The 10 Best TV Relationships Of 2025 (So Far), Ranked – TVLine

TVLine’s look back at 2025 continues with the most delightfully dramatic part of any good TV year: the relationships!

In the list below, we’ve identified 10 small-screen pairings that provided us with nonstop entertainment in their respective TV seasons, whether or not they were actually happy couples. (In fact, in some cases, these duos aren’t even official couples — yet!) As they navigated obstacles from geopolitical secrets to fizzled sparks to, well, actual death, these are the television relationships that linger in our minds as the year’s most dynamic (so far).

And lest you think we only singled out ill-fated match-ups — and, sure, we did embrace mess in the list below — we’ve also looked back fondly on ‘ships that sailed relatively smoothly in 2025. Just don’t take a job at Lumon Industries, and your love life can remain uncomplicated.

Keep scrolling to see our ranking of the year’s 10 most compelling TV relationships (so far), then drop a comment with your own picks!

Yes, “Overcompensating” Season 1 ended with Miles kissing Carmen, but we prefer to exist in the Episode 5 bliss that was Benny and Miles dressed as Lewis and Clark getting cozy on the Halloween dance floor. (Well, the early bits of the episode before Miles ditched Benny to go hook up with a girl…) It’s clear these two have chemistry, even if Miles hasn’t yet realized it. Would a man without love in his heart slap an ass on the dance floor like that? No, no he would not!

And if you aren’t convinced, consider their history. Benny and Miles have been through it all: puking and singing their way through a Charli XCX concert, chugging live fish and beer to impress their future fraternity brothers, and navigating a forest in their underwear. It’s only a matter of time until they get together. (Luckily, a Season 2 is on the way!) — Claire Franken

Kate and Hal’s marriage was already on seriously rocky ground when the Netflix political thriller debuted, but in Season 3, it completely crashed and burned: When Hal became Penn’s vice president, Kate stayed behind in the U.K., with the two playing the happy couple for the cameras but quietly separating.

Even though they split up, Kate and Hal still bickered up a storm this season — especially when she took up with a dashing British spy named Callum. (Hal was seething… which means he still cares, obviously.) But after defusing an international crisis together, an emotional Kate begged Hal to take her back, and they tenderly reconciled. That is, until she learned Hal had hatched a secret plan with Penn to snatch a nuclear weapon from a Russian submarine and lie to the British government about it. Not every couple deals with these kinds of geopolitical stakes, of course, but Kate and Hal’s bumpy ups and downs are still very relatable. — Dave Nemetz

Did the office romance between these two on Peacock’s “The Office” spinoff feel at times like a carbon copy of “The Office’s” Jim and Pam? Yes, it did. Are we complaining? No, we are not. Even though we knew exactly where the budding relationship between new editor-in-chief Ned and intrepid reporter Mare was headed from the first episode, we were still rooting for these crazy kids to give love a shot — and our wish was granted, too.

At first, Ned and Mare were just work colleagues bonding over their love of old-fashioned journalism. But we sensed a vibe between them, through quick glances and flirty group chat messages. Esmerelda may have derailed things for a bit by spreading a false rumor that Mare is asexual — dammit, Esmerelda! — but Ned and Mare got back on track by season’s end, sharing a passionate kiss after a big night at a local awards show. Since Ned’s immediate reaction to the kiss was, “Aw, s**t,” it might not be smooth sailing for these two in Season 2, but we’re definitely renewing our subscription to find out. — D.N.

To put the sheer toxicity of this pairing in perspective: Peacock’s summer dating show made a YouTube compilation of Huda and Jeremiah’s lowlights as a couple… and it’s 24 minutes long. Twenty-four minutes! That means it takes longer than your average “Abbott Elementary” to fully explain what went wrong for these two, but we’ll try to sum it up for you.

The cracks started to show early, with Huda not-so-subtly eavesdropping any time Jeremiah talked to another girl. (It didn’t help that Huda waited so long to tell him she has a daughter… and that he wasn’t exactly overjoyed to hear it.) Soon, the sniping exploded into “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in swimsuits, with the volatile Huda crashing out to the point where viewers paired Jeremiah up with new arrival Iris just to get them away from each other. The drama finally, mercifully, ceased when Jeremiah was voted out of the villa, and neither of them won anything — but in terms of giving us riveting TV all summer long, these two take the grand prize. — D.N.

Noah and Joanne may be the central couple in Netflix’s rom-com, but the duo that truly had us invested in Season 2 was Noah’s brother Sasha and his wife Esther — who, after two decades of marriage, found themselves in a serious rut. Timothy Simons and Jackie Tohn earned TVLine accolades for their performances in Episode 4, which capped an early arc that saw the pair try to rediscover what they loved about their relationship in the first place. (And yes, Sasha’s surprise dance routine to Ariana Grande’s “7 rings” put as big a smile on our faces as it did Esther’s.)

