Rom-Com Detectives

Overview: Crystal, Tara, and Karin introduce themselves and preview what's to come on Rom-Com Detectives.

Episode Timestamps
0:03 Introductions
00:10 How the Detectives Met
00:14 Show Concepts and Segments

Hosted by: Crystal Watanabe, Tara Avery, and Karin Lubbers
Mentalist Unit: Crystal & Karin
Lucifer Unit: Crystal & Tara
https://www.romcomdetectives.com/

Email the detectives at hosts@romcomdetectives.com
Leave us a voicemail at 1-650-733-XOXO (9696)

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Creators and Guests

Host
Crystal Watanabe
Fiction editor, owner of Pikko's House, SimpleMarkup webcomic writer, author of Yum-Yum Bento Box, yarn dragon, cohost of the Silo podcast Wires From the Deep. Born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii. Mom to 3 in Honolulu. šŸ¤™
Host
Karin Lubbers
Karin is an aspiring author, knitter, sewist, bass player, and puzzler. She lives in the Midwest USA with her husband and three kids. An avid watcher of murder shows, sci-fi, and the occasional sitcom, she believes the best stories are the ones that make you laugh before they make you cry.
Host
Tara Avery
Tara is a writer, editor, and coach with a background in theatre and being a giant nerd.

What is Rom-Com Detectives?

Co-hosts Crystal, Tara, Karin, and Neoshia break down and react to romantic comedy police procedurals. Currently watching: The Mentalist, Lucifer, and Castle.

Crystal:

Hi. I'm Crystal.

Tara:

I'm Tara.

Karin:

And I'm Karin.

Tara:

And we're the RomCom Detectives.

Crystal:

Welcome to our first episode of Rom-Com Detectives. Today is just a quick episode to introduce ourselves and our podcast concept. We're basically gonna be a podcast focusing on episode breakdowns and ship discussions in romantic comedy police procedurals. Rom-coms have a very long history in cinema, but in the last few decades, crime shows that had a romantic comedy been to them really became a thing, particularly the detective consultant dynamic. And a lot of shows fall under this umbrella that follow the basic rom-com format of will they, won't they, and there's supporting characters that encourage them. There's a foil in their getting together, like, other relationships with other people. And these shows often showcase a very long, sometimes painful. Right?

Tara:

Agonizingly...

Crystal:

Slow burn before they actually become a couple. And you can argue that this started with the comedic elements of the X-Files, the show that originated the term ship or shippers. Right?

Tara:

Yep.

Crystal:

And from there, there were shows like Castle, Bones, The Mentalist, Lucifer, White Collar, NCIS. Currently, there's The Rookie, and then there was Psych and Chuck, which are more comedy bent, but still, like, police procedural kind of thing. But, yeah, all these shows were very successful, and that's what the basis of our podcast is gonna be. In the streaming age, these shows often become what people now call comfort shows, and they watch them over and over. I mean, I know I do that, so...

Tara:

And over and over and over.

Crystal:

And we kinda become students of it. Right?

Tara:

Yeah. We gotta keep making it interesting.

Crystal:

Yeah. But so Rom-Com Detectives was originally gonna be just me and Tara, and we were gonna start by focusing on Lucifer. But then it started to become an issue in my mind that we'd essentially be focusing on a single show for theoretically years before moving on to another rom-com procedural, and I don't know, that just didn't really sit well with me. And then it finally came to me that the show could cover more than one at a time with different partner duos, allowing the show to cover more while staying true to the theme.

Crystal:

So what's gonna happen is I'm gonna cohost a Lucifer rewatch slash discussion string of episodes with Tara, and then I will also cohost a Mentalist line of episodes with Karin. We may add more rom-com detectives later down the line, but for now, we're starting with the three of us, and then we'll maybe occasionally bring on what what we're gonna call rom-com consultants because you can't have a rom-com show without ...

Tara:

ItĀ fitsĀ theĀ theme.Ā 

Crystal:

Yeah! You need to have rom-com consultants, right? But yeah. So the first order of business is to give you all a bit of background on each of us. My name is Crystal Watanabe. Professionally, I'm a self-employed fiction editor. And as a hobby, I work in fan spaces. I used to run the fansites Jabberjays.net and EnderWiggin.net. I've actually been podcasting since 2007, starting with a Final Fantasy XI podcast called The Mog House, and that's actually where I got my online nickname that I've carried with me for almost twenty years now or Pikko. Yeah. That was my Final Fantasy XI character.

Crystal:

I co-hosted the podcast Endercast, which was about Ender's Game, the film adaptation, and Jabbercast, which covers The Hunger Games books and movies, and Wires from the Deep, a podcast about the Apple TV show, Silo, which they're currently filming season three. But yeah. So we're off season on that show right now. And all this to say that I'm a very passionate fan. And my previous podcasts have mostly been in dystopian worlds, and I have a lot of mom humor to get out of my system. So I really wanted to do a podcast where I can touch upon shows that have comedic aspects to them and just have a, you know, just like a generally lighthearted conversation with people, so...

Tara:

We all need to laugh.

