The Reluctant Royal (Hallmark Channel - 2025)

[00:00:01] Hi, I'm Brian and I love Hallmark Royal Movies! I'm Brian, I like Hallmark Royal Movies! I'm Dan and I despise Hallmark Royal Movies and this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast! Deck The Hallmark, it's this podcast! And friends host this podcast! We hope you like this jolly podcast!

[00:00:33] Da da da da! Hi everybody! Welcome to another episode. Another Tuesday. You know Brian, I went to the doctor because I thought I had spring fever. Turns out it's just Royal Month. Yeah! You got a Royal rash. You thought it was a spring fever, you got a Royal rash. It was an easy diagnosis and we fixed it. That's exactly right. We fixed it. They still got you on the copay though, didn't they? Oh yeah, they did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Deductible out of the moop, max out of pocket, forget it. Yeah, you said power. Moops through the roof. The moop.

[00:01:03] The moop. The moop is on fire. We're talking reluctant Royal today, Andrew Walker. We talked to him last week. Yes, we did. We sure did. What a guy. Andrew Walker. What a guy. As somebody who is, I believe, Andrew Walker's body double. Is that right? Yeah. I mean, cannot confirm nor deny. Did you do that interview? That was a good interview. Yeah. He's a fun time. He's a fun time. He's the best. He really is. No one knows the bit of Hallmark leading man better or more than Andrew Walker. Mm-hmm. Period. Mm-hmm. Period. End of sentence.

[00:01:32] I don't know. Hopefully, it's not another, what? Three and a half years? Three years. Yeah. I'm just not trying to, we probably both text him somewhat regularly, occasionally. Yeah. And so it is weird that he's not been on the show because he is a friend. He is a legitimate friend. He's a good boy. He's been on the show with us. He's a good boy. Since, I believe, September of 18. So a long time. Yeah. What a guy. Did you listen to that first interview we did back in 18? Way back. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was on the Hallmark train. Yeah. I was listening along.

[00:02:02] That was back when you were just a little tyke. Just a listener. Just a commoner, if you will. A little decker, if you will. Just a little commoner. That's right. A little decker. A little decker. Reluctant Royal is the second of three royal movies this month. Yeah. All clearly related. Which we find out this week, three incestuous royal movies. They're all like, the people in them are all related. Didn't want to advertise it. Yeah. It's not that they're all friends. They're all like cousins and stuff. Yeah.

[00:02:32] Southern royal. They're in the country of Alabama. I'm sorry. You guys like your cousins? You guys know your cousins? Yeah. I mean, I have three cousins that are way younger than me that I love. They're great. One of them lived at my house for three months while she was teaching gymnastics in Anderson. But I have two cousins, Ben and Bryson, who are about my age. And I haven't talked to them in years. And I hope they're doing well. Yeah. I hope so. They're not, unfortunately. Sorry. All of my cousins live in Maine. Yeah. That's tough.

[00:02:59] And so when I lived in Maine for a few years when I was a kid, obviously I interacted with them. I haven't talked to them in forever. Forever. Shout out. And then I hear people that are like best friends with their cousins or whatever. And I'm like, am I a bad person? I think it's just where you are in life and where you are geographically. Yeah. Geographically is a big thing. It's a big deal. That's a big part of it. Yeah. It's not bad though to not have relationship with your cousin that lives in another state. Like if it was my brother, like my brothers, I talk to my brothers all the time. Yeah.

[00:03:28] Even though, even though Jesse doesn't live in South Carolina, I still talk to him. I mean, the aforementioned Ben and Bryson, they live in South Carolina. Okay. Well, they live like a long way from here. They live like three, three and a half hours from here, but they live in South Carolina. Geography. But I, you know, shout out, shout out to Ben and Bryson. Are you close to your cousins? Uh, geographic, geographically, no, uh, familiar. You just want to go with a hard no? Algorithmically. Not super. I have a couple I communicate with regularly.

[00:03:58] One, we text almost every day about cribbage that we do a daily cribbage game. And that's about all we talk. And he used to be the bass player of my band. So we send funny bass player memes back and forth, uh, drummer memes. So I have a couple of. That's as close as Brian gets to anybody. Yeah. I am closer to him than anyone in my family. Speaker 3 3 00. Speaker 3 3 00. Oh, that's sweet. Wow. And it's bass player memes and cribbage scores. What's his name? Let's go ahead and give him a- Speaker 3 3 00. The boy, Ryan, the boy. Call him the boy. Cause he was just a little guy.

