Good Witch - General Discussion

[Cowgirl]

On 7/20/2021 at 9:28 AM, iMonrey said:

I just wish they'd pay more attention to history. This episode suggested that Cassie grew up in Grey House before her parents died. But in the first movie, Grey House was long-abandoned and everyone thought it was haunted and it was all run down. Cassie said she inherited it from a distant ancestor. If it was her parents' house why didn't she just say that? The entire plot of the second movie was based around the ownership.

Here here! (Or, should that be, "Hear! Hear!?")

So, I seem to have lost the thread of the family tree this season.  I bought the season on Amazon and someday will do a re-watch and try to figure out which ancestor is who.  Here is the link to the family tree on the Hallmark site:  https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/good-witch/the-merriwick-family-tree-good-witch

It wasn't any help with the family ancestors involved in this season though. I've lost track of who was engaged and ran away with whom and who they are on the family tree.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Cowgirl

[iMonrey]

Quote

Abigail says she hasn't told Donovan she's a witch, but I thought it was obvious by now. She anticipates the phone ringing before it does, she knows about curses, her family is looking for an amulet, and now she reads minds.

She admitted she was able to feel what others are thinking and couldn't help say out loud what his mother was thinking about his father. So he obviously knows she's either psychic or at least very intuitive. And that's really as far as they've ever gone on this show.

[chediavolo]

On 7/19/2021 at 2:26 PM, SnarkShark said:

I normally wouldn't jump on that bandwagon, but I agree whatever she's had done has gone too far.  I don't know what age her character is supposed to be at this point, but she's 52.  Would it be so bad for her to accept it?  She's got good genes. It wouldn't be too bad. She HAD a steady job until now. 

She doesn’t look well. I mean besides the plastic surgery & injections.
The absence of chemistry between her and Denton is jarring.

I agree hallmark dropped the ball on this show. Now all they have is the same ol romance shit. Lather, rinse, repeat. I was never interested in that genre even when I was younger. It’s so vapid. 

[treeofdreams]

Tonight's finale episode:

"Cassie, Abigail, Joy and George come together to protect the Merriwick magic from the mysterious force over Middleton; Cassie and Sam make a momentous decision about their life together."

George??

Any speculation on what that "momentous decision" might be?

[sharifa70]

3 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

Any speculation on what that "momentous decision" might be?

One hopes that they recognize their utter lack of chemistry and break up. He’ll go back to being some superstar hospital bigwig, and she’ll track down her archaeologist ex-boyfriend and go traveling.

[treeofdreams]

11 minutes ago, sharifa70 said:

4 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

Any speculation on what that "momentous decision" might be?

One hopes that they recognize their utter lack of chemistry and break up. He’ll go back to being some superstar hospital bigwig, and she’ll track down her archaeologist ex-boyfriend and go traveling.

I like that.  But this being Hallmark, I suspect they will force a happy romantic ending for them.

Or maybe their "momentous decision" will be to say, hey, let's have Grey House go back to being a real bed and breakfast, with, you know, paying guests and everything.

Edited July 25, 2021 by treeofdreams

[treeofdreams]

So it just occurred to me how I would write it:

Together they join Doctors without Borders.  Sam, obviously, is a doctor, and Cassie has (or at least used to have) her witchy healing herbal potions and stuff.  Joining both their healing ways would be a great combination.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

What?! After all that effort?! That's crap!

[MerBearHou]

Extremely boring.  I threw up a little when Stephanie married Adam.  Cannot stand them together.  And Abigail and Donovan split? The only two with any chemistry and energy break up?  Joy and Zoey - bored.  Sam and Cassie - I don’t care any more.  I can say that I’m glad George was incorporated in this final season.  Zero sadness to say bye to this series which I once loved a lot.

Edited July 26, 2021 by MerBearHou

[treeofdreams]

Can anyone explain what that "blood moon" thing was all about?  I feel like I missed something major somewhere.  I have no idea what or why it was.

[NeenerNeener]

5 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

Can anyone explain what that "blood moon" thing was all about? 

