As February comes to and end we have a double theme on our hands. Not just a romance tropes edition but also the television edition. This is a fabulous theme because while I dislike love triangles in general… I sort of love them in shows. There’s just this element of prolonged angst when it comes to shows that can go on for many seasons that elevate the triangle to extremes. I love that. So here I’m bringing you three love triangles in televisions shows that actually worked really well. Or at least they worked for me.
3. BUFFY, ANGEL & SPIKE in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003)
We shall not name the asshole who created the show but we shall focus on the work of its actors and especially the female talent! Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the first shows I remember watching and feeling girl power. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy is great. She is girly but she is strong, powerful and shows that you can like short skirts and kick ass at the same time. It’s a shame the show is now tainted (similar to One Tree Hill) but I hope this is a step toward healing. I truly hope this shit isn’t happening at the moment (it definitely is though) but yeah back to love triangles.
I think this is where shipping originated for me. We have a good vampire and an evil one both going for Buffy. I’m forever team Spike and you can fight me on that but I’ll be sad to say Buffy eventually picks Dracula. Well that’s at least referred to in Angel, the spin-off series that gave us ghost Spike! Man, that was an amazing season. Anyway as far as love triangles go this one is solid. It has drama, it has a difficult choice and it has a level of danger. Plus the series finale guys, oh boy.
Side note: this could have worked as a throuple, right? If it were different times I can totally see them all living harmoniously as a threesome with Angel and Spike having all that tension from “fighting” and then letting it all go. If you know what I mean.
2. ELENA, STEFAN & DAMON in The Vampire Diaries (2009 – 2017)
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it first and ultimately did it better The Vampire Diaries also had a good love triangle going on. It technically had multiple with Kathreine thrown into the mix too. Again I was team bad boy aka Damon but if you want to know how it all ends don’t ask me. I stopped watching at one point because it got so repetitive. It was the same shit different season kind of thing and I think they simply rushed it.
What Buffy had with Spike was less obvious and it lingered for a long time. Plus it had a pretty epic ending that’s very hard to top. I think. Again, I have not seen The Vampire Diaries to its end but I know Elena dies at some point and Stefan dies too right? Those early seasons were super fun though and the build up to the Damon romance was fun. Like with many love triangles once the main gal goes for the bad guy (the underdog of the triangle situation) it all starts to crumble after that.
1. SOOKIE, BILL & ERIC in True Blood (2008 – 2014)
As you can see I’m going with the vampire theme this week. I actually didn’t plan it but here we are. Also, don’t you miss vampire shows? They were so in for years and now it’s like a huge dry spell. I need some vampire-werewolf action back in my life at some point. Netflix, please stop making bad movies and make some urban fantasy shows with vampires and werewolves, thank you!
Back to business. Part of me wanted a different love triangle but it seems most I could think of are one woman and two men type of triangles. It’s as if love triangles exist solely in that form (there are few exceptions for sure but I couldn’t think of any). Sookie, Bill and Eric is the one triangle in this group that I’m least familiar with. You see, I stopped watching True Blood at one point but I’m thinking of catching up (this will most likely never happen). I was team Eric and as you can see there’s a trend, I always root for the bad guy. It’s the only one here that has grown ups so this triangle feels more adult and somehow more realistic. PS: thank you True Blood for introducing me to Alexander Skarsgard!
THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
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Agreed on Sookie and Eric! I actually really loved Bill and Sookie in the beginning but once Eric was introduced… woooboy. Although I did get tired of every dude falling over his d*ck to get with Sookie. Come on. The only other character on that show I came close to loving as much as Eric was Alcide. But I stopped watching after 5 seasons… it got too weird for me.
I think I stopped around there too.. No idea though cause I don’t exactly remember. 😀
I’m still so mad Bill and Sookie weren’t endgame. Wtf was that?!
I know right!? Unbelievable!!!
I love the new look!
I’ve only seen a couple of seasons of Buffy. I’m not sure if Buffy and Spike were ever a thing but I really, really hoped they would end up together. I just couldn’t stand Angel.
Aww thanks!! I felt like a change. 🙂
Oh the Buffy and Spike story arc starts off in season 4/5 I think, I made it to season 3 with my rewatch and then stopped. I need to start again despite the shit that happened on the set, I really like the actresses and the later season has some strong performances.
The only one I watched with any regularity was True Blood and only for the first couple of seasons. It was okay but too gory for me. I know they were married in real life but Bill never did much for me.
I purposely stayed away from Buffy. That Gellar woman was on All My Children as the evil Kendall before this and I couldn’t abide her there so I had no interest in following her here.
I’m not much for vampires so Vampire Diaries never had any real pull for me.
For some reason I had an incredibly tough time with this week. I ended up reaching way back to use shows I watched when I was a kid that had some triangle action in very wholesome family oriented ways.
Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956)-High school English teacher Constance Brooks (Eve Arden) is hopelessly enamored with handsome but obtuse science teacher Phillip Boynton (Robert Rockwell). They exist in a sort of limbo land where Mr. Boynton takes it for granted that Miss Brooks will always be there. That is until Connie moves to a new school and the gym teacher Gene Talbot (Gene Barry) tries to sweep her off her feet. At last Boynton’s dander is riled up enough to fight for her.
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963)-High school student Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman) is hopelessly in love with Thalia Menninger (Tuesday Weld) who hardly acknowledges his existence while Zelda Gilroy (Sheila James) likewise pines for him. Even after Thalia moves away and Dobie, as the title says, constantly falls for a series of beautiful and unattainable girls Zelda continues to yearn.
Petticoat Junction (1963-1970)-When crop duster Steve Elliott’s (Mike Minor) plane crashes near the Shady Rest Hotel in Hooterville he’s taken in to recover by proprietress Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) and her three daughters Billie Jo (Meredith MacRae), Bobbie Jo (Lori Saunders) and Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning). During his convalescence he and Billie Jo start to date but once he decides to stay in town, he realizes it’s Betty Jo that he really loves.
I never saw All My Children so I had no idea about Gellar’s character there. I’m usually not as put off my previous character work, more so about actors/actresses in real life. But I get the dislike for vampires, they are an acquired taste. 😀
Team Eric all the fucking way. I hated the final season as I just stopped watching it after the first episode of that season.
Yaas, team ERIC!!! I don’t know if I got to the last season, maybe I didn’t lol.
We match with Buffy! 😀 I recently started watching the show for the very first time, so I haven’t reached the love triangle moment yet, but I already heard so much about it!
Not a fan of One Tree Hill but curious what happened there?
Yes…we need a vampire TV show. Vampire Diaries still has the spin-off Legacies on the air, though I have yet to see it. There are a couple of popular adult urban vampire book series…maybe one would get an adaptation.
Yeah the Legacies is teen vamps right? I feel like we need True Blood type adult vamps now, it would work so much better in my opinion. But oh well.. one can only hope the trend comes back. I feel like urban fantasy was a huge thing for a while but now not so much.