Hallmark's A Season To Blossom

On this episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry and Amy kick things off with a splash of Hallmark news before settling into their review of A Season to Blossom. The film follows Elise (Emily Tennant), an aspiring writer who returns from Chicago to Driftless to sell her late grandmother’s bookstore. There, she reconnects with her childhood friend Max (Carlo Marks), whose life is deeply rooted in the local apple orchard and cider business. Garry and Amy chat about the leads’ chemistry, the cozy charm of small town life, and why this story is a perfect example of the classic Hallmark formula done right. They also highlight a few standout moments, including scenes with Clover the cat and a kiss that almost happens. If you’re drawn to quaint bookstores, apple orchard backdrops, and heartwarming romance, A Season to Blossom is for you! Grab your favorite drink, get comfortable, and tune in!

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to Poor The Wine It's Rom cum Time, where we'll sip some wine and review all things rom cum on the Hallmark channel. I'm Amy.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

And did I say Hallmock?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

You might have.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

I might have. I haven't had any sips of wine yet.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

The Hallmark channeled. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Well, we do have a little bit of news to share since the last time we chatted. Little Hallmark news. See how I said it right now. A trailer, uh, a preview trailer was released for Kentucky Roses. And of course, that is the movie that is going to be dropping in May. It's Hallmark's collab with the Kentucky Derby, and it stars Andrew Walker and um Odette Annabelle. And it is going to air the same day as the actual Kentucky Derby.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Isn't that crazy? I wonder how they planned that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Yeah. Oh, I wonder. I wonder. Coincidence or not?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Andrew Walker look pretty slick in this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

He does. He does. The the pictures that we've seen and in the preview. He looks looking pretty, pretty good there, Andrew Walker. What'd you say to me earlier, Dapper?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Dappa.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Dappa. Dapper. That is set to air on Saturday, May 2nd as part of May for Moms. And then we also saw that Homework um did a press release of another May movie, which is going to be All's Fair and In Love and Majong. Majong. Hopefully I pronounced that correctly. I'm not really sure. And that one is going to star Fiona Goobelman, Paul Campbell, Tamara, Maury Housley, Crystal Lowe, and Melissa Peterman.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Man.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Big list.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

That's an all-star cast right there. It is set to air Saturday, May 9th. And um, have you ever played that?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

No. No. But I know you did one time.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

No, I did once. I've one time. I ordered the card. There's a card you have to order. I guess every year. I don't really know that much about the game, but I went with a group of friends and actually we were supposed to play, but then something happened, not between the group of us friends, but just something happened with one and and then it kind of dissipated because we can never record our schedules after and whatnot. But anyhoot, I played the one time, we were there all day, and you know, it was learning the game, and it reminded me. Now I know this game is I don't know when it originated, but it's been around right for a long time. And um it reminded me so much of phase 10. If you've ever played the card game phase 10, I believe you could play Majong and pick it up pretty quickly. Just my opinion. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

You know what? I have to watch goo uh YouTube and see if I could get get some instructions on how to play it.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yeah, yeah. I don't think you can just play with two people, but I can just watch it. Maybe there's a way you can do it with just two. Maybe we can join a group.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

And start playing it before the movie airs. Well, that would be pretty soon, but yeah. We have lofty goals. Maybe after we watch it, we'll want to join a group and play.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Just to get an understanding.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Yes, yes. Now there have been quite a few Christmas movie peaks behind the scene, behind the scenes peak at the Christmas movies. Tyler Hines has posted some stuff. Wes Brown, Autumn Breezer, Victor Webster. I think Barbara Niven, she's been traveling a little bit and just finished filming one. So it's so exciting to see that already. I know.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

It's this year's been going by so fast. It's gonna be Christmas in July soon.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

I know. I wonder if any of them will air in Christmas in July.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Oh, that's a good question. I guess we'll have to stay tuned.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

I would presume those bigger named ones would be in for new for Countdown to Christmas, but I don't know for sure. We'll have to we'll have to do it, I'll have to do a little more research on that and find out. But and then we also had Lacey Shabert, I believe might have been the first one to post it on her Instagram, but it is the move the movie poster for Hallmark's collab with Walt Disney World Holiday Ever After a Disney World wish come true. And the poster is so cute, it's so cute.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

You think they're gonna be on any rides? That'd be interesting. No, no, I'm gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

