December 9, 2025 • 40 mins
Welcome back to the Balsam Hill House™, where the trees are pre-lit, the stakes are high, and the emotional regulation? Oh honey, that left the chat episodes ago. Episode 7 is the annual “Hallmark said let’s weaponize motherhood” special, where the producers pull every lever they have to make sure the men - and all of us - cry openly. And reader? Mission accomplished.
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Find full episode shownotes here: https://www.girlsgonehallmark.com/finding-mr-christmas-season-2-episode-7-mother-may-i-touch-your-hair-no/
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone
(00:23):
Hallmark or Hallmark Review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a
longtime Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater.
On today's episode, we are discussing Finding Mister Christmas season two,
episode seven, titled Mary Christmas Mom. We are regularly asking
you for your five star ratings and your reviews, and
(00:44):
I'd like to share our recent one that came in
because y'all have been so great with your ratings and reviews.
We appreciate you so much. From Laura, who says, I
really appreciate the extra info on the movie's cast, crew, etc.
The hosts are always so positive and fun should talking
about us. We're fun. I mean I just admitted on
(01:05):
a review that I'm like a level two and fun.
So and positive. Sure sometimes, Well, I think that's appropriate
for the show we're talking about now, because we say
all the time, we talk about the show like we're
paid to talk about it, right, which is not something
we're opposed to entertaining all offers the official Finding Mister
(01:29):
Christmas correspondence. Oh yeah, I would love it if you
want to keep up with everything from us. Y'all follow
us on the socials, especially Instagram. That's where we are
the most active, and we're Girls Gone Hallmark. Yeah. Megan
has just been like interviewing celebrities left and right over there.
It's a good time, I know. I thank you so
(01:50):
much for doing that, because it's my least strongest characteristic. No,
you're great at it. You just gotta own it. You
just gotta own it. Yeah, we've talked to some very
fun people. You can check out our website. Most recently,
we spoke to Daniel Lissing, who is in this past
weekend single on the twenty fifth, which I'm a big
fan of. End of him as well, and we walk
(02:12):
into the interview walk in. It was on zoom. Dude's
full blown Australian. I had no idea, did you know
the hardies are like, hey, dummy, I know, I know,
but I had never seen an interview with him. And
what's funny, I was telling Wendy, but he would be
talking about scenes with his character Cooper, and he would
(02:32):
slip into his American accent. I was like, that's like
a magic trick. Oh, well, that's funny. That's funny. Speaking
of interviews. We have another interview dropping today as well.
Once you finish up this episode, just roll right into
the next one is in an interview with Robbie Simpson.
Talk about a good time. Yeah, we had such so
(02:53):
much fun. All right, are you ready to get into
episode seven of Finding Mister Christmas. Let's do it. The
final four pen holiday cards to their moms before being
surprised with live reunions. Icon Sharon Lawrence guides them to
channel raw emotion into a heartfelt holiday scene supported by
(03:13):
the people who love them best. The top of my
notes say the one where everyone is crying all the time. Yeah,
including me. I know it got me a couple of times.
It got me a couple times, especially from a show
that I do expect heart from these shows too, But
the last six weeks prior have been such a fun
(03:34):
ride that this turn of events really took me by surprise.
No Crisco Mountain inside, None, No none, and let me
talk before we get into the episode. I didn't mind
this episode again. The tone was a little bit different
than what we have come to expect. But you know
what I'm missing from season one, I'm missing the improv. Yes,
(04:00):
that was so good. The dance challenge. Why don't I
have any memory of the dance challenge? Whitney from Dancing
with the Soul, the pro who was on there, Yes,
and Elijah killed it. Yep, she took them through a dance,
you know, because sometimes our Hallmark movies have dancing in
(04:21):
them and maybe you're not a dancing export. So yeah, anyway,
I wish like Survivor, where you get reoccurring challenges, like
fan favorite challenges. If anybody's listening, bring it back at
the Finding Yeah Finding, Mister Christmas Team, Like, I want
(04:43):
the Improv Challenge and I want the Dance Challenge, but
please keep in the slip inside Mountain challenge every year.
Love that It'll never not be funny to me. No,
no shade to Hallmark, but this letter writing challenge does
not land with me. Well, before we talk about the letters,
we do start with some casual cornhole and mild trash
(05:03):
talk up top trash talk. Yeah, they're kind of like
the guys are kind of clown on each other, and
Angel's like, okay, like we're in a Hallmark movie. Yeah yeah, yeah,
And then Marcus goes around and tells everyone what he's
learned from them. Which is nice, very nice, very if
you follow the pattern we've been following, and are they
(05:27):
giving us clues up top, I'm like ding ding ding,
Oh no, oh, no, Marcus, this is Marcus's special moment
jump to the workshop to the opening challenge that you
did not love, And I will admit it wasn't the
most dynamic of our festive face offs for sure. I
(05:48):
mean it was your Wayne's world. What's the line nuprin
little yellow different with the Hallmark card collaboration set up
all over the table all or I mean, look, I
get it's a I get it. I get it, guys.
But this episode was heavy on Hallmark and heavy on
Balsam Hill. Oh. There were some awkward Balsam Hill transitions
(06:11):
mid scene. It would just be like zoom in on
an ornament, cut to Angel and Sharon Lawrence talking. I
was like, wow, they had not reached their contractual obligation
for Balsam Hill shots in this episode. Apparently it's not.
I guess not. We'll get to that. The cards sprinkled
(06:31):
on the table and they're not laying flat. They'd better
be up in the back of the card so you
can see the Hallmark Crown look I get it. I'm
a Hallmark shopper too. I like their cards. Their card
game is strong. But I was like, okay, this is
what we're doing. I was I was just in a
Hallmark the other day buying ornaments and home alone plushies.
(06:52):
Did your Hallmark have the Tyler Hines cut out in it?
By chance? It did not? Last season they had a
Lacy Yeah it, shu did it. I saw that they
had Tyler Hines this year, but my local one did
not have it. You know, those workers are probably like,
I'm gonna take this homeworking. I would Could you imagine
(07:15):
my daughter has a cardboard Harry Styles in her room.
I would just put the cardboard Tyler Hines in the
in the loft. Do you remember our cardboard Barry Watson?
I do, yes. If somebody from Hallmark is listening, look,
I know I'm I'm bagging a little bit today, but
I would love a cardboard Tyler Hines. I didn't. I
(07:38):
could you imagine this podcasting but Tyler Hines in the
room for us? I think it's hilarious. I would love
if somebody could make that happen. That would be amazing.
Oh my gosh, dreams do come true. Put it on
the Christmas list. So the assignment is write a Christmas
card to your biggest super fan mom. Marcus is like,
(08:02):
I'm gonna I would I notice is he has a
rough draft, Like he has a pad of paper he's
writing it out on. Did you notice that? I didn't
notice that? And then Rustin, while Marcus is working and
we're on a time crunch, Rustin's like talking about the
cards his mom has sent him over the years. And
if I was Marcus, I'd be like, bro, I had
a focus right now, like being stop interrupted me. I'm trying.
(08:24):
And then Jonathan's like five minutes. And what I love
is Melissa walks around like a school teacher peeking over
their shoulders, like checking their work. Yeah, cute. I love Melissa.
And I was like, man, what are we doing here?
And then my brain was like, duh, they're gonna bring
in the moms. Hold up. I just had a thought. Hmmm.
(08:45):
If you listen to our review of an Alpine Holiday
last week, we talked about how we wanted to hang
out with Lucy Guest and Ashley Willing, Melissa needs to
be there too. We need to add Melissa to our
girl gang. Yes, one hundred thousand percent. Okay, carry on
the like. In the final moments of the challenge, Craig
mister Bold Decisions is back and he diabolical diambolicle, what
(09:11):
is he doing here? He slathers on lipstick and kisses
the card and Jonathan's like, oh, I was like, that's
not the reaction mister Bold swings. Oh my god. I
was like what that's Well, why was there lipstick on set?
(09:32):
Is my question? Well? Probably, well, you know the guy.
