Tropescilloscope: Call-Back

A reference to an earlier event in a series that's relevant for the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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