"Most of the time, your heart and your mind are saying the same things.
Just in different ways."
Hello everyone!
I know, I know, I really SHOULD get out of my Hallmark movies binge and into something else. I promise that I'm doing it for next week!
This week was too good to pass up though.
I'd seen the title for this movie rolling around on the list I have, but I never wasted much attention on it until I actually took a bit more interest into who was playing the lead roles.
Rachel Skarsten is one of those actresses you just NEED in your life.
I'd seen her before in Lost Girl, but then of course she went on to play Elizabeth I in Reign, that secretary in 50 Shades of Grey, and most recently Alice in Batwoman.
The woman has skillz, lemme tell you.
So it's no wonder that I fell REALLY hard for this movie of hers, Timeless Love.
Again, as always, links to pertinent other works will be found at the bottom of this page, and it should also be noted this is NOT an original Hallmark production. It's done by a different production house though aired on Hallmark (SunWorld Pictures) and that's actually a plus, come to think of it. Hallmark sometimes gets bogged down just a smidge.
Not Timeless Love, though.
The story starts when an alarm clock rings and Megan (Skarsten) wakes up to turn it off, rolling around in bed to greet her husband Thomas (Brant Daugherty), just before their two kids, Dylan and Isabelle come bounding in and they sort of split morning duties so they can also get their work done and ready for the day.
But by the time Megan makes it out of the shower, it's 7 PM, not AM anymore, the house is empty of Thomas and the kids, and suddenly also empty of furniture while she's in it.
At which point she wakes up at the hospital.
Surprise! She's been in a coma for 2 months after a bad car accident, and not only that, but when she asks desperately where Thomas and the kids are, her parents look at her like she's grown two heads, and it turns out her perfect life only happened in her coma-induced dream.
Her best friend Eve tries to be supportive of her and even takes her over to where she thinks she lived, but it's a new development and not even finished yet, and she can't find Thomas on the internet anywhere, so she dejectedly starts picking the pieces of her life back together, the first order of business being to find a job which can pay the bills, naturally.
Here I should say I REALLY like the system introduced here, where you go to a counsellor or HR worker of some sort, you bring your CV, and they tell you what they have available and set everything up. It SHOULD work like that for us here too, but ... alas, our people aren't as dedicated to actually help us so you're on your own most of the time.
Anyway!
Megan chooses to work as a receptionist, since she's decided not to go back to her Executive Assistant job, and what do you know, Thomas is the one who walks out as her new boss in the small photography studio he owns.
Naturally the first meeting is beyond awkward as she's thrilled to see him, but he has no clue who she is - and honestly thinks she's a bit bonkers.
I would too.
There's a couple of hiccups like that along the way before Eve suggests to Megan to try and loosen up and let him just see the real Megan to begin with - the woman she is, not the woman she wants to be around him so he notices her.
And oh, he notices, alright, especially as she starts helping him around the studio more, like with a poor child who comes in to get his portrait done but obviously doesn't want to be there and is crying his eyes out (Megan puts on a magic trick show to get him to smile), or heading out to a farm area which is Thomas' favourite spot (one Megan knows about, too, from the dream) to help with a family photo op and stuff like that.
Thomas is kind of sneaky too as he takes a couple of portraits of Megan too, but he never tells her about it, because well, he kind of does have a girlfriend in this iteration, someone working at the university and gunning to be head of department.
She also keeps calling him Tommy, which he doesn't like, and Megan carefully mentions that one, too.
Her life seems to be on the right track and moving forward until the point where, almost right after she comments how happy his parents look on one photo he has on his desk, Thomas gets the call that his mother has suddenly passed away, leaving his father a little bit lost and Thomas destroyed since he loved her very much.
He also finally asks his girlfriend not to call him Tommy since his mom was the only one to call him that to begin with.
Megan tries just being there for him, taking him to her favourite spot, the aquarium, and telling him all about wanting to be a writer and where she likes to write, not to mention just listening and letting him talk about whatever he wants. Incidentally, she also makes a big pot of French onion soup, which she knows from her coma dream is his dad's favourite, and they take it over to him to cheer him up, since Thomas doesn't want to take all the credit and wants her to tag along.
Dad likes her too, it should be noted.
Things normalize a little bit and Megan even starts learning more about photography from Thomas during another outdoor photoshoot (man they had to have been FREEZING during those because it looked so col!), mentioning he might need another tripod stand since he lugs one around all the time, which of course is when disaster strikes, because things are WAY too good to be true.
Thomas discovers the list of things Megan wrote down about Dream Thomas, which naturally are the same for him, and let's be real, if you or I found something like that, we'd pretty much think the woman is a stalker and completely bonkers.
So, he lets her go - gently, of course, he doesn't yell or anything, he's just ... very shocked.
Heartbroken, Megan tries calling him, not that she succeeds, and in the end wishes him happiness while she goes to lick her wounds and try to put the pieces back together by throwing herself into her writing, something she's been wanting to do more professionally since forever, but never really got to it.
Meanwhile, Thomas' dad notices that Megan isn't around anymore, pointing out that he really liked her, and Thomas' girlfriend is super happy in her position as head of department, but unfortunately while she's really good at other cultures and explaining about them, she's not so good at connecting with Thomas, which comes to a head when he decides to break it off, and she admits it's at a bit of a right time, given she was just approved for a trip to China for six months.
Girl, his MOTHER had just died and you were going to drag him away from his dad to the other side of the world. That's some fundamental miscommunication RIGHT there!
Anyway, eventually, Thomas starts to see maybe there was something more to Megan's coma dream, because she mentioned a portrait from the farmhouse which he never told her about, and he goes to find her, running into her mom instead, who gently encourages him to do what's in his heart.
This prompts him to head to Megan's favourite writing spot - the aquarium, duh - where he suggests maybe, just maybe, he doesn't really need to 'get to know' her, since he already kind of does.
It's weird, and it can't be explained, but love's like that sometimes, right?
Flash-forward to a year later, and the couple have moved to that new development together, putting up their portraits on the walls, and I was waiting for Megan to announce she was pregnant with their first child, but alas, that did not happen. Still, the two get their happily ever after and THAT is worth everything!
A light-hearted, but equally very poignant and romantic movie, this one is very easy on the eyes and especially on the mind, and Skarsten and Daugherty really shine in their roles, Skarsten maybe a little bit more even. I loved the transition from her frantic hopes he'd recognize her to just becoming herself and the bond they subsequently forged, it's a lesson for all of us: just be yourself!
The supporting cast was great, her best friend and Thomas' dad being the top of the list, although Megan's parents also deserve a shout-out. It isn't easy not knowing if your only child is ever waking up again, after all.
Filmed in rather beautiful locations with the weather being spectacular, this also lends itself to the finished product, and all in all this is one of those movies I can actually see myself watching over and over again.
So if you need a pick-me-up of some sort, Timeless Love can hit the spot!
10/10 would recommend.
xx
*images and video not mine
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