August 7, 2025 • 30 mins
It’s finals week! We’ve made it to the end of Mistletoe Murders Season 1, and these last two episodes lull us into thinking Emily’s finally safe in Fletcher’s Grove - until BAM! A twisty cliffhanger leaves us with more questions than answers. Oh, and Tom Cavanagh joins the cast… for about five minutes. Click play on our review of Mistletoe Murders Episodes 5 and 6.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
(00:23):
a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. It's
finals week in our summer school series as we wrap
up Season one of Mistletoe Murders. We will be discussing
episodes five and six. Death of a Humbug Parts one
and two. While you're listening to this episode, hop on
over to Instagram give us a follow. Where we are
(00:44):
Girls Gone Hallmark. Hey, we have a Facebook group we'd
love for you to join. It's Girls Gone Hallmark in
Facebook groups. And let me just say, there is so
much coming out or a lot of things being discussed
about with the holidays. I can't even believe what I'm
seeing holidays. It's at the beginning of August. I know,
(01:07):
I am not ready. Walked into a store the other
day and they had all our Halloween out. I was like, nope, noe,
a't the grocery store. I walked down like the one
of the aisles I had Halloween candyo. No no, no, no, no, no no. Anyway,
but if you're excited for countdown to Christmas twenty twenty five.
(01:29):
They're talking over there, so come join us, Yeah, and
email us your thoughts on anything homemark this series, the
new movies that are currently dropping, Providence Falls is coming up,
the countdown to Christmas announcements email us Girls Gone Homemark
at gmail dot com. We're prepping for an upcoming mail
bag episode. We promise, we promise. August is busy for us,
(01:51):
so the entire sunning is busy. It's just a little
bit of a wacky schedule. It's fine, it's fine. We'll
be like both both feet in the sand? Is that
the same? That's not the same. I'm just saying that
when the countdown to Christmas comes, there's gonna be no
lack of episodes from us, that is correct. Let's here
(02:12):
a synopsis of Death of a Humbug. What the hell
was I talking about two feet in the Sand? I
don't know what that means. Okay, here's the synopsis for
episodes five and six. A murder leads Emily and Sam
to a scavenger hunt orchestrated by the victim. Emily continues
to solve the scavenger hunt and grapples with her past.
(02:35):
Melanie or directed episodes five and six of Missletoone Murders.
Melanie has previously directed on series like Sullivan's Crossing, The
Hardy Boys and Spencer Sisters. Shelley Scarrow wrote the duo
episodes of Mistletoe Murders. Shelley's other writing credits include Sullivan's Crossing,
Wyona Irp, and Degrassi The Next Generation. Tom Kavanaugh joins
(02:57):
the cast as game Master Glenn Shaw. Tom has several
long series runs, including eighty three episodes of ED and
one hundred and forty six episodes of the Flash. For Hallmark,
he starred in Darrow and Darrow Movies. Again. I'm gonna
go that's a Hallmark project. It is, you know, we
nothing just get I know it's one of those it's
(03:20):
like the Rex and Hudson, but I'm pretty sure the thought,
Yeah it is, Kimberly Williams Paisley. I remember opening up
this tab and it has the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries
logo on it, So yes, got it. Well, you know,
we did get another email from a listener of the
show who's begging us to review that that series. Yeah,
I'm not opposed to it, it's just unfortunately not happening
(03:43):
this month. There was even this not even this year. No,
probably honestly, not even this year. That's true. Yeah, there
was some discussions since we cut down our Mistletoe Murders
episodes from six to three, rightfully, so I don't think
anybody argues with that decision that we now had room
for that, and I suppose that's true. But Hayle, we
do actually have a surprise. We had initially said we
(04:05):
weren't doing something, and we are doing it. So just
keep an eye on that schedule. There's something fun coming
to girls go on Homemark. What is it? The Chicken Sisters? Yeah,
I'm not doing it so great for me. I have
a question complete side topic here. When Hallmark drops season
(04:26):
two of Missiletoe Murders, I'm guessing we're going to review
it in real time. Yeah, probably. I mean we haven't
seen like a schedule yet, so we don't. Fully we can't.
I'm just talking through it here. I think it's probably
best to do the two episode if that's the way
they continue like with the parts and parts two, and
we should do them combined, so maybe it will be
(04:49):
like an every other week drop for us. Yeah, perhaps
I'm totally open to continuing doing the two episode system.
I assume we're going to see the Mistletoe Murders schedule
and we see the full count on a Christmas schedule. Yeah,
it's gonna be soon. It's gonna be soon too. I
think Jake Epstein plays Wayward nephew Noah. Jake has been
(05:12):
quite the presence on Hallmark, appearing in the three Unwrapping
Christmas movies and four Hearts Around the Tables movies of late.
Outside of Hallmark, he's had recurring rolls on Suits Designated
Survivor and The Hardy Boys. Let's take a quick break
and come right back with our first impressions of Death
of a Humbug. Hey, Wendy, what was your first impression
(05:41):
of Mistletoe Murders five and six? Well, I hope, I
hope the listeners get this one. I hope you get it.
H Hallmark really gave Tom Cavanaugh the Drew Barrymore treatment
in this one. Oh, I don't know what that means.
Drew Barrymore was in the movie Scream Big Star in
(06:03):
the first like ten minutes of the movie, which was
like unheard of, like unheard of man. Tom Cavanaugh rolls
in makes this makes me at least think he's sticking around,
and then he gets gets the he gets whacked, he
gets whacked. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, that's a good point.
(06:23):
He does stick around in video form. But yeah, but
I thought I thought Tom Cavanaugh was gonna come in. Well,
he's a big name, at least to me, he's a
big name. I think he was gonna come in. I
thought he was gonna be maybe like a love trying,
yeah situation, maybe somebody from her past that she knows
(06:44):
in Chimera. I don't. I don't know, I don't know,
but uh, he wasn't. So yeah, what's your first impression?
