TV relationships are formulaic as a rule, but it is impossible not to love them. Many of the tried and true tropes are classics for a reason: they get a reaction out of viewers no matter how many variations of them we have seen. Sometimes shows put their own special twist on a trope by tweaking it just enough to throw us off guard, or subverting it altogether (like on Community when Jeff seemed to be running to Annie’s apartment in the rain to confess his love only to wind up at her ex-boyfriend, Rich’s door to plead with Rich to teach him how to be nice- Dan Harmon, I love you, but you are such a tease). Whether the tropes are played straight or completely upended, I lap up every tear-stained declaration of love, slap, slap, kiss and improbable trapped in a net scenario my favorite shows throw my way.
Not all tropes are created equal though, for instance I can not abide amnesia storylines and like Shirley (again I’m referencing Community, this is what happens when I go too long without a visit to Greendale), I hated Sam and Diane and their constant bickering. But when a trope works for me it really, really works and the five tropes I’ve listed below are ones that always leave me cooing at my television as if I were an obedient member of a live studio audience.
Is there anything more romantic than two people being madly in love with one another without even realizing it? Okay, so this probably doesn’t happen much in real life, but it is an epidemic on television.
The best example is Mulder and Scully from The X-Files, they spent seven seasons insisting they were “just partners” while everyone around them assumed they were a couple. I don’t know what could have given so many people the wrong impression, isn’t it normal for FBI agents to have raging codependency issues?
What I find so appealing about this trope is how it takes the manufactured tension of a will-they-or-won’t-they relationship and turns it into something organic. The couples know they love each other, they just haven’t realized how much yet. Luckily they have friends, colleagues and strangers on the street to point it out for them.
Again, I must invoke Mulder and Scully. I’m sorry, that is what comes from watching The X-Files at an impressionable age. In one memorable episode they ended up going undercover as Rob and Laura Petrie in an idyllic community to investigate a series of disappearances, but really it was just an excuse for the show to let us see the duo reluctantly play house.
As fun as that was, the winner for the best use of this trope has to be Tim and Daisy from Spaced who had to pose as a couple in order to move into a nice, affordable flat in London. Even though the series was built around a pretending to be a couple premise, it wisely never overplayed the trope. Most of the time, Daisy and Tim behaved like normal roommates, but we all knew it was just a matter of time before their pretend relationship would become a real one.
I’m not proud of this one. Last kisses are by nature, tragic affairs, but there is something about the swelling music and the crying that makes me swoon even as I’m sobbing into a throw pillow.
The worst offender? Sawyer and Juliet on Lost. When she asked him to kiss her after her fall down the hatch I forgot I had ever possessed anything so quaint as composure. Happily, their second last kiss pictured above was more heartwarming than heartbreaking. Even the less dramatic last kisses can pack a punch, like the last time Jess kissed Rory on Gilmore Girls.
What makes last kisses so special is that they act as payoff for the emotional investment we’ve poured into a relationship. If the writers are going to rip the couple away from us, the least they can do is give them an appropriately epic sendoff.
Television writers love to tease us with the prospect of our favorite couples finally getting together, only to interrupt the private moment with a sudden intrusion by a hapless supporting character or a bee with bad timing.
As much as it frustrates me, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that there is nothing I love more than the almost kiss or the interrupted declaration of love. If anyone is following the British sitcom Miranda currently airing on PBS (which you should be because it is delightful) then you will know Miranda Hart is turning the trope into an art form. Recently, her crush Gary was about to tell her how he felt when an sudden change of music at his going away party led to an upbeat conga line sweeping Miranda away before he could get the words out.
The most wrenching instance of the trop I’ve ever witnessed came in the season two finale of Doctor Who. Was there any one among us who didn’t scream an anguished no as The Doctor said, “Rose Tyler–” only to disappear before finishing his sentence. Sure, she already knew what he was going to say, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that he never actually got to say it.
Chandler and Monica are the king and queen of secret relationships. After their London hook-up, they spent almost an entire season as a couple before the rest of their friends found out.
That run of Friends episodes still stands as my favorite for the mix of misunderstandings and dopey-in-love shenanigans the couple’s new relationship brought to the aging series. Relationships that are so secret even the audience doesn’t know about them are fun too like when it was revealed that Britta and Jeff had been hooking up throughout season two unbeknownst to the study group or us on Community. I was so enamored with the idea I briefly turned in my Jeff/Annie fan card and jumped on the Britta/Jeff train, but of course the minute everyone else knew they lost interest in one another.
Now that I’ve shared my favorite relationship tropes, let’s keep the trope love going. Tell me which tropes always get to you…or which ones drive you crazy.
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