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Open Relationship Failure

138 statements
25 feature instances
20 referencing feature instances

Open Relationship Failure	type	FeatureClass
Open Relationship Failure	label	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure	page	OpenRelationshipFailure
Open Relationship Failure	comment	To some people, polyamory and other forms of nonmonogamy can seem like a convenient midpoint between singlehood and monogamy. But not everybody is as comfortable with the idea as they first think they might be. This trope deals with situations where open relationships go internally awry for causes directly related to them being open relationships. One common variation, which overlaps the Original Position Fallacy, is that one partner says they want an open relationship but then balks when their romantic partner actually does hook up with other people. This is frequently played as a man looking for permission to step out on his female partner, only for him to then become an Emasculated Cuckold when she turns out to be better at getting dates than him. There can also be cases where an Alice wants to be polyamorous, while her partner Bob does not, but he knows that if he asks for monogamy that will end with Alice breaking up with him. Accepting polyamory as a condition of continuing the relationship, Bob reluctantly agrees to it and tries to put on a happy face and convince himself and those around them he's actually okay with it, with varying degrees of success. Subtrope of Polyamory and related to Love Triangle. Contrast the Ethical Slut, who is promiscuous but deliberately works to avoid hurting people they're involved with by being so.
Open Relationship Failure	fetched	2024-02-23T00:16:45Z
Open Relationship Failure	parsed	2024-02-23T00:16:45Z
Open Relationship Failure	processingComment	Dropped link to CSICrimeSceneInvestigation: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Open Relationship Failure	processingComment	Dropped link to Defied: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Open Relationship Failure	processingComment	Dropped link to Discussed: Not an Item - FEATURE
Open Relationship Failure	processingComment	Dropped link to SettingUpdate: Not an Item - FEATURE
Open Relationship Failure	processingUnknown	Defied
Open Relationship Failure	processingUnknown	CSICrimeSceneInvestigation
Open Relationship Failure	isPartOf	DBTropes
Open Relationship Failure / int_21b21f35	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_21b21f35	comment	BoJack Horseman: After Mr. Peanutbutter cheats on Pickles with Diane, he and Pickles negotiate a bizarre way Pickles can make it up to him: she can sleep with multiple other men until Mr. Peanutbutter feels the same shame that she felt when he cheated on her. However, this backfires when Pickles ends up sleeping with Joey Pogo and decides she wants to go on tour with him, dumping Mr. Peanutbutter via text.
Open Relationship Failure / int_21b21f35	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_21b21f35	featureConfidence	1.0
BoJack Horseman	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_21b21f35
Open Relationship Failure / int_22211d68	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_22211d68	comment	Bones: Played for laughs in "Man in the Outhouse". Bones dates two men at the same time, arguing that one provides her with intellectual stimulation and the other with physical. She neglected to actually inform either paramour that she would be pursuing this arrangement, and therefore both men promptly dump her when they find out about each other, leaving Bones to ruefully "consider the argument for monogamy." In "The Sin in the Sisterhood", the Body of the Week is the husband in a polygamous marriage to three sisters. Although the investigation encounters plenty of drama around this marriage, including a fundamentalist neighbour and a fourth woman on the side, the murderer turns out to be the wives' father, who killed their husband for cheating on them.
Open Relationship Failure / int_22211d68	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_22211d68	featureConfidence	1.0
Bones	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_22211d68
Open Relationship Failure / int_2221ecbd	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_2221ecbd	comment	CSI: NY: In "Stealing Home," a dead man found shot through his right eye on his doorstep turns out to have been killed by his wife, who was jealous that he always made love to the woman they'd formed a "committed threesome" with first (even after they'd added another guy to the mix as well), and had laughed at her and told her to get over it when she'd explained how it made her feel.
