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Sugarplummed: The Christmas Movie of Our Time
15 Plays2 months ago
Movie spoilers abound! Today we’re discussing Maggie Lawson’s new release Hallmark movie “Sugarplummed” for the HOLIDAYS! For this one, a busy lawyer/mother is looking to create the perfect holiday season with her family, but can’t seem to ever get it quite right. She stumbles upon a magic Christmas ornament and all her holiday wishes come true–or do they? We’re talking social media, Jumanji, and the true meaning of Christmas. So, get comfy and join Kylie and Skyler for a real meta-take on Hallmark movies on this very special Holiday episode of Phsysics 101!
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Transcript
Introduction and 'Sugar Plumbed' Movie Overview
00:00:20
Speaker
Alright, hello everyone and welcome to the Psych 6101 where we discuss everything about the world of Psych and the antics of Shawn and Gus in sunny Santa Barbara. I'm Skylar and this is my partner Sue Garplum and today we're going to be talking about Sugar Plumbed, a brand new Hallmark movie featuring Maggie Lawson.
00:00:38
Speaker
So excited. I, in finding like when this was going to air and stuff, we discovered that she's in like, she's done in like one a year. Which is crazy. yeah Yeah. So, you know, for all the Christmases to come, we'll have to Every Maggie Lawson. Chippin' away at her cannon. yeah Would we have to do doubles because there'll be a new one? We may have to. Yeah, I feel like we had a lot going on this year so we couldn't like really get on top of it. Maybe next year we'll just watch the rest of them. There you go. We could do that.
Hallmark Movies in Popular Culture
00:01:11
Speaker
Or we could do like a Christmas in July or something and just like but do like one a week or something. I like that. That's fun.
00:01:21
Speaker
I feel like that's a thing. That's like a thing people do, isn't it? Like Christmas in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. I think Christmas in July in particular. There you go. I don't know why. I mean, I guess it's like halfway. Sorry. I don't know if you hear that squeaking. We knew hot cocoa in honor of our festive viewing. And that reminds me to go cupside sunscreen lid. Well, I did want to ask you before we like really get into it.
00:01:46
Speaker
Have you, like, what's your relationship to Hallmark movies? Have you watched any? No. Is this your first? is my but I think I've had like a, uh, maybe general understanding of what a Hallmark movie is like. You know, you see the commercial and they're very like.
00:02:02
Speaker
hi everyone you know like they're really in the zeitgeist like i feel like i mean there's a lot of merch about them like i feel like people they're like a shorthand you know like a hallmark movie um and this was an interesting one because it's
Exploring Christmas Movie Genres and Traditions
00:02:21
Speaker
quite meta about hallmark movies yeah yeah um but i think I was looking, because I have watched a few cheesy Christmas movies for how did this get made, which I think I mentioned before, podcasts about bad movies. um But I was looking through, and I don't think any of them have been Hallmark, actually. They're all like lifetime. Hallmark adjacent. Hallmark is not the only one that does this.
00:02:46
Speaker
yeah And there is one like made for TV Christmas movie that I genuinely really like called the holiday engagement. And I looked in that as a Hallmark movie. And also today's movie, I enjoyed it. And so I feel like, you know, maybe they've got something figured out. Yeah. It's like nice. Yeah. I can see why you why one might get into it. Yeah, I could see it. I have never.
00:03:16
Speaker
My holiday movie watching list is usually, we're getting into this a little earlier than maybe we were anticipating, but. Go for it. My holiday movie watching list is usually like the old school versions, like what we used to watch when I was a kid. So like Frosty the Snowman or like any of the claymation versions of things, how the Grinch stole Christmas. um Oh wait that's yeah, a good one. Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
I can't even think of any and he like actual people, holiday movies. Oh my god, that's funny. Well, you know me, I'm like rom-com. Yes. like Basically, like yes I go through a cycle of rom-coms. Yes. As far as non-rom-com, although I was going to say elf, but that's got a rom-com element. Oh, elf, that's true. And how the Grinch stole Christmas also does.
00:04:10
Speaker
um But those are probably, in terms of like family Christmas movies, like they are a bit different. I feel like those are my main two that returned to. Yeah. Oh, um like any of the Charlie Browns. I'll also watch those holidays. We do. My a son, who is almost two, is very into Elmo and Sesame Street. And we recently decided to like expand that and expose him to the Muppets. So we watched the original Muppet movie. And so I think we'll watch the Muppet Christmas Carol, which I have never actually, I think last year when he was really little, we tried to turn it on to see if he would be interested, but it was like over his head at that time. But I think he will like it now.
Storytelling in Hallmark Movies: Comfort in Formula
00:04:56
Speaker
So. He liked the first one you guys watched? Yeah.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, that would be a nice. So yeah, Love the Christmas Carol. I feel like that's a classic for a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah, other than that, I'm watching, you know, While We Were Sleeping is a great underrated Christmas-y, holiday-ish rom-com. Mm-hmm. Sandra Bullock, Bill Paxton, I think. Okay. In like 93 or something like that. Oh, why? Yeah. Great.
00:05:27
Speaker
holiday. good day Oh, seen that one. It's a fun one. yeah um One another underrated one. IMO is last holiday with Queen Latifah. Oh, I've seen that one too. That is a great one as well. Oh, I love that one too. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Yeah, it's on Paramount Plus. Highly recommend. I remember when we were kids, we had that on DVD. Oh, yeah. And i so I just yeah. And I think only like last year, within the last couple of years, I realized it was on Paramount Plus. And so I like it was like a return. Oh, yeah. I might have to rewatch that now that you mention it. Yeah, you really should. I mean, the only thing if I could change anything about it would be and the extensive food prep and food like
00:06:16
Speaker
visuals because as a vegan, not appealing at all. fair um But I appreciate the, you know, the life lessons for sure. Yeah. Queen Latifah gives a wonderful performance. Oh, yes. And she's so funny in that movie too. Oh, so she's just so funny, so charming, perfect rom-com heroine. I love love, actually. I know that.
00:06:43
Speaker
people. It's divisive these days. Did we watch that together? Probably. I probably would have. I feel like, yeah, but I feel like. Subjected. Subjected. Positive. Yes. I feel like, I feel like we did watch it, but I don't remember most of it. I feel like all I remember is that Alan Rickman was in it. Yes, he is. Yeah.
00:07:08
Speaker
It's great. A lot of different interconnected stories. A lot of complex characters and relationships. So, love it. Why do we think there are, because there are so many holiday movies. I mean, if you, yeah, because like if you even
00:07:31
Speaker
and Those are just like kind of blockbuster ones. But then if you bring like the made for TV ones in, it's truly astounding. Like Hallmark releases a new movie like every day in December or something like that. And now Netflix is in the game. yep Like the ones I have watched for how did this get made are like, okay, I said like Lifetime and stuff. So there's like a lot of yeah different productions that are going on.
00:07:57
Speaker
yeah I think people just look for that cozy. it's ah It's very, you know, it's the dark half of the year. It's fair. ah so dark The days are short. We're looking for comforts. Yes.
