15 Times ‘Will They/Won’t They’ Couples Finally Got Together & It Unfroze Our Icy Hearts
If you think TV relationships can’t feel as real — or be as easy to invest in — as real-life romances, then you simply haven’t watched enough episodes of Gossip Girl.
Whether you’re shipping Blair and Chuck, or The O.C.’s Seth and Summer, the most beloved couples often take the longest to get together. It can be frustrating waiting for obvious couples, like Lorelai and Luke from Gilmore Girls, to start dating when it’s clear they’re perfect for each other, but it always pays off.
Grab a box of tissues because we are listing the most emotional moments when TV couples finally got together.
15 times ‘will they/won’t they’ couples finally got together and it unfroze our icy hearts:
1. Summer & Seth, The O.C.
Summer and Seth were always endgame, but when he left Orange County at the end of Season 1, it seemed unlikely that Summer would ever forgive him. While initially moving on with Zach, Summer eventually realised that she couldn’t get over Seth and in an infamous recreation of the upside-down Spider-Man kiss, she dumps Zach and returns to him. This is just about as good as ’00s TV ever got.
2. Blair & Chuck, Gossip Girl
When it comes to Gossip Girl, there’s no relationship fans rooted for more than Blair and Chuck. They broke up and got back together constantly, but for me the most memorable moment was when Chuck finally told Blair that he loved her at the end of Season 2. After this, much like the series, they became increasingly frustrating to watch.
3. Jess & Nick, New Girl
There aren’t many characters more perfect for each other than New Girl’s Jess and Nick. While they dated briefly in Season 3, they dated different people all the way up to the Season 6 finale, when Jess decided to move out. The sequence of Nick trying to stop Jess was predictably hilarious, and their kiss in the loft’s elevators as Lorde’s ‘Greenlight’ plays was hot as hell.
4. Elliot & J.D, Scrubs
Another couple made for each other, who took way too long to get their shit together. Elliot and J.D. were shipped by fans from day one, but their timing never seemed to be right. In the end, it was a very low-key decision to start dating in the series’ eighth season, which suited the quirky couple who were far from conventional.
5. Pam & Jim, The Office
The Office fans watched Jim pine for Pam through her engagement, eventually leaving Dunder Mifflin in an attempt to get over her. It felt like they’d never get together but then in the space of a few seconds, Jim burst into Pam’s interview and simply asked her out on a date. The rest is history.
6. Brennan & Booth, Bones
I truly rooted for these two. They were polar opposites, with Brennan being all about science and logic while Booth was driven by intuition and going with his gut. They took their sweet time to get together and it wasn’t until halfway through Season 5 that they shared a proper kiss — but it was worth the wait.
7. Robin & Barney, How I Met Your Mother
Robin and Barney were perfect for each other, and imho their love story was a million times better than Robin and Ted. Robin was basically a female version of Barney and, after hooking up casually, Barney started to fall for Robin throughout Season 4. It wasn’t until the end of the season that they admitted they have feelings for each other and started dating for real, and it was super sweet.
8. Lorelai & Luke, Gilmore Girls
There’s no ‘will they/won’t they’ couple that I was more invested in than Lorelai and Luke. Fans will know from the very first episode of Gilmore Girls that they were meant to end up together, but it was a rocky road ahead. First splitting because of Emily interferring, then for Lorelai’s cheating with Christopher, it didn’t seem like it would ever happen for them. It wasn’t until the series’ finale that they finally decided to give it another shot.
9. Marnie & Charlie, Girls
Marnie took Charlie for granted when they were together in Season 1 and it took her until the end of Season 2 to win him back, after he glowed up from indie band member to successful app entrepreneur. Their reunion was short-lived but still emotional all the same, eventually Charlie returned one more time in a bittersweet Girls bottle episode and he and Marnie spent one more night together.
10. Cassie & Sid, Skins
Skins doesn’t often give its viewers the endings that they want, preferring to traumatise us all. (Yes, I’m absolutely talking about Chris dying.) But the series’ shining light was Cassie and Sid’s on/off relationship. While Sid was initially drawn to Michelle, it took him two seasons to appreciate Cassie and they eventually reunited. After Chris’ death, Cassie fled to New York, and the final shot of the season saw Sid in Times Square trying to find her.
11. Buffy & Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
While some might ship Buffy and Angel, there’s no denying that when it came to sexual chemistry, there was nothing quite like Buffy and Spike. Spike had, admittedly, loved Buffy since Season 5 but it wasn’t until Season 6 that they shared their first kiss and then starting bonking like rabbits.
Sure, this was hot to watch but there wasn’t a lot of emotional weight behind it. It wasn’t until Season 7 that Buffy and Spike finally shared their feelings, and soon after began sleeping together — no, not sexing — in Spike’s bed every night.
12. Carrie & Mr. Big, Sex and the City
Dating in Season 1, then again in Season 2, Carrie and Big couldn’t make their relationship work, but they also had trouble staying away from each other, cheating on their partners Aidan and Natasha in the process. The main issue with their relationship was Big’s fear of committing to Carrie, and it took her moving to Paris with The Russian for him to finally realise she was The One. Their reunion on the floor of a Parisian hotel is still perfection.
13. Scully & Mulder, The X-Files
If you think waiting six seasons for Carrie and Big to finally commit to each other was bad, spare a thought for The X-Files fans who had to wait for seven seasons for Scully and Mulder’s first kiss, after years of building sexual tension. It was worth it.
14. Rachel & Ross, Friends
Rachel and Rose are the epitome of the ‘would they/won’t they’ couple, which is wild considering that in Friends’ 10 seasons of TV, they actually only dated for 24 episodes, from season two to season three. They almost got back together a few times (and even had a baby together), but roadblocks like the infamous letter, or whether they were on a break, kept getting in the way. It took until the series’ finale for Rachel and Ross to come to their senses.
15. Joey & Pacey, Dawson’s Creek
You’d struggle to find a couple that people rooted for more than Joey and Pacey. They started off bickering, only forced together because of their mutual friend, Dawson. But as we all know, there’s a fine line between love and hate. Well, there is on ’00s TV shows. They eventually developed feelings for each other and they were perfect together, dating on and off constantly from high school into college, before finally getting together in the finale after feeling inspired to make the most out of their lives following Jen’s untimely death.
I don’t know about you, but I am sobbing. MY EMOTIONS.