Holidazed - S01E05 - The Lewin Family (Hallmark+ - 2024) ft. Alonso Duralde

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_02] Hi, I'm Bran and I love... Hallmark Christmas television programs! I'm Dan and I despise Hallmark Christmas television programs.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_01] I'm Alonso and those two need to just kiss already and this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast!

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00] Deck The Hallmark, it's his podcast! Friends host his podcast!

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_02] We hope you like this jolly podcast!

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00] Oh boy! Hi everybody, welcome to another episode of Deck The Hallmark, another week of Deck The Hallmark, another Monday where we're talking about Holidays.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_02] Holidays!

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00] We only have a few episodes left, right? Yeah, we're halfway. How about that? We've got three more after this one. It's pretty exciting. Holidays! Oh yeah, I like that one too. Holidays! Celebrate! Alonso, Merry Christmas to you. How are you today? Good, good, good.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01] You sound better this week. You're feeling better than last week it sounds. Thank you, yes. Now Dave White is sick of course, which is how these things go. But you know, I'm better and so I think that's... We can all agree that's what really matters.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00] Well, that's exactly right. You join us every week, Dave joins us once a year. Exactly. So if we like... Liz, we don't want Dave to be sick. We don't want anybody to be sick. Have we heard... We heard mistletoe murders are getting a second season. Yes, but I haven't heard anything about this program.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, I don't... You know, I mean it is such a self-contained thing that it's like if they did a second season, would it be six different families? Would it be more shenanigans with these kids? I would assume so. I don't know.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00] Considering the fact that they filmed this like three years ago at this point, they'd have to get like everyone back on board, which I think would be an ordeal. So, but I...

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01] It's quite the ensemble, yeah.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00] Just Jared says, as of now, has not been renewed for season two. And Jared would know. Jared would know. They went to Jared. Yeah. That's the thing about Jared. Yeah, but I'm excited about more mistletoe murders. Like I'm excited about it.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_02] This is, in my opinion so far, better than mistletoe murders, but mistletoe murders makes more sense to be renewed for a second season.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01] Well, yeah, mistletoe murders ended on a cliffhanger. Yeah. So they better, we better get a second.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00] We'd be so mad. We'd be so mad at them. You can't do that, Hallmark.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_01] You can't do that. Although... We already mystery 101. We can't not again. Oh, well, too soon, Alonso. Sorry, I didn't mean to pick at that wound.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_00] One of the... It's not too soon. It's way too soon. That was one of our, I felt like best received things that we like reviewed was mystery 101. I felt like people really liked our reviews of that. That's right. And they don't always. Yeah. They'll let us know. Yeah, for sure.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_02] For sure. As they should. As they should.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00] Shall we talk holidays? The Lewin family is who we're talking about today. This originally dropped on December 5th, 2024. And it went a little something like this. Robert is waking up, feeling sore. I get it, man. It's tough out here. He listens and hears everyone is out there having fun or somebody is having fun without him.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00] It turns out it's his ex-wife, Linda, and her young, hot boyfriend, Evan, having a little pillow fight. Have you ever had a pillow fight as an adult?

