Still The PlaceA Merry Melrose ("A Melrose Place Christmas" S1 EP 18)
Melrose Place is getting into the holiday spirit and having a sleighing good time!
Courtney, Laura, and Daphne are back, unwrapping all the drama and hot chemistry of MP's first-holiday episode! Jake and Jo have a steamy make-out session, Billy gives Allison jewelry and his unwavering support, and Michael brings Kimberly Shaw to the Melrose Christmas party while Jane's away!
This episode will also get you in the feels! There is a heartbreaking scene at the hospital on Christmas Eve that moved the ladies, a heartwarming moment between Matt and his Dad, and we discover why Jo has resting Grinch face during the holiday season!
Still the Place with Laura Layton, Courtney Thorn Smith.
And Daphne's Aniga and iHeartRadio podcast.
Hi guys, hey you guys.
I love seeing the Christmas trees in your little squares.
It's my it's my little Charlie Brown tree. It's such a nice tree.
Cord, isn't it should put lights on my is behind me. I love it.
It's such a fun season.
I did bring Georgie's Christmas hat.
Oh good, Georgie, you're beautiful in your hat. Nice and what's the name of the dog and Grinch Max but he's so nice.
Oh my gosh.
Well, we're so excited because we've got this Christmas episode to do today. It's so fun and season, you know.
So cool to watch the Christmas our people do Christmas.
It is so much fun. But I got to say, and we'll get to it. My takeaway was, Daphne, you and Grant have smoke in chemistry, Like I was like, whoa oh just twice. The second time, I was like, oh, now I'm really heated up that you guys were smoking.
Very cute, like finding little stuff that wasn't on the page, like just for that relationship between the two of you. I noticed the same thing, like just really cute, dynamic and stuff that was not written. That was chemistry and that's what you guys like, just so loose.
There was really there was something really loose working with him, and just like you know that we got together and on the weekends and rode bikes and we just really got to know each other.
Yeah, I know you guys did. I'm sure that was fun for you. I'm sure I wouldn't it anyway, so I know not. But what I saw was how much softer he is with jo, Like it brings out this really sweet, sweet side of him, which was so much fun to see. Yes, right, should we get to it?
I yeah, this was episode eighteen in season one and a Melrose Trees Christmas.
I have to say, one episode away.
From more going on.
Well yeah, that's fun. But this Christmas episode I think was a really this was a great episode that I think it is worth watching twice. So anyway, and.
This episode, if I could just say, I know, everyone had their own stuff and there was some heavy stuff going on, but you can really see why the audience could relate with their own friends and.
Really coming together with you know, just.
All the Christmas themes alone, like whatever everyone's going through to come together, we really got to see in this episode.
Yeah, they did. They really used a lot of themes. And there was you know, there was bittersweet, there was sad, there was upbeat. There was just cute and all so pretty and Christmas seed. So here we go Seeing one opens on an exterior Christmas tree farm. Joe and jak are looking for a Christmas tree, and Joe's sort of trying to talk him out of it, saying, you know, this is dumb, It's just another excuse to throw away money. But Jake's no, you know, I grew up with an alcoholic mother who told me that Santa didn't visit poor people. I'm getting a tree and yeah, super harsh. But he's like, no, I don't tell me, don't talk me out of this. I'm getting a tree. And then he picks out the tallest tree.
He goes and you see, and Joe's Joe's look, I know, I'm like, does not belong in Rockefeller Center?
Yeah, and then he goes.
And then he goes, should I get flocking? And you had the best line and DEFU went no. Yeah, it was just like no, Yeah, I love.
And you know, I love the camera work in this episode, and it's Bethany Rooney just gonna gio love her.
Yeah, such a grace. And I love my white sweater. Okay, I'll let you keep going, but I know you.
Were in white. I noticed that too.
Yeah, that long, big, oversized sweater.
Yeah. And then back in Jake's apartment, this giant Christmas tree is so tall it's bending at the top because it's touching the ceiling. And there's this really great ceiling POV where the you know, the camera's up top and looking down, way way down on Jake and Joe. Great. Jake is excited to show Joe this remote control car that he's purchased and he's going to give it to his son David for Christmas, and Joe is sort of wondering, well, who are you going to say it's from, because you're not dad, and he says, well, I'll say it's from Santa Claus, and Joe mentions, well, I guess Santa does exist, but only for very lucky children. And this is one of those moments where I think she's seeing Jake is like, what a warm heart he has because he's so excited and he's so lovely about wanting to give this gift to David. They share this very intimate look and just sort of decide to break that moment.
And myself and the rest of the audience is saying cancer, just Giitzer, because it's like the electricity is just crackling.
Yeah, really sweet and soft and like immediate chemistry, love us, immediate. Then we cut to Alice and who's in a hospital bed. She's waiting to go in for her procedure, and Billy is standing at her bedside, and Allison confides to him that she's kind of nervous and now that she is thinking, you know, there's a possibility she might not be able to have kids, she's realizing she really does want to be able to someday. And he says, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, and everybody, including Alison, notices what he says and how he says it. She says, real class yes, and he's kind of sheepish because he realizes what he said, and he clarifies, Oh, I'm just trying to I'm just trying to be there for you, you know, I just want to be by your side and help you through this and she says, well, you're doing a great job and this is especially tough time, you know, especially at Christmas and in walks Doctor Michael Mancini to try it.
I just want to say quickly, because it's like the couples. We go from super sexy with Jake and Joe and then sweet, sweet sweet with Billy and Allison. It's like something for everyone, Like everyone's like something for everyone in the first five minutes.
Well, the chemistry is not lacking in this one either.
It's just it's just right.
I don't know. I'm I'm the audience member here and I'm rooting for both of these couples. I am just saying I'm they're going yes and yes.
But I love how they are different tones and because yours are so caring you're in the hospital and that feels like real and solid, and our seems like new and crackly.
