So I'm watching a sitcom. The main character, who I will call M, has been going out with this guy for two months. I'll call him J.
M is really smitten with J, and basically thinks he could be marriage material. She talks to all her closest friends about how she feels about him, mentioning that the only little problem is that (despite how outspoken and PDA-prone he is) he has never once told her that he loves her.
The advice she gets is, if that's important to her, she should take initiative and tell him she loves him, and try to talk about it. And she does this, trying to get him to say something deep about his feelings before finally giving up and blurting out that she loves him.
To which he responds, 'Thanks'.
As if that isn't insensitive enough, later on M goes over to J's apartment to apologize for 'pressuring him into making a commitment' to her, and finds another woman there with him...who he ADMITS he was dating behind her back (and he just met her that day, for crying out loud).
This leads into a full confession, where J admits he was secretly seeing several women over the course of the entire relationship, and that this is because he has a 'weakness': he 'just loves women'! (these are J's own words)
He goes on to say that lots of men have 'little defects', citing BLINDNESS and DEAFNESS as examples, and saying that if she could overlook men with those flaws, why can't she overlook his?
M doesn't accept this, and attempts to leave the apartment, but J stops her (not forcefully or anything, though) and says that he thinks she's 'really special' to him, and that he's willing to try to change, that he's never tried to change before but he'll make the effort for her.
M still wants to leave him, and says there's 'nothing he could say' that will change her mind.
And in reply, he finally says those three words: "I love you".
AND SHE IMMEDIATELY FORGIVES HIM FOR EVERYTHING!
This IS a comedy show, and as I type this I'm listening to the next episode, where J apparently no longer exists (good riddance). But there are lots of serious moments in this show, and that was clearly supposed to be one of them! They even followed it with a kiss scene before the end credits! I think that counts as a sanction!
But WHY?! I mean, I'm not an expert on romance, but I'm pretty sure J's little confession raised about 8 BILLION red flags, and this woman (who's normally the level-headed, self-confident, secure MC) decides she still wants to be in a relationship with him??
I mean, isn't he a creep?!
- Yes!
- Maybe...
- Actually, no