I bet Disney will probably, I would imagine they would hype it up down there. Yeah. Maybe we need to go during the holidays and see. And of course, her co-star during that one is going to be Travis Winkle. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it's pretty exciting. I was pretty excited to see the Christmas stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I know.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

It's exciting. It's exciting. It's right around the corner.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Well, we still have our lights on now, so oh well.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

That's an admission I didn't think you would say.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

I'm gonna say on the podcast. We do, but we don't need to take them down yet.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

We don't turn them on. But to be fair, you know, there have been some back issues, and we had some scheduling issues with the person who normally puts up and takes down our lights, and so they're just there.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, you know, we could technically plug them. We're almost halfway there, might as well leave them on, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Well, a lot of people have those permanent lights anyway.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

I know. So it wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

They just changed the color for the season. I mean, this would just be red and green year round or whatever. There's other colors in there, right? Yeah, but it's so it would, I mean, it would, you know, we could make it work for Easter and for, you know, Memorial Day, I guess. I don't know. There's random. July 4th. Oh, yeah. Or purple. Yeah. Yeah, we gotta get those down. We gotta get those down. Oh, you called us out. You called us out. Yeah, they're still up. They're definitely still up. They're the only thing that's still up. Other than we have one thing that we keep up. You know, two things we keep up.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

So don't even try. Don't even try.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

All right, should we get to it?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

All right. So today we're going to be reviewing the third Spring into Love movie of 2026, A Season to Blossom. It originally aired on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday, April 4th, 2026. It stars, of course, Emily Tennant and Carlo Marks. They are paired up in this one, and what a great pairing it ended up being. Spoiler alert. Uh, you know, of course, we really loved her in the wish, the wish swap. Say that 10 times in a row. And she was just in, we just saw her in Countdown to Christmases of 2025, Christmas Above the Clouds, where she played Aaron Krako's assistant, which she was good in that one too. I know. And we really liked we really um enjoyed the movie Holiday Hotline also. That's another one of our favorites that she is in.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

I know. She's got some good ones.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Yeah, yeah. And you know, when I was looking at her IMDb, and you know, when we started out, we talked a lot about other works that they did, but now we're pretty focused on Hallmark work. Um, but I did see that she voiced a character, the character Anna, for two episodes in the Mistletoe Murders podcast.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

So there's sort of a hallmarky connection there. Yeah, right. But she was on the actual podcast. I thought that was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

That is cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

And Carlo, we know him from his role as David on Chesapeake Shores, which is a TV series that we really thoroughly enjoyed. He, of course, has been in several Hallmark movies: Scouting for Christmas, The Blessing Bracelet, which I believe was a springtime movie. And he was also in the Wedding Veil inspiration movie. Oh, wow. Yeah. Other cast members in A Season to Blossom include Laura Soltis as Winnie. We've seen her a lot lately.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Ah, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

She was in the Hannah Swenson, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Um, not the latest one, but the one prior to that A Pie to Die For. And then she was also just in Nellie Know's Mysteries, All Manners of Murder.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Great actress.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Great.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah. Oh gosh. And who she reminds me so much. I have to say this or I have to get it out of Jacqueline Smith. I sound like it. She sounds like her. She even looks like her a little bit. And for those of you that don't know, Jacqueline Smith, one of the Charlie's Angels. Charlie. The OG Charlie's Angels. And she was in, you know, lifetime movie. I mean, just you know, she's an actress that has been around forever. And uh yeah, but Laura just reminds me of her.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

She does. So we were sitting there talking about it when we were watching the movie.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

It's like, yeah, I'm like, and what did you say? If I closed my eyes, yeah, and just listened, you think it might be. So anyway, that's just a sidebar. Umia Thyngy, not sure if I mispronounced it. I'm so sorry. She plays Molly in this one. She is the um what the worker in the bookstore, or she's an employee at the bookstore. Mark Humphrey plays Earl. That is um Carlo's dad.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Carlo. Um, why is his name escaping me for this one?

