Tropescilloscope: Sadistic Choice

Forced to make one of two terrible choices. Morton's Fork may ensue. Can't Take a Third Option. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Gender Flip Beauty Is Never Tarnished Better to Die than Be Killed Darker and Edgier Foil Thriller Fantasy Films Crazy-Prepared Beard of Evil Bad Boss Bi the Way Noodle Incident She's Got Legs Rousing Speech Unreliable Narrator NO INDOOR VOICE Bottomless Magazines Ms. Fanservice Based on a True Story Large Ham Obstructive Bureaucrat Offscreen Moment of Awesome Implacable Man Exactly What It Says on the Tin Pre-Mortem One-Liner Spiteful Spit Badass Boast Babies Ever After From Nobody to Nightmare Monumental Damage Batman Gambit Captain Obvious Your Cheating Heart Annoying Younger Sibling Our Vampires Are Different A Date with Rosie Palms Red Shirt Bait-and-Switch I Have Your Wife Double Entendre Happily Married Obviously Evil Last-Name Basis Early-Bird Cameo All Just a Dream Handicapped Badass Knight Templar Protagonist Title Mr. Exposition The Alleged Car Foregone Conclusion Guile Hero Naïve Newcomer The Chessmaster Facial Horror Spanner in the Works Depraved Bisexual Badass Grandpa Affably Evil Chekhov's Gunman Heroes Want Redheads BFG Roaring Rampage of Revenge Small Name, Big Ego Real Life Stylistic Suck Drives Like Crazy Character Development This Is Gonna Suck Male Frontal Nudity The '80s My Beloved Smother Silent Movie Missing Mom Ironic Echo Children Are Innocent Extreme Doormat Dumb Blonde Actually Pretty Funny Age Lift All for Nothing Fatal Flaw Insult Backfire Science Fiction Films Contrived Coincidence Homage Cat Fight "Awesome McCool" Name Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Plot Hole Ascended Extra Grievous Bottley Harm Ungrateful Bastard Villain with Good Publicity Drugs Are Bad Blackmail Jump Scare Hollywood Darkness Break the Cutie Made of Iron Informed Ability Due to the Dead Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Coming-of-Age Story The Un-Reveal The Lost Lenore Unusual Euphemism Dwindling Party The Ditz Kubrick Stare Sadistic Choice Historical-Domain Character Sanity Slippage I Did What I Had to Do Rule of Cool Grey and Gray Morality Covers Always Lie Undying Loyalty Amusing Injuries The Power of Love Ship Tease Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Betty and Veronica Playing Gertrude Never My Fault Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Mexican Standoff Take That! Shell-Shocked Veteran Public Domain Feature Films Gorn She Cleans Up Nicely Sexy Discretion Shot Intergenerational Friendship Ax-Crazy Hope Spot Call-Back The Alcoholic Fat Bastard Black and Gray Morality Alas, Poor Villain Skewed Priorities Getting Crap Past the Radar The '50s Married to the Job Sassy Black Woman Slashed Throat Interrupted Suicide A Minor Kidroduction I Need a Freaking Drink The Casanova Bring My Brown Pants Unresolved Sexual Tension Hero Antagonist Badass Normal Romantic False Lead Translation Convention Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Pragmatic Adaptation Serious Business Fanservice Extra Dirty Cop Hair-Trigger Temper Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Non-Indicative Name Dying Moment of Awesome Make It Look Like an Accident Fantastic Racism Poor Communication Kills Pretty in Mink Artistic License – History Genre Savvy Riddle for the Ages Five-Man Band Heroic Sacrifice Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Honor Before Reason Canon Foreigner Love at First Sight Never Trust a Trailer Slap-Slap-Kiss Laughing Mad Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Meaningful Name Leave the Camera Running Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Diabolus ex Machina Meet Cute Mundane Made Awesome Bar Brawl Military and Warfare Films Laser-Guided Karma Vacation Films Major Injury Underreaction Adorkable Epic Movie Chase Scene Biopic Reasonable Authority Figure Daylight Horror No Celebrities Were Harmed Dogged Nice Guy How We Got Here Brick Joke Made of Explodium Fan Disservice Stealth Pun Fanservice Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Men Are the Expendable Gender Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Obfuscating Stupidity And Starring Wham Shot Paper-Thin Disguise Anachronism Stew Neck Lift Eureka Moment Corrupt Corporate Executive Nice Hat Insane Troll Logic Kids Are Cruel Almost Kiss Twist Ending Knife Nut Green-Eyed Monster Manic Pixie Dream Girl Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping As Himself Retired Badass Jitter Cam N-Word Privileges Parental Neglect Chekhov's Gun Artistic License – Military Death