People We Meet on Vacation (A Yearning-Free Adaptation)

We're going to be honest, we were not fans of Netflix's People We Meet on Vacation adaptation. This was not helped by us loving the book! But we're here to deep dive the movie and share all of our thoughts. 

Just a fair warning if you loved the movie, this episode may not be for you. 

Plus: 

• New Game Changers book, Unrivaled! 
• Wuthering Heights trailer reactions
• Recent Reads: The Favorites by Layne Fargo, leave the ruins where they fall by sharpa, and Question of the Day by wilmonstan12345

Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at @readirectpodcast, shoot us an email at thereadirectpodcast@gmail.com, and leave us a five-star review if you love the show! Plus, follow Emily everywhere at @emilyrojasreads and Abigail on TikTok at @fabigail11. 

Transcript

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Cold Open And Theme Setup

Abigail 0:00

Also, for some reason in the background of the scene, they're playing cool about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

It was so jarring. Who's playing cool about it? You are all the DJ. We are out of line.

Abigail 0:15

Oh, if you're going through a breakup or something and you're at a rehearsal dinner, you're already depressed because you're at a wedding. And then they start playing cool about the water. It really genuinely feels like they were like, all right, what are some like Chat GPT? What's the sound song? No, literally. That people like. It was just so jarring. Like, why is this? And it was Julian's verse, too.

Welcome And Show Intro

Abigail 0:45

Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. I'm Abigail Freshly. And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is the show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in real lived experiences. On today's episode, we are recapping the Netflix movie adaptation of People When Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.

Listener Support And Socials

Abigail 1:07

But before we get to that, we would love for you to support the show in a few very simple ways. First of all, you can go on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or both. Leave us a five-star review and let us know how much you love the show. You can also follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky at Redirect Podcast. You can follow Emily on all platforms at Emily Rojas Reads and me on TikTok at Babigail11. Um, but if you really, really love the show, consider sharing our show directly with a friend. Sharing our show with a friend is by far the best way to grow our community of book loving nerds.

Declaring The Verdict On The Movie

Abigail 1:42

There's a lot of community around people we meet on vacation, a lot of online discourse about it. And you and I have been so disciplined. And it's been really hard. And not sharing our thoughts. So we're here, um thank God we're here. Um and it was only one day. Like I watched it yesterday, and not one day was painful enough. So thank God. Okay. We can finally talk about it. Should we do like a three, two, one and then say if we liked it or didn't like it? Oh, that I don't think I can say just like yes or no. Okay. All right. Watch a spoil idea. Um, but yeah, why don't we why don't we just start? Let's just start talking about it. Okay. I didn't like it. Okay. Yay! Okay. Okay. Uh do you want to say anything else or do you want me to share my thoughts? Yeah,

What The Adaptation Cut From The Book

Abigail 2:30

you share and then I'll share why. Okay, I I think I can't. This is what I'm saying. Okay. If had I so I'm glitching out. I reread People We Meet on Vacation yesterday. I walked in and read the whole thing in one day. Yeah. Um, had I not done that, I would have really liked this movie. Having reread People We Meet on Vacation immediately preceding watching this, I I did not like it as well. Exactly. Although there were aspects of it that I did really like and I'm excited to talk about those. Yeah, there were aspects I liked as well, but here's what I here's my main takeaway. My main takeaway is that the characters of Alex and Poppy, when not built out without seeing like the nuance about them, knowing all their history, seeing more of the interactions, are extremely annoying and frustrating characters, both of them. Correct. And what happened with the movie is that so much of their relationship and their history and the nuance about their lives was cut out. So all that you were left with is like this low chemistry, annoying kind of dysfunctional pair, in my opinion. I am. And I was mourning some of the better moments in the book. Correct. Like I have a list of the things in the book that I'm like, I cannot believe I didn't make it in. That's almost all of my notes, are just those. And it's like I know that not everything can be a TV series, but this could have at least been a I mean, this was like a 90-minute movie. And this is what they chose to keep in was like stupid. That is my overall impression. I

How Dialogue Became Empty Montage

Abigail 4:15

think actually, I see a lot of people saying this should have been a TV series, blah blah blah. I understand that impulse. I actually think this could have been a really good movie, and what makes me say that actually is last week I also re-watched um when Harry Met Sally, which is about an hour longer than this movie. It's a pretty long movie, but the concept is very similar. Yes, this book is very much many of Emily Henry's books are like takes on classic cocks. Yes. And I was thinking about when Harry opened Sally because I just watched it, when I read the book, and I was like, because this this time when I re-watched that movie, I just thought, oh, like this whole thing is just them talking. It's just dialogue. Nothing really happens in that movie. And when you read People We Meet on Vacation, it's almost all Poppy and Alex talking. And then you get the movie, and they cut out almost all of the talking. They're never talking, they're just around each other. So that made me think there is a version of this, if written, more like when Harry met Sally, give it an extra half hour to an hour. I don't even think it needed to be a TV series, but I do feel like what they kept was like these little sound bitey moments, um, which we can get into, and like these little callbacks that only make sense if you read the books, but they're not they're like completely divorced from meaning because they're just like there to be there, and then it doesn't actually build the characters at all. So this is the discount because this is Emily Henry's sauce is character development. Yes, and dialogue. Like she's so good at writing it. Kara character development and dialogue, and Yulin Kwang uh was a screenwriter for people on vacation. She is also going to be writing funny story.

unknown 5:54

Yes.

Abigail 5:55

She also I read one of her, she wrote a romance book about TV writers.

Character Flattening: Alex And Poppy

Abigail 6:00

I read it, wasn't that impressed. My fear is this is gonna be history repeating itself because it was like we cut out everything about the characters that makes them complex and lovable, and we turned it into like sequence in New Orleans, sequence in Canada, like it became about the activities they were doing, which is the whole point of the book is about not that the people, yes, that you need up to. My most common note, and and we can get into like this the full recap, but my most common note for both Alex and Poppy, I would say mostly Alex, but both of them, is like, what have they done to you? What have they done to my boy? I wrote that like five times. What have they done to Alex? What did they do to you, Alex? What uh and it's like, yeah, they took it's like I wonder someone said that this movie feels like someone who read the book once and then had to try to recreate it from memory. That is what it felt like because it's like again, like you said, I don't even care that they changed some of the locations. I don't care what they're actually doing on vacation. The whole point is the relationship between these two people, and it feels like they took out everything that made that interesting and kept, like you said, just like these montage moments and like Yeah, and then I'm thinking Emily Henry. There I saw a clip where she was talking about how she fought to keep the condom scene in when Poppy's mom, and I'm like, that's what you've decided to fight for. Like you stood ten toes down on the condom scene and not on the Tinder I would scene. Please don't talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Please do not talk to me about I would.

Abigail 7:35

Please. I I think okay, look, I I wrote down notes in chronological order. Maybe we should start. Let's start. And I want to say too, I think to be fair, I know a lot of people don't like this book as much. This is both of our one of our favorite Emily Henry books. So it's it's really hard. And because no, because Emily, this is what I said last uh episode. I said there's high potential for yearning. They cut there's no yearning yearning. They did, they did, and it's not right of a yearner. And okay, let's get into it. Okay, all right, so I can interrupt you, but I just want to talk about it every detail. Okay. So we open, Poppy is doing an opening monologue. She is actually narrating an article as she's writing. Boom. And I hated it so much. I hated this opening.

The Missing Yearning Problem

Abigail 8:20

This is not no, it was supposed to open with the scene where they're at the beach bar. And that's a great opening. That would have been that would have been a great opening, and it wouldn't have been expensive either. You're already in Barcelona. Exactly. Oh my god. Okay. This frustrated me too because it made it seem like that. Why am I getting so pissed off? Okay. I know. Let's let's center ourselves.

unknown 8:39

Okay.

