Hallmark's Mistletoe Murders S1 E2 - Poison in a Pear Tree Pt. 2 (Re-Release)

In this episode of Pour the Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry and Amy unwrap the second chapter of Mistletoe Murders: Poison in a Pear Tree, Part 2! Emily’s inner detective is sleighing the game as she stumbles into a blizzard of secrets, blackmail, and identity mix-ups. Can she crack the case of Marcus’s mysterious demise before someone else gets stuffed in a stocking? Tune in now as they unravel this tinsel-wrapped whodunnit!

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_03 0:07

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

SPEAKER_01 0:14

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

And I think you should pour the Was that a little too loud? That was a little loud in the mic.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

I'm sorry. Oh my god. We may back away from the mic. You're not supposed to kiss the mic. You're just supposed to talk into it.

unknown 0:32

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

All right. Sorry, that took me a little by surprise. That was very aggressive.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yes, it was. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

So I'm going to be pouring a cab sab.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

A cab sal.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

And while I'm doing that, why don't you tell the people out there in podcasts, Land, what we are going to be reviewing today.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

I don't know if I have it in me right now. Welcome to Tinsel Tuesdays, where we review all things Christmas. Today we're going to be reviewing episode number two of the popular series Mistletoe Murders.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yes, we are. Ho ho.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Ho ho ho ho.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And you know what?

SPEAKER_03 1:11

What?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

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

SPEAKER_03 1:25

And you have not had a thing to drink yet, right? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

I have not.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Oh my gosh, we are on a roll tonight. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

And you can also catch us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Blue SkyX, and of course, Threads.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Yes. Go ahead and head on over there to the social media sites and let us know what you think about Mistletoe Murders. Maybe you watched it when it aired last fall.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

And you already know, and we're not in the know.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

So we we're we don't know what's gonna happen. And boy, was I surprised by this episode, which we're gonna talk about.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yes, we are. So today we're going to be reviewing the second episode of Mistletoe Murders. Poison in a pear tree.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

What is it with you in poison?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Point two. Part two.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

I promise we have had a lesson.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Which, like you said, aired November 7th, 2024 on Hallmark Plus.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

So are we adding anybody new to this particular episode?

SPEAKER_03 2:26

We are not. Um, you can listen to the entire cast list at the beginning of our review of episode one, but when we do meet new characters or actors along the way, which maybe we will, I don't know. We will definitely add them in at this point in the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yeah, I think we hit them all last.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Yep, I think we did.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

So do you want a trivia question?

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Oh gosh. Uh it's been a it's been a night already. Sure, let's go for it. Let's get that done.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Let's do this. You know this one.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

No, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Which Hallmark Channel series follows the life of a woman named Casey Nightingale?

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Oh, that's um The Good Witch. Ding ding ding ding. I know that one is such a good series if you have never watched it.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

And Bert, tell her what she won.

unknown 3:09

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Oh boy, we are here all night, people. We're here all night.

unknown 3:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

You got the question right. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

I assume so.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

But Good Witch is a really good series. Yes, it yes, it is. Good Witch, good series.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

You enjoyed it. That's another one you got me hooked on.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Yes, it's very if you have, if you've never seen it, you should definitely go watch it. It's on Hallmark Plus right now. I'm not sure where else it's available, probably other places, but um, you can go catch. It's just good, just good TV, just enjoyable, not too heavy. No, some heartfelt moments. Well, lots of heartfelt moments, really. Just smooth and easy and nice.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And a little bit of magic.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

And a little bit of magic thrown in. Yeah. So it's good.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

So is it time to drop this sonat?