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Earl.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

No, no, no, no. Carlo. What's what character does he play in this? I didn't say that.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, hold on a minute. Let me let me switch up.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Oh my gosh. I am like, she plays Elise.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yes, and he plays and he plays Max.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Thank you. Gosh, I had a total like brain. Oh my goodness. I did too. I'm sorry. I didn't know. Maybe I should start drinking the wine to help me out today. I'm having a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

I'm thirsty. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Okay, I'm so sorry. Mark Humphrey is Earl, and Earl is Max's dad in this movie.

unknown 10:01

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

And he is known for playing Frank Hogan in Win Calls the Heart, and we are not that far yet. We have not seen him yet.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

No, we have not.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

We are on season one, episode six of When Calls the Heart. So we I don't know when he comes in, but I think it's it's after that.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

That's okay. We'll get to it. Yeah. All right. Terry Ingram is the director on this film. He has an extensive resume with Hallmark. Just a few are the Wiseman movies, which are great. If you haven't seen them, go Benjam. Journey to You, My Argentina Heart, Argentina Heart, The Wedding Veil movies, Winter and Veil, The Real West, and The Wedding Cottage.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Just to name a few.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

He is Yeah, he's really good.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

I think he's done over 50 movies now directing for Hallmark.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Man, busy, busy, busy.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

I mean, how many does Hallmark do in a year? You know?

SPEAKER_02 10:55

I don't know. It's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

If you're on a lot of those, whoo, you'd be traveling around. Jennifer Wolfgram is the writer. This is her first Hallmark debut. A horror movie.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Jennifer. Yay! Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

She has one other writing credit, 2020's Vegas High. This was supposed to be a series on HBO, but they ended up not picking up the pilot. Right. You hate when that happens.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yeah. And you know, I have to mention here that we did listen to the Hallmarkeys podcast. Rachel from the Hallmarkeys podcast did interview Jennifer and is a really good interview. Go listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Jennifer is great. Maybe sometime we'll get the chance to chat with her. But she, you know, really talks about the characters, the writing experience, her um, you know, how the how this movie sort of mirrors her life, right? Because yeah, yeah. So, and I won't give away too many details about it because you really should go and listen to it. But it is just, it's a really great interview with her and her just excitement for this movie, for the genre, you know, for the tropes in this movie. It it's just a really, really good interview. I mean, you listen to it too. What did you think?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Um, yeah, I thought it was really good. And and it's interesting because I'm pretty sure a lot of these writers are kind of, you know, sprinkling in themselves their experiences throughout their lives.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

And um but uh yeah, it was a good interview. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

So go listen to it, the Hallmarkeys podcast. Go check it out.

unknown 12:31

All right.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Well, let's go ahead and drop the synopsis.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

All righty. An aspiring writer takes over her late grandmother's bookstore and finds love.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Love.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Shockingly. I know, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:46

And this is a part of the podcast where if you haven't seen the movie already, turn us off. Go watch and come back because we'll probably drop some spoilers, and we don't want you to uh accidentally hear something that you don't want to hear. Because I know sometimes when we're waiting for a season uh finale, we try to watch it as it airs because there's so much stuff going on social media. You like if you don't watch it that night, you don't look at your phone.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Well, some people will just post stuff and not even give you a warning. So at least we're like, hey, we're gonna talk about it. I mean, this isn't like a mystery where we're giving away, you know, who the murderer was. Right, right. So but we will, you know, we do talk about our favorite scenes and things, so all right.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

So what did you think about a season two?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Oh gosh, you know, we did an April preview where we talked about all the movies that were coming up, and this is one of the ones that I thought we, you know, that I thought we would enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Looking forward to it?

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Right. We were looking forward to it. And I mean, we're looking forward to all of them, but there are some we thought we would enjoy more than others. Right. And this was one that we thought we would enjoy, but I actually really enjoyed it much more than I thought. I mean, I thought we would enjoy it, but it was actually, you know, it's a classic Hallmark formula, right? It's got the tropes and everything, no doubt. But it just really worked. It really, really worked. And Emily and Carlo paired together so well. They had such great chemistry, and they just were able to bring this, you know, and of course, with the director and and the whole production crew, this beautifully written story to life in just such a fun and heartfelt way, even though you did have those tropes sprinkled in there, it totally worked for me.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yeah. What about you? I agree. And you know, every uh every Hallmark movie has tropes. I mean, how long has Hallmark been around? Come on.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

We are not doing movies for the Oscars, okay? Let's get that.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Well, they're tropes for a reason. Well, I mean, well, first of all, it's TV, it's not gonna be the Oscar.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Well, when you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Unless it was a well, I guess it could be a movie.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

I guess they are giving you like I just feel like, you know, you have to be careful because I mean they average what three-week shoots, right? Yeah, it's not a big budget, at least not all of them are big budgets. So, yeah, you're gonna have those tropes that you're like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Yeah. And and I don't want people to think the acting isn't good either. I mean, we have some really good actors on the market.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

