History Main / PrisonBreak

[[redirect:GreatEscape]]

[[redirect:Series/PrisonBreak]]

[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PrisonBreak.jpg]]

->'''Michael:''' I'm getting you out of here.
->'''Lincoln:''' It's impossible.
->'''Michael:''' Not if you designed the place, it isn't.

Lincoln Burrows, a petty crook from Chicago, has been tried, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of the Vice President's brother. The evidence is damning, all appeals have been denied, the government has been railroading proceedings from the outset and Lincoln is left to wait out the last few months of his life in Fox River State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison. Only one person believes that Lincoln was framed for the crime: his brother, Michael Scofield, a structural engineer, [[TheChessmaster genius]] and [[ChronicHeroSyndrome chronic do-gooder]]. Armed with an [[BatmanGambit incredibly intricate scheme]], in-depth intelligence on both the staff and prisoners, cleverly hidden tools and [[HumanNotepad blueprints for the entire prison tattooed on his body]], Michael [[GetIntoJailFree gets himself incarcerated]] at Fox River in order to break himself and his brother out of prison.

''PrisonBreak'' is a US TV series that ran for four seasons on the Fox Network between 2005 and 2009, concluding with a direct-to-DVD movie. The first season follows Michael and Lincoln as they assemble an escape team, avoid the suspicions of the prison staff and put Michael's plan into action, while their lawyer friend [[TooDumbToLive Veronica]] tries to uncover the conspiracy that's framing Lincoln. Later seasons involved the characters becoming fugitives and breaking out of other prisons. The first season also introduces the series' BigBad, a [[TheSyndicate shadowy cabal of business interests]] called "The Company" who spend four seasons killing a ridiculous amount of people, [[SacrificialLion characters]] and [[RedShirt redshirts]] alike. Like ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'', the show features a serialized story structure and a highly suspenseful plot. The story is quite dark, with many examples of [[AnyoneCanDie death]], [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] and [[PrisonRape rape]], and the cast contains some well-rounded characters with complex personalities. However, "RefugeInAudacity" is pretty much the show's motto, and it gained notoriety for throwing in a big ReTool every season.

For the trope about breaking out of prisons, see GreatEscape.

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!!This show provides examples of:

