Tropescilloscope: Romantic False Lead

A loves B. But C comes in and also loves B. Tension mounts. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Unreliable Narrator Evil-Detecting Dog No Antagonist Fat Bastard Disproportionate Retribution Almost Kiss Running Gag Historical In-Joke Cool Guns In Name Only Defrosting Ice Queen Comically Missing the Point Bare Your Midriff No OSHA Compliance Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Shout-Out There Is No Kill Like Overkill Serious Business I Did What I Had to Do The Alleged Car Cassandra Truth Vampire Fiction Only Known by Their Nickname Call-Back Adaptation Distillation May–December Romance Left the Background Music On Anti-Villain Badass Normal Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Training Montage Insistent Terminology Handicapped Badass Let's Get Dangerous! All Girls Want Bad Boys Rape as Drama Artistic License – Law Chekhov's Gunman My Beloved Smother Visual Pun Important Haircut Index of Film Westerns Double-Meaning Title Anyone Can Die Accidental Misnaming Death by Adaptation The Bad Guy Wins Nice Hat Parental Incest Instant Death Bullet Bittersweet Ending Deliberate Values Dissonance Redemption Equals Death Cold-Blooded Torture Bad Boss What the Hell, Hero? My Greatest Failure Fantasy Films Kubrick Stare Adaptational Heroism Badass Longcoat Mama Bear Unresolved Sexual Tension Cool Shades Hollywood Law Dark and Troubled Past Tempting Fate Happily Married Shut Up, Hannibal! Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Not So Above It All Chewing the Scenery Good Is Not Nice Conspicuous CG Bolivian Army Ending Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas The Big Guy Sanity Slippage Dropped a Bridge on Him Romantic Comedy World of Ham Random Events Plot Race Lift Brutal Honesty A.I. Is a Crapshoot Chiaroscuro Time Skip Wrong Genre Savvy Four-Temperament Ensemble Word of God Villainous Breakdown Bowdlerise What You Are in the Dark Evil Counterpart Vacation Films Heroes Want Redheads Retirony Foil Italian Films Horror Films Bottomless Magazines Gone Horribly Right Ass Shove Bavarian Fire Drill A Date with Rosie Palms Corrupt Corporate Executive Cluster F-Bomb Real Life Writes the Plot Death Seeker Hero Antagonist Death Glare Chase Scene Foreshadowing Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Yandere Animated Credits Opening Villain Ball Karma Houdini Genre Throwback Those Two Bad Guys "Awesome McCool" Name Mugging the Monster Naked People Are Funny Curb-Stomp Battle '80s Hair Big "NO!" Tranquil Fury Romantic False Lead Make It Look Like an Accident Meaningful Name Composite Character The Smart Guy Precision F-Strike Manly Tears Beard of Evil Becoming the Mask Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Implacable Man After the End Mood Whiplash Gold Digger Red Oni, Blue Oni Retired Badass Your Head A-Splode Badass Grandpa Based on a True Story Captain Obvious Zombie Stories Bad "Bad Acting" Monumental Damage As the Good Book Says... Large Ham Jerkass Has a Point Body Horror Hate Sink Kill It with Fire Babies Ever After Police Brutality Leitmotif The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Kids Are Cruel Show Within a Show Daylight Horror Double Entendre Japanese Films The Quiet One This Is Gonna Suck Trailers Always Spoil Big Bad Does Not Like Shoes I'm a Humanitarian Creative Closing Credits Have a Gay Old Time "Well Done, Son!" Guy Flashback Our Zombies Are Different Brick Joke The Sociopath Determinator Taking the Bullet Artistic License – Military Immune to Bullets The Starscream Berserk Button Woman Scorned folderlabel Adaptation Dye-Job Demoted to Extra Took a Level in Jerkass And Starring Evil Laugh How We Got Here Adaptation Expansion Wicked Cultured Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Exactly What It Says on the Tin "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Moment Killer Victoria's Secret Compartment Unspoken Plan Guarantee Cruel and Unusual Death Would Hurt a Child An Axe to Grind Camera Abuse Butt-Monkey Cat Fight True Companions Woman in White Death by Sex Bland-Name Product Artistic License – Gun Safety As Long as It Sounds Foreign Crucified Hero Shot Historical-Domain Character Beware the Nice Ones Lock and Load Montage NO INDOOR VOICE Abhorrent Admirer Back from the Dead Groin Attack Affectionate Parody Bi the Way Age Lift Overly Long Gag Big Bad Duumvirate The Place Badass in a Nice Suit Downer Ending Evil Cannot Comprehend Good I Have Your Wife Re-Cut The Dreaded Genre Shift Mr. Exposition Early Installment Weirdness Science Fiction Films Rich Bitch Pretty in Mink