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It finally happened. After all the Fanwank and Shipping, after all the denial, and after all the heartless teasing, devoted fans and viewers alike are at last rewarded with the two characters (usually the main character and his/her close friend of opposite gender) everyone knows and/or demands should inevitably get together, finally doing just that. Too bad it can't be enjoyed, what with the show being over and all. Well, at least it will be, give it another two seconds.
With Last Minute Hookup, even the most uncreative and hilariously unromantic of writers are enabled to enjoy all the benefits of rewarding incessant fans with an intimate relationship, without the hassle of actually having to do so. All they need to do is make sure the two have that one single kiss at the very end and it's all good. It's just that easy.
Though certainly not exclusive to them, the trope is especially frequent in premature crush-laden shows directed towards kids and tween audiences, where very few writers have the yutz to take a jab at illustrating actual romance but nonetheless, a vast majority still feel the overwhelming need to drop an innumerable amount of anything-but-subtle " hints" toward the prospect all throughout the series. For the few bold ones that do have the guts to at least give it a try, they are hampered by Media Watchdogs and the usually larger portion of the audience who quite frankly, just aren’t into that kinda stuff.
This is also a way writers get rid of inconvenient romantic competition by having said competition suddenly fall for someone else.
Above all, in any of its myriad forms, the reason behind Last Minute Hookup is relatively simple: Most writers find romance to be really, really hard. A Love Epiphany beforehand might be acceptable, though.
See Strangled By The Red String for when this is done especially bad. See Hooked Up Afterwards for when this happens to side characters.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- In Strawberry Panic, Shizuma whisks Nagisa away from the Etoile competition to run away with her, to which Nagisa happily agrees. Although romantic, this is also quite sudden since we have never actually seen them work out their issues.
- It's implied (I think?) that by (quite) openly declaring her love to Nagisa, Shizuma was showing her that she didn't consider Nagisa a replace to her dead girlfriend.
- Possible, but even with that, the show had just a few episodes prior brought in a nearly last-minute suggestion that Miyuki's feelings for Shizuma were less than platonic, which felt like a hasty consolation hookup already. So the 'last'-last-minute veer back to Shizuma/Nagisa seems even more abrupt.
- Dita from Vandread finally gets into the space ship with the male protagonist to fly home with him, after he calls her name - which strange enough never happens the other way around.
- A variety of this trope occurs at the end of the ARIA series, when super-undine Alicia declares that she will retire and get married. Before that there was no indication whatsoever that she was even seeing someone, let alone that she was getting engaged. Throughout the series she appears to be mostly focused on Akari, so her announcement does come totally out of the blue. Worse, her fiancé doesn't even get the slightest bit of screen time, so it all feels like quite a cop-out.
- Every single romance in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is established and elaborated in the very last minute. Yoko, for example, kisses and hooks up with Kamina and Kittan exactly before they die, Nia becomes Simon's fiancée right before becoming an Anti-Spiral, and in the final episode, Simon marries Nia just one second before she vanishes.
- It isn't until the very last scenes of the Nodame Cantabile anime that Chiaki finally recognizes his feelings for Nodame and decides to study abroad together with her.
- Alas, their relationship has been put back a level again for the second season, following the manga.
- And it's not like it came from nowhere, the whole premise is a Will They Or Won'tThey for uptight Chiaki to accept/acknowledge any feeling (besides annoyance) to Cloud Cuckoo Lander Nodame.
- The Kyo Ani adaptation of Clannad had Nagisa and Tomoya hook up during the final episode of the first season. In the Visual Novel however, if you play through Nagisa's route, they end up hooking up much, much earlier (in the anime, it's a day after the Culture Festival, in the game, it's on April 24, and the game starts on April 14).
- Ryoga's getting together with Akari Unryuu in Ranma One Half could technically count as one of these. While Akari appears about four volumes before the final volume, she only makes appearances in four stories. Attempted with Mousse and Shampoo, as well as Ukyo and Konatsu, but neither of the girls displayed even the slightest interest in their "alternative options".
