The Way Home - S03E10 - If You Could Read My Mind (2025) ft. Ryan Pappolla

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Brian and I love The Way Home. Ryan, I like The Way Home. I'm Dan and I'm bittersweet about how I despise The Way Home 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. Hi. Hi everybody. We've made it. Boy, what a journey. What a journey. Another season. Here we are. We find ourselves.

[00:00:38] We are at the pond's edge once more. Yes, yes we do indeed. You know what's tough is the smoothie when it is at the top and it gets on the lid, I can't tell how much I've consumed. You can't tell by the weight of it? I can tell by the weight of it. It's one of the dumber things he's ever said and I know we've got a long way to go and we've got a lot to talk about but it's one of the fundamentally dumber things that brands ever said. What I mean is I know that I haven't had much but I feel like I've had more than I can see.

[00:01:06] Why do you need to know so bad? Because someone makes me insecure about how slow I consume beverages. Is mine done? Yeah. It's done. You didn't need to do that. I could have opened and splattered still. There's still remnants in there. Remnants? Remnants. All I have to say is happy smoothie day to everybody. Hopefully you're doing well. You too, man. Ryan, how are you, buddy? I'm good. I'm good.

[00:01:30] I feel like, you know what, after nine straight weeks, I don't have a ton in terms of the eBay of it all to provide here. But that bit's probably old, right? It's probably an old bit now. Well, people love that bit, right? And it's not a bit because it's real. I think we need to point that out. But second of all, I think we have plenty to talk about. I think we're going to have a lot of big feels, a lot of big feelings, a lot of big opinions. But also, you've not bought anything? Really? No, I've bought stuff. I've bought plenty of stuff.

[00:01:56] Well, I was going to ask, so for people at home, you were sick last week. Rest in peace, obviously. Rest in peace to his sickness? A lot of things can happen while you're sick. Thank you. You're left to lay in bed all day. And occasionally you think to yourself, well, I guess I should check eBay. And then one thing could lead to another. And then things could get out of hand. But you're saying things did not get out of hand. No, I bought, I'm looking here. I bought like eight, nine things. I just don't know.

[00:02:26] Like, you know, I mean, I. None of them are cracking the necessary barrier of being interesting enough for the podcast. This was before I got sick. But I think that this is good stuff here for everybody on Philo. These are three cutouts from 90s TV guides. You're going. A TGIF promo. Oh, hey, that's Ben Savage. It is. Yeah, that's the original Savage. How about that? Going to have some fun, show you how it's done. TGIF. Is the Urkel dressed as a nun there? Yep. That's pretty good.

[00:02:56] Yep. So I bought those. And you paid money. This wasn't a barter. You paid actual money. That was with shipping included and tax. Got those for five bucks, which I thought was incredible. Somebody is waking up laughing. They thought it would never pay off. You know what's crazy? To hold all their old TV guides. Like, I'm sure between the two of us, we have things. Yeah. But I would never think, okay, let's take the three pages from TV guide and put them up.

[00:03:25] Here's my thing is I have like 20,000 baseball cards. If I spent any time doing this, I bet I could make some serious money. You know, cards are back. It's cards are back. I actually found some when my parents were moving. I found some cards that I think are worth a good deal of money. I actually texted Rye Guy about them and he was like, you need to get those graded. And as soon as he said that, my brain shut off. I didn't know what he was talking about. I didn't even know where to go get the cards graded. So you start at kindergarten.

[00:03:54] Yeah, cool, man. You start at kindergarten and you work your way up. They're still just in the plastic. They've not been graded. But the graded versions are worth like $1,200 and $1,500. I got like six of them. So graded is just when you take it to a place and they say it's good. And they put it in the case. They give you the condition of one through ten. They slab it for you. They put in a slab. That's right. It's higher and higher better. Higher is better. Yeah, yeah, yes. Higher is better.

[00:04:23] Less smoothie means you drank more. And then like. But how can you tell? How can you tell? Yeah, it's a good point. Between the weight of it and the lid, there's just no way. See, now you know what? I know what? I just peeked open and I have had less than I thought. The weight can only tell you so much. The weight. You're spilling on the other end. Listen, the weight. You're spilling on the other end. The weight doesn't tell you the whole story. Bran, Bran, listen to me, damn it. You're spilling on the other end. Spin it around. You're spilling on the other end.

[00:04:53] Tell you the whole story. There's more to it than weight. Absolutely. All right. And then, yeah, then you sell them for big bucks. Yeah, five dollars for the TV guy. Listen, those are getting framed. I bought frames this weekend. How much did you spend on the frames, Ryguy? So I actually got pretty irritated about that because Michael's, who always has deals. Yeah. I bought four frames.

[00:05:18] I didn't even bother to look for signage because I'm like, surely it will be buy one, get one, buy one, get one half off. Oh, no. Nothing. Nothing. So you know what's crazy about Ryan is he really wants a deal but also spends his money on utter garbage. No, it's not. I mean, I'm not buying Bran's smoothie lid. I mean, like, you know. If he licks it enough times, Ryguy. Would you be interested? I mean, Bran, if you get it graded, we can talk. Yeah. Go get it graded.

