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The Chicken Sisters Season 2 Episode 7 (feat- Alonso Duralde) · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan and as a reminder,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I am joined by a rotating cast of lovely co
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: hosts for these reviews.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This is a bramble Jam podcast.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Views of The Chicken Sisters.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Today, I am thrilled to be joined by film critic
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  Speaker 1: and holiday movie expert Alonzo Duralda. We're breaking down the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: latest episode of The Chicken Sisters Season two, episode seven,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Storms bruin y'all.
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  Speaker 3: But before we talk tornadoes and.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Family drama, I do want to talk to you, Alonso,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: because your newest book, updated version of your book, have
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: your movie Little Christmas is out now. As I told
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: you before we started recording, my copy is arriving today.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I say here right now, but it will be here today.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: So I'd love to hear a little bit more about
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: that book and what we can expect.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Sure, So this is a book that originally I wrote,
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: came out in twenty ten, and it was kind of
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: early in the game of talking about Christmas movies, not
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: just in terms of you know, the the minted classics.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: You're you know, it's a wonderful life's and your your
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: white Christmases. But also, hey, let's talk about you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Eyes wide Shut, let's talk about Gremlins and die Hard
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: and The Line in Winter and various other films of
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: different stripes that you know, all kind of fit under
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: the Christmas umbrella. And you know, it did pretty well.
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  Speaker 4: And it was the kind of thing where I would
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: schlep out every you know, every year when the lights
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: come out of the attic, I would also come out
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  Speaker 4: of the attic with.
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  Speaker 2: This book, like, hey, remember I wrote this Christmas book.
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  Speaker 2: Check it out.
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  Speaker 4: And then I realized, oh my gosh, fifteen years of
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  Speaker 4: and a lot of new movies have opened in that period.
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  Speaker 4: And then also a lot of classics that I had
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  Speaker 4: not known about when I wrote the first edition. I
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: wanted to throw those in as well. So it seemed
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: like a good time to do a revised and updated edition,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: which this one is.
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  Speaker 2: If you have the first book, there is a ton
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  Speaker 2: of new stuff in here.
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  Speaker 4: There's more than one hundred films that weren't covered the
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  Speaker 4: first time around, lack And if you don't have the
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  Speaker 4: first book, this is a great place to start. And
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: if there's certain titles where if you want a more
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: in depth discussion. You might want to go back and
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: pick up the first one.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Oh great to know. Well, I'm super excited. I am
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: a huge holiday fan all Thanks Christmas, so can't wait
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to dig into that. We will of course leave a
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: link to that in the show notes so everyone can
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: grab a copy of Have Yourself a Movie, Little Christmas.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Excellent.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Talking the Chicken Sisters, everyone, let's talk to This season
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: has had a little bit of a different starting point
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  Speaker 1: with this show. I'm curious what your experience was. Did
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  Speaker 1: you watch season one in real time? Have you watched
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: all of season two? What are you working with here?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I hopped in at the beginning.
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  Speaker 4: I was one of those, you know, I had already
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  Speaker 4: been a Hallmark Movies Now subscriber, and then you know,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: I did that thing where if you if you renewed
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: your Hallmark Movies Now subscription for a year before it
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: became Hallmark Plus, you saved like twenty bucks. So yeah,
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  Speaker 4: so I was in from day one and watching The
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Chicken Sisters, which I was very excited about because you know,
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  Speaker 4: obviously the cast drew me in, not just the leads,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: you know, but also I think a lot of the
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: supporting players like Cardi Wong, who we finally got back
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: in this episode after some absence in Rukaia Bernard and
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: folks like that, and you know, where is our where
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: is our gay cowboy?
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  Speaker 2: Like what happened Jake Boy?
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  Speaker 3: Where Nicole?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I have to assume he's coming back for the finale
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: for the wedding, but one.