00:08:12
Speaker
for romance I did kind of go into this movie, Sugar Plum, expecting a rom-com because in my head I'm like, oh, all Hallmark movies are rom-coms. But yeah I think as I was watching it, I feel like maybe they talked about this on How Did This Get Made. I think they maybe talked about how like Hallmark has like three different things going on. It's either like a romance or a mystery okay or kind of a meeting of Christmas kind of thing, which I feel like that was what we had going on here, which I felt like Because of that, because I went in going like, okay, I wrote trophy romance was what I was like expecting. It was almost like refreshing to have kind of just like this family story. Yeah. But I forget that like there's other things. There's other things on Walmart. Not too many other things, but other things. Yeah.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's so interesting, like the ah types of stories that we get around the holidays, her always these kind of like, or often these kind of like magical, like they were saying that they talk about, you know, the quote unquote rules of movies. And it is kind of interesting when you know I feel like the holidays is it the holidays would be a really good frame to talk about like so many things, you know not just like the magic of Christmas. like you know There are a lot of people that don't enjoy the holidays and the holidays are really hard for. We see that with Deborah in this movie.
Analyzing 'Sugar Plum': Meta Elements and Character Dynamics
00:09:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:42
Speaker
so i feel like sometimes you know It would be nice to see maybe a little bit more of of that as well, but we get so much like Magic keep to the point where they make fun of it in this movie, too Yeah, you well, I mean I guess like if you are the kind of person who Like wants your Hallmark movies, maybe you only want so much deviance from Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, they're very formulaic almost Yeah, I mean, with intention, like that's you go in, you want to have kind of the same story again and again, because it's comforting. And and I mean, I again, I love a rom-com. I love formula. And I think it's like it's also fun when you are kind of a student of a formula to see how they might play with it a bit like this being, you know, this obviously
00:10:40
Speaker
comments a lot on Hallmark tropes, which i would I like googled to see if that's something they do often because I was sort of taken aback by it. I was like, wait, on youtube too like is there a lot em are there a lot of meta Hallmark movies? and i don't know that there are. I don't know if you were like a Hallmark fanatic person, let us know. But um I did find like when I was googling like meta Hallmark movies, there was at least like one other one that popped up also from this year where it's called like Believe in Christmas, I think. And it's like about a pair
00:11:19
Speaker
that go to a place called Christmas land. So it's almost like the reverse, like they go into, oh, sketch about Jumanji. no okay i like love you mom um But there's this like recurring thing. I don't want to spoil it too much because it's great sketch. um But the idea of like, going into Jumanji versus Jumanji coming out. And so like in this one, in Sugar Plum, Jumanji comes out. yes yeah But in Believe in Christmas, you go into Jumanji. So I wonder if they do that a lot or if it's like, yeah they were just like 2024, were in a time of you know self yeah commentary.
00:12:02
Speaker
yeah And so, yeah, it's like the year of meta Hallmark movies. Yeah. I mean, and they definitely, did not try to sugarcoat or hide the fact that they were literally talking about themselves. No. Yeah. I love that. Because we talk about psych. Part of what we love is just that they're doing what they want to do when they are having fun. And it's like Hallmark knows what it is. Yes. They're very clear. Hallmark makes you know what they are writing. And I hope they take pleasure in it.
00:12:37
Speaker
And the people who are going to watch a Hallmark movie know what they're getting and they want what they're getting. and So I love that. like Yeah, it's kind of a weird idea for me because it almost kind of feels like you're going into like a TV show. you know I know kind of what I'm getting each time I come into an episode of a TV show. But yeah in this case, it's with totally different characters and totally different plots. We're just coming back to the same channel instead of the same TV show. Yeah, that's totally true.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean now I'm kind of like thinking like as far as like going into Jumanji versus Jumanji. There's like this dichotomy of like it's... Because I'm thinking of fan fiction. I don't know if you've ever like forayed into fan fiction, but like... I have not, but I've heard quite the... I've been reading fan fiction since I was like 10, but... Or Tumblr girly, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. yeah um But it's like in that you have the same characters over and over and over and over again in very familiar tropes and stuff and it's like
00:13:42
Speaker
same kind of thing or even like watching a million episodes of Psych. It's like reading the same, it's like the same characters over and over and over again, just like in different situations. And then in this, it's like different characters in the same story over and over and over. yeah yeah So it is like, I don't know. I mean, it's all kind of the same idea because like a comfort show is a comfort show because you know what to expect and you are comforted by those expectations being met.
00:14:06
Speaker
whether that's the tropes of the narrative or the people in the narrative. Yeah. I wonder how this is going to... I wonder what the ratings on this are going to be in that it is maybe a little bit different than some of the other Hallmark movies. Like, does it kind of go outside of that comfort zone? It's hard to know because maybe we will be able to like revisit this one after we've watched her other... Yes, one because we've not, we have nothing to compare this to. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Me nothing at all. but Yeah. So it's like, is it different? I don't know. It was like going into watching it with all the like previews for Sugar Plum movies. I was like, wait,
00:14:53
Speaker
Is this the movie or is this yes commercials for other Hallmark movies? i yeah And I know they have series, I don't know, there's like a mystery one and it's like the same series. So I was like, this could be, right is this Hallmark? I don't know. And then like after a while, I was like, okay, no, that wasn't it. She's talking about Sugarblum. Yeah, yeah. But that's like, yeah, I mean, and that's the whole, kind of the whole gag, right? Is that yeah it's supposed to be so similar to Hallmark that when she calls sugarplum out of the movie, it is like a Christmas miracle to her yeah out in real life. while i still home by I'm like, is there a is there a movie like this every year where to be like,
00:15:38
Speaker
Are you joking about Hallmarks or is this just like the most radical Hallmark movie that's ever existed? Because i went I was not anticipating this being the movie that it was huh by any means. Like we started watching it and I was like, oh my, oh.
00:15:58
Speaker
I was like, okay. and Intrigue. I was really expecting the lay it on, kind of like Sugar Plum was yeah in the movie, like just lay it on thick, you know, brick. And I mean, I have four out of this. I mean, I have watched some crappy Christmas movies. So like, um, and I, okay. One thing I do find, and I, I mean, in a movie that I, I struggle with saying anything is bad. You know that. I have like, everything has value. yeah Um,
00:16:29
Speaker
But I do find things are less effective for me when like the acting is like not ah selling it to me. And I do feel like Maggie Lawson, obviously wonderful, talented actor, like I believed everything that she was going through.
00:16:52
Speaker
and i I mean, I thought Sugarplum was also a great actor. yeah I wonder who she reminded me a ton of, which I have not seen it, so no spoilers, but Ariana Grande in the trailers for rick Wicked. like It was a very like Glinda vibe. You have to go see it. It was so good. And I was worried, quick tangent, I was worried because the runtime of the actual play like the theatrical showing of it is only five minutes longer than the first half of this. is So I was like, what are they gonna do? I was so worried. they possibly be metai with yeah Yeah, exactly. And they I think they really did it justice. There were some changes, but I feel like the changes were
00:17:34
Speaker
ah beneficial to the clarity of the story. okay ah We'll have to discuss after you see it. I don't want to get too much into it, but like there is so much more to like the lore because of the books and stuff, so I could see them expanding on a lot of what's going on. but to yeah For another day. Yes, but I could totally get that reference. She's very like you know peppy and like prim and proper and has everything in a nice shiny bow. And even the like very tiny voice, you know, that kind of comes along with it all. Yeah. Yeah. The voice was very, I was like, who does she remind Yeah. Yeah. And I think the contrast between the two of them was worked well. Yes. um And I was thinking color theory thoughts. Oh, yes. Because Maggie was often, especially in the beginning, in like very muted yes colors, grays. Grays, yeah, lots of grays. Muted blues. And then Sugarplum obviously was in like very fancy
00:18:39
Speaker
andtesticle fantastical reds and fluffy whites and things.
