Tropescilloscope: Romantic False Lead

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

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