This week on Episode Epiphanies, Natasha makes Jessica watch Cowboy Bebop, a noir-style anime that... well, it's a noir. That's it. That's the show. That's this episode. It's a noir. We discuss how much Jessica dislikes noirs, how they are definitely not cowboys, and then we probably spend way too long mourning when cigarettes were cool. There is just no inanimate object that can equal cigarettes in symbolic weight. If you've got an alternate, please let us know. Because we are struggling writer...
Jun 14, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 41
This week, Jessica makes Natasha watch Reboot, a Hulu show about rebooting an old sitcom. We discuss the cast of characters, the confusing concept of their fake show, the high drama of this show's "dark secret", and all the people who are (and who we wish were) queer. If this show miraculously does get a season two, boy do we have a lot of plot lines for them to add in. Just hire us as the new writers. Will Natasha love this reboot or boot it out the door? You'll have to listen to find out. Foll...
May 28, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 40
This week, Natasha makes Jessica watch the two-part pilot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a reboot of the 80s cartoon She-Ra which itself is a spin-off of He-Man. Listen as we make just the stupidest possible joke about the She-Ra and He-Man names, absolutely gush with affection over our sweet, sweet boy Bow with his little crop top, and discuss the massively complicated plot of this show. Will Jessica succumb to Bow's beauty and charm? Or will she resist the urge to watch all of this sho...
May 14, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 39
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Jessica makes Natasha watch Ally McBeal, a law show that is largely just about one failed childhood romance. We discuss how obsessed Ally is with Billy even though he's just a guy, the good and bad ways that the pilot episode deals with sexual harassment, and just how much we love Richard Fish. Our discussion leads to the differences between losing actors in live-action versus in cartoons and how Ally McBeal and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend actually share a lot of similar...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 38
In this week's episode, Natasha makes Jessica watch One Piece, an anime about pirates and rubber people. We discuss the very, very long history of this show (it aired in the 90s and it is still on), all the different powers that a devil fruit can give you (including some we just made up ourselves), and how we needed to give this pilot episode a lot of slack due to when it aired (although I could write an entire essay on how Alvida is portrayed in this episode and how it's super interesting to se...
Apr 14, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 37
This week on Episode Epiphanies, we do a very special guest episode with Natasha's roommate Lenni! Lenni makes us both watch Black Sails, a pirate drama about a lot of pirates who do pirate things and also fall in the water. Natasha summarizes the first half and Jessica summarizes the end, touching on the treatment of women in this show, how clean these pirates are, and Captain Vane. Oh, Captain Vane. I'm sorry Captain Vane, you deserved better from me personally but also... fucking Jody, man. W...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 36
This week, we're back with even more Mo Dao Zu Shi and we are discussing... well... mostly Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji banging. I'm sure we must have talked about something else. Like. There just had to be something else happening in the extra 35 minutes that is this part two, right? For example, uhhh... we talk about Wei Wuxian's brother, I think, and Lan Wangji might also have a brother in there somewhere and there's a ghost general, that happens... but mostly this episode is filth. We are filth...
Mar 14, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 35
This week, Natasha forces Jessica to watch Mo Dao Zu Shi, a Chinese show about two gay crime detectives who chase ghosts (that sounds right, that's probably right). We discuss just how dang fast you need to be able to read to keep up with the subtitles on this show, how absolutely gorgeous the animation is, and how difficult it must be to watch any media where you do not know the established tropes and myths of that culture. All of that probably sounds great and philosophical. But that's not us....
Feb 28, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 35
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Jessica forces Natasha to watch the iconic Netflix stalker-drama, You. (Aka the hardest show in all of existence to tell someone you are watching.) This leads to many fruitful discussions such as how Natasha hates every single character in this show and how the tone is just all over the fucking place and how we don't really know whose side we're supposed to be on. Jessica does her best to convince Natasha that the Point of this show is to Hate Everyone, be Confus...
Feb 14, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 34
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Natasha makes Jessica watch The Dragon Prince, a Netflix cartoon about... well. A dragon who is a prince. We discuss the intricacies of being the step-prince, how sword dude whose name I still do not know after editing this episode (certainly Natasha will put his name here if I write this?) just must have a tragic little backstory and my brand new crack ship between a main character and a guy whose name we apparently don't learn for three whole seasons. We ask qu...
