Tropescilloscope: Foregone Conclusion

The audience knows how the story ends before it begins. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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