7 Romance Shows Where Every Episode Is a Masterpiece

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Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in Heated Rivalry

Published Aug 24, 2026, 7:14 PM EDT

Jennie Richardson is a TV Features and Lists Writer for Collider, and a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Fiction Writing. In other words, she really loves stories.

For romance fans, there's nothing quite like a great romance TV show. The best romance shows focus either the entire series, or each season, on a central romance. The show is, at its heart, a love story about these two main characters coming together despite outside obstacles. Sometimes, this includes outside love interests, with one of the main characters getting stuck in the center of a love triangle. Other times, there are external factors working against the two characters, and they have to fight it all to be together.

There are so many fantastic romance shows, but only a select few are consistently fantastic each episode. For these shows, every episode is intentionally set up to further the main romance along, all while still making sure to give attention to other important characters and storylines. These are the romance TV shows where every episode is a masterpiece.

'Lovesick' (2014–2018)

Lovesick follows Dylan (Johnny Flynn), a hopeless romantic who's been unlucky in love so far. Dylan falls in love at the drop of a hat, but his relationships are always ending before he's ready to let them go. He lives in a house in Glasgow with his two best friends from college, Luke (Daniel Ings) and Evie (Antonia Thomas), and he's still holding onto hope of finding "the one." When Dylan learns that he has chlamydia, he has to reach out to all of his exes to inform them, bringing up old memories.

Each episode of Lovesick has the title of a woman's name, as Dylan contacts that ex for the first time since their breakup. Alongside the main storyline in the present, every episode uses flashbacks to show what went wrong in Dylan's relationship with that ex. All the while, through these flashbacks, the series shows Dylan and Evie's consistent chemistry throughout their friendship. Evie is now engaged to someone else, but through helping Dylan reach out to his exes, she is also reminded of their complex history. Lovesick is a phenomenal romance series with a beautiful overarching love story, as well as fantastic episodes that each stand out on their own.

'Bridgerton' (2020–Present)

Based on the Julia Quinn book series of the same name, Bridgerton is a Regency-era romance series that centers on the wealthy Bridgerton family. Each season sees a different Bridgerton sibling falling in love and encountering obstacles in their new romance. In Season 1, Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) has a fake-courting agreement with Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), but both of them start to realize they might want something more. In Season 2, Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) prepares to marry Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran) out of practicality, but he can't stop thinking about her sister, Kate (Simone Ashley).

Season 3 follows the slow-burn romance between longtime friends Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) after he hurt her feelings the season before with a careless comment. Most recently, Season 4 told the Cinderella-style love story of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), who fell for each other despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of their very different class backgrounds. Season 5, set to be released in 2027, will focus on the romance of Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza) after two seasons of buildup. Bridgerton is a beautiful and swoonworthy series that has an excellent main romance every season, while also taking the time to develop the storylines of the rest of its vast ensemble of characters each episode.

'One Day' (2024)

Emma and Dexter lying on the floor together and laughing in One Day.

Based on the novel of the same name by David Nicholls, One Day is a romantic drama that follows the close friendship and occasional romance of Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) and Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) over the course of 14 years. Each episode checks in with Dexter and Emma on July 15, the anniversary of the day they first met at a party celebrating their graduation from the University of Edinburgh.

After a failed hookup, Emma and Dexter decide to become friends, and they both actually stay true to their word. They become fast best friends, burying their brief romantic history for the sake of their friendship. Over the course of the limited series, they both date other people, move for work, and deal with difficult personal struggles, all while trying not to let complicated feelings get in the way of their deep care for each other. One Day is a beautiful and gut-wrenching series, and each episode perfectly tells the story of a specific year in Emma and Dexter's lives.

