The Most Long-Awaited Kisses In TV History
First kisses are always exciting and special, but they can seem so much more suspenseful and breath-taking when shared between TV couples who are meant to be together. Especially those who take extra long to realize it, don't you think? While these sweet (or passionate) first kisses are sometimes the start of a beautiful relationship, other times, they are acts of betrayal that change the course of a character's life or a show's plotline completely. Either way, they are often spectacular.
In real life, first kisses rarely happen with the perfect lighting, the perfect soundtrack playing in the background, and the most romantic location possible. Also, they very rarely involve the build-up of several years' worth of suspense. In this light, it is totally normal to live vicariously through the first kisses of your favorites TV couples and the serendipitous plotlines that paved the way for them to embrace destiny and lock lips at last.
Ross and Rachel from Friends took their sweet time to kiss
As far as long-awaited TV kisses go, Ross and Rachel from Friends likely take the cake for the most inevitable kiss, though the characters took their sweet time making it happen. The origin of their story is a tale as old as time. Geeky high school boy sees popular high school girl and falls in love, but girl is too preoccupied with other boys to notice. Thankfully, Ross and Rachel had a second chance at love when Rachel re-entered Ross' life after her runaway bride ordeal.
Though their chemistry was undeniable, their dating lives did not align for a long time. As noted by People, they did not have their first kiss until well into Season 2. The moment we were all waiting for from the beginning finally happened on the episode "The One Where Ross Finds Out." During the episode, Rachel drunk-dialed Ross (using her date's phone) to leave a voicemail saying she is finally over him, and then she proceeded to forget about the incident until later. Despite her best efforts, Ross heard the voicemail. By the end of the episode, they shared their first kiss at Central Perk.
Lorelai and Luke from Gilmore Girls were in no hurry for their first kiss
Given the fact that the very first scene of Gilmore Girls featured chemistry-filled banter between Lorelai and Luke, it was surprising they took so long to kiss and become a couple (for the first time). Bustle reported that they didn't actually kiss till the end of the Season 4 finale — talk about a cliffhanger!
It seemed baseball cap-wearing Luke was smitten with Lorelai from the beginning, whether he was prepared to admit it to himself (and the nosy townspeople of quaint Stars Hollow) or not. He was always there when she needed him, and he was her shoulder to cry on whenever she was down. Lorelai, however, took a little longer to get there. She dated multiple men and was even briefly engaged to Rory's English teacher before she finally realized grumpy old Luke was the perfect guy for her. During the Season 4 finale, during which the Dragonfly Inn held a practice weekend prior to opening, it finally happened. Despite Lorelai's ex Jason showing up and misleading Luke by saying they were back together, the pair ended up sharing a romantic kiss.
Blaine and Kurt's first kiss on Glee was so sweet
Blaine and Kurt's kiss might go down in history as one of the memorable kisses shared between two teen TV characters.
Kurt first met Blaine at the beginning of Season 2 of Glee, in an episode aptly named "Never Been Kissed," when he visited Dalton Academy and watched The Warblers perform a fantastic rendition of "Teenage Dream." Kurt and Blaine clicked immediately as Blaine encouraged Kurt to stand up for himself against a school bully. Kurt eventually transferred to Dalton Academy, where he felt he would be better accepted, and he confessed his true feelings towards Blaine not too long after.
Though Kurt's feelings were unrequited at first, something happened in Episode 16, titled "Original Song," that changed Blaine's mind. According to Entertainment Weekly, Kurt sang "Blackbird," which moved Blaine and made him realize Kurt was the guy for him. Later in the episode, Blaine said, "Kurt, there is a moment when you say to yourself, 'Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you forever,'" and they kissed.
Emma and Hook's first kiss on Once Upon A Time was a long time coming
While we would have a hard time considering Captain Hook from the children's book Peter Pan romantically suitable for anyone, sparks flew between his TV counterpart Hook and the courageous Emma on Once Upon a Time from the minute they met, whether they wanted to admit it or not.
Despite their less than positive first impression (you know, when Emma tied Hook to a tree), they had several sweet moments throughout the series, as noted by PopSugar. They finally locked lips to the delight of eager Once Upon A Time viewers in Episode 5 of Season 3. ABC described that during their adventure through the Enchanted Forest in search for Neal, Emma came to believe that Hook saved Prince Charming's life, not realizing Charming didn't exactly tell her the whole story. After Emma, Charming, and Regina toasted to Hook (via Entertainment Weekly), Regina and Charming left, leaving Hook and Emma alone. After a little coaxing, Emma leaned in to share a pretty hot first kiss with Once Upon A Time's resident bad boy.
