January 10, 2024 • 66 mins
The ladies gear up for a cross country Christmas road trip as they review GAF’s “Journey to Christmas.” Can a famous supermodel and a heartbroken limo driver find love AND the true meaning of Christmas while driving across the country? Why doesn’t anyone in Christmasland fly?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
This is the FCB Podcast Network.Merry Christmas, everybody. Welcome back to
another episode of a very Merry podcast. I'm Kira Davis, you'r very merry
(00:23):
host, and I'm here with myvery merry co host, Amelia Hamilton.
Happy Holidays, Amelia, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Kiara. Well,
we're going to get right into itbecause we're a little behind in the schedule,
so we've got to get going.But I I think we might have
a little bit of a disagreement aboutthis movie. I think I might have
enjoyed it more than you did.But let's let's get into today's movie.
(00:50):
Today's movie is called A Journey toChristmas, and I believe it's on Great
American. Am I right? AJourney to Christmas in Great American? And
I did enjoy it. Wasn't likemy absolute favor ever, but I certainly
enjoyed it. The description in acharity press tour, a model ends up
stranded by bad weather at the familyhome of the driver she hired to help
(01:12):
her during the week. I wouldlike to clarify that in googling this movie
and looking it up on IMDb,Journey to Christmas is not the same as
a Journey Back to Christmas, thetwenty sixteen Hallmark movie starring Candae Cameron Berett.
It's also not Journey to Christmas StarJingle Jangle, a Christmas Journey,
Journey to Christmas from twenty eleven,Loves Christmas Journey, Our Christmas Journey,
(01:36):
the Christmas Journey, Christmas Journey Home, Journey of a Christmas Tree, Journey
of the Last Christmas Dance, oran Unforgettable Christmas Journey. Okay, just
to be clear, this is justJourney to Christmas. Well, I need
to be there. We're now atthe point where there are hundreds and hundreds
of these movies. At some pointthey're gonna exactly what are you gonna do?
(02:00):
But I just thought it was funnybecause I pulled it up on IMDb
so I could have like the namesof the actors and not forget, and
I was like, wow, Idid not realize a lot of Christmas journeys
have been taken out there. Itis a time. It is a time.
I mean the original Christmas, youknow, they were on a journey.
So it's fitting. Well, let'sget into this because I actually liked
(02:21):
this movie. Felt like a bitof a throwback. Yeah, and it
was. It was also to methe perfect amount of wooden, you know,
like it's it's a perfect amount ofbad good bad movie. Yeah,
I wade it. But let's getinto it, all right. So we
start with Callie, who I thoughtshe was beautiful first of all, this
(02:45):
actress. I loved her and okay, so her name is Callie and I
am trying to look up the actressso it's a it's ash t sai Si.
I'm thinking I'll be sy Kellie Caldwell. She is a model. We
start, she's on the set andwe know she's sweet. She is being
(03:06):
nice to everyone on set. Shedoes not have that model attitude. We
love her, I did. Idid love her, by the way,
and she's definitely going on the topof my list as as like Christmas Land
girls, I'd like to see moreof. Absolutely, she is going places.
She had this warmth and this genuinequality that I really liked. Yes,
(03:29):
and okay, okay. So she'sleaving the set and she has this
manager, Max. He is allbusiness and he is like, listen,
we are on a schedule. Youneed to be in Philly in two and
a half hours, which seems tightto me, but okay, And was
she in New York? I wasassuming New York, but they weren't super
clear. So maybe she was onlyin Scranton maybe, or maybe she just
(03:53):
had to be at the border ofPhiladelphia and she was already in the suburbs.
Yeah, I do that from NewYork. You take that the train,
but you've got to be in thePhiladelphia border through. Okay, And
yes, so she is. She'sgot to be in Philly very soon.
(04:15):
And we also know that Max isa very busy businessman, right because he
apparently lives in his office office,which is clearly in Los Angeles somewhere.
Yeah, And he wants me toknow he's a hard ass because he's eating
all the time. Yes, Andhe wants her to have that busy business
woman vibe. And she just shejust has a heart of gold and she
(04:35):
doesn't have it in her So here'swhat we know by On the twenty third
Emerald em Like, it's called likeEmerald Glam. They're having a party.
And well, first of all,I'm sorry that I said party because he
told as he said to her,it is not a party. It is
the pinnacle event of the season.And they're going to name her the face
(05:00):
the brand. So he actually wantsher in la by the twenty second,
be there the night before, havethat face rested and beautiful, and so
he wants her there by then he'slike, just fly, but no,
she wants to drive coast to coastso that she can do a bunch of
charity stops on the way. Andas the description says, it's a charity
press well in a different description,yeah, charity press tour. Not exactly
(05:24):
a press tour because there's really nopress involved. She's just quietly doing good
deeds along the way. So they'vehired this driver who enters now Jack and
we know that he's also a goodguy because this is not the usual driver.
He has actually taken over from theusual driver because that guy has kids
(05:45):
and he wanted to be home atChristmas time. So he was like,
I will do it. So Heartof Gold. Yeah, So Max has
a talk with him and it's like, listen, I don't know what you're
gonna do because you have to goto Philly, Chicago, Kansas City,
and Denver. And now Kelly wantsto add something in Nebraska, and Max
says kind of ominously. It's notjust that, but there is this bad
(06:08):
weather coming in so done, there'sa storm coming in Amelia right over Christmas,
right while they have to drive acrossthe country. That's hugely inconvenient.
I will also say that their routeis hugely inconvenient. I have driven across
the country and that is not thedirect route right well, and that's even
(06:29):
he says. They're like, nowshe wants to add a stop in Nebraska,
which, first of all, there'sno mention of a city Nebraska.
I'm sorry, you don't just stopin Nebraska. You have to go to
Nebraska, Nebraska. And that heeven says, when between Chicago and Kansas
City, or between Kansas City andDenver, because it's so out of the
way, he doesn't even know whereit's supposed to fit. I don't even
(06:51):
know how you're getting from Denver toKansas City and then down. The route
is already like blowing my mind.There is you know, I'm imagining that
the that they paid this guy likea million dollars to do this, because
that's what you have to baby totake that route across country in a timely
(07:12):
manner. Because he's obviously got averthere for this big Christmas deadline. Yeah,
I mean you know it is.It is the pinnacle event of the
season. It's a pinnacle event ofthe season. And Amelia, don't you
think that we're going to get tothis pinnacle event of the season and it's
not going to be the most extraordinaryset you've ever seen in your life.
It's going to be stunning. Yes, it's a pinnacle event of this know
(07:35):
what it's not going to look likeis like a hotel conference room. No,
it's not gonna look like that.It's definitely not gonna look like the
lobby of a Canadian launch. SoMax also wants to be clear with Jack
that this isn't just about driving,but also about managing the wild hordes of
(07:57):
fans that are going to be waitingfor her everywhere. Right Because Kelly,
she's out in mind because she she'sa supermodel. So as they're leaving,
so she's as Kelly's getting her stuffready because they've got to be in Philly
from wherever they are in two anda half hours. She's like, listen,
Max, I've got all these sketchesbecause I'm not only a model,
(08:18):
i am a fashion designer. AndMax is like, I don't have time
for this, which kind of fairbecause you have to be somewhere in two
and a half hours. You havea commitment, right. He also has
to be across the country in apparentlylike five days. I feel like it
wasn't clear how many days, whichwas one of my questions. I don't
know what day it is now.I know she has to be there by
the twenty third, but I'm notclear what day it is now. I
(08:41):
should also, we should come cleanthat I cannot find my notes for this
episode, so so it's possible thatthat was written down somewhere, but I
do not remember. I don't either, so all right, so he kind
of brushes off her drawings and alongwith it, her hopes and dreams,
(09:01):
and they're like, all right,let's get in the car. What she
says is I think he does kindof say like, oh, those are
nice or something, and then she'sand then she indicates, well, this
is like a stupid dream. Obviously, modeling is the more secure profession than
designing and creating clothes that people wear. It's just a silly dream. It'll
(09:24):
never go in a dream. It'sa silly dream. So they go out
to the car to start this roadtrip to get to Philadelphia, and the
hordes of fans outside are four verypolite tween girls who are just like,
Hi, Kelly, can I havea picture? Can I have your autograph?
They're Canadian fans, they're Canadian fans, but there are is not even
(09:46):
a crowd of Canadian fans. It'sjust four little girls asking for a selfie.
So we only crowd at hockey games. Everybody every all the rest of
the time, you got out ofyour space, especially after COVID. Yeah.
Yeah, So she signs her autographsand takes the selfies and gets in
the car, and then he callsher miss whatever her last name is,
and she's like, call me,tell ya, call me Kelly. So
(10:09):
it's you know, she's super polite, is all we need to know,
because she's probably also Canadian. She'ssuper polite, he's super nice, and
they're both super attractive exactly, althoughyou know she's still gonna sit in the
back seat though, because we're stillprofessionals. Yeah, absolutely is. This
was my other thing. When Iwas It took me like a hot second
(10:33):
to wrap my mind around the factthat they were actually driving across country for
Christmas. Like and not on aroad trip where because we've done road trip
movies. We love road trip movies. Yeah, but usually it's like,
you know, people who know eachother already. So the idea of like
driving in essentially a limo in theback seat across the country that I was
(10:54):
like, that's weird. I don'tknow if I could do that all the
way. Yeah, I feel likeI would have to be like really rude
and either put up the divider orput in my earbuds or something like.
I couldn't just sit there and likeI would either have to be in the
passenger seat just like on a roadtrip with this guy, or like fully
(11:16):
separate because it wasn't like a fullstretch limbo where she was far enough away.
She was just in the backseat likein a town car. Or it
was talking hours Amelia, it's nodays, it's a freaking week. That's
like a week of her just sittingin them. Anyways, that's how they
start, that's how they decide todo it. He and there also Jack
(11:41):
is a consummate professional. Yes,yes, so we stop were the first
stop, which, as we know, Philadelphia. She's inside, you know,
hanging out with this it's like anafter school program for kids. And
Jackie gets a call from this mysteriousTalia and sends it to voicemail no Talia
(12:03):
and late, and then his momcalls and we find out that he is
the owner of this company, buthe has not even told CALLI, so
she is going to feel silly.Later just the hired help. How embarrassing.
And she's like, you're not cominghome for Christmas again. You're taking
(12:24):
a job. And he's like,I have got sixteen employees and they count
on me. And she's like,listen, Jack, we know this is
really about It's about Talia, whohe sent a voicemail minutes earlier. And
she's like, I just think youshould know that Talia and Lawrence broke up.
And while she's having this conversation,this blonde woman just like walks into
(12:48):
his mom's house, so we knowwe can assume this is Talia, and
we know she's extremely comfortable with Jack'sparents because she just walks in. It
was so odd. It was like, Okay, Clearly, clearly this girlfriend
or ex girlfriend has a close relationshipwith the family. Clearly she's left him
(13:09):
for somebody else, right, andyet a family is still like, come
on in, we loved Talia.We wished you guys were married this whole
time. She and she's just lurking. She's like, oh, you're talking
to Jack. She just like sortof she sort of like floats into freeing.
(13:30):
Yeah, are you talking about me? And also Amelia, by the
way, color me shocked to findout that Talia is not black or Latino,
that she's actually some red, reddish, blonde white woman. Yeahalia,
that name said a lot of differentthings to me, but not Yeah.
(13:52):
Interesting, but maybe we but maybewe should say the leading woman in this
is not an average white woman.She's so so maybe they had to make
the evil woman white. I don'tknow, so I could do something.
She's definitely ethnically ambiguous, the beautifullead. Yes, so Jack is like,
(14:13):
so she's like, you know,maybe maybe if you came home for
Christmas, you and Talia could justsort of, you know, you guys
could talk and sort things out.And she's like, and he's just like,
listen, Talia should feel really guilty. I hope she feels bad.
I don't want to talk to herwhatever, which I mean, I don't
know what happened here, but youknow, we can pretty much tell from
this conversation that he was with Talia. She broke his heart to be with
(14:35):
Lawrence, and now that she's donewith Lawrence, she can she thinks that
she can just like befriend his momand get that. No, I'm on
team Jack here. I'm on teamJack too. But I will say that
I was surprised by the intensity ofhis resentment towards Talia. It's not something
that we see very much in ChristmasLand. Mostly people have you know,
(14:58):
the to negative that they feel abouta breakup is a well, it just
didn't work out, or I thoughtI deserved better. But he is clearly
hanging on to resentment, and Iwas like, wow, this is this
is actually very uh nitty gritty fora Christmas Land. That's a good point
negative feelings, that's true. Orif there is resentment, a lot of
(15:22):
times it's like, you know,she wanted to move to the big city
and I didn't or something, andthere's some kind of misunderstanding frequently, and
then when they talk about it fifteenyears later and finally have a conversation,
they're like, what you thought youwere holding me back? You know it
was all for you, So yeah, Yeah, so they continue on this
weird press tour that has no pressinvolvement, and but the storm just keeps
(15:48):
on storming, and they're trying tofigure out how they're going to stay ahead
of it, how they're going tostay on pace, and he is realizing
that the weather is pushing them offroute closer and closer to his hometown.
