Plot hole: When Lucas pretended to be the killer on 12/16/03, he said that he wanted to give Sami a scare after becoming suspicious of her when he followed her to his mother's hotel suite. But if he was following her, then how did he get to the bedroom before Sami to jump out at her? And where did he get the cloak and mask on the spur of the moment?
Factual error: The Salem Police Department is grossly misusing the term "serial killer" in conjunction with the Abe Carver murder. The inaccuracies are too numerous to list, but the most obvious is the fact that the police believe that Abe was murdered by someone with a specific motive. A serial killer selects victims based on a general profile, usually in conjunction with a psychological "need" to commit the crime. The police brand the unidentified murder a serial killer based purely on the fact that they think he or she may strike again. But not every multiple murderer is a serial killer, and the police would certainly know better than to fall prey to this misnomer.
Continuity mistake: On 1/20/04, John mentions to Brady that Tony framed him for murder years ago and sent him to death row. But that's not true at all. We now know that it was really Andre, Tony's identical cousin, who did that. John couldn't possibly have forgotten such a thing, because the man killed himself to accomplish the frame-up, and Tony isn't dead.
Continuity mistake: In the episode airing 10/31/05, Dr. North goes to Alice's bar to spy on John and Marlena. Just after he removes the hypnotizing charm from his pocket, Bonnie barrels by and slams into him. You can see the charm on the chain still in Dr. North's hand while he's telling Bonnie to watch it, then he walks away. Although Dr. North never dropped the charm, after he walks away, Bonnie spots the charm on the floor, picks it up, and places it on her chest.
Continuity mistake: On 7/13/04, Jan Spears was at Belle's loft as an invited guest for the first time. She walked straight back from the front door to the opposite wall and opened the window there. Mimi, sitting in a window at Rex's loft, saw Jan and reacted with great alarm. But Rex's loft is directly across the hall from Belle's, so there is no way that any window in his loft would be within sight of Belle's back window.
Continuity mistake: On 2/28/06, Bo was speaking to a flight attendant when he turned to speak with Pete and Joe. This was immediately followed by a shot that panned from Pete's and Joe's backs (as well as Bo's, even though he had been facing the other two) across the waiting room. When the shot reached the gate at the far end, the flight attendant standing there was the same woman Bo had been talking to on the opposite side of the room.
Continuity mistake: When Roman is questioning Abe as to who shot him, Abe has a flashback of talking to the soon-to-be shooter and right before he gets shot, he says he's taken all the precautions and has his bullet proof vest on, yet when the paramedics ripped his shirt open to do CPR, there was no vest.
Continuity mistake: On 3/11/04, Marlena mentioned that Shawn Douglas is twenty one years old. But that's not in keeping with either of his timelines. He was really born on April 6, 1987, so he should only be sixteen right now. But he was aged previously, and graduated from high school at age eighteen in 2002. Even so, he should still be only twenty at most right now, and more likely nineteen if he still has the same birthday.
Continuity mistake: When Nicolas Alamain returned a couple years ago, he attempted to have an affair with the much older Kate Roberts. The problem with this was that Nicolas was not much younger than his mother Carly, or his almost step father Bo Brady. He had been the same age as Shawn Douglas, but they aged him too far, and there was not enough difference between his and his parents' ages.
Plot hole: How can Rex and Cassie be so close in age to Belle? Marlena gave birth to the twins, her surrogate children, while she was held prisoner by Stefano, some time before her return to Salem in 1991. Belle was born in 1993, so she should be several years younger than her supposed half-siblings. Instead, they all started college together and turned 18 (a huge continuity issue in and of itself) in 2002-2003.
