Ship Tease

Everyone on the internet seems to have an opinion about Netflix’s sensational Bridgerton series, and Heather and Jennifer are no exception. The show’s much-discussed Season 2 features Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma’s slow-burn romance, but with some pretty big departures from the book that inspired it, Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me. In a special episode of the pod, Jennifer and Heather discuss what they loved and hated about the book-to-screen adaptation, because–shocker!—they don’t exactly see eye-to-eye…

Gifs mentioned in the episode by timestamp:

• 33:24 - Jenn recommends a TikTok by author Nisha Sharma about why it was important for Bridgerton to give Kate a choice in marrying Anthony in Regency England.
• 42:27 - Heather was wrong: Benedict will NOT be the hero of season 3–it’s going to be Colin and Penelope’s season after all...
• Anthony/Kate gifs worth watching on a loop:
  • Pride & Prejudice and Emma parallels via yennefer-nazyalensky.tumblr.com
  • Kanthony bickering via everylastlinex.tumblr.com 
  • Angsty Anthony via brettsiexcasey.tumblr.com
  • Kate & Anthony’s super sexy first love scene via thatonekimgirl.tumblr.com
  • Irresistible Jonny Bailey via everylastlinex.tumblr.com
• Fan videos you’ll love:
  • “War of hearts | Kate and Anthony” by Juli Grisel
  • “Kate and Anthony | Dancing On My Own” by TeamHodgins

Fans of surprisingly sexy crime dramas like Good Girls and Good Behavior shouldn’t miss Fox’s under-the-radar series The Cleaning Lady. Starring Elodie Yung (a.k.a. Elektra in Daredevil) as Thony, a mom who will risk everything to save her gravely ill son, and the criminally handsome Adan Canto as a mob boss named Arman, The Cleaning Lady really shouldn’t be romantic. So why can’t Heather stop wishing for Thony and Arman to leave their lovers and rule the criminal underworld together? And does she stand any chance of getting Jenn to give the show (and the Armony ship) a go?

Gifs referenced in the episode by timestamp:

• 11:02 - Armony scenes from the pilot via mymostimaginaryfriend.tumblr.com
• 38:55 - Thony and Arman being codependent gif set via whatarush.tumblr.com
• 49:51 - Thony confessing she stole her son’s medical files gifs via nat111love.tumblr.com.tumblr
• 52:09 - Arman and Thony almost kissing scene via nat111love.tumblr.com.tumblr

Abbott Elementary had the buzziest debut for a comedy in recent memory, winning viewers over with its charming documentary-style depiction of staff working at an elementary school in Philadelphia. But what captured our attention was the obvious chemistry between two teachers, bubbly Janine and a stoic new substitute teacher named Gregory. Jennifer educates Heather on their appeal and why she should head back to school for this grumpy/sunshine duo.

Gifsets and videos referenced in this episode by timestamp:

• 14:30 - Gif #1: Jim/Pam and Janine/Gregory parallels
• 23:50 - Gif #2 - “I don’t want someone to wait to get to it” highlights from episode 2.
• 28:56 - Gif #3 - Gregory after convo with his dad
• 38:15: Editor’s Note: Abbott Elementary is returning for Season 2!

Perfect for fans of The Office and The Good Place, the Amazon Prime TV series Upload features a perfect mix of laugh-out-loud comedy, scathing satire, and surprisingly sweet romance. Heather’s prepared to use Jennifer’s fondness for comedies to get her invested in the relationship between Nathan, an app developer starting his afterlife in a virtual heaven called Lakeview, and Nora, the “angel” who is charged with helping him adapt to his strange new reality. Could Nathan and Nora be the next Jim and Pam?

Trigger warning: References to suicide

Gif sets and videos referenced in the episode, by timestamp:

• 19:58 - Gif #1: Nathan dances with his niece via Tumblr
• 35:47 - Gif #2 - Nora dancing via Tumblr
  • Correction: My bad, this may not be the “Uptown Funk” scene after all. But it’s still cute!!!
• 40:58 - Gif #3 - Nora checks Nathan’s “responsiveness” via Tumblr
• 45:44 - Gif #4 - Nathan and Nora under the stars via Tumblr
• 55:10 - Fanvid recommendation via YouTube 

The fantasy romance novel Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher blew Jennifer away when she first read it, and now she recommends it to everyone…except for Heather, apparently! Paladin’s Grace introduces us to Stephen, a paladin who’s struggling to find a new purpose until the day a tempting woman runs into his arms and shakes up his world. Can a fake makeout solve all their problems? Survey says: Yes!

Trigger warnings: View a list of trigger warnings for the Saint of Steel series via BookTriggerWarnings.com or on T. Kingfisher’s website via redwombatstudio.com

Articles and shows referenced in the episode, by timestamp:

• 00:00 - Learn more about Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher on Goodreads or the author’s website.
• 52:00 - The K-drama Heather refers to here is technically titled Guardian: The Great and Lonely God, but really is most commonly known as Goblin.

When Jessie met Tom, she thought he was an average guy, but after a one-night stand, Jessie realizes he’s a leading man of Hollywood. With these Notting Hill vibes, Heather is sure she can persuade Jennifer to cast Starstruck’s Jessie and Tom as her new favorite rom-com pairing. The biggest obstacle is Jennifer’s aversion to the celebrity trope in romance novels. Does this charming British television series have a shot of winning her over?