[00:05:47] How many times would I have to lick this lid for you to be interested in purchasing it? How much can I pay you to go get these cards graded for me, Ryguy? Next time you come down. Here's the thing, Dan. This is the thing. It's like, I don't get stuff. Actually, I'm trying to get one comic graded right now, and it's still just sitting with my comic shop owner. It's taken months. Oh, no. And so it's like, this is why I buy things. I don't sell things because it's too much.

[00:06:10] That Power Rangers helmet, which could probably fund, like, you know, my unborn child's first year of college, I'll probably just be like, take it to Duke and see what they say. I don't like, you know. Is this what you're doing with this? You're collecting stuff to fund your unborn children's college? That's what I tell one specific person. Yeah. Dude, you know what's crazy is my parents aren't listening to this episode. Oh, you can go right up there on North Pleasantburg. Catch them all. Really close. Catch them all right there. I haven't been there, but I've seen it. My dad. I lied. My wife's been there.

[00:06:39] It didn't seem like a necessary. No, it wasn't. But they didn't want to lie. Especially just straight interrupting me trying to tell a story. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. I've had a family member go there. My dad would make excuses as to why my brother and I collected so many baseball cards to my mom, and he would always say this is going to pay for college. And instead, I just have all the cards. So, I mean, they are worth something, but they did not pay for- They could pay for your kid's college. I guess. It's paying for a college.

[00:07:08] It seems like more of a fun money situation. It doesn't seem like a college. To me, it seems like a- You don't know that you haven't gotten them graded. Yeah, but even if it's $50,000, I feel like that's fun money, not college money is what I'm saying. Oh. Do you know what I mean? Fair. It feels like take a trip. Time to strike is now, Dan, because who knows? Cards in two years, are they still hot? Like, these are the things we have to watch. Time to strike's now, but I got to get- Erin has volunteered to get them graded, so I mean, I'm going to hold her to it now. So. All right. All right. Well, there you go.

[00:07:37] Well, I feel like we accomplished a lot here. I think so. Shall we talk about The Way Home? Yeah. What are you talking about? We're just making plans. You guys make plans. How about I read this synopsis? How about that? The Way Home, Season 3, Episode 10. And it is called? Finally. No. Ryan? Dan, I was going to say finale, and now it just sounds like I'm done, so I don't have an answer to the question.

[00:08:06] If you could read my mind. That was my next guess. If you could read my mind. A Hallmark Channel. And it went a little something like this. The episode starts with a full montage showing Alice traveling back to the 90s for the first time, the moment from way back in Season 1. She meets Colton, and when he hears that she was swimming in the pond, he's immediately suspicious of her.

[00:08:33] He remembers that she is the one that he met back in the 1970s. Back in the present, things aren't looking good for Jacob. Charges may be pressed against him for the attempted arson. I mean, they have him on tape. They're going to have him on tape. That's tough. Potentially attempting arson. Present day, Alice goes back to the 90s to see Cat and Elliot play mash together, something that she learned about in the present from her mom, and she's excited to go back and see teenage Cat and Elliot again.

[00:09:02] Afterwards, she heads back to the pond to go home. As she's about to jump back in, Colton stops her and says, you are who I thought you were, and I let you off the hook. The same Alice from the 70s. It's you. Thank you. She warns him not to ask any questions. She tells him that the 70s were an amazing time, and she will cherish them forever, and then she jumps back into the pond. Elliot shows Jacob the thing that he found, the clock at 7 o'clock.

[00:09:31] It turns out it's a pendulum. Jacob says, I feel like that, going back and forth between times. He's like, all right. Elliot then looks at the bottom of the clock, and there's words. It's crazy. Never noticed it. Elliot then gets some mail from his dad, and inside is the ring that he took. Alice is back at work looking for a tape recorder to play some of Colton's old recordings.

[00:09:57] When Max shows up, they both talked about how they didn't hate the kiss. Jacob goes to talk to Danny to apologize for using his garage code at work when he was attempting to arson. He tells Danny that he's already done enough to him and how he doesn't know the truth. And Danny's like, what do you mean I don't know the truth? He's like, well, just that, you know, like for so long, you didn't, you thought it was your fault. The whole, you know. Danny's like, you know what? Scram. Get. Leave. Get.

[00:10:35] He's like, you know what? He loves Del. They play it for Del, and she asks them to take her back to him via the pond. The three of them jump into the pond together. Del and Kat pop up together, but Alice is nowhere to be found. We see that the pond took her somewhere else.

[00:10:59] As she gets out, Colton is there and says, Jacob fell in the pond, didn't he? We then see earlier that day, Colton figured it out when he went to go visit Evelyn and saw the painting of My Catherine. He recognized the painting and the person in the painting, and he knows that it is his daughter who time traveled. And also remember that she and adult Jacob were there when he traveled back to the 1800s at the fire. He figures out that Alice is his granddaughter.

[00:11:30] He tells her all of this and gives her his sweater. She tells him that Jacob does make it home, but he figures out that he won't be alive to see it. He figures out that he is going to die. Alice jumps back in the pond to leave. Colton decides that he's going to give it a shot, too, and he jumps in, hoping to see his son one more time. Alice gets out of the pond crying and takes off Colton's sweater, leaves it in the woods.

[00:11:59] It's the same one that Elliot will find that found earlier in the season. The pond worked for Colton. He watches his family the night of the summer kickoff. He finds Jacob in the barn, and he tells him to remember that I love you no matter what happens. Alice realizes that she's not back in the present. Rather, she's back to earlier in the season, for lack of a better explanation.

