The Way Home - S03E08 - Smoke on the Water (2025) ft. Ryan Pappolla

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_03] Hi, I'm Brian and I love The Way Home. Hi, I'm Ryan. I do a Way Home Podcast. I'm Dan and I also do that Way Home Podcast. This is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast.

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_01] This podcast. Man and Friends host this podcast. We hope you like this jolly podcast. Hi. That's my bad. Sorry about that. No. Real quick. I've been thinking about this. What have you been thinking about?

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_03] Well, Brian Harold has a really easy gig because he does. He gets to say a blanket statement. He gets to say, I like Hallmark movies, you know, and like and Jack's actually likes everything. And Alonzo gets to riff and Patrick's a lifetime movie expert.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_04] Alonzo and you were in the same boat. You guys both riffed during yours.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_03] Yes, but like, you know, no one forced you to riff though. That was a choice you made. Well, that's what I'm saying. I cannot lie to the audience or you or myself. And like, if I don't like something, I just can't. There was times here. I think I said I like ride 10 times in a row. What a dark era.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_04] That's a dark era. But also, Ryguy, I've taken the fact that I know that it's been a downer. A lot of Way Home listeners probably just who are big fans are just sitting this one out. And that's fine. I understand that they're not with us. We have people who email us and message us or say, thanks for giving this side of it because they are with us. But since you, I know you don't like it. And I know that I'm struggling. You know, I'm trying to even it out a little bit by just saying I'm on a Way Home podcast.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_04] I mean, I tried to I tried to be with you there when I could have just said I despise the Way Home, which, you know, at this point, we're pretty much there. Even that's that's obviously hyperbole. Most of the time despises a strong word. But yeah, it's fine. I appreciate you being honest and being true to who you are. I mean, Brian Harold likes everything every week. So, you know, there's that.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_03] But like, at least even if he doesn't like something, he can still he can still sleep at night saying that it's like, you know, it's a generalization. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Like I could have a bad flavor of ice cream, but I could still say I like ice cream. Yeah. No, I feel you. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Sorry, Brad. I didn't mean to hijack.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_07] Thanks, brother. We're going already here. It's time for what Ryan buy this week. Ryan, what you buy this week?

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_03] Well, I how are you doing? Last I heard you.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_07] $13. What was it the last up that you gave us? It was something like that. $13 and then a bunch of a bunch of points at least 100 bucks.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_03] Thank you. I got this. I got this in Nashville last two Christmases ago when we saw Boyz II Men in Nashville.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_07] So this doesn't count. But am I right? It was $13 and then $60 worth of points.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_03] Last update. Yeah. Yeah. Brand, it's not it's not been a great stretch. So here's what happened is that I got a new shelf. Oh, well, I shelf. Well, yeah, it's and I thought I had more product than I did to fill it. And I didn't. So I actually can look at it.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_07] It is so funny hearing you say that in front of what you're in front of. There's so much behind shoulder to shoulder.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_03] You guys have never seen the other side of the room. You guys have never seen this is only half of the room. You know, I wanted you guys to come down here for Christmas con. You're like, no, we got to eat cheese steaks.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_04] So like, you know, oh, my God, we were there for five days and you couldn't make it there one day. Don't give me that. No, no, no.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_03] So task and topic at hand. I've bought in a couple of I bought in a say it how you want to say it.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_04] Even if it's not a word in English. That's exactly right.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_03] Thank you, Brian.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_04] Earlier today, Brian said drinking.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. And now you're saying. Brian and I are one of the same.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_07] Like, you know, how do you expect change to happen if you always conform?

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. I mean, you know, you know, Brian and I are working on towns and making them. No doubt, brother.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_07] I just drank in the Kool-Aid. No doubt. Yes, you have drank in that Kool-Aid.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_03] Do you want to hear about the Dragon Ball Z toys I bought or not? Yeah.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_04] Bought in it hook, line, and sink.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_03] So I've bought in several. I can count actually right here. I'm looking right at them. I've bought seven Dragon Ball Z. Actually, nine. Actually, as I count now, one, two, three, four, eight. Eight. And. That was a roller coaster, bro. Far away. And I've also gotten big into Spawn. Are you guys familiar with Spawn? I know about Spawn.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_04] I don't know about Spawn. Yeah, a movie in the 90s.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. So it's a comic series.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_04] But he's actually a superhero.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_03] Yes. And so that's not for display, but I've gotten into that. So I've bought.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_04] You bought something from Spawn not for display? What does that mean? What's it for? Is it for the bedroom?

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_05] Hey, brother. Do you, man?

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_03] I bought a graphic novel of Spawn.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_07] How graphic is it if you can't display it?

