Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at USF chapter.

I love love. I love how it causes butterflies in your stomach and makes you see stars when you kiss. Ironically, I haven’t had the best luck with it. So to compensate, I fill my days with romantic comedies and characters on their search to find “The One.” With TV shows, you get to watch characters fall in love over episodes and seasons. Some couples have captured my heart and definitely set the bar for future relationships. Here’s a list of my top five couples, the ones who make me believe in love.

Nick Miller and Jessica Day from New Girl

The love I have for Nick Miller and Jessica Day is borderline insane. I met the characters of Nick and Jess as a pre-teen and still hope that, as an adult, I’ll find my own Nick Miller. They follow the typical Grumpy/Sunshine trope, with Nick being a pessimistic bartender and Jess a vibrant and quirky middle school teacher. There’s something so thrilling about watching two people so different find something to love in each other. They are the kind of couple that you just can’t help but root for. Nick’s rugged personality mixes with Jess’s bright optimism and shows the audience that love doesn’t have to be perfect. Sometimes love is funny, messy, and even full of little compromises. 

Fleabag and The Hot Priest from Fleabag

While Nick and Jess are silly and lighthearted, Fleabag and The Hot Priest are beautifully tragic. Their love is as fleeting as it is passionate, full of emotional complexities and enough baggage to fill an airport. Fleabag is raw and flawed, drowning in grief while The Hot Priest is there, understanding her in a way that no one has before. Their undeniable chemistry is one of the most electric I’ve seen, even though they know they can never really be together. The scene at the bus stop absolutely broke my heart and healed it at the same time. Fleabag says, “I love you” and The Hot Priest looks at her, grabs her hand and says, “It’ll pass.” Both Fleabag and The Hot Priest smiled at one another with painful grins, and I sat there sobbing for the next hour. Their relationship is the perfect example of a love that changes you, even if it doesn’t last forever. The Hot Priest helped Fleabag see herself more clearly, which is the greatest act of love in my opinion. 

Shawn Spencer and Juliet O’Hara from Psych

Now for a couple that proves that sometimes love is about finding someone who gets your weirdness. Shawn Spencer, a self-proclaimed psychic detective, is silly and impulsive while Detective Juliet O’Hara smart and disciplined. Watching Shawn try to keep his wild persona while still showing his true feelings for Juliet makes their story so heartwarming. Their romance is a slow burn, with Shawn going from playboy to a man willing to become better for the woman he loves. Juliet helps ground Shawn, while he helps her find the humor and excitement in her stressful life as a detective. Shawn and Juliet show that sometimes, the person you need the most is someone who lets you be authentically you. 

I picked these three couples because they are the ones I turn to when I need to feel something. They show me what love, real love, is like. Nick and Jess take me back to when I was 14 and falling in love for the first time, Fleabag and The Hot Priest represent the love I’ll always have but can’t have, and Shawn and Juliet show me that there’s someone out there who’ll love me and my weirdness. 

Hi! My name is Ginamarie and I am currently getting my undergraduate degree in Secondary English Education at the University of South Florida! I am a huge One Direction and Harry Styles fan who also loves to relax with a good romance novel! My cat, Sushi, and I often like to have dance parties and listen to music as well! In my spare time, I am usually writing or watching New Girl (the absolute best show ever).