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Holidazed Episode 1 (Encore) · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

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Speaker 1: Hey friends, it's time for another encore presentation of Girls
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Speaker 1: Gone Hallmark. This time we are revisiting our reviews of
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Speaker 1: the Holidays series. These were originally recorded in December twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty four, so you might hear a reference here and
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Speaker 1: there to something around the holiday season. But in honor
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Speaker 1: of the fact that Hallmark is re airing these episodes
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Speaker 1: on the Hallmark Channel for the first time, we wanted
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Speaker 1: to re share our reviews along with those drops so
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Speaker 1: you can listen along as you're watching enjoy the show.
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Speaker 1: This is a bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
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Speaker 1: a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
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Speaker 1: Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former homework Today we
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Speaker 1: are discussing Holidays episode one, a series that is exclusively
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Speaker 1: streaming on the Hallmark Plus platform. Find more from us
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Speaker 1: when the podcast is over by following us on Instagram. Y'all,
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Speaker 1: we are Girls Gone Hallmark. Could definitely follow us on
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Speaker 1: our Instagram because now that the countdown the Christmas season
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Speaker 1: has concluded, we're gonna relaunch our annual Best Christmas Movie bracket.
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Speaker 1: It's such a good time, it is so fun. It
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Speaker 1: happens all on Instagram, and I do feel like in
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Speaker 1: the past year. My favorite part about the Countdown to
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Speaker 1: Christmas bracket is when the people involved in these movies
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Speaker 1: really start to champion them, the writers, the directors, the actors,
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Speaker 1: and I think we've built up a lot of relationships
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Speaker 1: over the last year that should make that a really
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Speaker 1: good time. Also, the other thing is you should know
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Speaker 1: that we are recording this a little bit early, but
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Speaker 1: every year I feel there's a clear winner. I do not.
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Speaker 1: I think we're gonna have some split votes here, like
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Speaker 1: you can't have Holiday Touchdown and Three Wiser Men and
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Speaker 1: a Boy and the Christmas Quest. I think we might
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Speaker 1: have an actual challenge on our hands. We might end
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Speaker 1: It also depends on where they get put in the bracket, Like, yes,
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Speaker 1: it could be early where like Holiday Touchdown and three
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Speaker 1: Wisermen go against each other. True making an example here,
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Speaker 1: we have not seeded the bracket yet, no, and it's
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Speaker 1: all random. When we do it, it's so much fun.
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Speaker 1: I just love the engagement from followers and like you said,
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Speaker 1: from like people involved in these movies. It's a good
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Speaker 1: time and I'm glad that it's like an annual thing.
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Speaker 1: For us now, Yes, me too. The format of Holidays
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Speaker 1: is a little bit unique, and the episode one is
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Speaker 1: a little bit of a mismass chaos of introducing all
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Speaker 1: of these families and then the sub sequent episodes dive
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Speaker 1: into their individual stories. And so we're gonna spend the
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Speaker 1: little time in this episode a little first impression style,
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Speaker 1: meeting the families, finding out what we know in this
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Speaker 1: first episode, trying to untangle the web of characters exactly.
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Speaker 1: And if you guys are follow us on Instagram, you
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Speaker 1: saw Megan was like, oh my god, there are sixty
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Speaker 1: six characters. How are we going to do them do this?
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Speaker 1: And if you are regular listeners of our podcast, we
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Speaker 1: usually do like a lot of like background on the
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Speaker 1: on the act. We're not going to do that in
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Speaker 1: this episode, simply because there are so many Let's dive
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Speaker 1: in episode one. Here is the synopsis. The episode is
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Speaker 1: called The Beginning. A neighborhood of families rush home for
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Speaker 1: the Holidays, ready to share the chaos and joy of
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Speaker 1: this season. I'm gonna say, like, as soon as we
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Speaker 1: opened on this scene and there's like narration and they're
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Speaker 1: driving down the street, I'm like, I'm all in this
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Speaker 1: is so exciting to me. Yeah, I thought like the
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Speaker 1: production of it was elevated, hmm, compared to some things
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Speaker 1: we see. I've been really impressed with stuff that's coming
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Speaker 1: off of Hallmark Plus, as have I. Maybe not everything,
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Speaker 1: but most of it. Well, yeah, I hear you. We
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Speaker 1: don't know which came first because Holidays was in the
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Speaker 1: cant Like Holidays was shot, it's been done. I don't
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Speaker 1: know how done it's been, but it was worked on
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Speaker 1: for a long time, and so I don't know if
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Speaker 1: Hallmark Plus was in the works when Holidays was shot.