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_03] Hold on. Hold on.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_07] Okay.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_04] Oh, here we go.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_03] King Spawn here.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_04] File it on TV slash DTA. Yeah.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_03] I just read chapter one a little bit ago. I mean, there's some cool imagery in here, but you get the point. So I've gotten into that.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_07] So that's just for reading, leisure.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah, that's for reading. I will. I will. I've become a fan, so I will eventually be buying product. That will happen. And then the other thing, I really do need to slow down because the 90s con wish list has totally expanded since the last night. Oh, boy. We talked about, you guys heard Urkel's going to be there. I heard.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. And so I was like, well, I have to get a picture. That was like a non-starter. But then I was rummaging through my storage unit the other day, and there's my Urkel doll. And I'm like, I have to have him sign the Urkel doll. And how about this? Even Alyssa thought this was great. I'm going to have him sign the window of the Urkel doll because I still have it in the original packaging.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_03] But the reason I was hesitant was because there's a little dent on it, and then I had this incredible realization. I was like, oh, my God.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_04] Sign it over the dent.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_03] I'm going to have him point an arrow to the dent and write, did I do that?

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_07] Oh, that's good. What if he says no?

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_03] No, it says on the That's For Entertainment website that it's just $30 extra for a personalization. So it should be good to go.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_04] So you're paying the $30 for him to write, did I do that? That's not personal. He's definitely said that in every episode.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_03] Dan, I don't know how it works. Maybe Jaleel and I will hit it off and cut me a deal. But I'm ready to pay $130.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_04] I don't think he's going to cut you a deal, man. I don't think he's going to cut you a deal either. Hey, remind us off air to tell you something else about Julia White. What a way to say it. That's right. It's all good. It's all good stuff. Okay.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_03] I can't wait. So yeah, that. And then I bought some more DC stuff. And so, yeah, listen, it hasn't. January was stronger than February, but life is a highway, you know?

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_04] Yeah. Sometimes you got to spend a lot of money on a spawn graphic novel that you're not going to.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_07] But the resolution was to spend less.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_03] Yes. I think I've spent less this year than I did last year.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_07] But how much does that got to do with dry January? Dryer January.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_03] Well, I think January was pretty dry.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah. But February, are you above what you spent last February?

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_03] I'd have to look. I would guess, yes, because none of these Dragon Ball Z toys were particularly expensive. And I've boughten those. God almighty.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_04] Can you just use the English words that we've established?

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_03] No, I don't feel right about it anymore.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_04] I don't feel right about it either.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_03] Boughten. Yeah. So, yeah. And listen, the shelf won't be completed anytime soon. But I actually, one item just came in. Alyssa grabbed it. And it's going to look completed in the next couple of days. So, I think I'll be able to chill for a good period of time after that. Because this is going to be an expensive 90s con. And I got to be mindful of that.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_07] I don't want to get into the weeds here. But what is the difference between it being completed and it looking completed? You understand that that's confusing, right?

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_03] Let me see if I can get a picture from where I'm at. I don't want to keep getting up. That's not good for the final audience.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah, but this is good stuff here.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_04] While you're doing that, I'll say, Ryan, when you said that Alyssa thought, even Alyssa thought this was a good idea, in my head, Alyssa said nothing to all the other ideas. And to this one, she went, oh, yeah, that sounds fun.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_03] Well, no. She thinks that the stuff behind me is a work of art. But she might want me to also stop making works of art. You know? Yeah. You didn't make anything back there. I don't think you can see. There's just a big empty spot. Okay.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_04] You're holding those things hostage. There couldn't be less room. Do you see that, Bran? I see.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_07] Sure. Okay. So what you're saying is you're getting something else and that's going to go there and it's going to look complete, but it's not complete.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_03] There's going to still be two spaces, but it's going to look symmetrical and it's going to look like it could be intentional design. Yeah.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_07] So why not just say that it is done?

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_03] Because it's not done. Because here, like, look, there's those two items on what's my right, probably your left. That's usually how that works. And at the moment, the front of the display just looks incomplete. It looks exactly like all the other ones. Oh my God, Dan. You always got to lift the gimmick, Dan.

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_04] Can you do this for me? This is not a gimmick, buddy. I would like it. Buddy, we're going to have to have a talk. That's a full case right there.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_03] Everything's fine.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_07] Can you give us – would you mind sending us some videos that we could maybe post on the social, like just showing off some of your shelves? Sure.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_03] I'd love to do that. Yeah.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_07] It could be – we need some sort of name for it, like a day of the week, like Ryan's shelf Saturday or something like that. You know, Saturday. Treasure Thursday. That's not bad either.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_03] Did I tell you guys I'm almost out of real estate on the wall, so I'm going to put some wall art in the closet as well just because that's – not immediately, but, you know, I feel like that way I can get more posters up.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_07] Now, your wall, when you say it's out of space, does that mean we can't see any wall?

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_03] No, there's still a lot of space at the moment, but they all have designated pieces of art that are going to go up. That's all going to be done by my birthday.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_07] But eventually, will there be no wall?

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_03] I mean, there's gaps, but like no –

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_07] Well, I'm just trying to figure it out because it seemed like, again, and we're not collectors, we don't know. It looked like the shelf that you showed us was pretty full, and you said it's not full yet, which makes me think that to you, full means full. There's literally no surface area left.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_03] One more picture or is this bad radio? Like, let's see here. Like, you know, so like there's like space there. Yeah. You know, but – Is there space there? I mean, a little more than I'd like, but I can live with it, you know? So, yeah.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_04] Dude, are you a hoarder? Are we going to be on A&E? No, no.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_03] I'm very organized, Dan. I'm very – no, I did a big reorg when Alyssa and I moved in here. I mean, these bins that are in storage are labeled. Yeah, that was the one – We don't need to get to it right now.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_04] So, quick timeout. If somebody right now had to come in there right now – In this room or where? Into that room that you're in and take one entire case up on your wall and take it for good. One of them. Everything that's jammed in one of those squares –

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_03] Jam's a little harsh.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_04] Jammed in one of those squares that you bought and they got to take them. Good. They got to take one square. Have to. Which square are you giving up?