Award-Bait Song Villain Protagonist Psychopathic Manchild Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Artistic License – Biology Meaningful Background Event Daddy's Girl Ascended Extra Dissonant Serenity Dark Reprise Shell-Shocked Veteran Faux Affably Evil Arranged Marriage The Brute The Stoner No-Sell Military and Warfare Films It Will Never Catch On Silent Movie Big Eater Blackmail Fish out of Water Disney Villain Death Drowning My Sorrows Public Domain Feature Films Easily Forgiven Interrupted Suicide Gilligan Cut Poor Communication Kills He Knows Too Much Manchild Hope Spot Guile Hero Very Loosely Based on a True Story Drill Sergeant Nasty The Un-Reveal Black Best Friend The Faceless MacGuffin Storming the Castle Red Eyes, Take Warning Death by Irony Fingore Horror Comedy Playing Gertrude Peek-a-Boo Corpse Male Gaze Chekhov's Gun Break the Haughty Spiteful Spit Never Trust a Trailer Deal with the Devil Gorn Noodle Incident "Shaggy Dog" Story Death of a Child Extreme Doormat Faking the Dead Nothing Is Scarier The '80s Scenery Gorn Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Translation Convention Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Pre-Asskicking One-Liner The '70s Jerkass No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Parental Neglect Eiffel Tower Effect Advertised Extra It Can Think Evil Sounds Deep Revenge Even Evil Has Standards Artistic License – History Apocalypse How Obviously Evil Smug Snake Cool Old Lady Biopic Authority Equals Asskicking Epic Movie Bond Villain Stupidity Only in It for the Money Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Pyrrhic Victory Disguised in Drag The Stinger Love Triangle Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping In the Back The Atoner And the Adventure Continues Took a Level in Badass Mooks Heel Realization Breaking the Fourth Wall Real Life Dirty Cop Ambiguously Gay You Have Failed Me Big Brother Instinct Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Not What It Looks Like Break the Cutie Anti-Hero Names to Run Away from Really Fast Not Using the "Z" Word Ms. Fanservice Expy It's All About Me Early-Bird Cameo Heroic BSoD Jump Scare Mind Screw Action Genre Title Drop Every Car Is a Pinto Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Frame-Up Match Cut Evil Plan Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Ambiguous Disorder Sadistic Choice Off-into-the-Distance Ending He Who Fights Monsters The Dragon Attempted Rape German Films Eldritch Abomination Film Noir Index Genre Savvy Super Strength Heel–Face Turn Demonic Possession The Power of Love Laser-Guided Karma Killed Mid-Sentence Funny Background Event Cool Car Villain Song Disney Death Same Language Dub Worthy Opponent Alas, Poor Villain Stalker with a Crush Bald of Evil Getting Crap Past the Radar Ripped from the Headlines Fake Shemp Animal Title Index War Is Hell Hoist by His Own Petard Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Sealed Evil in a Can Reality Is Unrealistic Bound and Gagged No Name Given Department of Redundancy Department Unusually Uninteresting Sight Lighter and Softer Hero of Another Story The End... Or Is It? Badass Bookworm Totally Radical Those Two Guys Offscreen Teleportation Antagonist Title Protagonist Title Facial Horror Jitter Cam Even Evil Has Loved Ones Dual Wielding Calling the Old Man Out Intergenerational Friendship Unwitting Instigator of Doom Throwing Your Sword Always Works The '50s Ironic Echo Author Avatar Rule of Funny Only a Flesh Wound Fantastic Racism Posthumous Character Dutch Angle Major Injury Underreaction Foregone Conclusion Missing Mom Enemy Mine Alliterative Name The Chessmaster Not So Stoic Pretty Little Headshots Police are Useless Suddenly SHOUTING! Catapult Nightmare Black Comedy Documentary Hypocrite Friend to All Children The Hero Dies In Medias Res Suspiciously Similar Substitute Femme Fatale Not Even Bothering with the Accent The Ghost The Musical Fatal Flaw Take a Third Option Sassy Black Woman Slasher Smile Dirty Old Man Final Girl Arc Words Air-Vent Passageway Hair-Trigger Temper The Cavalry Dumb Blonde Contrived Coincidence Grey and Gray Morality Idiot Ball Well-Intentioned Extremist The Vamp What Happened to the Mouse? The Remake Stock Footage Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Knight Templar Parental Substitute Cat Scare Drives Like Crazy Cowboy Cop Exact Words Fanservice Extra Spanner in the Works Accidental Murder Motor Mouth Martial Arts Movie Henpecked Husband Room Full of Crazy Crapsack World Stealth Pun Tap on the Head Line-of-Sight Name For Want of a Nail Oh, Crap! Eureka