Basic Trope: A romance between a single parent and someone hired to care for the kids or house.
- Straight: Single father James falls in love with the governess, Mary, after noticing how much his kids love her.
- Exaggerated: James has fallen in love with the governess, and the nanny, and the maid, and the housekeeper...
- Downplayed: There's some attraction between James and Mary but it doesn't go anywhere.
- Justified: James wants a Good Stepmother, and notices Mary's caring and kindness specifically.
- Inverted: Although they both love the children, James and Mary hate each other.
- Subverted: Mary thinks it's weird to enter into a relationship with her boss, and breaks up with James.
- Double Subverted: They meet again years after Mary has left James's employ, and the chemistry is as strong as ever.
- Parodied:
- Junior grows up and marries his childhood nanny.
- Junior grows up and reconnects with his childhood nanny. He meets her daughter, who also works as a nanny, and marries her.
- James' wife has been secretly unhappy in their marriage for years, and it's the children's nanny who finally gives her the courage to leave her husband. Surprise— she marries Mary!
- Zig-Zagged: Sometimes it seems like James is attracted to Mary, other times it doesn't.
- Averted: James is not a single father; Mary is not a governess. They fall in love.
- Enforced: The producers want to clean up romantic loose ends, so they tell the writers to add a subplot where the father falls in love.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Knowing that single dads love it when women are good with their kids, Mary, who plans to seduce James, gets herself hired as his children's governess.
- Defied: Mary shuts down the chemistry between her and James, because even though she has read the books and knows where this is going, she would prefer to focus on her job.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: The Unequal Pairing nature of the couple is explored. Mary always feels like she is lesser to James because he used to employ her; the knowledge that James was involved with his children's governess creates a scandal.
- Played for Horror: James is a Serial Killer who preys on his young and beautiful employees.
Back to Marry the Nanny.