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_03] Probably one of the Disney squares. Okay, which one? You're not happy about it. So, if there's two sides, there's one side that I would say the highlight of that is there's Jiminy Cricket, Zach Morris from Good Morning Miss Bliss, and Powerline. Oh, my God. And the other side is highlighted by Troy Bolton and Lin-Manuel Miranda from Hamilton because it counts for the Disney shelf because Hamilton debuted on Disney+.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_04] Those three things you said are quips from a Dennis Miller stand-up special. Those three things should not be up in anyone's wall.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_03] Well, I mean, I guess they're technically on the wall. They're in a shelf.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_07] Let's be careful the way we're talking about Powerline, first of all.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. Thank you. Who is that about? I don't even know what Powerline is. I mean, Brandon, those are just –

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_07] From the Goofy movie. Oh, that's why. I don't know. If we listen to –

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_03] Brandon, I like how you said from the Goofy movie.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_04] Hey, I'm talking here. The Goofy movie. Hey.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_03] I'll have to get back to you on that, Dan. I mean, the reality is the audience might not like any of this, and we've just wasted 12 minutes every week.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_04] I think they know what it is at this point, and they'd rather us do this than crap on the way home.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_07] We got to get to the synopsis. Let's talk The Way Home Season 3, Episode 8. It's called – Brian?

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_03] The Goofy movie.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_07] Oh, close. No, it's Smoke on the Water.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00] Smoke on the Water. Oh, I was so close.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_07] February 21st, 2025, and a little something like this. Jacob is telling Elliot, Nick, and Alice, the logical group that he would be talking to, about the day that teenage Colton showed up. They spend the day together. Colton tells him exactly what he has to harvest for the next couple years, and then we – that's it. And then we see Del, who is basically trying to figure out – she's really stuck on the fact that Colton kept something from her

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_07] that he can time travel, and it's bothering her. Back in the 1800s, Kat and Thomas are talking and kissing some more. It's kind of what they do. She's like, what am I even doing here? Am I just trying to get back at Elliot? And Thomas is like, I don't know, man. Like, why are you asking me? She's like, I just need some more time to figure this out. When she gets back to the present, she walks by Elliot's house,

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_07] and he's outside drinking beers with the boys, and they lock eyes. And she knows – or he knows that she time travel. And, you know, figure it out. Alice and Kat are talking, and Alice talks about how she believes that Casey is her kid from the future. It's messing with her a little bit. What's going on there? She walks outside as Noah is showing up and breaks up with Noah. Tough day for Noah. Catching strays.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_07] Kat is working through the archives because she still works there and is trying to go through all of the stuff that Casey worked through to see if we can get any clues here and notices that Casey signed their name KC, the letters KC, not Casey as like in the Sunshine Band. Yeah, Casey in the Sunshine Band. So that's interesting, huh?

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_07] Alice travels back and talks to Colton, and he sings her a song that sounds a lot like a song about, you know, like diving in a pond and traveling. But he comes up with some sort of, you know, excuse for what the song is about. So Del is still grappling with the fact that Colton knew about the pond, and basically her big question is like, he knew about time travel, knew about the pond, and watched me mourn the loss of my child. That's pretty brutal. That's tough.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_07] That's a tough thing to grapple with. One that I hope that no one has to go through. A cat.

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_04] That spawn is not for display. It's just not right here. It's not right here from my heart. It's going to be displayed.

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_07] A cat tells Elliot. A cat tells Elliot about the kiss, and then promptly goes back to the 1800s to kiss Thomas some more. He tells her about that Susanna. It's been three months. Susanna is in trouble because people are, you know, really mad at Cyrus right now. I think they're going to light his house on fire. So she goes to rescue her. Cat is back in the 70s for some reason, and she records a track with Colton. They sing together,

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_07] and then he plays a song that he wrote for Del and didn't get to play for her before she left. The song makes Alice cry. Back, because it's good. Not because it's bad. It's not like, oh, so bad. That'd be really weird. Back to the 1800s, Cat catches up with Susanna, but then they're captured and brought to Cyrus. Cyrus found the painting of my Catherine and knows that Susanna has been protecting Cat since 1814.

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_07] So what do you say about that? He's very mad, and he's going to take the angry mob to the farm and burn it down. Alice gets back to the pond and finds Evelyn face down in the pond. Face down in the pond. She said, it doesn't work.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00] She said, I can't talk about without her. What's her last name? I forgot their last name.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_07] Landry? Landry. Thanks. It's a fin factor. Thank you. Thanks, Ryan. It's a fin fire factor. Evelyn is, you know, she's like does some poetry, and Alice is like, no one likes your poems. So that's sad for her. Back to the 1800s, Susanna and Cat try to warn them to leave, but they don't leave. So the house catches on fire. Jacob is stuck in the fire. Someone drags him out of the fire. Who is it?