Abigail 8:41

It made it seem like Poppy never liked travel. And there was never any building of like I don't know. It just felt like her character was really confused. And it starts from this initial montage where it's like, actually, travel sucks, and I'm lonely. When it's really like, I think she really did like even the solo travel she did. Like, there's a lot of that shit that she enjoyed, and um, that was important to her, like to get out of the place she came from. And so I don't know. It I I think they're trying to shortcut her being unhappy and not have to explain that, but it didn't work for me personally. Yeah, so yeah, because and again, I think maybe I would have liked this movie if I hadn't read the book. I think I would have. I really do. I think I would have just liked it okay, yeah. Right? I would have been like, oh, that was fine, and I probably would have forgotten it, right? Correct. Like, yeah, forget the plot. I would have forgotten the plot because it was unremarkable. Um I agree. So then we realize she's writing for this travel magazine, R, and uh Jamila Jamil is like her boss, and she's like, Poppy, I need you to write something better. Blah blah blah. Yeah, you're going to Greece. You're not going to Paris. Anyways, um, deep gut. Anyways. Uh, and she's like, Okay, fine, I'll go to Greece, whatever. I gotta do this thing, I gotta lock, I gotta lock in. Then she's at her little apartment and she gets a call from David, who is Alex's brother. And he's like, hey bitch, why haven't you RSVP to my wedding? It's next week and it's in Barcelona. Like, I need you to be there. You're so fun at weddings, blah, blah, blah. Pause. Respectfully, I don't know if I'm hounding down someone the week before my wedding to ask if they are coming or not. If you have an RSVP to my wedding, are we friends? Like, they're supposed to be really close. And like, when did they become really close? Because we are we're told Poppy doesn't go back home. And the little she does, she's hanging out with Alex. I just am so confused by this. I miss whatever, whatever. I I just like their best friends that he's like calling her. Okay, yeah, like it's so what is their relationship? He wants her

Opening Choices That Undercut Poppy

Abigail 10:55

there, and he's like, they're acting like they're really, really close, but he doesn't know the extent of her falling out with Alex, and also it's the week before the wedding, and she has an RVP'd, but he's calling her. Like, I'm just so confused, right? It just was all very jumbled. So yeah, so then she's like, Well, I don't know, it's gonna be weird with Alex and Sarah. And he's like, Well, Sarah and Alex broke up, and she's like, Oh, okay, it's like so it's weird, whatever. Okay, now we're flashing back nine summers ago. This is the first point we realize that I realized okay, the timeline is going to have majorly diverged from the show. Sure, sure, which is fine. That doesn't bother me at all. That's not that big of a deal. I don't think that actually makes a difference, yeah. Personally, um so they're driving to Linfield from from Boston College. Another weird thing. Why not just make it Chicago? Why did they change it from Boston to Chicago? I don't know. I'm sure there's a reason, like maybe the Boston College, I don't know, rights to their merch. I don't know. I have no idea. But then the other thing that was so interesting is in the book the scene is really short. This is a short chapter, and they don't have an overnight stay. Right. That was crazy. And so they added, they made this scene longer. Yes. Instead of leaving in one of the other trips that they cut out. Correct. They didn't need to do this. This would be my first cut, the overnight stay. It did nothing to me, it didn't convince me that they were friends. Um the only thing it allowed was the porney poppy scene where she like explains part of her history. Which was weird. We don't need to do a motel stay for that. It's also weird that they're opening up so quickly because I think part of the magic in the books is you do see their friendship grow over the years. And like, anyways, I didn't like that. I don't like that Sarah and Alex are high school sweethearts. That really bothered me that they were already together at this point. Um, and I don't like that, but only one brother. Question mark, question mark, question mark, question mark, my baby boy. Why are they doing this to you? Give this man his children back because where are his brothers? I know, right? And there he's this it started from the beginning. They're at the other thing is, and I know you can't include everything in the movie, but like again, yeah, in the book, they they had like several meet cues, like where he would see her on campus. So, and that's important for the origin of the story is that he is like intrigued by her, he's seen her, like they are on they are now riding back, yeah. And it could have even just been like a quick moment, like a quick like line of dialogue. You don't have to show him seeing her on campus, but he could have been like when they met, he could have been like, Yeah, I think I was I saw you at orientation or something like that. Like, yeah, it did and it's it was cool. It was a cool call back to when Harry met Sally, the whole car scene, right? But it's not done well. That's what I'm saying. Having just watched that, their conversations, you kind of believe it. Like, you're like, okay, they're they're having these conversations, and it's there's animosity between them, but like they're also having these like conversations that feel natural. This felt like info dumpy, and then it's also making me mad because if you're gonna info dump their trauma, why not just give Alex his parentified like eldest son rollback? Just have him say that. Like it you again, it doesn't take any extra time for him to be like I'm getting worked up. I hit my desk. Um, I also want to say, I don't okay, in my head, Alex is not as hot as Tom Blythe. And I would agree. That's important to his personality, yeah. Because someone as hot as Tom Blythe is not operating the world the way that Alex Nielsen does. So that's

Timeline Changes And Odd Additions

Abigail 14:30

my first question. If you take away all his trauma and you make him this hot, because at least if they had given him like a genuine backstory, you could understand like why he's with Sarah. But to take all that away and to give him again, I don't like that they're high school sweethearts, to like it's yeah, like you made Alex from a yearner who has all this baggage around family and who just wants stability and is like desperate for that, and who maybe has a complicated relationship with Poppy, but isn't just like taking advantage of another girl who's gonna be a placeholder, and that's what you turned him into. This like really hot guy who's had this girlfriend all along and is like kind of keeping her on and off and on and off until the day that Poppy wants to be with him, and like there's no real reason for it, and that was frustrating because it's like, Well, this sucks, he kind of sucks, like he sucks. You took all the context away, okay. Anyway, so they're like at the motel, she she shares about like being bullied in high school. Oh, the other thing I was gonna say is in my mind, you know, Tom Blythe is way hotter than Alex, so that didn't check out, but also I realized that in my head canon, Poppy was like at least mid-size. I thought like I pictured her being like mid-size to plus size in my head, just because I don't know why, maybe like just her personality, her vibe, being like eclectic and whatever, and then I was kind of let down that she was just like really classically pretty and skinny. Yeah, I don't know. And I think also just in general, after coming off of having consumed like a ton of queer media, I was like, this is giving bland. It was boring, it was boring. Um, yeah, I would say one of my notes later on, but it's relevant here, was like I pretty much believed from the beginning that Alex was in love with her. Like I think he played that. I did not believe at any point that they were really friends, like their friendship to me just never felt believable. And if you're gonna do friends to lovers, unfortunately, you do need to make the friendship interesting and believable.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yes.

Abigail 16:39

And I feel like it starts here. Um, yeah, that they just don't ever feel like friends. And yeah, it sucks. So then we flash back to present time. Well, they also did do the tiny fighter. Um yeah. This is part of my problem with this movie. We have to say something positive, but I'm not there yet. Um, because you keep tiny fighter, you take away his cat, so you take away the original context, you never bring it up again. So then I'm like, okay, there's no point to include this. They took away his cat and replaced it with a dog, which is Alex is a cat man. I love dogs, but what are we doing? What have you done to my bob? You know what I'm saying? You just the whole thing is that this is a guy who chooses to have. Yeah, he could have a dog, but he chose to have a cat. Correct. Okay, so um, yeah, that just bought this was my this was my other red flag because I'm like, okay, you put Tiny Fighter in there, but you just made it like the sound bite moment, and it's not actually adding to like their friendship developing at all. So, like, why include it? I feel like you're just picking to include the things that don't mean anything and not the things that do. I'm like, you were like, here's my screenplay, chat GPT, add in a couple of references from the source material. And it's like, well, okay, if you're gonna cut the cat, then cut tiny fighter and keep I would. Oh, that I can't believe that. I can't believe Poppy's at spin class, she's

Camping Swap And Comic Bits That Don’t Build

Abigail 18:20

with her friend who we never see again. Also, she this is my other issue with Poppy, doesn't even have any friends. She doesn't she's kind of a selfish person, whatever. Anyways, I understand also, I do understand cutting the friend, and I understand cutting the boss relationship, which was really interesting from the book, but it also again does make if you're gonna take away so much else from Poppy, you're making her seem annoying, like you said. Like she has no female friends, and she's leaning on this guy who's had a girlfriend for all these years. Like, it's that's not good. I think you need to make the movie longer or you need to reduce the amount of action that happens so that we can sit with the characters for longer. Agree. Anyway, so we see a friend for the floor. Yeah, she's like, I'm gonna call Alex and tell him that I'm not gonna be able to come to the wedding because I have to go to Greece or whatever. She calls me too. Immediately is like, I'm coming to Barcelona because I'm gonna have a job there, whatever. And I'm not gonna say that I'm mad about the Barcelona change. I'm not, yeah. But I am mad because another huge thing that was diluted from the book was that she is like inviting him on a trip and he says he's gonna go. And she's like, Well, I'm going to Palm Street's anyway. Why don't we go early to the wedding and do a little trip before? So she didn't even pitch it like this. She was just like, Oh, I'll see you at the wedding. Because I think there is something important about Poppy humbling herself to be like, I'm gonna finesse a way to do this trip. I'm gonna make him think that R R sent me here, but really I'm paying for it out of pocket. Yes. There's like this whole thing that she's Not doing, which is also taking away from her character, in my opinion. And I also think this is a more interesting conflict in the book than what they end up making the conflict be because the whole time Poppy is like desperate to make their friendship go back to the way it was. And them being on a trip together, it's like here's this thing that we always used to do. And we have our rituals, we have the things of our memories, and I'm trying to force those things to happen again, and it's not working, and it's even it's increasingly devastating. Yeah. Because we can't get this back. And instead, they they just make that a line of dialogue later, which we'll get to, but like you don't get to see it ever. Of like she's trying so hard to force something to be like it was. Yeah, there's no like compare, there's no true comparison because in Barcelona, they're not on a trip together. They're not even staying together, they're not doing anything together, they're just like both happening to be in the same place. That's yeah, like much was lost.

unknown 21:03

Okay, yeah.