But also they're I love the difference. At the Billy and Allison, they're feeling back, they're trying to just remain friends, and so they're like just having this sweet friendship when we're all going, wait, there's so much more. And then Jake and Joe are like Bam, we're doing this because this is obvious so cute. So Michael checks on her and says, you're going to be fine. And oh, by the way, Jeane is sending her love from Chicago, where she's spending Christmas with her parents. I noticed that they didn't mention that she's spending Christmas with her sister, because at this point I think Sydney doesn't exist.
Oh yeah, well, I was wondering where she's not in this episode. So she must remember when that she and Rob got married right before we started. Maybe this is what you got to stick.
Oh maybe why they wrote her out of it because there was no reason for it.
We should ask her she might have accompli as her I wonder members because she just wasn't normally that. I've a scene where she says, I'm visiting my family, but he was in charge of the exposition.
But it gives Michael a very good opportunity to have his episode, which unfolds later and Allison. He leaves, and Alison tells Billy again and once they're alone, that she is scared, and Billy again reassures her that everything is going to be okay. So we cut to Ronda's aerobics class. She's teaching a step class. She's wearing a Santa hat. It's cute and festive, and she's so energetic and adorable. And she then catches a glimpse of Terence watching her teach. She's checking her out from the back of the class. He's in a suit, and Ronda is surprised, gets her class covered by another person to step in and teach, and she says, what are you doing? We were supposed to have a date on it tonight and he tells her he's going to have to cancel that date, and she's disappointed because she's leaving tomorrow for Christmas. He says, but how about if you maybe change your plans and go with me to aspin Leen tickets that he's already purchased for the two of them to spend the holidays in Aspen, and Ronda's totally surprised, and she starts to worry out loud about how I tell my parents, and well, I don't have any ski clothes. I don't even know how to ski. He says, you don't have to decide.
Think about it, a classic weptom of Aspen. Did you guys? That's when I was going to Aspen that well pretending scheme.
Yeah, I don't pretend pretending.
Do you remember when she visited us and she's like, oh, there's this one ski up and I just loved I don't know if she said she took it or she wanted to take it, but then we got to see it in this episode.
So night was adorable.
Purple one Piece. We go back to the hospital where Alison's being prepped for surgery. The doctor steps in to check on her and explains that she's been given some medicine that's going to make your sleepy, asks her to sing jingle bells as she falls asleep, and she gets through.
And she gets through way more of jingle bells than you do. You know, I don't know you've ever had. They go come from ten, you go ten now whush like get yeah.
Cinematically, they really want to draw that jingle bell, give me some more jingle.
We're too young to have a kolonoscopy, so I didn't know, like it is not that long, but then I was, you know, I hadn't died and I had a klonospy yet.
So out she goes, and then out in the hospital waiting room well, we've got Billy and Matt, Joe, Jake, and Rohnda enters too, and Billy is very impatient to hear anything since Allison should have been out of the surgery by now, but the hospital won't release any information because none of them are immediate family, they say, So he goes out to the nurses station to find out what's going on.
And did you notice, daph that you and Grant were perfectly mirroring each other in the chairs?
Oh?
Yeah, mirrors? That was so they were.
They were sort of back to back with their feet up exactly. I didn't that was conscious the partnership, was it.
Yeah?
I did notice that they're They're definitely bonding. Wasn't Matt and Ronda kind of grouped like in those group scenes the director will kind of group you.
Yeah, I noticed that paired off.
It seems like a lot, I have to say, not to discount what Alison's going through, but it seems like a lot of people for a five ry.
All of her friends are alarmed. When you heard enlarged uterists, you think, wow, that sounds large. So I think, you know, we better be there for Allison. And so they all show up for this but.
Having had five words removed before, it was not It was not as big a deal.
No one showed up.
For you, No, I I think my husband did at the time, but you would have. I don't remember there have been quite as much excitement. I know for a fact you guys weren't there. Now I'm hurt.
Well, you're on a motorcycle ride.
I'm sure.
I'm sure we were at a dinner party at someone else's. Looks good too, say.
So.
He goes up to the nurse and says, Hey, I'm Allison's brother. Can you can I go see he or now that she's out of surgery. Nurse calls his pluff and knows that he's not really her brother. But Michael walks up and assures Billy that not only is Alison fine, she will be able to have kids whenever she chooses, and he says, I can probably sneak in to see her. Come on, He delivers Billy to Allison's hospital room. Billy goes in alone and she's sleeping, and he very gently puts her blue cozy bathrobe over her and then wakes her up. Yeah, she groggily wakes up. Billy assures her that she wasn't dreaming that. She is indeed fine, The surgery went well and she can someday have children. And then the doctor walks in and he says, how's my new favorite patient doing.
Now?
Did anybody else think that they were setting something up between Alison and the doctor? She's a hand little doctor, I feel like is in No.
I think we all sort of did like handsome doctor, and that's how he is calling her. So we did sort of wonder like, hey, Billy's girl, step away.
Docs GoF man.
Like this.
It is funny how you kind of go there's a guest star that walks in and you're like, did we.
Do a thing there? This is my doctor.
I remember having something with this guy.
You know, I don't know. He was just a doctor.
He's seen my enlarged uterus.
My goodnessficient the largest uterus I've ever seen.
My goodness.
I don't like to brag about my large uterus, but you know whatever, see no, no, I do bring it up a lot.
He tells Alison she could go home tomorrow that as long as she has someone to take care of her, and she thinks, well, maybe I shouldn't, but Billy jumps in and says he will be the one to take care of her. Then we go to their apartment where Allison and Billy are returning home from the hospital. Allison's walking very gingerly in and getting situated on the couch and she.
Knows, really, I was very committed to the pain in this episode, Like I did not let that reality waiver for a second. Do you remember that every seat, Like I made a different choice.
