Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time

Hallmark's Unwrapping Christmas - Lily's Destiny

• Garry & Amy

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On this episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry & Amy unwrap Lily’s Destiny, the third film in Hallmark’s Unwrapping Christmas collection. Lily Morgan has always trusted the signs to guide her, but things get complicated when charming realtor Owen asks her out just as she crosses paths with Sean, a magazine writer covering her store and the holiday charity gala. Do Garry and Amy think the signs point to true love wrapped up with a bow? Tune in now to find out!

Send us an email to pourthewineitsromcomtime@gmail.com! We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/mood-of-summer

Amy:

Welcome to Pour the Wine. It's rom-com time where we'll sip some wine and review all things rom-com on the Hallmark channel. I'm Amy.

Garry:

And I'm Gary, and I'm a pourin', you're a pourin' Another cat's out. Full disclosure.

Amy:

I'm hopefully on the downward slope of this cold that I caught at some point. I know I still sound a little sick, I feel okay, but it's trying to get me now. It's trying to get you. Hopefully it won't get you. Oh yeah, I'm mentally wishing it away. Kind of odd to have this in the summer, it's so wild.

Garry:

Well you know we're not going to talk about it, but Anyhow Wild.

Amy:

Well you know we're not going to talk about it, but anywho. Anywho, well, today we're going to be reviewing the third movie in the Unwrapping Christmas Collection, Lily's Destiny. That first aired on Hallmark Plus on Thursday, november 21st 2024, and then on Saturday, july 19th 2025 on the Hallmark Channel.

Garry:

Yeah.

Amy:

Yeah.

Garry:

We would love it If you would click that follow button on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode If you listen on Apple or Spotify. You can also leave us a review, and hopefully it's a positive one.

Amy:

Fingers crossed. It's positive.

Garry:

You can also find us on YouTube and all the social media.

Amy:

All socials. Find us like follow. So socials Find us Like follow, so you don't miss anything. That's right, that's correct.

Garry:

Please do.

Amy:

You can also email us at pourthewine. It's romcom time at gmailcom, so drop us a line. Let us know what you think about Christmas in July.

Garry:

It's coming up, it's wrapping up, it's wrapping up. No pun intended. No pun intended.

Amy:

I was thinking the same thing.

Garry:

So we're getting there, so tell us who's in this one.

Amy:

All righty. So for each new movie in this collection we are talking about the people that we see that are kind of new-ish, so I won't go over the core four, right.

Garry:

Right.

Amy:

So you have Ashley Newbrough she plays Lily Morgan, catherine Davis plays Mia Parker, cindy Busby plays Olivia Matheson and Natalie Hall plays Tina Mitchell, and we have talked about all four of them.

Garry:

Yes.

Amy:

Right before the first movie that we reviewed, right, correct?

Garry:

Tina's Miracle Mm-hmm.

Amy:

So in Lily's Destiny is Torrance Coombs. He plays Sean Whitlock. He's like a journalist writer who interviews Lily for an article For Hallmark. He was Kiki's love interest in Kiki's fourth ingredient in the Hearts Around the Table collection. He was in Romance in the Air and Royally Ever After, and some of his other work includes the TV series Reign.

Amy:

He was in 62 episodes of that, the series Heartland 10 episodes which I think that's on Hallmark Plus, but it's not a Hallmark production, if I'm not mistaken, and he was in 13 episodes of Endgame, a TV series which I've never heard of Me either.

Garry:

I looked it up, all right.

Amy:

Martina Ortiz-Luiz plays Kenzie Lily's intern. This is her Hallmark premiere and a few of her eight other acting credits include one episode of FUBAR, which is on Netflix, and it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger Try to say that Maybe I need to take a sip before I say that.

Garry:

Yeah right.

Amy:

She was in four episodes of the TV series Sky Med and 10 episodes of the Most Dangerous Game.

Garry:

Oh wow, that's interesting. I love it. When they first appear, they get their first.

Amy:

Hallmark appearance, their Hallmark premiere. Yeah, it's kind of cool and I liked her in this.

