I’m currently reading the Reigning Cats and Dogs mystery series, and I don’t like the main character’s love interest very much. I’ve only read the first two so far, but from reading the book jackets of the later books, it’s fairly obvious that she ends up marrying the guy. So I guess there’s no reprieve (not like my dislike of Sookie Stackhouse’s temporary love interest) sigh. It feels like a tease because the MC has already met a nicer guy, but gone back to the too tightly wound boyfriend.
I’m sure that I can’t be alone in realizing part way through a book series or a TV show that for some reason the writer(s) intended for you to like the love interest…but it never gels for you. You’re left wondering “What is s/he supposed to see in this character??”
So, what books/shows featured a long-term love interest (min of two books in a series/two seasons of a show) that left you cold?
Yeah, I think Riley is going to be a strong contender in the thread. It’s a darn shame Riley didn’t get interesting until he was married to someone else. (Of course, that episode was written that way on purpose, but I really don’t think the writers intended Riley to be so dull at the start.)
True Blood - Bill Compton is a dreary, tired cliche of a character and played by the most wooden, uninteresting actor on the show. But actually, I’m not all that big of a Sookie fan either. (At least, once in a while, Anna Paquin can inject some life into this stupidly written character.)
There is no male-female pairing so perfect, fated, and well-developed that I can’t be annoyed by it and find ample justification for pairing up the male hero with his male buddy. I can pretty much willfully ignore anything the TV show/movie/book/video game throws at me. I like strong female characters but I can very rarely scrounge up any interest in their romantic pursuits.
Actually I suspect they did. On a level subconscious to her (but conscious to Whedon), Buffy was looking for someone a lot blander than Angel, and who could blame her?
And yet, they made him a secret agent for a shadow government agency working to eliminate the monsters on a Hellhole. How is that planned dullness? He should have been awesomeness incarnate, once the reveal that he wasn’t the simple Iowa farmboy was revealed.
I guess, to be more precise: they intended Riley to be bland for a couple of episodes, until we learned of The Initiative. Then they intended him to be a bad-ass, only it didn’t really work. Until much later, when he and wifeypoo come and out-awesome Buffster and Buffy gets all “why did I let him get away?” about it.
Smallville Lois Lane - I love every other modern version of Lois, and even have a soft spot for the Silver Age lunatic Lois. But on Smallville, I hate her with a serious passion. I wanted Clark to end up with Chloe.
Lana, on the other hand, I don’t terribly dislike.
Not quite what the OP is asking for, I think, but related, and my mind’s on it, thanks to the above.
I like Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman, but I dislike every romantic pairing of those four that’s ever gotten into an official (if not canon) story - Selina and Bruce are the only ones who work at ALL, but nobody ever does anything with them when Selina’s on the right side of the law, and thus it can work - no, it’s always when she’s a crook, making them both look bad - she looks manipulative, he looks an idiot; Wonder Woman/Batman, I’ve never been able to figure out what the various writers who’ve played that card were thinking; Wonder Woman/Superman is based entirely on ‘hey, they’re the two most powerful heroes in the universe, one’s a man, one’s a woman, they should hook up!’ without any consideration of whether it actually made sense for the characters - which it doesn’t - and is frequently paired with both of them looking bad (see Dark Knight Strikes Again or All-Star Batman…Miller clearly doesn’t like either character).
In one of my favorite movies, Gentleman’s Agreement, Gregory Peck clearly belongs with Celeste Holm, and yet every single time I watch it, he ends up with the annoying Dorothy McGuire. I think it’s one of the only movies where even though I already know exactly what is going to happen, I keep hoping that this time the ending will be different.
[sub]Sorry, I missed the “minimum two seasons” requirement.[/sub]
She’s the reason I’m not reading past the first book.
I stopped watching Dirty Sexy Money when it looked like married Peter Krause was going to act on his feelings for his ex (Natalie Zea). I don’t like her with Raylan in Justified either. But mostly I don’t like adultery.
I absolutely adore Fiona as much as is possible given that she is a fictional character and I a Grinch-hearted bastard. I rather think Michael’s not good enough for her, though.
I’ve read this sentiment a lot. I don’t agree myself; Jocelyn won with, “Yes, William, with the pigs.”
I think Selina was gone straight & living with Bruce for a wee bit in the mid-1980’s, but yeah, editorial keeps messing it up. I mind Kal/Diana much less than Bruce/Diana, even though Kal looks so much like a male version of Di that they could pass for sibs.
There are a lot of Wonder Woman fans who liked Steve Trevor better dead, or retconned out completely. I guess that’s my contribution.
I never understood why Spenser put up with the whiny, irritating Susan Silverman for 5 minutes, let alone for decades.
I think Robert B. Parker based Susan on his own wife, and MAYBE the real Mrs. Parker was a wonderful woman. But I can’t imagine how any man could love the lady in the Spenser novels.
I have abandoned all plans to conquer the Earth. Seriously, the paperwork is nightmarish and people are always trying to assassinate you and it always works out that the hero is your best friend from kindergarten and, yes, you’re supposed to not care but in fact that’s much harder than it looks. I’m strictly the mischief type.
Notwithstanding the above, the Rhymerian moral inversion remains in effect. Fiona is catty, short-tempered, callous, petty, and frequently murderous. Plus she has great wheels. What’s not to lack.
The above should not be construed to imply that Ms. Anwar should not not be offered a piece of chocolate-chocolate cake once a week till she returns to a healthier mass.