“Flip That Romance” Recap & Review

Meet Jules Briggs (Julie Gonzalo). She is a flippin’ florist. A florist flipper? A florist who also flips houses, who may or may not also flip the bird?

Hmm. Okay, let me try again.

Jules Briggs is

• a florist
• a part-time house flipper
• totally over her ex.

She soon hopes to become a full-time house flipper with her company Jules Briggs Designs. She just needs to get her name out there.

It is important to note that her first experience flipping a house was pure evil. She won’t even let others bring it up. It must not be named. I, however, will name it The Voldemort House, because memories of it are handled with hushed voices and soap opera glares. Why was this experience so horrible? Why does it warrant the name of a noseless snake whisperer? Oh, I’m sure we’ll find out.

🎶 Guess who’s back.

Back again.

Lance Waddell (Tyler Hynes) is back. Tell Jules Briggs. 🎶

Not only is Lance back, Lance is

• a construction worker
• a construction *artist*
• the ex Jules is totally over.

Lance had left Bedford, Oregon (I think?) to pursue his career in Portland. Turns out Portland was a crowded market, and quite frankly not as interesting since Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein left town. He’s back to work at his dad’s business, Waddell Contracting and Renovations. Soon he will inherit the company and is worried people won’t think he has what it takes to run it.

Another important note: Lance had a hand in The Voldemort House.

While at an auction for the left side of the Holland Ave Duplex with her construction bestie, Kenny (Cardi Make Him A Lead Already Wong), Jules learns the news like she has been smacked in the face with Eminem lyrics.

Lance is back. And bidding on the same dilapidated duplex.

Levelheaded and responsible Kenny reminds Jules that the tip top of her bidding budget is 127k. Jules assures him that yeah yeah i won’t get distracted and have an intense argument with lance during this very slow moving auction and accidentally bid 143k in a competitive rage. Kenny is like wow that’s very specific and almost prophetic exceptttttttttt you forgot to not drop 143k.

I honestly thought every auction had a Western auctioneer who rap-yodeled the prices. You learn something new everyday.

But, yeah. Jules went 16k over budget just to beat Lance in the purchase of ONE SIDE OF A DUPLEX. To be fair, that is totally something I would’ve done to best an ex. I am very competitive and grudges only intensify that.

Did I mention that neither Jules nor Kenny had set foot inside of The Holland Ave Duplex? I don’t think they had even creepily peeked through the windows of it. Before stepping inside Kenny whispers please let the truth be kind and I will now say that for the rest of my life. Not just because it is adorable, but because it kind of worked?

The duplex ain’t too shabby! Jules is a bit overwhelmed, but if we’re being honest it’s just bad curtains and old furniture. No dust. No snakes. No rotting possum corpses. No twin ghost demons. No blood river hallway. No man typing the same sentence over and over again on an old typewriter. No other references to The Shining. Well, except for…this…

Suuuuuurprise! Guess who the owner of the right side of the Holland Ave Duplex is! You’re right! It is the guy whose head crashed through the drywall! Turns out that he was trying to purchase the left side of the duplex so he could own the whole dang thing.

Around this point in the movie is when I wrote in my notes: “What did we do to deserve Tyler Hynes?” I’m so happy Hallmark has made him a regular. Anywhooooo

This whole duplex debacle? Oh, it just now became a competition. An 8 week bloodbath of backsplash, shiplap, laminate wood flooring, cabinets, and floraly florals. They will put their sides on the market at the same time and whoever makes the most money WINS. Bragging rights, I think?

Time for some bullet points!!!!

• There is a conversation about frozen lasagna.
• Lance makes cool furniture, and doesn’t want to let go of the pieces he made for his late mother.
• There is some mess with one of Jules’ permits. It is lost in a drawer.
• Jules and Lance have booths next to each other at a Home & Garden Fair.