All around, even with the supporting cast, was good. Yeah, that's I really enjoyed it. But yeah, I mean, I love the small town vibe. Of course, you got the city girl coming to the small town.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Yes, you do have that. It's stereotypical, and it's an apple orchard. Yes. Which I will I have to throw in there that um one of the questions that Rachel does ask Jennifer was was this first originally a fall? Right. You know, a fall story. Right. And, you know, and it's so cute because Jennifer's like, yes, of course it was. Because I mean, when you think apple orchards and everything, you generally think the fall, even though they do they do um well sort of blossom in in the spring, but you do you do think of the fall and going apple picking in the fall, but and you know, and Jennifer basically was like, you know, Hallmark said they they had a slot to fill, they needed something, and when Hallmark asks, that's what you do, you know. So I thought it was cute. I thought it was cute.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

That was that was cute. You know, and I love the chemistry between uh Max and Elise and also his dad and um Winnie Winnie. Winnie, yes, they had great chemistry. Um I thought Molly and and I'm glad they had her sprinkled in. And and it wasn't like here and there, she was in it almost in every every single Molly.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah, yeah, and she was what did we say? She she was in Jingle Bell. Jingle Bell Run, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Right, she's yeah, she was partnered up with uh I can't remember her name, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and they were I think one of they were third. They they came in.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

They came in third, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Um, and the bookstore, I mean, how beautiful was that bookstore.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

It was just it well, it was cute, man.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

And connected to uh her grandmother's house, which I thought was was a was a uh a good twist on that. So overall, I mean, I I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

So there you go. So you want to get into some favorite scenes?

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Yeah, we can get into some favorite scenes. Um, it takes, should we talk a little bit about what it's about?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you do this one.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Elise's well, I don't know how good of it. I don't have any notes for this particular part, just expanding on the synopsis. But Elise is at this job in the city, Chicago, go cut. You're um and she's she's temping, but you know, and they offer her a position, a full-time position, but she wants to take a break because she needs to go and take care of the sale of her grandmother's bookstore.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

And so she um traipses to driftless, right? And actually, I did look up Driftless because I was like, is that a real city? Is that a real Midwest? Because I didn't know now I grew up in Chicago and I'm like, I haven't heard of Driftless, but it's not a city, but it's it represents an area of the Midwest where the glaciers didn't drift. And the areas are in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. Wow specific parts of those three. I thought that was really cool. I was like, okay, maybe that maybe that was intentional, maybe not. I don't know. Um, yeah. So, but I think Jennifer did didn't she say she grew up in Minnesota, maybe?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

So in that, yeah, Midwesty. Um, so Elise, right? Did I get that right? Yep, Elise. The character name because I was so duh earlier. Um, Elise heads back to Driftless to the bookstore. You know, she's she's getting ready to sell it. And so, and of course, then she runs into Max, who she knew as a child when she would go and visit her grandmother. And that's basically the gist. And then you throw in a uh, you know, a festival, an apple orchard, and you have all kinds of things happening. There's a second love story that happens, which I really love that we're getting also, you know, of a couple who's maybe you know, in the you know, in the second chapter of their life, and you know, so um yeah, so there you go.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

In a nutshell.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

All right. So do you want to talk uh do you do you think it was a meet cute or they kind of already knew each other?

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Yeah, I should say also that Elise is someone who kind of who it it's interesting that the town is named Driftless also because Elise is known for drifting from job to job. She moves from city to city, she and it kind of you know, and they made it sound like that's how her parents were, and she's trying to find her grounding but hasn't quite found it yet.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

And Max is, you know, he works on his the on the or in the orchard, I guess, harvesting apples, and he's making ciders for his That's his cider as part of their orchard farm. And I kept wanting to say vineyard, by the way. I don't know why. Because of mine. Maybe, maybe. So you were saying the meat cute, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, I mean, they already knew each other, right? So as far as a meat cute, I mean it's a re-meat cute. It's a re-meat cute, and it it was cute, you know, bees flying around and like me, because you know me, I can't stand something's buzzing near me. Yes, I either scream.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

We have some fun videos of that.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Or I look like I'm spazzing out because I just I can't. But you, you just sit there and you just kind of do like this.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

You're like, Well, haven't you heard if you like freak out around bees, they it makes them, you know, it makes it worse.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Aggressive. I know, but I can't stand it because I I a sidebar real quick. I remember driving down the road one time and I had my windows down, and this is why I don't drive with my windows down anymore. And it a bee flew in and it stung me. So and if you want to see, if you want an image, it's me screaming I've seen it. What do you mean if I've run in being it? Stung by a bee. So well, that's a little different.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

