October 27, 2025 • 31 mins
We’re halfway through the series, and Mistletoe Murders Episodes 3 and 4 are packed with just enough twists, small-town secrets, and shady suspects to keep our mystery-loving brains buzzing. We’re diving deep into Emily Lane’s mysterious past and watching closely as she teams up - sort of - with Detective Sam Wilner to solve Fletcher Grove’s latest holiday homicide.
Visit our website: www.girlsgonehallmark.com
Email us: girlsgonehallmark@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram!
Subscribe to our Patreon for more Megan and Wendy
Visit our website: www.girlsgonehallmark.com
Email us: girlsgonehallmark@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram!
Subscribe to our Patreon for more Megan and Wendy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, Happy Countdown to Christmas season. We originally recorded
these reviews of the Mistletoe Murders season one episodes over
the summer, and we are re airing them in honor
of their debut on the Hallmark Channel as part of
the Countdown to Christmas lineup. We will of course be
reviewing the new episodes in season two when those drop
(00:20):
as well.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Enjoy the reviews. This is a bramble jam podcast. Welcome
(00:45):
to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan
and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan. I'm Windy, I'm a
former Hallmark hater. Summer school continues here on Girls Gone
Hallmark with our review of Mistletoe Murders episodes three and four,
The Peril of the Bow. And while you're listening, please
hop on over to Instagram and type in Girls Gone
Hallmark no Spaces and give us a follow. We'd love
(01:08):
to have you as a friend over there. We also
have a great Facebook group for Girls Gone Hallmark listeners
if you want to join us. We're talking a lot
about all the stuff coming out for Countdown the Christmas
right now, so come give us a join Girls Gone
Homework on Facebook now's the time to join because the
(01:29):
information is going to be fast and furious in the
next couple of months. Oh man, sometimes I can't like
keep up. I know, sometimes they scoop us in there.
I love it, we would know. If you need a
little more Megan and Wendy in your life, hop on
over to our Patreon, which is patreon dot com slash
Megan and Wendy. We drop four episodes a month over there,
a little more lifestyle, a little more behind the scenes,
(01:51):
some pop culture talk, some life Lately talk, and you
get a completely free week to start off. If you
want to check it out and see what's going on
over there, Hey have a question for you. Yeah. I
remember last week when we reviewed Mistletoe Murders and I
was like, I want to make an edit. Oh yeah,
(02:13):
So I made one. I didn't technically make it. I
paid my teenage daughter's friend to make it. Love it
like knows how to do it. They're a way around
how to make an edit. And I gotta say it
came out really well. I'm so excited because if you
want to see it, it is on our Instagram in
(02:34):
the reels. It currently has twenty point two thousand views.
That's wild, isn't it? And the Sarah Drew also shared it,
which made me super excited. Yeah, she did. She knows
she's a baddie. Yeah, I just that was like, the
edit came out perfect. It was exactly how it was
feeling after watching episodes one and two. So she fully
(02:58):
delivered on your vision, she did. Yeah, it was great.
Oh son, I'm very excited about it. But let's talk
episodes three and four? Are you ready for a synopsis?
Hit me? After a string of suspicious accidents, Emily goes
undercover in the local choir to investigate. Sam, however, remains skeptical.
(03:24):
Violet takes on more responsibility at the shop. When the
choir attacks escalate, Emily and Sam grow closer as they
work together to find the culprit. Emily helps a Violet
out of a precarious situation by tapping into her dark past. Hmmm. Interesting.
We have some new news and notes for this episode.
(03:46):
We're not going to run back everything from the previous episode,
but we do have a new director for episodes three
and four. Sherry White directed these episodes. Sherry is a writer,
a director, and a producer, having written and produced other
crime shows like dur In a Small Town and Law
and Order Toronto Criminal Intent. Michelle Ricci wrote episodes three
(04:06):
and four. She's written for quite a few mystery series,
both on Hallmark and elsewhere, with projects like Curious Cater,
Frankie Drake Mysteries, Murdoch Mysteries, and Private Eyes. Heyo reincarnated
Brandon Walsh yep joining the cast for episodes three and four.
We have Raven Dauda as Debbie Brannigan. Raven also voiced
a character in three episodes of the Mistletoe Murders podcast series,
(04:29):
among her one hundred and eight acting credits. Her credits
also include shows like Five Days of Memorial, Spellbound, and
Hudson and Rex. David Delancey Wilson plays His name is
David Delancey Wilson and he plays Lance Indeed Wow. David
was in twenty twenty threes, Catch Me If You Clause,
as well as Headson and Rex and Murdoch Mysteries. Additional
(04:52):
cast members in these episodes include Arlene Duncan as Via
and Jamie Spilchuk as Adam Jamison. We're gonna take a
very quick wake can come right back with our first
impressions of Peril of the Bells. Before we get into
our first impressions, a reminder to the listeners that we
(05:15):
made the decision to combine our reviews, so we did
episodes one and two together, episodes three and four, and
then we will be doing episodes five and six because
that's how the stories are told. Yeah. I feel like
the listeners failed us. They should have told us that before, right,
and we've made our schedule. Yeah, No, it's fool. It's cool,
it's cool. I like that we're doing it this way.
(05:36):
It makes it makes it easier on our end. I agree,
and I like the show. That the show is developed
this way. I think it makes a ton of sense.
What is your first impression of Peril of the Bells.
My first impression is, I don't know what's more dangerous,
(05:58):
the dark web or the choir room. My first impression is,
is this choir cursed or just caddie all? My goodness?
Real Housewives of Fletcher grows growth? Is that what it's
called their town Fletcher's growth is Indeed, these women don't
(06:20):
have enough things to do in their lives. It's pretty funny.
