The Rarijack in this episode was so obvious I would be surprised if it wasn’t totally intentional. It’s not like the crew isn’t influenced by the fandom after all. And before anyone thinks I’m just looking through shipper’s goggles, I don’t even ship it - I don’t dislike the pairing, I’ve just never gotten into it. Though tbh that may have changed a bit after this ep…not so much because of the ship teases, but because they’ve developed enough together that I can actually see them working as a couple now and not just annoying the crap outta each other.

Applepie in bed? That’s just asking for a mess.