13 TV Breakups That Were So Healthy And Mature And 13 That Were Chaotic As Heck

This one broke my heart and came as a shock to many viewers, but I still loved it. It felt so mature and realistic — there are so many times that life takes two people on different paths, and that breakup can be really painful but needed. They both handled it with such grace!

Alright, I’ll weigh in on the ultimate Friends debate: To me, a “break” is a type of breakup, hence why I’m including this scene. BUT that still doesn’t excuse Ross’s sleeping with another woman, which to me was a sign that he didn’t see a future with Rachel. Anyways, Ross’s behavior in this episode was possessive and disrespectful, even in their fight. Rachel was a little rash in suggesting a break, especially considering how much she seemed to regret it, but it was mostly Ross who made this breakup messy and immature. They didn’t hear each other out!

I can’t really count Lucas’s behavior as mature here, since he says nothing except “I’m sorry,” but Brooke was great in this scene. She knew what she wanted to say, and instead of making it about Peyton, she made it about the way she felt in their relationship. She was honest and real, and she deserved more from Lucas.

Neither of Cece and Schmidt’s breakups was very mature, but at least in the second one, Schmidt apologized. Here, it was so frustrating to see Schmidt insult Cece and himself at the same time, and it was really immature to accuse Cece of something when it was really his own lack of self-confidence that was the problem.

Scott knew that Allison needed time apart and never tried to argue with her, even if he didn’t want to spend time apart himself. He was so kind but also reassuring without being forceful — while he says he believes that they’ll be together, he doesn’t push her to agree. And after the breakup, he continues to give her space and they have their own relationships. Allison also does the mature thing by breaking up with Scott here, since she knows she has her own problems to deal with, and is kind and fair to Scott.

Being fair to Bonnie here, I think she was pretty mature, given the situation she was put in, but this whole breakup was just a mess. Jeremy cheated on Bonnie with a LITERAL GHOST and wouldn’t even tell her about it until after the whole thing was over. He didn’t even break up with her — he came to her after it was over to explain what had happened. I hated when he said, “I owe you an explanation” — you owed her a lot more than that!! Bonnie handled it well, but Jeremy was just SO immature that this breakup still goes under “not so mature” for me.

Normally, I think a breakup should involve more discussion, but Dre and Bow had talked enough at this point, and it always ended in fighting. Taking a break was the most mature thing they could’ve done in this situation — and what I love about this scene is what ISN’T said. You can really feel the pain and the love and the heartbreak and the confusion, and it’s both more mature and effective than watching them fight again. I’m so glad they got back together!

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I HATED this breakup. This relationship was doomed to end, given their differences in communication styles, and neither should’ve had to change who they were to stay together. BUT in this one instance, I do think that Mutt owed Alexis verbal communication. He should have said “This isn’t going to work” instead of “showing her” by staying silent and making sad faces. It felt really immature to me, as if Mutt were forcing Alexis to play some game: If she talked, she lost, since she’d just talked about how she would talk less; but if she didn’t, she’d never get an answer from him. Mutt has a right to be a quiet person, but I’m sorry, nonverbally breaking up with someone isn’t a thing.

This breakup was really heartbreaking, but it felt right. No one should have to compromise their own safety or that of their children for a relationship, and even beyond that, no one should have to leave behind their entire life and family for a relationship. Neither pushed the other to go with them — they just thanked each other and wished each other the best.

All of their breakups were the worst, but this one felt the most toxic to me. They argue about how their last breakup caused Damon to go on a killing spree and kill Elena’s friend, and agree that they should break up, but they end up sleeping together again anyways. It all feels presented as “romantic,” when to me it’s just messed up. Also, imagine if you told someone you loved them and they told you to stop, lol.

While the reason for this breakup was largely that Nick wasn’t a responsible adult, the actual breakup was very responsible and mature. They realized that their friendship was healthier and better than their relationship, and went back to being friends, both putting in the time and effort and care to do so. They didn’t try to force the other to change. Of course, in the end, they both naturally changed and came together again, but they definitely needed this time apart.

I mean, is this one really a surprise? Everything about Riley was awful, and this breakup was no exception. I’m glad Buffy didn’t catch him before he left on the helicopter. The way he twisted his letting vampires feed on him into something that was not only Buffy’s fault but also her responsibility to fix was so manipulative. And then he asked her to hit him?! Because that was “fire” to him? Riley did NOT deserve a proper goodbye, and I’m glad he didn’t get one.

