Ep. 24 - All Mayors Are Black

This week the ladies hop on over to visit Netflix’s Christmas neighborhood as they review the Lindsay Lohan holiday hamfest ‘Falling For Christmas.’ Did it hold up to the Christmas universe standard? Find out!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. Hello everybody, welcome back to another
episode of A Very Merry Podcast.I'm your host Kia Davis, and I

(00:24):
am here with my very Merry cohost, Amelia Hamilton. Amelia, Mary
Christmas and Happy New Year, MaryChristmas, Happy New Year. And today
it is Epiphany. Happy Epiphany Day. It is Epiphany. That's right,
that's you, Dave Christmas today,twelve day of Christmas. Might two love
gift to me? What episode ofamb Perfect? Will you guys get a

(00:49):
new episode of a m AVMP Andwe are going to continue these episodes through
the new year. We're really excitedto do that. And if you listen
to the episode on why we're youknow, sort of diverging from the Hallmark
format and welcoming new offerings into theChristmas Land universe, then you'll be you'll

(01:14):
enjoy today's show because we went wayoutside the box today. But I've been
dying to do this movie all season, Amelia, and finally was like,
we gotta, we just gotta dothis before Christmas season officially ends. So
this week we did the Lindsay LohanI think modern classic Falling into Christmas on

(01:34):
Netflix. Amelia I want to sayup top that my family and I watched
this together last night and we hada delightful time. We you you had
a different opinion, but we hadfun watching this last night. We had
a great fun watching it. Itjust I'm not sure it's going to be
a favorite. Okay, I enjoyedit. I enjoyed it. Well,

(01:55):
I'll say this too at the top. I thought this this movie marked way
harder than even Hallmark as the hallmarkingthis season. I was actually pleasantly surprised
by the format and how really traditional. Frankly it was. Well, we'll
get to the ending, but let'sbut I actually had a really good time

(02:21):
watching this. It was terrible inall, in all the ways that I
enjoy my Christmas Land movies to beterrible. Well, why don't you set
us up at We know that thisis starring Lindsay Lohan. This is sort
of a return to her. Shekeeps doing these return things. I don't
know when she's going to be officiallyback, but this is one of her
I'm returning things. So we knowthat she's starring in this. Yes,

(02:43):
so we have Lindsay Lohan as SierraBelmont cord Over Street, who I guess
was in Glee. Yes, it'sthe main dude, Jake, and then
Lindsay Lohan's dad, Beauregard Belmont isplayed by Jack Wagner, who was also
a one of the Hallmarks Stable souAnd from General Hospital if you guys watch
General Hospital and also um a Topforty artist. I don't know if you

(03:07):
remember his Top forty song from that. No oh ah, need, it's
just a little more time to besure how I feel. No, okay,
it was. It was. Itwas like top ten. I believe
like it was a ballad in theeighties and it was on General Hospital for

(03:27):
some reason. It just was oneof those things that like took off and
he had like a music career therefor a hot second. Good for Jack.
I like Jack Wagner, though,I was enjoy seeing he's on One
Calls the Heart, which is oneof you know, the Hallmark series that
I enjoy, and he's a goodone. Yeah. I like them.
So the movie is Falling for Christmas, Falling for Christmas, not Fallen for

(03:49):
Christmas, which is what my daughterthought it was. And I think that
that sounds more like a Christmas horrormovie than a Christmas Land or like a
super um. I don't know,like an original sin. I guess it
could still be a horror movie orjust scared straight kind of movie. Yellow,
but I guess it did have adarker quality to it the way she

(04:12):
said it. But no, it'sfalling for Christmas. Um. All right,
So we get the idea of whatSierra played by Lindsay Lohan is going
to be like. In the veryfirst shot, she's on this huge bed
and her satin jammys and she's gota sleep mask on. So we're like,
we know she's spoiled, we knowshe healthy lady, even though I
will say I enjoy a sleep mask. Oh my, I can't sleep when

(04:36):
there's light. So my son sleepswith a sleep mask. My son is
almost twenty one years old, andto this day, I mean he has
been sleeping with a sleep mask.Well, it wasn't even a sleep mask
at first, Amelia. For along time, I didn't understand what was
happening to my pillowcases. And thenI looked in on him sleeping when he

(04:57):
was maybe eleven or twelve, andknows he had tied it around his eyes.
He doesn't just throw a t shirton my face, but he'll do
that too. And then one day, like last year, he came home
or maybe two years, he camehome from college and he had pink eye
and I saw the T shirt hehad been using to wrap around his face.

(05:19):
Well, I was like, thisis no we we we have to
burn this now. And then that'swhen I started buying him sleep masks.
But his explanation is he um,he's actually afraid of the dark, and
so to have the sleep mask onmeans he can't open his eyes to the

(05:39):
darkness. It's a weird, interesting, interesting I'm sorry Scott to bust.
You know. I don't think that'sSierra's thing. I think she's just a
pampered lady. Yes she is,and it was a very luxurious sleep mask.
So she gets a wake up calland at first you think she's just
a guest at this hotel, butoh no, no, we see a
shot the outside. I would tellhim is called like the Belmont Lodge or

(06:01):
something, so we know that thishas her name on it. So I
don't know if we get a littlebit of like Paris Hilton vibes, That's
kind of where I was thinking thiswas going. Yeah, and she's on
the phone with her boyfriend, Tad, who is an English guy, and
he is in a Hummer limo,so you know that he's going to be
that guy. Yeah. And she'stalking about how her dad flew her up

(06:24):
to this place in a private jetand he's offered her some job and she
doesn't even want it, and thejob is vice president of atmosphere. She's
like, I think he made itup, which yes, yes, Sarah,
yes, Yara, he made thatup. He made this. And
then as she's talking to her boyfriend, her assistant and the glam squad show

(06:45):
up. Her father has given heran assistant for all she's there, and
someone to like do her makeup andclothe her every single day. So they
show up and I will and Iwill say at this point one of the
assistance is her sister in real life, Ali Lohan. Oh, I didn't
have the tall, thin brunette.She had a bob haircut. She had

(07:06):
more lines at the end of themovie, but yeah, she was just
Sli Lohan welcome. Yeah. Soshe's talking about how like, I don't
want people to just think of meas the daughter of Beauregard Belmont and Tad
and you know, she's like,I'm not spoiled. Everybody thinks I'm spoiled.
And she's like as she's having champagneand caviar for breakfast and the glam

(07:27):
squad is dealing with her. Ithought that was super cute because at that
point she's like, I am notspoiled. And then but she can't use
her hands, so she just doesthis little motion to the guy to hold
the champagne up to her lips.I actually laughed out loud. But the
good news is Tad the boyfriend isa professional influencer, so he's like,
listen, we can go public.I will post photos of myself with you

(07:53):
to help your life. And shejust thinks that's so sweet because he's never
posted a picture of them together before. Right. Well, he's a little
of a red flag Sierra, right, isn't it. But also I loved
how he had the whole analytics thinggoing on. He's like, oh,
my engagements are going down. Ineed to take a selfie. Like yeah,
he knew exactly what he had todo. Yes, we see.

(08:16):
The dad is definitely self absorbed.It's one of those relationships that you have
in Christmas Land where It's like,how did these two people end up together?
They don't even really seem to likeeach other. They don't all right.
Meanwhile, her dad, Beauregard Beaumont, is out skiing and is like
accosted by court over Street who wasJake Russell and what he really wants.

