Prison Break/YMMV

• Artifact Title: In seasons 2 and 4.
• The Artifact: Bellick in any post season 1 storyline.
• Ass Pull: YMMV, but it's hard to imagine the returns from the dead of Sara and Kellerman were well thought out in advance.
• Cliché Storm: Find a single line or plot element in the show that did not tie directly into some sort of cliche. We dare you.
• Complete Monster: Christina Scofield and Wyatt are definite cases.
  • Don Self is also a bloodthirsty bastard with very few redeeming qualities.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: There are quite a few. But taking the cake is the entirety of season 4's "Selfless", where Michael and the crew pull one over on the entire Company leadership.

Lincoln: Bet you wish you'd framed somebody else, huh?

• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Michael's message at the end of "The Final Break", the direct-to-DVD series finale.
  • Agent Mahone giving the Teddy Bear (which the viewer was led to believe was for his injured son) to Franklin's daughter.
  • Mahone, Sucre, Michael, Lincoln & Sarah telling Don Self that they won't help him if he doesn't have Brad Bellick's corpse returned to his mother so he can be buried as Self had previously promised to do if anyone died.
  • In season two, Sucre is stuck under a log and is urging Michael to leave him. Michael refuses to go anywhere because it would mean Sucre would die.

Sucre: How long you have if you stay? How long until the dogs lead the cops here? Michael: What you're suggesting is not an option.

• Ensemble Darkhorse: T-Bag. He was originally a guest star only slated to appear in two episodes but quickly became the most popular character on the show.
  • Also Sucre and Mahone.
• God Mode Sue: Michael Scofield. No plan will work without his involvement. He starts to become entirely precognisant in season 4.
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel: All the torture scenes in Panama, but particularly Sucre's. He is forced to dig his own grave and then interrogated while being buried alive. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome, since Sucre refuses to confess where Lincoln and Michael are.
  • Lincoln finding Sara's head in a basket.
  • Pretty much any scene where they take out the saw and the plastic bags in the context of disposing a corpse (who is still alive, by the way, and listening).
• Ho Yay: T- Bag and everyone, especially Michael, but usually unidirectional
• Idiot Plot: As strange as it sounds, arguably part of its appeal. Viewer warning: disengage your Willing Suspension of Disbelief to effectively appreciate this series.
• Jerkass Woobie: T-Bag is an almost perfect definition of this.
• Les Yay: Gretchen. Just watch "The Final Break".
• Magnificent Bastard: Kellerman, T-Bag, the General.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: Reviews suggest that the game Prison Break: The Conspiracy is not so good.
• The Scrappy: Bellick after Season 1, any new character in season 3 (take your pick) and Michael is even considered a Creator's Pet by some.
• Seasonal Rot: Seasons 3 and 4. The latter is more of a Broken Base.
• Squick: Caroline Reynolds and Terrance Steadman, the General and Gretchen).
  • After having his hand cut off by Abruzzi, T-Bag forces a vet (at knife point) to reattach it, and goes half a season before he has to abandon his hand. The terrible condition of his hand is commented upon by various characters.
  • Pretty much everything T-Bag does falls under this.
• Tear Jerker: The episode The Rat in season one. You know Linc isn't actually going to get the chair, but its still incredibly sad to watch him make the goodbyes to his loved ones, and watch Michael try to come up with just one more thing to save him.
  • The last scene of the series, when everyone gathers for Michael's memorial.
• Villain Decay: Bellick. The General, too. And The Company as a whole.
• The Woobie: Alex Mahone. And Michael: he's decent guys who suffers ridiculous levels of abuse for his trouble. Also, Sucre throughout; the character is always the sweetest of the lot, going though ridiculous amounts of trouble for Michael. And Bellick: He still lives with his mother and cares deeply about her, and even goes to such lengths as to write a note for her for Sucre to pass on. That and his suicide mission of saving the team. Ultimately Everyone, even the convicted murderer/rapist/pedophile, has a turn at being The Woobie.