So he's like, we are goingto have to spend the night at my
parents' house. Obviously, they're goingto have to detour to their parents,
(16:10):
his parents' house in the mountains,the mountains of Illinois. I don't know
where it is. Is that wherein Illinois? I could not tell where
they were at this point, Likethere's no geography really in this movie at
all, which that's not what you'rewatching it for anyways. But yeah,
it was so funny, like,oh, we've got to be safe.
(16:32):
We're going to pull over to myfamily's house, as if there aren't a
million different routes across the country.And you know, it's never a good
idea in winter to get off ofthe interstate, right, it's going to
be the most likely to press througha storm, but conveniently or inconveniently for
(16:52):
our two leads. The storm isbasically chasing them. It's basically forcing them
into a cozy Christmas situation. Right. So it's interesting that you said that
because you know, it's one ofthose kind of fish out of water movies
where like the famous model is forcedinto like a small town family Christmas.
(17:14):
And at the beginning, I thought, Okay, is this gonna be some
kind of hybrid with a road tripmovie, which we always love because it's
kind of a way to get peopleinto a bunch of weird situations and people
who don't know each other. Youknow, they're gonna bake something, they're
gonna do karaoke, or they're gonnahave to fix something. It just it's
like a reason to force people intoweird situations on the road trip. And
we didn't really get that in theroad trip section. But now I'm thinking
(17:40):
maybe we also missed an opportunity forlike natural disaster movie of a storm like
actually chasing them. That's that soundsmore lifetime, That sounds for more like
Christmas Lands, neighbor holiday land.True. True, Okay, just something
to think about. Well, there'ssome beer involved with that, and we
(18:00):
don't we don't like a lot offear and Christmas Land. Yeah, okay,
well there wasn't a fear because theygot their safely. They got there
safely. Oh thank gosh. Itwas a nail bier, but he was
able to navigate. He's an expertcar driver. I don't know if we
said that. Yeah, he doesown the place. It's his company.
(18:21):
He owns it. So they getto the house and have not like tell
told anybody that they're coming, Sothey just show up late at night.
Everybody, I think is in bed, and it's evidenced by the fact that
everyone then immediately gets up in thecrispist of pajamas and I just it took
(18:45):
me again. Time and space inthis movie are almost non existent. I
can't figure out, like how faranyone's gone, how much time has passed.
I did not understand that it wasnight when they got there, so
it was it's so confusing when everyonecame out in pajamas. I was like,
is his family just hanging out?And no judgment because we live in
(19:07):
a post COVID world where we allbasically live in pajamas now. But I
was like, oh, this iswhat an odd I guess I thought it
was an odd costuming choice, yeahto everyone in brand new pajamas. But
then I realized, oh, they'rethere at night, right, yeah,
it was nighttime, so I thinkyou might have to remind me. So
(19:29):
I think the first thing we seeis I think the first person we meet
is the brother. Okay, soI think that it's his sister and his
brother in law, right, becausehonestly, I'm not sure I was or
brother and sister in law. I'mnot sure I was ever clear brother and
brother Okay. So his brother's justlike, okay, so you're here.
Is this your girlfriend? And he'skind of not clear on that. He's
(19:52):
like, it's a client, butit's kind of like a little bit of
a wink wink, like I thinkhe maybe didn't want his brother to know
if it was necessarily only a client. I don't know. I guess,
yeah, I guess. And always, well, that is the that's the
forgive the pun. The hallmark ofChristmas Land. Isn't it that family members
never just assume that the person ofthe opposite sex that is with their loved
(20:15):
one is just a friend, alwaysimmediately, without any clues, without reservation,
or without any sort of contact,They're like, oh, she's nice.
Wait wait, yeah, like youguys are something's going on here?
When you literally told us all youwere driving a woman across country. You've
(20:37):
literally just told them her name,and they're like, oh, are you
guys in law? Right? DidPaul Revere really say the British are coming?
And how is George Washington chosen toleave the First American Army. Join
us for the Growing Patriot podcast,a place for curious kids to ask the
big questions about our nation's history andget kid friendly answers from the country's top
(21:02):
experts. Help your child learn aboutand cherish America's exceptional history. Subscribe to
Growing Patriots on Apple Podcasts or whereveryou get your podcasts today. So she
so, then the sister in law, you know, has to get in
on it, and she's like,what's going on here? And then the
niece comes downstairs and her Christmas jammisand she of course knows exactly who Kelly
(21:27):
is and cannot believe this major celebrityis in the house standing in front of
her. Holy Cow, this isreally happening. It does seem very unbelievable.
Now, this child, it's goingto be around for a while.
She's got a little role. AndI will say we did another when we
(21:51):
did I think we had this issuewhen we were doing Bringing Christmas Home and
Little Haunted Greta Thunberg. There's somethingvery odd about the way Christmas Land writers
write children and the way Christmas Landdirectors film children, because the children always
(22:12):
seem like they're written to be fouror five right there, and then they
cast them like an eleven year old. And this child, the whole all
our lines, all her added toeverything was like she should be five years
old, but she was basically ateenager. Yeah. Yeah, it was
so odd. It is odd.Of course, the family's delighted to have
(22:36):
two extra people for Christmas, ofcourse, with no notice in the middle
of the night, right, andand they just kind of roll with it.
Okay. Now, of course wehave the third potential could be an
entire plot line, which is thatthere is the time Christmas festival coming up.
(22:57):
Oh yes, the niece. Canyou remind me? Do you remember
her name? It's like I wantto I don't know, I want to
say Olivia or something, but Icould be wrong. Anyway, niece is
extremely excited for this and has ordereda new dress. It is Sophia.
I just found it. So Sophiais really excited about this new dress,
(23:18):
cannot wait to show the whole town. And just keep that in mind.
There's a new dress coming and it'sextremely exciting, extremely exciting. Keep that
in mind. Waiting for this newdress to come to their romot remote,
remotely located home in the wilds Illinoisduring the worst national snowstorm of the century.
(23:44):
Right, Max the manager is freakingout because Kelly has just is just
not like answering her phone and tellinghim where she is. And I think
we're supposed to think Max is unreasonable, but it actually seems like a reasonable
complaint to me. Yes, youdo need to know where she is,
(24:08):
and you might potentially even be worriedif your client, slash, maybe even
friend, is driving through a snowstormand just stops answering the phone. Yeah.
I agree. I mean it's notjust that there's money on the line,
but also her safety and he seemsto be the only person in her
(24:29):
life that cares for her. Ithink she says at one point she's an
orphan. Yeah, she doesn't reallyhave siblings, so really who she's got
is Max. Yeah, I didfind him to be. It's not unreasonable.
Now, of course, we doknow that he's sort of a jerk
because he's always in an office,right, because he's always doing his job,
(24:56):
which is managing her. Right.I hate it when people do their
jobs. It's the worst, OhMax. But anyway, he's pissed.
He's pissed off that she's not worthwhere she's supposed to be, which all
this could be avoided if she hadjust gotten on an airplane. She could
have done the charity tour on theway home. But then I guess we
don't have a love story, right, And of course we need to get
(25:22):
our Christmas moments in so we haveWhat's what's first? I think snowmen?
Yes, And let me tell you, I was so excited when they even
when they just started whispering the wordswe're going outside, I was like,
Yes, there is either snowman buildingor a snowball fight, or if we're
(25:42):
lucky both. We did not getthe snowball fight, but we did get
the snowman building, and Amelia,it was real snowmen. It was real
snowmen. And all I can thinkabout is how brutal it must have been
to shoot that scene. In thesnow. Some poor production assistants had to
(26:03):
gather up enough snow, enough goodsnow to build those snowmen, and then
they had to hurry up and filmbefore they melted away or birds or whatever.
I just I think that might thismight be the first time I've seen
real snowmen in Christ movie. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a
good point, I think. Sowe might need to really note this episode.
(26:26):
Yeah, that's a that's a seriousuh marker right there. That is,
that's a big deal, real snowmen. They clearly filmed this. Also,
they did film this in winter,and we are noticing a lot of
the great American films right now arein winter settings. They were obviously filmed
(26:48):
in the winter season. Clearly that'snot ideal for production. But it's fun
to watch. Yeah, So whilethey're doing that, you know, obviously
she's bonding with the family. Thefamily's noticing some vibes because she's a woman
and he's a man. So clearlythey're in love. Clearly they're in love.
(27:11):
This is not professional. Not onlyis it not professional, but they
can't just be friends. So no, certainly, certainly not it's certainly not
Yeah, although well anyway, goon, no tell me, I'll see
it. So we're we're continuing onwith just general merriment we've got. I
(27:38):
mean, of course the house isfull Christmas, we've got snowman building,
We've got oh, so I thinkis it I think later that night we
get is when we start getting alittle more serious because we have the fire
pit. Is that that evening?I think it is. Yes, So
(27:59):
we're warming up from the snowmen.They all get around the little fire pit
on the back deck. They're goingto make some more. So that's a
family tradition too. They've done allthe stuff, like the decorating for the
day. They split up and youknow, each took a different task and
so now yes, yeah, theyget to do so soares by the fire
pit. I had a real problemwith how they were building the fire because
(28:26):
I'm actually an undercover pyromaniac. Ilove building fires and starting fires. I'm
not an arsonist right now, butI do enjoy starting in good fire,
and I know how to start agood fire from pretty much almost anything,
just with bare minimum fuel. AndI was watching him build that fire and
(28:51):
I was like, there is notenough oxygen or fuel underneath. Yeah,
and he put the kindling on top. No. I was just really put
out by that. It took meon the movie all the way. I
mean, do you want the marshmallowsto toast or not? Well, you've
got to light this thing on fire. You're just gonna have a bunch of
candling that's on fire. It's gonnago out, and you're lot. I
(29:14):
mean, Amelia, it very muchstressed me out. I understand, I
understand it should have. Yeah,they build, they build their JANKI fire
out. This is another thing that'shappening. S'mor's time is coming. And
I did appreciate that that sounded alittle bit ominous because we had kind of
(29:37):
a weird joke here and I'm tryingto remember exactly how it went, but
there was a joke about like burningpeople at the stake and I was like,
oh, and I actually I actuallyhad it pulled up here. And
then of course my window refreshed itselffor no reason, and now it's gone.
(30:03):
But but yeah, there was kindof a weird joke and I was
like, okay, yeah, yeah, the brother, the brother made the
joke or the brother made yeah,made a weird joke. And I was
like, oh, by the way, that there there is a father,
by the way in this cast,and he I don't think he says one
(30:23):
thing the entire movie. They didn'teven do the thing. We're usually like,
you know, every character has gotto get some line in, so
you usually get people one line orsomething. He was just sitting around in
a Christmas sweater the entire movie.At one point I was like, oh,
is the mom a widow? Andthen I was like, no,
(30:45):
no, that older guy is thatsilent man? He didn't say anything.
Yeah, all right, I justfound it. So the so he says,
you know, you're on fire pitduty, be sure to watch the
fire, and they're like, whyyou don't burn guests at the stake,
do you? The Kelly says that, and he goes, oh, yeah,
(31:07):
it's a Swanson family tradition. Andthey all like laugh about it,
which like it wasn't a big dealat all. But I was just like
a little bit dark for Christmas Landhumor, Yeah, there we go.
This christ is a little bit oh. And that also reminds me, oh,
oh wait, oh hold on,we haven't gotten there yet. Never
(31:27):
mind, there was just another creepything. But that's that's later. That's
later, moving on. Okay,So anyway, also though, at the
fire pit, this is where Kellyfinds out that Talia exists, I think,
and they kind of talk about like, you know, you haven't been
home in a while, are youavoiding Talia? You know, boy,
that sure was messed up. I'mnot sure do you remember like the extent
(31:51):
of the details that she gets atthis point. I think she kind of
finds out some of the tea.Yeah, she finds out Yes, the
mom says, because he rushes off, and then the sister or the mom
says, yeah, they Talia.They were engaged and they were in love,
and then she left him, Ithink for his best friend. I
(32:12):
think Jack or the other guy waslike his best friend friends Lawrence, and
so she broke it off and hewas heartbroken. Oh no, they were
going to move to New York together, right, Yes, she didn't want
to go, he wanted to go. She ended up having a relationship with
his friend. Yeah, and thenhe took off without her to escape.