Abigail 21:04

And then she she tells her boss um that she wants to go to Barcelona instead of Greece, and her boss says yes. Yeah, swamp and us, stand up. So yeah, she gets to go for work, whatever. They see each other at baggage claim, it's weird, and then we flash back to their first trip, or no, it's not their first. This was my when they go camping in Canada. Yeah, okay, yeah. I think it's implied to be their first trip because Alex just broke up with Sarah, they're home for the summer. We're gonna go on this cheap camping trip together in Canada. Which they did change because in the book it's not a camping trip, right? Yeah, I thought they were like at an inn. They were saying in like Victoria, British Columbia. Yeah, with all the old people, yeah. Yes, so they they changed it, whatever. I'm not I'm not mad about that. I don't care about that at all. Yeah, we have a funny scene which I would have cut this out. I really would have. Like, I I'm not mad at it, but it's a scene where Poppy goes to or Alex goes to pick Poppy up at her house, she sees um Connor Roy. Fawn heads rise up, um and then like Molly. Molly has a weird dad. Exactly. I know they do the condom scene. I could have cut the whole thing out. It did nothing to develop the characters. Because if you're not gonna make her family weird, you're just making them like normal weird mom and dad. But the whole point of Poppy is that her house is like a hoarder's nest. Her family is weird, like to an extreme degree. It makes people uncomfortable to come to her house. Not just like they're a little awkward and like pushy, but like they're genuinely weird.

Manic Pixie Makeover And Lost Inside Jokes

Abigail 22:40

It was like slapstick comedy, like yes, and it was like the depth, where's the where is the spice? Where's the sauce here? Because it's like so one-dimensional. Exactly. All you would have had to do is some extra set dressing, like make her house weird, and like you could have had the same exact scene, but having a lot of people. Exactly. That is what I was picturing.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

It should have this should have been the Weasley's.

Abigail 23:11

And have her parents have her have one line of like, oh, I don't normally like to bring people over here, and Alex and be like, Wow, your family's great, or something. Like, that would have been a one-liner thing. You wouldn't have to I would correct. Don't even talk to me about I would, anyways. Um until they go to Canada, it's over. All right, you go to Canada, blah blah blah. Yeah, they do the he speaks to me, but again, that was totally diluted. Chat GBT, correct. I would have said that. It was like, hey, chat, put in a couple references from the book because the whole point of the trip is that the whole time they have this inside joke going on where they're like, it speaks to me, it speaks to me. And they just do this one thing, and it's like not even funny. It's not funny, and that thing is weird, and she's weird. She's giving like Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Yes, yes, that's what they did to Poppy, and she's not that. They made her, they made her the protagonist from Love Theoretically, the worst Allie Hazelwood book. You're right. Wait, no, not Love Theoretically, Love on the Brain. Yes, love on the brain, yes. And she might as well have some galaxy tights. No, exactly. Like, like, what are we doing? She was a walking, it's one thing to be a walking mod cloth uh advertisement. Sure. It's another thing to be a walking mod cloth advertisement and also be like, hee hee hee. I'm gonna do this weird thing and carry it around for me. Ha ha ha. Like, yeah. Like, that's not who she is. Okay. Anyways, they're on a boat with Buck. I would have cut Buck. I'm not gonna lie to you. I would have cut this whole scene. I would have cut all of this to develop more. Yeah. Yes, because that whatever. She starts nothing of consequence really happens. It's more like she laughs again. They're nerfing Poppy, who in the book has a very like intense relationship to, I mean, it's not developed even that much in the book, but like it takes her a long time to lose her virginity. And when she goes to hook up with Buck, she says, like, I I actually don't want to have sex. And he's like, Okay, well, can you get out of my tent now then? Because I'm gonna find someone who will. And it's not anything bad, but like I don't know, it shows her more of a care as a character of like I have this whole thing was like and he lost his clothes. Which he again, I saw someone say this. I'm like, yeah, I hate the whole vacation Alex thing. Because the whole point of Alex on vacation is that he's only like that with Poppy, and this is the first time we see him like break out of his weirdness, and she's not even there, and it just doesn't even make sense because like she's the one who brings that out of him, not this random girl, you know. Like I would have cut that whole scene of all of them, just have them like whatever, have them have this moment and whatever. Don't spend so much time with her making out with Buck and his Memento Mori tattoo. Like, I don't understand that. It was just it didn't advance the characters at all. Yeah,

Barcelona Setup And Forced Proximity Misfires

Abigail 26:05

yeah. It it all it did, in my opinion, was serve as a callback for a funny joke later in the in the movie. Yeah. Like it's a romantic comedy, not just a there has to be, this isn't step brothers. There needs to be there's the urine where there needs to be romantic in it, it's not just comedy. Correct. Don't worry, you guys. I am actually gonna get to some things I did like about this movie soon. Okay, okay. Here's one good thing. So then they they're like, oh ha, we've had so many misadventures. I'm wearing your romper now. Aha, I was kissing a guy with a death uh a grim reaper tattoo. And then they're like, hey, every summer, wherever we are, whoever we're with, we meet someone in the world for a trip. I liked that, yeah. And again, like that's why I would have cut the whole skinny dipping buck thing, like, or just cut it down significantly, because it's like you can just have that moment and have them like be like, wow, this is or like have something weird happen at the camp and then be like, let's go hide in the tent. And this is really weird, these guys are weird. And it could have been a quick montage, and we could have kept I would. Yes, I will be devastated over that for the rest of my life. I know. Um, okay. So now we're back in Barcelona. Yeah, he helps her, so he drives her from the airport to her accommodations, the heat's not working, so they kept that from Palm Springs. The patios are open, but he's not staying there. Correct. It's also such a confusing thing because it's like, okay, her job is actually paying for this. So if this is my job, I'm calling them immediately and saying, hey, there's no book. In the book, she was lying about the job paid for. And so she's on her credit card, she doesn't want to go pay for another hotel. But in this world, like, I would just be like, hey, boss, uh, I'm you need to figure this out. I'm going to a hotel and I'm expensing it because I can't stay somewhere with no AC. Like, it just doesn't make any sense. So why even keep that at all? Like, and also why is he there? Exactly. Like, and they built up to like you cut okay. So at the beginning, when she calls him, it's awkward. You cut out their whole like really, really cute flirting texting exchange, and then like when she does see him again in the book, things are almost normal between them. Like, it's a little awkward, but he's like being kind, and then he's like being an asshole. That like he would call her from the car on the way home to see Sarah or something like that. Like, yeah, yeah, all that stuff. Yeah, just all kinds of all weird. So, anyways, I just didn't like that he was being such a jerk, and it's like I guess that was to recreate the tension between them, but he's also staying, like, just leave if you don't want to be here, leave. Yeah, and we took out the part that the the point that like he's a high school teacher now, he works with Sarah. Like, we're missing all of this context about okay, right? Yeah, he has now no life, nothing. No, they ruined him. Um, okay, so he's like there, he's gonna help fix her AC, and then um his like he throws out his back or whatever. Yeah, and then we get a flashback

New Orleans: The One Sequence That Works

Abigail 29:10

back to New Orleans six summers ago. Here I didn't know I I was sad that we skipped Nashville and San Francisco. I was sad too. I did really like the entire New Orleans scene. I really this is the one time I felt like they had good chemistry. I felt like it was advancing the story in an interesting way. Um, I mean, I didn't like everything about it, but I this is the the most like enamored I was watching this movie where I was like, Yes, oh like I'm having fun. This is really fun. And this is like the one point I think that we genuinely see Alex Nielsen yearning because she discusses she's in a relationship with Julian, who's the chef who like recommended all these places that she go in New Orleans. Yeah, I'm just like I don't know if I would be cool with this. Like my partner going on a solo vacation with their opposite gender best friend, if they are attracted to the opposite gender, you know? And like no, everybody who's mad about this in this book and in this movie is correct. Sarah is correct, Sarah is extremely Julian is correct. Um mostly Sarah, like I would want justice for her. Um Sarah is she was so wrong. It's so hard because it's like at the same time, like I think people should be allowed to have friends, and you know, like I get that, but I would be like, why can't I go? I don't understand. Like, if you have weird vibes this is the thing I think that's weird. By this point in the this is because Sarah is a high school sweetheart and she didn't go to college with them. At this point in the movie, Poppy has never met Sarah, and that's weird. That's weird, yeah. Like at this point, Alex in the movie at least, he's not dating Sarah anymore. That's true, that's true. But like from some of their other vacations, I guess the ones we see he's not. So they kind of cut out vacations during the times when he was with Sarah, except for the one she ends up coming on later, which I yeah, whatever, we'll get to that. But um, like that part is weird that like you have this friend that your partner has never met, and like I don't know, yeah. If it was someone I knew really well and I felt like, oh, you guys are really just friends, maybe I wouldn't care as much, but like not meeting them, being weird, having weird vibes, I would not be cool. Okay, yeah. So they're pretending to be newlyweds. They the dance scene was really cute, actually. The dancing was really cute. Genuinely, it was really cute. And I was like, you know what? I think they made a point of including the Gladys and Keith ultra ego thing because they're making funny story and they're gonna show up in funny story during the scene when they're at Lake Michigan and they do the tubing, which they're gonna she's gonna fucking ruin that scene. That's fine. Look, I am already I am already pre-morning. This is what's running through my head. The line arms up baby from happy place. We are not getting that.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

I'm pre-mourning it. Cause I know, I know after having watched this, they don't understand what the people need to see. And I'm already like, I could cry think we're not getting it.

