History YMMV / PrisonBreak

** [[spoiler:[[EvilMatriarch Christina Rose Scofield]], who first appears in season 4 but is mentioned earlier, is a high-ranking leader of the Company and [[BigBadDuumvirate along with General Krantz]] is revealed to [[TheManBehindTheMan have been behind most of the events in the show]]. A sociopath who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about her own advancement]], she sacrifices her whole family: She [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned both her sons Lincoln and Michael]] while they were kids without saying a word; rejected her husband after [[DefectorFromDecadence he turned on the Company]] and had him hunted down; and arranged for her adopted son Lincoln (whom she despised for his relative lack of intelligence) to be framed and executed for a staged political assassination of Terence Steadman. She tries to [[EnemyCivilWar kill General Krantz]] to steal a device called "Scylla" and sell it for its [[{{Greed}} profitable military use]], then kills her conspirator [[YouHaveFailedMe when he botches the hit]]. She pretends to sell the technology to a renowned Indian scientist/politician, but instead has him assassinated in public and frames Lincoln again, along with Michael, Mahone and Don Self. Christina intends to unleash a decades-long war between India and China [[WarForFunAndProfit so she can sell the tech to both sides for a quick profit]], knowing that it would quickly escalate into a global conflict. When Michael steals Scylla back from her, she kidnaps Lincoln and gives Michael an ultimatum for its return by shooting Lincoln in the lung to watch him die slowly. She later tries to kill Michael when he's ruined her plans one too many times.]]

* AssPull: It's hard to imagine the [[spoiler: returns of Sara and Kellerman after they were both presumed dead]] were well thought out in advance. Also is that [[spoiler: the fourth season opening shows us that the Sona prisoners escaped; C-Note's happy ending in season 2 is ignored; the company's very public reveal in season 2 has been ignored; Lincoln is revealed to have been a killer in his backstory - when it was repeatedly established that his character was incapable of doing so; Kellerman [[DeusExMachina comes up with a contrived way to resolve everything]] at the end of the series with no foreshadowing; Michael and Lincoln not actually being biologically related]], the list goes on.

** Near the end of series four, [[spoiler:it's revealed that Michael and Lincoln aren't even brothers. Neither of them cares and it's not even brought up again.]]

* SeasonalRot: Seasons 3 and 4. The latter is more of a BrokenBase.

** 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.

** [[spoiler:Sara's death in general feels like a WhatAnIdiot AssPull and most found it hard to believe that the kidnappers would be so shortsighted as to immediately kill the love of Michael's life (as he had barely begun breaking Whistler out at this point) after Lincoln tries to intervene as a warning and threat instead of just cutting off body parts, as they threaten to do to LJ just moments after telling Lincoln this. There had to have been a more logical way to kill the character off.]]

** Season 4: [[PsychoForHire Wyatt Mathewson]] is a hitman working for [[TheSyndicate the Company]] under its leader [[TheManBehindTheMan General Jonathan Krantz]]. He's the worst and most chilling assassin the Company has to offer, with nearly every scene involving him killing someone or torturing people to death while talking to them in a [[SoftSpokenSadist calm, soothing tone]]. He kills or tortures many people (mainly, anybody working against Krantz); this includes women and even murdering Cameron Mahone and blowing the child's head off post-mortem to mutilate the corpse just to spite his father Alexander Mahone further. When he's given intel on Scofield and his crew by [[SixthRangerTraitor Roland]], he promises to give Roland $1 million and to let him go in exchange for the others. Once there, Wyatt progressively shoots Roland in the kneecap, then his thigh, and then in his stomach to watch him bleed out.

* IdiotPlot: As strange as it sounds, arguably [[RefugeInAudacity part of its appeal]]. Viewer warning: disengage your WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to effectively appreciate this series.

* WhatAnIdiot: In the episode “End of the Tunnel”, Daniel Hale is feeling guilty for his actions and wishes to help Veronica by meeting up with her and giving proof that Steadman is alive thus exonerating Lincoln. Unfortunately, his partner Kellerman tracked him down to the meeting just as Hale is pulling the evidence out of his pocket.
** '''You'd Expect:''' Hale to quickly give Veronica the very important evidence and tell her to hide while he handles Kellerman.
** '''Instead:''' He puts the evidence BACK in his pocket and then tells Veronica to hide.
** ''' The Result:''' Hale is killed by Kellerman and discovers the evidence in the pocket. Rendering the whole thing pointless.

** While many fans hate Roland for being a narcissist computer hacker [[spoiler: who ends up betraying the team]], many other fans actually feel sorry for him. Michael and the group already seemed to hate Roland from the start for no real reason, with Lincoln calling him douche the minute they met. Roland was constantly bullied by the team, especially by Lincoln and Sucre just for opening his mouth. Roland was also very important to the team because of his hacking skills as they wouldn't have gotten the Scylla keys without them, yet the team didn't show him any ounce of appreciation. While Roland's [[spoiler: betrayal was wrong]], many viewers felt the team pushed Roland too far because of how badly they treated him. Not only that, [[spoiler: his death at the hands of Wyatt was horrible.]]

** The whole team in the first half of season 4, especially Lincoln, for their sudden bully mentality towards Roland, which many fans feel came out of nowhere. It's even worse that they hated him the moment they met him. Plus the endless IdiotBall moments they get themselves in can get especially grating.