Gifsets, videos, and interviews mentioned by timestamp:

• 22:50 - The morning after gifset via holly-mckenzie.tumblr.com 
• 31:00 - “You do know I’m an adult man, don’t you?” gifset via loisfreakinglane.tumblr.com
• 31:00 - Commentary on the “You know I’m an adult man” scene via TikTok
• Cute moments from Season 1 gifset via miithridatism.tumblr.com (lots of spoilers for season 1, obviously!)
• 44:00 - Fun interviews with Rose Matafeo in “Rose Matafeo is Weirder Than You Think” (via The Cut) and “Starstruck Creator Wrote the Romantic Comedy She Wanted to See” (via W Magazine)

 It’s the end of the world as we know it, but Lanaeve shippers are doing just fine. Jennifer is ALL IN on Amazon Prime’s TV adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series Wheel of Time. While the show’s plot focuses on discovering the Dragon Reborn, Jennifer only has eyes for Warder Lan Mandragoran and his reluctant ally, Nynaeve al’Meara. She feels confident she can win Heather over with this frenemies-to-lovers pairing, especially since their meet-cute involves a sexy sword fight!

Videos and gifsets mentioned in the episode (by timestamp):

• 42:06: “Love at first knife fight” by christophernolan.tumblr.com
• 48:02: Lan and Nynaeve Episode 3 highlights by wheeloftimecentral.tumblr.com/
• 51:05: Nynaeve X Lan Mandragoran Fan video by Wild Love
• 72:48: “What did you think I was” by christophernolan.tumblr.com
• 77:23: Lan holding Nynaeve’s hand dragging Nynaeve to safety by wisdomnynaeve.tumblr.com
• 83:55: Nynaeve’s Powers by SETclips
• 86:55: Mulan meme by bi-avendha.tumblr.com

Nancy’s steadily growing feelings for her friend and fellow amateur detective Ace has been one of the best parts of the CW’s Nancy Drew TV series. Can Heather use some of Nancy and Ace’s top moments to convince Jenn to pick up where she left off with the show and join the ranks of Nace Nation?

Gifs mentioned in the episode (by timestamp):

• 39:08 - nace + touch gifset via nacesource.tumblr.com 
• 45:53 - Ace and Nancy lock eyes in front of George gifset via chris-hargreeves.tumblr.com (season 3 spoilers)
• 65:33 - Nancy dreaming about Ace gifset via hangman-page.tumblr.com (season 3 spoilers)

Fan video recommendations:

• Nancy & Ace • Lookalike (+2x18) by witchdaughter
• nancy & ace | agape by Kaitie M (season 2 spoilers)
• Nancy & Ace | New York by TeamHodgins (season 3 spoilers)
• Nancy & Ace | For Me, It’s You by Team Hodgins (season 3 finale spoilers)

When Jenn walked into the theater to see Marvel’s The Eternals, she fully expected to be rooting for one couple, but when she walked out, she was committed to the scene-stealing Druig and Makkari instead. Now she’s going to do everything in her power to talk Heather into joining her on the Good Ship Drukkari…unless she already has?!

Videos mentioned in the episode (by timestamp):

• 22:30: TikTok video: Every Time Druig calls Makkari "Beautiful Makkari" (source: koodruig)
• 37:45: Fan video: "Druig and Makkari: rewrite the stars | drukkari ♥ eternals edit" (source: 
  manikas-whims)
• 44:11: TikTok video: Barry Keoghan and Lauren Ridloff leaning into the fandom (source: jstoobs)

It’s the moment of truth: How many of the TV show & book recommendations from Season 2 did Jenn and Heather *actually* take? Do they now share a few more OTPs, or nah? Find out in this Ship Tease bonus episode.

Fandoms and Relationships discussed in the episode (by time stamp)

• 02:40 - Recommendation #1: Simon/Daphne in Netflix's historical drama series Bridgerton
• 07:35 - Recommendation #2: Lara Jean/Peter K. in Jenny Han's YA book trilogy To All the Boys I've Loved Before
• 17:25 - Recommendation #3: Nick/Jess in Fox's comedy series New Girl
• 21:40 - Jenn's New Girl shipper guide
• 21:55 - Recommendation #4: Se-ri/Jeong-hyeok in Netflix's Korean drama Crash Landing on You
• 27:55 - Recommendation #5: Callum/Rayla in Netflix's animated series Dragon Prince
• 32:30 - Recommendation #6: Anne/Gilbert in Netflix's YA drama Anne with an E
• 37:30 - Recommendation #7: Wanda/Vision in the Disney+ superhero drama WandaVision
• 46:20 - Recommendation #8: Nikolai/Zoya in Leigh Bardugo's Nikolai duology, part of the YA fantasy Shadow & Bone universe
• 54:05 - Recommendation #9: Emily/Simon in Jen Deluca's contemporary romance novel Well Met
• 59:50 - Recommendation #10: Georgia/Joe in Netflix's mother-daughter drama series Ginny and Georgia
• 70:00 - Recommendation #11: Beth/Rip in Paramount Network's contemporary western drama Yellowstone
• 71:30 - Recommendation #12: Ben/Devi AND Paxton/Devi in Netflix's teen dramedy Never Have I Ever
• 76:15 - Recommendation #13: Guzmán/Nadia in the Spanish-language teen soap Elite
• 83:30 - Recommendation #14: Dick/Kory in HBO Max's gritty superhero drama Titans
• 92:30 - Surprise discussion of Normal People and Connell/Marianne 

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We’ll see you soon for Season 3!