Garry:

She was pretty cute. She was really good. Hopefully she'll do some more yeah.

Amy:

Jennifer Baker plays Whitney, lily's neighbor. For Hallmark she was in A Dance in the Snow, and some of her other work includes an episode of the Boys which we really liked.

Garry:

Jenny in Georgia other work includes an episode of the boys, yes, which we really liked jenny and georgia.

Amy:

Popular on netflix right now. Yep, yep, and two episodes of suits and an episode of handmaid's tale. Oh gosh, you're doing the song. Yeah, brian froud plays frank, so he's um helping out at the festival of trees. Yes, I don't know if he's a neighbor too, or?

Garry:

Yes, he's part of the association, part of the association.

Amy:

So for Hallmark he was also in the movie the Perfect Setting. He's done a lot, a lot of voice work, including an episode of Arthur, 52 episodes of Zafari, 40 episodes of Toon Marty and 61 episodes of Total Drama. Oh, Pretty cool. Franco Lopresti plays Owen Mansfield. He is the famous realtor in this one that Lily goes on a date with Okay. His other hallmark work includes one episode of the Love Club. He's been in rom-coms for other companies, like christmas time capsule santa's got style and well suited for christmas and some of his other work includes seven episodes of the series chucky chucky it's probably scare scares two episodes of the tv series working moms and one episode of Schitt's Creek.

Garry:

Okay, that comes around a lot. It does. It comes around Another good show, yeah, another good series. So is it time to drop the synopsis?

Amy:

I think it's time to drop the synopsis, and I will let you drop it like it's hot Woo.

Garry:

Hot mic With holiday responsibilities piling up gift wrapping shop owner Lily eagerly accepts a date with a handsome local realtor, but will he be the one that sweeps her off her feet? Dun, dun, dun Dun dun, dun. I don't know.

Amy:

Well, I do know because we've watched it.

Garry:

Yes.

Amy:

We'll probably give away some spoilers, so if you haven't watched it yet, press pause on our podcast. Go watch it and then come back and listen to our review. Yes, please do Because we don't want to accidentally give something away, but you know it's a Hallmark movie, so you can probably predict it.

Garry:

Yes, hmm, the end.

Amy:

So what did you think? What's your first take?

Garry:

I liked it, you liked it, yeah, yeah, yeah, I take um. I liked it, you liked it, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like how they start off each of the movies first with the main character doing something and then they, all right, end up at the shop and they you see them doing the gift wrapping and then they do their little four, two, six cheer. In this particular one I liked how they showed there was some pictures or they were going to each one of their houses showing a reef on the door.

Amy:

Yes, I thought that was cool I thought that was really really cool. Oh, was it each of their houses? Oh, I didn't realize that. Okay, that's pretty cool.

Garry:

I thought that was pretty cool because that's the first time they did that and I liked how they are incorporating like the horoscopes and signs and destiny.

Amy:

Yes, it's the title Lily's Destiny.

Garry:

So what did you think?

Amy:

I enjoyed it too. I felt like the the chemistry between Lily and Sean Ashley and Torrance grew over the length of the movie. Yes, you know, did it totally get there by the end?

Garry:

Right. Maybe a little bit I think so, you know, does it knock your socks off. No no.

Amy:

One of our favorite holiday movies, of course, is Serendipity. Yes, and, like you just mentioned, that movie is all about signs and fate and destiny. Yes, or maybe not you know, throughout the movie and so this kind of mirrored that film. So I love the message of that in this one. You know, it's all about paying attention to the signs.

Garry:

Yeah, what's right in front of you, right or reading them is not a sign, a sign, I don't know.

Amy:

You know, I mean it's pretty good. Yes, there was. So yeah, so I'm with you. I mean I enjoyed it for what it was. Yeah, yeah, I mean it was enjoyable. I don't regret watching it.

Garry:

Well, it's kind of funny because they had two love things going on at one time, so sort of yeah, yeah, so yeah so what'd you think about the meet?

Amy:

cute. Well, in this one it's a purposeful meeting, right? Yes, Because they intentionally are going to meet each other, because Sean is a reporter.

Garry:

Well, he's a writer, or he's a writer.

