Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gunman

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

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