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'''Brad''': And while they don't like each other at first, they come to respect and care for one another by the end.<br />
'''Lucy''': You've seen it.<br />
'''Brad''': No, but I [[Genre Savvy|know what you're getting at]]. And I don't want [[An Aesop|a moral lesson]] in tolerance and cooperation. I just want to get through the next couple of hours without committing murder.|''[[Hey, Dude!]]''}}
Two, usually diametrically opposed, characters are chained or handcuffed together for the duration. [[An Aesop]] occurs. In the right genre, may result in a forced [[Enemy Mine]]. May be employed in a symbolic manner and progress into [[Chains of Love]]. In other genres, it will be played for laughs as both characters will then try to carry on with their (often conflicting) activities despite the handicap. Also odds are good they'll want to hide what happened, letting them make up a wild story as to why they are holding one another's hand. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
Can overlap with [[Working
See also [[Locked in
Unusually, the [[Trope Namer]] - the [[Girls Behind Bars]] film ''Chained Heat'' - is unrelated to this trope.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': An attack by a Daimon handcuffs Sailor Moon and Sailor Uranus together for an episode. This serves as a plot device since they'd been at odds since they ran into each other and have avoided contact. Being stuck together helps each to understand how the other thinks.
* Anime variation: In ''[[
* Done in the ''[[Pokémon (
** Also in the ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' manga with Blue{{spoiler|'s Ditto}} and Sabrina during a battle. Hilariously, Sabrina was ''furious'' to find out {{spoiler|that they weren't even chained together at all.}}
* Has happened a couple of time in [[Lupin III]], when Zenigata actually manages to cuff Lupin. And quickly learns that the downside to cuffing yourself to Lupin, is that you are now cuffed to Lupin.
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** Such as Ranma using P-chan as both a shield and blunt object in a Martial Arts Gymnastics match with Kodachi.
*** "Pig is a valid weapon."
* Happens accidentally to Usopp and Zoro in ''[[
* In the ''[[
** Also recently Hijikata got handcuffed to ''Gintoki'' and had to request his help in taking down some bad guys. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* There are no literal chains in ''[[Double Arts]]''--just the simple awareness that if [[Healing Hands|Kiri]] lets go of her hand for more than a few seconds, [[Ill Girl|Ellie]] will go into a horrific seizure and die. Needless to say, they are, for all practical purposes, just as good as chained together.
** Although they were able to take advantage of it not being ''exactly'' the same in the first chapter to win a fight by switching hands to get an advantage.
* In a side story of ''[[Kamichama Karin]]'', Karin messes around with the [[Transformation Trinket|magic rings]] and ends up [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|getting her hand stuck to]] [[Jerk
* In the manga as well as an episode of ''[[Princess Resurrection]]''. Reiri and Riza, a vampire and a half-werewolf respectively, end up getting handcuffed together by Hime as she needs them for a rescue mission knowing full well they would object to it if they had to work together.
** this troper thought it was riza handcuffing herself to reiri to make the vampire take her to a vampire that kidnapped hiro. reiri only agreed because riza didn't have the keys, the vampire she was looking for did. at least, that was how it went in the manga.
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== Film ==
* The [[Trope Codifier]]: ''[[The Defiant Ones]]''.
* [[Alfred Hitchcock]] used this in ''[[The Thirty
* In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' Roger handcuffs himself to Eddie Valiant to get him to help clear his name. When Eddie tries to cut them off, he discovers that Roger can slip off them, but "[[Rule of Funny|only when it was funny]]."
* [[James Bond (
** The director used [[Enforced Method Acting]] there by telling each actor independently that they would be driving the motorcycle, causing quite the scuffle over who actually drives.
* The movie ''[[Fled]]'' used this in part, right down to the one black and one white prisoner {{spoiler|although Lawrence Fishburne's character is actually an undercover officer.}}
* ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'' starts out this way--with ''three'' prisoners--but they get unchained fairly early in the movie. They do stick together afterwards, though. (Mostly.)
* ''[[Film/The Specialists|The Specialists]]'': Happens at the beginning of this French movie, in which two prisoners end up chained together during a routine prison transfer and one of them decides to escape. At first they can't stand each other, then they become best friends. {{spoiler|Later revealed to be a subversion: the prisoner who decided to escape was actually an undercover cop, chained to the other man on purpose so he'd gain his trust and convince him to work on a robbery. [[Ho Yay|They end up BFF anyway]].}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Black Mama White Mama]]'', ''The Defiant Ones'' <small>[[Recycled in Space|with women!]]</small>
* While not a straight example of this trope, ''[[Stuck On You]]'' features conjoined twins; {{spoiler|they separate later on in the movie, and neither brother can function nearly as well, as they are used to compensating for the other's weight/movements}}.
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* ''[[Wrong Turn 3 Left for Dead]]''; the prisoners spend most of the film shackled together.