Just in case anyone forgot how traumatic an operation for an enlarged uterus would be. You were haven't needed to walk very gingerly? Isn't the place decorated? Billy has gotten a Christmas tree that wasn't there when she left, and he's all decorated, and he said his dad has also dropped off all these Christmas lights and ornaments, and Allison says, you know, I'm not really into Christmas that much this year, and Billy's tucking her in and taking care of her and saying, oh, you will be, and he says, I'm going to go to the grocery store to get stuff for you. And as he's leaving, Joe is arriving. She's bringing magazines for Allison.
In a great vest Who love that red vest that printed gorgeous best, I love the best.
We're in back yet yet another flattering yeah, and it's another opportunity for Joe to say yes doctor Bill to Billy, right Bill, so that Alison needs rest. Yes, doctor Bill.
I feel like there was a cut somewhere because, Jeff, you say, I just came to see if you were home. When I say thank you, I feel like you may have said something else. I'm way too grateful that you have to see if I was there.
Well, you remember, you were just coming off your large uterous drugs, so maybe you were just say super high.
Should we just stop it already? You guys have had Jeff me, I know you're jealous of my large uterus. I have to deal with that on your own.
Jealous of something.
But we'll get back to that in our little Melrose moment on Friday.
Okay, not now. And Alison here tells Joe that Billity has been being so nice since this surgeon. She said, it's kind of starting to feel weird, but like kind of weird in a good way. Maybe she's smiling about that weirdness. So then we cut to the courtyard where Matt is going to run the department. This is where he finds her in her full ski suit, yes and including goggles, boots pulls an sees all on in her living room's purple and then she's fantastic And so Ronda tells Matt that Terrence has taking her shopping because she's clearly agreed to go to Aspin. But she's like wondering, is there some sort of catch? It's like this guy seems to be good, too good to be true. She asks Matt what he's doing for Christmas. He's just spending time with the kids at the halfway house. He says, not going to see his parents because he feels like they don't support him, even after he'd want his drop back after being fired.
And I thought this was a little exposition, he said, after I lost my job.
For being a we're being fired for being k Yeah, just in.
Case you missed last episode, Yes.
Bring you all up to speed when happened. Yeah. But they end that scene with a sweet hug, wishing each other Merry Christmas, and Matt tells her, I think you're onto something with this guy. I would like to call out Matt's outfit and his Yes, please do, I will. It was a V neck sweater with a white turtle neck underneath. So like a lot of turtle neck shows with the V neck people.
Yeah, and that was the nineties and it's winter and seventy degrees down from.
The other what he had a bit of a mullet.
Oh yeah, he did, totally did anyway, little sprite even the shirt, Yeah, this is even the shirt I want to call out.
Yeah, we're still getting something.
More holiday clothes to come. And so we cut that to the hospital where Michael and doctor Kimberly Shaw Kimberly's back. They're running down the hospital hallway to help a young gunshot victim who's arrived bloodied on a gurney, and the mother of this child wants to come into the operating room, and Michael tells her she can't, but he'll let her know as soon as they know anything. She needs to wait outside, and the mother pleads to Michael, please don't let God take my baby. She was so good.
She oh she this killed me. Every parent's nightmare and shocking, right, because Melro's light fun, light fun. And then you know, we're worried about a fibroid. And then this kid comes into the gun show and that shocked me.
We're back with Jake and Joe and Jake's apartment. They're adding tinsel to this giant Christmas tree and Jake is enjoying the tree, saying it smells like Christmas, and just says, wait, I got you something. She pulls out an angel old treetopper for Jake and he suggests that she classed.
In case you guys didn't know that we were smoking hot together yet this one.
Had Laura right. Well, this is one of the Courtney's Courtney's moments, like noticing that Jake was so sweet becaus like, why don't you put it on? He's so gentle and so loving, like this is so special and thank you. It's so soft for Jake, and and then but so she's climbing up this.
Ladder and said, I'm afraid of heights, right, yeah.
But you saw that girl taking photos of ladders like for episodes at a time.
But he's behind her and and all of a sudden, she gets a little flustered and she's like, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna put it here, and she try to jams it in the she's.
Like half way up, but then there to catch her when she's slide down.
She jams in the military. Yeah, it comes down from the ladder and they find themselves sort of like face to face and uh like, but they're interrupted.
There's more to come, but I know a little bit in there.
She does try to stop them and say, wait a minute. You know, people do things during the holidays and they don't normally do. Maybe they'll regret it, but they're interrupted. Here Bill knock, Hi Bill, door, Hi Bill, Hi Bill, Nice to see you. And this is my favorite.
Billy is yeah, and he turns to like, yeah, it was the best delivery I went back in Remond So good, so good, And Billy tells you and Joey wants to get something nice for Allison, wanting advice, shows them this necklace that he bought for her and they're both impressed, but Joe's like, wait, is something going on between you two?
He says, why do you think the necklace might imply something? And she says, well, well, you know, it's a really nice gift, so yeah, it might mean you're asking for something. Billy rolls his eyes and says, yeah, you would think that, right, and he says, well, what about you, Jake, what do you think do you think the necklace crosses the line between friendship and romance? And Jakes's not And it's a tough call, but Joe wants to clarify, Hey, is it eighteen carrot or twenty four?
And by the way, what happened to fourteen carrot? Like a gold bar? Is it twenty four?
Here at a gold Barde, New York Babe, there's yeah, working frames of reference eighteen or twenty four?
And he says it's twenty four. Jose Z, Yep, you're crossing the line, my friends. Yes, you're asking for some.
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And Billy says, you know, he just finds himself. He really wants to buy her nice things, especially since she became so kind of helpless and needed him, and things he can't afford. And Jake's like, hey, nothing wrong with that, good choice. Billy Bye.
Doesn't like Billy? Does he like?
Push him out the door?