Oh, and these kids have some serious Property Brothers style. Their clothes are too nice and beautiful and expensive to be doing real manual labor in. I only noticed this because anytime I watch Property Brothers and Jonathan comes on screen, my husband says “there is no way he’s doing any work in those jeans.” And my husband would know. He has great taste in jeans, but will wear 15 year old light wash, ripped, oil stained, very bootlegged jeans to do any type of work.

While Jules and Lance are argue-flirting at the Home & Garden Fair (but don’t tell them they are flirting), they are approached by a very sassy representative for Innovative Designs magazine. She heard about the 🤺 DUPLEX DUEL 🤺 through the grapevine and would like to up the ante. Whoever wins will get a spread in the magazine. They are also going to shoot HGTV-type web videos for Innovative Designs’ site. This is perfect because both Jules and Lance need the exposure for their businesses! And guess what! Now they have just 8 days to finish. Instead of the 16 they had planned on. So, they are obviously going to agree to it without consulting their people first.

Kenny is gonna be tiiiiiiiiicked. He might even flip Jules the bird.

But, who am I kidding? He gives her a Hallmark scolding which is basically a Danny Tanner scolding without a hug and a live studio audience awwwwwww. So, he’s fine in 3 seconds.

Although their competition now has waaaaay more at stake than pride, Jules and Lance are starting to get along. Because they can’t agree on an exterior paint color (gray or a blue so bright it needs a dozen exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!), Lance, in his very plain and very Luke Danes non logoed navy baseball cap, suggests they go eat lunch because it’s unwise to make a decision on an empty stomach. I see what you’re doing, buddy 😉

And this ain’t any ole’ lunch! It’s lunch on an inside porch swing! That Lance made out of his crib! It’s basically a picnic. Heck, it’s basically a date.

Lance tells Jules that she’s good at flipping houses, which is all she ever wanted to hear from him when they were a team. He thought he had told her that, but he never communicated with her about the job, so it’s not too hard to believe that he also forgot to say nice things to her.

Jules thinks that Lance is a talented artist and should sell his furniture designs and incorporate them into his flips. He argues that he’s a contractor. Jules thinks he’s an artractor. A contist. She also thinks that those words combined do not work as a word, so she’ll just call that artist/contractor combination Lance.

Wow, that was awful too.

And now it’s time for the wow i wish we would’ve discussed this years ago conversation!

Jules always thought Lance blamed her for their failure with Flip Voldemort, and that’s partly why he left for Portland. But no, it was quite the combination of things: his mom had passed away, his dad was selling his house, and he felt like he let Jules down. So he ran to the land of bicycles, free range chickens, and feminist bookstores.

Also about Flip Voldemort: they broke even. That is evil. Pure, pure evil. Breaking even, I don’t know how they survived. The way they talked about it (or didn’t talk about it), I had imagined they lost at least 180k and were in debt past their eyeballs.

In all seriousness, I’m sure it was about more than just the wasted time. Their relationship imploded, and for what? Being right back where they started, but now they were without each other. In all reality, it was a loss 😢

This is where stuff gets kah-razy!

• There are only a few days left before the judging!
• Their wood floors get mixed up!
• Remember the lost permits? Turns out they were kind of important because some stuffy guy with a clipboard and a hard hat SHUTS DOWN Jules’ construction for 48 hours!
• Just as they start to paint the exterior of the duplex, it starts raining cats and dogs (no, not the ones from the Kitten Bowl)!

The pair take the work inside, and work together! But, those cats and dogs? They cause the power to go out. I bet you know what’s about to happen! And if you don’t, then you are very new to Hallmark Channel, my friend.

CANDLES. A LOT OF CANDLES. I sure hope they haven’t stained anything recently.

Here is a rare look into the notes I took while watching this movie:

UH OH HERE COME THE CANDLES

But, what really matters is that the two get ❤️ cozy wozy ❤️

Let me break this scene down.

1. Lance says “I think you’re exceptional.”
2. Jules’ heart bursts.
3. Lance leans in.
4. Jules leans in.
5. Jules’ phone rings.
6. They throw the phone out the window and kiss anyway!!!!

Here is another rare look into my notes (which is getting less rare by the second):

That’s right, let that phone ring!