(08:41):
He is the owner of like alittle mom and pop kind of in down
the street, the North Star,and he thinks that Beauregard needs to invest
in his inn. He's like,listen, people when they're just starting out
skiing, they don't spend the moneyon these huge mega resorts like you have,
these like luxury places. They goto a small inn with their family

(09:01):
and give it a try. Soif you invest in like the beginning of
the journey, they will then cometo your inn. And Beauregard is like,
great pitch, No bye, itwas a really good pitch though it
was it was it was as goodas it could be. Um it didn't
work though, but he does geta free hot Coco, so it's something

(09:22):
that he gets out of the deal. I liked. I have to say
that. Um So at this part, you know, Beauregard says, you
can pitch me at the bottom ofthe hill. Let's race ski down the
hill. And so they ski downthe hill. Beauregard winds and um and
then they're sort of walking into thehotel and he's doing the pitch and this

(09:43):
this hot coco cart came around andBeauregard was like, here's a hot coco
and I was like, how coco. This movie is already starting out great,
like very hallmarky to me. Iwas thrilled to see the hot cococ
U. I do have a businesstip for Jake though. He let he

(10:03):
let Beauregard win. When they wereskiing down the slope, he was like,
you know, race me to thebottom, and he let Beauregard win.
And I think Beauregard would have respectedhim more if he'd just beaten him,
or maybe enough, maybe less.Obviously let him win. He literally
did a full stop and the powder'sflying. Maybe maybe in the real world,

(10:28):
but in Christmas Land, Beauregard tellshim, thank you know, I
respect you for letting me win.So bou Bauregard, Jack Wagner, actually
did you know it actually was agood business decision on Jake's part, or
maybe he's just a nice guy likethat. I mean, I think we
have to. I think he is. I think we're gonna learn that he

(10:50):
is. But while he's carrying hishot Coco away, he bumps into Sierra
and gets the cot coco all overher. So we've got a bump and
a meat cue and a billing situation, We've got coco, We've got all
of it. I loved it.Also. I want to say that I
was super digging uh Lelo's outfit onin this. They do this little thing

(11:11):
where she walks into the to thelobby and she's in slow motion and she's
got her hat on and her sunglassesand her and her designer outfit. And
what did she say? The designeroutfit was Belin It was something that is
the correct pronunciation of this designer that'sin the news right now that I had

(11:33):
no idea is how pronounced? SoI always say, like about a read
at Belan Shiaga or something, buther pronunciation of it was totally different,
And I was like, oh,okay, So I didn't pick up that
it was supposed to be the sameperson. I thought it was a made
up designer. No, I thinkthat was the designer. So then I
started thinking, wondering like where allthe places I've been on TV saying this

(11:56):
designer looking like an idiot, Butthe outfit was fire. It was.
And Tad is also super worried aboutthe outfit, so he starts like dabbing
at her, trying to put herback together because he's a very into image
and they're about to have lunch withBeauregard, so he wants her look in
perfect. Yeah, I mean that'svery important. They're gonna take selfies and

(12:18):
stuff. Yeah'd be looking like anyold trash right. So they're having lunch
and Beauregard keeps calling Tad Tad,and it's like, no, it is
Tad. And there's this weird moment, well not maybe not weird moment,
but an important moment anyway, wherethey try to give her something the bacon

(12:39):
on it, and she's like,I don't do bacon, So bacon is
off the table. Everybody keep thatin mind, Okay. So then Beauregard
makes a comment that Tad being aninfluencer an influencer is really a salesman,
and Tad is not having that,even though Beauregard is one hundred percent right.
Yes, In the great tradition ofChristmas Landfather. He's very stern,

(13:00):
but he's also wise. He understood. I feel like like him and Robert
Baron would get along. I betthey're friends. They would they both get
it. Um. So he keepscalling him mister Bellmont and Sierra's like,
no, you can call him Beauregard. And he goes, oh, okay,
Bow, which I left at.No nobody said Bow. He was

(13:24):
already like miffed that Lindsay had toldhim, oh, you can call him
Beauregard. He was that Wager wasalready miffed at that, and then it
went all the way to Bow.All right, So we're back at Jake's
resort at the North Star, anda snowmobile has broken down, and we
just get the impression that everything's breakingdown around there. They need money.

(13:45):
Things are not going well. Right. This was hilarious to me. I
actually wrote in my notes, youthey're so poor. They have a mountain
chalet. We're supposed to be likefeeling sorry for this guy. He has
a mountain chalet in what looks tome to be really the Mountains of Aspen,
so one of the most expensive placesin the United States. It's this

(14:07):
gorgeous lodge, and I guess we'rejust supposed to think that it's poor because
it's smaller than Beauregard's uh you know, hotel chain, and it has a
snowmobile that's broken down, but it'sit's like stunning. Well, I can't
imagine what happened to his property textonce bou Regard moved in, right,

(14:28):
I have heard complaints actually from theAspen community. This is something that is
actually a complaint there that the developershave come in and really driven out the
native residence there because you can't affordto live there anymore. It's just a
touristown now. So Jake goes insideand he has a precocious child. Everyone,

(14:54):
Yeah, Abbey Abbey, and shehe had curly hair, which is
like really the pinnacle of precocious.It's true, it's a good point.
Um. So Jake Pusner's office andopens his desk drawer. Yeah, we
laugh at and he has what appearedat this point to be there's a weird

(15:20):
creepy doll in its death. Wewere we cracked up at that. Pep
were like, what my daughter is, who's fifteen? And who's my little
horror movie Bunny is like is like, oh, that's not creepy at all.
Okay, well, your daughter hasmade one of the creepiest Christmas decorations
I've ever seen, so she shouldknow it's true. It's true. It's

(15:43):
a voodoo gingerbread man, something shemade in kindergarten that it was the most
frightening business. It comes out everyChristmas. Is the most frightening thing I've
ever seen. But I'm afraid tothrow it away because everyone knows you don't
throw a creepy doll away. No, no, that's just that's just an
invitation. Oh yeah, this isan invitation for a life on curse.
Yeah, no thanks, all right. Back at the Big Lodge, Sierra

(16:06):
is hanging out with her dad andshe sees this snow globe in his office
and we find out that her motherdied when she was only five, but
this snow globe is a memento andshe loves it and it's beautiful, and
he's like, I can't believe youremember her. And they have this nice
little conversation about the mom and thenhe says that he has to go for
wait for a few days, buthe'll be back by Christmas Eve and Kiera

(16:29):
now that you mention it, Iassume that he's going to go see Robert
Barron for a few days. Yes, I think so too. They're going
to hang out and complain about theirkids that just mooch up their legacy.
Yes. So she heads out withTad and they're going to go take some
pictures. So they're dressed up liketheir skiing, but they're not really going

(16:49):
to ski because she doesn't ski right. And she's singing along in the car
at a rock around the Christmas treeand he's like, you're a little pitchy
and changes the channel to air supply. That was funny. Is an excellent,
beautiful singer. Yeah, I hadactually at that point and I had
said, oh, I wonder ifwe're going to get a Lindsay Lohan solo

(17:10):
in this mine. And she didhave a top ten album in the early
two thousands. I mean, shewas a singer. She's actually got a
few hits charging you know that shecharted in the early two thousands. Um,
I know that her voice is alittle different now at this age than
it was back then. She's definitelyhad a run for her money in her

(17:30):
own life. I'll say that Idon't want to disparage Lindsay Lohan on this
podcast. Actually I'm rooting for her. Yeah, but definitely. I'm sure
she's noticed her voice change, butI had still hoped. I was like,
oh, I really hoped to hearher say just hang along. In
that scene, Tad was making funof her, but I thought she sounded
great. I did too, whichI think is a joke. Dad's you

(17:52):
know, super conscious and like everythinghas to be perfect. So yeah,
so they're doing that. They're driving, and I think he was in like
am if I remember Cookie, likelike a Maserati suv. I think,
so he's he's just that guy.Meanwhile, Jake is driving some guests in
a sleigh ride and as he's leaving, one of the guys in the sled

(18:18):
is like, hey, something justfell off your sleigh. Is this safe?
And he's like, yes, fine, okay. I know that guy
was being a bit of a pantythough liked he was, so I kept
thinking, Oh, something's gonna happento the sleigh and they're gonna meet each
They're gonna meet each other again.That's not what happened, but I was
sure that's what that was setting itup for. I think No, yeah,

(18:40):
no, we were just this ismore another thing of like, look
how poor Jake is. He's poor, that is literally falling apart. Oh
god, he's like the drawn sleighisn't perfect. Jake has your guest house.
Yeah, it's just so incredibly poorthat things fall off his his slif

