Words and What they Mean

Mystery 101: Deadly History: Is it Just a Dream? Part 3

There are two things I'd like to chat with you all about this week when it comes to our favorite mystery series...but first...we have to all wish Jill Wagner and her family a HUGE congratulations on the birth of her daughter, Daisy!

First topic - yes, Travis and Amy apparently break up in the next movie - but they WILL get back together again! I have read many, many comments in the fan groups of disgruntled fans saying the break up should never happen. Unfortunately - most stories, whether written or on screen, have an "all-is-lost" moment. Pick any movie on the Hallmark Channel - they all follow a nine act structure. Act 8 is the all-is-lost act where the couple has what seems to be an insurmountable obstacle in front of them. Will they or won't they make it? This next movie just happens to be movie #8 in the series - so it's the perfect time to have something come between our detective and the professor. I'm a romantic like the rest of you, but in a way this is a good thing. We will get to see just how deep Amy and Travis's feelings are - if they will fight for their relationship in the end. I believe they will.

Second topic - words and what they mean. Because Amy is a professor of literature and the head of the English department , she loves words. She also loves for words to be used properly and to look at how they connect and share the same roots. I touched on this a little in my first blog about this movie, but I'd like to look at the words we are given a little more closely. In every movie of the series so far, Amy writes a word on the blackboard to start the movie or there is a word that has special meaning.

Movie 1: Who Dun It?

Movie 2: Revenge & Reward

Movie 3: Point of View

Movie 4: Trust

Movie 5: Partners

Movie 6: Synchronicity

Movie 7 doesn't have the first scene with Amy in her classroom like the others. Instead, she, Travis, and Graham have flown to NY looking for Graham's brother. But this movie has more "special" words than the others, so that may have been part of what the writer intended by starting in a different location. The words in this movie are: family, literal, and boyfriend. Last week we talked about the importance of the word family based on Travis sharing about his and referring to Amy and Graham as his family. But there were other instances just as important. For one - the theme of knowing your family unless you don't. Is that just for this movie, or does it also apply to the next movie? Travis has now referred to Amy as his family, is he about to find out something he didn't know? I'm guessing the answer is yes.

Then the word "literal" was literally mentioned several times. And finally - "boyfriend". Amy's aunt calls Travis her boyfriend and Amy and Travis have a cute go around where she admits to not minding the term. This type of word play has come up between them before. When Travis asks Amy out to dinner after Graham's book reading, Amy asks him if it's a date. He tells her if she has to name it, it is a date. Now he teases her about the term boyfriend. And fiance is about to be the next relationship term they stubble upon. The biggest words of all come up at the end when Travis tells Amy he loves her, and she confesses to having the same feelings. As we know from watching all the previous movies - all these words are tied together and have meaning. Will the fiance be a literal fiance? Or in name only? Could it be a fiance from Amy's past that returns? Perhaps someone she thought was dead or missing who returns to her life unexpectedly only to become literally dead? The name of her fiance mentioned is the same name of a famous literary character who I believe is a spy, is that a clue?

The words Amy writes on the blackboard also seem to tie together in regard to their relationship. The first, Who Dun It, is how Travis and Amy come together in the first place - solving a crime. Revenge and Reward - by movie 2, they are starting to be friends. Travis is always trying to push Amy out of his work, but she is determined to be involved. Revenge doesn't quite fit in here, Risk would have worked better, but in Movie 2 Travis is determining whether Amy's involvement has enough of a reward. By Movie 3, Point of View, the word is all about the couple. Amy looks for the WHO, Travis for the WHAT. This is their search for identity - as individuals and as a couple. This is the first time Amy is told to bring her boyfriend, meaning Travis. They both deny the connection, but their relationship is already blooming. Movie 4 has a theme of trust wrapped around Amy's ex boyfriend and Travis's ex partner. The end of the movie has Amy choosing between her ex on one side of the stage and Travis on the other side of the stage. Amy chooses easily - picking the present and future instead of her past (foreshadowing for movie 8?) and giving Travis their first hug of excitement and triumph. They have hugged before when Amy was scared, but never in celebration. By this movie the trust between them is well established. By Movie 5 they are becoming dating partners. Travis asks Amy out and they have that great scene at the bar when Graham interrupts them. Travis builds on their trust from the previous movie and shares with Amy about his ex wife and his divorce. And the movie ends with their first kiss. And then comes Movie #6 and the word Synchronicity. Our couple is out of sync for most of the movie. Travis's ex wife, played by Erin Cahill, is staying with Amy and making our professor take a deep look at her relationship with the detective. The ex wife serves as a way for our favorite couple to get into sync, with the movie ending with Travis kissing Amy on the deck and the two knowing they want to be together. Movie 7's words are about the couple also - boyfriend, literal, family.

I'm excited for what comes next! Meet you here next week, same place, same 101 Channel!