I think they were going to completely lose whatever powers they had if they didn't recreate the amulet to protect themselves from the "blood moon". Why a blood moon? How were their powers going to go away? Insert shoulder shrug emoji here.

Breaking up Abigail and Donovan was an odd note to end a season on, much less a series, but the writing has been inconsistent all season. Last night was really a mess. Adam offers to drive Stephanie to the airport at 4 am. Cut to them getting married on a boat. The Merriwick ladies are trying and failing to recreate the amulet in the attic. Cut to Joy dancing with her girlfriend. 

Here's to hoping they can scrape up enough money a year or two from now to make a final Hallmark movie that ends this series on a better note.

Edited July 26, 2021 by NeenerNeener

[dubstepford wife]

Possibly unpopular opinion but, I like Abigail single.  She seems like she'd eventually get bored with her partners.  If ever there were a sassy, sexy heroine on Hallmark who didn't need to be in a relationship to be fulfilled, it would be her.  Though I'm sure the writers didn't anticipate being cancelled, this was just setting up drama for next season, which we now know isn't happening.  I'm fairly sure though that we'll see another movie at some point, probably next year.  There are too many loose threads.  Maybe Grace or Nick would come back as well.

Farewell, Good Witch.  I probably won't watch reruns of the show but the movies are classics.  And this way I can pretend Jake never died.

[ShelleySue]

3 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

Breaking up Abigail and Donovan was an odd note to end a season on, much less a series, but the writing has been inconsistent all season. Last night was really a mess. Adam offers to drive Stephanie to the airport at 4 am. Cut to them getting married on a boat. The Merriwick ladies are trying and failing to recreate the amulet in the attic. Cut to Joy dancing with her girlfriend. 

Speaking of inconsistencies . . .  Vincent came back because someone gave him Cubs playoff tickets (I'm a Cubs fan so I'll give that some latitude) which means it's the end of September beginning of October.  Joy and Zoe talk outside and they're in winter coats and there is snow on the ground.  When Cassie, Abigail and Joy are outside and the branch breaks there is no snow on the ground. When Stephanie and Adam get married it seems like spring or summer.  It was like the writers and/or editors just didn't care anymore.  They just wanted to throw this thing together and go home.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

10 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

Can anyone explain what that "blood moon" thing was all about?  I feel like I missed something major somewhere.  I have no idea what or why it was.

 

5 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

I think they were going to completely lose whatever powers they had if they didn't recreate the amulet to protect themselves from the "blood moon". Why a blood moon? How were their powers going to go away? Insert shoulder shrug emoji here.

The red-haloed moon. They said in the second-last episode that it was an eclipse, and that because the moon was separated from the sun it would instead draw away the strongest force available, which was their powers. Whatever sense that makes.

4 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

I probably won't watch reruns of the show but the movies are classics.  And this way I can pretend Jake never died.

Sure, why not? There was a big inconsistency with the kids' ages between the movies and the series anyway.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[treeofdreams]

1 hour ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

The red-haloed moon. They said in the second-last episode that it was an eclipse, and that because the moon was separated from the sun it would instead draw away the strongest force available, which was their powers. Whatever sense that makes.

Thank you.  I guess that was one of the times I dozed off (happened too often during this show lately).

Judging from everything else this season, I don't think the writers were too concerned about making sense, just throwing together some final episodes.  

Still wondering why Adam and Stephanie would choose to have their wedding on a boat if Adam gets seasick.

Edited July 26, 2021 by treeofdreams

[Linda956]

God, that ending was awful!  They really need to do a proper  movie to tie up the loose ends.  It just seems like everything was all over the map with the storylines. Clearly, this was written with the expectation of a follow-up for Season 8.  Who just drops their careers and decides to travel around the world for 6 months unless you're incredibly wealthy?  What about Cassie's store (Bell, Book and Candle)?  Was that even still in existence?  It was never mentioned at all this season.  And her teaching career?  All these characters are big on starting new projects and just as quickly moving on to something else (I'm looking at you Sam).   This whole season was a disaster!

[TVForever]

Well, that's that. I stopped watching the show earlier in the season because I'd just had enough, but I'll always show up for a series finale.

