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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Liu Kang:''' My heart belongs to another.
'''The Nostalgia Critic:''' Your heart belongs to another? Who? Kitana? That chick you've known for less than an hour? How does she own your heart? True, you just met this other woman, but give her a few minutes and you'll have known her just as long.
|''[[The Nostalgia Critic]]'' reviewing ''[[Mortal Kombat: Annihilation|Mortal Kombat Annihilation]]''}}
The romantic version of [[Deus Ex Machina]].
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By itself [[Tropes Are Not Bad|this isn't bad]] and even has the potential to be very good by opening up new possibilities for the [[Character Development|characters]] or story to go in. [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|Sadly, this usually isn't the case]]. A far too common byproduct of this development is that the lack of "volume" is compensated for by [[Rule of Drama|overstated drama]]. Having characters fall for each other out of nowhere can make any romance come across as a [[Token Romance]], so the writers start firing every possible drama cannon so as to impress upon the viewers that ''this is important'' and ''they should care''. The characters don't merely start dating nor just fall in [[Love At First Sight]]; they are thrown into a state of [[Up to Eleven|immense amorous passion]], starry eyed, [[Intertwined Fingers]], [[True Love's Kiss|kissing passionately]], and [[The Promise|promising]] each other an eternity of happiness simply [[Because Destiny Says So]].
The unfortunate results of this can include; [[Character Derailment]], [[Derailing Love Interests]], extremely [[
Cue [[Shipping|one part]] of the audience [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|sighing happily]], since [[Fan-Preferred Couple|those two were obviously made for each other]], and [[Everyone Can See It|it's about time]] (or at least, things seem that way when viewed through their [[Shipping Goggles]]). Cue [[Broken Base|the other part]] of the audience [[Flat What|scratching their heads in bewilderment and disdain]], since this "development" just asked for too much [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] and [[Crack Pairing|feels suspiciously like]] the writers just [[Ass Pull|pulled it straight out of their asses]]. [[Ship-to-Ship Combat|Arguments]] may break out regarding how well-[[Foreshadowing|foreshadowed]] and well-handled the whole thing was.
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# '''Most importantly'''; a couple falling into this trope '''''does NOT automatically mean they are a [[Crack Pairing|bad couple]]''''', so there's no need to go ballistic and start an [[Edit War]] if you see your favorite couple on here. A couple can fall under this trope and still be a very great couple, just like a [[Deus Ex Machina]] does not automatically make [[Shocking Swerve|a plot twist a bad one]].
{{Unmarked Spoilers}}
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Rumiko Takahashi]], author of ''[[Ranma ½]]'', ''[[Inuyasha]]'', and ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'', is especially guilty of introducing characters [[
** ''[[Ranma ½]]''... first of all, there's Akari Unryu; apparently, the demand for Ryoga to get a happy ending led to the creation of this girl, who is so perfect for Ryoga, and shows up so few times in her subsequent appearances that she has been derided as a [[Canon Sue|canon]] [[Relationship Sue]]. Mousse got some major attempts at redeeming his character, which can actually come off as rather jarring due to the fact he spent the early series trying to kill Ranma; and once boasted along the lines that he would gladly break any rules and forsake any honor to get Shampoo, though Shampoo never changed her opinion of him- while she did occasionally show him some "soft" moments, she spent most of the series outright abusing him and, on one occasion, was perfectly willing to go and play videogames while abandoning him to what she believed would be certain death at the hands of a life-sapping demon. Ukyo got an (attempted) and very literal [[Last-Minute Hookup]] in the form of an effeminate transvestite ninja master, who appeared less than Akari did.
** ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' is a case where this might actually be the ''happy ending''; initially, Shinobu, the [[Tsundere]] with [[Super Strength]], seems to be the [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]], though she legitimately falls out of love with Ataru Moroboshi due to recognizing that he is an apparently irredeemable [[Loveable Sex Maniac]]... her next choice of crushes? [[Handsome Lech]] and [[Royal Brat]] Shuutaro Mendo, who's not only just as bad as Ataru in terms of lustfulness, but is also chasing after [[Cute Monster Girl]] Lum. Meanwhile, she's being pursued by the [[
*** Ryuunosuke has a similar case happen to her at the end of the manga. Towards the end of the manga, she gets betrothed by her father to Nagisa, the cross-dressing son of her father's friend. Nagisa however, only appears in two two-part storylines in the manga, and an OVA, and the big manga finale.
