Cubs Fan

20th Feb 2018

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Question: Why does Mrs. Weasley buy some dress robes for Harry and get old ones for Ron? If she's buying clothes for Harry (a famous child) over someone from her own family, couldn't that give Ron the impression that she cares more for Harry than her own family?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Keep in mind that when his parents died, Harry was left a moderately large inheritance. If memory serves, Mrs. Weasley mentions stopping at his Gringotts vault to get some money on his behalf for school supplies. So while Ron's dress robes may be a little shabby and secondhand, given how tight his family's expenses are, Harry's are nicer because his wealth allows him more wiggle room. Who Molly cares about more, or Ron's inference thereof, has got nothing to do with it.

Answer: I agree with what Cubs Fan said, and I want to point out that Mrs. Weasley knows what Harry's life with the Dursleys is like. She probably wanted to buy him dress robes because he is treated badly at home. Ron almost never gets new clothes because his family is poor. Harry almost never gets them because the Dursleys choose to make him wear Dudley's old clothes. They deliberately spoil Dudley and neglect Harry.

29th Jan 2018

Charmed (1998)

Desperate Housewitches - S8-E4

Question: Why does Paige ask Phoebe and Piper how they vanquished the source the first time when he gets brought back at magic school with a demon and the help of little Wyatt? She was there the first time and helped vanquish him.

Answer: Wasn't Prue the one who helped them kill the source the first time? Not Paige.

Answer: Just a character mistake. The possibilities of "why?" are endless, but it could be that one of the writers forgot, or was a new staff addition, and nobody else picked up on it.

25th Jan 2018

Patriots Day (2016)

Question: Why did the Tsarnaev brothers have Dun Meng go with them when they take his car? Why didn't they just take it and leave Dun Meng behind?

Answer: As an insurance policy to escape. Since they had just confessed to him that they were the marathon bombers, they had no reason to believe that he wouldn't go the police the moment they were out of sight.

11th Sep 2017

Home Alone (1990)

Question: When a police officer comes to Kevin's house, the officer rings the doorbell, but since he gets no answer, assumes no one is home. But in real life, wouldn't a policeman break into the house, and then search the house, and then bring the child out of the house, and take to him to his family, just in case a the child did exactly what Kevin did, hiding under the bed or couch? Also wouldn't Kevin's parents get arrested for leaving Kevin behind if the police did find out they left him behind?

Answer: To answer your first question, no. As a right protected under the Fourth Amendment, the police are prohibited from entering a private residence without either a warrant and probable cause or the consent of the homeowner. Since, as you point out, the policeman assumes no one is home, there's no cause to enter; had he heard, say, a cry for help from inside the house, that would constitute an exigent circumstance, an exception that would allow him to enter in order to help someone in imminent danger. To answer your second question, I doubt it. What happened wasn't done deliberately or out of neglect; it was an accident caused by circumstances beyond their control; accidents can, and do, happen.

He did get consent. The mother asked the police to go get him.

Fair point, but the question relates to if such an incident were to occur in real life.

Answer: No she asked for a police officer to be sent to the house to check on Kevin and make sure that he was OK.

7th Sep 2017

The Sandlot (1993)

Question: Why didn't Benny laugh at Smalls at the start like the others right after Smalls said that his life was over? And why did Benny make Smalls come play with them after how he saw he wasn't good at it, even if he did make a whole team when they could get anyone else?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: Benny is more empathetic towards Smalls than the others initially are since, as a game, baseball is meant to be more about having fun than winning or losing. Inviting Smalls to join their ragtag team, even with his poor performance, is Benny's attempt to build Smalls' self-esteem and confidence in himself.

7th Sep 2017

The Big Bang Theory (2007)

The Engagement Reaction - S4-E23

Question: When they're at the hospital Howard never said that he told his mother that he was engaged, so how would Bernadette know he said that?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: She figured it out from what he did say. Since their engagement is a relatively recent development, it's an easy deduction that the shock of such a huge step in their relationship is what knocked his mother for a loop.

7th Sep 2017

The Big Bang Theory (2007)

Question: What is Sheldon's problem with Kripke?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: It's probably nothing personal, but with the combination of his IQ and his superiority complex, along with the fact that they study in the same field, Sheldon just feels that Kripke is beneath him as a scientist.

7th Sep 2017

La Confidential (1997)

Question: How did Exley know about Leow and Reynolds when speaking to Leow?

Answer: Vincennes, most likely. The condition under which Jack gives his help to Exley in solving the Nite Owl case is Exley's help in solving Reynolds' murder, so Jack must have filled him in on the case details.