of a Child Apocalypse How Redemption Equals Death Author Avatar Death by Adaptation Would Hurt a Child Parental Substitute Eyepatch of Power Captain Ersatz Horror Films Air-Vent Passageway Broken Aesop Aside Glance Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Meaningful Echo Heel–Face Turn Costume Porn The Big Guy Pimped-Out Dress Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Bittersweet Ending The Mole Horror Comedy Police Brutality Crazy Jealous Guy Advertised Extra Scary Black Man The Musical Re-Cut What the Hell, Hero? Destination Defenestration The Atoner Let's Get Dangerous! Spared by the Adaptation Those Two Bad Guys Heterosexual Life-Partners Brainless Beauty Mugging the Monster The Mafia No-Sell Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Casting Gag You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Disappeared Dad An Arm and a Leg The End... Or Is It? Unspoken Plan Guarantee Totally Radical Adults Are Useless Sports Stories Freeze-Frame Bonus Intrepid Reporter Parental Abandonment Back from the Dead Evil Sounds Deep Manly Tears Beware the Nice Ones Not What It Looks Like Works Set in World War II Sequel Hook Manipulative Bastard Names to Run Away from Really Fast Composite Character Smoking Is Cool "Well Done, Son!" Guy Deliberate Values Dissonance Tranquil Fury Frame-Up Papa Wolf Light Is Not Good Creepy Child Take a Third Option Antagonist Title timeperiod Despair Event Horizon My God, What Have I Done? Adaptation Distillation Empathic Environment Evil Is Petty Beta Couple Dull Surprise The Cavalry Dual Wielding Line-of-Sight Name Determinator aka: The Determinator Fire-Forged Friends Faking the Dead Face Death with Dignity Does This Remind You of Anything? The Stinger Anguished Declaration of Love Badass Longcoat Henpecked Husband Early Installment Weirdness Market-Based Title As You Know Bond One-Liner Wretched Hive Dropped a Bridge on Him Hypocritical Humor It Will Never Catch On Auto Erotica Hero of Another Story Belligerent Sexual Tension Eiffel Tower Effect Bloodier and Gorier Attempted Rape Credits Gag Wham Line Video Credits For Want of a Nail From Bad to Worse As the Good Book Says... Adaptation Expansion Author Appeal Manchild Action Survivor Bavarian Fire Drill Deal with the Devil Eldritch Abomination Fatal Family Photo Sealed Evil in a Can Creative Closing Credits Retirony Here We Go Again! And the Adventure Continues Arranged Marriage All There in the Script All Men Are Perverts Jerkass Throwing Your Sword Always Works '80s Hair Catch-Phrase Spiritual Successor Humiliation Conga Ripped from the Headlines Storming the Castle Dramatic Irony Say My Name What You Are in the Dark Visual Pun Get Out! Final Girl Slasher Movie Cowboy Cop Spell My Name with an "S" Break the Haughty Danny Peary Cult Movies List Creator Cameo No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Mr. Fanservice Naked People Are Funny Morality Pet Deus ex Machina Foreshadowing World of Ham Outrun the Fireball Leaning on the Fourth Wall Improvised Weapon Hoist by His Own Petard Award-Bait Song Downer Ending The Bad Guy Wins An Axe to Grind The Reveal Unusually Uninteresting Sight Adaptational Attractiveness Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Zombie Stories Trailers Always Spoil The Chick Title Drop Unwitting Instigator of Doom Offscreen Teleportation Defrosting Ice Queen Death by Sex Psychopathic Manchild Stuff Blowing Up The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Smug Snake Breaking the Fourth Wall Off with His Head! Documentary Chekhov's Skill Loads and Loads of Characters Continuity Nod Dirty Coward Action Genre Expy Big-Bad Ensemble The Quiet One Friend to All Children Closed Circle Recycled IN SPACE! Tempting Fate Oh, Crap! Badass Bookworm Does Not Like Shoes Animal Title Index Australian Movies No Name Given Car Fu Framing Device The Ace Well-Intentioned Extremist Driven to Suicide Reckless Gun Usage Defiant to the End Gratuitous English Suspiciously Similar Substitute Butt-Monkey Vomit Discretion Shot Politically Incorrect Villain Vitriolic Best Buds The Brute Immune to Bullets Punny Name The Cameo There Is No Kill Like Overkill Accidental Murder Cassandra Truth Four-Temperament Ensemble Bound and Gagged Anti-Hero Anti-Villain Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Bilingual Bonus Mad Scientist The Smurfette Principle Fate Worse than Death An Aesop Hollywood Law Ass Shove Pay Evil unto Evil Truth in Television Rule of Funny Corpsing Nothing Is Scarier Cool Car Big Bad Dissonant Serenity All There in the Manual Hypocrite Adaptational Badass Rich Bitch Alliterative Name