* AbortedArc: There are far too many to mention (it was taken to ridiculous extremes in the last season). A notable example is the romance between Linc and Veronica which is promptly forgotten about when [[spoiler: Veronica is killed]]. Pretty much any lesser plotline from the first season is dead and gone by the third.
* AgonyOfTheFeet: [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Michael has two of his toes cut off by Abruzzi's men early in Season One.]]
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Dr. Sara Tancredi, UpToEleven. It's part of her backstory.
** Lincoln fits this much more then Michael with Veronica, Lisa Rix, Sofia, and Gretchen.
* ArchEnemy: Michael and T-Bag. Michael and Mahone. Michael/Linc/Aldo and the Company.
* AffablyEvil: T-Bag, Kellerman.
* AntiHero: Most notably Lincoln, but pretty much every character who's not an outright villain. Even then, it's sketchy.
* AntiVillain: Alexander Mahone, an FBI agent forced by the Company to kill the brothers and their escape team, or else his own ex-wife and son will die.
* AnyoneCanDie: Can and ''do.''
* AnythingThatMoves: Again, T-Bag.
** To a lesser extent, Gretchen.
* AxCrazy: T-Bag, Quinn, Kellerman initially. Wyatt.
* BabiesEverAfter: Subverted: [[spoiler:Sara has Michael Jr., but Michael himself dies.]]
* BackForTheFinale: [[spoiler: Sucre, C-Note, Kellerman, Sofia, Felicia, and Hale's wife all re-appear for the broadcast finale - despite not being having seen in a few episodes, two seasons, two seasons, a full season, a few episodes, and almost three full seasons - respectively, and despite the fact that Kellerman was, you know, dead. Strangely, neither LJ nor Gretchen join them, though Gretchen does play a huge role in "The Final Break."]]
* BackFromTheDead: Complicated, because it happens so much that the audience begins to expect characters who are LeftForDead to return. But inarguably [[spoiler: Sara and Kellerman.]]
* {{Backstory}}: Lots and lots.
* {{Badass}}: Many of the characters. Michael is the first person ever to break out of two prisons, Lincoln is called "Linc the Sink" because he'll take whatever you throw at him, Sucre and Sara both resist torture... the list goes on.
* BadCopIncompetentCop: The [=COs=] at Fox River are corrupt, (and technically all are incompetent considering they escaped). Then there's Agent Mahone (who goes around [[spoiler: killing the escapees because he's being blackmailed for killing a different criminal earlier in his career]]) and Agent Self. Not to mention the number of cops the group outwits/outruns throughout season 2.
** Of course, Mahone's actually really good at his job - which is why he's being blackmailed.
* BatmanGambit: All of Michael's plans, but especially the escape plans in seasons 1 and 3. [[spoiler:Don Self]] pulls an ''epic'' one in season 4, duping even Michael.
* BecomingTheMask: T-Bag with the Cole Pfeiffer identity.
* {{Better To Die Than Be Killed}}: Monkeywrenched in ''The Final Break''. [[spoiler:Michael was dying anyway, so he performs a HeroicSacrifice to save Sara.]]
* BestServedCold: Mahone clearly looks satisfied after waiting quite a while before he finally got the chance to [[spoiler: kill Wyatt, the man who murdered his son.]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Michael and Gretchen, after figuring out Sara wasn't really dead.]]
* BigGuy: Linc
* BittersweetEnding: The series finale.
* BoxedCrook: In season 4, the characters are offered a choice between serving out their prison sentences or helping Agent Self take down the Company. You can guess which one they choose.
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:Caroline Reynolds and Terrence Steadman. Also, T-Bag's parents]].
* ButtMonkey: Tweener, Bellick (from season 2 onwards). T-Bag definitely qualifies in long stretches.
* {{Callback}}: In a Season 4 episode, T-Bag gives his name as Charles Patoshik.
* CatholicSchoolgirlsRule: Gretchen [[http://blog.hdscreencaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/jodi_lyn_o_keefe_0006.jpg wears the uniform]] in one episode. The viewing audience probably had the same reaction as T-Bag.
* CharacterMagneticTeam: Justified in seasons 1 and 3, when Michael is breaking out of a prison and brings onboard people who have something he needs or know too much.
* ChekhovsGun: Seemingly unimportant items will often prove essential in Michael's plans. Very often.
* ChekhovsGunman: In season 1, ''everyone'' is a ChekhovsGunman for Michael.
* TheChessmaster: Michael. Justified in Season 1 and 2 - after spending long hours in the dark as an [[{{Backstory}} abused child]], he's developed a mental condition that enables him to break things down into parts.
** [[spoiler: Christina Rose]].
* TheChick: Sara Tancredi. Sofia even moreso.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Michael, elaborated and justified.
* ClearMyName: The goal of the first two seasons.
* ClearTheirName
* CliffhangerCopout: The first season ends with the main characters [[spoiler: being spotted and chased by cops about a hundred yards away across an open field.]] In the beginning of the second season, and they got away by... running. Really fast.
** And this is coming from a show that ends every [[{{CommercialBreakCliffhanger}} commercial break with a cliffhanger]].
** Season 3 ends with Sucre, Bellick, and T-Bag still in Sona. Season 4 opens with them somehow having escaped (via riot) from Sona. Especially annoying in that 1. it took a season for Michael to figure out how to get Whistler out and 2. they spent time showing T-Bag working out a way to get out (through bribes.)
*** In fairness, they offered a little bit more explanation - it wasn't so much a riot as T-Bag convinced the prisoners to burn the place down, giving everyone a chance to escape.
* ColdBloodedTorture: This happens a LOT. Especially to T-Bag.
* CombatPragmatist: Mahone. T-Bag.
-->'''Mahone''': Go for the kneecap. You hit it straight on it'll buckle and it'll take the guy out of commission.
