15 times we actively rooted against love

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Angela and Jordan Catalano — My So-Called Life

In the canon of teenage, TV, romances, there are few as iconic as Angela Chase and Jordan Catalona. And there are also as few as acutely melancholy and generally triggering. Plain Jane Angela developed a crush on heartthrob, bad boy Jordan, and emotional mayhem ensued from there.

Perhaps time and distance has made me see things a little clearer now. As a teenager, I rooted so hard for these two. Even though he was terrible to her. Jerked her around, acted like he liked her, then acted like he hated her. Treated her nicely for 30 seconds, then ignored her for a week. My sweet, impressionable 15-year-old self just couldn’t see how toxic this boy was for our heroine. And of course, neither could Angela.

I’ll admit, I’m still a sucker for that broody put and that puka shell choker, but 30-something me would pick Brian Crackow over this heart-destroyer anytime. Jordan made Angela’s life miserable, even when he wasn’t around. The sheer act of pining for this boy for so long made her anemic with adolescent longing.

When Mr. Haircut finally decides to give her the fraction of attention she deserves, he gaslights her, pulls a lot of narcissistic mind games, and then they break up. But back then, when my experience with men was woefully limited, I couldn’t see past the square draw and liquid eyes. I was under a spell that couldn’t survive the cynicism of my late 20s and early 30s.

Had this show gone on for another season, I believe in my heart that Angela would have wised up and left the devastatingly handsome but annoyingly morose Jordan to doodle his own name on his notebook.