I'm sure the guys have makeup right, and there probably
was a makeup person, you know in the wings. Do
you think he just went and stole it from the
onset makeup artist who's there to touch up Melissa Peterson's lip?
He's like, I got a great idea? Can I To me,
(09:52):
it looked like he was going to the props table
that they were using for their cards. It just was bizarre.
I'm like, who's leaving a lippy out for you to
do this? Yeah? That was so interesting to me to
outcome the moms and nothing like these boys breaking down
seeing their moms to just wreck me. When Angel yells money,
(10:13):
I immediately lose it.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yes, I mean.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
This entire time I'm watching this going like, uh, where
is my improv like fest the face off or whatever?
And then Angel just cold clocks me with the mommy.
I know, just these boys with their moms, they just
needed someone there for them. I'd love to know the timeline.
How long have they been here the moms? No, no, no,
(10:40):
the guys. How long have they been in the house? Oh,
I don't know. Yeah, that's interesting, Like are they filming
this in two weeks? Is it three week production? Who knows?
That's a good question, that's a really good question. Jonathan's like, great,
you guys wrote your cards. Now we're gonna make you
read them in front of everybody. Yeah. And Craig goes first,
(11:04):
gets immediately choked up. Mm hmm. And I was like,
you know what is really funny, Not really funny, not
any of this is funny, but Craig's mom. Craig's mom.
I was like, Oh, that's Craig's mom. She commented on
an Instagram story of ours, and so it was like,
just nice to put to she did remember when I
(11:25):
shared when I saw Craig in the audience of Dancing
with Yes, And I was like, is that Craig. She replied, yes,
that's my son. Oh, hey, that's Craig's mom. So that's it. Oh,
full circle moment, totally. What a thing I like about
Craig's card is he does a bit about writing from
the North Pole, which I thought was just a cute
little I thought it was cute. Mm hmm, I'm right,
(11:47):
I like that. Yeah, and he ends with the ps
Jonathan has taken so don't even think about it. And
Jonathan cracks up at this. Yeah, it's a neat, knee
slapping crackup. It really is. Angel sobs through his life.
That are we have gotten so much of Angel's talking
about his mom. I'm not dogging on it. It is, however,
(12:08):
a little bit disproportionate to some of the other family
stories we've gotten from these guys. We just know a
lot about Angel's mom and her sacrifices. I find it
interesting the stories I choose to tell. And he reiterates
how much she did for them and they're coming to
this country, how hard she worked. It's very touching. Yeah,
he's like sobbing. He's indeed thanking her. He's saying he's
(12:30):
forever grateful. I mean, my cold dead heart was feeling things.
Rustin goes next, and he nervously laughs at first, but
as he starts to read, like his poem because you know,
like he nervously laughs because he knows the emotion is coming.
(12:51):
And I'm gonna tell you his poem lands it really did.
He ends with every Night So Good, I Dream of
the stars. She sees, Oh, remind me, I know he
plays music. Does he write music too? He does? Right?
Probably probably remember in the Talent Show he sang that
song about his wife, that about meeting his wife. I
(13:13):
think he's yes, singer songwriter. Yeah, good good stuff and mom,
way to lean yeah, way to lean into like what
you know. Melissa's really touched by this, and she says,
it's like you have an invisible cloak of power knowing
that you have the support of your mother. Melissa, the
mom in the group, I think, having a moment throughout
(13:33):
this entire episode, like she understands those mom vibes. Every
time they cut to show her, I describe her eyes
were well up. Yeah yeah. And then Marcus goes last.
He flips the script by saying he's her super fan,
and he does start off with the SETI voice, but
the emotion does get the best of him. And when
he says I want to cherish every moment we have
(13:55):
left together, my heart breaks. And we don't know the
full story of her diagnosed in her path and obviously
it's not for us to know, but did make me
very worried. Well, yet we've gotten breadcrumbs of her health situation.
I mean, I think there's an understanding, but this was
brutal for me. When he's like, I want to cherish
every remaining moment. I don't know if he said that,
(14:17):
but I was like, oh, I couldn't he does. He says,
I want to cherish every moment we have left together. Ah,
stop it right now. Punch me in the stomach. And
then I'm like, how are they going to pick a winner?
And then I was like, well, then it's going to
be Marcus. But then fortunately they didn't have to pick
a winner. Yeah, good thing. Jabi's like, you all win.
Everybody's a winner. Everybody gets to spend time with their moms,
(14:40):
which is nice. I mean, it's very Survivor esque, where
you bring in your family trying to give you that
final push at the end of the competition. And I
know we did this last season, I remember Ezra's sister
coming in. Oh that's right, yeah, Barbara, Oh Barbara, she
was so pretty. Yeah right, they brought in family members,
(15:02):
but this one was very mom heavy and it does
work really well because we feed into our star Quality challenge.
Jonathan goes it's gonna be tremendous, and I was like,
what does that have to do with anything. It's a
freaking product placement for Balsham Hill. For we go to
the star Quality Challenge. The guys all get a chance
to connect with their moms. They're all really sweet, but
(15:25):
once again, Angels is the one that really touches me.
His mom says he gives great honor to the family name,
and then Angel goes on to say such nice things
about the other guys. Yeah. I enjoyed this scene. You know.
I feel when we have such a small group now
we have like all this kind of like filler. And
(15:46):
I'm not suggesting that the scenes with their mom and
the guys was filler, but kind of is filler. Yeah,
it's outside of the challenges. Sure. Yeah, I thought Rustin
and his mom's talk was nice. When he tells her
like she asks, what's your favorite moment been? So far
and he's like, oh, you walking in. I loved that.
(16:07):
I was like, the man knows what to say when
to say it. Thought that was great. Craig's mom brought
him a New York sweatshirt or sweater, which I thought
was you're always at home with us. Yeah, I was like, Santini.
As soon as I saw it, I said, Santini again.
Angel and his mom I thought was really quite moving.
But for me personally, I thought it was Marcus and
(16:28):
his mom's conversation was the most real. He's checking in
on her, and I swear to god, Robbie's influence is
all over Marcus's emotional rosy, don't you think so? Like
they had those moments two episodes ago outside talking about
death of their parents, et cetera, et cetera. Like I
(16:51):
feel like maybe Marcus is in a not an easier spot,
but like a more open, vulnerable having these of hard
conversations on camera. I don't know if he would have
I don't know. It was very moving to me. I
think so too. The whole time. I was thinking, especially
for Marcus, it was nice that they got this chance
(17:11):
to connect with their moms, but having to have some
of these emotional conversations on camera must have been a
little bit challenging. Oh, one hundred. So let's take a
quick break, and we are going to come back and
talk about the Star Quality Challenge. So of course we're back.
(17:33):
Let's talk to the Star Quality Challenge. Since their moms
are here, this challenge is going to be focusing on family.
They're coming home from the holidays. They're having a special
sponsored moment with their moms decorating a Balsam Hill tree,
a sponsored moment, but we bring in the goat. Sharon
Lawrence is their co star. Okay, I have a question
(17:55):
for you. First of all, she's a tiny human being,
Like I want to just put her in my She's little, little,
little little and talk to me about the skincare routine. Sharon,
Oh my gosh. Especially in the elimination cave, I was like, damn,
she looks good. I don't know that I had full
appreciation for Sharon Lawrence before this, but the woman can
(18:17):
act right. She was great. She's really special to Jonathan.
She played his mom in the two Christmas House movies,
and then Jonathan shared that his mom had passed and
Sharon stepped into that mom role. And she was their
flower girl at their wedding. This is new news to me.
I didn't know Jonathan's mom had passed. I didn't either,
(18:38):
so his his dad, both his parents have Oh really,
Oh that makes me so sad. I mean, it just
makes me sad. I don't I guess it's not information
everybody needs to know about which Hallmark actors. No, of
course I've passed. It just completely took me by surprise
when he mentioned it in this episode. Well, especially because
(19:01):
I've heard, probably because he's done so much press, I've
heard him talk a lot about his parents and how
supportive they were of his path in life. So it
adds an extra layer to that that they're no longer here.