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Speaker 1: But part of me is like, I'm loving the stuff
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Speaker 1: on Hallmark Plus, but I'm also like punted on Linear
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Speaker 1: because not as many people are seeing it. They will
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Speaker 1: This is gonna end up on Linear probably during the summer. True,
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Speaker 1: True for next Christmas. I don't know. I don't know. True.
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Speaker 1: So there's a narrator at the top of this episode
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Speaker 1: and he this is not verbatim, but he's explaining how
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Speaker 1: every year it begins like everybody's planning for the perfect
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Speaker 1: holiday season, like the ones that we see on the
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Speaker 1: holiday card or in the movies, and then says, just
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Speaker 1: like everything else in life, the holidays never turn out
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Speaker 1: like be planned. So I thought this was a pretty
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Speaker 1: good setup series, Like it's it's telling you you're not
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Speaker 1: gonna we're not gonna get what we think we're gonna
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Speaker 1: get here. Agree, we start to meet the families and
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Speaker 1: tell me what you wished for as we're like getting
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Speaker 1: introduced to them. Sure, I wish we needed some sort
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Speaker 1: of name plate on the screen, like who are we
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Speaker 1: talking about? Is this the Smith family? The Jones family, Like,
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Speaker 1: I'm so confused when this episode starts because there's so
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Speaker 1: many people and to keep everything straight. I think it
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Speaker 1: would have benefited the viewers if if we saw like
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Speaker 1: a name, Yeah, feel like who are these people? Yes?
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Speaker 1: I agree, and almost I would have loved like a
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Speaker 1: little animation of the street with like the name over
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Speaker 1: their house and like where their house is on the street. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I love that. That's a great idea. I do want
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Speaker 1: to say, like I was watching this with my husband
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Speaker 1: and Dennis Haysberg is one of the very first people
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Speaker 1: we see on screen, and my husband goes, is that
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Speaker 1: Joe bu of Major League? Oh wow, that's a deep cut.
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Speaker 1: I was like, that is Joe Boo? I was like
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Speaker 1: that Dennis Haysberg is like, I don't know those CBS
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Speaker 1: shows like that, he does, you know? And the insurance commercials,
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Speaker 1: Geico one of the one of them. I don't know. Yes,
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Speaker 1: he's got that that insurance commercial voice. I love that voice. Yes,
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Speaker 1: I do love that voice. All right, let us meet
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Speaker 1: the families. I'm gonna let you tackle this one. Oh God, okay.
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Speaker 1: Our our biggest family is the Minette Hannah Hand family.
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Speaker 1: And I just want to tell you that when we
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Speaker 1: first meet them, they're out front griswolding their house. One
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Speaker 1: of the neighbors is like looking out the window like
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Speaker 1: they're just done with him, and he goes a bucket lifter.
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Speaker 1: He rented a bucket lifter. And I just want to
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Speaker 1: tell you that I have a neighbor who every year
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Speaker 1: rents we call it a cherry picker, but same thing,
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Speaker 1: in order to help with the neighborhood holiday lights. So
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Speaker 1: this was relatable to me. This family is pure chaos.
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Speaker 1: It honestly stressed me out a little bit to watch them.
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Speaker 1: My husband's like, oh, this is Christmas Vacation on Hallmark,
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Speaker 1: because it's the same, like the kids are all coming
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Speaker 1: home and you have Dad, who is played by John C. McGinley.
