History Main / WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack

* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga':

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' reunited with her ex, Duncan Kane, despite the fact that he dumped her without an explanation, ignored her every time she asked him why, and sat idly by as their peer group turned on her. She later finds out why Duncan broke it off: [[spoiler:he thought she was his half-sister. [[KissingUnderTheInfluence But he slept with her anyway.]] But Veronica had been accidentally roofied as well, so she didn't remember consenting and spent an entire year thinking she'd been raped ([[RetCon turns out she had been]], but that's a whole different issue)]]. Granted, it doesn't last. Mostly because she fell for Duncan's best friend, Logan Echols -- the son of [[spoiler:the man who murdered Lily Kane, Veronica's best friend]] and one of the ringleaders of the "Treat Veronica Like Trash" brigade, and the same guy who had been starting to sexually assault her with a bunch of other guys before Duncan saved her. This is a non-issue to her for some reason.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to get to know her properly since he didn't even know about her existence. This results in their relationship becoming strained: Luke asks Lorelai not to get involved with April at all, even though she is to become his wife, and Lorelai tries to go along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life, even though doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired of the situation and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but since for him it is out of the blue due to her not having told him anything about how she felt, he asks for some more time to figure things out. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out at the beginning of season 7, the relationship between him and Lorelai is of course definitely over. Then, Lorelai goes further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but she and Luke somehow get back together anyway with a LastMinuteHookUp. Even after all this crap.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to get to know her properly since he didn't even know about her existence. This results in their relationship becoming strained: Luke asks Lorelai not to get involved with April at all, even though she is to become his wife, and Lorelai tries to go along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life, even though doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired of the situation and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but since for him it is out of the blue due to her not having told him anything about how she felt, he asks for some more time to figure things out. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out at the beginning of season 7, the relationship between him and Lorelai is of course definitely over. Then, Lorelai goes further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but she and Luke somehow get back together anyway with a LastMinuteHookUp, even after all this crap.

** In season 6, Logan sleeps his way through his sister's briday party, with the excuse that he thought he and Rory were broken up, while she thought they were "on a break" (yes, the writers did the [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross-and-Rachel thing]] to their main couple ''unironically''). Rory is clearly upset -- and Jess conveniently shows up in her life and is still clearly interested in her, giving her the opportunity to get back together with him. But no, she's talked into forgiving Logan and goes back to him. Even though he never took responsibility for cheating on her with multiple women.
** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to get to know her properly since he didn't even know he had a kid, but asks Lorelai not to get involved with April at all, even though she is to become his wife. Lorelai tries to go along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life, but doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired of the situation and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but since for him it is out of the blue due to her not having told him about her frustration, he asks for some more time to figure things out. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out at the beginning of season 7, the relationship between him and Lorelai is of course definitely over. Then, Lorelai goes further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but she and Luke somehow get back together anyway with a LastMinuteHookUp, even after all this crap.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to get to know her properly since he didn't even know he had a kid, but asks Lorelai not to get involved with April at all, even though she is to become his wife. Lorelai tries to go along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life, but doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired of the situation and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but since for him it is out of the blue due to her not having told him about her frustration, he asks for some more time to figure things out. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out at the beginning of season 7, the relationship between him and Lorelai is of course definitely over. Then, Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but she and Luke somehow get back together anyway with a LastMinuteHookUp, even after all this crap.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to get to know her properly since he didn't even know he had a kid, but asks Lorelai not to get involved with April at all, even though she is to become his wife. Lorelai tries to go along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life, but doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired of the situation and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but since for him it is out of the blue due to her not having told him about her frustration, he asks for some more time to figure things out. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is of course definitely over. Then, Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke somehow get back together with a LastMinuteHookUp, even after all this crap.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to get to know her properly since he didn't even know he had a kid, but asks Lorelai not to get involved with April at all, even though she is to become his wife. Lorelai tries to go along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life, but doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired of the situation and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but since for him it is out of the blue due to her not having told him about her frustration, he asks for some more time to figure things out. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is of course definitely over. Then, Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke somehow get back together, even after all this crap.

