Pop Culture

‘Girls Gotta Eat’ Breaks Down Oscars Drama, ‘Mormon Wives’ Backlash, and ‘Manosphere’ Chaos

March 24, 2026

Pop culture had some range last week. The Oscars gave us nostalgia, facial-hair discourse, and a few moments that were actually worth talking about. Secret Lives of Mormon Wives came back somehow even messier, Netflix dropped a doc on the manosphere, and Girls Gotta Eat hosts Ashley Hesseltine and Rayna Greenberg had strong feelings about all of it.

Here’s an in-depth look at the stories people can’t stop spiraling over.

The Oscars delivered drama, nostalgia, and a few identity crises

This year’s Oscars managed to feel surprisingly entertaining—not because of the winners, but because of the moments.

The standout, though, was the meta moment between Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway. When Wintour casually called Hathaway “Emily,” echoing The Devil Wears Prada, both hosts agree it’s the kind of full-circle pop culture reference that only works because it’s so deeply ingrained. Greenberg says it gave her “chills,” while Hesseltine points out how rare it is for a movie to stay relevant enough to pull that off years later.

At the same time, the red carpet sparked its own unexpected debate: are beards…over? Hesseltine clocks a noticeable shift toward mustaches and sparse facial hair, calling Timothée Chalamet’s goatee “offensively prepubescent,” while Greenberg fully embraces the mustache resurgence.

‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ loses the plot

Season four of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives dropped—and almost immediately frustrated its core audience. What was once a show centered on messy, compelling women now feels overtaken by their husbands, a shift neither host understands.

Greenberg says the imbalance is impossible to ignore, pointing out that in the first episode, the women appear alone for only a fraction of the runtime. “We are just being waterboarded,” she says, as the show leans heavily into the men, particularly one husband whose behavior crosses from entertaining into uncomfortable. Hesseltine agrees, questioning whether producers are manufacturing drama by amplifying the least likable dynamics. Instead of evolving the women’s storylines, the hosts think the show seems to dilute them.

The ‘Manosphere’ doc is less scary than it is embarrassing

Netflix’s latest documentary dives into the world of red-pill influencers, but instead of coming across as powerful or persuasive, the men at its center feel, in Greenberg’s words, “so embarrassing.”

The doc takes a mostly observational approach, letting the subjects speak for themselves, which ends up being the most effective critique. Greenberg points out that despite all the talk of dominance, wealth, and control, none of them seem particularly happy or fulfilled. Their confidence reads as performative, their relationships feel transactional, and their messaging often collapses under even basic scrutiny. Hesseltine argues that much of it is grift—outrage manufactured for clicks, not conviction.

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Age gap reality TV gets uncomfortably real

Netflix’s Age of Attraction, hosted by Nick Viall and Natalie Joy, sets out to explore relationships with significant age differences. The show’s central twist is simple: contestants connect without knowing each other’s ages, only revealing them once they’ve formed a bond. But as Hesseltine and Greenberg watch, the age reveals raise bigger questions than the show seems prepared to answer.

Hesseltine draws a clear distinction between age gaps that feel natural and ones that don’t. Relationships spanning 20s to 30s or even 40s feel relatively unremarkable, but once the gap stretches into multiple generations, the dynamic shifts. “What do you want with someone that young?” she asks, framing it less as judgment and more as curiosity about motivation.

Greenberg agrees, noting that in her own experience, younger partners often lack the life experience to challenge unhealthy dynamics. What the show presents as romantic possibility sometimes reads instead as imbalance, and that tension becomes the most compelling part of watching.

To hear all of the pop culture moments that made the cut on the episode, listen to Girls Gotta Eat wherever you get your podcasts.