S1E16: Badass Women in Cinema

What makes a woman “badass” on screen isn’t a quip or a cool jacket—it’s the mix of survival, leadership, and consequence. We dive straight into the icons who set the bar: Ellen Ripley outwits the unimaginable, Sarah Connor builds a future with discipline and grit, and Princess Leia leads with courage and care. From there, we map a constellation of power across film, TV, and gaming that’s as varied as it is unforgettable.

We spotlight intelligence and ethics as force multipliers—Padmé Amidala’s political spine, Dr. Ellie Sattler’s crisis command, and a Marvel lineup that proves you don’t need capes to be formidable. Black Widow’s human skill set stands tall beside gods, while Scarlet Witch turns love and grief into something nuclear, raising honest questions about agency and cost. Katniss Everdeen embodies reluctant heroism, Clarice Starling navigates menace with poise, and Elizabeth Bennet chooses integrity over status in a world designed to box her in.

On TV, Lagertha blends honor with ferocity, Dana Scully keeps big ideas grounded in evidence, and Carol from The Walking Dead evolves into a decisive protector who acts when others stall. We pull apart Game of Thrones to examine Brienne’s vows, Arya’s craft, Sansa’s strategy, Olenna’s barbed genius, and Cersei’s ruthless devotion—plus a frank take on Daenerys’s ending and why character logic matters. Gaming brings its own legends: Lara Croft’s survivor-scholar arc, Jill Valentine’s steady nerve, Cortana’s intimate intelligence, and Red Dead Redemption 2’s Sadie Adler, who refuses to be defined by her worst day and never needs romanticization to prove her strength.

If you love story-driven breakdowns, fiery rankings, and a few spicy debates, you’re in the right place. Hit play, then tell us who we missed—your pick might lead our next round-up. Subscribe, share with a friend, and drop a review so more listeners can find the Silly Goose Society.

Transcript

Disclaimer And Setup

SPEAKER_04 0:14

Before we begin today's episode, we would like to share a quick disclaimer. The views, opinions, and statements expressed by the hosts and guests on this podcast are their own personal views and are provided in their own capacity. All content is editorial, opinion-based, and intended for entertainment purposes only. Listener discretion is advised. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Silly Goose Society. And today it's just me and Kyle, no guest. And we have a topic that was kind of birthed from one of our other episodes in a conversation where we were talking about kind of badass women in movies. And so that's what we're doing today. Badass women in cinema. Although I have categories. I have movies, TV shows, and gaming. I came prepared, bitch.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

So did I. I came prepared to shoot from the fucking hip. Like it's my thing. That's what I do.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Yeah, I have a list. So do we just do we just get into it and I will just start with the movie? Do you want me to start with movies, TV shows, or gaming?

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Literally just start before I jab these scissors into my fucking throat.

Movies Kickoff: Ripley, Sarah, Leia

SPEAKER_04 1:38

All right. So I think let's just rip the band-aid off here. And I think most people, when they talk about badass women in movies, their brains should go to one specific person, and that is Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I agree, but I feel it's a three-way tie. If you name any of the three women, Ellen Ripley, million percent. I would she's arguably the OJ.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Yeah. So I have Ellen, and then under that, and in my it like I started like my favorites, and then there's just I just had too many pop in my head. And so they're not in any particular order. But um thinking about Ellen Ripley made me think about uh Sarah Connor from the Terminator series, and then right under that was Princess Leia from Star Wars.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

That's the top three.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

If I'm in the top three, those would be my top three.

Leadership, Survival, And Strength

SPEAKER_02 2:43

They're all of them are top one. I feel all of them, no particular, no particular order what so whatsoever. Because I feel each of them kind of pushes forward um whatever you may feel is what a badass woman sh should do, should be. I feel each one of them kind of does something a little bit more uh as to where like Ellen is the uh she she's thinking more, she's outwitting more, she's showing that she's more capable, she's she's a survivor, she's fighting like that one. Uh you have uh you have Princess Leia, even from the very even from when she was just the princess, before she became General Organa, she was, you know, she was just quote unquote the princess, but she was still leading, taking charge, organizing. She was showing that she could be a leader and she had not just survival thoughts, but actual ambitions for multiple persons, safety, and security. And you had Sarah Connor who was just physically fighting everything. And if I had a nickel for every client that I've had, I'm a personal trainer for those who don't know. If I had a train, if I had a nickel for every woman client who said it goes, okay, what's your why? What do you want to do? What do you want to achieve? What do you want to look like? The amount of times they said, I want to look like Sarah Connor. Like, I want this, and they show that one picture of her just in the tank top, just brick shit house with an AK-37, ready for it.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

Yeah. Yeah. And I will say, you know, going back to Princess Leia, she also came from a very strong woman. And I don't get me started.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Don't get me started.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

I have Padme on my list as well from Star Wars. Um, because you know, she while maybe not, you know, fighting like Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley, she was very intelligent, very emotionally strong. And I think she was, you know, a good portrayal for women.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

A million percent. Because same thing. It is that I guess it's it's almost like a hybrid. I guess Padme is a little bit like um Alan and Leia in that one because she was that, you know, she was that leader and how she f you know she morally fought, you know. If I don't know if you would count her towards movies or TV, because you get a lot more. It feels like you have what you have of her in the in the uh in the three prequel movies with Natalie Portman, where same thing. She is thinking she is the she was the queen, then she was the senator, and so on. Um, of her fighting, you know, for for the republic, for democracy, for peace and you know, prosperity and stability throughout the galaxy, politically and psychologically and so on. But there's they go so much more in depth in the Clone Wars TV show. Like all of her where she's like the main character, her little arcs, that's all it is. It's it's the quote-unquote political episodes, if you will. But same thing, just that integrity she did, that very selfless thinking for not just her and her planet, but for anyone a part of the republic, and so on. It's just absolutely absolutely million percent.