Amy:

Well, yeah, he's like a journalist, a writer for.

Garry:

Twin City.

Amy:

Magazine Magazine, right, so he's going to be writing an article about the store and the gala, yes, so he wants to interview lily and so she meets up with him and I thought it was cute, the coffee shop was cute and the look on his face when they first met I thought was really. It was almost like I I can't even explain it Like you could tell, like maybe he knew her or he was like, oh wow, that's who I'm meeting, you know. Like he was like enthralled right away. And then you know their conversation was really good. And then you find out they went to the same college, which they didn't know before that meeting, and they just had a really lovely conversation.

Amy:

So, I thought, I thought the meet cute really worked.

Garry:

Yeah, what'd you think? I thought the same thing. I mean, I thought it was a really good scene and it's funny, because they really didn't get to talk about the shop, or.

Amy:

Right, he didn't do much of an interview All wrapped up because they were more just.

Garry:

It was almost basically like they were old friends just doing a catch up.

Amy:

Right, right, yeah, that's what it? Was smooth and easy and, yeah, it was pretty cool. So they agreed to meet again after that. Meet cute, yes, but it it worked.

Garry:

But yeah, it was like a purposeful, not an accidental, running into somebody and right, but I did find it funny how um lily got a text from the other guy, the realtor, that she was going on a date with, I think owen, that she was going on a date with, I think Owen, who she was going on a date with, and he needed to go on the date earlier, so she had to end their meeting with Sean the meet cute.

Amy:

She had to end the meet cute early. So that's why they agreed to meet up again to actually talk about.

Garry:

All Wrapped Up up, all wrapped up, which was cute, and the gala yeah. So did you have any favorite scenes?

Amy:

I had a few. What about you? You want to go first?

Garry:

Yeah, I enjoyed when we first meet Kenzie the intern yes, the intern, I'm not sure I can't remember where they met, but I liked how she was coming up with all these ideas for the gala or to promote the gala.

Amy:

Were they at the school or like a? I'm not sure, I can't remember yeah.

Garry:

I don't know where that was. I can't remember. It bothers me, yeah, well.

Amy:

I'm on too much cold medication right now.

Garry:

I know she had come up with a bowling night, Christmas cocktail hours. I thought those were great ideas and she had this one where it's a bow, it's all tied up and when you untie it it's a 20% off coupon for all wrapped up.

Amy:

And I thought that was so everybody who bought a ticket would get a bow, and it was 20% off. Yeah, that was cool. So I thought that was really cool. That was kind of cute.

Garry:

What about you?

Amy:

We just talked about it. I thought the meet cute. That would be one of my favorite scenes. I enjoyed that. The scenes where Lily is watching the videos of her dad.

Garry:

Yes, that's one of mine too.

Amy:

I'm a sucker for good nostalgia scenes. So, I just like that. You know, she's pulling them up throughout the movie. Really, she pulls them up on her computer and she's watching scenes of her as a young girl, right, you know, and you kind of right away presume that he's no longer around, like he has probably passed away. Right, you get that gist right away and she's kind of looking at it with like a lovingly know daughter watching her dad on the video.

Amy:

And I, I just like that and I, like you know the throwback of the camcorder, hello right you know, and, and it kind of made me think that we had the polaroid camera in tina's miracle right so what would be? Would it be like the first edition?

Garry:

I was trying to think of the nostalgia things in each movie.

Amy:

So we had tina's miracle, which you had the Polaroid camera Right, and then in Mia's Prince we had the first edition Book Book right. I mean because a lot of people use Christmas at Berkshire Right, but a lot of people use like a Kindle and stuff now, but they actually had hardcover books.

Garry:

Right, you still like a good book?

Amy:

Yeah, had hardcover books, right, so still like a good book, yeah. And then in this one you get the throwback of the camcorder, that's true. So I didn't even think about technology. Yeah, so I don't know if that's on purpose or not. We'll see. I think it is in the next movie, olivia's uh, reunion, reunion.