He starts, yeah. He starts to try to get him out the door, like all right, you good it enough time You're bye. We were busy, and uh so Billy's still trying to find himself, like, wait a minute, no, I don't have feelings for Alison. Okay, bye enough. Fie lends him out the door and another cute mom with Joe and Jake where.
He turns back to her and he's like, okay, we're you know, and how you stay over there? So cute.
We know that they both want to jump on it day there. Keep your hands to yourself, she says, so cute. So then back to Allison's apartment, She's crying on the couch, sobbing.
Again, I didn't really know while you're putting. Remember how I remember doing a lot of crying scenes, being very nervous about them. But I'm sobbing. I think I'm not good at like quietly letting tears rolled out. I was sobbing.
Yeah, well I think that's also what the scene called for. But like just to do that as an actor, like, if that's exhausting, you.
Were working, it's exhausting hard. So Allison's crying, You're not to see how hard I was working. I was like, you were clearly working.
I'm not saying that it's you.
I just were exhausted for you.
I'm just I'm just impressed that you had all that kind to do and you kept it up and you were great. So Billy Watson's he's a crying and she explained she must have this post up depression that the doctor had sort.
Of wonder about there it is y yeah, well, and I do remember this about these scenes, which is how frustrated I was, because it was always I would be sobbing and Billy would be like, are you okay? I'm sorry, and I'd be talking and sobbing, and I was like, this feels really unfair, like the division of paper doesn't uneven, and I'm crying and saying all the lines and he just goes, you have people, okay, blah blah blah black crack cracker bla.
We'll get through this. Yeah.
Yeah.
He was adoring her that she's gonna have a great Christmas, and she says, well, you know, I don't even have money to buy gifts, and Billy's like like, sure, roommates, we don't need to exchange gifts.
I just first know, me so mad that Joe was so blunt with Bill in the last scene and was like made him, you know, not want to give her this beautiful bracelet. And he's like.
Oh, he's also trying to like walk that line because she's saying, you know, can we can we just like make maybe make a pact and He's like, sure, let's make a pact and we don't need to exchange gifts, and they shake hands. They shake hands on this pact and he's just trying to do the right thing. But it's you the scene ended with such a sweet look on his face. He's really not sure that he likes that outcome. No, he doesn't.
I think it's crushed him basically.
But you know, show ain't over.
Let's keep going.
So back at the hospital at night, Michael and doctor Kimberly Shaw and doctor Levin are out of surgery where they're discussing the young boy who was shot and sadly has not survived, and Michael, they're all very upset, so heavy, just the senselessness of the boy's death and it's Christmas Eve, especially, how on earth are these parents are going to be able to endure this news? And doctor Levin says that Michael needs to be the one to tell the parents that their son has died.
Michael was not expecting that he was.
He was not him to tell him the grown and doctor Shaw can really offers to go with Michael to deliver this news and be there for that, and doctor Levin stops her and says, nope, Michael needs to do this on his own. So he very carefully approaches the parents of the young boy. They're anxiously waiting for news, and he gently tells him that their son did not survive. He had traumatic injuries, and he's terribly sorry but they just could not save him. And the mother just dissolved into sacks. Chris was just so good and it's Christmas Eve, I mean, just all all awful.
Yeah.
So Michael then goes back to doctor Levin, who tells Michael, well, brace yourself because tomorrow is Christmas and at the hospital we have our own set of traditions. Christmas Day statistically holds the greatest number of murders, suicide and accidents, and he finishes with Merry Christmas. Doctor. So just dread very different look at Christmas.
Happiness of the show. You know again, they wrote this and took it on and it's green it.
And by contrast, yeah, exactly, because then the contrast as we go back to the courtyard and it's now Christmas morning and Billy is stringing Christmas lights on the balcony railing. When Joe opens her permit door to get her newspaper, beautiful blue robe, so very pretty blue silk robe, and Billy she like looks over.
I mean, I'm just like, sorry, you can read it, but I'm just like, God, Joe, leave Bill alone.
Such a nice guy.
I wonder how long you call him Bill?
How do you criticize the guy for putting up Christmas lights?
You know?
But go ahead. She was very grinchy.
He was.
He was going Merry Christmas, Joe, And she's like, yes, say to your branch with Jake.
A lot sooner, got some sexual tension building up.
Yeah, right, And what are you doing? She says, I'm just trying to make the place look a little festive and just you know, it's weird to in one specific day to hang these twinkly lights and spread peace and goodwill towards all and anyway, they should have been up by now. And she goes back in.
Her apartner also bahumbug, super.
Brahamba grinchy, and Billy says, Merry Christmas?
Do you do?
He never says, and it's Billy Joe, No.
Yeah.
He does not correct her.
He's like yeah.
So then we're back to Billy and Allison's apartment. Billy is knocking on Allison's bedroom door, where she's recovering a bed, wishes her Merry Christmas and he's brought her some Christmas movies on VCR cassette tapes, Oh My God, Miracle on thirty four Stremmer, It's a Wonderful Life, all the classics. Allison says, well, don't you want to watch him with me? And he says, well, I have to go to work, got to drive the cab. Airport runs all that. They wish each other Merry Christmas, and he leaves to go to work, and we're sad.
I know he's trying to navigate it all right, like he wants to take care of you, but now he's having feelings.
So I don't give her the bracelet.
We're just friends.
But it's Christmas. I mean, there's a lot of in earth, and he's got to work. I mean the fact is, you know, guy's got to work, and somebody's got to drive the cab on Christmas. It just happens to be the guy who doesn't have a family and whatever, young guy, new guy. So off he goes. And then we're back to the hospital. They were in the staff room and Michael is clearly distracted and dwelling on everything he's just dealt with, and Kimberly comes in. She's very upbeat, asks Michael if he'll join her for a cup of eggnog at the Christmas party that's happening in the lobby, and he says, nope, I'm not really feeling it, and that woman who lost her child is never going to be able to not think of this on Christmas, and I don't know that I will either. So Kimberly sambers a little bit, and she says, well, you know, losing the boy was not your fault, Michael, and you did everything you could. But he says that he used to believe nothing bad could happen on Christmas, and he used to believe he had a special relationship with God, which might have been what made him want to become a doctor, but now he realizes that there's no God involved, it's just medicine. And Kimberly tells him don't dwell on the ones you lose. You have to think about the ones you save at which time.