Critique and Character Exploration in Hallmark Movies
00:18:43
Speaker
Aspirically things and whatnot. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I found the one thing for me in this that sometimes took me out of it were her not necessarily the delivery of the lines, but just some of the lines that they wrote, it felt very like, you know, when, when you first start writing, they're always like, okay, show it, don't tell it. Sure. It felt a lot like just telling us, like, for example, hold on. There's so something with the son. And then he's like, no one in school likes me. I'm weird. And he's like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely this of like,
00:19:23
Speaker
We like the way we're setting up very familiar conflicts. Yeah. So, yeah, the the bullying thing. um There were definitely moments where I was like, like, I thought it was clever that sugarplum when they like she's explaining her rules and stuff and she sits down and she's like, somebody's going to offer to take me to their. Yes. I thought it was clever that like that is true because Maggie's about to take her to her house, but they do like.
00:19:53
Speaker
say several lines to explain that Maggie's the one, like the rule is, is met because Maggie is doing it. But I'm also like, people are watching these movies with one eye on their phones. So there's a lot of like, signposting. Yeah. And that's just kind of like part of it. It's almost like a genre convention. I was gonna say, do you think that's like a thing that has to be taken into account now that people aren't actually giving their like undivided attention to a film? I mean, I I think it definitely is. I don't know. I mean, I think just like in general, like a lot of, I don't know, there was something, I think it was the recent live action avatar, o um, where like a lot of it was framed so that the people are in the middle so that it could fit for like a tick tock. Really? Yeah. I mean, I don't, I didn't want, I know I saw this online, but, but things like that, where it's like, I think when
00:20:52
Speaker
you are making something in this day and age. There is a sense of like making it digestible for the current ways of digesting media. So, I mean, I don't know if they were like, oh, we really have to spell this out. But I mean, they may think of it also, like some people don't really trust, maybe don't trust the audience to like put together things. So they're like, we're just going to say it, ill let out which that's not necessarily because of the way we watch things now, but just in general. um But that's kind of the show, don't tell things like like you're saying. like if you If it is more subtle, somebody does have to be like really thinking and maybe you just don't trust them to think like that. Yeah. Well, and the you know now that you're saying the like maybe people's attention is slightly divided.
00:21:47
Speaker
There were even other parts that I was like, why did you have to like, why did we have to say that? Like when Maggie went to the office to get the ornaments before she made the wish and she like picks up the box and they all fall on the ground and you can very clearly see that half of them are broken and she's like, oh, and some of them are broken. That was a weird look. I was like, calm down.
00:22:12
Speaker
Who are you saying this to? It was a weird line because it's also like she was alone. and I would have assumed that they broke. like i I mean, I would have thought like all of them broke. And also, I might have but assumed that that would have been a more like emotionally charged moment, but it kind of was like an afterthought. like it was like yeah And maybe because Sugarplum then shows up and so it's like a really... Now that I'm thinking about it, all of that was really just a device to expose the star to her. Yes, yeah.
00:22:42
Speaker
so that she could pull the star out of there. Yeah, but I guess like I thought that that, like in the moment I'm like, oh, her family heirloom ornaments, but then it was like, didn't even matter. I got the star. Now sugarplums here.
00:23:00
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and it felt like it should have been a big emotional thing considering it's all, the whole movie is framed up as Maggie Lawson's character, Emily is trying to make the perfect Christmas for her family based on this list of things that her mom would do for her family every Christmas season. So you would think that the ornaments like attached to her mom, which her mom yeah would be really meaningful.
00:23:24
Speaker
yeah There's even a moment later when like Emily, I didn't even know her name until right now, was explaining to Sugarplum why it means so much to her and it like it makes her feel closer to her mom. Sugarplum's like, you should explain that to your family. it like She never does. I do feel like some of the the emotional weight with the mom especially could have been more, yeah which again, maybe a little more textual, maybe it was a little too subtextual. yeah yeah
00:23:58
Speaker
two ah the list That was like the funniest part to me was the list because it was like spend time with family. decorate the house. yeah Like it was just so big. This isn't really a list. I know. And when, because again, the the list is kind of framed up for us. Like after we have just noticed that she has a board on the fridge with like every moment of everyone's lives planned out. So you would think that this list would be really detailed and you're right, then it's just like, decorate, get gifts. And you're like, Oh, yeah, it's like, that's just
00:24:31
Speaker
That's just what you do. like get done in christmas time yeah You write that down? Yeah. Were you going to progress? but I did like the character of Emily. like I thought she was interesting. um just the way like She is very like rigid about things, which part of the list is that it's like she has really she wants to meet a lot of specific goals. She has her life all planned out. She has her family's lives all planned out. um But at the same time, is a little bit scattered. and Yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
Because she kind of like she seems like someone who in another movie maybe wouldn't care about Christmas at all. Yeah totally I could get that. Like like even Sugar Plum talks about the kind of career woman yes trope who you know needs to learn the true meaning of Christmas and so Maggie Lawson is kind of that way but also I don't know she just kind of seemed more like which is kind of The point, I guess, can be coming out of Jumanji, but like she kind of seems like of our world where it's like yeah she likes Christmas. In fact, she likes it a lot and she like wants to like do all the Christmas things, but she also has a very chaotic life and she's a mom and she's a lawyer and she's got all this stuff going on and so she can't really do it well and I feel like that is a very like realistic
00:25:59
Speaker
um, kind of challenge for like the millennial person, you know, like you want to be. And like, and also like a millennial, like mom, like you there's a lot of social media and stuff, like a lot of expectations of, or or a lot of things that you think you're supposed to be achieving in terms of aesthetics and stuff. Um, and like, and then feeling like you're falling short of that. So she felt, she felt very like a real person in terms of Yeah, a person in this movie. um So I thought she was kind of an interesting heroine for us. Well, and it's interesting that you frame it that way, too, like the the
00:26:40
Speaker
aesthetics, like the expectation of aesthetics. Because I feel like when you look at her big thing about the holidays, which is this list, it really does feel kind of surface level, kind of aesthetic based of decorate, make it look nice for others, spend time with other kids, get the gifts that are the perfect thing that is going to look like it's not enjoying, you know,
00:27:04
Speaker
Well, and that's what made it so interesting because she's like, I want all of those things so that I can connect with my family, which is like she doesn't need any of that to connect with her family. But like her she has this kind of like weird, you know, it's generational trauma because her mom went through this terrible Christmas. And for her mom, this Christmas that turned out to be like a burglar stole all their stuff. I'm just realizing we haven't explained anything. She was eight and a burglar broke in, stole all their Christmas gifts. The trees set the house on fire like disaster Christmas. They spent in a ah motel.
00:27:43
Speaker
And it ended up being eight year old Emily's, like one of her best Christmases. But for her mom, it was like terrible. And so she made this list. And yeah that was what she was going to do for the rest. Like that was how she was going to make it good for her daughter, for the rest of her life. And so it's like Maggie took from that. Emily took from that, like.
