10 Messiest Love Triangles In TV & Movie History

According to mathematicians, the triangle is the most unstable shape when it comes to love (I assume). Whether it’s scalene, isosceles, or equilateral, a love triangle is a messy thing not measured by angles and degrees, but by drama. Screenwriters have spent decades studying the dramatic potential of these three-sided emotional disasters, and groundbreaking new love triangles were invented to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of a culture that craves high-emotion storytelling. Whether it’s a ménage à trois among friends or a bitter competition between romantic rivals, these trio trysts are chock-full of tension. Here they are: the 10 messiest love triangles in TV and movie history.

Sookie, Bill and Eric

Bill Compton spends entire seasons of True Blood snarling “Sookie is mine,” but his romantic rival Eric Northman begs to differ. Due to her charming personality, her penchant for getting in trouble, and her (so we’re told) unexpectedly delicious fairy blood, Sookie Stackhouse finds herself equidistant from two vampires at opposite ends of one of TV’s messiest love triangles. While she starts the show with eyes only for Bill, her gaze soon wanders to meet the Nordic nightclub owner Eric, and drama quickly follows. This Viking vs. Southern Gentleman rivalry is fueled by lust, jealousy, and devotion, and Sookie, enamored by both, eventually entices them into a dream-sequence threesome. While their three-way turned out to be a blood-induced hallucination, it sure got real-life viewers’ hearts pumping.

Tashi, Patrick and Art

Featuring a gold standard love triangle for the modern era, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers puts the ball in three separate courts. A three-way a decade in the making, Tashi, Patrick, and Art eventually settle into an equilateral triangle in the bedroom, but their relationship once looked very different. Art and Patrick were once best friends and doubles partners. Tashi and Patrick used to date. Tashi left Patrick and trained Art to become a tennis star. Patrick’s obsessed with the pair, but does he want to be Art? Or does he want to bone Art? As the movie goes on, the answers becomes a little of both. After all, envy is fueled by attraction, and when a person is jealous of someone else, it’s usually because they’re into that person too, whether they know it or not. Tashi, Patrick, and Art get into it, that’s for sure.

Julio, Tenoch, and Luisa

A prestige love triangle, the fraught relationship between two teenage best friends and an older woman is the beating heart of Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también. Julio and Tenoch are high school besties hoping to end adolescence with a (literal) bang the summer before they head off to college. After convincing the glamorous Luisa to accompany them on a road trip to a beach they made up, the romantic sparks fly. As they criss-cross the Mexican countryside, Luisa hooks up with one, then the other, then both at the end. Their love triangle is messy, and equally beautiful. Julio and Tenoch acknowledge hidden feelings of attraction towards one another, and Luisa comes to terms with a hidden diagnosis that inspired her to go on the trip in the first place. While they never see one another again, they leave a mark on each other’s lives forever.

Luke, Leia and Han Solo

One word: incest. It’s the secret ingredient to make any love triangle a steaming mess. Audiences were fooled by this particular trio; after all, a romantic rivalry between a film franchise’s main heroine, hero, and a dashing newcomer was exactly the sort of drama-upping move one would expect Star Wars writers to make. A chosen one hero and a space princess seemed like a match made in Heaven. Unlucky for them, their DNA was a match too. Luke and Leia didn’t know they were siblings when they smooched on a spaceship, but after learning the truth of their relationship, audiences reacted the same as Chewbecca, Hana Solo, and C-3PO watching. With horror, fascination, and maybe a bit of arousal? Hey, I’m not here to judge.

Jaime, Circe and Brienne of Tarth

Two words: more incest. If it made waves in the space fantasy series Star Wars, it was bound to do the same in the medieval fantasy Game of Thrones. The illicit love affair that destabilized a continent, all of Game of Thrones‘ drama could have been avoided had Jaime and Cersei kept it in Casterly Rock. But no, Jaime just had to push a kid out of a window and start a civil war to keep his secret safe. Jaime and Cersei’s bad decision eventually put them on opposite sides of that war, leading Jaime to form a connection with Brienne of Tarth, making her another point in a seriously screwed-up love triangle. Incest aside, this triangle is messy because while Jaime and Brienne could have made a redemption arc-worthy couple, his toxic ties to Cersei made both this triangle and the Red Keep’s ceiling come crashing down.