My first impression is I would just like to say
that I called Harvey as the bad guy before it
was revealed he was the bad guy due to some
hot dog going on my part. What's super sleuthen Wait,
(07:05):
he looked like he didn't he didn't fit in with
the rest of everybody. Uh, I mean, look, it's not
like a big leap to have like this hot dog
vendor come in and be the bad guy. Agreed. However,
in the scene where we see the recording device in
the car, right, they've just had their meeting an Emily's shop,
and we cut to someone is in a car wearing
(07:28):
a black jacket and black gloves and they can is
there a hot dog wrapper on the seat or something.
They can here Emily and Sam talking in the shot.
I rewound back to see what everyone in the scene
was wearing. Now, the shots are real tight, okay, but
as they prep to leave, they do show them go
gather their coats and Harvey is the only one that
(07:50):
we see pick up a black cut. Now, now we
don't get shots of everybody like fully dressed in their
gear like it's a quick shot, but that did lead
me to believe that perhaps it was Harvey. So when
we get to the when he abscondes with the books
and tosses his cane and gets into the black suv,
I truly out loud, was like, I knew it, you
(08:11):
felt good about it. Huh, doesn't happen very often. I
need to celebrate the wins where they come. Let's talk
what we liked about this Maybabe Well, I wanted to
talk about Tom Cavanaugh. Mm hmmm, welcome to Fletcher's Grove.
I loved him as this cranky bookstore owner. I actually
googled how old he was because I'm having those same
(08:33):
feelings as I did watching Mystery one oh one, where
I find myself attracted to the older man. He's in
his sixties. No he is not, swear that's what the
Internet said. Yeah, dang, like he's like ten years older
than me, maybe maybe even fifteen years older than Yeah,
(08:54):
you're not in your fifties. I'm fifty. I think he
said he was sixty four. Maybe, Okay, fourteen years that's
a big wow. Okay that I have guessed. No, although
when I think back to Ed, I don't I don't
remember when that series aired, but many years ago. He
was probably forty in that, so I guess that makes sense.
(09:16):
I just have envisioned him as the same age this
entire time. Yeah, me too, totally. Anyway, I loved him
as Glen Shaw. He had such a small role, but
I love that we got enough of him. We got
to see that he was very smart, he was very witty.
He was kind of a curmudgeon too, Like I just
loved everything about it. Yeah, a small but pivotal role,
(09:36):
important role in this, yeah I'm speaking of I really
liked the Treasure Hunt mystery in this series of episodes.
I like the way they've handled the three murders that
we've gotten, that they've made them ever so slightly different
in the way that they're presented to us, because we're
dealing with a series of back to back episodes that
(10:00):
aired episodically. They aired weekly, and so a little bit
different than a franchise of movies which come out, you know,
every several months, maybe once a year. When you've got
week to week to week, and if you're having murders
happen every single week, well it does stretch the limits
of believability. And so I think they did a nice
(10:21):
job of giving us a variety of murders. We kind
of had Clara, which was like a variety of murders.
We had like, you know, the classic like potentially poisoned murder,
and then Clara's was almost like a little bit of
a cold case murder that we were dealing with. And
then this one, Yes it was a murder, but it
(10:43):
had some additional intrigue added with the treasure hunt, which
I think was a fun way to deal with apprehending
the murder to catch a killer. With that said, though,
I this topic falls into my wishes said, you want
me to wait to circle back to it, but it's
(11:04):
up to you. But yeah, we can wait. I can
shut up about it. No, No, you don't need to
shut up about it, like I I think I think
you're right, like, but I just wanted to like talk
through it. Back to Scavenger Hunt. I did really enjoy
that it wasn't like as like hokey as it could
have been. I think it was very interesting and I'm like,
(11:24):
why is Emily the smartest one in the room here?
Like even the detective couldn't figure out some of these clues.
But I loved it. What else did you like the
cemetary showdown between Emily and the hot dog Eye Yes,
ma'am okay unexpected mm hmm for Hallmark, I thought I
(11:44):
thought it felt elevated. I do have some wishes about it,
but I did like this confrontation. It was tense, there
were like steaks, it was she chokes him out. I
love that part of it, but I do have some
criticism about it too, though I'm gonna get too well.
I really loved my notes say. I loved watching Emily
(12:07):
kick Harvey's ass, and I know he has a different
name whatever He's harvey through most of the movie. To me,
I really like that scene, and I think why it
was important is this series of episodes is mostly a
softer side of Emily. Like the first series, we kind
of get introduced to Emily as a battie. We see
the whole Kaimer nonsense and the second duo. We don't
(12:30):
see a lot of her backstory here, and we even
see her saying like maybe it's time to like move
on from all of this. But then she kicks his
ass and we get reminded like, no, no, what's that,
I'm a bitch with a backstory? Oh? Is that? I
don't know? It's not. I'm not just a bitch. I'm
a bitch with a backstory. I'm into it. Oh do
I need to make a new edit with that sound? Though?
(12:51):
I mean, I really don't know what the origin. I've
heard it on TikTok. I'll try and figure it out anyway,
That's what it was giving. If I can figure out
the backstory to that TikTok sound that I've heard a
hundred times, I will drop it in the show notes.
So those are interesting thoughts and I have a reaction
to them. But it also is in my wishes. Okay,
(13:13):
I have a gun there, yes, so do I let
me hear yours? Well. I really like that Sam isn't
being coy. Sam is clearly trying to move things forward
with Emily. He offers to break her food, he tries
to hang out with her, like, he's very clearly making
himself available to her. They're not pretending. He's not pretending
like he doesn't like her. He's not pretending like there's
not something there. He's trying to move the relationship forward.
(13:35):
She's pushing back because again she's got a backstory, she
got secrets. She does. But I really liked that we're
not playing games here, which leads into my final like
which maybe you were final like that cliffhanger, Oh my gosh. Well,
first of all, before the cliffhanger, the kiss the kids
(13:56):
so freaking hot, so hot, grabbing the waist. I was like,
that's choice that I think more Hallmark actors need to
be making, because it's very appropriate for Hallmark, but real hot.