-->'''Michael''': Fighting dirty, that's your secret?
-->'''Mahone''': I didn't think there was such a thing as clean in a place like this.
* CommandRoster: During season 4, the cons get organized into a team that follows this structure.
* CommercialBreakCliffhanger: All the time.
* {{Confessional}}
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Everyone in the Company who is ''not'' an assassin.
* CrapsackWorld
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: [[spoiler: Aldo Burrows to Lincoln and Michael.]]
* TheDanza: Sarah Wayne Callies plays Dr. Sara Tancredi.
* DarkActionGirl: Gretchen/"Susan B. Anthony".
* [[spoiler:DeadGuyJunior: Michael Jr]].
* DeadManWriting: [[spoiler:The final scene of the series, and a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming, is Michael's posthumous message to Lincoln and Sara.]]
* DeadlyNosebleed: Michael Scofield has a recurring and [[spoiler: ultimately terminal]] medical condition that sometimes manifests as nosebleeds.
* DeadpanSnarker: Michael has his moments.
-->'''Self''': Making false claims to a government agency? That's like five years in prison.
-->'''Michael''': Welcome to the club.
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: Lincoln]] working for the Company in season 4.
* DepravedBisexual: T-Bag.
* TheDeterminator: Michael Scofield.
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Kellerman in the final episode]].
** Not to mention season four opens with Sucre, Bellick, and T-Bag somehow escaped from Sona.
*** In mid-season four its explained [[spoiler: that T-Bag riled everyone up so that they all rioted and overran the prison guards. Bellick apparently helped Sucre from the stampede, hence why Sucre won't allow anyone to [[{{NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead}} speak ill of him after]] his death.]]
** [[spoiler: Kellerman in the Season 2 finale. Apparently he had everything documented the whole time, and just never bothered to mention it to the brothers or Sara before.]]
* DidNotDoTheResearch: Unusually, averted in "The Killing Box" - when Michael claims the brothers are entitled to a phone call, the USBP officer makes Prison Break one of the few shows to correctly point out that they're actually not.
* DirtyCop: Bellick and Geary. Agent Mahone. [[spoiler: Agent Self]].
* DirtyCoward: Roland Glenn is a disgrace to the name "geek". Brad Bellick in seasons 2 and 3.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Bellick, who admittedly had done some pretty awful things to OTHER people, is exposed to beatings and rape by Fox River guards because he put them on the night shift.
* DrivingQuestion: Season 1: Who framed Lincoln, and why?
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Kellerman]] puts a gun to his head in Season 2. [[spoiler: The gun jams.]]
** Played straight with [[spoiler: Terrence Steadman]].
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Whistler]] in the season 4 premiere. [[spoiler:Sarah in season 3. [[ItGetsBetter She got better]]]].
* DownerEnding: The epilogue of the season 4 finale (amazingly enough, the same event gets turned into a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in "The Final Break").
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Amazingly enough, [[spoiler: [[{{ButtMonkey}} Brad Bellick]]]] gets one by sacrificing himself and meeting it head on.
* EnemyCivilWar: The General and [[spoiler:Christina Rose Scofield]] in season 4.
* EnemyMine: Happens a lot. Most notable are season 3, where Michael and Lincoln work with [[spoiler:Mahone, T-Bag, Bellick, Lechero, Whistler and Gretchen]], and the Miami chapter of season 4, where Lincoln works [[spoiler:''for'' the General and ''with'' Gretchen, T-Bag and Self]].
* EnigmaticMinion: Alexander Mahone, James Whistler.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Probably as a consequence of slowly BecomingTheMask, ''T-Bag'' shockingly pleads for ''Gretchen'' (who has screwed him several times over, and therefore has no obligation to save) to be spared, looking more like a human being than [[spoiler:Don Self]], who enthusiastically calls for her execution.
** [[spoiler: Lisa Tabak]] quits the Company and later helps Sarah save Michael from them, claiming to have been [[DefectorFromDecadence disillusioned with the organization's ruthlessness]].
** Abruzzi has this reaction after one of his men kill T-Bag's nephew.
* EvilMatriarch: [[spoiler: Christina Rose]].
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: In seasons 1 and 3.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Roland. It ends badly for him.]]
* FakingTheDead
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Self ends up mostly paralyzed, in a wheelchair and needing someone to wipe the drool from his chin]].
* FilmNoir: The show isn't at all, but Michael in the (early) first season sounds like he belongs in one, both because of his word choices and his cadence.
-->'''Michael''': The evidence was cooked.
* FinishHim: Happens twice in season 3. In Sona, a chicken-foot fight means only one of them can leave the fight alive. The first time Michael refuses, the other guy comes at him with a knife and Mahone kills him. The second time Whistler is about to kill Michael when their failed escape plan is found and the guards come storming in.
* FiveManBand: A couple emerge throughout the show, starting with:
** TheHero: Michael
** TheLancer: Sucre. Also Lincoln.
** TheBigGuy: Lincoln. Also Abruzzi.
** TheSmartGuy: Michael, pulling double duty.
** TheChick: Sarah
** TheSixthRanger: C-Note
** TokenEvilTeammate: T-Bag
** TagAlongKid: Tweener and Haywire.
*** In season 4, we have:
**** TheHero: Michael
**** TheLancer: Lincoln
**** TheBigGuy: Sucre
**** TheSmartGuy: Mahone
**** TheChick: Sara
**** TheSixthRanger: Bellick
**** TokenEvilTeammate: Roland
* FlashBack: Used to show how Michael set something up.