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_07] It's Colton. Colton drags him out of the fire. Then he runs away. He's like, what? He jumps into the pond, comes back out of the pond to where he came from and is upset. He then sees Alice walking to the pond, and he's like, what are you doing here? And she's like, what are you doing here? And then he's like, is the farm okay? And that, my friends, was The Way Home Season 3, Episode 8, Smoke on the Water.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_01] I've got enough emotion.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_07] All right. Dude, nice. Nice job. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back, and we will break this episode down here on Deck the Hallmark. Welcome back, everybody. It's Deck the Hallmark. It's Brian. It's Dan. It's Ryan. And we're talking about The Way Home Season 3, Episode 8, Smoke on the Water. Let's share our thoughts on it. I think we should call it

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_07] the hot take because I want these takes to be hot, hot, hot, scolding, if you will. Ryan, what did you think of this here episode?

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_03] I think I've unearthed the problem. Oh, wow. You did it?

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_07] Here we go.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_03] I think. I think. The fundamental problem that I have right now with this show because I thought that this week was exponentially worse than last week, whereas last week I gave it a passing grade. All right. But I believe the show thinks that they are giving us a lot every week. And whereas at least the sample size of us three, sure, a lot of things are happening,

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_03] but we don't feel like we're ever getting any answers or anywhere even remotely closer to, you know, some semblance of, you know, any type of footing on any of these questions that we've had since season one or any of the ones introduced in season two or any of the ones addressed in these here eight episodes. But I think the show thinks that they're giving us big reveal after big reveal every week, whereas in reality more stuff just keeps happening.

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_03] I didn't even have this in my notes because I didn't even really put it together until late last night. You know, one of the things I really liked about last week was nearly nude Sam hinting at being a villain. I love that. And then I realized nearly nude Sam isn't in this episode. Not even a little bit. Like, and it's not a draft, like, the end of the episode, like, Alice is all over this episode and there's all that stuff last week with Casey and the necklace and Alice chasing after her.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_03] Not a fleeting mention of that. That's really bad. It's really bad. Yeah. And so, like, did I think this episode was as bad as that brutal three-episode stretch a few weeks back? No. Was there way too much stuff in the 1800s? Yeah. Was it a little more palatable in the 1800s because of all the Tomcat stuff? Yes, until they literally just retreaded, basically, the White Witch stuff that they did two weeks ago. and all of that time

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_03] could have been put to use to build off some of the momentum that at least I thought they built last week. So, was there a positive with at least, Bran, as you mentioned, with like, at least Del being like, man, that would be pretty messed up if Colton knew about this time-traveling pond and didn't say anything about our, you know, kid who I thought was dead for the last several decades. Yeah, that's good plot development. I just dropped my water bottle. But nothing else. Should have brought

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_04] in a backup.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. Nothing else even remotely in that vein in terms of actual plot development happened. And if I'm being really honest, Bran, it really made me angry.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_07] Yes, I do understand what you're saying and I think that it's a valid point. I think the thing that season one had going for it was that it was, it seemed so focused, you know, on the one thing. Ultimately, even though Alice was going back to 99, it still felt focused on basically what happened to Jacob, you know, and it felt focused and it felt like we were all going somewhere and it was all in the same direction to one point.

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_07] And the last season and this season, it just feels so much more disjointed and scattered. And the problem that I have with the scatteredness is I don't care about where we're being scattered. I don't care about the 1800s. I don't really care about the 70s. And I only care currently about present day, which is where we're spending the least amount of time. And so that's tricky for me because I still

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_07] want to be all in on this show and I'm just not all in on the places that we're spending the bulk of the time when it puts me in a tough spot, puts me in a tough spot because it feels like I should be really into the show when I'm just not right now. I'm kind of just like, oh, here comes. I used to be like, oh, here comes another episode of The Way Home. And now I'm like, here comes another episode of The Way Home. You hear the tone difference?

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_04] I do hear the

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_07] tone. It's really good. That's like something that you can't teach. It's something that you just are born with. But that's not what I'm talking about. I just am like a little, I'm a little bit frustrated because I just, it feels like we lost focus last season and we haven't gotten our focus back. And that's where I'm at. So, I'm bummed. I'm disappointed. But I still believe,

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_07] I still believe in your way home. Shout out. And that's

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_04] where I'm at. Dan? Yeah, I think the thing that I'd love to get across this week that I don't think people who are really enjoying season three believe is that I desperately want to love this show. I really, really do. Like, what they did in the first season of this show still is the benchmark for Hallmark. I mean, we've watched Holidays, Mistletoe Murders, they're great. The benchmark for what Hallmark is capable of is season one of The Way Home. And so, that's why this is incredibly disappointing. I've thought about saying

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_04] something for three or four weeks now that I'm going to say this week, which is, I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, but just to show you, I want this show to be good. When Calls the Heart is currently using their characters better than The Way Home. And I think this is one of the worst When Calls the Heart seasons ever, and that show is not nearly as good as this show. This show is so much better than When Calls the Heart. But When Calls the Heart has a cavalcade of stars. They have so many, so many characters, it's crazy. But you know what?