*** To others, Takahashi granting {{spoiler|Sesshoumaru}} a [[Your Mileage May Vary|decided]] love interest in {{spoiler|Kagura}} is less an act of character development and more this - likely for the purpose of deterring the fandom from pairing him with {{spoiler|his [[Morality Pet]], Rin.}}
* In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', Shinn and Lunamaria who up to then had been [[Just Friends]] get together right after he has apparently ''[[You Kill It, You Bought It|killed]]'' her previous love interest and her little sister. It can be argued that Lunamaria was suffering of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and neither she nor Shinn were thinking straight, but... even their ''fans'' dislike how they hooked up. Making this somewhat more prickly is the [[Word of God]] statement from director Mitsuo Fukuda that their relationship was the only pure one in the whole series, which fans of the other couples took as a giant middle finger.
** Since [[Kenichi Suzumura]] and [[Maaya Sakamoto]] (Shinn and Lunamaria's VAs, respectively) got married in real life in 2011, this became ''both'' [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Hilarious]] and [[Heartwarming in Hindsight]].
* Sora and Yamato in ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]''. Up until the (in)famous [[Christmas Episode]], Sora and Yamato didn't really have much of a connection... or even spoke much to each other, for that matter. The hook-up just... happened, without a reasonable explanation. In fact, [[Fan-Preferred Couple|Sora and Taichi]] had always seemed like the more plausible couple. Ken and Miyako don't fare much better. Yes, she [[Abhorrent Admirer|expressed interest in him earlier]], but for the rest of the season until the [[Distant Finale]] (where the two are married with kids) there wasn't much development between the two. And he never seemed the least bit interested in her, either.
** Lampshaded by the Japanese voice actors for Sora and Mimi, who in the interview for the DVD of Digimon Adventure, pointed out that they had no idea why she ended up with Yamato, as they expected her to end up with Taichi. Gabumon's own voice actor also stated that she should of ended up with Taichi. Go figure.
** To be fair, in the original Japanese series (and many of the dubs directly derived of it save the American one) there are more hints on that Sora and Yamato are suitable to each other, at least according with the writer of the first two seasons. Unfortunately, those rely in the subtleness of Japanese romance tropes and are not easily translatable, and even Japanese viewers could have ignored it on passing. Sora and Taichi, however, have a more common [[Childhood Friends]] dynamic that can be easily twisted into a [[Childhood Friend Romance]], and there it at least one dub where the director just downplayed all Sora/Yamato interactions and added romantic undertones on Sora/Taichi ones, further mudding the issue.
* The manga version of ''[[Sorcerer Hunters]]'' does this with the Carrot/Tira pairing. While it's made clear how Tira feels about Carrot, Carrot's own feelings are rarely brought into question, and even the few moments where he ''does'' seem to notice her as more than a sister figure seem to fall short of convincing anyone this hook-up happened for any other reason other than that they were [[Because Destiny Says So|destined all along]].
* Adette and Gouly from ''[[Overman King Gainer]]'' are both leaders of their respective squads but do not talk much and never have a romantic moment until the final two episodes. Adette kisses Gouly to awaken him from being [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] and the next episode sees her holding him and flirting with him. The only setup is the fact that Adette loves strong men, and Gouly is a badass ninja. Apparently, the Banpresto developers did not like the handling of the Adette/Gouly pairing; in ''[[Super Robot Wars K]]'', this ship is [[Ship Sinking|unceremoniously sunk]] when Adette gets back with her previous love interest after the Overdevil's defeat.
* Any pairings in ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' and its continuities (especially Bulma/Vegeta, though many feel Gohan/Videl averts it, since the two take a while to develop their feelings). The characters marry and have kids during the series's frequent time skips with little on-screen development. To the author's credit, the reason for the lack of development is because [[Relationship Writing Fumble|he thought he was terrible at romance]].
** Goku and Chichi takes the cake though. Goku makes a [[Childhood Marriage Promise]] with her when they're 12, not knowing the implications of it. Afterwords, [[Put on a Bus|Chichi disapears from the story.]] Fast forward 6 years later at the 23rd [[Tournament Arc|World Martial Arts Tournament]]. Just when it seems that Bulma, Goku's ''[[Childhood Friends|lifelong friend]]'' seems to finally have a romantic interest in him, in swoops Chichi, who Goku proposes to only out of a sense of honor, and
* At the very end of ''[[Boku no Futatsu no Tsubasa]]'' the long series of romantic arcs end with {{spoiler|Mako and Hiromi ending up together}} which had never been hinted at all and {{spoiler|1=Hiromi is the very reason Mako comes back to Earth -- instead of going down the cousin/sister relationship route that had been developing since the start.}}
* The relationship between [[Badass Bookworm|Johnny Burnett]] and [[Idol Singer|Eida Rosso]] in ''[[Dancougar Nova]]'' comes out of nowhere, feels rushed and never serves much of a purpose.