[00:04:25] He was just, he's like six, four, but he was the youngest of our group of kids, friends in college. So we call it Ryan. It's the boy. The boy. Let's talk. Reluctant Royal. Shall we? Reluctant Royal originally aired on the homework channel March 8th, 2025. And it went a little something like this. We got more flags. We got more Royal music. It's a reluctant Royal time, baby. Johnny is under the car. He's working his magic, his muscles bulging.

[00:04:52] Uh, his girlfriend shows up to have it out with him about whether or not he's ready to take the relationship to the next level. He is not. So she breaks up with him, but, uh, then her, uh, her car doesn't start. Johnny works his magic and off she goes never to be seen from again. After work, he heads to the bar where he's selling his juice. Apparently he makes season the juice business. Andrew. I'm sorry. Johnny is Johnny. Um, that's right.

[00:05:22] The bartender is not thrilled to be selling juice, but it's Johnny. How do you say no to Johnny? You can't. Uh, cut to a palace where Prudence is helping keep things running smoothly. She goes to talk to the Duke, uh, who is wanting to retire, but doesn't have anybody to take his place. Well, I wish I'm mad if only I had a son. Uh, Prudence discovers that he has a son. A long last son he didn't know about.

[00:05:51] Uh, so she shows up to talk to that son. It is Johnny. And, uh, she arrives in the middle of his karaoke performance and tells him that his father, the Duke, would like to meet him. He's not interested until he talks to his mom who never really told him about his father. She encourages him to go and meet him. And so off he goes. Prudence is surprised when he shows up and begins to notice that he's a bit rough around the edges.

[00:06:19] Maybe not like a Duke. Um, he won't even change his clothes to abide by the palace dress code. They meet and you can tell that, uh, they're related because they both touch your hair when they're uncomfortable. That's how you know. There you go. Johnny, uh, tells the Duke that he doesn't want his money. Johnny, he just wants to know why he left. This does not go well. So Johnny leaves and heads to the bar. Prudence tracks him down and tries to convince him to stay.

[00:06:49] And they agree to let darts decide his fate. Obviously she wins, which means back to the palace. He goes, he starts hanging out with Prudence, riding bikes, getting to know more about the palace, getting to know more about his father and learning more about her. Uh, they ride horses. Do you say horse? Yes. Hello, Wrigley. How are you? I'm doing great. How about you? Doing well. Are you excited about the Royal Rash? I have two cousins. Lugnut. We call him Lugnut.

[00:07:18] Some people call him the boy, but apparently that's taken. Yeah. So we're going to go with Lugnut. Lugnut's my fave. Really? Shout out Lugnut. Who's, what's the other? Beef. Not your favorite. Not my fave. Not beef. No. Is that his name? Yeah, beef's his name. You have a problem with that? No. I was about to say. So they are riding horses. He makes juice and he actually is starting to enjoy himself there. It is time for the first fancy Royal dinner.

[00:07:45] He has a cousin that he dislikes, unlike the Lugnut. So when he stands up and tells the Duke that he is excited to take his spot, Johnny stands up and tells his dad he's had a change of heart. He is in as long as cousin over there doesn't get to be the next Duke. His dad is thrilled. He is feeling a bit stressed. So he goes to work on this old car that he found in the Royal garage.

[00:08:15] His dad comes to join him and they chat and this becomes a nightly occurrence for them bonding and, you know, working on cars. The next day Prudence teaches him how to slow dance and they almost kiss. They realize that they're being watched by everybody in the house. He finally has a heart to heart with his dad. He finds out that his dad never received the letter that Johnny's mom sent him telling him about Johnny and she never got any letters from him.

[00:08:44] He figures out that it was his dad that was monitoring the mail to make sure that this relationship ceased. It is a sweet moment and the next day they go for a ride in that car that Johnny fixed. Johnny takes his dad to see his new juice operation and dad invites everybody to the royal dance. Everything is going great until the cousin brings some shocking news.

[00:09:09] Turns out Johnny's right to the throne is illegitimate because Johnny was born after the marriage to Johnny's mom was annuled. Man, what a technicality. Live the rules. Johnny says, well, at least I got to meet my dad. You know, at least I got to meet my dad. Shout out to dad. Shout out dad. He goes to leave and Prudence tries to stop him, but he's like, I gotta go. Prudence isn't going to give up so easily and she begins to look through the paperwork

[00:09:37] and find something you're gonna want to see. She goes to make sure Johnny comes to the ball where his mom is waiting for him. She's made the trip over across the pond. She announces, Prudence does, that the annulment certificate is not authentic. The Duke is left handed and his signature always leaves a smudge. This one on the annulment paperworks does not have a smudge.