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_04] I have no doubt what those characters are doing, what their arc is. this show is determined, as Ryan said, to just try to give you some sort of shock or mythology piece every week. And if you can learn anything from shows like Lost, every week isn't a mythology week. Every week isn't a let me add to the grand back tapestry. Some weeks, even in Breaking Bad, even in Stranger Things, some weeks are more character

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_04] developments than they are serialized mythos. You can't keep doing this and expect the same result. You can't have a twist ending to every movie and expect us to, like M. Night Shyamalan ran into a problem on his fourth twist ending. You're on episode 28. Guys, you can't keep adding characters and adding twists and expect us to keep caring at the level we cared about when Jacob was lost at

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_04] the carnival in episode six of season one and Alice was a part of it. It's going to be diluted. And Wind Calls the Heart has never been good, but they know how to use all their characters. The Way Home has been great and doesn't know how to use their characters. Poor Del. Poor Del Landry. They have done everything but write her well in the last two seasons. I just can't get

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_04] over how bad she has in the first season every week had a 1990s banger and had a very specific focus on why time travel mattered and why certain people couldn't know about it and what they were trying to accomplish. What we have now is a full mile-wide inch-thick

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_04] hodgepodge at one point brain and I were flummoxed by the reference of a character that is not on screen nor have they been in a long time and I don't know why they matter at all and I'm sure somebody out there is like well they matter because of this reason and blah blah blah sorry you lost us you just did and we love this show so this show is dangerously close to becoming the way home when calls the heart with time travel a show

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_04] with a bunch of characters who can we bring in what are they going to do this week but none of it matters it's very close to being on like the way I'm season one on the other end of the spectrum from when calls the heart but they're both starting to track back towards this weird thing where it's just a show with a lot of characters where nothing matters and I hate that and I want them to fix it because I desperately want to care and I desperately want to love this

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_07] for all the feels we're talking about what in this episode gave us feels right guy

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_03] yeah Sadie Laflame Snow she's really good on those harmonies Bran I'll kick it to you great on

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_07] the harms such a quick great on the harms yeah I mean I guess the only thing that really gave me feels was you know you talked about frustration with Dell and fair but her time travel and watched me mourn the death of my son and didn't tell me that's messed up and I appreciate that someone finally said

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_07] it

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_04] and it's been messed up for 28 episodes it's been messed up since we thought it was a possibility that Colton could time travel yes been messed up been messed up been messed up I appreciate that she said any sort of hope and that's why it's so stupid that Dell doesn't know about the pond time travel until now because it makes everyone a terrible human being that has been traveling and looking for her son without telling her you're 100% right it made me literally angry that they tried to write that I was not

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_04] the fact that they wrote that scene now and tried to make it like justified really made my blood boil I did not like that at all and that's as close as I had to any feels here brand the harms were nice though thanks right

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_07] the harms were nice let's take a quick break we'll come back happy to be positive we'll get to the way what and sink or swim here on deck the hallmark

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_01] we're back

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_07] how are those those harms sounded really good dude

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_03] oh you were by yourself I harmonized with myself

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_07] instead of instead of singing we're back I went we're back that's good and so if you listen on a regular

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_03] that's right it was beautiful thank you

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_07] let's get to the way what so we're talking about what in this episode we're going wait wait wait wait wait wait what right

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_03] Colton 70s Colton I believe in the early goings says in relation to time travel the time I spend here is equal to the time that I'm gone except the show has shown us explicitly this season that that is not true that that is no longer the way the pond operates like they have gone out of their way to show us that that's not how that works this season and yet he's so like

[00:30:16] [SPEAKER_03] I was trying to give this episode a pass until that specific moment and then I was like that's so ungodly stupid like they like so that bothered me what

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_07] so wait what happened that made you have that realization in this particular episode

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_03] about that not being how it works anymore yeah yeah brand all season they're just like they go back to present day and then they're like oh well you know what I want to jump back to 1800 on Tuesday at 1212 and that's when they jump back it's like it's like there's been so many moments this season where it's this was the first episode because they had to do it for the plot where Kat's like I've been gone three months every other time this season they've been like oh I know I left but it's only been about 20 minutes right I mean like

[00:31:05] [SPEAKER_03] that's been every episode

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_04] yeah yeah I think that they would get by on the they would say well the people jumping whatever time it is where they jump from is the same amount of time of when they're there however long

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_07] however long you're it doesn't hold

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_03] any water no pun

[00:31:23] [SPEAKER_07] however long you're so however long she's in the 1800s how long it's been in 2020 that's right so when if she spends the night there

[00:31:31] [SPEAKER_04] she spends the night but I don't think that even holds up if you watch it doesn't watch this season yeah I don't think that holds up

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_07] I'm just saying him being like it's been three months does while it was so odd because it hasn't been that way

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_04] Paul's been doing them solid all season

[00:31:48] [SPEAKER_07] that was what I said a couple weeks ago Paul's been so cool so cool this season and I appreciate it but yes your point is valid

