History YMMV / PrisonBreak

* ShockingSwerve: Near the end of the series, we find out that [[spoiler:Lincoln isn't Michael's biological brother]]. Since no one (Michael included) seemed to care, and since this was revealed at the last second, [[AssPull it's pretty obvious that this reveal was pulled out of the writers' asses]].

* BetterOnDVD: The Season 4 DVD features “The Final Break” TV movie that serves as an epilogue to the original four season run. Despite this, the feature isn’t included with the rest of the series on any streaming services.

* 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 seems to have NoSenseOfPersonalSpace with her. Also, there is Gretchen and Sara.
** And Gretchen and Linc is canonical, if also one-sided. There are two points when Gretchen wants to have sex with Linc and tells him so.

** [[PsychoForHire Wyatt Mathewson]], from season 4, 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.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: 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 Lincoln and Sucre just for even opening his mouth. Roland was also very important to the team because they wouldn't have gotten the Scylla keys without him, 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 their sudden bully mentality. Not only that, [[spoiler: his death at the hands of Wyatt was horrible.]]

** Mahone barely subverts this. It can be a tall order to feel sympathy for Mahone after the death of his child considering all the people he killed back in Season 2. But to be fair, he goes through so much crap before the death of his son and the company was blackmailing him to things he didn't want to do. Plus, he goes through some great development.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: while the show runners said that [[spoiler: Veronica]]. was killed simply because they ran out of ideas for [[spoiler: her]]. storyline, after being such a dynamic presence in season 1 [[spoiler: Veronica]]. deserved better, even if it would have just meant spending a good chunk of time as a hostage to TheConspiracy.

** [[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.

** [[SmugSnake Jacob Anton Ness]] is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca who is also known as [[RogueAgent Poseidon]], a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover {{CIA}} agent who serves as the BigBad of the 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining his rogue cell 21 Void by threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated for Christina Scofield's death. After Michael is forced to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists and rogue agents—including the head of Yemen's [[TheTheocracy ISIS]]--who act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and [[FrameUp frames Michael]] for Gaines's death before he leaves him to die in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize her and Michael's son Mike before having the henchmen imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence." When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into believing that Sara died in the house and that Michael is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis.

* MagnificentBastard: Kellerman, T-Bag, the General.

** [[ScaryBlackMan Wyatt Mathewson]], from season 4, is a [[ProfessionalKiller professional hitman]] working for [[TheSyndicate the Company]] under its leader [[BigBad General Jonathan Krantz]]. He's the worst and most chilling PsychoForHire the Company has to offer, with nearly every scene involving him killing someone or [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing people to death]] while talking to them in a [[DissonantSerenity calm, soothing tone]]. He kills or tortures many people (mainly, anybody working against Krantz); this includes [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and even [[WouldHurtAChild murdering Cameron Mahone]] and [[BoomHeadshot 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 the SixthRangerTraitor Roland, he [[FalseReassurance 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.
** [[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]]. She's a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] {{insufferable genius}} who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about her own advancement]]. She sacrifices her whole family; [[ParentalAbandonment she 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 {{frame|Up}}d 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 [[HostageForMacGuffin 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.

** After his FaceHeelTurn, [[spoiler:Don Self]] became a very {{egregious}} SmugSnake who wasn't liked by ''anyone''. [[spoiler:Killing Miriam Hultz]] didn't help his case either.

** Almost every character introduced in Season 3. At best, Gretchen and Whistler are {{Base Breaking Character}}s.

* {{Narm}}: Callies refused to return for season three [[spoiler:just to be killed off]] and it's extremely obvious a body double is being used for Sara in her scenes [[spoiler:(not to mention the head in the box really doesn't look anything like her)]], making them somewhat hard to take seriously.

** [[spoiler:Jacob Anton Ness is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca. He is also known as Poseidon, a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover CIA agent who serves as the BigBad of ''Series/PrisonBreak'''s 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining his rogue cell 21 Void by threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated for Christina Scofield's death. After Michael is forced to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists and rogue agents who act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and frames Michael for Gaines' death before he leaves him to die in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize her and Michael's son Mike before having the henchmen imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence." When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into believing that Sara died in the house and that Michael is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis.]]

** [[spoiler:Jacob Anton Ness is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca. He is also known as Poseidon, a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover CIA agent who serves as the BigBad of ''Series/PrisonBreak'''s 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining his rogue cell 21 Void by threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole if he says no. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated for Christina Scofield's death. After Michael is forced to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists and rogue agents who act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and frames Michael for Gaines' death before he leaves him to die in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize her and Michael's son Mike before having the henchmen imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence." When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into believing that Sara died in the house and that Michael is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis.]]