(19:03):
um. But yes, they gothis. He takes this young couple on,
yeah, the sleigh right. Um. Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan or Sierra
and Tad are on a snowmobile andthey're lost. Tad doesn't know what to
do. He doesn't have a signal, and without a signal, he is
useless. He's not need to barelyexists. It's not snowing. So you
think they could just follow the tracksback where they came from. But no,

(19:26):
I don't know why. But no, Well, I think we've established
that neither Tad or Sierra is verylike aware of their surroundings and you know,
really people, Yeah, neither oneof them has a lack of common
sense, so I'll buy it.Yeah, um, okay, Now,
precocious granddaughter Annie is at a littleChristmas market with her aboila. I think

(19:52):
her name is Alejandra, Alejandra,yes, which wait, which my husband
through the hole. I can hearit already, you already know. We
were about thirty minutes into the movieand Aboila showed up for the tenth time,
and he was like, every timeshe shows up, I just want
to be like, remember me andmy daughter. We couldn't. We almost

(20:23):
dials like but you know, myinstinct is to, you know, be
like, oh honey, you're sucha big it. But then when I
looked at the video, because Ireally loved that song from Coco. If
you haven't seen Coco, it's anamazing movie, she did look like the
cartoon Aboila and Cocoa. So forthe whole movie, we could not like

(20:48):
look at her without cracking up.My husband is just sitting in the corner.
Go Mark, I know. Ohanyway, okay, all right.
I was so excited about this Christmasmarket because there was a little booth where
a guy was selling chestnuts and helooked like Santa. And that's one of

(21:10):
my favorite tropes is that there's amagical guy who's really Santa, and um
a Hallmark channel has been dropping theball on that, so I'm glad that
Netflix was on it. It's beena while. Since I've seen it,
my only complaint is that, um, he was very obviously magical, Like
I kind of liked the thing oflike, is he isn't he? You
know? Um? But he dida little like tweak of a nose and

(21:32):
a little magical thing. And butI did I said the same thing,
Amelia. I was like, Oh, look it's Santa. It's a Santa.
And I kind of thought at firsthe was eyeing Abuela over there.
That little was a sequel. Ithought there was a bee plot going on
there, but there, but therewasn't. There wasn't. These days,

(21:55):
it seems like everybody's talking, butno one is actually listening to the things
they're saying. Critical thinking isn't dead, but it's definitely low on oxygen.
Join me Kira Davis on Jeff Listento yourself every week as we reason through
issues big and small, critique ourown ideas, and learn to draw our
talking points all the way out totheir logical conclusions. Subscribe to Just Listen

(22:17):
to Yourself with Kira Davis an FCBRadio podcasts on Apples, on Spotify,
iHeart, or wherever you get yourpodcasts. On the mountain, They're lost
on their snowmobile, but Tad stillgets down on one knee proposes to Sierra,
even though they haven't even technically gonepublic on Instagram yet, with the
gaudy string I've ever seen in mylife. It was, I actually have

(22:41):
a piece of costume jewelry that looksjust like it, except it's like a
little smaller. It was, itwas, it was, it was.
It matched Tad's personality right, justoutsized and ridiculous. Yeah, and so
they go to take a selfie.They're gonna become a gram official with their
engagement. To go take the selfie, Lindsay Lohan just straight up falls off

(23:04):
a cliff. He backs up there, she goes, she's gone, and
then and then the ground crumbles underneathhim and he's gone too. And I
was like, oh, okay,Yeah, that was a double wamy.
I didn't see that coming. Ithink I even I wondered why that needed
to happen. But I guess heneeded to get him out of the way

(23:26):
too for a few days. Yeah, otherwise people would wonder where she went.
Yeah, but yeah, they bothfell off the mountain in different directions,
and we watched her she like goesflying down the side of this,
Cliff rolls smash his head first intoa tree. Okay, you guys,

(23:48):
Netflix, that was a little graphic. She would have died, she would
have snapped her neck like you couldhave just had her fall and then found
in a snow bank. We didn'thave to wash her heads slam into a
tree, I guess. But youknow, she was fine. She was
fine, she was totally fine.That's how that's how, that's how medical
emergencies work. Yeah, yes,there's no serious injuries in Christmas Land.

(24:14):
Come on. So, as onemight expect, Jake finds her on his
sleigh because she is wearing hot pinkin the snow. And then the next
thing we know, she is wakingup in the little local medical center.
She's concussed and has amnesia, andnobody wants her. She is driving the
police crazy, She is driving thehospital crazy, and Jake is like,

(24:36):
I guess I can take her tothe lodge. And at this point I
was like, this is gonna belike one of my favorite movies, Overboard.
Overboard. I was like, youknow what, I am here for
overboarding this thing that he didn't goall the way there with the plot,
and maybe that's good because that plothas an element of cruelty to it that

(24:56):
does not really belong in the Christmasuniverse. So um, but yeah,
that was my first sun yet theboard vibes, we get it. So
Tad, who fell off in theother direction, is in the woods and
he starts making a video to beuploaded to all of us social channels once
his body is found. But thebattery dies in the middle, which I

(25:18):
think would be like the worst thingto happen to Tad, Like, not
only is he about to die,but he can't even go viral with his
death video. Yeah. He actuallydidn't even seem to be too worried about
dying. It was mostly worried abouthis like not being able to post.
Yeah, like, why isn't therea cell tower in the middle of the
woods. Yeah, all right.Sierra is back at the so she's safe

(25:42):
and sound. At the North StarEnd. Tad has found an ice fishing
fishing shanty, so he's okay fornow. He's warm. He's with Ralph
the fishing n yep. And whenSierra wakes up, she thinks this was
all a dream and does one ofmy favorite little Netflix bits. She turns

(26:03):
on Netflix and it's a Christmas moviefrom last year, Christmas at Castlehart product
placement. H Yeah, always hasa little Easter eggs and hints about their
other videos. I think, Ithink it's great. I think it's great.
I love it. It's clever,it's what you should do. And
then of course, like as soonas she turned it on and heard that
little Netflix like, yeah, Iwas like, brilliant, I'm here for

(26:26):
it. Yeah, And she looksout her and obviously at this point now
she looks around the inn, whichwe always say that like in these Christmas
Land movies, Christmas has like thrownup in the house. I don't think
I've ever seen it to the extentthat it was in this inn. No,
it was a lot of Christmas decorations. It was a lot of Christmas
everywhere everywhere, Like her room hadits own tree, and oh my goodness,

(26:51):
it was even in the offices.Like I understand if you're going to
decorate like the gas rooms or alobby and the dining room or something,
but even like the office, theprivate areas were decorated and it was Yeah,
it was just like it was toomuch. It was it was like
they pulled out whatever they had inthe you know, in the props closet,

(27:15):
and they were like, just putit everywhere, right, right,
don't It was one piece of decorationin this closet. Yeah. So she
somehow makes it through this forest inher room, looks out the window and
the other guests at the end wavedher through the window and she pulls the
curtain clothes. She's like, Ido not need these. Nobody's waving at
me. Even though she doesn't knowwho she is, she stills the sense

(27:36):
of entitlement. She knows. Shestill knows that families are green. No,
she's better than those people, right. Um. Abbie comes in to
say hi to or see what's up, and they decide to name Sierra since
she doesn't know her name after oneof abbie stuffed animals, and the options
are not ideal, so they gowith Sarah, which is a which is
a good name, Sarah's, butevery other name was so ter that it

(28:00):
was a much easier choice than itneeded to be. I was like Wilburt
Bruce Sarah. She's like, okay, let's do Sarah. But it also
because a Sandah familiar to her,right feltmi yep um. We find out
Abby's mom died a couple of yearsago, so now we can check the
widow box wood Box on the Hallmarktropes. Um, And I feel like

(28:22):
Siara like that kind of like resonatedwith her, even though she doesn't know
that she lost her mom. Ifeel like she felt some connection there.
Mum. All right, breakfast,let's talk about making breakfast. He's a
disaster. He doesn't know how tocrack an egg. She doesn't know how
to do anything. But on thepositive news, they get her to actually
try bacon and she likes it.I find it interesting that she she offered

