The friends-turned-enemies trope is common in action movies and (especially) in romantic comedies, but when it happens in a TV show, it’s much more satisfying. You usually get to witness the changing relationship over the course of one or several seasons, and the end result (the friendship) seems much deeper and much more meaningful. Here are 10 enemies that have become friends in TV shows.
BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter
Calling BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter enemies might seem like a bit of a stretch, but there is a definitive rivalry between them. They both stared in suspiciously similar TV shows about families, and their personalities couldn’t be any further apart. BoJack is a self-hating pessimist and Mr. Peanutbutter is a chipper, optimistic dog that is absolutely in love with himself. And yet, over the course of the show’s 5 seasons they have managed to develop something akin to a friendship. In a way, it shows that opposites attract.
Jane & Petra
Jane the Virgin is arguably the most underrated TV show on air right now. The premise seems silly, but the end result is hilarious and engaging. And it can’t be denied that one of the show’s most appealing elements is the relationship between Jane and Petra, who started off as enemies because of a medical mishap, but ended up being close friends and partners.
Crowley & Dean
I am very much a sucker for the montages of Crowley and Dean bantering and arguing with each other. And it’s always a pleasure to see how they turn from enemies to friends in those montages. They go from disrespecting each other and being very antagonistic to becoming (almost) best friends!
Buffy & Spike
Is it cheating if the reason enemies become friends is because one of them has a chip inserted into them that prevents them from being violent? Because that’s the case with Spike and Buffy. Over the course of the TV show’s runtime, we saw Spike turn from someone who wanted to kill Buffy, to someone who is obsessed and in love with Buffy. In the later seasons their relationship even developed a more… risqué side to it. All that being said, there’s no chance this story would fly in a romantic comedy.
Joan & Peggy
Like BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter, Joan and Peggy weren’t so much “enemies” as they were just very different from each other. Each character chose a different way to make it in the sexist environment of a male-dominated advertising agency, and each of them ended up happy with their chosen path. However, any time their paths would cross, it was an extremely interesting experience of watching them come to terms with the fact that each of them behaves so differently.
In a parallel universe I would love to see a spin-off show where Joan and Peggy actually do open up their own creative agency.
Rory & Paris
This is, by far, my favorite “enemies to friends” story on the list. Rory Gilmore and Paris Geller were rivals. They were, at certain points of the show, die hard enemies. They hated each other. But they also loved each other in equal measure. The competition between them encouraged them both to become better versions of themselves. Rory learned to take her life seriously from Paris. Paris, on the other hand, learned to be more forgiving of people and more open to new experiences. They’re an amazing duo!
Jim & Dwight
I’ll be honest, I’m much more interested in the parts of The Office where Jim is disrespectful of Dwight and constantly pulling pranks on him. However, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t cry during the final montage of the final season, when the changing relationship between Jim and Dwight was shown.
Amy & Ben
You know, if a dial tone accountant came in and started saying that I need to kill the funding for a parks and recreation budget of my beloved town – I’d hate him too! But seeing Amy and Ben go from professional enemies to a political power-couple was extremely satisfying!
Eve & Villanelle
Talk about a tumultuous relationship! An obsessive detective going after a psychopathic hit woman! What could possibly go right?! And yet, over the course of the show’s two seasons (and soon a third!) we see them go from enemies, to becoming curious about each other, to becoming partners, to becoming as close to “friends” as you can become with a serial killer.
Aang & Zuko
I’ve saved the best for last. It took Aang and Zuko a whole three seasons to become friends! At the start of the show Zuko felt that the only way for him to “redeem himself” would be to destroy the last Airbender. And yet, by season three they became friends and started to work together, as Aang became more friendly towards Zuko and Zuko realized that he doesn’t have to redeem himself.
