The rom-com

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* Lore/references

Lars and Alexis, on earlier and since deleted episodes,were creating **a romantic comedy story for the podcast**. It seemed to be a bit, but the lines were quite blurry.

The rom-com is a good example of the show's early plans for metafictional plot and character development, mixing truth and fiction in a non-obvious blend.

## Early history

The rom-com began in the original fourth episode, in which Alexis pondered on the idea of a cute movie where Lars is creating the podcast and inviting her on as a ruse to get her to fall in love with him. Lars could be heard in the background, jokingly whispering, "Oh shit, she figured it out". The implications of this concept were amusing to them, and they decided to run with it.

Later on in the episode, Lars seemed to be feeling Alexis out in terms of how much she can be "bought" for, asking her how much money would be required in payment for her to do a gross job.

On a later episode, Alexis complimented Lars on his ability to help her keep things in perspective. They also read some texts they had sent each other on air, establishing that Alexis refers to Lars as "Papi" in texts. She got audibly flustered when Lars mentioned the idea of her showering naked.

As of an even later episode, The Redemption of Megan Phelps, the two were openly referring to each other as "babe" and acting as though they are dating.

At one point in the episode, Alexis sent Lars a picture of herself making a "serious" face and, later on in the episode, he admitted he had gotten distracted by staring at it.

In a later episode, Alexis sent Lars another picture of herself to "give him a choice" for his home or lock screen, stating that a lot of people have their girlfriends on their background, and that it wouldn't be weird if she had him as her background.

When Joe asked Alexis if she and Lars were "an item" later in the episode, she responded, "We're evolving. Let's leave it at that."

Also later on in the episode, Lars got disconnected. When Joe noted that it was just him and Alexis, she seemed to get concerned that Lars would be jealous. Lars stated that he isn't the jealous type.

As of a later update, a photo of Alexis is on Lars's smartphone lock screen. The two seemed to be appearing in quite a bit of photos together as well.

In one of the final deleted episodes, almost every sentence between the two was laced with sexual tension and they both alluded to some mystery night between the two of them.

## The night Alexis did something with Lars

*See the entry for the night Alexis did something with Lars.*

## Era of radio silence

From September 2018 to January 2019, Alexis did not appear on the podcast. Lars and Joe made occasional references to her absence as a matter of an overwhelming schedule and stated that she was welcome back any time. During this era, no one spoke of the rom-com.

## Breakup and possible reconciliation

On an episode in January 2019, Alexis alluded to a breakup between the two, though her tone seemed very tongue-in-cheek. Lars apparently sent her a "love message" on Discord during the episode, and she stated that she still had strong feelings for him.

## Joe's rom-com?

Throughout the early episodes, Lars and Joe discussed whether Joe should have a "romantic partner" on the show. This plot thread was seemingly abandoned once the program shifted toward a talk show format.

1. ↑ https://audioboom.com/posts/6970691-the-redemption-of-megan-phelps