(28:47):
to make her own breakfast. Shewas like, oh, I can make
my own breakfast. Like, ay, how do you know this? Be
you just turned up your nose atthe family walking by. You already know
that you're better than all of thesepeople, but you think you could make
your own food. I just thoughtit was such a bizarre move for her,
And obviously she was absolutely the worst. I mean, she didn't just
crack the eggs, she just likepitched them in into the pan. And

(29:11):
I don't really like, you gotto whatever age you are, and you've
never even tried bacon, because likeher dad raised her her daddy's bacon.
We saw him do it. Youthink at some point in her childhood,
you know, even when she gotolder, she decided she was a vegetarian.
Whatever. I'm just I'm questioning thebacon that she's never actually tried it
to know she likes it. Butthat's okay. Well, yeah, I

(29:33):
guess that's we found the one flawin the Christmas universe. Maybe when she
hit her head, her sense oftaste change. Maybe. No, I
think I think that she just asshe grew up and was more spoiled,
she just figured bacon is for that'sthat's a lower class delight, so for
surely, yeah, right, shegets breakfast presido. Yeah. Back at

(29:57):
the Belmont Hotel, the employee arestarting to get a little nervous, but
they have found that Tad sent herflowers and the note says something like can't
wait to take you on our adventuretoday or something, So they're like,
oh, he took her for agetaway, So they're not worried about her
a little like they wish she hadtold her she was going. But whatever,

(30:18):
she's gone with Tad and her dadis gone, so everybody thinks she's
somewhere else safe and nobody's looking forher. Right, this is why we
had to get rid of Tad.And what I thought was just a strange
beplot, But now I at theend, I realized, oh, well
we have to have a reason forno one to be looking for her.

(30:38):
Yeah, just like an overboard whenGoldie Hun's greedy husband was that, you
know, her mom was looking forher. But then he was like on
the yacht being like, oh,I know she's missing, but I'm just
gonna pretend everything's fine because I reallyhope she don't show up. Yeah,
right, in my life, allright, not living the high life is

(31:02):
Tad. He wakes up in thefishing shanty with Ralph, and Ralph's like,
all right, let's time to getin the truck head back to town.
But the truck won't start, andRalph's like, that's fine, it's
only a two day hike. Well, Tad has never hiked a moment in
his life, and he's not reallyvery happy about this. He's not,

(31:22):
but I was actually pleasantly surprised byTad's attitude, sort of like it's kind
of a good sport about it.He kind of was, he kind kind
of really liked Ralph, and Ireally felt there was a moment in there
where they're hiking and Tad is thesnow is very deep. By the way,
they filmed in the winter somewhere,I guess this was ann asment.
I mean, they filmed in winter. It must have been brutal to shoot.

(31:44):
But they were filming in the snow. I mean, these guys were
trudging through knee deep snow. Itwasn't bubbles, it wasn't fake, it
was real. And that stuff ismurdered to shoot in. So hats off
to that crew. But there wasthis moment I don't know if you're gonna
get there, but when he Ralphgives him snowshoes, are you did you

(32:06):
make a note of that? Sothere's a moment where they're trudging through the
snow. Also, I'm just lookingat the snow and it's undisturbed. So
the crew is shooting this scene andhaving to find a new undisturbed place every
I mean, I think when youthink about the technicalities of what that shoot
was, there's probably a lot ofheroes on the crew. But um,

(32:30):
anyway, it was delightful to seethat as somebody who enjoys these movies,
and they're usually shot in spring andsummer. But there's a scenemore Tad as
he's knee deep in the snow andhe falls over. He can't really walk,
and so Ralph puts um snowshoes onhim to walk, and he's like
lifting up his shoes. He's likehere, I got this for you,
and TIS like, oh, you'reso strong. And I was like,
is there a romance developing here betweenand Ralph? I felt like because and

(32:58):
because it was Netflix, I didn'tunderstand necessarily what the rules were gonna be
there. I'm applying Hallmark rules,but I didn't know if Netflix was going
to break any of those rules.So I did turn to my daughter.
I was like, I don't knowwhat the rules are here in this universe,
but it looks to me like theyhave a little romance brewing, Like

(33:19):
Tad's going to realize like, oh, I really love Ralph. He's so
strong, he's a provider, he'sa leader. And I think they had
more chemistry than the actual leads justsaying good, absolutely true, Oh my
gosh. Anyway, it didn't cometo fruition, but that is the point

(33:43):
where I was thinking like, ohno, looks gonna give me a little
romance here between Tad and Ralph exactly. So that's what Tad is up to
Sierra. I'm just gonna keep callingher Sierra, even though for half the
movie she's called Sarah. We're gonnacall her Sierra. Sure, we had
it. Um So people, she'sat the at the end of the North
Star, there's like a montage ofher trying to do normal things because they

(34:07):
were like, if you do normalthings, you might get your memory back.
So basically, there's making her bea maid. They're making her clean
all this stuff. We also findout that a lot of people are canceling
their reservations, and I don't knowwhat's going to happen to Jake, but
yeah, she is cleaning. Sheis she can't make a bed to save
her life. No, she's tryingto put that fittached sheet on, perplexingly

(34:30):
by putting her whole body in thesheet and trying to spread out. I
told my aus when I was like, I do get the sense though,
that this is how Lindsay Lohan makessense. They might have just been like,
here, put the sheet on andfield it. Yeah, I did
that. The sense of Lindsay Lohanprobably never made her own bed. But

(34:51):
it was a ridiculous montage. Itvery overboardish, if you will, yes,
and we do. We love amontage. So oh yes. Abby
is doing her hair and has sometangles. So Sierra goes in and helps
her with her hair, and it'slike, um, you know, my
mom used to talk about how toget the tangles out, blah blah blah,

(35:13):
and she realizes she remembers something abouther mom. That's it. She
doesn't like she had this one littlememory that popped out, but hey,
it's something, right. It wassweet. It was sweet, however,
not so sweet she At this moment, Jake finds out that she has put
an entire laundry soap container. Notshe didn't empty the container into the dish,
into the washing machine. The entirecontainer itself and all the soap is

(35:38):
in there, so of course there'sballoons, balloons everywhere. It was I
feel like the laundry soap is alsoalmost it's a trope of like so many
movies, like, if you're incompetenthousework, you need to have yeah,
laundry bubbles. Have you ever donethat? Have you ever had too much
soap in your laundry, I have. I have actually done that one time

(36:05):
many years ago, not understanding thedifference really between um dish soap and laundry
soap. I didn't have laundry soap, and I had seen online that dish
soap was great for like getting greasestains out right, and I have a
lot of I am a messy eaterand I have grease stains. I can't

(36:28):
keep a shirt clean save my life. I mean it's embarrassing. And so
I like, I didn't pour thedish soap into the laundry, but I
put it on every fabric right like, I rubbed it into every fabric.
So there probably was a good halfcup of dish soap, and it did
it did exactly not It bubbled upout of the machine and onto the ground,

(36:51):
just like it does in the movies. So I can attest to the
reality of that. And that's whenMark fell in love with you. Yeah.
Yes, He's like, this isa domestic goddess. Um. So
she's all upset because Jake is like, how are you this useless? Basically
yea. So she goes out tothe stables to talk to Balthazar the horse

(37:12):
and she's like, I'm so uselessand I can't do anything right and nobody's
even looking for me, blah blah. And then she goes, thanks for
your support today. That was cute. We all laughed at that one night.
I thought that was cute. Shelooks for like two seconds, thanks
for your support, like the wholething is funny. Yeah, well,
thanks for your support. So sheleaves, and it turns out Jake was

(37:35):
in the barn and he heard thewhole thing. So now he feels bad.
Yeah so when so she slips,so will Lindsay Lohan's next stop is
she's gonna get some firewood. Sheslips. Oh my goodness, it's all
just a big mess. He helpsher. He feels bad that he slip
fall too hard, A slip offall. Yes, it's another one,
all right, back to the Christmasstreet fair with a boila. But I

(37:59):
will say that that moment when theyhad that little heart to heart, that's
when we're supposed to see them fallingin love. And that's when I was
like, these people do not likeeach other at all. There was whatsoever
no um. So Aboila has theidea that if they take Sierra to that
maybe somebody that were recognizer, becauseeverybody in town goes there, somebody has

(38:22):
to recognize her. Nobody does,but Santa is there, so we get
to see him again, and theydo this thing. I think I've mentioned
this before. This is my mom'slike biggest pet peeve about movies. The
fake like you can see their breathbecause it's called out, but they mount
that they cegi onto. People lookslike they're just like dragons blowing smoke at

(38:45):
each other. Did you did youthink that was CGI? It was something?
It wasn't all I thought it was. I thought they were really filming
in a winter location and seem likeout there, but they like, I
don't know, we're both because Ihave never seen it in that dense.

