"I really am not one for coincidences."
Hello everyone!
We made it.
If you've been following this blog then you'll know that the last month or so has been dedicated to the Hallmark Channel series Murder, She Baked.
Or well, the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel to be exact.
Either way, it's five movies that explore the world of a fictional little town called Eden Lake where Hannah Swenson, the local baker, tries to figure out who committed some murder or other along the way of finding true love.
But as the course of said true love never did run smooth, you know there's bound to be trouble when you're least expecting it.
And as I keep saying, this isn't necessarily Agatha Christie, but it's certainly enough to keep you occupied for the ninety or so minutes each part runs, and from what I gather there's an entire book series this was based off of, which means I have some exploring to do.
Gotta keep current with the books and all that!
However for right now, the grand finale, let's take one last stroll through Eden Lake in Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts.
I'll be linking the previous four movie reviews down at the bottom of the page, as basically they're one murder mystery after another, and the other storyline in this is that Hannah can't choose between her two suitors, dentist Norman and detective Mike. You would think, this being a Hallmark production, that it would be resolved the same way it usually is, but no.
Hallmark actually does us dirty though, as at the start of Just Desserts, Hannah and Mike are dating exclusively now - but how they got to that point and how Hannah made the decision after still having everything up in the air by the end of A Deadly Recipe is beyond me.
Your guess is as good as mine!
She certainly made the choice though but it does look like Mike's and her job get in the way a lot, like they will for adults who are responsible citizens, and they sometimes find it hard to spend time together.
This is made doubly difficult as Hannah is spearheading a bake-off contest that's being filmed for the local television studio, so THAT eats up a lot of her time, too.
Of course everything seems too good to be true, so naturally she takes a tumble down the basement stairs and sprains her knee (from what I gather the actress actually had a skiing accident and the producers wrote her injury into the movie, which is really cool as they could have delayed shooting or done something less ethical but were pretty nice about it!).
It isn't until much later in the game that Hannah suspects her injury and the stomach flu of another judge is actually suspect and could be foul play - because the TV house has a list of names pre-planned judges whom they call up if someone before them can't do the job, so the high school basketball coach is asked to step in.
This proves to be a little bit tricky as he's later found dead, and who finds him?
None other than Norman, his sub coach, possibly the only person who also didn't let the coach bully him (because he's a grown ass man and can stand for himself, obviously).
This is when Hannah starts suspecting the accidents weren't just accidents, and it turns out, after a random visit to the first judge who fell ill, that his medicine's been tampered with, which means someone wanted to rig the competition, though it takes Mike and Hannah a beat to recognize it's because the person wanted an Italian chef and restaurant owner Gino to vote for them (If this is a play on Gino D'Acampo, I applaud Hallmark, because that Gino is cool).
The investigation is a bit different this time around in that Mike actually has Hannah tag along for most of it, since apparently he learned his lesson from the previous movies AND this gives him ample opportunity to actually spend some quality time with her (hint cute kiss, hint hint).
The pair try to figure out what possible endgame their suspect could have had for murdering the coach, as it turns out the one who rigged the accidents was a contestant who was actually voted off, but he explains that while he DID do some despicable things, he didn't kill the coach.
Hannah agrees, and honestly so does Mike, because he knows how to do his job.
So the hunt is still on, and the suspect now is the coach's wife, though it becomes clear she just hired a PI because she thought he was cheating on her (which he was, natch, but he was also meeting with college scouts for potential talent searching).
She's out then as well, and Hannah gets an inkling about another suspect, a contact from the coach's phone (yeah, she gets a hand on that one), and once again she's right.
This turns out to be the producer from the station, who spent all his money and took out a mortgage to fund his son's upcoming basketball career (the kid really is a star in the making though, I have to give him that), but found himself in hot water when he borrowed money. The coach found out about this all and wanted in on the cut - because greed and money, basically the things that Hercule Poirot mentions are a powerful motivator.
If he wouldn't be dealt in, he'd inform the NCAA, who would suspend the kid, who honestly has no idea and it would be like going for an innocent little lamb.
Of course, as this is supposed to be a sort of dramatic series, the entire thing leads to an attempt of escape through the school where the contest is filming at, with Hannah in hot pursuit and texting Mike about it, who arrives late, tells Norman to make sure everyone else is safe (signalling how much the two men trust and respect each other) and then takes off after their perp.
Hannah manages to distract him long enough so he doesn't shoot himself, and Mike is able to sneak up behind him to take the gun away, which successfully closes the case as it's revealed the producer was the one who tampered with the brakes of Hannah's car.
Oh, did I not mention that one?
Mike is driving Hannah's car at the time when he realizes the brakes aren't working, and LUCKILY he very obviously passed the test for pursuit driving because he manages to get the two of them out of traffic without actually injuring them; and while Bill is skeptical whether it was an accident or not, this freaks Mike out enough that he kind of backs away a little, which confuses and hurts Hannah.
And this is also the part where the Hallmark bit cuts in as Hannah sees him with another woman, who Andrea later off-handedly reveals is Mike's sister-in-law, and said sister-in-law is actually incredibly encouraging and wants him to be happy.
This leads to a passionate speech he delivers to Hannah (I may add it in here just for kicks and giggles because for some reason Hannah couldn't open her mouth to scream YES MIKE YES) and eventually to her admitting that, yes, she wants to give the two of them a real chance too. This is WAY after the speech though - at the time, nothing happens.
Two months later they're enjoying a quiet dinner at Gino's restaurant, newly engaged and happy, when Mike's phone rings for another case - which will coincidentally make them late for their own engagement party!
But that's okay, says Hannah, she baked, and everyone knows them by now anyway.
And they're off!
The series finally comes to a close with some wonderful performances by both Sweeney and Mathison, though I personally think Mathison takes the cake for this one with just how much he wants Hannah and wants to give their relationship a decent try. Hannah's character turned out a little weaker in this particular installment, but then again she wasn't sure about both men for most of these movies so I suppose my expectations were a bit too high.
The supporting cast doesn't shine quite as much in this one - though Niven is still a star in her own right - but they get the job done, and honestly I felt the case itself was a backdrop for when will Mike and Hannah get together.
I still think they totally jipped us with not showing how Hannah picked Mike though!
All in all, this is a fun, mystery-filled five movies that I recommend for a rainy afternoon when you need something to challenge your little grey cells just a bit, but don't feel like diving into the full Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes experience.
I honestly don't think you can go wrong!
xx
*images and video not mine
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