Jan 28, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 33
This week, Jessica made Natasha watch the most iconic sitcom of all time, Friends! (Or, if you want to be a real stickler, F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) This episode is full of shocking revelations such as learning that this show is not about Adults Being Adults but about young adults screwing up a lot and revealing that the archetypes the characters embody in the pilot do not match up with the general pop culture idea of who they are. (Like? Joey's hot? Joey??? Yeah. He is. Fight me.) We have a great time ch...
Jan 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 34
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Natasha forces Jessica to watch My Hero Academia, an anime about superheroes. We discuss the problematic way women are portrayed in both anime and superhero comics, and how superhero stories are forced to struggle with the morality of having superheroes enforcing the law. Of course, in between those discussions, we spend a lot of time talking about Deku's crush on Bakugou, Deku's crush on Captain America (oh yeah, All Might? Definitely Captain America), and Deku'...
Dec 28, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 31
This week on Episode Epiphanies, we're kicking off the holiday season by watching Dash & Lily (not Lily & Dash, a kids' cartoon we made up on the spot). Jessica leads Natasha into the wonderous world of TV shows that are just kind of Christmas romcoms broken up into multiple episodes for some reason? Natasha recaps the bookstore scavenger hunt, the early 2000s vibe of a pizza shop that rents out DVDs, and the attack on a Macy's Santa in a quest to retrieve a hat. We get into how pretenti...
Dec 14, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 30
This week, Natasha takes us back to our roots by making Jessica watch The Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. We discuss the political unrest going on in the city, Korra's character and the potential of her arc, and if The Legend of Korra is actually better than Avatar or if Jessica has just gotten used to cartoons in the interim. Such questions arise as: Does this show handle its central conflict well? Is Korra the right protagonist for this story? And are fantasy respons...
Nov 28, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Jessica makes Natasha watch Kevin Can F**k Himself, an AMC drama shot sometimes as a sitcom, sometimes as a drama, and sometimes as a horror movie. We discuss how this show deconstructs the classic sitcom, from rethinking the "nagging wife" archetype to examining the stereotypical sitcom husband. We discuss societal expectations and the pressure that is put on Allison throughout this episode to believe she has a "good life." We nerd out over the set design, the c...
Nov 14, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 28
This week, we're watching Over the Garden Wall, a spooky little cartoon for the spooky Halloween season. We discuss Flowers in the Attic, getting lost in a Canadian Tire, and... other things that actually relate to this show, probably. Look. We hadn't recorded in a long time before this one and you can tell. But that doesn't stop us from discussing the very fun vibes between Wirt and Greg, the magical fairytale fanfic Jessica has written for this spooky show, and the cool little pumpkin cult in ...
Oct 28, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In this week's episode, Jessica makes Natasha watch Faking It, a comedy with the plot of a drama that may or may not be aware that it's making fun of itself. We discuss the concept of this show and whether or not it's offensive (while also arguing why it is So Hard to find this show offensive), have a grand old time laughing at the breakneck pace of this episode, and play some wild guessing games when it comes to Jessica's favourite character and ship. Natasha flips out over the fact that this i...
Oct 14, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 26
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Natasha forces Jessica to watch the iconic anime Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood which is an anime that Natasha has definitely seen before and can defend... probably. Jessica goes into this one thinking it's going to be another heartbreak but this pilot proves to be challenging to all parties as we discuss how not to write a running joke, what the freezing Alchemist is even doing half the time, and if you can possibly retain any of the information this pilot ep...
Sep 28, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This week, Jessica makes Natasha watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a musical dramedy about stalking a guy in small-town California. The recap takes us on an adventure where we talk about the fantastic songs, the maybe-not-so-great jokes, and just how bad Greg's taste in women is. To be entirely fair to him, he admits that he has bad taste in women right there in the episode. We ask questions like: Can you really be obsessed with Josh for four whole seasons? Is Josh really the precious little bean he co...
Sep 14, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 24
This week we're watching Gravity Falls, a mystery and monster-of-the-week-ish cartoon. We discuss... well, Twilight, mostly. And what the proper opposite of "retroactive" is. Also, we're out here asking the important questions, the questions you really care about, such as: What would you do when confronted with five gnomes? How many horrible misogynistic gnomes would you deal with in exchange for eternal life? And just how many gnomes does it take to form one (1) decent and completely normal man...