Which is are really good surprisingly deep for this scene when you think, yeah, how many doctors think I'll be able to heal people? And then they find out they can't heal everybody. How terrifying it must be. Yeah, go to work knowing that that's it's literally life or death, which is obvious, I know, but it struck me in this scene.
Yeah, but for him to be acknowledging, hey, there's you know that his feeling right now is just like so devastated. He's like, there's no God here, this is just medicine and yeah, like I've grown, you know.
There's no God and I'm not Goda, which I can't.
Yeah. Yeah, So his pageock goes off and he says to her, well back to the wars and now he goes So back in Billy and Allison's apartment, Matt is there. She is now sitting up at the kitchen table, but she's feeling potatoes. Matt's prepping a big I love this scene. I loved I thought it was hilarious.
I love that.
There's this Christmas stuff everywhere.
I love that Matt's got his little cooking towel and you sitting there with that turkey. I just there's something about these group stuff and making the food, and I just love how the sets and the props so just they fill it all out, you know, you really feel again, I can see how the audience wanted to be there. They wanted to live in Melrose Place.
Yeah, things like this. It's not the other stuff.
It seems like this that really enhanced that.
It was you guys are well And I'm super happy. First of all, super in pain, keep that very committed to the how I felt it. But also I'm just happy because I used to do a scene with Doug, So that's my that was so my happy place.
Do you remember shooting the scene? Do you remember that particular?
No, but I can myself. I know how I felt when I got to work with Doug was so much fun and I was just like super happy. The same thing in scenes with you, daf Like, I can see that it's genuinely we're genuinely happy to be playing together. And I think that's what reads.
Yeah, and they're so funny. You say you I'm not gonna stuff it, Yeah, I mean, yeah, funny. They're talking about their massive cooking list. They're making this turkey that she's peeling the potatoes. There, there's gonna be a pumpkin soup, fle homemade rules from scratch, Homade, Cranberry sauce everything else.
For his mother, like Martha Stewart, it sounds like.
We have to make we have to make the cranberry sauce from the can. My mother would never have done this stuff from the Can's Matt, who's here making it, And he's like, all right, well, then maybe we'll just have to not make the homemade pie crust from scratch. But it's them that, like the both of them realized, she's how did our mothers do that?
I mean, And by the way, Alison's sitting there because of the you know, the fibroids and all that, and you don't want to say exactly help it. I don't want to say it. I want to just go fibroid and that's that. Uh. But I just feel like she's not even gonna, you know, to pin that much.
She's unable.
Well it's hard because she can only get so close to the table because of the huge uterus. Well this is what.
This is why if you don't say it, daf Courtney's going to come on, kids, this is why. Also he's saying, Okay, while you're sitting there, you stuff it. You can do this is something you can do. I'll do everything else I mean he's gonna he's gonna run into his apartment and start the supple a that he's going to come back and he'll load the bird when she's done stuffing it. So like he gives her tasks that she can do for pre seated position.
One quick question in the beginning, He's going, so it takes this long to cook. I'm like, are you guys just looking that up now? Like couldn't you have checked me yesterday? Like didn't your mom step five in the morning to put the burden? That's what I remember, Yeah, well engineer it.
My first thought was, and I'm don't really cook that much, but it was like they're nowhere near They're not going to be eating until nowhere at midnight, right, is that right? Like everything's just getting started, and now they got to do homemade cranberry and now they got.
To take the homemade stuff at all. Are not going to be ready? And I do cook, and I know Courtney cooks too. This is none of this is going to happen on time. If you're going to make it all home made in.
Your very Sauce should be done, yes, yeah, bread should be crescent rolls.
The turkey should be stuffed. Yes, everything should be prepped yep, the crust, yep, everything. So anyway we can see that's not gonna happen. But we we go back to Joe knocking on Jake's door and she's holding a wrapped Chriss gift, telling Jake that it's saw you know, just something to stick under that monster tree. And Jake smiles, inviting her into the apartment so we can give her her gift, but she says, nope, I'm now, I'll pick it up later, and she turns to leave. He stops her and says, hey, what what why? You don't need to run, And Joe says, I feel like spending Christmas alone. I didn't travel three thousand miles to leave one controlling man just to fall into the arms of another one.
And I was so glad that you had that line because I was thinking, why are you not? Like we've seen the kiss, why are you not? And I feel like it's kind of that that, like you kind of went back and forth and back and forth and find we know why. Yeah, well that's why she's resisting because the audience myself included her going what why would you stop that kiss?
You're right, it did offer necessary exces.
It's another crumb. She left a you know, controlling man, and she's not going to be controlled.
And yeah, it's all starting.
To explain why she's been so like uptight and mean, especially to.
And she doesn't want to rush into it. She just got here. But he encourages her to come in, saying he makes kill her eggnog and he has a copy of Elvis Sings Christmas that he hasn't played for ten years. Come on, and she reluctantly agrees to stay, saying, well, I hate eggnog, but I'm a sucker for Elvis.
So I love her boundaries court and I love how strong they are, don't you?
Yeah, really aggressive. It's like an iron wall.
Literally ten seconds later with the mention of Elvis.
Oh, did you say?
Okay?
All right, okay, Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know are you as Charlotte. In nineteen ninety seven, my life was forever changed when I took on the role of Charlotte Yorke on a new HBO show called.
Sex and the City.
As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte navigate relationships in new York City. The show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships.