Abigail 32:17

No, and funny and funny story when they're like in the on the kayaks or whatever, or they're like and they they fall out, and then they're in the water, and like then their like fingers are brushing, like their toes are touching, and they like leave them there, or their like their legs are like tangled together. Yeah, we're not we're not getting that. It's not part of the recipe. We got Gladys and Keith. Um yeah, I didn't know. They lean on the comedy, they did the dancing, it was cute. She like sprains her ankle walking home. He carries her, it's cute, whatever. And then Julian's there. I didn't like that either. This scene made me like Alex more, but it did not make me like Poppy more. No. And again, this is part of when I started to feel like uh this is almost exactly when I wrote down my note. I I do think that he loves her. I don't buy really that she loves him, even at the end, and I don't buy their friendship. Like this montage in New Orleans made me believe he was in love with her. It made me believe a little bit in their chemistry, um, and that there's like

Why The Friendship Never Feels Real

Abigail 33:20

some spark of something. But I don't know. I just want them to be friends. And then there was the one line where he's like, I'm only weird with I'm when I'm with you. Yes, yeah. Which I did like that. It was like you're trying to make up. I liked it, but it's like also you're trying to make up everything else that you missed from the whole book. Yeah. In this like one line. Yeah. Oh, whatever. I'm only weird with you when I'm with you, but the most recent scene you saw of me on vacation, I did go skinny dipping with a strange girl, and like you weren't there at all. So yeah. Another thing I think, sorry, I'm so negative, but another thing that I think about is uh a big part of Alex's character development is that this tension between staying close to his family in Linfield, being there, being like a family guy, whatever, and his big dreams and ambitions. He goes to grad school, he wants to work on his PhD. That's called back later, but it's barely even built up in the plot because all that she mentions is like grad school Alex decided to come to New Orleans or whatever. But we're not even getting really getting a picture of like who he's in grad school for. What has he considered doing with his life? Because there is this tension between the ways that they envision our future, but we also don't get a complete picture of that for Alex. And I think that's like part of what's missing and part of what makes them both kind of suck, is because instead of like showing us that they wouldn't work, which is what the book does, right? They just have Poppy say on their first meeting, we could never be together, and him say, I have a girlfriend, so which is annoying as well. But the whole point, like you're saying, is they have different visions for their life at this almost through the whole book. And it takes Poppy growing as a person and Alex a little bit, but really a lot on Poppy to be like, Well, this vision I had for my life maybe isn't what I wanted anymore. And I'm gonna compromise and like I'm gonna change my because I not just because I want to be with him, so I'm gonna give up everything, but because I got everything I wanted and I realized it's not really what I wanted and not the life I wanted for myself, and I wasn't happy, and so that's frustrating to miss that because also it makes everything with Sarah more annoying because it feels like there's actually no legitimate reason why they're not together. Um, and that's really frustrating, like because you have this insane chemistry, and we're only playing that up, we're not playing up the friendship, and yet we're not together, and we're dating other people, and it feels like we're kind of being sh to those other people. Um, and like that makes them less likable as characters. So back to the present, actually, this is where he throws out his back. Yeah, this just was so reaching for me where she was like, Oh, you throw your back, stay here at my place. Why wouldn't he just go back to his hotel? Also, like, I know, like a back spasm. You're not like like you're not like disabled for the rest of the day. Yeah, like, and he doesn't have any of his things, so he doesn't even take medication. It's like, what are we doing?

unknown 36:20

What are we doing?

Abigail 36:20

It was just so pal like it was so scotch taped together. I would have cut the back spasm thing because again, that's a relic from them being on vacation together and her being frustrated because she can't show him all the stuff that she's planned for them to do together to like rekindle their friendship, and she has to do that. That's the whole point. Yeah, so then

Sanitized Tension And PG-13 Constraints

Abigail 36:40

he's stuck inside and she's like, Okay, I guess I'll go by myself, and it's like painful. So why even keep it at all? I don't understand. Give him another reason to stay, or cut this all together, you know? If you're gonna catch the timeline of the monga. It didn't advance anything, yeah, just him spending the night, but nothing happens between them. If you're gonna have him spend the night, at least have them have a couple of things. And the whole the whole point, well, in the in the book, they're like they're like in a one-room condo where there's like a bed and then there's like yeah, a pullout chair or whatever. And so like there's forced proximity. Here they he's she slept on the couch, he slept in the bed. Yeah, it was dumb. Okay. So then she's like, Well, this is payback for Norway. And talk to me about Norway. Okay. I know. Okay. So they never went to Norway because she got she got super sick. They did keep this from the book. He comes, he changes his flight to come to New York and take care of her. Um and I thought that was nice. I'm glad that they kept that. Um Yeah. It just felt weak sauce. It felt like it felt weak because in the book, we don't we have the build-up to her and him taking care of her in Norway. And in the movie, we've we've missed the context. There's no tension. There's no tension building. We've missed the tension building. Correct. So there's we've missed the slow burn. You know why? Okay, look, I have more to say when we get to them having sex for the first time. But something about like making it just feel so sanitized. Like, we can't show him like getting a boner when they're cuddling together because like that's this is PG 13. So we can't, we everything feels sanitized. And so we're not gonna like build any sexual tension whatsoever because like we have to keep this chill. And coming off of heated rivalry, exactly, exactly. Where it's like, hey, I look, I will be the first to say I do not need gratuitous sex on my screen or in my wants. It's not like it's yeah, that's not my favorite thing. I I'm happy for you if that is your favorite thing. But I do think like watching heated rivalry and seeing how, oh, this is so much a part of the story, and then we'll get to this. We will get to this, but it's just like that's the whole thing. Like when they're cuddling when she's sick, and then he tells her later, just like being close to you. I was like on a this razor thin edge the whole time. We can't even have that conversation because everything is just so like sanitized a little bit. So, anyways, that bothers me as a three. Right, we're losing something with like with the um okay, I think comparing. I mean, okay, people we mean a vacation heal rivalry, very indifferent books, but if we're comparing the adaptation of them, one of them was like, let's go for broke. We're really we're literally like doing this with like you know, scotch tape in a dream or whatever. Yeah, and then the other one was like this huge Netflix production. Yes, we have to care, we have to maximize the amount of people who can view this, whatever. Something was lost. There was a potency to the story that was lost because of um the way that you had to appeal to the market and like there's something sacrificed. Agreed. And it feels like I understand somewhere in a boardroom, there are people saying we have to make this likable for the book readers and palatable for everyone else. Uh huh. And like bring more people in, right? But I hope maybe that the lesson from Heated Rivalry is you can stay incredibly faithful to the source material that people love. And it will bring people in by nature of that being something that people love. People love authenticity. People yearn for earnestness. Being earnest and authentic and like real. You know? Yes. Must be true to

Rehearsal Dinner, Music Cues, And Exposition

Abigail 40:25

it. Okay. Anyways. So we see them do that. It was nice. It was fine. We flash back to this summer in Barcelona. Uh he they both wake up at her accommodation. He's like gone for a run. So he could go back to his hotel room. He's fine. Yeah. He should have.

unknown 40:43

Yeah.

Abigail 40:43

Given everything we know about them, he should have gone back to his hotel room. August by Taylor. Oh no, that's that's a little bit later. He's like, go to the rehearsal dinner with me. Which again, why did we lose the bachelor party? Why is it a rehearsal dinner? Why are you taking why are you taking this away from me? I just don't understand that as a change. I don't understand it. Because it's so much more boring. They're sitting at a table and they're talking to his dad. And if you're not gonna have the moment where she like, again, because you've lost Alex's whole backstory, but there's a point at the bachelor party, or I don't know if it's at the wedding or at the bachelor party, one of the two, where Poppy tells the dad, like, you're just gonna have to get over it then, like, because it's your son's wedding and you're just gonna have to be okay. And Alex is like, oh, like someone stood up for me, someone's looking out for me. And that's a moment for Poppy to like take care of him, and we lost that. So then, like, why even bother? Why even bother having the dad? I don't know. No, I it really felt like this was an opportunity for her to wear that pretty green dress, be pretty, play August, and for them to play August by Taylor Swift, which I was like Which I did like actually. I did like it, but I was also so like this song is more plot than this movie. Exactly. But three minutes long tells a better story. More years. I saw this girl on TikTok. She was like, Oh, I'm so happy for the girl with the cute tiny little boobs wearing a little dress with the cute little boobs and her little cute little nipples and her cute little green dress. Cute tiny boobs. Yes, tiny boob privilege. That's tiny boob privilege.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

She was.

Abigail 42:13

It was totally totally tiny boob privilege. So also, for some reason, in the background of the scene, they're playing cool about it.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

Also jarring. Okay, who's wearing cool about it? Rehearsal dinner. You are called the DJ. We are out of line.

