Mistletoe Murders - S03E01 - Don't Fear the Wreather - Part 1

[00:00:03] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast Hi, I'm Bran. I love Mistletoe Murders. I'm Dan and I like Mistletoe Murders. Oh, wow. I'm Alonzo in Fletcher's Grove. We're back and this is the Deck All My Podcast. Deck The Hallmark, it's this podcast. My friends host this podcast.

[00:00:32] We hope you like this jolly podcast. Well, well, well, a lot. A lot of Alonzo this week. This is their third time hanging out with you. Three Alonzos. And you think no festive Friday. You worry, are you going to get to hear from Alonzo Deck The Hallmark? Don't you worry. Don't you worry. The author of every Christmas movie book ever written.

[00:00:57] That's right, Alonzo. I'd ask you how you are, but I mean we've already covered it at this point. Yeah, I mean the same as last time I suppose. Same as last time you suppose. It's great to be here today. Back talking about Mistletoe Murders Season 3. I'm happy that this show is back. We lost some good ones. We lost Finding Mr. Christmas. They kept the best one though.

[00:01:21] I will say, as sad as I am, that I don't get to watch Finding Mr. Christmas this holiday season with my buddy Dan. I think we're going to be just... And that you don't get to bake this year either. I know. And it was going to be his year. You know that, right? Yeah, I know. If there was a show that they were going to keep, I'm happy it's Mistletoe Murders. Yeah, that's the good one. Yes. I think of those choices, yes. Although, you know, if they wanted to come back with more holidays, I would be down for that. Yeah, or 12 Dates, I liked. Oh, for sure, yes.

[00:01:49] But that felt like it was done. Yeah. Holidays did too. Although you could do the same thing. That same like cul-de-sac type thing. Yeah. Regardless of what we're watching, it's better with a Kringle, I can tell you that. It is better with a Kringle. Dan, whip open that Kringle freezer and tell me what you got. Uh-oh. He's going for it. Uh-oh. And Dan's wearing a plaid flannel today, so he means it. Oh, he means... He's in full Kringle spirit. I am going to... Yeah, you're right. This is... I'd love to tell you this is because I don't hate this show.

[00:02:18] It's because the air condition's on in the office because it's a weird temp outside, and it's cold in here. It's confusing. I'm going to say it's because of the... Leave the freezer though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I'm going to break out, for you and me, Bran, a little Santa Cineberry single. So for me, I mean... The great thing about the single... Why did you just take that right out of my hand? The great thing is... It's just enough to make you want more Kringle. You can get a sampler box of these.

[00:02:45] You can actually get these just for you. You don't have to share them with anybody. They're just for you. That's right. You thought the stick was a solo baby. Oh, no, no. No, no. Single serve Kringles. Ooh, single serve Kringle. Ooh, single serve Kringle. Santa Cineberry getting in the holiday spirit early because it's mistletoe murders. So go grab yourself a Kringle or a bunch. And you're single and ready to Kringle. Yeah, you're single, ready to Kringle. And whether or not you get a single, a stick, or a full boy, I'd suggest a little of all.

[00:03:12] You need to go to Kringle.com and type in DTHNOV26 and get yourself 10% off site-wide. Bingo, bingo, bingo. Yeah, these are wonderful. These are wonderful. Yeah, you love those. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to hold onto this and I'm going to eat this later. That's right. And by later, I mean... It just came out of the freezer. Give it five minutes. Give it five minutes. That's exactly right. I think you mean Kringle, Krango, right? Yes. And that is the truth. If you keep it in the freezer, obviously it's going to last longer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you also got to give it a little time before you dive in.

[00:03:40] And what better way to spend that time than by reading Oh Christmas Con. That's right. It's taking the storm by rage, Dan. It is. People are saying this is the best book this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That we've released. That is a definite. I hear that that is unequivocally true. I also think it's the best book we've written. Okay, I'll say that. I mean, of fiction. Of fiction. I was going to say, you're going to say this right in front of me. I know. I'm looking up. It's the best fictional work that we've done.

[00:04:09] And I stand by that statement. Absolutely. So go pick it up. Leave a review on the Goodreads and the other places that helps in that regard. And Christmas Movie Magic also available. Also the perfect addition to the holiday season. There's no better way to spend a weekend than by putting on some Hallmark Christmas movies, whipping out some Kringle and playing Christmas Movie Magic. It's an amazing combination. And it is a hit with my kids, this game is.