Amy:

Yeah, we'll see what happens there but we'll see if we can piece it together. But so yeah, so I kind of I like that with the scenes with her dad. Um, I like the scene where sean comes to the store yes, and kind of surprises her a little bit, and I love how um the three others disappear oh olivia, mia and tina kind of just yeah go away, and then they peek their heads out from behind the tree, the counter to kind of look at her.

Garry:

I thought that was cute. I had that down as one of them too.

Amy:

Yeah, so I thought that really worked. And they're walking around the store and she's telling him some things and you know.

Garry:

So Right, he's doing an interview, he sees her do a rap, he wants her to.

Amy:

Oh, right, right, he wants her to, just you know to do the wrapping of a present.

Garry:

Yeah, I like that one too, but I also like the one where she asked him to meet him, or she asked Sean to meet her at the bookstore.

Amy:

Yes, and that's a crossover because we see Arthur's bookstore.

Garry:

Yes, True, and you see, he's still interviewing her and they come across a book Tiny Astronauts. He's still interviewing her and they come across a book um tiny astronauts. And it's, it's another sign, because Tina, or Tina, excuse me, um, lily's dad used to read Lily that book, yes, and that was a book that Sean loved. So and he didn't know that her dad had passed away and he was like, well, you should buy it for him. And she was like, well, I can't, because he passed away last year so yeah no, I thought that was a really cute is that?

Amy:

I think that's when we find out that he definitely right that he is right that he passed away. Yeah that was a cute, that was.

Garry:

That was a cool moment and then you find out that, um, you know she's not decorating, but sean offers to help and he says I won't be as good as your dad, but you know I can help yeah, so I thought that was one of my favorite scenes was that in that same scene? Or are you talking about when? No, no, it was in the same thing, oh cool. And I also liked all the scenes between whitney and like whitney being yes, cross street worked.

Amy:

Yeah, yeah, yeah they worked.

Garry:

Kind of funny because you know everybody's got that one neighbor.

Amy:

That one neighbor. You know, just thorning her side and she really wasn't like mean, but she's like hey, do this hey do this.

Garry:

Hey are you decorating the tree.

Amy:

You know, are you going to get it done.

Garry:

That was so funny. So, yeah, I like that one too um, I had.

Amy:

Did you have any more, or was that? I had a couple more okay, so you want me to, I'll, so. Another one of my favorite scenes was when lily goes to sean's work at the same time that he goes to the cocktail hour, and they kind of miss each other.

Garry:

Yes, right, so and talking about serendipity, they kind of do the same thing, they do the same thing in that movie they're just missing each other right you think they're going to run into each other and they don't.

Amy:

So you know it's funny yeah.

Garry:

But it was just like that.

Amy:

Yeah, but yeah.

Garry:

I had that one too, we're like samers, I know because it was such a big misunderstanding. I also like the scene where Lily breaks up with Owen. Where Lily breaks up, that's the same one, because then she goes to Sean's office. Oh, right, right and that's when they break up. I just wanted to add that little part.

Amy:

Well, she's kind of like you know it's not going to work, it's not going to work.

Garry:

I'm not what you want.

Amy:

I'm not what you want, yeah, yeah.

Garry:

Because you know he's one of those guys that are all about himself and you know he's showing his style, his money.

Amy:

Yeah.

Amy:

I'm just not into that. But what's funny is like so at the beginning you see him and he's kind of, yeah, he's arrogant. You can see all the women like him, right, because he's really good looking. And when he's walking into the restaurant to meet Lily he talks a lot about himself and he makes her wait. And then, yeah, and he was late, right. But then later he kind of says you know, hey, you know, like on a second date, he apologizes and he says you know, I know, I'm a lot about myself and I don't mean to be, and you know, gosh, darn and blah, blah, blah. But then he reverts back to it. I don't know, I thought that was a weird.

Garry:

Well, when they first walked in on the second date into that restaurant he talks about they don't do birthday songs oh that's right.

Amy:

That's the one. Yeah, because it's like a burger joint. It's like a burger joint. It's not as fancy as what he'd liked, but then he says he knows he's I don't know. It was like he had some self-realization, but then he went right back to how he was. So I don't know, I thought his character was a little you know, I didn't really get it totally, so.

