Best mystery TV stupidity of all time

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Monk picture

Mr. Monk and the Astronaut - S4-E14

Stupidity: Steve Wagner is shown expertly constructing an elaborate hanging machine, but he adds a superfluous complication by having it triggered by a garage door remote control that he posts to the address in question. Anything could (and does) go wrong! Why doesn't he simply have it triggered by a bog standard timing device that you can buy in a hardware store for a tenner? I am not sure I'd trust him with my space shuttle.

More Monk stupidity
Batman: The Animated Series picture

Heart of Ice - S1-E3

Stupidity: Ferris Boyle tries to cover up his sabotage of Victor Fries' experiment, but he opts to store the incriminating security tape of the event in a filing cabinet instead of simply destroying the footage.

Phaneron

More Batman: The Animated Series stupidity
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He was being blackmailed by Gary Roberts. He "reopened" the case as a ruse to kill Roberts.

Bishop73

More Murder, She Wrote stupidity
Castle picture

Crossfire - S8-E22

Stupidity: When Castle and Beckett discuss the trap LokSat set for them at the dead drop and any forthcoming retribution, Beckett comments that her dad should be relatively safe from reprisal because he's on business out of town. Someone as smart as Beckett would never make such brain-deadly dumb assumption; considering how powerful and how dangerous he's supposed to be, especially with the resources of the CIA at his disposal, LokSat surely would have no trouble finding and getting to, and certainly no qualms about eliminating, Beckett's dad if it stopped her in her pursuit of him.

Cubs Fan

More Castle stupidity
Hustle picture

Lest Ye Be Judged - S5-E3

Stupidity: The plan to infiltrate Emma into the coroner's office in a body bag is stupid. She is wearing a paramedic's uniform, and we see later when Mickey arrives, nobody is checking ID papers. How would she know that there was nobody in the room when she emerged from the body bag? If she could walk about the building without being stopped, why couldn't she simply walk in through the wide open front door in the first place?

More Hustle stupidity
Line of Duty picture

Episode #3.1 - S3-E1

Stupidity: Ronan Murphy is left handed. Watch carefully as he disarms himself. His weapon is replaced in his right hand. In a suspicious shooting, they never thought to check something so basic? (00:04:12)

More Line of Duty stupidity
Magnum, P.I. picture

One More Summer - S2-E16

Stupidity: The whole episode is adorable 80s camp that makes zero sense. A very public attempt is made to the life of the star player, at a party and there are 3 bullet holes in a car to prove it. He hires someone to investigate, and the only way this guy has to protect him is to be added to the team. That's absurd; not just because it's not how pro football works, but also because being on the pitch getting physical with other players in no way helps to protect Darcey from a shooter that snipes at him from distance; Magnum would have done a better job watching him from the stands and being on the lookout at the hotel.

Sammo

More Magnum, P.I. stupidity
The Blacklist picture

The Forecaster (No. 163) - S4-E10

Stupidity: Farnsworth tells Charnquist they've been compromised by a girl listening in on their phone calls and that Charnquist needs to take care of it. He is able to identify the girl, elude FBI, tries to burn his apartment down, is able to gains access to Maggie's apartment and knock out Aram in order to kidnap Maggie. He's a killer who works for someone who has arranged dozen of murders, and knows "take care of her" means kill her. There is absolutely no reason for Charnquist not to have just killed Maggie, Aram, and Fiona. He had opportunity and he ends up killing 3 cops in order to kidnap her and kidnapping Maggie would not have solved anything.

Bishop73

More The Blacklist stupidity
Death in Paradise picture

The Secret of the Flame Tree - S6-E2

Stupidity: Sylvie Baptiste is a successful writer, and she published novels after her masterpiece. The idea that she'd lose all her fame and fortune if someone published an academic paper making a completely unsubstantiated claim (if Sylvie does not have an original manuscript of the novel, neither does Lizzie) about her novel being the work of her crazy sister, is simply absurd. A good copyright lawyer or even any decent PR agency would put the appropriate spin to the accusations easily, and since her sister is certainly not gonna sue her and Sylvie is her only possible tutor, all those people supposedly very well connected with the academia and industry and shrewd in marketing their work, overreact for nothing. Even better; Humphrey has not even exposed the killer (or that it is a murder at all), and the university announces already that they plan to give a posthumous PhD to the deceased, for the paper she hasn't finished, based on an accusation with no evidence.

Sammo

More Death in Paradise stupidity
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries picture

King Memses' Curse - S1-E13

Stupidity: The bad guys tied up, bound and gagged a 100 pounds teenager, but left the policeman they captured completely free of any restraints whatsoever in the same room (no real reason why they wouldn't have killed him).