(32:36):
That's what Callie finds out. Meanwhile, Telia just again just shows up.
Yes, the family has just completelyembraced her, like they never broke up,
and it's not a situation like theywere married and it's been twenty years
(32:58):
and they have children together and they'regonna just you know, No, she
was the girlfriend and they were probablygonna get married, and then she left
first friend and like she's no,she's not, you're on teen Jack,
Like, did she give Maybe that'swhy the dad doesn't talk. Maybe kind
of like trauma from the situation.Maybe Talia gave the dad a kidney or
(33:22):
something like that, so he justdoesn't want to get like into the mess
because it's like she's got this weirdhold of her family. Because the other
thing I noticed is that, ofcourse Callie is staying in Jack's old room
at the house, which has picturesof Talia all over it. Yes,
yeah, oh yes, I don'tI believe I didn't mention that. Yes,
(33:43):
when they first show her to theguest room, which is Jack's room,
it's still like a couple pictures everywhere, and that is yeah, yes,
that is Talia's real first introduction,or Callie's real first introduction. She's
like, who is this woman soweird? Yeah, Talia, I don't
know, people, is this isthis? Is this acceptable? I don't.
(34:06):
I don't think so, Amelia.I think it's got to be difficult.
It is difficult as a family.I mean, my son's starting to
be dating age, although he livesfar away from us now, but I
get it. It's difficult. Youbring someone into your family like you embrace
them, because if your child lovesthis person, you're gonna love this person,
and then the relationship breaks up andit's like you're having a breakup too.
(34:29):
I understand that, and I understandthat it doesn't seem right to just
sort of cut off a relationship becausethey don't have that relationship with your child
anymore. That being said, Idon't know. I just think it's it's
just a reality. You just kindof have to deal with it. I
don't think it's appropriate unless, likeyou said, Amelia, you've got twenty
(34:49):
years behind you, you've got kids, you've got all the you're basically already
family right Otherwise, No, Idon't think it's appropriate for the family to
stay friends like that the act,what do you think? Not at all?
And I don't understand how this issupposed to be helpful for Talia because
she can't move on because this familyis like you belong here, get in
our house. You don't need toknock, you know, like I don't.
(35:14):
It's not helpful to her. Shecan't move on. It's probably why
Lawrence dump her. I don't know, it is. It is very It
is very weird. I my husband'smy first love is first college sweetheart was
a favorite of his parents, andthey really wanted her to marry him.
(35:39):
And when we got engaged, yearsafter that relationship, but even still,
thanks to the power of the internet, she knew where he was. She
was still reaching out to his parents, talking to them, telling them she
wished that they were her in laws, and yeah, it was really weird.
(35:59):
And then I remember before this washappening, before we got married,
and I told my mother in law, who was not my mother in law
at the time, I think thisis inappropriate. Yeah, I'm going to
marry your son. And I don'tknow that it's right that she's clearly and
she was making other advancements too,she was still in love with them.
(36:19):
Anyways, they were like, well, she was a big part of our
lives for a long time, andwe can't just sort of yeah, you
can put a boundary and be like, listen, we can be friends,
but we're not talking about you andJack. Like that is over. And
that's what Mark's parents eventually did.Eventually everybody got their act together, and
what happened was Mark had to stepin and tell the girl like, just
(36:43):
chill out, back off, you'rebeing too weird, and then and ended
there. But so sort of getthe situation. But Talia is like,
she's like Kramer. She's like aCramer, just sliding in. Door bursts
open, she slides in. She'sub Swonson's you want to burn anybody at
(37:07):
the stake? Okay, all rightthere, all right, So we've meanwhile,
in the background, we've got thiswhole party situation going on. The
draft has not arrived, and wepredicted it's not going to because this storm
(37:29):
is common. The storm is hit, they're not going to get out,
and of course they're all, okay, so we've got two issues with us.
Now they can't get out, andthey've been talking about, you know,
alternatives. So either we can justtry to fly to California. We
can, you know, if wecancel a couple of the tour dates,
you know, we can you know, maybe still drive. What if we
(37:52):
do this? What if we dothat? But part of the issue is
Kelly kind of wants to go tothis Christmas festival now, so she's like,
well, what if I can bethere and then we can do this,
you know, because she's like suckedin. She loves this town,
she loves his family. She wantsto be at the Christmas festival. Okay,
Collie's really busy Kelly woman, andbut she wants a normal life,
(38:14):
and she doesn't a normal life withthis family, and she wants to be
absolutely everything to everyone, So shehas to stop at every single charity along
the way, and at every women'sshelter and after school program and Zoop kitchen.
But also now that this dress isn'tgoing to make it, guess what,
she has that book full of sketchesand it doesn't really matter that the
(38:37):
thing is in two days. She'sshe's just going to make a dress.
Hang on, hang on, hangon, are you telling me, Amelia
that Callie's secret hobby of designing dressesis actually going to come in handy?
Yeah, at the the Christmas festival. Get out of here. I didn't
(38:57):
even see it coming. When shepulled out that sketch book, I was
like, well, surely will neversee this again. No, yeah,
you thought her dream was dead,but turns out it's useful. No,
well we know. And here's theother thing we know about Christmas Land.
Every seamstress is trained at the projector Runway School, which means you can
make anything out of anything in literally. Yes, so that was my other
(39:20):
thought about this, which is designingand creating the dress are two different skill
sets. But like you said,this is Project Runway Land. She can
do both. She can do itright now. Yeah, So she gets
up early the next morning and sheand Jack go into town and just pick
out fabric without the child. Theypick it out themselves. Well, again,
(39:43):
here's another little thing about how thechild is written as like a five
four or five year old, likewith no agency, no common sense,
and no ability to reason at all, and then and then cast them is
a mirror. This young lady isprobably about twelve years old. Yeah,
I mean at least I'm older.I bet you old. Who looks younger?
(40:08):
I just but the way the scripttreats her, it treats her.
So again, just buying fabric,well, it's just like obviously we're picking
out the outfit for this little girl, right, But I mean I would
think that even at like five orsix, like you probably asked your daughter
an opinion, like do you wantpink? Do you want green? Do
(40:30):
you? I don't know, maybenot, but she did, but that
she did. She did. Shehad a conversation with the girl because she
had asked that very first night,what oh what colors? Yeah, you're
right, and look what colors willlook beautiful on her? Yes, that's
true. I just looked at theactress. She is thirteen, so yeah,
(40:52):
yeah, it's so weird. Yeah, these days it seems like everybody's
talking, but no one is actuallylistening to the things they're saying. Critical
thinking isn't dead, but it's definitelylow on oxygen. Join me Kira Davis
on Just Listen to Yourself every weekas we reason through issues big and small,
(41:15):
critique our own ideas, and learnto draw our talking points all the
way out to their logical conclusions.Subscribe to Just Listen to Yourself with Kia
Davis and FCB Radio podcast on Apple, on Spotify, iHeart, or wherever
you get your podcasts. All right, so they go and pick out this
fabric with it, but still withouther, there's more than one shade or
(41:36):
one pattern or whatever, so theypick it out. Jack is still like
being stalked by Talia while he's inthe fabric store. She's just like I
think Kramer is probably pretty good analogy. She's just like showing up everywhere.
Yeah, I don't know. Sheshe's definitely and she has an odd look
(41:59):
all so it's always like, I'mnot sure exactly what her intentions are.
And then we don't hear very muchfrom her as well. We don't really
know if he's nice, if she'smean, you know, just a weird
thing. But the purpose of thisfabric store, though, it gives us
a chance to see Jack and Kellyactually have some bonding time. They learn
(42:23):
a little bit about each other.Right, we see that Jack is we
hear a little bit more about Jack'srelationship with Talia. Again, I was
surprised by the amount of resentment thatthis character has for the other character.
(42:43):
Not that that's not a situation thatwould cause resentment, but just in Christmas
Land, we don't ever really seepeople hanging on to negativity, and this
guy is clearly hanging on to unforgivenessfor this woman, and I just thought,
wow, that's it just was notableto me, Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
(43:06):
They get their fabric. Yeah,they head home, they show Sophia
and the family, and of coursethey're all delighted that they've just taken this
upon themselves, gotten the fabric.They show her the drawings. She's excited
and she's like, I'll just makeit tonight. Yeah, like you do
(43:27):
just I mean the festivals the nextnight. Yeah. Yeah, so okay.
And then here's what we're talking about. The fire pit. And I
said there was one other creepy thinghere. It is she makes the dress
and she tells Jack. She's like, it's done, Like, let's surprise
her. So when she comes downstairsin the morning, she could just see
(43:47):
the dress and he's like, oh, I have the perfect thing. Goes
in like the basement or the atticor something, comes out with this like
life sat while thirteen year old girlsize clown. Yeah, it was so
weird. It was so weird.He they go to the basement storage room,
(44:10):
yes, and he's got like aclearly one of those huge Halloween decorations,
like you had put this giant thingin your front yard. It's a
clown and yeah, so he pullsthat out and and they have this moment
where it's like, oh, isn'tthis funny terrifying? Ha ha ha.
But it was so out of place, right, it was so out of
(44:31):
place. I couldn't figure out ifwas there gonna was this gonna be called
back later or did I miss something? Right? Why? Just why,
I expect the only rational reason,The only thing I can think of is
(44:52):
that they called someone in to punchup the script afterwards, and they're like,
we need some more goofy here,and that's where you get the jokes
like the burned at the stake orthis little clown, or like there's a
couple of other little spots where there'slike a little especially between the brothers,
where there's like a little ribbing.Sounds like maybe they were like, oh,
(45:15):
there's not enough humor in the script. Let's just bring someone in to
punch it at the bit. Andthis is Christmas Land's version of punching up
a script. Yeah, crazy clown. It was very odd. It was
very oddly placed. Yeah, sothey put the dress on the clown,
scare the niece in the morning withit, where she's delighted the dress.
(45:40):
I it was okay. I didnot think that a thirteen year old girl
would particularly want to wear it inmy opinion, but again, I was
a little girl dress, a littlegirl dress. It was a dress for
like a five year old girl.Put that on my five year old daughter.
(46:01):
Yeah, a thirteen year old girl. But again, she wasn't playing
thirteen. You know, that's notthe attitude of her character. I would
say, would place her right.And then there was the question of when
Kelly was designing it. I wouldhave thought she was designing it for a
grown woman because she just grabbed itout of her sketchbook. So and did
(46:25):
she design it? I mean,it was very simple. Everybody like,
this is so beautiful, but itwas basically just like I bought. I
used to buy my daughter a dresslike that every Christmas. That cost me,
right, So I don't know.Everyone's delighted though, and that's what
matters. Everyone's happy the dress.She's happy and she got a handmade dress
(46:46):
from a supermodel, so right.So they all go to the Christmas festival
and things are going well. Okay, things are good. Kelly and Jack
are super bonding, They're doing great. There's some chemistry, things are heating
up. But but then she seesTalia making a move on Jack, and
(47:12):
she's like, oh, is therestill something there? What's going on?
And again, as happens in ChristmasLand that night, she overhears a conversation
between Jack and his brother and shethinks that it's about her, but it's
about Talia and it's about how likeit's just never gonna happen. No,
(47:36):
I know, I think what theconversation was. If I recall this,
it is one of those misunderstanding situations. I think what the conversation is.
The brother is saying, you know, what's your issue with Talia? And
he's saying, she really hurt me. YadA YadA, YadA, we wanted
different things. And he's saying,he's telling his brother, I have realized,
(47:57):
like I'm moving on from this relationship. I realized it was never the
right one in the first place.But I'm still hurt. And his brother
says like, don't you ever thinkabout what could be? And then he
says something along the lines of Ido wonder about Talia, and you know
if we I think we could havebeen happy together. Like he says something
that she just comes in on thetail end, and it sounds like what
(48:20):
he's saying is I really wish Icould still be with Talia, But what
he really is Tellia's brother, isthere was a time when i wished we
could be together, but now I'verealized I have to move on. Yeah,
but Aali thinks that Basically what he'ssaying is I have still had feelings
for Talia, and being Christmas Land, they're not going to talk about it.