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Speaker 1: His name is Chuck Chuckmanetti Hanahan and his children start
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Speaker 1: coming in, so his son Clark and daughter in law Rebecca,
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Speaker 1: and they're like the complete antithesis to everything that Chuck willlieves,
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Speaker 1: like Chuck's Fox News and burgers, and they're like crunchy
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Speaker 1: vegan MSNBC watchers. And if this just sets up the conflict,
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Speaker 1: like you already know that these parents are going to
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Speaker 1: be like, what do you mean they can't have a
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Speaker 1: hot dog? What do you mean you can't have X,
8:03
Speaker 1: Y and Z Like you're a vegan, here's a grilled cheese,
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Speaker 1: like you can just I don't understand, Like you can
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Speaker 1: just see the conflicts that are coming. But relatable though, right, Yeah,
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Speaker 1: for one hundred percent, one hundred percent, I thought it
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Speaker 1: was funny. I know this show has been done for
8:19
Speaker 1: a minute, but I just think it was kind of funny,
8:21
Speaker 1: like in our political climate right now. This is not
8:25
Speaker 1: a political commentary, but it just like you have people
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Speaker 1: on opposite sides of the spectrum here and your family
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Speaker 1: and you get together. It's world. You know, what's the
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Speaker 1: word clashing? I don't know, it's just one hundred percent,
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Speaker 1: it's very timely and also kind of a tale as
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Speaker 1: old as time. Yeah, for sure. Katie who is one
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Speaker 1: of the daughters who's played by Holland Roden, who I
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Speaker 1: just adore. She she bounces, she does not feel welcomed
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Speaker 1: by this family. She does not feel comfortable, and so
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Speaker 1: she goes to her boyfriend's house and there there's beef
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Speaker 1: with the meneti handah hands and her boyfriend's family who
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Speaker 1: happens to be a neighbor. My favorite scene is though
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Speaker 1: the mom, Connie, is played by Virginia Madsen. She comes
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Speaker 1: out and presents contracts to the family because their behavior sucks,
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Speaker 1: and she's like, we're not fighting, we're not drinking, we're
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Speaker 1: not arguing, and sign it or else, and they do
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Speaker 1: not hop on board with this plan. I was actually
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Speaker 1: really sad for her because they just basically laughed in
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Speaker 1: her face and they were like okay, yeah, and they
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Speaker 1: didn't sign those contracts. They went outside to light the
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Speaker 1: house up or whatever. But I was like, I felt
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Speaker 1: really bad because she just wants like a nice memorable
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Speaker 1: and I think she says the line later like a
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Speaker 1: Hallmark movie Christmas, you know, and so I feel bad
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Speaker 1: for her. I felt for her. This is one hundred
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Speaker 1: percent like I want order, I want calmness. I want
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Speaker 1: people to be following the rules. This. Would I ever
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Speaker 1: bring out a contract, Probably not, but what I want
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Speaker 1: my family to like agree to basic decency. Yes, and
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Speaker 1: that's not what we're getting here. Yeah, they do light
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Speaker 1: the lights. It's very I mean, they're like leaning in.
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Speaker 1: I can't. I don't think it's accidental to the Christmas
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Speaker 1: occation Griswold comparison. The lights go up, they blow a
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Speaker 1: feuse and in a true Hallmark moment, Chuck says, oh, fudge,
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Speaker 1: I thought that was really funny. And also I would
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Speaker 1: like to note I did not think that their lights
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Speaker 1: were like overly obnoxious. I thought I thought their Christmas
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Speaker 1: life looked beautiful. Yeah, I thought they're all like nice. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: The neighbor was pissed like at that it was going
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Speaker 1: to be like too much or too overboard or creeping
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Speaker 1: onto his side. I thought it was fine. Yeah, I
10:50
Speaker 1: agree with you. Let people be what they're into. If
10:53
Speaker 1: they want to, like crazy light their house up, let them.
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Speaker 1: How is it hurting you if your neighbors have Christmas
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Speaker 1: lights more lights than you do. Yeah? I don't know,
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Speaker 1: let people live man, hopefully they'll dig into that a
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Speaker 1: little bit more about like what that beef is between
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Speaker 1: these two neighbors. Yeah, it's obviously deeper than Christmas lights.
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Speaker 1: They're just kind of things to be annoyed. So, speaking
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Speaker 1: of the beef, we're talking about the Cameraina family, and
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Speaker 1: this is the the Manette Hannah Hands and the camera
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Speaker 1: Renas apparently have issues with each other, which is going
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Speaker 1: to be compounded by the fact that their sun Burt
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Speaker 1: is dating the Manette Hannah Han daughter as mentioned played
11:31
Speaker 1: by holend Road and Katie, and the beef kind of
11:34
Speaker 1: exists on like several levels, right, Like we know that
11:37
Speaker 1: there's like this generic family issue going on, but we
11:42
Speaker 1: also learn that the Cameraina daughter, her name's Gabby played
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Speaker 1: by Noami Gonzalez, when she finds out her brother is
11:52
Speaker 1: dating Katie. There's like high school flashbacks and it's like
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Speaker 1: a gives like mean girl vibes, like was this girl
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Speaker 1: your high school bully? Like she's not happy about it.
