Best drama TV questions of all time

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The Pretender picture

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Question: Why doesn't Jarod just go to the FBI or police and say, "Hey, these people kidnapped me as a child and are trying to rekidnap me, please arrest them". After what he's been through I cannot think of any reason for him to protect them. Also, why, when he's pretending to be a doctor or some government official, does he run when Parker or Sam or whomever come to get him? If he's in a hospital do you really think they could just drag him out at gunpoint unnoticed? It can't be that The Centre had infiltrated all of these government agencies to such a high level, or how could Jarod continually pretend to be FBI, ATF, Justice Department and military personnel without being caught? Many times he actually worked in the offices of these organizations.

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: Well, there ARE people at the Center he wants to protect: Ms. Parker, Sydney, and Broots. Plus, people with influence like the Triumvirate has could stymie any investigation. And telling the FBI would necessitate revealing who and what he is to them, and he might be afraid that the Federal government would treat him as a guinea pig/resource like the Center did. Presumably, when the Center sends out Sweepers, they're "disguised" as law enforcement officials, with official-enough looking credentials to fool the casual onlooker. And just because the Center might have influence in government doesn't mean they necessarily have actual agents present everywhere. Perhaps Jared, in his Pretends, has made sure he's "under the radar." Besides, Jared doesn't KNOW how far up Center influence goes - after all, he wouldn't still be searching for "the truth" if he knew everything about the Center and its influence, would he?

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Question: There was an episode, where the only thing I remember is an autistic woman in court and it had something to do with having sex or having a baby with her autistic boyfriend. Anyone know what this episode is called?

TRENCH117

Chosen answer: "Thursday's Child" (season 4, episode 2, October 8th, 2002) : The parents of a sexually active mentally disabled 17-year-old (Lynsey Bartilson) come before Amy to request control of their daughter's reproductive rights. [source : TV Guide on-line.].

Michael Albert

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Preacher picture

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Question: I missed something somewhere. The whole way through, Humperdoo is viewed as the "real" son of God, whereas Jesus seems like an afterthought. What's the difference? Why is everyone obsessed with Humperdoo being more important than the original Jesus?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: God made Humperdoo part of his apocalypse plan, whilst Jesus is left out. Jesus died on the cross and went to heaven, Humperdoo is the descendant of Jesus and is actually alive. Thats why he is more important, a living heir of God.

lionhead

Answer: God was disappointed in Jesus, and chose to favour Humperdoo. Jesus initially wanted to be part of God's plan, but came to the realisation that it was wrong. He turned on Hitler and by the time God came back to Jesus, no longer wanted any part in it.

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Question: Is there any reason they can't introduce sand worms to other planets in the Duniverse, there to proliferate and produce a greater, more widely distributed quantity of the spice? The newborn worms are called sandtrout, by virtue of being more or less the size of such. Should be easy enough therefore to capture some, surround them with sand in the spaceship to imitate their homeworld, and take them to some other planet the Empire is willing to give up for any other use, then let them grow and produce spice? Much greater abundance, much surer supply (the proverbial eggs in one basket), much closer at hand for any other world in the Universe?

dizzyd

Answer: There could be a number of reasons: introducing non-native species can be devastating to an environment; the sandworms may only be able to survive in certain conditions that other planets lack; they may be unable to reproduce once introduced to a different environment; moving the number of worms needed to produce an adequate supply may be cost-prohibitive; it may be decades before the worms are old enough to produce the spice, the new environment might change the quality and chemical composition of the spice that is produced; political conflicts, and so on.

raywest

Answer: If Spice is even half as useful as the novel says, those are all trivial inconveniences compared to the payoff that would make it worth a try.

dizzyd

Next to the fact the unique conditions of Arrakis is what makes the spice melange (not just the worms, but also the planetary conditions) you have to also understand that having the spice production on one planet makes it much easier to control. Whoever controls the spice controls the universe. It wasn't until much later (hundreds of years after the death of the god emperor) they were able to replicate the spice, but before that they didn't even know how the spice was even made. A large reason for this is they had no AI (forbidden) to help analyze the spice melange.

lionhead

Fine, I accept the monopoly theory.

dizzyd

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The O.C. picture

The Blaze of Glory - S2-E16

Question: When Julie comes to Alex and Marissa's apartment and they argue, Marissa says that she'll just steal if she can't get a job, and says that Julie knows she is good at that. What is she referring to?

Answer: She is referring the episode entitled: The Best Chrismukkah Ever, episode 13, season 1. She goes out christmas shopping with Ryan and gets stopped by a security when she is out by Ryan's car. He asks to look inside her bag and finds a stolen watch and some other stolen things.

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Chicago Fire picture

Red Flag - S12-E7

Question: With the fire in the house, they opened up the walls and the ceiling. Why would they do that? Wouldn't that give the fire more oxygen?

The_Iceman

Answer: Internet sources give many reasons why firefighters do this, but in regards to your question, it's probably because opening walls and ceilings creates better ventilation which allows heat and smoke to escape, giving firefighters better visibility and lowering the temperature.

raywest

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Answer: Gluto has quite a cowardly personality and never contributed too much in fighting against the Power Rangers. When he felt that the final battle was getting too intense for him, he decided that he would rather be frozen than participate.

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Chosen answer: According to IMDb.com, it is Carly Simon.

