While rereading some of the love/romance threads here, I got inspired to start this thread. This will look at some of the best love triangles on television (past and/or present), as well as the worst.

Best: IMO, it's was .....I will come back to that.

Worst: Dawson/Joey/Pacey is the all-time worst in my opinion. Mostly, I didn't get the fuss about Joey. Yet, these 2 guys basically ruined their friendship for her? What the heck? Currently, the Mere/McD/Mcs situation on Grey's Anatomy is one of the worst. The women look beyond pathetic, and McD looks like a jerk. How can I root for any one of these people?

Is there really such a thing as a good love triangle? If there is someone please enlighten me.

Worst: So many...but off the top of my head most, if not all, that have taken place on The O.C.

I couldn't stand the Rory/Dean/Jess triangle back in the day. When Jess appeared on the scene, Dean got possessive. And that was annoying.

Worst: Meredith/McDreamy/Addison - because McDreamy looks like a big douchebag! Philip/Chloe/Brady on Days of our Lives - they ruined Philip in order to pimp Brady.

Best: Sonny/Brenda/Jax on General Hospital. Roman/Marlena/John 1993 on Days of our Lives. Jack/Kate/Sawyer on Lost.

Sometimes. A good one for me is where I am actually torn between the two couples, even if it's just the wee-est little bit.



That was good, but for my money, the best ever was Holly/Robert/Anna which segued into Robert/Anna/Duke. The first time I ever remember crying over television was when Robert said goodbye to Anna to go to Holly in Australia and told her something like, "I love Holly, but you will always have a piece of me." The second time was when Anna married Duke and asked Robert to give her away. Having your ex-husband/best friend/love of your life give you away when you marry your hot Scottish second husband? Damn good soap opera.

Worst Ever? I trust this needs no explanation, but Sydney/Vaughn/Lauren on Alias.

The only love triangle I've ever liked was Tara-Willow-Oz from Buffy, because I loved both Oz and Tara to bits and wanted them to have a Willow each.

Other than that, the best they've ever been is tolerable.

No I tell a lie; early season 3 Alias, before Lauren was revealed as evil, the Syd-Vaughn-Lauren triangle was portrayed quite well, with all three (apparently as it turned out) trying to deal with it as best they could.
[Maybe this should be in the Party of One thread?]

The two worst for me are Jack-Kate-Sawyer from Lost, because all three characters are more interesting outside that context, and in two cases there are people I'd rather see them with; and Luka-Abby-Carter from ER, which destroyed all three characters for me.

Wesley-Fred-Gunn from Angel season 3 would have been in that category too, but I liked where the characters ended up in season 4, and they couldn't have got there without it - so that one counts as tolerable. (Though I still wistfully think about Cordy-Gunn).

For the worst, how about Crossing Jordan?

Woody, Jordan, JD Pollack (the Australian reporter).
And as if the whole Jordan/Woody mess isn't bad enough, we also have:
Garrett, Lily, Bug. Or Lily, Garrett, <Garrett's latest girlfriend>. Actually, there are multiple ways you could mix that up if you included Lily's love interests as well.
These people seriously need to spend less time hanging out in the morgue.

And word to the yuckiness that is Jack, Sawyer, Kate. As for Syd, Vaughn, Lauren, I hated that from the very beginning. I can't think of a love triangle I've actually liked.

Jack-Kate-Sawyer is just yawnsome. I don't mind when Sawyer takes his shirt off, though.

What about Blake-Krystle-Alexis in Dynasty? Tacky, melodramatic, highly improbable. Fantastic.

Brenda-Dylan-Kelly. The. Best. Ever. Ironically producing one of the worst TV couples ever...

I hate triangles. I can't think of one that was enjoyable.

IMO most of triangles are bad because they're not triangles at all. You don't usually see someone honestly conflicted. It's just the character wanting to be with someone else and there's another person on the way. Take Grey's Anatomy... Derek and Meredith are the golden couple of the show (gag me) and they were too happy. So the writers come up with Addison. Does Derek truly wants to be with Addison? No. She's just an obstacle.

And it's the same thing with other shows. Rory didn't want to stay with Dean anymore... We all knew that Vaughn and Sydney were gonna end up together so what was the point? I find triangles a waste of time.

Worst: Will, Grace, and Leo.

Seriously, Will could not get over the fact that his best firend was actually married to someone and Grace didn't help matters by showing Will more affection than she did Leo.

The absolute mother of dreary, tedious, storyline eating triangles - the inexplicable Abby-Luka-Carter triangle in E.R. It dragged on and on, made the protaganists pretty dislikeable and, cardinal sin for a triangle, had barely any romantic/sexual tension.