M going back for the second kiss also hot. Yeah, man,
I feel like the cliffhanger was so good. I mean,
(14:19):
it definitely left me wanting more. He says, this is
I want to hear. I want to let me know
what you thought. He says, he gets well, he gets
that phone call while she's changing right out of her
g MS because she wants to go win the snow,
which I just love so much. But he says on
his phone call that that he was told that his
(14:41):
chief or whoever called him told him that they received
a call to stop the inquiries about Emily Lane, Like
did we just gloss right over that? Who's calling? Who's
from above calling saying like stop asking questions? I think
that that's all part of the cliffhanger. Mistress, God's so good.
(15:03):
It's so good. It is so good it is, And
the suspense was built because when she leaves to go
upstairs to change, you know something's going to happen. I
thought it was going to be something more sinister, like
Kaimera was going to show back, because we got at
the end of episodes three and four, I'm watching you,
and I thought maybe shed we were going to see
her get like kidnapped or swept away or wax yeah,
(15:26):
you know, over the head. But this is quieter, and
I loved it because poor Sam, he was all in
and then he realizes that she's been lying to him.
And I think the part that got me the most
is I was thinking Sam would have accepted the truth
about who she is if she had given it to him. Yeah,
(15:48):
but she is not in a place right, I know.
I get that, Like, she doesn't feel safe, she doesn't
know him well enough to feel safe, And even us
as viewers, we don't know the backstory, So how can
we determine that she should tell Sam? You know, we
don't know how bad it is. I know, and I'm
sitting here and I one hundred percent agree we don't
(16:08):
know how bad it is. I'm just making assumptions that
it was not rooted in badness that made the exception.
Her deception or her actions, while perhaps destructive or perhaps
criminal in intent, were of the like good guy criminal sort. Sure,
I've just decided that she can't be an actual bad guy,
(16:29):
like she's just I love her too much. Oh interesting, Okay,
she's not. Maybe she's made some bad choices, but some
chimraa did something to her parents and it was more
than just a car accident. Yeah, there's a lot to
unpack here. So perhaps a vigilante justice situation. I don't know,
But look, I want to talk about the cliffhanger more
(16:51):
in our wishes? Do you have any more likes? No,
that's it. Well, I know you have a lot of wishes.
I have a few. Okay, I want to go back
to the dicussion about time frame. Oh yeah, in our
last episode you were asking, like, what's the time frame here? Like,
we're obviously a couple weeks out from Christmas and these
particular episodes we get to Christmas. Here here's my problem.
(17:14):
There is a lot of death happening, Yes, a variety
of murders, but a lot of death happening in a
short period of time in a very small town like that,
to me starts to feel a little bit unbelievable. Sure,
and it's very similar to the Hallmark mystery movies we watch, right,
we have we to buy in on, like, oh, these
(17:37):
things happen to this baker or this caterer or whatever,
over and over and over again. But because it comes
in movie form, like you said, with a big span
of time in between, it makes it feel like, oh, yeah,
these things could happen in real life, but here inflectors grow.
We're talking six weeks. Maybe yeah, would you have liked
(18:01):
to see the town be like like someone acknowledging even
Sue jokingly, like a lot of people seem to be
dying around here lately, Like tis why he's in for murder?
What the heck is happening here in our small town? Though?
Was never like a problem before? Yes, maybe something? But
then I was thinking, Okay, how are they gonna handle
(18:22):
this in season two? Like is it going to be
the same? Are we going to get another six episodes
and there's going to be three murders or whatever? Right?
Like are we going to get a murder in each
set of stories? And I'm like that feels a little
too far fetched now, like what is happening? Maybe we
won't get that at all? Maybe it's gonna go completely
different way. Maybe we get more backstory on Emily and
(18:44):
we don't who knows, right, I don't know. Then though,
I was thinking about other weekly mysteries and the only
one that can come that comes to mind because I
was on Hallmarks schedule recently, is murder. She wrote, yes,
which this series was inspired by. If you watch the
two and a half minute making of Mistletoe Murders that
(19:07):
came on after this on Hallmark. Plus, I have not,
and I actually was wondering if Fletcher's Grove is inspired
by Jessica Fletcher. I wasn't watching close enough to hear
if they said that, but that I may not have
come up with that on my own. That feels real
cute if it is. I think so too. That's a
show I've never watched. And maybe listeners can weigh in here.
(19:28):
But that was a weekly episode. Was she solving a
murder every week? I think so? And I think that's
why the joke now is like we need the reveal
that Jessica Fletcher was actually a serial killer. It's like,
how do all of these murders happen in Cabot Cove?
Where she's solving all these murders? Do I want to
watch that show? Maybe, like as a throw on? You know, yeah,
(19:53):
I enjoy a throw on show like as I'm getting
ready or whatever, So maybe I might. My second wish
is and this is also something you've talked about earlier
in this episode. Episodes one and two were so front
heavy on Emily having this mysterious background yep, and then
(20:13):
it kind of like you said, then we get like
the whole chimera thing in episodes three and four, but
then episodes five and six it kind of peters out,
like we start to forget that Emily has this potentially
sinister background, and then like boom bam, that cliffhanger happens,
and then it comes back to the forefront that she
(20:35):
is who she's not. And I was wondering as I
was like writing this, because Emily's background, her story is
what is most interesting to me as a viewer of
this series, and I was like, oh, no, we're missing that,
Like now we're just falling into regular Hallmark mystery fair
(20:58):
a little bit I was thinking and or worried about.
But then I thought, oh, is this intentional? Is Emily's
background not in the forefront of our minds anymore? Because
now it's almost like we get to relax and forget
that she has this background. Similar to Emily now like
(21:18):
assimilating into this new town and she feels maybe kind
of safer, right, and she's trying to forget her background
as well. And then whammo. I think that's a great
point because as you were saying that is it intentional?