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_02] I mean, no. Okay. I mean, my kids get in pillow fights all the time. Right. But with another adult.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01] No. You and me. Only if it's a warm up to something else.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_02] Well, yeah. I wasn't counting that, Alonzo. You had to get us in the gutter.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01] Well, look, this is the context that you would think that was going to happen in this show, but it's not.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_02] In this episode of Holidays, they just are platonic, basically just pillow fighting. It's a platonic pillow fight.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00] Which, by the way, saw Platonic Pillow Fight Live really good. Really? Yeah, really good. I saw him as kind of a downer. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did they do the feathers? No, no, no. It wasn't a lot of excitement at all. Okay, so they did a lot of feathers. Yeah, a lot of feathers.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, a lot of dust in the air. I found it kind of, it was too much to deal with. It's a mess.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00] Anyway, adult pillow, platonic pillow fight. Both Evan and Robert head to the hallway to go to the bathroom at the same time, and it leads to quite the awkward duel, if you will, where Evan basically says Robert can go first because he's old, and he knows that he kind of probably needs to use it first, so that's funny.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00] Anyway, Robert and Linda's daughter, Jennifer is talking with her husband about how shocked she is by how young Evan is. Evan Nessins.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_02] They all get down the pillow fight inside.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00] They all get down the stairs, and their son Max is talking about how he needs a booth for the Christmas festival, and Robert says he'll do it. Evan says he'll do it. So, Max is like, well, why don't you guys both just do it together? And how do you say no to Max? You can't. You can't. But first, broom hockey.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_02] Dan, I'm going to kick it over to you. Explain the rules. So this is very important you understand. You try to get the ball in the goal, and if you didn't know that before, you know it now. Thank you, Dan. Using the broom. Back to you, Brian.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00] It doesn't go as well as you might hope after Robert hip checks Evan out of the hay area and into the pain area. The hay boundaries. Exactly right. He goes to apologize to him after the fact with a sandwich, and they find out that they have a ton in common, and they even end up going out for a nightcap. Very nice. Robert sees a girl at the bar checking him out, and Evan encourages her for him to go talk to her. It's a whole thing.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00] Now they're just best buddies. They're hanging out all the time. Robert and Evan, they go Christmas shopping together, and he ends up finding the perfect Christmas gift for Evan, which is, Dan, I know, you know this, but a lamp. A lamp that shows the Northern light. Yes, but it's a whole thing. It's beautiful. And Robert is like, you should get her this. And Evan's like, you sure about that big guy? And Robert's like, trust me. Trust me. She's going to love it. Evan helps him get some new clothes for the date.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00] Looking all spiffy. We get a fun, like, you know, makeover scene. It's fun. Everything is going great until the gift exchange. Linda opens up the gift, is blown away by the Northern Lights lamp. And you can kind of see her look over at Robert, and Robert is smiling as she opens it. We've seen this movie before, yeah. Yeah, this is good stuff. Yeah.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00] And finally, they go to the festival together, and she, after his date shows up, you can kind of see that she's starting to get jealous. They walk together to go get some cider, and that is when she confronts him about the gift, and is like, I know that it was your idea to get this gift. And he basically plays it off, and is like, you know, it was Evan's things. But listen, I'm sorry that I never had the time to take you to see the Northern Lights. And I'm happy that you finally found somebody that can.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00] So Evan then sees them having this conversation, and he gets a little jealous. So he confronts Robert, and a bit of a tussle happens. Robert ends up falling down. We're back to square one again. These two are back to being enemies. And Robert and Evan are then left alone in the house to make up again while Jennifer goes

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00] out with her mom, and they go out, and she's talking about, you can tell that she's still jealous. And finally, she talks about how she sees Robert and is reminded of kind of who he was before he got older and all this stuff. And so you kind of are like, oh, is she going to talk to Robert about this? They get back. The storm is hitting, and the power goes out. But somebody is there to nurse Robert back to health.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00] It is his new gal friend. And that, my friends, was the holidays, the Lewin family.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_02] We did it.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00] Let's take a quick break. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back. We're going to break this episode down here on Deck the Hallmark. We're back. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Deck the Hallmark. We're talking about holidays today. The Lewin family. Let's share our thoughts on it. We're going to start with a hot take. It's where we'll share exactly how we felt about this episode. We're not going to hold back, and I'm going to start with you, Alonzo. What did you think? Lewin family.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_01] We're going to start with a lot of the movie. We're going to start with a lot of strengths and weaknesses going on here. Like I think that there are some fun directorial choices like the meeting in the hallway in the morning where they're like kind of arguing over who's going to go to the bathroom first. You know, they stage it like a Western showdown. Like that's fun. And that is, you know, they pause and let us have a moment to sort of establish the rivalry that's going on between these characters.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01] And then the fact that these two guys would wind up having more in common than not and become friends is an interesting idea. I wish they had written that part better. Like, you know, it's like, yes, okay, they both played the same position in soccer in college, but they, the conversations I think could have been sharper and more like, hey, we're best friends now, you know, then I think we get.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_01] But obviously you have a troika of really strong actors here, you know, the legendary Dennis Haysbert and Loretta Devine and original dream girl. Let us not forget. And, you know, up and comer Sir Darius Blaine. I think they are, you know, paying off of each other really well. I like that this movie acknowledges that older people still have sex and that older people are still interested in having relationships and the idea. Pillow fights, for instance.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_01] The idea that Dennis Haysbert's character could, like, strike up something with a new lady and it's like, it doesn't make him bad. It doesn't make her bad. It's just like a thing that would normally happen, especially when your wife has this, like, you know, hot young stud of her own. So, yeah, I think there are some moments where it gets kind of caught up in the hallmark of it all.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_01] But in other ways, I think this feels like it's kind of giving you this idea of what this show can be that isn't just your standard Hallmark holiday fair.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah. Yeah. I think that this is the strongest episode so far by a good bit. I agree. I thought that the cast is just incredible. They work so well together. I really liked the buddy comedy of it all that we get in the middle 20 of this episode. I thought that it was really fun and I thought those two just, like, played so well off each other and made me laugh a couple of times. I thought that it was a really good time.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00] I mean, if we want to talk about things, like, that I don't think, like, do I think that this would happen as quickly as it did? No way. No, probably not. Like, if you had been married to somebody for a long time, you see that person bring home somebody who is basically a younger version of yourself. Yep. It's going to take you a while to warm up to that person. It's going to take you. You're not just going to be like, I like this guy. Yeah, I like this guy. I like this guy. I don't think that that would happen as quickly as it does in this episode.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_00] But I also didn't really care because it was a ton of fun. And it's the first one of these I told Dan while we were watching it that I felt like I want this to just be a movie. This would be a really great cast and a really fun story to tell in longer than 42 minutes or whatever it is. So I felt like I could have hung out with these people a lot longer than what we had. And that's, I think, the first time that I've thought that while watching this show. I don't hate any of the families.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_00] This one was just so full and so rich. And I really enjoyed it. So a big fan of Lewin family.