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  Speaker 4: Would hope his absence has been felt this season. But yeah,
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  Speaker 4: so I've been watching from the get go. I never
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  Speaker 4: read the book, so I came in cold to this world,
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  Speaker 4: and I didn't have expectations about season two being like,
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  Speaker 4: oh no, now they're straying from the material. But I
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: think that what we've seen a lot lately in TV
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: is that, you know, you get to show like The
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: Leftovers or The Handmaid's Tale, where yeah, at some point
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: they run out of novel and then they're kind of
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: on their own, and more often than not, at least
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: it has been my experience in the shows that I've watched,
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  Speaker 4: the writers come up with cool places to take those things,
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  Speaker 4: and I feel like we're, after maybe a bit of
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: a bumpy start this season, we're getting there with Chicken
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: Sisters as well.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with that. I did read the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: book and spent the entire first season going well. In
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the book, this happened, But I feel like looking back
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: on it, the changes that they made were really smart
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: changes that set themselves up really well for a second season.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, most notably, Frank Junior is dead in the book.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Oh Frank, Yes, so Frank ju It's such a key
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  Speaker 1: part of the conflict in this entire both seasons that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you can't even really imagine this series without him. So
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I think they made some smart changes. We have a
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: very fun episode to talk about, the Tornado episodes, Storms
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  Speaker 1: brewin y'all. I'm excited to dive into this, and let's
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: go ahead and start with your first impression.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I want to say this is the strongest
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  Speaker 4: episode yet at least it's certainly the most cathartic. You know,
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  Speaker 4: I think that a lot of times with serialized drama,
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  Speaker 4: we sort of like we see these misunderstandings and these
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: disagreements go on, and then every so often they just
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: like everybody gets plopped in a room together and they
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: just got to work it out. And we have a
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: bunch of those like you know that, do you know
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: the the the expression bottle episode? Yes, you know where
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: we're like, if a TV show is maybe running over budget,
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: they'll do an entire episode where it's two characters in
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  Speaker 4: one room pashing it out. I kind of felt like
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  Speaker 4: this was a six pack of bottle episodes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, because you've.
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  Speaker 4: Got all these sort of little mini dramas playing out
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  Speaker 4: in different locations while the storm is raging through. But yeah,
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  Speaker 4: I think overall we get to some really interesting places
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  Speaker 4: with characters, some wonderful reveals are made, people show who
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: they are in different ways, and so yeah, I found
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  Speaker 4: this one really satisfying.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: You know, every time I think of bottle episode, I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: think of the West Wing, whenever we get an episode
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: where they don't leave the White House at all, and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you're like, this was a you know, a tight budget episode.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: We don't get any exterior shot, certainly no air force one.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think this was a highlight
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: of the season. And I think some people have complained
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: that the season.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Feels a little slow. I haven't.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I really enjoy these characters and I like the story
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: we're telling this season, so I haven't felt that. But
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: it's a really interesting way to stretch a several hour
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: period over an episode and not make it feel slow
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: by adding in all the drama of the tornado and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: all the interpersonal drama happening alongside it.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if you're here for the for the conversations, they
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: don't they don't skimp on that. But if you also
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: just want to watch, like you know, Leah Thompson driving around,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: is the witness ripping round, she's rescuing people, then yeah,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: there's a little bit of a little bit of everything
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  Speaker 4: for folks.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk what we liked about this episode. I'll
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  Speaker 1: let you go first.
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  Speaker 4: Oh gosh, I mean, well, first of all, the return
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: of Cardi Wong very excited about that. I loved the
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  Speaker 4: I think the may j stuff was really strong because
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  Speaker 4: she has been grappling this whole season with this notion
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  Speaker 4: of the Mimi's curse, and I think where she finally
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: sits down and spells it out to him and where
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  Speaker 4: what she fears about it and him responding that it's
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: not a curse, it's a tragedy, and that you know,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: when he talks about how like a bunch of weak
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: men basically you know, walked out on these women. That
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: is so much the theme of this show in terms
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: of this is a this is a matriarchy. This is
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: a show about a community where the women really run things,
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: and men are either supportive or an active hindrance, you know.
