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Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas S1 Ep 1 & 2 · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

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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 Hallmark hater. Today
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Speaker 1: we're discussing episodes one and two of the news series
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Speaker 1: Twelve Dates Till Christmas, which originally premiered on Friday, December
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Speaker 1: fifth and is currently available to stream on Hallmark Plus. Hey,
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Speaker 1: our listeners have been coming through in a big way.
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Speaker 1: They're sending in their listener mail bag comments. You're getting
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Speaker 1: another listener mail Bag episode this week because you guys
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Speaker 1: just keep sending us the good stuff. You can continue
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Speaker 1: to do that at Girls Gone Hallmark at gmail dot com.
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Speaker 1: But also we shamelessly request your reviews every single week
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Speaker 1: and they're just pouring in. If I may read a
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Speaker 1: recent review from Lisa M. Twenty seven. Yes, yes, I'm
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Speaker 1: so glad I found this podcast. I never would have
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Speaker 1: watched some of the shows and movies that I've been
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Speaker 1: watching if I hadn't found them. I never even heard
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Speaker 1: of Mister Christmas until I listened to their podcast, and
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Speaker 1: then I checked out Hallmark Plus from the library and
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Speaker 1: I've binged watched season one. It was such a great show.
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Speaker 1: And now I'm watching season two live. There are awesome
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Speaker 1: reviews of movies and series makes me want to watch them.
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Speaker 1: That's nice, isn't that lovely? So thank you for your
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Speaker 1: review you, Lisa. Keep them coming, Friends, keep them coming. Hey,
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Speaker 1: we have a Facebook group if you are looking to
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Speaker 1: talk about these movies with other Hallmark fans. We are
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Speaker 1: Girls Gone Hallmark in Facebook groups. I have so much
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Speaker 1: to say about this, so let's just jump right into
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Speaker 1: our review of twelve Dates Till Christmas with a synopsis. Okay,
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Speaker 1: so we are going to do episodes one and two
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Speaker 1: in this episode, right, Okay, So let me read this
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Speaker 1: the synopsis for episode one, and then I'll read this
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Speaker 1: synopsis for episode two. Episode one is tis the season
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Speaker 1: when Kate's best friends sign her up for a holiday
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Speaker 1: themed dating service. She reluctantly joins, but has no idea
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Speaker 1: just how much her life is about to change. Episode
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Speaker 1: two tis the season for Red Flags. Kate's would be
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Speaker 1: date number one. Richard tries to reconnect. Meanwhile, Mac attempts
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Speaker 1: to prove his independence but learns he needs to ask
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Speaker 1: for help. Episode one was written by showrunner Aaron Rodman.
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Speaker 1: Her credits include Christmas Class Reunion, The Christmas House, The
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Speaker 1: Christmas House Two, Deck Those Halls, and The Christmas Bow.
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Speaker 1: Episode two was written by Dava Avenna. Her other writing
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Speaker 1: credits include Firefly, Lane BH nine O two and O,
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Speaker 1: Devius Maids and Medium BH nine O two to and Oh,
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Speaker 1: That's the That's the original cast reboot. Oh it is
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Speaker 1: the one that we liked so much. Yes, Oh, I
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Speaker 1: did love that. I really wish we had gotten more
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Speaker 1: me too. Episodes one and two were directed by Emma Conroy.
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Speaker 1: This marks her fifth directing credit, with previous projects like Outlander,
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Speaker 1: Blood of My Blood, and Vikings. Vahalla May Whitman stars
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Speaker 1: as Kate, bringing an impressive wide ranging career to the role.
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Speaker 1: On television, she's known for Parenthood, Good Girls, and even
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Speaker 1: her early work on Chicago Hope. Her film credits include Hope, Floats,
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Speaker 1: One Fine Day, and her very first movie role in
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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four's When a Man Loves a Woman. She's
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Speaker 1: also built an incredible career in voice acting, lending her
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Speaker 1: talent to major animated series like Family Guy, DC, Superhero
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Speaker 1: Girls and many more. Julianne Morris Co stars as best
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Speaker 1: friend kylem This project marks his forty third acting credit
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Speaker 1: and was last scene on Hallmark in the Presence of
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Speaker 1: Love from twenty twenty two. Julian is probably best known
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Speaker 1: for his role as Wren on the series Pretty Little Liars.
