History Main / NewOldFlame

A gentle RetCon to allow a previously unmentioned [[OldFlame love-of-their-life]] to pop up for a main character in an episode. Characteristically a TemporaryLoveInterest, this is a simple way to establish a relationship without buildup. Sometimes the long absence and sudden reappearance is explained by a FallbackMarriagePact.

The inverse situation, where the character does remember the love-of-their-life but the reunion cures them of it, is OldFlameFizzle.

* ''Manga/DadTheBeardGorillaAndI'': Just after the titular Beard Gorilla gets back from a dinner date with his crush, he bumps into a never-before-seen woman whom he reveals is his ex-girlfriend. His ex- asks to meet up with him, and Kouji is worried she might want to get back together and makes things awkward. [[spoiler:Turns out the ex just wants to tell him that she's getting married, but the girl he likes sees them together and makes the wrong assumption anyway.]]

* Billy Powers, an old high school boyfriend of Michael's, who turns up in the ''ComicBook/MsTree'' story "Drop Dead Handsome". It doesn't feel especially forced as very little about Michael's high school days had been revealed. It ends [[FatalAttractor about as well as any of Michael's relationships do]].

* ''Film/YoungLadyChatterleyII'' introduces Robert was Cynthia's FirstLove. She is overjoyed when she learns he is coming to visit her estate in England. She is shocked to discover that he has joined the priesthood in their years apart.

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Literature/HowMuchForJustThePlanet'', in which [=McCoy=] ribs Kirk about how many of the people they've met who were his girlfriend at one point or another, and even Spock joins in, stating that the doctor raises a "valid statistical point". Surprising no-one ''except'' Kirk, he briefly dated the ambassador they're transporting around eighteen years ago, and just misremembered her name. [=McCoy=] excuses himself and Spock, presumably so he can die laughing somewhere in private.

** Unsurprisingly, Jack has a few more of these. The radio plays gave us Stella Courtney (from 30 years ago) in ''The Dead Line'', and the Duchess in ''Golden Age'' (very much a New Old Flame: he hasn't seen her since 1924, she hasn't aged a day.)

** Then there's Angelo in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'', who ends up the reason this whole mess started. Unfortunately, he comes back [[spoiler:on his deathbed, in a coma, and dies shortly after]].
* Ranger Ben served as one of these for C.J in ''Series/TheWestWing''.

** Lee Adama is angsty when he is reminded of his ex-girlfriend, whom he ran from after she told him she was pregnant with his child. Which is reasonable, just that he is the closest thing to a protagonist in this show, and the first time this is mentioned is the 14th episode of the ''second season''.

** Although not a lover, one episode is based around the funeral of their old army buddy. There's a lot of tender reminiscing and even a lingering close-up on a photo of the five of them standing together in uniform. This is made only ''slightly'' less poignant by the fact that ''we've never heard of this guy before, nor will we again''.

** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' introduces Captain Erika Hernandez, captain of the NX-02 ''Columbia'', as Jonathan Archer's ex-girlfriend in season four. Interestingly, they didn't break up for the usual reasons, but simply because he got promoted and she didn't, so [[InappropriatelyCloseComrades their relationship went against regs]]. After the Xindi crisis, they're again equal in rank, and after a couple of nights mountain-climbing and soul-searching, they rekindle their romance. The later episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence", in which Erika reappears, neither confirm nor deny whether said rekindling lasted, but a certain intimacy in the way they look at each other hints that this time it stuck.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': When Camille Saroyan joins the cast in Season 2, she's revealed to be an old girlfriend of Booth's, and the two soon resume their relationship for a brief time. It doesn't last too long before they break up mid-season after Cam almost dies, and remain very AmicableExes and good friends for the rest of series, each finding other love interests with whom they're more compatible (Bones for Booth and Arastoo for Cam).

* Subverted in ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'': William Boone's old flame appears after several years of absence and, in spite of Boone's wife recent death, he's unusually inflamed with passion, something extremely out of character for him. It's later revealed that the Boone's memories of their life together are false and were included in his cyberviral implant as a loyalty test by the Companions, and they had recruited an FBI agent to play the part of the former girlfriend.

* Amanda in ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'' is introduced this way, early on. Duncan's current girlfriend Tessa is not amused. (She later comes back after Tessa dies, and they are an on and off couple for much of the series.)

** In season 3 a new rookie joins the division. He happens to be Gail's old boyfriend from before she became a cop. After they broke up he joined the army, served in Afghanistan and then became a cop himself. They still have lots of UST and other unresolved issues since they apparently broke up while they were in Vagas and about to get married.