[00:12:23] She runs back to the pond and past Alice sees someone running. You remember this from earlier in the season. Alice watches herself running towards the pond, and she realizes that this is the moment when someone pushes her in. No one does push her in. She realizes that it must be her, so she pushes herself in. Casey arrives at the Landry farm, talks to Jacob, and says,

[00:12:49] Hey, I've got some documents, some hidden documents, including Susanna's will, which proves that Lingermore actually belongs to the Landrys. Casey says that this document should stop any legal proceedings and should also stop the letters that Del has been getting, letters that Jacob didn't know about. Kat and Del end up back at Del's wedding in the 1970s.

[00:13:13] Kat encounters Crazy Grandma again, who is once again talking about the 65 and 25, and she's hinting that more is to come. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it means it hasn't happened yet. In the present, Casey crosses paths with Alice near the pond. Alice says, I'm your mom, and Max is your dad, and Casey is like, No, you're wrong. Alice says, But are you a Landry? Are you also a good one? What are you? Casey replies, I don't want to break any rules.

[00:13:43] And off they go. As they all have returned home, Alice tells Del and Kat all that she's learned. Del realizes that Colton was going to tell her the truth that night that he died, and Kat realizes that he knew that she was indeed his daughter the night that she saw him and he died. In the final montage, Jacob finds the mysterious letters that Del has been getting.

[00:14:10] Del comes home to realize that Jacob has once again gone missing and has left his letters scattered on the table. Sam calls Del, and she tells him that Jacob is missing. Sam says that he's going to be okay. He just knows that he's going to be okay, and he is staring at the pond as he says it. Kat confesses her love to Elliot, and he reveals his mother's letter that he found, which includes a mysterious T.S. Elliot quote.

[00:14:36] They realize that Elliot's mom didn't mysteriously leave when he was a baby. Rather, she is a time traveler. Cut to the baby in the basket. Two people standing at the pond. They place a letter in the basket, and then they jump into the pond. Someone then finds the baby in the basket and brings the basket to the Landry Farm. Knock, knock, knock. Open it up. It's Colton and Del. Baby Catherine is there, and they bring the baby in. Are they going to be one big happy family? Who can say?

[00:15:06] And now my friends was the way home. Season three, episode 10. If you could read my... We did it. Nicely done. Well done, buddy. Hey, man. That is some of your best work. Oh, stressful. Some of your best work. Well, some of your best work. That's as good as you've ever been. I like that it just became bullet points there at the end. That was an artistic choice and an inspired one. There's a lot to get to. Let's take a break.

[00:15:32] We'll come back, and we will get to the episode and our thoughts on it. Here on Deck the Hallmark. Guys, I've got to be honest with you here. Because you said it's some of my best work. I can't take full credit for this. You can't. I felt so stressed out about having this synopsis correct. Oh, you're going to come clean. That I cross-referenced with Megan and Wendy. I said, hey, can you send me your notes?

[00:16:02] I want to make sure that I got everything right. And I feel like they are the type of people that really pay attention. Now it's all checking out. That seemed like such an airtight synopsis for me. Yeah. I couldn't believe it. Thank you. Shout out, Megan and Wendy. Shout out, Megan and Wendy. Who are doing the... Believe it. Thank you. Who are doing the... Yeah, thank you. Thank you. It's not my work. Thank you. No, it's a majority of my work. Thank you. It's not my work. Thank you. It's a majority of my work. Shout out to Megan and Wendy. If you get angry at us, you can go listen to them. They adore this show.

[00:16:30] And you're not going to hear near the same kind of criticism you're going to hear here. Although they'll be honest about it. That's right. Yeah. Let's talk about season three, episode 10. We're going to start with a hot take. It's where we share... We jump into the pond ourselves. And we come out and we say, here's my thoughts. Ryan, what do you think about the big season three finale? I've thought about this since the episode aired. I... You know, a couple of thoughts that have gone through my mind.

[00:17:00] It's not how you start. It's how you finish, right? Like, the end of the book is infinitely more interesting than the beginning of the book. They still have their fastball. Like, you know... Oh, my God. Like, and so... The White House still has its fastball. Yeah. I love it. Hey, doesn't mean they have their full arsenal of pitches. It just means they... Or they know when to use the fastball. Yeah. They lost their knuckler along the way. Knuckle curve. Gone.

[00:17:28] I really, really, really enjoyed this episode. I would go as far to say one of my favorite episodes of the 30 we've gotten of the way home. The big moments, all of which felt directly to season one, which... Yeah. I think made it really exciting for us season one enthusiasts. Yeah. Interesting how that worked. They were exciting. They felt like the ones that we had been clamoring for, the ones we had been asking for.

[00:17:57] I also give them a lot of credit. I did... I left one comment in the Double Decker Facebook group. It was this. Regardless of how you feel about the episode, I give them a lot of credit for taking all of these swings and for clearly whether a lot of these thoughts and plans had been concocted from season one, episode three, or season three, episode seven. They clearly had a big board and they said, we need to make sure we get airtight on this, that, and that.

