Favourite & Most Hated Soap Opera Trope?
soap opera troupesare like the comfort food of storytelling: ridiculous, over-the-top, and somehow irresistible
You know the ones — evil twins, lost siblings, “I’m actually your mother,” presumed-dead parents who are alive, amnesia or the classic black widow marrying rich and killing her husbands.
So which of the’s over-dramatic/ over-done cliches are your favourite, even when not necessarily done well, and which knes do you hate, even when written well?
One i can’t stand, no matter how it’s written: the “Will They / Won’t They/they do/ they don’t/they do again!” couple who break up at the first sign of trouble.
Think: Ross and Rachel (Friends), JD and Elliot (Scrubs), Ted and Robin (HIMYM).
It’s always the same pattern. Either:
They break up for valid reasons — totally incompatible, opposite goals in life — so I’ve mentally checked out of rooting for them, or
They break up for the pettiest reasons, and at that point, I’m just annoyed and over it.
What makes it worse is when, to force a happy ending, the writers go out of their way to ruin healthy relationships (like Robin and Barney, or Elliot and Keith/sean), or make a character throw away something important (like Rachel getting off the plane). And it always happens in the finale, like i’m supposed to believe this time will be different — even though the whole show has proven otherwise.
it’s narrative stagnation and feels like emotional Groundhog Day, except instead of character growth, you get recycled tension until you stop caring.
However i version of this troupe i do enjoy is what i’d call “ships that pass in the night” where timing, circumstance, or missed chances keep people apart, not petty drama or on-again-off-again nonsense. For example;
Person A likes Person B, gets rejected, moves on.
B then catches feelings, but A is in a healthy relationship, so they don’t act on it.
Then B becomes available, but now A isn’t.
Than A breaks up, so they can be with B, right when B just gets an amazing opportunity and their leaving, or their grieving a loss ect.
Life keeps getting in the way until finally, years later, things line up and they end up together.
But until then, they’ve both had real, meaningful relationships in the meantime.
It only works if every delay is believable, and the people they date in between are actually likable. You might even root for those relationships — like Bob and Joyce in Stranger Things. People were ready to ship her with Hopper, but Bob was such a genuinely good guy that fans backed off the Hopper train.
That kind of long game? With emotional honesty, growth, and earned timing? That’s the version of the trope I actually love.
So whats your’s?
