Free the Squee
Hosted by Stacy Watnick and Heather Berberet
Do you like to peel back the obvious and examine all the layers of your favorite characters and stories from all types of media? So do we! Join us, Drs. Stacy Watnick and Heather Berberet, a couple of nerdy, queer psychologists, as we put all things pop culture on the therapy couch, explore the joy of storytelling and Free The Squee! Dropping whenever we get a a free hour in our schedules.
19 We Have To Talk; It’s Burning In My Soul!
Hello fellow nerds! Welcome to our 19th Episode. Join Heather and Stacy as we debrief two big conventions: San Diego Comic Con and World Con. We chat panels, artists, authors and all the things about fandom conventions that bring the squee. Want to hear about the upcoming Vampire Lestat season from AMC’s Immortal Universe, a BBC Doctor Who activation, or the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art? It’s all here. Then, it’s time to talk Demon Hunters…the K-Pop kind. Hang out with us for an episode where fans interact with creators, media brings joy, and fandom really can seal the Honmoon!
Previous Episodes
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July 21, 2025 Reality TV, Summer and Comic-Con18 One Third Content, Two Thirds Reaction Shots
Hey fellow nerds!! Welcome to Episode 18, our summer episode! We dish on what is real (or not!) in reality tv (think: The Ultimatum, The World’s Toughest Race, Naked Attraction) and talk about all the things we’re excited about for summertime! Comic Con, anyone?? Head to the Drive-In with Heather, take a dip in our TBR pool (on your seating of choice!), and chat Bechdel, Eames and Moms Who Write. Check out our Instagram at free_the_squee_podcast for more content and join The Incomparable Membership program to chat with us on Discord! Happy summer, nerds!
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May 25, 2025 Bluey, Broken Ankles, Andor and Indescribable Books
17 That’s Emotional. Did You Have Snacks?
Welcome to Episode 17, fellow nerds! Stacy broke her ankle, so we’re talking about injuries and how to help…or not! Heather and Stacy have a May The Fourth chat, discuss a list of books that are impossible to describe, and share all the feels of watching Bluey. If you’d like to self-reflect, pick up a new book, parent or be reparented, this is the episode for you!
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April 2, 2025 Frazier, Wendy, Katy, Tom and Muad’Dib (oh my!)
16 Kyle MacLachlan Under the Christmas Tree
It’s Squee time again! Join us for an episode jam packed with joy. We’ll walk you through our adventures at the 35th Gallifrey One Convention, including our interviews with classic Who companions Frazier Hines, Wendy Padbury and Katy Manning! We get into some personal Dune history for Heather (you won’t believe how close Heather got to Muad’Dib!) and a very brief referendum on Tom Bombadil. There’s a splash of psychology too, listeners, so if you’ve ever wondered what to call it when you word-ramble into the wilderness, take a listen!
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February 11, 2025 Gallifrey One-Here We Come!
15 Gearing Up for Gally
Get ready, fellow nerds! We’re gearing up for Gallifrey One with a mini-episode! Heather and Stacy are brimming with Squee for this year’s convention. We’ll be interviewing companions, bringing valentines and stickers…and Stacy is SO READY for ribbons! Hear all the details in our pre-Gally episode!
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January 31, 2025 Nerd Swag, Nerd Food, Nerd Shows (Bad Sisters and Silo)
14 What’s In The Box?!?
FTS offers another “first”- this time a live unboxing version of Tell and Tell. It might be bigger on the inside…We tempt and tease each other with our current favorite TV (Bad Sisters and Silo), and take a trip into Tangent Town to discuss our culturage heritage when we’re supposed to be discussing nerd food. Please note: The wildly divergent content of this episode and our inability to stay on topic in no way reflects how our brains work.
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December 18, 2024 FTS backstory, face hugging aliens, and staying grounded
13 Nice and Close with Our Face Huggers
Welcome to our 13th episode! We dish about how we got here (from podcast engagement to podcast marriage) and thank some folks who helped us along the way. We had a celebrity sighting and perhaps a bit too much familiarity with ALIEN: Romulus swag from the Comic Con 2024 panel. Heather brings a serious and timely topic to the pod - how to use your senses to stay grounded when things feel really big and scary. Join us for some solid squee and some solid psychology.
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October 19, 2024 X-Men, The Irrational, and Comic-Con 2024
12 Science, Psychology and Mutants
It’s our 1st anniversary, the spawn have launched and the Squee is back! We packed so much into this episode! Stacy and Heather talk all things X-Men, from the 90s animated show to the films to voice talent in the new X-Men 97 series. Heather loves on and laughs at Jesse Martin’s new show, The Irrational, and we Squee our way through the highlights of Comic Con 2024. But wait, there’s more! Our Books on Tape Segment is back, with trans teens and gothic horror (we talk WITCHES friends), and a Middle Eastern pirate mom! There’s so much to love in media right now, come find your Squee with us!
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July 23, 2024 Bridgerton, Billie Eilish & Doctor Who, Oh My!
11 Yeah Right, Vogue Contacted You
Get ready Squee Fans, we’ve got a lot of happy ground to cover! Heather and Stacy get into Bridgerton (sex and costumes!), queer women’s voices, like Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan, and then bring it all together for our favorite episode of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor thus far…ROGUE! In fact, we’ve got a wee timey-wimey adventure of our own right in the episode. There is so much squee, we recommend listening alllll the way to the end of the episode. ;)
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May 31, 2024 Dishing about Black Sails and Long John Silver (It’s a love-hate situationship)
10 I’m Chewing Glass About It
Arrgh Fellow Nerds, it be pirate time! ðŸ´â€â˜ ï¸ Join us for a special mini episode, where Heather, Stacy and our magical guest Mikayla (aka Younger Spawn) dish the tea on the pirate drama Black Sails. Newly on Netflix, this Starz original show was billed as a gritty prequel to Treasure Island, but it is So. Much. More! Join us as we talk character arcs, queer narratives and Squee quite loudly over Long John Silver.
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April 29, 2024 Cowboy Carter, first times, and embracing the joy of fandom.
9 Permission to Squee (Especially in Sweden)
Strap in, friends! We’ve got so much to talk about this month, including Cowboy Carter, embracing our fandom selves — past and present, revisiting the 80’s, Heather’s first in the wild fan encounter, and Stacy’s first-time guesting on another podcast. (We’re a poly podcast.) Mostly, we’ve got a lot of squeeing going on.