12th Aug 2017

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Question: If the auror Percival Graves turned out to be Gellert Grindelwald in disguise, then what happened to the "real" Percival Graves?

Answer: With the knowledge we have about Grindelwald from the books, Graves is most likely dead. But with little to no other information available, we can't really assume anything.

1st Aug 2017

Ice Age (2002)

Question: When the baby pulls Manny's nose hairs out, there were white things at the ends. Not to sound gross but I've done it in my nostrils and my armpits, and I wanted to ask what those white ends are?

Answer: The roots, most likely. In hair follicles, it's where one's DNA coding is stored.

19th Jul 2017

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Question: During the Quidditch game, why was Dobby making the Bludger chase Harry?

Chosen answer: Dobby was aware of the plot to re-open the Chamber of Secrets, and tried to prevent Harry from returning to school. Harry refused to listen, so in an attempt to protect him, Dobby bewitched the Bludger to injure him severely enough that he would be forced to return home.

30th May 2017

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Question: Riddle said he knew Harry would try and solve the mystery of who was behind the attacks. Particularly if one of his best friends was involved, but how did he know Hermione was one of Harry's best friends?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: Ginny, most likely. She had been writing in it before Harry found it and confiding her feelings and fears to Riddle.

16th Dec 2015

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: When Gordon faked his death, I'd assume he was wearing a bullet proof vest, but when he got shot you could see blood from his back. Why was there blood? Did he really get shot and survive or was that a movie mistake?

Answer: It was probably a blood packet, in order to make Gordon's "death" look convincing.

27th Jul 2015

24 (2001)

Day 4: 1:00 A.M.-2:00 A.M. - S4-E19

Question: After the President is injured in the plane crash, VP Logan is made President. While hiding in the bunker he says "they could be coming for me next." If they did attack Logan and he was severely injured also, who would take over as President? No VP was appointed after Logan was "promoted" so who is next in line?

Chosen answer: With no vice president, the Senate pro tempore would be next in the line of succession.

10th May 2015

Back to the Future (1985)

Question: What does the saying "Why don't you make like a tree, and get out of here", mean?

Answer: It's a way of saying "scram" or "get lost." But Biff is so dim, he doesn't realize he's saying it wrong; the expression is "make like a tree and leaf", with the joke being that "leaf" is meant to sound like "leave."

8th Apr 2015

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Question: While in disguise as Professor Moody, why didn't Barty Jr. grab Harry earlier in the school year and take him to Voldemort?

Answer: It would have looked too suspicious. Voldemort's plan relied on secrecy, and in his position impersonating Moody, Crouch needed to make sure no one discovered him before Voldemort returned to his physical body. Disappearing from school with Harry would have blatantly tipped off Dumbledore.

8th Apr 2015

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

Question: Ron, Harry, and Hermione use polyjuice potion a lot. I'm confused as to how this is. In The Chamber of Secrets it is revealed that it takes a month to make. It would seem unlikely that Hermione would carry around a cauldron and potion ingredients and waste a month making the potion after they had a plan. If Hermione had made them over the summer, she would have only had time to make a few before she would have to leave with Harry and Ron. How do they get all their polyjuice potion?

Chosen answer: It's explained a little more in the book. Hermione swiped Mad-Eye Moody's stock of the potion when Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking. And it's possible that, when they ran low, she simply replicated it with a Doubling Charm.

3rd Mar 2015

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Question: When Harry visits Professor Lupin's office the first time, why does Lupin apologize for only having tea bags and not leaves? (I am American and tea is not as popular in all areas of the United States).

Answer: It's a jokey reference to Harry's Divination classes, where he has been studying the reading of tea leaves; in a recent class, Professor Trelawney claimed to have seen the Grim - an omen of death - in Harry's teacup, and has been regularly predicting his impending doom. By saying he's out of leaves and only has teabags, Lupin is trying to inject some humor into the situation in order to put Harry at ease, so he won't dwell on the Grim or any other death omens.

17th Feb 2015

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Question: How does Hermione know so much about magic and the wizard world already, more than Harry, if she and Harry were both raised by Muggle families?

Answer: After learning she was a witch and purchasing all her school textbooks, she learned them all by heart. She also read as much as she could about the magical world, presumably in order to help her ease the transition into her new surroundings.

28th Nov 2014

Criminal Minds (2005)

Question: What are they saying and/or what does it mean when the team keeps saying "unsub...?

Answer: They are referring to the killer they are searching for. It's an amalgamation of "Unknown Subject."

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