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This Time Each Year · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

0:02
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
0:27
Speaker 1: Hallmark Here, I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. Today
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Speaker 1: we're discussing This Time Each Year, which originally premiered on
0:35
Speaker 1: Hallmark Mystery on Thursday, October twenty fourth, twenty twenty four.
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Speaker 1: And guess what, We're not alone. But before we introduce
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Speaker 1: you to our guest, we want to remind you where
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Speaker 1: you can find us outside of the podcast. Follow us
0:47
Speaker 1: on Instagram. We have two Instagram accounts, Girls Gone Hallmark
0:51
Speaker 1: for all things Hallmark, and Megan and Wendy, which is
0:55
Speaker 1: everything else. We also have a boom in Facebook group.
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Speaker 1: It's private, it's full of really awesome. I was gonna
1:04
Speaker 1: say connected. They're not connected, but like very engaged people
1:08
Speaker 1: who are passionate about these movies. And I think if
1:12
Speaker 1: you're looking for our space to talk about what you
1:16
Speaker 1: saw or what you didn't like, or anything related to Hallmark,
1:20
Speaker 1: it is the place to be. I agree. They're always
1:23
Speaker 1: email lists to your thoughts on the podcast, your thoughts
1:26
Speaker 1: on these movies. We love reading your emails, and our
1:29
Speaker 1: email is Girls Go on Hamemark at gmail dot com.
1:32
Speaker 1: We are very lucky to be joined today by Nicole Smith,
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Speaker 1: the host of the Swing My Heart podcast, which y'all
1:39
Speaker 1: are definitely gonna want to listen to because she does
1:42
Speaker 1: a ton of interviews with your favorite Hallmark stars. Thank you,
1:47
Speaker 1: welcome to Girls Gone Hamewark, Icol, Thank you for having me.
1:50
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to be on your podcast and talk
1:54
Speaker 2: about this timings year.
1:56
Speaker 1: Can you tell our listeners a little bit of your
1:58
Speaker 1: Hallmark watching origin story?
2:01
Speaker 2: Sure so for me, I always remember when I was
2:05
Speaker 2: a kid watching the Homework Christmas movies occasionally, but I
2:10
Speaker 2: never started watching on a regular basis until about March
2:16
Speaker 2: or April of twenty seventeen, when I got into Wind
2:19
Speaker 2: Calls the Heart and I binged that and then I
2:21
Speaker 2: was able to catch up in just enough time, I
2:24
Speaker 2: think to watch the last two episodes of season four live,
2:28
Speaker 2: and I've been watching Homework regularly ever since since.
2:32
Speaker 1: That is one series that we have never seen a
2:34
Speaker 1: single episode of.
2:36
Speaker 2: It's great, is it? See?
2:38
Speaker 1: I have a problem with like period pieces, and I
2:42
Speaker 1: just don't know if I could get into it. But
2:45
Speaker 1: I thought the same thing with Sigin Stel Delivered and
2:47
Speaker 1: I loved sign Steel Delivered, even though it's not a
2:50
Speaker 1: period page. But I'm just saying like I wasn't sure
2:54
Speaker 1: we were going to be able to because there was
2:57
Speaker 1: so much of it already if we could get into.
2:59
Speaker 2: It, as there was so much.
3:00
Speaker 1: And then when we announced We're like, we're doing sign
3:02
Speaker 1: Field Delivered summer, a few regular listeners were like, no,
3:05
Speaker 1: don't do it. They're like, you're not gonna like it boring,
3:09
Speaker 1: and I was like, I was so nervous going into it,
3:11
Speaker 1: and then the first couple of movies were like, Uh,
3:13
Speaker 1: this is pretty good.
3:15
Speaker 2: I was hooked for for Signs. I was hooked from
3:19
Speaker 2: the very beginning. I'm not in og postable, so I
3:22
Speaker 2: didn't start watching right when it aired. Yeah, first premiered
3:26
Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen. I came in very late to the
3:29
Speaker 2: game twenty February of twenty twenty one, and I think
3:32
Speaker 2: I binged it within three or four days, Like I
3:37
Speaker 2: think I started February third of twenty twenty one and
3:40
Speaker 2: I finished like the seventh or something. Yes, I remember
3:43
Speaker 2: the exact day.
3:44
Speaker 1: Wow, did you say you've watched them since then?
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Speaker 2: Yes, multiple times, multiple times.
3:51
Speaker 1: How what are your feelings on like the most recent
3:53
Speaker 1: movie and the one to come next.
3:56
Speaker 2: I loved the most recent one. Of course, there might
3:59
Speaker 2: have been something I would have changed a little bit,
4:02
Speaker 2: but I thought it was great. Martha Williamson always does
4:04
Speaker 2: a fantastic job. The acting was incredible, and I'm so
4:08
Speaker 2: excited for the next one.
4:10
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see. Yeah, I know, I'm excited too.
4:14
Speaker 1: I hope. I hope it's in length the I hope
4:17
Speaker 1: it premieres in the first three months of the new year.
4:20
Speaker 1: Me too, Yeah, because I'm like, we can't wait any longer.
4:25
Speaker 2: No, And I hope we get more after that.
4:28
Speaker 1: I hope so too. And I don't know if you
4:29
Speaker 1: heard our interview with Crystal, she feels hopeful for it,
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Speaker 1: So that makes me. That makes me happy. Yeah, it's
4:36
Speaker 1: pretty amazing how many years, eleven years, they've been making
4:41
Speaker 1: these movies and they still have the core four of
4:43
Speaker 1: them coming back.