** In season 6, Logan sleeps his way through his sister's briday party, with the excuse that he thought he and Rory were broken up, while she thought they were "on a break" (yes, the writers did the [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross-and-Rachel thing]] to their main couple ''unironically''). Rory is clearly upset -- and Jess conveniently shows up in her life and is still clearly interested in her, giving her a great opportunity. But no, she's talked into forgiving Logan and goes back to him. Even though he never took responsibility for cheating on her with multiple women. After a season, he leaves ''her'' because she's not ready to get married and move across the country right after graduating from college.
** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to figure things out and get to know her properly since he didn't even know she was his daughter, but doesn't want April to get involved with Lorelai at all. Lorelai initially goes along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life even though she doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but he asks her some more time. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and literally ''five minutes later'' sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is definitely over, so Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke somehow get back together, even after all this crap.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to figure things out and get to know her properly since he didn't even know she was his daughter, but doesn't want April to get involved with Lorelai at all. Lorelai initially goes along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life even though she doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but he asks her some more time. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and ''literally'' five minutes later sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is definitely over, so Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke somehow get back together, even after all this crap.

** Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to figure things out and get to know her properly since he didn't even know she was his daughter, but doesn't want April to get involved with Lorelai at all. Lorelai initially goes along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life even though she doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but he asks her some more time. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and "literally" five minutes later sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is definitely over, so Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke somehow get back together, even after all this crap.

* In season 6, Logan sleeps his way through his sister's briday party, with the excuse that he thought he and Rory were broken up, while she thought they were "on a break" (yes, the writers did the [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross-and-Rachel thing]] to their main couple ''unironically''). Rory is clearly upset -- and Jess conveniently shows up in her life and is still clearly interested in her, giving her a great opportunity. But no, she's talked into forgiving Logan and goes back to him. Even though he never took responsibility for cheating on her with multiple women. After a season, he leaves ''her'' because she's not ready to get married and move across the country right after graduating from college.
* Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to figure things out and get to know her properly since he didn't even know she was his daughter, but doesn't want April to get involved with Lorelai at all. Lorelai initially goes along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life even though she doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but he asks her some more time. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and "literally" five minutes later sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is definitely over, so Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke somehow get back together, even after all this crap.

* Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to figure things out and get to know her properly since he didn't even know she was his daughter, but doesn't want April to get involved with Lorelai at all. Lorelai initially goes along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life even though she doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but he asks her some more time. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and "literally" five minutes later sleeps with Christopher, Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is definitely over, so Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke get back together, even after all this crap.

* Again in season 6, Lorelai asks Luke to put their engagement on hold because of her fall out with Rory and he agrees. Then, it is ''him'' who asks her the same thing when his long-lost daughter April shows up in order to figure things out and get to know her properly since he didn't even know she was his daughter, but doesn't want April to get involved with Lorelai at all. Lorelai initially goes along with it, but as time passes, she becomes increasingly frustrated by the situation as she feels excluded from Luke's life even though she doesn't talk to him about her feelings. At the end of the season, she grows tired and suddenly freaks out, giving him an ultimatum to get married "now or never", but he asks her some more time. Her answer? She calls off the engagement and "literally" five minutes later sleeps with Rory's dad. When Luke finds out, the relationship between him and Lorelai is definitely over, so Lorelai goes even further, deciding to rekindle her relationship with Christopher and soon even ends up married to him: it doesn't last, but at the end of season 7 she and Luke get back together, even after all this crap.

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': In season 6, Logan sleeps his way through his sister's briday party, with the excuse that he thought he and Rory were broken up, while she thought they were "on a break" (yes, the writers did the [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross-and-Rachel thing]] to their main couple ''unironically''). Rory is clearly upset -- and Jess conveniently shows up in her life and is still clearly interested in her, giving her a great opportunity. But no, she's talked into forgiving Logan and goes back to him. Even though he never took responsibility for cheating on her with multiple women. After a season, he leaves ''her'' because she's not ready to get married and move across the country right after graduating from college.

** Keitaro can longer take being physically abused and beaten up by his girlfriend Naru and the rest of the Hinata Inn girls. After he quits being the inn's manager and moves into an apartment owned by Motoko's uncle Shinsuke, the Hinata girls and his grandmother repeatedly try to beg, manipulate, and force him to come back. Keitaro makes it clear he absolutely will not, and breaks up with Naru because of her horrid personality. After Naru's half-assed and insulting pleads fail, she starts calling Keitaro a useless pervert who only wanted Naru for her body and left the inn just because she wouldn't give in to "his perverted desires." At which point Keitaro asks if all of that is true, and he is really as useless and perverted as she claims, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion then why does Naru want him back as the manager of the Hinata Inn]].