[00:31:56] [SPEAKER_03] thank you this treehouse a symbol of their youth was the only place that cat could think of to ostensibly dump Elliot she's like this is the only place I could think of to have a nice quiet chat this place where we have so many fond memories the only place she could think of to have a really tough conversation I'm also fairly certain

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_07] it's not the first time she's broken his heart in that tree tree tree tree tree

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_05] house and tree fort it gets really close to tree fart and then if you catch yourself you say tree heart you just said broken

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_04] his heart so you didn't have you didn't have a snowball's chance in a house to get done that

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_06] tree house tree fort heart break tree fart

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_03] heart I don't know what you want me to do I'm only human the all right so this is like genuinely maybe the strangest scene I've ever seen on television I believe it's what you referenced a few minutes ago Dan this scene of Nick comforting Del

[00:33:18] [SPEAKER_04] yes thank you good god we can camp out here the next 20 minutes for all I care

[00:33:23] [SPEAKER_03] I won't say so honestly I'll give you the floor but you said we haven't have we ever met Claire like if we

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_04] either we've never met her one time last season I think that's it that's it

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_03] I'm like we've never seen Nick and Del together Nick

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_04] and Del hanging out by the pond common commonplace here on the way home Del won't jump in the pond she won't do it Nick is talking to her and Nick puts his arm around Del normal and he says this line which is a game changer he says don't worry I'll never tell Claire was that was that a risk would that ruin things I can guarantee you

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_07] that Del has given Claire zero thoughts she didn't know she had to worry about now you've opened up a whole new well of things I have to worry about

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_03] Del's upset that her husband lied to her about almost murdering their child for three decades but Nick's like you know what just don't worry about Claire the thing is

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_04] is that when he said that I won't don't worry I won't tell Claire I immediately looked at Brandon who's Claire and we found out it was his ex-wife but I'm pretty convinced we've never seen this character which means this is what scary is if we've never seen Claire and I'm sure way home fans will

[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_04] seen even worse how do we make sure that the viewers remember Claire I know we'll have Nick meet Dale by the pond put his arm around her and go don't you worry I won't tell Claire which is just but my

[00:35:26] [SPEAKER_07] my do you do who is she do you know because I think she is Nick's ex-wife are they back together but I thought that's what happened last season I thought he left to go make things right with Claire I

[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_03] gotta be honest I pay attention when I watch these episodes but after the whole gong show thing I've tuned Nick out

[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_04] Nick is Nick is going to become a huge cog in this wheel and he's going to be the cog in the wheel somehow and I'm going to be incensed I just he just wants to go grab a beer and then the scene by the pond with Dell before he

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_07] he left town this is my best of my memory fart the best I can remember he left town for a long time married a woman named Claire came back last season like has Dell ever even met Claire how

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_04] well does Dell know Nick it makes zero sense why Nick would be comforting Dell and why then he would bring up his ex wife that Dell maybe have not seen since they were in high school

[00:36:59] [SPEAKER_07] listen nothing makes me happier than when people correct us on the

[00:37:54] [SPEAKER_04] serious and important. And I, the, the most diehard way home fan who was an apologist for the show. We have people who defend Nick all the time, even in the YouTube comments, please tell us that you like that scene and why I want it. Like, I want to hear it because some of this stuff, not for me, that seems not for anyone. That is a bad scene of television. And I want to hear someone go, I liked that scene. And here's why I don't want to hear somebody go. Sure. That

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_04] scene wasn't great, but the rest of it, I loved fine. Fine. I'll grant you that. I want to hear somebody say, here's why I liked that scene. Here's why it's good. And I, and tell me why I'd love to hear that. Cause it is bonkers. It's been, I can't get it out of my head. It's a crazy scene of television. And I'm so glad you picked up on it. I'm not going to talk there. I'll never understand the ways of the pollen. Thanks. Number nine on the call sheet. Really appreciate your opinion on the pond. I don't know if you know, nobody knows. Now I really, I know you're really going through

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_04] it right now, but just know, so am I. Two things you need to know. I'm going through a and B, I will

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_03] not tell Claire. We're not going to put Claire through what we're going through right now. She doesn't deserve that. One more for actually, you know what? We maybe have seen Claire before. Cause I do remember saying Claire bear last season. So keep that in mind. I actually do believe that

[00:39:12] [SPEAKER_04] that might be a clue. I think we've seen her once very briefly. I think Reddit's wrong and I think we

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_03] have seen her, but it's not been important. No. Uh, one more, this is important, uh, because, uh, you need to be able to protect yourself and Jacob goes back into this house that's on fire to grab the almanac and unexplainably closes the door behind him. Like, like give yourself a fighting

[00:39:36] [SPEAKER_04] chance to get out of there, pal. You know what they say about fire safety. You want to contain that fire in an enclosed space with you inside it. You don't, you don't want to have a easy route out.

[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_03] No, you want to open a hot doorknob. Yeah. So, uh, brand that concludes my, uh, contributions.