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  Speaker 4: And so we have, you know, you have your Jay's
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: and your Sergios, who are supportive and who are understanding
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  Speaker 4: and willing to work with and love these women. And
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  Speaker 4: then you have your your frank juniors and whoever else,
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  Speaker 4: the Mayor who's just being, you know, being a royal
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: pain about everything. And so for him to really step
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: up in that moment and be like, no, this is
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  Speaker 4: I see a lot of weak men here. This is
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: not about the Mimi's girls, you know. But then for
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: her to counter with, no, but I'm the one. I'm
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: the one who's gonna run that. That was not a
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: twist I saw coming and I thought, okay, but but
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: it totally speaks to everything about that character and what
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: we know about her and how she feels about herself.
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  Speaker 4: And so it didn't feel like they were It didn't
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: feel like a stretch. It was like, Okay, yes, this
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: does feel like a culmination of all the things that
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: we've gotten to know about may over the course of
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: two seasons.
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  Speaker 2: So that was great.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: I thought the putting Frank Junior and gust together was
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  Speaker 4: inspired because she is the last person to give him
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  Speaker 4: any slack and really ultimately kind of winds up delivering
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: the tough love he needs and kind of putting the
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: hammer down and breaking him, which somebody needed to do.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't I think he's probably still around
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: as a villain, but I think at least we had
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: a little bit of redemption in this episode. And then,
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: you know, I think this stuff with Nancy is great
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: because over the course of this episode, we have seen
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: her finding her voice, finding her footing, becoming somebody who
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: isn't just going to be the little supportive wifey in
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: the background like she is front and center. I think
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: we're building up to I wouldn't be surprised if the
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: finale of this season was She's going to run for mayor.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: That's what I said in the last episode. I said,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: is Nancy going to be the mayor?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: No, I mean I think she's She's definitely proving herself.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: You know, the you know, the whole railroad arm thing,
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: and I love the payoff of the railroad on the
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: train finally comes.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, that was that was awesome.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Was going in the moment, and for a while when
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: I was thinking about it, I thought, oh God, is
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: frank Junior going to run against her?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: But I think maybe now for this episode that that
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: might not be the way they go. But yeah, so
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: I think they're setting up a lot and obviously the
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: Amanda Sergio thing has always been at a slow boil,
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: and they really get to pick that up. But the
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: arrival of Frankie at the end kind of run to me,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, where was everybody else during this episode?
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely one of my wishes about that was like,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I really would have loved to see Sabrina. This was
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: a great opportunity for a Frankie and Lindsay moment. That's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: a relationship I'm totally rooting for. But we definitely had
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a lot going on. I mean, you really hit all
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: of the high points for me. May and Jay is
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the biggest storyline for me. I just felt like their
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: conversation was so powerful when he was saying, you know,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: his conversation about these are weak men, and I really
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: liked when he pushes her when he's like, don't treat
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: me like them, and we get that flip where She's.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Like, no, no, I'm them.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: They had there was I thought it was the Gus
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Frank Junior redemption story. Look, I've been saying all along,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't want a Frank Junior redemption story.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: I don't want to root for him.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Let Frank Junior can write off into the sunset all
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: loved to James Cott, but we needed it for Nancy
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: at least, if for nothing else. And I think it
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: kind of brings Gus's transformation full circle that she is.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Allowed to see.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: You know, she talks about how they both had demons
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to face. You know, she was not a great mother,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: and the fact that she's able to, like you said,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: given the tough love, but then also see her part
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: in it and kind of she's made amends with her
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: daughters and now here's her chance to finally do something
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: for Nancy, who's done something for everyone.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Else for sure.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: And I think it'd be easier to write off Frank
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: Junior entirely if he weren't Nancy's son and Frankie's dad. Yeah,
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: but because he is, like, we have to give him
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: some level. We have to hope that he achieved some