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Speaker 2: I mean, that's crazy, pretty incredible.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, because of your love of Seinseield delivered thought that
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Speaker 1: this movie this time each year, which of course is
4:54
Speaker 1: directed by Crystal Lowe, would be the perfect U crossover episode.
5:00
Speaker 1: So Wendy's going to read us a little synopsis. Despite
5:04
Speaker 1: a trial separation, Lauren pretends to still be with her
5:07
Speaker 1: husband Kevin to placate her overbearing mother. The ruse may
5:12
Speaker 1: be just what the couple needs to finally work on
5:14
Speaker 1: their marriage. It's time for news and notes for this
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Speaker 1: time each year. Crystall Low directed this time each year.
5:22
Speaker 1: Crystal is, of course, well known as Rita in the
5:24
Speaker 1: Science Sealed Delivered series. This is her second full length
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Speaker 1: directorial project, after Shifting Gears earlier this year. She is
5:31
Speaker 1: currently working on another, as yet un announced project. Michael
5:35
Speaker 1: Christopher gets the story credit for this movie. And unfortunately
5:39
Speaker 1: that's all the information we have. There is nothing else
5:42
Speaker 1: out there that is correct. Michael Christopher, get in touch.
5:48
Speaker 1: Juliana Wimbles wrote the teleplay for this movie. Juliana is
5:51
Speaker 1: an actress with forty four acting credits, often seen as
5:53
Speaker 1: Lisa in the Hannah Swinson Mysteries. She has a growing
5:56
Speaker 1: writing career with six writing credits that include a Costa
5:59
Speaker 1: Rican Wedding and a Whitewater romance. Alie Sweeney plays Lauren.
6:04
Speaker 1: Ali is an entertainment powerhouse with fifty three acting credits.
6:08
Speaker 1: She also served as executive producer on this movie. IMDb
6:13
Speaker 1: tells us the next Hannah Swinson mystery Cooked to Death,
6:18
Speaker 1: which I don't know about. That title is currently in
6:20
Speaker 1: pre production. Nile made her plays Kevin. Nile has sixty
6:24
Speaker 1: five acting credits, including last year's Holiday Hotline and a
6:27
Speaker 1: cameo as DJ Ginger Jeff in The Santa Summit Dj
6:32
Speaker 1: Ginger Jeff. It never really occurred to me the play
6:35
Speaker 1: on Jazzy Jeff until right this moment. We're still waiting
6:39
Speaker 1: on a return of Family History Mystery. He's not going
6:41
Speaker 1: to stop banging that drum. This was Nile and Ali's
6:45
Speaker 1: first movie together. Victor zinc Junior plays brother Bart. Victor
6:50
Speaker 1: has forty one acting credits and previously appeared with Niall
6:54
Speaker 1: in Frozen in Love. Victor also had a four episode
6:58
Speaker 1: run on The One Hit, One Date My Dad. Laura
7:02
Speaker 1: Soltis plays Lauren's mom. Laura has sixty four acting credits
7:05
Speaker 1: and has already appeared in this year's Holiday Crashers. She
7:08
Speaker 1: has also said to appear in season's Greetings from Cherry
7:12
Speaker 1: Lane Do Out on Hallmark Plus. Colleen Wheeler plays mom Patricia.
7:17
Speaker 1: Colleen has sixty four acting credits and cleaning roles in
7:19
Speaker 1: Notes of Autumn and Field Day for Hallmark. She has
7:23
Speaker 1: five projects currently in production, although none appear to be
7:26
Speaker 1: for Hallmark. Craig March plays Ron. Craig has one hundred
7:29
Speaker 1: eight acting credits, including previous Hallmark projects, Nellie Knows Mysteries
7:33
Speaker 1: of Fatal Engagement and Checking It Twice. Ezra Wilson plays Charlie.
7:38
Speaker 1: Ezra has just four acting credits, including the series Virgin
7:41
Speaker 1: River and Christmas on Cherry Lane. He also has four
7:46
Speaker 1: projects upcoming according to IMDb, go Ezra, We're gonna take
7:51
Speaker 1: a quick break and we'll be right back. It's time
8:00
Speaker 1: for first impressions, and my first impression is this movie
8:05
Speaker 1: does a great job of not saying the hard things
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Speaker 1: and an even better job of showing off. How Jack
8:10
Speaker 1: Nilemeterer is.
8:13
Speaker 2: Nicole. What's your first impression? I think I had a
8:17
Speaker 2: lot of first impressions for this maybe, but I'll just
8:20
Speaker 2: say too, Love is her work and you should never
8:24
Speaker 2: give up on love. And I loved the McCall family, Like,
8:30
Speaker 2: how can we spend a McCall family Christmas?
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Speaker 1: For real? They're in my notes actually too. My first
8:39
Speaker 1: impression is that you think your holidays are stressful? Look
8:43
Speaker 1: I don't I sold the house earlier this year. I
8:46
Speaker 1: don't know how. There's no way I could have managed
8:50
Speaker 1: selling a house during the holiday season. Yeah, the house
8:53
Speaker 1: selling timeline is in my wish. It's a little yeah.
8:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:00
Speaker 1: I want to talk about some things we liked. In
9:04
Speaker 1: our interview with Crystal, she talked about like how excited
9:07
Speaker 1: she was about the opening of this movie, and I
9:10
Speaker 1: loved watching that on screen, like the progression of holiday cards.
9:13
Speaker 1: Typical Hallmark movie openings are like a bureaul establishing shot
9:18
Speaker 1: of where the movie is filmed with a title card
9:21
Speaker 1: over it, and the fact that they went and did
9:24
Speaker 1: the extra piece here with showing the progression of their lives,
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Speaker 1: and to me, I feel like that's where director really
9:30
Speaker 1: gets to shine, right, Like the writer didn't maybe included that,
9:33
Speaker 1: but there's no dialogue. So the director was like, this
9:36
Speaker 1: is how we're going to stage these moments, and I
9:39
Speaker 1: thought it set the scene perfectly.
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Speaker 2: It was amazing. That was one of my favorite parts
9:45
Speaker 2: of the maybe too. Yeah, what else did you like
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Speaker 2: about this movie? Let's see? Well, of course I loved
9:50
Speaker 2: the married couple storyline with depth and then working through
9:53
Speaker 2: issues which I feel like we're seeing more and more
9:56
Speaker 2: of on Hallmark lightly and I love it.
9:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it.
10:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, the chemistry between Nile and Ali, and I think
10:07
Speaker 2: my favorite scene that's a tough one. I think my
10:10
Speaker 2: favorite scene is probably the one towards the end when
10:13
Speaker 2: they're at the they view home and they're dancing.
10:18
Speaker 1: That's my favorite scene too. I sent Crystal ADM and
10:23
Speaker 1: I was like, I have full body chills right now,
10:26
Speaker 1: and this just because the way, well, I agree with you.
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Speaker 1: I thought Ali and Nile had like fire chemistry. I
10:33
Speaker 1: really really enjoyed them together. And the way that Crystal
10:38
Speaker 1: shot that scene with like just them dancing and the
10:41
Speaker 1: glow of the movie light, I thought was what That
10:46
Speaker 1: whole scene was really good. I just loved watching them
10:49
Speaker 1: like sitting on the couch and eating Chinese food and
10:51
Speaker 1: then telling stories and laughing, and like you could truly
10:54
Speaker 1: see that they were still in love with each other.
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Speaker 1: They had just hit like a real tough season of
11:01
Speaker 1: their marriage. Yeah, they needed to work through some stuff.
11:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. I also loved the gingerbread house competition. That was fun.
11:09
Speaker 1: All I could think of during that scene was how
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Speaker 1: Crystal was like, we were like, what's it like working
11:13
Speaker 1: with kids and just like, did he eat too many
11:14
Speaker 1: candy when we were making gingerbread? Yes? He did, and
11:17
Speaker 1: I just like all I could picture in my mind
11:19
Speaker 1: was like spiraling. I just thought, yep, that's the perfect
11:22
Speaker 1: setup for an eight year old to be, like, I'm
11:23
Speaker 1: going to be sick at the end of this day.
11:25
Speaker 1: Nobody's looking. I'm gonna eat this there be here right
11:29
Speaker 1: in front of me. What do you expect me to do?
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Speaker 2: He was cute.
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Speaker 1: I notoriously don't like little children and movies, and I
11:36
Speaker 1: thought he was real cute. I loved Charlie. I. We
11:40
Speaker 1: have teenagers, and my husband watched this movie with me
11:43
Speaker 1: and he was like, look at how excited he is
11:46
Speaker 1: about Christmas. Like it's just that excited when he runs
11:49
Speaker 1: into their room on Christmas morning.
11:52
Speaker 2: Sanna came.
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Speaker 1: I just loved it. Like my kids, we have to
11:56
Speaker 1: wake them up now, Yeah, you have to wait till
11:58
Speaker 1: noon for them to get out of bed. Yes. So
12:01
Speaker 1: I want to talk about something that I don't know
12:03
Speaker 1: where it's going to land for all of you, but
12:05
Speaker 1: for me, it lands in my likes and that is
12:07
Speaker 1: the alcoholism storyline here. I have read some critique about
12:12
Speaker 1: the way this was handled in this movie, and he
12:15
Speaker 1: really wanted to hear the words alcoholic. They really wanted
12:17
Speaker 1: to hear the word dui, and they felt like the
12:19
Speaker 1: storyline was perhaps too watered down, and I'm very curious
12:23
Speaker 1: to hear how y'all. Wendy has a big nod feel
12:25
Speaker 1: about this one hundred per personal perspective here. We have
12:30
Speaker 1: another podcast on Patreon and I talk all the time
12:33
Speaker 1: when we talk about things we're watching. I am not
12:35
Speaker 1: interested in storylines about addiction. They make me personally very
12:41
Speaker 1: uncomfortable to watch. That being said, I think it's real
12:46
Speaker 1: clear what's going on here. It's handled in a very
12:50
Speaker 1: Hallmark way. They don't use the word alcoholism, but his
12:52
Speaker 1: boss says to him, are you still on the wagon?
12:55
Speaker 1: They don't use the word dui, but they reference his
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Speaker 1: accident and losing his life, and then he gets his
13:00
Speaker 1: license back, which is a very nice moment. I think
13:06
Speaker 1: that it's important that Hallmark, in all of its stretching,
13:10
Speaker 1: in all of its ways to tell different stories, stays
13:13
Speaker 1: true to it's family friendly roots. And I also think
13:17
Speaker 1: it's really important for people to see themselves reflected back
13:21
Speaker 1: in the media they consume, and so for me personally,
13:25
Speaker 1: I think they did a nice job of walking that line.
