main index     Topical Tropes  Other Categories  TV Tropes Org
"Get Out of Jail Free" Card  Heel face turners and Anti Heroes
are often fascinating characters. They can add a level of grey,
be someone who understands villain motivations, or provide a
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 service is a mandatory
replacement to incarceration, or the condition of The Pardon.
Other times, they're revealed to be one of The Chosen Ones.  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