And he made a Keller Christmas vacation partly in tribute
to his dad. So the guys start by running lines
(19:22):
with their moms. This to me, this we saw this
in a previous episode. When they're running lines, I'm like,
oh God, we are in trouble here. Yeah. Do you
think it's the scene partner or do you think it's
just the execution of like reading the lines back and forth?
Because it was not great. I don't know what's the
(19:45):
catalyst here, but they're not fully in the moment, and
so they're just reading lines, they're not having a moment,
and it always it just makes me say, I'm like, wow,
I don't want to watch that at all. Oh it's
like a car crash. Yeah. The whole disposure that we
are not actors, nor could we do this job, and
(20:07):
this whole thing is so incredibly brave, one hundred percent,
like you couldn't pay me, No, we're just over here
behind a microphone drop in judgment. So even even like
when you and I do, like when we read sponsored ads,
like I get through it. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, So
you know, I'm drawn to people who can do their
(20:30):
craft and do it well. So like, look you guys,
bravo to you. What I laughed in this scene was
Marcus's mom goes like a little offscript and he's like, look,
you can read the script, which you know need to
improv here, mom, Yeah, just read the lines. I loved.
I laughed so hard. I thought it was so funny. Yeah,
(20:52):
he's like, I don't need you acting. Craig's first, he
knows he's got to bring the emotions. Craig, to me,
had the best entrance to the set, something about the
way he walks on the most dramatic knock knocks. I
just I liked it you and Melissa both because Melissa
(21:12):
noted it as well. Yeah, and especially when once we
were able to compare it to the others, I was like, well,
nobody beat Craig's entrance. The moms are sitting with Jonathan
and Melissa, and this is the moment where I'm like, oh,
Sharon Lawrence is so good. But Craig gets kind of heated,
like I'm like, why are we shouting at her? And
(21:35):
then I note Craig seems to find emotion by whispering.
My notes say a lot of whispering. Oay. I like Craig.
I like Craig a lot. I think Craig does comedy best. Yeah,
and so these kind of more dramatic roles. Maybe he
just needs some more work. I don't, I don't, I
(21:56):
don't know, I don't know. What do you think about
Craig's choice to kiss Sharon Lawrence cheek at the end
of their scene tame compared to come next? Fair, okay, fair?
You know what is really funny? Well, Angel is up next?
And I wrote interesting that Sharon seamlessly adapts her performance
(22:18):
to what the guys are bringing. Oh well, she's a pro,
she is. But seeing it like this where you see
the different energies the guys are bringing, the different tone
they bring, and how she adapts every her performance is
different every single time to match well the energy of
(22:40):
who she's performing with. Do you remember in season one
when Rachel Boston was on she did the same thing.
I was so drawn to Rachel Boston and her scenes
that she did last year on finding Mister Christmas. I
was like, whoa, she's outstanding. That's our Rachel Boston origin
story right there. Yeah, exactly exactly, And she kind of
tailored her scene too to what the energy the guy's brought.
(23:04):
But yes, Sharon is amazing here amazing. Yes. A couple
of notes during Angel's scene m he says in his
talking head he's never played a son before. I'm like,
you are a son. You shouldn't. This should not be
that big of a stretch, right, This isn't a world
(23:25):
you don't know. It's not like we're asking you to
play an elephant. I was gonna say, like an astronaut
or whatever. But yeah, exactly exactly. I find his emotion
believable in his scene, but he does a hairtuck that
leaves me very uncomfortable. Yes, I said, Angel doing a
(23:48):
hairtuck might be too intimate for a mother son scene.
That's a nice way to put it. I we talk
about this simple act of a hairtuck is so much
moving in a regular and moving I mean like makes
you feel things. Yes, it's a regular Hallmark movie, like
it's one of our favorite things because it's so nuanced.
(24:11):
Here was too, No, no, this is a mother and
a son. I was very uncomfortable with it. Yeah, me too,
I was too, And I was surprised that Melissa and
Jonathan liked it. Well, this is exactly where my notes
say that because the moms are sitting with Jonathan Melissa,
(24:33):
we don't get real time commentary or criticism because they're
not gonna do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah of course. But
also Angel's mom is very overcome watching him and separate
from this hairtuk situation. I kind of get it, like
watching your kid getting to realize their dreams or a
(24:55):
chance to realize their dreams. I was touched by her emotion,
of course, me too. What I don't love is the
like pull back to Heaven overshot of the end of
each scene, it's very soap opera. You don't you think so? Yes,
I don't love it. My daughter I was like, why
are they doing why is it? Why are they doing that?
(25:16):
My guess is that they were trying to get them
to be able to find their cameras. That was part
of what they were doing. Part of also, like with
the gift in the Right Spot, which we'll discuss, they
wanted to make sure that they were aware of those
other things happening in the scene. I bet that's what
it was, and we just don't have that context. They
(25:37):
didn't explain it. Yeah, I definitely think so. Marcus is next.
I thought, Marcus is It's okay to not be Okay
line was the best delivery we've seen up to this point. Okay. Well,
first of all, he comes in with that smile, and
just his smile is so good. I don't hate his scene. No,
it's when he sits down with her and we see
(25:59):
a confessional with him where he says, I'm struggling to
stay in the scene and he starts to forget his lines,
and I don't you know, is it the emotion of
it all is it the gotta find your mark, gotta
keep the gift, gotta look what's happening. He does forget
a few lines, but I think he does fine. And
again if you rewatch it the first too, when he
(26:20):
does the it's okay to not be okay, he's the
one who feels like he's not delivering a line. He
pauses in the right spot. Yeah, he picks up the
gift and Toronsthon's like, no, you're not supposed to pick
up the gift, which to me was like, oh, they
didn't talk about one of the challenges of this scene
is make sure you know your camera angles and all
of that. Yeah, but that was clearly one of the
(26:43):
they needed to be able to get that overshot of
the gift. And Sharon course corrects, she puts it back.
She's like, let's put this on the table for safety. Yeah,
she did a good job. I mean, Sharon did a
good job. She knew what she needed to do. Here
is this Marcus his fatal flaw? Though, Like, is this
what is gonna get him eliminated? To me, is this
(27:06):
on its own enough to get him eliminated? Maybe not,
but cumulatively perhaps if we're looking at the history of
the other three guys remaining. Are there are there stronger
performances in their portfolio overall? Let's talk about Restin. You know,
Rustin is a fan favorite. He was a he was
(27:27):
an early favorite of mine. Mm hmmm. He comes in.
The second he starts, I felt myself welling up, and
I don't know why, mostly because I feel like Rustin
can act in my opinion, and he, to me, felt raw,
he felt connected. It was emotional. I was like, I'm
(27:51):
I'm watching finding Mister Christmas. I'm watching the winner here.
You know, my husband did not watch this whole episode,
but he watched the last half with me, and he
was like, oh, he wins. He's the winner of this scene.
I think he crushes it. He finds, in my opinion,
real emotion. And his mom celebrating behind the camera was
real cute. I you know, I feel like him and
his mom were like cut from the same cloth. Yeah, yeah,
(28:14):
they're both very like positive people. M M. I just
think it's it's so like wild to me to see, like, oh, yeah,
you too are definitely related, you know. Huh. Anyway, I
thought Rustling was great, but again, that ending crane shot
from above is so bizarre. It kind of it honestly
ruined the moment for me. I just have to kind
(28:34):
of because it just it felt cheesy. Yes, totally, Okay,
let's talk. The guys say goodbye to their moms, and
then we debrief with Jonathan, Melissa, and Sharon. Sharon said
she felt the emotion from each actor. Sharon's a very
generous critiquer in my opinion. She says he was lovely
and warm and exhibited fragility, but they talk about not
(28:58):
keeping the box in the rights Bot and Melissa and
Jonathan wanted more emotion from him. I felt bad for Marcus,
to be honest, I thought he did so well, so
much growth on him, right, Yeah, I say he's come
a long way. I feel like he struggled, Like there's
too much his mom's real life challenges are like so
(29:20):
interweaved in this, Like I just think like it must
have been very difficult for him. Agree. I think that's
a tough scene for him to take on, given what
he's got going on exactly. Next up, we are talking
about Craig Melissa's she knows he's got the comedy chops,
but feels like he maybe went a little too hard
(29:41):
on some of the lines MoMA line. Yeah, but I
didn't hate Craig's performance. I mean, that's who Craig is
in that moment, right, Like, that's what he's going to
bring to that character. But I thought Craig did Okay. Yeah,
you know, I don't hate his choice. It is totally
acceptable for a child of a parent to be like
(30:03):
annoyed or angry with your parent, right like, hey, like
he's trying to snap her out of it. Yeah, it's
a choice. I didn't hate it at all. We had
opposing opinions about Rustin. Sharon says he's very skilled and
they really got into the emotion. But Melissa said she
wasn't surprised by the performance, and she wanted to be surprised.