13:28
Speaker 1: And now I'm gonna shut up and let y'all tell
13:30
Speaker 1: me what you thought.
13:33
Speaker 2: I actually agree with you, Megan completely, and I think,
13:36
Speaker 2: in my opinion, it was tackled in a very Martha
13:39
Speaker 2: Williamson way, because she tackles these kinds of subjects very
13:43
Speaker 2: similar to this, Like in Dark of Night, was the
13:46
Speaker 2: sex line, Yeah right, it was done very well. Yeah,
13:52
Speaker 2: I agree.
13:52
Speaker 1: I think Wendy disagrees. I disagree. I'm let's just call
13:57
Speaker 1: it what it is. I don't like that they danced around.
14:00
Speaker 1: I hear what you're saying and agree with you both
14:03
Speaker 1: that like it was handled with delicately. But for me,
14:09
Speaker 1: I was like, I just I didn't like how she
14:14
Speaker 1: was angry at him because he had lost his license
14:18
Speaker 1: and had lied about it. That's that's the interpretation that
14:22
Speaker 1: I got from this movie was she did they have
14:26
Speaker 1: problems with him drinking? You know, I don't know. It
14:31
Speaker 1: was very unclear to me, so I needed a more established,
14:36
Speaker 1: like timeline of events.
14:37
Speaker 3: I guess.
14:38
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think at one point he talks about how
14:40
Speaker 1: like he was angry, he went out, he had too
14:42
Speaker 1: much drink and drove when he shouldn't have. It's kind
14:45
Speaker 1: of like the story that he tells. And I didn't
14:48
Speaker 1: get the impression from the way they presented it that
14:51
Speaker 1: he had an ongoing, lifelong drinking problem that was infusing
14:57
Speaker 1: its way into his marriage. The impression I got was
15:00
Speaker 1: that things were hard, he was turning to alcohol as
15:03
Speaker 1: an outlet for that. The end result was he got
15:06
Speaker 1: in an accident and lost his license. And I think,
15:09
Speaker 1: like you said, like the lying was a bigger part
15:12
Speaker 1: of their conflict than the drinking on its own right,
15:15
Speaker 1: But it is very sanitized. Like I fully agree that
15:18
Speaker 1: it is a sanitized way of telling this story. And
15:21
Speaker 1: I also think you need to look at the net,
15:22
Speaker 1: like they're trying to make movies that every single member
15:24
Speaker 1: of your family can watch. And I can understand families
15:28
Speaker 1: that don't want their five year old being like, Mommy,
15:30
Speaker 1: what's an alcoholic? Yeah, no, I hear you so and
15:35
Speaker 1: I and I don't want alcoholism to At the same time,
15:41
Speaker 1: I just had this thought when we get to the
15:44
Speaker 1: family friendly crowd, A lot of times that group is like,
15:47
Speaker 1: I don't want to see certain things in my hallmark,
15:50
Speaker 1: Like that makes it unfamily friendly to me, and my
15:53
Speaker 1: hackles go up when someone's like that same sex couple
15:56
Speaker 1: is not family friendly, and so I don't want to
15:59
Speaker 1: suggest that, like alcoholism is something that makes someone a
16:05
Speaker 1: bad person. Yeah, I guess I have complicated feelings about this,
16:10
Speaker 1: and it's okay to have complicated. It's layered, it is lair,
16:13
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's okay. And I think that's that's to
16:17
Speaker 1: me a sign of a good movie, where like it's
16:19
Speaker 1: not just black and white, like it's you come away
16:22
Speaker 1: from you still thinking about it, like how does it
16:24
Speaker 1: relate to your life? How whatever? So Brava. Yeah, I mean,
16:31
Speaker 1: how many of these Hallmark movies, especially looking back years past,
16:34
Speaker 1: are you still like thinking about and talking about, you know,
16:36
Speaker 1: days after watching them. I think that's not terribly some
16:42
Speaker 1: Science Field, for sure.
16:44
Speaker 3: I have.
16:44
Speaker 1: Science Field definitely is a great example of those. Does
16:48
Speaker 1: anybody have anything else they liked that we didn't get to?
16:51
Speaker 1: I do? I have some kind of get into them.
16:53
Speaker 1: This goes back to the what I just said about
16:55
Speaker 1: being layered. I thought that setting this this time of year,
17:00
Speaker 1: during the holiday season, because the holidays can be very
17:05
Speaker 1: troubling stressing for people. I to me, it was refreshing
17:11
Speaker 1: that Hallmark gave us like a movie with themes that
17:16
Speaker 1: were not easily digestible, I guess, And I mean, of
17:20
Speaker 1: course it was on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, so what
17:24
Speaker 1: did we used to call it? Movies and misery? Movies
17:27
Speaker 1: and misery.
17:27
Speaker 2: But it was nice.
17:28
Speaker 1: I thought it was refreshing that Hallmark gave us like
17:30
Speaker 1: this movie. But it was also very hopeful, so it
17:33
Speaker 1: wasn't just like all doom and gloom.