(39:06):
I don't have to go back andrewatch I was watching. I was watching.
I do as I did in thestuff. By the way, Christmas
movie makers, you don't need toCGI the stuff coming out of their mouth.
It's fine, well, well we'llget it right. It's just like,
I don't need to see people throwingup in movies. This is my
PEP book for movies where you haveto show people vomiting. I don't need

(39:29):
to see the vomit. I understandwhat's happening when the person bends over and
wretches, so we understand if aperson is in cold climate, you don't
need to add the steam coming outof their mouth. It's fine. We're
there with you in this imaginative world. So I was looking at that.
I didn't think it was CGI.I thought they were really because they had

(39:51):
cold mouth. They were all talkingin cold mouth. They did. But
I'll go back and down to seeif it was in that moment, like
I wrote on fake breath exclamation point, because it just struck me as extreme
in that moment, I feel likeI'm going to go back and look at
this before our next podcast, allright, and render a judgment. Everybody.
Let us know on social media asa thing. Okay, a very

(40:13):
very pod on Twitter, or averymy podcast at gmail dot com. Yes,
or very mare podcast on Facebook andInstagram. Let us know did Paul
Revere really say the British are coming? And how is George Washington chosen to
leave the First American Army. Joinus for the Growing Patriot Podcast, a

(40:34):
place for curious kids to ask thebig questions about our nation's history and get
kid friendly answers from the country's topexperts. Help your child learn about and
cherish America's exceptional history. Subscribe toGrowing Patriots on Apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts today. All right, so he is thinking about he was
thinking about going back into the bigcity because what happened was the North Star

(40:59):
end was actually in his late wife'sfamily and it was given to them as
a wedding gift. Which it's like, okay, wedding gift, even feeling
that's some wedding gift. That issome wedding gift. A mountain chalet,
a mountain lodge, just a weddinggift right the land itself. Yeah,

(41:21):
so, but so he's not sure. It's like the family legacy and he
does love it, so he's notsure if he's going to stay same up
going back to the city. Idon't know. Um. Meanwhile, Santa
shows them a snow globe and itkind of niggles at the back of Sierra's
mind like something jogs a memory,but she can't quite grasp it. So
Jake buys it for which is verysweet. Um, because he's like,

(41:45):
hey, maybe if you keep staringat the snow globe. Someone, We'll
come back to you. And nowit's time for another of our favorite things,
the tree lighting. At this moment, I think I might have identified
another trope. Unless have we discussedthis before. Oh my gosh, wait,
wait wait, I swear I knowyou're gonna say. I want you

(42:06):
to say it, but I justwant everyone to know before Amelia says this,
that I think we are thinking thesame thing at this moment, and
we have not discussed this at all. I hope it's the same thing.
What are you going to say,Amelia? The mayor is always black.

(42:27):
Every small town in America has ablack marror. I didn't know, and
I didn't realize it until this movie, after all these years. I don't
know how I just noticed it.So we're sitting there watching the tree lighting.
I crying. We're sitting there watchingthe tree lighting, and in my
mind, the mayor steps up,and in my mind, I'm like,

(42:51):
you know, why is the mayoralways black in these Christmas lands? And
I swear to Amelia as I asthe thought was crossing my mind, my
husband turns to me and goes,why is the mirror was black? And
knees how did we never notice thatbefore? I kind of noticing it,

(43:16):
I kind of was, but Iguess it never like came to be like
a fully formed thought. And thenmy daughter at the same time, she's
like, I was just thinking thesame thing, though. I was like,
it's always the mirror is always alwaysblack, and it was just so
funny that we all thought it atthe same time. That's hilarious. Like

(43:37):
I had to stop the movie becauseI was laughing so hard. My husband
literally said what I was thinking,and and then I was like, I
don't know. I think it's probablyjust Christmas Land's way of getting a black
person in there and in a personand in a position of authority. And
you see it on regular TV twolike black people will show up as the
judges, you know, or theit's it's it's a way up saying like,

(44:00):
hey, look see, we respectblack people. They have they have
steamed positions in our community, butnot but we can't make them the lead,
right steamed supporting positions. Yes,Oh my gosh, that isn't too
funny. I love it. Ican't wait to tell ye. Yes I

(44:22):
am. I'm gonna put it onthe trope list. Actually, we have
done on there, So okay,I have to get my mind back into
Yeah, okay, let's pull let'spull ourselves together. Deep breaths. It's
the tree lighting. Back to thetree lighting. There's sing some Christmas carols
and he's and Jake is like,come on, sing along. She goes,

(44:42):
oh, I can't sing, andhe's like, how do you know
you can't sing? Try it?Which I thought was nice, like he
encouraged her. And again she islike in deep down she sort of remembers
that Tad told her she couldn't sing, and he's like, you don't know
anything about yourself, give it atry, and she enjoyed it, so
good for her. Yeah. Um, And then I and then they go
back home and I wrote down Christmasactually threw up in this inn, Yes,

(45:05):
But then like it was just itwas more like I am an overdecorator,
like I decorate a lot for Christmas, um, not really any other
holiday. But and I was stilllike I couldn't handle this. Give me
anxiety or something like there's not likeI even noticed moving and yeah, everything,

(45:25):
I even I even noticed that theoffice had stained glass Christmas pains.
I'm like, how do you arethey just there all year do they put
them in there? Like for Christmas? It was stained glass. It was
like a reindeer Christmas Reindeer in theoffice. Um, and yeah, I

(45:46):
was like, wow, okay,I have seen I will say, the
only other movie that I've seen thathad this amount of Christmas vomit in it
was on Great American. Um,I watched a movie. It was one
of the first movies I watched.We haven't reviewed it on the show here,
and I can't even remember what itwas called. But it was that

(46:07):
level of WHOA, this is ridiculous, but but on a lower tier,
Like they didn't clearly have the budgetto be decorating like that. So all
they did was they took like theChristmas tinsel garland and put it on literally
everything. It was framing every doorway, wrapped around every lamp, over every

(46:30):
bookcase, wrapped around every tree,wrapped on every chair, lining every counter,
lining the cupboards like they even likeindividual cupboards were lined in the Christmas
and so it was like unnecessary.Yes, but yeah, that end was
absolutely ridiculous and I wonder who didLike, just that's just a buila an

(46:52):
Abbey. Okay, babe, theydon't even have maids like the Maids,
which you know they maids probably quitbecause they saw they had to clean around
all this garland. Like no,no, absolutely not. Um. All
right, so they have this nicelittle talk before bed, and she talks

(47:14):
about how she's never met anyone likehim before, and he's like, how
do you know if you've ever metanyone like me? She's like, because
if i'd met someone like you,I would have remembered. All right.
So now she's had a change ofheart. And we know this because in
the morning she wakes up, shepulls back her curtain. The family walks
by and waves it her and shewaves back to them because so gross.

(47:37):
Yeah, families are so gross.Yeah. Um, she's making she makes
her own bed, she's helping withbreakfast. Um. And then they have
they make a gingerbread house and havea food fight. So yes to the
gingerbread house. It's another trope.They're baking something, creating something together.
Food fights and movies always bug mebecause that's messy, that's like messy.