* FoeYay: Canonical, if unidirectional. T-Bag has had "designs" on Michael since their first meeting. It's not subtle. His nickname for Michael is 'Pretty'. Gretchen and Sofia. Gretchen continuously comments on how pretty Sofia is, and she has her pinned to the wall, not to mention when they meet again, and again. Also, Gretchen and Sara.
** And Gretchen and Linc is canonical, if also unidirectional. There are two points when Gretchen wants to have sex with Linc and tells him so.
* FreudianExcuse: T-Bag was conceived by Bagwell Sr. raping his mentally challenged sister, and as a child he was sexually abused. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And forced to memorize the dictionary.]]
* FriendInTheBlackMarket: C-Note (season 1).
* GambitPileup: Throughout the series, but especially in season 4.
* GetIntoJailFree
* GoryDiscretionShot: Most of the goriest moments in the show happen off-screen, such as [[spoiler: [[BoomHeadshot Nick Savrinn getting shot]] and T-Bag having his hand chopped off with an axe.]]
* TheGovernment. Politicians and federal agents, corrupted by the Company, were the main antagonists of seasons 1 and 2. In season 4, the protagonists teamed up with government people working ''against'' the Company... only, those guys weren't much nicer.
* GreatEscape: The first season revolves around [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an honest-to-god prison break]] with a cast composed almost entirely of stock characters ripped from classic prison movies, and the second season continues it with the escaped inmates on the run from the FBI. By the end of the second season, the escapees have all successfully evaded the law [[spoiler: (the few that survived, at least...)]] but the writers manage to justify the title by having the main characters all [[AssPull rounded up for random reasons]] and [[ItGotWorse sent to a new, even worse prison in Panama]]. Then the final season rolls around, and the whole series morphs into some weird cross between ''{{MacGyver}}'' and ''TheBourneSeries'' about the main cast trying to take down some [[MegaCorp evil shadow corporation]] using zany schemes whipped together with loot from the Dollar Store.
* GroinAttack: Tweener slashes Avocado's penis with a razor. ''[[{{Squick}} Ouch.]]''
* HandyCuffs
* HeKnowsTooMuch
* HeroicBSOD: Lincoln goes through one after [[spoiler: finding the box with Sara's head.]] Michael suffers a brief one after being told of [[spoiler: Sara's death]]. Mahone seems to suffer one after [[spoiler: the murder of his family.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In seasons 3 and 4, AntiHero Michael becomes increasingly fanatical about destroying the Company, while Lincoln takes on a "ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption" mindset, leading them to do things they condemned others for doing only a season or two ago. [[spoiler: Michael learned of Sara's apparent murder in season 3 and had a lethal brain tumor in season 4, so he had an excuse for his judgment impairments.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler: Abruzzi]] in season 1. [[{{Lampshade}} Lampshaded]] by Michael early on: "You're a mercurial man, [[spoiler: Abruzzi]].
* HeelFaceTurn: Daniel Hale in season 1, [[spoiler: Kellerman]] in season 2.
* HeroBall: Michael often carries this.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Brad Bellick and Michael Scofield]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Michael has two: one with Linc and one with Sucre. They plan to go separate ways (at the end of each season), but they never do, and each trust the other and are willing to do whatever they have to for the other. (Sucre tries to separate from Michael a few times, with Michael's blessings, but always seems to come back.)
** To a lesser degree than most cases, Lincoln and Mahone.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: General Jonathan Krantz/"Pad Man".
* HonorBeforeReason: Michael, [[{{LampshadeHanging}} lampshaded]] several times.
** Michael And Lincoln, especially in the first season. Michael and Sucre. Michael and Mahone. Michael and C-Note. [[{{StupidSexyFlanders}} Michael just seems to]] [[{{EvenTheGuysWantHim}} inspire this in people]].
-->'''T-Bag''': So you're the one I've been hearing all the rave reviews about. Scofield! Well, one thing's for sure, you just as pretty as advertised. Prettier even.
* HumiliationConga: Bellick. Not that he doesn't earn it.
* IHaveYourWife: Quite a lot of times. This was Mahone's motivation during season 2, and Michael and Lincoln's during season 3. One episode of season 4 has the brothers try this tactic on the villains.
** This is basically the reason for LJ.
* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: The threat used to keep people in line. Combined with IHaveYourWife
* IdiotBall: Gets passed around a lot, which brings us to...
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Bellick in season 2.
** YMMV. He does torture/threaten to rape/threaten to murder a few people.
* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: C-Note.]]
* InTheBlood: Michael and [[spoiler: Christina Rose]], which was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the latter and Lincoln.
* IronicEcho: Between C-Note and Michael during first season:
--> '''C-Note''': Well let me school you. Darwin wins inside these walls. Not Einstein. Darwin.
** Later on in the season:
--> '''Michael''': There's a reason they replaced it with a twelve-inch pipe, Darwin - people can't get through it.
* IsThatWhatHeToldYou: The General, regarding Daddy Burrows.
* ItGotWorse: For everyone. Seriously. I mean, it's the premise of the show.
* JokerImmunity: T-Bag, Gretchen.
* JustGotOutOfJail: Linc (after his name was cleared the first time) kills a {{Mook}} and tells LJ and Sofia to run since he rightly assumes the police won't care if its self-defense.
* KarmaHoudini: Ultimately, mostly averted.