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: level of grace, you.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Know, Yeah, that's You're exactly right.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I you want Nancy to have that because she you've
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: seen this entire season, She's just wanted that relationship with
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Frank Junior back, and she has pushed him and said,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: you know, you owe me an apology too, like I'm
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: willing to make amends, but I'm not alone in this.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: And I really like that she you know, she spends
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: this entire episode trying to save him, which part of
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: me was like, come on, like this is reckless, this
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: is crazy some of the stuff you're doing, but that
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: she is going to get that piece. I don't really
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: care that Frank Junior has.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: It, but sure, no, it's for her behalf.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that they can live in harmony, and you know,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Frankie can have a relationship with both parents without feeling
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: like she's betraying her mother by doing.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: So exactly, And you know, look, I Margo Martindale said it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: I believe it, and that settles it. That lovely line
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: in the narration about no matter how old they get,
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: they're always your baby, And so I totally believe that
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: Nancy couldn't stop searching for him, like she had to
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: make sure he was okay before she could get herself
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: to safety. She is the queen of put their oxygen
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: mask on before your own, you know, even though you're
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: not supposed to do that.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point. Speaking of our narrator, you know,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: sometimes she can be quite on the nose, which is
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the point. But I did love how can we know
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: how strong our roots are if we're not tested by
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the wind? You know, thefore it does beat you over
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: the head a little bit, but hey, it.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Was better than those baseball ones, you know.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Also, I like our moment of levity with our dude
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: bro Christian, who's absolutely loosening.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: It in the tornado and he's weak and.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: He's scared and he is broke, and the cluckery is
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: not going to be long for this world. And you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: looking forward, there's some hint that maybe Mimi's has been
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: destroyed by the storm, and so you know, season three
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: maybe about rebuilding together.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I mean I've kind of already done
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: that because both restaurants are the Chicken Sisters now right
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: and not the premise, and so they have they have
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: two locations in town. I gotta say this not to
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: jump ahead on the things in the episode that didn't
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: make sense. But nobody closes a door in this episode
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: in the middle of a tornado, Like, I get it.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: The window is shattered, like the things are are higgely piggily,
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: but close a door, people.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought it was so funny because Amanda and
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Sergio stacked those tables on top of each other, and
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: then they have that window right there, and I'm thinking,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: why didn't you turn one of the tables on its
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: side to block that glass that's gonna be blowing through.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: You're just sitting under this table and the windows right there.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: I grew up in the South, and in tornado time,
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: it was not uncommon for people to get the masking
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: tape out and do the X on the window so
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: that if they shattered, it would least sort of, yeah,
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: kind of contain the thing. And I just have a
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: million pieces of glass shattering all over the place. But
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: you know, I guess they were too busy stacking tables
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: to make that.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: They did seem to not have a great setup for
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: tornadoes in a place that gets them often enough to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: have a tornado siren in town.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you'd think that, like the restaurants would have a
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: cellar maybe to go into the only.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: One who had a cellar was well Gus and Nancy
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I guess both had Tornado sellers.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: But Yesron certainly didn't.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: No, no, not at all.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: And you know this episode again that I think the
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: deck the Hallmark guys have talked about with Gus. This
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: show is very convenient about when she is and isn't
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: a horder and does and doesn't have MS.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, yeah, we did get a little bit of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: a break from that. You know, she seems to be
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Nancy seems to have magically broken her of you know,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: she had that one hoarding closet, but she doesn't really
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: seem to have any other tendencies that have spilled over.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: But you know she she needed to be able to
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: knock get down the stairs in this episode so that
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: Frank Junior can step up.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well we've already started talking about our wishes, but
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: let's just keep going in that direction with this episode.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: What else?
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: What else did you think about watching this?
