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"Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Difference between revisions
added tropenamer
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[[Heel Face Turn|Heel-face turners]] and [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroes]] are often fascinating characters. They can add a level of grey, be someone who understands villain motivations, or provide a [[The Atoner|good source of angst]]. In a series with [[Cardboard Prison]] tendencies, it's a lot more of an effective way of ending a threat.
However, the writers eventually have to explain, at least on a [[Hand Wave]] level, why this person isn't in jail or otherwise punished. The [[Morality Pet]] is a type of [["Get Out of Jail Free" Card]], as heroes wouldn't want to punish them as well. Sometimes it's explained that their [[Boxed Crook|service is a mandatory replacement to incarceration.]] Other times, they're [[The Reveal|revealed]] to be one of [[The Chosen One]]s.
The underlying logic to this trope is probably twofold: one, a character in prison isn't a potential cast member, and two, if the only reward for turning away from the path of evil and towards good is to be sent to prison and punished, then why would anyone ever abandon evil if they're going to be punished either way? In other words, being allowed to remain free- tormented or not- is almost like a karmic reward for the new hero's redemption, a second chance. That doesn't mean they necessarily feel good about it.
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This is the opposite of the "Go to Hell, Go Directly to Hell, [[Do Not Pass Go]], Do Not Collect $200" Card.
The [[Trope Namer]], of course, is from ''[[Monopoly]]'', the most commercially successful American board game [[Kanye West|of all time]].
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