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Speaker 1: This was nicely done, now, yeah, those like cut in
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Speaker 1: Kate coming down the stairs, He's walking down the stairs. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: it was great, nicely directed by Stacy and Hardin here,
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Speaker 1: I one hundred percent agree with you. And another person
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Speaker 1: I felt bad for, like Gabby comes in and she's
12:17
Speaker 1: so excited because she's like, I'm auditioning for this cooking
12:20
Speaker 1: show and her parents are like, yeah, and your brother
12:23
Speaker 1: has a new girlfriend. And I kind of felt like
12:27
Speaker 1: the brother is the favorite child and she's just trying
12:31
Speaker 1: to like have her life as acknowledged and celebrated as
12:34
Speaker 1: his is. Is that the vibe you got Mecan's billing
12:37
Speaker 1: trigger these movies and shows lately really hitting home for you? Huh? Well,
12:47
Speaker 1: to be fair, I do not think my parents have
12:49
Speaker 1: favorite children, but I think everybody with siblings can relate
12:53
Speaker 1: to the fact that it is virtually impossible to parent
12:56
Speaker 1: your children fairly like equality, the way that your kids
13:02
Speaker 1: are gonna view it like fair is not an achievable goal, right,
13:07
Speaker 1: You're gonna parent them differently because they're different people. But well,
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Speaker 1: I did feel bad for her too, because, like even
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Speaker 1: Gabby is she explains to her parents that girl was
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Speaker 1: mean to me in high school and her family has
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Speaker 1: weaponized Christmas lights, like what is happening here? And they
13:26
Speaker 1: are just like, oh, it's not a big deal. Like
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Speaker 1: I feel for Gabby. Her feelings are not being one
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Speaker 1: is the word I'm looking for acknowledged her knowledge. Yes,
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Speaker 1: she's not being heard. Present day, Katie seems to be
13:40
Speaker 1: nothing but lovely. She doesn't seem to be I think
13:44
Speaker 1: Gabby can read her behavior as maybe like trying to
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Speaker 1: undercut her, because at one point, like Gabby's cooking a
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Speaker 1: souffle and you know, Katie comes in and she's like,
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Speaker 1: I like that, I got garlic knots and they're like,
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Speaker 1: no soufle I'm like, why not both? Poor quean nolo
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Speaker 1: stoes make them both. It's the holidays. And then later
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Speaker 1: on we get a karaoke scene and Katie signed her
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Speaker 1: and Gabby up to sing a duet. And I think
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Speaker 1: you can read this in two ways, like is Katie
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Speaker 1: trying to embarrass Gabby or is she trying to have
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Speaker 1: like this fun moment with her? Yes, but talk about embarrassment.
14:17
Speaker 1: I had second hand embarrassment watching this karaoke scene, did you?
14:21
Speaker 1: I mean, like Katie Holland wrote in like really leaned
14:25
Speaker 1: into it, and I was like I would. I don't know.
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Speaker 1: I just felt weird watching it. And then Gabby falls
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Speaker 1: off the stage. Gabby falls off the stage. Yeah, it
14:35
Speaker 1: was like just a hot mess. And then to add
14:38
Speaker 1: insult to injury, the family does give Katie Gabby's room. Yeah,
14:45
Speaker 1: she's had a rough night, she can sleep there, and
14:47
Speaker 1: poor Gabby has to sleep on the couch while she's
14:50
Speaker 1: looking for a blanket. Uh oh, she finds an engagement ring. Yeah,
14:55
Speaker 1: that would just be well, I mean, is Gabby gonna
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Speaker 1: die if this is gonna be her sister in law?
