Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Skill

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

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