Sure, Esther ultimately decided their marriage wasn’t working — that she couldn’t focus on herself while fully committed to her husband — but we’re not giving up hope just yet. There’s still plenty of love there, even if the relationship’s in a not-great place heading into the just-announced Season 3. — Ryan Schwartz

Belly Conklin eventually reunited with her one true love, Conrad Fisher, by the time “The Summer I Turned Pretty” ended its three-season run, but their journey back to one another was also messy and briefly family-shattering. In other words: thrilling! For viewers, at least.

Lola Tung’s character started Season 3 very much in love with Conrad’s brother, Jeremiah, whom she’d been dating for her entire college career; after a short breakup, Belly and Jere reconciled and even got engaged, but the nuptials were ill-fated. Belly and Conrad couldn’t ignore the magnetism still between them, even as Belly was planning her wedding to someone else, and a series of sensual almost-kisses (the peach scene!) prompted Conrad to eventually reveal to Belly that he was still in love with her. What followed was a called-off wedding, a new life in Paris and a stylish bob for our girl Belly, and a European visit from Conrad that ended with steamy sex and a confession of love from Belly just as Conrad’s train outta Paris was about to leave. Like we said: messy and thrilling. — Rebecca Luther

If you watch “Outlander,” for years you’ve known the story of how Jamie’s parents got together: His mother, Ellen, was promised to another man but fell in love — and eloped — with Simon Fraser’s bastard son, Brian. Yadda yadda, give us more Jamie and Claire! But Season 1 of the series’ prequel, “Blood of My Blood,” grabbed our attention by bringing the elder Frasers’ love story to vivid life, courtesy of actors Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy. Every beat of the arc was executed perfectly, from the couple’s meet-cute in a stable to their secret first time making love to their bloody escape from Ellen’s planned wedding. The pair’s every moment together was full of longing, adoration and so much heat that we’re planning on warming our hands over our TV sets as we rewatch during the long, cold #Droughtlander before Season 2. — Kimberly Roots

Fans of the “Yellowstone” prequel went on a ride — literally and figuratively — with these two in Season 2, following them across oceans and continents in their separate quests to reunite. The going was grueling on both sides. Alex’s journey involved all the bad stuff that could happen to women traveling solo at that time in world history (and, um, now?). Spencer found himself wrapped up in a bootlegging operation that nearly caused his demise (and that was before the hobo death match). But Spencer and Alex’s love previously had survived apex predators and shipwrecks, so of course the newlyweds managed to find each other in the snowy no-man’s land alongside railroad tracks in Montana. That moment they ran to each other and embraced was pure fire — and one of our Best Scenes of 2025 — but the newlyweds’ homecoming was far too fleeting: In short order, Alex informed Spencer he was going to be a father, gave birth to their premature son and succumbed to her extensive frostbite while Spencer slept by her side. At least the series’ epilogue allowed us to witness their meet-up in the hereafter, with Mr. and Mrs. Dutton glammed up and dancing in celebration of their epic love story. — K.R.

Work-life balance can be tricky… but for Mark S., it’s damn near impossible. In Season 2 of the Apple TV sci-fi thriller, Innie Mark was determined to find out what really happened to his Outie’s wife Gemma after he discovered she wasn’t really dead. But he still had a romance brewing with his work wife Helly, and the two of them slept together in a tent during a company retreat. But wait! Then Mark found out it wasn’t really Helly he slept with, but her evil Outie, Helena. So yeah, it’s complicated!

We were left with a highly confusing love quadrangle, with Mark’s two selves torn between Helly and Gemma while Helena developed a strange obsession with him from afar. The season ended on a romantic cliffhanger, too, with Mark finally reuniting with Gemma… before he decided to stay behind at Lumon with Helly, abandoning his Outie’s marriage for a fleeting chance at Innie happiness. We’re well aware that this love quadrangle still has four sides, though, and we don’t expect it to stop turning anytime soon. — D.N.

Unlike most of the other couples on this list, Bobby and Athena’s love story doesn’t have a happy ending — nor is there really hope for one, as Peter Krause’s character met his untimely end in a tragic twist that still has us scratching our heads (and questioning our sanity) to this day. “9-1-1” shined an especially bright light on Bobby and Athena’s relationship in the weeks following his death, and while that made saying goodbye even more painful both for the viewers and for Athena, it also made us appreciate their bond on a greater level. Even in Athena’s grief, as conveyed through consistently powerful performances from Angela Bassett, Bobby and Athena’s love prevails, inspiring those who experienced it the same way that Bobby inspired his fellow first responders at the 118. And as Athena continues to adjust to her new normal, be it on Earth or in space, we know that Bobby’s presence is right there beside her. — Andy Swift