You can't get out, you can't, you know. I know I know.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

But and then she turns around and kind of accidentally as she's trying to, you know, swipe at the bee, her drink or the cider that she got before she went inside the store. Um, she spilled on him. So that was the remi cute.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

What'd you think?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

I mean, I I thought it worked for that moment. It was a you know it was a Little bit stereotypical-ish, you know, in the in the way it was acted out and the way it was. But um, I I enjoyed it, you know. I the only thing I thought was a little off was he was Max the way he reacted in that moment. Of course, I mean he had the drink spilled on him, and maybe it was annoyance from that, but he was sort of like, you know, we can't all run off and disappear.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

But it was like, I I felt like he was angry. His angry um reaction was felt out of place. Right. Because I mean, we don't know it yet, but you know, they they didn't really she had a crush on him, but they didn't date and she only went there in the summers.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

So it wasn't like she grew up there with him and then she just left. And you know, I I don't know. So and then and then he asked her what she thinks of the cider, and she's like, it's fine. And he's like, fine. Fine. You know, I thought that was kind of but his his little anger and annoyance just sort of seemed out of place in that scene.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Yeah, because that would be the what are you doing here?

SPEAKER_02 23:03

So I thought it was, yeah. It yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Like you didn't know the bookstore was being sold. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

It was uh, yeah, it was a little, it was a little odd.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah, yeah, it was anyway.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

But that's just you know. All right, so let's get into some favorite scenes. Um, let's talk about, let's narrow it down to two or three favorite scenes. What's one that you want to talk about first?

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Okay, I had to talk about, and this is only because we started planting, planting plants. Yes, yes, and that that whole scene where she's planting these uh flowers outside of her bookstore, and and Max comes up with some, he's got two potted plants, right? They're pretty big. And he shows up and she's like, I told you I could do this myself. And he said, Well, I saw you got some um, what do you call them, fillers, but you didn't grab any thrillers or spillas. And she's like, What? And he's like, he's like, thrillers are tall and in the back, spillers are in the on the dance, fill in the dance floor, and the fillers are anywhere and tie it all together or everywhere and tie it all together. And I just thought that scene was so it was so cute.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

And you know what's funny about that is I'd never heard those expressions about plants. Never, never. Now, I do not have a green thumb. I just don't. You more you're planting like the herbs and the vegetables. You're pretty good, yeah. I mean, not pretty good, but I mean you're good at that. And you, you know, I don't have a green thumb, so we don't have a lot of you know, flower. I would like to, but I just didn't inherit that. Like when she says I didn't inherit my grandma's green thumb, I'm like, that's me. Yeah, that's me. My grandma lived on a farm, she cooked really well. She grew, I mean, she had her own, she had a huge garden, you know, like you know, green beans, strawberries, corn, carrots, um, I think maybe radishes. And I mean, she just had there, she had berry bushes outlining her yard. It was the whole, I have none of that in me, you know. So I did not inherit that unfortunately. Um, I wish I did. And like you said, we just we we planted, we're planters now. I keep joking, saying we're gardeners.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Because we did buy some plants for some plant. We're gonna see if we can keep them alive. Not sure how that's gonna go, but I'm excited about it. And today I saw on one of the home shopping channels, they were talking about plants and they talked about spillers and fillers. I almost fell out of my chair.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Literally, I'm wondering, I wonder if they just watched the movie too.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

They probably did. No, it's a thing. They were having a gardening segment, and I was like, oh my gosh, I never heard that. Now I'm gonna hear it fillers every time I turn on the TV. But yes, I agree. That was a great scene.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

All right, so what's another what's one for you?

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Um, I'll talk about, I just want to mention real quickly at the beginning, it's not a shot. I love that we didn't get a shot of the city, but rather a book. And the beginning kind of goes, you know, um, you know, it's a book, and first we see the words, and and I love so it's kind of like my favorite scenes where where they showed the words in the book and they all related to planting and growing and blossoming, right? So you see those, they're sprinkled throughout the movie, and they're of course associated with what's going on. So, like the first one is bare branches, right? Right. And then you get a shot of Max in the orchard before the um branches have blossomed.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Right. So I just I love that, I love the weaving of that throughout the story. I thought that was really great. Cause typically you get a picture, you know, it's a picture of the boat they're gonna get on and the scenery in the back, or you know, the city, which I mean I don't mind, but usually that's what it is. And I thought that it was great that it was a different take this time, even though there's a lot of tropes in this movie, that was a different way to start the film. So my favorite scenes were kind of was the beginning and then how they interspersed, they would intersperse the words in in the book throughout the movie, which I thought was great.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Yeah, I I too thought that was really cool. And I kind of want to talk about that at the end because I kind of, you know, they're kind of like chapters for for the movie or book or whatever. But um, and I just want to kind of uh point out a couple things for each one of those that that they displayed on the screen. But uh Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Then uh do you want me to talk quickly about my other favorite scenes before you get to that? Or what do you want to do? No, go ahead. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