Padmé And Political Power

SPEAKER_04 6:07

Yeah, yeah. Um, and so the next that I think of when I think of like strong female characters in movies, I will always go to Dr. Ellie Sadler from Jurassic Park.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yath Queen.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

Yath Queen. Because, you know, I I mean, I love how that was handled in that movie. I mean, you know, all the all the dinosaurs were female. Let's just say that. Let's just get it out of the way.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Rexy. Rexy, okay? Which is the T-Rex's name.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

Yeah. Um badass just because they're female dinosaurs and they weren't fucking around.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Um and life uh uh uh found a way.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

Right. But you know, Dr. Sadler was, you know, she was the one who had to go had to go save the day. And, you know, that scene where we have what would typically be the woman in like, you know, uh tank top and the the injured one on the table looking all sexy. We have Jeff Goldblum, which I'm not mad about that at all.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

No one's complaining about what you just said. We're just exactly right.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Um, but you know, that that whole conversation about, you know, well, I should be the one because you're and she's like, look, we'll have that conversation another day. I'm gonna go save your ass and save everyone's ass because this has to happen. I feel like a lot of times in movies, women are portrayed as like they fall to pieces and they're they can't run without falling, and you know, all of these tropes. And it was so refreshing to see this woman who is a doctor in her field and she's so intelligent. And then she also had the just the moral fortitude and the fiber to be like in a crisis situation, to be the one that held the fort. You know, like that was so refreshing to see.

Ellie Sattler And Jurassic Park

SPEAKER_02 8:20

And and when they did kind of backpelling a little bit there, when they did trope her where she did fall and twist her ankle, she's still hauling ass and and getting it done. It does twist her ankle if she limps, but she's still like through the pain, like running through it and like getting getting shut.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

And when she sees Grant, she's like, run. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

It's like, yeah, it happened for you. She's like, no, bitch, I got raptors hauling my ass. Get out.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

Yeah. Um, all right. So I since I have a a long list, I want to get I want to get through as many of these as we can. Um so the next one I have on my list is Black Widow from Marvel. Um, and and I will say there's so many strong women in the Marvel cinematic universe.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Um, on my list, I just said like the scene from Endgame. Just any of the women. I think Marvel has done a pretty damn good job with portraying women and being strong and making them, you know, like leaders, not just the help, not just the helpless damsels in distress.

SPEAKER_04 9:29

Yeah. I think the thing that I like about Black Widow, though, is that she doesn't she's kind of like a hawkeye in the sense that she doesn't have a suit like Iron Man, and she doesn't have the supernatural powers and abilities. She's just a fucking boss ass bitch.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

So the two of them just have training.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

They just the training and everything that she endured from her childhood and her and her sister, you know, all of that, like the psychological warfare, like she has the psychological warfare that Bucky had, but she doesn't have the the supernatural kind of part of it.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

She doesn't have a giant metal arm.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

Yeah, yeah. And but she also was absolutely fearless going into battle, never back down, even though she was battling and and sometimes literally on top of somebody's head, uh that was one of the most powerful forces in the universe. She didn't care, she just went for it. And I just, I just I love her. Love her so much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

I am like I said, all of them can't even be. It's hard to just kind of pick any of them, but it's like we'll just go ahead and we'll just say um Wolconda forever. Dude. Dude, like just not just everyone in that movie, but like the same thing. So everyone from Shuri, and I forget the other character's name. I forget, I literally forget her name, but Angela Bassett, the queen.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Oh yeah.

MCU Women And Black Widow

SPEAKER_02 11:20

She oh my gosh, she was un she was unbelievable in that movie. Just that, just that character, like even from the first one and that character, but then you know, they really showed so much more. And and I love I it's kind of like a it's it's a it's a heavy scene when Siri gets uh when Siri gets captured, you know, and she like disavows um same thing. I forget her character's name too. I just call him Roshon, The Walking Dead, which once again badass. But when she dis when she disavows her and she like fires her and gets her return, so it's just like she's like um without this I'm nothing because like my queen is like everything I've sacrificed, and she was just like, bitch, what you've sacrificed? My husband, my brother, my brother-in-law, my son, my daughter. I've literally given everything. Yeah. Like she just just just the insane emotion, and she still has to keep it together and rule as a queen, as a fair and just queen of the most advanced society the world has known. Yeah. Like, and she's gotta keep her shit together. And oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

I and I just want to say Angela Bassett, just in her own right, is this in her own a badass female. My god.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

Whenever I think of her, I think of her in that scene like um how Stella got her groove back, um, where she sets the car on fire and that slow walk away. That scene, I just is emblazoned in my head. Oh, yeah. It's like that is a badass woman.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

I'm gonna try not to be biased towards this, this, this other one. Same thing from Marvel. I'm gonna do my best not to be biased towards this. But Scarlet Witch. So I'll fight two through and with my dying breath.