- The original version of Samurai Pizza Cats sees protagonist Speedy frequently lusting after tea-girl Lucille; late in the series, he develops feelings for his teammate Polly, and they literally end up in each other's arms in the series finale. However, writers for the dubbed version weren't provided with scripts of the original episodes, forcing them to make up plotlines and dialogue as they went; as a result, Speedy's growing attraction to Polly is never mentioned at all until the final episode, making their embrace at the end seem very sudden.
- Ueki and Mori officially become a couple at the end of The Law of Ueki Plus.
- Averted by Visionof Escaflowne by Hitomi and Allen, whose short and troubled courtship begins about two-thirds into the series, is given a fair bit of screentime, and actually written pretty believably. Then turned around and played painfully straight with Hitomi and Van, who confess their feelings for one another in the last half of the last episode and don't even get a kiss.
Film
- Practically every single character pairs up with someone right at the end of Billy Madison, including a real person and a giant penguin that had previously only existed in Billy's mind.
- Gemma Honeycutt and Alfonz in Fool's Gold. He at least had formerly expressed lust about in her in a fairly sleazy manner, but her attraction came out of absolutely nowhere (she had spent the film mooning over Finn).
- The Sci Fi Original Film The Snake King ends with the male lead and female lead, who have shown no interest in each other at all up to this point, falling in love after the final battle. It is a prime example of this trope, complete with the one single kiss at the very end.
- The classic film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes where Lois Fairchild and Mason Dixon, after having perhaps thirty seconds of screen-time together before this, fall passionately in love in the last sixty seconds and sing the beautiful romantic duet appropriately titled Love Theme from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes before literally Walking Off Into The Sunset Together.
- Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, although Sally's crush was obvious from the beginning.
- Will and Layla from Sky High.
- Mace and Lenny get together just seconds before end credits roll in Strange Days.
- The So Bad Its Horrible movie Timelock ends with a spaceship pilot and a criminal in bed...despite the fact that she was a total bitch to him and he should be serving his sentence at Alpha One.
- Pretty much every James Bond movie. Bond will hook up with other women throughout the movie, but he almost always waits until the last few minutes to hook up with the main Bond Girl.
- Subverted in Die Another Day, when Bond has sex with Jinx about half an hour in. This troper expected him to end up with Miranda until she revealed herself to be a traitor.
Literature
- War And Peace ends with Pierre and Natasha getting hitched. The epilogue shows them Happily Married.
- In Jane Austen's Sense And Sensibility, the main characters finally get themselves men during the last two chapters out of fifty.
- Doesn't apply for Elinor; she's been in love with Edward for the entire book. Marianne is a good example though.
- This is so the problem with most of the works of Christopher Moore. A lot of his books have the main character end up with a female character, regardless of how little involvement they have had with each beforehand. Sometimes it is believable, a lot of the time it is not. It would be Strangled By The Red String if it didn't always happen at the end.
- I dont know, the only time it seemed out of place for me was The Lust Lizard of Melencholy Cove and maybe Fluke. Most of the time you see the characters fall for each other throughout the book or it was established early that there was something going on.
- Hermione and Ron anyone? After about six books of teasing, they make out in the hall while Voldemort and the Death Eaters are attacking the school and people are dying.
- They have excellent timing. Nothing is more romantic than a sea of burned corpses surrounding you while you carry the deadly-poisonous and needle-sharp fangs of the enormous snake who attempted to devour your sister. Nothing.
- Maybe it isn't romantic, but, them being 17-year-olds about to fight the most powerful Dark Wizard in history... Well, now or never doesn't seem to do it justice.
- There was more than teasing going on before, even if they didn't get very physical.
- In Louisa May Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl, she spends the final paragraphs letting readers know that, the two main couples did indeed marry, and pairs off most of the other unmarried characters, not without a Take That to readers who objected to Laurie marrying Amy rather than of Jo at the end of Little Women.