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Speaker 1: Lucy Eaton's co stars as Kate's best friend Laura. She
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Speaker 1: has eight acting credits, including the British meta comedy Staged,
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Speaker 1: where she appeared across all three seasons. Emer Morrissey plays
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Speaker 1: Drew the Matchmaker. She has nineteen acting credits, with one
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Speaker 1: of her most recognizable roles coming from the Irish comedy
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Speaker 1: series Damo and Ivor. This marks her first Hallmark project.
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Speaker 1: Zefani Edoco plays Sarah with the loving acting credits. She's
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Speaker 1: appeared in the reboot of Gossip Girl as well as
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Speaker 1: a few Lifetime adjacent type movies. Nathaniel Parker plays Kate's
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Speaker 1: dad Mac. Nathaniel is a classically trained English actor best
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Speaker 1: known for his lead role in The Inspector Linley Mysteries
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Speaker 1: and his award winning stage work, including an Olivier Award
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Speaker 1: for his performance in Wolf Hall. Jane Seymour plays Evelyn.
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Speaker 1: She's a Golden Globe and Emmy winner. Known for Doctor Quinn,
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Speaker 1: Medicine Woman, an array of films, and a long list
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Speaker 1: of fan favorite TV roles. This marks her one hundred
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Speaker 1: and fifty fifth acting credit. Mary McDonald plays Kate's mom, Delilah.
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Speaker 1: She's a two time Oscar nominee known for her roles
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Speaker 1: in Dances with Wolves, Passionfish, Battlestar Galactica, and Major Crimes.
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Speaker 1: This is her fifty eighth acting credit. Toby Sandman plays Richer.
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Speaker 1: This is Toby's first time on Hallmark, but he has
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Speaker 1: been seen in the series Running Point and The Game.
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Speaker 1: Also noteworthy. Hallmark Master artist for Kate's designs is done
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Speaker 1: by Amber goodvin ooh good to know. Let's take a
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Speaker 1: cookbreak and we will come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
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Speaker 1: what was your first impression of episodes one and two
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Speaker 1: of twelve dates till Christmas? This show made me want
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Speaker 1: to grab Hallmark by the shoulders and say, yes more
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Speaker 1: of this, Yes, Oh my gosh. My first impression is
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Speaker 1: this is the swoon the feet kicking rom com we
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Speaker 1: need for this holiday season. I agree. I gotta tell
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Speaker 1: you I was pleasantly surprised and almost shocked how much
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Speaker 1: I like this, he do, and it builds. I'm so
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Speaker 1: glad they're dropping two because I think watching episodes one
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Speaker 1: and two back to back is such a nice full
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Speaker 1: opening to the series. I agree. Question for you, yeah,
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Speaker 1: do you think the regular Hallmark fans are going to
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Speaker 1: like this show? I gotta tell you, I'm worried because
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Speaker 1: the tone is so dramatically different from what they've been
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Speaker 1: conditioned to expect in a great way. I loved it.
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Speaker 1: I loved it, but it doesn't scream Hallmark, and so
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Speaker 1: I can just see that this isn't a Hallmark show,
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Speaker 1: but it's a good show. So it's a good show.
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Speaker 1: It's the same way Providence Falls wasn't a Hallmark show.
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Speaker 1: I mean it was made for Hallmark obviously, but people
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Speaker 1: didn't get it or couldn't get into it because it
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Speaker 1: was so different than what they've done previously or the
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Speaker 1: template that they use. And so I'm fearful that our
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Speaker 1: regular fans are gonna be like, Nope, it's not for me.
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Speaker 1: I hope there's a lower barrier to entry here because
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Speaker 1: it's a holiday romance. The genre is at least familiar,
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Speaker 1: although the vibe is different. Please give this a chance.
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Speaker 1: Listeners and viewers. All right, let's talk about what we
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Speaker 1: liked about it. Okay, talking about the vibe. Let's just
7:36
Speaker 1: start by saying, the production value on this is through
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Speaker 1: the roof, the filming locations, the attention to detail put
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Speaker 1: into the dates, and the way that those are fleshed out.
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Speaker 1: This feels like a high budget show. Doesn't feel like
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Speaker 1: corners were cut. I love everything about I understand that
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Speaker 1: it's set in England, but they were shot in Ireland.
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Speaker 1: It's gorgeous. I appreciate the work that was put into this.
