The Bechdel Cast - The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again
Episode Date: November 18, 2021In anticipation of the new Princess Switch movie, Jamie and Caitlin switched places and unlocked a Patreon (aka Matreon) episode on The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again!(This episode contains spoiler...s)For Bechdel bonuses, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/bechdelcast.Follow @BechdelCast, @caitlindurante and @jamieloftusHELP on Twitter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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On the Bechdelcast, the questions asked if movies have women in them.
Are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands or do they have individualism?
The patriarchy's effing vast. Start changing it with the Bechdel cast.
Hello and welcome to the Bechdel cast. My name is Caitlin Durante.
And my name is Jamie Loftus. Unless... My name's Caitlin Durante.
And my name is actually Jamie Loftus. And wait a minute minute i just realized that we look exactly alike oh my
god we should do some royal hijinks your you should do some royal hijinks and then i'll just
have sex with your friend i think that's how the first one goes right basically not the worst deal
in the world this is well welcome to the vect cast. This is our show where we take your favorite movies and analyze them using an intersectional feminist lens, using the Bechdel test, which is, I bet neither, I bet none of the Vanessa Hudgenses know what this damn test is.
But what is it, Caitlin, for the sake of fullness and clarity?
It is a media metric created by queer cartoonist Alison Bechdel, sometimes called the Bechdel-Wallace
test. And there are many variations. And here is ours. Two people of a marginalized gender
have to have names. They have to speak to each other, and their conversation has to be about
something other than a man for two lines of dialogue. And ideally, that conversation is
narratively significant. Make of that what you will, you know it when you hear it. Right. And
in the case of this movie, as you'll hear in the episode, you know, there's a lot of Vanessa Hudgens is talking to Vanessa Hudgens.
It's not that big of a problem.
There are three many Vanessa Hudgens and they're all talking to each other.
Yeah. And if you thought that my British accent I just did was offensive.
Wait till you hear her as baby.
You are just not going to like it.
So this episode you're about to hear was recorded last year for our Patreon, a.k.a. Matreon.
So you'll notice it's just me and Caitlin.
We're keeping it loose.
We kind of let it all hang out on the Matreon.
I would say about 80% of this episode is just us recapping the movie
that'll happen we're discussing things throughout the recap but the recap takes a long time and
honestly you're welcome yeah it's it's i we go to the matrion to really vibrate on a different
frequency where it's the format is technically
the same and yet there is this um this wild reckless abandon that we bring there so if you
are in if you enjoy this please go over and join the matriarch community it is such a fun like
life-affirming cool space to hang out in uh it's five bucks a month and you get two bonus episodes at
the Bechtel cast with just Caitlin and myself every single month this month we are doing two
of our most popular requests that for whatever reason we never got around to um they're both
rom-coms that you've got mail which we've been getting really uh lovely feedback about I've been
very happy about yes yes we have yeah not to brag a
person listening that isn't a member of the matriarch we're so good at our jobs wow we really
pulled one out this time uh and and we're also uh doing how to lose a guy in 10 days uh which i
canonically recognize as a katherine han vehicle you know, maybe the poster is telling you a different story.
Fair, fair.
I see it as a Thomas Lennon piece myself.
Oh my God.
His outfit in that movie.
I'm like, who dressed this poor man?
I love Tom Lennon.
And why did they do that to him?
That's not nice.
I don't know.
In any case, this is from the Matreon.
And we're doing this, you know, technically an observation of it's not for many Vanessa Hudgens is the problem.
There's still three of them.
So it's kind of three many Vanessa Hudgens two.
But it's the Princess Witch three.
Yes. Which I believe is being released on Netflix the very same day that this episode is being unlocked from the Patreon and put on our main feed.
They really missed an opportunity to include more Vanessa Hudgenses in this sequel.
At some point, I'm like, I wonder if she was like, I don't think so.
Because there were, I think we talked about it in this episode.