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_02] Dan? Yeah, I don't get to say it often. I'm completely with Bran here. This is my favorite episode so far. I didn't notice the writing wasn't as good. But I will say, you know, there used to be this world where in the early 2010s where certain actors wouldn't take Hallmark gigs. They were too good for Hallmark. And that narrative is gone. Great actors on Hallmark. It is not considered a step down.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_02] If we were in the 2010s, Dennis Haysbert and Loretta Devine would be at the top of the too good for Hallmark list. And so you have those two. You have Serdarius Blaine, who is just dynamic. I mean, back up the truck, right, Alonzo? That's exactly right, brother. Back it up. Just like dynamic. And so you have three leads.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_00] And I thought this was really sweet of Alonzo to bring sound effects for your hot take. It's weird, but I was really nice.

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_01] It's unbelievable. Okay. I just, you know what? We just did an NPR thing for, you know, for KCRW. And they're literally were ripping up concrete in the building next to us to do earthquake retrofitting. And they couldn't hear it. Wow. But y'all can hear every dang garbage truck on our street. I don't understand how that works.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00] We're not KCRW.

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_02] We're not KCRW. Clearly. Sorry. My thing is, I thought this was going to be Dennis Hayes, Bert Serdarius Blaine at each other the whole time. And instead, it was better. It was this way. It escalated way too quickly bromance. But it was fun. It was funny. These actors are really, really good. And I wanted a whole movie, which I never do with any of the... I wanted a whole movie. And so for me, all of this really worked. And also, it's a crazy premise that has not been done on Hallmark.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_02] Serdarius Blaine is dating someone who is double his age plus one. Okay? Like, I'm not... Like, whatever... Like, he's 37. Loretta Devine's 75. They've never done that on Hallmark. And so now they're intimating that she's going to get back with Dennis Hayes, Bert. In fact, I think we all assume she's going to get back with Dennis Hayes, Bert. But I'm not exactly sure that's what's best. I think they did a much better job making this ambiguous than the Lindy Booth episode, which is just a complete waste.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_02] And so for me, I really enjoyed myself during this 42 minutes. It flew by. It flew by. I wish it was longer. Most all of it worked. And I credit a lot of that to the three people that are on screen more than anyone else. Hayes, Bert, Devine, and Blaine. I think they're all three of those actors brought their A-game to a Hallmark Plus production and just didn't have to. And they're great at it. So there's that. Yeah.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00] I'm interested to see where they go. Because I could see it ending both ways. I honestly could. I think that...

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_02] It's Hallmark.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00] I think it's more likely that they will end up back together. Yeah. But I think that there is space for her to have this realization. Like, I appreciate... I now realize that I appreciate what I had with Robert a lot more than I thought that I did. That doesn't mean that I have to go back. That's right. You know? And I think that that could be a story that they choose to tell. I don't think that they will, but I would appreciate it if they did. But I'll be fine.

