Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

The Mel Word - S1-E18

Question: When Joey and Melissa tried to catch Bianca cheating on camera, why did she suddenly refuse their advances after she already "made a pass" at each of them? She says that this is her wedding day, but then she has sex with her two stylists. So cheating on the day of her wedding is not an issue for her.

Answer: Apparently, she already planned the encounter with the stylists, so she doesn't have time to be with Joey and/or Melissa now.

Question: In first classroom scene, Cochise has his head down on the desk. His blue sweatshirt has K. Davis stenciled on the back. Why?

Question: Why did the CDC group shoot the principle dead when he tries to tell them what's going on? Why can't they just tell John and Cassie what's going on before forcing them back into the school?

Trainman

Answer: Bribery, false documents, smuggling. Take your pick.

Answer: Diplomatic immunity.

ChristmasJonesfan

Question: When Solomon met with Michael Sheen, he and Maddy were staging a set-up to expose him, as well Van De Kamp. Since what he and Van de Kamp did were technically illegal, wouldn't Solomon be arrested for giving him the diamond?

Answer: More often than not, lesser criminals are granted immunity in order to bring down greater criminals or complete criminal organizations. From a criminal justice standpoint, it makes sense to let Vandy off scot free if it helps you put the big fish in jail.

Nauticalisimo

Question: Why does the gargoyle have to kill Preston after he broke his vow? She loves him and even if he did go around telling people about her, nobody would obviously believe him.

Answer: While it's not explicitly said in the film, it seems Preston breaking his vow turned her back into a gargoyle. She didn't have a choice and since he swore on his life never to say anything, she had to kill him. Plus, the stories in the book don't have happy endings.

Bishop73

Question: Griffin can almost exactly predict when and what happens next, but when it comes to Boris the animal he can't. Every time Boris got close to Griffin, every possible scenario seems to change. Griffin also says, "Oh no! I didn't think this through or see this happening." Is it some sort of firewall that Boris has on Griffin?

Answer: He doesn't see one future, he sees multiple. So there are multiple possibilities of what is going to happen and he knows all of them and can only predict once something has been confirmed first. This is demonstrated when he and J first meet.

lionhead

Question: If Marie was dead when Bourne took her body out of the car in the river, why did her body sink to the bottom instead of floating after being let go? And how did Jason make sure she was dead?

Answer: The density of the human body is similar to the density of water, and what keeps us floating is the air in our lungs. Once this air is replaced with water, people will sink to the bottom. Jason probably recognized that she drowned from his training. To add to the other answer from a scientific standpoint. Bodies do resurface once putrefaction begins. Microbes will start to eat bits from inside the body that results in a lot of gas. As a result, this causes the density of the body to decrease, as the gas is light, and the body will float up to the surface of the water.

Invader_Gir

Answer: We only see her sink to the bottom. We never see her surface. Also he checked her pulse before letting go. Just in a way we couldn't see. Her body would have surfaced eventually but by then we were more focused on Bourne and his escape.

ChristmasJonesfan

Question: While at the park, why did Dudley still bully Harry? Knowing that Harry is quite capable of doing magic, wouldn't it have been better for Dudley to just leave him alone instead of trying to act macho in front of his friends?

Answer: Dudley was too much an immature bully to stop harassing Harry. His entire personality was selfish, boorish, and cruel. He knew exactly what he could and couldn't get away with regarding Harry. He also knew Harry was not allowed to perform magic outside of Hogwarts while underage and would get into severe trouble for harming a Muggle. The entire Dursley family increasingly feared Harry as he matured. Dudley started to change for the better after Harry saved him from the Dementors.

raywest

Adding on to this answer: In the "Chamber of Secrets" book, some of this is explained. Chapter 2 is when the Dursleys learn that Harry is *not* supposed to be using magic outside of school. Until then, he briefly enjoys their nervousness around him.

For All Time. Always. - S1-E6

Question: He Who Remains talks about reincarnation, and says "see you soon" to Sylvie. Does he literally mean this version of himself will return? If so how, given he's, y'know, dead? Or does he just mean that another version of him will encounter Sylvie in due course, either his younger self or another variant?

Answer: No he doesn't mean this version of himself, he means the other versions. They are all basically him.

lionhead

Question: My question is regarding the scene with the refuelling plane. Was it on the ship when it went back into the past? If so, that doesn't make sense. The refueling plane would have to already be in the air, conceivably arriving from another location. That location would still be in the future.

Answer: Apparently, the storm that pulls the carrier to another time can also catch planes in flight. It caught the planes launched to intercept the Japanese attack, and pulled them back to the future along with the carrier.

Question: Why do people in the film refer to replicants as androids and machines when (just like normal humans) they seem to be made of flesh and blood and are not mechanical?