Whole Plot Reference Psycho for Hire Exact Words The Hero In Name Only Half the Man He Used to Be Domestic Abuse Big Fancy House Important Haircut Retcon Hell Is That Noise folderlabel Star-Crossed Lovers Up to Eleven Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Drowning My Sorrows Maybe Ever After Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Villain Protagonist Meaningful Background Event Determinator Action Girl Peek-a-Boo Corpse La Résistance Dressing as the Enemy You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Chewing the Scenery Mistaken for Gay Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Older Than They Look Card-Carrying Villain Catapult Nightmare Ominous Latin Chanting Parental Incest Fun with Acronyms The Vamp Sci-Fi Horror Sinister Minister Karmic Death The Load Demonic Possession Improbable Aiming Skills The Smart Guy Cat Scare Running Gag Faux Affably Evil Cool Guns Malevolent Masked Men Brother–Sister Incest Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Irony Dies Wide Open You Have Failed Me Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Precision F-Strike Black Best Friend Adaptation Dye-Job The Stoner Blood Knight Even Evil Has Loved Ones Dirty Old Man Vampire Fiction Hate Sink Genre Shift And I Must Scream Bitch in Sheep's Clothing In the Back Body Horror Shout-Out Lighter and Softer Never Found the Body Fiery Redhead Hidden Depths Blatant Lies Good Is Not Nice Big "NO!" All Girls Want Bad Boys Big Bad Duumvirate Motor Mouth Evil Counterpart The X of Y He Who Fights Monsters Freudian Excuse Film Series Martial Arts Movie Woman in White Room Full of Crazy Idiot Ball Superhero Evil Laugh Karma Houdini Did Not Get the Girl Failed a Spot Check Suddenly SHOUTING! Enemy Mine Crucified Hero Shot The Remake Super Strength Extremely Short Timespan Serial Killer Stock Footage It's Personal Anachronic Order Adaptational Heroism Cool Shades Distracted by the Sexy Mind Screw Disney Villain Death Arc Words Broken Pedestal Boom, Headshot! Developing Doomed Characters Dutch Angle Japanese Films Armor-Piercing Question Our Zombies Are Different Big Damn Heroes Leitmotif Only in It for the Money Narrator Mood Whiplash Camp Gay Eagleland Artistic License – Geography Russian Films No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Love Triangle Bunny-Ears Lawyer Neck Snap Kick the Dog Canadian Movies Guns Akimbo Scare Chord Victoria's Secret Compartment Not Quite Dead Your Head A-Splode Film Noir Woman Scorned Stealth Hi/Bye Stepford Smiler Jerk Jock Suspiciously Specific Denial Earn Your Happy Ending Have a Gay Old Time Really Gets Around Index of Film Westerns Mighty Whitey Mooks Artistic License – Biology Time Skip Too Dumb to Live Be Careful What You Wish For Improbable Weapon User Rule of Three Ambiguous Disorder No Ending Loophole Abuse Wicked Cultured Big Brother Instinct Aluminum Christmas Trees Bond Villain Stupidity Fingore Sequel Escalation Yandere Central Theme Refuge in Audacity Broken Bird Agony of the Feet Pyrrhic Victory Lampshade Hanging One Steve Limit "Shaggy Dog" Story The '60s Celebrity Paradox No Antagonist Dark and Troubled Past Off-into-the-Distance Ending Those Wacky Nazis Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Race Against the Clock Rasputinian Death Scenery Gorn Mercy Kill Pet the Dog Abusive Parents The Lancer Bolivian Army Ending Red Herring Every Car Is a Pinto Took a Level in Badass Music Stories Damsel in Distress Actor Allusion I'm a Humanitarian Rated M for Manly 20 Minutes into the Future Artistic License – Physics Shower Scene Eye Scream Novelization The Hero Dies Word of God Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Even Evil Has Standards Black Dude Dies First Slasher Smile Fainting Scenery Porn Black Comedy Fish out of Water The Bully Instant Death Bullet Disguised in Drag Double-Meaning Title Didn't Think This Through Only Known by Their Nickname Famous Last Words Television Movie Index Dark Is Not Evil Berserk Button Deadpan Snarker Becoming the Mask Shirtless Scene Rape as Drama Police are Useless Animated Credits Opening Italian Films Random Events Plot Punch-Clock Villain "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue The Voiceless Straight Gay O.O.C. Is Serious Business Everyone Has Standards Taking You with Me Bare Your Midriff Cain and Abel Shoot the Shaggy Dog More Dakka Very Loosely Based on a True Story Crapsack World Hooker with a Heart of Gold Affectionate Parody Animal Motifs Abhorrent Admirer Fourth Date Marriage Awesome, but Impractical Asshole Victim Dramedy Death by Irony Big Eater Overprotective Dad The '90s