* ''[[Hannibal]]''-A very brief but deadly serious example: {{spoiler|Agent Starling handcuffs herself to Lecter to prevent him from escaping (she is too drugged to fight him otherwise). Lecter grabs a nearby butcher knife... and chops off his own hand.}}
* In ''[[The Mask (
** [[The Mask (
* ''[[Rio]]''. This trope holds together not just Blu and Jewel, but also 90% of the plot.
* In the remake of ''[[
== Literature ==
* An extreme example in book three of ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]]'': Bartimaeus and Nathaniel trying to take on [[The Legions of Hell]] while {{spoiler|[[Sharing a Body
** The results are both [[Crowning Moment of Funny|hilarious]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|badass]].
* In the book ''Judge Benjamin: Superdog'', Judge and his dachsund antagonist Henry manage to get their collars caught together. This was after Henry semi-accidentally flooded the garage and took refuge on Judge's head. They were rescued by their owners and taken to the local hardware shop to get the collars disconnected. Later that night they learned to work together when {{spoiler|the owner of the hardware shop tried to rob the garage}}.
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== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' had this happen to Sam and Dean when they were arrested. It was both played straight (they work together to prove their innocence) and for laughs (trying to sit down on opposite ends of a bench, the brothers trip and almost fall flat on their ass.)
* The Nickelodeon show ''[[Hey, Dude!]]'' used this in the [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''[[Lizzie
* ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' is forced to stay within three paces of her rival [[Alpha Bitch]] for trying to [[Anvilicious|distance herself from her problems]]
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' followed the premise (or the whole plot ?) of ''The Defiant Ones'', with Sam escaping a prison while handcuffed with a black man...
* ''[[Family Matters]]'' did a surprisingly decent (for them) version of the trope, where Lieutenant Murtagh and Carl are on a stakeout. Murtagh, incompetent as always, is playing with trick cuffs... only to find that once he has them on the two of them he can't remember the spot that will release them.
* The episode "Attached" of ''[[Star Trek:
** To be clear, said devices were intended to eventually sync fully to their brain chemistry, at which point their captors would simply download their memories. The telepathy was a side effect.
* In an episode of ''[[Hannah Montana]]'', Oliver handcuffs Miley and Lily together while they are fighting and then discovers he doesn't have the key.
** Happens a ''second'' time with Lily and Oliver being glued to each other via chairs.
* An episode of ''[[M*A*S*H
** Upping the drama factor, the guest character was played by Alan Alda's real-life father.
*** By the way, Alan Alda's stepbrother also had a minor role in the episode.
* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]''. In "Shadows of P'Jem" Archer and his [[Ms. Fanservice|sexy Vulcan science officer]] T'Pol are tied up together by hostage takers. While struggling to free themselves from their bonds, Archer ends up with [[Marshmallow Hell|his face buried in T'Pol's impressive cleavage]], learning the important [[Aesop]] that while Vulcans can be highly annoying, they can also have great tits.
* ''[[Three's Company
* Tuvix in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''.
** Probably doesn't really count, since the two characters in question effectively ceased to exist and instead merged into a separate 3rd entity in that case. A straighter example would be Tom Paris and Neelix getting trapped on a planet surface where the atmosphere was quite dangerous, forcing them to spend a lot of time together in a cave. Neelix was jealous of how close Tom was getting to his girl Kes, which provided the tension for them to work through. Oh, and they were also taking care of reptilian alien eggs while this was going on.
* Vala in ''[[Stargate SG
* In ''[[Even Stevens]]'', the school guidance counselor attempted to enforce this trope on Ren and her [[The Rival|rival]] Larry Beale together. They end up pretending to get along just to get her to unlink them, but as they have to work together to pull this off, in the end they're worried that it might have actually worked.
* ''[[MacGyver]]'' once ended up chained to a very [[Eighties Hair|eighties]] [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]] who also turned out to be a [[Genius Ditz|brilliant classical violinist]].
* In the ''[[Mission Impossible]]'' episode "Nerves", the IMF stage one of these. Casey poses as a prisoner and is handcuffed to the villain's girlfriend. The IMF stage a breakout so that the girlfriend takes Casey to the villains hideout.
** Before that, in a first-season episode the IMF stages a prison break for a potential assassin while handcuffed to Rollin.
* An episode of ''[[Tales
* ''[[Prison Break]]'' had an interesting take on this setup when they finally got out of the prison (Season 2). T-Bag, who wasn't on the escape plans and forced himself in was afraid, with reason, that they would try to get rid of him as soon as he could no longer tell the guards of the plan. So, he handcuffs himself to Michael, and now they ''have'' to take him along, because they cannot be separated and Michael is just too important to Abruzzi (the guy with the escape jet). Then they reach a kind of barn, where Abruzzi picks up a saw and tries to cut the handcuffs, to no avail. {{spoiler|Then he chops off T-Bag's arm.}}
** Something similar was the reason behind a murder in ''[[Inspector Morse]]''. Two security guards had conspired to rob a payroll in a suitcase attached by a chain to the wrist, only one had left the key behind when he changed his jacket.