- Although the hookup is mentioned in the middle of the book, she does this again in Jack and Jill by explaining that all the assumed pairings would happen in a decade but they're just children now. She has to add the obligatory old maid, however, in Molly.
- Used straight in the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander (Taran and Eilonwy get married at the very end of the last chapter of the last book); semi-averted in The Westmark Trilogy (another last-chapter marriage for Theo and Mickle last chapter reveal, at least; Mickle had married herself to Theo by royal decree a few days earlier and not had a good opportunity to tell him, but they're clearly in a relationship all through the last book).
- For the Prydain Chronicles, at least, they were written more in the olde story-teller style, ala King Arthur. For the style, presenting a rising zero-to-hero and an unconventional princess and having them together by the end fits.
- Not to mention, the forth book, Taran Wanderer was all about hero-Taran trying to find himself as a man, and to see if he was worthy of trying for Eilonwy's affection.
Live Action TV
- Quite common to occur in a series' finale movie. For example, Lizzie and Gordo have their kiss at the end of The Lizzie McGuire Movie, complete with fireworks.
- The concept was mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000 when it occured at the end of one movie: "I know our love wasn't part of the plot, but... let's be part of the loose-end festival anyhow."
- The romantic subplot to The Da Vinci Code was, arguably, similar to the above example, and limited to Last Minute Hookup, more for the sake of the hero getting the girl than for any plot purpose.
- The very last scene of the Gilmore Girls finale has Lorelai running into Luke's arms and kissing him. A bit of a variation, as it wasn't a matter of Will They Or Wont They — they already had — but had broken up a season earlier: the real question was whether or not they'd get back together.
- The final episode of Friends ended along similar lines: Ross and Rachel had already been together and broken up in various capacities, but only in the series finale did they get to hook up For Real, presumably to be together happily ever after.
- Helen and Nikki in Bad Girls. After three series of on-offness, soul searching, hooking up with other people and general camp drama, they had a Happily Ever After kiss when Nikki was released from prison. Typically we never saw them again after that.
- In the teen series Sugar Rush Kim and her crush, the hedonistic Sugar, finally cop off after Sugar stabs a guy. Rather than letting them have any kind of relationship the second series fastforwards 18 months and nothing more has happened between them. Talk about a let down.
- In an instance of this trope occuring long after the actual series is over, the last two minutes of the DVD documentary of Spaced features a couple that look exactly like Tim and Daisy arguing over who should change their baby.
- In the final episode of Stargate SG 1, Daniel and Vala finally get together, having been constantly bickering (and, in Vala's case, flirting) throughout season 10 and some of season 9. They spend many long, monogamous years together. But even then, the hookup is reversed when Teal'c goes back in time and changes the past.
- However, it's implied that they'll end up together eventually anyway.
- In a love sucks version of this, Space Cases has Harlan and Catalina share their feelings for one another right before an explosion sends her to another dimension and she is replaced by Suzee. However Harlan starts to hit on Suzee almost immediately at the start of Season 2.
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch returns to first love Harvey instead of getting married when the network refuses to allow an hourlong finale.
- The out-of-nowhere Crack Pairing of Seven of Nine and Chakotay in the final episode of Star Trek Voyager. This was largely a way to appease Robert Beltran, who had been complaining about the uselessness of his character, so they shut his mouth by slipping Jeri Ryan's tongue into it.
- To be fair, it wasn't entirely out of nowhere. Seven's interest in Chakotay was set up in "Human Error", a little more than halfway through the seventh season.
- Doctor Who: Rose and Ten v2.0 in the Season 4 finale "Journey's End". (Send In The Clones indeed.) What the hell? And RTD still manages to keep the Doctor from saying "I love you" out loud.
- A so much more horrible example from the original series, Leela is Put On The Bus at the end of The Invasion of Time by suddenly holding hands with one of the guards, to show that they have somehow fallen in love during the preceding story, despite absolutely no indication at all that they had noticed each other before then. Doctor #4 then gives a short word salad speech about the power of love that at least he has the decency to look embarrassed about before heading off again. UGH!