Amy coming back and hiding out in Drew’s dorm for a month was a bit of a weird storyline, but I was really glad they ended things so maturely. Drew realized that the relationship wasn’t healthy, and Amy eventually understood that she couldn’t hide from her problems forever. It was really sweet when Drew added that she could call him for anything, and their last kiss broke me a little.

Okay, I know Justin Chambers was leaving the show and all, but this was such a bizarre way to wrap up Alex’s character. Imagine finding out through a note that your partner has left you to go raise their children, which they didn’t even know they had, with their ex. It was such a bizarre way to end this relationship and Alex’s character arc in general.

This one was definitely painful to watch, but Logan made the right call here. As much as we all wanted to see Logan and Veronica make it work, the relationship just wasn’t healthy for either of them at that point. As Logan said, Veronica wasn’t built to have people help her, and he wasn’t built to stand on the sidelines. I think this breakup helped them have a more mature relationship when they eventually got back together years later.

We can all agree that Dean sucks, right? I understand being hurt that Rory didn’t immediately return his “I love you,” but holy crap, dude — who builds their high school girlfriend a car for their three-month anniversary, professes their love, and then dumps her? I hated that Rory was made out to be in the wrong here, when it was perfectly reasonable for her not to be ready to say “I love you” back, especially given the circumstances she grew up in.

“I love you, but I love me more” is a line we all need to remember. Samantha choosing herself and her own happiness was the best possible outcome here. Maybe Richard was sincerely trying to make the relationship work, but Samantha was smart to realize that she just couldn’t trust him anymore after he cheated.

Seriously, what kind of logic is this? “I’m going to dump my girlfriend over the phone the next day anyway, so what does it matter if I cheat on her?” Ted trying to justify his cheating by saying that Robin was “the one” just summed up how insufferable he was as a character. The scene of him arguing with a hallucination of Victoria was just weird.

This whole coma–love triangle plot was soap opera levels of ridiculous, but Lola and Miles were so mature and understanding of each other. Lola understood the complexity of the situation and never once pressured Miles to leave Tristan for her, and Miles made it clear how much he still cared about her even if they couldn’t be together. Although the circumstances weren’t great, it was both characters’ best, healthiest relationship by far, and they deserved a fair shot at being together.

To be fair, I’m not sure what the “mature” response would be to finding out that your boyfriend has been cheating on you with his sister’s boyfriend while you’re going through chemotherapy. This was still a terrible way for the writers to handle it, though. Ander’s wanting to protect himself was understandable, but having him make up an affair instead of confronting Omar for actually cheating made no sense. Their entire Season 3 relationship was so awful and out of character for both of them, and I still haven’t forgiven the writers for it.

As much as I wanted Santana and Brittany to make long distance work, this was a really mature decision on Santana’s part. She genuinely just wanted Brittany to be happy and didn’t want her to have to put her life on hold for their relationship. The scene showed how much both Santana and Brittany had grown as characters and how much they truly cared for each other.

To Archie’s credit, the breakup was a fairly mature decision on his part, even if it kind of sucked that he broke up with Veronica over the phone. Any ounce of maturity that this scene had went completely flying out the window as soon as Veronica said they were endgame, though. I am going to personally ban the Riverdale writers from using this word ever again.

For such a dramatic couple, pretty much all of their breakups were surprisingly mature. Marissa didn’t want to let Ryan go at the end of Season 1 but understood why he wanted to be there for Theresa and the baby. Watching them slow-dance and say their goodbyes like this shattered my heart into a million pieces — I just felt so bad for both of them. The way they handled this situation was so mature beyond their years.

To be fair, the whole point of their relationship was that were hilariously terrible together. They had so many breakups, but this one probably ranks among the worst. Mindy Kaling totally obliviously saying, “Why not?” makes me laugh and want to cry tears of frustration every time. Let’s be honest — we’ve probably all had an awful on-and-off relationship like Ryan and Kelly’s at some point (though hopefully not this terrible).

Yeah, yeah, I know they used the word “endgame” in this scene, too, but this breakup was a thousand times more mature than any of Archie’s other relationships. Josie just wanted to focus on herself and her music, and Archie understood. As much as I wanted them to stay together, it was nice to see a teen drama couple admit that their relationship had just run its course, no drama necessary.

Look, regardless of who you ship, we can all agree that Lucas Scott is dumb as all heck, right? Flying out to LA to propose to Peyton when they were like 18 was just ridiculous — there is only one Naley, Lucas, and you are not it! Peyton not being ready to get married so young was completely reasonable, and for Lucas to dump her over it just made me dislike him even more. Brooke made some points here.