* NewOldFlame: Tony's ex-fiancee Wendy shows up mid-season 9. Whether she'll be the RomanticFalseLead, or the actual LoveInterest, was toyed with and eventually dropped.
** Jessica's ex-boyfriend, Gage Winchester, a park ranger, appears in the Season 20 episode ''Leave No Trace''. This creates an awkward situation between her, Jimmy, and Gage. Thankfully, Gage shows maturity and already knows she belongs with Jimmy by the end of the episode.
** Vance has a zig-zagged version in the form of Lena Paulsen in the Season 20 episode ''Guardian''. Despite this being Lena's only episode in the series, it is established that Vance had a yearly one-night-stand with her whenever he traveled to Germany some time after his wife's death.
** Alden Parker has one in the form of a childhood girlfriend Joy Aaronson (Creator/RachelTicotin) introduced in the Season 20 episode ''Bridges''. It is established that Parker never got over the circumstances that led to their break-up. By the time the episode starts, her son, Travis, stole Parker's identity, which leads to a reunion between the pair and an eventual arrest of two Russian spies. During the aftermath, Parker considers rekindling their romance after hearing that his ex-wife (a former FBI agent) deduced Joy's identity and paid her a visit without his knowledge.

* In ''Series/TheXFiles'', two Mulder's ex-girlfriends make an appearance, and there are also two past relationships of Agent Scully.
** "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E12Fire Fire]]": Mulder receives a visit from Phoebe Greene who asks for his assistance on a case. She's his old flame from his university days at Oxford and works now as a Detective in Scotland Yard. They get it on, but she cheats on him once more and at the end, she leaves for England.
** "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E15Lazarus Lazarus]]": Jack Willis used to be Scully's teacher at the FBI academy and her boyfriend. They don't renew their relationship, but the case involves a body-switch with the villain and he later dies. Scully is obviously shattered.

* ''Series/{{Hustle}}'': Emma encounters new old flame named Joe Ryan, who is everything the grifters are not, in "Old Sparks Come New".
* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', many of Earl's exes have been on The List, including a clingy girl Earl broke up with [[FakingTheDead in a horrible way]], and the last woman he dated before his AccidentalMarriage to Joy, and a [[{{Yandere}} one-legged one-night-stand]]. His [[spoiler: first]] ex-wife Joy is listed several times as well.

** In an earlier episode, Nichols tells a suspect about an ex-wife who left him because she didn't want him to be a cop, when he had never even hinted at being married before. This one is only possibly an example, since Nichols has been known to lie about his personal life in order to establish a rapport with a suspect. [[note]]The timeline on that relationship and marriage also conflicts with the point in time where he was dating Lenore, further suggesting that the marriage was fictional.[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheMagician'': The two-part "Illusion of the Curious Counterfeit" begins when a preciously unseen ex-girlfriend of Tony's arrives on his doorstep being chased by gangsters.

** In Season 4, [[spoiler: Patrick's ex-fiancee Rachel comes to town looking to rekindle their relationship.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/ClarissaExplainsItAll'', Janet's first boyfriend from high school, Joey Russo, who is now a successful author, comes to visit. Clarissa is worried that Joey coming by will spark old feelings her mother. Marshall, meanwhile, is irked by the whole thing as well. Joey also seems convinced that Janet still loves him and tries to act like he's going to be a new step-father to Clarissa and Ferguson. In the end, Joey is such a smarmy douche, everyone is glad when he finally leaves. In a weird way, Clarissa was right. Joey did spark old feelings in Janet: he reminder her why she married Marshall instead.

* Lawrence and Linda in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' are probably this. They dated sometime in the late '80s or early '90s, but eventually broke up and married other people. They eventually reunited and got married after they had kids with their previous spouses.

* Andrea Beaumont was this to Bruce Wayne in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskofThePhantasm'', as Bruce's first fiancé.

* Tony's ex-fiancee Wendy showed up mid-season 8 of ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. Whether she will become the RomanticFalseLead or the actual LoveInterest, remains to be seen.

* ''Film/KuchKuchHotaHai'': Despite Anjali is already engaged to Aman, by the time she and his long lost best friend, Rahul, meet again after being estranged for years, she realizes to still love Rahul.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': A jealous Lestat suspects that Jonah was "an old love" of Louis, although the latter attempts to downplay it by claiming that he and Jonah had "a few early fumbles." However, it's later revealed that Lestat had secretly followed them, and he cries out to Louis in anguish, "[[AnguishedOutburst I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!]]" When a vampire is in love, the rhythm of their heartbeats become synchronized with that of their beloved's (this happened to Louis and Lestat in the first episode), so this indicates that Louis has residual feelings for Jonah.

** "[[Recap/TheXFilesS07E17AllThings all things]]": Scully used to date her professor from medical school. He reveals that he has been in love with her for all those years and begs her to be with him. She considers it but ultimately refuses, as she doesn't want to ruin his family. In addition, there is all the UnresolvedSexualTension and WillTheyOrWontThey with Mulder, and this particular episode is one of the hottest candidates for TheyDo.