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, like, god, you know they I get frustrated
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: with a will day or won't they episode? Or rather
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: it's like amand in Sergio need to either like you know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: kiss or get.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Off the pot.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: You know, like I totally agree.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: But I and I hope that one of the upsides
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: of the Frank Junior redemption such as it is, is
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: that we aren't going to drag out this divorce plot
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: because it seemed like it was like she filed for divorce,
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: but then he was going to use the televised kiss
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: against her and court or something, and just like, could
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: we just sign the papers and let's move on, and
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: you know, not not drag this out, but but yeah,
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: with with it an improved Frank Junior, I'm not sure.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: And with restaurant guy admitting that the Cluckery is Baker villain,
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: we don't know who the villains are anymore, but you know,
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: I'm sure to look her up with something.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: My biggest complaint was Nancy was reckless, and to me,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: it was fine to a certain extent that she was
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: reckless with her own life. She was on this mission,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: you know, to save the town, to save Frank Junior.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: But when she finds Jen, when she finds Cardi Wong
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: with his baby, and she says that baby to shelter,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: you know, she runs into Frank Junior's apartment to look
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: for them, but leaves them in the car. I don't
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: understand why our goal is not to get them into
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: the first available shelter.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: And she's like, I gotta get you home. No, you
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: don't need to get them home, get.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Them to anybody, just put them inside anybody with the
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: basement were in shape.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Here, it just not come on.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: May shredding the seating chart to prove her point. I'm
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: very curious what the wedding is going to look like.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Obviously all of our venues have been destroyed, most of
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the applies have been destroyed. You know, we're going to
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: get probably a much more sincere ceremonial back. Yeah, yeah,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: but I thought, why are you doing that?
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I think it was like, don't ruin everything like we
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: some things are roden, you know, he had just.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Broken the plates the chairs.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: But I found it very frustrating that she destroyed the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: seating chart to make her metaphor.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, it's very onhr given how type a
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: she is. But I think also if her point is
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: we shouldn't get married, then I guess you can undo
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: the seating chart because we shouldn't get married. And yeah,
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: this episode ends with her seeing what we don't see,
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: which is I guess like the tent and all the
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: everything else, you know, being all thrown about, and I
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: believe Again, Daniel was like, well, that's on you for
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: setting up an outdoor wedding that far in advance, in
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: the middle of the summer in the South, because you
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: never know.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I said the same thing, Why are we setting up
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: chairs any earlier than the day of the wedding. It's
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: still unclear to me when that's when he is supposed
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to be in this timeline.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Sure, but you could have made the joke of like, well,
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: Sabrina is a New Yorker and she doesn't get that
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: the weather patterns are unstable, and you.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: Know, like just in dirt in New York.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, you wouldn't you know, It's like true they do.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: You wouldn't know everything was going to be soaking wet
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: in the morning. I just the whole thing. You know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the bows are going to be saggy. It was a
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: it was a misstep for the plot point.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: Oh God, did Sabrina shelter in place with Guster, because
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: I really needed to see that.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: You know that that's a real miss too, and we
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: didn't need a lot of it, right, just like a
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: little glimpse of one scene.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Of I'm talking her down out of a panic, and
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: then you know, a nice couple. I don't know.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Gruster is another one of our good guys in
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: this season. I really did miss not getting a Frankie
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and Lindsay moment.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: I'm brooding for those two. I don't I really don't
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: know if they're ever.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Going to give it to us or if it's just
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: going to be the world's longest tease.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's funny.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: I'm so dense and I usually I'm on the lookout
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: for this kind of thing. It didn't even cross my
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: mind to be shipping those two, But then between hearing
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: y'all and Jackson, I'm.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Like, oh, oh yeah, that okay, sure, And so.