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* More or less parodied in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', where Kuwabara sees Yukina on a video tape once and decides that she is his soul mate and even provides a visual of the [[Red String of Fate]]. When he finally meets her and treats her almost like this, she seems more confused than anything and just goes along with it. Toward the end of the series, though, the relationship does seem to be on a more serious note.
** In the anime, it seems to run in the family, as Kuwabara's sister meets and pretty much instantly falls for Sakyo. Yes, ''[[Complete Monster|Sakyo]]'', who even in the anime, which tones down what a bastard he is, still doesn't seem to have any kind of heart of gold.
* Parodied in a way in ''[[
* Sorta alluded to in ''[[Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian]]'', where Himeko feels that Chikane's utterly intense devotion and love for her is too rushed.
* Takanashi and Inami of ''[[Working!!]]'' is basically a type 3. On a series that works on [[Status Quo Is God]], Takanashi goes from not liking being with Inami but having his nice moments with her, to blindly loving her more than anyone else in the world with zero explanation, despite Inami being the exact opposite of his tastes and, well, [[Does Not Like Men|punching him on the face when he gets close]]. And no, him liking her doesn't make her stop punching him.
* One can't help but feel this way about Tails and [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Cosmo]]'s relationship in season three of [[Sonic X]]. There's really no reason why Tails fell for Cosmo so suddenly, or why Cosmo was paired up with Tails instead of any of the other (and older) males on the Blue Typhoon. And this pairing was strangled together even in-universe. In one particularly unfunny episode, the Chaotix try several methods to pair the two together. They do this because...um......well, uh......BECAUSE!
* Jil and Kaaya from ''[[Tower of Druaga]]''. This pairing was poorly developed and poorly written enough (especially in comparison to the more natural chemistry that Jil and Fatina had) that even most Kaaya fans were Jil/Fatina supporters. But alas, the protagonist ends up with the female lead.
== Comic Books ==
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* Antoine and Bunnie Rabbot in Archie's [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]] comic were thrown together in one story with almost no build-up beyond the same issue they got together revealing that Antoine had once saved Bunnie's life. Thankfully, the relationship was well handled after that point, and it was easier to accept than most examples because neither of them had any romantic chemistry with other characters.
** Worse off is the Echidna race - according to [[Word of God]], echidnas have what is called "the Soultouch" - a [[Sixth Sense]] that also acts as a literal Red String for them and that once they've found their soul mate, they pretty much stay together, although there are some exceptions. This is why Knuckles and Julie-Su hooked up only after 24 issues and why he hasn't been broken up with her.
* Colossus' instant infatuation with Zsaji in ''[[Secret Wars]]''
** It was also implied that Zsaji's healing powers also created some degree of emotional bond between her and the recipient.
* ''[[9 Chickweed Lane]]'': Gran/Edna's flashback arc ends with a subversion: She chooses to stay with Bill (whom she hadn't seen in over a decade and only days earlier thought was dead), rather than Peter Kiesl, whom she was days away from marrying at that point. The subversion is that this is portrayed as a massive mistake by all parties. Edna for [[Honor Before Reason|choosing to honor a promise]] made a decade ago rather than stay with her true love, Peter for letting said love go without a fight (then spending half a decade pining for her), and Bill for accepting her choice - {{spoiler|even after they find out she's pregnant with Peter's child}} - rather than send her back to the man she truly loved.
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== Film ==
* ''[[Star Wars]]'': In the prequel trilogy [[Foregone Conclusion|the audience already knows]] from [[A New Hope|the]] [[The Empire Strikes Back|original]] [[Return of the Jedi|trilogy]] that Anakin and Padme are supposed to end up together to have Luke and Leia. Apparently [[George Lucas]] thought this was enough and that their relationship didn't actually need to be convincing. Without the original trilogy, they fall headfirst into this trope. In ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'', the two do interact on Tattoine, but the only sign dropped that Anakin has any attraction to her is the scene where he asks if she's an angel, and given that he's nine years old, it comes off as a [[Precocious Crush]]. After leaving Tattoine, the ''only'' interaction the two are shown having is a brief scene on Coruscant where they exchange a few lines of dialogue, and he ''doesn't even know it's her''. Then, immediately upon his introduction in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', despite having not seen or talked to Padme for the past ''ten years'', he's showing near stalker-esque levels of attraction to her, saying how he's dreamed about her every night for the past ten years and how "just being around her again is intoxicating". Their romance [[Romantic Plot Tumor|dominating the movie]] and distracting from the more important war and political aspects, as well as Anakin's excessive [[
* ''[[Enchanted]]'' paired up the [[Official Couple]] awkwardly enough, but the inevitable [[Pair the Spares]] that followed was completely out of the blue. Not to mention the [[Broken Aesop]]: It seems that true love ''does'' come as fast as fairy tales suggest it does, after
* In the ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' series of games, the relationship between Blair and Angel is built up slowly and believably. In [[Wing Commander (film)|the film]]... it wasn't.