[00:18:26] Any question anyone could have, they tried to address. Now, whether or not that anyone on this panel believes that all of that ends up being airtight is open to interpretation. Do you think they did that? Do you think they did that? I think they tried their absolute best. Do you think they did it? No, I think the timeline is still a bit broken. Okay. Like, you know, and that's... Or, you know, what I wrote down here is the timeline is shattered. Yes. Yeah.

[00:18:53] It was shattered beyond, like, recompense, like, weeks ago. Yeah. Maybe months ago. You know, and for the last time this season, you know, to bring Lost back into it one more time, granted, this isn't the series finale, two very different shows with very different catalogs, et cetera, et cetera. But the biggest critique on Lost, as I said a few episodes back, was they didn't even care by the end. They, there was 8,000 questions. They didn't even try to answer 6,000 of them, right?

[00:19:19] I give this show credit for saying there are six or seven literal threads that, you know, from season one on that people have a lot of questions about. There are such obvious questions, like, why didn't Colton tell Del and all these things? At least they tried to address those in this episode. I give them credit for that. But, like, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't work. Like, uh, like Colton, like, and this is like Colton, it takes him weeks to think about

[00:19:47] this time traveling pond as potentially the reason his son disappeared. Yeah. Um, any Jacob threads just don't interest me at this point. Um, and so that's not really on the writing or the plotting of the show. I just, you know, once and for all, I think I can say in an episode that I thought really slapped anything with Jacob for me really doesn't. I'm more intrigued now than ever as to who Casey is, but I'm also not totally convinced

[00:20:14] we'll get those answers anytime soon at the, at the clip in which they use the, the Casey character. Um, and there's things that intrigue me like nearly nude Sam potentially as the villain super intriguing. I don't know if that's what's going to happen from the end of it, that he could know. I think it's just me being hopeful. I think one of my big takeaways from this episode, Dan, is that there will never be a big bad. We all want there to be a big bad. I don't think that's what the show is trying to do. I, my takeaway was that, I mean, like he clearly helped Casey. I don't think Sam's a big bad.

[00:20:44] I think he's a big good. And I, I, that was super disappointing to me. Just another hot guy. Not telling Dell that he knows about time. That's going to stay. It's just a second one. Add him to the list. Uh, and so Dempsey guest story next season knows about the pond. If you can believe it, but not going to tell Dell. Damn. Can you go? Don't, if you can't do it, don't say it. Um, but so, you know, the last 10 minutes were great. Like in the episode was great.

[00:21:14] Like, so the nearly nude Sam stuff was great. And then the, the episode brand literally ends, you know, we haven't done force Fridays in a while. The episode literally ends like revenge of the Sith with the babies at the doorstep. I mean, it's Elliot, right? Like they say that out loud. Yeah. They literally, they literally reference him by name, but like literally a revenge of the Sith star Wars, like ending. I love the episode, but to go back to what I said at the beginning, I can't give the season

[00:21:41] a passing grade because the finale was really exciting. A lot of things still don't make sense. Most of the episodes this season, in my opinion, weren't very good, but brand a great 42 minutes of television a couple of days ago. We're back. Baby, are we back? I love this episode. I thought it was a lot of fun. Now, my frustration with this episode is that I've already talked about it, but as a synopsis

[00:22:07] writer, a very stressful episode of television because they are trying to do so much. They're trying to wrap up so much and they're going, like they were moving so fast that I sometimes had to remind myself to breathe. Like, Hey, take a second. Um, and just, uh, and just let, let it happen. It's going to happen. It'll all, I'll click in. Um, my big critique is that, Hey, you had all this good stuff in the old, in the old pocket.

[00:22:36] What if we is, uh, it's tough because the episode was so good. Was it so good because it had so much going on or because the stuff that was going on was actually compelling stuff that we could have spread out throughout the season? What if they didn't have it? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. What I do know is that there was so much in this episode that I wish that it wasn't all in one episode. Um, but, uh, it was a really, really fun time.

[00:23:06] It went by very quickly and it did feel like a series finale, uh, for a lot of the episode. And I was intrigued to see, uh, you know, what they would do with that. And then we find out that they're coming back with season four, which makes the ending of the episode makes sense. And so, yeah, overall, uh, great, great time. Really, really, really fun. Dan, you know, normally we record these right after we watched the episode. Uh, and we did not do that with the finale.

[00:23:34] We are doing it live for the Facebook group and we watched it and we sat on it for a few days. And I think that was really good. Um, because I had some time to, to process it. And I, what I initially wrote down was if this was a friend's episode, they would call it the one where they try to make it all make sense. Um, I, I, I will say this two brands points. It goes by the quickest. It 100% goes by the quickest. And the reason it goes by the quickest is because the first 30 minutes are all banger

[00:24:04] endings to season one. They're all things that go back to what we love about the show to begin with. Now, for me, as someone like this is an opinion, not a fact, but for me, if it's not earned, I don't care. And I don't think any of this was earned. I feel as though this show got very, very wayward, particularly in season three. And they wrote an ending because they had painted themselves into a corner and they wrote an

[00:24:29] ending for 30 minutes that allowed them to answer the big questions from season one and give everybody these very cathartic moments. Any scene with Colton and Alice is a great scene in this episode. Uh, they are doing Sadie LaFlam Snow is doing some amazing acting, uh, here and she doesn't always get the, the opportunity to, to show her range. So I'm not mad at that. How can you be mad at a show that was an episode that was as entertaining as it was? Was it earned? Absolutely not.