Let's talk what we liked. For me, the number one
thing that I loved about these two episodes was Sarah
Drew's monologue at the end of episode two, when she
reveals to Sam about her parents' death. It hits all
(06:42):
the right emotional beats when she says Christmas was the
last happy time in my life. It was just a
gut punch in the best way possible. And it's starting
to tie together some of Emily's backstory, which gives into
understanding why she is who she is. It was the
(07:05):
perfectly placed emotional payoff at the end of this two
parts two parts episodes. I have an interesting, potentially interesting
take on that scene. I loved it too. I thought
it was incredibly well done by Sarah Drew. I thought
emotionally it hit But the skeptic in me wondered, is
she telling the truth? Mmmm? We don't actually know her backstory.
(07:26):
We did see glimpses of her looking at the family photos.
We know something that's going on there. She did mention
those being happy memories when she pulled them out of
that briefcase, right, But I almost wondered, either is she
telling the truth or is she selectively telling the truth here?
That's a really interesting thought and one I had not
(07:49):
considered because why would she give so much of herself
up if she's so private, worried, worried about exposing herself. Yeah,
because we don't know her past, and Sam is a
uniquely positioned to access that information should he choose to
do so. And so I almost wondered, if you know,
(08:12):
she was so closed off and he's like, something's going
on here, but clearly you're not interested, And I almost
I really want to just take it at face value,
but I was like, she freaked out. She realizes she's
gonna have to give him something or he's gonna be
like googling her in his whole police machine interesting, and
(08:33):
then he's gonna be like, this person does not actually
exist prior to twenty twenty four. So maybe if she
gives him this information, he feels like he doesn't need
to do that question for you. You didn't listen to
the podcast. I did not, okay, because I was like,
do you know, I don't know I know something. I
don't know, I don't know anything. I was actually considering
(08:53):
once this is over, listening to the podcast because it's
got a great cast. Colby Smolders is in it. I
can't think of a single other name's in it off
the top of my head, but I remember thinking it
had a good cast, so I may listen. But no,
I don't know anything. That was just the impression I got.
I was like, this is so lovely, but wait wait yeah,
(09:15):
I my little like hair stood up on my neck.
When she cut her hand on the trunk, I was like, oh, no,
her DNA has been on there now, and what if
that comes back into play somehow of like whose DNA
is it is? This? Of course, then we see a
play out that Vera also cut her hand and I
(09:35):
was like, okay, well maybe that's what they're doing there.
But I was like, what if that is the tell
of who Emily actually is? Look at you? Yeah, I
don't know. Watching too mini mysteries this summer a like
that I had. On a much lighter note. Last episode,
I got my wish. I was asking for more Brooke
(09:56):
and I predicted that she was going to be involved
in a up coming crime and I was correct. There
she delivered in exactly the way I wanted her too.
This is exactly the person I wanted Brooke to be
in this series. She has lines like two glasses of rose,
sucrew it's off for what the hell, let's go Cork.
(10:19):
I also love when she finally gets that solo moment
when Vera is taken away. She she like celebrates a
little bit. She's like, that isn't how I want it
to get it. I love it. Like she's just she's great.
I thought she was really fun. I was glad we
got more of her. I was suspicious of Brooke at first,
(10:40):
and at the top of the third episode, I was like,
is she are a bad guy? Is she our a culprit?
But then I was like, no, she wouldn't be standing
underneath this potential, you know, display that's going to fall
on them, Like if she knew what was going to fall,
she wouldn't be standing there. So she can't be our culprit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm glad that she's not a bad guy, and I
(11:03):
hope she doesn't end up being a bad guy. I
just like her being this kind of vapid townsperson exactly
with some comic relief. Yeah, I'm into Brook. I like Brook.
Something else I really liked I want to talk about
We talked about it a little bit, but Sam and
Emily's chemistry is finally you know we watched these shows,
(11:27):
we know that there's going to be a love interest.
When we watched Mystery one on one, it took them
forever to get there right. We were like, when's it
gonna happen? When's it gonna happen with Sam and Emily?
Like I feel like they're in episodes one and two,
like they obviously have some chemistry. I think we see
(11:49):
that a lot more in episodes three and four. So
it's not like will they won't they, It's but it's
building that a natural progression that I'm enjoying as a
newer I like that their flirtatious way isn't forced by
(12:10):
any means it. As I'm watching it, I was like, Oh,
these are two people who are vibing, for a lack
of better words, like they're into each other totally. And
when they have like that almost kiss at the end
and they're just like face to face, their bodies are
pressed up against each other, I'm super into it. Yeah.
(12:31):
The episode three, oh, early on they have this real cute,
like flirty banter. They're talking about hockey and the bells
and they're just like they're leaning into each other and
their vibe is so fun, and then we end on
that sweeter or more romantic vibe. I love the progression, Like,
and they only have six episodes, so I am assuming
we're not going to get everything all tied up in
(12:52):
a neat little salmon Emily bow at the end of
episodes five and six. But I do like that they're
giving us enough to get into. Yeah, when they have
that conversation when he makes that joke about spiding her parents,
like he's like, they must have loved Halloween and this
is why you leaned into Christmas or whatever, I thought
was so funny. Yeah, such a great line, great writing there.
(13:17):
It's very good, very very good. So some parts of
this episode are like real campy and silly, like oh
my god, yes the sleigh, Like when the sleigh straight
up like crushes Debby and she just watches it happening.
I actually thought it was fun. I didn't. I wasn't
bothered by it, but I they also the closing scene
(13:37):
with the message to Emily with her cryptic chimerasearch happening.
I don't fully know what's going on there, but they
nailed the creepy and I like the balance there, like
we're still hallmarkified but I'm buying it. That's so funny
you said the word hallmarkified because it isn't my wishes.
(13:58):
Uh oh, I'm going to talk about it there all right.