SPEAKER_05 13:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

She is the strongest character. She's the strongest of England, she's the strongest of Marvel. They should be talking more about the scene in Endgame. Where like she's she's she was so angry at Thanos. She was so mad at Thanos that she could she could have just easily just crushed him. Literally could have just used her powers to crush him. We saw that she was had the capabilities to do that, but she wanted him to feel her pain, like she had said, like she had said. So she wanted him to feel it. So she's definitely psychotic in a good way. He literally just like, yo, nuke us. And he goes, But sir, our units, I don't give a fuck. She is going to kill me. Blow us up. Like, yeah, that was out of the ability to go, like, he's, you know, he was just like, bro, I'm tapping out. Sending the troops. Like, yeah, because she was fucking him up. But all that aside, same thing. Anything that she had gone through, went through, was going through just how umbound. Um same thing, in in a good way, that she was that I guess even in multiverse of madness, um, it's okay to go a little crazy sometimes. It's completely fine and justified to go a little crazy sometimes. Um just how how passionately people say it's like, oh, you know, they say that emotions are a bad thing or women are so emotional, so on and so forth. She is arguably one of the more emotional characters, yes. But it just shows that I guess just how, you know, I don't know if this is really cliche or shitty or cheesy to say, but just it goes to show the depths of how much she loves and how much she cares and how fiercely loyal that she is. Yeah. With everything with her brother, literally went toe to toe with Ultron. One of my favorite lines she has. You know how that feels like, and she literally rips Ultron's heart out. Literally rips his robot heart out using her powers. That was definitely a kink that was unlocked. That was insane. 100%. No, and then dude, fuck the WandaVision show. We got into this debate. We got into this debate. We watched it with all of our friends, and how my best friend was he was hellbent that she was being forced to, like, he was really hard into the it's Mephisto controlling her, Agatha's controlling her, she's not acting on her own. And Lauren, my wife, was hellbent, absolutely not. She's she's not being controlled, she's doing this on her own free will. Because I think my friend was really trying, she's still a she's still a good guy. Doesn't know what if she's in control and she's doing this, she's bad. And we don't want her to be bad, we want her to be good. And Lauren just simply said, you get uh she said something to me about it, but it was just like absolutely not. She goes, I don't think he understands. Vision was taken from her, like whom she loved more than anything, it's like her everything, her entire world was taken from her. Right. How the fuck would you react? You had those powers, you had that capability. She went rightfully, justifiably insane from that.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

Yeah.

Scarlet Witch’s Power And Grief

SPEAKER_02 16:31

When that happened, she loved him so deeply, so unfathomably, that when that happened, the only way she could cope was to kidnap a fucking town in New Jersey and hide.

SPEAKER_05 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

And that's just the beginning.

SPEAKER_05 16:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

That is absolutely mental to me. No, I I cannot, I cannot and will not ever be able to explain genuinely how much I love that character and Elizabeth Olsen's portrayal of that character.

SPEAKER_05 17:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Is just un it's just it's it's unbelievable. Like I feel you saw a full spectrum of a woman's capabilities in that character.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

I genuinely feel that.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Alright. So the next one that I have, and it I'll just go with let's talk for a couple minutes here about Katniss Everdeen.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Oof.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Yeah. I mean, the the situation that she was thrown into um through multiple movies, um, man, I mean, just just a just a very strong character and a positive role model for for women. I know when that movie came out, you know, my daughter really got into the books and the the character and um it was she's Katniss Everdeen absolutely defied the odds, uh, but she went through hell. I mean, she went through hell. So yeah. And she's on our list.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Oh, I rightfully so, because unlike some of the women we just mentioned before, she has no superpowers. She was literally. I think my favorite thing about her is that she really was just a girl.

SPEAKER_05 18:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

She was just a woman. She was 16. She wants she wanted nothing to she didn't want a rebellion, she didn't want a war, she did, she just wanted to protect her sister. That is all she wanted to do. And then she just couldn't stop, and everyone kind of forced her. And then yes, and she ended up leaving in so, but she there was no drive and passion to protect and liberate our people. It's just to keep I just care about my sister. I don't care about anybody else, it's just my sister, and how that just went insane.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

Yeah, I mean, she never wanted to be the face of the rebellion that was not in it. She fought it, and then finally she saw like the the absolutely destruction that Snow had leveled on District 12. You know, she she I think that's when she kind of gave in and was like, all right, this is this is what I have to do, and this is what I'm gonna do. And and she rose to the occasion. And I think, you know, that's that's another, you know, important thing to show. You know, we have so many movies where, you know, you know, the the male character, you know, has this arc and you know, he has to rise to the occasion. And you very sometimes rarely see that main protagonist having to do that as a female lead, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Um, and so yeah, yeah. Katniss, catnus is forever in my heart.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Oh god, dude. I get chills and I have to fight back tears in the I think it's the third one. It's the third one. Uh after the thing, you know, she's making the thing to snow. There's fire, and if we burn, you burn with us. That whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 20:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

That whole speech. Oh god, love it. Yeah, fucking love it. We're gonna watch this movie soon.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Yeah. Um, all right. So I have uh Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Clarice.