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Speaker 1: I have in my notes that this series very much
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Speaker 1: feels like a Netflix series. Yes, because for me, it's
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Speaker 1: like sharp, it's modern, it's cooler than your typical Hallmark
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Speaker 1: rom com. The opening scene where we get may as Kate,
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Speaker 1: where she's on the train and I don't know if
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Speaker 1: the jump cuts that they used in that scene, did
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Speaker 1: you catch that by chance? I did not. Oh. I
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Speaker 1: just loved the style of it. They were just like
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Speaker 1: she was ripping through this, like basically this monologue, and
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Speaker 1: it was just cut so tightly that that appealed to
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Speaker 1: me right off the bat. Well, let's talk about may Whitman. Okay,
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Speaker 1: she is incredible in this role, and that's not really
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Speaker 1: a surprise to me. I've loved her in everything she's done.
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Speaker 1: I mean, from One Fine Day. I love that movie
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Speaker 1: so much, and when she's like cute little May Whitman
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Speaker 1: with the kitten under the table, to fast forward to
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Speaker 1: parenthood to good Girls, now to this role. What was
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Speaker 1: interesting to me is her some of her later roles
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Speaker 1: are a little bit more cynical and edgy, and she
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Speaker 1: transitions into this role where there's a lot of warmth,
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Speaker 1: like she's, oh, that's interesting. She isn't excited about this
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Speaker 1: twelve dates program, but she doesn't translate to the people
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Speaker 1: that she's with. She still is genuinely interested in them.
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Speaker 1: She's not while she's very clear about I'm not so
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Speaker 1: sure about this whole process, she doesn't turn that into
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Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about you and I. It feels
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Speaker 1: very natural. I just feel like this is the way
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Speaker 1: she's able to kind of chameleon herself into these roles.
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Speaker 1: I and loving her in this. So my take on
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Speaker 1: her is, well, one, it's perfect casting and what a
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Speaker 1: get for what to get? Yeah. I Also my take
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Speaker 1: is I think her character is actually a little edgy,
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Speaker 1: a little emo. She's a little guarded, she's a little prickly,
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Speaker 1: but all of that makes her deeply likable, and we
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Speaker 1: start to see an episode two that thaw like those
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Speaker 1: kind of like cynicism. The cynicism start to thaw a
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Speaker 1: little bit when she has this realization when she's on
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Speaker 1: one of her dates. I mean, I find it all
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Speaker 1: very relatable. I think she's fantastic in this. Talking about relatable,
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Speaker 1: I think as women of a certain age, there are
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Speaker 1: so many elements of this story that are really relatable.
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Speaker 1: The caretaking for her parent, the frustration she feels in
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Speaker 1: that moment where she's committed to being there for him,
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Speaker 1: and I love that we get that flashback of her
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Speaker 1: and her father coming to London and what that meant
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Speaker 1: to her and how he was there for her when
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Speaker 1: her mom was off traveling the world with the flavor
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Speaker 1: of the week, and how important it was for her
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Speaker 1: to repay that, but also the stress and the anxiety
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Speaker 1: and the frustration of not being able to control this
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Speaker 1: adult man with free will, and the fear about what
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Speaker 1: that means that to me, I was when she loses
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Speaker 1: it on him, I just was like, Yes, like the
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Speaker 1: Sandwich generation, I think we can understand that so much. Btw,
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Speaker 1: May Whitman's eyebrows are fantastic. That's so funny that you
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Speaker 1: say that, because as I was watching this, I was like,
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Speaker 1: I gotta go tint my eyebrows and do a little shaping.
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Speaker 1: They're so good. I do serve their own acting credit,
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Speaker 1: their own IMDb. And she emotes with them so well too,
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Speaker 1: like she's just great. She's so freaking great. You know
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Speaker 1: what else is really great in this is the dialogue
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Speaker 1: is snappy and fast and fun, and it just it's
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Speaker 1: my love language. It is my love language. The script
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Speaker 1: moves nobody. I feel like the characters are actually talking
12:16
Speaker 1: like millennials and gen xers. Here are you friend zoning me?
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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, friend zoning? Mean? Who hurt you? Was
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Speaker 1: a question in there. It was a funny question cuffing season.
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Speaker 1: These are all things that are in I am not
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Speaker 1: going to say in my own personal vernacular, but a
12:35
Speaker 1: language I am familiar with, and I loved it so
12:38
Speaker 1: very much. Also, I just want to make a connection here.
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Speaker 1: It might be a little bit of a reach, but
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Speaker 1: May Whitman played the daughter of Lauren Graham in Parenthood.
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Speaker 1: Lauren Graham was Laura I and Gilmore girls. We have
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Speaker 1: long said that like that is our that is our lane.