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_04] I think even spawn himself would leave that door open. Yeah. Um, what I, what I love about that

[00:39:59] [SPEAKER_07] though, is that he goes back to save the almanac and it's like, I mean, you, you have access to all the information that was the only copy of that bad boy back in the present. You could, you could find it out. Um, Jacob's never had a beer before. And I say that as somebody who doesn't drink beer, but Dan get show the people at home on Philo, how he, uh, this is how I described it. He's grabbing,

[00:40:29] [SPEAKER_05] he's grabbing only skinny part of the bottle with little T-Rex hands. And that's how he got his chin

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_04] on his chest. Yeah. Trying to swallow a briski. He's never had it before. That's incredible.

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_07] He's having a hard time with bottle. I don't know when glass bottles, cheers everybody. Uh, but yeah, I don't think he's ever had it before. Uh, I can't stop thinking about the fact that 1970s Colton could have been played by a Palaha child. Yes. And it, it frustrates me and now I'm finally saying it. Pick any of them. And I, I'm this kid. Great. You're doing a swell job. Could have been a Palaha and a shout out to the Blaha children. You guys

[00:41:09] [SPEAKER_07] could have done this. And I just want you to know that I would have cast you if nobody asked. It's good. Nobody asked me. And, uh, I just want to talk through something that happened. Cat tree fart, tree fart, tree fart, cat shows up back in the 1800s, goes to talk to Susanna and she is in her street clothes, right? She's in, and this is problematic. And they talk about

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_07] it. They're like, we got to get you changed. Before she can change, someone finds them to take them to Cyrus. When, when she then is in front of Cyrus, she is in 1800s guard. Yeah. And it's so super cool of him to give her the time to change her clothes to give like, I don't understand what happened. She was, they were like, Hey, we got to get you changed.

[00:42:05] [SPEAKER_07] And before she could change, I even went back and look to make sure that I wasn't crazy. She is in present day clothes. They find her, they take her to Cyrus. He, she is now in 1800s garb. And I don't, I don't know what, why that would happen. I don't know why that would be the way that it is. You would think if, if he's like, Hey, she's a witch and I want to, and I want everybody to know that she's a witch. One way that you could make sure that everybody knows she

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER_07] might be a witch is that she's not dressed like us. She's not from here. Um, but for some reason, then before she gets to Cyrus, she has now changed clothes and I don't understand. It's wild. I don't understand what happened.

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_04] Especially when Colton at one point goes to the 1800s, no one questions his garb at all. No one's like, where's that shirt from? You see a belt? That's crazy. Um, Hey, is that a wrap on Nick? Is that like his last scene in this episode, all episode he's carrying half of the, is it a key chain bracelet that he and Alice shared? And you keep seeing Elliot clock the thing and you're like, is he still like, like have feelings for Alice? 17 year

[00:43:15] [SPEAKER_04] old Alice. That's weird. And then he's like, no man, my mom gave me this. I wanted to give it back to Alice. So he gives it back to Alice and then he's like, I'm out of here. Is that, is that it? Like, is that, is he, it's, it's one of the, if it wouldn't have been for his scene with Dale, this would have been the weirdest scene of the, uh, of the season where it's like this whole time we thought he was kind of creeping on a 17 year old. And it turns out he just has been having it on his, he has this thing on his key chain that Alice gave

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_04] him all episode and it's clearly been close to him. He just want to give it back to her and say goodbye. And then that's get back to Claire bear. And then he, he do, who he won't tell by the way, he would never, he would never. And you need to know that Dell needs to know that. Um, and then he deuces out and it's like, is that, did they cut and go, that's a wrap on Nick everybody? Like what? It is a very weird. I mean, I hope that Nick is done. I hope he's done. I don't think he is, but they wrote a finale

[00:44:12] [SPEAKER_04] scene for him. Like that is his entire character arc. I was in love with Alice as a teenager. It turns out she was a time traveler. I've come back. I've seen her now. That's a wrap. I, right. I like, I was just crazy. Um, and then I have one other

[00:44:30] [SPEAKER_07] one and this is a pretty big one. Can you really quickly imagine if Dell walks into her room and we see that she has like a murder board and in the middle of it, it's just the

[00:44:38] [SPEAKER_03] name Claire. Oh my God. And a big font circle. That season five premiere season three finale.

[00:44:45] [SPEAKER_04] Unfortunately, we're in. And then lastly, Cyrus Goodwin leads a mob of angry people, uh, to, to the Landry house to, I guess, burn it down. And this mob of angry people, throngs of people, pitchforks fire. Not a, one of them has a gun, not a, one of them. You know, I know that is because Thomas shows up with a gun and points it at them and they all back up. So one gun pointed at 40

[00:45:13] [SPEAKER_04] people, all 40 of them are like, better not tested. He can reload that thing in 60 seconds. Um, you were in 18, 16, 14, whatever year it is. He has a gun, not a single one of these angry mobsters brought a gun with them. Not a one, not Cyrus Goodwin. No one brought one gun to a firefight and he's winning that thing. No question about it. And suddenly the people in 1800 are afraid

[00:45:41] [SPEAKER_04] of someone with a gun just a couple of weeks ago. Jacob shows up. Didn't matter. Didn't matter. They were just like, Oh, that's guy in the gun with a, it's fine. It's guy. He can't do anything.

