Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Skill

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

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