Shipwrecked: How Are Your Favorite Ships Sailing?

There are many reasons people love entertainment--for fun, for escapism and for love.  When times are hard, sometimes watching your favorite show can feel like like a hug your soul needs and the best way to give a stressed mind a break, and a weary heart a reason to soar.  

Right now, everyone needs a proverbial shot of love, so what better way to do it than by checking in with our new and favorite TV ships from shows like Pitch, Empire, The Flash, and more...

Ginny and Mike, Pitch
​
FOX's new breakout hit has everything: the action of MLB baseball, the complicated saga of the first woman pitching in those flawlessly realistic baseball scenes, modern drama and all of the relationship goals.  If you're not reeling from married couple Blip and Evelyn's chemistry of which makes Bill Nye jealous, then you're warming yourselves on the cracking heat emanating from lady pitcher Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury) and aging superstar Mike Lawson (Mark-Paul Gosselaar).  

When these two aren't engaging in the cutest trash-talk on FOX, they dote on, tease, support and motivate each other.  Whether it's late-night conversations, super sexy workout sessions or even dropping everything but the catcher's mitt for an empowering naked photo shoot.  

​Ginny and Mike, a player she actually fangirled over as a teenager, are the definition of an OTP.  They're both lost souls who could find family and solace and fun in each other.  But on a show that's as expertly written as Pitch, I'm relishing in the slow burn.  Everything in their world is so heightened and complicated, it's refreshing that Mike and Ginny are constantly dancing around each other and testing the waters.  There's a kindredness here that could possibly blossom into love, and I relish in every. single. second.  Ship Status: I Will Go Down With This Ship

---

Randall and Beth, This Is Us

NBC's family tearjerker is thankfully filled with swoon-worthy couples, the most steadfast being that of Sterling K. Brown's Randall and Susan Kelechi Watson's Beth.  One of the three Pearson triplets, Randall is the most grounded, and therefore his stable life of a familyman was utterly rocked when he found his biological father, and he has lovingly, painfully and admirably reeled from the blows ever since.  And Beth is his anchor who supports him when he wanted to move his ailing father into their house, when he tried to follow in his musician father's footsteps in front of hundreds of people at career day and does whatever she can to protect her husband who is good at any cost.  These two, and their dynamic chemistry, make suburban life look like the coolest of romantic adventures.  Ship Status: Smooth Sailing

---

Barry and Iris, The Flash

A lot of us wanted to bitch-slap Barry for creating the new Flashpoint universe, in which Caitlin is morphing into Killer Frost, Cisco's brother was killed by a drunk driver, and Barry is stuck with a work frenemy, Julian Albert (an instantly compelling, Tom Felton).  But there's one refreshing and swoon-worthy constant in all the infinite universes' Barry could create: his undying love for Iris.

After everything, Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) are finally easing on down the Westallen Alley.  And yes, they two who were raised in the same house, and look to the same man as their father, are embracing the awkward.  After a rocky start and a fear of PDA in front of Joe, Barry has left Casa West to live with Cisco, and Iris is standing by her superman, and realizing her worth with Team Flash, thanks to her sweet and adorkable boyfriend, "This is no Flash without Iris West."  Ship Status: Uncharted Territory

---

Jane and Michael, Jane The Virgin

The CW's Jane The Virgin is all about keeping it real, and that includes spilling some seriously scalding tea about the challenges of being newly married and the difficulties of finding your groove in the bedroom.  It wouldn't be a telenovela without the Corderos' wedded bliss being destroyed by a bullet a few hours after tying to knot and a few minutes before consummating their marriage.  After Michael's (Brett Dier) miraculous recovery, the couple wastes no time falling into the sack.  And it was...a little meh if you don't count the humiliation of a sextape. 

​In one of the most candid and honest moments on television, Jane (Gina Rodriguez) has trouble getting the most out of the experience everyone, and the damn narrator show, had hyped for years, and not for lack of trying (The tingling oil was by far the funniest).  Financial issues, a toddler and a hot babydaddy didn't ease any of the strain.  Thanks to some help from Xo, Jane isn't a virgin anymore, and more importantly, she's actually loving her sex life.  Ship Status: Smooth Sailing...For Now

---

Ralph-Angel and Darla, Queen Sugar 

With Queen Sugar's ground-breaking first season nearly over, it's safe to say that Kofi Siriboe's  intense Ralph Angel is one of the many riches this drama has to offer.  And his recovering drug-addict ex, played with visceral finesse by Bianca Lawson, is not.  Darla, Blue's troubled mother, has spent the season worming her way back into her ex and son's lives, and while we can't blame her, we can definitely shade the hell out of her.  According to Aunt Vi's account, at her lowest, Darla was caught having sex with another man with her ailing infant Blue at her bedside.  

To be fair, Darla has worked incredibly hard to recover for her son and Ralph Angel.  Her efforts are paying off as this week's episode, "All In", finds Ralph Angel and Darla parenting and doting on Blue together, and slow-dancing at The High Yellow's reopening.  I was side-eyeing them so hard, I bet they both felt it.

There's no denying that Darla and Ralph Angel have feelings for each other and a turbulent history, but the adorable Blue and the stunning RA deserve better, more specifically Blue's big-hearted teacher, Reyna, who stepped up and cared for Blue when Earnest had a stroke at Blue's birthday.  

​It seems as if Miss Velez could teach us all about thirst and catching feelings for Ralph-Angel, and hopefully she'll share her feelings before Ralph Angel and Darla get pregnant with a Scarlet or Puce.  Ship Status: Abandon Ship 

---

Cookie and Angelo, Empire

I've said for a while now that I'd be thrilled if Cookie extricated herself from Lucious' evil web before she crumbled.  I just never imagined her next love would literally be the polar opposite of her ex-husband.  Angelo Dubios (Taye Diggs) is a stuffy New York City councilman eyeing a bid for mayor.  What he lacks in swagger, he makes up for in outright adoration and bold gestures, and they have won Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and yours truly over.  Thanks to Empire's hacked network revealing her naked selfies and an embarrassing visit to her parole officer, Cookie realizes that ties to her demonic co-worker, Lucious, might destroy his political dreams, and she breaks up with him, shattering all of our feels.  

It's only as Cookie watches him despondently and empoweringly strip in front of the press, she tearfully admits how she really feels about Angelo.  She loves him!   It was a rare and beautiful  moment of vulnerability from the Cookie that's almost always rock hard.  It's all swoon-worthy and sweet until Lucious finds out.  Ship Status: There Be A Kracken In These Waters