Abigail 42:31

I would send if you're going through a breakup or something and you're at a rehearsal dinner, you're already depressed because you're at a wedding and then they start playing cool about it. You know, it really genuinely feels like they were like, all right, what are some like ChatGPT? What's the song? No, literally. That people like it was just so jarring. Like, why is this? Oh, and it was Julian's verse too. Yes, like it was so I don't know. It really took me out of the scene, to be honest. Um, anyways, I don't know. I don't know what they would try to do. They do call back to the camping thing again. It's all so bland. Then we're at the well no no important here. It's it's revealed that it's revealed to Alex that Poppy was supposed her actual work trip was to Greece. I see. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah. So he finds out from his brother through conversation that her original work trip was to Greece. So now he's like, hmm, why are you here? Yeah. I made a note in my in my notes at this point. I said, I feel like we're missing a lot of Sarah context. And then we go, Here we go. Two summers ago. And then Piper No That was the girl, that's Piper from White Louis. Oh my god. Sarah. He knew we recognized her. Piper No. Oh my god. Okay. So Piper No shows up. Yeah. They're in Tuscany. Once again, so they've been friends at this point. I know, again, I don't like how on and off Sarah and Alex were in the book. I mean, I just read it yesterday, but I feel like they were pretty on and off. They were on and off, but I

Tuscany Detour And The Engagement Spiral

Abigail 44:05

feel like it was like they were on and then they broke up and then they got back together and then they got engaged and then they broke up again. Like I don't think they were like this, made it seem like every couple months they were breaking up. I don't like that either. Um, anyways, so she's there. And also Poppy has a really hot but really insufferable boyfriend named Trey, right? Yeah Trey. Here's where it really dumped the shark, and everything really started to collapse beneath. Deeply upset me. From here to the end of the movie. Yes. Yes. Alright. Yes. So we've got a little like rivalry between the couples, a little like just I don't even know. If I'm I my notes here are if I'm Alex, I'm leaving. And then I said, to be fair, if I'm Sarah, I'm also leaving. Like, I would not want to be here anymore. I would be like, This sucks. You're not being a good friend. Your boyfriend sucks. If I'm Sarah, I'm like, why are you why are we here? Like, I don't know why anybody is here, you know? Ugh, okay. Anyways, continue. So, yeah, ignore exactly. Poppy's not feeling well. After dinner, she's like throwing up and she's scared she's pregnant. This is a good thing. I would have cut this whole scene, by the way. Would have cut this entire scene. Because it doesn't lead to anything. It makes no sense. Yes. In the book, it leads to them almost cheating on their partners, which I hate, by the way. We all know I'm not for the cheating. I'm like trembling with rage. Anyway, she thinks she's pregnant. So she like, he's like, I should go check on her, right? Oh, Poppy's like, he's like, he's like with Sarah in the room. Okay. Literally divorced, breaking up immediately. I'm done. She, her boyfriend is here. He can check on her. Why are you why are you leaving me alone on our Tuscany vacation? I'm gonna go with solo travel. Microphone. I'm so upset. No, I'm totally with you. No, actually, I'm sorry, there's absolutely no reason that you need to go check on your female best friend who you've been friends with 10 years and gone on many solo trips with that I've never met until now. Until now, for years, yeah. And that she's upset and her boyfriend is here sleeping in the same room with her. Why do you need to go? Yeah. Stand up, Sarah. This would be a fight. She was too nice. She was too nice. And I could tell with Sarah too. Like, if the writers were trying to make her like unlikable, like the unlikable girlfriend that like is standing in the way of true love. But I was like, Sarah, stand up for yourself, Sarah. Like I kind of like feel like she could have been meaner. I I couldn't figure it out it feels like they didn't go one way or the other. Like it was very non-committal about Sarah. Like, are we supposed to like her and feel bad for her, or are we supposed to hate her? I can't really tell. It feels like kind of goes back and forth. So, anyways, um, yeah. So she he goes to check on her, they go to get a pregnancy test at the farm of Chia. She is taking it, they're sitting there together. He's like, I'm here for you, whatever. It's negative, and then nothing ever comes from it. In the book. No, they almost kiss. They almost kiss. That's what comes from it. They almost kiss. It's stupid. The next morning, he's proposing. He says, What uh, what am I to you, by the way? Don't like that. Don't like it. Because why not cut this and give us something else? Give us something else. If you're not gonna explain anything, like again, this is a really critical point in the book because Poppy has to reckon with the future she wants for herself for the first time. Does she want to have kids? Like, she's never really thought about settling down. Trey's is that the person you want to be with when you have a child? Like, are you if you had got pregnant, would you keep it? All these things. And then Alex has this trauma of his mom dying in childbirth, and this is like incredibly scary for him when he thinks about his friend being pregnant. And like, neither of those things happen. So it's just like, oh, we're just sneaking out to almost cheat on our partners. Like, that's all this scene becomes, and I don't understand the purpose of it. It becomes they have to, they've built up this whole thing about Tuscany, and like they haven't spoken for two years, so there has to be like something, but that could have been achieved. Okay, I think the reason they kept it in is because Alex got like his heart hurt by that conversation, so he decided he's going to propose to Sarah and then they have a fight after he proposes to Sarah. That's all stupid. That's all stupid. Everything about this was stupid. No, because why not keep why not keep the initial reason for him with withdrawing, which makes a lot more sense, which is they have this drunken kiss, and he is like not like this, and she takes that as rejection, and then they don't talk because it's weird, and they just never talk for two years, and they kind of slowly drift apart, and he's engaged and all this stuff, and like that all happens in the meantime. Instead, it has it feel like I'm not gonna actually confess my feelings, but I'm gonna like say, What am I to you? And I don't get the answer I want, so I'm gonna go settle for Sarah, and then I'm gonna make you feel bad about it, and I'm gonna get into an argument with you and like be mean, and it's like meanwhile, he's never even actually been honest about his feelings, but somehow that's Poppy's fault. I don't know, it just made me hate Alex. Like this scene made me think I don't like him at all. I if this was my friend, I would say, do not get together with this guy, like he

Confession, First Kiss, And Rushed Intimacy

Abigail 49:30

sucks, you know. In the book universe, he like he didn't even talk to Sarah, he got a vasectomy after Poppy had a pregnancy scare. He um he saw a ring that would have been perfect for Poppy, purchased it, gave it to Sarah. All of these things he's doing in his life, but he's feeling reducted by Poppy, so he just like freaks out and like goes back. Just they totally, totally whitewashed my man. In the book again. I mean sorry, he realizes the pregnancy scare and the proposal comes all together in this moment where he realizes I'm thinking of my future and I'm only ever thinking about Poppy. And the problem is when you conflate all those events like this, it makes it seem like Alex has known that he's in love with Poppy more than Sarah the entire time, which is not the case, and so it makes him seem like a bad person who again is like waiting for Poppy. But like in the book, he realizes that and then he ends things with Sarah, so that's why he broke up with Sarah and like is like, hey, I realize I I was only ever thinking of her, and then he waits for Poppy when not getting back together with Sarah in that interim period of realizing, and so I just don't like that. Like, I don't like that. Uh, anyways, I was also so caught off guard by this when Trey was like, You gotta come say this. I thought they were gonna have left, and he was gonna be like, We got this whole place to ourselves. But then when they came in the engagement ring, I was so caught off guard. I was just like no at this point. I was like, Okay, this show has jumped the shark. Yeah, we're done. Okay, so they go back. Okay, so they they're walking back. He's taking her home after the rehearsal dinner. She's talking about I want things to go back to the way they were before Tuscany. And he's like, I don't want things to go back to the way they were before Tuscany. It doesn't work for me. Yeah, which is good for him. He stood out for himself. Yeah, I was born. And it was at this point that I realized that we totally missed the I would tender scene. Devastating. And then he says, I don't want to be your fing friend, Poppy. And then you know, she's like, I love you. And he's like, for how long? And she's like, Maybe the whole time. And I'm like, this is just this after all this stuff, you how dare you, how dare you stand where you stood when like when Harry met Sally, we're comparing this exactly to the sacred test, the test like I hate you, Harry.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

And it's not because I'm lonely. Oh man, it's not because you're hearing me.

Abigail 52:08

But I can't even exactly because when you know that you're in love with someone because when you know you want to start your life with someone as life with someone, you have to start as soon as possible. And like this was the most Weenie Hut Junior Bush league version of that. Because again, the way friends to lovers works is if they are actually friends. Friends, and she did not love him the whole time. Maybe she can look back and say, okay, yeah, maybe. But the point is that she grew to love him and like she she fell in love with him, and like there's these uh I love in the books. Obviously, there's no way to really convey this in the movie, so you have to do it in other ways, but there's like a part where she really there's a moment where she's like, that was the first time I wanted to kiss him. Okay, time into their friendship, and then she's like, Okay, there's 95% of the time I love being platonic friends with Alex, and then there's this 5%, and then that grows, that 5% grows, and we don't ever see any of that, it's not conveyed in any way, it's just like, hey, maybe these people have just loved each other the whole time. Okay, cool, all right. No, because that's part of the deal with Poppy is that she's so afraid of being stuck that her fear of commitment keeps her from really truly falling in love with Alex for a long time, yes, and but she loves spending time with him, like she loves doing all the stuff with him, and like they are genuinely

Wedding Choices And Cut PDA Payoff

Abigail 53:40

friends, right? So he has to slowly over time I slowly like wear her down and like woo her. Yes, but we don't know. And that's what the I would scene does. That's what the I would say. So for movie listener, for movie watchers only, yeah, in the book, when they're in Palm Springs, they're talking about each other's Tinder profiles because she's like, Oh, you're not with Sarah, like, are you dating, whatever? Yeah, and she's like evaluating his Tinder. Let me fix your tinder. She's like, I would swipe on you, and he was like, No, you wouldn't, whatever. She's like, Yes, I would. And he was like, Well, for the record, I would swipe on you too.

unknown 54:18

Yeah.