** T-Bag never gets quite the comeuppance he deserves, he's kidnapped, repeatedly tortured, loses his hand twice (having to tear it off himself the second time), stabbed in the OTHER arm, set up to be caught as bait in a prison escape (again, twice), left to die in the desert, blackmailed, betrayed by just about everyone he allied with, etc.
** Kellerman redeems himself, [[spoiler: then is executed - though not for his actual misdeeds. Then he comes back to life, saves the day and becomes a Congressman. Though he does get spit on, so there's that.]]
** Gretchen similarly never quite gets a punishment worthy of what viewers want for her, but she does end up getting tortured a few times, shot once, and ends the series [[spoiler: in prison, where she helps Sara escape.]] She also gets her main misdeed turned around on her when [[spoiler: her daughter is held hostage and used to blackmail her. And of course has to live with the memories of Mosul. And it helps that she doesn't turn out to have beheaded [[BackFromTheDead Sara]] after all]].
** Bellick gets a heaping pile of karmic retribution [[spoiler: before his HeelFaceTurn. After having set Tweener up to be repeatedly [[PrisonRape raped]] by Avocado in Season 1, he ends up as Avocado's cellmate himself in Season 2. He then gets set up for a murder he didn't commit and sentenced to prison in Panama, where he is left starving and almost naked for days, nearly gets beaten to death by Sammy as a distraction for digging the tunnel out of Sona, and then gets used as bait for the police to aid Michael's actual escape, culminating in a pretty brutal beating.]]
* KickTheDog: Wyatt: see WouldntHurtAChild.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Roland.
* KillHimAlready: There's no reason why they leave T-Bag alive in the first season. Or the second. Or the third. Or the fourth. Then there's Don Self, the General, [[spoiler: Christina Rose]], and others. Less so Gretchen, where at least there's typically a reason they can't get rid of her, but definitely still there. Combines with ThirdActStupidity.
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: Don Self]] becomes a brain dead paraplegic, just like what happened to his wife because of his own doing.
** [[spoiler: General Krantz]] ultimately is executed in the electric chair - much as the Company planned for Lincoln.
** You have to wait until the {{Crossover}} episode of BreakoutKings, but you can argue that T-Bag ends up with this [[spoiler: when his mother, the only person he cares about, is sexually assaulted.]]
* LastNameBasis: Varies depending on the character and their relationship. For example, Mahone calls Michael Scofield in season two when he's chasing him, varies it in season three (when they're uneasy allies), and Michael in season four when they become friendly.
* LeftForDead: A lot, and it always seems to come back to bite the characters in the ass. If someone is left bound and 'fatally' wounded on this show, you can pencil them in for a reappearance in a shocking plot twist. The constant refusal to give in to WhyDontYaJustShootHim added a season-and-a-half of plot, minimum.
* LifeOrLimbDecision: In season 2 T-Bag was forced to re-sever his reattached hand to evade recapture by the police after he was left tied to a radiator by Bellick and a colleague, who were after the D.B. Cooper money he had taken.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Subverted: [[spoiler: Michael and Lincoln]] are told that they aren't blood-related. They don't actually seem to care.
* MacGuffin: [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney Westmoreland's stash of money]] and the Steadman recording in season 2, the bird book in season 3 (actually a subversion: [[spoiler:the book really ''is'' worthless, just something to put Michael's mind at ease about breaking Whistler out of Sona]], Scylla in season 4. [[spoiler: the bird book contained information critical to the theft of Scylla.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: General Jonathan Krantz, better known simply as "the General" (known by the fans as "Pad Man" before his name was revealed).
* ManipulativeBastard: T-Bag, ''again''. And [[spoiler:Christina Rose]]. Michael at times, too.
* MindRape: What the General has planned for Michael if he won't join the Company.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Don Self]]. Tweener. T-Bag, when it suits him.
* MsFanservice: Gretchen takes this role for the most part - a lot of tight clothes and leather, and on one memorable occasion a Catholic schoolgirl's uniform. Sara at one point wears a very cleavage-y top as part of a con, telling Michael "don't get used to it." At one point, Trishanne[[spoiler: /Megan Holtz]] is running around wearing a very flimsy and very lacey white camisole and a short skirt, for absolutely no reason other than "it's fun to have Shannon Luccio running around in flimsy lace and short skirts."
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Michael, thinking about the number of deaths he's (indirectly) caused by breaking Linc out of jail.
* MysteriousParent: The brothers' father abandoned the family, so when their mother died, they were left in foster care, but he interfered once to protect Michael. [[spoiler: Both turn out to be operatives for the Company itself, with their father's [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies desire to protect them]] being the reason for his departure, while their apparently NotQuiteDead mother is ironically not quite as benevolent as she was made out to be.]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Michael Schofield is named after the deadly Schofield revolver. While he's definitely not the toughest character on the show, he's arguably [[TheChessmaster the most dangerous]].
