Ill-suited fictional couples

DandyMandy · June 5, 2019

Have you ever watched a show and thought the writers got the coupes all wrong? I've finally caught up on the last three episodes of Killing Eve and one of my biggest takeaways from this season is that Niko and Eve are ill-suited. I don't see how they ever got together in the first place. Niko seems to bore and annoy Eve. Another ill-suited couple was Jon and Dany from GoT. They had little in common and had dissimilar outlooks on life.

Which fictional couples do you think are incompatible? Who would you pair them with on the same show instead? I'd put Eve with Aaron Peel, you know, before he had his throat slit. And I'd put Jon with Brienne of Tarth as their personalities are similar.

Zack T · June 5, 2019

Skylar and Walter White from Breaking Bad were never a good pair. But in that show, it was actually a subtle underlying plot I think - They slowly fell out of love, but they stuck together for most of it because of the kids/life.

Starbuck and Anders from Battlestar Galactica weren't either, but again that was deliberate.

Jimmy and Kim from Better Call Saul...not sure about them. They influence each other as couples naturally would, but I think Jimmy's a worse influence on Kim than Kim is a good influence on him.

Game Of Thrones was filled with bad matches, but that's because it went with old ideas of romance where spending a day together or having sex once = I'M IN LOVE!!! or arranged marriages.

I'm still not really digging Uhura/Spock in the rebooted Star Trek movies JJ Abrahms done. Love both of those characters but it feels a bit forced to me.

Snarky-Guru · June 15, 2019

Almost every couple on Grey's Anatomy was wrong. Every iteration of them. Admittedly, I quit watching the programme years ago, so maybe the relationships got better.

Same with Friends. All the couples were ill-suited.

Veronica and Archie on Riverdale. I would have paired him with Mad Dog instead.

Dexter and Deb on Dexter. That whole "incestuous" relationship was gross. Which is odd because I could handle the Lannister twins. Not sure why.

I agree about Nico and Eve. I don't think Eve and Villanelle would do well as a couple either.

Zack T · June 15, 2019

OH MAN How could I forget? Penny and Leonard from Big Bang Theory. Absolutely terrible. Penny's character is such a mis-match collection of basically every negative stereotype for pretty blonde girls and people who aren't nerds whatsoever, so much so that she legitimately pisses me off when I watch the show (I watched about 7 seasons of it). Not that I'm seething at the TV or anything, but she almost always annoys me with every line of dialogue from her mouth.

And Leonard just falls into it, and essentially their relationship is the epitome of "Hey look nerds, if you fawn over a pretty girl and let her take advantage of you long enough, you might finally get lucky!"

DandyMandy · June 16, 2019

OH MAN How could I forget? Penny and Leonard from Big Bang Theory.

I've always thought that Penny would eventually grow old and with age, there will go her looks. At least that's how society views women generally. Leonard wanted a beautiful trophy and she wanted someone who would worship her. He'll grow resentful as she ages and they'll end up divorced. Penny will likely make out like a bandit during the divorce though.

I'll add Olivia Pope and Jake Ballard from Scandal because she was too classy for him. And another bad couple was Carrie and Big from Sex in the City. He was just an incredibly selfish jerk and she bent over backwards to make people happy. She was paired poorly for most of the show which I guess played into the plot. The only relationship she had that made sense was the one with Aiden.

TynBox · June 16, 2019

Monica and Chandler from Friends. That looked and felt as awkward as awkward can be.

Joey and Phoebe would have been perfect though. Their personalities were so much alike in my opinion.

They got Ross and Rachael right though. That pairing reminded me so much of Sam and Diane from Cheers. Classic.

didge · June 16, 2019

Interestingly, these 'odd couples' always find a way of making us glued to our favorite TV shows and perhaps this is what the directors and producers seem to have in mind? Penny really fitted into the role of a pretty but blonde girl and watching words coming out her mouth (in the show) can be annoying. You almost get the feeling that she could be the same girl in real life.

Zack T · June 17, 2019

Olivia and Jake was never destined to succeed anyway, it was always about Olivia and Grant. Though I never finished Scandal, I got up through about the end of Season 4 I think? I know there's probably 2 more seasons after that, maybe 3 that I haven't watched yet.

Ogmore · August 13, 2019

I'm a bit late in chiming in, but I'm adding Katniss and Peeta to the list from the Hunger Games franchise. They had zero chemistry and seemed uncomfortable during any scenes that had a whiff of romance. Katniss acted more like Peeta's mother. She had more chemistry with Gale.

Zack T · August 14, 2019

I need to finish that, but I think that's the point though - Katniss and Peeta was a case of unrequited love. Peeta definitely loved her, but she didn't love him and only went along with it because it was how they'd both survive, basically.