* The 2003 Australian film ''Japanese Story'' was a rather [[Egregious]] example of this. Sandy goes from hating Hiromitsu to sleeping with him in the next scene with absolutely ''no explanation whatsoever''. {{spoiler|Soon after, he dies because of a diving accident and the rest of the movie is about Sandy being in deep mourning over ''a one-night stand''.}}
* In ''[[The Whole Nine Yards]]'', protagonist Oz meets Cynthia for about five minutes, she later comes to his hotel room, and after spending the evening together sharing stories, [[Coitus Ensues]]. The next day Oz flies home, several days later Cynthia arrives, and later that night he's proclaiming he loves her, to her ex-husband no less, played by [[Bruce Willis]]. The relationship between Willis' character and {{spoiler|Jill}} is a bit
* Parodied viciously in the ending of ''The Pirate Movie'', when Mabel arbitrarily grabs Pirates and Daughters and throws them together, with even the last two male pirates getting [[Pair the Spares|stuck together]] with suitably shocked expressions.
* In the first ''[[Terminator]]'', Reese claims to have been in love with Sarah ever since seeing her picture. Sarah is suspicious of him at first, but comes to trust him. Then, thanks to the fast pacing of the movie, [[Coitus Ensues|they suddenly have sex]], followed by them being too busy fighting the Terminator to develop their relationship for the rest of the movie. At the end, Sarah says in a recording she's making for her son that she and Reese "loved a lifetime's worth". Additionally in the second movie John comments that Sarah often has [[Sand in My Eyes]], and he says it's in regards to Kyle. There's also a deleted scene in which Sarah sees a vision of Reese and tells him how much she loves and misses him. [[Justified Trope|Justified]], however, as they are being chased by a killer robot built in the shape of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger|Arnold FUCKING Schwarzenegger]]. Traumatic incidents have a way of throwing the two together quickly regardless of how compatible they are. It's like the relationships built in war; they aren't built upon compatibility, but upon the traumatic experience you're sharing, as well as reminding you of your mortality.
* ''[[The Matrix]]'' films do this with Neo and Trinity. They know each other for a few days and barely interact. When they do interact, they talk about kung-fu and machines. Then at the very end of the first movie, she spontaneously declares her love for Neo despite no build-up, other than a Type 3 [[Deus Ex Machina]], earlier in the movie about the Oracle's prediction. Oh, and it's [[The Power of Love|the power of Trinity's love]] that brings Neo ''back from the dead''. The sequels do nothing to portray them as believable lovers either, due to the monotone nature of their actors. A completely unnecessary portion of the second film [[Romantic Plot Tumor|focuses on their relationship]], and includes them intensely making out as soon as the elevator doors close, Neo telling her "I missed you" after a whole few hours apart, and the [[
* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'': despite the fact that the original graphic novel had V as [[Adaptation Decay|asexual or possibly homosexual]], the film has him spontaneously declare his love for Evey in the last act. Even if one were to take the movie on its own merit, there would be no real reason why V would be in love with her. What's worse is that Evey had a very interesting love subplot in the graphic novel but it was taken away in the movie, making her would-be-lover into a homosexual. The resulting platonic relationship between the two took away a lot of character development from Evey.
* [[In-Universe]] example. This is pretty much the point of the movie ''Timer.'' Once you meet your soulmate via Timer, you know you're going to end up with them eventually. Even if you love someone else right now, or are fourteen years old.
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* ''[[Zardoz]]'' has [[Sean Connery|Zed]] hooking up with [[Straw Feminist|Consuella]], instead of May, in the end, even {{spoiler|having a son with her}}, despite the fact that she literally spends the entire movie demanding that Zed gets eliminated.
* ''[[Speed]]'': Jack ([[Keanu Reeves]]) and Annie ([[Sandra Bullock]]). After knowing each other for all of a few hours, they're making out and about to have sex in a wrecked subway car in the middle of a street with a [[Concert Kiss|crowd of people watching]]. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] and [[Truth in Television]]; people bond over traumatic experiences quickly. They both [[Lampshade Hanging]] this.
{{quote|'''Jack:''' I have to warn you, [[Meaningful Echo|I've heard relationships based on intense experiences never work]].