Now I want to connect with you and.
Share untold stories and all the behind the scenes together with special guests.
What will begin with sex and the City.
Will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. Are You a Charlotte is a much more than just rewatching our beloved show. It brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor, and of course some optimism. Listen to Are You a Charlotte on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you.
Get your podcasts.
So back at the hospital in the hallway at night, there's a pregnant woman very much in labor, rolling into the hospital and a gurneyon and very serious labor. Michael's hurrying alongside, and the woman's husband saying that her water broke. They were at Christmas dinner, but their obi is in Hawaii. Nobody to deliver this baby. Kimberly rushes in, saying and Michael, the chief resident, is in surgery. We're gonna have to wait until he's out to deliver this baby. And the woman says, I can't wait, and Michael says, all right, I can be the one. I can deliver this baby. And all right, you go get prepped for delivery. And as the patient is wheeled away, Michael suddenly becomes a little less confident and he turns to Kimberly and he says, hey, have you ever delivered a baby? And she's like, what you No, have you? And he admits actually he's only assisted and observed, but never actually delivered one. But he grabs Kimberly's arm and pulled her along, saying, don't worry, we'll figure it out. And together they go through the double doors labeled maternity and they're gonna do this.
And how full of dread were you? You're like, oh god, oh, because of the last scene. I was so full of dread. I was like, please don't do this to me again. I barely recovered from the gunshot wound. Oh.
So we're back at Jake's apartment where he's adding a little uh nutmeg to his eggnog.
A little spice, a little spice.
Joe's wondering a little spice to his lady, yeah, which she said she didn't like, but maybe, oh, who care?
I like it now.
She's very mushy washy, but go on. And she's wondering why Christmas is the only holiday with Carol's, which I thought was so funny. And Jake's like, well, what Elvis sings Easter? I don't think so, And Joe says she really loves the CD, which I'm sure you noticed now that it's twenty twenty four and those music rights are not there. This was not Elvis playing over the scene, Yes, and I heard it. I mean it probably was in nineteen ninety two because they had limited, you know, rights to use this song for the scene, and now they don't so for streaming. Like now that we have these things around DVDs and they're streaming and stuff, those music rights are all changed. So I think a lot of our original music has been replaced for the streaming versions of what we're all watching.
Oh stuff.
I wouldn't ever remembered that, but the minute you said that, I thought, oh, it didn't sound like Elvis.
I couldn't gess it wasn't Elvis. But that's the version that we're watching today. But I think in nineteen ninety two it was probably an Elvis Christmas song because that was a whole story point, right, But you would have heard about that if it wasn't right. It was a whole story point. He said, you know, I've got the CD, and she's like, great, I'm in Yeah. So anyway, he then one step find out why were you even such of her to run off earlier when I blocked your getaway? And she says, you know, it's just I just have bad associations with Christmas, my husband and his dreadful family. And he says, well, I think you just need to find new meaning in Christmas. And so yeah, he says it's not so easy, and he says, why does it have to be so complicated? I have found a new meaning, and he then you know, turns into them there, pulls her up from the couch. They start dancing to the Christmas music. Pretty soon they're kissing, and Joe forgets everything she was saying. She says, it up, it doesn't matter what I was saying is now relevant.
Forget what I said about the controlling whatever, and forget about the eggnog love it and uh whatever.
Half in his boundaries. They're very guard all.
I like kissing. So they end up on the couch they're making out, and then Joe does stop him from sort of going any further on buttoning your top, and he reminds Jake that he said Elvis and egg knock and sort of stops him right there. And Jake says, but I do know how I feel about you. I want to be with you in any way that makes you feel comfortable. And Joe kisses him and says, just this for tonight, puts up a boundary. Jake says, well, sort of reminds me of being in the back of an old Mustang. She says, well, if you play your cards right, you might get lucky by Valentine's Day.
It's so hard to have this kind of scene with somebody that you're not comfortable with. It's so hard to like all the acting chops in the world, but it really can only do it with someone that is fun. You're playing, you know you're playing, you're play acting at the end of the day. And so I've had these kinds of scenes with other people and it's just gets so serious and when the chemistry's not there.
It's so much hard. And his last line is really cute because he says, well, I kind of feel like I'm lucky right now. It's such a cute mind end the scene. This is the softness you guys are talking about, you know.
Yeah, really that you're really brings out in him? So so yummy.
Yeah good. So then back at Allison Billy's apartment, she's on the phone asking for Billy. She's calling the cab companies, telling the operator you need to tell him to phone home right away, and she hangs up and tells Matt she doesn't know if Billy's coming back for Christmas dinner.
But the operator is saying he's not working. So now we know that Billy was lying about going to work.
So she's admitting she's worried that Billy's trying to avoid her after what she said, and she's afraid she's ruined Billy's Christmas. Matt realizes he needs a whisk for what he's whipping up in the kitchen. She doesn't have one, so he heads out to grab one from his apartment, telling Alison don't worry about Billy.
And she goes, sorry, we just have the basics, and I'm like, I don't know, but there's so much stuff spread everywhere and food and their plans and I'm like, I don't know about your basics, Allison, but they've done so much already.
But I let no whisk his place for the whisk he does, so, he goes outside and in the courty already notices his father, Matt's father just turning to walk away from Matt's apartment door. Matt stops him and saying, hey, I was just next door making dinner with friends, and his father's really grateful when Matt invites him into his apartment. So inside, Matt's dad compliments Matt's apartment and goes onto a apologize to Matt for his lack of understanding of that work business he calls it, and that he was pleased to hear from Matt's mother that everything has worked out with his job. He says he'll always be on Matt's side and the last thing he wanted to do is alienate Matt. He tells Matt that he loves him so much and can we put this all behind us? And Matt agrees to put it behind them.
It's really sweet. The dad is so vulnerable.