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00] When they have the scenes together, I'm like, this is big fun.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_02] Oh, Dennis Haysbert and Siri is playing together. I thought we're great.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00] I'll be fine with however they decide to end this. But I think that both roads are currently available. I don't. Okay. I think there's one road. I think we all know what's happening. I have a suspicion. I would love to be wrong. I would love to be wrong. Let's say that. Let's get to all the feels before we talk about what in this episode gave us feels. Alonzo?

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_01] Well, real quick, just a reminder that Dennis Haysbert was in 2010's Hallmark. He was in Christmas Everlasting. Oh, that's 2018.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, he was. You're right.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_01] Y'all's first season. A classic. But generally speaking, you're right. You know, between them and Virginia Madsen and John C. McGinley, and like, they've definitely, they've upped the game for sure. My feels kind of ties in with what you guys were saying about, like, I wish this were a movie because it's both the feels and a wait, what? But I'm really interested in what's going on in the marriage between the daughter, played by Robin Fanfare, and her husband, Jeff Joseph,

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_01] where she's the high-powered attorney. He's an engineer, but now he's a stay-at-home dad. And she's getting him a shirt for Christmas, even though Loretta was like, no, no, this is not, that's not how you, not how this works. That's not how somebody feels seen and appreciated and loved with that kind of present. I kind of wanted more of them, but what I got of them was interesting.

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01] And I think it, you know, augers, you know, an interesting storyline that the movie, the show doesn't really get into. And I can't remember if we get more of them in the finale, but I hope we do.

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_02] They're just so clearly four and five on the call sheet. It's so hard because you're right, but they're just not going to compete with those other three.

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_01] Of course. No, no, no, no, absolutely. And the focus certainly should be, you know, with the grandparents here, but it just, you know, they've teased out enough of a relationship there that's like, oh, well, I would like to know more. But yeah, no, my feels generally would be that, oh, best Hallmark wardrobe makeover scene ever. Oh, yeah. Really good. Really good. Really good, smart, good choices of clothing.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_01] I love the hat being knocked out of his hands, like funny. And, you know, like says things about the characters. He does look better at the end than at the beginning, which is not always what you get.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00] And you know what I liked about the scene is that they don't show us the final outfit until he walks in. Yeah, there's actually a reveal. You get to see the reveal with the people that are also getting the reveal. And I think that that was really fun.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_01] And usually that's a reveal we get when like the lady enters the royal Christmas ball. We took her glasses off. Yeah, and we put her in this like, you know, in the red down. Exactly. Everybody turns. It's like, oh, so like Dennis Haysberg gets that moment.

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_02] Hear me out. No glasses. Add red. Hear me out. What if we do no glasses? Hair up. Can we try to air down? Glasses on. So, yeah. Yeah. No glasses. Add red. If we had done that to Haysberg, I'm sure he'd look great, too.

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_01] He looks good in everything. That's right. Come on.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah. I just, you know, I keep going back to the cast. I think if anything that we get out of this episode, it is that Hallmark is nice as it is to find new up and coming talent. There is something to be said of bringing in absolute veterans of the screen and seeing what they add to these type of stories. I think that's part of what made this episode stand out so much was as great as Sidarius Blaine

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_00] is, and he's wonderful in this episode, is the people that are surrounding him that really makes us go from here to here as far as storytelling goes. If you weren't watching on 5.5. So it's here.

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_02] He started like right at his chin. Right at chin. And then his forehead. Which on Bran's head is a massive job. Yeah. So that's a big leap.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah. No. Thanks for pointing that. I forgot. Yeah. 5.5.

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01] But Sidarius Blaine is holding his own wrist. He's great.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00] Like, I want more of him. I want more of him as soon as possible. But it's just, it's so good. The cast is so good in this episode. Dan?

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, it's three words. It's pumpkin gingerbread pancakes. I don't particularly like pancakes. I'm fine with them. I don't dislike them. I just never am choosing pancakes. You're not a breakfast boy. I'm not. But at Christmas Eve every year, my parents, my wife and my kids, my brother and his kids, we would all go to a place in Columbia called Original Pancake House and they had pumpkin pancakes and they're delicious. Pumpkin gingerbread pancakes. I just. I like all those words.

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_02] I want to try a pumpkin gingerbread pancake.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00] Have you had those, Alonzo?