15:02
Speaker 1: But can you even imagine these two families? We talked
15:05
Speaker 1: about it in Christmas with the sings, talk about these
15:07
Speaker 1: two families. Yeah, coming together. There's not going to be
15:11
Speaker 1: an easy acknowledgment of sure, we can do things your way,
15:14
Speaker 1: let's compromise. Oh my gosh. No. Next up we have
15:19
Speaker 1: the Lewin family, and the Lewin family is dealing with
15:25
Speaker 1: they've got divorced parents slash grandparents, and they're trying to
15:30
Speaker 1: balance like everyone's coming to town. So the main couple
15:34
Speaker 1: in the Lewin family are Mike and Jennifer played by
15:36
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Joseph and Robin Fanfair. And as we mentioned earlier,
15:40
Speaker 1: Dennis Haysbert is in this series and he plays Jennifer's dad,
15:44
Speaker 1: and he's like kind of curmudgeonly. He comes to town
15:47
Speaker 1: like they're like, oh, look at all the presents. He's like,
15:50
Speaker 1: what else am I supposed to do at Christmas? Y'all like,
15:52
Speaker 1: of course I'm going to bring all the presents, and
15:54
Speaker 1: they like they're trying real hard to make him happy,
15:57
Speaker 1: and the son in law has bought him scotch try
16:03
Speaker 1: and take the edge off. And do you want to
16:06
Speaker 1: tell everybody what his reaction to that was. That line
16:09
Speaker 1: was so funny and I had to google it because
16:11
Speaker 1: I didn't know what it meant. I've never I've never
16:14
Speaker 1: heard this before. But he says like, oh, I don't
16:17
Speaker 1: drink scotch because it gives me the winds W I
16:20
Speaker 1: N D S. And I was like, what does that mean?
16:22
Speaker 1: It means like if you're three sheets to the wind.
16:25
Speaker 1: Oh it does. I thought it meant gassy. Oh no, no,
16:29
Speaker 1: it says it's a reference to being like three sheets
16:32
Speaker 1: to the wind. That's what I found out google last night.
16:36
Speaker 1: Interesting and maybe it does make him gassy. I don't know.
16:39
Speaker 1: I don't know. This says gas in the stomach. Oh
16:44
Speaker 1: it does someone ate or drank something which made them
16:46
Speaker 1: gassy and fart a lot? I don't know. Look either way,
16:50
Speaker 1: sure came. Actually you know what, you know how Google
16:53
Speaker 1: is like when you google something now and I'm a
16:55
Speaker 1: little AI. Oh yeah, that's where it gave it to me.
16:59
Speaker 1: Oh you know, I'm not getting an AI overview on
17:03
Speaker 1: this search. Interesting, well it means one or the other.
17:08
Speaker 1: I read it as Gassie. Maybe it makes him completely obliterated.
17:13
Speaker 1: Jennifer's mom is played by Loretta Devine, who apparently does
17:17
Speaker 1: an age. I would like to know what her skincare
17:19
Speaker 1: routine is, because she's looked the same forever and she's
17:24
Speaker 1: real secretive about her new boyfriend. And because I knew
17:27
Speaker 1: the cast of this show, I was like, oh my gosh,
17:30
Speaker 1: I know what's coming. First of all, we get a
17:35
Speaker 1: line in this show that I was like, excuse me,
17:38
Speaker 1: how is in the back bedroom in case we make noise?
17:42
Speaker 1: How how they show up? Grandma shows up with her
17:49
Speaker 1: boyfriend and outwalks to Darius Blaine, who is probably younger
17:55
Speaker 1: than daughter Jennifer. Here and Alice, Yeah, that's the button
17:59
Speaker 1: on that. See. Please be the Uber Driver is hilarious.
18:03
Speaker 1: Wasn't that so funny? He's like, please be the Uber driver.
18:06
Speaker 1: Be the Uber Driver. It was hilarious. And I love
18:10
Speaker 1: that Dennis Haysbert's character is just like shakesa smiles and
18:14
Speaker 1: shakes his head like he's like unfazed by it, or
18:17
Speaker 1: he's telling us he's unfazed by it, like she is
18:19
Speaker 1: someone else's problem. Now. I am curious to see how
18:23
Speaker 1: this is gonna play out well. The children, the adult
18:25
Speaker 1: children are so nervous about mom bringing her new boyfriend.