[00:24:59] It wasn't earned. Does it, does, did everything they do make it make sense? No, it did not. Um, the last 10 minutes where they try to set up another season should never have tried it. There's literally not a single storyline left open that I care about. Um, for, for varying reasons and we'll get into the weight, what, why I don't care about the Casey storyline, the baby thing, like all of these storylines, it was very evident to

[00:25:27] me that they made this episode as a series finale found out they were going to, they probably made two versions of it. They made a 42 minute episode where they do all of these big, uh, big answers to your season one questions. And then they end it with a very sweet, you know, notes or they have, they try to compress that to 30 minutes and they give you 10 minutes to want something new, but they basically are starting from scratch.

[00:25:52] Like all the things about Jacob and Colton and Alice and Kat and Dell that you needed to know that you had questions about in season one are all answered. All of them. The new stuff's about Casey and Elliot. And so you have to really want it at that point. And if you do, if you're bought in and that ending, like in everything worked for you in season three and you love season three, then I can imagine you being really, really happy with what happened here in the, in the finale.

[00:26:18] Um, it's the best of the season, but this season of television is not good. Um, you know, when calls the heart, which hasn't aired their finale yet in episode 11 of when calls the heart, Ooh, I'm just realizing that is not aired yet as of this coming out. Let's just say in episode 11 of when calls the heart, which hasn't aired yet. So it's still embargoed and I can't talk about it that even a show like when calls the heart

[00:26:42] is capable of providing you moments that draw emotion from you and, and they're capable of doing it. The way home is certainly capable of doing it. They have great actors and they have great characters from season one. And so there are some individual moments in this episode that work better than anything all season. It's not earned. It doesn't make up for the fact that for 95% of this television

[00:27:06] shows season, it wasn't good. It just wasn't good. And so, um, I'm happy for people that enjoy it. I am, I would have rather it been a bad episode with a fun cliffhanger. So I would have had something to look forward to as it stands. I have all the answers to the questions that were broken from season one that couldn't be fixed. I have as good answers I'm ever going to get about those

[00:27:30] and I'm good. I'm good. I don't want any more. I don't need any more. We're getting more. So there's that that's unfortunate. I would have rather had a bad episode with a good twist. And instead I got a good episode with a bad twist and that's unfortunate. Well, let's, uh, let's get to all the fields. We're talking about what this episode gave us feels right. Yeah. Dan, you, you mentioned it. I mean, Sadie Laflame snow and Jefferson Brown,

[00:27:57] who plays Colton. I mean, they just specifically the scene before Alice jumps like the goodbye. Like I, it literally made what for me has been a lot of a slog the last two seasons worth it. Like, I mean, both just, you know, a plus acting. Uh, I was watching with Alyssa. She was literally crying. I thought it was excellent. And at that point in the episode, I was like, oh, they're really going for it. They're really going for it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it looked at me and was like,

[00:28:23] it's working for me. And rightfully so it's a great scene. Yeah. I mean, so all of that stuff worked, but that scene specifically, Brian, I thought it was just dynamite. Uh, the episode, the, the, uh, you know, montage or whatever at the beginning of the episode set to a beautiful cover of the scientist. That was a real good cover. Real good cover. Uh, Dan. Yeah. I, I mentioned

[00:28:52] Sadie Laflame snow in her acting. I thought was as good as it's ever been on this program and it's never been bad. Uh, but also got about time feels. I mentioned that movie all the time. There's two scenes in about time that get you the same vibe as the Alice Colton stuff in this episode, but it's completely earned and they've, they've written a great film. And I love that movie so dearly. And it is, uh, it, it made me think of it. And so that made me happy and sad at the same time.

[00:29:20] I'll take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the way. What? And the sink or swim here on deck, the hallmark. Hello, we're back. We're talking about the way home season three finale. It's time for the wait. What is where we talk about? What in this episode made us go? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What? Ryan. So I'm no legal expert, but, uh, I'm pretty sure, you know,

[00:29:49] the first, uh, five, seven minutes of the episode, they're like, what's going to happen to Jacob. They caught him on film. I'm pretty sure that it would be like, it'd be like community service, right? It's, you know, like let's, I'm glad you brought this up. I think it would have gotten to you'd have taken it if he didn't like the, at some point they say the fact that he didn't do anything. They say this line, the fact that he didn't do anything doesn't matter. Intention was

[00:30:14] there. What is this minority report? It 100% matters. I'm just going to give you a little bit of a, of an insight as to how it matters in South Carolina, intent to commit arson, max a year in jail, max 2,500 bucks. First degree arson in South Carolina, minimum of 30 years in jail. So one of those things you're done for your life. The other one of those, you probably don't have

[00:30:40] any jail time. Yeah. It matters a great deal. He didn't do anything wrong. Did he intend to? Sure. Could he have to pay $2,000 fine? That is the, maybe it's the worst part of the first 30 minutes of this episode. It's, it's unbearable. It really, really bad. Sorry, right. Sorry about that. I mean, no, no, no. I appreciate it. So, um, I have a question on this next one and I really