17:37
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:37
Speaker 1: I think it's nice to see these storylines where it's
17:40
Speaker 1: like the holidays are going to come like it or not,
17:43
Speaker 1: and you can't schedule your life conflicts around the holidays.
17:47
Speaker 1: You can't just like put a pause on all of that.
17:49
Speaker 1: So sometimes you got to be showing up for your kid,
17:52
Speaker 1: and you got to be smiling for the family photo,
17:54
Speaker 1: and you got to be entertaining your parents while also
17:57
Speaker 1: still dealing with all the real life up. Yeah. Yeah,
18:02
Speaker 1: it's not just like life goes on pause for two
18:04
Speaker 1: weeks while we do a bevy of holiday activities, we
18:07
Speaker 1: forget everything going on. Yeah, yeah, exactly. The other thing
18:11
Speaker 1: I really liked about it was the emphasis on perfection
18:14
Speaker 1: and accepting imperfection. I personally have a problem with perfection.
18:20
Speaker 1: So it was nice to see, like you said just
18:23
Speaker 1: a minute ago, like we want to see themes reflected back. Yes, right,
18:27
Speaker 1: And I love the end where Laura Solstice her mom
18:35
Speaker 1: presents her with the figurine that's put back together and
18:39
Speaker 1: they have this whole like moment of like it's okay
18:41
Speaker 1: to be imperfect, and I was like, yes, it is
18:43
Speaker 1: okay to be imperfect. Yeah, the beauty is in the imperfection. Yes,
18:47
Speaker 1: I loved I love that scene.
18:51
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm thinking about the quote from Oliver in the
18:54
Speaker 2: Road Lust Traveled when he's talking about when they're talking
18:57
Speaker 2: about the camera, sometimes it's the imperfections in life that
19:02
Speaker 2: make things perfect or something along those songs.
19:05
Speaker 1: That is so funny you mentioned that because watching that
19:07
Speaker 1: series too, I got a lot of takeaway about that
19:12
Speaker 1: sort of thing about imperfection. God, that series, I still
19:15
Speaker 1: it still sits with me. I sort of go, I
19:18
Speaker 1: feel like that's gonna be one of those, like you
19:20
Speaker 1: know sometimes Gilmore Girls is my comfort watch. I feel
19:22
Speaker 1: like Sign Sealed could become like that sort of company watch.
19:24
Speaker 2: For now, I have two more really quick ones. The
19:27
Speaker 2: car is singing the first novel and then the end
19:30
Speaker 2: of course, when Lauren confesses and you know, expresses her
19:34
Speaker 2: feelings and they're all in the car and they're.
19:36
Speaker 1: Like, kiss her kiss.
19:39
Speaker 2: I know.
19:39
Speaker 1: That was a real cute kid. He's gonna be on holidays.
19:42
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see he's probably younger on holidays though,
19:47
Speaker 1: right considering the OH because it's been shot, yeah, it's
19:50
Speaker 1: two years ago. I think they made that so in
19:52
Speaker 1: the can good point. I have just I love that
19:57
Speaker 1: scene you're right in the church with the music was stunning,
20:01
Speaker 1: so stunning. I did love Kevin and his brother, like
20:05
Speaker 1: their relationship their brother, like the slap fighting and the
20:09
Speaker 1: like poking with each other, like they gave each other
20:12
Speaker 1: a really hard time. I thought that was lovely, and
20:13
Speaker 1: I hit their whole family I thought was really nice.
20:17
Speaker 2: On the sports analogies, yeah, I thought it was. It
20:21
Speaker 2: was great the way I laughed out loud when they
20:25
Speaker 2: show Kevin sleeping in his childhood twin bed and the
20:28
Speaker 2: mom like comes in and his childhood room is like
20:31
Speaker 2: the storage room for like the Christy gift wrapping room
20:35
Speaker 2: was really funny.
20:36
Speaker 1: Was her candy spelling dreams lived out in her OH
20:40
Speaker 1: child's bedroom. Nichol's probably too young to know who Candy
20:43
Speaker 1: Spelling is And oh yeah, uh, you probably are too young.
20:48
Speaker 1: Do you know who Tory Spelling is.
20:50
Speaker 2: I've heard of her?
20:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so her mom, Nitari's like they were very
20:54
Speaker 1: very rich and lived in a very very big mansion
20:57
Speaker 1: in Beverly Hills, and she had a a room dedicated
21:01
Speaker 1: just to like rapping gifts. It was like the rapping.
21:04
Speaker 2: I believe that.
21:05
Speaker 1: I believe she still does. I think she was on
21:08
Speaker 1: I heard her on a radio show and I think
21:09
Speaker 1: she's still like she has like a dollar room. Her
21:12
Speaker 1: husband was Aaron Spelling. This like big time TV producer,
21:15
Speaker 1: produced nine oh and melrose Place and a million other shows.
21:18
Speaker 1: But I can't believe we're talking about that like the past.
21:22
Speaker 1: I mean Aaron Spelling has since passed. It is the past.
21:25
Speaker 1: But that's like my high school in college. Beverly Hill's
21:28
Speaker 1: nine o two and oh.
21:29
Speaker 2: Ugh, I've heard of it. I just have never watched it.
21:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I please watch it. Yeah, it's Wendy's all
21:35
Speaker 1: time favorite, my all time favorite. Let's move on to wishes.
21:41
Speaker 1: I have, I have a bunch, I wanna Yeah, I
21:44
Speaker 1: want to say something here. I thought Laura Soltis was
21:47
Speaker 1: great in this role.