Moment Anachronic Order The Voiceless Humans Are Bastards Logo Joke Animal Motifs Narrator Sequel Escalation Epic Fail Dull Surprise Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Guns Akimbo Deadpan Snarker Fatal Family Photo A God Am I Be Careful What You Wish For Expository Hairstyle Change Pay Evil unto Evil British Films Card-Carrying Villain Wham Line Punny Name Madness Mantra Rule of Symbolism Book-Ends Wham Shot Man on Fire Pragmatic Adaptation Does This Remind You of Anything? Broken Aesop Vomit Discretion Shot Adaptational Villainy Bond One-Liner Extremely Short Timespan Eyepatch of Power As You Know Adaptational Attractiveness Awesome, but Impractical Would Hit a Girl Bunny-Ears Lawyer The Hero Costume Porn Improbable Weapon User Coming-of-Age Story Shipper on Deck Blood from the Mouth Black Comedy Rape Blood Knight Camp Gay timeperiod Creator Cameo Mexican Standoff Get Out! Adults Are Useless Papa Wolf No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Silence Is Golden Mythology Gag Manipulative Bastard One Steve Limit Beauty Is Never Tarnished Mr. Fanservice Spiritual Successor Face–Heel Turn Ship Tease My God, What Have I Done? Failed a Spot Check Obstructive Bureaucrat Too Dumb to Live Everyone Has Standards The Casanova Abusive Parents Insane Troll Logic The '90s Spell My Name with an "S" Ax-Crazy Badass Boast As Himself From Bad to Worse Amusing Injuries Villain with Good Publicity Armor-Piercing Question Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Pimped-Out Dress Not So Different Action Prologue Drugs Are Bad Dwindling Party I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Toplessness from the Back The Ditz Reality Has No Subtitles Combat Pragmatist Betty and Veronica Dramatic Gun Cock And I Must Scream Adult Fear Big Damn Heroes Belligerent Sexual Tension She Cleans Up Nicely Gratuitous English Chekhov's Skill Greater-Scope Villain Ambiguous Ending Better to Die than Be Killed Self-Deprecation No Ending Darkest Hour Outrun the Fireball Vomit Indiscretion Shot Love at First Sight Market-Based Title Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Music Stories Men Are the Expendable Gender Once More, with Clarity! Plucky Comic Relief Driven to Suicide Evil Brit Smoking Is Cool Red Shirt Central Theme Hidden Depths Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Informed Ability Famous Last Words Catch-Phrase Russian Films O.O.C. Is Serious Business Artistic License – Geography Pre-Mortem One-Liner Cloudcuckoolander Overprotective Dad Together in Death Determinator aka: The Determinator Rewatch Bonus Dying Moment of Awesome Rule of Three Jerk Jock Broken Bird All for Nothing Dressing as the Enemy From Nobody to Nightmare Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Scary Black Man Covers Always Lie Redshirt Army Paper-Thin Disguise Villain Opening Scene Non-Indicative Name Alpha Bitch Heroic Sacrifice Ragtag Bunch of Misfits An Aesop Fan Disservice N-Word Privileges Film Series Domestic Abuse Eagleland Refuge in Audacity Crazy Jealous Guy Reckless Gun Usage Product Placement Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Deconstruction Fainting Fire-Forged Friends Developing Doomed Characters Flipping the Bird Sequel Hook Creepy Child Up to Eleven Wretched Hive Shown Their Work Author Appeal Bloody Hilarious Character Development Sir Swears-a-Lot Dramedy Made of Iron Gainax Ending Mistaken for Gay Homage Light Is Not Good Setting Update Children Are Innocent Psycho for Hire Parental Abandonment Mad Scientist Television Movie Index Soundtrack Dissonance Dramatic Irony Token Minority Car Fu Call-Forward Earn Your Happy Ending Batman Gambit An Arm and a Leg Black Dude Dies First Destination Defenestration Fanservice Put on a Bus Country Matters Bilingual Bonus Kill 'em All Bury Your Gays Anguished Declaration of Love Improbable Aiming Skills Older Than They Look The Lost Lenore Hong Kong Films The Dog Bites Back Psychological Thriller Recycled IN SPACE! Last-Name Basis Half the Man He Used to Be Off with His Head! Whole Plot Reference Only One Name Serial Killer The Stoic Despair Event Horizon Red Right Hand Thriller Sacrificial Lion Unusual Euphemism Karmic Death Rousing Speech Danny Peary Cult Movies List All There in the Script Neck Lift Arch-Enemy "The Reason You Suck" Speech Not Quite Dead Reasonable Authority Figure Sole Survivor All There in the Manual Lampshade Hanging Due to the Dead Laughing Mad Reality Ensues Say My Name French Films Framing Device Sinister Minister Imagine Spot The Lancer Actor Allusion Dogged Nice Guy Nice Guy Artistic License – Physics Adorkable