[00:04:38] It's a hit with my grandma. She hasn't played. She passed away many years ago. But if she didn't, she would. I know. Try not to get that wonderful hand-iced icing onto the cards. That's right. I know. Yeah, of course. All you had to just say was just keep it like my grandma loves it. Nobody would have asked. What are you doing, man? I know she would have been a fan. What a weird time to be really honest. I'm nothing if not honest. Okay.

[00:05:07] Go get all that stuff. All right. Mistletoe Murder season three. They're doing the thing this year where it's actually an episode a week. So we're not going to have all the answers this week. We're going to end on a cliffhanger. And we're not recording these in a manner where we've watched other episodes. That's true. At least not this one. No. Occasionally, we get a screener and whatnot. But we don't know anything more. If you've watched episode one, you're in the same boat that we're in, right? We don't know who did it either. Yeah. I actually do know who did it, and I think that's my problem.

[00:05:36] But that's either here or there going. He thinks he knows. I know. I know. How about save it for What the Hallmark? And we'll all make our guess. Okay. It's going to come up in my hot take. But there's nothing I can do about that. All right. Can you save it? Write it down and put it in an envelope. I can save it. I can save it. I don't want to say it. In What the Hallmark, we can give people spoilers. If they don't want to hear it, we can tell people. That's true. That's exactly right. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about this one. This is Mistletoe Murders, Season 3, Episode 1. Really like this title.

[00:06:06] Don't Fear the Wreather. Very good. Very fun. Part 1, November 5th, 2026. It's when it premiered in a little something like this. We pick up right where we left off. Aaron is there. Obviously, he knows that he didn't kill her way back when because he's looking at her. And he tells her that Chimera is back. Someone's running it. Thought you should know deuces. After he leaves, Sam shows up. She starts crying. They hug. She tells him everything.

[00:06:36] And she says that she has to leave. She has to figure out what's going on. He says, I'll go with you. And she's like, no, you're a cop for this small town. You have to stay and protect the people. Serve and protect whatever the slogan is. She says she'll only be gone like a month or so. They kiss big ones on the couch. And she closes up the shop. She packs her bags. And off she goes for a month or so. Cut to 11 months later.

[00:07:05] We meet a family. The dad, Richard, is having an argument with his adult daughter, Ruth. She leaves and he gets back to decorating the outside of his house for Christmas. His wife, Helen, is inside working on a wreath. We see that Richard is up on the roof. Someone takes the ladder from leaning up against the roof and puts it onto the ground.

[00:07:28] And the next thing you know, Richard, who is still on the roof, looks at someone clearly and says, you shouldn't be up here. Don't know what's going on there. Ruth shows up to find Richard on the ground, clutching a red mitten, dead as can be. She's very shocked by this. Helen comes out and is also shocked to see her husband dead. What's going on here? That's the big question. Sam gets the call and comes out to examine the scene.

[00:07:57] We find out that Helen is Ruth's stepmom. She has been married to Richard for less than a year. We then meet a neighbor named Albert who seems concerned about what's happened, but also quite annoyed by how bright the Christmas lights are. And this happens every year. Dan, you know a thing or two about that living next to me. I certainly do. Sam goes to talk to Helen. Even on November 3rd. We see that she has the other mitten. It's her mitten.

[00:08:26] And then we hear her mutter under her breath, I never should have married him. She says that she can't talk right now. She'll come and talk to him tomorrow. The next day he's at the diner and he sees Ruth. Apparently she's been coming to the diner daily since she came into town about a month ago. Helen comes down to the station. He asks her about how he ended up with one of the, how did Richard have one of your mittens in his hands when he died? And she says, I don't know.

[00:08:56] And she says that things have been rough since Ruth came back into town. Sam drives around and sees that the lights are back on at Emily's shop. She's back. They hug and he says, you're back. And she's like, it's complicated. I am back for now. They agree to meet up later and talk. Via narration, we find out that she's made promises over the past year that she has to keep,

[00:09:24] even if it means hurting Sam. Sam goes to talk to Ruth at the diner. She tells Sam that after the wedding, she noticed her dad getting distant from her and secretive. Then she got a text from an unknown number about a month ago that says that Helen is dangerous. So she showed back up into town and witnessed firsthand the friction between her dad and Helen. He asks if they had an argument.