I needn't have bothered. Even with giving Show some leeway because it was likely just a season finale when written and filmed, it was just another awful, boring episode.

 

[ShelleySue]

 

1 hour ago, Linda956 said:

God, that ending was awful!  They really need to do a proper  movie to tie up the loose ends.  It just seems like everything was all over the map with the storylines. Clearly, this was written with the expectation of a follow-up for Season 8.  Who just drops their careers and decides to travel around the world for 6 months unless you're incredibly wealthy?  What about Cassie's store (Bell, Book and Candle)?  Was that even still in existence?  It was never mentioned at all this season.  And her teaching career?  All these characters are big on starting new projects and just as quickly moving on to something else (I'm looking at you Sam).   This whole season was a disaster!

Let's make a list of all of the dropped plot lines that were forgotten/never resolved/ Questions remaining.

1. (a) Flower Universe running Abigail out of town. (b) Abigail starting her own ad agency.  --> unless these were both resolved by Abigail just picking up and going to Tuscany???

2. Cassie's teaching job at the university (as Linda 956 mentioned).  Did she quit that a long time ago and just forget to tell us?

3.  Is George going to be running Stephanie's Bistro (now a full restaurant) AND Grey House B&B ? I guess that's possible since Cassie was able to run the B&B, Bell Book and Candle, and teach all at the same time.  AND she always had baked goods coming out of the oven.

4. Are the people who participated in the fundraisers to move the church upset that it's now sitting empty?  Maybe George is actually a minister and can conduct services.  After all none of us knew that he actually had a Merriwick secret until this season.  

5. Will George get engaged?  Will he get married?  Will he be arrested for bigamy?

[treeofdreams]

6.  Is Grey House still a B&B?  If so, will they ever have paying guests again?  Does Bell Book & Candle still exist?  Does Cassie have an income without those two things?  Does Sam have an income if they go off traveling for six months?

7.  Stephanie has three businesses: the bistro (recently expanded), the food truck, and a  catering business.  What happens to them if she goes off to Paris?  Will she have an income to pay for that study trip?  Will Adam have an income if he goes to Paris with her?

Edited July 26, 2021 by treeofdreams

[NeenerNeener]

I nominate the foster brother to run the B&B, and if Martha gets ordained she can be minister in the church they moved. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by NeenerNeener

[treeofdreams]

1 minute ago, NeenerNeener said:

if Martha gets ordained she can be minister in the church they moved. 

I would love to see that!!

[sharifa70]

6 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

Speaking of inconsistencies . . .  Vincent came back because someone gave him Cubs playoff tickets (I'm a Cubs fan so I'll give that some latitude) which means it's the end of September beginning of October.  Joy and Zoe talk outside and they're in winter coats and there is snow on the ground.  When Cassie, Abigail and Joy are outside and the branch breaks there is no snow on the ground. When Stephanie and Adam get married it seems like spring or summer.  It was like the writers and/or editors just didn't care anymore.  They just wanted to throw this thing together and go home.

Ha! The weather weirdness is something I’ve ranted about throughout the show’s run. It’s snowy! It’s sunny with leafy trees! It’s autumn! It’s snowy again! It’s leafy again! 

[NeenerNeener]

Philosophical question here:

If Abigail decides she's just not that into Donovan after all and dumps him...how do they know that's not still the Merriwick-Davenport curse?

[jada]

2 hours ago, Linda956 said:

Who just drops their careers and decides to travel around the world for 6 months unless you're incredibly wealthy?

Cassie gifted Sam hand written Paul McCartney lyrics, safe to say in good witch world they are incredibly wealthy - lol. 

[jada]

I loved Joy and Zoey - the actresses had good chemistry - I wish we saw more of them, but I'm happy for their happy ending. 

Not sure why they threw in the last minute surgery for Tom -  guess they wanted to give everyone something to do.

Could everyone see the red moon? They have had press in the town for everything from a random festivals to flower blooming, but nothing for this freak weather and red moon? 

I wonder if they dropped the French boyfriend storyline once they knew the show was going to end? 