Abigail 54:18

And she's like, Oh, okay, sure. And so then he looks her her Tinder profile, he scrolls through it, he looks at it very intently, he reads the bio, he hands the phone back to her and like very seriously, very straightfaced. Looking her in the eyes, I would. I'm telling you, how dare you stand where he stood? We're not getting arms up, baby. I just know. That is running through my mind. I don't know how to tell you that that is the first thing that came to me because I'm just like, why would they cut that? It's a five-second, like, it's a five-minute scene that they could have thrown in there in the modern day, because again, you need something. There's a cover. I gotta cut you. I'm rereading Happy Place. I know I need to detox. There's nothing tethering them to the modern day, though, of like build-up in the present day. Everything in the present day is animosity until this moment, and then all of a sudden they're in love. Yes, so you could hold in the book. They're in Palm Springs together, they're orbit, they're hot all the time, they're sweaty, they're going down to the pool, they're in the shitty rental pool. They're pressed up against each other because there's the pool's so crowded, yeah, they have to share the bed because his back gets thrown out and there's nowhere else for him to sleep. Yes, yes, yes. The tension has to build. There's no tension at all in the present day. There was more tension in New Orleans, right? That was the only time there was tension. She's like freaking out and she's like, I need air, I need air. Yeah. And so she cuts open the thing, which is just like the book. I'm like, why keep that from the book when you're gonna ship the rest of it? Exactly. Chat GPT put that in there. So then they f and it's fine. No, I have a lot of issues with this actually. Okay, go ahead. Their first kiss is so intense, like they're it's really slow. That's what I'm saying. I just like with the there's like a really slow buildup. But then, like, why are we just showing like their heads in the dark and music? Because this their first time together. No, because she's like, I'm okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:13

Is okay, exactly. Still okay. No, thank you.

Abigail 56:20

Because in the book, he's like, he says, like, she says, like, hurry up or something, and he's like, I've waited 14 years for this. I'm gonna take my time. Or I wanted to like literally you like there's so much dialogue. And you don't have to, I don't think you have to change the PG 13 rating, just have that conversation, like no, don't just fade to this, like go slower with it and like yes, take your time. Yes, yearning. There's no yearning. These people have been building

Ending Swap And Why It Feels Hollow

Abigail 56:50

for over a decade, okay? And here they're just like making out on the porch. First of all, the rain was giving me like hives because they go inside and they're literally dripping wet still on the bed, and they're supposed to be like intercourse while they're dripping wet on a dry bed, and it just happens so fast. And like, yeah, I don't believe that. I don't believe that, like, if you are a king yearner, Alex, who we know that he is, deep down, he's there somewhere, and you've been waiting so long for this that you're just gonna like I don't know, yeah, like make it last, make it compelling, show them their friendship, they're friends with each other. Show me that when they're having sex. Why are we why are we doing like ABC done sex scenes? Make it interesting, continue. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No tear. I was interrupting you. No, no, it's okay. In the lead up to the kiss, where he's like, of course, she was like, Don't tell me that you broke up with Sarah because of me. Whatever. And he's like, Of course it was because of you. Yeah. In the book, that's so much better because he was like, Everything was for you. I got a vasectomy because of you. I didn't even ask Sarah. He like admits all of this stuff, okay? Everything I do is like when I think of the future, it's you, and it's like this huge admission. It is like, it is like when when Harry met Sally, when Harry is like, I think of you last thing before I go to bed, and first thing when I wake up in the morning. I love how your feet are cold. Exactly. All of these things. It's like yes, because you know what, too, that I mean the writers read Nora Efron's monologue, or not not can they read her autobiography before we move on to let's just funny story in Happy Place reset. Don't I can't? Now Happy Place isn't gonna be a series anymore. It's a movie. I know, I know. And I'm I I'm again, I think this works as a movie. I just don't think they did it right. I don't think they kept the things worth keeping. Anyways, um what was I saying? Oh, I mourned too in this in this confession scene. So this would have been so easy to include as well, in my opinion. Um, all through their trip in Palm Springs, which becomes Barcelona, Poppy will be like, oh, remember these these those people we met? And Alex is like, oh no, sorry, I don't remember. And then she's like, you know, remember we did this. And he keeps saying, like, oh, no, I don't really, I have a bad memory. And then right before this confession, he's like, I lied, Poppy. I remember everything. I it's embarrassing for me to say, but I remember that the outfit you were wearing the day we first met. I remember the thing you ordered at McDonald's on a random Tuesday in whatever country. I remember and like again, that's that's the When Harry Met Sally confession, and it's all right there. Just like have a few instances of him saying, I don't remember something. Like that's a one-off line. I don't understand that. But again, there's no buildup, there's nothing. Um, and I'm here tonight because figure out you can spend the rest of your life with someone. You want that to start as soon as possible. Go watch when Harry Met Sally and see how much they talk to each other and see what could have been with this freaking show um movie. But yeah, I just didn't like this because I feel like Alex in the present day is always so closed off, and then he almost doesn't even like shed that here. And I feel like you needed some kind of bigger confession from him of like. Like, I do remember everything with you, Poppy. Or, like, I've been, you know, yeah, I've been waiting for this for 14 years, or I don't know, something. It just felt like, okay, we're just having sex, and now we're really horny, and now I'm gonna like kiss you again right before the wedding, and whatever. It's fine. I did think they had good chemistry, which is upsetting even more. Because I actually do think they could have I think they did really well with the the actors did, but anyways. Okay. Um okay, so now we're at the wedding. Emily Henry spotted at the wedding. Yeah. Also, there's a scene. It was giving it Stephanie Meyer at Bella and Edwards' wedding. I'm sorry, this is the first thing I thought. And too. As far as on-screen weddings go, this one was. I guess but but Bella and Edwards' wedding will never be topped. Yes. Oh, also Bella Edward and Crazy Retation's wedding. Oh, okay. No. Yeah, sorry. Crazy Rotation's wedding. Bell and Edward. Yes. No, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's

Final Take: Flat Movie, Great Book

Abigail 1:01:00

a scene that they like really slow-mo where Alex grabs her hand at the wedding, and that made me think, oh, they filmed the him saying he doesn't like PDA, and they cut that because this there's a scene there, and at the very end, they also zoom in on them holding hands at the on the airplane. So I'm sure that they had that scene again for movie watchers only. There's a the scene in the book where um Alex is like, oh, I hate PDA, like I don't even want to hold hands. And then later Poppy's like, Oh, I thought you said you hated PDA. And he's like, if there's ever a time where I don't feel the need to be touching you, then I'll let you know. But what did they do to you?

unknown 1:01:38

Alex.

Abigail 1:01:38

Oh, sorry, we skipped over something important, which is as they're getting ready for the wedding, they hook up again. And Alex is he acts like nothing that ever has I was like, Oh, who took over your body? Because this isn't you, this is not your personality at all. The character in the book was not the guy who was like, Don't take your dress off. Or like, yeah, she was like, Can you can you like snap the back of my dress? And he was like, No, and he like took it off. That is not Alexander. I don't understand him. You guys don't understand him. Also, in this movie, I feel it a little better. I feel better about the relationship in the book, but in the movie versions of them, I was like, Me as being an Alex myself, could not be with the poppy. Could not. When she's like, Well, wick it, I would kill you. I could not, right? Okay, so they're at the wedding, they're dancing at the wedding, and he's like, So what's next? Right, and then she's so unreasonable. And she's like, I don't know, we'll like hook up after this. And he's like, Look, what's next in life? Are we going to New York? Are you coming to Linfield? Like, what are you doing? And she's like, I don't know, I still need time to think. No, what? Shut up. Again, this works so much better in the book because they're having this conversation, running late for their planes at the gate, and there's no time, and like they're they overslept and it's overwhelmed. And you could have kept that, just have the wedding be nice, have them sleep in the next morning on accident, and then run to the airport. Like, I don't understand, I don't understand the thinking behind having this happen at the wedding and have her be so annoying. Yeah, okay. So, and then here's the actually the my my most devastating thing of all. After they're like, he's like, I can't do this, Poppy. Like, yeah, and good for him, he set a boundary that he should have. I hate my my least favorite thing, a change from the whole book, was the way that she comes to find him. Because in the book, she goes to Linfield High or East Linfield or whatever, a place she hates