* TrueCompanions: Both subverted and played straight. Subverted with the original group that broke out of prison in season one, as seen during season one and two a number of times, including but not limited to [[spoiler: T-Bag's hand being cut off, Tweener and Haywire being left behind, and Michael trying to steal the money out from everyone except Sucre]]. Played straight in that Michael, Linc and Sucre form a small gang of TrueCompanions in season one, which LJ and Sara are added to in season two. Subverted again in season three, as Mahone and Michael (much less the rest of the group) have no problem backstabbing each other while trying to break out of Sona. Played straight in early season four (as they're on their way to becoming one) and then subverted when the group splinters in the later part of the season. The direct-to-DVD gives us the basic group, seen in the season four finale [[spoiler: at Michael's funeral]], of Linc, Michael, Sara, Sucre, and Mahone.\\
\\
The Michael/Linc/Sucre crew is the most stable, which other characters frequently ignore. [[spoiler: Basically any time Sucre actively betrays the brothers, you can reasonably bet that he's actually about to pull a double-cross on someone else.]]
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Played straight with [[spoiler: Brad Bellick's]] death. Sucre especially is ready to take out anyone who speaks ill.
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Roland]]. Brad calls Linc out for his comment and Linc basically tells him to shut-up.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: There's several, but arguably the first one was in "Riots, Drills and the Devil". Michael wanted to have enough time to break through a certain wall (which he does.) On the other hand, it leads to the death of a guard, the maybe death of another guard (its unclear if he dies or is just badly beaten), the death of several inmates, T-Bag finding out about the escape plan, and Sarah getting suspicious and nearly raped. Whoops.
** Nice job letting T-Bag out and causing the brutal murder of five or six people as a result, Michael.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: Maybe if The Company and Caroline Reynolds hadn't treated Kellerman so badly in Season 2 and eventually casted him aside, he wouldn't have had his HeelFaceTurn and greatly aided the protagonists in the long run.]]
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: How T-Bag survives being stranded in the desert in 4x02 - though to be fair, Sancho tried to do it to him first.
-->'''ATV Rider Rescuer''': What's the matter? Eat some bad Mexican?
-->'''T-Bag''': Something like that.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Sara Tancredi, Christina Rose Scofield and Paul Kellerman]] in season 4.
* NotSoDifferent: T-Bag's constant taunt to Michael.
* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: [[spoiler: Michael]] in season 4.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Dominic Purcell (Lincoln) occasionally slips into his Australian accent.
* TheOldConvict: Charles Westmoreland, [[spoiler: aka D.B. Cooper]].
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin, David "Tweener" Apolskis, Charles "Haywire" Patoshik. A lot of the Fox River characters only ever called Lincoln "Sink" or "Link the Sink".
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Michael and T-Bag, Mahone and Wyatt.
* TheOtherDarrin: Terrence Steadman is played by John Billingsley in Season 1. He gets replaced by Jeff Perry in Season 2.
* PetTheDog: Kellerman in ''Wash'', Gretchen in ''Blowback''
* ThePlan: Most of what Michael does is one of these with the notable exception of the season 1 and 3 escape plans.
** [[spoiler:Christina Rose Scofield]] pulls off [[spoiler:[[IncrediblyLamePun the mother of all gambits]] ]]in season 4, with geopolitical repercussions.
* PlotCoupons: The Scylla cards in season 4.
* PlotInducedStupidity: Michael and co. have a few notable instances, which comes off as particularly jarring because Michael is a skilled [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. [[spoiler: Not killing T-Bag and Gretchen repeatedly comes back to bite them in the ass, as do many occasions of them leaving people tied up and injured instead of finishing the job. Self's double-cross in Season 4 relies on them not checking the paperwork until after he's long gone - which seems like the first thing they would do after all the times they've been screwed.]]
** Everyone who thinks they can outsmart Michael Scofield, despite knowing about everyone who previously got into trouble for doing so.
** Periodically, everyone in the show's universe forgets that the existence of the Company has been publicly proven, and they have to start all over again.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: T-Bag.
* PostScriptSeason: Seasons 3 and 4.
* PresidentEvil: Caroline Reynolds, who was the ''Vice''-President of the United States [[spoiler: until her "promotion" in the season 1 finale]].
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: David Apolskis. An inmate in Fox River which (like most real world prisons) is divided along racial lines, he quickly becomes rejected by both black inmates for trying to affiliate himself with them, and by white inmates for trying to affiliate himself with black inmates, earning him the nickname "Tweener" (In-Betweener). Lampshaded by T-Bag, the leader of a white racist gang:
--> '''T-Bag''': "The boy sure seems confused about his pigmentation."
* PrisonRape: Tweener's a victim. T-Bag is a regular perpetrator.
* PseudoCrisis: All the time. Combines with CommercialBreakCliffhanger.
* PsychoForHire: Quinn in Season 1.
* PutOnABus: LJ's on a bus to a safe place in Panama in Season 4. Strangely, he does not come back for his uncle's wedding... in Panama.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: Both throughout the seasons (Linc must be broken out before his set execution, Michael must break Whistler out before Gretchen's deadline) and during specific episodes.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: [[{{LampshadeHanging}} Lampshaded]] by Michael in season four.