* Justified when Three and Two's respective old flames Sarah and Dr Irena Shaw are introduced in ''Series/DarkMatter'', since the ''Raza'' crew are all total amnesiacs and not even the protagonists themselves knew they existed.

* The war buddy version is seen in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "The Message" with Tracey.

** "School Reunion". In the Classic series, Sarah Jane was at most an occasionally ImpliedLoveInterest with tons of chemistry with both her Doctors and some very subtle ShipTease hints regarding the Fourth Doctor having one-sided feelings for her. This New series episode does away with the subtext entirely and {{ReVision}}s her into TheOneThatGotAway.

** And now, as of the end of the sixth series [[spoiler: we see on-screen Eleven and River Song getting married.]]
* Jack Harkness and John Hart on ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', John is also Jack's EvilCounterpart.

** And again from the series itself, Estelle from the episode "Small Worlds". The twist in that case being that Jack is passing himself off as the son of her former lover (himself), apparently not wanting to explain his immortality to her. However, when she's [[spoiler: killed by [[TheFairFolk the fairies]],]] Jack is clearly heartbroken.
** Plus, in ''Children of Earth'', there's Jack's former lover and mother of his daughter. We never meet her as she has already died by this point, but she definitely counts.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** Lenara Kahn is a rare in-universe version of this for Jadzia Dax: the previous hosts of their respective symbionts had been married, but Jadzia and Lenara had never actually met. The episode is used as a metaphor for closeted homosexuality since Trill law forbids previously related symbionts from resuming their past relationship (the fact that their current hosts are both female is unimportant in the story, though clearly relevant for purposes of the metaphor).
** Played straight in "Profit and Loss", where Quark's old flame from the Bajoran Occupation, a Cardassian pro-democracy activist named Natima Lang, returns to the station. She is never heard from again after this episode and Quark goes back to his old womanizing tricks.

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' has a variant, where in the first season Prue's love interest is the same guy she dated in high school. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} they sleep together on the first date of their new relationship, but Prue objects when Piper argues that that's equivalent to sleeping with the guy on the "first date," since they already know each other.

* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', two Mulder's ex-girlfriends made an appearance, and there were also two past relationships of Agent Scully.
** "Fire": Mulder receives a visit from Phoebe Greene who asks for his assistance on a case. She's his old flame from his university days at Oxford and works now as a Detective in Scotland Yard. They get it on, but she cheats on him once more and at the end, she leaves for England.
** "Lazarus": Jack Willis used to be Scully's teacher at the FBI academy and her boyfriend. They don't renew their relationship, but the case involves a body-switch with the villain and he later dies. Scully is obviously shattered.

** "all things": Scully used to date her professor from medical school. He reveals that he has been in love with her for all those years and begs her to be with him. She considers it but ultimately refuses as she doesn't want to ruin his family. In addition, there is all the {{UST}} and WillTheyOrWontThey with Mulder, and this particular episode is one of the hottest candidates for TheyDo.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' introduced Captain Erika Hernandez, captain of the NX-02 ''Columbia'', as Jonathan Archer's ex-girlfriend in season four. Interestingly, they didn't break up for the usual reasons, but simply because he got promoted and she didn't, so their relationship went against regs. After the Xindi crisis, they're again equal in rank, and after a couple of nights mountain-climbing and soul-searching, they rekindle their romance. The later episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence", where Erika reappears, neither confirm nor deny whether said rekindling lasted, but a certain intimacy in the way they look at each other hints that this time it stuck.

* Comes up quite a bit in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. Despite his reputation as a "love 'em and leave 'em" type, Kirk has apparently had several serious relationships and most of the women, such as Areel Shaw and Janet Wallace, still hold tender feelings toward him. Janice Lester, not so much. This occurred again in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan with Carol Marcus. [=McCoy=] and Chapel also had former love interests appear, sort of.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': In "Palimpsest", Nichols and Stevens investigate a double murder. Nichols discovers that one of the victims is an old family friend, whose daughter, Lenore, is an old sweetheart of Nichols' (they had to break up because she developed schizophrenia).

* Used in the aptly-named ''Series/HogansHeroes'' episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Klink's Old Flame"]]. It's played with, though: Klink hears that his old flame is coming to the stalag, but she is now married to an influential general. Knowing that if she rediscovers her old feelings for him, he could end up fired or shot, [[HilarityEnsues he takes drastic measures to make himself as unattractive to her as possible.]] [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted though, as it's later revealed she never got past a handshake with him, and she's actually an underground agent who arranged the 'reunion' to meet with Hogan.]]