00:28:06
Speaker
Even though that was her best or one of her best Christmases, she still took the list as the lesson. Right, right. Yeah, <unk>s I think it's so hard. I can only imagine that so hard as a parent.
00:28:22
Speaker
to look at your life through a, this is going to sound so dumb, but to look at your life through a parental lens when that is not how your children are looking at your life. You know what I mean? It's so funny that you mentioned that I have very specific memories of growing up and like some of my favorite things about my childhood I brought up to my mom like I don't know maybe a couple years ago and one of them had to do with like we had this thing called um I used to call it a cheese festival where I would like make a picnic on the ground in the living room
00:28:55
Speaker
you dinner on the ground and like sit and watch TV. And my mom said that she like, you know, always felt so bad because those felt like the days where she didn't like do anything. She didn't like prepare anything because we just had like chicken nuggets and sat on the ground when usually she like cooks dinner. And I was like, Mom, those are my favorites, because it was just us sitting on the ground watching TV together. Like, yeah, you know, somebody I mean, the same, the world of a child is so small. It's like,
00:29:21
Speaker
putting all this like grandeur in front of them. yeah um They're not looking for that. you know They don't even know to like look for that, right which actually, now that I say that, it's kind of interesting because like at eight, Maggie didn't know to to look for that. And then her mom made a list and she's like, oh, that's the way you're supposed to do it. And and she like totally internalized it, yeah which It's kind of interesting too, because it is kind of like, if you look at that list, it is kind of something that like an to an eight year old or to a nine year old would be like, yeah, the nonspecifics wouldn't really matter to a nine year old.
00:29:58
Speaker
But it feels like even in the movie, like the the kids say the same thing to Maggie at the end. like We didn't need all of this. h We just wanted to hang out together in our ugly Christmas sweaters and watch TV. like Look, here we are. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the kids, that's interesting too. They're both artists in a way. yeah um Mom and dad, Maggie's a ah lawyer.
00:30:23
Speaker
And dad is an architect. Yes. So kind of more, I don't know, I guess architecture is a pretty creative field. Yeah, maybe um less freelance.
00:30:37
Speaker
then being like a musical artist or a performance artist might be. We can tell from the way the dad's season holiday season is going. It's like he's under a lot of pressure. yeah They have this very like corporate totally vibe about them and then their kids are like the daughter wants to go to Berkeley College of of Music and be a singer and the son is like making dance videos. So maybe the kids are just a little more evolved and in terms of like yeah how they're because they they do seem pretty aware of like their mom oh yeah being off base about all this stuff. Totally. Yeah, totally. I mean, the daughter
00:31:24
Speaker
theyre In one of the first scenes of the movie, and you know the daughter's about to go off to college or she's you know getting ready to apply to college. and Like Kylie said, she wants to go to the Berkeley College of Music, but the mom is very clearly like, this is not the plan that we set for you. That is intense. um She's not allowed to apply. Yeah, I thought it was really a quite jarring. Yeah.
00:31:49
Speaker
And also coming from Maggie Lawson, who I just think of like sweet baby. yeah It was like, Maggie, not listening to your children. What's wrong with Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
well I mean, she's a really, like it's a really interesting character because she's like, she's like, she is a loving mom and she's like, you wouldn't expect her to be this like tyrant, but she's like,
Parental Expectations vs. Children's Desires in Christmas Films
00:32:14
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I guess, well, she kind of lays it out towards the end where she talks about like everything she does for them. Um, like she works very hard for them and stuff. And, and I think that, I mean, that's a pretty common,
00:32:28
Speaker
idea of like the kid who wants to be an artist kind of throwing away everything that the parent has worked so hard for, um, so that they could have a lot of opportunities and stuff. Yeah. I mean, I think if I have learned anything about parents,
00:32:51
Speaker
yeah, considering I'm not a parent, but looking from the outside, um, what I have realized over the years is that in the large majority of cases,
00:33:05
Speaker
No matter how they go about it, most parents want what's best for their children. sure And most parents are doing what they believe is going to put their child in a place of possibility of success. So I think that's essentially what's happening here is Maggie is saying it is it's hard to make it as a singer. It's hard to make it as a performance artist. And I don't want you to fall flat on your face when you get out into the real world. Like I want to make sure you're going to be okay. And I think as a kid, A as a kid, that's hard to hear, but B as a parent, maybe that wasn't the best way to go about it. But the underlying current there was, I just want what's best for you. And I don't know how to explain it to you. You're right. I mean, she is supportive of her musical interests and stuff. It's more like get a degree, get a regular degree, and then you can also be a singer or whatever, but like you can't just go to school for music because you'll have nothing else going for you. Right.
00:34:02
Speaker
um which Yeah, again, pretty real thing to do. I thought the best line in the movie in terms of like effective lines was when the daughter, when she's really nervous at the end for her pan pageant says maybe you were right not to believe in me because it's like, I'm sure that was like.
00:34:27
Speaker
a slap in the face. yeah like I'm sure she never like, she never wanted that to be what her daughter got from her pressure. right yeah um But that's what it, I mean, that is kind of what it sounds like. It's like you yeah it you're not going to make it as a singer. So you can't go to school for singing. So like, yeah, um yeah I thought that was a very understated mine very you well. um Very good conclusion to kind of or culmination of that like storyline between them. Yeah. I love the daughter in this. I thought she was so great. And I totally believe that she was like an actual musical kid, you know. Mm hmm. I have a bomb to drop. Oh, no, what? No, it's a good bomb. Oh, OK. But um so I was like clicking around and I went to be and I clicked on this girl. You know what I was looking for.
00:35:25
Speaker
But her um let me pull it so you can experience it. in
00:35:35
Speaker
Since booking her first role in USA Network's crime comedy series, Psych, at seven years old, I was like, hang on. Hang on. OK. So in Let's Get Hairy. OK.
00:35:53
Speaker
she it her She's credited as Pippi Longstocking, rang no bells for me, but I went and scrubbed through the episode, and she's in the subplot with Henry, you know, hand on the truck, how they're like, whoever. And then the orphans at the end show up for his yes like nemesis,
00:36:14
Speaker
and Sean is like, oh, it's like Pippi Longstocking's little sister Patches. And that's her. Oh my gosh. I was like, what? So like no scenes with Maggie, but like, what are the odds? What are the odds? What a culmination. Yeah. I was like, what? I mean, so. All right. We're going to have to look out for her when we watch the episode. But in more ways than one. Wow. Earns its place in the Physi 6101 curriculum. Yes. It makes tons of sense. Wow. That's wild. Yeah. So I was like,
00:36:52
Speaker
Because it's like the first line of her bio. I was like, what? That's crazy. Yeah, I thought she was great. Yeah, she it was great. She was a little little cutie. I loved her hair the whole movie. I was like, oh my gosh. You love a red head. Yeah, right. And I liked, I mean, I thought all the actors did great. Yeah. And like the relationship between the son and daughter was very sweet.
00:37:19
Speaker
There wasn't like tension really, like, I don't know. They kind of seem like in their own little worlds. I mean, yeah what, how old? So he's probably a freshman because he's struggling with starting high school. Yeah. She's probably like a junior because she's trying to apply for college. Okay. Yeah. So a couple of years apart. Yeah. They just kind of seem like in their own world. Yeah. And I think, I think you kind of just are when you're in school, you know?