* ''[[
* ''[[The X
* In ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody|The Suite Life On Deck]]'', Mr. Blanket, the school's insane Guidance Counselor, handcuffs Moseby and Zack together, and swallows the key. It helps them understand one another better, but also increases their contempt for Blanket.
* Faye handcuffs herself to Mr Gribble, shortly before going into labour, in the last episode of ''[[Round the Twist]]''.
* An episode of ''[[Wizards and Warriors (TV series)|Wizards and Warriors]]'' has good prince Eric Greystone and evil prince Dirk Blackpool trying to escape a dungeon of deathtraps while chained together.
* In the "Chain of Death Raid" episode of ''[[
* One episode of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' did this when Lucy handcuffs Ricky as a joke. But finds out she grabbed the wrong handcuffs (She thought they were Fred's trick ones) and the two end up having to go through the whole episode with them on.
* Fred and Esther were cuffed together by Grady and his trick handcuffs in an episode of ''[[Sanford and Son]]''. Grady eventually freed them, but ended up stupidly chaining himself to Lamont!
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* One episode of ''[[Green Acres]]'' had Oliver show Lisa how handcuffs work, only to find he had lost the keys.
* In the ''[[Kamen Rider Double|Kamen Rider Accel]]'' direct-to-video movie, protagonist Ryuu (a policeman) spends about half the movie handcuffed to an attractive pickpocket, which produces even more [[Not What It Looks Like]] than he's already in and almost causes his wife to divorce him.
* In the ''[[
* ''[[Castle]]'' has Beckett and Castle waking up handcuffed together in the appropriately named episode "Cuffed". This trope is lampshaded by Esposito and Ryan when discussing how a relationship can have a make-or-break moment when two people are stuck together in close proximity.
* ''[[Leverage]]'' features this with [[Vitriolic Best Buds|Hardison and Eliot]] as they are fleeing from a militia group in "The Gone Fishin' Job". They eventually get out of their restraints, but are first able to defeat several members of the group and improvise a bomb with a cigarette.
* Happens to [[Sherlock]] and John in [[Sherlock
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Whiplash]]'', where the protagonists are animals escaping from a [[Mega Corp]] Testing Facility. The two characters, Spanx (a brain-fried weasel) and Redmond (a [[Deadpan Snarker]] rabbit who also happens to be [[Nigh Invulnerable]] due to chemical tests) are chained together, with Spanx using Redmond [[Grievous Harm
* A similar game mechanic was used in ''[[Crash Bandicoot|Crash Twinsanity]]'', where Crash and Cortex can latch on to a crystal and Crash can drag Cortex around the level, using him as a mallet and occasionally flinging him across gaps to trigger switches and whatnot.
* ''[[Divine Divinity]]'''s sequel ''[[Beyond Divinity]]'' uses the trope as its premise – the protagonist becomes forced into [[Synchronization]] with a stereotypically villainous [[Black Knight]] by a demon, and they work together with the shared goal of not only separating themselves from their rather disliked counterparts, but to get back at the demon who did it to them.
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* Though the 'chains' in this case are not physical, Bastila treats being forced to go off on a mission that would require spending time with the player character like this in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''.
* Not so much chained but part of a gameplay mechanic of ''[[Knuckles Chaotix]]'' revolves around something like this.
* In ''[[
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== Western Animation ==
* Spoofed in ''[[The Simpsons (
** In the episode "The Wandering Juvie" we see an entire line of unlikely pairs such as a nun chained to a hooker and Captain McAllister handcuffed to an octopus. They are all waiting for a blacksmith to break them apart.
* Used/spoofed in the third-season ''[[
* In ''[[Kim Possible]]'', they do two in an episode. Kim gets glued to her cheerleading arch-rival [[Alpha Bitch|Bonnie]], Ron to [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|overbearing militaristic teacher]] Mr. Barkin.
** Ron and Barkin get a better understanding of each other, whilst the Bonnie and Kim relationship appears to do the same.. next episode Bonnie is reset back to mega-ultra-superspecial bitch attitude towards Kim.
* An animated episode of ''[[Spider
* In the ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Samurai Jack]]'', during their first encounter, Jack and the Scottsman wind up like this thanks to bounty hunters after spending a good day or two clashing swords.
* In ''[[Duckman]]'', Duckman himself is handcuffed to Agnes Delrooney, the hardened criminal who looks exactly like Grandma-ma by a sinister tobacco baron and the two are forced to make their escape. As Agnes has about 200 lbs on Duckman, it makes for an interesting scene, especially when she gets injured and can't go on.