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Speaker 1: We love that kind of dialogue movies and shows, right right,
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Speaker 1: They are actually best friends in real life, so I
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Speaker 1: wonder if there's like a sprinkle of influence in there.
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Speaker 1: I don't think it's a reach. I think this absolutely
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Speaker 1: has a Gilmore Girl's sensibility to it. And I think
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Speaker 1: Lauren Graham, if you ever seen I know you have,
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Speaker 1: but if the listeners have ever seen an interview with her,
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Speaker 1: she Laura l I is Lauren Graham toned down, and
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Speaker 1: I think it would be hard to be friends with
13:28
Speaker 1: Lauren Graham without picking up some of those strong personality
13:32
Speaker 1: traits and translating them into your own acting. Oh for sure,
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Speaker 1: for sure. You know what else I really liked. We
13:37
Speaker 1: talked about like the dialogue being fun. There is a
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Speaker 1: lot of comedy that really works. My favorite scene in
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Speaker 1: the two episodes was when Laura gets home and her
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Speaker 1: kid is just beating dinner with a pair of underwear
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Speaker 1: on her head. It's not even mentioned until the end
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Speaker 1: of the scene, and I laughed so hard and husband's like, well,
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Speaker 1: it looks like it's wind and nuggets for dinner for you.
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Speaker 1: I just it was so good and to me, like
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Speaker 1: high level comedy. They're not hitting us over the head
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Speaker 1: with it. It's that throwaway line that I love. Like
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Speaker 1: as her husband's walking out the door, she's like, does
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Speaker 1: our firstborn have pants on her head? He goes yep,
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Speaker 1: and then that's like that's about it, and they just
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Speaker 1: they move on with it. It's great. If I can
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Speaker 1: talk about the character of Laura for a minute, Yeah,
14:23
Speaker 1: she of course you and I don't have small children,
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Speaker 1: but she some of her motivation in getting Kate coupled
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Speaker 1: is like, no, no, no, I need to live vicariously through you,
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Speaker 1: Like I've been married forever. I'm in the trenches with
14:35
Speaker 1: work and my children and all of this. I meet
14:37
Speaker 1: nuggets and wine for dinner. I need this excitement for you.
14:41
Speaker 1: And so I really like that she has that moment
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Speaker 1: of like, I need to get out, I need this excitement.
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Speaker 1: And at the end of the pair of episodes, we
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Speaker 1: see her coming home to her husband and there's just
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Speaker 1: that comfort where she's like, no, no, no, I don't
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Speaker 1: want that world out there is crazy. I don't want
14:58
Speaker 1: any part of that, Like, give me my own personal
15:01
Speaker 1: familiar chaos. Yeah, I like that. I like and I
15:06
Speaker 1: also I like their relationship that they're kind of they're
15:09
Speaker 1: in the trenches, but they are in the trenches together, right.
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Speaker 1: I really like who they cast as Laura and a
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Speaker 1: ton of work, but like, she's she's great. She's great
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Speaker 1: when she pulls over and Kate's like walking back and
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Speaker 1: forth on the sidewalk and she's like, Kate, you're glitching
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Speaker 1: and she has to send to her. It's great. It's
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Speaker 1: they have a great vibe. Okay. I love Jane Seymour
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Speaker 1: and the Dad, and I think they deserve their own
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Speaker 1: spinoff after only seeing two episodes. I'm at a stage
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Speaker 1: in life when I suddenly care deeply about the romantic
15:42
Speaker 1: art of characters who are fifty five and older, you know,
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Speaker 1: Like I love like May Whitman and her character of
15:50
Speaker 1: Kate and going on these dates and whatever. But I'm
15:53
Speaker 1: also drawn to this like second chance love. Sure, I
15:57
Speaker 1: think they have such a nice friendship. I really let's
16:01
Speaker 1: talk Callum. Yeah, let's talk Callum. I have questions. Is
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Speaker 1: Callum endgame here? Well, so that's a big question for me. Right,
16:10
Speaker 1: because Richard comes on the scene, I'm like, oh, look
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Speaker 1: at Richard and Callum. Actually is this source of my
16:15
Speaker 1: only wish in this episode? But I do love that
16:21
Speaker 1: they take us to the very end and we see
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Speaker 1: that look where he's like, oh no, Like we start
16:26
Speaker 1: to get all of these feedbumps towards the end where
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Speaker 1: Callum's girlfriend and Callum's girlfriend's ex boyfriend are there, and
16:33
Speaker 1: there's all of these question marks thrown at us in
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Speaker 1: a short period of time, and just that shot through
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Speaker 1: the window. What do you think is callum endgame? Well
16:42
Speaker 1: that's where I thought we were going, and maybe we
16:46
Speaker 1: are because I was like, oh, of course, of course.
