Best drama TV plot holes of all time

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Scrubs picture

My Lunch - S5-E20

Plot hole: Season 5, episode 20 (My Lunch). One of Dr. Cox' patients needs a heart valve transplanted. Heart valves don't have to be transplanted from another person. They can be replaced by a metal valve, or the surgeon can create a new valve from a different part of the patient's body. There was no reason to wait for a donor valve when they had other options available.

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Bones picture

The Man in the Fallout Shelter - S1-E9

Plot hole: At first the victim (Careful Lionel) is described as not returning to pick up his new shirt in November 1958, and possessing love letters dated from 1957 through early winter (November) 1958. Booth reports the fallout shelter where Lionel's body was discovered was sealed in 1958. Later Lionel is described as reported missing by his boss in January 1960, and the illegitimate child he fathered was born in 1960 as well. That would mean his boss didn't notice he was gone for over a year, and his pregnant girlfriend was with child for at least 14 months.

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Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries picture

Raisins and Almonds - S1-E5

Plot hole: It turns out in the climax of the episode that there are no bullets left in the gun and Miss Fisher knew it. That would mean then that she deliberately wasted minutes with Simon bleeding out on the floor when Chaim was holding them at gunpoint with an empty revolver, for no discernible purpose.

Sammo

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Death in Paradise picture

Episode #1.5 - S1-E5

Plot hole: Leon Hamilton is the most hated man in Sainte Marie, with over 900 people on the island conned by him. Yet exactly one person in the whole island knows how he looks like, every newspaper and website never ever published a picture of him even during the very public trial when they were trying to get their thousands of dollars back nor publish an archive picture after his death.

Sammo

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FBI (2018)

FBI picture

Outsider - S2-E6

Plot hole: The FBI is looking for a "very tall" guy who has been identified as such by various witnesses and by their own expert due to the entry angle of a fatal bullet wound - 6'5" at least. They send Elena into a bar near the end of the show to meet the Albanian perp who when he arrives is barely average height.

bnemirow

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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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Boy Meets World picture

What A Drag! - S7-E11

Plot hole: At the beginning of the episode, Eric and Jack call the cops on Luther for planning an illegal rave at the college, but the cops let him go because he had not started the rave. He still broke into the student union building, and therefore should have still been arrested. He even threatens Eric and Jack afterwards right in front of the cops, and they do nothing about it. (00:00:20 - 00:02:10)

Phaneron

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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

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Degrassi: The Next Generation picture

Show generally

Plot hole: In the start of season 4 we meet Liberty's little brother, Danny. J.T. and Manny are making fun of him because he is new to the school and is starting out. If he is starting out, then he should be in the 7th grade, because it is stated in the first episode that the school changed into a 7-12. Liberty, J.T., Manny, Emma,Toby etc. are all in the 10th grade so how does it end up that Danny is a grade below Liberty?

Movieman123

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Hawaii Five-O picture

Season 8 generally

Plot hole: 8-22 "Love Thy Neighbor, Take His Wife": The police cars speed to Tanaka's house with their sirens screaming, warning him in plenty of time to allow him to escape. Apparently these guys never heard of the law-enforcement standard "silent approach."

Jean G

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Eastenders picture

Show generally

Plot hole: Why is it that no-one in the square owns a washing machine. Surely this would mean the launderette would always be crowded.

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Smallville picture

Lucy - S4-E16

Plot hole: In episode 4-16: "Lucy," there is no reason for the criminals to be chasing Lucy on the ski slopes at the beginning of the episode. We learn later that she's been working with them all along; she calls Lois during the chase, and the call is part of Lucy's plan with the criminals. Lucy being chased by the criminals would make sense given the story she gives Clark during the next part of the episode, but it doesn't make sense for what we ultimately learn is the truth. And nobody from Smallville is anywhere near the ski chase, so it also doesn't make sense as any kind of a ruse.

DavidK93

More Smallville plot holes

ER (1994)

ER picture

Show generally

Plot hole: There are always family members right in the room while the doctors are literally cutting into the patients. The family is always creating a fuss or whatever, until someone asks for them to escorted out. A real hospital would never let family members into the room while they are cracking open their loved one's chest.

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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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Forever Knight picture

Father Figure - S1-E14

Plot hole: When the two henchmen who break into Nick's loft to kill Lisa are captured, the case is closed. But the two thugs were reporting back to a boss who wasn't caught, and who surely would have sent more hitmen after Lisa. So the case shouldn't have been closed.

Jean G

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Ghost Whisperer picture

Threshold - S4-E7

Plot hole: Jim taking over Sam's body just doesn't make any sense. It's plausible for a spirit to temporarily take over a living body, but a dead body is dead for a reason. It can't sustain life anymore. Death isn't a temporary ailment. It's permanent. What should have happened was the same thing that happened when another ghost took over a recently deceased person, which happened in a previous episode. The dead body would decay and start to lose function. Sam's body suddenly gaining back the properties of life is completely inconsistent with what we're led to believe in the setting of the show.

Knever

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

Suggested correction: This is a fictional show that pushed the boundaries and constantly changed the rules; how is this a mistake?

I tell myself that Sam's injuries were not as extensive as prom ghost so his body was able to stay alive.

I think what happened is that Sam jumped out and went into the light before they were able to revive him. Had he waited just a few more seconds next to his body He would have gone right back in. Some people die for a few seconds, and then they're able to bring them back through CPR or using the paddles and shocking his heart, etc.

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The West Wing picture

Jefferson Lives - S5-E3

Plot hole: The Zoey Bartlett kidnap crisis cliffhanger that stretches across the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5 makes no sense in terms of time. Charlie pulls out a note from his wallet that says they will dig up a bottle of champagne on May 7 - Zoey's graduation night. They do. Later that night she is abducted. She is gone three days. Four days later (in "Jefferson Lives") Abby chews out Leo, saying, "It's only been four days and her bruises have not yet begun to heal." The date should be May 14th. However, "Jefferson Lives" supposedly occurs on the Fourth of July - Zoey says it's the Fourth and they all watch the Capitol Fireworks at the end.

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Stargate: Atlantis picture

Home - S1-E9

Plot hole: General Hammond is promoted to 3-star general and command of the SGC is given to General O'Neill before the Atlantis gang even left earth. Why is it, that none of them find it the least bit odd that a 2-star Hammond greeted their return instead of O'Neill?

Grumpy Scot

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

Suggested correction: The dream-state induced by the aliens had some ability to stop them from questioning their reality. (One of them takes quite a while to realise that a friend they're partying with died years before they left for Atlantis). It's not infallible or entirely consistent, but it would theoretically explain this.

Anson Gordon-Creed

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Cheers picture

What's Up, Doc? - S7-E18

Plot hole: At closing time, Cliff, Norm and Woody spontaneously decide to go to Cliff's house. Sam then enters the bar after his date at Melville's. Later in the scene, Rebecca asks Sam about the 'Three Stooges', to which Sam sarcastically replies that they went to Cliff's house. But how could he possibly know that since he entered the scene after they had already left.

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