Katniss Everdeen And Reluctant Heroism

SPEAKER_04 20:34

Yeah. I mean, you know, a lot of these that I have, um there's some that, you know, kind of supernatural, but in my mind, if I'm thinking of like a strong female character on the screen, uh, you know, I think of Clary Starling. Um I also think of, and you may not be as familiar with these movies um than maybe w m women are, um, but I really love Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice. There is um, so Pride and Prejudice, you know, people either know Elizabeth Bennett from the Kira Knightley 2005 film or the BB series that was done in like 1995 with Jennifer L. Um, I identify more like my Elizabeth Bennett is the BBC series Elizabeth Bennett. And um, you know, that series, my my grandmother introduced me to that that series, and it was just something that when I would go and visit her, um we would she we would always sit down and watch it together. And um great, great series, great um adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. But you know, Elizabeth Bennett Was very much this woman who was in a very certain period of time, very certain society, and was expected to marry and marry well and not marry for love. You know, love was not important, it was status. It was as a woman in a family, you had to go and secure the rich husband in order to secure your family's position. There was a lot of pressures put on women, you know, to that was their purpose. Their purpose was to marry well, marry wealthy, have children, and have male children, you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

I mean, what's love got to do with it?

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Got to with it, got to do with that. And she, you know, she was very for her time, very outspoken, very strong, very strong-willed, and very pragmatic. And I mean, it worked out for her that she ultimately fell in love with Mr. Darcy. Um, but yeah, I think very, very strong, positive um female character. They are remaking that again. Oh, Jesus Christ. I am like, nope, nope. We have we have we have Kira Knightley, we have Jennifer L. We don't need it. Leave it alone. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm gonna move very quickly through the rest of my movie picks and then we'll move on. Um, so I have uh Alice from Resident Evil.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Gotta love it. Anything Miliogovich is in?

SPEAKER_04 23:33

Yes. Uh I have um, and I'm gonna butcher this name. Uh the Angel of Verdun, uh Rita Varask Vrataski, um, Edge of Tomorrow, Emily Blunt, Badass Woman.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Yeah, um clad bitch, right? Is that what that name? That's in the movie, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Yeah. Um Trinity from The Matrix.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

The Matrix, yep.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

I have Jennifer from The Witcher.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Show or games?

SPEAKER_04 24:01

Yeah, that should have been put under show, so that's in the wrong place, but she's on my list.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

I was just being a dick because she's badass in both.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

Yeah. And then um, oh god, I know just just you know, get it over with this one. I know what you're gonna say. You will, you know, get hard, whatever you have to do. Uh Celine from Underworld.

unknown 24:29

Ow.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

And I think that's all my movie picks that I have on my list. Um, and so TV shows. Because we I love um how TV has evolved, and we have these great series, and we have these great characters, and you know, it's the production value, and everything's gone up, and the storytelling has gone up. So um I think we shouldn't mention some people from TV shows. And my number one uh for TV shows is uh Lagartha. I just butchered that name. Lagartha Loth Lothbrook. I cannot say that name today. Laggartha.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Lagatha is fine. Lagatha is the um, I guess, North American kind of version of that one, though the way it's spelled, there isn't R in it. So whether it's Lagatha or Lagertha, it's totally fine. Right. Or Inkstad, however you want to pronounce it.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Yeah, yeah. That that that beautiful bitch um from Vikings. I oh god, I just for the love of God. God, her character is so good. I mean, she I mean, Viking women were were badass in just in general, you know? Um, but man, just the way that they portrayed her, the actress that played her, uh, it just I mean, chef's kiss.

Clarice Starling And Elizabeth Bennet

SPEAKER_02 26:04

I'm gonna sum it up for anyone in a very meat and potatoes kind of way. Think of the most perfect badass male character you could ever think of. His strong morals, his ethics, blah, blah, blah, all the guys, and literally just make it an absolutely stunning blonde woman.

SPEAKER_06 26:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

That is what they did with her. They made her the most elite top-tier character that is a man in any other fucking show or movie. Yeah. And they just made it a stunning blonde woman.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Yeah. Un fucking real.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Um, and one other that I have on here, just simply because I've been uh going down. Uh there's I can't, there's not really anything on TV that I'm into right now, so I'm just kind of going back and re-watching this series. Um, but Dana Scully from the X-Files.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Love Scully.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Yeah, love Scully.

SPEAKER_04 26:58

Yeah, she just always had to pull Fox back from the edge. Very pragmatic, strong, intelligent, very the brains of the operation.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah, clearly the brains of the operation.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

Anyone that cannot see Dana Scully as a badass woman, as Kyle would say, get fucked.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Get fucked, mate.

SPEAKER_04 27:22

Um, I have I have Carol from The Walking Dead. Um, I think Carol in my mind is just about, I mean, there's yeah, there uh everyone's machone this, you know, badass woman. But in my mind, Carol really is the baddest bitch on any iteration of The Walking Dead. They're spin-offs, they're anything. Carol.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Think of how we met her and think of where she is now.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

That is why she is the baddest of them.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

Yeah. Her character development, the arc that they've had, just the fact that she, I think she was a better leader than I think uh fucking Rick would ever be. Because like Rick hesitated. Rick all they always hesitate to take out the big, big bad, you know, and Carol's just like, no, we gotta do it. We gotta like this is and the one scene where she she had to how many times has she had to rescue people's ass?

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Like when when they were um I mean terminus, she literally blew the whole fucking facility.

