Let’s talk Hallmark: From Paris with Love, Signed Sealed Delivered

September 2020 – I’m back to tell you more about this amazing series Signed, Sealed, Delivered, brought to us by the Hallmark Network. No matter how many years go by, this series keep gaining fans as they discover the magic and greatness it entails, and its profound messages of faith and hope.

As always, I like to remind all readers that, even though I love the movies, I’m only a fan of the Hallmark network. I have no rights or access to any production or merchandise. None. But if you’re interested, you may visit their website https://www.hallmarkchannel.com. I check the Hallmark Channel page every day. I do. I like to check the schedule and what new movies are coming soon. All images/posters used for this post are from Hallmark Channel/Crown Media Holdings.

The format of the series changed to two-hour movies. As of 2018, there are 11 additional movies, after the pilot and the series. Recently, in 2019, there was an announcement that a new movie was going to start production and filming, but the pandemic caused by COVID-19 put a halt to it. Hopefully, we’ll get news of the movie filming soon. Since I wrote this in September, movie might be delayed until 2021. We keep hoping.

While I’m writing about these stories, I’ve been trying not to give out spoilers. I’m trying not to reveal too much of what happens, leave some things for you to discover. Well, I can’t keep this up when writing about From Paris with Love. So many things happened to our POstables and to their relationships that it’s almost impossible not to tell you about it.

From Paris With Love is the second 2-hour movie after the series. It premiered on June 6, 2015. We have another great performance by our already favorite cast Eric Mabius, Kristin Booth, Crystal Lowe, and Geoff Gustafson, guided of course by the script of the wonderful creator Martha Williamson. Here’s the information from Hallmark website https://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysteries.com/signed-sealed-delivered-from-paris-with-love.

The movie starts with a couple meeting at an Italian restaurant. She is Caitlyn (Brooke Nevin), a blogger, and he is Joey (Kevin McGarry), the restaurant owner. Time speeds forward and we get to see them on their wedding day.

Back to the Dead Letter Office, we find Rita practicing a speech for an inauguration she gets invited to as Miss Colorado Special Delivery. Shane comes in complaining of how cold is the winter in Colorado, to which Oliver replies that she still has to wait to see a Colorado spring.

The package to investigate this time was postdated from two years ago. The address is completely unreadable. They only got the recipient name as Caitlyn. Shane goes on and opens the letter. This makes Oliver uncomfortable, and he reprimands her saying that she “has a distressing habit of opening packages” without his express permission. He makes Shane promise that she’d stop doing so.

Inside the envelope they found divorce papers and a wedding ring. Rita remembers seeing a few custom jewelry stores that craft custom rings like the one they found. Shane then accidentally tosses the ring, and it goes to a full bin of returned mail. While looking for the ring, she found Oliver’s letter to Holly, which had come back undelivered. She struggles with what to do. Then she took the letter and left the office. She thought of all those moments shared with Oliver, and the day he wrote that letter when they were trapped inside the bank vault.

Well, Shane goes back into the office, without being seen by the guys, and calls on Rita to come with her. Rita suggests then that Oliver and Norman should go visit the jewelry stores, to see which one might have made the ring they found.

Shane reveals to Rita that she has Oliver’s letter to Holly. Rita realizes that it’s up to her to open the letter, and she does. Shane reads the letter and gets curious about how Oliver and Holly met, as it’s mentioned in the letter. Rita goes to tell her that they met in a snowstorm on a mountain pass. Her car went off the road and Oliver dug her out before the car rolled out the side of the cliff. They spent the night in his car until the snow plows came by to open the roads.

Shane then decides to bring the letter back into the office and let Oliver decide what to do with it. When they go back, they prep the letter with Holly’s address, ready to be mailed if Oliver wants to. They get distracted by Oliver and Norman coming into the office. Norman then inadvertently puts the letter through the overnight/next day sorter.

Rita, acting as Miss Colorado Special Delivery, goes to the inauguration where Ramón is master of ceremony. He, of course, is very gallant and attentive with sweet Rita. This makes Norman uncomfortable seeing how Rita is reacting to Ramón’s attentions.

Meanwhile, Shane and Oliver are standing in the audience. She complains once again about how cold the winter is in Colorado, to what Oliver responds saying that this actually makes people appreciate spring when it comes. Shane then tells him that when she was young, they had a porch swing and she’d spend hours on it. It was put away around November, before winter and snow came. She knew when spring was coming when the swing was back on the porch.

Shane decides to confess to Oliver what happened to the letter, that it had come back undelivered to the office, and that it was accidentally mailed to Holly before they had the chance to tell him about it. Of course, she had to confess that she did read the letter. He is upset again at her for opening that letter. They go back to the office, but Oliver is so upset, that he walks out of the office. He goes into his car and reminisces about the time when and how he met Holly, and the time when he wrote the letter.

Shane gets Oliver to go with her to deliver the letter from the lost package. When they go into the restaurant, they are met by Joey, the owner, who recognized the letter. He begs them not to deliver it to Caitlyn, his wife.

