The Way Home - S03E05 - Reeling in the Years (2025) ft. Ryan Pappolla

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Brian and I love The Way Home. Hi, I'm Ryan and it's getting dicey. I'm Dan and I think Ryan's intro speaks for itself and this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Deck The Hallmark gets this podcast. And friends host this podcast. We hope you like this jolly podcast.

[00:00:29] Deck The Hallmark. You're sick man. Still ice cold. Does anybody else do this? Anybody else? Dan likes to give me a hard time about how slow I drink my smoothies. And so I've been sucking on this chili dog for... When did it come in? It came here at 1103.

[00:00:53] Okay, so that is... We're looking at... 1203... We're looking at two and a half hours. In two and a half hours he has finished half a smoothie. Still ice cold? A little ice cold. Still ice cold. It's still great. It's too cold to just shovel it down. I got a sensitive mouth. Our mouth? Yes, I do. You have a sensitive mouth? 100%. There's too much cold in my... I guess I might...

[00:01:21] What about hot? Do your mouth burn too easily? Oh my gosh, yes. What about when you get in the shower? I don't drink hot. How hot's the water in the shower? If the hot... All the way hot... Colder than my wife, so I'll tell you that much. Well, no, that's a no-brainer. My wife showers the surface of the sun. I don't know if she doesn't. It's full. If the nozzle goes from 3 o'clock is all the way cold till it goes to all... It's pretty much all the way, but it's not... And then hot is 9 o'clock. My wife's is at 9 o'clock. Mine's trying to get to 8 o'clock.

[00:01:51] Mine is pretty close to 9 o'clock, but our hot water heater's not great, so... Okay, well... But you also, you can't open your mouth when you shower. What's that? God forbid if you open your mouth when you shower and something gets in your mouth. Oh, forget about it. You get a hot coffee, it's just too much for you. I literally, I don't... I let my coffee sit for about 10 minutes before I start drinking it. Wow. I got a sensitive mouth. So don't get mad... He's got a sensitive mouth. I don't know, and I drink slow to begin with. I don't know how you drink things as quickly as you... But is it a medical condition, or are you just making this up that you have a sensitive mouth?

[00:02:21] Probably it's a medical condition. My guess is you just never just like... You got to look into. Yeah, I mean... You don't think I've tried? I don't think you've tried hard. I think you've had a little bit of pushback. You're like, if I don't have to, I'm not gonna. What are you doing? My throat is like suffocating. That thing's two and a half hours old! Your throat is like suffocating? Oh my God, you guys are really... That's cold! It's fine. See that... But that's cold to me.

[00:02:50] You're breaking my point for me. No, I think that's a you problem. I think you have... I'm not saying it's not! I'm sorry. You have to rework your definition of hot and cold. Yeah. I think... It's time. You're so... It's time. You sit over there on a weekly basis and you're just like, I can do anything I want to do. I'm Dan. And then I try to do whatever... When have I ever said that? All the time! When have I ever said I can do whatever I want to do? I'm Dan. You don't have to. It's a part of your essence.

[00:03:19] And then I sit over here and I just try to drink my smoothie and I want to take my time because I don't want to get hurt. I'm sorry I don't want to get hurt while I eat. What are you going to hurt? All of it. Is it going to be scarred? Your mouth is going to be scarred if you drink the cold smoothie? I don't know. You're going to get a brain freeze? Yes, I'd get a brain freeze. I get brain freeze all the time. All the time? All of the time. What do you mean all the time? Like you're having like Pop-Tarts? Have you ever gotten a brain freeze drinking a smoothie? Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I got one on Tuesday night.

[00:03:48] I got a 32-ounce smoothie and tried to finish it in the 12-minute drive from the Smoothie King to the gymnasium. I was going to watch a basketball game. And in doing that, I did get a brain freeze because I was trying to shovel that smoothie down. I get a brain freeze almost every smoothie. Wow. So don't say I'm not trying. Are you broken? Yes. That is what I am saying. We might want to switch to like power bars, Bran. Like you shouldn't be doing yourself. You're this. Hey, right. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing all right. Yeah.

[00:04:18] What's going on with you? I'm making a lot of AI art lately. That's been fun. What do you mean you're making a lot of AI art? I'm making a lot of AI art. What's that? Did you bring some to the? Yeah. It's mostly Power Rangers stuff. What are you using? Are you serious right now? Are you using Gronk? Are you using Tibbies? Yeah. I'm using Rob Gronkowski. Yeah. So like this is like a Power Ranger deal. Hold on.

[00:04:44] I got one of Tori Kelly, JC Chazze, and Juan Yee Morris from Boys to Men that I'm very proud of. I love how you didn't feel the need to qualify the other two people. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. That you're very proud of? No. Alyssa gets mad at me about that because I take ownership of the images as though I had something to do with them. Before you go any further, Ryan, when you said I'm making a lot of AI art, I thought it was a bit. I thought for full disclosure, I did not think for a second that you were in the

[00:05:14] lab crafting AI art and now you wanted to brag on it. I don't know what you want from me, but I think you know what's coming. Go ahead, Ryan. Can I really quickly, before you show us the picture, give me the prompt that you put into Rob Gronkowski to dish out whatever it is that you're about to show us. So I believe this one would have been, well, Dan will get a kick out of this. I believe this was specifically generate an image of Tori Kelly, JC Chazé and Wanya Morris

[00:05:42] of the musical group, Boys to Men, all singing in front of microphones, period. Make sure that Wanya Morris of the musical group, Boys to Men is wearing sunglasses. Is there another Wanya Morris that I'm not familiar with? Well, no. So, no, I had done a bunch of these and they weren't getting Wanya's likeness right. So I realized if we put sunglasses on them, which is why I feel like I deserve some credit for the image itself. Once I decided to put sunglasses on, it changed everything.

[00:06:10] So, Aaron, if we can go to me, I think this came out great and it's going to be framed on my office wall. Can you do the angle? Do it pivot a little bit more? Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to like, that's pretty good. They got Tori Kelly's hair. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah, they nailed it. Well, I mean, I would also like, I think I was involved. Sorry, you nailed Tori Kelly's hair. Incredible. All right, Bran. Just keep sucking your corn dog or whatever you said earlier, you know? Chili dog.