(48:00):
I'm not a neat French by anystretch, but come on, this is
exactly the comment Mark made to me. And so he was like, you
know, what, that's not funny. Somebody's got to clean that up,
because he knows in our house,if that were to happen in our house,
he would be the one who wouldhave to clean it up. So
it really bothers him to see howthat I liked. I liked it because

(48:21):
I was like, oh good,and somebody got something on their nose.
Oh yeah, yeah, a littleflower on your nose, a little sugar
on your nose. Another one,and then we get another one like ten
seconds later because they all go skiingand the two of them fall together and
fall on top of each other,so we have another box. And again
we're supposed to have this moment whereit's like the chemistry is crazy and are

(48:44):
they gonna kiss? But there's nochemistry at all. There's looking at each
other. Yeah no, there wasabsolutely no chemistry between these two people at
all. So back at the end, Alejandra is looking at memorabilia from the
inn, and um, you know, Sierra's you know, looking at it

(49:04):
with her, and then Alejandra tellsher, you know, okay, well,
when you're done, just put thisback in the drawer. So she
goes to put it in a drawer, opens it up and there's the weird
doll. Turns out and this isstill pretty weird. Turns out it's a
tree top or angel, not aweird doll. But it's still like an
angel shoved in a drawer, whichI don't. Okay, No, it's
weird. It's weird. It's reallyput it in a box, pack it

(49:25):
away and wherever you the rest ofthe Christmas decorations all year. So Jake
finds her with it, and it'slike, so, what happened was I
bought this with my wife and thenshe died before the next Christmas and we
weren't. I wasn't. She's like, He's like, so I can't get
rid of it, but it's hardto put it up because then I'd have
to like think about her all thetime. So I just leave it here

(49:46):
in which is I also see itall the time all year round, every
time I opened my desk. That'sclearly the healthiest place for it. That's
true. I didn't think about emotionhealth. It feels like right here,
this is where my daughter. Mydaughter and I are fans of scary doll

(50:07):
movies. As we record this thisweek, we're really looking forward to going
to See Megan, which is comingout. I saw that really. Did
he like it? He did?Yeah, it looks freaking creepy and ridiculous
and down for both those things.So this was at the point where I
was like, Okay, this storycould take a darker turn. So my

(50:28):
daughter and I started imagining the movieas a free chopper was going to do
a cautionary tale take out cats,so they could never get back together.
Yes, but Jake doesn't have timetalk about his feelings right now because there's
a toy drive in town, whichis another trope, And she's like,
okay, I'll come with you,and she starts wrapping presents and she's very

(50:52):
bad at rapping presents, and thisrandom woman Louise in the town starts talking
about how Jake always helps everybody elseand um, you know the town would
love to do something for him ahint, hint, hint, and um.
So she and Jake end up goingback home and there's mistletoe. Oh

(51:13):
mistletoe. Is this a Chris's missiletoeChristmas Land trope? I don't know that
we've ever written it down as atrope, because I don't see it in
every Men. No. I thinkmissletoe's ridiculous, so does my husband.
In fact, the way your momhates cgi breath, that's my husband hates
the missiletoe. He just is like, oh, I hate missletoe. It's
so dumb. I mean, Ithink it's kind of cute. Yeah,

(51:37):
I guess. I mean, Idon't like feel strongly about I don't hate
missletoe. Yeah. I couldn't havea time where I ever was somewhere that
actually had mistletoe. Um, Idon't, I don't know, I don't
And I think in a post pandemicworld, the idea of being stuck on
in the missiletoe was someone you don'tlike and having to kiss him for tradition.
I just don't think it plays anymore. Yeah, I don't know us

(52:00):
question the face. I don't know. Um, but they almost kiss,
and again don't but and again nochemistry and which actually he had a reason,
a good reason though. He waslike, you don't know if you're
seeing somebody I don't want to kissyou. We all start having feelings and
it turns out that you're seeing somebodyyou liked. I liked this because this

(52:22):
was another part of the movie whereI was like, I don't know what
the rules are here, So ifthey kiss, then it's not normal Hallmark
rules applying. And if they don'tkiss, then I can like really settle
into this movie. And when theydidn't kiss, I was like, oh,
okay, I'm going to settle in. Then I think I think we're

(52:42):
abiding generally by the general rules ofChristmas, the Christmas universe. Yeah.
Um, so she wants to talkto him about something else though. Going
through all of this Christmas the inmemorabilia, there's a ton of like letters
from people and people sharing the specialmoments they had there, and she's like,
we just need to email this list, tell them to come by ask

(53:02):
for donations. And I wrote down, have they not been emailing their list?
And I realized that I am aprofessional writer and one of the things
I write is corporate emails for people. You guys, you got to email
your list? Yeah. Well,there are a whole lot of things where
I was like, you know whatthis in needs. They don't need like

(53:22):
Lindsay Lohan, they need like GordonRamsey. Like they're just doing a lot
wrong here, Like the rooms werea bit dated, you know, they
didn't seem to have any online presenceat all, as presented at the end
of the movie, and people justcall for their reservations. Can you remember
the last time, Amelia you calleda hotel to make a reservation? No,

(53:47):
No, you do all that online. They don't seem to have any
sort of online presence. So whileI do feel for Jake and how poor
he is this poor mountain lodge withthis double bills, at the same time,
you know, Jake, I dothink there are a few little things
you could do, like having anemail list. Um. So she says

(54:09):
to him, She's like, peoplehave beautiful memories here, we can bring
it back. Blah blahi. Hegoes, what do you know about memories?
You don't even know your name?No. I was like, wow,
that is cold. She has ania, she has great I know.
I was like, that's a lowblow, Jake, My goodness,

(54:34):
it was really blow. Yeah.So a mountain, she fell off a
mountain indiatry wow yeah. Um.So basically she's giving him feelings and he
has decided that he would rather losehis business it's been in the family for
however many generations, than make somememories with her. Yeah, that's kind

(54:54):
of what it boils down to naturallyum. But he has a heart to
heart with Alejandra and she talks aboutyou know, he's a good man and
he deserves to be happy, blahblah blah. And then Sierra tells Abby
that is time for her to leave, and I don't know where she really
thinks she's gonna go. But okay, I know I was wondering. She

(55:15):
was like, no, it's justtime I have to leave. Ye to
go where exactly? Down to theChristmas market. I guess we're gonna go.
Stand So then Jake wildly over correctsand comes out with the angel,
and it's like, Siarah, Iwould like you to put the angel on
the tree. Okay, okay,listen, you can have a party for

(55:37):
your business even though she's going tobe in the pictures. That's reasonable.
But to be like earlier today,I couldn't look at this because it reminded
me of my dead wife. Butnow I'm going to give it to this
lady who doesn't know her name,who might be married. Have her put
like, Jake, you need toyou're giving me whiplash. Okay, but
fair enough. But at this thiswas a point where I realized that this

(55:59):
whole thing has only been over fourdays. So from Lindsay Lohan going from
not being able to make a bedto now being an expert made being able
to work that fitted sheet like apro. You know, we had the
montage, a million out, wehad the montage, or she was really
getting to know the family and howto operate. I mean that transition only

(56:22):
took four days. I mean shewas cooking breakfast by the end of it,
so even that was only four days. So I guess in the timeline
of this universe, sure, thetwenty minutes between him saying I'll never look
at this doll to him saying,here, Lindsay Lohan put it on the
tree, I guess it makes sense. Yeah, oh my goodness. It
was a lot to think about.But along with that, with that change

(56:45):
of heart comes with he's also happyto have the party. We have a
montage with them promoting the Christmas party, which reminded me of Christmas at the
drive to drive in, Yes,where they just stand there in hand off
flyers and that's the whole promotion.I was like, there needs to be
like a crossover with Christmas at thedrive in here. I actually wrote that
in my notes Christmas at the drivein Love It. Yes. So while

(57:09):
they're doing that, Tad and thefisherman are sitting by a fire totally bonding,
being bros. And Beauregard is donewith his trip to see Robert Barron
right in New York City, NewYork City, and he is like,
we're Siarah and they're like, yeah, we don't actually know. We think

(57:30):
she's with Tad, but we don'tknow where. And it's been kind of
a lot of days. And rightfully, so Beauregardless like, what the hell,
I'd like to check down my daughtershe's missing and I don't. I
was like, yeah, um,if again, if you have a ski
shellet in the mountains and a guestgoes missing for one or two days,