-->Let me guess. He had a ragtag band of criminals ready to pick up the slack.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: In season 4, subverted with [[spoiler: Paul Kellerman]] and played straight with [[spoiler: Brad Bellick]].
* RefugeInAudacity: The show, especially season two and four. (Yeah, breaking out of the prisons aren't the strongest moments of this.)
* ReTool: Every year the show changes. Season 1 is ''EscapeFromAlcatraz'', season 2 is ''Series/TheFugitive'', season 3 is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Express_(film) Midnight Express]]'' (or so the writers thought), and season 4 is ''MissionImpossible''.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler:Roland]]. And [[spoiler: Don Self]]. Michael even works a reward for anticipated treachery into his plan in the Sona escape.
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: Subverted. Linc and Michael are working at cross purposes during season four, and decide to go after Scylla separate from each other. [[{{HoYay}} But because of]] [[{{BigBrotherInstinct}} brotherly love]], they still share information.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: A few instances. There was the flashback episode showing C-Note's service in Iraq, where it's revealed that he was thrown out of the army for trying to expose the torture of inmates at Abu Ghraib. Also, the episode where his daughter becomes seriously ill while he's on the run from the law, and he's forced to take her to a hellish free clinic because he doesn't have health insurance.
* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Barely averted; Tweener was actually killed off in the script shortly before his actor got sent to jail for manslaughter.
* SacrificialLion: Veronica, Tweener,[[spoiler: Whistler, and Bellick]].
* SadisticChoice: In season four, Michael is offered the choice of keeping Scylla out of the General's hands or rescuing [[spoiler: Sara]]. The choice gets worse when [[spoiler: Christina Rose]] then calls and offers Michael the choice of keeping Scylla out of her hands or rescuing Linc. The SadisticChoice has a three way.
* SaveTheVillain: Michael (and Sara, especially when its Michael about to do the killing) spend a lot of time stopping others from killing the villains, and sometimes even helping them. Noticeable since they kill plenty of minions without a thought, making this a very good example of WhatMeasureIsAMook.
* ScaryBlackMan: Wyatt and C-Note.
* SecretStabWound: Charles Westmoreland.
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Nick Savrinn sacrifices his life (and his father's) so Veronica can find Steadman and expose the conspiracy. [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome Too bad she got killed two episodes later.]]]]
* ShaggyDogStory: For T-Bag, [[spoiler: who ends up right back in Fox River]], it can be argued the ENTIRE SERIES is this.
** One of the main subplots in Season 2 revolved around stealing Westmoreland's stash of five million dollars. In the season finale, [[spoiler: Agent Kim kicks the backpack into a lake and the money is never mentioned again.]]
* ShippedInShackles: Linc is usually moved around like this, but sometime subverted when the guards go easy on the shackles because he's a good prisoner/they want him to break out.
* SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes: Most of the escapees vary on the scale of this. Tweener, Sucre are Type I.Lincoln fits a Type III or IV, while Michael and Mahone are [[WhatTheHellHero Type IV]]. T-Bag however is a Type V.
* SmugSnake: Bellick and Falzone in season 1, Agent Kim in season 2, Gretchen and Lechero in season 3, Self in season 4.
** Pretty much all of whom make the mistake of mocking Michael Scofield. This is not a good idea.
** In the first episode Michael starts out as this; after his first few days of prison (seeing someone knifed, being tortured) cuts into it considerably.
** Hector, in a minor character example.
* SquatsInAName: [[spoiler:Scylla]].
* StayWithMeUntilIDie: Michael won't let [[spoiler: Roland]] die alone. Luckily he goes quickly so Michael can get out of there before the cops pull up.
* TheAtoner Michael and Mahone.
* TheStoic: Wyatt.
** Gretchen. She doesn't have enough of a reaction to being tortured, so General Zavala figures out she's been tortured before and leads credence to Michael's claims.
** Michael wants to be, and can pull it off nine times out of ten, but he does 'emote' (aka yell or bang his fists) when something really screws up his plans.
* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler: John Abruzzi.]]
* TheSyndicate: The Company.
* TattooedCrook: Justified in Michael, who ''does'' have tattoos and ''is'' a criminal, but got the tattoos as a way of smuggling information about his plan and the prison blueprints into Fox River.
** If he's so smart, why can't he just ''remember'' all this important stuff?
** That's a pretty big misconception of what being smart is. According to Michael, memorizing all of it would be like memorizing a phonebook. Especially since he's shown ''trying'' to memorize all the routes and ''failing''.
* TechnicalPacifist: Michael fluctuates between this and ThouShaltNotKill.
* ThirdActStupidity
* TheThreeCertaintiesInLife:
--> '''Agent Mahone:''' Three things in life are certain... death, taxes, and the fact that a man on the run will make a mistake sometime in the first 72 hours.
--> '''Sucre:''' Three sure things in life: death, taxes, and count.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Michael fluctuates on this. In the beginning he wouldn't kill anyone. In season four he'd attempt to kill a number of people, but wasn't very good at it.
** People tend to consider Linc this, ignoring [[spoiler: his BackStory, like the FlashBack to him ramming his car into someone]] and [[spoiler: the number of {{Mooks}} he'd killed]].
--> '''Mahone (to Michael about Linc)''': When it comes right down to it, he's just like you. He has a heart that won't kill a man.