SPEAKER_04 28:37

That's exactly where I was going.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Like literally one woman show with like bottle rockets and an AK.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Yeah. Like, yeah, she just and and I love it when they when they finally went to Alexandria and she she downplayed herself.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

She downplayed her capabilities and was like the mom baking cookies and you know, trying to be friendly and you know, just just because she knew they had to protect. And if and if things and if things went shit sideways, she was gonna be the one to have to have to go in and save the day again. Just love her. Love Carol.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Yeah, exactly. And and that is because of her beginning. She knew that she let everything go on with Ed for so long. So she knew that it never gets better. You try to give people second chances, it only gets worse. So that is exactly the motivation behind her all of her decisions. No, you can't. They say they're gonna get better, they never do, and it gets fucking worse. You have to put these fuckers in the ground. She was always she learned that lesson, and she was never going to repeat that ever again.

SPEAKER_06 29:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Ever again. And she was didn't matter what it was, whether it was the sick people in the prison, get rid of them. The girl who's still the little girl who's starting to unravel, look at the flowers. It's not she's not happy that she has to do this. She just has the knowledge and the know-how to do what has to be done. Yeah. She's completely shattered by it, but she's gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. All right, so the rest of my list is a sub-wall Game of Thrones categories. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I can't we cannot talk about badass women and not talk about Game of Thrones. There's so many strong female, whether you love them or hate them, you cannot deny that that show is absolutely chopped full of badass women.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Bare minimum two. You have to bare minimum talk about two.

TV Titans: Lagertha And Scully

SPEAKER_04 30:43

So I'm gonna say, I'm gonna just list. This is my personal list, and then we can go into it. So for the for the original Game of Thrones series, I have Cersei Lannister, Sansa Stark, Brianne motherfucking pitch of Tarth, Aria Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, Lady Olena Tyrrell, my god.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

Lover.

SPEAKER_04 31:14

Um, one that I I put her on the list. I know she a lot of people love her. I she was not my favorite, but I still want to acknowledge her as a badass in her own right, was uh Ygrette. Did not she I just didn't didn't care for her, but I do recognize she's badass. Uh Leana Mormont.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

That little girl was the oh the bear of the north. Oh my god. She just she had balls bigger than any any other man in the kingdom. I'll just say that. Oh yeah. Um Yara Greyjoy.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

And then uh Asha, who had to carry that fucking brand all over the damn seven kingdoms.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

That went useless piece of that is the one if there's one thing about that show that genuinely pissed me off, it was him. Yeah. That means that hit him on the head, the dude who does nothing for the group project and gets all the credit. He did nothing, nothing the whole fuck. The three-eyed raven, yeah. So what's yeah, he's got one more eye to see that he ain't doing fucking shit this whole show. No, I know. He ain't doing dick, and he dude. Anywho, yes, so by all means.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

So that's my list for Game of Thrones. Um, for House of Dragon, which I know I believe you have not seen House of Dragon.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Have not.

Carol’s Evolution In The Walking Dead

SPEAKER_04 32:49

Um, so the two that I I'm just these are these are my two, and and the series is still ongoing, and I know that there are a lot of other females, and you can talk about the Queen Dowger um all you want. I I don't like her, I don't think she's a strong female. Uh if anybody wants to argue with that outside of this podcast, happy, happy to oblige. But um uh I have Rainey's Targaryen. So Rainey's for your benefit, Kyle, is um by all birth order, right? She should have been the queen. She was passed over because only a man can reign uh for her brother. And so um, but through the through the series, through the first um season, um, she really is um very, very pragmatic and she understands the politics, and not only that, but she is a dragon rider and and understands the battle and the power of the dragons and what it means to actually take dragons into war. Um spoiler alert, spoiler alert, Kyle. I'm just gonna tell you this. Um, so she rides May Lee's, who is a giant badass female dragon. And so there's a battle that ensues, and she knows the ramifications of what she's about to do. And that scene where they're flying, so they're flying like from the cliffs into this, into the water over the ocean, and she knows she has to turn back to to finish this battle. And and I think Mailise understands as well, and she kind of like bends down and and pats uh Mailise, and she's like, you know, gives her the orders to turn around, and and Mailes goes down over the water and like dips her foot into the water, and then they go back in to finish the battle, and and like Rainies does this thing where she tightens herself into the harness, into the to the saddle um of on the dragon, and because she knows she knows what's gonna happen, yeah. And um, you know, she she ends up you know dying with with the dragon, and it's it's a it's a very beautiful death scene, I will say that. Um so and then you know, of course, Rainera Targaryen, who is the the main female of House of Dragon. Um her father lost his heir, his his male heir died in childbirth. He ends up naming Rainera as the successor to his throne, and that's what throws everything in into chaos. Um, but she also rides Cyrex, who is a very sassy female dragon. So Cyrex, um Cyrex, you know, has she's a young, younger dragon. She's never seen battle. She is very, she's the princess's dragon, right? And she's very well kept. She's so pampered. Um, but she is they are locked in together. Uh Dream Fire is another um beautiful, beautiful female dragon. Um, but yeah, Dream Fire, I love Dream Fire. So that is my Game of Thrones list. Uh happy to discuss.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Happy to discuss and fight to the ends of earth.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

Yeah. Ygret, get fucked, you're still badass, but no. Um But I probably I mean, a lot a lot of people I think give Cersei I think she's a character that through the series you hate her, then love her, then hate her.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Um but you know I always hated her, but I empathized with her at times. I'll say that. Like she's she's the villain. She is one of the best villains I've seen in a show, in a whatever, in a media of some sort. It's just unbelievable. But I'm sorry, just because she's the villain, you can't say she's not a badass. She is insanely badass and hardcore and vicious and just to her core.