18:28
Speaker 1: And she thought the mom had told the dad that
18:30
Speaker 1: she was dating, so she was nervous to have to
18:32
Speaker 1: tell him. And he's like, it's no big deal, Like
18:34
Speaker 1: we've been divorced for three years. It's fine. But I
18:37
Speaker 1: can understand as like the children trying to like manage
18:40
Speaker 1: everyone's moods that they're like, oh god, this is this
18:44
Speaker 1: is not ideal totally. Lets move on to the Hill family. Hello,
18:50
Speaker 1: Ian Harding is all I would like to say here,
18:52
Speaker 1: Oh my god, for real, Like, look, I enjoyed him
18:57
Speaker 1: in the Magic of Limon Drops Summer. I enjoy him.
19:01
Speaker 1: I liked him since Pretty Little Liars. There's something about
19:05
Speaker 1: this role though, Yeah, I am drawn to him. I'm
19:09
Speaker 1: not alone because his name is being talked about a
19:11
Speaker 1: lot on in the Facebook groups. So this is this
19:15
Speaker 1: is Ian Harding appears to be an only child. He's
19:17
Speaker 1: coming home to visit his parents played by Gwyneth Walsh
19:21
Speaker 1: and Barry Levy, and he has an offscreen girlfriend who
19:24
Speaker 1: we do not meet until episode two. But you know,
19:27
Speaker 1: the vibe of this family is like, you know, his
19:31
Speaker 1: parents are just like happy living their life. They don't
19:33
Speaker 1: need like the newest fancist technology, and he's like trying
19:38
Speaker 1: to bring them into the future. Let me give you
19:40
Speaker 1: a breadmaker, let me give you a pilates reformer, let
19:42
Speaker 1: me give you this weird power bowl full of sprouts,
19:45
Speaker 1: and they just kind of like smile and nod at him.
19:49
Speaker 1: I kind of feel bad for everybody in this scenario
19:53
Speaker 1: y because I'm like, these parents have this kid who
19:57
Speaker 1: doesn't understand them, like he almost doesn't like who they
20:02
Speaker 1: are by the way, he's constantly trying to change them,
20:06
Speaker 1: like you guys have to be better and newer, and
20:10
Speaker 1: it's not working for me, and they kind of just
20:13
Speaker 1: like almost tolerate him. That's so funny that that's I
20:20
Speaker 1: see it more as like he wants to help make
20:23
Speaker 1: their life easier, yes, And therefore, like here is this
20:28
Speaker 1: like blender that's going to make it easy for you.
20:30
Speaker 1: This breadmaker, that's going to make it easier. I'm worried
20:33
Speaker 1: about your health. Here is a Pilates reformer to you
20:37
Speaker 1: know whatever. Yeah, I think that's a good perspective. But
20:40
Speaker 1: at what point do you look at it and be like,
20:42
Speaker 1: they're just living their lives, like maybe I need to
20:45
Speaker 1: step off. Yeah, it's the interesting dynamic here. We know
20:51
Speaker 1: that Josh has this big plan. He and his girlfriend
20:53
Speaker 1: are moving to Australia to like launch their business. He's
20:57
Speaker 1: just in town for a little bit and while he's
20:59
Speaker 1: in town, he breaks the law and gets pulled over
21:02
Speaker 1: by cop Nora Sheriff Nora. I just am loving Aaron K. Hill.
21:08
Speaker 1: We're getting so much Aaron Ky Hill these days. Onto
21:11
Speaker 1: mind Apple Hill finding mister Christmas. I find her quite charming,
21:17
Speaker 1: and it like starts off. He's real contentious with her,
21:20
Speaker 1: and then his parents are like, it's like an interesting
21:24
Speaker 1: conversation because they're like, oh, she's married and had a
21:27
Speaker 1: son and he's like oh, and they're like and she's
21:29
Speaker 1: widowed and he was like oh. And so he kind
21:32
Speaker 1: of like takes on the role of like, well, now
21:34
Speaker 1: I gotta be nice to her. He kind of comes
21:36
Speaker 1: around once he realizes like she's a widowed, single mom, right,
21:39
Speaker 1: he changes his tune. He like yeah, goes in and
21:43
Speaker 1: like pays the ticket without argument. He kind of like
21:46
Speaker 1: is a little starts off like a little kindness towards
21:50
Speaker 1: her son. How do you feel about his motivation though
21:53
Speaker 1: for behaving that way? I don't think are you suggesting
21:57
Speaker 1: that he was motivated like her to get out of
22:00
Speaker 1: his ticket? And no, I'm suggesting like he's a good
22:04
Speaker 1: guy because he learns that like her life has been challenging.