(30:24):
This is where I'm like, what does that mean? Feel
I feel like I'm like, is Rustin our winner here?
Because I feel like they try to throw something at
us that like gets us off the trail. Yeah, the
scent of the winner. So but I don't know. I
could not possibly guess based on the way this show
(30:45):
has gone up to this point. Definitely. Finally, Sharon says
about Angel, he was very physical and very vulnerable. This
was the moment to say, like, maybe a hairtalk wasn't
the right move. No one says it. They were like, well,
we love the hugs at the and I was like,
the hugs were fine. Sure, the hairtuck was a choice. Yeah,
(31:07):
And you know, I don't know, it's maybe it just
read different on camera for us. Maybe maybe because maybe
maybe I would love if you're listening to this episode
and you're like, what are you guys talking about? Maccana?
Weindy like that was a great scene. Please email us
at Girls Gone Hallmark at gmail dot com. I'm honestly floored,
(31:29):
and maybe to everyone else that hairtuck isn't the like
mildly sexy move that we think it is as that
and a forehead kiss. I'm in let's take a quick
break and come back and talk about the elimination. We
(31:49):
are in the elimination cave for the second to last time,
and I need to make a confession. What the guys
come walking in and they always film them in a
little bit of slow motion. Last week's episode, my friend
Karen is watching Finding Mister Christmas because of us, and
every week we text back and forth. I'm like, you
got to tell me your thoughts and then we're kind
of on the same page. She was like, if you're
(32:10):
gonna wear a white tuxedo jacket, you should probably wear socks.
I was like, I don't even know what you're talking about.
She was like, well, the editors obviously notice because they
did a slow mo zoom in on Rustin's bare ankles.
So because of that, me, the least observant person on
the planet, had a visual of what Rustin was wearing.
Last week, Rustin comes in again in a white tuxedo jacket,
(32:32):
and now seven episodes in I'm going they wear the
same thing to every single elimination cave.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Duh.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Literally, this is the first time I've noticed the no song.
It's a look. I know, it's a look. It's a look.
I know. You know. It's so funny that you say that,
because I was on TikTok and someone had a wedding
planner had posted like a clip of a video and
everyone's like, groom's not wearing the Groom's not wearing socks
every single and she commented every single time, She's like,
(33:03):
that's fashion, baby, Like, so anyway, it's a look. I mean,
I see Andy Cohen every single night on Once where
it happens live, especially during the summer months. Sockless, there's
there's yeah with a suit, it's it's a thing. Yeah, well,
I'm not sure how I And then I was like, oh, look,
Craig does wear that green jacket every single week. How
did I not notice Rustin's and a white jack? How
(33:27):
I'll see myself out. You may need a new podcasting
partner because this one is Barroken. You're not Barroken. I
just I think we're always like, ooh, look what Melissa's wearing.
Like we're always like and with fewer guys, I think
then you start to notice these things, right, uh huh.
And I'm sure the guys were like they were like, told,
(33:47):
bring one nice elimination. Now I'm gonna wear it. Yeah yeah,
Now if if if it was women, I bet you
it's different every single time, like the Bachelor or Bachelorette.
They're in different dress, right. And maybe it's also for continuity,
maybe they use other scenes, shot scenes whatever. Sure, Yeah,
(34:12):
I don't know. Well, the theme of this episode is
that we are at the point we're making a choice,
like splitting hairs. I think every single person on the
show said that in this episode, did you notice that
at all? No, I didn't. Everyone says that. Marcus is like, oh,
we're down to the wire. It's like splitting hairs. And
then Jonathan comes in. He's like, we're splitting hairs at
this point, which I get. We are everyone, we're down before,
(34:34):
everyone's making good choices. They just someone's got to go.
So potentially you're gonna go based on just a just
a moment putting the box in the wrong place. Sharon again, Mark,
do you think Marcus walked away from this experience? And
he's like, damn it. If I didn't pick up that box,
I could have won the show. Sharon respects all the
(34:56):
work that they've put in, and she's a professional. She
knows how hard this is. And I'm like, Jonathan starts
talking about what the winner did and I'm like, oh,
Russein's gonna win. Oh they fooled you this time. Yeah,
my notes say Rustin is going to win, and then
my notes say, whoa, it's Angel. Yeah, no shape to Angel.
I enjoy Angel a lot, but I kind of thought
(35:19):
Rustin was gonna win this one. I did missed. This
is Angel's first star quality challenge win and they announced
that he's guaranteed to be in the finale. They tell
Rustin he was consistent and grounded and his performance was safe,
but also it was good enough to also guarantee his
spot in the finale. I mean, I'm actually happy for Rest.
(35:42):
And they cut to him like an a talking head
where he's like he's stoked. He that's what he said,
like he said that to win this thing. And he's
in the finale, so good for him. Craig and Marcus
are of course, are bottom two. And Craig, they say,
you came in a little bit too hot. Be careful
about taking risks. And then and Jonathan says to Marcus,
when you're in the pocket, you're a movie star, but
(36:03):
you struggle with consistency. And Marcus is eliminated, and we
get Jonathan's patented elimination tears. And I don't envy anyone
this choice to send Marcus home this week after what
he just went through with his mom. We're down to
the final four. This is hard. It's hard. Yeah, yeah,
it stings. One final button on the episode, as Marcus
(36:26):
goes to take his stocking down, my husband says, good,
those are ugly stockings and what was the choice to
choose that burnt gold color. It's a little Timberland to me,
you know what I mean? Maybe it's like rustic. I
don't know. What I noticed about that is that the
final guys three stockings are all next to each other.
(36:46):
Was that from original? Like that's where they're they were hung.
I have to assume they re hung them, so it's
not like weirdly spacede unless that's an easter egg that's
been there this whole time. Maybe just like we should
go look. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I remember from
episode one Craig talking about his stocking and where it
(37:08):
was at. But I would have to go back and
look to see if our final three were actually next
to each other the entire time. Interesting. Well, next week
is our finale. I'm not ready. I just love this
show so much. I know, I know, I want more
than one season a year. Well, I think there's an
(37:29):
argument to be made for this being a summer season.
Oh couldn't Yeah, don't you agree? Yeah, I think timing
it would be nice to have it in the summer
because we're going to get the finale and then less
than a week later the movie is gonna come out,
and I understand kind of that excitement of it, and
there's something to be said. But also, if we were
(37:50):
to get it in the summer, we could get this
person promoting their movie all season long and talking about it,
and we could It's just such a tight turnaround. I
think there's an argument to be made for to be
a summer show. I think so too. I definitely think
so also. I just really briefly, Homewark dropped surprise news
(38:10):
of a new reality show, Second Chance Love, coming exclusively
to Hallmark Plus. Do you think this means a return
to exclusive Homemark Plus streaming of Homewark's unscripted content? Is
this is the writing on the wall. I don't know.
I don't know. I don't I don't know. Look, I'll
(38:32):
take Fidna Mister Christmas back in any form. So if
it means it has to return purely on streaming, I'm
okay with that. But I want it. I want it
on linear. I want to have the widest audience possible.