Open Relationship Failure / int_2221ecbd	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_2221ecbd	featureConfidence	1.0
CSI: NY	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_2221ecbd
Open Relationship Failure / int_24a18ffe	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_24a18ffe	comment	It's not actively shown to fail, but in The City Who Fought, Channa Hap gets something different out of her relationships with Simeon and Amos. She's Simeon's brawn and after a rough start has a close Pseudo-Romantic Friendship with him, and will prioritize him over anyone else when the chips are down. Amos is the beautiful leader of a faction of Space Amish, who's condescending to Channa as a woman but is of great sexual and romantic interest to her. While he's jealous at first and tries to sabotage their relationship, Simeon accepts that Amos makes Channa happy. When Amos storms out after a Wrong-Name Outburst Simeon takes him to task - among other things, Amos had taken the name "Simeon-Amos" for several weeks to fool invaders - and makes him take Channa back. For his part Amos is convinced that Simeon, who Can't Have Sex, Ever, has a prurient interest and considers Amos as a kind of sex toy. He begrudgingly accepts that Channa is devoted to Simeon, but it bothers him. Ten years later in The Ship Avenged Amos is convinced that Channa will leave Simeon for him but has never actually discussed this with her - and we know from the first book that she hates when people don't think she takes her career seriously.
Open Relationship Failure / int_24a18ffe	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_24a18ffe	featureConfidence	1.0
The Ship Who...	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_24a18ffe
Open Relationship Failure / int_32318e9a	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_32318e9a	comment	Roseanne: After Darlene goes away to college, it's revealed that she's sleeping with a fellow college boy while still dating her longterm boyfriend David. He's aware of the situation and seems initially accepting, since Darlene frames it as wanting some experience other than just marrying the first boy she ever dated, and he believes she'll get it out of her system and choose him in the end. He can wait. Roseanne can't believe any male would accept this and needles David to stick up for himself, causing him to finally snap and demand that Darlene choose between him and "the other guy". She chooses the other guy.
Open Relationship Failure / int_32318e9a	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_32318e9a	featureConfidence	1.0
Roseanne	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_32318e9a
Open Relationship Failure / int_3cd90f30	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_3cd90f30	comment	Arrested Development: In season two, Lindsay and Tobias try an open marriage to see if it can salvage their strained relationship. As it turns out, Lindsay is frustrated that her attempts to flirt with other men go nowhere, and Tobias is too busy jealously stalking Lindsay on her dates to do anything else. Both of them brag about how much they're sleeping around, though.
Open Relationship Failure / int_3cd90f30	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_3cd90f30	featureConfidence	1.0
Arrested Development	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_3cd90f30
Open Relationship Failure / int_41be7fdc	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_41be7fdc	comment	The Love Boat: In the "The 'Now' Marriage" segment of Season 2, Episode 15, Dr. Todd Gardiner has written a best-selling book by that title which encourages married people to engage in open relationships. Upon boarding, he tells the crew he and his wife Eleanor intend to pursue other partners during the cruise. He meets a swinging single lady and spends all his time dancing, dining, and sleeping with her. Meanwhile, Eleanor remains unattached and becomes more and more miserable by the day. When she finally opens up and reveals her true feelings of jealousy and neglect, the two reconcile and decide to remain monogamous after all.
Open Relationship Failure / int_41be7fdc	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_41be7fdc	featureConfidence	1.0
The Love Boat	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_41be7fdc
Open Relationship Failure / int_4be06460	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_4be06460	comment	Being A DIK: Heather and Tommy's relationship is shown to be going down this path from Season 2 onwards. Although the terms of their relationship require them to ask for permission before sleeping with someone else, Tommy routinely and seemingly nonchalantly sleeps with other people without informing her â€“ by the time the story first starts, he is "plus three". This, apart from him just being a Jerkass in general, starts to chafe at Heather in Season 3: after seeing him take Christine to his bed, she can perform oral sex on an unattached MC, and Episode 10 reveals that she slept with Nick.