(48:40):
Oh why would you do that?Why? Although, to be honest,
in this situation, I might noteither, because like he's my driver
and we kind of just sort ofhave a crush, So it's not like
your boyfriend, you know. Well, she, as we've pointed out several
times in this episod Amelia, sheis a woman and he's a man.
(49:01):
So they're obviously in love. That'strue. That's a good point. That's
a good point. And they barelyhave a chance anyway, because the next
morning Max shows up to do hisjob and it's like, excuse me,
I don't know why you're just sittinghere acting like you're in an idyllic Christmas
movie, because you actually have ajob and you need to get to California,
(49:23):
so get your butt in the carand we're getting on a plane.
Jack, you're fired as a driverbecause you haven't been driving. And the
storm is over and you literally tookmy client to your home and the storm
is well like four days goodbye.And he's like, he's like Italian.
(49:45):
No, He's like, if wecancel this and we can do the charity
stops on the way back, andshe's like, no, he's right,
I'm just gonna actually do my job. Goodbye. Well, I think it's
important to note this. We've sortof skipped over a couple a little bit,
but they're during their bonding time becauseone thing they did is they went
out to pick a Christmas tree.And during their bonding time, she tells
(50:08):
Jack, you know that she wantsto slow down. Actually she doesn't want
to be working so hard. ButMax pushes her all the time, and
he's the only person that's really takingcare of her. After her parents died,
it was just him and her,you know, and he asked her
manager. And also he's a friend, and you know, she has responsibilities
to people as well. People counton her for showing up and Max counts
(50:32):
on her for his income. Soshe doesn't want to go, but she
feels obligated, and that's important tonote that he is not necessarily excited.
But it's like, well, Iguess this is what a supermodel does.
(50:52):
Works all the time. Yeah,And at this point she's also just like,
you know, Jack is in loveclearly with Talia because she overheard one
sentence yep, And so she's like, I might as well. Max has
been here for me. I havea job to do. I just I'm
just gonna go do it. Yeah, And Talia zel was hanging around anyway,
(51:15):
like you can't get rid of her. She's like a sticky booger,
just can't shake her off. Gross. So so she gets on the plane
she goes Jack is sad. Jackis sad. You know, said too,
(51:35):
because by this time, I mean, what a fickle family. By
the way, they were all upTalia's but like the whole time. And
then when Jack shows up and they'relike get back together, to get back
together. As soon as Jack showsup with a famous supermodel, they're like,
we love Kelliah. That's a goodpoint. She's not a loyal family.
(51:57):
They just want Jack to be withanyone, right, literally, just
pick someone Jack. So they're they'resad, Jack said, everyone's sad.
But there's still a festival. Theyyeah, and there is still the pinnacle
event of the season. Oh mygosh, I can't believe that I forgot
(52:20):
about the pinnacle event of the seasonat the not Canadian mid Level Lodge.
Yeah. Right, So Talia isa little out of sorts because she's also
sad, but she is putting onher game face of Emerald Glam makeup.
She is wearing her dress, notTalia Kelly. Oh yes, sorry,
(52:40):
Kelly, that would be weird.Although Talia shows up everywhere else, so
why not. So she is wearingher green dress looking beautiful. She is
wearing her Emerald Glam brand makeup.She is in the hotel conference room and
you know, doing her job workin the room. Matt and Max is
(53:02):
like, it's just not yourself becausehe cares about her a person. Well,
he cares about her person now thatshe's at her job and she's doing
her job right, which is youknow, his job, right. She's
named the face of arm Old Glam, and she's you know, she's happy
(53:22):
because it was her goal, butit just isn't It's just kind of it's
just a little bit of a hollowvictory. Yeah, something's emit. Meanwhile,
though, back at the festival inIllinois, right, I think Illinois.
Okay, I have no concept ofspace or time in this movie.
(53:45):
California might as well be right nextto Illinois, which is on the border
of Philadelphia. Clearly, he hedoesn't. He have a moment. We
skipped over this. He has amoment with Talia at the Christmas Festival.
(54:06):
I thought I did mention that becauseshe saw Maybe maybe I didn't go into
great detail, though, I don'tthink you mentioned their conversation, and I
think that's important. We skipped overthis part. But at the Christmas festival
where the little girls slash change orwhere's the dress? Talia? And that's
oh, yes, you did mentionthe tal I mentioned it. Yeah,
(54:28):
I think I only mentioned it fromKelly's point of view. Yeah, And
I think this is important. Weshouldn't skip over this because they do have
a nice conversation, which all allrelationships end well in Christmas Land. And
although we've seen we've set up Jackhaving very out of place negative feelings for
Talia, they have this moment whereTalia says, look, I'm still in
(54:52):
love with you. I think maybewe could give it another shot, and
he says, I think we've movedon in the truth is, they have
a very mature conversation. The truthis, I ran away to New York
because I was running away and thatwas never going to be a great life
for us. And you were youknow, I didn't give you the things
you needed. It's not just yourfault. And she says, you know
(55:16):
the same, We just had differentgoals and I want you to be happy,
and he says, I want youto be happy. And then they
hug and go their separate ways asfriends and friendly excess and he forgives her
and he tells his brother that too, which I thought was very Christian.
(55:36):
I thought in this film where hetalks about how I have this unforgiveness for
her in my heart and I needto forgive her, and he forgives her,
I made a note of it.I made a mental note. Yeah.
Absolutely, No, I'm glad youbrought that up, because I only
mentioned it from Kelly's point of view, where she saw them talking, you
(55:57):
know, not romantically, but shesaw them having like a private personal conversation
and then hugging, and then misunderstoodthat. And then it was compounded with
the you know snippet that she heardwith the brother. So yes, So
that's what's going on as Callie isfeeling, you know, not quite herself
at the Pinnacle event of the season. So of course we know it needs
(56:21):
to happen. Jack needs to showup. Yeah, but he's all the
way in Illinois, though, can'thappen. How's it going to get there?
Well, I don't know because wedon't do planes and he's a driver.
But guess what, somehow, somehow, some way, because he just
took the express train across the border. She go mills there across the crowded
(56:47):
room, their eyes meet and thereit is, they see each other.
They can make it work. Adriver and a supermodel a at the Pinnacle
event of this season. And he'snot just a driver, by the way,
he is the owner of Swan Limousines. God forbid. No, he
can't just be the driver. It'sgotta She is going to start designing more.
(57:13):
Max is going to take her moreseriously as an artist. Yeah,
she's going to take some more timeto you know, take deep breaths.
He has put his heart back togetherand now he is giving it to her
and they kiss and scene and scenevery good. Well, I have to
(57:38):
say, Amelia, I enjoyed thismovie. I thought the performances were were
not that great, and that's justhow I love it. But they were
perfect. They were all like perfect. The male lead maybe not one of
my favorite buddies, he was definitelywas like nice to look at and had
(57:59):
a nice personality. I loved thefemale lead. I think we said ash
Side or Ashley Side. I'd loveto see more of her. I have
a perfect Christmas Land lady leading,lady countenance, and I appreciate it.
Though. I appreciated everything that theytried to do with the script, all
(58:21):
the little punching up moments, thelittle jokes here and there. I appreciated
all the effort that they put intojust making this quirky as quirky as possible
in places. And there were alot of tropes. Let's go down the
tropes. Yes, let's do itall right, I just wrote down the
(58:42):
tropes that we have. We havea Christmas nedline. Heck, yeah,
we do. Now we have severalbusy business people too busy for love in
this, all of them basically excepttell you She's her entire life is trying
to get Jack back. That isher business, though, so in that
(59:05):
sense. So, uh, allright, we have a a precocious child
somewhat, even though she's in thebody of a thirteen year old. Yes,
right, we have a we havedecorating mm hm. Do we have
(59:25):
a we have a dress moment?I think Callie does have a moment at
the top before the festival, yep. And we have a kiss at the
end. M h. We didn'tget a snowball fight, but we had
a snowman. So snowman, Ithink we can count half a point for
that. Maybe in the snow.I feel that counts. So it could
(59:47):
be snow it could be snowball fight. However you want to work that.
The details of that are up toyou writers. You know, we don't
want to decbate that to you.But yeah, prolicking in the snow,
I think absolutely. Yep. Check. I can't think of anything. Do
we have a fall? I don'tremember a fell. Nope, we did
(01:00:08):
not have a fall. There wasone moment and I thought we might get
a fall where he sort of takesher arm so she won't slip in the
snow because she's walking in heels orsomething. And I remember at the time
thinking this would be a good momentfor her to fall, but she doesn't.
No, I don't know how.I don't know why. It's so
(01:00:30):
hard just to put that in.You can literally put it in anywhere,
writers, anywhere. Okay, sowe've got seven seven troupes in this movie.
I think, yeah, we've gotsome awards to hand out, Amelia,
Yeah, we do. All right, Well, let's see. Our
first award is a Christmas Haam Award. This award goes to who you feel
(01:00:52):
was just squeezing all of the juiceout of this role, so out of
their role. So who do youthink squeeze the most juice out of their
role? I kind of want togive it to the Dad because I think
that he was cursed by a seawitch. But he's the runner up.
(01:01:12):
I think it might go to thebrother. Ooh, good one. Yeah,
yeah, that's a good one.The brother is a good one.
Okay, I had Max. I'mtotally satisfied with that answer, and now
I whish I had thought about thebrother. You're absolutely right. I think
(01:01:34):
the brother wins the Christmas Band allright. Next is the tree topper.
That's who who was the star cameout on top in this movie. I
think Kelly. I liked her.I want her in more movies. Me
too, I have her. Ithink she has all of the elements of
a great leading lady and just stunningalso to look at, but very sweet.
(01:01:59):
And you know what, Christmas Landwomen have to be very specific.
It's part of the it's part ofthe trope, it's part of the charm.
There are a couple of leading ladiesthat sort of it can twist it
a little bit like CCB has likea little sarcastic streak that works really well.
(01:02:22):
Jill Wagner I think is kind ofthe same way. But other than
that, mostly you've got to havethis really sweet and innocent quality. And
I think it's hard to act that. I don't know. I loved this
woman. I hope we see moreof her. Okay, robert A Baron
(01:02:44):
Award, I feel like we're it'sgot to be Max, I mean,
yeah, yeah, it's the robertA Baron Award we give to the villain
of the episode, and the robertA Baron. What was the name of
the movie was The Ghost of Christmas? I think it was called The Ghost
of Christmas. So this goes backto our first episode of season three,
(01:03:07):
the Ghost of Christmas always, yeah, some Christmas always And I think that
was the ghost of Christmas always.Is that what it's called? Yeah,
it's the ghost of Christmas something.It's it's And Robert Baron is supposed to
be the bad guy, but hewas the only person in the whole show
(01:03:27):
who had any sense. It waslike his son was mad at his dad
because his dad wanted him to dothings like go to work and open the
store and pay employees. Ghost ofChristmas always, yeah, anyway, And
of course his name was Robert A. Baron, so like, yes,
(01:03:50):
so we give the Robert A.Baron Award to a villain who is actually
maybe an undercover good guy. AndI think underneath Max was a good guy
because he was the only person interestedin actually finishing the job they were getting
paid to do. Right, Yeah, all of his he he was just
(01:04:10):
trying to keep their business afloat andfor that he was a villain. Well
all right, so that is that. That is a Journey to Christmas.
Any final thoughts, recommendations or anythinglike that. A million No, I
did like it. I know thatyou had the impression that I didn't,
but I did. I Like Isaid, It's not probably one that I
(01:04:32):
feel like I need to rewatch overand over again every year. It's not
like my absolute favorite, but Idefinitely enjoyed it. I would recommend watching.
I liked it, and I hopeto see acts why in many more
to come. Yeah, I wouldrecommend it too. I have fun watch
it with somebody so that you canpost on it some of the stuff in
(01:04:53):
there. But I definitely enjoyed thisone. It felt like a throwback.
Well all right, Amelia, telleveryone how they could reach out to us
and let us know what they thought. Yes, you can reach us at
a very Merry podcast at gmail dotcom, a very Merry podcast on Facebook
and Instagram, and a very Merrypod on Twitter. Well that is fantastic,
(01:05:16):
Amelia, it's time for us todepart. Before we leave, I
would like to wish all of ourlisteners a very merry Christmas this year and
going into the new year, wewish you the best. This is the
season when we celebrate our favorite Christmasmovies. We celebrate all of the wonderful
(01:05:38):
things at Christmas, but ultimately weknow we are celebrating the birth of our
savior, Jesus Christ, and sowe are wishing you a very merry Christmas
from our family to yours. AndI'll just say this Amelia, since this
is our Christmas episode, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Kiara. This has
(01:06:09):
been a presentation of the FCB podcastNetwork where Real Talk lives. Visit us
online at fcbpodcasts dot com.