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_01] I don't think so. But Dave White makes an amazing pumpkin pancake when you like talk him into it because it's a lot of, it's labor intensive. I will ask him if the, if the gingerbread option exists.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_00] I'm interested in how it flows because it's two different spices, you know, it's the spice of the gingerbread and the spice of the pumpkin. Yes. Like how did those blend together? I can't imagine it being bad.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_02] Like I'm such a big. I'm not mad at it. I'm theoretically. I'm such a big pumpkin chocolate chip fan of anything like pumpkin chocolate chip bread, muffins, pancakes, whatever. Pumpkin gingerbread sounds like it would just. Sounds like a rush. What are we doing? So here for that.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_00] There's my view. I'll take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll get you the way. What? And the, are you Holly? What's your Holly? What's your date? Are you Holly? Are you Holly? I'm dazed and confused here on. Take a Hallmark. Whatever, man.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_02] We're back.

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00] Thank you. You're welcome. That was really nice. Take a Hallmark. Welcome back, everybody. We're talking holidays. The Lewin family. Let's get to the way. What is where we're talking about? What in this episode? We just go. Wait, what? I'll start with you, Alonzo.

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's all pretty straightforward. Like I said, I think I would have liked a little more bolstering of the, we're buddies now than just the college, you know, the, the, having played the same, you know, position in college soccer. I think that's a lot of, you know, my joke at the beginning of the episode was not just to be clear, not about the two of you, but about the two of them.

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_01] I think that there are moments in this movie where I feel like Sedarius Blaine and Dennis Haysbert have more chemistry than either of them have with Loretta Devine or anyone else. So, but maybe that's just me. You know, we get more hints of Max and Annie at the margins. And it's like, again, that's a, that's a relationship that I feel like we're interested in that this show is determined to like only give us the teeniest dribs and drabs possible.

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_01] Um, and yeah, I, I, like I said, I, I think more, more real estate for, for, um, lawyer lady who buys a shirt for her husband might've, you know, yielded some, some more dramatic budget for anything more than sure. Yeah. Time is not here. Well, yeah, that's the other thing.

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_01] It's like, they're clearly well to do and you know, they live in this sort of like, I don't even know the architectural description of this house, but it's very, you know, sleek and almost kind of Japanese and it's, uh, in its sort of spare, you know, the lines are very clean. I don't know. We get a shot of it at the very beginning of the thing. And of course, as always, and I, this is, I will, this will bug me about Hallmark movies until, you know, the earth falls into the sun.

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_01] Like you look at what's on the walls in this mood, in this house, the white, white walls of this house. And none of it reflects anybody's personality, let alone the people who live there, you know, but, uh, I clearly I'm reaching for the most part. I think they've answered most of their own questions.

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_00] Well, I, my first one, I think is a pretty big one. Um, this is maybe the wait. What I said at the time is the wait. What of the year? Thank you. And I, it means a lot to me. It was one that I asked Dan to rewind it. Cause I didn't want to give bad. I couldn't believe it was right. And I rewound it. We're watching the episode and relatively early on, um, the husband whose name I have not written down, um, is, is whipping up pancakes as, as mentioned.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_00] And he has an apron on and the apron just says, kiss the, and then nothing below it. It says, it's no kiss the chef. It's no kiss the kiss, the cook, whatever is just kiss the blank. And I couldn't believe it. So I asked Dan to rewind it. Maybe it's being cut off. There is a scene that you see clearly down, down to his, uh, jeans. Yes. And it's kiss the blank.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_00] And I don't know if they didn't have the rights to kiss the chef, give the quick, whatever.

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_02] So they just said, let's just, how did they find an apron that just said, I tried to find it.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_01] It's crazy. It was, uh, maybe it was something obscene and they just blurted out. Kiss the blank.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_02] Chef. Like, man, crazy.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_01] Maybe there was an arrow on it and they just like blurted it out.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_02] Putting down and they're like, we can't do that on all. I just, no, sorry. And I was like, no, the bowl was covering up. It clearly says chef or cook. And we rewound it. I was like, you, how did they make that in house? And the person stitching it ran out of time. I don't know how much you get kissed the. We got to start now. Yeah.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01] Kiss the oy vey. Oy vey. Oy vey. Nice callback there.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02] Like 2019.