Edward, Jacob and Bella

One of the most infamous love triangles in pop culture history, internet wars were fought over whether Bella should choose the sparkly boy or the furry one. Veterans of the Twilight crusades still proudly declare their Team Edward or Team Jacob allegiances to this day. While this love triangle was a mess from the start, the drama reached a fever pitch as temperatures dropped and a half-frozen Bella depended on Jacob’s body heat to survive while Edward watched. But the tent scene wasn’t even the most ludicrous moment; that moment came when Jacob “imprinted” on Edward and Jacob’s newborn daughter. It ended the triangle in the weirdest way possible, and fans are still arguing about it to this day.

Rick, Ilsa and Victor

Don’t let this impeccably dressed trio fool you; their love triangle is one of the messiest in history. Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca is a blueprint for the cinematic love triangle, a great-great-grandfather to which all other trios can trace their lineage. Unlike most messy equilaterals and scalenes, this triangle doesn’t rely on double-dating or infidelity. Rick, Ilsa, and Victor are all fundamentally good people trapped in an impossible situation. Ilsa lost touch with Rick in the war, but still loves him. Rick tried to move on, but still loves her. Victor respects Isla and Rick’s shared history, and empathizes with both. Meanwhile, the Nazis are making life hell for everyone. While Rick, Isla, and Victor handle the situation with surprising maturity, their love triangle is ultimately messed up by a messy world. At the end of the film, no one gets what they really want, only what they need to survive.

Dawson, Joey and Pacey

The love triangle that defined a generation — Dawson, Joey, and Pacey’s relationship is one of TV’s most infamous three-body problems. Joey and Dawson begin Dawson’s Creek as childhood besties destined to be soulmates, but everything changed when Dawson asked his best friend Pacey to look after Joey after the pair had broken up. Bonded by shared history and raging hormones, Joey and Pacey end up getting the hots for one another, leaving Dawson (and Dawson x Joey shippers) feeling confused and hurt. Some say that Joey and Dawson were meant to be, while others believe that while Dawson and Pacey both loved Joey, Pacey was the only person who really understood her. Love sure is complicated, ain’t it?

Taissa, Van and Simone

There’s messy TV, and then there’s Yellowjackets. As if literal cannibalism wasn’t dramatic enough, the show throws unstable love triangles into the mix. One particularly wobbly scalene is formed by Taissa, Van, and Simone. Taissa and Van were inseperably bonded to one another in the wilderness, and while Taissa ended up marrying Simone, she doesn’t feel the same passion for her wife as she does for her one-time teenage love. While this love triangle appears placid on the surface, Taissa’s emotions are roiling deep within. Once her alter ego starts sacrificing family pets in a fugue state, this love triangle’s pointy edges poke through.

Carmy, Clair and The Restaurant

Contrary to pop-cultural belief, love triangles don’t have to be between three people. Sometimes, the third point of the triangle is an inanimate object; in The Bear‘s case, a restaurant. Carmy is smitten with Clair, but he continually puts their relationship on the back burner on his quest to turn his restaurant into a world-class establishment. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Carmy is married to his dream, and Clair, unfortunately, is the other woman. The messiness comes from Carmy’s inability to separate his work life from his personal life; he continually allows his ambition to sabotage his shot at happiness. When Carmy learns that his self-worth is intrinsic and not based on what he achieves, he’ll be ready for love. But for now, he needs to stop ranting about his relationship problems to the walk-in fridge and save that for therapy. Poor Clair, she deserved so much better.

(featured image: HBO Entertainment)

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