I think I think the cliffhanger hits more if we
(21:41):
have started to forget that if we're more in on
the Emily Sam of it all, and we get hit
by the realization almost at the same time that he
does exactly. So maybe it was pretty masterful. Maybe maybe
one last wish and then we will talk about your wishes.
(22:03):
It goes back to the cemetery fight between the hot
dog guy. Yeah, and you said earlier, You're like, you've
convinced yourself that Emily may have done bad things, but
she was a bad good guy. Yeah right, Yeah, that's right.
I have convinced myself that she is like Sidney Bristow
from ALIAS, oh Cia Cia trained like this. You know,
(22:27):
she's done bad things, but but she's good for the
greater She's for the greater good. Right. So then, in
having this thought in my mind, when they have this
fight in the cemetery, I was hoping for like a
swift ass kicking and it was a little bit hard
(22:47):
to like watch, I don't know, because I am low.
I'm comparing Jennifer Garner at peak ALIAS, when she was
like do you remember any of this stuff? Like they
would show her like in videos or like in US
weekly of her training while she was in this role.
(23:09):
She was like so buff. But no, anyway, she was
like in peak physical condition. And then I remember, like
I remember them talking that she had a body double
for all the fight scenes. Oh yeah, wait a minute,
was there a body Was there a body double in
this last scene? Okay, I think there was? Well, can
you go with me here for a second. Sure you
(23:30):
were talking about Sidney Bristow kicking ass. We are also
currently watching Providence Falls, and when I was prepping notes,
the IMDb for Providence Falls sucks. So I went to
the credits and was watching the credits to pull some names,
and at the end of the credits it's like chorus
stunt person, Liam stunt person right. So then I was like,
wait a minute, do we have a stunt person for Emily?
(23:54):
And I am pulling up IMDb right now? Okay, e
nova Za's mean stunt double for Sarah Drew appears in
show episodes episode two, Poison and a Peartree. You can
imagine exactly what scene that is. She has the loft fight. Yeah,
oh that was so good. And season one, episode six
(24:18):
when she kicks the hot guy guy hot dog Guy's ass. Yeah, yes, well, okay,
it felt like I was watching me fight somebody was
just such a joke, like I just wanted it to be.
Like I don't know the background of Emily, but like
I said, in my mind, she's this like CIA trained,
(24:40):
Like it would have been a better fight. This just
seemed like it was like a just a regular fight.
That is interesting that you see her as like professionally trained,
like you think she was like working with somebody, because
I think she's just like this independent agent who was
out to write the wrongs of her past, like self taught.
(25:03):
We shall see hopefully in season two, which brings me
to my singular wish about this episode. I actually fully
agree with all your wishes here, but really the only
thing that sticks out to me is I was reading
the reviews of this series and so many people were
upset about the cliffhanger. Yeah, so interesting, because I was like,
(25:24):
that's great, right, And then they were like, now we
have to wait a year to find out what happens.
And obviously we have waited several months to watch this,
so we don't have to wait a year. But that's
every television show ever now, like we live in an
era of we drop eight to ten episodes and that's
your season, and you don't get another season for a year,
maybe a year and a half. So that is just
(25:45):
the era of television these days. It's not like twenty
two episodes ends in May, starts in September. You just
have to wait for the summer. I loved the cliffhanger.
Oh so did I. Yeah, so that was my question, like,
do you even care about the cliffhanger knowing you'd have
to wait a year to find out what happened? No, No,
because there's so much other stuff to watch. It's compelling,
(26:08):
it brings you back. Yeah, yes, I mean that's what
you want. I mean I could see the Hallmark viewers
maybe being a little gun shy where they are left
with a cliffhanger and then it doesn't get renewed. Yeah.
Great point. And at the airing of this season, I
don't think we had a renewal date or information. So yes,
(26:30):
that would bother me if I didn't know that there
was going to be resolution. But now that we're in
a great position, we know it's coming, we know there's
going to be some sort of follow up on this,
whether it's satisfactory or not. I thought the episode go ahead,
I was gonna say, and the fans too, because those
who did not have Hallmark Plus who are waiting for
this to drop a Uremark. They're gonna get back to
(26:53):
back season. So yeah, it's gonna be awesome. I only
have one. Did you see that? Okay, let me hear it. Well,
Hallmark deals with a very tricky subject in this episode,
and that is the right to die. They do not
use that. I don't know if assisted suicide is a
phrase that is commonly accepted anymore. They gloss right over it,
(27:18):
Like as soon as we find out that he has
booked a ticket to Switzerland, I was like, oh, you know,
we knew we had Huntington's I knew what was happening.
Their end of life care is what they call it.
But they think I think it's a big deal to
discuss it. They handle it kind of nicely, but they
do it in a way that if you didn't really
(27:40):
know what they were talking about, it might just flow
right over your head. Yes, I agree with you. I
thought that was handled nicely. I did. I don't have
any digite. That's the only thing that I want to
shout out is that I love the character of Sue
(28:00):
Me too. She's I don't know what it is. I
feel like I'm Sue, Like that would be me. She's
a little bit like got a chip on her shoulder,
but like, isn't nice as well? I yeah, I don't know.
I love Sue. She says about Sam dying and her
diner that man would do anything out of spite. Just yeah,
(28:24):
I love it. I love it. She's great. I do
hope we get a little more Sue involvement in season two,
but maybe she'll just continue to run in the background
and just be like our snarky diner owner. I feel
like at some point she's gotta be more heavily involved. Yeah,
she's She's like Brooke too. I really like Brooke as
well as just these characters like operating in the background
(28:47):
like they're great? Is Sue the female Luke Dane's ooh
nice poll? Yeah, a little bit little grumpy diner owner,
but everybody loves her? Yeah? I love that? All right?
Are you ready to read this one? Sure? Tell me
what you rated it. I gave it five stars. Wow,
I gave it four point seventy five stars. Not that
(29:07):
I didn't love it, don't come for me. Well, thank
you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework
a Bramble Jam podcast. We are currently reviewing Providence Falls,
so make sure you tune in for those and we'll be.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Back next time. Goodbye, bye.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
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
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listen in and discover your new favorite product. Bye.