00:37:41
Speaker
Just doing your own thing, trying to figure everything out. Yeah. And I guess like her being kind of an artsy kid, like she's not really giving him credit. Yeah. yeah yeah She's not like, I don't know, student body president or whatever the the cool person is. Sure. Whatever that is nowadays. Yeah. I would like to have known, or maybe I would like to have seen like something that gave a little bit more credence to the son being considered like weird or not liked or like on the outskirts because he seemed like a totally normal kid. Yeah, there was really nothing. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe like if they hadn't just moved, like if he was just like new or something, but he's not really. No, it didn't seem like if he's just like a freshman, like they're all new. They're all freshmen. Yeah. All his classes are in fact freshmen. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe he's just shy or something.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah, it could be. I think just like a little bit of showing that would have made me buy into it a little bit more. Yeah, because all we really get is that scene where we're in class with him for career day and like there the kids are just like mean. Yeah. And we have no concept of why. Really quite mean. That was a funny scene too, because like the first um Like we enter that scene with a, yeah I don't know who it is, who's relative it is, but just like a total douche bro so um presenting um to the kids about career day, which I thought was very funny. And I i really, like I genuinely, genuinely laughed when he went over and said something douchey and Sugar Plum was like, ooh.
00:39:27
Speaker
Like, yes. I did appreciate, like I liked her energy. i felt I thought the fish out of water thing worked well. Totally. um like I loved her in the police station. Oh my gosh. like The detective and everybody yeah was definitely like in a different movie. yeah and I thought that worked well. yes yeah she was She was really wonderful. I totally bought everything she was selling. Oh, another line I liked from her was,
00:39:59
Speaker
trying to think of what they were talking about, maybe the rules or something. But she was like, where am I from? Which is France? Which is France. Yeah. She was, yeah, I'm going to say perfection and then said France because the kids were there. I also love the line. I think this was right before they got to her house, to Maggie's house. And she went, what if you're wrong? And Maggie's like, no, but I'm not. And she goes, but what if I'm right? And Maggie's like, still no. Oh, oh, another one. She said, um,
00:40:30
Speaker
I don't remember exactly the context of it, but she was saying how you need a professional and you need help. And Maggie goes, yes, professional and help are the first two words I think of when I think of you. I thought that was okay. Yeah. Yeah. They had a really fun dynamic. Yeah. It was definitely cool. And I liked that it wasn't like They weren't polar opposites of each other in the respect that Maggie wasn't like this super curmudgeon-y scrooge who like didn't want anything to do with Christmas, but it was just, you know, life was making it difficult to kind of do everything and sugarplum was like, we can make it happen if we just believe. Yeah. Well, now that you say that, I was noticing in my notes. um a I mean, note that there was like a lot of talk or like mention of the idea of things being fair. Hmm.
00:41:21
Speaker
and I think like you saying like life just getting in the way like I've this is an interesting like just the idea that like Well, the way Sugar Plum's magic is working for a while, and then all of a sudden it's like backfiring, and then it's like the way Sugar Plum also has to learn about life not imperfection, and yeah and also finding like value in that. It's kind of like what we talked about with Ann and Yang. you know that's like yeah
00:41:55
Speaker
It's like in the worst Christmas ever for Maggie's family, that was also the best Christmas ever. It's like it's like two things can be true. And part of like what makes things working out feel good is that like they don't always. Yeah.
00:42:13
Speaker
Um, so yeah, that was kind of an interesting little runner. I feel like I'm still trying to like grapple with like all the, like, what are they trying to say? There was, there was a lot going on in this movie. A lot of like subplots, a lot of like, you know, breezing in and breezing out of the main plot. Um, which I agree maybe makes it like a little bit difficult to discern exactly what the the takeaway is.
00:42:40
Speaker
Um, but I do think it's that at the end of the day, family is what makes the holiday special or being with people that you love is what makes the holiday special. Yeah. And, and presents. Yes. Because like, being present, not Christmas presents. Yeah. Um, yeah. Again, it's so interesting with like Maggie's character because part of what sets us up in this journey she's on is that like she doesn't want another fiasco like their Christmas card, which is a picture of the family where the son's on the phone, like looking at his phone and the dad's just sneezing or something. I don't know what the daughter, maybe she looks sc grumpy, but um but like the idea of just like not being there. like that i mean It was mostly with the son because
00:43:36
Speaker
Maggie mentions a few times the idea that they are disconnected, which they very much are. We also get that moment where the husband is on a Zoom or whatever with his boss, and Maggie's having a heart to heart with him, and then realizes that he's been talking to the boss the whole time. It hasn't hurt anything she said. Yeah, but then like Maggie's like, kind of harping on everybody else about that, but she's just as distracted and like, yeah totally not there for them as the rest of them. Right. Yeah, I was just thinking too, like, you know, again, the Christmas card fiasco, like, all right. So, you know, people aren't paying attention. You got the Christmas cards out. Like that's a win in and of itself. How does that happen?
00:44:24
Speaker
Oh yeah, who let that slide? Who was taking this picture and let that slide? Yeah, because in my experience, you get a picture and then you make the Christmas card. She sanctioned that picture being on the card, yeah presumably, unless they just like went to the mall and like it was all one transaction of like we're taking a picture for the Christmas card, which, did they do that? picture I feel like not anymore. Very 90s problems. an old Sears thing or like a old Kohl's thing where everyone wears like boas and weird sunglasses. Yeah. Or maybe she was like, this is the only family picture that we have. Oh, could be. In this year. And I have to put it on my Christmas card. In order to meet my perfect Christmas number, I have to send out Christmas cards.
00:45:15
Speaker
Yeah. I've seen my mom like fret about that, like needing the picture of like needing everybody in the picture. And it's like, you know, so-and-so is not in this picture, so we are going to have to add like something else. and right right So maybe it was just kind of that. That's the only picture she had. Yeah, could be, could be.
00:45:38
Speaker
You know, it just is what it is. Life is just life. Not everything is always... And that's what she has to learn. Yeah. That's what everybody, well, I guess mainly Emily and Sugarplum have to learn that. Yes, that. It's not always life in perfection. Yeah. Yes. But dad also has to learn that he has to be present.
Capitalism and Christmas Movie Narratives
00:46:04
Speaker
Or I guess he just kind of learns what his priorities are.
00:46:07
Speaker
Yeah, to stand up for himself. And yeah, and his, his time. Yeah, his boundaries. Yeah, which is definitely important and now very familiar, especially in this time where there's a lot of virtual work.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yep, and people are expected to be in contact or be contactable 24 hours of the day. It's wild. I argue not good for our mental health, as we can see in this movie. It's kind of interesting that, um would you say the kids learned any, like,
00:46:46
Speaker
Well, that's the interesting thing about them. They kind of seem like they already knew. Right. Yeah. Like it really seems like only the adults are yeah learning lessons here. Which I guess is sort of a Christmasy notion because there is this sense in Christmas lore, I guess, Christmas ideas that like you lose the magic of Christmas as you get older.
00:47:12
Speaker
intrigue. Sure. Which I mean, and the the magic of Christmas in this movie kind of is sort of, you know, maybe a little like for like to the idea that you can be an artist or like, you know, just like these fanciful notions that the parents really have given up on. Yeah.