WORST (hands down): Dawson/IT/Pacey aka the triangle from hell that singlehandedly ruined Dawson's Creek for me. Granted, the triangle came in a time where the show much needed some drama to rejuvenate it, but it just WOULDN'T.GO.AWAY. From S3 till the very end it was always there, hints dropped about it, lurking and terrifying the viewers even when Joey wasn't either with Dawson or Pacey. The whole gang became too incestuous, the Dawson/Pacey dynamic was ruined at the altar of IT (and that male friendship was refreshing and one of the more core things of the show IMO). Basically the show lost its direction and then revolved all around that tired storyline.
We never really learned why Joey was torn between these two for such a long time and refused to make a decision and stick with it or why two best friends just decided to throw their friendship away for a girl, which is the thing that they vowed not to do. *sigh* Joey Potter was the prototype Lana Lang.


I'm not saying it belongs to the best category or something like that, because it lacks characterization but Kate/Jack/Sawyer is an interestic dynamic that I find myself torn about. (If only there was the option Jack/Sawyer, the answer would be clear.)

One triangle that I thought was done pretty well was from Friends (surprisingly), with the Chandler-Joey-Kathy arc from about season 4. It was just a shame they ruined that entire thing by then writing out Kathy in a very lame way a few episodes down the line but the first few episodes were great, if I remember correctly.

Anyone remember the Cliff/Sue Ellen/JR triangle from Dallas?

One of the best love triangles (and I still want answers gosh darnit!!! Can Rupert Holmes be bribed with brownies?) is the Betty Roberts/Scott Sherwood/Victor Comstock from AMC's Remember WENN. Girl loves boss (Victor). Boss dies in England during a bombing raid the early days of WWII. Girl is devastated. Con Man (Scott) comes on thee scene. Girl starts to feel something for Con Man. Boss comes back from the "dead" (spying during his "death"). Girl is torn. US enters WWII, girl is offered life with Boss or Con Man. Evil network cancels show!

For pathos, House/Stacy/Marc. There are lots of posters on the House forum who can't stand Stacy, but dayum, I feel her pain. And House's. And Marc's. Stacy was the great love of his life, and he was hers, but when she chooses him over Marc, House rejects her because he knows they'll only both get hurt again if they get back together. Adult relationships are so very complicated and confusing, and the show's writers capture that brilliantly, IMO, as someone who has been there, done that, got the T-shirt, the bumper sticker and the soundtrack album.

For comedy: Niles/Daphne/the lawyer whom Daphne almost married and whose name I can't remember. After all those years of watching Niles go gaga every time Daphne said anything remotely suggestive, I cheered when they got together, but thought "Frasier" jumped the shark, at least with that plot line, after they married.

That's the thing about triangles. You really want to see the two who "belong" together get together, but once they do, the drama goes away and they're just another happy couple. Where's the fun in that?

Not sure if this would be classified as a love triangle, but considering both guys had a thing for the gal, I'll give it a pass. For the WORST, I'd go with Angel/Cordy/Conner. EEWWWWW!!! The writers were smoking something pretty strong when they thought this was a good idea. The only thing good that came from it was that any potential Angel/Cordy hook-up was now not gonna happen.

Love triangles on soaps are pretty much a given, but a godawful one that has been going on for an eternity is the Brooke-Ridge-Taylor triangle on the Bold and the Beautiful. After awhile I wanted all three of them to die miserable and alone.

Angel had some very bad love triangles, but I have a huge soft spot for the Angel/Darla/Lindsey triangle in season 2. They were all just so messed up, it was really fun to watch.

I don't know if this actually counts as a love triangle, but the Wash-Zoe-Mal dynamic on "Firefly" was amazing. Wash and Zoe were married yet Wash was rather jealous of Mal because Zoe was more loyal to him. I think it brought a lot of depth to all three characters, and it was just fun to watch sometimes. It was probably my favorite triangle ever, because it was different than the average "two guys are in love with the same girl" storyline.

I normally hate real love triangles, but I can kind of make an exception with Jack/Kate/Sawyer. Although I don't really like Kate, I want her to end up with Sawyer. Last season, it seemed like the writers were trying to force the idea of "Jack/Kate are soulmates but Sawyer wants her too," which really bothered me, because Sawyer/Kate seem to have better chemistry. This year, the characters have changed. Jack finally kissed Kate, just when Sawyer woke up from his coma. This seemed to recharge the triangle, and it made actually interesting for once. This is probably my favorite triangle. However, this might just be because I like it so much more than the Kate/Jack/Ana Lucia triangle that appears to be forming.