[00:06:40] Can I tell you something right now? This is everything that's wrong with AI. Everything. Like, you are, Ryan is proud of something he did not do. All right, Aaron, if we can come back to me. Yeah. Actually, that's the one that won me over. Yeah. That's pretty good. No, what are you using? That's not Gronk. It's Gronk. It's Gronk. Yeah. You're killing it out there.

[00:07:10] I feel like I'm not going to top Hezbollah. I got a couple of Power Rangers practicing martial arts in the rain, but I just feel like it's not going to hit the way I want it. Just let us see it. Did you need to make that on AI? Does that not exist in real life? No, no. They're in their geese, you know? And you wouldn't know, man. You would say, and this is really going to help my fan fiction is the thing. It's like, this is really going to inspire me to write, you know? And so this is going to be good. Dude, wait until you find out that AI will write for you. Yeah, I got news for you. Oh, man. So then it would be new to me to read it. Yes.

[00:07:40] As good as those pictures are, that's how good it will write for you. Aaron, producer Aaron has a question. I have a question for Ryan. Yeah. Hey, Aaron. Hey. Do you have any AI pictures where you are the Power Ranger? No. So I did put myself into the system. Apparently, I'm not famous enough. They didn't know who I was. I remember when I found that out. It was a tough day for me, too. So, but I mean, give it a few more months. You know, give it a couple more episodes of The Way Home. We'll probably be there, right? You are. Why are you doing this? To hang these prints up in your office?

[00:08:10] No, just the. So I have a music section of my office. It's off screen. You can't see it. That's where I am right now. But there is a devoted section to Tori and Sink and Boyz II Men. And I had like one little space left where I needed some wall art. So that was like specific. And I mean, if you think about like cost versus like, you know, to have someone make that would have been hundreds of dollars. I'm just going to go to CVS, print it out for two bucks, get a frame. You know, bang, bang, boom. I mean this in the most above board way possible. F. Mary Kill, Tori Kelly, NSYNC, Boyz II Men. Oh, this feels really dangerous.

[00:08:40] So listen to these episodes. All right. How about instead of F. Mary Kill? So let's go with what is it on the Hallmark one that we do? What do we do? Baxter. Kiss, marry, Baxter. So one of them you have to Baxter, which means you have to dump. Which one is the worst one of the three, Ryan? There you go. Which one do you want to get rid of? I was trying to have fun here. I'd probably get rid of JC just because like, you know, if NSYNC reunited and it was the four of them, I'd be bummed because JC is my fave.

[00:09:08] No, NSYNC, Boyz II Men, Tori Kelly. You got to get rid of Boyz II Men. How dare you? How dare you? How dare you? I'm saying from your approach, I feel like I know you enough to know that you'd get rid of Boyz II of those three. No, I'd probably have to get rid of NSYNC in that scenario. Really? NSYNC. All right. You got two left. You got Tori Kelly. Well, now they're never going to chart ever again. Who's going to listen to all the music to get on the Spotify to make it know that they want to chart? I was pivotal.

[00:09:35] I put that playlist together where I played the song every single time. But who listened to it all the right way? Who listened to that song more in the year 2024, Rob Guy? You. You. Me. And I told you that. Spotify Rap came out. Number one song I listened to all year because the Trolls movie came out and my kids wanted nothing but to hear it. All right. NSYNC's gone. You got Boyz II Men, Tori Kelly. What are the categories left? No. No, I don't need to do the categories. They're on an island. One of them's got to go. You can only listen to one. They're voting one out. Survivor.

[00:10:05] Survivor style. Tribe spoken. I'll probably get rid of Tori. Just like, you know, longevity. Give it to the goats. Give it to the goats. Boyz II Men. I think I agree. You know you don't mean that, but that's really. I would agree with that ranking. I would agree with the ranking that Ryga just gave me. I feel like we've strayed far away from my AR and how good of a job I'm doing, you know? Yeah. I got to get rid of the AI. I got to save time. The reasoning you gave for being so excited about A. That's going to limit this episode to under an hour now that he said AR. It is.

[00:10:31] That is like the argument, though, against AI is that you could be paying actual artists. Yeah. You have a rebuttal against that? But see, if I came in here right now and I was like, hey, guys, I spent insert dollar amount to have someone draw me an image of Wanya, Tori, and JC, Dan, who would be like, I'm Dan and I can do anything I want, would be like, what the hell? That's exactly what he does. Somehow I've become Dan and I can do anything I want. I don't know where you guys got. Again, it's an essence. But I will say this. It's a lose-lose for you.

[00:11:01] And I will admit that. That's a tough boat to be in. And if you're going to be in a tough boat, I guess it's good to be in a tough boat with money that you can then spend on eBay and stuff. That's right. Yeah. I've been doing better, though. I know that was last year. Any cashback points you've been using? I haven't checked, but I'll let you know when I do to make sure that I'm using it in the right ways. Of course. You still at $4? Was it $4? $10, and then he said with the cashback, $65. I'm up to $30, not counting the cashback. What happened? What happened in the past seven days?

[00:11:30] I bought a couple of Jurassic Park matchbox cars, and then I bought a comic that I wouldn't count, that I'm going to use for display. But you guys will be okay with it, because it's Wonder Woman 84. Shout out to Palaha. Shout out. I love the, you know that you're an addict when you have to explain your purchases. That is, I'm serious. Like, when I buy shoes now, I have to explain to my wife why I'm buying shoes. You're flipping them. I flip them. That's true. If I'm keeping a pair of shoes. If it works. I hit on the Travis Scotts, Ryan.

[00:12:01] They're just sitting in my closet, and I've been offered $600 for them. Oh, that'll be up to a grand for the summer. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just going to sit on them, because I'm like, you know. Well, I wouldn't advise you to sit on them. Well, don't sit on them. No, no, no. That's going to ruin the value. I'm going to put them in the closet and not touch them. And they're trapped in the closet? No. Shall we weigh home? Well, I guess. What are we, 30 minutes in? I guess we have to. We're only 12.