00:47:32
Speaker
I did have a moment of like, is capitalism the enemy in this movie? Is capitalism not the enemy ah of everything? I mean, it is. But I was like, in this in this Hallmark made for TV movie, is capitalism enemy? Because. Yeah, um I think so. Yeah, because I mean, it rejects it ultimately at the end. Yeah. Yeah. ah yeah Because her list for Christmas is like, got to do the best decorations, got to buy the best gifts. yeah like It's very consumption driven. Well, yeah, Christmas totally. Very consumption driven. Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:13
Speaker
And having a special memory and spending time with family is like also on there, but it's almost like an afterthought in her totally her journey. He gets everything else done. Right. It's like those are last. And maybe when Emily's mom like made this list, maybe they were last because they were most important. Or maybe the mom was just as bad. Maybe. like Because it would make sense if the mom had
00:48:43
Speaker
these kind of ideas about Christmas where like the the true meaning of Christmas what was not the main thing for her. Because for Emily to have internalized that so much, it does seem like it came from somewhere. Which actually makes sense that the fire was such a disaster. I mean, obviously, yeah oh yeah yeah not to say that's not a disaster. no of course But like if the mom was like, that was the worst thing that ever happened, even though they were spending time together, that she was like, I'm never going to let this happen again.
00:49:11
Speaker
yeah um That does kind of seem like she wanted, she wants the material parts of Christmas the most. Yeah. I think so. and I mean, I think that's in the movie, so essentially as soon as Emily starts feeling good about herself and her and Christmas holiday is not when she's spending time with her family or with her kids or priorities and prioritizing them.
00:49:39
Speaker
but rather when all of that consumption based stuff starts hu coming into the the story. Yeah. And that makes her less and less like present. Yep. And we see her like at the mall and like when she's got all her staff there to make the yeah house nice and also entering that contest where it's like, it's all very yep external. Yes, totally.
00:50:06
Speaker
Um, and sugarplum is supportive of all that. Like, although I do think she catches on earlier, like she's like, she like starts pushing. Well, she's like, are you sure? yeah like but mine there no So in that sense, the fact that sugarplum has to learn and does learn too, that like these external things are not as important. It's like, it's poking holes in the, the tropes. Right. Yeah.
00:50:36
Speaker
and like her whole world. So yeah, I mean, this is maybe this is the most radical movie that's ever existed. We'll have to watch them all in order to really give it that. Maybe, you know, I'll talk to my mother-in-law about this because she... Oh, is she an aficionado? She is. And she like checks like all the new ones that are coming out and like puts them in her calendar. She like watches them all.
00:51:06
Speaker
Oh, how cute. I'll ask. Yes. Do some recon work back. Some field work. Yes. Let us know what you got on the ground from a real man. Because the daughter too, the fact that she wants to be an artist, m like that's and Meg's like, you got to be productive. Right. Yeah. You got to make money. You got to have a job. Yeah.
00:51:33
Speaker
That's very real in this capitalist society. so like It's not like Maggie's wrong, it's just that like yeah in the society that they live in, that is unfortunately the reality. Right. and It's not to say that you know she couldn't make money doing something tangentially in the music field, but as Maggie continues to say, it's maybe not as reliable as as doing something else would be. Although,
00:51:59
Speaker
I don't need to get into that conversation. I could be for another time. But I think, I mean, if you are not, there are a lot of like careers in entertainment that people don't even know about. So like Maggie could very well think like there is nothing you can do with that degree. Like, um, even if there is something.
00:52:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Which I feel like is, I mean, I feel like my own family is like, you better have a day job. Like that is a very real, if you were like a working person, the idea that someone would make money doing something like kind of soft like that, yeah doesn't really seem realistic. Yeah. And I just, I feel like too, you know, I really think so much of college has far less to do about what you actually study and just more of the actual experience of like meeting new people and and hearing new ideas and being on your own for the first time and and having to determine what is important to you. The statistic is something ridiculous, like the large majority of people don't actually use the degree that they study in school in their actual job. So if she wants to study... I'm not. yeah Yeah. I'm technically not my bachelor's degree. If she wants to study music, what her study music?
00:53:13
Speaker
like You know, she'll yeah find your way. Yeah, but it is probably hard to like, I mean, coming, we don't know a lot but about Emily's background. I mean, maybe we hear it. I don't know how much she said about her.
00:53:29
Speaker
childhood leading up to the story about that Christmas. but Just a single mom, that's all we got. Oh, yeah. so like If they didn't have a lot of money and like she worked really hard to go to law school, become a lawyer. Totally, yeah. She is going to presumably pay for her daughter's education. She wants her to go to school locally. so like She's definitely thinking about all that. and like Part of what the daughter is dealing with is the fact that somebody is going to be at her pageant who like she could get a scholarship. So like money is right it's an issue. yeah like I could see that being difficult if your kid wants to go to school for something and you're going to pay for it and it's not what you think they should do. Yeah. um i guess I could see that being something you have to grapple with.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah. So there's that capitalist piece. And then with the dad, yeah like he just the like we talking about the demand for just like having no balance or life. Yeah. The yeah the ability to produce. hu Yeah. And at such short notice.
00:54:38
Speaker
who As well. And being punished for yeah little things.
Magic vs. Realism in 'Sugar Plum'
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah, you got punished because you took the gin cookies to work. Oh, yeah. The gin cookies. Which is so funny. I mean, yeah. And you tried to bring some holiday cheer. Yeah.
00:54:59
Speaker
how did he know they were going to be spiked with chin? We did learn that his boss has had some, I forget, what was his backstory? Divorced. Divorced. And yeah, I think that's all, maybe all we got, but he's been really... Oh yeah, because he said since his divorce. Yeah. Yeah. And then our other kind of antagonistic energy is the neighbor. Deborah. I love Deborah. And poor Deborah. Poor Deborah, like really poor Deborah.
00:55:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I feel like Emily, I'm really playing fast though Emily or Maggie. She seems to have some sympathy, but it's like maybe they've had enough run-ins where she's like, she's just kind of over it. Yeah. um But yeah, Deborah lost her husband and since then has been just a very difficult person. Yeah. Her kids stopped coming around. Yeah. She lost her husband. And again, kind of like I mentioned in the beginning that like holidays are not easy for everyone. And I do like that some awareness is is given to that in this movie. And she even says at the end, like it's just a hard time of the year for me and I shouldn't have taken it out on you.
00:56:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the idea like went, Sugarblum meaning well, cuts down the tree in Deborah's front yard because they need a real tree. And in her world of perfection, that's just what you do is cut down trees. And we do get a glimpse of Deborah in her front door and she's got a wreath up.
00:56:43
Speaker
Yeah. She is doing her damnedest. She's doing her best. Crying. Yeah. Yeah, because just imagine, Tebra. No, I can't. Imagine her putting up that wreath, feeling like absolute garbage. Yeah. Not knowing, her kids don't come home anymore. Yeah, oh my god. And she's going to hang up a wreath.
00:57:08
Speaker
And then a walk outside and this crazy woman comes out of her tree. She's dropping out of her tree. You're like, what's wrong with you? Well, she, I mean, she sues her essentially. She does. Yeah. I mean, yeah, she doesn't take it laying down. No, not at all. Maybe Deborah's a lawyer too. We don't know. We know nothing about her other than. That's true. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we don't know what she's up to. No. Except what we do. No. Which I wrote down.
