Any action movie worth its salt is bound to feature the hero taking a bullet, usually to a part of their body deemed unimportant by the writing team, like the shoulder or the thigh. But you'd better believe certain TV writers spent their childhood watching entirely too many Schwarzenegger movies, because this pops up all too frequently in serials, as well. The most egregious example shows up in an episode of Hawaii Five-O, with a fake assassination that involves an expert marksman shooting a politician in "just the right spot" above his chest to avoid hitting bones or arteries or the all-important heart. (Which is ludicrous and so many levels of impossible.) It also happens repeatedly in more recent shows, like Person of Interest, where our hero constantly shoots "to wound" by aiming at people's legs and arms. But in truth, there are way too many arteries, particularly in the upper part of the leg, to take a bullet without needing immediate medical attention. There is no hobbling off to hide behind a parked car for the rest of the shootout/ensuing car chase. There is only bleeding. So, so much bleeding. Imagine, if you will, a watermelon stuffed two-thirds full with explosives. (Because using your imagination can be fun!) It would be unreasonable to think anyone, trained assassin or not, can shoot at that watermelon from 30 yards away without at least nicking something that is going to go kaboom.