SPEAKER_03 4:00

I would say so. Okay. All right. Emily continues to investigate the tree farm murder, drawing Sam's attention.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Is that it?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

That's it. Woo! Short and sweet and to the point.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Well. We'll probably give away some spoilers. So if you haven't watched it yet, go watch it. Then come back to our review.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

I am 100% certain we're gonna give away spoilers in this one.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Well, we'll push pause.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Go watch it if you don't want to know what happens, and then come back because we are gonna be spilling the beans, probably.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Spilling the beans, roll that beautiful beans.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

There's not really a choice. I mean, really.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

No, it's not. I mean, there was a lot going on in this particular episode.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

So we left off in episode one. Uh, where'd we leave off at the end? Gordon was poisoned.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

Right?

unknown 4:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

We don't know if he survives, right, at the end of episode one.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

No, you don't.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

We don't know. We see a flashback from four years prior of Emily running out of a building, and then the building explodes.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah, I'm interested to find out what that is.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Yeah. So she obviously has some sort of past that she's running from, but we don't know what. Marcus was going to purchase the farm from Gordon.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

We learned that in the last episode. Um, Lizzie is pregnant, which is Marcus's ex. Yes. And Trent is the daddy allegedly. Yes. And we also learned that Trent uses used a pseudonym at the tree farm for the carriage ride.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

But he ends up not going on the carriage ride, right? Right. We find out. So I, here's part of the spoiler, had no idea that we were going to get the murder wrapped up in this episode.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

I know.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

I did not know that this was a series like that.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

So I guess it's a two-episode per murder mystery.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

Per murder. Murder. Yes. After so after this episode, after we watched part or episode number two, I went and looked at the names of all the um the rest of the episodes, and there's four more episodes. So it's a total of six. And each one's like a part one, part two. So I guess there's a murder in each one. And then I I had no idea it was like that. And I guess we'll learn more about Emily's past as we go, but each murder will be different. Yeah. So maybe we will be adding more actors, more characters. I don't know. We didn't listen, you know, to the Audible original series. So I'm not sure how that went that went down. If it was two episodes per murder. Per murder.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Well, we're gonna find out, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Because I tell you what.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

What?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Who doesn't love a secret pregnancy?

SPEAKER_03 6:41

A secret pregnancy.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

A contested contested farm deed.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

You're doing air quotes like people can see you. Oh, you know what?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

I don't know what's wrong with me today. Oh, Jesus, take the wheel.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

He's doing air quotes.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I don't even know who's cooking in there, but what's a poison cookie that everyone in the poison cookie thinks was used to kill Mark.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

That's right. We had the poison cookie.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

I mean, what damage can that do to your cookie business?

SPEAKER_03 7:09

A lot, I would think, if you had a poison cookie.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

But you know what's funny? I think every time Emily gets deeper into the case, it seems like um she risks exposing the secrets from her past.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

So I think that's a pretty cool twist, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Yeah, that definitely is a is a common thread throughout both episodes so far. Because I think she says something like at the beginning, like um, getting involved is an unforced error. Yes. And then she said, um, self-sabotage, thy name is Emily. I thought that line was so funny. Yes. Yeah. So you can see she's doing things that are gonna make people think she's more than, you know, she's smarter than the average bear. She's obviously into something. We just don't, we just don't know what. And the more she picks locks and asks questions and yeah, and what's funny is at the end of each episode, she seems like she gets a gift from is it Ray?

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Who's the furniture?

SPEAKER_03 8:11

That's at the end of this one, yeah. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Because at the end of the last one, doesn't she like open up her little cubby hole and breaks out the case with the laptop?

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

We learn she's got but we don't know what's in this particular case this time. Right. We have to wait.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

She gets a case. Right, right. Well, she didn't get that other one as a gift. She just opened it. Not a gift from her, but yeah, you know, it's it's some mystery box. Some mystery box, right? That's a good way of putting it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Putting it. Mystery vibe.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Mystery vibe. So I guess we should we keep saying murder.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

And I was thinking, maybe we should explain why we say it that way.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah, you explain.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

You you want me to explain.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yes, because you you're the one that told me about it.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

So there was there was a TV series called City Confidential, and it ran from 1998 to 2023, actually. And it was a real life crime story documentaries, right? Mostly about murders. So the late actor Paul Winfield used to narrate it. And so it would crack me up because every episode started like it was a small town. The kind where children played outside. People didn't lock their doors until there was a murder.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