'''Annie:''' OK. We'll have to base it on sex then. }}
** In the sequel, {{spoiler|they're broken up. }}
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** Being fair, the predominantly abusive character is Bender to Claire, who does everything from shoving his head between her legs to verbally abusing her. Andy clearly is interested in Allison from the second they get dispatched to go get some drinks, and whilst she's primarily, naturally on the defensive toward him (and anyone), they do connect more than Claire and Bender do, whose kiss seems genuinely out of left field at the film's end.
* ''[[Underworld (film)|Underworld]]'' (2003): There is never any indication that Selene feels any real emotion toward Michael; they don't actually have any sort of conversation with each other about anything apart from vampires and werewolves, and they have known each other for a total of about two days. [[Word of God]] says this was the way it was supposed to be; special Features on the DVD reveal that the two characters were not supposed to actually be "in love," but rather attracted to each other based on lust, confused feelings, and being forced together.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat: Annihilation]]'' the situation is not that bad as [[The Nostalgia Critic]] puts it. In universe, Liu Khag and Kitana have known each other for about a two (admittedly quite intense) weeks, and their actors do have some chemistry on screen. They still qualify for this trope, trough, as their visible interactions doesn't justify the moment of [[The Dulcinea Effect|Dulcinea Effect]] quoted above.
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* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' took this trope and beat it to death. Probably the most notable example of this trope is Rand's relationship with Elayne. The characters themselves feel pretty manipulated, but hey, prophecy can do that to you! Note that ''Wheel of Time'' has a ''canonical'' expression of "weird stuff happens because the plot says so".
** ''Ta'ver'en'' just means "main character" in the Old Tongue. Egwene/Gawain suffers from similar failings.
* The vast majority of characters in ''[[Xanth]]'', particularly in the latter books, are paired up within
* S.L. Viehl seems to ''love'' this. {{spoiler|1=The ''StarDoc'' series has Cherijo and Duncan, Dhreen and Ilona, and Squilyp and Garphawayn; ''Blade Dancer'' has Jory and Kol.}}
* ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' started out with just the gentlest of implied romance between the two main characters, focusing mainly on an intricate plot revolving around the [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] who created them. Then book four hit, the plot disappeared, and suddenly they were all over each other, [[Romantic Plot Tumor|all the time]]. The fandom was thrilled for the most part... except for those who [[Fridge Logic|realized]] that these two characters were, for all intents and purposes, brother and sister...
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* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' has this both [[In-Universe]] with the concept of "imprinting", which means this can be done to werewolves as soon as the plot demands (arguably, all the examples in book 3 were only to prepare the reader for the last one) and just in general with Bella and Edward's relationship. Edward acts surly and moody toward Bella for the first half of the book, and yet Bella decides that she's "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with [Edward]" ''right after she realizes that he's a vampire who thirsts after her blood'', and is completely devoted to him from that point on, even in the face of Edward's own warnings about how he could ''kill'' her. Just how devoted is she? She's willing to give up her human life without any second thoughts to be with him forever after what can't be any more than a month of knowing him, and instantly leaps back into his arms after he renders her ''practically comatose'' by leaving her without explanation. ''And'' her interactions with Edward after the vampire "reveal" consist almost entirely of them repeatedly professing their love to one another and her even more repeatedly being "dazzled" by Edward's glorious beauty.
** Likewise, in the ''The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner'', with Bree and Diego and, later, Freddie. Bree and Diego interact for one night, she spends most of it afraid that he's going to kill her, and by morning they seemingly are madly in love with each other. The same goes for Freddie. Since it's from Bree's point of view and the "relationships" between her and the guys are so muted, it's possible that we're supposed to see it as her mistaking simple friendship for love (which would fit with her background of being abused and neglected), except that nothing ever indicates this and she acts almost exactly the same way Bella does, including {{spoiler|being perfectly alright to die when she finds out he's gone, because life without him isn't worth living.}}
* Deconstructed in [[Barbara Hambly]]'s ''[[
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series:
** Did Harry and Ginny suffer the effects of this trope in ''[[
*** The [[Harry Potter (film)|films]] pushed this even further, mainly due to their being a [[Compressed Adaptation]] and thus leaving out a great deal of information. The two barely interact, sharing the screen for about seven minutes combined in the last ''three movies''. Whenever they are on screen together, they barely talk, instead just sharing a kiss and an awkward look before Harry rushes off to do something and Ginny sits down to be irrelevant to the plot.