[00:10:06] So it is not his signature. And if you look right here, you will see that my client who is left handed. And so the cousin's like, well, that there's that. The cousin leaves. He does not put up a fight. Johnny and the Duke hug. Johnny gives a speech and then he slow dances with Prudence with everyone watching. And they go outside and they kiss big old harkin' ones. And then they run away through the field.

[00:10:33] The next day, Johnny and Prudence are hanging out by the horses. Oh, whoa. Language there, bucko. Sorry. Love you, buddy. Lugnut would have proof. Say hi to lugnut for me. You almost called him nut lug. I did. Yeah. He gets that all the time. At least they didn't call him the boy, you know? No, you said it. Dad comes in and lets him know that one of Johnny's other cousins, Desmond, from last week is getting married. And they are going to go give him a horse.

[00:11:02] Johnny still has much to learn about his family tree. And so off they go to learn about it. And that, my friends, was the Reluctant Royal. We did it. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We will break this movie down here on Deck the Hallmark.

[00:11:30] We're talking Reluctant Royal, the latest in Hallmark's Royal Trilogy, the Royal Rash. The Royal Rash. Let's break it down. Let's share our thoughts on it. Side effects are crazy on that. Yeah, they're nuts. Let's share our thoughts. Let's do the hot take is where we share exactly how we felt about this movie. We do not hold back. And I will start with you, Brian the boy. No. No? That was taken. Sorry. Brian the lad. Brian the lad. I hate it. Sure. We'll work on that.

[00:11:59] What'd you think of the Reluctant Royal? Just call him cribbage. Brian the crib. Cribb me, y'all. Um, the, uh, if, if, uh, the Royal Rash, uh, uh, call me patient zero. You know what I'm saying? I, uh, I kind of like this one. I liked it more right after. And my likeness of fondness of it started, started to fade a little bit as we got closer to recording time. Unfortunately, I started to realize I didn't, I didn't care about that romance.

[00:12:29] And once it got introduced that they were starting to like each other, it kind of blew my mind. I didn't, I almost didn't pick that up immediately. No, I was like, wait a second. Are we going to go, uh, you know, Johnny and Duke reconnect and do this whole focus on the family thing? No, let's not do that. Let's keep focused on the family out of it. Let's not do that. So, uh, yeah, the, my least favorite part was the romance. Wow.

[00:12:54] My favorite part, I really liked Johnny and Duke getting to spend time together and reconnecting and I wish there was actually more emphasis on them learning about each other and kind of explaining what their lives have been like and reconnecting. I've, I thought that would have been fine. I didn't think we needed the romance at all. Um, the, it reminded me of how little I know about cars, which is so frustrating. I wish I knew anything about, you know, you could learn, right? I don't know. I wish I could do some research. I don't know about that. I got this.

[00:13:24] You don't have to live in darkness. I got really like, I got this Royal rash I'm dealing with. Patient zero over there. And I'm just, I don't know if a juice company for Johnny is a good idea. I don't know if it's going to work out. Really? I don't know. I don't know. Do you think skincare is more of it more is thing? Uh, he could try dipping his, his toes in that, but I mean, I would want horse throw his face right at it. So yeah, I, I had a good time. I liked it. Wasn't blown away, but I did. I did. I'm it itching. What's the first one?

[00:13:54] What's the one? The Royal we better. We, I like that one more. You like the Royal we more than this. I did. I did. Okay. Yeah. This is a, this is a unbelievable take. Uh, so far the Royal rash is a welcomed distraction to an otherwise, uh, uh, disappointing year so far. The network. I've liked both these movies two for two. I like this one more. I think this one's a, uh, big old home run. Not, not one of those short home runs where it's like a little, little dinker.

[00:14:24] It's not like the home run and Fenway park, you know, where it's like, you can't go. Yeah. This is a big one. This is a big, it is a big one. A big old home run. This movie slaps for a few reasons. One, Andrew Walker is playing a very fun character. Johnny is a blast. And I gotta be honest. I think I, I think I'd get along with Johnny. Johnny and I have a few loves. One karaoke. Maybe you've heard of it. Uh, two. I thought you were going to say cars.