I absolutely agree with you. Was that a like though
for you? Like you are okay with the hallmarkified of
the more sinister storylines. I like the balance because you know,
I don't like scary. Yeah, so for me, it's like
(14:18):
just scary enough to be interesting. I have some thoughts
on the actual crime happening here in my Wishes, don't
you worry, But the sleigh falling from the roof was
funny enough for me to be into it. Okay, No,
I agree with you. I mean, just it just so
(14:40):
happens to get Debbie in the perfect it doesn't actually
hurt her. Yes that possible? How yes? Anymore likes just
one small one. I enjoy watching Emily go like full
(15:00):
spy mode. I like watching It's exciting for me to
see like this double life kind of unfold that and
we're just getting like pieces of it. I said it
in last episode two, like, I think that's the most
thrilling part of the series, learning who Emily is. Yeah,
(15:22):
I don't think we got as much of it in
episodes three and four as we did in one and two,
but it's it's enough to keep me interested going forward. Yeah,
I agree. One thing I think this show is doing well.
We have dual storylines happening here. Even more than that,
like we have whatever the mystery of the double episode
(15:44):
happens to be, but we also have their everyday lives
running in the background. And so that's Sam and Emily
and the mystery of Emily's past. And we also have
what I think is really nice Violet and Emily's relationship.
Violet has a mom, she's just not on screen, and
Emily is kind of serving that maternal figure, particularly when
(16:06):
she says to her, you're allowed to make mistakes when
she's lost the key, and she she turns it into
a you know, just let me know, let me know
next time, but don't make promises. You can keep like
I'll never let it have it again. You are a human.
I really enjoy their seeing where their relationship is going. Yeah,
(16:28):
don't you go. I wish I could have a mom
response like that, yes, where you'd be like freaking out instead. Yeah,
but I also think that Emily is positioned to be
able to have a response like that, because she's not
Violet's mother of course, so right, like, don't you think
you could give grace to someone who's more grace? This
(16:48):
is terrible to say out loud, more grace to someone
who's not your child than someone who is. Sometimes, yes,
because there's less at stake, right, So I think Emily's
in a position to be able to do that better
than Violet's mother would be. I agree, I agree, let's
talk wishes. Okay? For me, speaking of Violet and the
(17:10):
lost key, this is a subplot that didn't really go
anywhere for me. I'm going to talk in a minute
about Emily approaching that teenager or hiding in his car
in a minute. I'm going to get there in a minute.
But what is the point here? This is like a
thread that has no payoff other than to show us
(17:33):
that Emily has a dark past. But I thought it
would lead to something more. Yeah, that's a really good point.
It doesn't serve any other purpose other than to maybe
move Emily on Violet's relationship forward. I think I think they.
I think Emily asks too much of Violet, like she
(17:55):
leaves her alone in that store a lot. I was
wondering that too, And they even said at one point
by like goes, what happened to a couple of errands?
You've been gone for three hours? Yeah, you have a
teenager running this store like all by herself. Seems a
lot to ask, It does seem. Now. When I was
in high school, I did work in a clothing store
and I did close that store by myself, shut down
(18:18):
the register. Blows my mind that I was tasked with
such a job. But even watching it, I think girl
needs a break, Like, what if she needs to go
to the bathroom. She I think we're putting too much
on her. Nobody's actually going like she needs her fifteen
minutes here. I mean, what's she supposed to do? She's
(18:39):
got a page's like hold it until Emily comes back.
She can't leave the store unsupervised. Yeah yeah, yeah. My
next wish is and I feel like you might have
some hot takes on this. It's back to the hallmarkifying
of things. So when Emily is hiding in this kid's car,
(19:04):
which is actually a terrifying like thought to be, like
if somebody's hiding in the back of your car, Like,
so I kind of liked that, but it was way
too campy with her doing this like menacing voice to
his kid to scare him. I was like, what is
happening here? This has gone too far? Like I couldn't.
I couldn't. It wasn't believable to me. I thought it was.
(19:28):
It was equal parts silly and over the top and
also way more than was warranted. Like, Okay, the kid
broken to the store, I get it, but this vigilante
justice like I'm gonna scare him straight thing I thought
was maybe a little bit over the line, like he
is still a child, and granted a child who had
(19:49):
committed a crime. I get it. But I was like, well,
maybe pump the brakes a little bit here, Emily. Yeah,
I a literally I really like laughed out loud and
said what is happening when I was watching it, Hey,
you better never do anything with that again? Or oh no, Yeah,
(20:11):
it was too too cartoonish for me. When in the
previous episodes in one and two, I thought Emily came
off as this like real batty vigilante you don't want
to mess with, and this just felt like, oh, this
felt like somebody's mom trying to scare some kid. You know.
(20:33):
I think the voice is what ruins that scene for me,
because the hiding in the back seat scary, the way
we don't see her coming scary, the fact that she
like gets them around the neck scary. It's just the
voice that like pushes it into the hookey side. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Do you think she was like, oh man, how am
I gonna pull this off? Like when she's doing this scene? Yeah,
(20:54):
I wish they had there was a way to give
her one of those like voice changers. Yeah, why didn't
they do that? Well, I don't know how you do
that live like you they're still gonna hear your voice? Yeah, true, trure, true, true, true.
Tell me what you wish for. I would like a
clear timeline on what's happening here. It does seem like
we're days away from Christmas, but also potentially weeks. Like
I know we're in the holiday season because in the
(21:15):
last episode they had Christmas karaoke, and they had the
the hot cocoa situation, and now we've got the Christmas
tree lighting. We have all of this, but I don't
have any idea when we are, Like maybe it just
seems like a lot of time passes in these episodes,
but also, not much time passes. I know, it's like,
(21:36):
are we like six weeks out from Christmas? What's happening?
But even then, it just seems like that whole last episode,
you know, June was in prison. They had to you know,
I the time was a little wonky for me, my
big wish. However, Era had no choice but to murder
two people because the choir group might lose. Yeah, we
(21:58):
haven't even talked about the whole situation. Thank you for
bringing it up. Yeah, that was kind of a weird motivation.