[00:12:28] I'm anti-AI when it comes to creating TV and movies. Yeah. I'm going to be very clear. That's lazy. Here's the one thing I want to say. Here's the one thing I want to say. AI could not have made a better episode than this. I want to be very clear. I just want to say, like, here's the one thing I want to say. Bran, if you'll indulge me. Like, the stuff I'm making with AI, no one's asking for. It's just for funsies. No one's making. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, it's like, I'm not taking money out of anybody's pocket. You know? Yeah. So, I feel very justified.

[00:12:53] Like, it is good for that lazy, like, what if I did the, what if this existed to see what it would look like? Like, I have no problem with it then. But if you're making art, get out of here. Get out of here with your AI. Be an artist. Be an artist. The Way Home. A-art, different discussion. A-art. That's a totally different game. A-art. A-art. A-art. A-art. A-art. A-art. A-art. The Way Home. Season 3, Episode 5. It's called... Shiver Me Timbers.

[00:13:23] Shiver Me Timbers. Uh, it's 1984 and we're having a funky good time. Close. Reeling in the years. Look up what that is. Yeah, I don't know what that is. January 31st, 2025 is when it premieres. It'll win a little something like this. Episode kicks off in the 70s and Alice is watching Colton perform. Cat shows up... Steely Dan song. Ah, Steely Dan. Cat shows up and is like, I gotta tell you about this jacket that Elliot had in his house.

[00:13:51] Alice says that she is, uh, confident that there's an explanation, right? Uh, Colton plays a song that really surprises Cat because when she listens to the lyrics, sounds like, uh, maybe a certain somebody is trying to tell her something from the past. It's pretty crazy. I'm sure it's not gonna be a big part of this. No! She asked that hippie guy Jasper about it, about the song, and he's like, yeah, I taught it to him. Uh, it's an old folk song in this, I found in this book, the founding of the town, they

[00:14:20] put a bunch of songs in this thing, and I taught it to him. Isn't it great? You, you know, you could tell, you could tell what was going on, not from history books, but from the art. From the art. From the art. You said it, man. From the AI generated art. Um, she, uh, she's taken aback by this, so she starts heading back to the pond and she sees grandma sitting there. Remember scary grandma? Why you eyeing my lemon drink? Um, she, uh, goes to talk to her and grandma says that Colton isn't special.

[00:14:49] She thought that he was. Turns out he's just a rule breaker. What's she mean by that? I don't know. Tune in next week to find out. Um, in 2020, in 2025, it's Del's birthday and she doesn't want anyone to talk about it. She doesn't really like her birthday. So the boys ignore her and plan a surprise birthday party. Boys will be boys. Brady's in town. Uh, it's great. We love Brady. We love Brady. Brady. Big week for Brady. Big week. Um, back in the seventies, Alice is still hanging out with Evelyn.

[00:15:19] Evelyn suggested they use a Ouija board to contact Cassandra. Uh, and immediately Dan and I are like, yeah, Cassandra. We know her. We know her. Everybody has been waiting for them to get the Cassandra. Finally. Big deal. Cassandra. Woo. Cassandra was someone apparently who used to live in the room in which Evelyn is now. She moved into this room. Cassandra's room. Cassandra's room. It's Cassandra's room. Uh, Cap makes it back to the present and finds the music book.

[00:15:47] Uh, they had a copy of it in the piano bench. Apparently she reads the lyrics and it is clear. This is written by Thomas. Dad gummit. Uh, so she goes over and then decides, I guess I'm going to kiss Elliot and is like, our, our love is good enough to write a song about. Right? Right. Right. Right. Right. I'm going to write you a love song. Like Thomas. That's that. That song is actually, I'm not going to write. Yes. I changed it. Okay. To I'm going to. It's a goof. Okay.

[00:16:16] I'm going to write you a love song. That was AI. That was AI. AI. Uh, so, uh, Evelyn. But I have Tori Kelly sing it and I'm in. Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho. So, uh, Evelyn, Alice, Colton, Dell, they are sitting down to Ouija board it up and someone begins to communicate with them through Ouija.

[00:16:37] Ouija, it's not Cassandra, but somebody who says fire, fast, blame, and then pushes the little. If you think somebody's moving that thing around, wind blows. Yeah. There's literally a spiritual horror movie thing happening here. It is not a fake. And then the little triangle thing that you use. I've never Ouija, but you see in the movies, a little triangle thing. It shoots towards Colton. Would you Ouija? I'd be open to Ouija. If the situation calls.

[00:17:07] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. If the situation calls. I think. That'd be a great pod. I think I'd be open to Ouija. I don't know. This Week in Ouija. This Week. Hello. Welcome to This Week in Ouija. It's time for Dan's Crystal Corner. Dan, tell us what's seen on the crystals. I love the idea of us just picking a name and trying to summon them on the Ouija board every week in the studio. Did it work? No. Is it haunted? I don't know. We're trying to summon Gary the Spirit.

[00:17:37] Gary the Spirit. Yeah. So he's freaked out by this and Dale goes and comforts him and they leave. Kat and Elliot are making out hard when there's a knock on the door. It's Emma. Elliot's ex-wife. Hey. Evelyn and Alice are talking about what happened. What Evelyn notices is a hidden door. There's another door. Inside of this door is the painting of my Catherine. We know it. We love it.

[00:18:04] Evelyn says, I recognize this face. And Alice is like, I gotta go. That's my time. Sam and Dale surprised Jacob with a certificate of resurrection. Amen. They probably had to wait in a really long line for that one. You know, the resurrection line. That's a whole day. That's a whole day. They gotta move the stone away. There's a whole thing that's happening. Even with VIP, you'll wait forever. Yeah. It's crazy. Three days minimum.

[00:18:35] Kat and Elliot and Emma. Can't keep a good man down. That's right. Kat, Elliot, and Emma are all hanging out. It's awkward. Awkward. Real awkward. Alice is getting coffee with her dad when Noah walks in. She introduces him to her dad and then turns out their boyfriend-girlfriend just kind of happened. And they're happy that it did. Brady is unimpressed. Kat dreams of making out with Thomas. So there's that. It's time for the party.

