One Person's Trash Is Our Treasure

As Christmas draws nearer, Rachel and Jen celebrate by torturing themselves with a Christmas movie neither of them enjoyed very much at all: Netflix’s A Christmas Prince. Amidst their discussion of scattered plots and poorly executed romance, Rachel has a break down about the implausible politics of the film. In their frustration, the two discuss how they would choose to rewrite the film. Sadly, there still aren’t any aliens.

Rachel and Jen are back just in time for the holiday season! Listen to Jen, a genuine fan of the genre, recount three holiday romance movies she’s watched this year (A Christmas Inheritance, The Holiday Calendar, and Christmas in the Smokies). While Rachel remains in a constant state of horror, they discuss alternative plot points, (un)satisfying romance dynamics, predictable tropes, and Jen’s breakdown over a handsome man.

Rachel ropes Jen into watching a modernized version of their favorite play of all time. While comparing the 80s movie Roxanne to Cyrano de Bergerac (the play on which it was based), they touch on the perceived shallowness of a female lead, villainous behavior, modernized story beats, and 17th century horn-doggedness. As always, spoilers to follow for both the play and the movie.

After years and years of asking and asking, Rachel finally managed to guilt Jen into watching one of her all-time favorite shows: The Legend of the Seeker. Amidst their discussion of the lack of high fantasy television shows, the higher rate of feminist depictions in the fantasy genre vs. sci-fi, as well as the show’s own feminist portrayals, Jen claims several of the show’s characters as her daughters. As always, watch out for that spoiler warning if you haven’t seen the show yet!

With news breaking of a possible Legally Blonde 3, Rachel and Jen discuss the differences between Legally Blonde, and Legally Blonde the Musical. They talk the feminism of both versions, and wander into topics of character development vs relationship development, differing mediums, and the perceived weakness of the color pink.

Jen and Rachel return from their hiatus, and are ready to usher in a new era of peace and chillness with a conversation about one of their all-time favorite books, The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith. They get back into the swing of things by discussing alien romance vs erotic horror, Chekov’s vaccine, alien religion, and #thepatriarchy.

With the release of the Ready Player One movie quickly approaching, Rachel and Jen take a look at media involving video games. They discuss common themes surrounding gaming culture, mmorpgs/virtual reality as a setting, and the “you die in the game, you die for real” trope. This is our last episode before we go on a two month hiatus! We’ll be back on May 21st!

After seeing Annihilation (starring Natalie Portman and directed by Alex Garland) in theaters, Rachel and Jen are left scratching their heads. While Jen discusses the movie’s failings both thematically and within the genre of sci-fi, Rachel attempts to pull an analysis out of what was unfortunately a very vague and confusing resolution to the film. As they struggle to keep up their ruse of being academics, they ask the ultimate question: what was this movie even about? As always, major spoilers ahead!

Unwind from Valentine’s Day with Rachel and Jen as they discuss fictional pairings they find unromantic, and why they feel that way. In doing so, they jump to and from topics including underdeveloped relationships, unlikable heroes, realizing a pairing is toxic, and identical vampire jaws.

February is here, and love is in the air! Jen and Rachel celebrate this most romantic of seasons by discussing things that aren’t intended to be romantic, (whether due to the genre, writers’ intentions, or fact that the characters have never met!) and share their favorite non-canonical, non-romance-genre, and sometimes completely ridiculous ships.