And I didn't believe you. And you're like, okay, we're gonna go find one of these episodes.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

I had to look it up because every episode it was like it was a smile, a small, quaint little town.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Yes, and I rolled laughing when he said it since 1998.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

That is how I've been saying murder. So if you hear it like that, it's like there's a murder. Oh my goodness. All right, so anyway, that's just a little and he passed away, unfortunately, in 2004. So he narrated that series from 1998 till his death in 2004. And then there was another narrator who I forget who it was, but it's never the same. It never is he's the icon of that of that series. So City Confidential.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Go check it out, check it out and see what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

You will laugh. All right, anywho, anywho, all right, let's get to but you know what else is funny?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

What's that? Emily always gets caught at the scene.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Oh, you know what? That's a good point.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Sam is always catching her. Can you imagine being Sam going, oh my god, what is with this woman?

SPEAKER_03 10:20

That is true, because at the beginning, um, you know, Gordon was poisoned and we find out he survived. Yep. And Sam is like, What were you doing at the tree farm? Because she was there, right? She found, or she's the one who called the police, right? So you're right. She is kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

She's often she is that type of person that, you know, go she does it and then she asks for forgiveness later.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Well, maybe. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. She can't help herself. She can't get out of her own way with the investigation part. So well, let's um let's get into some of the big revelations of this episode. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Some big revelations.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Big revelations. Again, if you haven't watched it, spoiler alert, push pause, go watch and come back.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yes, please do. So we're about to let the first revelation is the first one. Gordon survived.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Gordon survived the poisoning.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

He's not murder.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

He's not death by cookie. Yeah. That we know of yet. Right. Right. Right. Okay, so Gordon Gordon does survive.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

He lives to see another day. Yay. Trent, you want to talk about biggest revelations with Trent? Yes. So we find out and Emily goes to interview Trent.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

And during the course of that interview, she confronts him about knowing that he used a pseudonym at the tree farm. Yes. And Joey Von. Joey Vaughn. Yes. So she knows about that. And she basically wants to know what he was doing. What he was doing there. And he actually thought that Lizzie was meeting up with her ex-Marcus. Yes. So he went to look and check it out. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

He made a reservation.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

When he got there, he realized that he his inclinations were wrong. Correct. Correct that it was wrong. Right. So he realized that he was wrong about that. So he left the tree farm.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

So that eliminates him as a suspect in the murder, the murder of Marcus. Yes. Right. Because he left the tree farm. He ran into, he says he ran ran into Anna at the gas station.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Right. So um and then that's when Emily asks him about the four or ask him if there was a withdrawal. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Right. Am I remembering? If she can see that with if she could see his account and how much was withdrawn.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

And that's where we find out it was$40,000.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

$40,000. But she did she the reason she found out he was actually there was a the coat from the picture.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Correct. Right. She was looking at social media, right? Yeah, she was looking at the right, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

And then when she was going to see him, she was across the street and he was talking to someone else and he had the exact same coat on, and that's when she comes together.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

She picked up on the clue, she recognized the coat, not him in the pictures of the farm that day. Yes. On social media. Social media will get you every time.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Hey.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

It gives a lot of evidence. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

You put it up there. It stays up there.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Yep, yep. So um that's how she knew he was there for sure. Right. Right. You're right.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

So that eliminates Trent.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

So that eliminates Trent. So then we have, let's see, um Lizzie and Marcus. Lizzie and Marcus. The Lizzie and Marcus story.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

So this time the mystery came to her. Lizzie went to Emily's shop. Store. Or store. Yeah. Yeah. Because she's curious about the cookie. I believe if she's trying to figure out where it came from, do you think? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

So Lizzie goes to the store and Emily's just coming.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

She's coming home. Home. She wants to go and relax, hug her kitties, drink some wine, take a sho a bath. Right. When she looks over and she actually sees Lizzie. So she walks up to her and says, Can I help you? And she goes, and Lizzie was like, Oh yeah, I'm I'm kind of hungry.