21:50
Speaker 3: Uh.
21:51
Speaker 1: However, I do take a little bit of an issue
21:53
Speaker 1: with her character and the whole like miss mess of
21:56
Speaker 1: it all, Like I think she needs to take a
21:58
Speaker 1: little bit of ownership ship in Laurence perfectionism issues like
22:03
Speaker 1: if my parents called me miss mess through adulthood, like
22:07
Speaker 1: she's still using the phrase now, I would probably have
22:12
Speaker 1: a complex too. Yeah, I thought that was funny because
22:15
Speaker 1: she was like, I was just teasing you about your
22:18
Speaker 1: messy bedroom or whatever for my entire lifetime. You're like, Mom,
22:23
Speaker 1: I have to go to therapy because you've well. And
22:26
Speaker 1: she even says at one point like, oh, yeah, she
22:28
Speaker 1: was a disaster, And I was like, oh, I don't. Yeah,
22:31
Speaker 1: I hear you. I hear you, Nicole, What did you
22:34
Speaker 1: wish for?
22:35
Speaker 2: What was one of mine issues that I had? And
22:38
Speaker 2: it also how they didn't tell their son Charlie about
22:42
Speaker 2: the separation. Maybe a little bit, I wish they had
22:45
Speaker 2: said that, and I wish they had told her mom too.
22:48
Speaker 2: But regarding her mom, I'm glad that it came out
22:51
Speaker 2: not at the end of the babe.
22:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, they didn't drag it on. Yes, when she finally
22:56
Speaker 1: confesses to her because I agree with you Charlie story
23:00
Speaker 1: line is another one of my wishes. I think they
23:03
Speaker 1: made some parenting choices here that are a little bit confusing.
23:07
Speaker 1: I mean, they've clearly got a kid who's like trying
23:09
Speaker 1: to find normalcy in his life, Like he's wearing a
23:11
Speaker 1: Santa suit for thirty days. Like that speaks to a
23:13
Speaker 1: kid who's like, I need something I can count on
23:16
Speaker 1: in this Santa suit I can count on. And then
23:20
Speaker 1: to me, I'm like, Okay, your mom comes to town
23:23
Speaker 1: and your choices. Have a hard conversation with your mom,
23:26
Speaker 1: or have your eight year old kid pretend like everything's okay.
23:32
Speaker 1: I wouldn't think you need a different choice. Yes, yeah,
23:35
Speaker 1: I think it's confusing for an eight year old, like yeah,
23:39
Speaker 1: and they never really showed him, right, they never really
23:43
Speaker 1: showed him being around. When Kevin spent the night that night, well,
23:47
Speaker 1: I doesn't he say like, are you gonna be here
23:49
Speaker 1: when I wake up? Daddy? Oh? I don't? Did I am?
23:53
Speaker 1: I I watched so many movies, but I watch a
23:56
Speaker 1: lot of movies. I think he said something about that,
23:59
Speaker 1: like are you gonna be here when I up?
24:01
Speaker 2: I have one question. Who won the Gingerbread House competition.
24:05
Speaker 2: I don't think they said that, And I would have
24:07
Speaker 2: loved to have known that.
24:08
Speaker 1: I don't know the I don't know either.
24:11
Speaker 2: I don't think they said that. Would have been fun
24:14
Speaker 2: to see.
24:15
Speaker 1: Hey, Crystal, who won the Gingerbread house competition. I wonder
24:20
Speaker 1: if that got cut? Did it get cut for time? Yeah? Yeah,
24:24
Speaker 1: all right, Wendy, would you wish for well, we already
24:27
Speaker 1: talked about the drinking part of this whole thing. It's
24:30
Speaker 1: we won't go over that again. But I was a
24:32
Speaker 1: little bit lost with the house drama.
24:35
Speaker 2: Yeah.
24:36
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that Lauren and Kevin were having some conflict
24:44
Speaker 1: over like doing the renovations and the amount that it
24:47
Speaker 1: was costing them and et cetera, et cetera. But I
24:50
Speaker 1: but it was all kind of lost for me. I
24:53
Speaker 1: wish we maybe would have seen some of that and
24:55
Speaker 1: like flashback, Oh yeah, yeah. Well it's confusing to me
25:01
Speaker 1: because they're like, oh, they talk about like, you know,
25:04
Speaker 1: they showed all these past do bills and they talk
25:06
Speaker 1: about how like she's like I made a big mistake,
25:08
Speaker 1: like we got into this money pit. But then when
25:10
Speaker 1: they go to list it, you know, there's drop clouds
25:13
Speaker 1: all over everything, but they stage it the house appears
25:17
Speaker 1: to be done, So I'm like, wait, what's the problem here?