(57:52):
like yeah, that should trigger theemergency services. Right. It's like if
you own like a dive boat ora dive lodge, like in the in
the Islands somewhere Bahamas. It's likeif your guests come back from a trip
and you've got two less people thatyou look into it. So the so

(58:17):
while they so they go to thepolice and they're like, you've got to
find our daughter. Meanwhile, thesheriff has found Ralph's car. And I
love this because they had stuck anote on it saying the car won't start,
We're just gonna start walking, comefind us. And despite all of
the snow, the note did notget wet. It is impeccable. Right
there, it's magic paper. Maybeit's Santa's paper, could be, could

(58:42):
be. It's a good point.Um. And back at the Sheriff's office
where everybody's meeting up, it alsolooks like Christmas threw up. It was
a Christmas Christmas cut law enforcement.I mean it would it would be an
absolute pleasure to be incarcerated there.That's what I think too. It looked
very comfortable, It looked warm andcozy. I got the impression though that

(59:06):
that sheriff doesn't really have much elseto a Christmas spirit. Yeah, the
time, so we probably had alot of time to decorate. And I'm
sure there were a lot of extradecorations from from the Lone Lodge or maybe
not no, because they clearly theywere all there. They were all everything
was up. Um Beauregard seized hatat the police station is like, where's
Ciara? And he's like, Idon't know, I haven't seen her in

(59:28):
four days. Oh that's a problem. Yeah. Now next trope moment,
Sierra comes to the top of thestairs in a new dress. Yes,
we got her, by the way, yeah, Subwayla got her her new
red dress. She walks down thestairs. Um, my first thought was,

(59:50):
uh, she looks cold, sheneeds sleeve. She does, put
a little jacket on. She doesput the jacket on. That made me
feel better. Yeah yeah. Um. And they're only expecting a few people.
And I want to make it reallyclear that we're only expecting a few
people, Kia, So don't getyour hopes up. No. And it's
so close to Christmas, it's like, it's christ really have time. It's

(01:00:12):
Christmas Eve. Yeah, to befair, no one is going to come
on Christmas Eve. No. Um. So they're like, well, let's
test out the dance floor while wewait for just a few people to arrive.
Again, they almost kiss, andthen the guests start piling in and
there are tons and then she's like, okay, time to make your pitch.
And to be honest, I thinkit's super weird to throw a party

(01:00:37):
and then ask for money. Theydid not frame this as a fundraiser,
but everyone there seemed to know thatit was so to be fair. I
was assuming that there was something maybein the email that went out that Jake
didn't see. Yeah right, noton the like, um, you showed

(01:00:58):
my son how to ski, here'sa check for the ski lessons. You
gave us a free place to stayfor our honeymoon. Here's what it would
have cost. So they people justend up giving him money. And in
the middle of all of this beautifulChristmas spirit, Tad and Beauregard bust in.
They're like, Sierra, it's you, and they have this another montage

(01:01:19):
of just like memories of her timeat the lodge. Yeah. I thought
that was weird, unnecessary. We'vejust gone through the whole movie with you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'vebeen here this whole time. We
didn't need to see the broadcast.We can pose it right anyway. Yeah,
but yeah they could. They burstin. They see Sierra. She's
thinking about all the wonderful times she'shad with Jake and Abuela and Abby and

(01:01:45):
but obviously these are the people she'ssupposed to be with. These days,
it seems like everybody's talking, butno one is actually listening to the things.
They're saying critical thinking isn't dead,but it's definitely low on oxygen.
Join me Kira Davis on Jeff Listento Yourself every week as we reason through

(01:02:07):
issues big and small, critique ourown ideas, and learn to draw our
talking points all the way out totheir logical conclusions. Subscribe to Just Listen
to Yourself with Kira Davis, anFCB radio podcast on Apples, on Spotify,
iHeart, or wherever you get yourpodcasts. The next morning, back
at the Belmont Hotel, she ismaking the bed by herself and it's time

(01:02:31):
to get ready for her press conference, and the glam squad comes in and
she's like, I'm just gonna golow key today and they're like, well,
thank you, believe it. SoTad is looking for her, and
I wrote down what in the worldis Tad wearing? And I'll be honest,
I watched this many days ago,and I don't even remember what Tad
was wearing, but I guess itwas terrible. I loved it, loved
it. He had well he hadit was a ridiculous effort, and he

(01:02:52):
had his hair was quaffed and shapedalmost like he looked like maybe he belonged
in like the Adams family. Andthen he had on this this double breasted
blazer and this collarless shirt with thisridiculous broke Christmas approach, skinny jeans,
yes, the brooch, skinny jeans, and loafers with no socks. He

(01:03:16):
looked absolutely ridiculous it was and itwas perfect. It was roach that got
me because it was like little chains. I likened it to like a Christmas
candelabra and the chains were like theflames coming off or so. I thought
it was like military, something likemetals on. No, this, what

(01:03:37):
is he doing? No? Ithought it was like a postmodern take on
Christmas. Yeah yeah, um,so she is. He finds her in
the kitchen making breakfast with all thehelp another overboard. Oh yeah, and
he's like, hey, you gottaget dressed, and she's like, this

(01:03:57):
is what I'm wearing and he isshocked. Everybody's so they are. They're
on the morning show and she promotesStar Lodge. She talks about how that's
where she's been the whole time andthey have been taking care of her and
she loved it there so much.And he holds up her hand with the
giant ring and talks about how they'reengaged now announced it to the whole world.

(01:04:18):
She looks uncomfortable. Beauregard looks uncomfortable. The only person who's not uncomfortable
is Tad, because he's right.He knows that his engagements are going up
on Instagram. Right. Meanwhile,at the North Star Lodge, Abbie said
that her Christmas wish was for herdad to find someone new, and I

(01:04:39):
guess it's not going to come true. And then she's like, you didn't.
They have this conversation. She's like, you didn't actually tell her that
you love her, like you didn't, And he's like, well not in
so many words, and she's like, you have to go tell her right
now. But you look you wantto say something. No, I no,
I'm no, I'm I'm intently listening, absolutely, and Abby was absolutely

(01:05:00):
right. He did not say anything. So, yeah, does this fall
under the trope? Would this fallunder the trope of misunderstanding? That could
be cleared up if you just saidsomething? Maybe maybe he could. It's
a tight Yeah, it's borderline.Um. So he goes to grab a
snowmobile because the rods are snowed in, and he forgot the snowmobile totally doesn't

(01:05:26):
work, so what is he gonnado? Guess what? Santa left a
sleigh outside, the smallest sleigh I'veever seen in a Christmas movie. Well
it is a one horse open sleighand they okay, Amelia, okay,
all right, bare enough. Um, so he they get in the sleigh.

(01:05:48):
They're on their way to the bigresort and at the North Star Lodge,
the phones are rang off the hooka Boila cannot get to everybody,
so she just keeps putting everybody onhold. I would have probably just taken
each call as I could. Everybodyelse can call back. But it's fine.
They get booked up. Everything's wonderful. Okay. Another reason, it's

(01:06:08):
like, okay, you guys shouldhave like an online booking system here,
like Abuella should not be and she'sjust using like a calendar book to book
people into. That is just arecipe for mix ups and double booking,
and you know people need an onlineonline presence. So uh, you know,

(01:06:29):
hopefully that gets sorted out. Butyeah, you know people were literally
just calling yeah like crazy. Um, all right, so they're heading out.
Sorry, Sierra and Tad are headingout for some island getaway and as
they're leaving. She's like, Ican't do this. I can't marry you.
You're a decent enough guy, andreally he is. He's mostly just

(01:06:50):
oblivious and kind of an idiot,but he's not a bad guy. No,
and that's in the spirit of theChristmas universe. No one is truly
Terrill. So um so she's like, you know, gives him the ring
back. Sorry, blah blash.She talks to her dad. She's like,
listen, I know that you onemade up the job of vice president

(01:07:11):
atmosphere. I want to make myown way in the world. He's super
proud of her. Um. Jakearrives, I think she's in the Hummer
limo and starts just telling his feelingsto the car, puts the window down.
Actually, and it's Tad. However, Terry for the Sierra had.