Crystal:

Yes. We do. Especially now.

Tara:

Especially now.

Crystal:

Alright. So let's move on to Tara.

Tara:

Alright. Hi. I'm Tara. I am new to podcasting because I'm that weirdo who actually never listens to podcasts, because the people never talk fast enough for me. Yeah. And, but I am, however, not at all a newbie when it comes to fandom or fandom spaces. I actually go all the way back to the X-Files, which was baby's first fandom in the late nineties, where I was, of course, invested in Mulder and Scully as all is right and good. And mostly since then, I have been involved as a writer in fandom spaces. So I have many a fanfic to my name. And just to compete with you, Crystal, I have to say I've had my online persona since, like, 1997, and it was a character that I invented in junior high. She was a high queen, which I often forget now, but I'm like, oh, yeah, you've been around for, like, my whole life, which is Tarysande.

Tara:

So yes. As for still active, I guess, fandom spaces, obviously, I was very involved with Lucifer. I have thoughts about this. Also still have a dangling work in progress that haunts me. And my other main still active spaces are video game based, so Dragon Age and Mass Effect, which technically does have a detective in it, so, you know, still on theme. But yeah. And then I've been around for a lot of reading and engaging with other fandoms, but those are the biggies.

Crystal:

Before we started recording, I told the two of them that I wanted us to harness older fangirl energy, and Tara made a joke about how we're ancient fangirls.

Tara:

Yeah. I was there. It's like it's the Gandalf, you know, like, meme that's, I was there, Gandalf. That's I was. I was a child. I looked at people my age and I thought they were on death's door. I don't feel like that any anymore really, which is probably good.

Crystal:

I did see a post on the AO3 Reddit asking people what age they were, and it was really cool to see that people were saying, like, ages from, like, 13 up until, like, post 60. I really like that.

Tara:

And it has always been like that. Like, back in my X-Files days when I was, like, 18, 19, there were people in my sort of, like, friend group that were in their mid thirties, and I learned a ton from them. Like, actually, a big part of why I, too, am an editor is because of the stuff that I started learning then about storytelling and, like, revising. We called it we called it machete beta reading, like, basically attacking things with a machete. And so yeah. I mean, like, I learned so much from these women, and I'm still friends with a ridiculous number of the same people I knew when I was 19, and I am no longer 19. She was a long time ago, 19.

Crystal:

Okay. Let's move on to Karin.

Karin:

Hoo, all right. My name is Karin Lubbers, and I started my first fandom when I was nine years old. I discovered classic Doctor Who, and I'm still active in those communities. And I went to a con recently, still engaging in those spaces and started writing fanfic at an early age. At this point, been watching The Mentalist for about eleven years. And I have written about 20 fanfics that are on AO3 and fanfic.net because that's where the Mentalist fan fics are. Just the truth. It's that old.

Tara:

I've heard that, actually. Like, I have enough overlap in my space that I've heard that there's certain shows that just never really made it past fanfic.net.

Karin:

That's right. There there are a lot on AO3, but if you wanna find the core fics they're on fanfic.net. And there's still a good audience there if you're looking for one. So my fandom name is Nitro9. That's from Doctor Who.

Karin:

It's an, it's a fake explosive, homemade explosive.

Tara:

It's very polite of Doctor Who to keep giving you material. Like, that's nice.

Karin:

It is. They, yep. They keep me busy. And it's still going. I mean, the the show is 60 years old over 60 years old now. So but, yeah. So I've been in the Mentalist spaces for, since 2018, I'd say. And I just joined the Reddit. I'm a little late to that, but I was on Twitter and on Discord.

Crystal:

Yeah. I just wanted to jump in really quick to say that this is actually a really, special week for Mentalist fans because this is, the ten-year anniversary of the series finale. And, like, to to help celebrate that, I'm the moderator on the Mentalist subreddit. And so I put together three AMAs, which are Ask Me Anythings, with three of the cast members. So that's gonna be happening later this week. And so I'm really excited about that. We're gonna get to talk to Owain Yeoman, Tim Kang, and Amanda Righetti. They were the three supporting character agents on the show, so really excited about that. And this will probably be published after those happen, but people would be able to go, like, Google them and go read back on their answers and everything like that. So you won't miss out on anything really, technically. So yeah. So that's something that I'm really looking forward to this week.

Crystal:

How we met slash know each other. Tara and Karin actually just met right now.

Karin:

Hello!

Tara:

We go way back. Like twenty-five minutes.

Crystal:

Super tight. But yeah, I've known Tara for several years now. I met her on Facebook through Facebook groups, basically through mutual bitching.

Tara:

Yep.

Crystal:

We would see, like, Facebook conversations, and we would be replying in the same threads, and we'd be like, eventually one of us messaged the other, and we're like, can you believe this? And just, like, gossiping, right, in the background?

Tara:

As all good friendships begin, really, let's take this to a private tea spilling session.

Crystal:

Exactly. But, yeah, we really got along in that in that area. So afterwards, after all that, I found out that if there was some kind of, like, PhD program in Lucifer, Tara would enroll right now.