This is the FCB Podcast Network.Merry Christmas, everybody. Welcome back to
another episode of a very Merry podcast. I'm Kira Davis, you'r very merry
(00:23):
host, and I'm here with myvery merry co host, Amelia Hamilton.
Happy Holidays, Amelia, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Kiara. Well,
we're going to get right into itbecause we're a little behind in the schedule,
so we've got to get going.But I I think we might have
a little bit of a disagreement aboutthis movie. I think I might have
enjoyed it more than you did.But let's let's get into today's movie.
(00:50):
Today's movie is called A Journey toChristmas, and I believe it's on Great
American. Am I right? AJourney to Christmas in Great American? And
I did enjoy it. Wasn't likemy absolute favor ever, but I certainly
enjoyed it. The description in acharity press tour, a model ends up
stranded by bad weather at the familyhome of the driver she hired to help
(01:12):
her during the week. I wouldlike to clarify that in googling this movie
and looking it up on IMDb,Journey to Christmas is not the same as
a Journey Back to Christmas, thetwenty sixteen Hallmark movie starring Candae Cameron Berett.
It's also not Journey to Christmas StarJingle Jangle, a Christmas Journey,
Journey to Christmas from twenty eleven,Loves Christmas Journey, Our Christmas Journey,
(01:36):
the Christmas Journey, Christmas Journey Home, Journey of a Christmas Tree, Journey
of the Last Christmas Dance, oran Unforgettable Christmas Journey. Okay, just
to be clear, this is justJourney to Christmas. Well, I need
to be there. We're now atthe point where there are hundreds and hundreds
of these movies. At some pointthey're gonna exactly what are you gonna do?
(02:00):
But I just thought it was funnybecause I pulled it up on IMDb
so I could have like the namesof the actors and not forget, and
I was like, wow, Idid not realize a lot of Christmas journeys
have been taken out there. Itis a time. It is a time.
I mean the original Christmas, youknow, they were on a journey.
So it's fitting. Well, let'sget into this because I actually liked
(02:21):
this movie. Felt like a bitof a throwback. Yeah, and it
was. It was also to methe perfect amount of wooden, you know,
like it's it's a perfect amount ofbad good bad movie. Yeah,
I wade it. But let's getinto it, all right. So we
start with Callie, who I thoughtshe was beautiful first of all, this
(02:45):
actress. I loved her and okay, so her name is Callie and I
am trying to look up the actressso it's a it's ash t sai Si.
I'm thinking I'll be sy Kellie Caldwell. She is a model. We
start, she's on the set andwe know she's sweet. She is being
(03:06):
nice to everyone on set. Shedoes not have that model attitude. We
love her, I did. Idid love her, by the way,
and she's definitely going on the topof my list as as like Christmas Land
girls, I'd like to see moreof. Absolutely, she is going places.
She had this warmth and this genuinequality that I really liked. Yes,
(03:29):
and okay, okay. So she'sleaving the set and she has this
manager, Max. He is allbusiness and he is like, listen,
we are on a schedule. Youneed to be in Philly in two and
a half hours, which seems tightto me, but okay, And was
she in New York? I wasassuming New York, but they weren't super
clear. So maybe she was onlyin Scranton maybe, or maybe she just
(03:53):
had to be at the border ofPhiladelphia and she was already in the suburbs.
Yeah, I do that from NewYork. You take that the train,
but you've got to be in thePhiladelphia border through. Okay, And
yes, so she is. She'sgot to be in Philly very soon.
(04:15):
And we also know that Max isa very busy businessman, right because he
apparently lives in his office office,which is clearly in Los Angeles somewhere.
Yeah, And he wants me toknow he's a hard ass because he's eating
all the time. Yes, Andhe wants her to have that busy business
woman vibe. And she just shejust has a heart of gold and she
(04:35):
doesn't have it in her So here'swhat we know by On the twenty third
Emerald em Like, it's called likeEmerald Glam. They're having a party.
And well, first of all,I'm sorry that I said party because he
told as he said to her,it is not a party. It is
the pinnacle event of the season.And they're going to name her the face
(05:00):
the brand. So he actually wantsher in la by the twenty second,
be there the night before, havethat face rested and beautiful, and so
he wants her there by then he'slike, just fly, but no,
she wants to drive coast to coastso that she can do a bunch of
charity stops on the way. Andas the description says, it's a charity
press well in a different description,yeah, charity press tour. Not exactly
(05:24):
a press tour because there's really nopress involved. She's just quietly doing good
deeds along the way. So they'vehired this driver who enters now Jack and
we know that he's also a goodguy because this is not the usual driver.
He has actually taken over from theusual driver because that guy has kids
(05:45):
and he wanted to be home atChristmas time. So he was like,
I will do it. So Heartof Gold. Yeah, So Max has
a talk with him and it's like, listen, I don't know what you're
gonna do because you have to goto Philly, Chicago, Kansas City,
and Denver. And now Kelly wantsto add something in Nebraska, and Max
says kind of ominously. It's notjust that, but there is this bad
(06:08):
weather coming in so done, there'sa storm coming in Amelia right over Christmas,
right while they have to drive acrossthe country. That's hugely inconvenient.
I will also say that their routeis hugely inconvenient. I have driven across
the country and that is not thedirect route right well, and that's even
(06:29):
he says. They're like, nowshe wants to add a stop in Nebraska,
which, first of all, there'sno mention of a city Nebraska.
I'm sorry, you don't just stopin Nebraska. You have to go to
Nebraska, Nebraska. And that heeven says, when between Chicago and Kansas
City, or between Kansas City andDenver, because it's so out of the
way, he doesn't even know whereit's supposed to fit. I don't even
(06:51):
know how you're getting from Denver toKansas City and then down. The route
is already like blowing my mind.There is you know, I'm imagining that
the that they paid this guy likea million dollars to do this, because
that's what you have to baby totake that route across country in a timely
(07:12):
manner. Because he's obviously got averthere for this big Christmas deadline. Yeah,
I mean you know it is.It is the pinnacle event of the
season. It's a pinnacle event ofthe season. And Amelia, don't you
think that we're going to get tothis pinnacle event of the season and it's
not going to be the most extraordinaryset you've ever seen in your life.
It's going to be stunning. Yes, it's a pinnacle event of this know
(07:35):
what it's not going to look likeis like a hotel conference room. No,
it's not gonna look like that.It's definitely not gonna look like the
lobby of a Canadian launch. SoMax also wants to be clear with Jack
that this isn't just about driving,but also about managing the wild hordes of
(07:57):
fans that are going to be waitingfor her everywhere. Right Because Kelly,
she's out in mind because she she'sa supermodel. So as they're leaving,
so she's as Kelly's getting her stuffready because they've got to be in Philly
from wherever they are in two anda half hours. She's like, listen,
Max, I've got all these sketchesbecause I'm not only a model,
(08:18):
i am a fashion designer. AndMax is like, I don't have time
for this, which kind of fairbecause you have to be somewhere in two
and a half hours. You havea commitment, right. He also has
to be across the country in apparentlylike five days. I feel like it
wasn't clear how many days, whichwas one of my questions. I don't
know what day it is now.I know she has to be there by
the twenty third, but I'm notclear what day it is now. I
(08:41):
should also, we should come cleanthat I cannot find my notes for this
episode, so so it's possible thatthat was written down somewhere, but I
do not remember. I don't either, so all right, so he kind
of brushes off her drawings and alongwith it, her hopes and dreams,
(09:01):
and they're like, all right,let's get in the car. What she
says is I think he does kindof say like, oh, those are
nice or something, and then she'sand then she indicates, well, this
is like a stupid dream. Obviously, modeling is the more secure profession than
designing and creating clothes that people wear. It's just a silly dream. It'll
(09:24):
never go in a dream. It'sa silly dream. So they go out
to the car to start this roadtrip to get to Philadelphia, and the
hordes of fans outside are four verypolite tween girls who are just like,
Hi, Kelly, can I havea picture? Can I have your autograph?
They're Canadian fans, they're Canadian fans, but there are is not even
(09:46):
a crowd of Canadian fans. It'sjust four little girls asking for a selfie.
So we only crowd at hockey games. Everybody every all the rest of
the time, you got out ofyour space, especially after COVID. Yeah.
Yeah, So she signs her autographsand takes the selfies and gets in
the car, and then he callsher miss whatever her last name is,
and she's like, call me,tell ya, call me Kelly. So
(10:09):
it's you know, she's super polite, is all we need to know,
because she's probably also Canadian. She'ssuper polite, he's super nice, and
they're both super attractive exactly, althoughyou know she's still gonna sit in the
back seat though, because we're stillprofessionals. Yeah, absolutely is. This
was my other thing. When Iwas It took me like a hot second
(10:33):
to wrap my mind around the factthat they were actually driving across country for
Christmas. Like and not on aroad trip where because we've done road trip
movies. We love road trip movies. Yeah, but usually it's like,
you know, people who know eachother already. So the idea of like
driving in essentially a limo in theback seat across the country that I was
(10:54):
like, that's weird. I don'tknow if I could do that all the
way. Yeah, I feel likeI would have to be like really rude
and either put up the divider orput in my earbuds or something like.
I couldn't just sit there and likeI would either have to be in the
passenger seat just like on a roadtrip with this guy, or like fully
(11:16):
separate because it wasn't like a fullstretch limbo where she was far enough away.
She was just in the backseat likein a town car. Or it
was talking hours Amelia, it's nodays, it's a freaking week. That's
like a week of her just sittingin them. Anyways, that's how they
start, that's how they decide todo it. He and there also Jack
(11:41):
is a consummate professional. Yes,yes, so we stop were the first
stop, which, as we know, Philadelphia. She's inside, you know,
hanging out with this it's like anafter school program for kids. And
Jackie gets a call from this mysteriousTalia and sends it to voicemail no Talia
(12:03):
and late, and then his momcalls and we find out that he is
the owner of this company, buthe has not even told CALLI, so
she is going to feel silly.Later just the hired help. How embarrassing.
And she's like, you're not cominghome for Christmas again. You're taking
(12:24):
a job. And he's like,I have got sixteen employees and they count
on me. And she's like,listen, Jack, we know this is
really about It's about Talia, whohe sent a voicemail minutes earlier. And
she's like, I just think youshould know that Talia and Lawrence broke up.
And while she's having this conversation,this blonde woman just like walks into
(12:48):
his mom's house, so we knowwe can assume this is Talia, and
we know she's extremely comfortable with Jack'sparents because she just walks in. It
was so odd. It was like, Okay, Clearly, clearly this girlfriend
or ex girlfriend has a close relationshipwith the family. Clearly she's left him
(13:09):
for somebody else, right, andyet a family is still like, come
on in, we loved Talia.We wished you guys were married this whole
time. She and she's just lurking. She's like, oh, you're talking
to Jack. She just like sortof she sort of like floats into freeing.
(13:30):
Yeah, are you talking about me? And also Amelia, by the
way, color me shocked to findout that Talia is not black or Latino,
that she's actually some red, reddish, blonde white woman. Yeahalia,
that name said a lot of differentthings to me, but not Yeah.
(13:52):
Interesting, but maybe we but maybewe should say the leading woman in this
is not an average white woman.She's so so maybe they had to make
the evil woman white. I don'tknow, so I could do something.
She's definitely ethnically ambiguous, the beautifullead. Yes, so Jack is like,
(14:13):
so she's like, you know,maybe maybe if you came home for
Christmas, you and Talia could justsort of, you know, you guys
could talk and sort things out.And she's like, and he's just like,
listen, Talia should feel really guilty. I hope she feels bad.
I don't want to talk to herwhatever, which I mean, I don't
know what happened here, but youknow, we can pretty much tell from
this conversation that he was with Talia. She broke his heart to be with
(14:35):
Lawrence, and now that she's donewith Lawrence, she can she thinks that
she can just like befriend his momand get that. No, I'm on
team Jack here. I'm on teamJack too. But I will say that
I was surprised by the intensity ofhis resentment towards Talia. It's not something
that we see very much in ChristmasLand. Mostly people have you know,
(14:58):
the to negative that they feel abouta breakup is a well, it just
didn't work out, or I thoughtI deserved better. But he is clearly
hanging on to resentment, and Iwas like, wow, this is this
is actually very uh nitty gritty fora Christmas Land. That's a good point
negative feelings, that's true. Orif there is resentment, a lot of
(15:22):
times it's like, you know,she wanted to move to the big city
and I didn't or something, andthere's some kind of misunderstanding frequently, and
then when they talk about it fifteenyears later and finally have a conversation,
they're like, what you thought youwere holding me back? You know it
was all for you, So yeah, Yeah, so they continue on this
weird press tour that has no pressinvolvement, and but the storm just keeps
(15:48):
on storming, and they're trying tofigure out how they're going to stay ahead
of it, how they're going tostay on pace, and he is realizing
that the weather is pushing them offroute closer and closer to his hometown.