* In ''Fanfic/IReincarnatedAsAMinorVillainessAndSurvivedPastMyDeathScene'', Duo has read ''Endless Waltz'', a romance novel in which the Duke Heero Yuy was left heavily scarred by his late husband's relentless emotional abuse towards him. So when Duo finds himself transmigrating within said late husband's body, he offers Heero to banish him -- and is completely floored when the Duke immediately refuses, in spite of having being insulted, ignored, and openly cheated on for years.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'': While Olive Oyl can be flighty in the cartoons, in the newspaper comic, she's outright bipolar, dumping him on a literal whim, coming back to him at the end of the arc as if nothing happened, and making insane demands on Popeye in between. And Popeye never considers not taking Olive back. At one point when they get back together in one of the comics, he actually turns to the readers and comments, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry."

** Angel lost his soul and tried to kill Buffy and her friends. When he got his soul back, Buffy got back together with him immediately -- even tough Angel still risked losing his soul again. And even though he told her, to her face, that he wants to sleep with her and doesn't care if it ''does'' cost him his soul.

* ''Theatre/TheWintersTale'': King Leontes, from out of nowhere and with absolutely ''no'' evidence, suddenly becomes convinced that his faithful wife Hermione is cheating on him with his old friend King Polixenes. Dead set on believing the worst of his wife despite all the world around him telling he's dead wrong, Leontes' mad efforts to prove Hermione unfaithful lead to their son Mamillius ''deliberately starving himself to death out of heartbreak over his father's actions,'' their second child Perdita ''being abandoned to die in another country,'' and Hermione herself apparently dying from grief and shock over Mamillius' death. Finally, after his cruel foolishness costs him everything, Leontes belatedly realizes just how badly he's messed things up and is subsequently left alone to grieve over how much he's ruined his own, once-happy life. Yet years later, Hermione and Perdita are miraculously restored to him, and neither woman shows ''any'' hatred or bitterness toward the man who tried to destroy them. This is treated as a happy ending for all three of them--but while Perdita forgiving her father is more understandable, given that she was only a baby when he tried to kill her and therefore has no memory of the actual events, Hermione's attitude is much more baffling, especially given that they'll always have the death of Mamillius between them. Given all that he put her through, it makes one wonder why Hermione doesn't leave him for good.

* Haruto keeps taking back Yuzuki in ''Manga/ATownWhereYouLive''. She never tells him anything, takes on things that require him to go out of his way to save her, flat out lies to him, breaks up with him without a word, and after an argument over a misunderstanding on her part (again) she storms out of Haruto's house, blocks his number, leaving him to file a missing persons report with how he can't get in contact with her and no one has seen her. For some reason, he does everything he can to keep her.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Cathy}}'': Irving eventually returns to the comic after getting PutOnABus when he breaks off his and Cathy's quite on-off relationship. Following this, his and Cathy's relationship grows increasingly steady, and eventually they get married, and stay together until the end of the comic's run. Quite a few readers disliked this development, feeling that Irving had previously been too much of a passive-aggressive jerk towards Cathy to really justify a rekindling of their relationship.

** Keitaro can longer take being physically abused and beaten up by his girlfriend Naru and the rest of the Hinata Inn girls. After he quits being the inn's manager and moves into an apartment owned by Motoko's uncle Shinsuke, the Hinata girls and his grandmother repeatedly try to beg, manipulate, and force him to come back. Keitaro makes it clear he absolutely will not, and breaks up with Naru because of her horrid personality. After Naru's halfassed and insulting pleads fail, she starts calling Keitaro a useless pervert who only wanted Naru for her body and left the inn just because she wouldn't give in to "his perverted desires." At which point Keitaro asks if all of that is true, and he really as useless and perverted as she claims, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion then why does Naru want him back as the manager of the Hinata Inn]].

* In ''Fanfic/IReincarnatedAsAMinorVillainessAndSurvivedPastMyDeathScene'', Duo has read ''Endless Waltz'', a romance novel in which the Duke Heero Yuy was left heavily scarred by his late husband's relentless emotional abuse towards him. So when Duo finds himself transmigrating within said late husband's body, he offers Heero to banish him -- and is completely floored when the Duke immediately refuses, in spite of having being insulted, ignored and openly cheated on for years.