It's similar to mistery one oh one, where the guy
kills because he doesn't want his girl to be hired
for the job. Yes, job or winner. It's like, ett
(22:18):
it unbelievable. You're so invested in your choir that you
had to kill someone who might go to another choir
and make them better. The believability has been stretched to
its very limits here. Yeah, I agree. I mean it
is if you roll it back to like, is this
(22:38):
the ultimate Hallmark crime? My holiday choir might lose, so
therefore I have to murder the person who's going to
be responsible for that. Okay, but I think I think
we're pushing it here. Do you have any more wishes? No,
that's it, all right, let's talk. Did you see that? Okay?
I don't have any true digit see that. I have
(23:00):
two thoughts on things, and then one actually like did
you see that? But it's not like a continuity issue?
So are you ready for it? I am Emily wears
the brand Mother Jeans, and those jeans are two hundred dollars.
I'm like, nice catch. How did you wardrobe saw the label?
It has an M on the pocket and I just
(23:20):
those have been on my radar for some time and
I just can't link. Two hundred dollars for a pair
of jeans is bonkers to me. But I'm like, Wardrobe
must have had some money here. I mean, maybe she's
wearing them and like sat I noticed them in episodes
one and two as well, but she could obviously they
might be repurposing them in for the show, like maybe
(23:42):
they just have one pair of premium denim jeans for
our actress to wear. But yeah, anyway, I noticed that,
all right. The other thing, here's a question. So Emily
has this store, right, and in the montages we see
a lot of her selling things like snow globes and ornaments,
(24:04):
and stuff like that, And I was like, who is
going to a specialty Christmas shop to buy Christmas decor
type items? Like I kind of thought this might be
a regular like retail space and then they wrap the
gifts for Christmas giving. Do you know where I'm getting to? Yeah,
(24:27):
so I'm going to push back on that because we
live in Orange County, land of the chain store. We
do not have cute, little small town Christmas shops just
in our cruising radius. Yeah, so we wouldn't shop there
because they don't exist. But there are places like by
my mother in law's house or as a place that's like,
(24:49):
it's not just Christmas. They sell whatever the holiday happens
to be, but it's like a full store of like
ornaments and decor and that's all they sell. And it's
little more u unique than you're a big box store.
So I think people in a small town where there's
not a Target and a home Goods and whatever wherever
(25:09):
else people are shopping for these things on every corner
probably would shop in a place like this. I don't
think it's sustainable twelve months of the year. When she
says two Violet's friend, I'll let you know if we're
hiring during this summer busy season. Yeah, I was like,
what what busy season? That's weird. I don't know that
it's sustainable year round, but I do think people are
like looking for like unique holiday finds. Yeah, and it
(25:32):
might just be a me thing. I just wouldn't go
to a specialty store and buy a snow globe for somebody.
First of all, I would never gift anybody a snow
globe either, which is a me thing, and then ask
them to wrap it. I don't know, it just seems weird.
I like, I'll go to a Christmas shop and like
poke around and like because I like browsing at things.
But yeah, I don't know. I don't know why I'm
(25:56):
so hung up on it. If I'm going to buy
somebody a gift, it's not going to be holiday decore though. No. Well,
I think a lot of people gift ornaments during the holidays. Yeah,
a lot of people like hostess gifts or yeah, my
last did you see that? Is our character Debbie. She
(26:19):
leans in real hard to her singing right now and
you probably haven't seen it, but there is a TikTok
of these girls and they are on stage and they're
clearly like sisters. And there's two younger ones who are
getting ready to sing and they're gonna sing a Cranberry
song and the older one is like just being so
(26:41):
extra and it completely reminded me of Debbie. I'm going
to share it with you. I may share it in
our Facebook group too, just to be like, this gives
off Debbie vibes because Debbie was interesting to watch. Yes,
it just it just made me laugh, that's all. Yeah,
I think I totally agree like her choices, which is
(27:02):
how my theater daughter would say. The choices that she
made were very interesting, and I think, you know, I
think the whole point is to highlight like her role
as a soloist wasn't earned, it was uh huh stolen
because of her financial support. And she's obviously not the
(27:22):
most talented person there. So I mean, even Sarah Drew's
singing was better than Debbie's. Kind of surprised by Sarah Drewcey, Yeah,
I loved it. Yeah, I don't have like you said,
true Digitsu. That's I just wanted to point out that,
you know, Emily tries to connect with Adam to get
more information about him, and she's like, hey, I have
(27:44):
some junk I need hauled away, And when he kind
of calls her bluff, he's like, oh, I'll be in
the area, I'll come pick it up. She gives him
a box a boxes. Yeah, yeah, you couldn't have taken
that out of the trash yourself. You needed a junk
call to take that away. Yeah. I need a junk collar.
Got me too, get all the junk at my house? Yeah,
(28:07):
I mean, speaking of tiktoks, you see those videos that
are like, this is a a gen x ER's dream
and it's a dumpster pulling up to the curve. It's empty,
one hundred percent my dream. I love doing that at
least once a year. Time to verge. Yeah, what did
you rate this episode of Mistletoe Murders. I gave this
(28:30):
episode four and a half stars. Last episode this week
four point seventy five. Okay, this one ticks down just
a little bit because they got a little hokey. Yeah,
so I gave last episode five stars. I'm giving this
one four point to two five stars. Ooh, it really
fell for you. Now, let's be clear, I don't find
(28:50):
four point two five stars to be a bad rating,
and nobody else should either. We just this is a
classic middle of the trilogy episode mm hmm, moving things along,
but it's not there's no fireworks. Yeah, That's why I
want to listen to the podcast because I'm like, is
there any difference here? What does the story did home?
(29:14):
Did Hallmark get their hands on making it a little
more Hallmark mystery? Yeah, with the exception of when she
opens the trunk and Adam is dead in the trunk,
I was like, oh, which is like, I'm at Adam's
house and so is he? You were like, what nice? Nice? Yep, Hey,
thanks for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark.