Amy:

So did you have any more? I like the scene where Whitney apologizes to Lily for prejudging her and not knowing her story. Like we talked about earlier, whitney kept getting after Lily, like why aren't you decorating the tree for the Festival of Trees?

Amy:

You know yours is the only one not decorated. We got to get it done. And then you know you don't always know the reasons behind things. And then you know Whitney doesn't know that Lily's Lily's dad has passed away and that was their favorite thing to do is to decorate and so it's been hard for her to decorate. She hasn't. You know she wants to, but it's been difficult. So, and then Whitney's kind of like. You know, sometimes I always just see what's on the outside and I don't stop and think.

Amy:

And I think that's true for a lot of people. I mean, I'm guilty of it. Yeah, that was a thing Sometimes. Yeah.

Garry:

But prior to that scene, two kids had you know accidentally trashed her display Right.

Amy:

Whitney's display.

Garry:

And so she was mad and she went running off. And that's when lily and sean show up, not knowing that, because sean was there thinking that lily needed some help with something else, but mckenzie had texted him to say hey, you know, meet me here oh right right and so yes they got together and redid Whitney's display. And they kind of combined her dad's theme of astronomy and stuff Science and all that, and I thought that was very cool.

Amy:

And then Frank.

Garry:

he brings Whitney back in and she's Frank the neighbor or whatever, and she's all delighted yeah. And that's when she finds Frank, tells her about Lily's dad.

Amy:

Lily's dad passing away. And then she's like oh crap, you know I've been mean and I shouldn't have been. Not mean, but sort of persistent Right With her. And then the last scene for me would be when Lily and Sean dance towards the end and Sean lets her know that he knows that she threw the rapping contest yes you know, and she's kind of like no, I didn't, yeah. So I thought that that was kind of cute it's also.

Amy:

And then, oh, I'm sorry, no, no, I was gonna say, and then the final shot of the two of them dancing through the camcorder like it looks like.

Garry:

Oh, you know old timey, yeah, yeah, old timey, like the nineties. Yeah.

Amy:

Not super old timey, but yeah, so I like that. What about you? Any other scenes?

Garry:

Yeah, my last one was I kind of liked how, when Lily went to his office and he went to the cocktail party, they kind of had a misunderstanding because Lily thought Sean was married because she had seen him at the burger joint with a woman and a child.

Garry:

And then again, when he was leaving the store, she ran out to tell him you know, are you married? Or ask him if he was married. And she saw him again with the woman and the boy. But what was funny is when Lily got to the office Bill had told her oh, you must be the missus that he brags about. So Bill gets Sean confused with Shane all the time. Who's another employee there? So that's why Lily thought he was married.

Amy:

Right, because Bill thinks he's talking to Shane's wife Right. And it's really Sean's well not girlfriend yet, but you're right, Right, You're right. He's thinking of the wrong guy.

Garry:

And then Sean goes into, walks into the cocktail party and over here is two girls talking about how lucky Lily is to be with Owen the realtor. So they both had a misunderstanding.

Amy:

Right, they both thought the other thought the other was with someone else and yeah yeah, so yeah, did you have any cheers? All right. So my cheer would be the messaging and we've talked about it a little bit. You know, pay attention to the signs and that was kind of lily's thing and you know, and the other girls kind of make fun of her a little bit for it. You know they're like pay attention to the signs and you know.

Amy:

So they kind of give her a hard time. Everything happens, but happens by fate, you know, right, um, and so I just think that. So we have lily. Who who does pay attention to the signs, like they're there when she goes on the first date with Owen, and she's sitting there and there's a framed article of Sean in the bar and up on the wall, and then the waiter's name is Sean right Cause she's she's just met with Sean, right, but she's going on this date with Owen.

Amy:

And then, when she offers to pay for half of the meal, sean's card is on her wallet. And I keep going back to Serendipity, like when we watch that movie. You see one of the characters who John Cusack plays. He's getting married, but he's thinking about this other woman, right, and he goes to get his hair cut and the woman who's cutting his hair is named Sarah, and that's the name of the woman he's thinking about. And then he's, you know, trying to go somewhere in traffic and there's a guy singing a song with Sarah in it.