[00:14:52] I'm like, I've never heard you talk about cars ever. And, but, but I'd like to learn like Brian, like Brian. You wish you knew more. You're not going to do anything about it, but you wish you knew more. Yeah. Nothing makes me feel more insecure about my manliness. Yeah. Then my lack of knowledge with cars. I don't know how they work. I, you know, I think about cars and, and, uh, things all the time. When I get gas. Yeah. When I get gas.

[00:15:20] I think about cars and things all the time. That's a year. The record show. Brandon thinks about things. When I conscious subconscious guys, when I always go, when I show up, at the gas pump, I click on the 87, like everyone else. You use 87? 87. I don't know why. I don't know what it is. I don't know how it works. I know it goes into tank. I type in my social security number. I, I, I know what goes into tank. I give them my driver's license.

[00:15:50] Like everybody else at the gas pump. That's exactly right. You can do the thumbprint. I give a $10 tip. Like everybody else. That's exactly right. All that to say, I don't know anything about cars, but you know who I don't like, can you imagine how, like the Duke is so lucky. You don't know how good you have it. Oh man. You get to go out there and have some late night hangs with Johnny as he teaches you about cars. You kidding me right now? Kidding me right now? Phenomenal.

[00:16:20] Phenomenal character. I thought that the romance, uh, crush. I thought the relationship with the Duke, crush. Uh, the cousin is the worst part of this movie and that means good job on cousin. Uh, the, the, actually the worst part of this movie is not the cousin we hate, but his cousin Desmond, the tie in stupid. Don't need it. So don't need it at all. But, uh, as just as far as movies go, big old fun for brand really liked this one, Dan. Yeah.

[00:16:46] I've never liked a Royal movie on Hallmark and that trend does continue. Uh, having said that aside from sisterhood Inc, this is probably the best offering of the year, I think. Uh, and you know, I did that Royal draft. I've seen every Hallmark Royal movie there is, and I'd never liked one crown for Christmas. Probably the best one. Royal hot one Royal holiday, which really turns all those tropes on its head is probably next. Uh, this is up there with those two movies. Uh, and I think it uses a lot of tropes that we've seen.

[00:17:16] It's very meta. Andrew Walker talks about selling apples and running a juice company. If they had thrown in skincare, it would have been the Walker trifecta. The reason this movie works in my opinion is twofold. Number one is Amelia DeRaven. Don't get me wrong. Andrew Walker's great. Amelia DeRaven. Talk about the DeRaven. Uh, from lost. That may not be how you say your name. DeRaven. DeRaven. Uh, not only is she very convincing as a British, like if she's Australian, but as a

[00:17:42] British Royal hand, this is the first time I've seen one of these movies where the dude is the Royal and the woman does not need or want that relationship because it does anything for her social status. Amelia DeRaven's character is fine as is. She does not need to marry a Duke or a Prince because of some weird like thing where it's like, now I don't have to be, you know, working in the stocks anymore.

[00:18:10] Like she is successful, established, bright. But maybe this is her plan all along. She is. Could be. Maybe she's been working alongside the Duke for so long that she believes she can do it better. And so what she does is she goes and finds Johnny, dummy Johnny who works in cars and says, I can string this guy along. I can become Duchess and then kill John. I love it. That's even better. I'm saying, but what I'm telling you is, is she has like her, her and Andrew Walker

[00:18:40] are great together. It's the best kiss of the year. I'll take no other, like no other submissions to that. Like this is the best kiss of the year. Um, it's Andrew Walker. Their, their chemistry is great, but they're on even playing field. It never, she never feels like she's swooning so early for him because he gets the Prince bump or the Duke bump. It's just because these two people are falling, you know, falling for each other. And so that worked. I tell you what didn't work.

[00:19:09] A lot of the plot of this movie doesn't work. The, the dumb misunderstanding with the paperwork at the end where it's, we found this thing, this annulment, and then we found that proves he's not left. Like all of that is disagree. And as a lefty, you should have felt seen in that moment. I don't, we can get to it the way it was, but just because there is no smudge, doesn't empirically prove anything brand.

[00:19:35] So I didn't feel like no, at no time did they consult anyone who would be an authority on the subject. And so the first time they bring up the paperwork, I'm like, this is stupid. And then the second time they double, they double cross you on the paperwork. That's stupid. And then the connection to the other movie is triple stupid. And so a lot of the end of this movie, that the Walker trifecta we're talking about, triple stupid.