Sammo

More Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries stupidity
CSI: Miami picture

Point of Impact - S8-E8

Stupidity: After talking to the bartender, Calleigh goes back the lab and talks to Caine, and he wonders if they got a false positive from the vic's blood alcohol. Calleigh then gives a detailed description of how that could happen; Caine already knows how (obviously this was done for the audience, to explain it, but in the context of the show, it makes no sense).

brianjr0412

More CSI: Miami stupidity
CSI: NY picture

Zoo York - S2-E3

Stupidity: When Mac and Lindsay are reconstructing the stab wound found on their victim on their pig specimen, a couple of the weapons they use are long, thin knives; since they obviously don't match the circular wound, Mac at the very least would know those could be excluded by default.

Cubs Fan

More CSI: NY stupidity
South Park picture

The Succubus (a.k.a. Chef's Mama) - S3-E3

Stupidity: When Kenny and Cartman are sitting on the bench, Cartman can't start the tape as he has fallen asleep. Kenny then tries to wake him up, but wouldn't it have made far more sense for him to just start it himself, as he is sitting right next to it? Cartman's job was to push the play button. It was not like he had to rewind, fast forward or even eject the tape, so all Kenny had to do was just simply push the play button and tape would have started to play.

Shay

More South Park stupidity
The Twilight Zone picture

Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up - S2-E28

Stupidity: The whole plot is based upon 6 people not being able to spot the seventh (odd man out). We can eliminate the couples, the driver remembers the pretty blond getting on the bus and the crazy old guy would stick in anybodies memory, so it leaves only the sour old guy in the coat and hat as the martian.Also all the troopers has to do was ask for IDs which they do but quit after they ask the crazy old guy for his.

hifijohn

More The Twilight Zone stupidity
The Adventures of Tintin picture

The Secret of the Unicorn: Part 2 - S1-E4

Stupidity: When the Bird brothers are searching the treasure room for Tintin, one of them claims they have found him, and points. The other brother then shoots at him which was turns out to have just been a mirror reflection. The brothers then proceed to find Tintin and start by going straight forward, completely in a different direction than the mirror. If they wanted to find Tintin, wouldn't the more logical thing to do be simply look in the direction the mirror was pointing at? The whole point of a mirror is to reflect what is in front of it, so Tintin would probably have been standing in that direction anyway. (00:37:25)

Casual Person

More The Adventures of Tintin stupidity
Dexter picture

Monkey in a Box - S8-E11

Stupidity: Dexter's decision not to kill Trinity when he had the chance eventually led to Rita's death, a mistake Dexter told Deb he would never make again. However, at the end of this episode, he decides to spare Oliver Saxon so Deb can arrest him. Dexter doesn't stay to ensure that Deb successfully has Saxon in custody, which leads to Saxon escaping his shackles with the unwitting help of Deputy Marshal Clayton, and shooting Deb before leaving the scene. Dexter therefore does make the same mistake again.

Phaneron

More Dexter stupidity
The X-Files picture

Soft Light - S2-E23

Stupidity: After Mulder requests a fingerprint check on light bulb, Scully wipes it down with a napkin, removing any such evidence with no possible useful outcome. (00:06:00)

More The X-Files stupidity

FBI (2018)

FBI picture

God Complex - S5-E23

Stupidity: Maggie and OA are searching the building. As they walk up the stairs, Maggie is using the Harries technique, but she has both her handheld flashlight and the gun's flashlight on at the same time. This defeats the purpose of the technique. Additionally, it's daytime, so the building is lit up from natural light sources, but they still have their flashlights on. (00:13:36)

More FBI stupidity
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service picture

Trojan Horse - S4-E23

Stupidity: When the bad guys are discussing the plans inside a private jet, the scene finishes and there's a shot of the plane in the sky. The plane immediately veers to the right, and spins almost 90°, as fighter jets do when they turn quickly. If there were three people inside, (one of whom was in the bathroom) they would have been thrown about the cabin quite violently. (00:11:25)

yallmindifipraisegod

More NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service stupidity
The Rockford Files picture

Backlash of the Hunter - S1-E1

Stupidity: Rockford knows almost nothing about the guy who is tailing him except that he noticed him while he was grabbing a bite with his client. Regardless of that, he sends the same client to seduce him, just assuming that he won't be able to recognize her. And it works. Is Lindsay Wagner this hard to forget, that this guy just an hour or two later isn't able to tell it's the same woman his target was meeting?

Sammo

More The Rockford Files stupidity

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