I really didn't like the Logan/Veronica/Duncan triangle on VM, mostly because Duncan and Veronica have no chemistry. Although I'm kind of sad that Duncan is gone from the show, I won't miss the triangle that was.

Word to everyone who hates Meredithy/Derek/Addison on Grey's Anatomy.

I loved Seth/Summer/Anna from S1 of The O.C. I just liked how both of the women had good qualities and weren't willing to make complete asses of themselves to get the boy, but then found themselves jealous when seeing the other girl with him. I also liked how Seth dated both of them at separate times before realizing which on he wanted to be with (but FWIW, I preferred Anna and they sent her across the country...)

My favorite love triangle ever is still Kurt Angle/Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley; I still think it's the strongest and most entertaining storyline the WWE did in recent years.

I don't know if I agree about this being the best since I hated Dylan/Kelly- which I am guessing that this is the worst couple you are referring to. I loved Dylan/Brenda. I wanted to be Brenda. I hated that she was the odd girl out. Some best friend Kelly turned out to be.

I have to go one further and state that Kelly/Dylan went on to produce one of the worst ever (worse even than Brenda/Dylan/Kelly) triangles in Dylan/Kelly/Brandon. If there were even less sparks than Dylan/Kelly, it was Kelly/Brandon.

When does a love triangle work? When it feels organic. When the characters have chemistry. When you don’t know how it’ll turn out. When is a love triangle ineffective? When it feels like the writers are delaying the inevitable. A specific case is the Boy-Girl-Jerk triangle.

Alias had Vaughn-Sydney-Will in Season One. That worked, because Sydney could have gone either way. The writing wasn’t biased toward Vaughn or Will, and both relationships had levels. In Season Whatever, there was Sydney-Vaughn-Lauren, which was obviously done to create tension. It misfired for a lot of reasons, not least of which was the lack of chemistry between Vaughn and Lauren. It was also a rare example of the Girl-Boy-Jerk triangle.

Everwood started with a great one, Ephram-Amy-Colin. Colin was in a coma, which paradoxically made Amy much more available and completely unavailable. As Everwood has rolled along, the triangles have been more contrived. It’s been even worse because both father and son have had obstacle triangles keeping them from their supposed soulmates. It cheapens the better one (Ephram-Amy) because the writers expect us to believe the other one (Andy-Nina) too.

Then there’s The Office. Jim-Pam-Roy is the classic Boy-Girl-Jerk triangle. The jerk doesn’t respect the girl, and treats her badly. The boy sees the girl for the wonderful person she really is. The girl doesn’t realize that the perfect guy is right in front of her. Normally, this would irk me. But Jim and Pam have incredible chemistry - both rapport and heat. I’d watch these two read ketchup labels to each other. And the writing has been outstanding too, even when the rest of the show hits and misses.

Oh, sweet merciful crap! End that shit already!!! I don't even watch the show, but end it dammit!

All of the following combinations were/are excruciating to endure: Clark/Lana/Whitney; Clark/Lana/Jason; Clark/Lana/Lex. That last one? Is devouring my soul.

::small voice:: I loved this one when it first started. It pretty much sucked after the senior year, but when it first started, I loved it. I have to admit, I liked Dylan/Kelly back in the day. I still love the scene where Dylan & Kelly finally admit to Brenda that they were together while she was in Paris getting all friendly with SuperCain.

Ben/Felicity/Noel was neverending, and I hated parts of it, but I also loved parts of it.

Jax/Brenda/Sonny was amazing at the time. Ahh. Back in the day when I could still watch GH.

Definitely. 'Take me sir. Take me hard.'

Totally agree. Kelly couldn't swing from chandeliers with anyone, could she?

Yes! I loved that. All three of them are great characters who I loved. They were completely fucked up and it was awesome to watch them drag each other down.



I think it counts as a love (though not entirely romantic) triangle, and an extremely innovative and unique one at that because it involved two very different kinds of love. Had the show been on longer, I think it would have been fascinating to see this tension grow and play out.

WORST:

Word to everyone who mentioned the Dawson/Joey/Pacey triangle. Argh.

I also agree with whoever mentioned the Duncan/Veronica/Logan triangle from Veronica Mars. Duncan was such an out of place character and he had no chemistry with Veronica, so I was constantly baffled as to why she was with him. I could accept that she didn't want to be with Logan as long as he was determined to destroy himself, but why did that have to equal getting back with Duncan? I mean, this guy slept with her when he still thought she was his sister! It doesn't matter that he was wrong! He didn't know that at the time! That right there should have been enough to make Veronia think twice.