[00:19:59] A lot of this movie kills me from a plot standpoint, but Andrew Walker, Amelia DeRaven completely work. The best motivation of a female character, one of these movies ever. And the best kiss of the year. So from that regard, way better than the Royal. We second best of the year, maybe first best of the year. Royal movies just aren't for me. I think if this movie doesn't work for me, Royal movies are not for me. But if you like Royal movies, I can imagine that you'd love this one. What was missing from daddy Duke there was him hearing about the annulment, seeing the

[00:20:28] paperwork and being like, I never signed that. Yeah. He never would have been great. He never does that. He never, he's like, well, I mean, I was wasted for much of the early twenties. It could have been me. The 1990s were a difficult time. I could have signed anything. I don't know. I signed a lot of things. Uh, it's time for all the fields where we talk about what in this movie gave us feels. Right. Hmm. Anybody else disappointed by Andrew's, uh, charpesious muscles up there on the above the shoulders? Just me, dude.

[00:20:56] How is this guy more toned, more defined every day? He gets it's crazy. Better shape. If you were to go and look at the shirtless scene from three wives and a baby and compare it to this one, he is in miles better shape now than them. He's so cut right now. It's crazy. He's doing something. He's not telling anybody about. I don't mean like this is he's never had a cheesesteak in his life. Of course not. Of course. And it shows. I feel like he's working on a, he's got a role in like gladiator three that he's not telling anybody about. It's unreal.

[00:21:25] He looks great. It's unbelievable. And he's 45 years old. It's infuriating. It's stupid. So good on you, man. Yeah. So happy for you. Good for him. Yeah. When I found out that Andrew Archer's character was going to start a juice business, I was thrilled. Yes. I was thrilled as, as much grief as I've given over the juice company, which great juice, by the way. Uh, but the only thing I was missing was him being like, I just got back from juice con, which is hilarious by the way.

[00:21:54] It still is very funny that juice con exists. Um, I loved it. I love the tie into the juice. And you know what? I'm going to choose to believe that it was just a happy coinkydink that it was art. Like they already had this guy starting a juice company. Interesting choice by you. I know. I'm going to choose that they put it in there because that's fun. No, I'm going to choose the coinkydink. All right. Great. I'm going to, it's a coinkydink choice. It always goes with the coinkydink. I'm going to choose this movie. It's not on IMDB. I'm sure a homework has it somewhere.

[00:22:22] I don't know who wrote it, but there's a line in this movie early on. Andrew Walker was raised by a single mom and he finds out that his dad does exist in this foreign country and he might be a Duke, blah, blah, blah. And his mom's very vulnerable with them and very insecure about her job as a single parent. And he says the line, you were the best two parents a guy could ask for. Great line. Great line. I like, I don't know who wrote the movie. Maybe brand can find out for me, but we can just put it in afterwards.

[00:22:50] Shout out to we, we like this. That's a great line. And I think it, it establishes this movie is very silly and Andrew Walker having a juice business and talking about apples makes it sillier, but there's some pretty grounded scenes in it. And that's one of them. And I thought he crushed it in that scene. And the, the, the line, the writing was good. So there you go. Can you imagine Andrew Walker saying that to you? To me? No, no, I can't. Just think about it. All right.

[00:23:17] We got teleplay, teleplay by Neil Dabrowski. Neil Dabrowski. Shout out. And Tippi Dabrowski. And Tippi. Oh, it's a, it's a couple maybe. Oh, story by Samantha Herman has done a bunch of, uh, movie scripts. Tip of the half to Tippi. Yeah. Good job. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll get to the way one, the one, the hallmark. You're on deck, the hallmark.

[00:23:47] It's like riding a bike. You know what I mean? Hi everybody. Welcome back. We're talking about, uh, the reluctant Royal. Uh, he's a, he's a, he's a reluctantly. Crouched. Royal. Let's, uh, let's get to the way. What? It's what? Crouched. Reluctantly crouched at the starting line. Oh, okay. I see what you're doing here. Engines pumping and dumping in time. Yeah. It's really good stuff. Uh, let's go. Crouched. Crouched. We're going to wait. What's the war pigs version? I have. I cake. I don't, I just actively don't like cake. Yeah.