22:07
Speaker 1: But I kind of am like, you could just be
22:10
Speaker 1: like a good guy overall, and I think that. But
22:12
Speaker 1: I think he wins me over well, he definitely wins
22:15
Speaker 1: me over as well. But I think there is Okay,
22:19
Speaker 1: let me find the right words here. I mean, he
22:21
Speaker 1: is who he is at least he's not like a
22:23
Speaker 1: total asshole where he's like I don't care that she's
22:27
Speaker 1: a single mom or a widow or whatever, like he
22:32
Speaker 1: it's redeeming it. So do you know what I'm trying
22:35
Speaker 1: to know? Yes, that is a good point, and I
22:37
Speaker 1: think it is important that he does be like I
22:39
Speaker 1: got to check myself here, like maybe I don't need
22:42
Speaker 1: to like come in hot every time I disagree with
22:44
Speaker 1: the way someone behaves right, Otherwise he's just a boring character. True,
22:49
Speaker 1: he's like from mister nurse guy, so like, okay, let
22:52
Speaker 1: let him learn from his mistakes here and even his
22:55
Speaker 1: I think his dad says, yeah, his dad says, feelings
23:00
Speaker 1: are pretty good teachers. Oh my gosh, it's my favorite line.
23:05
Speaker 1: He's like, oh, I feel bad, and dad says, sometimes, son,
23:08
Speaker 1: feelings are good teachers. I really love the dad. He
23:12
Speaker 1: has a couple like real quiet moments of sending a
23:16
Speaker 1: very clear message. Yeah, he's like, yes, and you were
23:19
Speaker 1: a dick. Anything else about this family? Who leaves their
23:22
Speaker 1: car and drive? Although I did leave my car on
23:25
Speaker 1: and walk away from it once, so I guess I can't.
23:28
Speaker 1: Who leaves her car and drive? My husband last year
23:30
Speaker 1: in Boston, when he did, he turned it to somebody. Yes,
23:34
Speaker 1: all at the hotel. Yeah, she got out of the car,
23:37
Speaker 1: the car with sell and drive the car. Oh, another car.
23:39
Speaker 1: I did not realize that that was the catalyst for
23:43
Speaker 1: that event. You know, because our well, because our cars
23:46
Speaker 1: don't have keys anymore. I have gotten out of the
23:48
Speaker 1: car with my car running before so, and then I'm like,
23:51
Speaker 1: why isn't it locking? That's why? Okay, So well, here
23:55
Speaker 1: I tried driving a Tesla where you don't have to
23:57
Speaker 1: turn it on and off, and it sounds so douchey. Sorry, Yes,
24:00
Speaker 1: my husband drives a Tesla, and so when he drives
24:02
Speaker 1: in my car where you do have to push on
24:04
Speaker 1: and off, like he always leaves it out, I'm like,
24:06
Speaker 1: you have to turn it off anyway. Look, I can
24:11
Speaker 1: understand that muscle memory. Every time I get my husband's car,
24:13
Speaker 1: I accidentally turn on the windshield wipers instead of putting
24:17
Speaker 1: it in gear. Because this a fire hydrant accident does
24:23
Speaker 1: set us up nicely for the next episode because she's like,
24:26
Speaker 1: it's destruction of property. Yet Okay has a court day
24:28
Speaker 1: and he's like, please let me do community service. She
24:30
Speaker 1: miraculously gets a judge on the phone, gets a judge
24:33
Speaker 1: who doesn't know anything about this, gas to be like, sure, man,
24:36
Speaker 1: whatever you want, sheriff you want, he gets community service. Yeah.
24:42
Speaker 1: Of course this sets up for episode two, which we
24:44
Speaker 1: will talk about. I have lots of thoughts about. Indeed,
24:48
Speaker 1: we meet the Lynn family and Ted and Marcus are
24:52
Speaker 1: in town that they are engaged and dun, dun, duh. Grandma,
24:57
Speaker 1: also known as Nina, does not know that Ted is gay,
25:01
Speaker 1: and their entire goal is don't kill Grandma with this
25:04
Speaker 1: shocking news. Did you think I couldn't believe here we
25:09
Speaker 1: are on Hallmark again, Grandma doesn't know I'm gay. I
25:13
Speaker 1: couldn't believe that was the line. Definitely was a first.