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know if the show is going to
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: go there or not, because again, like our season one,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: Gay is one of them we haven't seen at all,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: and the other one hasn't popped up in very in
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: several weeks now, so who knows.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we get at the beginning of season two,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: we get Patrick saying that I can't even remember Jake
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Boy's characters in this, but he's off helping his sister
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: who's just had a baby, And so to me, that
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: sets it up like, oh, he's gone for a few
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: weeks and in theory he should be.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Back for the wedding.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: The wedding.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean he was a key player.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he was doing something else. I don't think
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: he was written out of the show. It wouldn't make
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: sense to me, like if Patrick's still there that he
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have at least made a couple of appearances.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it was a schedule conflict
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: or whatever. But yeah, I think that character provided, if
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: nothing else, just like insight into May's past that was
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: valuable and I think would have been a good sounding
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: board for her this season. And so, yeah, I have
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: actively missed him. I hope he pops up.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Amanda kind of steps into that grounding role for May,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: which has been nice for their sister relationship. But yeah,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I've missed him too. The Frankie Lindsay It's something I've
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: been talking about since season one. Wendy and I were
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: big fans of that storyline. I felt like it felt
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: very much like they were leading us down that path.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: We shall see.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: There's a lot to still wrap up in episode eight,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: So there's certainly going to be some threads left loose
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: at the end of this season. And we haven't heard
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: anything about a season three renewal at this point.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: So yeah, and I worry because I know the numbers
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: have not been great, which is depressing because you know,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: I bailed out of Way Home sometime in season two.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: I just it stopped grabbing me. And I've never cared
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: for when calls the heart. But like this show, I
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: think is really sharp, and you know, there are times
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: when the writing's really good, great cast, you know, lovely premise,
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: and I think that you know, as we've seen in
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: this season, in the sort of post novel season, there
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: are directions to take these people and these stories, and
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: it would be a bummer if you know, the show
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: isn't mediocre enough for all our channel viewers and mass.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, it doesn't seem to have people in general.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: The feedback I get is not super positive among the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: big swath of Hallmark viewers. But I think it's a
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: super interesting show. I mean, I like what Hallmark is
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: trying to do here with this.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: I talked to somebody who said they watched season one
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: and they didn't they saw the season two premiere and bailed,
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: and I was like, Okay, that episode not great, but
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: it actually does get better from there if you want
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: to dive back in.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they're trying to set up so many
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: things in that episode. They really can't get into anything,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and they.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: Didn't really close the loop on the kitchen clash thing
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: all that well in terms of like literally over the
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: course of the season, the only person who's even mentioned
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: it as a reason to come to the restaurant turned
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: out to be Sergio's X.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like, no, there's you. There's no like signage
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: There's no like out of town lookie louse, Like there
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: would be some kind of impact that being on that
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: show would have had on the restaurants, ostensibly because the
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: way they pitched at the first season was like, Oh,
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: we're gonna we're gonna make you know, it's gonna really
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: make us in a in a big way nationally if
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: if we're on this show. But then they had never
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: followed up with that in any way, so it's kind
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: of like, well, what was the point then?
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, season one we have shawna selling merch
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and then that's excuse me, episode one, we have Shawna
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: selling merch and then that it all just fades away
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and now we're focused on everybody else.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, where it was Shawna during the tornado?
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Where was Shauna?
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Indeed?
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, Shawna would have had a great storyline. I'm
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: surprised she wasn't.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Doing Maybe she had a shelter that she charged people
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: to get it.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: We're apps all right, let's talk or did you see
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: that moments from this episode any stand out moments for you?
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: I did like the fact that when when uh uh
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: drank Junior gets Gus into the basement, he immediately starts
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: picking up his childhood toys, like that's the.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Focus, you know, everything else make it. He's like, ooh
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: the bus, you know?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: In that moment, I thought it was just a standout
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: scene for me. When Gus is like look around the
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: basement and envision who put all of these things here?
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Like who did it? And who's it for?