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_00] And then I, I don't know. Like, I don't really know what to do. Which was six years ago, Aaron. Six years? That's crazy. I don't know what to do with this one, but, um, Richard goes in and he finds the purple lamp and he's like, she's going to love this. Trust me. She's going to love this. And I'm looking at the lamp and I'm like, yeah, I mean, it's like a purple. Or, you know, maybe she's a big fan of purple. I don't know.

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_00] And then she proceeds when she gets it to turn it on and it is the Northern Lights. And I just don't know how he got that from that. How? No. Like it's out of box. It is, it's purple. I think that's the, it's sparkly purple. Yeah. And when you turn on, it is now Northern Lights.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_01] Here's the thing. When he, when he sees it on the shelf, it's shot from behind. So like you see him facing the lamp.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_01] I'm guessing that there was like a little paper tent on the shelves that, you know, purple lamp that, that projects the Northern Lights. Has to be.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_02] What a thing that to say on the thing. Yeah. Because even if it said. It's a purple lamp that, that projects the Northern Lights in your home.

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_00] Even if it said, even if it said Northern Lights lamp, I would be like, they must've put the wrong thing here. They got a rock. Cause it's clear. That's clearly can't. There's no way that that's going to project Northern Lights. And there's sure enough it does. And I just, I was more wrapped up in the how of that lamp than I think I needed to be. And I know that's a me thing, but the whole journey of, I see this purple lamp. I know exactly what this is. She's going to love it. And then the way in which it does it is also a marvel.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_00] So really impressed by this lamp. But I don't know.

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_01] I was, I was more convinced that they were projecting the Northern Lights inside that living room than I've ever been in a home. That they were actually under the Northern Lights.

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_00] Weirdly enough, they've used that tech in other homes. But they just do the sky. That lamp's been around. It doesn't work quite as well to the sky as it does inside the living room.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_02] Lamp finally got some screen time. Shout out lamp. The hidden hero. That's right. Dan? Yeah. They decide they're going to explain broom hockey to us in this movie. And it's called broom ball. I know. There are two goals. Everyone is wearing helmets and has brooms in hand. I can't tell you how many montages we've gotten of sports on Hallmark where they're not playing the sport. They're montaging. It happens all the time. They're just running around doing nothing. Why in the world?

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_02] It didn't add any time run time. Do we need someone going, got to get the ball in the goal? I don't know. I think we've all got it. If you're above the age of four, I think you probably figured out what they're playing there. But for once in our lives here on Hallmark, we're giving the rules out. Here are the rules to broom ball. For those of you who aren't clear about ball and goal, here we go.

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_01] Like curling, I would have appreciated the explanation.

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00] Yes. Absolutely. I have to imagine you take 10 adults out there that aren't sports fans and you let them just look at ball, two goals, brooms.

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_02] I have to imagine they'd be able to figure it out. All 10. I have to imagine. Everybody's got a helmet and a broom in their hand. I guess my guess. What else could it possibly be for?

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_00] You hit ball and goal with broom? Am I getting closer?

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_01] Am I getting warmer? Even I would figure that one out. And like sports, not my thing.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02] It is also supposed to be, and if you're not watching on file, it is also supposed to be freezing cold outside. Like very cold. And Cenarius Brain is icing his leg in the garage with at least one completely uninsulated wall. Like there is one wall that is just window panes garage door. And it looks like it's a garage with no insulation. And you can't see his breath or anything. A lot of times in the winter, the garage is colder than outside.

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_02] Like you would not need an ice pack down there. Your whole body would be icing.

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_01] You would be icing your whole body. You could brine a turkey in that garage without putting it in the fridge. Easily.

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_02] And they're just chilling in there. No pun intended. Like it was nothing. It's no big deal. They go out for a nightcap, which Brandon mentioned. And Cenarius Blaine and Dennis Haysbert are sitting there. And Dennis Haysbert has the gall to say, I just didn't take you for an old soul. Bro, he's dating someone 38 years older than him. What didn't give it away? You needed to know he likes single malts? That's what gave it away?

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_02] What do you mean you didn't know he's an old soul? He's dating someone that was an adult during the moon landing. Like I'm not trying to make jokes here. That's an old soul. I'm like, what do you want?

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_01] Or a guy with mommy issues.

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_02] Yes, correct. Correct. We're trying to stay above the fray here. But since we're pillow fighting, that is, yes. It could be that too.

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_01] I mean, there are other choices.