25:18
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, had to have been right. They actually
25:22
Speaker 1: said gay out loud on Hallmark. Well, and the funniest
25:25
Speaker 1: thing is they're like, they sent her away to try
25:28
Speaker 1: and avoid Gramma. Are you just hoping she dies before
25:31
Speaker 1: the wedding? What is happening here? Of course, she spoils
25:35
Speaker 1: their plans. She decides to stick around for Christmas and
25:39
Speaker 1: misreads the situation assuming daughter Ella, who's like, I'm never
25:44
Speaker 1: getting married, is in fact the one who is engaged
25:48
Speaker 1: to Marcus played by Shanamett. Yeah, this is super interesting,
25:53
Speaker 1: this storyline here and relatable I think to a lot
25:58
Speaker 1: of families. Uh did you notice how much champagne this
26:02
Speaker 1: family drinks? I didn't. They were popping bottles, throwing it back,
26:07
Speaker 1: talk about getting the winds, No, just kidding. I was like,
26:13
Speaker 1: and this family is hammered because Grandma came to town.
26:17
Speaker 1: They're stressed out, man. Yeah, it was really funny. I thought.
26:21
Speaker 1: I thought the mom was really funny. What is her name?
26:24
Speaker 1: Sharon Crandall. She plays Lois and she was always like Steve, look,
26:31
Speaker 1: I just thought it was I thought it was quite comical.
26:34
Speaker 1: Your mom out of here, that is her mom. Our
26:37
Speaker 1: final family is the Woods family. Lucy is a single
26:42
Speaker 1: mom and they are in the diner and yeah, she's
26:46
Speaker 1: like flirting with the hot handyman. M Yeah, she is
26:51
Speaker 1: annoyed that her sister Sylvie is coming to town because
26:55
Speaker 1: she and her daughter like a low key like holiday
26:58
Speaker 1: and Sylvie's nothing messing low key. And unfortunately we come
27:05
Speaker 1: home and Sylvie is trying to woo old handyman Cole.
27:11
Speaker 1: Now look, Cole was given Lucy the eyes in that diner,
27:16
Speaker 1: and Lucy's coworker was like, maybe you need some other
27:20
Speaker 1: things done, and he's like, I'd be happy to come
27:22
Speaker 1: over and help you fix your window. I don't believe
27:26
Speaker 1: for one second that Cole is going to go for Sylvie. Obviously,
27:29
Speaker 1: this is just like a distraction moment. But I do
27:32
Speaker 1: understand Lucy being like, do you have to have everything? Sure? Yeah,
27:38
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to dig deeper in here. This is
27:40
Speaker 1: the one family that was not really explored a lot
27:44
Speaker 1: in this episode. I agree, we don't know the history
27:48
Speaker 1: between Lucy and sister Sylvie. We don't know why Lucy
27:52
Speaker 1: is a single parent. I did think though, there was
27:58
Speaker 1: kind of a suggestive line between the handyman and Lucy
28:03
Speaker 1: while in the diner, and maybe I'm the one with
28:05
Speaker 1: the dirty mind, but it was like he said something
28:08
Speaker 1: about like more milk in my coffee, and she is
28:12
Speaker 1: like a lighter skinned woman and he is a darker
28:16
Speaker 1: skinned Oh, and I was like, am I reading into
28:20
Speaker 1: this interesting? I don't know. I don't know, but I
28:26
Speaker 1: obviously they're going to get their own standalone episode. I think, yeah,
28:30
Speaker 1: for sure, and so we'll know more here. That is
28:34
Speaker 1: going to be a wrap on this very tangled web
28:37
Speaker 1: of meeting the Families of Holidays season one, episode one.
28:41
Speaker 1: We will be back with a rundown. We're going to
28:43
Speaker 1: dive in to the hotness of Ian Harding in episode two.
28:48
Speaker 1: The Hill Family up next. Thank you for listening to
28:52
Speaker 1: this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark, a Bramble Jam podcast.
28:55
Speaker 1: If you love this podcast, we love your five star
28:59
Speaker 1: readings and reviews. You can leave them in the podcast
29:01
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29:16
Speaker 1: all right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
29:19
Speaker 1: you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
29:21
Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
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Speaker 1: and discover your new favorite product. Bye Stattatt