Answer: This could start getting metaphysical but ultimately it's semantics. An android is a humanoid robot. A robot is "a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically". A machine is "a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action". Note none of those definitions specify metal parts, or even being artificial. Human beings are machines, in the same way that human beings are animals, in literal terms, we're "just" biological machines, but we tend not to think of ourselves as such, because "human" is a more specific definition, and people like to feel that humanity confers a higher status of sorts. So it boils down to us vs. them, really - despite all of their many human traits, a lot of humans don't want to be conflated with replicants, so different terminology is used. There's also an argument to be made that as with a lot of dehumanising terms used in the present day, calling them machines helps to justify mistreatment, even though the replicants are just as capable of life and thought as humans are.

Answer: The replicants are indeed androids/machines; like Terminators, they are made to look human by adding human parts, such as skin and blood and even organs ("surrounded by living tissue", if you will). Unlike Terminators, however, they are not programmed simply to kill/destroy humans...they are simply "upgraded" versions of humans, who like all of us want to live with freedom and self-actualisation.

Don't Come Back Alive - S1-E4

Question: Mr. Partridge's new job does not start until next month, and they will not receive the insurance pay-out until Mrs. Partridge has been missing for seven years. But Mrs. Partridge says the landlord will evict them on Monday if the rent is not paid. So how does Mr. Partridge stay in the house? And how can they afford to get a secret apartment and new glasses for Mrs. Partridge?

Question: Why didn't they need more than one pill? We take pills daily. These people took one dose the first day and then never again. They were there for about 50 years with one dosage but somehow they still worked?

Answer: The people were only there for about a day. The beach they were taken to rapidly aged them at the rate of one year every thirty minutes. The pharmaceutical company used them as test subjects by continually spiking their drinks with experimental medications for various health conditions to simulate a 50-year long drug trial within a 24-hour period.

raywest

Answer: A number of online explanations said it was because Lowe was already contractually tied to another project while this one was being filmed. Another explanation is that he was left uncredited so his appearance mid-film would come as a "surprise" when the plot took a different turn.

raywest

I read where his contract with the mini-series "The Stand" left him unable to take any credited roles. However, it seems "Tommy Boy" began filming after "The Stand" aired and he was credited for his role as Jesse James in "Frank and Jesse." However, it seems to be an Internet story where the source isn't credited.

Bishop73

Answer: Peter mentions receiving 3 telegrams from Libya, Iraq, and North Korea. At the pool party we see Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, wearing a green beret; Saddam Hussein of Iraq, wearing a red beret; and in the pool Kim il-sung (or possibly Kim Jong-il) of North Korea. Slobodan Milosevic brought the coleslaw. Also, playing Marco Polo in the pool are: Fidel Castro wearing military green cap and smoking a cigar; Yasser Arafat wearing a checkered keffiyeh; Idi Amin wearing a purple hat; Ruhollah Khomeini (or possibly Ali Khamenei) with a grey beard wearing a black turban. Stewie talks to Achmed (wearing mustard gas T-shirt) and calls out to "Manuel" which could refer to Manuel Noriega of Panama, but he's not seen.

Super Grover

Question: When Hans is interrogating Takagi, why would he remove a silencer to fire the weapon indoors without hearing protection? Wouldn't it be more menacing to put a silencer on in that situation?

Answer: I think he's just subtly showing Takagi that he's in control of the situation - there's no need to hide behind a silencer, which they were using earlier. They've taken over and can do whatever they want, including loudly executing people. It's a very subtle power-play.

TedStixon

Answer: They used guns with silencers to access the building and take control swiftly and quietly. Now that they no longer need to do that he takes off the silencer. A silencer affects the gun's accuracy. It is also highly likely he wanted the people in the other room to hear the shot.

lionhead

I had the same thought about Hans wanting the other hostages to hear the shot to instill fear and show how ruthless he truly was, like when Ellis was shot. I wasn't sure if Has and his accomplices were still on the same floor as the hostages when he killed Takagi.

raywest

Answer: Hans may be posturing to look less menacing. By removing the silencer and placing the gun on the table, he appears to be "disarming" himself, making Takagi feel less threatened and creating a false sense of security to relax him a little so he'd be more cooperative.

raywest

Question: What did Rachel mean when she told Anna that she took away her ability to have her own daughter?

Answer: I think she said that after she was stabbed.

Question: If the government killed everyone regardless if they were infected or not, why didn't they save themselves all the trouble and just nuke the town from the get-go?

Answer: Probably because using a nuclear weapon on a single small town within the US would a) call a ridiculous amount of attention to what happened and invite the kind of speculation/investigation the government wants to avoid; b) destroy or contaminate a huge area beyond the "problem" zone, killing tens of thousands, if not millions, of innocent people; and c) be considered, at best, a horrendous accident and at worst a terrorist attack, and either way would lead to who knows what consequences. For these and probably hundreds of other reasons, in this and literally every other scenario in movies and in reality, nuclear weapons are never considered the "from the get-go" option.

J.J.'s Condition - S5-E19

Question: As JJ and his new love interest are discussing needing more money, after the idea of JJ getting a second job fails, JJ comes up with an idea saying to her, "No problem - you can get a part-time job" (which she refused to do). After JJ suggests her getting the part-time job, the audience started whooing and screaming loudly. What was it about the idea of her working that made the audience react that way?

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.