THIRST AID KIT | S4E05 | STERN MEN & POWER FEMMES
The thesaurus is filled with options for ‘stern’. Here are some of our faves: Buttoned Up. Taciturn. No-Nonsense.
What these excellent options do not convey is just how hot that shit is. Well, we’re here to help on that front. Big difference this week, we recruited a special guest (our first since we moved to Slate Podcasts): writer, benevolent internet queen of Twitter threads and delight and genteel bisexual lady Nicole Cliffe!
Nicole joined us to discuss her many thirsts, both real and fictional. We started with her formative crush on Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully on The X Files — an accomplished and rational woman with a fine line in side eye in a field of mediocre to ‘fine, I guess’ men was all it took for Nicole (and a generation of young women) to fall deep in crush/love).
We carried on Nicole’s thirst path until we reached the door of Mindhunter’s Bill Tench, who Nicole declared is the type of man who never has to swipe his MetroCard twice (”it’s in the wrist” 👀). Bill’s mix of rugged toughness and unfashionable empathy and humanity is the catnip our soul best responds to. It’s p o t e n t.
We also made a stop at the door of stoic-but-filled-with-rage KGB agent Ilya Kuryakin (played by Armie Hammer) in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The thing about Illya is that he’s a super spy who definitely has rage issues but like, he also has this thing where he looks at Gaby like she can fell him with just her pinkie and you know what? WHEW, WE LIKE THAT SHIT.
Last but not least, we explored the flinty charm of 1920s-but-y’know-modern Detective Inspector Jack Robinson from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Phryne lives inside the last bubble of his patience but she also occupies every chamber of his heart and watching that push-and-pull play across his face is something we are very drawn to, as you could tell by our sighs.
SIGH.
This week’s Fanfic Wars allowed us to really dig deep into our caretaking tendencies, and the results are pretty close to masterpieces, if we do say so ourselves. We also reached into our inbox to read one of our thirst-buckets’ drabble submissions and the fluff proved too great for our hearts.
You can listen to the whole (bumper) episode RIGHT HERE (more ways to listen are listed below).
SOME STUFF TO WATCH AND READ, IF YOU LIKE!
- Here’s Illya talking fashion
- Relive that X Files 90s energy with good old Catatonia
- Bill Tench is a heartthrob, and Holt McCallany is flattered, you guys!
- OMG, Jack! 😍
TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW
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We’re on Twitter at @bimadew and @tnwhiskeywoman; the show is on Twitter at @thirstaidkit. Nicole Cliffe is @Nicole_Cliffe. Send us your (short! please!) drabbles at [email protected]. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, please, because we’re asking nicely and we were told politeness counts? Thanks!
So much thirst, so little time… See you soon!