Michael Albert

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The Office picture

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Question: If David Brent is such a poor unresponsible boss and no good at his job as he is portrayed, then how did he get into such a good position of being a branch manager in charge of so many staff?

pierpp

Answer: In the Christmas specials, David states the documentary crew stitched him up. In other words, he was made to look like an idiot by the way it was put together, but in actuality, he may not have been as bad as the documentary had made out. In addition, it's clear he let his upcoming celebrity status get to his head, something that would not have happened prior to the documentary crew's arrival. At the end of series 1, he mentioned one of his achievements was cutting expenditure without losing any staff.

Chosen answer: This is known as The Peter Principle - the theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.

Myridon

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Dexter: New Blood picture

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Question: Would it actually be possible for someone as young as Harrison was to remember seeing his mother being murdered? I think he was around a year old at the time.

Phaneron

Answer: Around 1 year old is very unlikely. However, there are numerous reports and articles online of kids as young as 4 telling people "daddy hurt mummy" or vice versa when witnessing a murder.

Ssiscool

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Death in Paradise picture

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Question: Why did the cord on the wall phone in the police station change from straight in the early episodes to coiled later?

Answer: There's probably no particular reason. Sets and props on long-running TV shows often change as needed and for various reasons throughout a series run.

raywest

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Spooks picture

The Lesser of Two Evils - S1-E6

Question: In this episode, Patrick McCann and his IRA splinter group plot to blow up "Broad Street Station" in London. In reality, British Rail beat him to it years ago. The real Broad Street Station closed in 1986, and has since been demolished (an office complex now stands on the site). Does anyone know which railway station (or stations) posed as the fictional Broad Street Station in this episode?

Answer: The shots of the tube station closing and the shot of the concourse were shot at Marylebone station. There is also a shot of the tracks in which a sign is visible pointing to Southwark station and the Jubilee Line, and I suspect this is a stock shot filmed at Waterloo station.

Sierra1

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Answer: Yes, in the "Blacklist" series, it's said Christopher was 3 when he disappeared.

Bishop73

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Answer: It was never explained on the show. The series only lasted 13 episodes so they didn't have time to go into how or why Cabot returned.

Maria Santos

More Conviction questions

Answer: Yes, Gloria and Michael have friends, but when they got married they decided it was best to live *rent free* with Edith and Archie, while Mike was going to college. Living with friends rent free, for quite a few years, is not an easy thing no matter how close the friends are with them. Since the Stivics needed their money to pay for the tuition and its other costs, their living arrangement made it all easier to deal with. Hence the Archie and Mike scenarios.

Super Grover

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Chosen answer: Everyone else calls him Brody or Sgt. Brody, and it probably became habit to her.

The_Iceman

Can't get the source but I read that even the Producer responded to that. Stating that it was common practise for a military wife living in a military complex as everybody refers to their husband by their last name.

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Weeds picture

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Question: How is it that Stevie is so old when Nancy gets out of prison? He was an infant when she went in and she did 3 years.

Answer: It's not uncommon for TV shows to suddenly "age up" baby/toddler characters in order for them to have more narrative purpose. Other examples of shows I can think of that did this are "Step by Step," "Last Man Standing," "Boy Meets World," and possibly "Dexter."

Phaneron

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Another Life picture

Through the Valley of Shadows - S1-E2

Question: Spoiler alert! At the end of the first episode, Ian attacks Niko with a knife. In self defence, she round house kicks him into an electrical current that kills him. She was reacting out of self defence and he struck first. With that being the case, why in the second episode is she not explaining that to the rest of the crew? She simply says he was a threat to the crew and she killed him... Leaving out completely that it was self defense and he attacked first. Why? It started causing tension immediately with some of the crew ready to turn on her for murder. Why didn't she just tell them he attacked her first and she defended herself?

Quantom X

Answer: First, it should be pointed out that Ian didn't actually attack Niko. He had a knife, made a vague threat about not being as magnanimous as she was to him, and did raise the knife after approaching her, but she kicked him first. But the crew had already mutinied against her. The way I see if, she wanted to make sure the crew thinks she was willing to kill anyone who was a threat to the mission. Whereas if she claimed self defense she would either look weak or a look like a liar.

Bishop73

The crew members that followed Ian might not believe he would try to attack for no reason. She had no marks on her, so if she claimed he attacked her first, she would be lying. Most of the crew that was awake already mistrusted her, so claiming self defense at that moment wouldn't make them start trusting her.

Bishop73

Answer: This is a mistake and should be listed as such.

Voluble

If it can be verified as such, sure. It seems there was a conscious decision by the show makers to do this though.

Quantom X

Even if the writers deliberately turned the captain into an idiot, that doesn't stop it from being a mistake by making an extremely poor decision. There's absolutely no reason to make your crew distrust you when your actions were justified.

Voluble

A great point.

Quantom X

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Reba picture

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Question: I remember an episode where Barbara-Jean gets the same hairstyle Reba has. Can someone tell me which episode this is?

Answer: I believe it was "Seeing Red" from season 2.

Karoo

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My So-Called Life picture

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Question: At the time of filming this show, Jared Leto was 21 and Claire Danes was 14. How were they legally allowed to make out? I understand parental consent was undoubtedly required, but where exactly would the line be drawn regarding age, as I doubt they could have had them make out if Danes was only 12 for example.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: For one, these are professional actors on a film set for a major production so some leeway would be given. Additionally, in the United States at least, kissing is not generally considered sexual contact from a legal standpoint. Kissing does not involve any private parts. Even in cases where kissing is considered sexual contact, the intention of the accused party would be taken into account. A sexual violation requires the desire for gratification from the accused. A hired actor kissing another actor because it is in the script does not rise to the level of someone seeking sexual gratification. He's literally doing his job.

BaconIsMyBFF

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