[00:09:54] Her and her dad had an argument the night that he died. She says, it wasn't an argument. I just asked him to be careful and take precautions about Helen. And he didn't like that. We find out that Emily is having a everything must go sale. So I guess she's planning on leaving. Naturally, that means that she's going to need to hire Violet to help run the shop. But why? She's going to be there, right? She's not going to be trying to solve crime, right? No, no, no. She would never.

[00:10:24] No. Emily finds out that Brooke is already running for chairman. Now that Richard is dead, naturally, that means that Emily is going to investigate. She knows that Helen, she knows Helen because Helen makes her a wreath for her shop every year, including this year. In a wild turn of events, famous Ray is now the mayor. Sam is having a conversation with him when he hears someone yelling in the police station demanding an arrest.

[00:10:53] Sam's like, hey, hey, hey, what's going on here? And he says that Helen killed her husband in the past. And I know that because he was my dad. She's my stepmom. And I know it. And apparently he was the one that texted Ruth that cryptic message. A lot of good that did, you know? We see a flashback to Emily training for the shadow ops thing.

[00:11:19] And she was only supposed to do a cyber ops, be a cyber ops agent. But they see potential in her to potentially go into the field. Mayor famous Ray isn't happy about Sam keeping the investigation into Richard's death open. Richard was his friend and he doesn't want the investigation making Helen look guilty to the town. And the longer that is open, the more guilty she will look. Emily goes to talk to Helen and she admits that she killed her ex-husbands via inaction.

[00:11:49] She believes that she's cursed, basically. And she even asked Richard not to propose. She's not a good witch. No, she's not a good witch in this case, bad witch. She asked Richard not to propose to her because she believed that it was a death sentence. Emily is like, oh, you so silly. When she goes to leave, Sam shows up. The neighbor Albert is being weird again. Maybe he did it. Maybe he's just weird. We'll see. Violet and June nominate Emily for chairman.

[00:12:17] The chairman maybe has like a last ditch effort to try to get her to stay in town. Brooke is peeved and Emily is like, I can't accept this. I'm leaving town. Emily sees Ruth and the stepson at the diner together. And he goes on another full rant about how Helen is a murderer and make sure that he's speaking just loud enough for everybody to hear. Sam calls Emily and asks her to join him in a conversation with Helen.

[00:12:45] They're going to go over to her house and talk to her again. But on the way, they get a call. There's been a home invasion at Albert's house and they go. And who is that home invader? It's Helen. It's Helen. And that, my friends, was Mistletoe Murders Season 3 Episode 1. Don't fear the wreath-er. Part one. We did it. We did do it. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll break this episode down some more here on Deck the Hallmark.

[00:13:10] Good to be here today on a Saturday talking about the new season of Mistletoe Murders Season 3 Episode 1. A lot of questions we still have. We don't know the part two yet. Let's share our thoughts on part one, our hot takes. I'm going to start with you, Alonzo. Alonzo, what'd you think?

[00:13:37] You know, this is just that thing where it's a show that you enjoy. Well, you're happy to be back. You're happy to see the old gang again. Even if, you know, her friend, the veterinarian, seems to now have nothing better to do than to hang out at the Christmas shop all the time. That's right. The veterinarian is working as an assistant Christmas shop owner. Yeah. That's June for you. Yeah. That was like, we got to wedge her in somehow. But, you know. Do you see any animals in the town, Alonzo? I didn't think so. Yeah.

[00:14:05] And, you know, always so many questions about Fletcher's Grove. Are there any homicides the rest of the year? But yeah, it's, I'm intrigued by this murder. I don't immediately know who did it, but then I never do. And yeah, I'm in. I'm totally down for more of these shenanigans. Yeah, I'm so happy to be back in Fletcher's Grove.

[00:14:31] This show gives, this is the cozy mystery feels that people talk about that I never really get with Hallmark Mysteries. And it might have something to do with the fact that it's Christmas, but I honestly think it has more to do with the fact that it's just really well done. These characters, part of it is, you know, this is our third season with these characters and I feel like I know them. I'm happy to see them. Famous Ray comes in and I get pumped.