(29:37):
If you enjoy this podcast, we would absolutely love your
five star ratings and reviews. You can rate us on Spotify,
but you can write a written review and Apple Podcasts
and we would love to see it. You just might
hear your review read on a future episode. We'll be
back next time. Goodbye bye. All right friends, before we go,
(30:08):
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. Bye.
Hey friends, Happy Countdown to Christmas season. We originally recorded
these reviews of the Mistletoe Murders season one episodes over
the summer, and we are re airing them in honor
of their debut on the Hallmark Channel as part of
the Countdown to Christmas lineup. We will of course be
reviewing the new episodes in season two when those drop
(00:20):
as well.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Enjoy the reviews. This is a bramble jam podcast. Welcome
(00:45):
to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan
and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan. I'm Windy, I'm a
former Hallmark hater. Summer school continues here on Girls Gone
Hallmark with our review of Mistletoe Murders episodes three and four,
The Peril of the Bow. And while you're listening, please
hop on over to Instagram and type in Girls Gone
Hallmark no Spaces and give us a follow. We'd love
(01:08):
to have you as a friend over there. We also
have a great Facebook group for Girls Gone Hallmark listeners
if you want to join us. We're talking a lot
about all the stuff coming out for Countdown the Christmas
right now, so come give us a join Girls Gone
Homework on Facebook now's the time to join because the
(01:29):
information is going to be fast and furious in the
next couple of months. Oh man, sometimes I can't like
keep up. I know, sometimes they scoop us in there.
I love it, we would know. If you need a
little more Megan and Wendy in your life, hop on
over to our Patreon, which is patreon dot com slash
Megan and Wendy. We drop four episodes a month over there,
a little more lifestyle, a little more behind the scenes,
(01:51):
some pop culture talk, some life Lately talk, and you
get a completely free week to start off. If you
want to check it out and see what's going on
over there, Hey have a question for you. Yeah. I
remember last week when we reviewed Mistletoe Murders and I
was like, I want to make an edit. Oh yeah,
(02:13):
So I made one. I didn't technically make it. I
paid my teenage daughter's friend to make it. Love it
like knows how to do it. They're a way around
how to make an edit. And I gotta say it
came out really well. I'm so excited because if you
want to see it, it is on our Instagram in
(02:34):
the reels. It currently has twenty point two thousand views.
That's wild, isn't it? And the Sarah Drew also shared it,
which made me super excited. Yeah, she did. She knows
she's a baddie. Yeah, I just that was like, the
edit came out perfect. It was exactly how it was
feeling after watching episodes one and two. So she fully
(02:58):
delivered on your vision, she did. Yeah, it was great.
Oh son, I'm very excited about it. But let's talk
episodes three and four? Are you ready for a synopsis?
Hit me? After a string of suspicious accidents, Emily goes
undercover in the local choir to investigate. Sam, however, remains skeptical.
(03:24):
Violet takes on more responsibility at the shop. When the
choir attacks escalate, Emily and Sam grow closer as they
work together to find the culprit. Emily helps a Violet
out of a precarious situation by tapping into her dark past. Hmmm. Interesting.
We have some new news and notes for this episode.
(03:46):
We're not going to run back everything from the previous episode,
but we do have a new director for episodes three
and four. Sherry White directed these episodes. Sherry is a writer,
a director, and a producer, having written and produced other
crime shows like dur In a Small Town and Law
and Order Toronto Criminal Intent. Michelle Ricci wrote episodes three
(04:06):
and four. She's written for quite a few mystery series,
both on Hallmark and elsewhere, with projects like Curious Cater,
Frankie Drake Mysteries, Murdoch Mysteries, and Private Eyes. Heyo reincarnated
Brandon Walsh yep joining the cast for episodes three and four.
We have Raven Dauda as Debbie Brannigan. Raven also voiced
a character in three episodes of the Mistletoe Murders podcast series,
(04:29):
among her one hundred and eight acting credits. Her credits
also include shows like Five Days of Memorial, Spellbound, and
Hudson and Rex. David Delancey Wilson plays His name is
David Delancey Wilson and he plays Lance Indeed Wow. David
was in twenty twenty threes, Catch Me If You Clause,
as well as Headson and Rex and Murdoch Mysteries. Additional
(04:52):
cast members in these episodes include Arlene Duncan as Via
and Jamie Spilchuk as Adam Jamison. We're gonna take a
very quick wake can come right back with our first
impressions of Peril of the Bells. Before we get into
our first impressions, a reminder to the listeners that we
(05:15):
made the decision to combine our reviews, so we did
episodes one and two together, episodes three and four, and
then we will be doing episodes five and six because
that's how the stories are told. Yeah. I feel like
the listeners failed us. They should have told us that before, right,
and we've made our schedule. Yeah, No, it's fool. It's cool,
it's cool. I like that we're doing it this way.
(05:36):
It makes it makes it easier on our end. I agree,
and I like the show. That the show is developed
this way. I think it makes a ton of sense.
What is your first impression of Peril of the Bells.
My first impression is, I don't know what's more dangerous,
(05:58):
the dark web or the choir room. My first impression is,
is this choir cursed or just caddie all? My goodness?
Real Housewives of Fletcher grows growth? Is that what it's
called their town Fletcher's growth is Indeed, these women don't
(06:20):
have enough things to do in their lives. It's pretty funny.
Let's talk what we liked. For me, the number one
thing that I loved about these two episodes was Sarah
Drew's monologue at the end of episode two, when she
reveals to Sam about her parents' death. It hits all
(06:42):
the right emotional beats when she says Christmas was the
last happy time in my life. It was just a
gut punch in the best way possible. And it's starting
to tie together some of Emily's backstory, which gives into
understanding why she is who she is. It was the
(07:05):
perfectly placed emotional payoff at the end of this two
parts two parts episodes. I have an interesting, potentially interesting
take on that scene. I loved it too. I thought
it was incredibly well done by Sarah Drew. I thought
emotionally it hit But the skeptic in me wondered, is
she telling the truth? Mmmm? We don't actually know her backstory.