** Lee Adama is angsty when he is reminded of his ex-girlfriend, whom he ran from after she told him she carries his child. Which is reasonable, just that he is the closest thing to a protagonist in this show, and the first time this is mentioned is the 14th episode of the ''second season''.

* A while back, we learned that [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] of all people had an incredibly hot girlfriend in college, but dumped her because he was a neurotic twit. She's now an evil HotScientist, and still bitter about the breakup.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': A jealous Lestat suspects that Jonah was "an old love" of Louis, although the latter attempts to downplay it by claiming that he and Jonah had "a few early fumbles." However, it's later revealed that Lestat had secretly followed them, and he cries out to Louis in anguish, "I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!" When a vampire is in love, the rhythm of their heartbeats become synchronized with that of their beloved's (this happened to Louis and Lestat in the first episode), so this indicates that Louis has residual feelings for Jonah.

* ''Film/TheParentTrap1998'': Upon seeing his ex-wife again after being estranged for years, Nick obviously falls in love again with Elizabeth as he is unable to take his eyes off her despite being with his future wife, Meredith, inside an elevator. Later, when encountering Elizabeth again, he [[HeadTurningBeauty is so mesmerized by her beauty, so much so until he plunges into the pool]].

* ''Film/TheParentTrap1998'': Upon seeing his ex-wife, Elizabeth, again after being estranged for 11 years, Nick obviously falls in love again with her as he is unable to take his eyes off of her despite being with his future wife, Meredith, inside an elevator and later he plunges into the pool, [[HeadTurningBeauty mesmerized by Elizabeth's beauty]].

* ''Film/TheParentTrap1998'': Upon seeing his ex-wife again after being estranged for years, Nick obviously falls in love again with Elizabeth as he is unable to take his eyes off her despite being with his future wife, Meredith, inside an elevator and later he plunges into the pool, [[HeadTurningBeauty mesmerized by Elizabeth's beauty]].

* KuchKuchHotaHai: Despite Anjali is already engaged to Aman, by the time she and his long lost best friend, Rahul, meet again after being estranged for years, she realizes to still love Rahul.

* A while back, we learned that [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] of all people had an incredibly hot girlfriend in college, but dumped her because he was a neurotic twit. She's now an evil HotScientist, and still bitter about the breakup.

* Happens to {{Wolverine}} all the time, due to his long life and ExpansionPackPast. Notably, when Jean Grey first manifested as the Phoenix way back when, Wolverine spends some time thinking about how he'd never loved anyone as much as he loved her. Given that at least a half-dozen apparently serious relationships have since been added to his pre-X-Men days, it suggests that either he didn't really love them, or he loved Jean (a girl who, at the time, regarded him as nothing but annoying) beyond all reason.

* Lucille in the last two episodes of ''Series/{{Chef}}'' served this purpose.

[[folder:Film]]

* The titular WesternAnimation/RobinHood and Maid Marian, who had been childhood friends and were in love before they were separated for some time and later reunited.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Averted with Chuck's own ex, who was mentioned in the first 5 minutes of the pilot. Of course, he had no idea at that point that she was [[spoiler:a Fulcrum agent and was forced to dump Chuck]]; she also lied about sleeping with his best friend, who never bothered to deny it. There's a good reason for this. Bryce did everything he could to keep Chuck from being recruited ([[spoiler:Chuck's father asked him to]]). Telling Chuck that he ''didn't'' sleep with Chuck's girl would prompt Chuck to investigate further and get dangerously close to either CIA or [[spoiler:Fulcrum]].
%%* Casey has had ''two'' of these.

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'' Marie's New Old Flame Joe Buttakaki shows up. They both have leftover feelings for one another and are about to rekindle their relationship when Joe suffers from [[spoiler: [[BusCrash Death On A Bus]]]]. It set off the Stein/Marie shippers since Stein is the one who consoles her.

* Casey has had ''two'' of these in ''Series/{{Chuck}}''.
** Averted with Chuck's own ex, who was mentioned in the first 5 minutes of the pilot. Of course, he had no idea at that point that she was [[spoiler:a Fulcrum agent and was forced to dump Chuck]]; she also lied about sleeping with his best friend, who never bothered to deny it.
*** There's a good reason for this. Bryce did everything he could to keep Chuck from being recruited ([[spoiler:Chuck's father asked him to]]). Telling Chuck that he ''didn't'' sleep with Chuck's girl would prompt Chuck to investigate further and get dangerously close to either CIA or [[spoiler:Fulcrum]].
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' has a variant, where in the first season Prue's love interest is the same guy she dated in high school (which, since he's introduced that way right away, doesn't feel jarring). {{Deconstructed|Trope}} they sleep together on the first date of their new relationship, but Prue objects when Piper argues that that's equivalent to sleeping with the guy on the "first date," since they already know each other.