Last-Minute Reprieve: Difference between revisions

* One installmentinstalment of ''[[Golgo 13]]'', "One Minute Past Midnight", plays with this trope; the target is a Death Row prisoner who is remarkably calm about his upcoming execution. For good reason; he's a corrupted ex-CIA agent who has enough blackmail material on the CIA that they're arranging for the state governor to grant him a last minute reprieve. A friend of one of his victims hires Golgo to kill the prisoner, he accomplishes this by {{spoiler|assassinating ''the governor'' in his mansion, just before he can grant clemency. The CIA agent in the room with the governor can't give the failsafe code on his behalf, and despite the prisoner's suddenly frantic pleas, the execution is carried out on time.}}

* Subverted in the beginning of the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]''. As Moist von Lipwig is about to be hanged, when the Patrician's carriage pulls into the square. As Moist desperately stalls on his last words a messenger comes out, and struggles to make his way through the crowd as the hangman starts to become annoyed that he doesn't have the decency to keep it short. Eventually Moist points out the messenger, who does bring a message from the Patrician. Which is that they haven't got all day, and that the hangman should get on with it already. {{spoiler|Fortunately for Moist the Patrician has work for him, and the hangman was already under instructions to fake his death.}}

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==