'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' (2015–2019)

Rebecca Bunch and Nathaniel Plimpton III dancing the tango in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a brilliant deconstruction of the romantic comedy, but it also has its fair share of swoonworthy romance. The series follows Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom), a successful New York City lawyer who's just made partner at her firm. Panicked and deeply unhappy, Rebecca runs outside to catch her breath. There, she bumps into Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III), her ex-boyfriend from a summer camp she attended as a teenager. Realizing that she hasn't been happy since then, Rebecca decides to follow him to his hometown of West Covina, California – all the while pretending that she's actually moving there for work.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tackles the notion that all young women have been taught since childhood: that finding the perfect romance will make them truly happy. Rebecca pours everything into her pursuit of Josh, believing that this will cure her of her longtime unhappiness and mental health problems. Along the way, though, Rebecca comes to really love her life in West Covina. She makes great friends, finds romance in other unexpected places, and finally starts to unpack the real reasons behind her unhappiness. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is such a fun and entertaining series, with each episode full of unexpected plot twists and fantastic musical numbers.

Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

FIND YOUR UNIVERSE →

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.

ABeing part of something larger than myself — a cause, a rebellion, a fight for freedom that outlasts me. BThe journey itself — the places I'll go, the companions beside me, the world I'll discover on the way. CLearning — unlocking what I'm capable of, understanding the world's hidden mechanics, growing into something more. DLegacy — the name I leave behind, the power I build, the mark I make before the world moves on without me. EUnderstanding — exploring what exists beyond the horizon and asking what it means to be alive in a universe this vast.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.

AA galaxy of planets, each with its own culture — connected by conflict, trade, and the Force. BAncient lands of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and a creeping darkness at the edges. CA world hidden inside our own — full of wonder, community, and magic waiting to be learned. DA brutal, beautiful continent where power is everything and every alliance is a calculation. EA future where humanity has reached the stars — and must decide what kind of species it wants to be.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.

AThrough sacrifice and courage — someone has to make the impossible choice so others don't have to. BThrough fellowship — the impossible becomes possible when the right people walk the same road. CThrough growth — confronting what you fear, understanding what you lack, and becoming equal to the challenge. DThrough strategy — outthinking, outmaneuvering, positioning yourself so the outcome was never in doubt. EThrough dialogue — finding the third option, the peaceful resolution, the answer that doesn't require a body count.

NEXT QUESTION →

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.

AA small crew — a pilot, a rogue, a warrior — each broken in their own way, unbeatable together. BA fellowship of different kinds of people, bound by purpose and deepened by the long road. CFriends who grew up alongside me — who knew me before I knew myself, and stayed anyway. DAllies whose loyalty I've earned — and tested — and whose ambitions align with mine, for now. EA crew of brilliant, curious, principled people from every corner of known space.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.

AI want to use it to protect — and I'm terrified of what I might become if I'm not careful. BI distrust it. The most important power in this story is the courage to give it up. CI want to earn it — through knowledge, through effort, through becoming someone worthy of it. DI want to wield it. Preferably before someone else decides to wield it against me. EI want to understand it — its structures, its limits, its ethical dimensions. Power without accountability is the real threat.

NEXT QUESTION →

How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.

AThere is a dark side and a light side — and the choice between them is always present, always personal. BEvil is real and ancient and patient — and goodness, however small, is the only thing that can undo it. CGood and evil are real, but they live inside people — and people are complicated, always capable of both. DGood and evil are mostly a matter of perspective and proximity. Power is the only honest currency. EEvil is usually the result of ignorance, fear, or broken systems — and understanding it is the first step to solving it.

NEXT QUESTION →

What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?

AThe reluctant hero — ordinary origins, extraordinary moment, changed forever by the choice to act. BThe unlikely carrier — the one nobody expected to matter most, quietly bearing the weight of everything. CThe student — not yet who I'll become, learning through every mistake, growing into something the world needs. DThe player — sharp enough to see the game for what it is, ambitious enough to try to win it. EThe explorer — drawn to the unknown, driven by curiosity, most alive when standing somewhere no one has stood before.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.