SPEAKER_03 14:14

Craving because I'm pregnant, blah, blah, blah. Yep. So they go inside the store, right? Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

And that's when Emily confronts Liz about the baby.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Help me. The baby. Okay. Yeah. I'm like, you're looking at me like I'm like, the are you are we doing charades here that no one can see too? Okay. I know, right? You're right. So Emily, so we find out that the baby is actually Marcus's, and Lizzie hadn't told Trent yet because Trent thinks it's his baby.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Right. Because they got together shortly after her and Marcus split up. And then we find out that Lizzie did tell Marcus that he was the baby's daddy, and they were trying to figure out what to do. Right. And how to they meet in like the restaurant in the cafe and they they discuss it. And Marcus is, you know, he's not mad at Lizzie. He's just like, we'll figure it out, we'll move forward. And in the meantime, Marcus is in love with June and he's what engaged to her and all this other jazz. And then we find out that Lizzie was being blackmailed for$40,000. Yes. She tells Emily that she was being blackmailed and that Marcus was murdered because of her because she needed the money. And that's why Marcus withdrew the cash of the forty thousand dollars so he could give it to Lizzie to give to the blackmailers.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

But we don't know who the blackmailers are yet.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yes. Hence anything. Both of them were at the tree farm at the same night.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

On the same right.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

And Marcus had said, I have some business to take care of.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

So he was really deep down a good guy. You know, it's a really cool thing. He was trying to help her out. Yes. Um, and then you find out that we also find out this is an aside that Marcus did tell June June did know and she wasn't upset. I kind of like that, you know, because Marcus and Lizzie were together and they didn't get back together after they split up, but she was pregnant and you know, it happens, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

It was an open book with her.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Right, right. So June did know that. Um, is there anything else during that one?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Well, we then find out that Marcus had given Lizzie a piece of the cookie in the city.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Oh, yes, yes, that's a big part of it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

And that's when we find out that the cookie wasn't poisoned.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

It was not murder by cookie. It was not, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

And she's telling Emily that Emily this in the store. Right. And then Emily is like, wait a minute, you had a piece of the cookie? And she was like, Yes. And she goes, Well, then the cookie wasn't poisoned. Right. And then that's when she asked Lizzie to do one more favor for her, and that was to go to the police to get June off of the uh well to tell them to tell them that Marcus was tell them the whole story.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Right. Right. And then that, yeah, then they realized that June didn't do it by cookie. Death by cookie. Right. So that the cookie wasn't wasn't poison because the cookie wasn't there. Right. Right. It was gone. It was gone. Just the rapper wasn't on the scene anymore. The actual cookie. Right. So that's okay. So that covers Lizzie and Marcus.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

And Marcus. So let's move on to Anna.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

Oh, wait, June.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Oh, June.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

June is released.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

June is released.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Right. And she goes and meets Emily at the cafe.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

And that's where Emily has another Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Oh my gosh moment.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Oh my gosh moment. And she goes to the tree farm.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

To confront Anna. So now we're thinking maybe Anna did it. Right. Maybe Anna killed Marcus. We don't know. We don't know what's going on. So she is looking for the cash at the tree farm. Anna's not there. Anna's not there. And Anna catches her digging behind the counter. Digging behind the counter, looking for a bag of cash, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:16

And then she wanted to know, what are you doing here? And then that's what Anna did.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Anna wanted to know what Emily did.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Emily goes into, I know you saw Trent at the gas station. He told me that he told you about the$40,000. What I'm confused about is, and she lifts up the duffel bag. Here's the duffel bag, but there's no$40,000. So what did you do with it? Right. And at first she tried Anna tried to say it wasn't her, maybe it was her dad, but Emily wasn't having any of it. So Anna finally confessed that when she was at school, the gamblers that or that the people that he owned, that Gordon, her dad owed money to from gambling debts, had come to school and told her, if you don't get us$40,000, we're going to kill your dad. Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

So Anna comes up with this idea that she's going to text Lizzie saying, I know that that's Marcus's baby. And if you don't give me$40,000, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