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah. And then I love that she gets the gift from the young guy. But it's really from Dennis Haysbert. And she turns it on and she starts like crying. And she says, so many times I planned a trip to the Northern Lights. And then they always got canceled. Loretta, how many times? It's too many. How many times did you plan a full trip? That's a lot of work to never have gone. Like it'd be one thing if you never wanted to see him.

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_02] But imagine if every year you're like, I've always wanted to go to Mexico.

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_00] And you planned a full trip and then it got canceled every year. I hope, and the one thing that was a saving grace is the conversation that she has with Richard later where he talks about how he never had time. So I hope after hearing that conversation that these plans were more like ideas and less of a, hey, Delta, I got to get a refund for my plane tickets again. I hope it never got that far multiple times.

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_01] She's also using the passive voice that I think what she could say is, yeah, I had all these trips to go. And then Dennis Haysbert canceled. That's exactly right.

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_02] And then the president canceled. And then lastly, I do love the dynamic of the couple that is the daughter of these two. But she keeps saying she's busy. I don't want to be like the best friend she met at a party. Like Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer. She's awesome. But she keeps saying she's busy. Sometimes she says. But sometimes she's around the whole movie. She's always here. She never seems to be in the house. And she has nothing to do but complain about how busy she is.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_02] And I'm just like, either you're busy or you're not busy.

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00] Just saying. Max is busier. The child. The child Max is busier than the mom who is always talking about how busy she is. How about those? When's Max and Annie? Annie, are you okay? Are you okay? To your point, Alonzo, the first time I think in the history of Hallmark where Hallmark is like, we just don't have time for a love triangle. We can't. We don't have the time. We don't have the time. We're definitely not going to drag it out for four seasons. Let's get to what's your Holly? What's your days?

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_00] The rules are simple. Alonzo?

[00:32:23] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. My Holly is that, like I said, I think there are a lot of things about this episode that could point away to some smarter and richer holiday content on this network that delivers all of the stuff. You know, that delivers all of the craft fairs and tree decorating and, you know, all of those goodies.

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_01] But gives us older characters and, you know, relationship stuff that is a little more complicated than usual. And, you know, heaven forbid, like, you know, major performers of color, like in the leads here. And, you know, and then my dazed is, of course, that they will learn nothing from this.

[00:33:06] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah.

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_00] Sure. We all knew that. My Holly is the cocktails that they passed around for gift time. I thought that looked real scrumptious. I don't really know what it was, but looked good and had some candy on the rim. And I thought that was a nice touch. My dazed is, yeah, I just, I'm quite concerned at this point that we've now seen the Lewin family, Max's family,

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_00] and Annie's family, the name I don't remember. Yes. And I don't think we're going to get what we want out of that. No. And that's concerning to me because I care too much at this point. I care too much. Yeah. About those two and the friend that's just kind of there. We're not going to get anything about it. And that's, that's worrisome. Dan?

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_02] My day, I don't have a dazed. My Holly, we're back, we're back on track here. And I, I more than any episode we've seen yet, I want to see what happens here. I think I pretty much know what's going to happen in the other two that we've seen. Other three that we've seen, the Ian Harding one, the Lynn family and the Hill family. Is that correct? Did I get that right? Sorry, the Woods. Lindy Booth was Woods. Got it. Yeah.

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_02] Those, like, I'm pretty sure I know what's going to happen in, in those. Because I'm 99% sure I know what's going to happen here, but maybe I don't. And this is fun. And I'm, I'm looking forward to it. And the John C. McGinley ones, and it hasn't happened yet. It hasn't happened yet. I'm looking forward to that episode. So I feel like it's all rise from here. We got three left. I feel like it's all rise. I'm excited to get into it. Look at you. I know.

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_00] That was so encouraging. Christmas spirit here in February. We did everybody. Congratulations to us. Alonso, anything else for the people?

[00:34:55] [SPEAKER_01] Uh, the people united can never be defeated.

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_00] Amen, brother. We'll be back next time with another one. Until then, we first wish you a Merry Christmas.

[00:35:04] [SPEAKER_02] Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast. It's produced by Aaron Shea. What? For more information on Deck the Hallmark, you can go to deckthehallmark.com. For more information on the Deck the Hallmark family, you can go to bramblejamplus.com. Deck the Hallmark is presented by Philo TV. For a free trial of Philo, go to philo.tv slash dth.

[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_00] You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.