So he's like, we are goingto have to spend the night at my
parents' house. Obviously, they're goingto have to detour to their parents,
(16:10):
his parents' house in the mountains,the mountains of Illinois. I don't know
where it is. Is that wherein Illinois? I could not tell where
they were at this point, Likethere's no geography really in this movie at
all, which that's not what you'rewatching it for anyways. But yeah,
it was so funny, like,oh, we've got to be safe.
(16:32):
We're going to pull over to myfamily's house, as if there aren't a
million different routes across the country.And you know, it's never a good
idea in winter to get off ofthe interstate, right, it's going to
be the most likely to press througha storm, but conveniently or inconveniently for
(16:52):
our two leads. The storm isbasically chasing them. It's basically forcing them
into a cozy Christmas situation. Right. So it's interesting that you said that
because you know, it's one ofthose kind of fish out of water movies
where like the famous model is forcedinto like a small town family Christmas.
(17:14):
And at the beginning, I thought, Okay, is this gonna be some
kind of hybrid with a road tripmovie, which we always love because it's
kind of a way to get peopleinto a bunch of weird situations and people
who don't know each other. Youknow, they're gonna bake something, they're
gonna do karaoke, or they're gonnahave to fix something. It just it's
like a reason to force people intoweird situations on the road trip. And
we didn't really get that in theroad trip section. But now I'm thinking
(17:40):
maybe we also missed an opportunity forlike natural disaster movie of a storm like
actually chasing them. That's that soundsmore lifetime, That sounds for more like
Christmas Lands, neighbor holiday land.True. True, Okay, just something
to think about. Well, there'ssome beer involved with that, and we
(18:00):
don't we don't like a lot offear and Christmas Land. Yeah, okay,
well there wasn't a fear because theygot their safely. They got there
safely. Oh thank gosh. Itwas a nail bier, but he was
able to navigate. He's an expertcar driver. I don't know if we
said that. Yeah, he doesown the place. It's his company.
(18:21):
He owns it. So they getto the house and have not like tell
told anybody that they're coming, Sothey just show up late at night.
Everybody, I think is in bed, and it's evidenced by the fact that
everyone then immediately gets up in thecrispist of pajamas and I just it took
(18:45):
me again. Time and space inthis movie are almost non existent. I
can't figure out, like how faranyone's gone, how much time has passed.
I did not understand that it wasnight when they got there, so
it was it's so confusing when everyonecame out in pajamas. I was like,
is his family just hanging out?And no judgment because we live in
(19:07):
a post COVID world where we allbasically live in pajamas now. But I
was like, oh, this iswhat an odd I guess I thought it
was an odd costuming choice, yeahto everyone in brand new pajamas. But
then I realized, oh, they'rethere at night, right, yeah,
it was nighttime, so I thinkyou might have to remind me. So
(19:29):
I think the first thing we seeis I think the first person we meet
is the brother. Okay, soI think that it's his sister and his
brother in law, right, becausehonestly, I'm not sure I was or
brother and sister in law. I'mnot sure I was ever clear brother and
brother Okay. So his brother's justlike, okay, so you're here.
Is this your girlfriend? And he'skind of not clear on that. He's
(19:52):
like, it's a client, butit's kind of like a little bit of
a wink wink, like I thinkhe maybe didn't want his brother to know
if it was necessarily only a client. I don't know. I guess,
yeah, I guess. And always, well, that is the that's the
forgive the pun. The hallmark ofChristmas Land. Isn't it that family members
never just assume that the person ofthe opposite sex that is with their loved
(20:15):
one is just a friend, alwaysimmediately, without any clues, without reservation,
or without any sort of contact,They're like, oh, she's nice.
Wait wait, yeah, like youguys are something's going on here?
When you literally told us all youwere driving a woman across country. You've
(20:37):
literally just told them her name,and they're like, oh, are you
guys in law? Right? DidPaul Revere really say the British are coming?
And how is George Washington chosen toleave the First American Army. Join
us for the Growing Patriot podcast,a place for curious kids to ask the
big questions about our nation's history andget kid friendly answers from the country's top
(21:02):
experts. Help your child learn aboutand cherish America's exceptional history. Subscribe to
Growing Patriots on Apple Podcasts or whereveryou get your podcasts today. So she
so, then the sister in law, you know, has to get in
on it, and she's like,what's going on here? And then the
niece comes downstairs and her Christmas jammisand she of course knows exactly who Kelly
(21:27):
is and cannot believe this major celebrityis in the house standing in front of
her. Holy Cow, this isreally happening. It does seem very unbelievable.
Now, this child, it's goingto be around for a while.
She's got a little role. AndI will say we did another when we
(21:51):
did I think we had this issuewhen we were doing Bringing Christmas Home and
Little Haunted Greta Thunberg. There's somethingvery odd about the way Christmas Land writers
write children and the way Christmas Landdirectors film children, because the children always
(22:12):
seem like they're written to be fouror five right there, and then they
cast them like an eleven year old. And this child, the whole all
our lines, all her added toeverything was like she should be five years
old, but she was basically ateenager. Yeah. Yeah, it was
so odd. It is odd.Of course, the family's delighted to have
(22:36):
two extra people for Christmas, ofcourse, with no notice in the middle
of the night, right, andand they just kind of roll with it.
Okay. Now, of course wehave the third potential could be an
entire plot line, which is thatthere is the time Christmas festival coming up.
(22:57):
Oh yes, the niece. Canyou remind me? Do you remember
her name? It's like I wantto I don't know, I want to
say Olivia or something, but Icould be wrong. Anyway, niece is
extremely excited for this and has ordereda new dress. It is Sophia.
I just found it. So Sophiais really excited about this new dress,
(23:18):
cannot wait to show the whole town. And just keep that in mind.
There's a new dress coming and it'sextremely exciting, extremely exciting. Keep that
in mind. Waiting for this newdress to come to their romot remote,
remotely located home in the wilds Illinoisduring the worst national snowstorm of the century.
(23:44):
Right, Max the manager is freakingout because Kelly has just is just
not like answering her phone and tellinghim where she is. And I think
we're supposed to think Max is unreasonable, but it actually seems like a reasonable
complaint to me. Yes, youdo need to know where she is,
(24:08):
and you might potentially even be worriedif your client, slash, maybe even
friend, is driving through a snowstormand just stops answering the phone. Yeah.
I agree. I mean it's notjust that there's money on the line,
but also her safety and he seemsto be the only person in her
(24:29):
life that cares for her. Ithink she says at one point she's an
orphan. Yeah, she doesn't reallyhave siblings, so really who she's got
is Max. Yeah, I didfind him to be. It's not unreasonable.
Now, of course, we doknow that he's sort of a jerk
because he's always in an office,right, because he's always doing his job,
(24:56):
which is managing her. Right.I hate it when people do their
jobs. It's the worst, OhMax. But anyway, he's pissed.
He's pissed off that she's not worthwhere she's supposed to be, which all
this could be avoided if she hadjust gotten on an airplane. She could
have done the charity tour on theway home. But then I guess we
don't have a love story, right, And of course we need to get
(25:22):
our Christmas moments in so we haveWhat's what's first? I think snowmen?
Yes, And let me tell you, I was so excited when they even
when they just started whispering the wordswe're going outside, I was like,
Yes, there is either snowman buildingor a snowball fight, or if we're
(25:42):
lucky both. We did not getthe snowball fight, but we did get
the snowman building, and Amelia,it was real snowmen. It was real
snowmen. And all I can thinkabout is how brutal it must have been
to shoot that scene. In thesnow. Some poor production assistants had to
(26:03):
gather up enough snow, enough goodsnow to build those snowmen, and then
they had to hurry up and filmbefore they melted away or birds or whatever.
I just I think that might thismight be the first time I've seen
real snowmen in Christ movie. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a
good point, I think. Sowe might need to really note this episode.
(26:26):
Yeah, that's a that's a seriousuh marker right there. That is,
that's a big deal, real snowmen. They clearly filmed this. Also,
they did film this in winter,and we are noticing a lot of
the great American films right now arein winter settings. They were obviously filmed
(26:48):
in the winter season. Clearly that'snot ideal for production. But it's fun
to watch. Yeah, So whilethey're doing that, you know, obviously
she's bonding with the family. Thefamily's noticing some vibes because she's a woman
and he's a man. So clearlythey're in love. Clearly they're in love.
(27:11):
This is not professional. Not onlyis it not professional, but they
can't just be friends. So no, certainly, certainly not it's certainly not
Yeah, although well anyway, goon, no tell me, I'll see
it. So we're we're continuing onwith just general merriment we've got. I
(27:38):
mean, of course the house isfull Christmas, we've got snowman building,
We've got oh, so I thinkis it I think later that night we
get is when we start getting alittle more serious because we have the fire
pit. Is that that evening?I think it is. Yes, So
(27:59):
we're warming up from the snowmen.They all get around the little fire pit
on the back deck. They're goingto make some more. So that's a
family tradition too. They've done allthe stuff, like the decorating for the
day. They split up and youknow, each took a different task and
so now yes, yeah, theyget to do so soares by the fire
pit. I had a real problemwith how they were building the fire because
(28:26):
I'm actually an undercover pyromaniac. Ilove building fires and starting fires. I'm
not an arsonist right now, butI do enjoy starting in good fire,
and I know how to start agood fire from pretty much almost anything,
just with bare minimum fuel. AndI was watching him build that fire and
(28:51):
I was like, there is notenough oxygen or fuel underneath. Yeah,
and he put the kindling on top. No. I was just really put
out by that. It took meon the movie all the way. I
mean, do you want the marshmallowsto toast or not? Well, you've
got to light this thing on fire. You're just gonna have a bunch of
candling that's on fire. It's gonnago out, and you're lot. I
(29:14):
mean, Amelia, it very muchstressed me out. I understand, I
understand it should have. Yeah,they build, they build their JANKI fire
out. This is another thing that'shappening. S'mor's time is coming. And
I did appreciate that that sounded alittle bit ominous because we had kind of
(29:37):
a weird joke here and I'm tryingto remember exactly how it went, but
there was a joke about like burningpeople at the stake and I was like,
oh, and I actually I actuallyhad it pulled up here. And
then of course my window refreshed itselffor no reason, and now it's gone.
(30:03):
But but yeah, there was kindof a weird joke and I was
like, okay, yeah, yeah, the brother, the brother made the
joke or the brother made yeah,made a weird joke. And I was
like, oh, by the way, that there there is a father,
by the way in this cast,and he I don't think he says one
(30:23):
thing the entire movie. They didn'teven do the thing. We're usually like,
you know, every character has gotto get some line in, so
you usually get people one line orsomething. He was just sitting around in
a Christmas sweater the entire movie.At one point I was like, oh,
is the mom a widow? Andthen I was like, no,
(30:45):
no, that older guy is thatsilent man? He didn't say anything.
Yeah, all right, I justfound it. So the so he says,
you know, you're on fire pitduty, be sure to watch the
fire, and they're like, whyyou don't burn guests at the stake,
do you? The Kelly says that, and he goes, oh, yeah,
(31:07):
it's a Swanson family tradition. Andthey all like laugh about it,
which like it wasn't a big dealat all. But I was just like
a little bit dark for Christmas Landhumor, Yeah, there we go.
This christ is a little bit oh. And that also reminds me, oh,
oh wait, oh hold on,we haven't gotten there yet. Never
(31:27):
mind, there was just another creepything. But that's that's later. That's
later, moving on. Okay,So anyway, also though, at the
fire pit, this is where Kellyfinds out that Talia exists, I think,
and they kind of talk about like, you know, you haven't been
home in a while, are youavoiding Talia? You know, boy,
that sure was messed up. I'mnot sure do you remember like the extent
(31:51):
of the details that she gets atthis point. I think she kind of
finds out some of the tea.Yeah, she finds out Yes, the
mom says, because he rushes off, and then the sister or the mom
says, yeah, they Talia.They were engaged and they were in love,
and then she left him, Ithink for his best friend. I
(32:12):
think Jack or the other guy waslike his best friend friends Lawrence, and
so she broke it off and hewas heartbroken. Oh no, they were
going to move to New York together, right, Yes, she didn't want
to go, he wanted to go. She ended up having a relationship with
his friend. Yeah, and thenhe took off without her to escape.