Open Relationship Failure / int_4be06460	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_4be06460	featureConfidence	1.0
Being A Î”Î™Îš (Visual Novel)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_4be06460
Open Relationship Failure / int_4e250102	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_4e250102	comment	S.W.A.T. (2017): During season two, Chris goes on a date with a woman called Kira who reveals she already has a boyfriend named Ty, and that the pair of them are polyamorists looking for an equal third. Being bisexual, Chris decides to give it a try and is initially happy, finding it fulfilling and that their personalities complement hers. However, as time goes on Chris begins to realize that due to being initially attracted to Kira she is always going to be closer to her than Ty, whilst despite their best efforts the fact they were already together before they met her means that Kira and Ty will always be closer to each other than her. Realizing it's not going to work out, she breaks up with them.
Open Relationship Failure / int_4e250102	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_4e250102	featureConfidence	1.0
S.W.A.T. (2017)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_4e250102
Open Relationship Failure / int_57ad879c	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_57ad879c	comment	Discussed in Chasing Amy: When there's growing tension between Holden, Banky, and Alyssa, Holden proposes that the three of them have sex together; to Holden, not only would it resolve the tension between the three of them, but it would also help Banky deal with his latent homosexuality, and it would make Holden feel less inadequate compared to Alyssa (as she's had a much more adventurous sexual history than Holden). However, Alyssa outlines several reasons why it's a terrible idea (and even tries to shoot down the idea before Holden finishes outlining his proposal); specific reasons she lists include the possibility that Banky would do something to her that would either make her love him more than Holden or make Holden jealous, and the fact that she loved Holden and couldn't stand the thought that he'd want to share her with anyone else. The three ultimately end up going their separate ways not long afterward.
Open Relationship Failure / int_57ad879c	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_57ad879c	featureConfidence	1.0
Chasing Amy	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_57ad879c
Open Relationship Failure / int_58533a86	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_58533a86	comment	Intimate: Max is unable to satisfy his girlfriend Isabella in bed, so she declares she wants to open up the relationship and not see him for a while. When they meet up again, Max pretends to have had a threesome to show her he's gotten more adventurous. Isabella is impressed, and delighted when Max suggests visiting a sex club. There, however, Max can't bring himself to get, well, intimate with anyone else, and has to watch Isabella enjoying herself with another couple.
Open Relationship Failure / int_58533a86	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_58533a86	featureConfidence	1.0
Intimate	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_58533a86
Open Relationship Failure / int_60570997	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_60570997	comment	S.S.D.D.: Richard as part of his backstory inserted himself into a three-way relationship with a lesbian couple, Crystal and Red. It went wrong when Red started falling for Richard and neglecting Crystal, then tried to dump her which neither Crystal nor Richard wanted and led to the whole relationship falling apartnote when Red recounts it years later she blames herself, but much later Richard admits to Annie that he wanted Crystal and tried to use the bisexual Red to get around Crystal's Incompatible Orientation with him. Meanwhile, in the "present day" of the comic, Richard's current girlfriend Annie screws other men behind his back until an old friend of his suggests they do a wife-swap and she fesses up out of guilt. Afterwards, Richard and Annie decide to be mature about it and work out an arrangement where they inform one another of their casual sex partners.
Open Relationship Failure / int_60570997	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_60570997	featureConfidence	1.0
S.S.D.D. (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_60570997
Open Relationship Failure / int_60f02ddb	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_60f02ddb	comment	American Dad!: In "When a Stan Loves a Women", Stan gets upset over the fact that Francine had multiple partners before they got married, while she's the only woman he's ever slept with. Francine tells him that she never loved any of her other men in the same way she loves him, and agrees to a temporary divorce to give him the chance to have some meaningless sex of his own. But when he meets Joanna and they seem to really hit it off, Francine gets paranoid that they'll fall in love and he'll choose Joanna and stay divorced from her. He does but ultimately goes back to Francine after she interrupts his wedding night with Joanna.
Open Relationship Failure / int_60f02ddb	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_60f02ddb	featureConfidence	1.0
American Dad!	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_60f02ddb
Open Relationship Failure / int_642a8fd4	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_642a8fd4	comment	In the Family Law (2021) episode "Three's Company", Abby and David take on the case of a young artist who was in a three-way relationship with a married couple. While he and the husband got on quite well, his relationship with the wife turned exploitative, as she increasingly used him for free labor for her blog, which got in the way of his career as an artist, making him increasingly dependent upon the couple.
