We’re nothing if not creatures of habit, so it’s only fitting that we cap off Season 2 of Ships Ahoy! by revisiting our most-frequently-discussed cinematic universe (Marvel) and asking our most-frequently-raised question (“Is this a ship?”). The focus here is Bob/Yelena from Thunderbolts* (2025), followed by Johnny/Shalla-Bal from The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

Timestamps:

4:39 - brief SamBucky interlude

6:51 - Bob/Yelena (Thunderbolts*)

55:00 - Johnny/Shalla-Bal (The Fantastic Four: First Steps)

🎥Shownotes:

14:50 - Yelena's first shame room (and waking up beside Bob)

36:30 - Yelena and Bob have a heart-to-heart.

43:30 - The iconic "I'm here" group hug scene.

46:40 - The Collider interview where the director of Thunderbolts* addresses the relationship between Yelena and Bob...

1:46:49 - A wonderful fanfic story that imagines a post-movie conversation between Sue and Johnny.

***Disclaimer: this episode was actually recorded a whopping six months ago(…), and for a handful of frankly nonsensical reasons, we haven’t released it until now… after three out of the four ships have already had their onscreen follow-ups (it’s fine — don’t worry about it 😅). Even though this episode is almost entirely out-of-date, we had a really fun time with it, so we decided to still share it with the world.***

This week, we’re putting our crystal balls to the test as we try predicting the outcome of four (or maybe five…) ships all with follow-up scheduled for sometime in 2025. We’re focusing on Steven and Taylor (The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3), Sam and Bucky (MCU), Steve and Nancy and/or Nancy and Jonathan (Stranger Things Season 5), and Buck and Eddie (9-1-1 Season 8). Admittedly, the last time we made predictions on-air they didn’t work out so well (#sylkiforever), but that hasn’t stopped us from once again hoping for the best (but also expecting the worst).

Timestamps:

0:00 - Steven/Taylor (The Summer I Turned Pretty)

21:21 - Sam/Bucky (Captain America: Brave New World)

49:22 - Steve/Nancy, Nancy/Jonathan (Stranger Things)

1:20:49 - Buck/Eddie (9-1-1)

🎥Shownotes:

18:38 - Steven & Taylor’s romantic dance to Moon River.

24:43 - Jill’s op-ed on the value of SamBucky in the MCU.

31:37 - Bucky visiting Sam in the hospital in Brave New World.

39:01 - An excellent SamBucky fic that presents Bucky’s POV in the aforementioned hospital scene.

57:08 - Jonathan searching for Nancy while she’s trapped in the Upside Down.

1:00:37 - Nancy and Jonathan’s sleepover.

1:02:55 - Nancy’s post-sleepover epiphany.

1:05:15 - Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy killing the Demogorgon.

1:42:03 - Buck offering to sublet Eddie’s house.

As we always say, we're constantly on the lookout for new romantic subplots. In this episode, Christina brings on (her very first!) guest podcaster to discuss the Academy Award-nominated movie, The Wrestler. Join us as we reflect on the budding, but ultimately tragic, romance between Randy and Pam.

🎥Shownotes:

0:00 - The trailer for The Wrestler.

6:10 - The opening scene where you can see the highlights of Randy's career as "The Ram".

14:40 - The final scene between Randy/"The Ram" and Pam.

17:20 - ⁠The moment in the bar⁠ where Randy and Pam first realize that they have feelings for each other.

19:51 - ⁠The heartbreaking ending credits song⁠ (by Bruce Springsteen) that fits perfectly with the theme of the movie.

As this podcast has proven, ships can always be found by those who know where to look, but it would be impossible to cover them all in full. In this episode, Jill and Christina surprise each other with three of their favourite scenes from ships that wouldn't otherwise make it onto the pod (for reasons that will soon become clear).