AThat hope is real — that even in the darkest galaxy, a new hope is always possible. CThat even the smallest person can change the course of the future, if they have the courage to try. CThat love and friendship and doing what's right will matter in the end, even when everything says otherwise. DThat the wheel keeps turning — that power shifts, winters end, and what endures is those willing to fight for it. EThat humanity — or whatever we become — is capable of extraordinary things, if we choose to be.

REVEAL MY UNIVERSE →

Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Dash & Lily' (2020)

Dash and Lily sharing a moment, looking into each others eyes in Dash and Lily (Netflix 2020).

Based on the book of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Dash & Lily is an absolutely delightful romantic comedy series set at Christmastime. The series is split between its focus on the two main characters, teenagers Dash Malloy (Austin Abrams) and Lily Mori-Novak (Midori Francis). While hiding out alone in New York City during the holidays, the cynical Dash finds a red notebook in the shelves of The Strand. The notebook urges a stranger to participate in a series of dares, and Dash does, starting up a correspondence with the anonymous person who left it.

All the while, the optimistic Lily is disappointed when her parents leave for a vacation for the holiday. Feeling alone and out of place, Lily agrees to her brother's (Troy Iwata) suggestion of using the notebook to try to meet someone. Lily and Dash keep writing to each other in the notebook, pushing each other to perform dares that pull both of them out of their comfort zones. All the while, they start to fall in love, even though they've never met. Dash & Lily is the perfect holiday romance, with each episode being framed around different dares as Dash and Lily's connection continues to grow through the notebook.

'My Lady Jane' (2024)

Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel) and Jane (Emily Bader) hold hands and smile at a party in My Lady Jane.

Based on the novel of the same name by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Joni Meadows, My Lady Jane is a historical fantasy retelling of the story of Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader). Here, Jane lives in a fictionalized version of 16th-century England that's divided between two groups of people: the Ethians, who are discriminated against because they can turn into animals, and the Verity, who believe that their normalcy makes them superior. At the start of the series, Jane is reluctantly being pushed into an arranged marriage, so she goes out to a pub one night to get some air. There, she immediately falls for and then quickly grows to detest a stranger whom she meets.

At her wedding, Jane learns that this stranger is none other than her husband-to-be, Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel). Neither Jane nor Guildford is thrilled about this arrangement, but both of their families stand to gain from it. Soon after, Jane is thrust into power when her cousin, King Edward (Jordan Peters), falls ill. Despite now dealing with multiple unwanted changes, Jane risks everything to fight to change things for Ethians. All the while, she and Guildford start to get to know each other, developing a beautiful and unexpected connection in the process. My Lady Jane is an absolutely amazing romance series that utilizes classic tropes like marriage of convenience and forbidden romance in new and creative ways, and even though it was prematurely cancelled, its single season tells a complete love story.

'Heated Rivalry' (2025–Present)

Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in 'Heated Rivalry' Season 1.

Heated Rivalry only has six episodes so far, but each one is absolutely perfect. Based on the second novel in Rachel Reid's Game Changers series, the show follows the secret romance between rival NHL players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) over the course of about a decade. Shane and Ilya meet in their rookie year and then start up a secret fling, with both of them pretending for a long time that it means less to them than it actually does. Shane and Ilya know that they can never really be together anyways, though, because there has never been an out athlete in the NHL — and even if there were, they are still very public rivals.

Heated Rivalry is an absolutely beautiful and breathtaking series with six truly flawless episodes. The first two are focused on setting up Shane and Ilya's fling, telling the story of the early years when they both believe it's casual. Episode 3 takes a detour to tell the love story of NHL player Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and barista Kip Grady (Robbie Graham-Kuntz), the lead couple of the first Game Changers book. The second half of Heated Rivalry's first season deepens Shane and Ilya's romance with three of the best episodes in romance television history, as the two start to reassess what they mean to one another and question what they're willing to risk for each other.