Stephanie and Adam getting married on a random boat not using the moment to show off the church they saved? I thought Adam was going to stay behind to help look after Stephanie's business then he just left and joined her. 

Abigail and Donovan's ending made sense, those two were never on the same page. Oddly breaking the "curse" was what kept them together. The break up also begs the question, did they really break that curse?
 

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 7/26/2021 at 4:13 PM, jada said:

Abigail and Donovan's ending made sense, those two were never on the same page.

If you think so, then why did you like my comment about their breakup being crap?

On 7/26/2021 at 2:33 PM, NeenerNeener said:

I nominate the foster brother to run the B&B, and if Martha gets ordained she can be minister in the church they moved. 

A spinoff with Martha as a minister I could get behind! Like The Vicar of Middleton.

Edited July 28, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[jada]

20 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

If you think so, then why did you like my comment about their breakup being crap?

A spinoff with Martha as a minister I could get behind! Like The Vicar of Middleton.

Do you mean this comment? 

18 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

What?! After all that effort?! That's crap!

 

Seems I misunderstood what you were referring to, I thought you were referring to the red moon storyline being crap. I'll take back my like 🙂. 

[Cowgirl]

Love the questions posters posed above.  I will add 

8.  Who is taking care of Abigail's house? (I mean, it's probably George and Joy, since they are right next door, but, still!)

9.  How can a big deal head of surgery just leave with one day's notice?

10. Why weren't the chief hospital administrator and his wife at the wedding? Adam supposedly works back at the hospital now. (I suppose the wife had surgery.)

It seems like there was a deleted scene where Joy must've told her ex that getting back together was a no-go.  Hated the weird time jumps in this episode, along with the weather inconsistencies.  

Okay so, let's make an end-of-series list of folks who have disappeared:

1.  George's second wife (Gwen? Gail? I forget her name every time.) When they talked about George proposing I yelled at my t.v., "Nooooo! You'll disappear if you marry him!"

2. Derek

3. Martha's assistant

4.  Sam's clinic and its gossipy receptionist

5.  Sam's best friend who bought the brewery

6.  French teacher guy who just seemed to bow out after the wedding expo

Am I missing any unexplained disappearance?  I think there's a pit somewhere in Middleton where Martha's progeny will find all these people's bones several decades later.  Maybe they're at the bottom of the wishing well?

[sharifa70]

31 minutes ago, Cowgirl said:

Am I missing any unexplained disappearance? 

7. Ben the Handyman-slash-cinema owner-slash Stephanie’s ex. I’m including him because suddenly Middleton seems to have forgotten there’s a local cinema.

35 minutes ago, Cowgirl said:

Why weren't the chief hospital administrator and his wife at the wedding? Adam supposedly works back at the hospital now.

I’m gonna say he’s still not speaking to Adam due to the lost revenue when Sam was injured (especially because Sam had to send the scheduled Big Time Athlete for surgery at some other hospital). 

[iMonrey]

Well that served as an OK series finale, regardless of whether it was planned that way or not. It felt like they knew maybe it was but left the door open just in case. Way too much Stephanie though. I feel like the show overestimated our interest in that character. I never warmed up to Joy either or her girlfriend, but I can at least understand the amount of screen time given to her, since she is one of the three Good Witches. Stephanie, not so much.

And I had to laugh when Stephanie said she wanted three children. How old is she? They already established she was a fully grown woman when Cassie was pregnant with Grace and that was 20 years ago, show-time. So she's at least 40. Better get on the stick.

Abigail and Donovan's breakup seemed to come out of nowhere so that felt like something they left open to resolve in a potential 8th season if they got one. Still lots of plot holes left wide open. 

Quote

What about Cassie's store (Bell, Book and Candle)?  Was that even still in existence?  It was never mentioned at all this season.  

She was there once this season, and she mentioned it again in this episode. It's where she went to find the Kingswood.

Quote

.  George's second wife (Gwen? Gail? I forget her name every time.) When they talked about George proposing I yelled at my t.v., "Nooooo! You'll disappear if you marry him!"

It was Gwen, and she has never been mentioned once in the TV series. It feels like she was retconned out of existence. 