16:49
Speaker 1: Maybe Callum was the no show date he chickened out.
16:52
Speaker 1: Maybe he's the one who's sending flowers and texting, but like, no,
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Speaker 1: that's not what was happening. So maybe baby, I'm wrong here.
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Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. But when Matt comes
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Speaker 1: over to help Calum with the stove or whatever at
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Speaker 1: the cafe, huh, I felt like the dad gave Callum
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Speaker 1: this look like, yes, Kate is on a date and
17:15
Speaker 1: her friends are there and they were like joking about
17:18
Speaker 1: him needing to be there as well, and then Matt
17:21
Speaker 1: gave him this look like, you know, father's always no
17:24
Speaker 1: kind of look like and Callum runs out. Yeah yeah,
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Speaker 1: Well I rewatched that opening train sequence twice because you
17:33
Speaker 1: watch it the first time and you don't know what's coming.
17:36
Speaker 1: So I watched it a second time and she's talking
17:38
Speaker 1: about this journey she's been on and she's like, my
17:40
Speaker 1: friends were they made me do this? And she's like,
17:43
Speaker 1: and I found somebody and then I lost him And
17:46
Speaker 1: I was looking for clues in that opening. Now, it
17:49
Speaker 1: could be going any direction, right, but it seems to
17:53
Speaker 1: me like Julian Morris is obviously one of the leads.
17:56
Speaker 1: It seems like he's gotta be the guy. But right
17:59
Speaker 1: now I'm a little bit team Richard. Well, hello Richard.
18:04
Speaker 1: When Richard comes, like, you know, we he were introduced
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Speaker 1: to the date who stood her up? Wowie zouie wowe. Man,
18:15
Speaker 1: this man is a beautiful yeah, excellent casting, right, oh,
18:22
Speaker 1: because god, because we got at least root for him
18:24
Speaker 1: for a little while. Totally, I feel like somebody punched
18:28
Speaker 1: me in the gut. And he's funny and charming and
18:33
Speaker 1: sweet and believable and genuine and yeah yeah, yeah, hello, welcome. Wow.
18:42
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the dates I love the
18:44
Speaker 1: whole twelve dates setup. I didn't know if I was
18:47
Speaker 1: going to like it because I thought, Oh, this is
18:49
Speaker 1: going to be drawn out over six episodes andmorrow, Nope,
18:51
Speaker 1: we got five dates in the first two episodes. M hm.
18:54
Speaker 1: I liked it a lot. I like that they do
18:58
Speaker 1: the on screen graphic of like date one, Yes, I
19:02
Speaker 1: love that. But let's talk about the dates themselves, because
19:05
Speaker 1: I thought they were wild. I thought they were entertaining. Yeah,
19:09
Speaker 1: Date one. Date one is a no show, right, She's
19:12
Speaker 1: waiting forever in this little like Bryant park Igloo basically
19:17
Speaker 1: ye and the guy no shows, And immediately my interest
19:20
Speaker 1: is piqued. I'm like, what's happening here? I love love that.
19:25
Speaker 1: Date two she goes ice skating and it's obvious to
19:29
Speaker 1: me this is super friend Zone situation totally. And she
19:33
Speaker 1: says that line something about he wept into my mouth.
19:35
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, the visual of that best of
19:39
Speaker 1: the season. Yes, and she says it twice. It's so
19:42
Speaker 1: funny because Laura later she's like, he cried all over
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Speaker 1: your face. She's like, into my mouth, Like, the visual
19:47
Speaker 1: is so strong. I loved it. Date three they do
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Speaker 1: the great British bakeoff baking date. Basically, it's simple. I
19:56
Speaker 1: was the guy on the date. I was like, he's
20:00
Speaker 1: it's so reserved. Is this like a British thing? Whatever?
20:02
Speaker 1: But what I love, this was the turning point for me,
20:06
Speaker 1: was when he was like, look, this is what I want.