Shawn/Nikki/Danny from The 4400. Seriously, Shawn, Ikki isn't worth ruining your relationship with your brother. Sure, they were broken up (for A WHOLE DAY), but you should have known better. And Danny? Dude, she's not worth it! You've been hating Shawn and talking shit about the other 4400s for over a year just because he slept with your lame ass ex? Let it go! The whole thing was boring and irritating.

I always rooted for Noel. So, somehow I'm not surprised that she ended up with that prick Ben.

Jeebus, you left out the mother of all love triangles in SV and the one that was to pave the way for all others: Chloe/Clark/Lana. Long before Whitney died, Jason died and Lex Loser lost his balls, DOMOS despined Chloe in an ever-ending effort to prop up Lana "Woe is Me" Lang. I fucking HATE love triangles as a result. Seriously. I will never watch any series that features them. I hate them that much.

ITA. And I honestly didn't know how it was going to turn out - would have been both happy and sad with either outcome.

But that's about the only time I could put up with a triangle. In dramatic terms, I think we are ordinarily meant to believe that two people are meant to be together - so I can never believe in the third side (point?) of the triangle, and feel it cheapens the True Love of the eventual couple - if they were distracted by someone else, they can't really love each other. It almost always feels like a dramatic contrivance (The OC has used it over and over again in a desperate grab at emotional plotlines) and I hate feeling manipulated by it. A genuine reason for the triangle (my boyfriend's in a coma, or the man I love has been split into two clones) kind of works for me - but then the "genuine" reason is usually pretty unlikely (my boyfriend's in a coma, or the man I love has been split into two clones).

With Willow, Tara and Oz, because of circumstances, I believed that Willow was torn between the two of them. If you take away the werewolf and the wicca, it was like a true life relationship - someone you love breaks up with you, you slowly fall for someone else, the old guy turns up again, and it really is hard to choose. Possibly the fact that she was choosing between a man and a woman made it stronger too; they were so different, it was hard to compare them. It's actually the most believable triangle I can think of, and therefore the only one that works for me.

Like in Moonlighting, when Maddie went out with the astronaut, I think they did a good job of making him desirable, but the only reason she wasn't with David in the first place was dramatic contrivance. Same, as has been noted, with the Shepherds on Grey's Anatomy - he loves Meredith, so why on earth is he still trying with Addison. I'd really rather the writers bit the bullet and actually tried to write a decent love relationship, instead of putting it off because they're afraid of the Moonlighting effect. (And I do think Moonlighting could have worked with Maddie and David together if all the behind the scenes stuff hadn't messed with the dynamic.)

My other exception would be OTT soaps, where manipulated drama is the whole point. A love triangle, if it doesn't drag on too long, can be delicious on something like Melrose Place. Especially if Kimberley is involved.

You're right, that was definitely awesome. Mostly because they were all so messed up and they were a triangle in the truest sense of the word. "It's not me you want to screw" indeed.

Or Sydney!

I read this thread unable to believe no one had mentioned MP yet...those triangles were so bad, they were good.

I just read that Rob Estes has split from Josie, which means the love triangle in my head of me/Rob/Josie has finally turned in my favor.

Such word Gwendel on Remember Wenn. There's a thread for it buried somewhere in sitcoms...

Am I going to get shot if I say I kind of liked the Dawson triangle? I mean, shut up Dawson goes without saying, but I thought the Pacey/Joey parts of it were pretty fun (or at least as good as the show ever was).

I feel like it's an archetype I also see on Buffy and Veronica Mars. You got the sort of blah "great love that cannot be" on one side (Dawson/Angel/Duncan) and the f'd up but oh-so-charismatic bad boy on the other side (Pacey/Spike/Logan). It seems like the bad boys seem to win, but then the show doesn't feel good about it.

Come to think of it, that's also the elements of the triangle on Remember Wenn.

I really like how the Roy/Pam/Jim triangle is being worked out on The Office, too. But I wish we got some insight, any insight, into what Pam sees in Roy in the first place. It really just might be the time she's devoted to their relationship already, not to mention "the best sex of her life" as my head explodes in embarrassment. But we look at Roy and then at Jim, who is adorable, and the choice seems obvious. But the writers are too smart to just let it happen like that. So why is Roy worth staying with? I want to know. He's one of the few characters who has not been fully fleshed out on the show.

Worst: Clark/Lana/Lex owns this category.