** Lupin and Tonks. The two were literally [[Ships That Pass in the Night]]. In ''
* At the end of ''[[
* Patch and Nora from ''[[Hush, Hush]]'', full stop. Nora is warned by people who care about her to stay away from him, because he's clearly not a good person in any way, shape, or form. Patch stalks Nora, intentionally scares her, sexually harasses her, {{spoiler|[[Mind Rape|mind rapes]] her, and possesses her body<ref>[[I Thought It Meant|Not like that]], although no one's putting it past him.</ref>}}. On top of that, his ''original'' plan was {{spoiler|to murder her in cold blood}}, which he flat out ''tells her''
* [[Ted Dekker]] does this in all of his recent books, and some of his older ones. ''Immanuel's Veins'' was a vampire romance novel, which was depressing when you compare it to some of his original works like the Circle series and ''[[Thr3e|Thr 3 e]]''. ''Obsessed'' was from the very start a man ferociously in love with some girl he had never met or seen. Even in some of his books that give relationships more time to build up, it's less talking about why his main character loves a woman, and more about how Intense his love is.
* Beka and {{spoiler|Farmer}} from ''[[Tortall Universe|The Provost's Dog]]'' are a Type 3, and possibly a Type 2 as well, depending on one's interpretation. About 400 pages of no romantic hints... and then suddenly she notices what broad shoulders he has. And then {{spoiler|they're declaring their love for each other and promising marriage while they're in a jail cell, after being tortured, and at a time when Beka ''still'' doesn't know for sure who the group traitor is}}.
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== Live Action TV ==
* Many ''[[Bones]]'' fans were let down by {{spoiler|Booth and Brennan's anticlimactic [[They Do]], in the form of their single night of cuddling that magically became a serious relationship in the season gap, especially since pregnancy was the cause. Emily Deschanel's real-life pregnancy had to be dealt with somehow, and fans wanted to see them together, but the time lapse felt like a cop-out.}}
* In [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the 2000s ''
** It also didn't help that they hooked up in the very next episode after Dualla's boyfriend Billy was tragically killed, with the writing not being as clear as it could have been that at least a couple months had passed, making it look like they practically started making out over Billy's corpse.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
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* Foreman and Thirteen on ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', who went from "awkward conversations in the locker room" to "awkward kiss in a conference room" to "willing to commit career suicide for this person" in the span of about two weeks. Which, in fairness, is lampshaded by Thirteen herself at one point.
* Kevin and Molly's affair from ''[[Coronation Street]]'' really seemed like just an excuse to have an affair storyline because they hadn't had one in a while. The attraction suddenly developed when the two of them started going running and after about three weeks they were ready to hop in the sack. Bear in mind Kevin was [[Happily Married]] with two kids and Molly was also [[Happily Married]] and a key part of her character was how much she valued trust in a relationship. Also there was about a 15 year age gap between them and it apparently developed into true love so much that when Kevin called off the affair because his wife had Cancer Molly couldn't understand why...
* Some fans (Chloe fans in particular) feel that the Clark/Lois romance in ''[[Smallville]]'' suffered from this for rather peculiar reasons. They felt that they two had been written [[Like Brother and Sister]] up until Season 8,
** Oliver/Chloe is just as bad, (if not worse): coming out of nowhere and unnervingly soon after Chloe's love interest {{spoiler|Jimmy Olsen (who wasn't THE Jimmy Olsen)}} died (and died because of a situation that ''Chloe caused''.) Just a few episodes before they first hooked-up Oliver was still pining over ''Lois'' and was wanting/trying to hook back up with ''her;'' and that Oliver is a playboy who showed Chloe the same affection he shows ''any'' girl doesn't help matters either. (Especially with them saying they loved each other {{spoiler|only a year - at most - after Jimmy's death.}})
* ''[[Hannah Montana]]'': Lilly and Oliver have been [[Victorious Childhood Friend|friends]] since [[Childhood Friend Romance|kindergarten]]. They've seen the best and worst of each other, the best and worst of times, and have been there for each other through all of it. Let's not forget that they have [[Birds of a Feather|numerous common interests.]] Do the writers use any of these perfectly legitimate story elements as a basis for their [[Relationship Upgrade]]? Please, [[They Just Didn't Care|this is the Disney Channel]]! Instead, we get some contrived story about how her head fit into his neck and how she smelled like apples. And they go from being good friends to [[Sickeningly Sweethearts|all PDA all the time.]] Even Miley gets sick of the [[Romantic Plot Tumor]].
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* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' had Matt Parkman and Daphne in Volume 3, because Matt saw a future vision of himself married to her, and started going after her [[Because Destiny Says So]]. She even asked what they had in common.
* Much from ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' falls instantly in love with [[The Scrappy|Kate]], because...well, the writers never got that far. She treats him like crap, but he never stops mooning over her and eventually goes so far as to (temporarily) abandon the outlaws when he realizes that she has a crush on Robin.