I mean, it's really complex. All these storylines going together, and we still don't know who did it. Right. At that point, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Right. So and Emily figures that part out because she knows that Gordon is not a tech guy. So she knows that he couldn't have sent the text message.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Because Lizzie, because Lizzie says she got a text message, right? And so she know yeah, Emily knows that Gordon doesn't even have a cell phone. Right. Right. Or has a flip phone or whatever. That he would not be doing the texting. And that's when Anna fesses up. Yes. That she was the one blackmailing Lizzie and she gave the money to the gamblers. Not the or the people he owes. I guess they're probably not gamblers, but I don't know. Whatever they are.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

They're the they're the mafia. And that's who you see in the first episode that comes out of the bar. Yes. Because they have a duffel bag and they're getting in the car and taking off. So that solves that particular uh mystery.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

So then we have so then we have the biggest reveal of of the episode, which is who did it? Who did the murder? So Emily's in the barn, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:28

She's so after talking with Anna and telling her she needs to clean up her own mess, she leaves the store. And as she's walking down the steps, she hears the horse in the barn.

SPEAKER_03 20:38

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And it, you know, the horse sounds startled. So, you know, Emily being the detective, the detective she is, she goes over to the barn and she's like, Hello, is there anybody in here? And the thing that catches her eye is a ladder that's coming down from the second floor to the to the uh the first floor.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

And she's like, huh.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

That wasn't here before. I wasn't here before. And Gordon had said it wasn't sturdy up there. Right. It's not safe to go up. Safe to go up there.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

And what does she do?

SPEAKER_03 21:10

She goes up there. Yeah. Would I go up there?

SPEAKER_01 21:12

No.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

No, hell no. I'd be like, Anna. Do you know what kind of bugs would be up there? Did you ever do you have your have you ever been in a barn?

SPEAKER_01 21:20

No.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

My grandma had a barn that my grandpa built.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Had some critters, huh?

SPEAKER_03 21:24

Well, I'm just saying, going up in the loft area was scared scarce.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah, I bet it was very shadow.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

I yeah, there is I wouldn't do it as an adult. Are you kidding me? As little as I like bugs and there's no lighting, and oh no. That's true. No, thank you. No, the horses are great on the lower level. But going up, nope, no, thank you. But anywho, Emily goes up there. Yeah. Because she is like a crick ray. Oh, like a crick ray because she is a detective and she wants to know what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

So she goes up and she discovers that Rowan.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Rowan's stuff is up there.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah, like he's been staying there.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

And she sees his backpack.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Right. Right. Which she goes through, she dumps out onto the blanket.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

And what it what dumps out?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yeah. It's the let me see if I can pronounce this. Pentabarbital.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

Yes, yes. So it's the anesthesia for animals, right? But that's what was used to kill Marcus.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

By accident.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

Well, that's what they found in his system. Right. That's what killed him.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Was this pentabarbital.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Right. And as when she f actually finds it, and Rowan appears behind her with a beachfork.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

And Emily gets up to walk away, and as she does, she s steps on a board and falls right through it.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Falls through the floor to the bottom floor. Just like Gordon said, it wasn't safe up there, right? So she gets knocked out.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

She's knocked out, and when she comes to, she's tied up, and she notices that across from her, Anna's also tied up.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Right. Gordon's daughter's there. Yeah. She's she's tied up. And and um Rowan, gosh, his name just escaped me for a second. I don't know who just said it. Um, so he's he's basically prepping the the to murder them. W the pentabarbital, right? However, you say it. He's prepping that because he's gonna murder them and he's going to set it up like Anna killed her.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

And then killed herself, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Because she couldn't take the fact that she killed Emily.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Right, right. I it was, yeah, it was a little convoluted. But in that, in that talk with Emily, you know, and Emily's trying to figure out what to do. Like she's evaluating the situation, she's biding time, she's trying to figure out how they're gonna get out of that situation, right? You can see it in her look. Like she's looking around, she's trying not to, and she's keeping him engaged in conversation. Things that I've learned by watching detective movies. Detective, detective, right? So, um, yeah, so she's so in in the course of those conversations, you find out that Rowan had lost his home, or he I forget that part where Yeah, he was staying he was staying there because he didn't have anywhere to stay. Right. So basically, yeah, he didn't have anywhere to stay, and he was upset that the f at the fact that Gordon was going to sell the farm. Right. Or sell the yeah, the tree farm. The tree farm. Yeah. And so he put the poison in a flask. Right. And because Gordon is an alcoholic, he was supposed to drink it, but who picked it up instead?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Marcus.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