20:09
Speaker 1: What do you want? Mmmm? And Kate doesn't know what
20:13
Speaker 1: she wants well, and that we start to see her
20:17
Speaker 1: thaw a little bit. That was actually my favorite date,
20:20
Speaker 1: not from a romantic perspective, but just from I loved
20:24
Speaker 1: the scene where they're just sitting on the floor or
20:26
Speaker 1: waiting for their cake in the oven and they're just
20:28
Speaker 1: having a real conversation with each other. And then later
20:31
Speaker 1: they go on their walk and you know, she's at
20:33
Speaker 1: the like, oh, you're gonna give me her phone number?
20:35
Speaker 1: And he's like yeah, but I'm not messing around. I
20:38
Speaker 1: just he wasn't the guy, but I did love their date. Yeah,
20:43
Speaker 1: And this is what I like so much about the dates.
20:45
Speaker 1: It's not about Kate finding somebody. It's about what Kate's
20:49
Speaker 1: learning about herself. Yeah, And that's what that like. That's
20:54
Speaker 1: the meat of the story. That's the good stuff. That's
20:58
Speaker 1: so good. It is so good. Date four this. I
21:02
Speaker 1: was like, what the heck are we getting into? I
21:04
Speaker 1: would be one hundred percent out if I had to
21:07
Speaker 1: show up in some sort of time period piece costume
21:11
Speaker 1: Bridgerton esque. Yeah, I can't quite what was the What
21:16
Speaker 1: was the clerical error here? Like, how did Kate and
21:19
Speaker 1: the other girl end up together? It's it's unclear, but
21:23
Speaker 1: it it was just a mistake. Well. I loved everything
21:26
Speaker 1: about this date, especially Kate stepping into the role of wingman. Yes,
21:32
Speaker 1: it was so good, and I was like, hey, look
21:34
Speaker 1: at that, like a same sex storyline in here. If
21:38
Speaker 1: you haven't watched the show, it's not about Kate being
21:40
Speaker 1: in a same sex storyline, because that's not what's happening.
21:42
Speaker 1: It's another participant in the matchmaking dating situation, and it's
21:48
Speaker 1: just there. It's just there. That scene when she flicks
21:53
Speaker 1: her fan open to stop anyone else from joining the
21:56
Speaker 1: dance floor. Oh, it's so good. Loved it. I loved it.
22:02
Speaker 1: And then the final date date five Dates and Mates
22:05
Speaker 1: the best part of mall. This whole date is great,
22:09
Speaker 1: by the way, but the parade of men, Yes, when
22:12
Speaker 1: her friends are bringing the guys, the nose whistler, the
22:16
Speaker 1: nose whistler. The guys like very into health. I eat
22:19
Speaker 1: a lot of sour kraw I don't brushing teeth is
22:22
Speaker 1: like a optional. It was so funny and so good,
22:27
Speaker 1: so well written, directed beautifully. I loved it, loved it,
22:31
Speaker 1: loved it well. And cut to the end where you
22:35
Speaker 1: have Drew like snipping off the wristbands. These guys like
22:37
Speaker 1: you're out of here, like you do not make the cut.
22:40
Speaker 1: Move along. Yeah. Hey, we also didn't talk about Sarah,
22:45
Speaker 1: who is Caleb's girlfriend. I guess, uh huh. She's stunning.
22:50
Speaker 1: First of all, I was like, who is this beautiful queen? Right?
22:57
Speaker 1: But I'm having a hard time because I think her
23:00
Speaker 1: and Caaleum as a match feels nice to me. You know.
23:06
Speaker 1: It's a little bit messy with the ex weaved into
23:09
Speaker 1: the storyline here and potentially Kalem maybe being inticate. I
23:14
Speaker 1: don't know, but it is all working, you know. I
23:19
Speaker 1: like Sarah too. I like her and Callum together. But
23:23
Speaker 1: what's interesting is they were already starting to sew seeds
23:27
Speaker 1: of doubt. When she wants to have his business blow up.
23:31
Speaker 1: She's like, we're gonna have this pop up, and he's
23:33
Speaker 1: kind of just like, I'm happy with who I am, Like,
23:35
Speaker 1: I'm happy to just be this small town place that
23:39
Speaker 1: people pop in. I don't need viral success. And so
23:43
Speaker 1: it's not a major conflict, but it feels like a
23:46
Speaker 1: very implied conflict, like they want different things in that moment,
23:50
Speaker 1: but coming from a good place where she's trying to
23:52
Speaker 1: find success for him. So yeah, I'm definitely not rooting
23:57
Speaker 1: against their relationship yet. Please don't make Sarah a villain. No, no,
24:03
Speaker 1: and she's great, Like when we're first introduced to her,
24:06
Speaker 1: Kate has come back from her date that wasn't Sarah's
24:10
Speaker 1: so lovely to Kate, Like she accepts Kate as one
24:13
Speaker 1: of Callum's best friends and she's like, oh, do you
24:14
Speaker 1: want to join us? There's no like, oh you're the
24:16
Speaker 1: other woman in his life feeling, But you know they
24:21
Speaker 1: can get around that. If Sarah goes back to her
24:23
Speaker 1: ex Walter right, Walter that his name, I can't I
24:28
Speaker 1: can't remember. Well, are you ready to talk wishes? I am?
