Basic Trope: One character is loveless among happy couples.
- Straight: Alice and Bob, Claire and Danny, Ethan and Faye, and Gabriel and Hazel all end up together, leaving the Tagalong Kid Irene alone.
- Exaggerated: Not just them, we have Jett and Katherine, Luke and Mae, Norman and Olive, Preston and Quentin, Roderick and Sandy and Tobias, Ursula and Vincent, Wanda and Xavier, and Yolanda and Zachary, yeah, everyone Irene knows except for herself is in a relationship.
- Downplayed:
- Of the team, only Faye is alone, but she doesn't mind at all.
- Roderick and Sandy take Irene along with them on their movie date, so she's not technically alone.
- Justified:
- Irene is Just a Kid and by a wide margin The Baby of the Bunch.
- Other guys are not attracted to Irene.
- Inverted: Irene gets together with Japanese Delinquent Ryuichi, but just about nobody else ends up in a relationship.
- Subverted:
- It looks like Irene is going to be alone, but then Ryuichi sits down next to her, sighing that he couldn't find a date.
- Hazel expresses concern about Irene being alone, but her date was just caught in traffic.
- Double Subverted:
- Ryuichi is soon dragged away by his two cousins, Hikari and Flash, for some family party.
- Irene decides that she shouldn't go through the troubles of dating.
- Irene was lying about this out of embarrassment. She doesn't have a date.
- Parodied: Brother–Sister Team Yolanda and Zachary plan a date right in front of Irene, sitting alone, weirded out by them romantically kissing and constantly calling each other cute names.
- Zig Zagged: Before their date, Luke and Mae get into a fight and break up. Mae then decides to spend some time with a lonely Irene. While they're out shopping, Luke decides to say he's sorry for the fight and they get back together and go out on their date. It looks like Irene's going to be alone again, but Mae and Luke decide to take her along with them.
- Averted: Irene finds herself a date; Ryuichi's all alone himself. Looks like they'll enjoy themselves in the company of each others' loneliness.
- Enforced:
- There's literally nobody that the creators of Date Night In Trope Town could pair with Irene.
- The actor for Irene's Love Interest Ryuichi wasn't available, and that couple is too popular to pair her with anybody else.
- Irene was planned to come out as lesbian and date Jessica. But this was vetoed by the censors, so the writers have Irene stay single so she's not explicitly straight.
- Lampshaded: "Guess I'm the only one alone tonight. Oh well."
- Invoked:
- The older characters tell Irene "Not Now, Kiddo" and go off on dates without her.
- Irene actually likes being single so she tends to avoid seeking a relationship like her friends are.
- Exploited: Xavier uses Irene's loneliness to flirt with her. But of course, he keeps reminding her that Wanda always exists.
- Defied:
- Irene goes searching for love, sad that she couldn't find a date in her friend group, but resolute to try and get out of it just to find anyone who she can date. Eventually, she meets a boy her age; A thug named Ryuichi, a Foreign Exchange Student from Osaka. The two bond over a Commonality Connection, that being that they're both Alone Among the Couples, as Ryuichi's jerkish and abrasive attitude was developed by this because of the fact that everyone he knows, such as his two cousins Hikari and Flash both having their own relationships, Flash's relationship with Ace and Hikari's relationship with Kyoko in particular, and eventually, the two become an item. Irene and Ryuichi may not be Birds of a Feather, but they sure as hell are willing to flock together.
- Alice tells Irene the party is a couple thing and she probably wouldn't feel comfortable there.
- Discussed: "I'm so sorry for poor Irene, Bob." — "What do you mean, Alice? Why?" — "She's the only one in our gang that doesn't have a boyfriend. She didn't even want to go to the movies with us."
- Conversed: "Man, poor little Irene! I really don't like those lonely characters in fiction. I feel their pain too much. Reminds me that I'm perpetually single as well."
- Implied: Alice is engaged to Bob, Claire and Danny are in love, Ethan starts dating Faye, and Gabriel and Hazel keep flirting with each other. Only Irene is without romantic prospects, yet she appears as happy and cheerful as ever. She's suspected to be unhappy and lonely.
- Deconstructed: Ethan and Faye come home from their date to find Irene crying in her room.
- Reconstructed:
- Irene decides she's a little too young for a boyfriend and becomes okay with her status as the only single girl.
- Irene accepts herself. She's single, and that's okay, for this is who she is.
- Played For Laughs: Irene constantly ending up alone becomes a Running Gag.
- Played For Drama:
- The couples make Irene feel uncomfortable and left out and she eventually quits the team.
- Irene's loneliness eventually leads to her Face–Heel Turn, and she vows to sabotage everyone's relationship as she quits the team.
Back to Alone Among the Couples. Still table for one, huh? At least you could get away from all the noise...