This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
(00:23):
a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. It's
finals week in our summer school series as we wrap
up Season one of Mistletoe Murders. We will be discussing
episodes five and six. Death of a Humbug Parts one
and two. While you're listening to this episode, hop on
over to Instagram give us a follow. Where we are
(00:44):
Girls Gone Hallmark. Hey, we have a Facebook group we'd
love for you to join. It's Girls Gone Hallmark in
Facebook groups. And let me just say, there is so
much coming out or a lot of things being discussed
about with the holidays. I can't even believe what I'm
seeing holidays. It's at the beginning of August. I know,
(01:07):
I am not ready. Walked into a store the other
day and they had all our Halloween out. I was like, nope, noe,
a't the grocery store. I walked down like the one
of the aisles I had Halloween candyo. No no, no, no, no, no no. Anyway,
but if you're excited for countdown to Christmas twenty twenty five.
(01:29):
They're talking over there, so come join us, Yeah, and
email us your thoughts on anything homemark this series, the
new movies that are currently dropping, Providence Falls is coming up,
the countdown to Christmas announcements email us Girls Gone Homemark
at gmail dot com. We're prepping for an upcoming mail
bag episode. We promise, we promise. August is busy for us,
(01:51):
so the entire sunning is busy. It's just a little
bit of a wacky schedule. It's fine, it's fine. We'll
be like both both feet in the sand? Is that
the same? That's not the same. I'm just saying that
when the countdown to Christmas comes, there's gonna be no
lack of episodes from us, that is correct. Let's here
(02:12):
a synopsis of Death of a Humbug. What the hell
was I talking about two feet in the Sand? I
don't know what that means. Okay, here's the synopsis for
episodes five and six. A murder leads Emily and Sam
to a scavenger hunt orchestrated by the victim. Emily continues
to solve the scavenger hunt and grapples with her past.
(02:35):
Melanie or directed episodes five and six of Missletoone Murders.
Melanie has previously directed on series like Sullivan's Crossing, The
Hardy Boys and Spencer Sisters. Shelley Scarrow wrote the duo
episodes of Mistletoe Murders. Shelley's other writing credits include Sullivan's Crossing,
Wyona Irp, and Degrassi The Next Generation. Tom Kavanaugh joins
(02:57):
the cast as game Master Glenn Shaw. Tom has several
long series runs, including eighty three episodes of ED and
one hundred and forty six episodes of the Flash. For Hallmark,
he starred in Darrow and Darrow Movies. Again. I'm gonna
go that's a Hallmark project. It is, you know, we
nothing just get I know it's one of those it's
(03:20):
like the Rex and Hudson, but I'm pretty sure the thought,
Yeah it is, Kimberly Williams Paisley. I remember opening up
this tab and it has the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries
logo on it, So yes, got it. Well, you know,
we did get another email from a listener of the
show who's begging us to review that that series. Yeah,
I'm not opposed to it, it's just unfortunately not happening
(03:43):
this month. There was even this not even this year. No,
probably honestly, not even this year. That's true. Yeah, there
was some discussions since we cut down our Mistletoe Murders
episodes from six to three, rightfully, so I don't think
anybody argues with that decision that we now had room
for that, and I suppose that's true. But Hayle, we
do actually have a surprise. We had initially said we
(04:05):
weren't doing something, and we are doing it. So just
keep an eye on that schedule. There's something fun coming
to girls go on Homemark. What is it? The Chicken Sisters? Yeah,
I'm not doing it so great for me. I have
a question complete side topic here. When Hallmark drops season
(04:26):
two of Missiletoe Murders, I'm guessing we're going to review
it in real time. Yeah, probably. I mean we haven't
seen like a schedule yet, so we don't. Fully we can't.
I'm just talking through it here. I think it's probably
best to do the two episode if that's the way
they continue like with the parts and parts two, and
we should do them combined, so maybe it will be
(04:49):
like an every other week drop for us. Yeah, perhaps
I'm totally open to continuing doing the two episode system.
I assume we're going to see the Mistletoe Murders schedule
and we see the full count on a Christmas schedule. Yeah,
it's gonna be soon. It's gonna be soon too. I
think Jake Epstein plays Wayward nephew Noah. Jake has been
(05:12):
quite the presence on Hallmark, appearing in the three Unwrapping
Christmas movies and four Hearts Around the Tables movies of late.
Outside of Hallmark, he's had recurring rolls on Suits Designated
Survivor and The Hardy Boys. Let's take a quick break
and come right back with our first impressions of Death
of a Humbug. Hey, Wendy, what was your first impression
(05:41):
of Mistletoe Murders five and six? Well, I hope, I
hope the listeners get this one. I hope you get it.
H Hallmark really gave Tom Cavanaugh the Drew Barrymore treatment
in this one. Oh, I don't know what that means.
Drew Barrymore was in the movie Scream Big Star in
(06:03):
the first like ten minutes of the movie, which was
like unheard of, like unheard of man. Tom Cavanaugh rolls
in makes this makes me at least think he's sticking around,
and then he gets gets the he gets whacked, he
gets whacked. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, that's a good point.
(06:23):
He does stick around in video form. But yeah, but
I thought I thought Tom Cavanaugh was gonna come in. Well,
he's a big name, at least to me, he's a
big name. I think he was gonna come in. I
thought he was gonna be maybe like a love trying,
yeah situation, maybe somebody from her past that she knows
(06:44):
in Chimera. I don't. I don't know, I don't know,
but uh, he wasn't. So yeah, what's your first impression?