* Arthur/Guinevere on ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', one that has led to something of a [[Broken Base]] among the fandom. Basically, neither Arthur nor Guinevere interacted very much in season one, although the scenes that they ''did'' share had a strong emotional punch to them (Arthur comforts Gwen after her father's death, Gwen tends Arthur on his sick-bed, etc), but come the second episode of season two, Arthur stays at Gwen's house for a short period of time and impulsively kisses her when the time comes to leave. From this point, there are several rather overwrought declarations ("I care about her more than anyone!" and "Anyone who spends five minutes with you can see how you feel about each other!") that don't feel particularly earned, as well as violins, slow-motion, and dramatic back-lighting whenever they're together (and at least one [[True Love's Kiss]]). The level of chemistry between the actors is entirely a matter of opinion, but because there are at least two opposing ships on the show, it's difficult to separate what could fairly be described as
** It also happened to some extent with Merlin/Freya. A [[Rescue Romance]] that begins with Merlin saving Freya from a [[Bounty Hunter]] suddenly has the young warlock willing to give up his entire life in Camelot to run away with a girl he’s had exactly three short conversations with. The only reason he doesn’t go through with it is because [[Temporary Love Interest|Freya didn’t survive the episode]]. Lancelot and Guinevere could easily fall under this trope as well.
*** Worth noting however, is that this type of “strangulation” is a staple part of pretty much ALL the relationships in ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', even the ones that aren’t strictly romantic. No sooner than the fifth episode Gaius declares to Merlin that: “I would give up my life for you without a thought,” and Lancelot and Gwaine are willing to put their lives on the line for Merlin within days of meeting him, as is Morgana for Mordred who passes off her immediate devotion to the boy as “nothing I’ve ever felt before.” Even Arthur/Merlin involves Merlin happily chugging back a goblet full of poison for Arthur’s sake in the ''fourth'' episode, simply because a talking dragon told him it was his destiny. Basically, if you take away the [[Romance Arc]], this trope is applicable to nearly every single relationship on ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' that doesn’t predate the start of the show, which puts the likes of Arthur/Gwen and Merlin/Freya into perspective. ''Everyone'' bonds quickly on this show, romantically or otherwise.
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== Theater ==
* ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' is the [[Trope Codifier]] and possibly the [[Trope Maker]]. While it's considered one of Shakespeare's best plays as well as one of the greatest written works ever, let's face it; the title characters are the textbook definition of Type 1. They fall in [[Love At First Sight]] and are immediately making out at the Capulet's party. Okay, not so bad. However, Romeo goes from [[
* ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' is (or could be, depending on how you read it) a particularly bad example of this: Duke Vincentio proposes to Isabella at the end even though they've known each other for about two days and the entire plot revolved around Isabella not wanting to give up her chastity and monastic life. Of course, she never explicitly says yes, so a director can play this any way he wants.
* Played for laughs in ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'', with Frederick and Mabel's ridiculously quick romance. Not quite [[Love At First Sight]], but still.
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* Done in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', which came from a lineage which has previously handled relationships very well. The relationship between Otacon and {{spoiler|Naomi}} basically came out of nowhere.
** Somewhat justifiable, as it's later revealed that {{spoiler|Naomi was basically throwing herself at him in order to advance her and Ocelot's goal of reviving Big Boss. But then it's implied she did legitimately have feelings for him...post-mortem. Go figure.}}
* ''[[Wild
* In ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)]]'', Carla is an NYPD police officer pursuing Lucas Kane, who she believes to be a psychotic murderer. Some developments in the case eventually lead her to doubt his guilt, but she remains suitably skeptical and logical. She finally meets Lucas at {{spoiler|the grave of his long-time girlfriend Tiffany, who had died ''two days before''}}. Within about a month, Carla has risked her job and her life to help Lucas, begun to trust him implicitly without her previous intelligent questioning, declared her love for him, and gotten herself knocked up with his zombie child, ''all entirely offscreen''. And this happens on all three endings, including the ''good'' one. Not to mention you can actually get back together with Tiffany without averting any of this.
** Also (potentially) done very egregiously in ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' from the same developers which mostly takes place over four days or so. Let's see, a serial killer of children has kidnapped your son and forced you to go through several painful trials leaving you injured and exhausted, you have had to {{spoiler|cut off the tip of your finger}} not long ago, you JUST {{spoiler|murdered a father of two}} out of necessity and feel absolutely terrible, and your only child is drowning in rainwater AT THIS VERY MOMENT and has been there for days by now. Meanwhile this woman you met a couple of days ago who patched you up and maybe helped you escape the police once has just returned from performing a forced striptease at gunpoint in a nightclub she found out about from a card received from the home of an insane doctor who almost cut her open with a drill and who she killed with that very same drill. The logical thing to do when time is of the essence because very soon rainfall will drown your no doubt starving and hypothermic child? Make out, have sex and instantly fall in love. And all of these are the "best" and very likely choices.