[00:24:16] I can see that. I don't like cake. I'm a big cake fan. Chocolate's the best. Chocolate's great. Yeah. Let's get to the way. I remember listening to cake thinking, when's the songs to like, when, when are we, Yeah. When are we getting into this? Play me one of the real ones. Play one of the real songs. Like play me one of the good ones. Uh, Hey, play us one of the good ones in regards to the way what's what you got. Yeah. Real good one. He said he was named after Johnny cash because his mom was playing a Johnny cash song on the

[00:24:42] way home from the hospital after he was already born many days ago. Probably. That's a weird one. Maybe it's on the way to the hospital. If a Johnny cash song, maybe that would make sense. But on the way home, you have to name that baby before it leaves. That works. Yeah. So unless you give him like a fake name, I mean, he's 38 in this movie. So he was born in what? 86. I mean like, that's not, you know what I mean? The hospital would have made you named the baby. Yeah. They're not, it's not like you're just kicking out. They're just like giving babies away. Yeah. So that was a little bit weird. Uh, what's up?

[00:25:10] Did you guys notice the sort of like fisheye lens going on? A few times in this movie. A real few times. A handful. And for no reason whatsoever. Yeah. Really weird. Weird. Weird. So it must, they must've been in some small rooms, but also it feels like they did it when they weren't in small rooms. So I don't know what was, that was just a specific big room scene at a big table where they go fish islands and I immediately was like, what? Yeah. This was a choice. Yes. Why did we do this? So what's up with that? Yeah. Sometimes you feel like you're a fish, you know what I mean?

[00:25:39] Sometimes you find out that you're royalty. Yeah. And you feel like you're a fish or a fish tank looking out and seeing people and being like, I don't belong here. It was a creative choice guys. Can you make a creative choice in your whole life? Oh, Brian. Okay. Now I see it. I know. Now that it's been explained to me, I get the creativity. I'm creative. Go in the distance. You opened me up. The Jeff, he has Jeffers a couple of, I assume, US dollars. Yes. Where's Jeffers spending those two bucks? Jeffers. Come on.

[00:26:09] Unless they accept US dollars in this country. What country is this again? Exactly. I forget. He's just handing out, and then he spends it at the bar. So I just feel like they just snuck that currency. I mean, there's some countries that US dollars are in. Maybe this is one of them. I hope it looks like it was, but it was just a funny thing to me. And the last one, the Duke's allowed to elope. Like he can just get escape his security and go find a chapel and get married. Yeah. Really?

[00:26:36] I mean, it just feels like a lot of freedom for a dude. I bet he's not supposed to anyway. His dad was not thrilled. He seems like he was a real rebel and he's just a shell. Give me that story. Yeah. Well, he's just a shell now of himself. And so I feel bad for him. Tell me about that car. Yeah. He would have. Back in the day, that guy would have been nuts. Rip roaring. The stories of him in that car. Crazy. Let's hear about that Duke. Prudence. You can't interrupt somebody while they're doing karaoke. No.

[00:27:06] There are some things in life that are sacred. And one is the karaoke stage. And not only did you interrupt him doing karaoke, he was crushing in the zone. Andrew Walker was crushing as usual to run and unbelievable. She walks in. She interrupts it. Not okay. Prudence. And I just want it on the record. Not okay. Guys, really quick. Is Johnny's ringtone? Oh, God. Yeah. Yes, it is. It's a whole. That's how you don't want to forget that he's a mechanic.

[00:27:35] And the only way that we can do that is if his ringtone is as an Auga. But how loud is his ringtone to be able to be heard when they're inside the palace? Yeah. He's outside the castle and they hear, Auga, clear as day. Like, you got to get some thicker walls in the palace. Thin glass there. Thin glass. Thin glass. He is outside and they all stopped themselves. They're like, did somebody Auga?

[00:28:05] What's going on? Jeffers. Jeffers. Did you hear Auga again? Loud as clear as day. Clear as day. Last but not least, how confident do you have to be for when someone, when they knock on your door, you say come in while still not having a shirt on or reaching for a shirt. Not even a little bit. That is a level of confidence I will never have. If you knock on the door, I'd spend, one second please.

[00:28:36] Hold on. Someone's in here. Go away. Someone's in here. Don't come in. Occupado. At the very least, if you start walking in Aaron, I would then quickly... There it is. Aaron has a tendency to just barge in the door. You gotta be careful. I would then quickly reach for my shirt and cover myself. Andrew Walker, not only does he... He's over there tinkering with a record player. He's like, yeah, come on in, whatever. Not only does he not do the... One second, he doesn't reach for a shirt that entire scene.

[00:29:05] That is a level of confidence that I will never, ever have. Dan? Shout out to Hallmark for continuing to set things in the city of Philadelphia, even though they've never been there. And I think it's a weird choice, but they've done it in a half dozen movies over the last calendar year. I don't know why they're doing it. I will say Andrew Walker is more Philadelphia than any of the groomsmen in Philadelphia. He doesn't try an accent, but at least he has like a little bit more of a rough and tumble edge to him. But it's so weird that Hallmark's like, well, we don't want to make New York or California mad.