My first impression is I would just like to say
that I called Harvey as the bad guy before it
was revealed he was the bad guy due to some
hot dog going on my part. What's super sleuthen Wait,
(07:05):
he looked like he didn't he didn't fit in with
the rest of everybody. Uh, I mean, look, it's not
like a big leap to have like this hot dog
vendor come in and be the bad guy. Agreed. However,
in the scene where we see the recording device in
the car, right, they've just had their meeting an Emily's shop,
and we cut to someone is in a car wearing
(07:28):
a black jacket and black gloves and they can is
there a hot dog wrapper on the seat or something.
They can here Emily and Sam talking in the shot.
I rewound back to see what everyone in the scene
was wearing. Now, the shots are real tight, okay, but
as they prep to leave, they do show them go
gather their coats and Harvey is the only one that
(07:50):
we see pick up a black cut. Now, now we
don't get shots of everybody like fully dressed in their
gear like it's a quick shot, but that did lead
me to believe that perhaps it was Harvey. So when
we get to the when he abscondes with the books
and tosses his cane and gets into the black suv,
I truly out loud, was like, I knew it, you
(08:11):
felt good about it. Huh, doesn't happen very often. I
need to celebrate the wins where they come. Let's talk
what we liked about this Maybabe Well, I wanted to
talk about Tom Cavanaugh. Mm hmmm, welcome to Fletcher's Grove.
I loved him as this cranky bookstore owner. I actually
googled how old he was because I'm having those same
(08:33):
feelings as I did watching Mystery one oh one, where
I find myself attracted to the older man. He's in
his sixties. No he is not, swear that's what the
Internet said. Yeah, dang, like he's like ten years older
than me, maybe maybe even fifteen years older than Yeah,
(08:54):
you're not in your fifties. I'm fifty. I think he
said he was sixty four. Maybe, Okay, fourteen years that's
a big wow. Okay that I have guessed. No, although
when I think back to Ed, I don't I don't
remember when that series aired, but many years ago. He
was probably forty in that, so I guess that makes sense.
(09:16):
I just have envisioned him as the same age this
entire time. Yeah, me too, totally. Anyway, I loved him
as Glen Shaw. He had such a small role, but
I love that we got enough of him. We got
to see that he was very smart, he was very witty.
He was kind of a curmudgeon too, Like I just
loved everything about it. Yeah, a small but pivotal role,
(09:36):
important role in this, yeah I'm speaking of I really
liked the Treasure Hunt mystery in this series of episodes.
I like the way they've handled the three murders that
we've gotten, that they've made them ever so slightly different
in the way that they're presented to us, because we're
dealing with a series of back to back episodes that
(10:00):
aired episodically. They aired weekly, and so a little bit
different than a franchise of movies which come out, you know,
every several months, maybe once a year. When you've got
week to week to week, and if you're having murders
happen every single week, well it does stretch the limits
of believability. And so I think they did a nice
(10:21):
job of giving us a variety of murders. We kind
of had Clara, which was like a variety of murders.
We had like, you know, the classic like potentially poisoned murder,
and then Clara's was almost like a little bit of
a cold case murder that we were dealing with. And
then this one, Yes it was a murder, but it
(10:43):
had some additional intrigue added with the treasure hunt, which
I think was a fun way to deal with apprehending
the murder to catch a killer. With that said, though,
I this topic falls into my wishes said, you want
me to wait to circle back to it, but it's
(11:04):
up to you. But yeah, we can wait. I can
shut up about it. No, No, you don't need to
shut up about it, like I I think I think
you're right, like, but I just wanted to like talk
through it. Back to Scavenger Hunt. I did really enjoy
that it wasn't like as like hokey as it could
have been. I think it was very interesting and I'm like,
(11:24):
why is Emily the smartest one in the room here?
Like even the detective couldn't figure out some of these clues.
But I loved it. What else did you like the
cemetary showdown between Emily and the hot dog Eye Yes,
ma'am okay unexpected mm hmm for Hallmark, I thought I
(11:44):
thought it felt elevated. I do have some wishes about it,
but I did like this confrontation. It was tense, there
were like steaks, it was she chokes him out. I
love that part of it, but I do have some
criticism about it too, though I'm gonna get too well.
I really loved my notes say. I loved watching Emily
(12:07):
kick Harvey's ass, and I know he has a different
name whatever He's harvey through most of the movie. To me,
I really like that scene, and I think why it
was important is this series of episodes is mostly a
softer side of Emily. Like the first series, we kind
of get introduced to Emily as a battie. We see
the whole Kaimer nonsense and the second duo. We don't
(12:30):
see a lot of her backstory here, and we even
see her saying like maybe it's time to like move
on from all of this. But then she kicks his
ass and we get reminded like, no, no, what's that,
I'm a bitch with a backstory? Oh? Is that? I
don't know? It's not. I'm not just a bitch. I'm
a bitch with a backstory. I'm into it. Oh do
I need to make a new edit with that sound? Though?
(12:51):
I mean, I really don't know what the origin. I've
heard it on TikTok. I'll try and figure it out anyway,
That's what it was giving. If I can figure out
the backstory to that TikTok sound that I've heard a
hundred times, I will drop it in the show notes.
So those are interesting thoughts and I have a reaction
to them. But it also is in my wishes. Okay,
(13:13):
I have a gun there, yes, so do I let
me hear yours? Well. I really like that Sam isn't
being coy. Sam is clearly trying to move things forward
with Emily. He offers to break her food, he tries
to hang out with her, like, he's very clearly making
himself available to her. They're not pretending. He's not pretending
like he doesn't like her. He's not pretending like there's
not something there. He's trying to move the relationship forward.
(13:35):
She's pushing back because again she's got a backstory, she
got secrets. She does. But I really liked that we're
not playing games here, which leads into my final like
which maybe you were final like that cliffhanger, Oh my gosh. Well,
first of all, before the cliffhanger, the kiss the kids
(13:56):
so freaking hot, so hot, grabbing the waist. I was like,
that's choice that I think more Hallmark actors need to
be making, because it's very appropriate for Hallmark, but real hot.