SPEAKER_04 37:43

And she did it all for her child. I mean, there is no way that you can deny she did not love her children.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Oh no, everything she did, she did for her children. Exactly. Including doing her brother she did for her children.

Game Of Thrones: A Roster Of Queens

SPEAKER_04 37:56

Exactly. Right. Um, yeah, I mean, her love of her brother, her love of her children, that was what drove her. And she was literally willing to burn the world down for her children. And I can identify that because with that, I if I could, if I there there have been moments in my motherhood that if I could have burned the world, I would have done that. I would I would go to the ends of the earth for my daughter, and I understand Cersei from that point of view.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Yeah, hundred million, billion, trillion percent. That is, like I said, you can't say she's not just because she's the villain. I'm sorry. If anything, it gives me more to want to say that she is because she's choosing not to be good. She doesn't give a fuck. Right. And it's just, and let's face it, we're talking about the world of Game of Thrones. Everyone's pretty much shit. There's not a lot of heroes in that fucking show. Right. Not a lot of heroes in that show. Right. There's just, you know, it's all to quote uh, you know, Alex Guinness here, from a certain point of view, like literally from a certain point of view is where the heroes are. Um I I I to this day will never forgive them for how they just threw away Danny's. I will never forgive them. If I wasn't if I was in charge or a writer, so on and so forth. I think her everything should have ended with her burning the city. Yeah. I think that's exactly it should I think I was like, She had every right to do it too. Every right too. She had everything it showed her love and her loyalty. It didn't break her character. I really don't think it broke her character. It didn't completely undo everything that she did. Yes, she had that moment of vulnerability. She heard the bells ringing. Oh my god, I don't give a shit. I like I said, it was her love, it was her passion for her friends and for her loved one, the closest person to her. It was her need to have revenge and the victory over her enemy over that one. So, yes, destroy and burn the fucking city. At the end of it, notice that you have done wrong, get on your dragon, fly off into the sunset. If that's literally what they did, if they just, if she just got on the if and she left after that, that's a perfect write-off. I don't give a shit. But the fact that they literally, they just threw everything, everything away that they did over the entire show with giving us one of the greatest, arguably one of the greatest female characters between story, her telling, just everything that she has done. They threw it all away in one epit in half an episode. Yep. And then carried it. And they just went with the typical trope, why'd she go crazy? For some dick.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

Literally for some pain.

SPEAKER_04 41:04

Like no. Threw it all away.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

I could I I was so angry, I was I was literally nauseous. I was so angry at that.

SPEAKER_04 41:13

I feel like the only way that they could have redeemed that ending is if they would have shown that Drogon carried Danny's back to, you know, the the originating lands of the dragons, and they had the power to resurrect her. And, you know, her and and her storyline continued but unknown, you know, what what would be the outcome? But the fact that they just killed her, I in the way that they did it, and the It's not even the fact that they killed her.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

It's I don't think look, they wanted to kill her, they wanted this, and but the fact that they just she she spent the entire fucking series denying everyone, I am not my father, I am not this, I am different, I am a strong woman, I am the right leader, I am doing all these things. Everything that and they just know she is her father, she's a basic bitch, like she she's she's just crazy and terrifying. Oh my god, I was so fucking mad. They could have killed her. I didn't even care that it was that she died and so on and so forth. Like it was left her. Yeah, it was just the fact that they just made her go insane for no reason at all.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

I'll tell you one thing. The one scene that gives me chills to this day is when she's you know, they've conquered the city and all of that, and she's standing, and then Drogon is like the way that they have, you know, the the forced um uh um perspective is his wings come out, but it looks like it's part of her. Love that scene.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

It's it's pretty it's pretty sad. They did they did do some fantastic cinematography. Like I said, I think that they missed the mark, they missed a lot of marks with that last season is Death of the Weakest of them all, but I don't think that season was so bad that it tarnishes the rest of the show. I will fight to through and with my dying breath that the bulk of that show is the reason why TV was invented. Yeah, yeah. I j I j I genuinely do. From writing, portrayal, so on and so forth. Yes, I know it's different from the books. Get off my fucking ass. I don't give a shit. There's a reason why it's on a fucking TV, okay? And just because oh, it's garbage TV because it's graphic, it's about I don't give a fuck. So is the real world. I'm sorry, walk around the real world, yeah, look at history that you got such a fucking heart on, and tell me it's all sunshine and rainbows. Buff my nuts. The bulk of that show is the reason why TV was invented. Genuinely.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

I'm sorry, I don't think I'm gonna recover from the buff my nuts.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

Oh, buff my nuts, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

You gotta give me a moment. I've never heard that. No, no? No, I've never heard anybody say that. Yeah, buff and hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Huff on them.

unknown 44:06

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Huff and buff. I don't go, man. Get the hell out of here. Like, just get out of here with that.

Daenerys’s Controversial End

SPEAKER_04 44:15

Let's get into my my very short gaming list. Because I I think as I was going through this, there was there was two two characters specifically that I kept thinking, I've gotta mention these women because even though it's not like cinema or a TV show, what they what they mean to me.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Can I guess?

