I’m not sure, but I do know that one day I’ll be full on OBSESSING over a TV show and two characters who are ALMOST there but not quite, and then they finally get there and I’m disappointed. And soon after, I lose interest altogether.
Nick and Jess
Like recently we had the whole Nick & Jess will they won’t they? And they did. And it was GREAT
The morning after was cute.
He made her breakfast. Her dad almost caught them yadda yadda. But then it was annoying. And then it got me thinking… where are they going to go from here? How will this pick up next season? What is going to keep me tuning in week after week? The jury is still out on that one.
Damon and Elena
Earlier this year we had Damon & Elena on Vampire Diaries. I’ve been SHIPPING these two for the past few seasons and just COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS until it would finally happen. And it did. and MAN was it worth the wait. Watch it again:
Watch this again for old times sake:
But now… they’re together. They’re like, a COUPLE. Damon is going to be a BOYFRIEND and… well, borring… I’m already feeling myself pulling towards Stefan and wondering how we can get him out of the box and QUICK so that Damon & Eleana have someone take the attention off their boring normal relationship.
Jim and Pam
I was a Jim & Pam fanatic. I used to watch that scene where he kisses her in the office for the first time OVER and OVER and OVER again an embarassing amount of times. I can probably act out perfectly how Pam’s hand slides up the back of Jim’s head. I had it on my phone. Saved (actually back then I think it was just an ipod nano) I would watch it on a 2″ screen when I needed a pick me up. And that was enough for awhile because it was a good season or two before they were together again. And it kept me going– what is going to happen with Jim & Pam? Will it ever happen? How will this end? And it happened. Jim proposed at a gas station, Pam got knocked up and I stopped watching. Literally. The last episode I remember is Pam finding out she was pregnant after some picnic where Michael forgot to pick up the burgers & hot dogs.
Ross and Rachel
And who can forget Ross & Rachel? They were my first TV love. Their sexual tension was THE.BEST (please say that with Ross’ inflection)
Nothing since has been the same. But when they got together it was…. well, boring. Okay Ross & Rachel hooked up, now what? Oh yeah, let’s put them ON A BREAK and then make them on & off for the rest of the show. I didn’t give up on the show like I did so many others, but I can’t say I was a Ross & Rachel fan. I was a fan of the two of them…. apart, wanting each other. But together it just felt… unfulfilled.
And maybe that’s the problem- when these characters get together, my life doesn’t change. I don’t get to find soft pretzels in Nick Miller’s bed. Ross doesn’t lay me down in a planetarium, and I sure as hell am not sneaking kisses with a coworker in my office stairwell. So I’m disappointed. Because while the characters’ tension is fulfilled, I’m still sitting on my couch, with my buttered popcorn, waiting for something sexy & exciting to happen on the TV screen.
And while I love my life & the fact that I’ve been committed to my man for 11 years, these characters and their lives are an escape for me- a fantasy of something that isn’t my reality. I’m not going to fall for the brother of my boyfriend and have hot vampire sex all night long (at least I don’t think I am). I’m not going to get drunk with my on and off again boyfriend and get knocked up. I won’t sneak out for a glass of water in the middle of the night and have my lips accosted by my roommate. And so when the tension is fulfilled, and the couples become– normal couples… the fantasy disappears. I don’t need to see committed relationships and loving boyfriends and girlfriends- I see that in my own life. Show me some messy, crazy, people who want each other and then don’t. And try it out, but it doesn’t work. But then it does. And it’s good. But then ugh oh- something messes it up! Give me Tension! Is that too much to ask!?
PS: [Mindy Project Spoiler Alert] I’ve been LOVING the sexual-tension-we-don’t-talk-about- between Mindy & Danny. Literally. No one has ever TALKED about it. And now.. ugh…YOU BETTER NOT RUIN IT second season!
PPS: I racked my brain to figure out some couples that I still stuck with, even after the hook up and all I could come up with was Uncle Jesse & Aunt Becky.
What about you? Are you as addicted to the sexual tension as I am? Do you give up on a show as easily as I do once the tension is fulfilled?