[00:14:57] And so that is like one of the benefits of doing the mystery wheel this way rather than these like movies is we really get to spend time with these people in this town. And so, yeah, I'm really happy to be back. I like this mystery, the fact that like they set it up in such a way where we see the ladder get taken off and put onto the ground. But then Richard is talking to someone on the roof and on the roof, not on the roof, not on the roof. It could be Ruth. I don't know.

[00:15:26] I don't know. But and you're like, what's happening? How did that happen? How did they get off? Like you're left with a lot of questions. Yeah, that's how did they climb down? And that's either a wait, what? But knowing the show, it is more likely just a good mystery. And that I think is the fun part about the show is the mysteries are by and large really good. So really into this, really excited to see how it turns out.

[00:15:54] And I wish that I wish that it was the same day because I don't want to wait a week. So good job by their show. Yeah, this show just right now has the feel of a show that's clicking on all cylinders. It just is. Everyone feels very comfortable and confident in what they're doing. Our boy Ken Cooper is crafting what appears to be a really solid mystery here. There is a lot.

[00:16:17] There are a lot of breadcrumbs early that even I think the first two seasons haven't really done as successfully as this episode does specifically. This has to be a two person murder. I think that's really fun. Like someone climbed the roof and then someone set the ladder down as that person was on the roof. That's how it was. If it's one person, then I'm going to take back all of this and I'm going to say this is very disappointing.

[00:16:41] Because the way that this is shown at the beginning is you hear the ladder, you see someone set the ladder down, and then you see the guy who gets killed look at someone else on the roof. Which implies one person is setting the ladder down, a different person is up there. And I don't think this show would do that if it weren't trying to tell you to look at this as a clue. What if the killer is Spider-Man? That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's something to think about. I don't need no ladder. Right?

[00:17:11] Because at the end of the day, they did take the ladder down before. But they could help the person down another way. Sure. Or they could come down through the house. But why do that? There's a lot. What I love right now is it seems confidently doing these things on purpose. Now, if we watch next week, and it's one killer, good lord, we have to go back and do this episode again. Because as it stands, this is like peak television for Hallmark. I think this is kind of as confident.

[00:17:40] I mean, maybe the Ben Ayers two-parter I think may have been like my favorite. Sure. Because you know, you get this Ben Ayers is a murderer, and he gets to play this really fun role, and it's a good mystery, and they buried the guy in the concrete out back. Spoiler alert for blah, blah, blah. But this episode has all the makings of being the first half of my new favorite two-parter. And I just think everyone's doing confidently the thing that they're supposed to do on this show very, very well.

[00:18:08] You know, we started watching Gilmore Girls season three, and immediately you just feel like it's clicking, you know? And so this show has that feel right now. And so I am on pins and needles. And if I'm hoping that I am right about this, because if I'm wrong, I do feel like the show, if it's one murder, I think the show has a lot of explaining to do. And I just believe so strongly in Ken Cooperis that I don't think that that's the case. So big thumbs up for me. All right, let's get to our feels.

[00:18:38] What in this episode gave us feels? Alonzo? I mean, you know, I love the fact that we get a genuine like Clark Griswold house. Yes. Just insanely bright, don't look at it directly or you will scorch your corneas thing. Because I think that's a thing that Hallmark likes to talk about, but very rarely puts the effort into making happen.

[00:19:05] So even if it's just sort of a trick of the light or whatever, like they did that really well. I love the idea of Mayor Famous Ray. That's going to be fun. I love the cop's sweater. You know, usually, you know, you do not see your police guys wearing a nice sort of green crew neck, but it's, you know, it's a great sweater. I want one. If you want to get Alonzo to back the blue, put him in sweaters. Right? It's just that simple.

[00:19:32] Suddenly I'm on board for the thin yarn line, you know. And I got to say, I always love flashback bangs on this show. Man. Whenever we see her life as Grace, they put her in some crazy wigs where it's just like, ma'am, you are not going to your martial arts class with like the two long pieces hanging on either side of your forehead. You would at least have like put that in a ponytail or something.

[00:20:02] But yeah. Oh, and also, we didn't even get into the whole, the Brooke subplot. Like I always, I love as a lot of that goes, comes up in wait, what, but I love Brooke as a character. And I love that when she's handing out gift baskets and, and she's all, you know, for, she's first very refusing to take one. And then, you know, there's a scented candle and Emily. Oh yeah. And then the cut to her back. Of course it smells like heaven. Great.

