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| They don't even pretend they care. |
For the past two posts I've been blogging about my favorite fictional couples--well, now we're finally getting down to the good stuff--the favorites of the favs. The best of the best. The top ten. (Do you have chills? Or is it just me?) These are the couples that I spend hours searching for good fanfiction about them (alas, there is not a lot of good fanfiction), these are couples that cause fans to melt into puddles of goo every time they see them on screen. Couples from shows and movies that you re-watch because they are so perfect together.
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| Why can't you be real?! |
So let's get to it, beginning with number...
10. Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky
Show: How I Met Your Mother
Why do I love Barney and Robin so much? Because they're AWESOME!!
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| And they know it. |
Barney and Robin is an example of when the actors have such great chemistry that the course of the show changes so that the characters get together even though that wasn't the initial plan--to the point where a majority of fans care more about them, than they do about the main character Ted.
What I really like about Barney and Robin, (like Chandler and Monica) is that they start off as friends. Their romance develops naturally between them, growing out of how well they sync together in just about everything. This culminates in them kissing in the season four finale and deciding to be a couple.
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| Yeah, they're in the hospital. It's a long story. Just ask Ted's kids. |
When the writers broke them up a couple of episodes into season five, they were unprepared for the level of backlash and outcry from the fans. In fact, I stopped watching after they broke up, and refused to watch until I knew that they got back together ( also stopped watching because that I feel the humor of the show takes a steep drop after the first four seasons). What followed after their breakup was a Ross and Rachel-esque of 'will they or won't they' over the course of the next couple of seasons, until finally the last season takes place entirely on the weekend of their (spoiler alert) wedding.
Barney and Robin have fun together. It's fun to watch a couple that actually like to spend time together and want the same things out of life. They're both commitment-phobes, so it's hilarious to watch them try to overcome that, (especially on Barney's part). Everything about them just works.
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| If this isn't unrealistic expectations of romance, I don't know what is. |
9. Buffy Summers and Spike (William Pratt)
Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Why yes! It's another human/vampire relationship, and what makes this one especially ironic is the human woman is actually the Slayer-- in that it's her job to kill vampires like Spike. In fact, they indeed start out as firm enemies, Buffy doing all in her power to try to bring Spike down. But's that's what I love about shows by Joss Whedon--he let's characters grow and develop and change.
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| Seriously they go from this... |
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| to this. |
The change starts to happen around season five--when Spike realizes that he's falling for her. Buffy doesn't buy it and spurns him at just about every opportunity. The first sign of a real connection and the fact that Spike's feelings are sincere, is when he doesn't give up the location of Buffy's sister, even under horrendous torture. It's visible evidence of how much he cares for Buffy and she sees it, and acknowledges it.
But then of course, Buffy has to go and die (awkward). When she is pulled out of heaven by her friends (more awkward), it is Spike she confides in. Here is where their relationship takes a more dark tone into an abusive one. Buffy basically uses Spike all season long, toying with his emotions in an effort to feel alive again. Spike lets her, but by the end of the season he's had enough, and it culminates in him attacking Buffy, to his horror and disgust. He leaves town, and goes off to make himself worthy of her--aka, he leaves on a quest to reclaim his soul (something vampires don't have in this universe).
This leads to season seven, where Buffy is a bit better adjusted to being back on Earth, and now it's Spike who's gone a bit crazy. He has gotten his soul back, and his guilt from all the evil he had done with no remorse as a vampire overwhelms him and drives him to insanity. So Buffy takes care of him. When she realizes that he's going through all of this for her, you can see the shock and realization on her face. She stands by him when others doubt him, and he does the same for her. They've reached a more stable place in their relationship, and they depend on each other for strength.
What I really love about souled Spike, is that he makes no demands from Buffy. He doesn't try to force anything to happen between them. Just look at this speech he gives to her towards the end of the season, after Buffy has been abandoned by all of her friends:
It's scenes like that between them, that make them one of my favorite couples ever. Unfortunately, Spike dies at the end of the season, believing that Buffy doesn't love him, which is typical for Joss Whedon show. *shakes fist* WHEDON!!!
8. Dimitri and Anastasia
Movie: Anastasia
An animated couple that's not Disney makes the number eight spot on my list. Dimitri and Anastasia are a classic example of 'fighting = unresolved sexual tension = love.' (seriously, that's a legit formula for romance). Dimitri is a con man, and Anastasia is the lost princess of Russia who has lost her memory and has grown up in an orphanage. When Anastasia's grandmother offers a reward to anyone who can return Anastasia to her, Dimitri cooks up a con to hire someone to impersonate the princess so he can collect the reward money. What he doesn't realize until almost the end of the movie, is that he's actually stumbled upon the real Anastasia.
Both of them are stubborn people, with strong personalities that clash almost from the moment they meet. As Dimitri teaches Anya (as they call her in the movie) how to act like the princess they slowly start to grow closer.
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| Psh, nobody ever fell in love while dancing...oh wait... |
When Anya finds out about Dimitri's deception, she of course, feels betrayed, and they have the inevitable fight. However, Dimitri refuses to accept the reward money because he's just happy that Anya has found her family. Believing there's no chance for them, he goes to leave. This, naturally, allows him to make a big damn hero entrance later on to help save the day, just when it seems Anastasia is going to die. In the end, they elope, and we FINALLY get to see them kiss, and head off to their happily ever after.
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| I ship them as they kiss on a ship. |
7. Zoe and Wash
Show: Firefly
Another Firefly couple makes it into the top 10. (Yay!) Zoe and Wash are the best couple in the show--they are happily married, and devoted to each other.
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| Pictured Above: Devotion |
What I like about them, is that they are just a normal couple. They support each other, make each other laugh, but they also have their occasional fights, and Wash tends to be jealous of Zoe's friendship with Mal. Their relationship is real, with its ups and downs, but when all bets are off, they know they can rely on each other.
A warning, if you want to picture them together and happy for a long time, don't watch the movie, because, (spoiler alert) Wash dies. (*ugly sobbing*) WHY JOSS?! WHY MUST YOU KILL THE BEST CHARACTERS?! *deep breath* I'm okay, I'm okay.
6. Kira and Odo
Show: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Yet again, we have another love that grows out of friendship. Kira and Odo are not only one the sweetest couples, but also one of the most badass. Kira is an ex-resistance fighter who grew up on a war-torn planet all her life, and Odo is a shapeshifter, chief of security and all around gruff badass. Together they make up one of the many power couples on Deep Space Nine, but their relationship is probably the most popular one on the show, (I know that because my gut tells me so).
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| Seriously, can I please get an 'Awww' |
Odo has had feelings for the majority of the show, but Kira doesn't realize it until almost the end of the sixth season. When the finally got together, the writers didn't let us down, delivering one of the best scenes in the entire series.
Really, you should just watch Deep Space Nine--it's an excellent show, that once again is so great because it allows its characters to develop. In the end, Kira and Odo are key players in resolving the war with the Dominion, and Odo goes off to his homeworld in order to help his people recover after the war. Kira stays on the station, but it's implied that their love isn't over and that they will see each other again. (whew! I hate sad endings).
Well, there you have it, only five more couples to go! Who will they be? Will your favorite couple make the list? Will Batman escape from the Joker's trap? Tune in next time to find out, same bat time, same bat channel!
Fun Fact of the Day: James Marsters originally auditioned for Spike with a Texan accent. This was quickly jettisoned in favor of a London accent instead. Good call show executives!
TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!
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