I want it back, though. Oh I definitely want it
back for a season three. Like if they're listening, if
Hallmark is listening to us, like, please bring this show
(38:52):
back for a season three. Thanks for listening to this
episode of Girls Gone Hallmark, a Bramble Jam podcast. If
you love this podcast, we love your five star ratings
and reviews. Drop them if you got them. We'll be
back next time with more Hallmark reviews.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Goodbye bye.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
So do with that info what you will, Grab a snack,
hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
and discover your new favorite product.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Bye passssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone
(00:23):
Hallmark or Hallmark Review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a
longtime Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater.
On today's episode, we are discussing Finding Mister Christmas season two,
episode seven, titled Mary Christmas Mom. We are regularly asking
you for your five star ratings and your reviews, and
(00:44):
I'd like to share our recent one that came in
because y'all have been so great with your ratings and reviews.
We appreciate you so much. From Laura, who says, I
really appreciate the extra info on the movie's cast, crew, etc.
The hosts are always so positive and fun should talking
about us. We're fun. I mean I just admitted on
(01:05):
a review that I'm like a level two and fun.
So and positive. Sure sometimes, Well, I think that's appropriate
for the show we're talking about now, because we say
all the time, we talk about the show like we're
paid to talk about it, right, which is not something
we're opposed to entertaining all offers the official Finding Mister
(01:29):
Christmas correspondence. Oh yeah, I would love it if you
want to keep up with everything from us. Y'all follow
us on the socials, especially Instagram. That's where we are
the most active, and we're Girls Gone Hallmark. Yeah. Megan
has just been like interviewing celebrities left and right over there.
It's a good time, I know. I thank you so
(01:50):
much for doing that, because it's my least strongest characteristic. No,
you're great at it. You just gotta own it. You
just gotta own it. Yeah, we've talked to some very
fun people. You can check out our website. Most recently,
we spoke to Daniel Lissing, who is in this past
weekend single on the twenty fifth, which I'm a big
fan of. End of him as well, and we walk
(02:12):
into the interview walk in. It was on zoom. Dude's
full blown Australian. I had no idea, did you know
the hardies are like, hey, dummy, I know, I know,
but I had never seen an interview with him. And
what's funny, I was telling Wendy, but he would be
talking about scenes with his character Cooper, and he would
(02:32):
slip into his American accent. I was like, that's like
a magic trick. Oh, well, that's funny. That's funny. Speaking
of interviews. We have another interview dropping today as well.
Once you finish up this episode, just roll right into
the next one is in an interview with Robbie Simpson.
Talk about a good time. Yeah, we had such so
(02:53):
much fun. All right, are you ready to get into
episode seven of Finding Mister Christmas. Let's do it. The
final four pen holiday cards to their moms before being
surprised with live reunions. Icon Sharon Lawrence guides them to
channel raw emotion into a heartfelt holiday scene supported by
(03:13):
the people who love them best. The top of my
notes say the one where everyone is crying all the time. Yeah,
including me. I know it got me a couple of times.
It got me a couple times, especially from a show
that I do expect heart from these shows too, But
the last six weeks prior have been such a fun
(03:34):
ride that this turn of events really took me by surprise.
No Crisco Mountain inside, None, No none, and let me
talk before we get into the episode. I didn't mind
this episode again. The tone was a little bit different
than what we have come to expect. But you know
what I'm missing from season one, I'm missing the improv. Yes,
(04:00):
that was so good. The dance challenge. Why don't I
have any memory of the dance challenge? Whitney from Dancing
with the Soul, the pro who was on there, Yes,
and Elijah killed it. Yep, she took them through a dance,
you know, because sometimes our Hallmark movies have dancing in
(04:21):
them and maybe you're not a dancing export. So yeah, anyway,
I wish like Survivor, where you get reoccurring challenges, like
fan favorite challenges. If anybody's listening, bring it back at
the Finding Yeah Finding, Mister Christmas Team, Like, I want
(04:43):
the Improv Challenge and I want the Dance Challenge, but
please keep in the slip inside Mountain challenge every year.
Love that It'll never not be funny to me. No,
no shade to Hallmark, but this letter writing challenge does
not land with me. Well, before we talk about the letters,
we do start with some casual cornhole and mild trash
(05:03):
talk up top trash talk. Yeah, they're kind of like
the guys are kind of clown on each other, and
Angel's like, okay, like we're in a Hallmark movie. Yeah yeah, yeah,
And then Marcus goes around and tells everyone what he's
learned from them. Which is nice, very nice, very if
you follow the pattern we've been following, and are they
(05:27):
giving us clues up top, I'm like ding ding ding,
Oh no, oh, no, Marcus, this is Marcus's special moment
jump to the workshop to the opening challenge that you
did not love, And I will admit it wasn't the
most dynamic of our festive face offs for sure. I
(05:48):
mean it was your Wayne's world. What's the line nuprin
little yellow different with the Hallmark card collaboration set up
all over the table all or I mean, look, I
get it's a I get it. I get it, guys.
But this episode was heavy on Hallmark and heavy on
Balsam Hill. Oh. There were some awkward Balsam Hill transitions
(06:11):
mid scene. It would just be like zoom in on
an ornament, cut to Angel and Sharon Lawrence talking. I
was like, wow, they had not reached their contractual obligation
for Balsam Hill shots in this episode. Apparently it's not.
I guess not. We'll get to that. The cards sprinkled
(06:31):
on the table and they're not laying flat. They'd better
be up in the back of the card so you
can see the Hallmark Crown look I get it. I'm
a Hallmark shopper too. I like their cards. Their card
game is strong. But I was like, okay, this is
what we're doing. I was I was just in a
Hallmark the other day buying ornaments and home alone plushies.
(06:52):
Did your Hallmark have the Tyler Hines cut out in it?
By chance? It did not? Last season they had a
Lacy Yeah it, shu did it. I saw that they
had Tyler Hines this year, but my local one did
not have it. You know, those workers are probably like,
I'm gonna take this homeworking. I would Could you imagine
(07:15):
my daughter has a cardboard Harry Styles in her room.
I would just put the cardboard Tyler Hines in the
in the loft. Do you remember our cardboard Barry Watson?
I do, yes. If somebody from Hallmark is listening, look,
I know I'm I'm bagging a little bit today, but
I would love a cardboard Tyler Hines. I didn't. I
(07:38):
could you imagine this podcasting but Tyler Hines in the
room for us? I think it's hilarious. I would love
if somebody could make that happen. That would be amazing.
Oh my gosh, dreams do come true. Put it on
the Christmas list. So the assignment is write a Christmas
card to your biggest super fan mom. Marcus is like,
(08:02):
I'm gonna I would I notice is he has a
rough draft, Like he has a pad of paper he's
writing it out on. Did you notice that? I didn't
notice that? And then Rustin, while Marcus is working and
we're on a time crunch, Rustin's like talking about the
cards his mom has sent him over the years. And
if I was Marcus, I'd be like, bro, I had
a focus right now, like being stop interrupted me. I'm trying.
(08:24):
And then Jonathan's like five minutes. And what I love
is Melissa walks around like a school teacher peeking over
their shoulders, like checking their work. Yeah, cute. I love Melissa.
And I was like, man, what are we doing here?
And then my brain was like, duh, they're gonna bring
in the moms. Hold up. I just had a thought. Hmmm.
(08:45):
If you listen to our review of an Alpine Holiday
last week, we talked about how we wanted to hang
out with Lucy Guest and Ashley Willing, Melissa needs to
be there too. We need to add Melissa to our
girl gang. Yes, one hundred thousand percent. Okay, carry on
the like. In the final moments of the challenge, Craig
mister Bold Decisions is back and he diabolical diambolicle, what
(09:11):
is he doing here? He slathers on lipstick and kisses
the card and Jonathan's like, oh, I was like, that's
not the reaction mister Bold swings. Oh my god. I
was like what that's Well, why was there lipstick on set?
(09:32):
Is my question? Well? Probably, well, you know the guy.
I'm sure the guys have makeup right, and there probably
was a makeup person, you know in the wings. Do
you think he just went and stole it from the
onset makeup artist who's there to touch up Melissa Peterson's lip?
He's like, I got a great idea? Can I To me,
(09:52):
it looked like he was going to the props table
that they were using for their cards. It just was bizarre.