Novelization Canadian Movies Jerk with a Heart of Gold You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Big Fancy House Sports Stories Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Hypocritical Humor Works Set in World War II The '60s Offscreen Moment of Awesome Funny Foreigner Anachronism Stew Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Small Name, Big Ego Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Slap-Slap-Kiss The Oner Cool Old Guy Male Frontal Nudity Green-Eyed Monster Ghost Fiction Meaningful Echo Star-Crossed Lovers Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Married to the Job Heterosexual Life-Partners Needs Wiki Magic Love Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Here We Go Again! Undying Loyalty Dark Is Not Evil Morality Pet Bloodless Carnage Bait-and-Switch One-Word Title Actually Pretty Funny Fourth Date Marriage Crazy-Prepared Diabolus ex Machina Scenery Porn Politically Incorrect Villain The Reveal Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Curse Cut Short The Smurfette Principle Dark Action Girl The X of Y She's Got Legs Kick the Son of a Bitch Stepford Smiler Bloodier and Gorier Leaning on the Fourth Wall Mercy Kill Roaring Rampage of Revenge Humiliation Conga Superhero Properly Paranoid Blatant Lies Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Did Not Get the Girl Film Noir Truth in Television Neck Snap Pet the Dog Loophole Abuse Historical Villain Upgrade Mighty Whitey Spared by the Adaptation Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Adaptation Name Change No Celebrities Were Harmed Leave the Camera Running Decoy Protagonist Depraved Bisexual Shower Scene Mundane Made Awesome Aluminum Christmas Trees Stylistic Suck Establishing Character Moment Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Face Death with Dignity Australian Movies Taking You with Me Really Gets Around Bring My Brown Pants Action Girl Soft Glass Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Vitriolic Best Buds Straight Gay A Minor Kidroduction Canon Foreigner BFG Casting Gag Those Wacky Nazis Ominous Latin Chanting The Mafia Defiant to the End Skewed Priorities Brainless Beauty Only Sane Man Tagline Video Credits The Load Race Against the Clock The Chick Captain Ersatz One-Man Army La Résistance Take That! It's Personal Empathic Environment Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Never My Fault Stuff Blowing Up For the Evulz The Alcoholic Closed Circle Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Adaptational Badass Evil Is Hammy Evil Is Petty Naïve Newcomer Never Found the Body Hooker with a Heart of Gold Celebrity Paradox Suspiciously Specific Denial Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Big Applesauce Intrepid Reporter Ungrateful Bastard Pragmatic Villainy Freeze-Frame Bonus Meet Cute Action Survivor Rated M for Manly Irony The Great Depression Fate Worse than Death The Bully You Killed My Father Wounded Gazelle Gambit Auto Erotica Slashed Throat Malevolent Masked Men Hollywood Darkness Obfuscating Stupidity Historical Hero Upgrade Darker and Edgier Gory Discretion Shot Slasher Movie Punch-Clock Villain Kick the Dog Aside Glance The Mole Chuck Cunningham Syndrome You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Disappeared Dad More Dakka The Cameo Our Vampires Are Different Annoying Younger Sibling Evil vs. Evil Amoral Attorney Adapted Out Dies Wide Open Shirtless Scene Continuity Nod Fun with Acronyms Bar Brawl Big-Bad Ensemble Shoot the Shaggy Dog Freudian Excuse I Need a Freaking Drink Asshole Victim Broken Pedestal Knife Nut Mystery and Detective Films All Men Are Perverts Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Corpsing Black and Gray Morality Your Cheating Heart The Film of the Book Agony of the Feet Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Plot Hole Affably Evil Dirty Coward Improvised Weapon Didn't Think This Through 20 Minutes into the Future All Just a Dream Distracted by the Sexy Retcon Cain and Abel Five-Man Band Riddle for the Ages Deus ex Machina Honor Before Reason Stealth Hi/Bye Red Herring Scare Chord Beta Couple Boom, Headshot! The Ace Maybe Ever After Grievous Bottley Harm Fiery Redhead Insult Backfire Twist Ending Hell Is That Noise I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Bullying a Dragon Sexy Discretion Shot Brother–Sister Incest Gender Flip Manic Pixie Dream Girl Christmas Movies Index Loads and Loads of Characters Deliberately Monochrome Rule of Cool Rasputinian Death B-Movie Sci-Fi Horror Credits Gag Made of Explodium Eye Scream A Father to His Men Damsel in Distress