Best thriller TV stupidity of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Goosebumps picture

Stay Out Of The Basement (2) - S1-E13

Stupidity: When the real Dr. Brewer is found in the basement, he has duct tape over his mouth and needs his daughter to remove it for him. His hands are tied around the wrist, but not behind his back, so he could have easily removed the tape from his mouth himself long before he was found.

Phaneron

More Goosebumps 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
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
Spider-Man picture

The Return of Hydro-Man: Part 1 - S5-E7

Stupidity: When Spider-Man is working in the lab, he uses his webbing to barricade the door shut so no-one interrupts him. When Debra Whitman shows up and asks who is in there, he identifies himself as Peter Parker. When he is finished with his work, he leaves out of the window so that by the time the security guards break the door down, he has vanished. Since he used his webbing to keep the door closed, it would be pretty easy for Debra and the security guards to figure out that Peter is Spider-Man since Spider-Man's webbing is at the scene and Peter seemingly vanished into thin air.

Phaneron

More Spider-Man 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
Prison Break picture

Allen - S1-E2

Stupidity: Michael is shown to test the dimensions of the Allen key against a tattoo. Why not just try it in the bolt? It would be a lot more accurate. (00:37:00)

Ssiscool

More Prison Break stupidity
Justified picture

The Promise - S6-E13

Stupidity: Markham lets Ava call her uncle's phone, and she doesn't let on that Boyd answers instead. He later says "I don't trust anyone", but he didn't demand she put the call on speaker for transparency, he's quite happy (at the time) to just hear one side of the call.

Jon Sandys

More Justified 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
Continuum picture

A Stitch in Time - S1-E1

Stupidity: During a shootout in front of a bank, one of the bank robbers lays his shotgun on the trunk of a car and yells "I'm out!" However, he has 6 additional rounds in a shell holder on the side of the gun. (00:35:20)

More Continuum 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
X-Men picture

Slave Island - S1-E7

Stupidity: The mutants that are held prisoner and forced to build the dam on Genosha are allowed to keep their costumes on. The prisoners are captured so that their powers can be used to build the dam faster, but there's no reason why they wouldn't all be given prison uniforms. Characters like Gambit and Jubilee are wearing jackets, and Jubilee uses it to her advantage by pocketing a piece of twine to pick the lock to her cell later on.

Phaneron

More X-Men 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
Dexter picture

Goodbye Miami - S8-E10

Stupidity: After Dexter tells Hannah that the U.S. Marshals have distributed her picture everywhere, she questions how she will be able to flee Miami for Argentina. Dexter reasons he and Harrison can leave with her because the authorities won't be looking for a woman traveling with her "husband and child." It doesn't matter who she is or isn't traveling with. If the authorities have shared her picture, she's going to be flagged when she goes through security at the airport, which Dexter should certainly know. This is made all the more egregious when she takes Harrison to the hospital later in the episode and is ID'd by the receptionist.

Phaneron

More Dexter 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
X-Men: Evolution picture

Growing Pains - S2-E1

Stupidity: When the new principal is addressing the student body, Avalanche tries to impress Kitty by causing a couple of small earthquakes, one of which causes the scoreboard to crash to the floor below. The principal laughs off the incident and continues to address everyone instead of either evacuating the area or having everyone take cover.

Phaneron

More X-Men: Evolution 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
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers picture

A Bad Reflection on You - S1-E38

Stupidity: The decision to risk revealing their identities to Bulk and Skull is one that the Rangers could have easily avoided. Since they tell the bullies to cover their eyes and ears, under the false pretense of a magic trick, they could have simply teleported to the Command Center, or any other secure location, and then morphed, well away from prying eyes.

Cubs Fan

More Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers stupidity
City on a Hill picture

From Injustice Came the Way to Describe Justice - S1-E5

Stupidity: The police raid an apartment in search of guns. They should have used a ballistic shield for the point man to make entry and hit the apartment with a concussion device (flash-bang). The police officer who took a stomach full of lead would have more than likely survived had they been properly equipped. Ballistic shields have been around since 1977. This story takes place in 1992. (00:49:17)

More City on a Hill stupidity
More Nowhere Man stupidity
Whiskey Cavalier picture

When in Rome - S1-E3

Stupidity: A supposedly covert camera is placed in plain sight on a wall in a crowded room, with a prominent antenna showing, and a blinking blue light. (00:16:55)

toroscan

More Whiskey Cavalier stupidity

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.