Tropescilloscope: Romantic False Lead

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

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