Tara:

I would. I've already written many theses.

Crystal:

And I was very excited because I found the show after, after I met her and I was really into it. I watched it, like, I think I watched all six seasons in six days, and then I watched it again, and then I watched it again. I was really into it for a while. And so, yeah, she...

Tara:

Some would say you pulled a Lucifer watching Bones, only you did it with Lucifer.

Crystal:

Yeah. Well, I mean, I did watch Bones right after Lucifer just because it's Lucifer's favorite show. So, but, yeah, that's how I met Tara. And I how did I meet you, Karin? I think I met you on the Mentalist Bullpen Discord server that I created. Right?

Karin:

We met before you created that server.

Crystal:

Oh, okay.

Karin:

The first one you joined.

Crystal:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. There's another one. Yeah. That's right. But yeah. So I was in awe at how deep your fandom for for the Mentalist goes. And so, when I came up with this idea, I was like, I oh, if I do this with, like, multiple shows, then I need someone who's, like, even more hardcore Mentalist than I am. And, oh my god, it was definitely you. So that's, that's how we arrived here.

Tara:

But do they knit blankets?

Crystal:

Oh, yeah.

Tara:

Or is that just Crystal?

Karin:

I do knit, but my Mentalist project was it was a big washcloth with a pigeon on it so you can hide the pigeon in your pocket, which is an important plot point for the Red John.

Crystal:

Yeah. So I get some of my fandom energy out of knitting blankets for shows. I have I started with a Lucifer one, which was just a Lucifer gold letters from the the intro music. And then after that, I did a shadow knit blanket of Silo where, like, if you look at it from the side, it just looks like stripes. But if you look at it from the front, it has, like, words that appear, like, out of magic.

Crystal:

And I don't have that one anymore because the author of the book series' wife contacted me, and she asked to buy it. And I sold it to her, so now the author of the books owns it, which is something really cool to say to talk about. Right? And then I just recently, this past week, finished my Mentalist one, which is just, the silhouette of Patrick Jane in the intro of the intro music. So that was my biggest one yet. It was 275,000 stitches. It was crazy. It took me six months.

Tara:

That's... I sometimes knit small squares. It's about as, I once knit a Mass Effect themed scarf though, and it took me an embarrassing number of years to finish it. So, yeah. Yeah. Blankets. Every time you knit something, I'm like, how do you do it?

Crystal:

While watching my favorite comfort shows, of course.

Tara:

It's amazing.

Crystal:

But yeah. So, we're gonna have slightly different concepts and segments for the two different sections of the shows we're of this show that we're gonna have. So, like, for example, for Lucifer, we're gonna have a segment called The Good, the Bad, and the Crispy where we go over the good parts, the bad parts, and the extra well done parts of the episode. And for those of you who don't know, that is just an episode title from, what, season two, three?

Tara:

Good question.

Crystal:

Uh-oh.

Tara:

That...

Crystal:

We're fired.

Tara:

We're fired.

Crystal:

Show's over.

Tara:

The problem with watching all the shows, you know, in many times and as one long five season.

Crystal:

Wait, hmm, five?

Tara:

Yeah. Yeah.

Crystal:

What

Tara:

There were only five. Right? There were only five seasons.

Crystal:

What happened to the sixth season, Tara?

Tara:

We're not there yet. We'll I'll save that. We'll save that for later.

Crystal:

We're gonna have to have therapy before we broach that.

Crystal:

Yeah. We don't need to get into this. We don't need to start you guys then. Yeah. I feel like, that one, it they all blur together

Crystal:

Yeah.

Tara:

At least the first few seasons.

Crystal:

But, yeah, we'll probably do case briefings because all of these shows are based around murders, basically. So we'll talk about, like, the quality of the case, things that we'd liked, whether how easy it was to guess the killer, that kind of thing. And then for Mentalist, we'll probably do cold readings and hot readings. Cold readings is basically just reactions on the surface, and then hot readings would be, like, things based or discussions based on background research and things like that. Spoiler policy, since both Lucifer and The Mentalist are shows that aired a long time ago, the assumption will be that you're listening to the episode having already seen the entire show.

Crystal:

So we may discuss future episodes or future plot points, but we'll still try to keep the major things unspoiled until we get to them. Yeah. That's basically it.

Tara:

It'll be fun.

Crystal:

So that's it for our first episode. We're gonna put this up, and then we'll start telling people about it. And then we'll record our first episode separately, and then, we'll publish those. And if you're listening and you've only watched one or the other show or whatever, you can just choose which ones to listen to, or you can listen to all of them. But we'll probably alternate as things come out. But if that sounds like something that you'll enjoy, be sure to check us out when we when we officially launch.

Crystal:

Thank you.

Tara:

Bye.

Karin:

Bye.

Crystal:

See you soon. This episode of Rom-Com Detectives was recorded on 02/16/2025. Rom-Com Detectives is co-hosted by Crystal Watanabe, Tara Avery, and Karin Lubbers, and is produced by Pikko's House.

Tara:

Produced by Crystal who has more energy than anyone I've ever met before.