I said at the end. Come on then.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

At the oh, you want to do it at the end. I'm sorry. Um okay, okay, at the end. I wasn't sure if you wanted to throw that in now. But so I really liked there were some scenes, like I really loved just some of the moments, like the and they involve some of my favorite scenes, but you know, the rain scene where they're running through the rain. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

And that was cute.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Right, right. And she's trying to help him come up with ideas and for his pitch for his cider, right? He's about to go do a pitch to a big company or whatever. And and it just, it was just really it's just real life, right? You're running through the rain, he ends the they end up, you know. I don't know if they're drenched in that scene. There's another scene where he ends up drenched, but right. I just thought it was cute. And, you know, they go for coffee, and um, you know, she that's where she's saying she may not stay long, right? But you know, she's kind of helping him right away. And then, you know, and then another moment would be the tire swing. I thought that was really great. That's just so reminiscent of, you know, childhood and getting on a swing and and him. I I just thought it was really, I thought it was really cute. I thought those those particular moments just really worked well in the film to move the story along. I I thought those were great. And then um, I'll go into one more and then um just because those were moments, but she's trying his cider samples and she's you know, he's trying to come up with he wants her to give her feedback, and they're trying to come up with a name, and she kind of, you know, she's like one is tart but settles makes you want to go back for more, like an ex you go back to. And I I thought that scene worked really, really well also because they are talking, and you know, that's when we find out there's been a book that shows up throughout the film, and um, it's that same scene where we find out that the book was written by someone she started with. They were writing at the same time, they both had the same dreams, and you know, she's basically writing buddies, yeah. Yeah, it it's hard when you're chasing your dream, but your life takes you one way, but someone else's goes the route you really wanted to go.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

And I thought it was so great that they didn't make her jealous or envious or mad about it, you know, because you are kind of like, ugh, it is kind of a bummer. Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

When someone else gets what you wanted and you're trying to figure out, well, I you understand that your life took you a certain way and you couldn't help it, but you also still want that dream and think, man, if I had just, you know, if I had stayed on that path, that's where I would be. So I thought that was just a really great scene and discussion about Tessa, I think her name was the writer. Her friend, yes, the other author of the book.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

So what about you? Any other favorite scenes?

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Well, all the scenes with Clover.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

I thought Oh, yeah, the cat, Clover the cat.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

I thought the meaning behind that was for to give her or Elise some confidence, kind of remind her of her grandmother.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Um, because her grandma, her grandmother was the one who, you know, brought the cat in, fed it because it was a stray cat. And I just thought it was pretty cool how you know, when she needed that kind of anchor, the cat was in the scene. So that was another one of my favorites. And my last one will be well, let's talk about the the miss the near kiss, right? Oh, yes. And what was during, I think.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

I've got that as a favorite scene. Yeah, this is good. This will be my last favorite scene.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

They were do they were doing the tasting, I think, is when it happens, and they kind of she's No, they're they're in front of the fireplace.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Is that what you're remember? They have the okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Well, then you explain it because I I I I don't know why I'm thinking they were at the tasting place.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

They did the blind date books.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

That was in front of the fireplace, remember? And she opens the books.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