[00:19:05] And Alice sings a song with Emma on violin from the 1800s book. The song is... Wagon wheel. Yeah. The song is freaking Kat and Jacob out. So, because it sounds like something serious is going on here. So they go and they take a good hard look at it. It sounds like everyone's dying. That's what it sounds like. Turns out in 1816, there was a year without sun. People were convinced that the world... Without summer.

[00:19:35] You were without summer. Not without sun. Things were blocking the sun. You could still see some light. It was called the year without a summer. People thought that the world was ending. Kat and Jacob... People correct us enough on the show. I'm just trying to help out. Yeah. Kat and Jacob are convinced that they need to go back and tell everybody the world's not ending. You know, carry on. Move along. All-American Rejects. Carry on. Fun. Fun.

[00:20:04] Alice talks to Del about Evelyn for some reason. And it doesn't go well. Del is like, stay out of my memories. Noah goes to comfort Alice. They end up kissing. Brady and Jacob have a moment together. And Brady apologizes for distracting Kat the night that he went missing. And Jacob is like, I've literally never blamed you until now. He doesn't say that last part, but we're all thinking it. Elias tries to convince Kat not to jump back to the 1800s because they've got some talking to do.

[00:20:32] So she's like, Jacob wants to jump. I can't let him go alone. I got to go. So that's going to happen. So Alice is walking around when Max stops her. Max, there was that one time where Matt was like... So she saw Max and was like, hey, you're Casey's brother. You're Casey's brother. And he's like, I don't know who you're talking about. I don't know Casey.

[00:20:58] So he stops her and is like, are you going to accuse me of having a sibling again? But then he says, weirdly enough, that Casey's a family name. Cassandra, actually. So similar to Casey. Yeah. So that's quite the coincidence. Kat and Jacob jump into the pond and come back out into the 1800s again. Thank God they can't seem to find anybody until they get to the church where everybody was at.

[00:21:24] People come walking out, including Susanna walking out with Cyrus Goodwin. They're married. Susanna and Kat lock eyes. And then we see that Thomas is also looking from another bush. Yeah. That's not important. And that, my friends, was The Way Home Season 3 Episode 5. We have reeling in the ears. We did it. We did it. Yeah, we did. Let's do this. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back.

[00:21:51] We will break this episode down here on Deck the Hallmark. You know, I'm really proud of us for getting to that break in under 22 minutes. When we got into the AIR, I didn't think there was a prayer that we were going to break the 30-minute barrier. But we got to that break in under 22. And I'm proud of us. Best of the biz. Best of the biz.

[00:22:19] Best of the biz. With the hot take. The way we feel should be the title of this segment. It should be. But, you know. It's the hot take. It's where we share exactly what we felt about this episode. We do not hold back. And I'll start with you. Ryan. Ryan. Yeah, Brian. What'd you think? I want to refresh the audience just real quick that I was pretty positive about the first three episodes of this season. I thought last week was a big regression. And I think this episode really blows. There we go.

[00:22:48] There we go. We're just completely disjointed at this point. I don't want to sound redundant, but I did say, I believe, a few weeks ago that my big fear, and I think both of you agreed, was that we're really trying to do this fine balancing act of these really big mythos stuff. Things are happening. And then also there's all these really mundane things happening. And that's a really tough balance to strike.

[00:23:15] And so this episode was that, just also plus the 1800s. There it is. So that's like a really terrible combo. Didn't care about the Ouija board. It really frustrates me. This is like a small gripe probably in the grand scheme of things. But, you know, we've said for the, this show's been on for over a month now this season. You know, Delilah is 100% going to spend significant time with Alice in the 70s.

[00:23:42] And we're now led to believe that she had no memory of Alice in two different timelines when she meets. I mean, it's just terrible. Like, we were forgiving of it and forgiving of it. Speaking of things we were forgiving of, you know, we were told in season one that you have no control over when the pond takes you. That element has been hanging on by a thread. Forget it. Yeah. I mean, that's dead. That's dead and buried. Yeah. You know.

[00:24:08] And so, like, just like couple that with things like, I just don't care about Elliot and Kat's dynamic at all. This plot line in this episode made both of them look like pretty terrible people, honestly. And so that's fun. I love Sadie LaFleme's, Snow's voice. But, like, the first 10 minutes of this episode was basically a concert. And, yeah, I mean, it was just utterly bizarre, uneventful, even though the episode wanted us to believe that many events were happening, episode.

[00:24:37] And if Bran says we're back, baby, he's lying to your face. He is lying so much. If he says we're back, baby, they went to the 1800s. If he says we're back, baby, I'm going to throw something out. Okay. So we are back, baby. But I will say this. What I mean by that is we're back to the 1800s, baby. Okay. Okay. And I think I've made my feelings clear on how I feel about breachers in the sort. I saw breachers in the sort live.

[00:25:07] Disgruntled is how I would word it. I'm bummed to know that next week is going to be heavy, heavy on the 1800s. I would assume because the episode ends with Kat and Jacob still in the 1800s. So I think that's going to next week is, guys, a tough, tough, tough, tough go. You got it. But I also want to say this.

[00:25:30] I felt like the episode started and it felt like the episode was saying out loud, we're up against it. We got a lot. I know we just started, but we're up against it and we got a lot to get to and not enough time to do it. But so we're going to just explain it all right here, right now, and then do a whole new thing. And I didn't really care for it. I liked Ouija stuff.

[00:26:00] You like Ouija stuff? He loved. I looked over because he loves that. You didn't like Ouija stuff. Well, here's the thing is, you and I go see the movie Ouija. I'm all in on Ouija stuff. In a show that we are supposed to believe takes seriously time travel. And then you want me to believe that Ouija stuff is serious? Because... There's nothing more serious. That was... That's a disgrace and an embarrassment.

[00:26:27] If the Ouija was fake and that somebody was messing with it, but they did a full horror movie scene in there. And you freaking... I looked over at you and you couldn't have been more locked in. Yeah. I hate it up. But, Bran, to your own point, we're already trying... We're up against it. We're already trying to do too much. And now we're doing Ouija. No, I know. We can't do spirits, Bran. We can't do spirits. No, I know. I know. They suggest very strongly a spirit is haunting them there. Yes. We can't do that. Yeah. We can't. We can't.

