Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gunman

Earlier-introduced minor character is actually very important. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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