Be My TV Valentine

In the spirit of lovah’s day, here’s a wish list for the small screen’s most compelling couplings.

By Sarah Kuhn
February 11, 2005

It’s almost time for a certain Hallmark-approved holiday…you know, the one that always ends up involving stuffing your cakehole with as much chocolate as possible. In the spirit of small screen Valentines, here’s a wish list of what I’d like to see happen between this season’s most compelling TV lovebirds.

By the way, there are a few potential SPOILERS below for certain shows, particularly The O.C. and Without a Trace. If you don’t want to know, read no further. Senders of whiny emails who do not heed this warning will be tracked down and smacked upside the head with a Tivo.

Luke and Lorelai: This long simmering Gilmore Girls pair is probably my favorite couple of the season. Their romance isn’t just the culmination of several seasons of storyline: it’s also a fine display of sparkly chemistry and conversation that feels like a real relationship. L&L still act and interact pretty much like they did when they weren’t a couple, but now, there’s the added bonus of kissing. It’s great. It’s adorable. It’s perfectly-written and beautifully-acted. So why are they maybe breaking up? Please say it ain’t so. Please tell that loser Christopher to go away. And please keep my favorite couple together for the series’ duration — there are just as many storylines with them together as there are with them apart. Maybe more.

Trip and T’Pol: No, Enterprise is not the greatest Trek to have ever Trekked. But my heart has been fangirlishly captured by the relationship between these two. I admit it: I’m a Trip/T’Pol ‘shipper! Tr’Pol? T’Prip? Whatever. Their interaction and attraction are based on a standard formula — sweet-talkin’, laid back dude and uptight chick — but it totally works. Now that it’s been announced that Enterprise will be docking for good at season’s end, my wish for them is that the show gives this relationship a fitting resolution. Bring them together, get the pon farr goin’, maybe even give them their own t’bun in the oven! Hey, don’t judge me — shameless ‘shippin is fun sometimes.

The Kids of The O.C. I may be experiencing slight O.C. burnout here. See, this show has a way of rushing certain plotlines and dragging others out for eternity, until you’re all, “Yeah, so I guess it didn’t take Mulder and Scully that long to get together.” So first we got all these New Love Interests, without being given the space or time to care about them. It was smart to do away with the boring yard guy, but now I’m hearing through the spoilervine that Lindsay and Alex will eventually get shipped off as well. Thing is, I like Lindsay, and I especially like her with Ryan. They’re cute. They have chemistry. Ryan actually smiles with her. If she must go, I have only one request: please do not reunite Ryan with Marissa. Defaulting to your original pairing just because it’s the original pairing makes everyone sleepy and annoyed. And by “everyone,” I mean “me.” And yes, I’m basically reacting to something that hasn’t even happened yet, that may never happen, that I read about on the interweb. I’m awesome! Anyway, I suggest taking a page from Dawson’s Creek, which ultimately, smartly chose the sweet Joey/Pacey pairing over dreary Joey/Dawson. Also, keep that weirdly bloated Kim Delaney away from Sandy.

Sam and Martin: Without a Trace has slowly become my favorite procedural-type show on television. The cases are always interesting and well-constructed, and it allows little glimmers of its characters’ personal lives in (it’d be a shame not to, what with such fine thesps as Anthony LaPaglia and Marianne Jean-Baptiste onboard). My favorite character-driven type thing this season is the ever-evolving office romance between brainy blonde Sam and sweet Martin. Their chemistry is smokin’, and you’ve just gotta love fellow agent Danny’s bemused looks as the duo tries (somewhat unsuccessfully) to hide the fact that they are totally DOING IT. A love triangle involving Sam’s former lovah, the now-divorced Jack, is supposed to heat up at some point, but I’d much rather just see the current couple deal with the conflict within their relationship — there’s enough there without adding a third wheel to the mix.

All Those Lost Castaways: Speaking of DOING IT, don’t you wish someone on the island would just get laid, already? And not in a flashback or as part of a monster-induced dream sequence? And don’t you wish that person would be Sayid and there would be lots of shots of him without a shirt on? Is it just me?