I'm like, who's leaving a lippy out for you to
do this? Yeah? That was so interesting to me to
outcome the moms and nothing like these boys breaking down
seeing their moms to just wreck me. When Angel yells money,
(10:13):
I immediately lose it.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yes, I mean.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
This entire time I'm watching this going like, uh, where
is my improv like fest the face off or whatever?
And then Angel just cold clocks me with the mommy.
I know, just these boys with their moms, they just
needed someone there for them. I'd love to know the timeline.
How long have they been here the moms? No, no, no,
(10:40):
the guys. How long have they been in the house? Oh,
I don't know. Yeah, that's interesting, Like are they filming
this in two weeks? Is it three week production? Who knows?
That's a good question, that's a really good question. Jonathan's like, great,
you guys wrote your cards. Now we're gonna make you
read them in front of everybody. Yeah. And Craig goes first,
(11:04):
gets immediately choked up. Mm hmm. And I was like,
you know what is really funny, Not really funny, not
any of this is funny, but Craig's mom. Craig's mom.
I was like, Oh, that's Craig's mom. She commented on
an Instagram story of ours, and so it was like,
just nice to put to she did remember when I
(11:25):
shared when I saw Craig in the audience of Dancing
with Yes, And I was like, is that Craig. She replied, yes,
that's my son. Oh, hey, that's Craig's mom. So that's it. Oh,
full circle moment, totally. What a thing I like about
Craig's card is he does a bit about writing from
the North Pole, which I thought was just a cute
little I thought it was cute. Mm hmm, I'm right,
(11:47):
I like that. Yeah, and he ends with the ps
Jonathan has taken so don't even think about it. And
Jonathan cracks up at this. Yeah, it's a neat, knee
slapping crackup. It really is. Angel sobs through his life.
That are we have gotten so much of Angel's talking
about his mom. I'm not dogging on it. It is, however,
(12:08):
a little bit disproportionate to some of the other family
stories we've gotten from these guys. We just know a
lot about Angel's mom and her sacrifices. I find it
interesting the stories I choose to tell. And he reiterates
how much she did for them and they're coming to
this country, how hard she worked. It's very touching. Yeah,
he's like sobbing. He's indeed thanking her. He's saying he's
(12:30):
forever grateful. I mean, my cold dead heart was feeling things.
Rustin goes next, and he nervously laughs at first, but
as he starts to read, like his poem because you know,
like he nervously laughs because he knows the emotion is coming.
(12:51):
And I'm gonna tell you his poem lands it really did.
He ends with every Night So Good, I Dream of
the stars. She sees, Oh, remind me, I know he
plays music. Does he write music too? He does? Right?
Probably probably remember in the Talent Show he sang that
song about his wife, that about meeting his wife. I
(13:13):
think he's yes, singer songwriter. Yeah, good good stuff and mom,
way to lean yeah, way to lean into like what
you know. Melissa's really touched by this, and she says,
it's like you have an invisible cloak of power knowing
that you have the support of your mother. Melissa, the
mom in the group, I think, having a moment throughout
(13:33):
this entire episode, like she understands those mom vibes. Every
time they cut to show her, I describe her eyes
were well up. Yeah yeah. And then Marcus goes last.
He flips the script by saying he's her super fan,
and he does start off with the SETI voice, but
the emotion does get the best of him. And when
he says I want to cherish every moment we have
(13:55):
left together, my heart breaks. And we don't know the
full story of her diagnosed in her path and obviously
it's not for us to know, but did make me
very worried. Well, yet we've gotten breadcrumbs of her health situation.
I mean, I think there's an understanding, but this was
brutal for me. When he's like, I want to cherish
every remaining moment. I don't know if he said that,
(14:17):
but I was like, oh, I couldn't he does. He says,
I want to cherish every moment we have left together. Ah,
stop it right now. Punch me in the stomach. And
then I'm like, how are they going to pick a winner?
And then I was like, well, then it's going to
be Marcus. But then fortunately they didn't have to pick
a winner. Yeah, good thing. Jabi's like, you all win.
Everybody's a winner. Everybody gets to spend time with their moms,
(14:40):
which is nice. I mean, it's very Survivor esque, where
you bring in your family trying to give you that
final push at the end of the competition. And I
know we did this last season, I remember Ezra's sister
coming in. Oh that's right, yeah, Barbara, Oh Barbara, she
was so pretty. Yeah right, they brought in family members,
(15:02):
but this one was very mom heavy and it does
work really well because we feed into our star Quality challenge.
Jonathan goes it's gonna be tremendous, and I was like,
what does that have to do with anything. It's a
freaking product placement for Balsham Hill. For we go to
the star Quality Challenge. The guys all get a chance
to connect with their moms. They're all really sweet, but
(15:25):
once again, Angels is the one that really touches me.
His mom says he gives great honor to the family name,
and then Angel goes on to say such nice things
about the other guys. Yeah. I enjoyed this scene. You know.
I feel when we have such a small group now
we have like all this kind of like filler. And
(15:46):
I'm not suggesting that the scenes with their mom and
the guys was filler, but kind of is filler. Yeah,
it's outside of the challenges. Sure. Yeah, I thought Rustin
and his mom's talk was nice. When he tells her
like she asks, what's your favorite moment been? So far
and he's like, oh, you walking in. I loved that.
(16:07):
I was like, the man knows what to say when
to say it. Thought that was great. Craig's mom brought
him a New York sweatshirt or sweater, which I thought
was you're always at home with us. Yeah, I was like, Santini.
As soon as I saw it, I said, Santini again.
Angel and his mom I thought was really quite moving.
But for me personally, I thought it was Marcus and
(16:28):
his mom's conversation was the most real. He's checking in
on her, and I swear to god, Robbie's influence is
all over Marcus's emotional rosy, don't you think so? Like
they had those moments two episodes ago outside talking about
death of their parents, et cetera, et cetera. Like I
(16:51):
feel like maybe Marcus is in a not an easier spot,
but like a more open, vulnerable having these of hard
conversations on camera. I don't know if he would have
I don't know. It was very moving to me. I
think so too. The whole time. I was thinking, especially
for Marcus, it was nice that they got this chance
(17:11):
to connect with their moms, but having to have some
of these emotional conversations on camera must have been a
little bit challenging. Oh, one hundred. So let's take a
quick break, and we are going to come back and
talk about the Star Quality Challenge. So of course we're back.
(17:33):
Let's talk to the Star Quality Challenge. Since their moms
are here, this challenge is going to be focusing on family.
They're coming home from the holidays. They're having a special
sponsored moment with their moms decorating a Balsam Hill tree,
a sponsored moment, but we bring in the goat. Sharon
Lawrence is their co star. Okay, I have a question
(17:55):
for you. First of all, she's a tiny human being,
Like I want to just put her in my She's little, little,
little little and talk to me about the skincare routine. Sharon,
Oh my gosh. Especially in the elimination cave, I was like, damn,
she looks good. I don't know that I had full
appreciation for Sharon Lawrence before this, but the woman can
(18:17):
act right. She was great. She's really special to Jonathan.
She played his mom in the two Christmas House movies,
and then Jonathan shared that his mom had passed and
Sharon stepped into that mom role. And she was their
flower girl at their wedding. This is new news to me.
I didn't know Jonathan's mom had passed. I didn't either,
(18:38):
so his his dad, both his parents have Oh really,
Oh that makes me so sad. I mean, it just
makes me sad. I don't I guess it's not information
everybody needs to know about which Hallmark actors. No, of
course I've passed. It just completely took me by surprise
when he mentioned it in this episode. Well, especially because
(19:01):
I've heard, probably because he's done so much press, I've
heard him talk a lot about his parents and how
supportive they were of his path in life. So it
adds an extra layer to that that they're no longer here.
And he made a Keller Christmas vacation partly in tribute
to his dad. So the guys start by running lines
(19:22):
with their moms. This to me, this we saw this
in a previous episode. When they're running lines, I'm like,
oh God, we are in trouble here. Yeah. Do you
think it's the scene partner or do you think it's
just the execution of like reading the lines back and forth?