M going back for the second kiss also hot. Yeah, man,
I feel like the cliffhanger was so good. I mean,
(14:19):
it definitely left me wanting more. He says, this is
I want to hear. I want to let me know
what you thought. He says, he gets well, he gets
that phone call while she's changing right out of her
g MS because she wants to go win the snow,
which I just love so much. But he says on
his phone call that that he was told that his
(14:41):
chief or whoever called him told him that they received
a call to stop the inquiries about Emily Lane, Like
did we just gloss right over that? Who's calling? Who's
from above calling saying like stop asking questions? I think
that that's all part of the cliffhanger. Mistress, God's so good.
(15:03):
It's so good. It is so good it is, And
the suspense was built because when she leaves to go
upstairs to change, you know something's going to happen. I
thought it was going to be something more sinister, like
Kaimera was going to show back, because we got at
the end of episodes three and four, I'm watching you,
and I thought maybe shed we were going to see
her get like kidnapped or swept away or wax yeah,
(15:26):
you know, over the head. But this is quieter, and
I loved it because poor Sam, he was all in
and then he realizes that she's been lying to him.
And I think the part that got me the most
is I was thinking Sam would have accepted the truth
about who she is if she had given it to him. Yeah,
(15:48):
but she is not in a place right, I know.
I get that, Like, she doesn't feel safe, she doesn't
know him well enough to feel safe, And even us
as viewers, we don't know the backstory, So how can
we determine that she should tell Sam? You know, we
don't know how bad it is. I know, and I'm
sitting here and I one hundred percent agree we don't
(16:08):
know how bad it is. I'm just making assumptions that
it was not rooted in badness that made the exception.
Her deception or her actions, while perhaps destructive or perhaps
criminal in intent, were of the like good guy criminal sort. Sure,
I've just decided that she can't be an actual bad guy,
(16:29):
like she's just I love her too much. Oh interesting, Okay,
she's not. Maybe she's made some bad choices, but some
chimraa did something to her parents and it was more
than just a car accident. Yeah, there's a lot to
unpack here. So perhaps a vigilante justice situation. I don't know,
But look, I want to talk about the cliffhanger more
(16:51):
in our wishes? Do you have any more likes? No,
that's it. Well, I know you have a lot of wishes.
I have a few. Okay, I want to go back
to the dicussion about time frame. Oh yeah, in our
last episode you were asking, like, what's the time frame here? Like,
we're obviously a couple weeks out from Christmas and these
particular episodes we get to Christmas. Here here's my problem.
(17:14):
There is a lot of death happening, Yes, a variety
of murders, but a lot of death happening in a
short period of time in a very small town like that,
to me starts to feel a little bit unbelievable. Sure,
and it's very similar to the Hallmark mystery movies we watch, right,
we have we to buy in on, like, oh, these
(17:37):
things happen to this baker or this caterer or whatever,
over and over and over again. But because it comes
in movie form, like you said, with a big span
of time in between, it makes it feel like, oh, yeah,
these things could happen in real life, but here inflectors grow.
We're talking six weeks. Maybe yeah, would you have liked
(18:01):
to see the town be like like someone acknowledging even
Sue jokingly, like a lot of people seem to be
dying around here lately, Like tis why he's in for murder?
What the heck is happening here in our small town? Though?
Was never like a problem before? Yes, maybe something? But
then I was thinking, Okay, how are they gonna handle
(18:22):
this in season two? Like is it going to be
the same? Are we going to get another six episodes
and there's going to be three murders or whatever? Right?
Like are we going to get a murder in each
set of stories? And I'm like that feels a little
too far fetched now, like what is happening? Maybe we
won't get that at all? Maybe it's gonna go completely
different way. Maybe we get more backstory on Emily and
(18:44):
we don't who knows, right, I don't know. Then though,
I was thinking about other weekly mysteries and the only
one that can come that comes to mind because I
was on Hallmarks schedule recently, is murder. She wrote, yes,
which this series was inspired by. If you watch the
two and a half minute making of Mistletoe Murders that
(19:07):
came on after this on Hallmark. Plus, I have not,
and I actually was wondering if Fletcher's Grove is inspired
by Jessica Fletcher. I wasn't watching close enough to hear
if they said that, but that I may not have
come up with that on my own. That feels real
cute if it is. I think so too. That's a
show I've never watched. And maybe listeners can weigh in here.
(19:28):
But that was a weekly episode. Was she solving a
murder every week? I think so? And I think that's
why the joke now is like we need the reveal
that Jessica Fletcher was actually a serial killer. It's like,
how do all of these murders happen in Cabot Cove?
Where she's solving all these murders? Do I want to
watch that show? Maybe, like as a throw on? You know, yeah,
(19:53):
I enjoy a throw on show like as I'm getting
ready or whatever, So maybe I might. My second wish
is and this is also something you've talked about earlier
in this episode. Episodes one and two were so front
heavy on Emily having this mysterious background yep, and then
(20:13):
it kind of like you said, then we get like
the whole chimera thing in episodes three and four, but
then episodes five and six it kind of peters out,
like we start to forget that Emily has this potentially
sinister background, and then like boom bam, that cliffhanger happens,
and then it comes back to the forefront that she
(20:35):
is who she's not. And I was wondering as I
was like writing this, because Emily's background, her story is
what is most interesting to me as a viewer of
this series, and I was like, oh, no, we're missing that,
Like now we're just falling into regular Hallmark mystery fair
(20:58):
a little bit I was thinking and or worried about.
But then I thought, oh, is this intentional? Is Emily's
background not in the forefront of our minds anymore? Because
now it's almost like we get to relax and forget
that she has this background. Similar to Emily now like
(21:18):
assimilating into this new town and she feels maybe kind
of safer, right, and she's trying to forget her background
as well. And then whammo. I think that's a great
point because as you were saying that is it intentional?
I think I think the cliffhanger hits more if we
(21:41):
have started to forget that if we're more in on
the Emily Sam of it all, and we get hit
by the realization almost at the same time that he
does exactly. So maybe it was pretty masterful. Maybe maybe
one last wish and then we will talk about your wishes.
