What are the worst cases of characters jumping to conclusions to a mystery no rational person would make with the information presented but being correct anyway because plot and the writers think this makes the characters look smart?

Often in mystery stories or plots that require a character finding something out, the process through which the character finds out the answer doesn't make sense because even though the audience knows it's correct, it makes no sense for the character to figure anything out based on the information presented. The writers just assume that because the character is smart they can figure out anything and there's no need to question it.

Batman stories with the Riddler are especially guilty of this. In the original Adam West Batman movie, the riddles "What has yellow skin and writes?" (answer: a ball-point banana) and "What people are always in a hurry?" (answer: Russians, because they're rushing) lead to the conclusion: "Someone Russian is going to slip on a banana peel and break their neck!" and they are absolutely correct despite only thinking about it for like 10 seconds.

In Batman Forever, Batman figures out that Edward Nygma is the Riddler because all the riddles left so far have numbers in them: 13, 1, 8, and 5. These correspond to the letters M, A, H, and E. Bruce puts 1 and 8 together, making it MRE. MRE = Mr. E = Mystery. Another word for Mystery is Enigma, leading him to conclude that the Riddler is Mister E. Nygma. Of course!

So what other illogical ways of figuring out the answer to a mystery bugged you?

Submitted August 17, 2023 at 08:31PM by AporiaParadox https://ift.tt/rnJQxD1