(07:26):
We did see glimpses of her looking at the family photos.
We know something that's going on there. She did mention
those being happy memories when she pulled them out of
that briefcase, right, But I almost wondered, either is she
telling the truth or is she selectively telling the truth here?
That's a really interesting thought and one I had not
(07:49):
considered because why would she give so much of herself
up if she's so private, worried, worried about exposing herself. Yeah,
because we don't know her past, and Sam is a
uniquely positioned to access that information should he choose to
do so. And so I almost wondered, if you know,
(08:12):
she was so closed off and he's like, something's going
on here, but clearly you're not interested, And I almost
I really want to just take it at face value,
but I was like, she freaked out. She realizes she's
gonna have to give him something or he's gonna be
like googling her in his whole police machine interesting, and
(08:33):
then he's gonna be like, this person does not actually
exist prior to twenty twenty four. So maybe if she
gives him this information, he feels like he doesn't need
to do that question for you. You didn't listen to
the podcast. I did not, okay, because I was like,
do you know, I don't know I know something. I
don't know, I don't know anything. I was actually considering
(08:53):
once this is over, listening to the podcast because it's
got a great cast. Colby Smolders is in it. I
can't think of a single other name's in it off
the top of my head, but I remember thinking it
had a good cast, so I may listen. But no,
I don't know anything. That was just the impression I got.
I was like, this is so lovely, but wait wait yeah,
(09:15):
I my little like hair stood up on my neck.
When she cut her hand on the trunk, I was like, oh, no,
her DNA has been on there now, and what if
that comes back into play somehow of like whose DNA
is it is? This? Of course, then we see a
play out that Vera also cut her hand and I
(09:35):
was like, okay, well maybe that's what they're doing there.
But I was like, what if that is the tell
of who Emily actually is? Look at you? Yeah, I
don't know. Watching too mini mysteries this summer a like
that I had. On a much lighter note. Last episode,
I got my wish. I was asking for more Brooke
(09:56):
and I predicted that she was going to be involved
in a up coming crime and I was correct. There
she delivered in exactly the way I wanted her too.
This is exactly the person I wanted Brooke to be
in this series. She has lines like two glasses of rose,
sucrew it's off for what the hell, let's go Cork.
(10:19):
I also love when she finally gets that solo moment
when Vera is taken away. She she like celebrates a
little bit. She's like, that isn't how I want it
to get it. I love it. Like she's just she's great.
I thought she was really fun. I was glad we
got more of her. I was suspicious of Brooke at first,
(10:40):
and at the top of the third episode, I was like,
is she are a bad guy? Is she our a culprit?
But then I was like, no, she wouldn't be standing
underneath this potential, you know, display that's going to fall
on them, Like if she knew what was going to fall,
she wouldn't be standing there. So she can't be our culprit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm glad that she's not a bad guy, and I
(11:03):
hope she doesn't end up being a bad guy. I
just like her being this kind of vapid townsperson exactly
with some comic relief. Yeah, I'm into Brook. I like Brook.
Something else I really liked I want to talk about
We talked about it a little bit, but Sam and
Emily's chemistry is finally you know we watched these shows,
(11:27):
we know that there's going to be a love interest.
When we watched Mystery one on one, it took them
forever to get there right. We were like, when's it
gonna happen? When's it gonna happen with Sam and Emily?
Like I feel like they're in episodes one and two,
like they obviously have some chemistry. I think we see
(11:49):
that a lot more in episodes three and four. So
it's not like will they won't they, It's but it's
building that a natural progression that I'm enjoying as a
newer I like that their flirtatious way isn't forced by
(12:10):
any means it. As I'm watching it, I was like, Oh,
these are two people who are vibing, for a lack
of better words, like they're into each other totally. And
when they have like that almost kiss at the end
and they're just like face to face, their bodies are
pressed up against each other, I'm super into it. Yeah.
(12:31):
The episode three, oh, early on they have this real cute,
like flirty banter. They're talking about hockey and the bells
and they're just like they're leaning into each other and
their vibe is so fun, and then we end on
that sweeter or more romantic vibe. I love the progression, Like,
and they only have six episodes, so I am assuming
we're not going to get everything all tied up in
(12:52):
a neat little salmon Emily bow at the end of
episodes five and six. But I do like that they're
giving us enough to get into. Yeah, when they have
that conversation when he makes that joke about spiding her parents,
like he's like, they must have loved Halloween and this
is why you leaned into Christmas or whatever, I thought
was so funny. Yeah, such a great line, great writing there.
(13:17):
It's very good, very very good. So some parts of
this episode are like real campy and silly, like oh
my god, yes the sleigh, Like when the sleigh straight
up like crushes Debby and she just watches it happening.
I actually thought it was fun. I didn't. I wasn't
bothered by it, but I they also the closing scene
(13:37):
with the message to Emily with her cryptic chimerasearch happening.
I don't fully know what's going on there, but they
nailed the creepy and I like the balance there, like
we're still hallmarkified but I'm buying it. That's so funny
you said the word hallmarkified because it isn't my wishes.
(13:58):
Uh oh, I'm going to talk about it there all right.
I absolutely agree with you. Was that a like though
for you? Like you are okay with the hallmarkified of
the more sinister storylines. I like the balance because you know,
I don't like scary. Yeah, so for me, it's like
(14:18):
just scary enough to be interesting. I have some thoughts
on the actual crime happening here in my Wishes, don't
you worry, But the sleigh falling from the roof was
funny enough for me to be into it. Okay, No,
I agree with you. I mean, just it just so
(14:40):
happens to get Debbie in the perfect it doesn't actually
hurt her. Yes that possible? How yes? Anymore likes just
one small one. I enjoy watching Emily go like full
(15:00):
spy mode. I like watching It's exciting for me to
see like this double life kind of unfold that and
we're just getting like pieces of it. I said it
in last episode two, like, I think that's the most
thrilling part of the series, learning who Emily is. Yeah,
(15:22):
I don't think we got as much of it in
episodes three and four as we did in one and two,
but it's it's enough to keep me interested going forward. Yeah,
I agree. One thing I think this show is doing well.
