History Series / Prisonbreak

* SofterAndSlowerCover: Season 3 ends with a slower, Spanish-language cover of Creator/RoyOrbison 's "Crying."

* ImprovisedScrewdriver: In "Allen", Michael steals a bolt from the bleachers and rubs the bolt until the end forms a hexagon shaped key, big enough to unscrew the cell's toilet.

** Michael visits the warden's office on several occasions, mainly to help the warden complete an elaborate model he's constructing as a present for his wife. No matter how much he's trusted, Michael wouldn't be allowed to meet with the warden one-on-one; regulations require that there always be a guard present for the warden's protection. A prisoner also would not be left alone and unobserved in the warden's office. He'd have access to files, the phone, the computer, and office supplies that could be crafted into weapons.

* AnythingThatMoves: T-Bag.
** To a lesser extent, Gretchen.

* TheArtifact: Bellick in any post season 1 storyline.

Like ''[[Series/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.

* TheAlcatraz: For season 3 of the series, Michael is [[IHaveYourWife manipulated]] by the recurring shadowy conspiracy to break a man out of Sona, a fictional Panamanian prison with a perfect record, surrounded by brutal military forces, and that's ''run by the convicts''. Fox River in season 1 is ''not'' this trope, since it is more of a standard maximum security prison, even though it took the protagonists the entire season to break out. Downplayed in ''The Final Break'', [[spoiler: where the escape is successful after only two days of planning]].

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A major plot point in the series is that one of the inmates at Fox River is actually D.B. Cooper, who's been hiding the money from his famous plane heist since 1971. While the mystery of D.B. Cooper's ultimate fate has never been ''definitively'' solved, the FBI has long maintained that Cooper [[{{Anticlimax}} probably didn't even survive jumping out of the plane]]: most eyewitness accounts from the hijacking strongly suggest that he had little (if any) training or experience in skydiving, he jumped without proper equipment (he didn't have a jacket or a helmet, and his reserve parachute was ''non-functional''), and he jumped in rainy and windy conditions that would have been highly dangerous for even a skilled parachutist. Even if he survived the jump itself, he would have found himself stranded in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest with no supplies, and no way to determine his location. The show also claims that Cooper made off with $1 million in ransom money ([[spoiler:revealed to be ''$5 million'' in reality]]); it was actually just $200,000.

* AssholeVictim: Several in the series, but T-Bag, along with Bellick ([[spoiler: only to Season 3; his death in Season 4 is actually one of the most moving moments in the entire series]]), is a standout.

* BadCopIncompetentCop: The [=COs=] at Fox River are corrupt, and technically all are incompetent considering the main cast was able to escape. Plus, the Fox River escapees manage to outrun almost every single cop in America. [[spoiler: Almost.]]

* BaldOfEvil: Many of the characters on the show sport either shaved heads or hair that is cut ''extremely'' close, and evil or not each one of them pulls it off splendidly. Justified in that most prisoners tend to cut their hair very short, as long hair is a detriment in a fight because it's too easy for someone to grab a handful and yank your scalp off your head. Many of the actors, after moving on to other roles, liked the bald look so much they kept it.

** Somewhat [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] with plenty of characters once their families safety is threatened, to the point that it's easily abused by the bad guys.

** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Michael and Gretchen, [[spoiler: after he learns that Sara isn't really dead.]]

** Honestly, this applies for all of the explanations of the injuries Michael sustains while in prison. Sara hears a lot of BS from him during season one, and Michael finally just stops even trying to offer an explanation. Paradoxically, she finds herself doing the exact same thing in ''The Final Break'' after [[spoiler: taking a beating from female [=COs=]]].
* BluffTheImposter: In Season 2 Michael realizes the man he's meeting with is not who he claims to be after quizzing him about which asthma medication he takes. The amusing part is that the guy knows he's being tested and he ''still'' gets the answer wrong.

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''The Final Break'', when Gretchen tries to seduce a female CO to draw her attention and [[spoiler: make her and Sara's escape easier]].