[00:31:09] don't want to, I feel like this could become a belabored conversation. So hopefully I'm asking it when Alice pushes Alice, am I crazy for thinking that there are now two Alice's in time? Like, do you understand what I'm asking Dan? The biggest eye roll of the episode for me was Alice pushing Alice. Um, there are a few things here that don't work in this 30 minutes logically. And one of them

[00:31:32] is Alice pushing Alice. Uh, it just doesn't, it is not the, the, if there is one timeline, you cannot push yourself. Yeah. If there's one timeline, you can't push yourself and they've established there's one timeline. You can't do it. You're just one timeline. Yeah. I I'm interested to see what the, the showrunners would say about that. Cause I feel like I've clearly they thought they they've thought a lot through it. It would lead me to believe that they've

[00:31:59] came to the conclusion that this would make sense, but I don't know how it does make sense. And I also don't really know like why I don't, why do it? I would disagree. I think that our, the showrunners who we've had on this program and probably will not revisit, unfortunately, I would love to have them on again. They're wonderful people. I think they've thought a lot about character. I don't think they've thought nearly as much about this as you think they have. I think that it, it worked for the plot. And so they did it. I don't think that they thought about the ramifications of it because I think most viewers

[00:32:29] also don't care. I think most viewers who are me are, have stopped watching already. And so I, I just, but I don't think it adds up. I don't think it, I don't think it works. I don't think in one timeline, you can't push yourself. I think in multiple timelines, you can't. So yeah, because that was my universes. You can push yourself because you're different. But like also like, why? Oh yeah. It's, it's really, it was just not necessary. Right. I don't figure out who pushed her in. They had to get, that was the, the, that was a question

[00:32:58] they had to answer. But what was, what was, uh, Alice's thought process in pushing Alison? Yeah. Just that it had happened. She knows that it happened since no one did it. She feels like she has to, I guess. Is that the intention that happens a lot on this show and that never holds a ton of water? No pun. The best version of this, the best version of an answer that

[00:33:23] we got was Colton traveling back. What a few weeks to see himself. Right. Like that was the best answer we got that made the most sense from a timeline perspective. Um, Alice pushing Alice. I don't, I just, I can't buy it. I was pushing Alice. So they were really great back in the day. Oh dude, they were so good, man. Yeah. Like the early stuff. Um, Alyssa pointed this one out. I thought it was really good. Del never refers to Colton as Kat's father.

[00:33:52] It's always, I'm going to clear out the rest of Colton's things. That's right. She never calls Colton your dad, which is strange, which I don't have anything to offer other than that. It's strange, but it's strange. I've been alive 41 years. I don't think I've ever heard my mom reference my dad to me as his first name. I don't think she's ever been like, well, I was talking to Jay the other day. Never happens. Yeah. I think for most people it's the exact inverse of what happens on this show. Yeah. Um, you don't open your wedding gift right when it's handed to you

[00:34:20] without your significant other there. You don't open it right away at all, but especially not with your significant other, not there. Uh, I watch love is blind. I know that can get messy. Um, it was, uh, it was kind of funny to me. It's really beautiful watching Del watch her wedding. Um, but it was kind of funny to me that the pond brings Del back to the one moment that most people have

[00:34:44] filmed and actually can relive over and over. So right. What a waste of Del jumping in the pond for the first time. Let's bring you back to the one thing you definitely remember so you can watch it and go, it's just how I remember. That's embarrassing. That's so terrible. Just another bad break for Del. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh man. And then imagine if she shows up and she's like,

[00:35:11] oh, I already watched this the other day. That's right. I have a video of it. It couldn't take me somewhere else. I just converted to DVD recently. All of a sudden Del shows that she jumps in the pond and she's in the movie theater watching star Wars for the first time. It's like, I do remember this. Like this is the one thing every, every boomer remembers where they were when star Wars came out. I forgot what the second trailer was. So I guess that's cool, but like, you know, yeah. Um,

[00:35:37] and then last one, really one of the more important ones of the season. Why is Noah texting? I miss you in all caps. What's wrong with this guy? What's he doing? Why is he so angry? Like, uh, calm down, bud. Alice is having a tough time. That's it for me, brand. Um, I don't know how Elliot didn't up until this point, see the words at the bottom of that clock. Uh, that's like, like kind of covered

[00:36:01] by, by a dust. It's like, he's just now for the first time examining the clock that for the first time, not too long ago, he found that there's a thing hidden inside of it. You'd think at that point you'd really take a bottom, a good once over of the clock. Hey, maybe I'm missing something else. Uh, but no, it was news to him. Uh, classic Elliot. Um, I love, I just got a kick out of the

[00:36:25] fact that randomly in this episode, they put the date on the screen. Never. Yes. I'm like, I, you know, appreciate it as a watcher, I guess, but, um, maybe they could have done it. I, the whole show. I'm so glad you got a kick out of it. I got a kick. It made me, it was a full weight. What, but, but made me actually angry. Like the whole show. You never tell us that you don't tell us any of that. Since we don't know the date. How about we throw it on here just once? Just one time.