00:57:39
Speaker
Oh, I think when the boss, when they ran into him at the pageant, I was like, are they gonna fall in love? And they do! Well, actually, they already were in love and they had like a history. Yeah, I did think that was sweet. who And gives, I think, a little bit more credence to um the like falling in love romance trope at the end here. Because we do also have that, um what she call it, two turtle dubs yeah subplot, which like is on and then is off and then is back on again at the very end because they have he proposed and I'm like, they don't even know each other. I'm like, what's going on? The rules are very funny of like the magic. Cause I also like, well, let me preface this with I buy it.
00:58:28
Speaker
But I don't, like, were the rules actually working and then backfiring and then kind of leveling out? Or was it just that they just never really worked and then consequences came to pass? Interesting. So I think I interpreted it as they were never really working and then consequences just came to pass. But I think it in this movie, I think it might actually be the first. I think I like it better.
00:58:57
Speaker
in like your way and like the idea that. In real world, right? there Yeah, they're just in the real world and the rules don't apply, which I think we, I think it's fair to interpret it that way, but it is sort of like.
00:59:11
Speaker
two yeah to i That goes back to like showing not telling. like I kind of wish they just did try to explain it because yes it would have been fine. yeah yeah When they started talking about the the star dimming and then it was like coming back and then she disappeared. I don't know how many people feel this way. like and How did this get made oftentimes?
00:59:38
Speaker
ja spzu because in particular will be like, what are the rules? And I feel like I'm always thinking like, I don't really care what the rules are. yeah yeah It's a magic movie. It doesn't really matter what the rules are. And so it's like, had they not explained that, I think it would have worked better because it was like they were trying to I think they were trying to add stakes, like she was going to get stuck if she ran out of magic, kind of like the Santa Claus 2, which I know you haven't seen. No, I haven't.
01:00:11
Speaker
It's funny watching this, this movie in particular, I felt like there were a lot of like, which maybe was and intentional, but like there were other movies in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:00:23
Speaker
um Kind of like a ah Christmas genre. um Yeah. And I was just like, um maybe we're just used to watching psych where everything is very referential where like, did they? it Was that a purpose? But yeah um in the Santa Claus 2, he has to, but the Claus, you've seen the Santa Claus 1, right?
01:00:46
Speaker
Yes, he falls off a roof. Yeah, and yeah the clause is that whoever finds him is the next Santa. The clause of the second one is that he has to find a wife by christmas eve by the next Christmas Eve or something, or he doesn't get to be Santa anymore. Oh my goodness. Something like that.
01:01:07
Speaker
And so he, Oh, that's a difficult clause. Yeah. like yeah I mean, yeah. No, he doesn't have a lot of time in the end. Um, but he goes to, he gets to go be like his human self again. And he has this little watch and he has a certain amount of magic. And once that he needs enough magic to get back to the North Pole. So like he has to be careful how much magic he uses. So that was kind of what it felt like. We're like,
01:01:37
Speaker
The magic is waning and if it runs out, sugarplum won't get back. Right. I guess if it runs out before they achieve it, before they achieve the list. Right. Then she's stuck. Sugarplum is stuck. And so.
01:01:55
Speaker
It's still, I guess the magic is still breaking down when we get into like the pageant and everything and the true night of Christmas. Right. But that allows them to fulfill the rest of the list. And so Sugar Plum gets to go home with that.
01:02:10
Speaker
so so it's interesting though because it's not as if she goes home immediately like I think I wrote down somewhere like this movie could have ended like five different times I thought it was gonna end with like them hugging at the pageant and sugarplum just go like Oh, yeah. Into the background. And then that didn't happen. And then I thought it was going to end with Sugar Plum at the Christmas tree going, doo doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, that didn't happen. Um, so yeah, I mean, I think, I think that is the general gist, but Sugar Plum was just waiting for an opportune time to leave. Hmm.
01:02:49
Speaker
because yeah that's kind of like uh i don't know i mean i'm thinking like a wizard of odds but not really but yeah i feel like she shouldn't have control yes no i would agree because she's just like now i have to go yeah i kind of thought maybe she was gonna stay i wasn't sure if she was gonna leave at all i kind of would have liked if she stayed Well, and I do, they also another, they, they really did work to explain the rules. Yes. Which is interesting. Maybe that is something that they always do. Yeah. Like they want to make it clear. yeah Um, cause there's also that moment when sugarplum first arrives and they run into that guy in the elevator. Oh yes. That was so funny. And now he's like, you see her and stuff. And she's like, sugarplum is like,
01:03:41
Speaker
I must look like somebody else to everybody else. Oh, yes. That they don't like. like You know, again, yeah yeah I mean, we're backwards. I'm like, I don't care. Yeah. No, I agree. And then at the end, the family is like, doesn't she look familiar? Like, wait, did she look like sugarplum or not? I thought the same thing. It's like, what is going on?
01:03:59
Speaker
Maybe it was like once she was back in their memories, she becomes sugarplum. That's too much for me. I know. See, the problem with rules, it's like best to just leave it there because if you start giving a specifics, it becomes easier to poke holes. Absolutely. Yeah, because I feel like she learned the lessons that she learned. i How will they serve her in perfection?
01:04:25
Speaker
No, they won't. And that's kind of why I wanted her to stay, as if she couldn't go back to perfection. Yeah, it seemed like she couldn't. Right. Right. Now she's different. She couldn't go back to perfection. Yeah. Exactly. I feel like that is the true lesson of the movie, is that perfection is a false place. Yes. False God. A false prophet. Yeah. Yeah. And like, yeah. So in the end, Sugar Plum knows too much. She can't go back there. Yeah.
01:04:52
Speaker
Because like, what is it going to be? Now we're going to have to watch the other when Jumanji comes back. Because the sense, this is then the other movie, Believing Christmas, because now she knows so much and she's going back to perfection. Right. But really, she knows both worlds. so Gosh, it's kind of like what she in the talk about. She does, which I also thought was like kind of funny running bit of this movie was constantly straightening the picture frame. Yeah. Which who was making this off kilter. I don't know. Are there ghosts in this movie? Who knows? Ghosty. But then at the end, Maggie Lawson is just like, no, leave it that way. Like, I like it off kilter. And then she at the very end is like,
01:05:39
Speaker
but makes so
01:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's like now she's going to be a radical in perfection. She's going to like go mess with that world, which is like, I would love maybe, maybe that's sugar plumbed too.
01:05:55
Speaker
Maybe we have that to look forward to next year. Next time we go.
01:06:01
Speaker
And then and they're going to deal with the repercussions of the fact that Sugar Plum is not playing by the rules anymore. Oh, literally. I would love that. I would actually love that. Hallmark. I hope you've already thought of it. I hope it's already in the works, but if not. This is what you should do next. I did love that moment with the frame at the end in terms of like,
01:06:23
Speaker
not the best lines like when she's like, people remind me of this Christmas. I'm like, what? Yeah. It wasn't like a Christmas decoration or anything or like, and it'd be different. And maybe it's the fact that like, OK, we have to reaffirm this is a Christmas lesson, a Christmas movie, because it could have just reminded her to like. That it, you know, perfection doesn't matter like that. That's more of the lesson, but it's like and she's me thinking of Christmas.