Because Marcus is a good guy and he didn't want Gordon drinking while he was driving the carriage around with people in the back or in general, right? Yes. So we find out that Marcus actually took the flask.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Right. And while he was waiting for whoever was blackmailing Lizzie, he took a sip.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

And and Emily says it was because he probably needed courage to face these guys who were blackmailing not Emily, Lizzie.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Lizzie.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Lizzie, right. And so so you find out that, you know, okay, Marcus's murder was a mistake, but he was still gonna murder somebody. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

He was gonna murder Gordon.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

He was gonna murder Gordon. So in the meantime, Emily's trying. Did I forget any other revelations during that?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Well, that's when she was like, Well, the flask wasn't on his person when the when the cops found on him, and he told her, or uh Rowan told her that they had a search party and he was the first one that found Marcus laying on the ground.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

And he saw the flask and he picked the flask up.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

Because he realized Marcus had drank from the flask that he had put poison in. Right. Okay, that's right. That's right. So um, so then Emily is trying to get her hands on they're really taped together, right? So she's trying to get them loose, yeah, cut and cut the tape. And in the meantime, she kind of motions for Anna to make some noise while Rowan is in the horse stall.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yeah. Right. With the I can't remember the name of the horse.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

Oh, I don't either. But so then Anna makes noise, she pushes like a shovel over or something.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Which hits a uh pail.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Yeah, and it makes the loud noise and it startles the horse, and the horse ends up knocking Rowan out. Giving them time to get away. Yes. And for her to call 911 and you see Sam is trying to call her anyway, so yeah. So that was that's the big revelation of all of that. And Emily was involved in every bit of every storyline that she investigated. And she found some things out, you know, because you know, the well, I guess the blackmail was part of it, but it was also like a side story.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Right. And the Trent thing, that was like a side story where you kind of think maybe he did it, maybe he didn't. It's almost everybody did it, but no one she eliminates everybody. Right. So then so then at the end, Rowan or Rowan, Rowan gets arrested for murder.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

For murder, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

And And then Sam is sitting there talking to Emily as they're watching Lizzie give or Anna give, you know, the cops whatever some information. Right, right. And he kind of hints to Emily that he's glad that she's okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:27

She's okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

You know, and because she was like, So are you mad at me for, you know, yeah, not calling you? And he's like, No, we'll say that for another day or something.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

And you kind of get the feeling that he's starting to have feelings for right, right.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

You can see that kind of developing a little bit. And I mean, it's kind of, you know, that's the that's the big reveal. And we haven't really talked about, you know, Emily and Sam throughout the whole thing kind of have a good banter, too.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Right.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

She's got a a lot of good one-liners, like when when we have the Lizzie revelation and she has Lizzie go to the police station, right? And he's like, of course you were. Sam's like, of course you were involved. And she's like, You're not gonna give me credit for this, are you? You know, you're not even gonna give me this one. And he's like, No, no, no, I'm not. You know, it's just so funny. And I just thought it was really cute. And then we also had, you know, Sam and his daughter growing closer, and yeah, we had some cool scenes with them, and his daughter's growing up, and she understands now that her dad is, even though he, you know, they he needed to be divorced from her mom, that he's kind of missing the old life too, their old tradition. Like, let's start new ones, you know. Let's so it was really cool to see a teenager kind of see that and her dad. And so not that there's just a lot going on, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's and I like that they made her a good kid too.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