[00:26:53] But, of the things that we can't do and shouldn't do, I like... Give me Ouija. But, I will say that I'm now actively rooting against Elliot and Kat, which I didn't see coming. And I don't... And it... I just... I don't know. It's just never... And I'm not big on Team Thomas or anything. You know I'm not. But there's just something about it that isn't working. And maybe that's the whole thing. Maybe that's what they're trying to make you feel like.

[00:27:22] It's not good. It's not good for them to be together because she shouldn't be. She belongs with Thomas or Susanna or whoever. She belongs with anybody other than Elliot. I don't know. But what I do know is this episode felt like a lot. Felt like a lot. We're back in the 1800s, baby. And some of the things, some of the places we went with that lot, I wish we didn't. Dan? This is bad television.

[00:27:49] It's bad because it aspires to be good and it falls so woefully short. It's bad because it's a lot of side questing acting like its main plot energy. And it's not. It's bad because you expect us to carry about the weight of Cassandra and you've not shown them all season long. It's bad because we still don't know what Dell, like Dell's reactions to things based upon having no knowledge of the pond is absolutely inexcusable.

[00:28:18] The idea that now they can go and jump in the pond whenever they want and go exactly where they want, inexcusable. And the idea that we're supposed to care about some of this stuff, including but not limited to everything in the 1800s that isn't Thomas and Cat. You've lost your mind. We are so far in the weeds. We don't know where the actual maze is. We're done. We don't know what we're doing.

[00:28:46] We have no thread that to care about week to week. Nothing. They have ruined the Colton thread. They've ruined the Dell thread. They've ruined the cat thread for me. And Alice's thread is hanging on by a thread. This show had four great characters with great arcs that could have taken them 10 seasons to explore. And instead, we're outside questing with crazy grandma calling Colton a cheater. Stop it.

[00:29:14] Do you think we care that there's a list of rules written somewhere in the 1800s about the pond? We don't. We want you to follow the rules that are a part of time travel, not because we want them written down somewhere, but because that's just how good shows operate. You have lost your mind if you think that we care what this grandma is talking about and how Colton broke some rule. That's probably something to do with it. Stop it. Just stop it.

[00:29:41] This is so tough because through three episodes, I was middling, but I was a little optimistic we were going to get back on track. And we now have two time periods that both seem like we're lost. And here's the sad part. I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, Brandon. You're going to hate this, but I think I care about Thomas and Kat in the 1800s more than I care about anything in the 1970s. Oh, definitely. Definitely. I agree.

[00:30:11] And I don't want to go to the 1800s, but Elliot and Kat, whatever chemistry is, what they're doing is the opposite of it. It is a tough watch, whereas anytime Kat and Thomas are together, it is just smoke signals, just like absolute chemistry. I don't want to spend time in the 1800s, but the reality is that's where we are. That is where they left us is the best thing not in present day right now.

[00:30:39] Now, I'd much rather than just go back to 1999 for some reason. I like this is hard. It's really tough. And I do love the people that make this show. And I do love the people that act in this show. I just don't love the show right now. And it's not good. And I think we're kind of in the minority based upon we did episode four. And then I heard I saw the double decker chat on episode four, and they were all invested in these mysteries and this mythology.

[00:31:07] So, you know, my hope is that we are all underwhelmed and disappointed and the vast majority of people are not with us. And the show is doing well for whom it is supposed to be doing well for. That's the best I can hope at this point. It's time for all the feels. We're talking about what in this episode gave us feels, Brian. Yeah. The first 10 minutes were a concert, like I said. And to that point, good on Colton's teenage Colton's actor. This guy got like a full set at the beginning of the episode. But his Spotify is probably blowing up.

[00:31:35] And congrats to that young man, Brian. Yeah. I mean, my feels was the split second where I thought they were going to sing a yellow card song when the violin got whipped out. It was a split second where I was like, here comes yellow card. And then it wasn't yellow card. And I know that they didn't do anything on the show to make me believe that yellow card was going to happen aside from the violin. So I don't want to blame anybody aside from myself. But you're still disappointed about no yellow card.

[00:32:04] My feels was the split second where it could have happened. Because every time I hear yellow card, it's a good time. Yeah. Walk on the beach and our bare feet. Amen, brother. Mine was young Colton singing Hooked on a Feeling. The young Colton cover once again. I am believing. Two weeks in a row, my feels is a young Colton cover song. I'm sorry. Last week, Waterloo, this might have been better this week with Hooked on a Feeling. Wow. That's where we are. That's where we are.

[00:32:33] And I did enjoy that musical number. So good on you, kid. Man, I can't wait to find out what AI can do when I ask it to put together some yellow card images. I don't think it has anything. Gronk, generate an image of yellow card playing a concert during The Way Home Season 3, Episode 5. It might take a few, but I'll get on it. Wow. Let's take a quick break and then we'll come back and we'll find out what we got. Here on Take the Hallmark.

[00:33:08] Welcome back, everybody. It's The Way Home. It's Season 3. It's Episode 5. That's what we're talking about today. I think we're having a good time. Yeah, man. I think we're having a good time. Of course. I hope you are as well. Some AI art, some eBay purchases, some smoothie headaches. That's true. Do it all here. Your brain frozen, Brian? You doing okay? No, my brain's okay. I'm taking my time. I'm listening to my body. That's all that matters. That's what I tell my kids. Listen to your body. Listen to your body. And then I'm also going to do that with my smoothie. That's right. And you can't. Don't let any. That's what I tell my kids.

[00:33:37] Don't let anybody bully you into not listening to your body. Let's get to the way. Did you find any images? What do we got there? I mean, I said generate. I mean, I don't know if that's yellow card, but this is what they. That's not yellow card. Does that guy have long hair? It's not Ryan Key. I don't think this is them either, right? I don't see a violin anywhere. There's a violin in that band. That's the whole point. Guys, this is why I stick to Power Rangers in my musical taste. Did you do yellow card one word? Did you do two words like a soccer?