I love this scene and he was great in the scene. His name is James Handy, lovely actor, and he was terrific in the scene. Doug loved working with him, and so they end the scene where he says to Matt that Christmas just isn't the same without him. Wants him to come home to the house where his mom will have dinner waiting, but Matt says, I'm going to make dinner with my friends tonight, but it means a lot to me that you came. So they hug, they wish each other Marry Christmas.
Well, first they shake hands, did you notice that? I was like no? And then they pulled he turns into a house.
Okay, yeah, the exchange I love yous and Matt's dad leaves.
Hi.
I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know, are you a Charlotte. In nineteen ninety seven, my life was forever changed when I took on the role of Charlotte Yorke on a new HBO show called Sex.
And the City.
As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte navigate relationships in New York City, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now I want to connect with you and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together with special guests. What will begin with sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. Are You a Charlotte is a much more than just rewatching our beloved show. It brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor, and of.
Course some optimism.
Listen to Are You a Charlotte on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Then we cut back to the hospital. They're in the delivery room and there's a newborn baby.
Oh thank God, yes, so relieved.
Michael is relieved and joyously holding this newborn, handing the baby over to the mother, and Michael Kimberly happily walk out of the delivery room and he says to Kimberly, well, that was unbelievably beautiful. Yeah, and they both sort of marvel at the miracle of life and Kimberly points out, you know, do I hope you're feeling better now that a new life has happened, you know, so profoundly on the same day as death. And he admits that he does feel better, but again says, you know, maybe he felt the force of God was in the room. Though he's never going to be able to stop trying to control things. Then he tells Kimberly he's leading the hospital. She says she is too, and he spontaneously says, hey, why don't you come back to, you know, my Parma complex for dinner, dinner at my place. It's an orphan dinner, just all of us rootless children about families, And she sort of reluctantly but then agrees to come, and she goes to change and she says she'll meet him in the parking lot.
You know it, now that we know what Kimberly has become, she's so It's such an innocent beginning, isn't it. He's just invited because Jean's out of town, and she's just invited over this little orphan Christmas over at Melboe's place.
And my god, just get right, what if? And the two of them also have a really nice dynamic and chemistry like speaking of because they really have, you know, a thoughtful relationship and like think about deep stuff and the medical connections and I don't know they have they have their own chemistry that's really like nice to watch and you can see this friendship, you know, we have to just see that.
I wonder if they knew, and we have Darren on, let's ask him if they knew at this point, like did they bring her back just to disrupt things in the future, because it starts off off so innocently, although Thomas did tell us that they were playing the chemistry.
Early the little flatness, yeah.
As in something to keep, something to give the writer's ideas.
Yeah, well I think it was there too, just like just enough of an door opening as a possibility. They played their scenes super lovely in this Christmas episode. Yeah, so we're back in the apartment. Alison and Billy's apartment is where they all the food is going to be set out on this huge buffet, all the food that they've spent all day making. Apparently they've succeeded. It's sweet potatoes, it's rolls, it's pecan pie.
Are you wonder where they were going to eat because all the food, there's no table with chairs. Where are we going to eat this?
Well, they've managed to pull off this giant Christmas dinner for everybody. And Billy walks into the apartment says it smells great and asks Alison how she's feeling. She says she's feeling much better. She says, can I talk to you? And he says, actually I wanted to talk to you too. Can we talk alone? So they go into Billy's bedroom to talk alone and they sit down on Billy's bed and Allison.
Goes, just quickly, did you guys notice I have a floor length velvet dress on which feels like a lot for friends, reds for dinner.
It's a very special night, very nice gown Alison's wearing.
Was it like red velvet?
It's a deep red velvet.
I remember that fabric though, like that crushed velvet, crushed kind of a lure.
Yeah. Well coming back in by the way, yeah, because it's nineties back.
And so Alison goes first. She apologizes to Billy about being a bit of a bitch since she's been home, but that she appreciates everything he's been doing for her and that she reveals that it's kind of made her nervous, feeling like she's getting so close to him, and that needing him has started to feel scary, and she tells Billy here that he is more than just someone to split the rent with. He's now her best friend. And then Billy says that the way he felt about Allison when she was in the hospital surprised him too, that he feels scared too about how much he cares about her. So Alison apologizes, says, I feel bad we're not exchanging gifts and you really deserve a great present, and Billy tells her, you know, I used to love getting gifts when I was a kid, but nothing felt as great as getting you this, And he jumps up and he goes to the dresser in his room and he pulls Allison this gift from his dresser. He's like waiting for the opportunity to give it to her anyway, and he's just so happy to do it. And she opens the bag and she sees this beautiful necklace and says, oh, Billy, it's beautiful. I don't know what to say, and he tells her, just say Mary Christmas, and they stand up and she says Merry Christmas, and she kisses him on the cheek and they hug and it's so sweet.
I've still got to say, Allison seems dense to me. This is there's a jewelry box, there's a gold necklace. Like she's still saying you're the greatest buddy. It's like, how are you missing? How is she this on?
I'm going to defend Allison because Billy doesn't want her to come to that conclusion just yet. He's not so sure. He's he hasn't committed to that conclusion right. He's still walking a line where he's not so sure because he's not coming out and saying it right.
He's do you think? But everything you said about this scene about I'm scared of how much I need you, I'm scared of how much I love That's it could be a romantic conversation too. I'm afraid of how much I feel for you. I'm afraid of i'mu I love you like it's just right.
It's because you have a history together already, and it's just friends, and that's more awkward than just you know, Jake and Joe meet each other and there's chemistry and they're both single.
But uh, maybe that's your issue.
He's not married, so you're not.
That trab Okay, that's not fair where I was going.
That's nut, that's but I just feel like I feel for you guys, because there's a history and there's a comfortability, and there's a just a history of friends and it's awkward to change it.
Maybe.
