My Good place: Soulmates are made, not found

It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest romance stories in television history came from a 2016 sitcom rather than the many romance dramas released in recent years. Ten years later, The Good Place still stands the test of time through Eleanor and Chidi’s love story- a beautiful embodiment of love expressed through selfless actions.

Early in the series, it’s clear Eleanor does not belong in the Good Place. Struggling with her selfish nature, her fake soulmate, Chidi, helps her become kinder out of fear of her expulsion. This all comes to a head when their “good person” lessons take a toll on Chidi, and Eleanor finally puts his needs first, organising a whole day for him to eat his favourite food and read poetry on a lake to please his Kantian ‘nerdisms’. In that moment, every aspect of her gesture centred him and reflected that Eleanor was finally stepping outside of herself, showing genuine care for him.

The following season, after hundreds of reboots of forgetting and meeting each other over and over again, Eleanor asks Michael if there was ever a reboot in which Chidi did not help her. She learns that in every reboot, Chidi always chose to help every version of her, no matter how Michael set it up: they always found each other and helped one another. Chidi and Eleanor’s relationship prove that connection persists beyond circumstances.

By the end of the series, it is revealed that soulmates don’t exist, but every gesture and every act of selflessness between these two disproves that fact. They knew each other inside and out, and it’s written all over the way they love each other – the kind of love that will last a Jeremy Bearimy.

Words by Inez Lanueva

More Than Office Romance: The Quiet Intimacy of Jim and Pam

Pam and Jim from The Office are the slowest and most realistic slow burn I’ve ever watched. With them, we see all the love languages expressed at some point.

Words of affirmation: Jim always encouraged Pam to be an artist.

Physical touch: Pam sleeping on Jim’s shoulders instantly makes his day good.

Acts of service: getting Michael to change Pam’s Dundee award.

Gift giving: the teal teapot filled with inside jokes.

Yet, I believe the foundation of their relationship is quality time.

Although they start only as work buddies, their relationship doesn’t only bloom due to forced proximity. There’s a difference between the relationship that Jim and Pam have compared to Jim and Angela or Pam and Andy. The time they spend together is the core of their relationship and is always emphasised a lot. 

For example, when Jim sits at the annexe for a day, and Pam leaves him voice notes, or when Jim leaves for Stamford, or when Pam went to New York, although they never admit it, they feel like a part of them was missing. From the beginning, we clearly see how much they deeply care for each other, with that causing chemistry to build up.

An episode I like a lot is when Pam jinxes Jim while the vending machine is sold out of Coke. He has to remain silent for the majority of the workday, and the tension between them builds up, while Jim only communicates with his facial expressions. Although a word wasn’t said, his eyes spoke volumes. 

Their romantic feelings for each other were always subtle. It was always the little things, the inside jokes, the pranks, the morning talks, every second they spent near each other, talking or not, is what made their relationship so strong.

Words by Sofia Simaan

Love in Quiet Gestures in Sentimental Value and Phantom Thread

​​Love in films often appears in the smallest moments. It is not always spoken. Sometimes it shows itself in the quiet ways people care for one another, especially through acts of service.

One of my favourite films of 2025, Sentimental Value shows how love, especially from a sister, can be a place of safety. The line, ‘I had you. I know you think you’re incapable of caring, but you were there for me. You washed my hair, got me to school, I felt safe,’ captures how love can grow in the middle of chaos. While their parents argued, fought and eventually separated, one sister stepped in to hold the world together for the other. She brushed her hair, helped her get ready for school and stayed close during nights when the house felt too loud and fragile. These small gestures became a shield, a soft reminder that even in a broken home, love could still be steady. They were simple acts that one sister did to make the other feel less alone.

Phantom Thread shows a very different kind of relationship, one that is intense and sometimes unhealthy, yet still shaped by acts of service. Alma cooks for Reynolds not only to please him but to carve out a place for herself in his controlled world. She purposefully ‘poisons’ him to care for him. Reynolds, who rarely lets anyone close, accepts her care in moments when he is vulnerable. Their love is complicated, but it is expressed through tending and feeding, even when their bond becomes difficult.

Words by Ryan Greenhall

Featured image courtesy of Everton Villa via Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence found here.