25:20
Speaker 1: If the house is done, why didn't Why couldn't we
25:24
Speaker 1: A have moved into it or b have sold it
25:26
Speaker 1: before this point? Like it seemed like there needed to
25:28
Speaker 1: be like an intermediary step where they're like, we got
25:30
Speaker 1: to get someone in here to wrap up all these
25:32
Speaker 1: things that we ran out of money for, because otherwise,
25:35
Speaker 1: why is this beautiful done house just sitting here? Unless
25:40
Speaker 1: I think Lauren says, like the dream I had for
25:42
Speaker 1: this house kind of fell apart in the conflict of
25:45
Speaker 1: it all. Do you think it would have been helpful
25:50
Speaker 1: to like establish something like early on, like if some
25:53
Speaker 1: scenes of them like fighting during the renovation, and we
25:57
Speaker 1: wouldn't even need to see like a fight, just some
26:00
Speaker 1: sort of like conflicts between them. I didn't even have
26:04
Speaker 1: to be like word said, but just like you know,
26:07
Speaker 1: am I making sense here? The scene could have just
26:10
Speaker 1: been them like, oh, like getting frustrated with each other,
26:12
Speaker 1: like you want that stupid tile and I want this whatever.
26:16
Speaker 1: The conflicts don't even need to be that big, but
26:18
Speaker 1: just showing some.
26:19
Speaker 2: Sort of like I'm green strife.
26:22
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I have one more wish I did not
26:26
Speaker 1: love how the male realtor could have potentially been a
26:33
Speaker 1: love interest, a new love for Lauren. I thought that
26:38
Speaker 1: what would have been better if they showed it, and
26:40
Speaker 1: they kind of did this, but if they would have
26:42
Speaker 1: showed it from Kevin's perspective, like he's seen like their
26:47
Speaker 1: relationship and then assuming like Lauren was moving on and
26:51
Speaker 1: then he gets like upset about it, Yeah, as opposed
26:54
Speaker 1: to him like hugging her or taking on a date.
26:57
Speaker 1: Do you have a few hours so I can go
26:58
Speaker 1: over this offer? It doesn't take a few hours to
27:00
Speaker 1: go over and offer. What's the number? Text me, text me,
27:05
Speaker 1: let's jump on a zoom call and be done. Yeah, yeah,
27:09
Speaker 1: Do you have any more wishes? Nicole yp that was it?
27:13
Speaker 2: Yep, And I agree with y'alls too.
27:16
Speaker 1: My other this goes back. I talk about this a lot,
27:20
Speaker 1: like we don't need big events happening the week before Christmas.
27:24
Speaker 1: Nobody when they go to that house December twenty second
27:27
Speaker 1: and they're like, we gotta sell it, And I was like,
27:30
Speaker 1: it's December twenty second, nobody's can nobody's looking at a
27:33
Speaker 1: house on December twenty third and twenty fourth. You're not
27:37
Speaker 1: say goodbye till January. Nobody's buying this house.
27:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:39
Speaker 1: I thought it was kind of silly how they were like, oh,
27:41
Speaker 1: we can close by the holiday, and I'm like, well,
27:44
Speaker 1: technically you can't, because usually it's like even an all
27:48
Speaker 1: cash offer picks more than twenty if we can close tomorrow, No,
27:50
Speaker 1: you can't. Like, first of all, so much paperwork, nobody's working.
27:54
Speaker 1: Second of all, yeah, nobody buys a house in twenty
27:57
Speaker 1: four hours. They're not bringing a suitcase of money over anyway.
28:01
Speaker 1: Just that whole I was like, let's infuse a little
28:05
Speaker 1: reality into this attitue.
28:08
Speaker 2: A little bit unrealistic, so I agree with that.
28:11
Speaker 1: Also, I gonna tell you, I don't think you stayed
28:14
Speaker 1: your house with Christmas decorations. You need to stage your
28:17
Speaker 1: house in a very neutral way so that any buyer
28:19
Speaker 1: can envision themselves living there. That was weird too, Like
28:23
Speaker 1: it's like that movie last year where they were like,
28:26
Speaker 1: let's paint the room red for Christmas. I'm like, what
28:28
Speaker 1: are you doing. You don't paint a room red for Christmas.
28:31
Speaker 1: When you're flipping a house, they put a wreath up
28:34
Speaker 1: to signify that it's Christmas. Was that flipping for Christmas. Yes,
28:37
Speaker 1: I say that. I think I like that movie. Our
28:41
Speaker 1: Christmas decorations are intense in this house, and even we
28:45
Speaker 1: do not repaint. They changed their bedding though, which is
28:48
Speaker 1: crazy to me. Okay, we are not the only ones
28:51
Speaker 1: with Christmas bedding. Have you seen the potterymer in catalog?
28:54
Speaker 1: They have so many.
28:55
Speaker 2: Options wesas decorations else. You would not believe how many
29:01
Speaker 2: nutcrackers in my mom's house. I'm not going I'm not.
29:08
Speaker 1: I think that's fun.
29:10
Speaker 2: I think that's really fun. But when we're taking the
29:13
Speaker 2: decorations out and I'm helping her take them, take them out,
29:17
Speaker 2: like the nutcrackers just keep coming, I'm like.
29:24
Speaker 1: It is time for did you see that? And I'm
29:25
Speaker 1: going to give our guests the honors of calling out
29:28
Speaker 1: the best? Did you see that in this movie?
29:31
Speaker 2: The Percival's Easter eggs? The best?
29:35
Speaker 1: Now? Were there more than one? Tell me? Oh? I
29:39
Speaker 1: only caught one.
29:41
Speaker 2: Okay, So the Blue House, which was Laurence at Home
29:45
Speaker 2: that is read at Norman's house in the vowels are
29:47
Speaker 2: you've made?
29:49
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I.
29:51
Speaker 2: Think three letters too.
29:54
Speaker 1: I knew we made the right choice having you on
29:56
Speaker 1: this episode.