[00:20:31] Really great. Really good. I mean, obviously, Emily and Sam have insane chemistry and that I, I do feel like the, the tension that they have when she's back in town and him not wanting to get too excited and her being like, don't get too excited.

[00:20:51] Like, I felt like they played it throughout the episode really well, but then when he basically invites her to be a part of this case and she's like, I don't want, I don't want to step on your toes. And he says, if you're stepping on my toes, that means that you're close to me and I'm never upset about that. Oh boy. I like that. That's real good. And, um, I know that these two are probably going to end up together. What? You think so?

[00:21:17] And it's a great line, but it also, I think speaks to the fact that we, we, we are now done with the, she's keeping secrets. He's the, like, it's all on the table. Now they, they are a couple and they're allowed to be a couple because she has told him everything. He knows all the stuff and he knows that she's going to, she's going to butt into this investigation whether he likes it or not. And him basically admitting, like, I know you're going to leave a little time with you is better than no time with you.

[00:21:46] So, like, I'm willing to, to do that. If I have to divulge information about a murder case to keep you around longer, we'll do. Yeah, we'll do. But that's, that's mine, which is this show here in season three is doing a great job with, uh, what's his name? I know I can't think of his name. Sam's character of him not being angry about her disappearing for 11 months. Like they make it very clear. She didn't even contact him in the last three or four months.

[00:22:12] And he's just a better written male character than we're used to seeing on Hallmark who'd be very offended and very up in arms by this, but he knows your situation. He trusts her. And he's like, look, I understand if you could have and should have contacted me, you would have. And that's okay. What an amazing normal adult thing for this guy to do. We're just not used to seeing it around here. So really impressive. Yeah.

[00:22:38] Well, and if you remember season two starts with him being mad that she kept secrets. And so like, you can't do it twice in a row. No, no, no. And I think it was fair then. I think that he writes to Alonzo's point, like we're, we've evolved. These characters have evolved and they've moved forward and they know each other better. I think that's awesome. And there are enough of a couple that even though he is, I'm sure, clearly like, you know, a most eligible bachelor for that small town. I mean, in that sweater, you can mean. Exactly. Waiting for a lady to come back. That's right.

[00:23:08] All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the wait. What? We will also give our predictions. Yeah, we will. I love it. On the other side of here on. Back to Hallmark. We're back. Hi, everyone. It's great to be here today. Talking about Mistledo murders. We're back. It's time for us to share our wait. What? What? What in this episode made us go? Wait. What? Alonzo, anything?

[00:23:38] Well, yeah. So getting back to the Brooke thing, we live in a town now where a guy can run for mayor unopposed, but there is a cutthroat battle to be the next chairman of the board or whatever. This is my big one. This is the priorities of this town in full. I think that is even an elected position is crazy. I think you're missing the wait what, which is famous Ray ran unopposed.

[00:24:03] First, in this town, with Ray's reputation, he announced he was running and no one. I mean, just by accident, the chairman of the board has somebody running against her. Famous Ray, the shadiest dude in town, runs for mayor. There are people going to line up out of the woodwork to be like, I'm running for mayor. There's no way. The paper wouldn't be running an expose about what's been going on in the back of his furniture. Get out of here. No way. That's crazy.

[00:24:30] But then on top of that, like the idea, first of all, the chairman of the board isn't like an appointed office that you have to run for it. Yes. No way. Yeah. And of course, if they're all doing this within hours of the death of the previous chairman of the board, it's a little unsavory. It's got to be like a vice chair. A vice chair. You know, somebody who could just step. Like, it feels like it's already what? November, December. I mean, like, it feels like it's too late to have an election and the guy literally just died. So, yeah.

[00:24:59] I think there should be an elected official everywhere. Yeah, you got yours. I do my, I go and I vote and I got to vote for some dude to mess with the soil or whatever. Get out of here, soil and water. Give me chairman. Yeah, who needs soil and water? Brand doesn't want to be comptroller, but he will run for chairman. That's exactly right. Yeah. That's exactly right.

[00:25:17] Yeah, this show, I don't think always has the firmest grasp on its own timeline because she comes home one night and surprise, you know, and all of her gal pals are there with wine so they can get caught up and blah, blah, blah, blah. The next morning, Sam's daughter asks her, how did dinner go last night? Ooh. Roo, roo. I didn't catch that one. She was with you last night. She wasn't having the, that was a different night. So, yeah. So, that was, that was wacky.

[00:25:48] Yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm sure that Richard's lights were on a timer. I do feel like having them turn on right after he's done that. Maybe that's what he wanted. Maybe it, maybe in his will is whatever you do, however you find me, do not turn the light timer off. That's right. You know, I don't, I don't know that it was anybody's priority to go like find that thing and unplug it.

[00:26:18] Surely, you know, like the wife's upstairs making more wreaths. She wasn't on the case. I think my guy Albert would have done it. I think once Albert sees somebody, he's like, oh, I'm going to turn off. He hates those lights. Turn it off. Turn it off. Albert knows. He knew to the second when it was coming on. To the second when it came on. Which makes me think maybe he's a suspect. He's not a suspect. Maybe he's a suspect. He's a red herring for sure. Maybe he's a suspect. Yeah, okay. Hey, is this the quietest murder of all time?

[00:26:49] Catherine Bell doesn't hear a thing. He gets put, he says, what are you doing up here? I would assume he screams falling off the house and then there is a splat involved. She didn't hear a thing. She didn't hear a single thing outside of her house. Nothing. I've seen enough Looney Tunes to know that that splat. There is just no world. You can't miss that splat. Also footsteps on the roof, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reindeer on the roof. Shout out. Well, but if you know that your husband's on the roof, I guess maybe you wouldn't think. Second pair, though, you would hear.

[00:27:20] It just seemed very, very quiet to me. Up on the housetop. Reindeer? Pause. Pause. How about the fact that you're at home, you're turning in for the night, you don't know what state your house is in, and you get a knock on the door, and your friends have thrown you a surprise welcome back party at your house. The least thoughtful thing of all time is we're going to show up at your house.

[00:27:47] You just got back into town unannounced at a random time in the evening for your surprise party. No. Absolutely not. You can lure me out somewhere and then say surprise. As somebody who never wants to leave his house, I would appreciate it. This is the only way that you could get me to show up. At least they brought wine and snacks. That's right. You know? It's not like they're expecting, what are you cooking now? I'm going to literally look at my ring doorbell camera, and I'm going to then stick my head out and go, what are you doing here? What are you guys doing here? What do you mean?

[00:28:17] A surprise at my? No. It's a no for me, dog. That's crazy. I got two months of laundry to do. Yeah, and I will say this. As good as this episode was, that's how bad the second to last commercial break, big air quotes, cliffhanger was. You're better than this mistletoe murders. What was it? Catherine Bell looking at her and goes, I killed them all. Commercial. Come back for commercial. Killed them all because I should have done better.

[00:28:46] I should have been there. I knew he had a bad back or whatever. Like, stop it. Stop it. First of all, you would never say that line, I killed them all. And second of all, you would be like, I feel like I killed them all commercial break. You're better than this. You're all better than this. That's embarrassing. Especially not in the middle of episode one. In episode one. That's some soap opera BS. I will say. You can't do that.

[00:29:16] At least they didn't. That wasn't the cliffhanger of the episode. Oh, that would have. I would have thrown somebody with a TV. Imagine a full week. If you're going to do the silly cliffhanger, you do it early. It's embarrassing. It's bad. It's bad all the way around. I liked it. Of course you did. I liked it. All right. What the hallmark? Any questions that we have, but also go ahead and make your prediction. Who done it? Who killed Richard? Smiley. Okay. I'm saying this with the full knowledge that I always get this wrong.

[00:29:46] But I'm going to say, is Ruth the daughter? Ruth is the daughter. Yes. I'm going to go Ruth. Just because I think it's too obvious for Catherine Bell. And it's maybe a little even too obvious for the screaming journalist. But I'm going to say that maybe the journalist's text to Ruth made her look into Helen's past and then figure that she could pin this on her. Okay. So I'm going to go with Ruth. Yeah. I think that's the most likely thing.

[00:30:16] But I'll go left field just for funsies. We know Brooke isn't a murderer. We've already suspected her in the past. But she wants this chairman job. And it is a situation where she thinks that she can chairman better than Richard. This is a – you can be chairman as long as you want to. It's maybe no term limit.

[00:30:46] And so the only way out is through killing. Brooke kills Richard Smiley for the position of chairman. And that's why she's so upset that Emily's – she's like, I did this. I killed someone for this. I mean, it does make sense in a vacuum without all of the back story. Without knowing – yes, absolutely. The fact that Brooke is a series regular. Yes. So this episode – And that's why we never see it coming, Alonzo. That's true. Gotcha.

[00:31:14] This series – this episode does either a great job of showing you that there has to be two killers in the first opener. Has to be. Or huge movie-making mistake, filmmaking, TV-making mistake, and it's a disaster. I'm going to choose to believe it has to be two killers. And I think it is the step-siblings together. I think they've known each other beforehand. There is no actual proof of that text. I think it is anecdotal.

[00:31:39] They have made a story to make this someone else's problem and to frame her, right? So they've known each other longer. She shows up and says, I got this text. He shows up and goes, she also killed my father. That – when they're eating at the diner together – What's Ruth's motivation? To kill Helen. I mean, to kill her dad. I'm sorry. Yeah, to kill her dad. To frame Helen. Yeah. I think it's to frame Helen. And it's probably – that would be enough.

[00:32:09] Now, you do have to explain why she would kill her old father. I will say they're having an argument at the beginning. And she claims the argument is she was looking after him. But we don't see or hear the argument. So I think they probably were fighting about something bigger. But when they're at the diner together and they're talking and Sarah Drew's character comes up and they go, oh, this is such and such. We found out that we're step-siblings. It's just so on the – like to me, that was the – and Brian was watching it with me.

[00:32:38] I immediately went – they did it. Like immediately, you have to have two killers. What two people could work together? It's these two. They could concoct a story beforehand. It would be very easy to concoct it. And then they've made it all make sense. And you know what? We see Ruth drive off though, right? When? At the beginning? After the argument with her dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's daytime though. No, no, no. It's nighttime. It's nighttime, yeah. But she could drive – I mean like clearly there wasn't a car there until –

[00:33:05] I will say Sam does ask to see the text and I believe she does show him. Not that that matters one way or the other. Yeah, that text could have been sent. I don't know if we ever got it sent or not. Yeah. I will say one possibility is she didn't plan on killing him.

[00:33:29] She goes and like after this fight, she goes and she talks to the guy. I don't even know his name. And it's like he won't listen to me. And he's like, well, you got to make him listen to you. We're going to go back there. She sees him on the roof and she's like, hey, take the ladder down so he can't leave. That's right. I have to have – I have to get her to understand. And then somehow he falls off. I'm going to come down. Let's frame her. Of course. Get the glove, put it in there. And then it's like I didn't mean to kill my dad.

[00:33:59] That could 100% be true. What I know is the two of them did it because he also – the dad also, the person he sees on the roof, he knows. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? So we're like starting to narrow down. We haven't been given a lot of suspects. The neighbor is clearly a red herring. Yeah. We know the series regular didn't do it. Who is left to do this that he knows? It's his daughter and this other step-sibling. Like I'm all in on it.

[00:34:25] And the step-son going out of his way to be like, Helen did it. Yeah. Makes a whole scene. That is what makes the most sense. I'm still locking in Brooke. All right. Lock in Brooke. Lock in Brooke. And if it's the neighbor, then I just will – and it makes sense that it was two people somehow. Ken Cooper's is just better than the rest of us. That's what I'll say right now. Albert. Albert's actually twins. Albert. It's twin Albert. It's twin Albert. Yeah. We haven't met Albert's wife yet. Maybe she's, you know, the henchman. There you go.

[00:34:54] We did it, everybody. Congratulations to us. We will be back next week. We'll find out whodunit. Very much looking forward to that. Anything else for the people? No. I'm good to go. I'm going to go eat this single-serve cringle. Maybe some more wigs. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Until then, maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray in, yeah, that Greenville, South Carolina, presented by Racine Danish Kringles at kringle.com. For more information on our show, go to deckthehallmark.com. Follow us on the socials at Deck the Hallmark.

[00:35:22] Leave us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, if you please. Then head on over to Bramble Jam Plus to find the best corner of the internet with an amazing Facebook community, ad-free podcasting, live video watch-alongs, movie chats, and so much more. It's bramblejamplus.com. 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.

[00:35:51] I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.