24:33
Speaker 1: I don't really have I really only have one. I
24:38
Speaker 1: want to know more of the Kate and Callum backstory.
24:42
Speaker 1: They hint at it, like, oh, one kiss in Uni,
24:44
Speaker 1: and I know they've been friends for a long time.
24:46
Speaker 1: We see that very first, like posh pies from her
24:50
Speaker 1: teenage years. But I would love to see if there
24:54
Speaker 1: are little moments, even unspoken ones, where we can see
24:58
Speaker 1: them have feelings about what's going on in the other
25:02
Speaker 1: person's life, or him seeing her in a relationship or
25:05
Speaker 1: her seeing him. You know, where were those missed connections
25:09
Speaker 1: because we don't know a ton about their history yet, right, Yeah,
25:14
Speaker 1: hopefully that when we get a little bit of backstory, Yeah,
25:18
Speaker 1: watch that unfold in the next two episodes would be great.
25:21
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. What did you wish for? I just have
25:23
Speaker 1: two small ones, and they were kind of touched on.
25:28
Speaker 1: At first. I was like, WHOA, Kate's not super likable.
25:32
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't think she was super likable. But
25:34
Speaker 1: then I flipped on that like full one eighty almost
25:38
Speaker 1: immediately mm hmm, because I was like, oh, is it
25:42
Speaker 1: gonna be hard for me to root for her? To
25:43
Speaker 1: find somebody I'm rooting for her, Like, yes, I've been
25:47
Speaker 1: turned like I rooting for Kate. The second wish I
25:51
Speaker 1: had was at first I was like, whoa, the friends
25:55
Speaker 1: really need to take it down a notch and realize,
25:57
Speaker 1: like Kate is dealing she has a stressful job, she's
26:00
Speaker 1: dealing with a dad who has been injured and is rehabbing,
26:05
Speaker 1: like she maybe dating's not her top priority at this time,
26:09
Speaker 1: like give her a little bit of space. But then
26:12
Speaker 1: I quickly flipped on that as well, because I do
26:16
Speaker 1: see that Laura really has Kate's best interest at heart here.
26:20
Speaker 1: So those are my two wishes. They were like wishes,
26:23
Speaker 1: but then not wishes. I mean, it's really good, it's
26:27
Speaker 1: really good. Let's talk. Did you see that? I only
26:31
Speaker 1: have a few and not even real true? Did you
26:34
Speaker 1: see that? Let's hear it. My first one is all
26:37
Speaker 1: the alcohol, like it is real British pub culture. Yeah,
26:42
Speaker 1: wishing into Hallmark. I kind of surprised by it a
26:46
Speaker 1: little bit. I'm not offended by it whatsoever, but you know,
26:49
Speaker 1: like we see on Hallmark typically people drinking hot cocoa,
26:54
Speaker 1: not Guinness. So yeah, but I'm into it. Like it works.
26:59
Speaker 1: It totally works, and it would be unbelievable to me
27:02
Speaker 1: if they're like, oh, we're on a hot cocoa date. Totally,
27:06
Speaker 1: So I really like that. The dad on the ladder,
27:10
Speaker 1: oh my god, when he's reaching for the lights, I'm like, no, totally.
27:16
Speaker 1: It's Clark Griswold in that moment so much. Yes, but
27:20
Speaker 1: this man is recovering my policeman or a broken hip
27:24
Speaker 1: or whatever. I'm like, what are you doing up there?
27:26
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. And especially because in my old neighborhood
27:31
Speaker 1: a neighbor died that way. Yes, it's it's like, that's
27:35
Speaker 1: very dangerous. So yes, my husband's family friend died falling
27:38
Speaker 1: off a ladder. He was very young, too, awful, awful.