Timestamps:

4:30 - Jill's first pick: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

16:00 - Christina's first pick: How I Met Your Mother

25:20 - Jill's second pick: Suits

36:53 - Christina's second pick: Scream VI

48:28 - Honourable mentions

1:02:44 - Christina's third pick: All the Light We Cannot See

1:12:44 - Jill's third pick: The Bear

🎥Shownotes:

7:20 - Ricky's adorable love confession to Nini in the HSMTMTS Season 1 finale.

22:08 - Barney's "pretty much everything" scene from HIMYM.

31:18 - The moment Harvey and Donna finally get together in the Season 8 finale of Suits.

44:30 - Tara and Chad's almost-kiss from Scream VI (and here's where they actually kiss).

1:10:40 - Marie-Laure and Werner slow dancing to Clare de Lune in All the Light We Cannot See. For a wholesome interview with the actors about this scene, check this out.

1:23:30 - The infamous SydCarmy table scene from the penultimate episode of Season 2 of The Bear .

1:36:10 - The two-part fanfic series — picking up right where The Bear Season 3 left off — that’s so good Jill considers it 100% canon.

In what has inadvertently become our most frequent category on this podcast, it’s time for another round of the tried-and-true game, “Is this a ship?”, this time featuring ships from two very new releases, so be warned: there are spoilers ahead! We’ll be talking all things Eric/Sam from A Quiet Place: Day One, and diving deep into Kate/Tyler from Twisters.

🎥Shownotes:

24:50 - The article on Fangirlish that perfectly articulates the "unexpected love story" in A Quiet Place: Day One.

33:00 - The tender musical score that plays during Eric's magic trick scene.

42:00 - Lupita Nyong'o's Hot Ones interview. Trust us, it's worth watching.

57:56 - Two articles lamenting the lack of a kiss in Twisters — on comicbook.com and on vulture.com.

1:56:24 - Behind-the-scenes footage of the Kate/Tyler kiss that we were never meant to see, apparently…

1:57:37 - Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung’s thoughts on that missing kiss.

2:13:27 - A wonderful fanfic story that gives Kate and Tyler the romantic resolution they (and we!) deserved.

Confession time — while we know our bread and butter on this podcast is the analysis of romantic subplots, every now and again, we get lucky enough to find a movie where the romance is actually front and center (as it should be, if you ask us). In this episode, we discuss what many would consider to be a dying breed: the romantic main plot, in this case featuring Colt and Jody from 2024’s The Fall Guy.

🎥Shownotes

3:25 - The tweet sharing some breaking news for Peter/Nebula fans.

7:45 - The first official trailer for The Fall Guy.

10:00 - The incredible Yungblud cover of “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” that’s featured in this movie.

1:05:05 - The “Talk From Superheroes” podcast episode dedicated to The Fall Guy that gets into the Sydney Opera House scene.

1:21:36 - Colt and Jody’s phone call on the burning motorboat that’s Jill’s favorite moment in the movie.

1:29:03 - The moment that converted Christina into a bonafide Ryan Gosling stan.

We’re back for another round of "ferry" tale endings, and this time the focus is on the adorable ships in two movies from the summer of 2023 — Elemental (Ember/Wade), and the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (Ariel/Eric). Sometimes a happily ever after is exactly what we’re looking for, okay?

🎥Shownotes

5:32 - The anthem for Wade and Ember, Lauv’s “Steal the Show,” that was written specifically for this movie.

1:20:14 - Ariel’s new song, “For The First Time,” that’s sung entirely in her head as she experiences life on land for, you guessed it, the first time.

1:34:55 - The updated version of how Eric learns Ariel’s name, aka the scene that had Jill blushing like crazy while trying to describe how cute it is.

In a show that’s all about the intricacies of time, the time has finally come for us to talk about Loki and Sylvie in Loki Season 2. As will quickly become clear when listening, though, this episode is a little…different than the rest.

🎥Shownotes:

36:47 - a fantastic rewrite of the ending of Episode 4, told from Sylvie’s perspective.

1:11:45 - an in-depth Twitter thread that offers a more positive interpretation of the portrayal of the Sylki ship in Season 2.

1:21:02 - the article Jill wrote before Season 2 premiered that ultimately turned out to be wishful thinking.