29:57
Speaker 2: Okay, Norman's cousin Calia p was he was shaneon Oliver's
30:01
Speaker 2: marriage counselor in three letters she was there there.
30:06
Speaker 3: Gosh.
30:07
Speaker 1: I read that on Twitter, but I cannot claim that
30:10
Speaker 1: as noticing that myself.
30:12
Speaker 2: Oh my GOSHO. And one more I think if I'm correct,
30:18
Speaker 2: the white Church that they showed like the exterior of
30:22
Speaker 2: and I think they showed the interior too when they
30:24
Speaker 2: were singing the when the choir was singing the same
30:27
Speaker 2: church from the gift to piece and sign sealed the
30:31
Speaker 2: vows that you've made.
30:32
Speaker 1: Wow, look at you. Wow, that was amazing. Okay, let's
30:38
Speaker 1: rate this time each year, Nicole. What did you rate
30:41
Speaker 1: this out of five stars?
30:43
Speaker 2: Four point five?
30:44
Speaker 3: Oh?
30:45
Speaker 1: I have to look at my head to look at
30:47
Speaker 1: my notes. What did I? Oh? I thought I did.
30:49
Speaker 1: I rated it four stars. I had it three point
30:51
Speaker 1: seventy five. We just don't look at me like I
30:54
Speaker 1: didn't look at you. I just looked. There was no intention.
30:58
Speaker 1: It's a good rating. It it's a good rating. I
31:02
Speaker 1: saw in a Facebook group today someone had started ranking
31:05
Speaker 1: their movies so far this year, and I think I
31:06
Speaker 1: want to start like m It gets a little in
31:10
Speaker 1: the weeds for me like when you get up to
31:12
Speaker 1: like forty. But I have watched every movie so far,
31:16
Speaker 1: so really.
31:17
Speaker 2: I've already started ranking.
31:19
Speaker 1: Mind you're ranking yours too. Where what's number one of
31:23
Speaker 1: what you've seen so far?
31:25
Speaker 2: Christmas Charade?
31:27
Speaker 1: Interesting? People are liking that much more than I thought
31:32
Speaker 1: they would. We're not reviewing it, so I didn't watch it.
31:36
Speaker 1: I watched the very beginning because I it was on,
31:39
Speaker 1: and then I love that. We saw Kristin Booth and
31:42
Speaker 1: I was even like had put something on Instagram because
31:45
Speaker 1: I thought she looked freaking gorgeous and her and Jefferson Brown,
31:49
Speaker 1: I was like, these two are fire together.
31:52
Speaker 2: And we put in Jefferson Brown and Kristin Booth homework
31:54
Speaker 2: movie Plaselee freaking litly.
31:57
Speaker 1: We saw on IMDb that they were in that movie together,
32:00
Speaker 1: and we had message to heart on We're like, are
32:02
Speaker 1: you in the Christmas Charade? And she like just she
32:04
Speaker 1: didn't conserve anything. She like messaged back in emoji. Do
32:06
Speaker 1: you watch the Way Home?
32:08
Speaker 2: I do?
32:09
Speaker 1: Yes? I love him. I love him. He needs to
32:13
Speaker 1: be in more more movies? Yes, yeah, yeah, why do
32:17
Speaker 1: we not get more Jefferson Brown. I'm glad he was
32:19
Speaker 1: in this this tells me like Hallmark's paying attention what
32:21
Speaker 1: the people want. Yeah, exactly, So Nicole, why don't you
32:24
Speaker 1: let everybody know where the people can find you?
32:28
Speaker 2: So on Facebook and Instagram you can find me at
32:32
Speaker 2: Swing my Heart Podcast and then on Twitter it is
32:36
Speaker 2: Swing my Heart Pod.
32:37
Speaker 1: And your podcast is published on YouTube, yes, yeah.
32:42
Speaker 2: And Spotify. I just recently started posting the Spotify Day Nice.
32:47
Speaker 1: Like I said before, Nicole does a ton of interviews
32:49
Speaker 1: and it was really fun to scroll through, like, you're
32:52
Speaker 1: so brave all those interviews. They terrify me. You're good
32:57
Speaker 1: at it. Also on your personal Instagram a link to
33:02
Speaker 1: a design business. Is that something that's in the works.
33:07
Speaker 2: What's happening?
33:09
Speaker 1: Would you like to talk about that?
33:10
Speaker 2: On at sea shop that I will hopefully be opening
33:13
Speaker 2: stained for my graphic design business, which is what I
33:16
Speaker 2: went to school for. Nice. It is called Pink Palmeadow
33:21
Speaker 2: Studio and Palmeado is I live in the tal Meadow States,
33:26
Speaker 2: so that's why I named it Pink Kalmeta Studio.
33:29
Speaker 1: We'll leave links to all of that in the show
33:30
Speaker 1: notes of this episode. Thank you so much for being
33:34
Speaker 1: here and thank you for listening to this episode of
33:36
Speaker 1: Girls Gone Hallmark a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love
33:40
Speaker 1: this podcast, we love your five star ratings and reviews,
33:43
Speaker 1: you can leave them in the app you're listening in
33:46
Speaker 1: right now. We'll see you next time.
33:47
Speaker 3: Goodbye, Hi everybody, Bye.
34:01
Speaker 1: All right friends. Before we go, just a quick heads up,
34:04
Speaker 1: you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
34:06
Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
34:09
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