** Louis is desperate to sleep with Sharon, (who isn’t ready) that he lies about going to war and that they should do it before he leave. Sharon is rightfully angry once she found out about the plan, Louis almost committed sexual assault. While she later tells Louis that she still isn’t ready to sleep with him, she still stays with the guy.

* The end of ''Film/HighlanderEndgame'' has [[spoiler:Duncan reunite with his Immortal PsychoExGirlfriend, Kate, who was [[RememberTheNewGuy never seen or mentioned]] in the TV series, and whose existence directly contradicts a major plot point that Duncan was never married and never would marry]]. This was a woman who ''(a)'' [[spoiler:hated Duncan for activating her immortality against her wishes and tries to kill him repeatedly]], ''(b)'' [[spoiler:was actively helping the film's BigBad]], and ''(c)'' [[spoiler:would inevitably have to be fought to claim the Prize]]. But this only happens in the extended DVD version; in the theatrical release, [[spoiler:she's DeaderThanDead]].

** A lot of viewers felt that Elle and Noah's attempt at a LongDistanceRelationship just proved they were a toxic couple and would be better off apart; [[spoiler:Elle is both deeply [[ClingyJealousGirl insecure]] about Noah cheating on her ''and'' hypocritically unfaithful to him with Marco, while Noah doesn't confide in Elle about the problems he was having at Harvard and hides that he's hanging out with Chloe due to her jealousy, which makes her assume the worst]]. They repeatedly demonstrate they both lie to each other, fail to communicate and can't trust each other, on top of living thousands of miles apart, but [[spoiler:the end of the movie has them happily reconciled]].

* In ''Film/WallStreetMoneyNeverSleeps'', the protagonist is in a relationship with Gordon Gecko's estranged daughter Winnie. When he meets Gecko, she warns the protagonist about him and refuses to reconnect with her father. The protagonist then starts to see Gordon behind Winnie's back, and the pair plot to win her over. The protagonist then finds out that Winnie has a fortune on a foreign bank account and persuades her into giving ''all'' of it to his pet project. They're then double-crossed by Gordon, the truth is discovered, and Winnie promptly dumps the protagonist. So far so good, but here's the kicker: [[spoiler:the protagonist hunts down Gordon and literally trades access to his and Winnie's unborn child in return for him giving the money back -- money that Winnie doesn't care about]]. The movie ends with [[spoiler:Gordon hunting the crazy kids down and giving a speech asking Winnie to take the protagonist back. In that speech he also lets slip that he not only knows the child's gender, but that the protagonist is its father too, effectively telling Winnie that her ex betrayed not only her yet again, but their son as well]]. What happens next? [[spoiler:Happily ever after of course!]]

* ''Literature/ThreeHundredSixtyFiveDays'': Throughout ''The Next 365 Days'', [[spoiler:Massimo spends weeks ignoring Laura save to have sex with her while she's recovering from major surgery and a miscarriage. He then rapes her during an argument and threatens to rape her again the next day even after she told him how awful he made her feel, prompting her to literally run from the house. He then kills her dog and sends her the corpse out of spite. And that's without mentioning his mistreatment of her in the previous books, too (including kidnapping her). Despite all of this and Laura now being in a safe environment with Nacho – whom she openly acknowledges treats her far better than Massimo – Laura ''still'' chooses to return to Massimo one last time and try to fix their marriage. The reason she does so is because Massimo convinces her that Nacho killed her dog; despite Laura having only Massimo and his underling's word for this, Nacho having no reason to kill her dog ''and'' Massimo not being remotely trustworthy, she immediately believes Massimo. And even if Massimo ''didn't'' kill the dog, it still doesn't erase everything else he's done. She does end up leaving him for good in the end, but she still inexplicably takes him back mostly so the story can have a more dramatic conclusion]].
* In ''Literature/{{Crescendo}}'', it's mutual for Nora and Patch. On one hand, Patch is creepy, smug, has few issues with using his powers to MindRape Nora, and flat-out admitted in the previous book that he first knew of her because he decided to stalk her to kill her for his own benefit. Anyone would think Nora would be well-off to be rid of him, but she does nothing but whine and cry over how much she misses him. On the other hand, Nora goes straight into {{Yandere}} territory, screaming at Patch for so much as talking about another girl (a girl Nora has a bad history with, granted, but Patch is trying to discuss something serious), stalking ''him'' after breaking up with him, planning to have sex with a drunk friend to spite him, and stealing the diary of a girl she thinks Patch is dating, because clearly that's the best way to verify the information. Most people would see that behavior as a sign to get away as quickly as possible, but Patch seems to find it irritating at worst and ''amusing'' more often than not.

