Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Skill

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

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