We have dual storylines happening here. Even more than that,
like we have whatever the mystery of the double episode
(15:44):
happens to be, but we also have their everyday lives
running in the background. And so that's Sam and Emily
and the mystery of Emily's past. And we also have
what I think is really nice Violet and Emily's relationship.
Violet has a mom, she's just not on screen, and
Emily is kind of serving that maternal figure, particularly when
(16:06):
she says to her, you're allowed to make mistakes when
she's lost the key, and she she turns it into
a you know, just let me know, let me know
next time, but don't make promises. You can keep like
I'll never let it have it again. You are a human.
I really enjoy their seeing where their relationship is going. Yeah,
(16:28):
don't you go. I wish I could have a mom
response like that, yes, where you'd be like freaking out instead. Yeah,
but I also think that Emily is positioned to be
able to have a response like that, because she's not
Violet's mother of course, so right, like, don't you think
you could give grace to someone who's more grace? This
(16:48):
is terrible to say out loud, more grace to someone
who's not your child than someone who is. Sometimes, yes,
because there's less at stake, right, So I think Emily's
in a position to be able to do that better
than Violet's mother would be. I agree, I agree, let's
talk wishes. Okay? For me, speaking of Violet and the
(17:10):
lost key, this is a subplot that didn't really go
anywhere for me. I'm going to talk in a minute
about Emily approaching that teenager or hiding in his car
in a minute. I'm going to get there in a minute.
But what is the point here? This is like a
thread that has no payoff other than to show us
(17:33):
that Emily has a dark past. But I thought it
would lead to something more. Yeah, that's a really good point.
It doesn't serve any other purpose other than to maybe
move Emily on Violet's relationship forward. I think I think they.
I think Emily asks too much of Violet, like she
(17:55):
leaves her alone in that store a lot. I was
wondering that too, And they even said at one point
by like goes, what happened to a couple of errands?
You've been gone for three hours? Yeah, you have a
teenager running this store like all by herself. Seems a
lot to ask, It does seem. Now. When I was
in high school, I did work in a clothing store
and I did close that store by myself, shut down
(18:18):
the register. Blows my mind that I was tasked with
such a job. But even watching it, I think girl
needs a break, Like, what if she needs to go
to the bathroom. She I think we're putting too much
on her. Nobody's actually going like she needs her fifteen
minutes here. I mean, what's she supposed to do? She's
(18:39):
got a page's like hold it until Emily comes back.
She can't leave the store unsupervised. Yeah yeah, yeah. My
next wish is and I feel like you might have
some hot takes on this. It's back to the hallmarkifying
of things. So when Emily is hiding in this kid's car,
(19:04):
which is actually a terrifying like thought to be, like
if somebody's hiding in the back of your car, Like,
so I kind of liked that, but it was way
too campy with her doing this like menacing voice to
his kid to scare him. I was like, what is
happening here? This has gone too far? Like I couldn't.
I couldn't. It wasn't believable to me. I thought it was.
(19:28):
It was equal parts silly and over the top and
also way more than was warranted. Like, Okay, the kid
broken to the store, I get it, but this vigilante
justice like I'm gonna scare him straight thing I thought
was maybe a little bit over the line, like he
is still a child, and granted a child who had
(19:49):
committed a crime. I get it. But I was like, well,
maybe pump the brakes a little bit here, Emily. Yeah,
I a literally I really like laughed out loud and
said what is happening when I was watching it, Hey,
you better never do anything with that again? Or oh no, Yeah,
(20:11):
it was too too cartoonish for me. When in the
previous episodes in one and two, I thought Emily came
off as this like real batty vigilante you don't want
to mess with, and this just felt like, oh, this
felt like somebody's mom trying to scare some kid. You know.
(20:33):
I think the voice is what ruins that scene for me,
because the hiding in the back seat scary, the way
we don't see her coming scary, the fact that she
like gets them around the neck scary. It's just the
voice that like pushes it into the hookey side. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Do you think she was like, oh man, how am
I gonna pull this off? Like when she's doing this scene? Yeah,
(20:54):
I wish they had there was a way to give
her one of those like voice changers. Yeah, why didn't
they do that? Well, I don't know how you do
that live like you they're still gonna hear your voice? Yeah, true, trure, true, true, true.
Tell me what you wish for. I would like a
clear timeline on what's happening here. It does seem like
we're days away from Christmas, but also potentially weeks. Like
I know we're in the holiday season because in the
(21:15):
last episode they had Christmas karaoke, and they had the
the hot cocoa situation, and now we've got the Christmas
tree lighting. We have all of this, but I don't
have any idea when we are, Like maybe it just
seems like a lot of time passes in these episodes,
but also, not much time passes. I know, it's like,
(21:36):
are we like six weeks out from Christmas? What's happening?
But even then, it just seems like that whole last episode,
you know, June was in prison. They had to you know,
I the time was a little wonky for me, my
big wish. However, Era had no choice but to murder
two people because the choir group might lose. Yeah, we
(21:58):
haven't even talked about the whole situation. Thank you for
bringing it up. Yeah, that was kind of a weird motivation.
It's similar to mistery one oh one, where the guy
kills because he doesn't want his girl to be hired
for the job. Yes, job or winner. It's like, ett
(22:18):
it unbelievable. You're so invested in your choir that you
had to kill someone who might go to another choir
and make them better. The believability has been stretched to
its very limits here. Yeah, I agree. I mean it
is if you roll it back to like, is this
(22:38):
the ultimate Hallmark crime? My holiday choir might lose, so
therefore I have to murder the person who's going to
be responsible for that. Okay, but I think I think
we're pushing it here. Do you have any more wishes? No,
that's it, all right, let's talk. Did you see that? Okay?