* ''Literature/SisterhoodSeries'' by Creator/FernMichaels: Played with in ''The Jury''. Karl and Paula Woodley may be married, but they ''loathe'' each other. Karl abused Paula and broke every bone in her body -- so the Vigilantes, upon finding this out, go to Karl's house and break every bone in ''his'' body. Despite the fact that Paula apparently had had it with his abuse, and despite the fact that the book even includes an AuthorFilibuster on DomesticAbuse, Paula goes back to Karl. ''Collateral Damage'' {{retcon}}s this by saying that Paula was pretty much forced to take him back by the U.S. government itself (he's best pals with the President), which makes the government look similarly abusive. Then Karl becomes wheelchair-bound and has to resign, and Paula ends up taking great pleasure tormenting him in retaliation for all the years he tormented her. What, [[ThereAreNoTherapists are there no therapists]]?

* A lot of people felt this about Twigbranch and Finleap in ''Literature/WarriorCats'', after Finleap pressured Twigbranch (who is still a very young warrior) into having children with him, threatening to leave the Clan if she refused, and acting cruelly to her when Twigbranch called him out on it.

** Todd and Meldel have a SlapSlapKiss dynamic that is exhausting. Todd always interrupts Meldel and talks down to her, while Meldel tells him off for being a condescending jerk. Zoe notes that if they were not in fandom, they would have broken up a long time ago. There's also the fact that [[spoiler:Todd makes an embarrassing video of Zoe that goes viral, without Zoe's consent and turning her into a fandom laughingstock. While it ends up saving the show they were watching, Zoe doesn't attend conventions with her friends for months, and when she gets the courage to attend one (her friend and parents make her go to help mend her broken heart) people sing the song in the video when they recognize her. That would have been grounds for Meldel to break up with Todd and make him pay consequences]]. Instead, she says his punishment is he'll be in her next book. Yeah.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Niles and Maris have it on a mutual level. When their marriage starts to fall apart, on several occasions Maris tries to win him back. Frasier and Martin remind Niles how poorly she treated him, but Niles is occasionally tempted. The only time he actually does get back together, though, she turns around and cheats on him with their marriage counselor. After that point, though, Niles never seriously considers getting back together with her, even though she keeps trying. [[JerkassHasAPoint The question on her end]], though, is why she'd take ''him'' back when he'd clearly been smitten with Daphne for years by this point. When they've almost finalized their divorce, Maris tries one more grand gesture to win Niles back, and Niles explicitly invokes this trope to her face. She responds by [[{{Yandere}} suing him for every cent he has]], and her lawyers invoke his pursuit of Daphne in the process; Niles only gets out of it through blackmail. Maris was never the most stable woman; there's a reason she's TheGhost, because the writers just couldn't do justice to a character ''this'' crazy.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' played this around [[WillTheyOrWontThey Ross and Rachel]] on both sides. Ross cheated on Rachel while insisting it wasn't cheating because they were"[[RunningGag on a break]]", [[NeverMyFault refuses to take responsibility for what he did and blames Rachel for "misleading" him.]] Rachel, meanwhile, [[ClingyJealousGirl gets insanely jealous whenever Ross is dating someone else]] [[RelationshipSabotage and repeatedly sabotages his relationships]]. Yet somehow the fans root for them to get back together, even if they only make each other miserable when they're together.

* Discussed in-universe in an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''. When Sophia ends up hospitalized with pneumonia, Stan of all people spends the night comforting and consoling Dorothy. Despite the fact Stan is due to get remarried soon, Dorothy's feelings for him are rekindled, and she plans to stop the wedding. Rose and Blance try everything they can think of to keep Dorothy from ruining Stan's happiness and humiliating herself, culminating in Blanche asking why Dorothy would even ''want'' Stan back after everything he's put her through.
--> '''Dorothy:''' And what about you? You think I'm terrible because I want my husband back?
--> '''Blanche:''' ''Ex-husband'', Dorothy. Ex-husband who left you, and didn't even have the courtesy to tell you he was leaving? Ex-husband who married somebody half your age just one week after the divorce? Ex-husband who's getting married again tomorrow? I don't know why you want that man, he's treated you like dirt! [[SkewedPriorities And even that I could overlook if he had a good body.]]

** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in Lily and Marshall's case. At the end of Season 1, Lily dumps Marshall shortly before their wedding and runs off to UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. Since the story is being told in {{Flashback}}, it's a ForegoneConclusion that they get back together. But over the course of the rest of the series -- and especially in Season 2 -- we see a lot of how Marshall ''didn't'' initially want to get back together with her and how Lily had to work herself back into Marshall and Ted's good graces. (It's also a RunningGag that Marshall's mother [[ObnoxiousInLaws never forgave her]].) It's best done in the ChristmasEpisode after they get back together, when Lily discovers an old message Ted sent Marshall during this period that spoke very poorly of her; Lily refuses to accept Ted's apology, only for Ted to turn around and call her out on abandoning not just Marshall, but all of their friends, too.

* ''Series/MrRobot'': In the third season, Angela gets to work making Stage 2 successful, and in the process she starts to blatantly abuse Elliot psychologically and work with Mr. Robot behind his back. Although she was being brainwashed by Whiterose, it doesn't excuse her poor treatment of Elliot and her denial of the care he needed. When he found out about her betrayal, she pretended not to know what he was talking about and pushed him away after she was done with him. But even though she never apologized to him, he still forgave her. Angela went on to accuse Elliot of manipulating her after seeing Leon in his apartment, even though [[{{Hypocrite}} she did the exact same thing to him]]. Whether Elliot forgave her for this is not clear.

** Rumple and Belle's relationship ran on this. While it seemed like a sweet and touching romance at first, Season 2B had Belle learning that Rumple murdered his first wife, Rumple exploiting Belle's personality rewrite into "Lacey" until it was no longer convenient for him to do so, and we learn in flashback of an incident where Rumple relentlessly tortured a man in Belle's presence and had made her clean his blood-soaked clothes in addition to treating her very poorly. When the two of them get married in Season 3B, Rumple's proposal came with giving Belle his Dark One dagger to signifiy that he trusts her with some control in the relationship only for that to turn out to be a fake dagger, as Rumple uses the real one to kill Zelena behind Belle's back, and from there continues to lie to Belle and even gaslight her at variois points in Season 4A until Belle finally learns the truth and banishes him from Stroybrooke using the real dagger. Rumple goes on to, in 4B, cyber-stalk Belle online, actually stalk her when he's back in Storybrooke, and have reality rewritten so that Belle is now his loving wife. Yet after all this, Belle takes a seemingly reformed and heroic Rumple back in Season 5A and they even have sex off-screen...[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome which is followed by us learning that Rumple has become the Dark One AGAIN and is decieving Belle AGAIN.]] Belle has to learn the truth from an unapologetic Rumple in 5B and then in Season 6, the relationship hits its lowest point, with Rumple acting like an abusive ex-boyfriend menacing Belle constantly because he wants to take possession of their child that she's pregnant with (Gideon), and he even threatens to use the shears of fate on her to sever the baby's connection to his mother, fully intent on stealing the baby away from Belle to raise on his own. Even when both of Gideon's parents become more united in hopes of saving him from a terrible fate in 6B, Rumple betrays Belle's trust one final time by siding with his evil mother, the Black Fairy, for the coming final battle behind her back. But by the end of the season and on into Season 7, it's as though none of that ever happened and we're asked to root for Rumple and Belle's Happily Ever After, something far too many fans found to be an impossible sell.

* Another Non-Romantic example is with Wrestling/CMPunk and the [[Wrestling/TheNexus New Nexus]]. On the ''Raw'' before Wrestling/WrestleMania 27, he buried them, saying that they were just pawns for him to use and to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness dispose once their usefulness ends]]. Two weeks later, the New Nexus is still under Punk's leadership.