[00:45:49] [SPEAKER_07] That's how he's dancing as he dances. Uh, it's time for sink or swim is where we talk about when this episode made us sink or, or swim. Yeah. Uh, Brian. Yeah. Brand buddy. I'm sinking

[00:46:03] [SPEAKER_03] because, uh, everyone in the 1800s is always peering behind trees and bushes and, uh, it happened twice in this episode alone. One guy. I don't even know. I'm talking about though, right? Yeah. I think it was one of the guys that didn't bring a gun to the gunfight. Uh, and, uh, I think it's twice this episode, maybe 10 times the season overall. There was the one time that Dan very astutely pointed out that Thomas was just, you know, uh, hiding behind

[00:46:32] [SPEAKER_03] something, even though it couldn't have even possibly been where he was supposed to be. The geometry doesn't work. Yeah. We have to stop this. Uh, and you know, we have a lot of problems here on way home season three, but this may be the biggest brand. Uh, yeah. So I'm,

[00:46:47] [SPEAKER_07] I listen, I know that I'm discouraged and I know that I'm frustrated. We got two episodes left this season. We got two episodes left and this is make or break for brand. I feel like I've, uh, I, I've been pretty two episode probation from brand. I, I've been pretty, uh, kind of an easy boy. I'm an easy boy. And I believe that this show can work its magic in these

[00:47:14] [SPEAKER_07] final two episodes and I will be back on board, but I'll say this, I'll say this right now and I'll say it's right to you. If in these two episodes, if I leave this season and I'm still discouraged by the way in which the show is going, I probably won't wipe my hands of it, but I'll think about it. It's a really adjusted. I'll do it. Yeah. And I'll still come back next season. I'll do it again,

[00:47:39] [SPEAKER_07] but, but I'll be, I, I, I, they, this show can do it. I believe that they can wrap things up in such a way in the next two episodes that will give me hope for the future. So my hope for the future is the fact that I think that they can give me hope for the future in the next two episodes. I think they can do it. I believe in them. We'll see what happens. You're sinking. No,

[00:48:03] [SPEAKER_07] I am swimming that, that I won't be sunk, but there's the sink. I, I could, I think I'm going to

[00:48:10] [SPEAKER_04] learn how to swim. I don't know. You're going to learn how to swim. I, I gotta be honest. I can't believe we're through episode eight and there hasn't been a we're back baby. That's how bad this has been in the last five episodes for there to be nothing worthy of a brand we're back baby

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER_07] tells you just how bad this show is. Let's just see if Nick tells Claire, dude, if Nick tells Claire

[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_04] we're back, son of a B he said he wouldn't tell Claire. Yeah. Um, yeah, I'm all sink this week. I'd, I'd love to find some glimmer of hope somewhere and I've just don't have it. Um, what they, my biggest sink though is, is, uh, poor Andy McDowell. They have like her character and her motivations and who she is as the Landry matriarch is in shambles. I just can't tell

[00:49:03] [SPEAKER_04] you the original thread was cat and Dell had a falling out and she hasn't spoken to her in almost 20 years. And, and that was such a great thread about like healing generational trauma. And now like Dell is just whatever they needed to be. They are writing Andy McDowell last right now. And it's, she's the best actor on the show and she's having deliver lines that are just unfortunate and I hate

[00:49:31] [SPEAKER_04] it. And I don't, I just don't have any hope. Last week I was swimming that she was the bad guy. And this week I just don't have any, I got nothing. It's real bad. Dan, imagine that going from,

[00:49:42] [SPEAKER_03] uh, in a one week span, Dell is the big bad to Nick and Claire. Oh my God. I can't, I gotta be honest.

[00:49:49] [SPEAKER_04] Every time I think it can't get worse, the Nick and Claire, there's no way that episode nine has anything that this episode, they won't be mentioned. I do think this episode is not as bad as a whole as the three, that three up stretch, uh, whatever that was four or five, six. But agreed that scene as bad as anything in those episodes. I think like that scene is like exponentially bad. It's all time bad Hallmark in my, it's all time bad Hallmark. Yes. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed.

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_07] I would have did everybody. Congrats to us. Brain is drunk. We did it. We did it. I'm drinking my beer. Like, uh, like my boy Jacob over there. My bottle's too big. I can't, I can't,

[00:50:30] [SPEAKER_04] you can't even do it with that. He has got to go chin to chest first. Chin to chest. How do you drink it? There's no way. Uh, we'll be back next time with another one. It doesn't, he's so cool. Yeah. He's so cool. He doesn't want people to know he doesn't like beer. And so he does this. He's like, Oh, this is a good one. Yeah. But he doesn't actually drink

[00:50:48] [SPEAKER_07] any. He poured most of it out. So he doesn't actually get any in his mouth. Yeah. It got in my mouth. Yeah. Uh, come on back next time. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. We got two more episodes left. So come on back everybody. Two episode probation. Two episodes. Uh, until then we're the first to wish you a Merry Christmas.

[00:51:04] [SPEAKER_04] Deck the Hallmark's a Bramble Jam podcast is produced by Aaron Shea. 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.

[00:51:29] [SPEAKER_07] 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.

[00:51:47] [SPEAKER_02] Bye.

[00:51:47] Bye.