Open Relationship Failure / int_642a8fd4	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_642a8fd4	featureConfidence	1.0
Family Law (2021)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_642a8fd4
Open Relationship Failure / int_7910dd12	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_7910dd12	comment	The Boys in the Band has Larry, who wants an open relationship, and his lover Hank, who would much prefer to be monogamous. They try a "menagÃ© Ã trois" but it simply makes both of them miserable, and Larry continues sleeping around. Eventually they decide that there's never going to be a perfect solution, but that they both love each other enough to try anyway,
Open Relationship Failure / int_7910dd12	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_7910dd12	featureConfidence	1.0
The Boys in the Band (Theatre)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_7910dd12
Open Relationship Failure / int_81e95817	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_81e95817	comment	Ex-Lady: Helen and Don have a sexual relationship which eventually leads to marriage despite Helen thinking that marriage only costs the partners their autonomy. Eventually Helen insists that she and Don separate. She says she wants an open relationship, even telling Don not to get jealous after admitting she's accepted a date with Nick. Nick agrees. But of course neither of them really mean it, as he's obviously jealous of her and Nick and she gets jealous on the same night after seeing Nick going out with Peggy. Both Nick and Peggy make sexual advances to their respective partners, but neither Helen nor Don can go through with it, and naturally they wind up back together.
Open Relationship Failure / int_81e95817	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_81e95817	featureConfidence	1.0
Ex-Lady	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_81e95817
Open Relationship Failure / int_877465cb	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_877465cb	comment	SOKO Potsdam: In "Let Live", the Body of the Week Sylvia's coworker and girlfriend Mira tells Tamara that they were in an open relationship, but doesn't seem to be happy about it. Tamara suggests jealousy to Henschel as the motive for a crime of passion, though when she suggests it to Mira, Mira says she'd accepted it as the price of being with Sylvia. Subverted: Mira is the killer, but turns out to be lying about Sylvia dating other people in order to send the detectives on a wild goose chase. The murder was really motivated by an ethical disagreement over having their research used to make Designer Babies.
Open Relationship Failure / int_877465cb	featureApplicability	-0.3
Open Relationship Failure / int_877465cb	featureConfidence	1.0
SOKO Potsdam	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_877465cb
Open Relationship Failure / int_a183d57f	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_a183d57f	comment	Futurama: In "The Beast With a Billion Backs", Fry falls in love with a new woman called Colleen. It seems to go well until he discovers that she has four other boyfriends and maintains a polygamous relationship. He tries to maintain his side and moves in, but he finds it difficult to maintain a conversation when several other boyfriends are involved and is quickly overwhelmed to the point of breaking up with her.
Open Relationship Failure / int_a183d57f	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_a183d57f	featureConfidence	1.0
Futurama	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_a183d57f
Open Relationship Failure / int_ac4b6a62	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_ac4b6a62	comment	Questionable Content: Faye and Sven become Friends with Benefits with the understanding that they aren't romantically involved or sexually exclusive. Nonetheless, when Sven sleeps with someone else, their friends treat him like a cheater and Faye stops seeing him at all.
Open Relationship Failure / int_ac4b6a62	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_ac4b6a62	featureConfidence	1.0
Questionable Content (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_ac4b6a62
Open Relationship Failure / int_c1bf1af4	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_c1bf1af4	comment	Two and a Half Men: Charlie meets the daughter of a woman he was seeing. She mentions that she had been in a three-way relationship with her girlfriend and her girlfriend's boyfriend. According to her, this relationship ended because the girlfriend started acting weird despite the threesome being her idea. Charlie finds this sexy and ends up breaking up with her mother to be with her daughter.