* ''Theatre/TwoGentlemenOfVerona'' has Julia taking Proteus back at the end. This is after he completely forgets about her after meeting his best friend Valentine's girlfriend Silvia, causes Valentine to be banished by telling the Duke about their plan to elope, and ''[[MoralEventHorizon tries to rape Silvia]]''. Julia is present for all of this, disguised as a man. Overlaps with [[EasilyForgiven easily forgiven]], since not only does Valentine forgiven Proteus, he ''[[ValuesDissonance offers Silvia to him]]''.

* ''Theatre/TheWintersTale'': King Leontes, from out of nowhere and with absolutely ''no'' evidence, suddenly becomes convinced that his faithful wife Hermione is cheating on him with his old friend King Polixenes. Dead set on believing the worst of his wife despite all the world around him telling he's dead wrong, Leontes' mad efforts to prove Hermione unfaithful lead to their son Mamillius ''deliberately starving himself to death out of heartbreak over his father's actions,'' their second child Perdita ''being abandoned to die in another country,'' and Hermione herself apparently dying from grief and shock over Mamillius' death. Finally, after his cruel foolishness costs him everything, Leontes belatedly realizes just how badly he's messed things up and is subsequently left alone to grieve over how much he's ruined his own, once happy life. Yet years later, Hermione and Perdita are miraculously restored to him, and neither woman shows ''any'' hatred or bitterness toward the man who tried to destroy them. This is treated as a happy ending for all three of them--but while Perdita forgiving her father is more understandable, given that she was only a baby when he tried to kill her and therefore has no memory of the actual events, Hermione's attitude is much more baffling, especially given that they'll always have the death of Mamillius between them. Given all that he put her through, it makes one wonder why Hermione doesn't leave him for good.

* Late in the game, Katherine will break up with Vincent because he is cheating on her with the eponymous character ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}''. [[MultipleEndings In Katherine's Good and True endings]] the two ultimately get back together, even getting married in her True ending. The reason for ''why'' he is being taken back is that [[spoiler:since Catherine was a succubus and only an ''illusion'' in their world, Vincent ''didn't actually cheat'' on Katherine. He merely attempted to cheat on her]]. Possibly. It's unclear [[spoiler:how much control he has over his encounters with Catherine considering that he's always drunk and can never remember his encounters with her]] and the player can choose to send her messages that try to discourage her.

* In ''Webcomic/ErrantStory,'' Sarine aggressively resolves the UnresolvedSexualTension between her and Jon during a vulnerable moment. The next morning, she doesn't want to deal with the emotional fallout, so she uses magic to wipe his memory of it. When Jon figures it out later, he's utterly disgusted with her for the MindRape and leaves at the nearest opportunity. Circumstances force them to adventure together later, and they sort-of become VitriolicBestBuds throughout the rest of the story. [[spoiler:They have TheBigDamnKiss at the story's climax (appropriately lampshaded), and the epilogue reveals they stayed together until Jon's death and had a daughter.]]