I don't have any true digit see that. I have
(23:00):
two thoughts on things, and then one actually like did
you see that? But it's not like a continuity issue?
So are you ready for it? I am Emily wears
the brand Mother Jeans, and those jeans are two hundred dollars.
I'm like, nice catch. How did you wardrobe saw the label?
It has an M on the pocket and I just
(23:20):
those have been on my radar for some time and
I just can't link. Two hundred dollars for a pair
of jeans is bonkers to me. But I'm like, Wardrobe
must have had some money here. I mean, maybe she's
wearing them and like sat I noticed them in episodes
one and two as well, but she could obviously they
might be repurposing them in for the show, like maybe
(23:42):
they just have one pair of premium denim jeans for
our actress to wear. But yeah, anyway, I noticed that,
all right. The other thing, here's a question. So Emily
has this store, right, and in the montages we see
a lot of her selling things like snow globes and ornaments,
(24:04):
and stuff like that, And I was like, who is
going to a specialty Christmas shop to buy Christmas decor
type items? Like I kind of thought this might be
a regular like retail space and then they wrap the
gifts for Christmas giving. Do you know where I'm getting to? Yeah,
(24:27):
so I'm going to push back on that because we
live in Orange County, land of the chain store. We
do not have cute, little small town Christmas shops just
in our cruising radius. Yeah, so we wouldn't shop there
because they don't exist. But there are places like by
my mother in law's house or as a place that's like,
(24:49):
it's not just Christmas. They sell whatever the holiday happens
to be, but it's like a full store of like
ornaments and decor and that's all they sell. And it's
little more u unique than you're a big box store.
So I think people in a small town where there's
not a Target and a home Goods and whatever wherever
(25:09):
else people are shopping for these things on every corner
probably would shop in a place like this. I don't
think it's sustainable twelve months of the year. When she
says two Violet's friend, I'll let you know if we're
hiring during this summer busy season. Yeah, I was like,
what what busy season? That's weird. I don't know that
it's sustainable year round, but I do think people are
like looking for like unique holiday finds. Yeah, and it
(25:32):
might just be a me thing. I just wouldn't go
to a specialty store and buy a snow globe for somebody.
First of all, I would never gift anybody a snow
globe either, which is a me thing, and then ask
them to wrap it. I don't know, it just seems weird.
I like, I'll go to a Christmas shop and like
poke around and like because I like browsing at things.
But yeah, I don't know. I don't know why I'm
(25:56):
so hung up on it. If I'm going to buy
somebody a gift, it's not going to be holiday decore though. No. Well,
I think a lot of people gift ornaments during the holidays. Yeah,
a lot of people like hostess gifts or yeah, my
last did you see that? Is our character Debbie. She
(26:19):
leans in real hard to her singing right now and
you probably haven't seen it, but there is a TikTok
of these girls and they are on stage and they're
clearly like sisters. And there's two younger ones who are
getting ready to sing and they're gonna sing a Cranberry
song and the older one is like just being so
(26:41):
extra and it completely reminded me of Debbie. I'm going
to share it with you. I may share it in
our Facebook group too, just to be like, this gives
off Debbie vibes because Debbie was interesting to watch. Yes,
it just it just made me laugh, that's all. Yeah,
I think I totally agree like her choices, which is
(27:02):
how my theater daughter would say. The choices that she
made were very interesting, and I think, you know, I
think the whole point is to highlight like her role
as a soloist wasn't earned, it was uh huh stolen
because of her financial support. And she's obviously not the
(27:22):
most talented person there. So I mean, even Sarah Drew's
singing was better than Debbie's. Kind of surprised by Sarah Drewcey, Yeah,
I loved it. Yeah, I don't have like you said,
true Digitsu. That's I just wanted to point out that,
you know, Emily tries to connect with Adam to get
more information about him, and she's like, hey, I have
(27:44):
some junk I need hauled away, And when he kind
of calls her bluff, he's like, oh, I'll be in
the area, I'll come pick it up. She gives him
a box a boxes. Yeah, yeah, you couldn't have taken
that out of the trash yourself. You needed a junk
call to take that away. Yeah. I need a junk collar.
Got me too, get all the junk at my house? Yeah,
(28:07):
I mean, speaking of tiktoks, you see those videos that
are like, this is a a gen x ER's dream
and it's a dumpster pulling up to the curve. It's empty,
one hundred percent my dream. I love doing that at
least once a year. Time to verge. Yeah, what did
you rate this episode of Mistletoe Murders. I gave this
(28:30):
episode four and a half stars. Last episode this week
four point seventy five. Okay, this one ticks down just
a little bit because they got a little hokey. Yeah,
so I gave last episode five stars. I'm giving this
one four point to two five stars. Ooh, it really
fell for you. Now, let's be clear, I don't find
(28:50):
four point two five stars to be a bad rating,
and nobody else should either. We just this is a
classic middle of the trilogy episode mm hmm, moving things along,
but it's not there's no fireworks. Yeah, That's why I
want to listen to the podcast because I'm like, is
there any difference here? What does the story did home?
(29:14):
Did Hallmark get their hands on making it a little
more Hallmark mystery? Yeah, with the exception of when she
opens the trunk and Adam is dead in the trunk,
I was like, oh, which is like, I'm at Adam's
house and so is he? You were like, what nice? Nice? Yep, Hey,
thanks for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark.
(29:37):
If you enjoy this podcast, we would absolutely love your
five star ratings and reviews. You can rate us on Spotify,
but you can write a written review and Apple Podcasts
and we would love to see it. You just might
hear your review read on a future episode. We'll be
back next time. Goodbye bye. All right friends, before we go,
(30:08):
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. Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!