Garry:

Sarah, I don't even know if that's the name of the song. Well, you know something like that, yeah.

Amy:

So I just you know. So we get that throughout the whole movie she's looking for signs to kind of guide her and the guide her along the way. And then you realize it ties in later to when she's watching the christmas videos of her and her dad and her dad says something like you know, just like life, we have to listen to our hearts and follow the signs around. And she's like if we follow the signs we'll always find our way. And he says that's right. So then you realize that's why she is so in tune with signs and everything because it was sort of a lesson that her dad taught her.

Garry:

Yeah.

Amy:

So I thought that that was so that would be my biggest cheer.

Garry:

Yeah.

Amy:

Really for it.

Garry:

What about you? Mine was when she was watching her videos. Same reason, because I almost felt like she was just having a conversation with them yeah and getting advice, and he would tell her about the signs yeah, the astronauts and how they follow the stars and you know. But yeah, that that was my uh, cheer, cheer your biggest cheer.

Amy:

Any jeers from you? Yes, yes, that first date with owen.

Amy:

Come on, man, I just felt like you know, don't let, don't keep somebody waiting like that oh, because he was late and he was all about himself yeah, pulling out cash and everything I just and he was more concerned about how they looked together, right like they were a good looking couple, and I think at one point too, she says something like well, did you, didn't you ask about me? Yeah and he's like no, my cousin just showed me your picture and said you own a store and that was good enough for me.

Garry:

Yeah, you know, and it's like okay and the fact that he crashed her party when she told him not to come the cocktail party oh yes, I thought.

Amy:

I thought that was a crappy move, yeah.

Garry:

So what about you?

Amy:

Really the biggest year for me was that I didn't feel like the chemistry between Lily and Sean got there totally by the end.

Garry:

Right, I mean, I think it grew over the time.

Amy:

There was just some sort of miss there for me and I said that for me as Prince for that movie also. I mean I think the story was there and I get where they were going, but there's just that and the part about the fate and the destiny. I really liked. So it worked mostly. But I just was kind of disappointed that I didn't feel like there was really fire in that chemistry, right. I just didn't, I didn't feel it. So that would be that, that's my. I only had one year.

Garry:

OK, what about? Did you have more? That's all I had, that's all you had, that was it. So what was your tinsel top moment then?

Amy:

My tinsel top moment would be when we see the video of her dad saying the thing about following. You know, listen to the heart and follow the signs. Yeah, I thought that kind of brought everything together. And you finally realize why. You know she is so tuned into the signs, like we just mentioned. So that would be, that would be the tinsel top moment for me. What?

Garry:

about you? What about your tinsel top moment? The fact that she let Whitney win the fast rapping contest.

Amy:

Oh yes, yes, that was kind of cool yeah.

Garry:

Because for three years Whitney had couldn't second Whitney's been trying, she's been trying.

Amy:

It's what fastest rap? Yeah, I think it's fastest rap.

Garry:

Is that what it is?

Amy:

Yeah she gets the fastest rap.

Garry:

I also like the video. You know scenes with her dad.

Amy:

Yeah, I thought that that was pretty cool, like nostalgia and all that jazz. So out of five ornaments, how many would you hang on the tree?

Garry:

I'm going to give this one a four.

Amy:

You're going to give it a four.

Garry:

Yeah.

Amy:

I'm going to go 3.75. Okay, so I'm going to hang an ornament and then three quarters. I don't know how we're going to do that, but we're going to make it work.

Garry:

That's fine.

Amy:

Without breaking it. So there you go.

Garry:

Is that a wrap?

Amy:

That is a wrap.

Garry:

Well, thanks for tuning in. Follow the podcast wherever you listen so you don't miss one. Also, follow us on social media If you really really liked the show. We would really really appreciate your positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And if you didn't really really like the show, we'd still appreciate your positive review. We would really appreciate it.

Amy:

Yes, be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media, so you don't miss a thing. Until then, fill up your glasses and push play. Thanks for listening, cheers.