Breaking News: New Game Changers Book

Abigail 1:03:35

to go find him, and then like has this huge love confession in front of all of his colleagues, like in this humbling way. But her love confession is so much better, like it's so much better. It's like three pages long. And this whole thing is just around like, oh my god, I'm a manic pixie dream girl who doesn't like-I hate to run, and so now I'm running in my sandal, my boho gladiator sandals, and she's like running to catch him, whatever. It felt like kissins, uh what about it felt like cousins kissing. Like, yes, I just didn't feel I didn't feel the heat. I was trying to read her love confession, and then at the end, he next summer he is he's living with her in New York and he's a professor at Sarah Lawrence. Yeah, good for you guys. And they have a dog, even though he's a cat person. Also, their apartment is so she says, Okay, you're not a vacation and you're not the answer to my career crisis. But when I'm in a crisis or I'm sick or I'm sad, you're the only thing I want. And when I'm happy, you make me so much happier. I still have a lot to figure out. But the one thing I know is wherever you are, that's where I belong. I'll never belong anywhere like I belong with you, no matter what I'm feeling. I want you next to me. You're home to me, Alex, and I think I'm that for you too. She says, I want to stay in New York. I like it there. I think you would like it too. But you asked me what I've been willing to give up for you, and now I know the answer is everything. We we missed all that. Because there's no tension, and then he just moves to New York, and it's like, because there's no actual reason why he's living in Ohio in the first place, because you've got his whole backstory. So it's like his whole thing about being a high school teacher, his whole shit pains me. The ending was because he's living in grandma Betty's house. She was mad at him for not saying that her grandma died. So I was thinking, oh, okay, are we gonna show a flashback scene where she meets the grandma where she meets his family? No, nothing. So I mean, this has been over an hour of us just complaining, which I feel kind of bad now. But this is my true reaction to this movie. It was extremely disappointing. And it really, I'm not even kidding. Like, I know I've said this 40 times, but running through my head as I was trying to sleep last night was arms up, baby, arms up. I'm like, they're gonna, and I just have to prep myself now. Have you been? When you're like 85 and your grandson's walking around, she's like, Arms up, baby. He's like, sure, grandma. Whatever you say, grandpa. Because here's the thing, look, I wanna say, I am like a person in general who, and I should have probably prefaced with this. I do believe in keeping book and adaptation separate. I believe in judging them separately. I think you can make changes to source material and it can be really good. Um, like I have no problem with that. But yeah, like it feels like not only did they change so many things, but they kept things that were stupid. And what's resulted is something that feels boring and like flat to me. Like it's cute, it's fun. If I had never read the book, I would have liked this. Okay, like, but I again it's not memorable and it's frustrating when you know that there's so much there there of the book. Like Emily Henry is so good at character work, she's so good at dialogue, and having dialogue is so funny, yes, and having just watched Heated Rivalry, where they do keep word for word almost all of the dialogue from the book. So you know it's possible to at least have some like tethered to it, and it just feels like yeah, why bother? Yeah, it feels like either go full send, we're gonna do all these changes because we believe in it and we're gonna make something unique that is a call inspired by the source material or or whatever, or we're gonna be really faithful to it. But I don't like this where it's like it feels like again, Chat GBT wrote something trying to like pull in enough references to be little sound bites on TikTok to like entice the book listeners, but not really have any actual depth or like meaning to it. So that's my opinion. Um that's it. Final word. I mean, I I fully agree with you because I'm not like a purist, like there are plenty of book adaptations where I'm like, oh, I really like the changes to this, like I thought they made it better or whatever. So I think a great example is Hunger Games. There were changes that were made for the movie that made a lot of sense for the book and worked, yeah. And worked, yeah, and it is hard, like this coming against Heated Rivalry, which again is like genuinely one of the greatest shows ever been. I know I think that's hard contacts for it to come out against because I do feel like my standards are very high. But you know what? Now I know that I need to brace myself for Happy Place because I just know it's and people already hate Happy Place, they're not gonna because the ending in this, I whatever. In the end of the book,

Anticipating Unrivaled And Fandom Stakes

Abigail 1:08:20

they they spend like five months in Ohio and five months in New York, and they're like figuring it out. And this he just like is like, yeah, okay, I guess I'll give up my life, whatever. Oh well. Anything for you, Poppy. My manic pixie dream girl. Okay, that's it. Commitment issues. I had a good time, I guess. It was what it was, it was what it was, you know. And it reaffirmed my my my enjoyment of the book. Correct. I think I'm really glad I did a reread. I agree. I am glad I did a reread, though, because I had such a good time reading it yesterday. I read it all in one day. Um it made me feel things. I was so happy. I feel like I'm back into reading because of it. So uh yeah, reread it if you guys want. It's really fun.

unknown 1:09:07

Okay.

Abigail 1:09:08

Love. Next topic. Okay, next topic. We have really important news. Breaking, important news. Breaking news. This week, Rachel Reed announced that she's releasing. She has not even announced this yet, by the way. It has not been announced by her. This is only Barnes and Noble? Someone found it on the Barnes and Noble website. And it's still here, but she has not made an official announcement. Oh wow. Yeah. Crazy. I'm sure there's some kind of rollout plan, you know, whatever. It is what it is. Well, found on the heated on on the Barnes and Noble website is a seventh game changer book. Um it's called Unrivaled. I'm looking at it right now. You wanna read us the um I would love to. Okay. It is called Unrivaled, and it's coming out. Uh it says it's coming out September 29th, 2026. So something to live for. Okay. Um, it also, this link is to an exclusive edition that comes with a special cover, design sprayed edges, and exclusive content unique to this edition. Okay. Pause. Do you think that Shane and Ilya, do you do you think that Hudson and Connor are gonna be on the cover? I hope not. I don't think so. But I would want I do want a heated rivalry cover with them. I do want that. Okay. But I don't think for this, I don't think so. Okay, but who knows? Okay. Everyone's favorite hockey players are back. Ilya Rosanov and Shane Hollander continue the romance that began with viral sensation, heated rivalry, now streaming on Crave in Canada and on HBO Max in the US. And the unhighly anticipated final book in New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Rachel Reid's Game Changer series. Excuse me. Okay, here's a synopsis. A line has been drawn, and the hockey world is divided. For the first time in their professional hockey careers, Ilya Rosanoff and Shave and Hollander have nothing to hide. For more than a decade, they kept their love a secret, but now they're out, married, and even playing on the same team. The support is incredible, most of the time. They've gotten a lot of love from fans who are thrilled for them, but some people in the hockey world are still reeling from their relationship reveal, and the backlash, led by popular hockey podcasts top shelf, and the hashtag take back hockey movement is getting louder. Ailey and Shane are finally able to stand together in the light, the way they'd always wanted, and now they might be facing their biggest challenge yet. What does it say about me that I immediately got scared? I know. I do understand that though. I understand. Because I'm so scared that they're gonna break up somehow and get back together, which I don't want. No, I don't it sounds very like us against the world. Like, I don't think she would do it to the mission then that people don't want them. Well, because like the end of the last book of the blonde game, some people were accusing Shane of having like cheated and tripped to let Ilya win in the playoffs.

Wuthering Heights Trailer And Yearning

Abigail 1:12:00

And take hashtag take back hockey. So like people are gonna be like, we don't want queer people in sports or something. The commissioner was mad at them. I feel like there's a lot of tension with them against like the NHL or whatever the fake NHL is, and um the people involved in that, and like the fans, and I feel like that works as a plot without them having to have any. But what's like the rising action? Like, what is gonna be the resolution of it? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, what's good? I don't know because I think in like the long game, like there was also tension in their relationship. Yeah. I mean, maybe they're deciding if they want to have kids or something. Maybe I don't know. I just I hope it's good. I'm scared. I don't think they're gonna break up. I really don't think she would do that. I I understand though. It is scary because it feels like we left them in a good place. I know, and now what, you know? So yeah, and I've been reading a lot of fan fiction that is like post-canon. Yeah, you know, and so now I'm like, I have all these ideas in my head about what their lives are like, and now this book is about to correct all of those things. That's true. I mean, I'm happy Shane or like Ilya thinking about retirement or something. I don't know. Maybe he becomes a wag. I would love that, Victoria. If you can hear us, anyways, I'm very excited. Um, we get more content. And now we know what season three will be about. Yeah, yeah. I can't wait. So give us more. We love it. Um, I wanted to talk to you because I saw um for the first time I went to see Marty Supreme, and before the movie, there was the Wuthering Heights trailer.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:36

Uh-huh.

