Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Skill

A previously noted skill or talent becomes essential to the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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