Continuity mistake: On 12/21/04, Bonnie drags out the story of Julie shoplifting when she was fifteen years old. Bonnie says that Julie stole a mink coat from Barton's department store, and Julie immediately corrects her that it was actually a mink stole. But she doesn't correct Bonnie that the store was Bartlett's, not Barton's. The shoplifting happened in Days of our Lives' very first episode on November 8, 1965.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the 10/16/03 episode, Brady and Philip began to fight in Salem Place. At the same time, Will left the apartment after hearing Sami and Lucas saying they wished he'd never been born, and Victor told Nicole they were going to leave the mansion and go for a walk at Salem Place. The scenes were replayed at the beginning of the 10/17/03 episode, as they usually are, but there was a big discrepancy in the timeframe. While Brady and Philip went through the exact same scene as they began their fight, Sami and Lucas had already spent some time looking for Will around town, and Nicole and Victor had made it down to Salem Place for their walk.
Plot hole: During the week of 9/6/04, Patrick delivered Jennifer's baby, and wrapped the infant in his own red shirt. Eventually, the baby was wrapped in a receiving blanket, and Patrick was wearing the red shirt again. But a newborn baby had been swaddled in that shirt, meaning that it should have been revoltingly unwearable.
Continuity mistake: At Roman and Kate's wedding ceremony and thereafter (December, 2003 - January, 2004), Sami made frequent reference to the fact that Marlena and Roman are "still married in the eyes of God," presumably a reference to the fact that the Catholic church does not condone divorce. With no shortage of characters who wanted Sami to just shut up, why did nobody bring up the fact that Marlena married and divorced Don Craig several years before she married Roman, and is therefore married only to him "in the eyes of God" if one insists on using that standard?
Revealing mistake: On 10/9/06, John entered the storage facility and reached towards the light cord. He formed a fist, as if grasping the cord, but his hand was actually several inches from it. It was clear that he was not actually holding the cord at all, but then he pulled his fist down and the lights went on.
Plot hole: After Doug was murdered, Belle told Shawn that Marlena could not have done it because she was with her at the time, which is a lie. Shawn believes her, though, thus quelling his suspicions that Marlena could be the killer. But there's one small problem. Shawn was with Belle on the balcony on 3/5/03 when he received his father's emergency page, leading him to call Bo and learn that his grandfather had been murdered. So there's no way Belle could claim to have been with her mother when the murder occurred; Shawn was with Belle himself.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the episode on 11/15/05, Roman was at Marlena's penthouse. He told Alex to leave. Alex responded that he was just trying to help Marlena. Then Alex went to leave, but Marlena asked him to stay. At the start of the 11/16/05 episode, Roman called Kate from Chez Rouge and told her that a police emergency had called him away, and that he was now at the restaurant. Back at Marlena's penthouse, the conversation was continuing uninterrupted, with John asking Marlena why she wanted Alex to stay, and Alex's story then continuing from where it left off. But if enough time had passed for Roman to deal with a police emergency and then settle in for a leisurely evening, how could the conversation at the penthouse have been at a complete standstill? Since Roman had been in the penthouse with them, and then called Kate who was still in the penthouse, Roman is still tied to the timeline of their storyline thread. Only after the call would it be acceptable for the duration of his activities to not affect the penthouse scene.
Factual error: On 6/26/07, Sami's obstetrician told her that she was pregnant with fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, and that the sample of amniotic fluid that had already been drawn could be used for paternity testing on both babies. But fraternal twins always have separate amniotic sacs, meaning that the amniotic fluid must be drawn separately. Since the doctor didn't know there were two babies until the fluid was already drawn, it must have been drawn only once, from one sac, meaning a second amnio would have to be performed.
Continuity mistake: On 1/12/03, Jennifer says that Dr. Bader listened to her baby's heartbeat two weeks ago. But Jennifer found out that she was pregnant on Christmas Eve, and the 1/12/03 episode took place on New Year's Day, just one week later.
Factual error: On 10/1/04, Lexie told Brady that John and Bo had been "declared dead by the government". But in terms of Salem time, the plane crash had occurred on the previous day. For starters, any salvage operation lasts for several days, and they certainly wouldn't have been declared dead while that was still in progress. In any event, it takes three years before a declaration of death can be obtained, and that has to be done by the next of kin, who in this case weren't even informed of their loved ones' deaths until after the declarations had already been made.
