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Probably Unanswerable Questions

Plot holes or unresolved logistics.

Probably Unanswerable Questions has run in 401 episodes. The most recent 40 are listed below — open any episode at its timestamp to hear the segment.

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‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’Bill Simmons

Did John Hughes see this movie and get the idea for Home Alone (turning the house into a trap)? Unanswerable, no idea.

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’Bill Simmons

Why did horror movies and rom-coms go through a phase where everyone has a neighbor/love interest visible from their bedroom window (cites this movie, Love and Basketball, 13 Going on 30, It Follows) — likely because it's easy to shoot and avoids driving scenes.

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’Chris Ryan

Agrees it's a shooting-logistics trope, questions whether the 'girl next door' is a real phenomenon or just someone you went to high school with.

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’Van Lathan

Questions if anyone actually has a 'girl next door' experience, says he's never known one, but concedes it's culturally 'a thing.'

‘It Follows’Bill Simmons

Jokes that the sex-passing theory would make her among the most sexually active 'normal' protagonists in movie history; floats that if Paul/Jay just keep having sex with each other it passes back and forth until it eventually comes back to Jeff and kills everyone, 'and then stop'

‘It Follows’Chris Ryan

Argues there's no real fix once infected (STD allegory); theorizes Paul passed it to sex workers who passed it to the general public, meaning Paul and Jay could be off the hook unless it loops back; notes the movie doesn't hold up to deep interrogation of its rules, and questions where Jeff even got the rules of 'It Follows' from

‘It Follows’Joanna Robinson

Believes she had sex with one of the lake/boat guys as a stalling tactic, based on the shot afterward, which then killed at least one of them; the pool gambit failed, leading her to have sex with Paul

‘Friday the 13th’Chris Ryan

Two unanswerable questions: what is Ralph's home life like, and why the guy at the cemetery warns everybody but nobody leaves despite clear danger signs (grave robbing, 105-degree heat)

‘Friday the 13th’Van Lathan

Agrees Marcy and Jack's deaths are the key unanswerable/defining 'biting of the apple' moment of the movie — the point where you know you're in Friday the 13th

‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’Bill Simmons

No, hitchhiking does not end in this movie's timeframe — it was still common through the mid-70s, aided by stories like his dad hitchhiking from Holy Cross to Boston College on weekends; he pegs mid-70s to late-70s as 'the glory era for serial killers' picking up hitchhikers, which eventually killed off hitchhiking culture (replaced later by the internet).

‘13 Going on 30’Bill Simmons

Who won the Poise vs. Sparkle magazine battle in the 2000s: neither — Us Weekly knocked both out

‘13 Going on 30’Juliet Litman

Wonders why she's named Tom Tom, and what the first issue of Sparkle overseen by Judy Judy Gray would look like

Episode	Host	Answer
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’	Bill Simmons	Did John Hughes see this movie and get the idea for Home Alone (turning the house into a trap)? Unanswerable, no idea.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’	Bill Simmons	Why did horror movies and rom-coms go through a phase where everyone has a neighbor/love interest visible from their bedroom window (cites this movie, Love and Basketball, 13 Going on 30, It Follows) — likely because it's easy to shoot and avoids driving scenes.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’	Chris Ryan	Agrees it's a shooting-logistics trope, questions whether the 'girl next door' is a real phenomenon or just someone you went to high school with.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’	Van Lathan	Questions if anyone actually has a 'girl next door' experience, says he's never known one, but concedes it's culturally 'a thing.'
‘It Follows’	Bill Simmons	Jokes that the sex-passing theory would make her among the most sexually active 'normal' protagonists in movie history; floats that if Paul/Jay just keep having sex with each other it passes back and forth until it eventually comes back to Jeff and kills everyone, 'and then stop'
‘It Follows’	Chris Ryan	Argues there's no real fix once infected (STD allegory); theorizes Paul passed it to sex workers who passed it to the general public, meaning Paul and Jay could be off the hook unless it loops back; notes the movie doesn't hold up to deep interrogation of its rules, and questions where Jeff even got the rules of 'It Follows' from
‘It Follows’	Joanna Robinson	Believes she had sex with one of the lake/boat guys as a stalling tactic, based on the shot afterward, which then killed at least one of them; the pool gambit failed, leading her to have sex with Paul
‘Friday the 13th’	Chris Ryan	Two unanswerable questions: what is Ralph's home life like, and why the guy at the cemetery warns everybody but nobody leaves despite clear danger signs (grave robbing, 105-degree heat)
‘Friday the 13th’	Van Lathan	Agrees Marcy and Jack's deaths are the key unanswerable/defining 'biting of the apple' moment of the movie — the point where you know you're in Friday the 13th
‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’	Bill Simmons	No, hitchhiking does not end in this movie's timeframe — it was still common through the mid-70s, aided by stories like his dad hitchhiking from Holy Cross to Boston College on weekends; he pegs mid-70s to late-70s as 'the glory era for serial killers' picking up hitchhikers, which eventually killed off hitchhiking culture (replaced later by the internet).
‘13 Going on 30’	Bill Simmons	Who won the Poise vs. Sparkle magazine battle in the 2000s: neither — Us Weekly knocked both out
‘13 Going on 30’	Juliet Litman	Wonders why she's named Tom Tom, and what the first issue of Sparkle overseen by Judy Judy Gray would look like