Mindy and Danny from The Mindy Project had their first kiss in an unusual location
Mindy and Danny started out as frenemies on The Mindy Project, but they always seemed to care for each other deeply despite their competitiveness. Their friendship stabilized as the show progressed, but the underlying chemistry was always there – though they never really seemed to realize. As noted by Bustle, their relationship took a turn during the Season 2 mid-season finale (Episode 14, to be exact), finally ending the will-they, won't-they conundrum haunting viewers of the show.
Here's how it happened. After spending some time in Los Angeles, Mindy Kaling's character had planned to get back together with her then-boyfriend Cliff when she and Danny got home from their conference. However, Danny deceived her into joining him to pay his estranged dad a visit. On the way back after the visit, the duo experienced some turbulence on the flight. Startled, Danny ran to the back of the plane to meet Mindy and ended up confessing his feeling to her. There, they locked their lips in what might be one of the most exciting on-screen airplane kisses ever.
Jess and Nick from New Girl were housemates when they shared their first kiss
Though Jess and Nick clicked pretty much right away when Jess moved into the loft shared by the male lead characters of New Girl, the pair really took their time to share their first kiss. When it happened though — wow!
Here's how it happened, as recounted by HuffPost. The gang started a game of True American after Jess freaked out over a mysterious scratching sound. Eventually it was time for Nick and Jess, who were in various stages of undress, to kiss away from the others as part of the drinking game's rules. The pair tried to, but they just couldn't go through with it. At one point, Nick exclaimed, "No, not like this!" to a confused Jess, and climbed out the window to escape the awkward situation. Later that night, the scratching sound was heard by both Jess and Nick, who investigated and found out it was just the neighbor's dog. The pair had a bit of a late night chat after that, and, as Jess turned to go back to her room for the night, Nick pulled her close, kissed her passionately, and then said, "I meant something like that."
Donna and Harvey from Suits had a long history before their first on-screen kiss
Though it was insinuated that Donna and Harvey spent a night together years before the Suits timeline began, we didn't get to see the pair lock lips on TV in real time until the Season 7 midseason finale, according to Entertainment Weekly.
In the episode aptly named "Donna," Louis took the opportunity to apologize to Donna for asking personal questions about her and Harvey's history during a mock trial. He shared his feelings about his ex and told Donna he regretted that he never shared his true feelings. This conversation seemed to trigger something in Donna because she did something very uncharacteristic soon afterwards. Though she is usually a model of professionalism around Harvey, she decided to break down the walls between them. When Harvey came to her office to discuss his meeting with Jessica, she leaned over and kissed him. "I'm sorry, Harvey. I just had to know," she said after, in response to Harvey's shocked expression.
Sadly, the repercussions of the kiss led to a lot of strife for everyone involved.
Rachel and Mike from Suits did not surprise anyone when they finally kissed
Longtime fans of Suits will remember the show's main couple Mike and Rachel had their fair share of ups and downs before they finally got together for good, got married, and moved away to chase their dreams. Though they had many memorable scenes together, the scene in which they kissed for the first time was probably one of the most iconic.
Their first kiss was kind of inevitable, especially considering one of the first things Mike said to Rachel was "Wow you're pretty," according to USA Network. Though the pair proceeded to flirt and engage in banter throughout Season 1, Rachel picked up that there was something Mike wasn't telling her— not realizing that the "something" in question was the lack of a law degree. The wall Mike put up because of his lack of real qualifications drove a wedge between them until Mike started dating Jenny. A drunken night out led to Rachel leaving Mike a message, as shared by Metro. Mike definitely got the message because they shared a sweet kiss for the first time the next day.
We waited so long for this How I Met Your Mother kiss
Boy, did How I Met Your Mother take its sweet time to give viewers the pleasure of finding out who the mother of Ted's children really was. Though clues about the Mother were revealed to viewers throughout the series, we didn't actually find out who she was until the last season.
Spoiler alert! As reported by TVLine, Ted met Tracy — the Mother — at Robin and Barney's wedding, where she was a member of the wedding band. Three days after the wedding, Ted took Tracy to an ill-chosen Scottish-Mexican fusion restaurant on their first date. Tracy suggested finding a different place, and the pair began to walk. Suddenly, Tracy spotted her ex and revealed to Ted that she had turned down his proposal the day before she performed at the wedding. Realizing she was not ready to start anything new, they began to walk back to her apartment. Ted looked crushed as he walked away, but then she called out to him and they (finally!) kissed!