You can no, and the they were kind of just talking, and it you kind of felt like it was it was building up for that kiss. And they both started going in, and she was ready, and then he kind of moves his head and goes in for a hug. Yes. That was like, whoa. I mean, that that one got me. That was a good psych, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Because you thought they were really gonna be. I really thought that was gonna be the first kiss. I thought it was a little early in the film, so I was like, but I didn't expect him. Yeah, it was just kind of like that's where you're kind of protecting yourself. You're like, I kind of am crushing on her, but does she like me? Does she not? So he keeps it at that level, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Yeah, yeah. But that's that was my other favorite scene. There, they're just sitting in front of the fireplace having, you know, just a nice discussion. They have a drink, um, and they make a bet on when the the the buds will sprout or blossom. And if she wins, he has to name a cider after her. If he wins, she has to commit to writing five pages.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Right. And then um, that's when she comes with the that's when she's like, every flavor needs a story, and you know, so which was another almost kiss happens at the end of that. Yeah. I had that also. So so we're good. Cool. All right all right. So let's go on to cheer. So cheers and jeers. What would be your biggest cheer or some of your biggest cheers? Um, just for a season to blossom.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Well, you know, just the small town vibe, the the community coming together. Um, they do have a big storm that kind of wipes stuff out, and but they still come together and they still have the festival. Um, it's very inspirational. I love the Easter eggs um that our grandmother kind of, you know, left around in the bookstore. I thought that was a pretty cool touch to uh to the movie. And um I just, you know, just the just the chapters too, which I'll talk a little bit here in a moment. What about you? What about a cheer?

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Uh just what I talked about at the beginning, it's you know, sort of the classic Hallmark formula done right. You know, when it's done well, it totally works. And I think between the writing, the directing, the casting, you know, this is a rom com that was just, you know, truly enjoyable from start to finish. And I just, you know, I I I think it everything everything clicked and it worked really well. So I mean, that's a cheer for me.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

You know, we we saw all the things that you think of like, oh, they're gonna do this, or oh, they're gonna do that, or but it, but it really worked the way they, you know basically put the story together that was that was written.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

So and yeah, that's off to Jennifer Wolfgram for her debut in Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

She did really well. I hope I'm hoping we see more from her in the Hallmark space, or you know, she um she could go wherever she wants, I guess, but you know some collaboration with but if this is her, yeah, if she's found her niche, then um I I think she's off to a really, really great start.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Really great start.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

All right. What about some jeers? Did you have any jeers?

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Well, I had a few more cheers. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't you want to talk about okay. Um, I love that we get a one-year peek later. Yeah. I always like it when they do that because you kind of want to see where they are, what's happening, or what's going on. I thought Emily Tennant's wardrobe was really cute. It was. I I thought it was so cute throughout the entire movie. So, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah, I'd like that green skirt and that sweater. It was uh that was really cute.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Yeah, yeah. And we got the second um love story. Yeah. You know, the between Winnie and Earl, and I thought I thought that was great as well because you know, it happens after you're of a certain age or when you're of a certain age, and you know, you may not be looking for it or thinking about it, but then it it does happen. So I I thought that that the way that was, you know, I guess woven into the rest of the storyline worked really well also because it's real life. You know, you have all these different things going on, and you have Molly, the employee, she's got her own baking thing going on. And you realize she's, you know, she doesn't want to, you know, work in a bookstore forever. Not there's anything wrong with that, but that's not her dream, right? Right. She enjoys working there, she really loves it, but she also has this passion for baking and she's really good at it. And you know, and I like that um at least uh you know, um I can't think of the right word, promotes it or encourages it. She encourages it and supports her, yes, thank you. So yeah. So those have been those are brown out.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

I loved I loved Earl's uh poem.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Yeah, his poem that he did. Yeah, oh my god, that was a chance to do it.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Yeah, when they had the poetry night and uh but yeah, I also loved the uh the one year later because you got to see that she did, you know, make it so um what about jeers? Did you have any jeers?

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Um just what I mentioned at the top about the meat cute. I I thought that that, you know, I just I didn't understand his outright anger at first unless he was just feeling that frustration from getting splashed and he was like, Why are you here? you know, kind of thing. I don't, I don't know. I just thought it was like a little out of place. Yeah. And then, you know, they had this big event in the festival, and then at the same time he's trying to make this cider. And I I felt like we never really, and I, you know, the point I know was the characters and the character growth and the romance and all of that, but I felt like there wasn't really a focus on either one. So it was a little bit like, is there a festival? What is it like? I mean, maybe I was too invested in what it was supposed to be. I don't know. But yeah, but other than that, no, I mean, those are just minor things though for me. What about you? Did you have any tears?

