Why is Gen Z so obsessed with the 'almost relationship'?

Nothing is as romantic as a relationship that never quite happened.

- Olivia Petter, The Independent

Paul Mescal

Preserved in possibility, it’s a near-miss dynamic that exists in an exclusively liminal space; you're not quite together, but there’s enough evidence to suggest that one day, were all the stars to suddenly align, you might be. And so you cling on, wondering, waiting, hoping.Introducing the “almost relationship”, a dynamic that has captured pop culture (Normal People) starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, literature (Wuthering Heights) and delusionally romantic people (hello) for centuries. To be clear, this is not the same thing as a situationship. Modern dating is complicated enough for that to be a separate problem entirely, one characterised by a romantic relationship with a distinct absence of labels or commitment, as well as a maddening lack of clarity. It's terrible, but it’s also different.