* ''[[
** Subverted in that it was only for the first part of the episode, and the two characters only managed to piss each other off worse. McCross's fellow gang members showed up, McCross freed himself, and the rest of the ep is the gang terrorizing Ozark and trying to find a cache of stolen loot. Shane's allies consist of his robot horse and a friendly local.
* Happens in the ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' episode "Life Lessons" when Danny and Valerie are chained together by Skulker as part of his [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game|game of hunt]] when he couldn't decide who was worthy of his skills, so he opted to kill both of them at the same time.
** That situation was somewhat subverted, as they only became more friendly with each other in their human forms (Valerie didn't even know that Danny ''had'' a [[Secret Identity]], nor did she know that he knew hers), while the next time they met as ghost and ghost hunter, their relationship didn't seem to have changed much.
* ''[[Rugrats]]'': Angelica and Chuckie accidentally get handcuffed together and lose the key; They eventually find the key and get free, but then Angelica gets [[Chained to
* An episode of ''[[Static Shock]]'' has black superhero [[Shock and Awe|Static]] handcuffed to white super thug [[Playing
** Machismo and the fact that he seemed genuinely worried about Static when he couldn't put off enough power to save Edwin.
* In ''[[Codename
* Childrens' show ''[[The Tweenies]]'' once featured ''all four'' of the titular toddlers tying themselves together in a row by attempting to help each other with shoelaces, coat toggles, etc. And then Fizz suddenly decided she needed the bathroom.
* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' did a variant – Bulkhead's wrecking ball got stuck in Mixmaster's cylinder, sticking them together for a chunk of the episode.
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* ''[[The Pirates of Dark Water]]'': "The Gameplayers of Undaar." Frog people hijack the ships of both the protagonist Ren and [[Big Bad]] Bloth, then force them to complete puzzles while being handcuffed together. Why? "Makes the game more interesting!"
* An episode of ''[[Doug]]'' has the title character handcuffing himself to his [[Oblivious to Love]] dream girl Patti Mayonnaise while trying to impress her with a magic trick.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'', Daggett handcuffs himself to Truckee during an Arbour Day party because he's paranoid of Truckee stealing his stuff. Later the two are [[Sinking Ship Scenario|stuck in the dam when it gets flipped upside down]]. Daggett is in no real danger ([[Running Gag|Beavers can hold their breath for 15 minutes]]), but he decides he doesn't want to be handcuffed to a dead shrew and tries to get them both out safely.
* ''[[Brandy and Mr. Whiskers]]'' spent an episode glued together back to back; on the night when Brandy had a hot date, of course.
* An episode of ''[[
* One episode of ''[[Lilo and Stitch: The Series]]'' featured an experiment that binds incompatible individuals together with sticky blue goo. Among those who get stuck together are: Lilo and Mertle, Stitch and Nani, Jumba and Pleakley and Gantu and 625.
* Variation in the episode of ''[[South Park]]'' entitled "Super Fun Time". Cartman and Butters are paired up on a field trip and are told not to let go of the other's hand until they get back on the bus. Despite the many MANY hijinks that the pair get into (which include dangling on either side of a traffic light), Butters will not let go of Cartman's hand because Mr. Garrison said not to. It's like handcuffs, only without the handcuffs.
{{quote| '''Butters:''' ''(at the very end of the episode, after '''dragging Cartman's unconscious body''' past everyone)'' Teacher...MY PARTNER IS BACK ON THE BUS.}}
* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'', "D'Fightin' Ones" Sylvester the cat and a bulldog are chained together and on the run from the dog catcher in a direct parody of the above-mentioned ''The Defiant Ones''.
* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' spends an episode attached to his bumbling neighbor Herb Mudlefoot when contact with an [[X-Ray Sparks|electric fence]] causes their wristbands to weld together.
* Happened in the ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' has [[Yandere|Heloise]] fusing Beezy and Jimmy together in hopes that they will get sick of each other. {{spoiler|The episode ends with Heloise stuck to them as well, who enjoys being so close to Jimmy}}.
* [[Word of God]] says that there was going to be an episode of ''[[
* ''[[The Flintstones]]'' did an episode where Fred and Barney become stuck to a bowling ball together.
* There was an episode of ''[[
* On ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'', Bugs and Daffy escape from prison shackled to each other.
* In the Warners classic era, Sylvester and a bulldog were shackled to another in a dogcatcher's paddywagon ("D'Fightin' Ones", Freleng, 1961).
* On ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', Filburt and Heffer wanted to enter a radio contest where contestants would show up at the station handcuffed to their best friend to win tickets to a wrestling match. Rather than do the blindingly obvious and cuff themselves to each other, they both cuff themselves to Rocko and argue over who's his best friend.
* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness
|