** Subverted in season three when [[spoiler: Michael killed a man by taking away a specific pin so the tunnel debris would fall on him.]]
** Stupidly subverted with some of the other characters. They'll kill any number of {{Mooks}}, but will refrain from killing people like the General when they have the chance because ThouShaltNotKill, seemingly forgetting they've ''already killed''. WhatMeasureIsAMook, indeed.
** Subverted with Sara. She is the reason Michael refrains from killing, on different occasions, T-Bag, [[spoiler: Christina Rose]] and the General. Then she kills [[spoiler: Christina Rose]]. And let's not forget in season two she also [[spoiler: killed Kim]] and [[spoiler: tried to kill Kellerman]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Sara in season 4.
** Arguably she stayed at Badass throughout the series. She escapes while being tortured twice ([[spoiler: though one was an AssPull from the writers to bring her back from the dead]]) and from the bad guys in general more than once, and took out some of the men trying to get her during the season one riot. She also sewed up her own arm.
** Lincoln was basically a petty thug before he gets to Fox River.
** Michael forces himself to take a level in badass pre-season 1, when he goes from structural engineer/office jockey to criminal mastermind. He also learns how to steal cars.
** Sucre might be the most impressive - he's a car thief who becomes a bad convenience store stick-up artist to make enough money to take Maricruz out in style, and at first just takes a few bucks. Four months later, he's taking on a global conspiracy with the best of them.
-->'''Sara''': (watching Michael jimmy a car lock open) I see Fernando has been a great influence on you.
-->'''Michael''': And me on him.
* TooDumbToLive: Season 2 cleans up the gene pool: [[spoiler: Veronica Donovan, Tweener, Haywire]])
** They took care of [[spoiler: Roland]] early in season four.
** [[spoiler: He doesn't end up getting killed for it, but]] at times Sucre's persistent unwillingness to understand that EVERYONE in Maricruz's family dislikes him approaches this.
** Mrs. Hollander. So, a psychotic killer who has promised that he will hunt you down if he ever gets out of jail has broken out of prison. Do you think you maybe want to see who it is BEFORE opening the front door?
** In addition, a lot of characters going up against the brothers (or one brother and Sucre) seem to spontaneously forget that there are TWO of them - while actively chasing/being chased by both. Witness someone outrunning one and pausing for breath, only to be caught by the other, or knocking out one, and pausing to gloat or call someone only to be attacked by the other.
* ToThePain: Used by a ''protagonist'' in season 4.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: The ''entire first and second season'' is one long eleventh-hour-revealed plan of Michael's.
* UnwittingPawn: T-Bag, more often than not. He learns to hate Michael more than anyone for this reason.
* WasItAllALie: Sara, most notably, with regards to Michael's feelings for her.
* WeveGotCompany: Sucre is frequently the "We've Got Company" guy in Season 1, when he spends a lot of time as Michael's lookout, and pretty much everyone in the initial break-out gang but Michael and Lincoln plays this role from time to time.
** Lincoln uses this trope by name when Bellick first catches up to them in 2x04.
* WhatTheHellHero: Michael. Sarah has to try and stop him from [[spoiler: scalding/drowning his mother]].
* WildCard: Kellerman in season 2, Mahone in seasons 2 and 3, Gretchen in season 4, T-Bag...constantly.
* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: As mentioned under IdiotPlot, it helps to enjoy the show if you disengage yours.
* WithOrWithoutYou
-->'''Michael Scofield''': As soon as the lights go out, I'm gone. With or without you.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Season 1's "Brother's Keeper" is an excellent example of this done well.
* WorthyOpponent: Mahone to Michael in season 2.
** T-Bag ''thinks'' he's a WorthyOpponent to Michael. Michael thinks T-Bag is annoying.
*** To be fair, T-Bag does get some moments over Michael (like stealing the money in season 2) but overall loses out to him.
* WouldntHurtAChild: Heinously averted with Wyatt [[spoiler: and Mahone's son]], but also played straight with Abruzzi, who's horrified when he hears that [[spoiler:one of his henchmen killed T-Bag's four year old cousin]].
** Which is funny, considering [[spoiler: T-Bag]] himself averts this (especially in his backstory).
* XanatosSpeedChess: Michael, especially in season one and four.
* YouALLShareMyStory: Season 2, the most decentralized of the series, had the characters running around America individually or in small groups, teaming up on a few occasions before (almost) everyone met up first in Utah, and then later in Panama for the big season finale.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: [[spoiler:The gang are all cleared with twenty minutes to go in the last episode. Michael and Sarah are walking down the beach, talking about their future, when Michael starts bleeding from the nose. The flash forward has him dead.]] Happens throughout the series too.
* YouWillKnowWhatToDo: Linc (when he and Michael go to break LJ out) tells his son "On the third, look out for otis right." and when LJ goes "huh?" Linc answers with the YouWillKnowWhatToDo. He does, but so does Mahone.

----

* TheOldCon: Charles Westmoreland, [[spoiler: aka D.B. Cooper]].

* XanatosGambit: Most of Michael's plans, with the notable exception of the season 1 and 3 escape plans.
** [[spoiler:Christina Rose Scofield]] pulls off [[spoiler:[[IncrediblyLamePun the mother of all gambits]] ]]in season 4, with geopolitical repercussions.

* HoYay: T- Bag and ''everyone'', especially Michael, but usually unidirectional.

* LesYay: Gretchen. Gretchen. Gretchen. Just watch "The Final Break".

* SacrificialLion: Veronica. Tweener. Sucre.