Oliver says they’ll come back later to talk to Caitlyn. When they leave, Shane confronts Oliver because he wouldn’t give the letter back to Joey, but he wanted to have the chance to decide what to do with his letter to his wife Holly. Oliver’s reply to her was to say that he’s mad at her for opening the letter.

Shane decides to show Oliver a video she found of Holly reading a poem to a group, but it’s in french. They all go to see Ramón, who is now the weatherman at the news station, to see if he can translate the poem for them. He listens to the video very intently, then he tells them that the poem is titled A Night of Snow. Oliver is surprised to learn the poem is about the night they met.

Meanwhile, Oliver’s estranged wife, Holly (Poppy Montgomery), received his letter. Then she surprised the team by showing up unannounced at the office. Shane found her sitting on Oliver’s desk. They were having quite the chat about Oliver, when he arrived at the office and saw Holly. Shane, of course, walked out of the office and left them alone.

Oliver tells Holly he heard her poem, to what she responded she has a book full of poems coming out soon. Then, he tells her that she must have read what he wrote in his letter about willing to change, to which she responds that they must talk, but she needs to rest first.

Well, Oliver asks Shane to go back to the restaurant to have an early dinner and to deliver the letter to Caitlyn. Joey comes around and sits with them, and he goes on telling them how he met Caitlyn. He tells them how the circumstances led him to want to divorce her. The night he mailed that envelope, he tried helping someone who was being carjacked, and ended up hurt in the hospital and Caitlyn never left his side. She never knew he wanted to divorce her.

Oliver decides to give the letter to Joey, but he realizes he left it at the office. At that moment, Caitlyn arrives, and right behind her Norman and Rita come in announcing they have the letter for Caitlyn. They argue and she realizes what had happened, and why Joey had thought she was cheating on him.They cleared all the confusion, and Joey asks her for forgiveness.

After this, Oliver goes to meet Holly. He asks her for an explanation of why she left him and never called or wrote back. She responds asking him why did he married her. Oliver goes and asks why did she come back. She responds that she wants to find out what she wants. Oliver interrupts and asks what about what he wants. She does ask him what does he want. He says he wants peace. He says that marriage is so sacred, so precious, that ending it shouldn’t be an easy thing to do. So they decide to part, and to continue their talk the next day. I think I’m doing good trying not to spoil the story, right?

Next day, when Oliver goes into the office, he’s greeted by Shane. They sit to talk and he does say to her that he wonders why he waited more than a year since Holly left to write that letter. She responds, and I have to cite her “because it hurts, it froze you up. You are like the snowman I saw at the park… He’s just stuck there, left behind by someone who made him that way, waiting for the thaw before he can change.”

The team gets invited by Caitlyn and Joey to the night club where she is to perform as a stand-up comedian. They find out that the owner is stuck in traffic, and Norman dares to stand up in front of the crowd to do warm up, after hearing Rita say that they could call Ramón to come in and do it. Everyone is surprised by this, as the public responded very well to Norman.

Oliver doesn’t go to the nightclub. He stays behind, as he goes to have a private dinner with Holly. He asks her to dance, letting her know he had finally taken lessons. I have to spoil it here, I have to tell you… they kissed. Oliver and Holly kissed. That’s not all: Shane saw them kiss through the window. At this moment, my heart cried.

Shane goes to the office to pack up her things. She is leaving a note, when Norma and Rita get in and find her. She tells them she’s leaving because she she already feels that she does not belong there anymore.

When she leaves, Rita reads the note to Norman, and he says he can’t understand what happened. Rita says she knows it’s about Holly. Rita goes on to explain to him how when two people who really care about each other, should tell each other they care, so the other one knows. Well, I have to spoil the story once again… because Norman asks Rita if she’s in love with Ramón. You think why is he asking now, of all times to ask. She is surprised by this question (as I was) and responds no, that she is in love with him, Norman. Well, Norman KISSED Rita! They kissed! And my heart is happy again, as they finally are expressing their love for each other.

Shane walks home and finds someone on her porch. Being late at night, she is scared and approaches slowly. Turns out it’s Oliver! He has brought her a porch swing as an early birthday gift, and came to install it. She tells him she is quitting, and he confronts her. She says there’s no future for her with the job, to what he responds the position didn’t even exist until she came along.

He revealed to her (another spoiler!) that his wife Holly had returned to Paris, so he is no longer Holly’s husband. Shane grabs Oliver’s hand and sees that he’s not wearing his wedding ring. In an effort to get to closer to Shane, he went out and bought her a porch swing. This is a new beginning for these two. It’s been a long winter, and spring is almost here.

Yes, this team is ready for new adventures at work, but giving love a try. This is why we all keep looking for what happens next. Next movie is Truth Be Told. I’m working on that review.

Meanwhile, go read more about this movie, check the insights from Alameda and Downing Blog here Review From Paris With Love.

Also, check the YouTube reviews from my good friends at Deliver Me A Podcast:

There is still so much more to tell you about this amazing series. As we wait for the next premiere, I’ll be writing some more. I will tell you more about the movies that followed this one. I love writing, and I love Hallmark movies. It’s time for my tacita de café. Salud!

Para versión en español, vea Hablemos Hallmark: Desde Paris con amor, El misterio de las cartas perdidas/.