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, She's like, your dad didn't do it. You didn't
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: like she set this up for her family to be
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: able to ride out the storm. Again, the metaphor is
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a little double there, but I really liked that moment
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and another standout moment for me which I mentioned earlier,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: but Jay saying to May, I think is really powerful.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: Do you think I'm one of these men? Then don't
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: treat me like one? Of course that's what. Then we
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: get the flip flop.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: But I like he's holding her accountable for these things,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: like he's not just rolling over and dying in the
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: face of her panic.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I don't know when I was looking more,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: but panic works there.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: I think it is a rare example of a TV
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: show where like couples in a relationship talk to each
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: other the way couples in a relationship do. Where he's like, okay,
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: by your saying this or by your acting this way
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: you are saying about me the following things, and I
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: don't appreciate that, you know, and I don't deserve that.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: And so yeah, I thought all that was really that
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: was quite well handled by the writing and by the acting.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: I totally want to make hush puppies using a microplane onion. Now,
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: that sounds like a great idea.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: That's a Rachel Ray moved to microp your onion for sure.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: Look, if I can get actual cooking advice from a
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: Hallmark thing, I appreciate it because I still remember that
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: movie where Lacy Shabert's parents were Baker's and she said, well,
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: you know, my mother said the secret ingredient for cookies
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: is vanilla.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Extract revolution thereic you don't say, lay measure with your heart?
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Did you have a feathered friend of the week? Who'd
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: you love this episode?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Oh? God, so many chances. I mean, I gotta say Nancy.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: I think this is really the episode where, like I said,
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: they've been building up to her finding her voice, finding
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: her independence, making a if she had a weakness of
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: being too much of a caretaker, they're turning that into
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: a strength in that she is like looking out for
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: the community from starting from the railroad arm now all
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: the way to like you know, turning on the siren
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: and making sure that everyone's evacuated. So yeah, I would
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: say this is absolutely Nancy's episode to shine.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I chose Nancy last week, and so just on principle,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't choose her this week. But I thought it
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: was a nice full circle moment where she's kind of
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: been forcing herself into these leadership roles a little bit
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: this season, and we come back around to.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Where the town Hall. People are like, all right, Nancy,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: what now?
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: And I think that.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: They were acknowledging her role in all of this.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to give it to Gus this week
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: for calling out Frank Junior. But she does it in
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: a way with just the tiniest bit of kindness, and
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I think what that does is allows him to actually
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: hear what she's saying. She's not just throwing barbs at
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: him the entire time, although she does plenty of that,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: and I think that allows for his full redemption as
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: it were a.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Few drops of honey in the vinegars.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: That's right, That's right. Well, Alonzo, where's the best place
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: for people to find you outside of this episode?
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm on Blue Sky at Adiraldi and Alonso dot
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: Doaldi on Instagram, and I write reviews for the film Verdict,
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: and you can listen to me on various podcasts, including
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Linoleum Knife, which I've done with my husband Dave White
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: for fifteen years now. Yeah, it's crazy Breakfast podcast. Yeah,
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: I do feel like the old Gray Mayor at this point.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: Breakfast All Day with Christy Lamire. You can catch out
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: on YouTube war as a podcast, Maximum Film on the
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: Maximum Fun Network. And I pop in on the regular
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: on Deck the Hallmark to talk about non Hallmark, non
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: lifetime Christmas movies.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: That is usually the gig.
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: And do please pick up my new book, Have Yourself
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: a Movie's Little Christmas, the Revised and Expanded Edition.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't wait again. We will link everywhere you.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Can find Alonso in the show notes of this episode.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me for this episode.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: This was a great time.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: I kind of feel like I'm in a bubble on
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: this show, and I don't really know that many people
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: that watch it, so it was great to be able
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: to dig into it.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: I totally agree. Are you looking forward to the countdown
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: of Christmas season?
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah always.
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: I'll be in Greenville for the Deck the Hallmark Marathon,
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: so make sure to check that out.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: Amazing, we can't wait.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Well once again, Alonzo, thank you for being here, and
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, we
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: love your five star ratings and reviews. You can leave
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: them right in the podcast app you are listening in.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: We'll see you.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: Goodbye.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: All right, friends, Before we go, just a quick heads up,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you're about to hear some ads die. Little gems help
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: So do with that info what you will, grab us neck,
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: hit the.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in and discover
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: your new favorite product.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Bye.