Because it was not great. I don't know what's the
(19:45):
catalyst here, but they're not fully in the moment, and
so they're just reading lines, they're not having a moment,
and it always it just makes me say, I'm like, wow,
I don't want to watch that at all. Oh it's
like a car crash. Yeah. The whole disposure that we
are not actors, nor could we do this job, and
(20:07):
this whole thing is so incredibly brave, one hundred percent,
like you couldn't pay me, No, we're just over here
behind a microphone drop in judgment. So even even like
when you and I do, like when we read sponsored ads,
like I get through it. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, So
you know, I'm drawn to people who can do their
(20:30):
craft and do it well. So like, look you guys,
bravo to you. What I laughed in this scene was
Marcus's mom goes like a little offscript and he's like, look,
you can read the script, which you know need to
improv here, mom, Yeah, just read the lines. I loved.
I laughed so hard. I thought it was so funny. Yeah,
(20:52):
he's like, I don't need you acting. Craig's first, he
knows he's got to bring the emotions. Craig, to me,
had the best entrance to the set, something about the
way he walks on the most dramatic knock knocks. I
just I liked it you and Melissa both because Melissa
(21:12):
noted it as well. Yeah, and especially when once we
were able to compare it to the others, I was like, well,
nobody beat Craig's entrance. The moms are sitting with Jonathan
and Melissa, and this is the moment where I'm like, oh,
Sharon Lawrence is so good. But Craig gets kind of heated,
like I'm like, why are we shouting at her? And
(21:35):
then I note Craig seems to find emotion by whispering.
My notes say a lot of whispering. Oay. I like Craig.
I like Craig a lot. I think Craig does comedy best. Yeah,
and so these kind of more dramatic roles. Maybe he
just needs some more work. I don't, I don't, I
(21:56):
don't know, I don't know. What do you think about
Craig's choice to kiss Sharon Lawrence cheek at the end
of their scene tame compared to come next? Fair, okay, fair?
You know what is really funny? Well, Angel is up next?
And I wrote interesting that Sharon seamlessly adapts her performance
(22:18):
to what the guys are bringing. Oh well, she's a pro,
she is. But seeing it like this where you see
the different energies the guys are bringing, the different tone
they bring, and how she adapts every her performance is
different every single time to match well the energy of
(22:40):
who she's performing with. Do you remember in season one
when Rachel Boston was on she did the same thing.
I was so drawn to Rachel Boston and her scenes
that she did last year on finding Mister Christmas. I
was like, whoa, she's outstanding. That's our Rachel Boston origin
story right there. Yeah, exactly exactly, And she kind of
tailored her scene too to what the energy the guy's brought.
(23:04):
But yes, Sharon is amazing here amazing. Yes. A couple
of notes during Angel's scene m he says in his
talking head he's never played a son before. I'm like,
you are a son. You shouldn't. This should not be
that big of a stretch, right, This isn't a world
(23:25):
you don't know. It's not like we're asking you to
play an elephant. I was gonna say, like an astronaut
or whatever. But yeah, exactly exactly. I find his emotion
believable in his scene, but he does a hairtuck that
leaves me very uncomfortable. Yes, I said, Angel doing a
(23:48):
hairtuck might be too intimate for a mother son scene.
That's a nice way to put it. I we talk
about this simple act of a hairtuck is so much
moving in a regular and moving I mean like makes
you feel things. Yes, it's a regular Hallmark movie, like
it's one of our favorite things because it's so nuanced.
(24:11):
Here was too, No, no, this is a mother and
a son. I was very uncomfortable with it. Yeah, me too,
I was too, And I was surprised that Melissa and
Jonathan liked it. Well, this is exactly where my notes
say that because the moms are sitting with Jonathan Melissa,
(24:33):
we don't get real time commentary or criticism because they're
not gonna do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah of course. But
also Angel's mom is very overcome watching him and separate
from this hairtuk situation. I kind of get it, like
watching your kid getting to realize their dreams or a
(24:55):
chance to realize their dreams. I was touched by her emotion,
of course, me too. What I don't love is the
like pull back to Heaven overshot of the end of
each scene, it's very soap opera. You don't you think so? Yes,
I don't love it. My daughter I was like, why
are they doing why is it? Why are they doing that?
(25:16):
My guess is that they were trying to get them
to be able to find their cameras. That was part
of what they were doing. Part of also, like with
the gift in the Right Spot, which we'll discuss, they
wanted to make sure that they were aware of those
other things happening in the scene. I bet that's what
it was, and we just don't have that context. They
(25:37):
didn't explain it. Yeah, I definitely think so. Marcus is next.
I thought, Marcus is It's okay to not be Okay
line was the best delivery we've seen up to this point. Okay. Well,
first of all, he comes in with that smile, and
just his smile is so good. I don't hate his scene. No,
it's when he sits down with her and we see
(25:59):
a confessional with him where he says, I'm struggling to
stay in the scene and he starts to forget his lines,
and I don't you know, is it the emotion of
it all is it the gotta find your mark, gotta
keep the gift, gotta look what's happening. He does forget
a few lines, but I think he does fine. And
again if you rewatch it the first too, when he
(26:20):
does the it's okay to not be okay, he's the
one who feels like he's not delivering a line. He
pauses in the right spot. Yeah, he picks up the
gift and Toronsthon's like, no, you're not supposed to pick
up the gift, which to me was like, oh, they
didn't talk about one of the challenges of this scene
is make sure you know your camera angles and all
of that. Yeah, but that was clearly one of the
(26:43):
they needed to be able to get that overshot of
the gift. And Sharon course corrects, she puts it back.
She's like, let's put this on the table for safety. Yeah,
she did a good job. I mean, Sharon did a
good job. She knew what she needed to do. Here
is this Marcus his fatal flaw? Though, Like, is this
what is gonna get him eliminated? To me, is this
(27:06):
on its own enough to get him eliminated? Maybe not,
but cumulatively perhaps if we're looking at the history of
the other three guys remaining. Are there are there stronger
performances in their portfolio overall? Let's talk about Restin. You know,
Rustin is a fan favorite. He was a he was
(27:27):
an early favorite of mine. Mm hmmm. He comes in.
The second he starts, I felt myself welling up, and
I don't know why, mostly because I feel like Rustin
can act in my opinion, and he, to me, felt raw,
he felt connected. It was emotional. I was like, I'm
(27:51):
I'm watching finding Mister Christmas. I'm watching the winner here.
You know, my husband did not watch this whole episode,
but he watched the last half with me, and he
was like, oh, he wins. He's the winner of this scene.
I think he crushes it. He finds, in my opinion,
real emotion. And his mom celebrating behind the camera was
real cute. I you know, I feel like him and
his mom were like cut from the same cloth. Yeah, yeah,
(28:14):
they're both very like positive people. M M. I just
think it's it's so like wild to me to see, like, oh, yeah,
you too are definitely related, you know. Huh. Anyway, I
thought Rustling was great, but again, that ending crane shot
from above is so bizarre. It kind of it honestly
ruined the moment for me. I just have to kind
(28:34):
of because it just it felt cheesy. Yes, totally, Okay,
let's talk. The guys say goodbye to their moms, and
then we debrief with Jonathan, Melissa, and Sharon. Sharon said
she felt the emotion from each actor. Sharon's a very
generous critiquer in my opinion. She says he was lovely
and warm and exhibited fragility, but they talk about not
(28:58):
keeping the box in the rights Bot and Melissa and
Jonathan wanted more emotion from him. I felt bad for Marcus,
to be honest, I thought he did so well, so
much growth on him, right, Yeah, I say he's come
a long way. I feel like he struggled, Like there's
too much his mom's real life challenges are like so
(29:20):
interweaved in this, Like I just think like it must
have been very difficult for him. Agree. I think that's
a tough scene for him to take on, given what
he's got going on exactly. Next up, we are talking
about Craig Melissa's she knows he's got the comedy chops,
but feels like he maybe went a little too hard
(29:41):
on some of the lines MoMA line. Yeah, but I
didn't hate Craig's performance. I mean, that's who Craig is
in that moment, right, Like, that's what he's going to
bring to that character. But I thought Craig did Okay. Yeah,
you know, I don't hate his choice. It is totally
acceptable for a child of a parent to be like
(30:03):
annoyed or angry with your parent, right like, hey, like
he's trying to snap her out of it. Yeah, it's
a choice. I didn't hate it at all. We had
opposing opinions about Rustin. Sharon says he's very skilled and
they really got into the emotion. But Melissa said she
wasn't surprised by the performance, and she wanted to be surprised.