Oh, these two!

Remember how they kissed last night and everything was great? Well, you’re about to get whiplash because we’ve got 15 minutes left in this movie!

The rain has ended, and they don’t have a lot of time to paint the exterior of the duplex. Jules enlists her friends–yes, she has two friends that I haven’t mentioned yet, I apologize–and the town to help them paint it. When Jules gets to the duplex to tell Lance the good news, she sees the worst thing imaginable.

Lance hired painters. Without consulting her. It’s just like the old days of Flip Voldemort! Zero communication! He assures Jules that she doesn’t have to fork over a dime for it, but she yells at him and grumps away like he stabbed her and she has to stitch herself up with shredded $100 bills.

Soooooooo things are bad now.

It is the day of judging, and it’s time for some last minute decorating! So it’s basically the part of every Fixer Upper episode when Joanna Gaines does the same voiceover she does about making finishing touches and then Chip and her kids swoop in with pizza and Magnolia cupcakes. But, in non-HGTV fashion, when it’s time to film, Lance asks for a couple hour extension cuz he ain’t done yet. They surprisingly give it to him!

Because Jules has already finished her interesting choice of a feature wall with a giant floral Fathead on it, she leaves Lance to finish his side of the duplex in a hectic rush. She heads over to the Home & Garden show still sulking about Lance’s lack of communication.

Jules

• has a heart2heart with Lance’s dad
• finds out that Lance paid for the painters by selling the furniture he made for his mom
• feels like a REAL doofus.

Lance’s dad says that teammates come through for each other in a pinch, and that was Lance’s way of being a good partner. Jules is like gooootttaaaa goooooo and rushes to help him finish on time.

⭐️FUN FACT TIME⭐️ About a month ago, I randomly found myself in the background of a Fathead in my nephews’ bedroom wall. Soooo yeah, I’m pretty popular.

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!

It’s Jules (Jules Jules Jules Jules)

vs. (versus versus versus versus)

Lance! (Lance Lance Lance Lance)

…those were supposed to be echoes, btw…

I’ve already typed a bunch of words so here are some pictures of the renovations:

Jules wins! By 9 points! Lance isn’t mad! They love each other! They go into business together! What about Kenny! Who cares, I guess! Jules and Lance are back together! They kiss! The end!

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I rate Flip That Romance a A Rain Poncho which is a 4.5/5 on my scale of Appropriate Painting Attire!!!! Whoop, whoop! I think I’m going to start wearing a rain poncho while painting because that’s a darn good idea.

The Scale

1. The amazing vintage Dior gown Reese Witherspoon wore to the 2006 Oscars
2. Whatever the Property Brothers wear
3. Dirty clothes
4. A smock you’ve had for 10 years
5. An oversized and ripped basketball camp t-shirt from 1997 and Vegas gold mesh shorts that should never be worn outside of the house

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This was a fun one! A good ole’ relaxing, fun one! And let me tell you–it’s just what I needed in a Hallmark movie. I loved it.

As I’ve already said, Tyler Hynes is a gift to Hallmark. Tyler, never leave us for Portland. I don’t know if they shoot Hallmark movies in Portland, and they probably don’t because the last time I checked Portland wasn’t in Canada.

I really enjoyed Tyler and Julie Gonzalo’s chemistry, and appreciated that their feud died down early in the movie. This allowed time for them to sort out their differences and for a new and more mature relationship between them to grow. Sometimes Hallmark doesn’t give their lead couples that kinda time, and it’s hard to believe that they’d actually be happy together in the end.

Also, I love HGTV shows, so this was like watching a HGTV show and Hallmark at the same time. Man, does Hallmark know their brand!

Also-also: Just. Make. Cardi. Wong. A. Lead. Already.

Also-also-also: sorry that I didn’t mention Crystal Lowe, Fiona Vroom, and almost every other person. They were all delightful. This recap was just way toooooo long.

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Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought about Flip that Romance! You also can find me on Twitter and Instagram @thehallremark.