# Can we please have a break from unresolved sexual tension in cop/detective shows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240 "2010-05-04T02:57:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/1 "2010-05-04T02:57:23Z")
_Bones, Castle, The Mentalist,_ the Benson-Stabler thing on _L&O: SVU_ – come on, I can see the appeal, but it’s getting old. Let 'em fuck and then either get serious or get over it, like it would happen in real life. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/2 "2010-05-04T02:58:58Z")
[Obligatory TVTropes page.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnresolvedSexualTension?from=Main.UST) ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/3 "2010-05-04T05:06:09Z")
That’s ridiculous. That’s why the shows stay popular. It gets proven over and over again that people lose interest once that tension is gone. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/4 "2010-05-04T05:40:16Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > That’s ridiculous. That’s why the shows stay popular. It gets proven over and over again that people lose interest once that tension is gone. People also lose interest when the tension goes on and on and on, too. I’ve stopped watching Chuck because of that and was an episode or two from dumping House when they finally started easing off. Chances are I don’t care about the potential relationship and it gets boring and frustrating when so many shows shift their focus to that, and away from their original premise. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/5 "2010-05-04T06:09:18Z")
It doesn’t bother me. Real life is full of unresolved sexual tension. Why must we banish it from our fiction? It’s just part of what makes the world go round…TRM ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/6 "2010-05-04T06:33:54Z")
Homicide: Life on the Streets ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/7 "2010-05-04T17:05:04Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > That’s ridiculous. That’s why the shows stay popular. It gets proven over and over again that people lose interest once that tension is gone. I don’t believe that is the case at all. Usually when a show is already on its last legs and they ‘resolve’ the sexual tension when that doesn’t magically fix the problem people selectively remember that as the problem. If they did the exact same thing when the show was reaching its peak the audience wouldn’t suddenly turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/8 "2010-05-04T17:07:16Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Homicide: Life on the Streets But Pembleton was married! ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/9 "2010-05-04T17:10:35Z")
> [@Not\_a\_Platypus](#): > > People also lose interest when the tension goes on and on and on, too. I’ve stopped watching Chuck because of that and was an episode or two from dumping House when they finally started easing off. Chances are I don’t care about the potential relationship and it gets boring and frustrating when so many shows shift their focus to that, and away from their original premise. Yeah that’s true. I think I like the way Bones handled it this season. They sort of addressed the issue with each other and put it to bed (so to speak) for a while, but in a way it gave the show new life with a new refreshed type of sexual tension between them. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/10 "2010-05-04T17:10:44Z")
WEIRD! I was just thinking about this last night. Even considered starting a thread. Only, I wasn’t thinking of unresolved sexual tension, I was thinking more of un-needed heavy petting scenes in cop shows. See _Dexter_ (Batista and LaGuerta) and nekkid Daniels and Kima scenes in _The Wire_. Doesn’t do a goddamn thing to move the stories forward. Give me classic _Law & Order_ any day, when it’s a total shocker to even see a character’s SO. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/11 "2010-05-04T18:03:17Z")
I KNOW you weren’t just complaining about naked Daniels in _The Wire_. Sometimes it’s the only thing in life worth living for. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/12 "2010-05-04T18:18:41Z")
I was talking to Mrs. Cad about _Castle_ this weekend and how I enjoy the flirting he does with Beckett, but then again he flirts with every woman. She said the producers are already planning for them to become an item. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:eek::eek::eek:!!! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/13 "2010-05-04T18:54:41Z")
> [@Not\_a\_Platypus](#): > > People also lose interest when the tension goes on and on and on, too. I’ve stopped watching Chuck because of that and was an episode or two from dumping House when they finally started easing off. Chances are I don’t care about the potential relationship and it gets boring and frustrating when so many shows shift their focus to that, and away from their original premise. You can start watching _Chuck_ again! They finally did it… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/14 "2010-05-04T18:59:27Z")
I remember how UST was lampshaded in [_Moonlighting:_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlighting_(TV_series)) When Maddie and David finally slept together, she insisted they make a “pact” that it never happened. David was reluctant but finally saw some sense in it: DAVID: After all, everything about us is based on unresolved sexual tension. Take it away, and where does that leave us? MADDIE: Sunday Night! DAVID: At 10 o’clock! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/15 "2010-05-04T22:25:24Z")
Benson & Stabler have got to be over it by now. Not that I can stand that show anyway. Isn’t Lisbon’s relationship to Jane (_The Mentalist_) sort of schoolteacher to student? _Bones_ did an ep where alternate-reality versions of Bones & Booth are married. _Castle_ is…yeah. I’m kinda rooting for her detective beau from downstairs, but if they get serious, I figure he’ll die. Oh, & I give enormous credit to NBC’s _Chuck_ & _Mercy_ for defying the trope this year. Chuck & Sarah are seriously together now. Now humor comes from them rooming with Morgan. And Veronica did get together with Chris on _Mercy_ (even breaking up him & Dr. Ladypants)–though they broke up again. (Then again, that show’s a little more soapy.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/16 "2010-05-05T23:08:19Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Oh, & I give enormous credit to NBC’s _Chuck_ & _Mercy_ for defying the trope this year. Chuck & Sarah are seriously together now. A better subversion (but harder to put across) would be a show where an attractive single hetero male and female detective/cop/whatever are partnered and there is **no sexual tension at all,** they’re just not into each other that way, all fan mail demanding it will be ignored. I mean, that happens IRL too, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/17 "2010-05-05T23:17:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > A better subversion (but harder to put across) would be a show where an attractive single hetero male and female detective/cop/whatever are partnered and there is **no sexual tension at all,** they’re just not into each other that way, all fan mail demanding it will be ignored. I mean, that happens IRL too, doesn’t it? No. Attractive people will end up fucking. Though they could get around this by having a gay protagonist who isn’t a walking stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/18 "2010-05-05T23:58:34Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > A better subversion (but harder to put across) would be a show where an attractive single hetero male and female detective/cop/whatever are partnered and there is **no sexual tension at all,** they’re just not into each other that way, all fan mail demanding it will be ignored. I mean, that happens IRL too, doesn’t it? [No, you pretty much want to nail them too.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFWGOKuFyjk) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/19 "2010-05-06T01:58:07Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > No. > > Attractive people will end up fucking. > > Though they could get around this by having a gay protagonist who isn’t a walking stereotype. Do you mean in real life, or in TV-land? Because not everybody in real life ends up fucking. Not even _most_ people. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240/20 "2010-05-06T02:18:35Z")
What about _In Plain Sight?_ I’ve never perceived any UST between Mary and Marshall. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-please-have-a-break-from-unresolved-sexual-tension-in-cop-detective-shows/538240.md?page=2)