[00:36:54] It's the one time. Here's the text. Um, did Colton move out to the pond? Because when Alice comes back, I think it's for the second or third time. He's like, yeah, uh, uh, Jacob was in the pond, right? Was he just out there just waiting for the opportunity to maybe he would, uh, Alice would come back. He was there waiting for her. So I think maybe he like, he's been camping out there or something. I don't know how he was out there at the, at the right time. Um, my last one is the

[00:37:24] fact that she, uh, Alice was gifted, uh, a sweater from her grandpa to keep her warm. Please talk about this. Um, she then jumps back into the pond. She comes out and she says, I don't need this. I don't need this sweater anymore. Did my, did the, the, my grandpa who I never, who I never, you know, I know he gave it to me and I know he's going to die. I know he's going to die.

[00:37:55] Maybe I should, you know, hold on to it or something. No, I'm just right here. Soaking wet. I don't need it. Can you imagine knowing your grandfather's going to die and knowing that was your last interaction with him and get, and taking your grandfather's sweater off and leaving it on a rock. All of a sudden this show is worried about the weight of wet clothing. Yeah. She's so weighed down by this cardigan. She's like, I can't possibly, uh, Oh, stop. You've, you've been weighed down by

[00:38:21] clothes all series long, Dan. Uh, yeah, you, you and Ryan both took a lot of the big ones that we had to address. And I'm glad you took them a couple, a lot of answers that we get from season one. I really like some of the stuff that has never been explained and they explained it in this episode really bothered me. And mostly it is why Colton didn't tell Dell. Like we talked about this all the time. Why didn't he tell? And then we find out in this episode that he stopped time traveling

[00:38:50] and then he meets Alice and then he decides to time travel again. So he only time travels right before his death basically. Uh, and he says to Alice or cat, one of them telling Dell, what good would it do? Buddy? So much good. So much good. Hey, you know, we lost our son. Well, something else you need to know. There's a, there's a pond. I time traveled when I was a kid. I thought I couldn't

[00:39:14] do any more. Like aside from jumping in the pond immediately, which he didn't do. The number one thing you do is tell the person you love the most. I think maybe I can find our son. The, the fact that they wrote that out with one line was the biggest record scratch of this episode telling Dell, what good would it do? Uh, the other big record scratch of this episode is Casey finally giving some answers and then them going, who are you? And she goes, they go, excuse me. Casey goes, I don't want to break

[00:39:43] any more rules. What the F there's never been. Okay. Because I tried, I've tried several times throughout three seasons of covering this show to establish a rule of the pond. And aside from the fin factor or whatever it may be, every rule they established, they break everyone. And there's no penalty for breaking it. Like Colton is told he, you can't change the past or you can't travel anymore.

[00:40:06] That's not true. That's not true. So by tip for, if Casey were to tell them who they are, that wouldn't break a rule. The fact that she go, that they go back and they say, Hey, look, I hid this in the stove. Good thing. It didn't burn up. Hey, I did this. I did that. Sam helped me to make sure blah, blah, blah. Oh, who am I? I don't want to break any rules. Guys, you are what if you next season finale,

[00:40:33] write something into an episode that explains why Casey couldn't do that, then that's not good television. That's not how great television works. That that's how mildly diverting television works at its best. You can't just do that. And so that was unfortunate. But lastly, and my biggest one is this pond, we can now say with 100% certainty is old Testament God evil. Uh, it is not

[00:41:02] taking you to the places to have the fun times. Kat is 100% responsible for her dad's death. 100%. Alice is 100% responsible for Colton's for Rick's death. That like what we find out in this episode is, is not only did Kat cause Colton to wreck his car, but the reason that Colton was in the car

[00:41:25] to begin with is because he wanted to see Kat again. So if he doesn't go look for cats, we can at least extrapolate. He would be alive in present day right now with death. So all of this stuff that was great in season one about, you know, the choices we make and trying to rewrite history and living with consequences. All of that really is predicated upon Kat killing her dad.

[00:41:54] And that's kind of a dark place to live in. And I don't love that for us. I don't love, I would love for this show to be uplifting and joyful and momentous, but this is more like the prestige. Like the world is dark to its core. I mean, like that's what it is. And that's a downer. You're welcome. I love it. Personally. I love it. Uh, it's time. He said, how is Alice responsible for Rick? I may have been wrong on

[00:42:21] the name when Alice is in the seventies and takes says Colton, you ride with me. And then Rick dies. She keeps Colton alive there. So she, we, we talked about this during the episode. She's responsible for something in there. I may have been wrong about directly in their death, but yeah, take that out. If you need to something, something, something, something, something. Yeah. It's time for sink or swim.

[00:42:45] It's where we talk about what's your swinging and what's your swimming right guy. I'm sinking for the final time this season, because I've been a big fan of 1970s Evelyn all season, but I gotta admit it took me well into that scene. It's 2000 to realize that was Evelyn. I think right up until about, they said, uh, Evelyn, I had no idea who that character was. It was kind of validating in a

[00:43:11] way, because I think I've said several times this season that I wouldn't be able to pick 2000s Evelyn out of the lineup and at least if nothing else, an honest person, Brent. You said it, buddy. Um, listen, I think the one thing I am, I'm, I'm going to, uh, I'm going to swim and I am going to swim because I believe in my heart of hearts as I think we all do that. Nick is 100% going to tell Claire. I that's where I am. Nick's going to tell Claire. I'm just going to tell Claire. Do we get any follow-up? Nick's like, don't worry. We'll