(22:03):
It goes back to the cemetery fight between the hot
dog guy. Yeah, and you said earlier, You're like, you've
convinced yourself that Emily may have done bad things, but
she was a bad good guy. Yeah right, Yeah, that's right.
I have convinced myself that she is like Sidney Bristow
from ALIAS, oh Cia Cia trained like this. You know,
(22:27):
she's done bad things, but but she's good for the
greater She's for the greater good. Right. So then, in
having this thought in my mind, when they have this
fight in the cemetery, I was hoping for like a
swift ass kicking and it was a little bit hard
(22:47):
to like watch, I don't know, because I am low.
I'm comparing Jennifer Garner at peak ALIAS, when she was
like do you remember any of this stuff? Like they
would show her like in videos or like in US
weekly of her training while she was in this role.
(23:09):
She was like so buff. But no, anyway, she was
like in peak physical condition. And then I remember, like
I remember them talking that she had a body double
for all the fight scenes. Oh yeah, wait a minute,
was there a body Was there a body double in
this last scene? Okay, I think there was? Well, can
you go with me here for a second. Sure you
(23:30):
were talking about Sidney Bristow kicking ass. We are also
currently watching Providence Falls, and when I was prepping notes,
the IMDb for Providence Falls sucks. So I went to
the credits and was watching the credits to pull some names,
and at the end of the credits it's like chorus
stunt person, Liam stunt person right. So then I was like,
wait a minute, do we have a stunt person for Emily?
(23:54):
And I am pulling up IMDb right now? Okay, e
nova Za's mean stunt double for Sarah Drew appears in
show episodes episode two, Poison and a Peartree. You can
imagine exactly what scene that is. She has the loft fight. Yeah,
oh that was so good. And season one, episode six
(24:18):
when she kicks the hot guy guy hot dog Guy's ass. Yeah, yes, well, okay,
it felt like I was watching me fight somebody was
just such a joke, like I just wanted it to be.
Like I don't know the background of Emily, but like
I said, in my mind, she's this like CIA trained,
(24:40):
Like it would have been a better fight. This just
seemed like it was like a just a regular fight.
That is interesting that you see her as like professionally trained,
like you think she was like working with somebody, because
I think she's just like this independent agent who was
out to write the wrongs of her past, like self taught.
(25:03):
We shall see hopefully in season two, which brings me
to my singular wish about this episode. I actually fully
agree with all your wishes here, but really the only
thing that sticks out to me is I was reading
the reviews of this series and so many people were
upset about the cliffhanger. Yeah, so interesting, because I was like,
(25:24):
that's great, right, And then they were like, now we
have to wait a year to find out what happens.
And obviously we have waited several months to watch this,
so we don't have to wait a year. But that's
every television show ever now, like we live in an
era of we drop eight to ten episodes and that's
your season, and you don't get another season for a year,
maybe a year and a half. So that is just
(25:45):
the era of television these days. It's not like twenty
two episodes ends in May, starts in September. You just
have to wait for the summer. I loved the cliffhanger.
Oh so did I. Yeah, so that was my question, like,
do you even care about the cliffhanger knowing you'd have
to wait a year to find out what happened? No, No,
because there's so much other stuff to watch. It's compelling,
(26:08):
it brings you back. Yeah, yes, I mean that's what
you want. I mean I could see the Hallmark viewers
maybe being a little gun shy where they are left
with a cliffhanger and then it doesn't get renewed. Yeah.
Great point. And at the airing of this season, I
don't think we had a renewal date or information. So yes,
(26:30):
that would bother me if I didn't know that there
was going to be resolution. But now that we're in
a great position, we know it's coming, we know there's
going to be some sort of follow up on this,
whether it's satisfactory or not. I thought the episode go ahead,
I was gonna say, and the fans too, because those
who did not have Hallmark Plus who are waiting for
this to drop a Uremark. They're gonna get back to
(26:53):
back season. So yeah, it's gonna be awesome. I only
have one. Did you see that? Okay, let me hear it. Well,
Hallmark deals with a very tricky subject in this episode,
and that is the right to die. They do not
use that. I don't know if assisted suicide is a
phrase that is commonly accepted anymore. They gloss right over it,
(27:18):
Like as soon as we find out that he has
booked a ticket to Switzerland, I was like, oh, you know,
we knew we had Huntington's I knew what was happening.
Their end of life care is what they call it.
But they think I think it's a big deal to
discuss it. They handle it kind of nicely, but they
do it in a way that if you didn't really
(27:40):
know what they were talking about, it might just flow
right over your head. Yes, I agree with you. I
thought that was handled nicely. I did. I don't have
any digite. That's the only thing that I want to
shout out is that I love the character of Sue
(28:00):
Me too. She's I don't know what it is. I
feel like I'm Sue, Like that would be me. She's
a little bit like got a chip on her shoulder,
but like, isn't nice as well? I yeah, I don't know.
I love Sue. She says about Sam dying and her
diner that man would do anything out of spite. Just yeah,
(28:24):
I love it. I love it. She's great. I do
hope we get a little more Sue involvement in season two,
but maybe she'll just continue to run in the background
and just be like our snarky diner owner. I feel
like at some point she's gotta be more heavily involved. Yeah,
she's She's like Brooke too. I really like Brooke as
well as just these characters like operating in the background
(28:47):
like they're great? Is Sue the female Luke Dane's ooh
nice poll? Yeah, a little bit little grumpy diner owner,
but everybody loves her? Yeah? I love that? All right?
Are you ready to read this one? Sure? Tell me
what you rated it. I gave it five stars. Wow,
I gave it four point seventy five stars. Not that
(29:07):
I didn't love it, don't come for me. Well, thank
you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework
a Bramble Jam podcast. We are currently reviewing Providence Falls,
so make sure you tune in for those and we'll be.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Back next time. Goodbye, bye.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
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
s neck, hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe
listen in and discover your new favorite product. Bye.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!