[00:34:06] I did the musical group yellow card in the 1970s. I didn't think they would know what the way home was. That felt like it could have gotten dicey. Okay. Hey, let's get to the way. What is what we're talking about? What in this episode? May this go away? What? I'll start with you, Ryan. The show really expects too much of us. Now, Brady is a character that I remembered, but this is now. But so go me. Right. But so often, this season especially, I believe we chatted about this last week.

[00:34:33] Unless you're binging this show, you're not going to remember who the majority of these people are. Correct. Correct. And they just really are putting a lot on you. Now, maybe Brady, like I said, isn't the best example because he's been in five or six episodes. But they just keep doing this. And again, like, you know, I feel like the prime example of this, I believe I also admitted to this last week is I really like 1970s Evelyn, but I couldn't pick modern day Evelyn out of a line. No way. Like, you know, it's like.

[00:34:59] And so it's maybe something to think about on the showrunners, on the creative teams part going forward. The ultimate, just to piggyback on that, the ultimate, you know, mythos show like this is Lost, right? Like of our generation. It's Lost. That's right. Lost didn't do this. With the budget they had, when they introduced a character that was new, they took a lot of time introducing a character.

[00:35:24] And if anybody had the ability to introduce characters willy nilly, it was them like, and they had a bunch of characters on Lost. This is wild. We have not earned this many characters, like not even close, right? No, I don't think so. I don't think so at all. Yeah. But hey, I know to any young adults listening, this is important. Noah just declaring himself Alice's boyfriend in front of her father without him having actually any.

[00:35:54] Now listen, it worked out for young Noah, but this is wrong on so many levels. If you're young and in love, don't do this. All right? I just want you to know that it's not the way, you just can't call yourself somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever. It's just not how it works. Don't do it. It's doubly bold to do it in front of their parents for the first time. I mean, doing it at all would be lunacy. They tried their best to make it a very cute, adorable scene. He said it and was sorry, but Ryan's point still stands.

[00:36:22] It's a move for sure. Yeah. Don't, don't do that. Can you, Brian, you called it a secret door earlier. Can you really call it a secret door? Wasn't it really just like a piece of, wasn't it like a piece of wood? Yeah. Like, you know, that fell. Like. No. It wasn't like you didn't need to like pull one of the, like the, the books on the shelf. It wasn't any of that. Well, the, the, the Ouija did the work. The hard work. The Ouija did the work. The Ouija did the work there. They did Ouija. And then we do the work is the name of our Ouija board podcast. Well, that's actually, that's actually my next day.

[00:36:51] I book is the Ouija did the work. We did the work. That's right. And the last one. It's actually just about a little fun, little cartoon guy. Yeah. Hey everybody. I'm here to do the work. Bazooka. That's a sketch. That is bazooka. You're right. Del literally says to Alice, quote, that summer was about me and Colton. This is when they're really mad at each other. Well, Del's mad at Alice. That's so this happened in like a 10 second span. That summer was about me and Colton.

[00:37:21] And then about 10 seconds after that, in that 10 second span, she goes, are you trying to say I was selfish? Right after she said that summer was about me. They've made Del so unlikable. The majority of this season. It's really one of, and that's just kind of like an arbitrary example, but hard to root for anybody other than Alice. And honestly, 1970s Evelyn at the moment on this show, which isn't where you want to be. You want to be rooting for most of your protagonists. Great. Thank you. I got a few. Thank you, Ryan.

[00:37:51] Thank you, Dan. Thanks, Bram. Elliot joining. Thanks, AI. Thank you, AI. It's one of the biggest things this show's ever done. And it wasn't intentional. But Elliot's standing over there and just being like, oh, he just looks at the key and he gets it. Yeah. That's all he needs to do. It was funny. Like his face. It was all funny to me. And do you think Evan Williams, who's a musician in his own night, saw that young Colton got a tight 10 to start the episode? I didn't want. I didn't at least want. He was like, this guy got a set. He's an opening act.

[00:38:21] You're going to have to let me play piano on the show. Yeah. Hey, Ryan, if you throw a birthday party, how many happy birthday banners is too many banners? Here's what I tell you I wouldn't do, Bram. I wouldn't put one in a different room where the party was not happy. That's right. This party has so many happy birthday banners. I think it's got four. I think it's four. And I think one feels good. Yeah. Right? One feels good. You see it. You're like, yes, it is a happy birthday.

[00:38:50] Four is too many. It's too many. Four is too many. I don't know how many is too many, but I know four definitely is. You're like at the TD Convention Center, maybe four, but in a house? Yeah. One in each corner of the concourse. And last but not least, so they read this song and somehow it gets them to the summer thing. That's stupid. Which I don't really, like, I'm listening. I'm like, I feel like I'm pretty locked into the song and I'm just kind of like, I don't

[00:39:19] know, like, what are they freaking out about? And it gets them to Google and they do the Google and it turns out it's real. The 1816 Summer of Sadness. Yeah. It's the year without a summer. But we can go Summer of Sadness. Summer of Sadness. Summertime Sadness. Summertime Sadness. That's what the song's about. And they read it. They look it up. Right? They know what's happening and that's what makes them go, we got to go back. We got to tell everybody, you know, it's only for a summer. It's only a summer.

[00:39:49] It's only a summer of sadness. It's not a forever of sadness and death. So they jump in. They get out and they see, you know, sun's having a tough time out there. And Kat says, the sky. What's happening? Kat. Kat. Kat. You know. That's why you came. You literally went back. You caught a scene.

[00:40:14] You came to tell everyone that what's happening isn't the thing that's happening. It's not the apocalypse. And she gets out of the pond and she's like, what, what, how'd you forget already? But how'd you forget about the thing that you saw that made you go? I need to time travel. So you time traveled and then you forgot. Did you forget why you time traveled?

[00:40:43] I was very confused as to why they decided to include the line, the sky. What's happening? I was, I was very confused. I was very confused. Dana. I just want to be very clear. No adult should ever say to a child ever lurking comes naturally. And that, that, that happens in this television program. He, he, Brady literally is like lurking comes naturally, I guess. No, no, no.