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** Another example in the original campaign is Aarin Gend, the spymaster. If you're female, you can talk to him on multiple occasions in act 2, and he'll talk about his troubled and criminal past, how Nasher took him in, and the woman he fell in love with but lost. You get a tacky heirloom amulet after one conversation and it gets upgraded a bit in a later one (nothing you'll have much use for, though). Then your journal outright states that you're Aarin's ''lover''. Sorry, did I miss something?
* The romance between the male Spirit Eater and Safiya in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]] Mask of the Betrayer'' is slightly better-done than most examples, but the whole [[Reincarnation Romance]] element pushes it into this territory. Very little build-up, minor and completely optional flirtatious remarks, and just like that...instant romance.
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' has this as a plot element. Meet the right circumstances and the gal will fall head over heels with you. At least with the first one it's rescuing her from a house fire (that you started). With others it's simply that you have six pack abs or she has a chubby fetish.
* Though [[Left 4 Dead|Francis]] has seen Rochelle for a grand total of three seconds, they want each other (although in a snarky way). Ellis and Zoey could be an example, but Zoey won't always return the sentiment.
* ''[[Radiant Historia]]'' has a couple that goes through one via [[Romance Sidequest]].
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* Maxim and Selan from ''[[Lufia 2 Rise of the Sinistrals]]'', thanks to a [[Foregone Conclusion]] in the first game's intro. Selan's only ordered to follow around Maxim by her king, and [[Stay in the Kitchen|is even ditched]] by the man when he and his fellow men are going after Gades. To be fair, more of their developments come ''after'' their marriage, and the DS remake partly improve their romance before their wedding.
* ''[[Monster Rancher]] 4'' is the same deal as ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' above: There's a relationship system with the various female shopkeepers which also lets you get discounts, but at the end you end with your aide no matter what.
* [[
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** [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|The 1960s comic]] was [[Up to Eleven|even worse]] about this. It shows the exact same Torch/Crystal relationship, and in that case, they barely even speak ''three sentences'' to each other before declaring themselves lovers-for-life, and the Torch spends the next ''several'' arcs pining over Crystal. Still, Johnny ''was'' awfully young in those days, but it's not as if he and Crystal ''stayed'' together for very long after they ''were'' reunited.
** Subverted in ''[[Ultimate Fantastic Four]]'', where he quotes the 'Lovers-for-life' verbatim... then shrugs and admits "[[The Casanova|I just thought we might get a good thing going]]." Sue proceeds to pretty much voice the above argument with "[[Genre Savvy|For God's sake Johnny, you've known her for an hour!]]"
* Gwen and Kevin in ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]''
* This is the case with earlier [[Disney Animated Canon]] movies, particularly ones like ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'', ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' and ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]''. Justified, as it can be chalked up to Disney trying to keep to the source material, which in those cases were mostly fairy tales meant to teach morality and not build a believable love story. Later movies fix this, by giving the couples more interaction and personalities beyond "She's the girl of my dreams!"
* [[Green Lantern|John Stewart]] and [[Vixen (comics)|Vixen]] in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''. Vixen had previously only made a handful of silent cameo appearances, but without any buildup or reference to it, she and John are already in a serious relationship by her first speaking role.
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* ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'': The Lance-Kitty Relationship. Your mileage will HEAVILY vary there. This is because the writers didn't seem to realize that while the two definitely had the potential to be a good pairing, mostly due to Lance's [[Character Development]] during the course of the series, it was made [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|a little tough to believe]] due to Lance trying to kill Kitty and her parents in his first appearance and her [[Easily Forgiven|forgiving him so quickly]], and did so ''before'' his [[Character Development]], which appeared to be motivated so he could get together with her.
** The Kurt/Amanda pairing can also be seen as this. The whole relationship (and [[Shallow Love Interest|Amanda herself]]) came out of nowhere in the middle of season two, despite the fact that it had been established that Kurt had strong feelings for Kitty. It doesn't help that Kurt continued to flirt with Kitty while still dating Amanda, and then [[Put on a Bus|Amanda was written out of the show by season four]]. But, again, [[Your Mileage May Vary]].
* On ''[[Total Drama World Tour]],'' [[Troubled but Cute|Duncan]] and [[Perky Goth|Gwen]]. Yes, this is [[Base Breaker|half of the fanbase]]'s [[OTP]], but let's face
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Love Tropes]]
[[Category:Romantic Resolutions]]
▲[[Category:Home Page/YMMV]]
[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]
[[Category:YMMV Trope]]
[[Category:Character Derailment Tropes]]
[[Category:Love Is a Crapshoot]]
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