01:06:52
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, I'm hyped for the, for Sugar Plum 2. Sugar Plum 2 into Jumanji. yeah
01:07:01
Speaker
And no one will get the reference. We didn't like frame up the movie at all, but I feel like we did a good job of going through it. We'll watch the movie. Support Maggie.
01:07:13
Speaker
yeah I mean, it was a fun watch. I was expecting it to be like... I don't know what I was expecting, but I feel like there's definitely the... You go into these movies and be like, oh, this is going to be trash or whatever, but it was fun. Yeah, I thought it was fun. I also think it's nice to... I don't know. I don't watch many holiday movies, as I said, but I do feel like there's something nice about getting in the holiday season.
01:07:42
Speaker
You know, and this is, you know, it's the time, but I was going to ask, how do you, how do you holiday holiday? Nope. Hallmark. How do Hallmark movies work in regards to?
01:07:58
Speaker
viewing So like we watched the premiere of this, it was on TV yesterday, so Saturday. um But is it something that like I can only watch when it's on TV or do they stream at other places or do they? Well, I do know that they have an app.
01:08:16
Speaker
Oh, okay. Like Hallmark plus. Oh, yes. Everything's a plus now. Yeah. Um, I mean, maybe it's on next day. Kind of thing. Oh, is it? Guess where it is? Who knew? Peacock. Peacock. Oh, duh. Okay. Actually, now that I Yeah, I think Peacock actually does have a ton of Hallmark movies. Okay. So yeah, go to Peacock. Watch it. Or, you know, support Sykesport. Yes. yeah Oh, another thing I, because I haven't watched these, but I from have this gift made all my secondhand Hallmark ah knowledge is from that, but I think they have like a on Hallmark movies, they have like a big snow budget.
01:09:07
Speaker
Oh, and so I was watching this. Yeah. I mean, they take it very seriously. And like, from what I've heard, the the actors are paid and treated incredibly well. They stay in the four seasons and stuff. It's like a great gig. Wow. um Good for them.
01:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, they take a lot of care in these movies. But yeah, so the I was like, well, there's no snow in this movie. And I feel like it was an interesting choice where like they had like the snow was important plot wise. Yes. So I was just like, wow, again, just radical, radical Hallmark moves. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And they even made a point of saying like, there's no snow. And Maggie was like, it doesn't really snow here. It rains.
01:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, they were in Seattle. which Did they say that? because i I just like caught it on her application for the show. Yeah, I think there was i i think there were a couple images of the word Seattle at different points because I also caught Seattle somewhere where I don't think it was that. Okay. Because yeah, I was like, where are they? There's no snow here.
01:10:13
Speaker
um Which like, you know, a lot of the country doesn't have snow. It's true. So it makes sense. But yeah, it was like these big moments, which makes again sense because we're merging the Hallmark or I don't even remember what the fake version was. I wrote it down. oh Something. But worlds are colliding, real world and Hallmark the world. I didn't write down.
01:10:40
Speaker
like the home home hearth something something i don't remember yeah world worlds are colliding i also think it made the snow like it being that it's not a place that snows i think it made the presence of snow so much more important h so like the snow inside the school which is obviously strange in general but if they don't have snow like whoa And the snow as a part of the pageant effect-wise was cool. Yeah, and it also adds to like like in ah Emily's, when she's like really going overboard to make her house win, it like adds to the
Humor and Complexity in Modern Storytelling
01:11:22
Speaker
facade of it all. Because like yeah she's really fake snow. Like that's how hard she's trying to like make it look perfect. Right, right. You know, I mean, it's a comment is it a commentary on
01:11:36
Speaker
you know, what we all do to, to allow others to perceive us in a particular way when in reality, our worlds are kind of crumbling. Yeah. Behind us at times. Yeah. I mean, that's why she's such an interesting character because it's like she wants something so simple, which don't we all, you know, we all just want to be like,
01:11:55
Speaker
We want like, there's whole, there's such a market for like being present, being mindful, being connected and stuff. And it's like something we crave and it's such a simple thing. And yet we have like, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to like yeah make it happen and like try to do it in the most, like we make it so complicated. And that's basically what she's doing in the context of Christmas. Yeah. I mean, maybe this is the most important Christmas movie of 2024 everyone.
01:12:24
Speaker
This is could be timely. It is. It is the Christmas movie of our time. Oh, I did like the um how I genuinely thought it was clever that Sugar Plum has her rule book and she's an expert in these rules. And then Maggie is the lawyer and is an expert in those laws, ah like that they're the the experts in the laws of their own worlds. Yes. I thought that was fun.
01:12:52
Speaker
Yeah, it was cute. I thought it made for a really cute interaction in the police station. They were chatting with each other. Yeah. And it does create this kind of like, destiny. Yeah. Like they are like meant to look from each other. Yeah. This is one of our shorter conversations. I know. I feel like we've talked about a lot. Totally.
01:13:21
Speaker
yeah When we talk about a psych episode, it's like we've got the whole series to like draw from. Correct. yeah I feel like our background knowledge on this particular topic is not quite as vast. so like yeah The connections that we could make is not quite the same.
01:13:40
Speaker
But it's fun nonetheless. Yeah, a good conversation. And I think it's a testament to the fact that, you know, some people think that, again, would not assign value to a film like this, but like, look at the depth of this conversation and like the places we went and can always look at what's there. Though I had a good time discussing this. I thought it was really fun. And I'm glad we got it right around the holidays. I know.
01:14:07
Speaker
Who knew Maggie was a queen of Hallmark? I know. So now we know. And yeah, we'll have more to watch maybe for Christmas in July so we can catch up. And then hopefully Sugar plummbed too and twenty twenty five Plum Sugar Plum 2, bring it to us Hallmark. Let's start a campaign. Sugar Plum 2. Sugar Plum 2. All right. I think next week we'll be back to regularly scheduled programming, right?
01:14:36
Speaker
I hope so. Yeah. i hope We can get on it. So then I guess the next episode would be, there's something about Mira. Oh, good. Oh, we did talk about this because you said we're going to have wine. Yeah, we're going to have wine. Oh, there's something about Mira. This is a, oh my gosh, such a great one. Yeah. So fun. We get so much like background on Gus.
01:15:02
Speaker
which I think is great. Yeah. I'm just looking at the air days of this and like, what an interesting, it's almost like us. Bounty hunters on September 14th. Gus's dad may have had, or may have done a, or may have killed the guy. I'm thinking of last he did a bad, bad thing. oh yeah um December 7th. There's a nightmare on January 11th. So like they had another break. They had like, it was like a Christmas special, very British of them. Very.
01:15:31
Speaker
You know, we love Psych because it's very much like life. Yeah. As is the podcast. We're just rolling with it. You know, things happen. It's okay. We can't throw it along. Which is what we learned from Sugar Plumbt. Yes. Talk that picture frame. Yeah, we're both, we're both tilting the picture. We're like voguing. Yeah.
01:15:54
Speaker
yeah Enjoy. Enjoy, and join us back here next week, where we'll talk a little bit more about psych here on The Psych 6101. Bye! The Psych 6101 would like to thank and credit the design efforts of Alavia Genesis, musical talents of Skane Music and Mikael Hunt, the production abilities of Kyle Dalton and Skiller Jensen, and of course the support of our friends and family. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to rate and review, and join us back here next time and work for more The Psych 6101.