25 TV tropes you’ll definitely recognize but are super tired of seeing
By Sundi Rose
The disposable spouse or fiancé
I love a good plot device, and this one is a very convenient way to put obstacles in the way of star-crossed lovers. When we know a couple is meant to be, but the producers and writers want to make us wait for the payoff of an eventual relationship, they’ll throw in a significant other, usually a long-term one, to create conflict.
Everybody (except said loved one) knows these two should be together, but they inevitably avoid their romance out of some sense of duty or obligation. It usually goes on far too long, requiring an insufferable amount of patience on the part of all the ‘shippers out there dying for them to be together.
The existing spouse/fiance has no backstory, and we usually don’t get much of a history between the two. We aren’t meant to sympathize with this person, or else the payoff between the destined lovers won’t be as sweet. We can’t care about them, and in most cases, end up actively hating them.
Pam’s fiancé in The Office, Roy, is a prime example of this trope. We couldn’t get rid of him fast enough, because all we could do was imagine Pam and Jim’s happily ever after. He and his ilk are meant to be thrown away, and we don’t have to feel bad about it at all.
Examples: The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, and Agent Carter