** [[spoiler:Jacob Anton Ness is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca. He is also known as Poseidon, a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover CIA agent who leads a rogue cell named 21 Void, and he's the BigBad of ''Series/PrisonBreak'''s 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining 21 Void, threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole if he says no. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated at Miami-Dade State Penitentiary for Christina Scofield's death. After forcing Michael to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists, political dissidents, and rogue agents who would act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and frames Michael for Gaines' death and crimes against Yemen's government before he leaves him to die in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize and chase her and Michael's son Mike before having them imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence." When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into into believing that Sara died in the house and his real father is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis. An egomaniac willing to betray his country to gain power at home and abroad and a psychopath who has the blood of thousands of Yemenis and Americans on his hands, Jacob stands out as one of the cruelest villains television (let alone ''Prison Break'') has to offer.]]

** [[spoiler:Jacob Anton Ness is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca. He is also known as Poseidon, a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover CIA agent who leads a rogue cell named 21 Void, and he's the BigBad of ''Series/PrisonBreak'''s 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining 21 Void, threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole if he says no. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated at Miami-Dade State Penitentiary for Christina Scofield's death. After forcing Michael to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists, political dissidents, and rogue agents who would act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and frames Michael for Gaines' death and crimes against Yemen's government before he leaves him to die in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize and chase her and Michael's son Mike before having them imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence." When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into into believing that Sara died in the house and his real father is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis. An egomaniac who fails to understand the concept of love and a psychopath who has the blood of thousands of Yemenis and Americans on his hands, Jacob stands out as one of the cruelest villains television (let alone ''Prison Break'') has to offer.]]

** [[spoiler:Jacob Anton Ness is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca. He is also known as Poseidon, a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover CIA agent who leads a rogue cell named 21 Void, and he's the BigBad of ''Series/PrisonBreak'''s 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining 21 Void, threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole if he says no. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated at Miami-Dade State Penitentiary for Christina Scofield's death. After forcing Michael to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists, political dissidents, and rogue agents who would act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and frames Michael for Gaines' death and crimes against Yemen's government before he leaves him to die in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize and chase her and Michael's son Mike before having them imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence". When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into into believing that Sara died in the house and his real father is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis. An egomaniac who fails to understand the concept of love and a psychopath who has the blood of thousands of Yemenis and Americans on his hands, Jacob stands out as one of the cruelest villains television (let alone ''Prison Break'') has to offer.]]

** [[spoiler:Jacob Anton Ness is a noted economics professor from the University of Ithaca. He is also known as Poseidon, a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] deep-cover CIA agent who leads a rogue cell named 21 Void, and he's the BigBad of ''Series/PrisonBreak'''s 2017 revival. Revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan of the DirectToVideo movie ''The Final Break'', he tries to press Michael Scofield into faking his death and joining 21 Void, threatening to imprison Michael's family and friends for life without parole if he says no. When Michael initially refuses, Jacob has Michael's pregnant wife Sara Scofield incarcerated at Miami-Dade State Penitentiary for Christina Scofield's death. After forcing Michael to fake his death, Jacob enslaves him into breaking out terrorists, political dissidents, and rogue agents who would act against America's interests. Knowing Michael would eventually betray him, Jacob kills CIA Deputy Chief Harlan Gaines and frames Michael for the crime before he betrays and abandons him in Yemen's Ogygia prison. Over the next four years, he erases Michael's identity and marries his wife. During this time he proceeds to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her into believing Michael is dead, going as far as framing Kellerman for hacking her phone after he has him killed and hiring his henchmen A&W and Van Gogh to terrorize and chase her and Michael's son Mike before having them imprisoned to prove Jacob's "innocence". When she finds out Jacob is indeed Poseidon, he kidnaps Mike and Sara and tricks Mike into teaching him how to draw maps in the shapes of child-like drawings, all while planning to have Michael and Sara trapped and killed in a vacation home. When they escape the home, Jacob abducts Mike and brainwashes him into into believing that Sara died in the house and his real father is a terrorist named Kaniel Outis. An egomaniac who fails to understand the concept of love and a psychopath who has the blood of thousands of Yemenis and Americans on his hands, Jacob stands out as one of the cruelest villains television (let alone ''Prison Break'') has to offer.]]

** Also Sucre and Mahone.

* MoralEventHorizon: Poseidon ([[spoiler:aka Jacob Ness]]) from Season 5 is a psychopath who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. As a result, it's not a question on whether Poseidon has crossed the MEH, but ''when''. Here are a few milestones: