Mystery Island: Winner Takes All (Hallmark Mystery - 2025)

[00:00:02] Hi, I'm Brandon. It is no mystery that I love Hallmark Mysteries. I'm Brian. I like Hallmark Mysteries. I'm Dan. It's a mystery how I'm still doing this particular program. I despise Hallmark Mysteries. This is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Come on! How'd you screw that up? What did you say it was? Deck The Hallmark Kids' Podcast. What'd you get that done? We've been in their friends host this podcast.

[00:00:30] There's an honor I can't believe Aaron Shea is taking the room to a producer than in the last two episodes when you are just screwing it up. Hi everybody. Welcome! Hey! Great to be here today. Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? I really want to know. Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Why? Why we use things again. It was so... Oh! I don't know. Oh, gotcha.

[00:00:59] Mystery Island, the deuce. That's right. There's been one of these over two years ago. What if we call this a winner takes all just for the fun of it? Winner takes all. Brian is going to give us the quick rundown, a quick reminder, quick refresher course on the Mystery Island universe. The Uno. The Uno. So, Brian, take it away. Yeah. So, they went to an island. Who's that? The detective. Okay. And a clinical psychologist detective. Uh-huh.

[00:01:28] Go to the island, and I think they came up with this idea of a murder mystery. Aaron, go ahead and take it away. Aaron, go ahead and take it away. Aaron, what do we need? Give us the quick refresher. Yeah. I can't remember the lead's name, the female lead. Amelia. Amelia. So, she needs to take a break from her job of helping the FBI and whatnot interview and profile murderers. So, her friend is an investor in Mystery Island.

[00:01:57] So, they go off for a fun, relaxing weekend of solving fake murder and stumble upon a real murder. Which immediately shuts the island down for good. It does not. Well, they find out that the island had been suffering financially and would have been shut down. But don't worry. They save it at the end. She and the hot detective there are tasked with writing the future mysteries of Mystery Island after they solve... There's a double murder in the first one. It sounded a little bit like you said Mr. Island. Mr. Island. Mr. Island. Mr. Island.

[00:02:26] They're writing the mysteries for Mr. Island. And, yeah, they solve two murders. And everyone is like, yeah, this sounds like a great idea. We're definitely going to go back. A real murder would never happen again. No. You would probably go to a Mystery Island. Oh, if I had that money? Yeah. I'd be in a Mystery Island. Mystery Island sounds like the best time. Yeah. I mean, low stakes. I go and get to stay in a beautiful mansion and I could maybe solve a mystery or I could just hang it on the beach all day. Like, yeah.

[00:02:53] In fact, we found the resort of this place. You can stay there for like $9,000 a night. And if you guys will send us that money plus all the flights to Panama, is that where it is? We will go down and we will do a Mystery Night. We'll do one. Wow. If somebody foots the bill, let's call it 20K. $9,000 for a night. Yeah. And then all the flights. What if you take all the marathon donations money next year? Dear God in heaven. Next year. This year.

[00:03:24] Dude. I'm just throwing ideas. You should really think before you speak sometimes. We don't have a charity yet lined up, right? I'll just say this. You're just putting it in the hat. In defense of Brian. No. I think what he's trying to say here is we be upfront about it. Okay. Yeah. I'm not saying let's take the money and give it off the top. You said what if we take the charity money? Yeah. That's what you said. Well, he said marathon money. Okay. Marathon money. Yes. He said, what if we- Dan, we got two buckets going on. What if we take the marathon money?

[00:03:52] If I could put it in a bucket form here. You heard about buckets? Yeah. Have you heard about buckets? So there's multiple buckets. So we're not saying we're giving money to charity. You're saying we're taking it from it. If you want to send us 20K to do a mystery night at the Panama house, we will do it. No one will die, hopefully. I dare you. And you can use, we'll sponsor, if you want to think of it as like a sponsorship. Like your business is like, we got money. We got to burn tax write-off and stuff. Yeah.

[00:04:21] We'll plaster the name of your business over all of it. Or even if it's just a person, it'll be the Rosaline Jeffries mystery 2025. So we're speaking just to Rosaline Jeffries, and we're going to put this together this year. Yes. Yes. Guys, we can move quick around here. 20K, we'll do a mystery night. Erin not invited, though, believe it or not. It's crazy. She works here. She was so excited about it. And she can't make it. She was so excited about it. She has a thing. Can you imagine us getting a free opportunity to do this?

[00:04:50] Well, who's going to produce the show? Erin, I'm sorry, you can't do it. She's going to produce it. She's messed up a couple times this week. We'll promote that. But the soundboard is true. That's egregious. The soundboard that's sitting directly in front of Brad. I don't know what you're talking about. You can't prove that. This is producing. There's no way to prove it. There's no way to prove that it's sweet. That's going to be the mystery. Who touched the board? We'll get Jax to write a mystery, just like the Amazon. I do believe before we recorded today, Dan touched the board. Oh. I did. I did.

[00:05:19] I had to record something else. Let's get his DNA. That's right. It's got your DNA all over it. I wiped this clean before I leave every day. What the? DNA all over it? Yeah. What do you think I did? Just spit all over the thing? Brother, I don't know. I hit one button. I didn't touch anything else. That's not what the DNA says. DNA all over it. Before I leave every day, I wiped a sucker clean so that, if something happens, we can get the DNA. Do you ever think all of the disinfectant you've wiped on that is why it keeps messing up?

[00:05:50] Who said anything about disinfectant? What are you wiping it with? A fiber optic. A fiber optic. What is it? The beam. Yeah, fiber. A fiber. I don't know. A towel. A towel. Like a fiber cloth. A cloth. There you go. Micro fiber. Micro fiber. This is why she can't come to the mystery. She's going to win. She would track the case so quickly. You're not invited to Pam, Aaron. That was a test. That was a test. It was. You had the opportunity to be like, I think it is fiber cloth.

[00:06:19] And maybe we would have brought you. But you had to come out here with microfiber. I think it's called a fiber cloth. That's what they call it. You said a fiber optic, and we said fiber cloth. We're all stupid. Well, one of us knows who Debbie Harry is. Have we even tried fiber optics? Hey, I got people that texted me who listened to just what you don't know who Debbie Harry is. And I said, listen, I grew up in a home where I couldn't listen to secular music until 1995. I don't know what you want from me.

[00:06:47] The fact that you didn't immediately run to Debbie Harry says everything we want to know about you. Yeah. As a 12-year-old, I was like, maybe Debbie Harry and Blondie first. No, I went to the ska, if you can believe it. Where's the trombone at? I've always said Debbie Henry is a gateway drug for ska. Debbie Harry is not. Debbie Henry, though. Very different. My name is Debbie Henry. Get down that rabbit hole. It's Derek Henry's sister. I'm a gateway drug to ska. Do it. It's good.

[00:07:18] Looks like that. I hope that that. Debbie Henry approves. I hope that podcast reviewing podcast reviews this episode. Oh, yeah. Resubmit it. They haven't done a mystery of ours, right? That's right. Let's do Mystery Island winner. Winner takes all. We haven't done this yet. Loser walks, actually. That's how I understand it, yeah. That's the third one. I dare Hallmark to make a mystery movie where the colon is losers walk. The colon. The subtitle? If you will. I call it the colon.

[00:07:48] The colon. The colon's the colon. It just is there. March 13th, 2025. Mystery Island. Colon. Colon. That's right. Hallmark Mystery. C-O-L-O-N. Hallmark Mystery Channel is where it premiered. In Panama, we'll call it Cologne. It premiered on both networks. Whoa. That's huge news. Double billing. Should we start over? Sheesh. Why? I didn't realize. We got to take all the nonsense out now. I know. Serious. I know it aired on Hallmark Channel. That's right.

[00:08:18] I would have handled this with a little bit more gravitas. And you think you're going to solve a fake mystery in Panama? Get out of here. Sorry. Now that we know that it aired on Hallmark Channel, no more silly. I mean, if I'm not invited, my money is undone. Yeah, I think it should be. I think that's really smart on your part. But also, fiber optics over here. It's not like you're putting a ton of faith in me. It's just like a process of elimination. You know what I mean? Spreadsheet camp and fiber optics. I think it's funny. They're not getting into a mystery.

[00:08:47] The problem with Brian is Brian would get lost in the details. He would. He would just be so in. He would be writing down all the evidence. Oh, man. Yeah. Dan would have solved the mystery, and Brian is still copying those things. Got a margarita by the bar over there. You guys are just trying to figure out what the fiber optics towel is called. Yeah. What is it called? Mystery Island. The colon. Winner takes all. Aired on both networks, everybody. It went a little something like this.

[00:09:16] Amelia is sneaking around this massive house with a flashlight. She stumbles upon Jason, and he's like, I'm here to help. They open up a freezer, and they see a body. Turns out that they're actually just envisioning what their new murder mystery is going to be for the relaunch, so to speak, of Mystery Island.

[00:09:39] They're working on getting the Mystery Island back, and they decide the best way to do this, create some good buzz, is to run a contest. Contest winners will then be brought on to play Mystery Island. It's going to be good for the publicity, and when the contest winners come up, we'll make sure that they're goodies. You know what I mean? Sure. And the goodies they are. We got Detective Bobby Teller from the NYPD.

[00:10:07] We got Alice, who runs a mystery podcast. We got Cece Leaves. Sorry, just Cece. Hi, Cece. It's not your season. Talk soon. I'll see you, sweet, sweet G. Love you, my little troublemaker. And Cece, who is a mystery author, they also have some people with them. It's a fun crew.

[00:10:31] Amelia notices that Fredericks, who is the storyteller of the mystery, is being a bit odd. She notices him talking to some of the contestants in private. Things are getting a little bit heated. Just as the guy who is supposed to die begins to choke, James Joms. James Joms? An explosion happens outside. That was close. An explosion. Explosion.

[00:11:01] Explosions. Happened outside that was not planned. And so he stops dying, and he's like, I think this is serious. They go outside, they check, and they see Frederick dying via explosion. Jason goes to check on him, and the only word he can say is, arrest. That man. Before he dies. This is now a real crime scene. So obviously Amelia and Jason are on the case.

[00:11:30] And they figure out that Frederick wasn't the target, apparently. Rather, the COO of the mystery. That's a theory they have. And now is the time where I'm going to ask you guys, how much longer do you think I have in my synopsis? You should have another page show like five minutes, but you probably have two sentences. Okay. Wishing. All right. Good choice. We're looking for washi, first of all. Yeah. All right. Here we go. So basically they figure out who did it.

[00:12:00] It was the actor who they thought, who they brought in to act like he was dying. James, he did it. And there are so many reasons behind why he did it. It takes 10 minutes to explain, so I won't bore you with the details, but just know that he did. What really matters, though, is that they have his DNA to prove it. Like I have Dan's DNA on the board. So, yay. They can prove it. And he gets arrested. And Mystery Island will have another mystery soon where no one's going to die this time.

[00:12:29] We promise. No one's going to die. And that, my friends, was Mystery Island. Winner. Winner takes all. Loser's walk. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the show. We do the things here on. Take a look. This is all the pre-show. This is all pre-show. We're going to get to the show. That's what happened. They listened to the pre-show. You said washy? He said wishy. I should have said washy.

[00:12:59] We're so close. Welcome back. We're talking about, I know. We're talking about, is it really just one? Yeah. Dang, that's crazy, bro. Are you high? Let's. Did you eat some Skittles? Dude, I told you my smoothie was a little bit grainy. Yeah, what's going on? Let's get to the hot tag. It's where we share our thoughts on this movie. And you've had like 28% of it. No, no, no. Yeah, it might be. Yeah, about that. I would say 40%. What? I'm looking at it. You've had a third. You think you've had 40?

[00:13:28] Maybe 33%. All right. Sure. 33. It's a third. It does thin out at the bottom. Thin out at the bottom. Yeah, look. Yeah. A little pop, pop. I got you. A little troublemaker. What did you think of it? Yeah. JCP joint. JCP, John Christian Plummer. Shout out. Guy knows what he's doing. Friend of the show. Yeah. Yeah. Guy knows what he's doing. That actor bit was really fun. Where the Texas oil man and then this guy playing the different characters. I thought that was fun. I wish they did more of it.

[00:13:56] But there was just too much going on for my little pea brain in this one. My brain is too small for this. Your princess pea brain. My princess pea brain. Everybody knows this about me. I have a small brain. So many things going on. He's just launching new information the whole time. And maybe it's because I was tired. I had a headache. After a long day, I was trying to settle down. I didn't want to have to think this hard. It was just a lot happening. I could have used a lot more time with the whole cast.

[00:14:25] Other than just the two leads, the detectives. I feel like there was a good cast of characters there. We didn't really spend a lot of time with. So I thought this was really a well done mystery. It was just so much going on that I didn't guess it. I don't even know if I was really trying to guess it. I don't really know how you could have. Yeah. There's just so much happening. I'm like, I'm just here for the ride. I'm going to enjoy how much thought went into this. And it was produced really well. And now that I know we're going to be going to Panama to do our own, I'm real excited about that.

[00:14:55] Sponsored by the charity. It's right. So, you know, I think I'm glad they continued the game out of respect for the dead, which was obviously. So I'm glad they did that. Yeah. So it was just it was OK for me. But respect where respect is due. So there's that. Yeah. So, you know, this it had been landing. It had been over two years since Mr. Island Uno aired. And I think I would have liked this movie a lot more if instead of two months it was like two or two.

[00:15:25] Instead of two years, it was two months because I feel like I would be more invested in these characters. The two leads that I think are really good together and work really well together and are fun. And I just, you know, I had honestly kind of forgot that this was a thing I had to thank God for Aaron. She went back and she rewatched the first one and caught us up to speed. She had to come in regularly to be like, this is what happened in the first. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

[00:15:54] Because she heard us like talking. This is before she like she's been told she's not going to Panama. So she probably wouldn't have. Wouldn't have. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. So taking that out, what we're left with is a really fun cast of characters. I think that the podcaster character was really fun. Kristen Booth always great to see Kristen Booth. And she played this great like snobby author, like can't be bothered. I thought that she was really great.

[00:16:23] I thought I agree. I did think that the like the actor acting like he was dying and then stopping and being like that. I that's this is not a part of the show. I thought that that was really, really cool. What I you know, when we finally get the reveal at the end, this like I wasn't really kidding.

[00:16:42] This 10 minute long explanation at least of how like why James is the killer and his whole backstory and these like some connections that there's literally no way that we could have known this information. Because we weren't privy to it. I was just kind of left being like I was just tired at the end of it. I was tired at the end of the explanation. Like and then for them to come in and be like, and we have your DNA. It all just I was just kind of like, OK, fine.

[00:17:13] So, you know, I obviously like I love Knives Out. I love an idea like this, a whodunits, a where everybody is together and we're doing this thing. I just didn't. I think the the explanation for the why it just was a bit like long, long winded. And I couldn't I couldn't follow. And maybe if I and maybe I just wasn't locked in enough, but clearly I couldn't follow it.

[00:17:43] And so I didn't try in the synopsis to try to follow it. But and so, yeah, overall, once again, a good idea. Miss Riley, good idea. Good cast of characters. Just not my favorite. Who? How? How about it? Yeah, we have two couldn't follows and one didn't care over here. And that's a shame. You did mention John Christian Plummer, friend of the show, does a great job.

[00:18:10] I do think somewhere in here he's concocted a really airtight murder mystery. And I think with two hours, we could have invested in characters and figure that out. This movie, the first 15 minutes of this movie is establishment of our leads, getting to the island and then establishment of real murder and characters. The last 15 minutes, and I did not clock it, but I bet you it's longer than that.

[00:18:34] The last 15 minutes are an explanation of who committed the fake crime, followed by a full murder board presentation of who committed the real time. If you take that 30 minutes out of this movie, you have 53 ish minutes left. That's all you have left. And there are too many characters and too much going on to give anyone adequate time. Most of all, Kristen Booth, who is a star, who's a great character actor and doesn't get the time to do that.

[00:18:59] The other problem you have is, is this is now the second time in a row that we have had a fake murder mystery where two people really die. These numbers are worse than Jurassic Park. You cannot keep opening up this island when every time you open it up, two people die when they're supposed to be playing fake game. So I don't know if I want to see more of these.

[00:19:25] If you have a way to make it a fake murder that we can be interested in and everyone's still alive, that would be a fun way to do this. You can't keep cracking open Mystery Island knowing somebody's going to die and expect us to believe anyone would show up. And so that was a big problem. The lack of time spent explaining or like giving us character development, huge problem. And then listen, a lot of this reminds me of Glass Onion and John Christian Plummer is writing in that style. Glass Onion is not original.

[00:19:55] It's a sequel to Knives Out, which is also not original. Ryan Johnson would tell you he based a lot of his stuff on movies like The Last of Sheila, which is also not original. But this type of movie where the detective figures it out and then explains it all to you at the end can be really powerful. It also can be really boring if what he's explaining at the end holds no tension or you had no ability to put a little bit of it together. And that's what I felt like here. And I don't feel like that's JCP's fault.

[00:20:22] I feel like it's a runtime situation because they just don't spend a lot of time on this and they're just throwing death, clue, red herring, death, clue, red herring. And I just wanted to see more interactions with these characters, not necessarily talking about the murder. So all in all, don't want another one. Wish we'd spend more time with some of the murder mysteries I like more. And this was a fun experiment. But I'm good to not ever watch another one again. And nobody on Mystery Island has ever been pulled out of Port-A-Potty and dangled and then eaten. That's true.

[00:20:51] Maybe let's up that. And I want to be clear, not that Jurassic Park, Jurassic World. Jurassic Park never does open and those numbers are worse. But Jurassic World, when what's-his-name is there and Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt are there, they've been apparently operating that park with no deaths for years when the first kids die there. So this is every time we open up Mystery Island, you bet you're dead. So that's a problem.

[00:21:21] That's a problem. That's problematic. But what better place to do it than Mystery Island? Yeah, if you're going to die, you may as well die solving a mystery that's fake. That's right. Now, our mystery in Panama, I want to be very clear, no one will die. Okay? It is above board. It is a fake mystery. Let's get to all the fields where we talk about what- There is a level. There is a number. There is a tier. There is a number. Yeah. Just contact us, Regina.

[00:21:51] All the fields where we talk about- I will volunteer to die and spend the time in the old- Oh, fake die. The beach house. Yeah, fake die. No, not real die. Fake die. All the fields? Yeah. I like the beginning where they were planning out the new murder, and I thought that was a really clever way to start it. Really fun idea. Yeah, very cool. And it got me just on this rabbit trail of thinking about how cool it is and how impressive it is that the people who design the games, like in Survivor, in Amazing Race, all the

[00:22:20] games that go on- Are you watching Survivor Season 13 right now? Yes. Okay. You notice that on there? Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, who keeps- Oh, that's why it keeps jumping back. Okay. Sorry about that. No, it's okay. So just get- It's great if you haven't seen it. You're on eight? I'm on eight. Yeah. Are you watching all the seasons too? We just picked 13 randomly. Is it because you got it recommended to you? Yeah. Somebody said watch 13. Great. We'll get to eight. So just game design. Shout out to the game designers out there doing the hard work. Shout out.

[00:22:50] No, I had the same feels. Not only was it like a clever idea, I thought that they- The way that they did it where they show the body in the freezer, they pan over, and there's the COO. Yeah. And then when they come back, they're in front of the whiteboard and they have it all written down. I thought it was really smart and really well executed. So all downhill from there, I think, but really strong start. Yeah. Dan? It should tell you everything about this movie that all three of us had the same feels and

[00:23:18] it was the first scene of the movie. That is not a great sign. And there was so much potential there in that first scene when you realize they're writing a game. And then after that, just all mush. So that's unfortunate. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the way with the Hallmark here on The Hallmark. Presented by Regina. Thanks, Regina.

[00:23:48] Welcome back, everybody. We're talking about the Mystery Island 2. Winner takes all. That's what I've heard. Winner takes all. You heard right. Let's get to the wait one. That's where we talk about what in the Zoom minutes go. Wait one. I'll start with you, Brian. Yeah. Early on, there were what seemed like a lot of Zoom references. And I was like, how many Zoom are they being paid per Zoom reference? Because they said Zoom call a bunch of times. Twice, I think. But it felt like a lot. I mean, if Zoom wanted to give us the money to go to. Yeah. That's a good idea. Sponsored by Zoom.

[00:24:18] Perfect. Because that would work out great. And people zoom in to watch. I mean, I feel like it's a natural tie-in. It's like, why haven't we done this before? Yeah. So, that was a weird thing. It didn't go any further than that. Maybe they were holding back money for our thing. Maybe that's what Zoom was doing. Maybe they're holding back for our thing. Yeah. A big part of my wait what is there was like no urgency. I felt like there was hardly any urgency among the detectives and the people running the island just to bring in more resources.

[00:24:44] There was one boat that would go once a day to bring in the police chief from the mainland. And he would check in and be like, all right, great job. See you tomorrow. Like, it didn't feel like they were doing a lot of work. And see, actually, the guy who did the most work seemed like the New York detective who was murdered. He did a lot of the groundwork. And they didn't like him for it. Right. They didn't like that.

[00:25:08] And then the people, the guests at the island solved the social media mystery in like under an hour or one or two of them. Imagine if there were no murders to distract them. How quick of a trip this would have been. I couldn't. The podcast host was like, I got it. Yeah. So that's red flag number one. Maybe like don't. That's a big award for somebody who solves a mystery like immediately. That's right. You have no lead up, like no news coverage. It's just like done. You put it out and it's done like that's kind of a bad sign to start with.

[00:25:37] So I felt like, why are they starting on such rocky ground there? But I don't know. What do I know? Right. What do you know? Yeah. What do I know? Yeah. I have a few. One, the podcast girl is talking to Amelia about how, you know, she wants to like solve the crime, like the real crime. She wants to be brought into the investigation so she could podcast it and like help her numbers or whatever. And, you know, Amelia kind of calls her on it and is like, you're just doing this for numbers.

[00:26:07] And she's like, is that wrong? There are a boy meets pod switch right there. Yeah. Exactly. And they're like, she's like, is that wrong? Boy meets pod. That's a different pod altogether that we do have an exclusive clip of. I believe, do we have a clip? Yeah, we do. What is this? Can someone please tell me? What is this? Hello. I'm a pod. How's it going? Hi. I'm boy.

[00:26:37] I'm glad that never took off. Nice to meet you. Brian, what are you doing talking during the clip, buddy? Sorry about that. It's crazy. Sorry about that. Now the clip's over. Okay. Your thoughts on it? Now you can. I'm glad that hasn't taken off yet. Yeah. We got an exclusive on that. I thought it would have something to do with Boy Meets World still. No. It was like a knockoff. It's like, just hi, I'm Darnell. Do you think that'll sponsor our trip? No. No. Boy Meets pod? Anyway, she's like, is it wrong? And Amelia says, I don't know if it's wrong, but it's definitely ethically questionable.

[00:27:06] Yep. Probably wrong. I think that's kind of the same thing. Ethical and legal are different. Yeah. I think there's a lot of lawyers that will tell you that. We're not talking law. Yeah. We're just saying, is it a bad thing? Is it wrong? It's not bad. It's not wrong. It's just ethically questionable, which I think you never want to be there. I think at the very least, you don't want to be in the gray area that is definitely ethically questionable.

[00:27:33] You might find yourself in the wrong. Maybe. It's the same thing. There are people that think speeding is ethically questionable, though. Yeah, it's wrong. You think it's ethically questionable or you think it's wrong? I don't think so. Okay. So I'm fine being in that. No, I'm just saying if you think that something is ethically questionable, you also think it's wrong. Probably. Yeah. She's like, I'm not here to say it's wrong. I'm just here to say it's ethically questionable. I feel like you're saying the same thing.

[00:28:03] I loved the end of this movie where what they decided, they got together, let's put our heads together. How are we going to do this big reveal? What they came up with was someone hit a gong and then we're all going to come out. We're going to wheel a whiteboard out. Danny, you hit the gong. That's right. We'll all surround them. So are we going on three? We're going on gong. I think that's what we're doing. We'll let the gong guy kind of lead the charge there. That's a real gong show. That's exactly right, Dan. And then I, you know.

[00:28:33] Thanks, Brian. Just, you know. Thanks, Dan. If I'm. Thank you. If I'm James, you know, and I'm sitting there and I'm listening to all this, I'm not waiting around as long as he did before I go, you don't have any evidence. That's right. He waits till the very end to say, you don't have any evidence. And they go, well, we got the DNA. And then if that happens, I'd be like, well, then why'd you do the whole thing? It is. Why'd you have to say, you know, spill all my dirty laundry like this in front of everybody?

[00:29:00] The weight one of the movie is, is these two detectives get together and they do a 10 minute whiteboard presentation on all things that are circumstantial in their opinion when they have DNA that he's the killer. Like, guys, what did we do the rest of this for? Sure. Like, it's like John Mulaney when he's like, before they had DNA, they walked in. Look at this pile of blood. Gross. Mop it up. Like all of this stuff doesn't matter. He could just say, no, I didn't do that.

[00:29:29] And everybody knows that if you're going to do this big DNA reveal, you got to hit the gong again. You got to hit the gong again. You don't have anything. It's a DNA gong. That's right. We have this DNA. Through that gong, you should be shaking in your boots now. You should have started with the DNA. Started with the DNA. Started with the DNA. Got it. Daniel? At one point, our actor, James, he says, this is an actual quote. I was hired to play a character that rubs you all up the wrong way.

[00:30:00] And I want to tell you right now, James, that's one word too many, buddy. That's what we might call ethically questionable. I would say at the very least. If he says, look, I'm hired to play a character that rubs you guys the wrong way. I think you're on the wrong island, James. Yeah. I was hired to play a character that rubs you all up the wrong way. All right. Well, what you were hired for and what you're doing seem like two different things is all I'm saying.

[00:30:26] The idea that someone bugs the entire mansion. So this cop who dies has bugged every room and they believe that he is listening in to solve the case. How is that help? Like, just because you have everyone bugged at some point, you have to listen to all that audio. Yeah. We learned that during the marathon. So if you don't, if you don't turn your mic off when you go out of the room. Doesn't matter. It gets real confusing. It gets real confusing.

[00:30:55] This guy, are we to believe that he is living, working on the things in front of his eyes and listening to every conversation taking place throughout the mansion at the same time? And no one said to him, hey, what's that in your ear? What's that clearly in your ear? Right there. Because I was like, Dan, is he deaf? Like, is that a hearing aid? What is that? Turns out he was just listening in on all the conversation. And then we find out he's listening not only in his ear. We think it's in an earbud.

[00:31:23] He has one of those old timey cop things that you say evidence or like thoughts into. Yeah, recorder. He's listening to that wireless. I don't know how it got to the recorder, but he's listening to all of the audio. Through that device. It was a fiber optic. Yeah, it was a fiber optic. You wouldn't get it. That's right. And then lastly, Kristen Booth's character, her whole thing is that we find out that she was acquiring from the butler or the guy who dies, whatever he's called. I don't know what he's called.

[00:31:53] Where's the teletrax? Fredrex. He was acquiring all of the games that Murtaugh wrote and using them to write her novels. And she was acquiring them on her end completely legally. And then they basically accuse her of this like it's a crime. And it just isn't. Like what she, I can't imagine, and I don't read really any fiction.

[00:32:18] I can't imagine you reading a novel and you loved it and then finding out that the author, all of those words are theirs, but they got the idea from somebody else. I just can't imagine that changing your feeling on a mystery novel, like on some great work of literature. Like if you found out, you know, that F. Scott Fitzgerald, you know, somebody else really scaffolded the great Gatsby. Okay. Maybe. Right. She's writing mystery novels.

[00:32:45] Now there's anything wrong with that, but the idea that somehow her getting the idea from somebody else is some big cardinal sin. It was crazy to me. So that's all I got. But you love stealing people's ideas. Yeah. Regularly. It's what I do. It's what I do best. Yeah. Yeah. It's a problem. It's ethically questionable. It sure is. Ethically questionable. You can't say it's wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong. Of course not. I'm saying it's ethically questionable. You get it. It's time for what though? Hallmark. It's where we wonder what could have been, maybe happened. That would get some clarity to the questions that we have.

[00:33:14] Brian, what are you still wondering about? Those drinks Cowboy James made, everybody? I was kind of wondering what's in those drinks. That looked kind of like a margarita a little bit. It was a Paloma. Didn't he say it was a Paloma? Oh, did he say that? Yeah. He said this was a Paloma. Okay. What is that? It's a cocktail that's got tequila in it. Tequila. All right. That sounds good. Yeah. So I guess I don't really have a good what the Hallmark did because answer provided. There goes Dan, stealing ideas again. Yeah. I mean, well, one of my... I was answering questions. I wasn't stealing ideas. How did I steal your ideas?

[00:33:45] I mean, it's pretty ethically questionable. If it's your MO, it's your MO. Okay. All right. Go ahead. That's not for us. That's not for us. Right. We're not going to... Well, I mean, obviously, one of the questions I had, I Googled and I found it. Where is this place? It's really nice. We're going to be there. We're going to be there. Can't wait for it. 20K sponsorship. That's exactly right. And then, yeah, I mean, I think the big question is we talked about it. You can't do this again, right? You can't do another mystery island. You cannot do this again. Something makes me think that they might try.

[00:34:14] And who is going to do that? Aaron, if you found out that the murder mystery thing that you are interested in, every time they do one, two people actually die, would you do it? Yeah. Of course you would. So there's a market. There's a market. Everyone who dies has been up to something. I would go and I... Because you're not up to something. I'm not up to anything. Yeah. You're cool. There's nobody else dies, though. They're going to die. I mean, I could help solve their murder. That's exactly right. Aaron's like they're going to die. A Paloma?

[00:34:44] I could even have a Paloma. Yeah. Could. How about that? All you'd want. So Aaron's fine. Yeah. She's not up to anything. I mean, if it's like many weekends, I'd maybe... But like... Two, whatever. Two in a couple years? Meh. That's not a big deal. Not a big deal. Dan? Yeah, these drinks James were making. You might know what those were. They look great. They look really good. I hear it's a Paloma. A Paloma. What's that made with? Tequila. Tequila. Oh. That sounds refreshing. That's so cool. Tequila.

[00:35:13] I thought of that all myself, if you can believe it. Liar. Great job, Dano. Try to bring one next time, bud. We did it, everybody. Congratulations to us. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode, so come on back. Until then, maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas! 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.

[00:35:41] For a free trial of Philo, go to philo.tv slash dth. Yes. 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. Bye.

[00:36:11] Bye.