[00:41:12] Well, he said it to Jacob, not a child. Oh, my bad. Jacob's not a child. For what it's worth. Oh, he said it to another adult. He said it peer to peer lurking comes naturally. It's probably just not something you want to say in general. It's probably just strike it from the record. Yeah. Don't say it. He said it to a peer that appeared out of nowhere after. Yeah. It's a double lurk situation. It's a double lurk. Yeah. Lurking comes naturally. It just is what it is. You know, I'm just born to lurk. Baby, I was born to lurk. Yikes of bikes, man. Bazooka. Yeah, dude.

[00:41:41] Listen, we don't have, Weegee, if we, if we, if we play the bazooka clip one more time from Weegee. Then Ryan loses a whole bunch of money. He's already sold the rights, the voiceover, all of it. Who'd you get to do the voice? Of Weegee? Gilbert Godfrey, correct? The ghost of Gil- It's an AI project. It's an AI. It's an AI. It's all possible. He's actually, little known fact, Gilbert Godfrey is the first voice that AI generated. Wow. That was number one on the list. Bazooka. Yeah.

[00:42:08] Did you know that AI Go, if you re-scramble those letters, spells Iago, which was voiced by Gilbert Godfrey. Gilbert Godfrey. I'm sorry. That's so stupid. That's true. Do the math. Do the math, yo. So stupid. So I think my biggest hurdle of this episode is why does Cat give a flying you-know-what if they sing that song around the campfire or the piano or whatever?

[00:42:37] Like, they break open that song and they're like, we're going to sing the song. And she's like, no, dear God, sing any other song. What is she thinks going to happen if they sing the song? The rapture? Like, it's, she knows about the 1800s. Jacob knows about the 1800s. No one else in there knows about the 1800s. Maybe a little bit Alice and Elliot just from them telling. But the song, which she thinks is about her a little bit and Thomas' love for her, none of, that may not be true. We don't know if that's true. She thinks it's true.

[00:43:06] We don't know if it's true. There's nothing explicit in there where it's like, I, Thomas in 1814, loved Cat from 2024. Like, why does she care so much? Why is she so nervous that they're singing this folk song from 1816? I think it was more as she was hearing the word, she was concerned about what was happening. Before they start singing, Bran, she's already read a lot of the words and she goes, no, please don't sing that song. Like, she's very nervous they're singing the song.

[00:43:37] I don't understand. What's this? She doesn't like the song. She doesn't like the song. Please don't. Bazooka. Oh, no. Bazooka. No, guys, I need money. You need money. There you go. Go. So I cannot, and maybe it's just me. I cannot imagine my grandparents or anyone's grandparents speaking to their grandkids the way that Del spoke to Alice. I know that we have a time travel situation here.

[00:44:07] And I also know that it's not a normal familial dynamic. But she turns on Alice so quickly and, and grandparents just naturally see the best version of their grandkids and clearly a sensitive subject for Del, but she turns on her like a full villain and it is crazy. I couldn't believe it. I like if she decides to get angry later, I think it makes more sense.

[00:44:36] That was tough, but I've got one more and this is important and I need your help. Brand. I need your help. Right guy. The last scene of this episode made me laugh and it's just Thomas in the woods. And the reason it made me laugh is not because I didn't want to see Thomas. I think once again, team Tomcat over here, I think Thomas and cat are the best, the best chemistry, best everything on this show. So what made me laugh was, is we've established church building here.

[00:45:03] If you're watching on Philo and we've established cat and Jacob here. Then we have a shot of Thomas somewhere in the woods. Where, where can he triangulate where they cannot see him? Maybe he's, but he can see he's behind them. He's behind them. I don't understand like it. Now we're in a weird Spider-Man aiming guns.

[00:45:29] Like you can't tell me you can have one person in the woods looking close enough to where the person not in the woods can make eye contact with them. As soon as you add another person in the woods, that's also there and can't see the other people in the woods, but they can both see the thing in front of them. There are a lot of woods out there gang. Like there's a lot of wide open space. Do you think Thomas was, do you think Thomas could see her? I know. What was Thomas looking at? I think he was looking at the church. You think so?

[00:45:58] I think he's five feet away from her. I think they're right here. There's a few trees and then there's Thomas right here. And it was hysterical. You could have not shown him. You could have shown him somewhere else in hiding. You showed him in the woods and it was just very, very weird and hysterical to me. And, and I needed to point it out. Dare I say, dare I say lurking comes naturally. Lurking comes naturally. You know, you know how it goes. Boys will be boys. It's time for Hopes and Valleys. It's where we're talking about bazooka.

[00:46:28] No, no, no. No, no. Bazooka. Weegee. Sorry. No, that's gilly. Weegee. Sorry. Weegee. Sorry. Weegee. Uh-huh. Sorry. It's time for Hopes and Valleys. It's where we're talking about. Rock. Show me. Brand, it's time for sink or swim. What did I say?

[00:47:03] Hopes and Valleys. You said Hopes and Valleys. You know, so you know how, so it's a general appreciation. It's a general appreciation for when people have. Like pecking. No. Prominent pectorals.

[00:47:32] Oh, you love those peck packs. Okay. Okay. I appreciate prominent pectorals. That's not what you said. You said, I love the peck packs. Well, I do. Okay. Thank you, Esmeralda. Prominent pectorals. We can, I guess, get back to sink or swim or Hopes and Valleys. Go ahead, Ryan. God bless. Thanks, Ez. God bless you. So this is a double sink. Uh, and, uh, I saved it for here because maybe people have already gotten too mad at us this episode and aren't listening.

[00:48:02] Cause I'm going to make some people angry, but, um, you know, it's a, it's a singular sink for Elliot to not invite Emma over for dinner, not to talk about memory lane, memory lane. Wow. Memory lane. I've heard it all three ways. I've heard it all three ways. Hard to leave. Once you start saying it, it's impossible. It's, uh, I've heard it all three ways. It's like hotel California. Yeah. But, uh, the real sink here is people aren't going to like this.