[00:29:35] What if all of these big city guys are Philadelphia? What if they're all groomsmen Philadelphia? What if they're all Philadelphia? What if they're all that? Which is wild. He, the guy that takes him to the castle runs the pub in town. And speaking of which, play a little game while you're watching this movie called What If It Was Benedict Grondel? Oh, I did this game. Yeah.

[00:29:59] And any actor who is doing their darndest in this movie, just ask yourself, what if it was Benedict Grondel? Yeah. Even the Duke. What if the Duke was Benedict Grondel? Anyone that makes sense? No. The Raven and Andrew Walker. Anybody else? What if it was Benedict Grondel? And you're going to have yourself a time. So this guy's like making fun of him for thinking he's the son of the Duke. Like you're not the son of the Duke. So then he gets, he, Andrew Walker goes to the pub. He's like, you got kicked out already, huh? And then he's like, pay up.

[00:30:28] And this background actor who can't talk hands this guy some money, which means that this guy, sight unseen bet that Andrew Walker was the son of the Duke. Yeah. He just always takes a bet. That's right. That guy will take any bet. This guy at the bar has not seen Andrew Walker at all. The bartender comes in and goes, I just drove a guy to the castle that thinks he's the son of the Duke. I bet you 20 he's not. And this guy's like, I'll take that bet. Double or nothing.

[00:30:55] I've never seen this guy or met him, but I got a strong, sneaky suspicion. He's the son of the Duke. He's never wrong on Tuesdays. That was crazy. Never wrong on Tuesdays. The most unrealistic part of this movie is a British Royal ordering ice water in a pub. Water. Sure. Cold water. You're lucky. Ice water. Not on your life. I've been to London. I couldn't. Immediately to Raven orders a glass of ice water. It comes with multiple ice cubes in it within seconds. No way. No way.

[00:31:23] Guys, I can attest Dan has been back stateside for a year now and he has not stopped talking about the lack of ice. Because it's the only thing wrong with London. Yeah. London's perfect aside from the lack of ice. And you can't just go around acting like you can get ice whenever you want it in a pub. Get out of here. The beer's not even cold. You're not getting ice water. Get out of here. At one point in this movie, Bran did mention it already, Andrew Walker shirtless working on an antique record player.

[00:31:52] And the whole bit is she comes in and she goes, that's an antique. It's not supposed to play any records. And he is like, watch me. I can fix anything. Hold my shirt. Yeah. And he fixes the record player and he plays a record on it. So one, where did he find a record? But two, where did he find one that plays public domain Royal ball music? I mean, the luck here is unbelievable that the record he plays happens to be the same

[00:32:20] music that's playing in every scene where you do a Royal ball dance. He brought, he, what she didn't see was there was a, it was behind glass. The vinyl was like, in case of someone fixing it, break this glass. It worked out great. Yeah. And lastly, and this is just personal. I'm, I'm sure that Ted Lasso is not the first television program to do a, I'll beat you at darts and not even look at the board as I throw three straight bullseyes bit.

[00:32:47] But this scene felt so egregiously stolen from Ted Lasso. I just felt like that was a weight what for me. Like you make it just hide it a little bit, like make it seem a little bit more your own. Maybe make it close. I'll just say like the one thing that they didn't do was in Ted Lasso, Ted is famously telling a story while he's doing it. She doesn't. She doesn't tell a story. They did that. They're all gathered around. It's the same basic scene. So there's that. That's all I got. And honestly, telling a story, that's what that scene was missing.

[00:33:17] So that scene could have used a story. Could have used a story. It's time for the. Maybe Andrew tells the story and throws really good. And then she throws three perfect bullseyes and barely beats him. All right. Now I'm in. It's time for what the hallmark is already. What could have been? Maybe we have. I was wondering if karaoke, do you think that this is a universal language? Like, could you go anywhere? Yes, it is. Anywhere in the world and just everybody gets it. That's pretty. Yeah.

[00:33:46] You think I think that's got to be true for a lot of the world, if not all of it. Yeah, I would think I would think so. And that I had never thought about it like that before. But I think that's pretty cool. Karaoke brings the world together. Yeah, that's what I think. I've said it a million times. Yeah. I went. We alluded to it. We alluded to it. We alluded to it. We alluded to it. But the Duke seems to have had a very interesting life. Yeah. Before going full Duke. And I'd like to take a gander at that.