- In the should-have-been-a-season-finale series finale of Crossing Jordan, we do get one final angst-free kiss between Woody and Jordan.
- JAG Had Harm and Mac get together in the last five minutes of the series final.
- Wonderfalls has Eric return at the VERY LAST MINUTE, having left his wife for good.
- I can't believe that nobody has mentioned the most obvious and glaring example: The X-Files. True, the hook-up did not happen in the last episode, but in a way, the show went one better, with revealing that, after years and years of UST, Mulder and Scully had already hooked up off-screen! The actual on-screen hook-up was reserved for the last scene of the last episode.
- A variation occurs in Angel, where Fred and Wesley don't so much hook up at the last minute as they do hook up and then have EXACTLY ONE MINUTE to enjoy it before Fred dies in the very next episode.
- The House/Cuddy hookup in Under My Skin, on House, though its subverted because he was hallucinating
- Life With Derek has one of the Victorious Childhood Friend variety in the penultimate episode of the series between Derek and Emily.
- Sam and Annie in Lifeon Mars.
- In The Office (UK Version), Dawn finally leaves Lee for Tim at the end of Christmas special (which was actually after the series finale). David Brent also finale hooks up with a girl, but it's uncertain if that will be as lasting.
- Elliot and JD in Scrubs Season 8.
Mythology
- To a certain extent, this is Older Than Print, as numerous fairy tales leave off with the Star Crossed Lovers overcoming the problem at hand, having a kiss and proceeding to "live happily ever after." With the state of modern marriage, it would’ve been nice for the storytellers to have left some notes and guidelines as to how a man and a woman could come to achieve this. Maybe even a study guide.
- This is turned right on its ear with the Fables comicbook series, where it's revealed that the "Prince Charming" from the various tales is all the same guy, working through a series of failed marriages.
- Because, as and true as his feelings are in the beginning, he's all about the chase.
Video Games
- Kingdom Hearts' series director Tetsuya Nomura was jokingly chastised by his superiors for ending the second (well, third) game at the exact moment Sora and Kairi clasped hands.
- Final Fantasy VIII ends at the exact moment Squall and Rinoa kiss, after all that angst to get to that point. But they're still doing better than the VII crowd
- Except for all those other times Squall and Rinoa hugged, cuddled, danced, had long conversations about each other...
- All three potential romances in Knights Of The Old Republic do not reach their resolutions until the end of the game. The lesbian relationship with Juhani occurs after you decide to stay on the good side once and for all, the relationship with Carth occurs when you return to the ship, and the relationship with Bastila begins not long before the final boss battle.
- You can, if you want, try and develop a relationship with Aribeth in Neverwinter Nights—after you've defeated her and she is awaiting a likely execution for treason, and just before you go off to fight the Big Bad.
- And as we find out in the expansion pack, she is executed, whether you redeemed her or not.
- At the end of Xenosaga, the obviously romantic subtext between Shion and KOS-MOS is abruptly shoved aside when Shion ends up with Allen, the series' resident Butt Monkey. In a case of Throw The Dog A Bone, KOS-MOS and Shion can't be together, but will be in another Reincarnation. So hey, he gets to be with her since she can't be with her soul-mate.
- You can make this happen in Fire Emblem if you put off getting an A support between two characters until the final battle. A debatable example occurs with Ike and Soren in Radiant Dawn- their shiptastic base conversation, once you unlock it, takes place at the start of the very final part of the very final chapter. Then they elope...uh, leave for foreign lands.
- There are a couple last minute hookups in Shining Force 2. Bowie and the princess hook up after his kiss brings her out of her coma. Sarah we found out had a crush on Bowie all along and is heartbroken, but we're led to assume that she hooks up with Kazin instead.
Web Comics
- In Kid Radd
 , at the end of the title character's "game", he always leans in to kiss his girlfriend Sheena ... at which point he's interrupted by the credits. (This extends to the end of the comic itself.)
Western Animation
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