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with [[spoiler: C-Note]], who according to [[spoiler: Mahone's]] order tries to hang himself in a prison cell to save his family, but the [=COs=] are quick to rescue him.
* ButtMonkey: Tweener, Bellick (from season 2 onwards). T-Bag definitely qualifies in long stretches.

* CatholicSchoolgirlsRule: Gretchen [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oLiIiBlvPL8/Tt1pU8BR6CI/AAAAAAAABCo/VBKDlcCW5t4/s1600/prison_break.jpg wears the uniform]] in one episode. The viewing audience probably had the same reaction as T-Bag.
* ChainedHeat: T-Bag handcuffs himself to Michael during the escape and then swallows the key so the others don't try to get rid of him, as that would leave Michael dragging around a 170 pound corpse. Abruzzi eventually solves the problem by [[spoiler: [[AxCrazy chopping T-Bag's hand off with an axe]]]], to the horror of everyone else in the room.
* CharacterMagneticTeam: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in seasons 1 and 3, when Michael is breaking out of a prison and brings people on-board who have something he needs or who know too much. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in Season 4, when the characters gather around Michael in order to [[ClearMyName clear their name]], but threatened to go back to prison if they do otherwise.

** Sucre speaking Spanish when panicking, although mostly [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]]. [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] once in Season 4.
** T-Bag twisting his tongue whenever he thinks of something pervert or of his liking.

* TheChessmaster: Michael. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] throughout the series. His escape plans have been planned out to the last detail. Later elaborated on when it's revealed that he has a condition called Low Latent Inhibition -- developed after he spent long hours in the dark as an [[{{Backstory}} abused child]] -- which enables him to break things down into parts.

* 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.]] At the beginning of the second season, they get away by... running. Really fast. And this is coming from a show that ends every [[CommercialBreakCliffhanger commercial break with a cliffhanger]].

** Used by Mahone on Wyatt. Mahone shoves a needle into Wyatt's finger. Oh, and he's also connected to a defibrillator that will give him a wake-up call when he starts to fall unconscious due to the pain. The effects are spectacular, as the normally completely [[TheStoic stoic]] Wyatt is screaming and wheezing from the crippling pain.
** Wyatt himself is both a ProfessionalKiller and a TortureTechnician for the Company. He repeatedly invades people's homes to slowly torture them for information. He's most thorough with Gretchen, whom he ties up and locks up in a tiny cell with nothing but a bucket for days, [[ToThePain occasionally coming back to explain what he's going to do to her next.]]

* CombatPragmatist: Mahone. Mahone. ''Hell,'' Mahone.

'''Mahone''': I didn't think there was such a thing as clean in a [[HellholePrison place like this]].

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In the second season, Bellick is shown actively participating in the manhunt for the escaped prisoners. This wouldn't happen: he's a prison guard, not a law enforcement officer; his authority ends at the prison gate. State and local police would have handled the manhunt. Although, Bellick is basically acting as a CowboyCop at that point, pursuing the escapees out of pure anger for tying him up to secure their escape and embarassing him. When the escaped prisoners board a train and start to disperse through the country, the FBI takes over and Bellick is fired for his awful performance.

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In the second season, Bellick is shown actively participating in the manhunt for the escaped prisoners. This wouldn't happen: he's a prison guard, not a law enforcement officer; his authority ends at the prison gate. State and local police would have handled the manhunt.

* KickTheDog: Wyatt, see WouldntHurtAChild.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Roland.

** The Japanese dub uses [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x44cjg_namie-amuro-prison-break-japanese-c_shortfilms "Top Secret"]] by Namie Amuro for the theme song of the second season.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FASU8r52kN8 "Evolution"]] by Exile was the first theme song for the third season and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmhNCkxjUo "Be On Top"]] is the second theme song. [[http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/s-v9SK7cwfQ/ "Change"]] by YU-A as the ending theme song for the final season.