Just as television idealizes various jobs, living situations, and eras of history, it often depicts romantic and sexual encounters as magical moments where nothing can possibly go wrong. Everyone looks good from every angle. No one ever interrupts heartfelt proposals. Neighbors are never ruining the mood by blasting show tunes at full volume. Real life, as we know, is rarely so perfect. Love (and all that goes with it) is, in fact, one of the messiest parts of life.
But today, we're not interested in impossibly perfect depictions of grand, romantic gestures and midnight encounters. We're taking a look at the moments when television didn't make things sexy and heartfelt, only really, really awkward. As awkward as your worst date, first time, and your high school prom. Some of these love scenes are uncomfortable on purpose. Some of them are utterly in earnest. All of them are horrifically, unforgettably awkward. Brace yourself and read on.
Jaime and Cersei Lannister -- Game of Thrones
To the uninitiated, Jaime and Cersei don't appear to be a strange pairing at all. Nothing wrong with a married couple getting physical with one another, right? What's that you say? They aren't married? Well, why do they have the same last name?
For the five of you out there who have never watched Game of Thrones, Jaime and Cersei are brother and sister. Twin brother and sister. And they have sex on Game of Thrones a lot. Like, a lot. The very first episode ends with them getting discovered in flagrante delicto by Bran Stark (who is maybe seven, at the time), who Jaime immediately pushes out a window. What about Cersei's three kids with Robert Baratheon, you might ask? Nope, they're all Jaime's kids — a fact that Ned Stark discovers and threatens to expose. It's no coincidence he ends up beheaded.
Basically, the forbidden love between these two starts the ball rolling for all the terrible stuff that happens in Westeros. Just keep it in your pants, you two.
Pretty much every scene in the episode "Noretta" -- How I Met Your Mother
For as straight as it typically plays most sitcom tropes, How I Met Your Mother takes some really deep dives into absurdity and subversion. Few episodes showcase this attitude as well as the season seven episode "Noretta." Even though the awkward scenes are in the characters' heads, it doesn't make things any less bizarre.
The premise of the episode is that everyone starts to realize how much their partners remind them of their parents. This leads to a long series of cringe-inducing scenes in which characters get involved in various stages of intimacy with their parents. Nothing like simulated incest on a prime-time sitcom!
The whole episode serves as a way to cram older actors into strange clothing and have actor Jason Segel almost kiss actor Bill Fagerbakke. The imaginary parent swaps are well done, and you do genuinely laugh when each character realizes how much their partner acts like their parent. It's a classic sitcom setup executed to perfection: Sort of the MO for How I Met Your Mother as a whole. But that doesn't mean we'll be revisiting "Noretta" any time soon.
The virginity stories -- New Girl
Losing one's virginity is a mythologized moment — just think of all the movies built around a quest to have sex for the first time. For many of us, however, the first time is awkward, anxiety-plagued, and far from the magical experience that it is "meant" to be. A big reason the season two episode of New Girl, "Virgins," works so well is because it acknowledges the awkward reality of most first times to cringe-inducing effect.
Each character in the episode tries to one-up each other with their personal tales of of how they lost their virginity. There's an awkward after-prom date. Mick Jagger is involved in one. There's a gigantic tub of lubricant. And, because of our characters' ages, there is a whole lot of sexy 90s music, a la "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men.
It's a really strong episode, successful because it reminds us of how awkward people can be when their brain chemistry is thrown askew by sexual desire. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got some Lisa Loeb to listen to.