SPEAKER_00 37:45

I just had one, and that was the double kiss at the end. I don't think they needed both. I think they should have gone with one or the other, and I would have been happy.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Well, yeah, and I think it's not that like the the kiss in the orchard is beautiful, right? And I would I mean it's a beautiful shot, but it it's like, you know, we just had this other movie. There were two things that sort of happened back to back, and you felt like they did the same thing but again.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

And yeah, it was just a little too close together, maybe for us.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Although they both worked they were literally like 30, 40 seconds.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so it just seemed a little Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Like a last minute thing.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

I mean, it's probably about you know the kiss at the end, but so and you know, I would like to say I I did hear Carlo Marx in an interview, he was asked about poetry and the and the reading and stuff. He did a press junk with some podcasters. And um, you could listen to that also, I believe, on the Hallmarkies podcast. But I listened to that and he he he said one of his favorite um uh poem or poets, I guess, is was Walt Whitman. And I was like, Oh, that's who I I have had for years on my personal Facebook page, right? You know, his quote that's um happiness not in another place, but this place, not for another hour, but this hour. That's from Walt Whitman. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I love Carlo. He didn't do that particular quote, but I was like, I've had that forever from Walt Whitman. So yeah. All right, did you want to talk about the all right? Well, let's get into real quick.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

I wanted to talk about the different chapters, and the first one was a bare branches, right? Which, you know, um I'm uh talk about this in her and Elise's character, which was loss. She, you know, she's disconnected from her writing, she's carrying grief from her grandmother and feels stuck and unsure of her purpose, right? And then you move into budding, which is hope, right? She starts reconnecting with the town, the bookstore, and herself. Inspiration, she begins to uh, you know, come back, even if it's a in small little spurts, relationships begin to, you know, she starts to be, you know, have feelings for Max.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Yeah, are these are were these chapters or just words that we saw?

SPEAKER_00 40:20

These were chapters. These were the words that were written on the book.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

Right, right, right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

And then it went into the scenes, and I'm just kind of putting them together with her emotions.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

With her emotions. So inspiration was the last. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

So and then you had the sprouting, which is action, and she's actively writing again, right? She reaches out to Tessa to get oh yeah, she does. And um she, you know, she's becoming emotional again and grounded and embracing both her past and her future. And then the blossoming transformation is she's now, you know, she's at pea, she's loving uh writing again, and then she's open to love with Max and her community. And then the one year later, which is fully bloomed, that's when she has her stability. She wrote her book, which Tessa provides the forward, and her relationship is now established with Max, and she now has a community. So that's what I looked at when um when they were showing those different chapters in the in the in the movies.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

How it related and and related to the storyline and what was going on. I mean, you could probably go through and do the same thing for Max.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Because he was sort of stuck too. He wanted to expand. He felt like because I think there's a point where he lee says something like, I'm sick of being stuck in the winter.

unknown 41:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

You know, because or in winter because she's a drifter and she, yeah. So that kind of and I think Max was sort of the same way because his dad wouldn't let him use the follow his own path. Right. He wanted to take the the orchard in a in a new direction. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Yeah. Step outside that box.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Yeah, no, that's that's great. I it that's why I said the writing was so good. It was a fresh, like she did definitely use all of these things that you know, and quite frankly, love.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

Um like you said, like about a Hallmark film. You know, I love a good festival. I love a good apple orchard, although vineyard would be my preference, you know. Because we are no, I love a good apple orchard. You know, the orchards, the festivals, the big city, you know, girl coming back to a small town, and you know, and I like that they didn't have her be the stereotypical, like she couldn't possibly be in a small town, like ew, the bugs or whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

So I agree.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Yeah. So I yeah, just overall good movie. So pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Out of five corks, how many are you given this one? Or five apples.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Or five apples out of out of apples.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

Five ciders.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Can we? We can we can make a hard cider, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Yes, we can.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Whenever we go to a brewery, I'm like, um, can I have the cider that tastes like wine, please? The one that's closest. Hard cider's good. Um I would give it a four and a half.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

Yep, that's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

I really, I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I mean, I really like both of the actors that were the leads in this. Right. I, you know, we already liked them and I thought I would enjoy it, but I I thought it was really, really well done.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

Me too.

unknown 43:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Trope. So you would give it four and a half also?

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Yep, I'm giving it four and a half.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

All right.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

All right. So is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_02 43:43

That's a wrap.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

All right. Well, the best way to support our podcast, if you watch us on YouTube, is to click that like button, subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any of our new material. And if you listen on Apple, you can give us a five star rating.

unknown 43:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Review and over on Spotify, give us a five star.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

We would really appreciate it. Or you can send us an email to pour the wine. It's romcomtime at gmail.com and let us know your thoughts on the Spring Into Love movies so far, or the upcoming County Christmas movies, or anything Hallmark related. We would love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Really would.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Make sure you follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media so you don't miss a thing. Until next time. Cheers.