But also I know you were kidding with the married but what what that did spark something for me, which is he is emotionally available for her, and that's very scary for Allison, so she will choose the unavailable guy. So I think you were actually onto something.
Okay, But what we've seen in the scene from what they both said, they're both feeling the same thing and they're both revealing it to each other in this moment.
Yeah, and it was a very long kiss on his cheek.
Yeah, feeling things that scare them and we all know what those feelings are. Yes. So they leave to go back to the kitchen and the living room for the food, and Joe and Jake are entering the apartment with a bowl of eggnog saying, ah, this delicious smell was driving us nuts, and Matt says the turkey might be a little dry. He had to nuke it to get it done on time. Billy says, I hate eggnog, and Jake laughs, saying you're gonna love this eggnog. And Joe wants to know how Alison's doing. She says much better, and she shows than the necklace that Billy just gave her. Joe here just rolls her eyes and walks out of the shot. But she goes up to Billy with a cup of eggnog. Yeah, And this is where he just quietly tells Joe, you know, the necklace was a token of friendship, and Joe says, of course, it's just a token of friendship, and that's exactly what you get in return. Ah, She sticks it to him there bills him, and then Michael and Kimberly come into the apartment. Michael introduces her as his colleague, saying, Kimberly and I made a baby together. And then off of everyone's stunned faces, he says, I mean we delivered a baby together. It was our first one.
It was amazing, And if Allison wasn't so high on painkillers, she would have said, we only have enough for the guests.
We invite it, and we only made a few.
I feel so protective of Jane. Don't you guys feel protective of Jane?
When he says I got I feel like she's kind of left out of this. This is such a lovely party, and.
She's really getting married, probably in real life, but still, I like, get Jane, get back here.
Something's happening. And Billy tells everyone, let everybody go outside. I've got a big surprise before dinner. So they go out into the courtyard. Everybody's got their cups of eggnog, and Billy tells everyone to look up, and he plugs in the Christmas lights and the whole courtyard lights up with beautiful colored lights everywhere, and it's lovely and there's a Christmas music underneath the scene, and Joe says, wait, wait, wait, I want to make a toast, and she raises her glass and she says, you know, I always thought that friends were people that you meet in high school or college. I never expected to meet them in an apartment building like this. She says she never thought she'd be the one to discover the meaning of Christmas, but now she realizes that she is living this Christmas spirit and it's all are you about to crack up? It's something funny to you about her saying this, No, I'm telling you.
You're like.
Then she's like, are you kidding me? I just think it's so sweet and likely, like he's tell her Charlie Brown waiting. Yeah, she's having the epiphany moment. You're like, I'm still here.
Daphne's body, Oh my god, you laughing at her.
It's just so sweet, Like no, because like Joe in this moment, I have to point out is smiling and she's like, I'm happy, Like, can I share with you what I've learned about Like she's smiling instead of the cynical, poopy, grinchy Joe. She's like, wait a minute, I'm here to say I'm so grateful and and this is all about rebirth, and here's to my new friends, my new life, and they all toast. It's like such this happy Yeah, it's great. I just thought you were laughing.
Well, no, I did that when I was texting someone last Night's so emotional anyway, and I was just watching this, you know, And I just love doing this thirty years later because you really did get You really do get swept up into.
All of their friendship and the Yeah, well, I think the episode like used all these wonderful the images and the lit up courtyard and everybody's smiling faces, and Joe having her like turning point moment where she goes from being ger and she to like, wait a minute, this is wonderful, and I want to tell you all how wonderful this is. And here's to my new friends and my new life. And once they toast, Matt says, all right, now, can we just go in and eat please? And they go inside and everyone goes in except for Billy. He sort of lingers back and he stays outside admiring the lights, and Allison stays back to and she goes to stand next to him, and Billy says, you know, Joe is right, this is beautiful. We should leave these lights up all year. And Alison wishes Billy a merry Christmas and again kisses him very sweetly on the cheek, and he puts his arm around her, and they go back into their apartment together, and the camera pulls back with a wide shot at this beautiful Mary courtyard.
I love the lights of all year. We did lights on the tree in front of our house A few years ago and just kept them up. Yeah, were they colored or were they white? Well, they started out white and now they're kind of white and gold. Because as lights go out and you have to replace them, you can never do an exact match. So I'm pretending they're supposed to be. I'm saying it was a conscious choice why there's different shades of white, But it actually is pretty and I don't want to throw away lights that are still good because of the waste, So I'm like, I'm just going to go with it.
Well, I like lights that are I think that's perfectly appropriate. If there're anytime anyone wants to leave any light up, that's fine. But the white ones I think are really great. I've seen inside too.
I know people that yes so on their railings.
I think it are great. Well, this was a very festive Christmas episode. It sort of felt like one of these things that you should watch if and people our audience are listeners to our podcast, If you didn't actually watched the Melrose Christmas episode, you should. And it's one of these things I think people can go to, you know how people have their go to Christmas movies, like oh yeah, it almost feels like This episode of Melrose is one of those where you get your ups and your downs and your bittersweets, you might have like you feel a little teary at some point, and then it ends on just such a like warm Christmas. That's how this episode feels to me.
They did a good job servicing all the characters right, like we all. Every single character had something interesting to do, which is not easy to do with so many cast members except Josie who maybe is doing something interesting somewhere else. But and then Ronda went skiing and she still.
Out fabulous moment and fabulous.
Yeah, great moment.
This was a fun episode is classic. It's really great, super fun and it's we just want to wish all of ours still the place listeners a very happy holidays.
And and don't forget this was the Christmas episode was eighteen and guess who comes.
To the part.
Incomings yay Christmas present is Laura coming on the next episode? Yayay?
Well, thank everybody for listening. We're so grateful for our our listeners, and happy holidays everybody.
I haven't a great time whatever we're doing.
Be safe and we'll see you so next time.
Bye.
