Mystic Christmas
A love letter to Mystic… Mystic, Connecticut that is.
Damn, Hallmark… coming in with this sleeper hit early in the season! Don’t let weird AF cover photo fool you. This is a good one.
Juniper is a marine biologist (dream vocation of all 80’s babies - I blame Lisa Frank) who comes back to Mystic, CT to help her bestie and fellow marine biologist, Candice, deal with a sick seal (not a euphemism). The complication? Juniper has a romantic history with Candice’s brother, Sawyer.
This is the first time - ever, or at least in a long time - when I have actually gone to look up the production team and writers, because Mystic Christmas is a big step above the average Hallmark Christmas movie.
Sure, Hallmark has never met a small town boat parade it didn’t love. But something about filming in the town in which it was based, a mix of Christmas and non-holiday activities, and actual witty writing! Seriously. The producing and writing team have some great records and breadth of genres and that totally comes through in this movie.
I also need to mention for the second time this season that there are strong links to the team behind Next Stop, Christmas!
And they’re in a bar! Drinking alcohol! So not the norm for this network, but I’ve clocked it a few times already this season… Is this how Hallmark intends to set itself apart from that… other network?
Great acting and dialogue that actually sounds like how real people talk and act around each other, and a believable romantic plot. Kudos to Jessy Schram and Chandler Massey! And you can tell that they filmed all over that town - great mix of locations that seem to be in much greater numbers than the norm.
Damn, Hallmark. You got me with this one. Hook, line, and sinker.
You know what - take it from a local:
Hallmark's 'Mystic Christmas' filmed and set at real Mystic Aquarium (providencejournal.com)
You’ll like this if…
You liked Jessy Schram in A Nashville Christmas Carol (rated 7/10 in 2021); re-airing Nov 8 on Hallmark in the U.S., and…
Chandler Massey in Next Stop, Christmas (rated 7/10 in 2021) ; re-airing Nov 5 on Hallmark in the U.S. Not on the Canadian schedule yet. Damn.
SCORE: 8/10
Tell me more!
Juniper travels to Mystic, Connecticut during the holidays to work at the rehabilitation center and aquarium. She reconnects with Sawyer, the owner of the pizza shop. Starring Jessy Schram and Chandler Massey.