Quote

 I'm fairly sure though that we'll see another movie at some point, probably next year.

I doubt it. There doesn't seem to be any point, aside from story closure. Once the actors are all released from their contracts it's going to be hard to get them all signed on again for a TV movie.

The series has never really lived up to the movies. I wish they had just continued doing an annual TV movie but I'm sure Hallmark felt like they could make more money off the franchise this way.

It's too bad, and it's weird that after seven TV movies and seven seasons of the show they waited until the last 2 episodes to finally admit, once and for all, that they really were witches, and could even do things like light fires which we'd never seen then do before, ever. 

[Cowgirl]

I saw in my Google news on my tablet (I'm sorry not to have a site citation! I'm at work on a different computer now.) that they filmed two endings to this episode.  One was if it was to be a season finale, and one to be if it was the series finale.  Wish she could see the one filmed as a season ender!

ETA:  Here it is! https://heavy.com/entertainment/hallmark/good-witch-was-finale-planned/

Edited July 26, 2021 by Cowgirl

[SnarkShark]

I'm glad they spent $5 on those special effects with the amulet.  I was afraid they'd only spend $4.

[SnarkShark]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And I had to laugh when Stephanie said she wanted three children. How old is she? They already established she was a fully grown woman when Cassie was pregnant with Grace and that was 20 years ago, show-time. So she's at least 40. Better get on the stick

Hilariously, just as a challenge I tried to find out how old the actress is.  Turns out her age never was, or got throughly scrubbed from all online sources.  It's nowhere. 

The biggest clue for an approximation is that the actress herself posted on Instagram a photo of her standing next to David Hasselhoff in his Baywatch role.  She's clearly AT LEAST mid 20s.  The show ran from 1989 to 2001, giving quite an extreme range to peg her age around. But Kelly Packard is in the photo too, and she was on Baywatch 1991-1999.   So let's be generous.  She's got to be mid 40s, minimum. 

 

Edit - Okay, I take some of that back.  Besides Hasselhoff, Packard and Kylee Evans (Stephanie), the fourth person in the photo is actually labeled as her Mom.  It seems odd that any 20-something would be on, or even visiting, a show with her mom.  She could be a teenager and just be wearing makeup that made her look older.  

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by SnarkShark

[jada]

What happened with the chain flower shop that was trying to buy Abigail's flower shop? Was that "resolved" with the Mayor splitting her flower order between Abigail's shop and the new flower shop? 

Edited July 27, 2021 by jada

[Beden]

Quote

Cassie gifted Sam hand written Paul McCartney lyrics, safe to say in good witch world they are incredibly wealthy - lol. 

Sir Paul had stayed at Grey House B&B. When he checked out Cassie discovered that he'd forgotten that old notebook of original, hand written lyrics. Calling to let him know he proved, yet again, what a nice guy he is by telling her that...no problem...he has plenty, just keep them and could she possibly send him some more of her blueberry muffins?

Sadly, that scene was cut so they'd have time to show Stephanie's restaurant scene.

[ShelleySue]

16 hours ago, jada said:

Stephanie and Adam getting married on a random boat not using the moment to show off the church they saved? 

Also, (this is a question for religious people) wouldn't a minister want to be married by a real minister, not an internet one? Wouldn't it be important for Adam to be married by someone who said a few prayers and married them in the eyes of G-d? I'm not even going to ask about how they got a marriage license at the last minute because I'm sure that Martha made a few phone calls and got it done.  Or maybe Donovan had one and they just whited-out the names and handwrote "Adam and Stephanie" over "Donovan and Abigail."

Edited July 27, 2021 by ShelleySue
Punctuation is important.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I saw in my Google news on my tablet (I'm sorry not to have a site citation! I'm at work on a different computer now.) that they filmed two endings to this episode.  One was if it was to be a season finale, and one to be if it was the series finale.  Wish she could see the one filmed as a season ender!

They had to have known there was at least a chance the show was ending. It's a good bet Bell and Denton's contracts were up for renewal, and with diminished returns for their investment it just didn't make sense for Hallmark to renegotiate contracts and pay higher salaries for a show losing viewers. I'd have been interested to see what the alternate ending was, it was probably just something different than Cassie and Sam driving off into the sunset for a world tour.

