Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: An infatuated couple embarks on a weekend getaway, their first vacation as a couple. Everything’s going well — there’s plenty of flirtation, a sensual dip in a lake, and even some kinky lovemaking after dinner — until our romantic hero reveals that he doesn’t see himself in a couple at all. His scorned not-girlfriend resolves to desperate measures, keeping him chained to the bedpost until he walks back every hurtful, dismissive word and agrees to date her, for real this time.
Yes, that’s a lot like the plot of Stephen King’s Misery, but with the dating scene as we know it burning to a crisp before our eyes, it could, one day, be the kind of story one of your desperate girlfriends tells after the umpteenth date gone wrong. We’re all one bad day, one maddening situationship, away from a total psychotic break. We might not hold said situationship hostage until they rethink their stance on relationships — but would it really be so bad if we did? Would it be so unjustified?