Pragmatic Villainy Disproportionate Retribution Bad "Bad Acting" Psychological Thriller Villain Ball Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! It Can Think Overly Long Gag Product Placement Show Within a Show Match Cut Posthumous Character Tagline Camera Abuse Bowdlerise Not So Stoic German Films Villainous Breakdown The Place Demoted to Extra Left the Background Music On Genre Throwback Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Country Matters Vomit Indiscretion Shot Bald of Evil A God Am I Film Noir Index Blood from the Mouth One-Man Army Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Funny Foreigner Shut Up, Hannibal! Adaptational Villainy Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Dramatic Gun Cock Death Seeker Adaptation Name Change Comically Missing the Point Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Bland-Name Product Groin Attack Male Gaze War Is Hell Pretty Little Headshots Real Life Writes the Plot Artistic License – Law Reality Has No Subtitles One-Word Title Bloodless Carnage Race Lift Humans Are Bastards Redshirt Army Those Two Guys Bury Your Gays Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Stalker with a Crush A.I. Is a Crapshoot Book-Ends It's All About Me Romantic Comedy Disney Death The '70s British Films Self-Deprecation Soundtrack Dissonance Adapted Out Imagine Spot Heroic BSoD Took a Level in Jerkass Adult Fear The Sociopath Killed Mid-Sentence May–December Romance Only a Flesh Wound Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Amoral Attorney Expository Hairstyle Change Calling the Old Man Out Dark Action Girl Evil Is Hammy Evil-Detecting Dog The Faceless Historical Villain Upgrade Same Language Dub French Films Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Ghost Fiction What Happened to the Mouse? Evil Brit Red Right Hand Evil Plan Ambiguous Ending He Knows Too Much Femme Fatale Deliberately Monochrome Epic Fail Easily Forgiven Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Gilligan Cut Taking the Bullet Jerk with a Heart of Gold The Oner Kill 'em All Flipping the Bird Put on a Bus True Companions Accidental Misnaming Reality Ensues Cool Old Lady Rule of Symbolism Department of Redundancy Department "The Reason You Suck" Speech Heel Realization Bullying a Dragon Shipper on Deck Token Minority Alpha Bitch Call-Forward Would Hit a Girl Together in Death Mama Bear Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies You Killed My Father Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Big Applesauce Decoy Protagonist The Ghost Mystery and Detective Films Flashback Deconstruction Not So Above It All Kill It with Fire Worthy Opponent Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Badass in a Nice Suit Red Oni, Blue Oni Rewatch Bonus Fake Shemp Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism After the End Lock and Load Montage Not Using the "Z" Word I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Hong Kong Films Once More, with Clarity! The Dragon The Dog Bites Back Madness Mantra Sir Swears-a-Lot MacGuffin In Medias Res B-Movie Authority Equals Asskicking Not So Different Soft Glass Brutal Honesty A Father to His Men Training Montage Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Arch-Enemy Sole Survivor Nice Guy Drill Sergeant Nasty Logo Joke I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Man on Fire Cruel and Unusual Death Jerkass Has a Point Cluster F-Bomb Cold-Blooded Torture Chiaroscuro For the Evulz Establishing Character Moment Wounded Gazelle Gambit Mythology Gag The Great Depression Historical In-Joke Cool Old Guy No OSHA Compliance Not Even Bothering with the Accent Kick the Son of a Bitch Villain Opening Scene Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! The Stoic Red Eyes, Take Warning Sacrificial Lion Reality Is Unrealistic Gone Horribly Right Only Sane Man Only One Name Darkest Hour Artistic License – Gun Safety Needs Wiki Magic Love Greater-Scope Villain Black Comedy Rape Villain Song Silence Is Golden Ambiguously Gay Gory Discretion Shot Shown Their Work Insistent Terminology Anyone Can Die Evil vs. Evil The Dreaded Daddy's Girl Wrong Genre Savvy Bloody Hilarious The Film of the Book My Greatest Failure Combat Pragmatist As Long as It Sounds Foreign Conspicuous CG Curb-Stomp Battle Gold Digger Revenge Funny Background Event Plucky Comic Relief Dark Reprise Death Glare Tap on the Head Properly Paranoid Cloudcuckoolander Curse Cut Short Moment Killer Toplessness from the Back Christmas Movies Index Setting Update Historical Hero Upgrade Gainax Ending Action Prologue Face–Heel Turn The Starscream