turbo picture

Shift Into Turbo: Part I - S1-E1

Plot hole: Divatox and co. live in a submarine in Angel Grove lake. In "Hogday Afternoon", Angel Grove lake was drained to about 30ft at the deepest. The lake would have to be several hundred feet deep for a large submarine to hide there.

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Charlie's Angels picture

Circus of Terror - S2-E7

Plot hole: After Sabrina and Tarloff have finished their rehearsal, Kris is able to pick the real sword with no hesitation. There are still six swords left in the basket (one is real, five are fake). They all look the same, so how could Kris know the exact position of the real one? (00:43:30)

Great_Captain

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The Mandalorian picture

Chapter 7: The Reckoning - S1-E7

Plot hole: The boss of the boss murders Werner Herzog because he knows that the baby is not in the crib. Yet it takes Mando's message (somehow intercepted) for the troopers to start moving in pursuit. The heck were they waiting for? They have overwhelming forces in the area and a previous deal with Karga. (00:33:10)

Sammo

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CSI: NY picture

The Fall - S1-E17

Plot hole: The CSIs catch a murder suspect putting down a drink can when reviewing security footage of a robbery, and immediately realise they didn't see it at the scene so assume one of the first cops on the scene must have removed it. Thing is though, the murderers shot out the security camera before the actual shooting occurred, meaning there was loads of time off-camera for the killers to take the can with them, but the CSIs never even consider this - they jump to the conclusion a cop took it even though there's no actual evidence for that.

Jon Sandys

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Ben 10 picture

Be Afraid of the Dark (2) - S3-E12

Plot hole: When the Corrodium Beam is shut down, there is a brief scene of the sky clearing at Mount Rushmore. But on the cliff face all four heads are seen, whereas the head of Theodore Roosevelt got crumbled in "Secrets," and it's too far forward to have been carved into the mountain face, in place (and same position) of the old head, yet again.

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