Abigail 1:13:37

I feel like I went into like a yearning coma watching that trailer. I've never read Wuthering Heights. Obviously, I know people have problems, it seems like it's diverging, whatever. But that trailer is free. I have like I have never seen so much yearning in a trailer before. So I'm really excited for that. I think there um okay, so Wuthering Heights, there is a lot of yearning. One thing I will caution you about is it is not a straight romance. If you are looking for pure happy ending, sure, yeah. This is I I have heard that. Um I think people should just go in with the right episode. Yeah, people should know that. Yeah. And I love that, but I know that's not for everyone. Um, I love pain, unfortunately. So, anyways, I just wanted you guys to know if you haven't watched that trailer, maybe you should. It was like, no, I really think I should. I will. I'm I think we should, I think we should uh read and um I could do a reading. You really should a recap of the of the movie. I mean, I don't know. That could have been all the yearning there is that was in the trailer. But it was just crazy. I was like, what am I looking at right now? Like, what am I doing? Staring at each other and like the big controversy with the movie is that Heathcliff in the book is not white, he is romantic. Right, right, right, right, right. I do remember that. Quite Caucasian. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:00

So that's that's like more. That's a pretty big one.

unknown 1:15:04

You know.

Abigail 1:15:06

But you know what? I mean, I think people were really holding on to hope that it's potential that like this is not just straight Wuthering Heights. Well, the trailer did say inspired by like it very specifically said inspired by the classic or beloved whatever, the greatest love story ever, Wuthering Heights. Um so it didn't say like an ad it it did say in big text, inspired by. So I'm interested in that. Um, well, we'll add that. Just wanted to share that list. Yeah, we'll add that. I'm really excited. Our reading. I have a copy from um thrift books that I got a little while ago in preparation for the movie coming out. So yeah, I'll probably pick it up at the library. So one thing I need to know is what have you been reading recently? And that is one of those books one day in December. Okay, no, that's waiting for me at the library. I'm hoping that I can have time to go today. I don't know what time they close. But um, either

Recent Reads And BTS Fic Detour

Abigail 1:16:00

today or tomorrow I'm going to pick it up. Let me see what time do they close so I can tell you for sure. Oh, they close at five, so I don't think I'm gonna make it, but tomorrow I will go as soon as I can. Um I haven't read any books, and I'm gonna blame Colleen, friend of the show Colleen. Yeah. So I spent like two full days absorbed in this BTS fanfiction called Leave the Ruins Where They Fall by Sharpa. I mean, did you ever think you'd be reading BTS fanfic? No, but I trust Colleen with my life now. So, and I put out a call, I wanted high angst love stories, and she DM'd me and said, You have to read this. And I was like, Okay, like I believe you. I believe you, and it's like it's like long, right? It's 200,000 words, so that's like two. Yeah, okay, and I mean it took me a couple days, but um, it's like a post-apocalyptic, I guess, romance, but like not just straight romance. There's like an assassination plot and trying to like do a revolution, and there's a lot of different POV characters, and I will say this this is a minor spoiler, but this vic has a thruple in it. I have been on the record, I have never in my life cared about a thruple. Um, if that's your life, I I'm happy for you. But do I want to read about it? Never, not really. This, yeah, I have had my mind changed. I have been persuaded that it can work because this was like the most like beautiful love story. Like I was I'm converted. I told her that. I was like, genuinely never. There's a fic that uh called Sweater Weather, that's a wolf star hockey fic that people should read. In that, there's like original characters that are in a thropple, and they're prominent in the sequel, and I just can't read it. That's like no hate to the writer. I just don't like it. But in this, I was so enamored. I have had my mind changed. It was so good. I couldn't stop reading it. So that's what I've been reading lately. Um, I had a great time, it was really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:00

Thank you, Call of that. I don't know who any of these people are.

Abigail 1:18:05

Like I just and it doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter at all. Like they're for all intents and purposes, these are original characters. Like, this is a completely different world than the real world, but yeah, uh, it was really fun. So I love it. Colleen that you guys have taken the permission to just communicate with each other. I know, me too. One-to-one. I told Colleen that the other day. I was like, yeah, go forth. You guys can just be friends on your own. I don't need to be included in anything. I appreciate that. Um, and I appreciate this rec. Oh, I thought it's kind of interesting to read fics from a fandom you're not in because like, I don't know, just like the culture, it's like a whole different it's like a cross-cultural experience. It was like, oh, it's like a completely different vibe over here. For one of our book clubs, we had like a a side, an optional side quest, and it was a it was a BTS fic that uh Colleen recommended, and it was like super like funny, silly, like crack, basically. Yeah, and um it was fun. I had no reference for the fandom, and I was like, I don't need it. Like this is this is just kind of fun. You made up personalities for all of them. It's just basically using their names and like their personas, yeah. And I didn't know either, like what the sh I don't know what the ships are. Like, I so I didn't read the ta the character tags, so I went in completely blind, and that was kind of fun too, because I'm like, I don't know what people ship in this fandom. I don't know. So I didn't know who was gonna end up together, you know, and I didn't know the thruple was coming. Like I thought it was about to be a love triangle, and then all of a sudden they're all together. Um, so it was really fun. Like, I don't know, kind of recommend it. Do a little if you're a big fic person, go into explore another fandom that you're not really a part of. It's kind of fun. So love that. Yes, that's Leave the Ruins Where They Fall by Sharpa on AO3. What have you been reading recently? Well, speaking of Wuthering Heights, I read The Favorites by Lane Fargo on your recommendation. If you're in my book club uh and you don't want to be spoiled for my thoughts. Skip ahead. But um, because we are reading this for book club, I did text you that I I did like the book. I was pissed off by the ending. Uh-huh. I don't want to spoil this for people because I think people still should read the book. I was dumb. Literally, speaking of Colleen, she listened to our last episode where we were talking about the favorites, and I had just started reading it. And she texted me and she was like, Have you figured out that it's a retelling of Wuthering Heights yet?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:28

And I was like, Oh no.

Abigail 1:20:30

Literally, the main character's name is Heath, Heathcliff, Katarina, Catherine. Come on. Um, and I think if I had gone into it in the beginning knowing that it was a retelling of Wuthering Heights, I might have had better expect more accurate expectations for how the plot might shake out. Um, but I thought it was fun. I thought it was soapy kind of, like in the best way, like like dramatic in like Valley TV almost. Yes, it was like very soap opera positive, right? Yeah, it was what it was. And I was saying, um, I was actually saying to Colleen while she's famous in this episode. I know that I feel like Lane Fargo, like she she wrote the book she wanted to read. Yeah. That she is like an ice dance fan. She she knows ball, right? Like she knows about this sport, she's into it, and she was like, I want a dramatic book that's a retelling of Wuthering Heights. It's like this. And she was like, it doesn't exist, I'm writing it. And good for you. And it was it was totally enjoyable. Um, I was annoyed at the ending, but that's okay. Not everything has to be about me, even though it should be. Um, then I have a couple other things cooking that I'm gonna wait to recommend or wait to talk about until I'm finished. But I do want to share a fic that I read. Um, it is a post-canon heated rivalry fic, and it is called Question of the Day. Have you read this?

unknown 1:21:58

No.

Abigail 1:21:58

Did you read it on the right? You sent

Favorites By Lane Fargo And Fic Recs

Abigail 1:22:00

it to me, but I haven't sent it to you. Yeah. You should read it. Got a I got a big CBR going right now, but I hear you. I I will say, um, I'm trying to remember. It's by um Will Monstan, like Will Wilman stan one, two, three, four, five. Okay. Question of Stan. This is um, so warning, it's a spoiler for uh the spoilers for uh role model. The long game. Oh, okay. Well, yeah, the role model in the long game. Harris and Troy are featured prominently in this pic. Okay. Um but it tells, like, it's a very light, it's fluffy. Yeah. But it tells the story post-long game through the lens of Harris doing like a question of the day for the players for the centaurs. That's fun. And so he's asking questions, and then you see like the dialogue between Shane and Ilya, or Troy and um, Troy and Harris, or whatever, like post the question of the day, because it's like during their season run and into the playoffs. And so you're watching the success of the team, you're seeing the interpersonal dynamics between Shane and Ilya, and like there's a little bit of conflict between Shane and Ilya because he's like, I want you to look me out loud and be like proud and not be so like it's like kind of the tension between like being collegial and being like colleagues on the ice and also husbands. Yeah. Um, that's really good. And one of the really fun things is like at the end of each chapter, it's like you've seen like Harris has posted the video and you're seeing the comments from like everybody. So like then like Rose will pop in and do like a comment, or that's and then there's like these other fan accounts that like become kind of characters through the fic because they're like I like dying for you to post the hazy stuff. Like I love that so Miss Anya's pet hot or Anya's Pet Hotel. Uh-huh. They have an account and they're always commenting like stuff like uh Anya's doing great. Like uh it was just so great. I was like my like my mouth was open, smiling, like cute, so like, and I was kicking my feet, but there's also tender and like sweet, sweet and serious moments too. Um, it's really good. I couldn't recommend it enough. Like a social media fic, like in the right, the the right one, like when there's comments and posts and like back and forth texts. Like I just think that can be so fun and people are so creative. So I guess and it is it is in universe and it is post-canon, and it's not like gonna throw you off like crazy, it's more just exploring the already established dynamics between some of the characters. Dee dee dee. I'm going. Question of the day. I can't wait. That's my New Year's resolution to read more fanfiction this year is off to a great start. Yay! So just letting you guys know. If you need any rex, slide it to my day DMs. Um, great. See you guys next time. All right, gang. We will see you guys next time. Bye.