Jake and Amy's first kiss on Brooklyn Nine-Nine was so special
Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago started out as rivals at work (remember their running scoring system?), but their rivalry blossomed first into a friendship, a sweet romance, and then a beautiful relationship throughout the series.
As shared by ScreenRant, though the pair eventually came to the realization that they had undeniable feelings for each other, Jake was the first to admit the truth to himself. By the Season 2 finale, however, they were contemplating a relationship but were acting cautiously because they were colleagues first and foremost. Then the entire team was put through an emotional rollercoaster when their beloved Captain Holt had to leave the precinct quite suddenly. This provided the perfect backdrop for the couple to put their professional rivalry and banter aside, and cement their relationship. The pair shared a beautiful kiss, and began dating for real soon after.
Ben and Leslie from Parks and Recreation had great chemistry even before their first kiss
Though Ben and Leslie shared sizzling chemistry from their first episode together, they took quite some time to share a kiss — mostly for professional reasons. They certainly provided viewers with plenty of comedic relief in the lead up, though!
By Episode 14 of Season 3, Ben and Leslie were struggling to keep their flirtation at bay. According to Paste magazine, it was clear they wanted to start a relationship. However, they held back because of Chris Traeger's devastating rule that "a government superior and their subordinate could not be romantically involved." Knowing they would not be able to help themselves if they were together constantly, the pair decided to stay away from each other as much as possible. Their plan just wasn't meant to be though because Chris sent them on a road trip to Indianapolis together. The pair overcame many obstacles during the trip before finally giving in to what they knew was undeniable. The first kiss they shared during that episode was just the beginning of a wonderful relationship.
Will and Mac's first onscreen kiss on The Newsroom was prompted by this
The first few episodes of The Newsroom revealed that Will and Mac shared a long and complicated history together, so it's no surprised the show made viewers wait two whole seasons to see these two beloved characters kiss on screen for the first time.
Here's how the Season 2 finale's first kiss between them happened. Mac started the episode furious at Will, after finding out the ring he had shown her, which was supposedly the ring he was going to propose with years ago, was in fact just a practical joke. According to E! News, she was heartbroken because she had never intentionally hurt Will. The team had to deal with some professional obstacles during the episode as well, so emotions were running high.
Will then surprised everyone when he proposed to Mac at the end of the episode, using the ring he claimed to have bought as a joke. "I'm in love with you. I think you should say yes...I'm going to be in love with you for the rest of my life...You own me," Will said to Mac, before they kissed onscreen for the first time.
Ben and Devi's first kiss on Never Have I Ever was like a teenage dream
Isn't it funny how teenage girls can be fixated on the wrong guy, even when the right one is right there in front of them. That's certainly what happened to Devi in Never Have I Ever. Luckily, she realized the error of her ways, and she snuck in a great first kiss with her former nemesis Ben during the last episode of Season 1.
As explained by ScreenRant, this coming-of-age TV show based on Mindy Kaling's upbringing started with high school sophomore Devi fixated on her quest to find a boyfriend and her crush on Paxton Hall-Yoshida, all the while dealing with the grief of losing her father. Devi made several awkward blunders, and she finally realized Paxton was not the guy for her. Meanwhile, she began to see Ben as more of a true friend. Ben and Devi got closer and closer, and Ben even went out of his way to get help her get to the scattering of her dad's ashes just in time. The truth about how she felt then dawned on Devi, and the pair shared a great first kiss in Ben's car.
Joey and Pacey's first kiss on Dawson's Creek broke a few hearts
Though Dawson's Creek's lead character Dawson preferred to focus his attention on newcomer/girl next door Jen, it was pretty clear that he and best friend Joey had feelings for each other too. Joey spent the first two seasons trying to move on and find herself a new beau. In Season 3, Joey began to date Pacey, to the dismay of Dawson. As noted by Vulture, this led to the scene from which the hilarious "crying Dawson" meme was extracted.
Pacey and Joey's first kiss happened when Joey least expected it in Episode 17, after a huge argument between the pair. Though sweet, it was an impulsive kiss at its very core and it led to quite a fallout. Dawson, Joey, and Pacey's relationships took quite a hit because of that one little kiss, and the plotlines that followed made the show all the more addictive.