[00:48:28] Uh, Elliot and Emma, Elliot and Emma have a lot more chemistry than Elliot and Kat ever did. People aren't going to like this. Like, you know, uh, like night and day difference. And, uh, we're probably never going to see Emma again until sometime in season five where they bring her back unannounced. And we're just supposed to remember Emma. The secret door to Emma. Should we make up a name for him? Right guy. Emmy, uh, Emmy it. Uh, that's terrible. Ella. That's not any better. Uh, I guess it could, I mean, it could be Ella. Ella. Elmo. Elmo. Elmo.

[00:48:59] It doesn't quite make sense. Na, na, na, na. Uh, but yeah, uh, Emma's going to miss her for the two seasons while she's gone. But for this one episode, her and Elliot really, really sang. When they go back to like, uh, just get the Gilded Age. When they go to like 1878 and it's like, I think Emma's been here. We're going to be like, who the F is Emma? Can't wait. Uh, Brian, I'll kick it to you. I, uh, I've seen, I've saw, I have a sink.

[00:49:25] So, uh, I alluded to it a little bit earlier in the season that the pond this season is being really kind. Oh yeah. And like bringing you where you want to go. And so like for a while it was like, you never really know where you're going to go. When you jump into the pond. Right. Correct. And sometimes, you know, Alice would pop up and it'd be like months later and it's like, well, now I got to catch up. Yeah. It was awesome.

[00:49:51] I am Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob. I, uh, shout out to those out there that, uh, we're big fans of Robert is Bob of season one of the late show. Robert Pattinson would, uh, records of vlogs in a tree and it's played by Jimmy Fallon. He would say that he's Bob and he would just say Bob over and over again. It was a twilight bit where Jimmy Fallon just thought it was fun to say Bob Robert is bothered.com. That's like two, a thousand eight.

[00:50:21] Yeah. So good stuff. But that, um, boys to men thinks that's a dated reference. Yes. That wasn't nice, but that was funny. This, this episode ends with them discovering the thing about the sun and then the pond being like, I got you boo boo. When it hasn't brought them to 1800s. Oh, you keep jumping and going to 74.

[00:50:48] It's been bringing you to the seventies pretty consistently, bud. So like I, I was fully ready for them to jump into the pond and for it to either not take them there or for them to take them somewhere else. And dadgum if the pond wasn't a good sport and just took them to the summer of sadness where they wanted to go. Uh, and so I, that's a sink for me.

[00:51:13] It's just, uh, it was an opportunity for us to reestablish that the pond is in control. And, uh, I think they've strayed away from the pond being in control a little bit. Welcome to season three of the way home where everything's made up in the pond. Don't matter. Yeah. Thank you. Take it away, Drew. What's that? So take it away, Drew.

[00:51:34] Uh, uh, my sink or swim is obviously a sink and it is, I am 110% sure that the fact that Elliot and cats seem to be having a falling out and cat seems to be really missing Thomas is because they don't know what to do with the season and it will not last at all. And that sucks because we could have been doing actual plot stuff in this time, but instead this is a, a division.

[00:52:03] It's a very, very minor detour where Emma's around for a couple episodes and we don't see her until the cliffhanger of season nine. Again, we don't like it is. I'm, I'm sinking so much on the fact that this is just what if now that they're living together, it's like, it's that conundrum. I think they named it where you, you, you ship the two leads and they get together too early and you don't know what to do. Like what? I don't remember what it was, but like, say what? I think it's from moonlight. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:33] With Bruce Willis and no, what's her name? Is it me more? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the show didn't do it anyway. Like that, like bones did the opposite. Whereas like they just are not going to have bones and booth together. Then when Jim and Pam get together in the office, the office isn't nearly as good. So what I said, this show is like trying to kind of play it both ways. And I am for sure 110%. He's, she's going to end up with Elliot. And I hate that. Like I am, I'd, I'd be, I'd really want to bet money.

[00:52:58] Not that we bet money around here, but I, I'd parlay that with a season nine Emma appearance right now. Season nine. I'm getting word that Emma is the pond. Emma is the pond. Which is crazy. That's why she doesn't, that's why she doesn't matter. That's pretty big. That's pretty big. It's like the Lakers mascot. That's right. It's Lake Erie with giant googly eyes. We did it everybody. Congratulations to us. Another one down. We'll be back next week. Yeah, we will. Another one. Send all your hate mail to Brandon, Dan at deck.

[00:53:27] I just want to say actually to Brandon deck, the homework.com. Dan, the deck, the homework.com. Shout out to the person who corrected me last week. I talked about how I think that Dell in the seventies is pregnant. And she was like, maybe already pregnant with cat, but mathematically doesn't make sense. That's right. So because she wouldn't, cat wouldn't be born until 81. We're always here for a correction. Cat wouldn't be born until 81. So I do stand by it. I do think cat is pregnant. I don't know where they're going to go with that. You mean, Dell is pregnant. Sorry. Dell is pregnant. Yes. My fault. Dell is pregnant. I think we're all on board there.

[00:53:56] But the math makes, obviously doesn't, doesn't support her being pregnant with, uh, with cat. Unless, I don't know. Unless she goes in the pond and jumps to 81 when she's nine months pregnant. That's an interesting. Interesting. Cause they'll do it. Oh, wow. On this show, they'll do it. They'll do it. That's tell me they won't do it. Interesting. Yeah. We're back baby. If that happens. Really? Literally. Literally. Literally. Literally a baby. Now that's not bad. Uh, also, and this is a weird time. We're forward baby.

[00:54:26] If you love, if you love the way home and you're hate listening to us right now, uh, it would be the way forward. Uh, if you love your love the way home and you're listening to us right now and you're just hate listening, you should probably join, uh, the Facebook group because. Bramble Jam plus. Bramble Jam plus.com. Double decker. We're the only three who don't like it there. Literally in the Facebook group. They all are angry at us every week and right. Rightfully so. It's their right to be angry. So, uh, please be mad at us. You might as well give us money. You got it. We'll be back next time. Until then.

[00:54:56] Merry Christmas. The whole books of Bramble Jam podcast is produced by Aaron Shea. What? For more information on deck, the Homer, you can go to deck, the hallmark.com for more information on the deck, the hallmark family. You can go to Bramble Jam plus.com deck. The hallmark is presented by Philo TV for a free trial of Philo. Go to Philo. TV slash DTH.

[00:55:21] 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.