Anyone who has experience with Joss Whedon's work has seen enough to know that most characters are definitively not headed toward happiness in their relationships. From Buffy and Angel to Dr. Horrible and Penny, there's just not much room for classical romance in the Whedonverse. It might be my own little obsession, but I found a pattern like that to be more than a little bit weird. So, I decided to look into it.

Taking the approach of literary criticism to Joss Whedon's corpus, I examine relationships and their role in Whedon's works. Although I think that I can successfully elucidate patterns, the final synthesis eludes me and I can't make sense of what is going on. Anybody want to help? Come on over and comment!