You know, I mean she's gonna do kid things, but they kind of made she's got a good head on her shoulders, she's kind to her dad, you know, so it's it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Yeah, it was kind of funny where at the beginning she didn't want to do the karaoke, but in the end, when she tells her dad that it's okay, we don't have to do the the family traditions, we can make our own. And as she walks walking out of his office, she turns around and goes, But we can do the karaoke.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Well, she sees that he's a little bit sad, right? Like he's kind of looking like, oh, and then she says, Hey, I know what we can do, and it just makes him brighten up, which is really cool. It's really cool. Yeah, so yeah, and then I think I don't know if we mentioned this or not, how uh Emily gives Ray, who owns the furniture store. Ray is like her partner in crime, yes, that's gonna be interesting. And at the end, everybody they're exchanging gifts, right? And that's where she gives him a postcard that says something like here's to keeping each other's secrets. So he's got some secrets that he's hiding. Yes. She's and he gives her a new box. So we're waiting to see what's in that box. There's just a I mean, there's a lot going on, even though a murder was solved. Right. So we still have more to go.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

And I'm just, I don't know. I think it's kind of a Cool way to storytell. Yeah, it's a good idea. In two part episodes like that. It's kind of like murder she wrote, only they're taking two episodes instead of one. Right. Right. Murder she wrote. You know, just kind of kind of cool. And we'll see we'll see what happens. Yeah, I think we will. Yeah. So out of five uh Well, before we do that, what was your tinsel? Did you have a tinsel topped moment?

SPEAKER_01 30:22

I I actually when they when she figured out that Anna was the one that said who, Emily? Emily found out that Anna was the one that texted because Gordon couldn't.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

That was kind of that was a pretty good catch. Yeah, and I didn't catch it. Yeah. Neither did I. So I thought that was that that was my tinsel moment.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Your tinsel top moment. Well, we just talked about it. In fact, you brought it up was when Violet notices that her dad is sad. I just thought that I mean the whole murder mystery part was good too. And I like all the Emily has some great one-liners, you know, in this episode. And um, but I just really like that moment. And then she's like, hey, I I have an idea. We can go, let's go to karaoke night. And he's like, okay. And they're just, I just thought that that I really like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

I thought that was a scene with them singing karaoke.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Yeah, they did. So I thought that was cool. Yeah. That was cool. And then, you know, we're left with the mystery. We don't know what's in the box, and we don't know what's gonna happen next.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

No, we don't. So you gotta stay tuned for season one, episode three.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

That's right. That's right. Um, out of five ornaments, how many would you hang on your tree for this one?

SPEAKER_01 31:31

I'm gonna give this a three and a half.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

What about you?

SPEAKER_03 31:36

I'm gonna give it a four. Okay.

unknown 31:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

No, I thought it was good.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

No, I thought it was really good. I I was not expecting to wrap up the murder this episode at all. I had no idea we were gonna find out. And then I was like, oh crap, we just found out who did it.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

We found out why. We found out all the information. What is happening?

SPEAKER_01 31:54

What are they gonna do now?

SPEAKER_03 31:55

What are they gonna do next?

SPEAKER_01 31:56

They're setting up for another murder murder.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

So is that I think it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Okay, but is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_03 32:03

That's a wrap.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

All right. Well, thanks for listening. Be sure to follow the podcast wherever you listen so you don't miss one. Also, follow us on social media. If you really, really like the show and are listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, we would really, really appreciate your positive review. And if you didn't really, really like the show, we still appreciate your positive appreciation.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

We would. We would really appreciate it. It would help us so much if you would take the time to leave a review and comment. Go on our social media and comment and we'll talk back. Yes. We'll comment back when we can. Yes. We do have full-time jobs outside of this, so do comment when we can. But yeah, that's a wrap. Very cool. Join us next Tinsel Tuesday when we review episode number three, Peril of the Bells Part One.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

Ooh, Peril.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

Which I'm sure will be followed by episode four of Peril of the Bells Part Two. You can catch the entire season of Mistletoe Murders on Hallmark Plus. So go check it out and then come back for our weekly reviews. You can also tune in on Wednesdays for our Hallmark movie reviews.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Until then, fill up your glasses and push play. Thanks for listening. Cheers.