Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Skill

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

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