Is it off-screen chemistry, or is it just good marketing? Hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall open with the Brett Goldstein and JLo Office Romance press tour—and what it means when a man manifests his lifelong crush into a co-starring role. Then scholar and author Nisha Sharma joins to talk about her research on dark romance and reproductive coercion, including how the genre’s relationship to consent has shifted alongside the political landscape, and whether dark romance could do better without losing what makes it so compelling. Plus: a listener voicemail sends Sanj and Tyler deep into Off Campus territory.

• Office Romance starring JLo and Brett Goldstein is streaming now on Netflix—clearly we’ll be discussing.
• Nisha Sharma, author of The Letters We Keep, is studying the intersection of law, politics, and culture in romance fiction. Her Substack post on dark romance and reproductive coercion tees up this episode’s conversation.
• A few dark romances for discussion: Lights Out by Navessa Allen, Brynn Weaver and Allie Oleander’s work, and Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
• It’s time for the Off Campus discourse! The correct answer to listener Lacey's question is Dean Di Laurentis.