[00:34:14] That seems like it's a lot of interesting story there. A Duke that, you know, falls in love, gets married real quick. His father makes him annul that marriage. That's all. That's an interesting story. I'd like to I'd like to see that story be told, Dan. Yeah, I'm going to keep doing the connection as my Hallmark or what the Hallmark because I just am baffled by this. Andrew Walker told us in an interview, which he might should have not.

[00:34:38] I don't know that they had to go back and felt like they were already running behind and then they tacked on these scenes. It was clearly an add on. These movies were clearly meant to be their own thing and they added on to this. And while I guess I like that more than trying to intertwine all three stories, I'm just confused. I'm just confused. Like, what are we built? We're not building towards anything. We're kind of in in purgatory with this thing.

[00:35:05] Like, is the next do you think the last royal movie they're all going to be at this wedding together? Do we think we're going to get that scene? I don't think so. I don't think so. And so I'm fascinated to see what happens in this last movie, which I never say about any themed movies in Hallmark ever, ever, ever. Maybe that's why she's holding the cotton candy on the poster, you know? Maybe. Maybe there's cotton candy at the royal wedding. Yeah, maybe. I just, I don't know and I'm confused and it feels like...

[00:35:33] Dude, the other thing is there's this great kiss in this movie and then they decide to run through the royal lawn, which is actually a cool scene. They pan out and they sprint through the royal lawn and they're laughing. I don't know why they're doing that, but it's a cool, like, they pan out and the scenery is beautiful. What a way to end a movie. Nah. Let's go to the stables and talk about who your cousin is. Like, I just, I don't get it. There's Trisket and there's Biscuit and Biscuit's going to go Desmond. Okay. Uh, we did it everybody. Congratulations to us. It's time for Double Decker of the Week.

[00:36:02] It is where Brian, you do the deep dive on one of the double deckers. You spill the beans, so to speak, on what's going on in their life. Dan, uh, people can sign up for, uh, to be a double decker at brainwildjamplus.com. You get all sorts of fun goodies, including this. Facebook group. Great. Best community on the internet. That's exactly right. Who do we have today? We have Jessa Darling. Jessa Darling. That's right. This week. Jessa. Okay. Which is something I, one of the things, interesting is I've, the interesting things I found about her.

[00:36:32] Yep. Easy for you to say. Jessa. One of many. One of many. I mean, super interesting person overall, but, um, and she's been sharing it with a lot of, you know, people in her life. She's gotten really good at it. And up until now, it's really been sort of like just charging for kind of like time and conversation, like not really charging, but almost getting to the point from what I can tell is that it's getting to the point where she could probably start making like a business out of it. Okay. And, uh, she has a good name picked out. I think she might. Okay.

[00:37:01] This one where like, she's not really looking to make money off of it, but she wants it to be formal structure. So she's just, she doesn't want to make money though. No, it's more like the game. Yeah. It's more about that. It doesn't want to feel, it doesn't want to feel like it's not official. Yeah. You need some structure around it. It's more just for more like, just like talk, talk to me. Tell me what's on your mind. I'll give you some pasta. Here we go. What is it? So she's just toying with the idea of just going with Penny for your thoughts.

[00:37:30] Now, some people would look at this idea and be like, that's too silly, but I would say there's a lot to be had here. So she just wants to help you as a human being and then give you homemade penne. That's yeah. You would get penne for, if you give thoughts. So you have to give something. Yeah. So you can't just feel like you're no matter what you say to her, you get it. Yeah. It's got to be pretty valuable. I like that. It sounds like she's going to make a lot of money. A lot of Alfredo. Yeah. There you go. There you go. You get it. That's nice. Yeah.

[00:38:01] Yeah. You're going to wear a bow tag. That's a really good one too. Thanks. The rig. And she knows about everybody from all the way from A to Z. Even the rigatoni. Hey, rig, you there? Oh, mama mia. Are you excited about this one? Oh, I love this idea. Yeah. I thought you might. I'm in line. What's your favorite noodle? Rigatoni is my favorite. They called me on the old ball field. That's right. Rigatoni. Yeah. Zen's into you, by the way. Zen's into you, sir. We did it, everybody.

[00:38:31] Congratulations to us. We'll be back next time with another one. Until then, we're the first to wish you well. Merry Christmas. Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast is 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.

[00:38:59] 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.