SPEAKER_04 44:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Sadie and Laura.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

Yep. Yep. Yeah. Laura Croft. I've been a Tomb Raider player for, I mean how how old is the game? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

How old is the franchise?

SPEAKER_04 44:56

Yeah. Um, man, what a what a badass character. Uh she's and and you know, I could have put her in the movie because Angelina Jolie, the way, you know, yeah, the those movies, the way that she was portrayed, right? Um yeah, I mean, that's fantastic. But my love of Laura Croft and and everything that I know about her character have come from the Tomb Raider games. I just have, you know, been replaying the game. I I go back and and play them over and over and over.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

And um And now with Sophie Turner doing the show with Amazon.

SPEAKER_04 45:37

And and I am really looking forward to to that. I I I think they will they will do it justice. It's interesting that Amazon is like developing a lot of uh gaming into shows.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

They see how big gaming has gotten like people thought gaming was big before. Thanks to thanks to the lockdown when everyone had nothing else to do but play video games. Gaming has, oh my god. Yeah, past six years, there has been such an influx in gaming and gaming culture. So Amazon is putting all their chips onto that and they're they are buying into nerd culture so hard.

SPEAKER_04 46:10

The the thing that makes me think the Lorecroft will be good is the fact that they've done very well with Fallout.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

They did. They did do Yeah, yeah. What they've done with Fallout and how they've portrayed it. How they've taken their own creative writing and put it into an already based story.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

They've done very, very well. They just and they took the rules of how Fallout operates.

SPEAKER_05 46:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

And they've gone with that. They've done very, very well with that. I mean, and I and I got you to watch that other thing they did, that um secret level that they did which is just like little shorts. Yes, yes. Oh my god. They are they they ha they have their own creative, you know, they do have their own what what is it, creative liberties to to to to rewrite stuff and change stuff and whatever it is. But they're still doing enough homework that they don't break the rules, they don't break the mold of what how the game operates, how the game works. You know what I mean? Yeah. Which I think is fantastic. I mean, even if they even if they completely shit the bed with it and they like make it nothing like I think costume alone, she looks unfucking believable. I think she just physically looks amazing.

SPEAKER_04 47:23

She physically looks like Laura Laura Croft.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

She it's the glasses for me that set me over the edge. I think it's the glasses that set me over the edge.

SPEAKER_04 47:32

All right, I'm gonna name the other three that I have on the list, and then I want to circle back to Sadie Adler. We have um I I kind of like want to close on Sadie. Um so I have Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, and then the last one I have for you, Kyle. I have Cortana from Halo. After listening to, you know, what, all four hours, then you double editing. So I I will say seven and a half hours. Um, because I can't say eight. You fell asleep for half of it.

SPEAKER_03 48:06

You fell asleep.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Anywho. Um, so I picked Cortana because from what you described to me, and I've never played the games, but from what you described, I just got it in my head that I thought Cortana seemed like a pretty badass female character.

SPEAKER_02 48:26

Yeah, goddamn right she is.

SPEAKER_04 48:29

Yeah. So let's get let's let's talk about Sadie. Sadie Adler.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

I would love nothing more right now than to do such.

Gaming Heroines: Lara, Jill, Cortana

SPEAKER_04 48:38

Sadie Adler, my God. Like, I cannot, I will never be able to thank you enough for introducing me to the this Red Dead series. Oh, I haven't played Red Dead. I've played Red Dead too. Um, but introducing me to this game, to this universe, um, because you know, not only, yeah, Arthur Morgan, what a what a hell of a character, but we got damn man. Um the fact that they included Sadie Adler in into this and developed her and and she was so important and integral to the story, the the entire story arc. Um, because you go into what happened post-death. She how we found her to where she ended up. Again, it's kind of like Carol, right? Goes through a very traumatic event and then just is like rises to the occasion. This is what has to be done. And you know, she she was very capable, very deadly, very in her own right, just as good, just as good as as the boys in in the in the the boys in the band. Um, but she just she's so so incredibly badass. And I always love her story arc and the fact that, yeah, she started out, you know, how they found her and everything that had happened to her. She gains her footing, she joins the gang, she participates, she is an outlaw at that point in time. She is angry, she is waiting for um things to be uh for things to be reckoned, you know. Um, and then for her to then go into end her story from where we we know about her um being the ones to to go in and take the rule of law and and go and round up the outlaws um just as a means of survival because that's where the money was. Um gosh, she just I just love her. Love her so much.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

She is just exactly that. She's she is a survivor, simple as that. And we'll do any and everything by the means of it.

SPEAKER_04 51:14

How they wrote her, and they never and I just want to say real quick, they never sexualized her. Not once. I love that. Like she had a very deep relationship and friendship with Arthur, but it was never it was never sexualized or romanticized. And I I loved that that she could have these these strong, you know, friendships, even with John. Um she could have these strong friendships, and they never did that to Sadie, and I loved that so much.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

Because they exactly, like I said, they kept it, they they brought that really just that that strong, that driven, that survival, you know, it's like one because she had she had her love. That was it. That was the only love for her, was her Jakey. That was it. Boom. She had everything, they took everything, so she just has her actual life left. And how they didn't just make her crazy to be crazy. They they they were going to, but then you know, they just had you know the very first mission where she goes riding out. You know, you go riding out with her to roads. She was like, Oh, so we're doing this, and goes, bitch, what's wrong with you? No, that's not how we do this. And so she learns the rope, she does this, she does that, she earns her keep just like the men do. She's out there robbing and shooting and killing too, just like the men are. She's doing the full outlaw life.