27:42
Speaker 1: My other last did you see that? Was? Of course
27:48
Speaker 1: she said this was filmed in Ireland and there are
27:50
Speaker 1: a lot of shots of London, but they have Kate
27:54
Speaker 1: on a rooftop where she's like sketching oh so badly
27:58
Speaker 1: green screen. Yeah, yeah, ye for sure. Yeah, well my
28:03
Speaker 1: did you see That's? Are really just scenes and thoughts
28:06
Speaker 1: that I would like to call out. First of all,
28:08
Speaker 1: when she's on the phone with her mom, her mom
28:10
Speaker 1: is giving Catherine O'Hara and shit's creak and she's like
28:12
Speaker 1: butt nugget, like she wants Yeah. I thought that was
28:16
Speaker 1: well played. At her dates with mates, where Walter's like
28:22
Speaker 1: I need a grand gesture, I need to jump on
28:23
Speaker 1: the table and she goes no, no, No, don't do that.
28:25
Speaker 1: That's much too small, I laughed out loud. I love
28:29
Speaker 1: Drew as the Christmas Cupid, reinventing herself for every day.
28:33
Speaker 1: She's got a new look, new hair, every single time.
28:36
Speaker 1: Kate's coat game is strong. She has some beautiful coats.
28:40
Speaker 1: The ice skating date, Kate meets Walter and they skate
28:43
Speaker 1: towards each other. They really milk this scene. They don't
28:45
Speaker 1: rush the slow, painful track across the ice, they let
28:49
Speaker 1: us experience it with them. I thought that was really nice,
28:54
Speaker 1: and a line that I loved. Kate's talking about her
28:59
Speaker 1: mom and she said she says she's free spirited, but honestly,
29:02
Speaker 1: I think that's an excuse for her to be unreliable. Woof.
29:07
Speaker 1: And finally, during the dance scene at the Ridgerton cosplay event,
29:15
Speaker 1: when the women are dancing, they're playing Last Christmas on
29:17
Speaker 1: violin and it's yes, beautiful, Thank you for bringing that up.
29:22
Speaker 1: It was in my notes, but I forgot to put
29:23
Speaker 1: it in my final run down here. Yes, I was like,
29:26
Speaker 1: what is this version? Yes, this is beautiful. I don't
29:30
Speaker 1: really like that song actually, but I loved it like that.
29:33
Speaker 1: Oh it's so good. I just want to note we
29:36
Speaker 1: got an email from a writer. His name is Zach Hugg.
29:40
Speaker 1: He worked on The More the Merrier. Yeah, he also
29:44
Speaker 1: worked on this project. And if by chance Zach is
29:46
Speaker 1: listening to this review, please tell your colleagues we are
29:51
Speaker 1: such fans of this show. It's so good. I know.
29:55
Speaker 1: I was tempted because he emailed us. I was tempted
29:58
Speaker 1: to email back and be like, spoiler alert, we love
30:01
Speaker 1: this show. You need you need to. I think I'm
30:04
Speaker 1: going to. But you know what was funny is we
30:06
Speaker 1: talked about in The More of the Merrier how they
30:09
Speaker 1: weave that ensemble together nicely, and we're like, oh, of course,
30:11
Speaker 1: you look at what else he's done, which was The
30:14
Speaker 1: Ghost of Christmas Always among other things. It's not really
30:18
Speaker 1: a surprise that he's involved with this where you've got
30:21
Speaker 1: this great ensemble cast that kind of seems to be
30:25
Speaker 1: maybe his sweet spot. I know he's not the head writer,
30:27
Speaker 1: but worked on this show. I'm a big fan, big fan.
30:32
Speaker 1: This is so good. Please, if you did not watch
30:35
Speaker 1: this show when it aired when it premiered, please find
30:39
Speaker 1: it on Homework Plus or a rerun of it. It
30:41
Speaker 1: is so good. Give it a chance. Agree are we
30:45
Speaker 1: rating these. Oh yeah, let's rate it because we rated
30:48
Speaker 1: Missiletoe Murders. You're right, it's five stars for me. Yep, yep,
30:52
Speaker 1: me too. Not even a question, not even a question.
30:56
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework,
30:58
Speaker 1: a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, keep
31:01
Speaker 1: those five stars ratings and reviews coming, and we will
31:04
Speaker 1: be back next time with more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye, bye.
31:20
Speaker 1: All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up.
31:22
Speaker 1: You're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
31:24
Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
31:28
Speaker 1: So do with that info what you will, Grab a snack,
31:31
Speaker 1: hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
31:34
Speaker 1: and discover your new favorite product. Bye