(01:07:31):
When we said that Sierra was likea signed a personal assistant while she was
there, it was this dude namedTerry. Tad is taking Terry with him.
Okay, this this was the tonalshift that really rocked my world.
I did not understand it. Italked to my family about it afterwards.
They said it was obvious that Tadand Terry were like gonna hook up.

(01:07:51):
But what happened was Terry's like thehotel concierge that they assigned to Lindsay Lohan's
character. Um, and uh,you know, effeminate. And I suppose
we're supposed to think that maybe hedoesn't have a traditional sexuality. I don't
know, yes, But when Lindsay, when Sierra says to Tad, I

(01:08:14):
can't go with you, I can'tmarry you. I can't go with you
to Mexico or wherever they're going.Um. Tad looks around, He's like,
well, what am I supposed todo? And he puts his eyes
on Terry and he says, well, what about you? What are you
doing for any two years? Andhe has to see him on the phone?
What about Ralph? You're just gonnaleave Ralph? Okay, So I

(01:08:35):
did. This is what I didn'tunderstand. I'm willing to accept. I'm
willing to accept that story shift Iam. But I didn't see it built
up or foreshadowed in any way.If it was going to it would have
been Ralph. I would have thoughtRalph. I would have thought Ralph came
in and him go, hey,Ralph, what are you doing for New

(01:08:56):
Years and see him on his phoneRalph, I'm on my way. Yeah,
but it was just so weird thathe just gay and Ry man yeah,
man, right, he had nevernoticed Terry until this point. And
then and then it was it didhave this It was probably the most sexuality
that you saw in the movie.It did have this sexual nature to it.

(01:09:16):
Yeah, and it was just itwas a bizarre shift to me.
Now, my husband and daughter didn'tthink it was bizarre at all. They
were like, well, obviously heis, like he's just he's just deciding.
Yeah, all right, I'll takeTerry for a ride, you know.
But no, it was weird.And then there was also so they
say like, you know, she'snot here, she's inside in the hotel
whatever, and they put the windowup and Terry is looking smug about it.

(01:09:40):
Yeah, that's the other thing.He was like, no, sorry,
it's just me happy now. Yeah, yeah, something's going on with
those two. It was weird.It made me think that there was a
scene that got caught. Maybe something'son the cutter room floor that made that
make sense. Could be again,was I was willing, It's not I'm
fine to go there if that's wherethey want. To go. But it
just really came out of nowhere.I didn't understand where it came from.

(01:10:02):
It did um so Jake after havingtold his feelings to the car, which
just like pro tip, if you'regonna like tell your feelings to someone and
profess your feelings, make sure thatthey're in the vehicle, make sure to
tell the side of the car.Maybe make sure them's just an idea.

(01:10:23):
So she's not in the hotel,he doesn't know where she is. He
runs into Santa, who happens tobe there. Santa says she's in the
back garden. He goes to theback garden there in love, mistletoe kiss
the end, the end. Itwas a nice a nice button on the
end, you know. Beauregard comesout into the courtyard and Abuela's their abbey's

(01:10:45):
there, and our two leads arethere, and then we pan out.
Now, this is one thing I'venoticed every time we pan out on the
Belmont resort, I guess to showhow luxurious this resort is, well,
always get to see if the peopleswimming in the outdoor upper level pool right
the floating pool to pool that's sortof yea, the heated pool that kind

(01:11:08):
of it's all glass. It goesout on a deck, so you're kind
of like looking yeah, onto theyou know, you're looking down. Yeah,
it's like an infinity pool, Iguess you would say, made of
glass. And so every establishing shotwe have of the Belmont Resort is includes
the pool. And it's been thesame people in the pool or four days

(01:11:29):
they haven't left. And then theydid that panout shot and it shows the
people in the pool and I waspaying attention because I was paying attention to
what the people were wearing. Itwas the same red bikini in that pool
every single time. Those people didnot leave the pool for four days.
Now it's quite too cold to getout once you're in, Like, I'm
committed to it now. Oh man, Well that was falling for Christmas with

(01:11:56):
Lindsay Lohan and cord Over Street Ameliawith overall thoughts, would you recommend this
movie for Christmas fans? It wasn'ta favorite of mine. I didn't dislike
it. I thought it was prettypretty average, So you know, your
mileage may very I think you likedit more than I did. I think
I did too. But I alsowatched it with my son, my daughter

(01:12:20):
and husband, and maybe that madeit more fun, Like we had a
lot of fun talking about it,a lot of commentary going on during the
movie. That's kind of how wedo it now. And now I've roped
my daughter into this thing and she'sstarting to get it, so she'll sit
down and watch the movie if shecan talk trash about it, and that

(01:12:42):
leads to a lot of fun.But I also because of how Hallmark has
dropped the ball this season with theirown formula, I guess I was impressed
to see the formula being picked upon Netflix. You know, if you're
gonna go rogue with the formula,you might as well do it on Netflix.
But it seems ironic to me thateverybody else is getting how to Hallmark

(01:13:06):
except Hallmark. Yeah. I justthink that that's a huge irony, And
I think Hallmark would do well tolook around them and look at the marketplace
that they've created and look at what'ssuccessful out there. Right, they're veering
from the formula that everyone else iscopying now because it is so hugely successful.

(01:13:28):
Absolutely, absolutely, I think Ilike, I really I like how
they stuck to the formula. Iliked there were a thousand tropes I think
it was just the lack of chemistrythat it was woefully so I think that
fell flat and sort of deflated thethe overall rating from me, I felt
like, And they closed the moviewith a blueber reel, and I really

(01:13:49):
felt like you could see that inthe blueber reel too, that there wasn't
These people didn't really seem to enjoyworking with each other, at least not
our two leads, and so alot of their quote funny moments were just
sort of slipping up lines or theyweren't really interactions between the two of them.
And I know that there's always rumorsout there about how difficult Lelo is

(01:14:11):
to work with at times, She'snot very timely and people have other complaints
with her on set, so maybethat was going on. But I mean,
as far as her performance, Ithought she did a perfectly fine job.
Yeah, yeah, it was fine. I always enjoyed seeing Lindsay Lohan,
even when she's awful, she's worthwatching. Um And uh, yeah,

(01:14:35):
I did enjoy it. But Idid watch it with my family and
so we had a good time justmaking fun of it. But um,
I thought it was a perfectly fineintroduction into the Christmas Universe on Netflix's behalf
and well, this isn't their firstone though, No, no, of

(01:14:55):
course not. Yeah, I didn'tmean to imply that, say, because
they nailed it with a Chris wasPrince a few years ago. Yes,
and so, and in that respect, let's talk about what's coming up here
on our show, because we're goingto continue with our movies and the next
one we wanted to. I wantedto do another great American movie, and

(01:15:19):
so they've got and Amelia asked,oh, we'll do they have a New
Year's movie, and they do,and it is a royal movie. It's
a prince movie. So it's theone thing that we really love to do.
So we're going to do that.When what's the title of that again?
A Prince in Paradise, A PrinceOlivia, struggling with writer's block after
a breakup, takes a tropical holidayand hope of some inspiration, and meets

(01:15:42):
Prince Alexander, who needs some distancefrom his duty to marry royalty. What
will happen? Well, I don'tknow. It sounds like they're from two
different worlds. I don't know.It'll never work out, it'll never work
but well, we'll be there tofind out, and we hope you'll join
us then. Thank you so muchfor joining us for this episode. You

(01:16:03):
guys, we wish you all thebest. We wish you a happy New
Year. Hope that your holidays werefilled with good cheer and good fun and
wonderful you know, Christmas Land tropes. We hope. So, Amelia,
Hey, until you and I talkagain, I wish you days filled with

(01:16:27):
one horse slaves that are falling apartunderneath your fingertips. Thank you. I
wish you a hot Coco card sothat every time someone blows you off,
at least you've got a Coco thatwas like the sweetest thing ever. Merry
Christmas, Amelia. This has beena presentation of the FCB podcast Network,

(01:16:59):
where Talk lifts visitors online at FCBPodcasts dot com.