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alt title(s): Trio Of Power
Spock, Jim, and Bones

A show that thematically centers on the tension between two opposing ideas will manifest that tension through three central characters: one character representing each opposing idea, and a character who must integrate and reconcile the opposition.

A common form has characters representing the Freudian Ego, Superego, and Id:

"The id contains primitive desires (hunger, rage and sex), the super-ego contains internalized norms, morality and taboos, and the ego mediates between the two and may include or give rise to the sense of self and the well being of humans."

Sometimes the same dynamics play out with just two characters, but in those cases the representatives of opposing sides must learn to negotiate with each other. In a Power Trio, they are free to be more extreme, and it falls to the leader to lay the smack down and keep the group integrated.

In short, Opposites Attract + 1. See also Five Man Band, Two Guys And A Girl, Terrible Trio, Three Faces Of Eve, and Three Amigos. There is a closely related ensemble in Evil Duo. A Comic Trio uses the same ingredients, but the leader is crazy, the action one is stupid, and the thinking one is powerless. See also Cast Calculus. Depending on the fandom and its tendency for shipping, a power trio may easily become an OT 3.

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