Open Relationship Failure / int_c1bf1af4	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_c1bf1af4	featureConfidence	1.0
Two and a Half Men	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_c1bf1af4
Open Relationship Failure / int_c7cca04f	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_c7cca04f	comment	Pushing Daisies: Downplayed in "Bitches". When Ned reawakens dog breeder Harold Hundin from the dead to ask who killed him, he says his wife killed him. The team quickly finds out this is not so cut-and-dry, since Hundin had four wives. While the murder turns out to have more to do with the new dog Harold and his wives invented, a Coll-A-Dor-Russell-A-Poo note Cross-breed of a Border Collie, a Labrador Retriever, a Jack Russell Terrier, and a Poodle, the dog breeds each of his wives owned named Bubblegum, the murder was still connected to the polygamous marriage situation. Harold's first wife Hilary is revealed to have not been happy that she couldn't be her husband's one-and-only. She put up with it and took solace in the one-of-a-kind Bubblegum, until Harold mentioned his plans to clone the dog with a rival breeder, setting Hilary off.
Open Relationship Failure / int_c7cca04f	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_c7cca04f	featureConfidence	1.0
Pushing Daisies	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_c7cca04f
Open Relationship Failure / int_d01e2fe6	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_d01e2fe6	comment	L.A. Story: Harris starts a casual relationship with SanDeE*, a ditzy clerk at a clothing store, who tells him her boyfriend doesn't want to be exclusive so they can keep dating other people—before pointing him out to Harris during their date at the Hard Rock Cafe. Late in the film, she says the boyfriend wants to go exclusive, she suspects because he wasn't able to get any other dates.
Open Relationship Failure / int_d01e2fe6	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_d01e2fe6	featureConfidence	1.0
L.A. Story	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_d01e2fe6
Open Relationship Failure / int_eb7d3ee0	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_eb7d3ee0	comment	Girlfriend, Girlfriend is about a boy who manages to start a relationship with his childhood friend right before another girl who was hoping to earn his affection confesses to him. Unable to decide which girl to date, he decides to try and convince both girls to date him at the same time. This quickly leads to one problem after another, and it only gets more complicated as other girls start trying to get in on the action.
Open Relationship Failure / int_eb7d3ee0	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_eb7d3ee0	featureConfidence	1.0
Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Manga)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_eb7d3ee0
Open Relationship Failure / int_f61ea51b	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_f61ea51b	comment	Interview with the Vampire (2022): Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac are vampire lovers who plan to spend eternity together. In "Is My Very Nature That of a Devil", Lestat initiates an open relationship because he believes "a little variety" will prevent their romance from going stale (never mind that they've only been together for barely six years when he makes this suggestion). Both men end up being very jealous about their partner's other paramours.
Open Relationship Failure / int_f61ea51b	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_f61ea51b	featureConfidence	1.0
Interview with the Vampire (2022)	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_f61ea51b
Open Relationship Failure / int_f6c05e8e	type	Open Relationship Failure
Open Relationship Failure / int_f6c05e8e	comment	In the Friends episode "The One with the Butt", Chandler dates a polyamorist woman named Aurora, who already has a husband and a boyfriend. Chandler accepts being the third guy for a while but when she admits she's started seeing a fourth man, he decides it's too much for him and breaks up with her.
Open Relationship Failure / int_f6c05e8e	featureApplicability	1.0
Open Relationship Failure / int_f6c05e8e	featureConfidence	1.0
Friends	hasFeature	Open Relationship Failure / int_f6c05e8e

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Open Relationship Failure	processingCategory2	Index Backfire
Open Relationship Failure	processingCategory2	Index Failure
Open Relationship Failure	processingCategory2	Love Tropes
Built Different (Signless Acolyte) (Fanfic) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Ex-Lady / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
L.A. Story	processingUnknown	Open Relationship Failure
Together / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Envy and Jealousy Tropes	processingUnknown	Open Relationship Failure
Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Manga) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Rosario + Vampire (Manga) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Arrested Development / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
CSI / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Family Law (2021) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Intimate / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
SOKO Potsdam / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
S.W.A.T. (2017) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
The Love Boat / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Two and a Half Men / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
Being A Î”Î™Îš (Visual Novel) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure
S.S.D.D. (Webcomic) / int_7e7d1a03	type	Open Relationship Failure

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