[00:43:39] tell Claire. And then that's just a wrap on Nick. He didn't show up at all. In the last three episodes. Do I know the ramifications of him doing so? No, I do not. But has Nick proven time and time to get him to be a bit of a bit of a shady character if for no other reason than, you know, holding on to a love with somebody from 1999, even though you know that they're still, it doesn't matter. He didn't tell Claire. He's going to do it. Claire's

[00:44:08] going to be somebody important. He's going to do it. And I'm going to be there for it. I'm going to be there for it. Dan? Yeah. My sink was, you don't realize how much you miss good time party boy, Nick until he's gone. You know what I mean? Like let's get beers as an answer for everything. Showing up at the pond for sage wisdom, telling Claire, not telling Claire, uh, the biggest, like get out of here character. All of a sudden, like when all the answers are given, Nick is Nick isn't around. He's nowhere to be found. He's off

[00:44:36] doing something with somebody. Yeah. He's karaokeing it up. I also think I said it my hot take, but my sink is, is there's nothing left to care about. I, we got the best moment this show could possibly give us between Colton and Alice. That was it. That moment. If that happens in, in episode 10 of season one, boy, howdy, if that happens and we just get one

[00:45:01] season of television and with that scene, I mean, that's all time, right? That's the best scene we're ever going to get. Nothing that we find out can be deeper or more earned than that scene was to season one, in my opinion. And so got to sink. I don't care about the Elliot showing up at Dell and, and, uh, Colton's house. I don't care about Casey deciding not to break any

[00:45:26] rules and not telling them, you know, who they are. I don't care about that. That is not in my purview. The, the season one questions, we got the best answer. So now we're going in and the, I guess the best news is, is that the expectations couldn't be lower for me for season four. I'm also just genuinely interested now. I know that you are kind of out on the whole Casey and sunshine band thing. They've never made a less interesting character props to them for making a non-binary character and putting it, you know, in front and center. But I wish that character was just the slightest bit

[00:45:55] interesting, but what, what like show who is, who is, if Casey is not a Landry, but Casey is a time traveler, what, who is Casey and what does that mean for the, the, the rules, if you will, because it's clear that I don't, I guess it's not clear, but it seems like Casey time travels, Casey. I don't, I don't, it's very interesting. The best, the best puzzle box time travel shows give you the rules

[00:46:25] up front and then surprise you still. This show is very coy about the rules because every time they tell you a rule, they never established, like even that fin factor, you would agree with me that we're not a hundred percent that you have to be a Landry or with Landry to time travel. We think so, but we don't know. So right. Uh, we've never been proven otherwise, but it's a working theory of characters on the show. Of course. Yes. Based on, yes. I don't, I have a lot more interest in a show

[00:46:52] that tells me the rules up front, doesn't break them and still surprises me through character development and just good old fashioned drama. That's more impressive to me than just making it up as you go along. You know, the thing that's interesting about the, uh, about the, the fin factor, the FF, if you will. Yeah. The FF, of course. Is, you know, I, I did this whole thing about how I don't think that the, the rule that Colton thinks that he broke is actually a real rule. It clearly isn't. Yeah. But what if it, what it could potentially, it could be the only reason why he was able to travel

[00:47:21] as he jumped in right after Alice, who is, you were doing this with me during the thing. And I was like, that is such a stretch. She jumped in, he waited at least five seconds. Yeah. I think it's a plus or minus 10 boy. Plus or minus 10 boy is what it is. That's my understanding. Plus or minus 10 boy. So that rule is superseded by the travel with the Landry rule. Yes. Because if you remember Elliot, you can't travel in the pond. If you change the rules, unless you travel with somebody,

[00:47:47] then you can keep breaking. Well, that's what it is. Is that the workaround per capita per capita? The fact that we're doing this should tell you where we are in this show. Yes. Per capita. What we did, everybody, the season is done, which is sad because that means that we're not going to see Ryan for a minute or two. I don't know what we're going to do next. I mean, figure it out. Yeah. I do know that apparently a chick can sisters is going to be showing on the Hallmark here soon.

[00:48:14] So if you missed it the first time around, you can ever finish force Fridays. I think we could finish it. I think we could do it. I discussed it briefly. I mean, like, let's just find the window. I mean, the window might be here. I don't know. We got three left. Five. We got to watch Rogue and... Oh, we got... Yes. We got to watch Rogue One and Solo as well. My bad. Forgot all about that. So yes, that'll likely be where you see Ryan again soon. So come on back for that. Yes, Aaron?

[00:48:43] I would say finish Force Fridays when you can. We've been getting several emails about what other movie series we could do next with Ryguy. I think we're doing Mission Impossible next. Yeah. There's also been a James Bond thrown in there. I mean... But people want Ry around. Yeah, but I think... You can't, like, say goodbye to him because we might have a riot on our hands. A riot. A riot. I see what you did there. I mean, I think Mission Mondays is happening. Mission Mondays is happening. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah. Cool. All right. A lot to look forward to.

[00:49:11] Until next time, maybe we'll first wish you a... Merry Christmas! Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast. It's produced by Aaron Shea. What? For more information on Deck the Hallmark, you can go to deckthehallmark.com. For more information on the Deck the Hallmark family, you can go to bramblejamplus.com. Deck the Hallmark is presented by Philo TV. For a free trial of Philo, go to philo.tv slash dth. Okay.

[00:49:39] 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.