* ''Webcomic/RipHaywire'': No matter how many times she double-crossed him, endangered him and/or tried to kill him, Rip would take Cobra Carson back every time. It took a wish-granting tiki idol showing him a bad future (Rip enslaved by Pirate Queen Cobra) and his destined love (not Cobra) to make him finally give up on her. And even then, he probably would've talked himself into trying again if not for new love interest Breezy (the one who showed him the idol). Though Rip is an adrenaline junkie who loved Cobra as much for the danger he was constantly around her as for Cobra, herself.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The biggest reason as to why the ending of "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]" is so reviled is that Meg rightfully calls out her family for how dysfunctional they are, yet decides to keep being their punching bag for the sake of letting them be anywhere ''close'' to functional, when she fully knows that they're a lost cause, which some reviewers (such as ''WebVideo/TheMysteriousMrEnter'') have accused of sending the moral that abuse victims should stay in abusive situations for their abusers' benefit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Hermes Conrad temporarily becomes a head in a jar after his body in an accident causing his wife to almost instantly return to her ex-husband Barbados Slim, claiming it is because their son "needs a daddy"; as though the still living Hermes no longer counts. Once he has a body again she takes him back, but following a second accident she jumps ship again, and even changes the son's surname to that of his stepfather. It isn't until he helps to defeat the Gold Death Stars that she takes him back, rather casually. Hermes would be entirely justified in telling her to take a hike. Even when their relationship improves in a few later episodes, it's implied she still cheats on him with Barbados.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Characters/{{Harley Quinn|TheCharacter}} to [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]]. She is head over her heels in love, goes mad, gives up her life as a psychiatrist for a life of crime all for her "Mr. J" and he can't take a few moments out of his day to "rev up his Harley". He abandons her, rats her out, abuses her, tries to kill her, and yet she always ends up by his side again sooner or later. However, she's actively called out on this by pretty much the whole rest of the cast, especially Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} and [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]], but is too far into MadLove to really understand why he's bad for her. Depictions set chronologically after the series in the DCAU do show that she ends up finally realizing how bad the relationship is after a stint in jail and permanently leaves the Joker as part of her attempt to go legit. Getting her life back in order after realizing the Joker was abusive to her is also the foundation of the character's AntiVillain[=/=]AntiHero depiction in the comics and other adaptations from the 2010s onwards.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Hermes Conrad temporarily becomes a head in a jar after his body in an accident causing his wife to almost instantly return to her ex-husband Barbados Slim, claiming it is because their son "needs a daddy"; as though the still living Hermes no longer counts. Once he has a body again she takes him back, but following a second accident she jumps ship again, and even changes the son's surname to that of his stepfather. It isn't until he helps to defeat the Gold Death Stars that she takes him back, rather casually. Hermes would be entirely justified in telling her to take a hike. Even when their relationship improves in a few later episodes, it's implied she still cheats on him with Barbados.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' gives us Oskar and Suzie Kokoshka. Suzie works hard, while [[{{Manchild}} Oskar]] is consistently unemployed, whiny, and only cares about himself. Many times, she has attempted to walk out on him, but she always comes back. In the GrandFinale, ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'', however, Suzie is nowhere to be seen, and Creator/CraigBartlett would later [[WordOfGod confirm in a Reddit AMA]] that Suzie had indeed divorced and left Oskar by that point.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The biggest reason as to why the ending of "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]" is so reviled is that Meg rightfully calls out her family for how dysfunctional they are, yet decides to keep being their punching bag for the sake of letting them be anywhere ''close'' to functional, when she fully knows that they're a lost cause, which some reviewers (such as ''WebVideo/TheMysteriousMrEnter'') have accused of sending the moral that abuse victims should stay in abusive situations for their abusers' benefit.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** Despite Duncan and Courtney having an extremely dysfunctional relationship in the second season, including physical violence towards each other ([[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale mostly from Courtney]]), they end up back together by the start of the third, much to the dismay of many fans (especially those who [[ShipToShipCombat shipped Duncan/Gwen]]). The third season had Duncan [[spoiler:cheat on Courtney with Gwen]], and Duncan and Courtney's dysfunctional relationship contributed to the huge BrokenBase over who was sympathetic in that situation.
** The 2023 reboot has this as an IntendedAudienceReaction with [[spoiler:Chase and Emma. Before the show, Emma dumped Chase because he ''cut the brakes to her car'' as a PrankGoneTooFar and is totally unwilling to apologize, instead just expecting her to come back to him. After the merge, they end up in a life-threatening situation and Emma believes Chase apologized for his behavior, quickly shifting back in love with him despite no other indication that he'd changed. However, when she learns he wasn't even apologizing for that, she gets mad at him again. But by his elimination episode, Emma believes he gave up the challenge for her and takes him back... except he was only motivated by the pizza Chris and Chef used to tempt him off the poles. She mentions they had "good times" together, but there's no indication Chase is anything but a narcissistic jerk who can't see when he's wrong and feels entitled to Emma. Every other character thinks that Emma taking Chase back is a terrible decision, even her best friend Bowie (which ruins their friendship), [[EvenEvilHasStandards Julia]] and ''Chris''.]]

** Where this trope shines the most is in the episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E15CoDependentsDay Co-Dependent's Day]]. Homer drives drunk, crashes the car, them frames Marge for it (and this was after he got her drunk in the first place). Even ''Moe'', who has gotten multiple people hooked on booze so they keep coming back to him, [[EveryoneHasStandards is mortified]] at this. Marge is ''beyond livid'' when she finds this out, and it looks as if Homer's finally crossed an unforgivable line that will make Marge divorce him. Despite everything, she doesn't (even after Homer lied to her ''again'' later in the episode), because she can't live without him. Even the counsellor points out that Homer's behavior is detrimental and Marge is living in complete denial, yet they still make up at the end of the episode.