(32:36):
That's what Callie finds out. Meanwhile, Telia just again just shows up.
Yes, the family has just completelyembraced her, like they never broke up,
and it's not a situation like theywere married and it's been twenty years
(32:58):
and they have children together and they'regonna just you know, No, she
was the girlfriend and they were probablygonna get married, and then she left
first friend and like she's no,she's not, you're on teen Jack,
Like, did she give Maybe that'swhy the dad doesn't talk. Maybe kind
of like trauma from the situation.Maybe Talia gave the dad a kidney or
(33:22):
something like that, so he justdoesn't want to get like into the mess
because it's like she's got this weirdhold of her family. Because the other
thing I noticed is that, ofcourse Callie is staying in Jack's old room
at the house, which has picturesof Talia all over it. Yes,
yeah, oh yes, I don'tI believe I didn't mention that. Yes,
(33:43):
when they first show her to theguest room, which is Jack's room,
it's still like a couple pictures everywhere, and that is yeah, yes,
that is Talia's real first introduction,or Callie's real first introduction. She's
like, who is this woman soweird? Yeah, Talia, I don't
know, people, is this isthis? Is this acceptable? I don't.
(34:06):
I don't think so, Amelia.I think it's got to be difficult.
It is difficult as a family.I mean, my son's starting to
be dating age, although he livesfar away from us now, but I
get it. It's difficult. Youbring someone into your family like you embrace
them, because if your child lovesthis person, you're gonna love this person,
and then the relationship breaks up andit's like you're having a breakup too.
(34:29):
I understand that, and I understandthat it doesn't seem right to just
sort of cut off a relationship becausethey don't have that relationship with your child
anymore. That being said, Idon't know. I just think it's it's
just a reality. You just kindof have to deal with it. I
don't think it's appropriate unless, likeyou said, Amelia, you've got twenty
(34:49):
years behind you, you've got kids, you've got all the you're basically already
family right Otherwise, No, Idon't think it's appropriate for the family to
stay friends like that the act,what do you think? Not at all?
And I don't understand how this issupposed to be helpful for Talia because
she can't move on because this familyis like you belong here, get in
our house. You don't need toknock, you know, like I don't.
(35:14):
It's not helpful to her. Shecan't move on. It's probably why
Lawrence dump her. I don't know, it is. It is very It
is very weird. I my husband'smy first love is first college sweetheart was
a favorite of his parents, andthey really wanted her to marry him.
(35:39):
And when we got engaged, yearsafter that relationship, but even still,
thanks to the power of the internet, she knew where he was. She
was still reaching out to his parents, talking to them, telling them she
wished that they were her in laws, and yeah, it was really weird.
(35:59):
And then I remember before this washappening, before we got married,
and I told my mother in law, who was not my mother in law
at the time, I think thisis inappropriate. Yeah, I'm going to
marry your son. And I don'tknow that it's right that she's clearly and
she was making other advancements too,she was still in love with them.
(36:19):
Anyways, they were like, well, she was a big part of our
lives for a long time, andwe can't just sort of yeah, you
can put a boundary and be like, listen, we can be friends,
but we're not talking about you andJack. Like that is over. And
that's what Mark's parents eventually did.Eventually everybody got their act together, and
what happened was Mark had to stepin and tell the girl like, just
(36:43):
chill out, back off, you'rebeing too weird, and then and ended
there. But so sort of getthe situation. But Talia is like,
she's like Kramer. She's like aCramer, just sliding in. Door bursts
open, she slides in. She'sub Swonson's you want to burn anybody at
(37:07):
the stake? Okay, all rightthere, all right, So we've meanwhile,
in the background, we've got thiswhole party situation going on. The
draft has not arrived, and wepredicted it's not going to because this storm
(37:29):
is common. The storm is hit, they're not going to get out,
and of course they're all, okay, so we've got two issues with us.
Now they can't get out, andthey've been talking about, you know,
alternatives. So either we can justtry to fly to California. We
can, you know, if wecancel a couple of the tour dates,
you know, we can you know, maybe still drive. What if we
(37:52):
do this? What if we dothat? But part of the issue is
Kelly kind of wants to go tothis Christmas festival now, so she's like,
well, what if I can bethere and then we can do this,
you know, because she's like suckedin. She loves this town,
she loves his family. She wantsto be at the Christmas festival. Okay,
Collie's really busy Kelly woman, andbut she wants a normal life,
(38:14):
and she doesn't a normal life withthis family, and she wants to be
absolutely everything to everyone, So shehas to stop at every single charity along
the way, and at every women'sshelter and after school program and Zoop kitchen.
But also now that this dress isn'tgoing to make it, guess what,
she has that book full of sketchesand it doesn't really matter that the
(38:37):
thing is in two days. She'sshe's just going to make a dress.
Hang on, hang on, hangon, are you telling me, Amelia
that Callie's secret hobby of designing dressesis actually going to come in handy?
Yeah, at the the Christmas festival. Get out of here. I didn't
(38:57):
even see it coming. When shepulled out that sketch book, I was
like, well, surely will neversee this again. No, yeah,
you thought her dream was dead,but turns out it's useful. No,
well we know. And here's theother thing we know about Christmas Land.
Every seamstress is trained at the projector Runway School, which means you can
make anything out of anything in literally. Yes, so that was my other
(39:20):
thought about this, which is designingand creating the dress are two different skill
sets. But like you said,this is Project Runway Land. She can
do both. She can do itright now. Yeah, So she gets
up early the next morning and sheand Jack go into town and just pick
out fabric without the child. Theypick it out themselves. Well, again,
(39:43):
here's another little thing about how thechild is written as like a five
four or five year old, likewith no agency, no common sense,
and no ability to reason at all, and then and then cast them is
a mirror. This young lady isprobably about twelve years old. Yeah,
I mean at least I'm older.I bet you old. Who looks younger?
(40:08):
I just but the way the scripttreats her, it treats her.
So again, just buying fabric,well, it's just like obviously we're picking
out the outfit for this little girl, right, But I mean I would
think that even at like five orsix, like you probably asked your daughter
an opinion, like do you wantpink? Do you want green? Do
(40:30):
you? I don't know, maybenot, but she did, but that
she did. She did. Shehad a conversation with the girl because she
had asked that very first night,what oh what colors? Yeah, you're
right, and look what colors willlook beautiful on her? Yes, that's
true. I just looked at theactress. She is thirteen, so yeah,
(40:52):
yeah, it's so weird. Yeah, these days it seems like everybody's
talking, but no one is actuallylistening to the things they're saying. Critical
thinking isn't dead, but it's definitelylow on oxygen. Join me Kira Davis
on Just Listen to Yourself every weekas we reason through issues big and small,
(41:15):
critique our own ideas, and learnto draw our talking points all the
way out to their logical conclusions.Subscribe to Just Listen to Yourself with Kia
Davis and FCB Radio podcast on Apple, on Spotify, iHeart, or wherever
you get your podcasts. All right, so they go and pick out this
fabric with it, but still withouther, there's more than one shade or
(41:36):
one pattern or whatever, so theypick it out. Jack is still like
being stalked by Talia while he's inthe fabric store. She's just like I
think Kramer is probably pretty good analogy. She's just like showing up everywhere.
Yeah, I don't know. Sheshe's definitely and she has an odd look
(41:59):
all so it's always like, I'mnot sure exactly what her intentions are.
And then we don't hear very muchfrom her as well. We don't really
know if he's nice, if she'smean, you know, just a weird
thing. But the purpose of thisfabric store, though, it gives us
a chance to see Jack and Kellyactually have some bonding time. They learn
(42:23):
a little bit about each other.Right, we see that Jack is we
hear a little bit more about Jack'srelationship with Talia. Again, I was
surprised by the amount of resentment thatthis character has for the other character.
(42:43):
Not that that's not a situation thatwould cause resentment, but just in Christmas
Land, we don't ever really seepeople hanging on to negativity, and this
guy is clearly hanging on to unforgivenessfor this woman, and I just thought,
wow, that's it just was notableto me, Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
(43:06):
They get their fabric. Yeah,they head home, they show Sophia
and the family, and of coursethey're all delighted that they've just taken this
upon themselves, gotten the fabric.They show her the drawings. She's excited
and she's like, I'll just makeit tonight. Yeah, like you do
(43:27):
just I mean the festivals the nextnight. Yeah. Yeah, so okay.
And then here's what we're talking about. The fire pit. And I
said there was one other creepy thinghere. It is she makes the dress
and she tells Jack. She's like, it's done, Like, let's surprise
her. So when she comes downstairsin the morning, she could just see
(43:47):
the dress and he's like, oh, I have the perfect thing. Goes
in like the basement or the atticor something, comes out with this like
life sat while thirteen year old girlsize clown. Yeah, it was so
weird. It was so weird.He they go to the basement storage room,
(44:10):
yes, and he's got like aclearly one of those huge Halloween decorations,
like you had put this giant thingin your front yard. It's a
clown and yeah, so he pullsthat out and and they have this moment
where it's like, oh, isn'tthis funny terrifying? Ha ha ha.
But it was so out of place, right, it was so out of
(44:31):
place. I couldn't figure out ifwas there gonna was this gonna be called
back later or did I miss something? Right? Why? Just why,
I expect the only rational reason,The only thing I can think of is
(44:52):
that they called someone in to punchup the script afterwards, and they're like,
we need some more goofy here,and that's where you get the jokes
like the burned at the stake orthis little clown, or like there's a
couple of other little spots where there'slike a little especially between the brothers,
where there's like a little ribbing.Sounds like maybe they were like, oh,
(45:15):
there's not enough humor in the script. Let's just bring someone in to
punch it at the bit. Andthis is Christmas Land's version of punching up
a script. Yeah, crazy clown. It was very odd. It was
very oddly placed. Yeah, sothey put the dress on the clown,
scare the niece in the morning withit, where she's delighted the dress.
(45:40):
I it was okay. I didnot think that a thirteen year old girl
would particularly want to wear it inmy opinion, but again, I was
a little girl dress, a littlegirl dress. It was a dress for
like a five year old girl.Put that on my five year old daughter.
(46:01):
Yeah, a thirteen year old girl. But again, she wasn't playing
thirteen. You know, that's notthe attitude of her character. I would
say, would place her right.And then there was the question of when
Kelly was designing it. I wouldhave thought she was designing it for a
grown woman because she just grabbed itout of her sketchbook. So and did
(46:25):
she design it? I mean,it was very simple. Everybody like,
this is so beautiful, but itwas basically just like I bought. I
used to buy my daughter a dresslike that every Christmas. That cost me,
right, So I don't know.Everyone's delighted though, and that's what
matters. Everyone's happy the dress.She's happy and she got a handmade dress
(46:46):
from a supermodel, so right.So they all go to the Christmas festival
and things are going well. Okay, things are good. Kelly and Jack
are super bonding, They're doing great. There's some chemistry, things are heating
up. But but then she seesTalia making a move on Jack, and
(47:12):
she's like, oh, is therestill something there? What's going on?
And again, as happens in ChristmasLand that night, she overhears a conversation
between Jack and his brother and shethinks that it's about her, but it's
about Talia and it's about how likeit's just never gonna happen. No,
(47:36):
I know, I think what theconversation was. If I recall this,
it is one of those misunderstanding situations. I think what the conversation is.
The brother is saying, you know, what's your issue with Talia? And
he's saying, she really hurt me. YadA YadA, YadA, we wanted
different things. And he's saying,he's telling his brother, I have realized,
(47:57):
like I'm moving on from this relationship. I realized it was never the
right one in the first place.But I'm still hurt. And his brother
says like, don't you ever thinkabout what could be? And then he
says something along the lines of Ido wonder about Talia, and you know
if we I think we could havebeen happy together. Like he says something
that she just comes in on thetail end, and it sounds like what
(48:20):
he's saying is I really wish Icould still be with Talia, But what
he really is Tellia's brother, isthere was a time when i wished we
could be together, but now I'verealized I have to move on. Yeah,
but Aali thinks that Basically what he'ssaying is I have still had feelings
for Talia, and being Christmas Land, they're not going to talk about it.
(48:40):
Oh why would you do that?Why? Although, to be honest,
in this situation, I might noteither, because like he's my driver
and we kind of just sort ofhave a crush, So it's not like
your boyfriend, you know. Well, she, as we've pointed out several
times in this episod Amelia, sheis a woman and he's a man.
