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