(30:24):
This is where I'm like, what does that mean? Feel
I feel like I'm like, is Rustin our winner here?
Because I feel like they try to throw something at
us that like gets us off the trail. Yeah, the
scent of the winner. So but I don't know. I
could not possibly guess based on the way this show
(30:45):
has gone up to this point. Definitely. Finally, Sharon says
about Angel, he was very physical and very vulnerable. This
was the moment to say, like, maybe a hairtalk wasn't
the right move. No one says it. They were like, well,
we love the hugs at the and I was like,
the hugs were fine. Sure, the hairtuck was a choice. Yeah,
(31:07):
And you know, I don't know, it's maybe it just
read different on camera for us. Maybe maybe because maybe
maybe I would love if you're listening to this episode
and you're like, what are you guys talking about? Maccana?
Weindy like that was a great scene. Please email us
at Girls Gone Hallmark at gmail dot com. I'm honestly floored,
(31:29):
and maybe to everyone else that hairtuck isn't the like
mildly sexy move that we think it is as that
and a forehead kiss. I'm in let's take a quick
break and come back and talk about the elimination. We
(31:49):
are in the elimination cave for the second to last time,
and I need to make a confession. What the guys
come walking in and they always film them in a
little bit of slow motion. Last week's episode, my friend
Karen is watching Finding Mister Christmas because of us, and
every week we text back and forth. I'm like, you
got to tell me your thoughts and then we're kind
of on the same page. She was like, if you're
(32:10):
gonna wear a white tuxedo jacket, you should probably wear socks.
I was like, I don't even know what you're talking about.
She was like, well, the editors obviously notice because they
did a slow mo zoom in on Rustin's bare ankles.
So because of that, me, the least observant person on
the planet, had a visual of what Rustin was wearing.
Last week, Rustin comes in again in a white tuxedo jacket,
(32:32):
and now seven episodes in I'm going they wear the
same thing to every single elimination cave.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Duh.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Literally, this is the first time I've noticed the no song.
It's a look. I know, it's a look. It's a look.
I know. You know. It's so funny that you say that,
because I was on TikTok and someone had a wedding
planner had posted like a clip of a video and
everyone's like, groom's not wearing the Groom's not wearing socks
every single and she commented every single time, She's like,
(33:03):
that's fashion, baby, Like, so anyway, it's a look. I mean,
I see Andy Cohen every single night on Once where
it happens live, especially during the summer months. Sockless, there's
there's yeah with a suit, it's it's a thing. Yeah, well,
I'm not sure how I And then I was like, oh, look,
Craig does wear that green jacket every single week. How
did I not notice Rustin's and a white jack? How
(33:27):
I'll see myself out. You may need a new podcasting
partner because this one is Barroken. You're not Barroken. I
just I think we're always like, ooh, look what Melissa's wearing.
Like we're always like and with fewer guys, I think
then you start to notice these things, right, uh huh.
And I'm sure the guys were like they were like, told,
(33:47):
bring one nice elimination. Now I'm gonna wear it. Yeah yeah,
Now if if if it was women, I bet you
it's different every single time, like the Bachelor or Bachelorette.
They're in different dress, right. And maybe it's also for continuity,
maybe they use other scenes, shot scenes whatever. Sure, Yeah,
(34:12):
I don't know. Well, the theme of this episode is
that we are at the point we're making a choice,
like splitting hairs. I think every single person on the
show said that in this episode, did you notice that
at all? No, I didn't. Everyone says that. Marcus is like, oh,
we're down to the wire. It's like splitting hairs. And
then Jonathan comes in. He's like, we're splitting hairs at
this point, which I get. We are everyone, we're down before,
(34:34):
everyone's making good choices. They just someone's got to go.
So potentially you're gonna go based on just a just
a moment putting the box in the wrong place. Sharon again, Mark,
do you think Marcus walked away from this experience? And
he's like, damn it. If I didn't pick up that box,
I could have won the show. Sharon respects all the
(34:56):
work that they've put in, and she's a professional. She
knows how hard this is. And I'm like, Jonathan starts
talking about what the winner did and I'm like, oh,
Russein's gonna win. Oh they fooled you this time. Yeah,
my notes say Rustin is going to win, and then
my notes say, whoa, it's Angel. Yeah, no shape to Angel.
I enjoy Angel a lot, but I kind of thought
(35:19):
Rustin was gonna win this one. I did missed. This
is Angel's first star quality challenge win and they announced
that he's guaranteed to be in the finale. They tell
Rustin he was consistent and grounded and his performance was safe,
but also it was good enough to also guarantee his
spot in the finale. I mean, I'm actually happy for Rest.
(35:42):
And they cut to him like an a talking head
where he's like he's stoked. He that's what he said,
like he said that to win this thing. And he's
in the finale, so good for him. Craig and Marcus
are of course, are bottom two. And Craig, they say,
you came in a little bit too hot. Be careful
about taking risks. And then and Jonathan says to Marcus,
when you're in the pocket, you're a movie star, but
(36:03):
you struggle with consistency. And Marcus is eliminated, and we
get Jonathan's patented elimination tears. And I don't envy anyone
this choice to send Marcus home this week after what
he just went through with his mom. We're down to
the final four. This is hard. It's hard. Yeah, yeah,
it stings. One final button on the episode, as Marcus
(36:26):
goes to take his stocking down, my husband says, good,
those are ugly stockings and what was the choice to
choose that burnt gold color. It's a little Timberland to me,
you know what I mean? Maybe it's like rustic. I
don't know. What I noticed about that is that the
final guys three stockings are all next to each other.
(36:46):
Was that from original? Like that's where they're they were hung.
I have to assume they re hung them, so it's
not like weirdly spacede unless that's an easter egg that's
been there this whole time. Maybe just like we should
go look. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I remember from
episode one Craig talking about his stocking and where it
(37:08):
was at. But I would have to go back and
look to see if our final three were actually next
to each other the entire time. Interesting. Well, next week
is our finale. I'm not ready. I just love this
show so much. I know, I know, I want more
than one season a year. Well, I think there's an
(37:29):
argument to be made for this being a summer season.
Oh couldn't Yeah, don't you agree? Yeah, I think timing
it would be nice to have it in the summer
because we're going to get the finale and then less
than a week later the movie is gonna come out,
and I understand kind of that excitement of it, and
there's something to be said. But also, if we were
(37:50):
to get it in the summer, we could get this
person promoting their movie all season long and talking about it,
and we could It's just such a tight turnaround. I
think there's an argument to be made for to be
a summer show. I think so too. I definitely think
so also. I just really briefly, Homewark dropped surprise news
(38:10):
of a new reality show, Second Chance Love, coming exclusively
to Hallmark Plus. Do you think this means a return
to exclusive Homemark Plus streaming of Homewark's unscripted content? Is
this is the writing on the wall. I don't know.
I don't know. I don't I don't know. Look, I'll
(38:32):
take Fidna Mister Christmas back in any form. So if
it means it has to return purely on streaming, I'm
okay with that. But I want it. I want it
on linear. I want to have the widest audience possible.
I want it back, though. Oh I definitely want it
back for a season three. Like if they're listening, if
Hallmark is listening to us, like, please bring this show
(38:52):
back for a season three. Thanks for listening to this
episode of Girls Gone Hallmark, a Bramble Jam podcast. If
you love this podcast, we love your five star ratings
and reviews. Drop them if you got them. We'll be
back next time with more Hallmark reviews.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Goodbye bye.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
So do with that info what you will, Grab a snack,
hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
and discover your new favorite product.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Bye passssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
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