(49:01):
So they're obviously in love. That'strue. That's a good point. That's
a good point. And they barelyhave a chance anyway, because the next
morning Max shows up to do hisjob and it's like, excuse me,
I don't know why you're just sittinghere acting like you're in an idyllic Christmas
movie, because you actually have ajob and you need to get to California,
(49:23):
so get your butt in the carand we're getting on a plane.
Jack, you're fired as a driverbecause you haven't been driving. And the
storm is over and you literally tookmy client to your home and the storm
is well like four days goodbye.And he's like, he's like Italian.
(49:45):
No, He's like, if wecancel this and we can do the charity
stops on the way back, andshe's like, no, he's right,
I'm just gonna actually do my job. Goodbye. Well, I think it's
important to note this. We've sortof skipped over a couple a little bit,
but they're during their bonding time becauseone thing they did is they went
out to pick a Christmas tree.And during their bonding time, she tells
(50:08):
Jack, you know that she wantsto slow down. Actually she doesn't want
to be working so hard. ButMax pushes her all the time, and
he's the only person that's really takingcare of her. After her parents died,
it was just him and her,you know, and he asked her
manager. And also he's a friend, and you know, she has responsibilities
to people as well. People counton her for showing up and Max counts
(50:32):
on her for his income. Soshe doesn't want to go, but she
feels obligated, and that's important tonote that he is not necessarily excited.
But it's like, well, Iguess this is what a supermodel does.
(50:52):
Works all the time. Yeah,And at this point she's also just like,
you know, Jack is in loveclearly with Talia because she overheard one
sentence yep, And so she's like, I might as well. Max has
been here for me. I havea job to do. I just I'm
just gonna go do it. Yeah, And Talia zel was hanging around anyway,
(51:15):
like you can't get rid of her. She's like a sticky booger,
just can't shake her off. Gross. So so she gets on the plane
she goes Jack is sad. Jackis sad. You know, said too,
(51:35):
because by this time, I mean, what a fickle family. By
the way, they were all upTalia's but like the whole time. And
then when Jack shows up and they'relike get back together, to get back
together. As soon as Jack showsup with a famous supermodel, they're like,
we love Kelliah. That's a goodpoint. She's not a loyal family.
(51:57):
They just want Jack to be withanyone, right, literally, just
pick someone Jack. So they're they'resad, Jack said, everyone's sad.
But there's still a festival. Theyyeah, and there is still the pinnacle
event of the season. Oh mygosh, I can't believe that I forgot
(52:20):
about the pinnacle event of the seasonat the not Canadian mid Level Lodge.
Yeah. Right, So Talia isa little out of sorts because she's also
sad, but she is putting onher game face of Emerald Glam makeup.
She is wearing her dress, notTalia Kelly. Oh yes, sorry,
(52:40):
Kelly, that would be weird.Although Talia shows up everywhere else, so
why not. So she is wearingher green dress looking beautiful. She is
wearing her Emerald Glam brand makeup.She is in the hotel conference room and
you know, doing her job workin the room. Matt and Max is
(53:02):
like, it's just not yourself becausehe cares about her a person. Well,
he cares about her person now thatshe's at her job and she's doing
her job right, which is youknow, his job, right. She's
named the face of arm Old Glam, and she's you know, she's happy
(53:22):
because it was her goal, butit just isn't It's just kind of it's
just a little bit of a hollowvictory. Yeah, something's emit. Meanwhile,
though, back at the festival inIllinois, right, I think Illinois.
Okay, I have no concept ofspace or time in this movie.
(53:45):
California might as well be right nextto Illinois, which is on the border
of Philadelphia. Clearly, he hedoesn't. He have a moment. We
skipped over this. He has amoment with Talia at the Christmas Festival.
(54:06):
I thought I did mention that becauseshe saw Maybe maybe I didn't go into
great detail, though, I don'tthink you mentioned their conversation, and I
think that's important. We skipped overthis part. But at the Christmas festival
where the little girls slash change orwhere's the dress? Talia? And that's
oh, yes, you did mentionthe tal I mentioned it. Yeah,
(54:28):
I think I only mentioned it fromKelly's point of view. Yeah, And
I think this is important. Weshouldn't skip over this because they do have
a nice conversation, which all allrelationships end well in Christmas Land. And
although we've seen we've set up Jackhaving very out of place negative feelings for
Talia, they have this moment whereTalia says, look, I'm still in
(54:52):
love with you. I think maybewe could give it another shot, and
he says, I think we've movedon in the truth is, they have
a very mature conversation. The truthis, I ran away to New York
because I was running away and thatwas never going to be a great life
for us. And you were youknow, I didn't give you the things
you needed. It's not just yourfault. And she says, you know
(55:16):
the same, We just had differentgoals and I want you to be happy,
and he says, I want youto be happy. And then they
hug and go their separate ways asfriends and friendly excess and he forgives her
and he tells his brother that too, which I thought was very Christian.
(55:36):
I thought in this film where hetalks about how I have this unforgiveness for
her in my heart and I needto forgive her, and he forgives her,
I made a note of it.I made a mental note. Yeah.
Absolutely, No, I'm glad youbrought that up, because I only
mentioned it from Kelly's point of view, where she saw them talking, you
(55:57):
know, not romantically, but shesaw them having like a private personal conversation
and then hugging, and then misunderstoodthat. And then it was compounded with
the you know snippet that she heardwith the brother. So yes, So
that's what's going on as Callie isfeeling, you know, not quite herself
at the Pinnacle event of the season. So of course we know it needs
(56:21):
to happen. Jack needs to showup. Yeah, but he's all the
way in Illinois, though, can'thappen. How's it going to get there?
Well, I don't know because wedon't do planes and he's a driver.
But guess what, somehow, somehow, some way, because he just
took the express train across the border. She go mills there across the crowded
(56:47):
room, their eyes meet and thereit is, they see each other.
They can make it work. Adriver and a supermodel a at the Pinnacle
event of this season. And he'snot just a driver, by the way,
he is the owner of Swan Limousines. God forbid. No, he
can't just be the driver. It'sgotta She is going to start designing more.
(57:13):
Max is going to take her moreseriously as an artist. Yeah,
she's going to take some more timeto you know, take deep breaths.
He has put his heart back togetherand now he is giving it to her
and they kiss and scene and scenevery good. Well, I have to
(57:38):
say, Amelia, I enjoyed thismovie. I thought the performances were were
not that great, and that's justhow I love it. But they were
perfect. They were all like perfect. The male lead maybe not one of
my favorite buddies, he was definitelywas like nice to look at and had
(57:59):
a nice personality. I loved thefemale lead. I think we said ash
Side or Ashley Side. I'd loveto see more of her. I have
a perfect Christmas Land lady leading,lady countenance, and I appreciate it.
Though. I appreciated everything that theytried to do with the script, all
(58:21):
the little punching up moments, thelittle jokes here and there. I appreciated
all the effort that they put intojust making this quirky as quirky as possible
in places. And there were alot of tropes. Let's go down the
tropes. Yes, let's do itall right, I just wrote down the
(58:42):
tropes that we have. We havea Christmas nedline. Heck, yeah,
we do. Now we have severalbusy business people too busy for love in
this, all of them basically excepttell you She's her entire life is trying
to get Jack back. That isher business, though, so in that
(59:05):
sense. So, uh, allright, we have a a precocious child
somewhat, even though she's in thebody of a thirteen year old. Yes,
right, we have a we havedecorating mm hm. Do we have
(59:25):
a we have a dress moment?I think Callie does have a moment at
the top before the festival, yep. And we have a kiss at the
end. M h. We didn'tget a snowball fight, but we had
a snowman. So snowman, Ithink we can count half a point for
that. Maybe in the snow.I feel that counts. So it could
(59:47):
be snow it could be snowball fight. However you want to work that.
The details of that are up toyou writers. You know, we don't
want to decbate that to you.But yeah, prolicking in the snow,
I think absolutely. Yep. Check. I can't think of anything. Do
we have a fall? I don'tremember a fell. Nope, we did
(01:00:08):
not have a fall. There wasone moment and I thought we might get
a fall where he sort of takesher arm so she won't slip in the
snow because she's walking in heels orsomething. And I remember at the time
thinking this would be a good momentfor her to fall, but she doesn't.
No, I don't know how.I don't know why. It's so
(01:00:30):
hard just to put that in.You can literally put it in anywhere,
writers, anywhere. Okay, sowe've got seven seven troupes in this movie.
I think, yeah, we've gotsome awards to hand out, Amelia,
Yeah, we do. All right, Well, let's see. Our
first award is a Christmas Haam Award. This award goes to who you feel
(01:00:52):
was just squeezing all of the juiceout of this role, so out of
their role. So who do youthink squeeze the most juice out of their
role? I kind of want togive it to the Dad because I think
that he was cursed by a seawitch. But he's the runner up.
(01:01:12):
I think it might go to thebrother. Ooh, good one. Yeah,
yeah, that's a good one.The brother is a good one.
Okay, I had Max. I'mtotally satisfied with that answer, and now
I whish I had thought about thebrother. You're absolutely right. I think
(01:01:34):
the brother wins the Christmas Band allright. Next is the tree topper.
That's who who was the star cameout on top in this movie. I
think Kelly. I liked her.I want her in more movies. Me
too, I have her. Ithink she has all of the elements of
a great leading lady and just stunningalso to look at, but very sweet.
(01:01:59):
And you know what, Christmas Landwomen have to be very specific.
It's part of the it's part ofthe trope, it's part of the charm.
There are a couple of leading ladiesthat sort of it can twist it
a little bit like CCB has likea little sarcastic streak that works really well.
(01:02:22):
Jill Wagner I think is kind ofthe same way. But other than
that, mostly you've got to havethis really sweet and innocent quality. And
I think it's hard to act that. I don't know. I loved this
woman. I hope we see moreof her. Okay, robert A Baron
(01:02:44):
Award, I feel like we're it'sgot to be Max, I mean,
yeah, yeah, it's the robertA Baron Award we give to the villain
of the episode, and the robertA Baron. What was the name of
the movie was The Ghost of Christmas? I think it was called The Ghost
of Christmas. So this goes backto our first episode of season three,
(01:03:07):
the Ghost of Christmas always, yeah, some Christmas always And I think that
was the ghost of Christmas always.Is that what it's called? Yeah,
it's the ghost of Christmas something.It's it's And Robert Baron is supposed to
be the bad guy, but hewas the only person in the whole show
(01:03:27):
who had any sense. It waslike his son was mad at his dad
because his dad wanted him to dothings like go to work and open the
store and pay employees. Ghost ofChristmas always, yeah, anyway, And
of course his name was Robert A. Baron, so like, yes,
(01:03:50):
so we give the Robert A.Baron Award to a villain who is actually
maybe an undercover good guy. AndI think underneath Max was a good guy
because he was the only person interestedin actually finishing the job they were getting
paid to do. Right, Yeah, all of his he he was just
(01:04:10):
trying to keep their business afloat andfor that he was a villain. Well
all right, so that is that. That is a Journey to Christmas.
Any final thoughts, recommendations or anythinglike that. A million No, I
did like it. I know thatyou had the impression that I didn't,
but I did. I Like Isaid, It's not probably one that I
(01:04:32):
feel like I need to rewatch overand over again every year. It's not
like my absolute favorite, but Idefinitely enjoyed it. I would recommend watching.
I liked it, and I hopeto see acts why in many more
to come. Yeah, I wouldrecommend it too. I have fun watch
it with somebody so that you canpost on it some of the stuff in
(01:04:53):
there. But I definitely enjoyed thisone. It felt like a throwback.
Well all right, Amelia, telleveryone how they could reach out to us
and let us know what they thought. Yes, you can reach us at
a very Merry podcast at gmail dotcom, a very Merry podcast on Facebook
and Instagram, and a very Merrypod on Twitter. Well that is fantastic,
(01:05:16):
Amelia, it's time for us todepart. Before we leave, I
would like to wish all of ourlisteners a very merry Christmas this year and
going into the new year, wewish you the best. This is the
season when we celebrate our favorite Christmasmovies. We celebrate all of the wonderful
(01:05:38):
things at Christmas, but ultimately weknow we are celebrating the birth of our
savior, Jesus Christ, and sowe are wishing you a very merry Christmas
from our family to yours. AndI'll just say this Amelia, since this
is our Christmas episode, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Kiara. This has
(01:06:09):
been a presentation of the FCB podcastNetwork where Real Talk lives. Visit us
online at fcbpodcasts dot com.
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