Aug 28, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 23
This week, we're watching Blindspot, a cop procedural that has no real grasp of science, tattooing, or how to make cops look like the good guys. We discuss the uncomfortable violence and legal violations that seem to define the genre while also noting the things about this show that make it seem like someone, somewhere, must be fucking with us. (Patterson's dad is canonically Bill Nye. He is not played by Bill Nye. He is, in fact, Bill Nye.) Our inability to like Kurt, understand the plot, or st...
Aug 14, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 22
This week, Natasha makes Jessica watch The Legend of Vox Machina which is the cartoon adaptation of the first Critical Role campaign. We dive deep into what works about this adaptation and what doesn't. We discuss what feels too D&D for a TV show, what the medium changes about the story, and how it changes our perception of the characters. We ask questions like: is a dragon really something no one has ever heard of before? Can you really just play a big dog in D&D? (Legitimate question. ...
Jul 28, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 21
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Jessica makes Natasha watch Single Parents, a sitcom about, well... single parents. We're flipping the script today by letting Natasha hurt Jessica's feelings for a change as they drag one of Jessica's comfort comedies for having an (admittedly) messy pilot episode. We discuss the downfall of needing a pilot episode in a sitcom, playing to stereotypes to make quick connections for your audience in a short show, and if you can really make a stranger a Tinder profi...
Jul 14, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 20
This week, we watch Sk8 the Infinity which tests our ability to tell shirtless men apart and Jessica's ability to tell whether or not anime characters are related. We discuss what is happening in the it-just-might-be-queer sports anime genre (which seems to be the only anime genre we watch) and how queer representation is handled in media. The truly insane plot of this show takes us for a wild ride as we try to decipher what happened to Langa's dad, if Shadow burns Reki's skateboard or if that j...
Jun 28, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In this week's episode, we're kicking off Pride month by watching Love, Victor, a very classic teen drama where the main character just happens to be gay. Dive in as we discuss whether or not Victor's sexuality is enough of a hook for this show to separate itself from other teen dramas, how odd and stereotypical the characters come off in the pilot, and how the actual camera work of this show is outing Victor 24/7. In search of our great romance story, we ask: Do Victor and Felix fall in love? I...
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 18
This week on Episode Epiphanies, Natasha makes Jessica watch Invader Zim and we talk about Jessica's one true love -- exposition. Listen to us discuss this little alien fuck-up and his weird dog as we delve deep into what made this show a Hot Topic mainstay, if the tallest are twins or lovers, and how odd it is that cartoons always focus on women's eyelashes when men have much thicker eyelashes. This is just science. And if we're going to give cartoon characters arbitrary gender markers, they sh...
May 28, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In this week's episode, Jessica makes Natasha watch Good Girls, a crime show with the niche subgenre of middle-aged-women-rediscovering-their-sexuality. (Is this an official subgenre? If not, it should be.) We discuss the lovely structure of this pilot episode, the likeability of the main characters, and how much a thong could possibly cost. Natasha once again reinvents the idea of what counts as a spoiler. Jessica recounts her toxic ships from this show but loves them anyway. We both get pretty...
May 14, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 16
In this week's episode, Natasha forces Jessica to watch her very first adult cartoon, The Great North! The two friends discuss the show's humour, how not to parent your child, and why your wedding probably shouldn't be based on Brokeback Mountain. If you're ready to hear Natasha's defeated refrain of "that's fair" (official translation: "you're wrong! but I guess it's subjective...") once again, you're in luck! It's a rough one, folks. But mostly it's a discussion of old childhood cartoons Jessi...
Apr 28, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 15
This week, Jessica forces Natasha to watch Dawson's Creek, a teen drama about seeing a hot girl, thinking a girl is hot, looking at a hot girl, seeing yet another hot girl, looking at that hot girl, maybe... talking to a hot girl? Listen to Natasha recap this episode in which a hot girl comes to town and is looked at while another hot girl (who no one realizes is hot yet) gets upset about the other hot girl and asks a boy about his masturbation habits as a test of their friendship (which is dete...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In this episode, we return to the real roots of our podcast while watching The Hollow, a Netflix cartoon mystery series. Listen to us discuss what makes a puzzle a puzzle, if a typewriter is an old enough piece of technology to warrant the level of explanation that this show lends it, and if any of these characters have any personality at all. Mostly, hear Natasha go from finding Jessica's criticism of this show entertaining and hilarious to finding it discouraging and heartbreaking. Will Jessic...
Mar 28, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 13