[Daff]

On 7/26/2021 at 9:12 AM, ShelleySue said:

Joy and Zoe talk outside and they're in winter coats and there is snow on the ground. 

I get what you’re saying-ridiculous, as if they dredged up film in the can whether it fit or not. However, the September-October snow? Not as rare as you think. Very sad to see snow on the last of your tomatoes when you live in Northern climes. (And the temps might have been in the 80s a day or two before). 

[sharifa70]

1 hour ago, Daff said:

However, the September-October snow? Not as rare as you think. Very sad to see snow on the last of your tomatoes when you live in Northern climes. (And the temps might have been in the 80s a day or two before). 

For me the issue isn’t so much early snow, but in the same episode we can go from snow to no snow to leafy green trees to fall colors. It was worse in the early seasons.

[Daff]

22 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

For me the issue isn’t so much early snow, but in the same episode we can go from snow to no snow to leafy green trees to fall colors. It was worse in the early seasons.

Yes, I agreed, that’s why I said I get it. But the scene with snow did stand out. All the Hallmark stuff is like that. Also, if they try to take care, it’s very apparent what they’ve done because they’re not very good at it. For example, fall scenes can have obvious CGI color, but mid ground and distance deciduous trees are still green (or worse, in flower). And the constantly shown winter scenes with piles of snow in the fore, green, leafy trees just down the street!

[Beden]

And the obviously CGI created gentle snow wafting down to up the romance level. Just about every show and film.

It was always just a guessing game as to when that would be cued in.

[Daff]

On 7/28/2021 at 1:09 PM, Beden said:

And the obviously CGI created gentle snow wafting down to up the romance level. Just about every show and film.

It was always just a guessing game as to when that would be cued in.

It was a bit OTT for Downton Abbey as well (especially given the abrupt ending for that romance). 

[greekmom]

What a bummer.  They spent a whole season on the whole curse that Donovan and Abigail had to break to have them break up in the end!?!?

Sam has forgotten his kid. Cassie has forgotten her step-kids. George forgot his wife.

I'm telling you, these guys live in a Wandavision like bubble.

[sharifa70]

31 minutes ago, greekmom said:

I'm telling you, these guys live in a Wandavision like bubble.

I would watch the hell out of a show where Martha turned out to be Agatha Harkness!

[treeofdreams]

Heh heh.

Middleton has a black hole where characters disappear.  Some have been fairly major characters, many more have appeared briefly - and pointlessly.

Perhaps all these characters have been shunted off to an alternate reality where they are playing out their own storylines.  Hopefully they have better writers there.

[my tiffany]

If they didn't know this was going to be the series finale I wonder if it was setup for Abigail to become the 'Good Witch' with the break up with Donovan and taking on the responsibility of Grey House.   Cassie, Sam and BB&C were just going to disappear like others the writers found inconvenient to their new story lines.

[jada]

On 8/2/2021 at 11:32 PM, my tiffany said:

I wonder if it was setup for Abigail to become the 'Good Witch' with the break up with Donovan and taking on the responsibility of Grey House.  

 

Abigail becoming the 'good witch' would have been interesting especially since she is such a chaotic character and some of her magic used to go awry in the early days and she would misread situations. 

[greekmom]

One of the movies were on the other day and I really miss Cassie's 'thinking room'.  It was cool with the purple drapes, the candles, crystals, etc.

 

[treeofdreams]

6 hours ago, greekmom said:

One of the movies were on the other day and I really miss Cassie's 'thinking room'.  It was cool with the purple drapes, the candles, crystals, etc.

 

I miss so many things about the movies...seems like everything that viewers loved about the movies got watered down for the series.

Why??  Strange decision on Hallmark's part.  

[sharifa70]

I have the last two episodes sitting unwatched on my dvr and I just haven’t been able to muster the interest to watch them. On the one hand: I got this far, why stop now, but on the other hand: it sounds like absolutely nothing of interest happened. I have books that need reading!