And what makes it unbearable? Lana runs back to Clark when she needs someone to tell her the sun shines out of her ass. Then whenever she needs something DONE, then she's all "Lex, you're the only one who have never lieth to me!"

Kill me now.

Let's make that Will, Grace and whatever poor slob is unlucky enough to get involved with either one of them.

I dunno...I thought it was pretty cute how HCJr. said "Thanks, Will. I'm really glad I married you guys."

I guess I liked it because they're fully aware it's a ridiculous triangle--as did Woody Harrelson.

I know how you feel. Scott Foley never seems to win in a triangle. On Dawson's Creek he lost Jen to Dawson of all people. On Scrubs it was clear from the start that Dr. Reid would return ASAP to her once-a-year "relationship" with JD (which angers me most because JD/Janitor = OTP). And of course there was the time on Alias when he lost Jennifer Garner to Agent Vartan.

For me it was the Julia/Griffin/Justin triangle on Party Of Five. Jeebus knows I loved that show, but to bring Justin back for a totally random unconvincing hook-up with Julia in the last season still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Oh snap! How the hell could I have left that out? That one wins for longest running triangle on SV, but the worst is still Clark/Lana/Lex.


Okay, which one was played by Ben Browder, and which one did she choose? Cuz choosing a London brother over Browder is just perverse.

Honestly, I thought she should've dumped both of them and gone off with Chris Jericho.

She did end up with shitty Justin. Neither Justin or Griffin was played by Browder. He played one of Julia's passage boyfriends, Obersturmbannführer Sam Brody (Sam hooked up with Julia while working as an carpenter(?) on her house. She did dump him because he made a deprecatory comment about black people).

I do! Good times; good times.

How about Beecher/Keller/Whomever on Oz? That just never worked out in any way, shape, or form for Beecher.

One of my personal favorites was the Spike/Drusilla/Angelus triangle on BTVS. In a change from the classic Nice Boy/Bad Boy triangle, it was a Bad Boy/Badder Boy triangle.

I agree with those who give The O.C. the dubious honor of always having the world's worst triangles. (Not to mention so freakin' many of them!) It's just lazy, contrived, absurdly predictable writing at its worst. Rather than developing the couple's internal issues, they just introduce some arbitrary third character who might as well wear a sign that says "Hi, I'm not actually a character, but merely a one-dimensional plot device who's here solely to cause a problem!"
Invariably, the third character magically disappears from the show 3-6 episodes later, without having caused even the slightest doubt in anyone's mind that the original two parties would stay together.

ITA with those who feel that the only triangles remotely bearable to watch are those in which the outcome is honestly in doubt. [small voice]I actually don't mind the Meh-McDreamy-Addison triangle and think it's raised some interesting issues about fidelity, when and whether you should keep 'trying to make things work' with the person you were with intially, forgiveness, etc. Then again, I'm a very recent fan, so it's very possible that after a few more episodes I'll have tired of it.

One of my favorites wasn't really a love triangle, since there were four people, but it wasn't really a rectangle either. The best word I can come up with for it is a love prism.

On Everybody Loves Raymond, Robert was torn between nice girl Amy, femme fatale Joanne, and sexy newcomer Stephania, and there was actually a viewer poll on who he would end up with. Though the scenario was mostly played for laughs, Brad Garret's performance really sold the idea that he just didn't know who he should be with, leading to the whole thing inevitably blowing up in his face.

Melrose Place owns this thread, I think.




I will race you! :)

I second the Oz love. A Beecher, Keller and Schillinger triangle is always a good thing.

My favorite triangle is from Everybody Loves Raymond. Raymond, Debra and Marie. The smothering mother in law, the spineless son and the put upon wife.

I didn't even think about Beecher/Keller/Schillinger! That was an awesome triangle. I always think a good triangle is one where each other characters as an interesting relationship with the other two and it's not just about both x and y being in love with z and was definitely nothing simple about the relationships and interactions between those three.

I think the writers of CSI are trying to make two different love triangles. They're not really triangles like other shows, but still.

First there's Sara-Grissom-Sofia. Sara liked Grissom back in S3 and there's still little moments between them now. And then they added Sofia, who isn't number one on Sara's favorite person list. Oh, but then there's Greg, but nothing big going on there.

Then there's Warrick-Warrick's wife-Catherine. After Catherine found out Warrick was married she said (and I quote), "You know, the thing that makes a fantasy great is the possibility that it might come true. And when you lose that possibility...it just kind of sucks".

The problem with these two triangles is that none of the characters actually do anything. There's just always hints of some kind of feeling. But please, give us something or drop it.