SPEAKER_06 52:43

Yeah.

Sadie Adler’s Masterclass In Survival

SPEAKER_02 52:44

But but like if it like you said, still with that drive, with that need. Not only that, but something I feel everybody completely overlooks when everything happens in Guarma, when you come back, and so on and so forth. She's the one who took care of the gang after everything happened, after the men fucked everything up and everything was scattered and everything was left. We lost Josea, we lost Lenny to them. They lost freaking Dutch, Micah, um, you know, uh, oh god, oh god, Javier, John, they lost everybody. Literally, the the muscle, the strength of the gang. She kept everyone together. Yeah. No one left, no one deserted, none of that. She got everybody out, she kept them fed, she kept them moving, her and Charles, the two of them kept them alive, kept them moving, kept them together.

SPEAKER_06 53:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:40

Like that is un and she was the newest one to the gang.

SPEAKER_06 53:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

That was still around at that point. Yeah, technically Kieran was, but still. She was the newest one of the gang. And the fact that she was then their leader. She was so strong that people who have been there since the inception of the gang were just they deferred to her leadership. Even someone is strong, because there's other little bits too where you see that there's a little leading up to that, it wasn't it wasn't so easy. Ms. Grimshaw just had that crotchety chip on her shoulder because she was a crouchy old woman. But even that, even at those points, it isn't until after that that even she was just, I guess they had a bit a bit of a disagreement. Kind of thing. I forget where it is. You see that they have like a they have a big of like they have a bit of a blowout before the bank in Saint Denis. So the two of them really don't like each other. But then I guess during all that, there's some type of a like a letter or something. I want to say Mary Beth writes a letter and she kind of talks about it that you can find, you can read it. That like Sadie and Ms. Grimshaw got into like a massive blowout. Like when that was happening, like, what are we gonna do? Ms. Grimshaw was just like, you guys are on your own. And Sadie was just like, listen to here, you fucking bitch.

SPEAKER_06 54:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:58

You you get in line and you fucking help get these people to safety. Then after that, I don't give a goddamn what you do, but you owe it to these people who have looked up to you and you've protected for so long. You get them somewhere, you listen to me, get us somewhere safe, and then you can fuck off into the sunset for all I give a shit. But goddammit, right now, yeah. You they they look to you.

SPEAKER_06 55:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

Simple as that. And so, yeah, so I guess that like she like whipped Ms. Grimshaw into line. And then from that, she was incredibly respectful and like would have listened. She listened, she would have listened and took Sadie's counsel more than she took Dutch's after that point.

SPEAKER_04 55:38

And I don't know that it'll never happen, but I and I, you know, the the neck beards of the community would never stand for it, but the neckbeards. Um I would I would love to see a you know a Sadie Adler game come out from them. Because I'm so interested in what happened, what you know, what's the rest of her story? Because she was going off to go explore some other places. And uh like what what is the rest of her story? What what happened to her? I I think she's just an incredibly compelling character. So yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a fun one. I like this.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

I mean, women are awesome.

SPEAKER_04 56:32

Like women are awesome. Come on, like, and then I was like just like I just can't fathom how people can like women are pretty fucking cool, like you know, and it's it's so refreshing, you know, again, just to see these characters be portrayed and for us to have somebody that we can look at and be like, because we know our the capabilities of women. We know we we live and breathe and live in this skin every single day. But um, I'm I'm also excited that this episode will air um you know at the beginning of uh Happy Women's History. History Month. So woman woman month. Absolutely, god damn it. Good start to the to the month. Um, but yeah, I think let us know uh who is not on our list that you think is a strong female character. Um there are so many. I we could only pack so many into an episode. I know we missed some, but let us know. Let us know uh in the comments, uh visit our social medias. Um thank you as always so much for listening to this episode. Uh like, share. The biggest thing you can do for us is to tell your friends about us. Um we have merch available. Um, I just got my some of my merch in. Um, I'm actually wearing one of the silly goose t-shirts today. Really, really happy with with the quality. Um, so it's a way to help support us in this journey. Plus, the designs are really freaking good um and funny and cute. T-shirts, hoodies, you know, we have the whole gamut of things that you can purchase from our little shop. The link is in the the description. Um, if you go to our Instagram, the links are there as well for that.

SPEAKER_00 58:32

I mean, also just kind of backpedaling shows. Like, yeah, no, we I know we definitely miss stuff because there's something I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

It's like not only just like badass women, like any, but like actual real life, like badass women, whether it's through history. But if I think if there's a really solid reason why Ellen Ripley and Princess Leia are total badasses, is because Sigarney Weaver and Carrie Fisher are the epitome of badass. Right, right. Like it just everyone needs no explanation. Right.

SPEAKER_04 59:04

Oh my god, just the fucking essence of badass. Yeah. We love you, Carrie. Still.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

Rest in peace for everyone. Yeah, forever our princess, forever our general.

SPEAKER_04 59:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:19

We love you.

SPEAKER_04 59:20

All right. Well, with that, bye.