She's done interviews where she was like, oh't think so because there were i think we talk about it in this episode she's done interviews where she was like oh the next one should be scottish and it's like
right well let's take a look at the accents you're already doing and maybe reassess but i'm open to a
fourth uh in so many ways but in in terms of vanessa hudgens's i'm open to a fourth for sure
uh but it's not happening.
However, we will be covering The Princess Switch 3 on the Matreon, speaking of the Matreon, in December.
So if you're loving this and you're like, wow, I'm really on a journey, you can go back to our Matreon to listen to our very intellectual genius, quite honestly,
thoughts on The Princess Switch 1 and then very soon on the princess switch
three and if you like netflix christmas movies we've also done all three all of the christmas
princes correct and that is a burden we took on for you so yeah get ready it's our our holiday
movie block on the bechdel cast is vroom vroom vroom rev rev revving up um and enjoy this unlocked
matrion episode the princess witch 2 enjoy the Bechdel cast hello matrons happy holy days
it's that time of year when we cover terrible Netflix original Christmas movies.
I forget.
Did we talk last year about the extended universe
that Netflix has confirmed?
I don't remember.
I meant to go back and listen to the other Princess Switch
and Christmas Prince movies we've covered.
I wanted to listen back to those episodes
and rewatch those movies,
but I simply didn't have time for any of it i re-watched i re-watched all the princess witches and all the
christmas princes because i needed an excuse to um yeah of course but did did you i don't know i
don't think that we did i didn't listen to the re-listen to the episodes i don't think we did
talk last year about how all the movies are confirmed happening in the same universe which is further depending on how you look at it either
confirmed or complicated by what happens in princess switch switched again because it would
seem that it contradicts okay so this is a matron this is obviously the bechdel cast matron
we're doing princess witch 2 i thought the movie was essentially a delight well sorry first we have
to the the full the full title princess switched to three many vanessagenses. Three many, yeah, too many Hudgenses is the general vibe.
I love that they just called it Switched Again.
The real title is The Princess Switch Switched Again,
which is so lazy, so incredibly lazy.
You really like-
I almost admire it.
I fully admire it.
I'm like, oh uh this movie has no
doubt of what it is which is extremely lazy but but so okay so the the netflix christmas
universe which is a confirmed thing includes oh my god there's literally a chart have you seen this have you seen this chart okay no okay you
gotta see this chart uh okay so it essentially connects the christmas prince uh saga series yes
all the various princess switches as well as the night before christmas which was vanessa hudgens
last year christmas effort yes which we almost covered and made a last minute switch
well switched again uh then there's also a movie called the holiday calendar from 2018 that I
haven't seen a movie called Christmas inheritance from 2017 which I unfortunately have seen
and a movie called holiday in the wild which I also have seen and i'm pretty sure is that the
who's in that it's like it's actually like some famous people right holiday in the wilds yeah
isn't that the what's that guy's name who was in rob low is that that one uh yeah yeah yeah the
kristin davis rob low yeah yeah yeah sorry i've seen so many of these i'm like honestly and the
names are all so familiar
they i'm like i don't want to confirm something i can't guarantee yes kristen davis and rob low
so that's a bigger budget one not very popular i don't think really anybody necessarily watched it
not a lot of hype yeah i skipped that one but it is and then and then now this year there was a
movie called operation christmas drop which is military propaganda that is Christmas.
There's also the Christmas Chronicles,
which is
what's-his-face as Santa Claus.
Yeah, what is his face? And Goldie Hawn.
What is his face?
I never... Kurt Russell?
Kurt Russell.
Yeah, Kurt Russell.
But also,
maybe this is controversial, but
who the fuck is Kurt Russell? What was he in that I would know that you would know probably
not a lot okay see he got big in the 80s and then like a lot of his most famous movies were from the
80s and 90s and I mean he's still around. But also, I always get him confused with early Patrick Swayze.
And I feel like there's someone else who I get him confused with, too.
I'm sure I haven't seen the Christmas Chronicles.
But either way, the Christmas Chronicles are a Netflix Christmas movie, but they're not
in the Netflix Christmas universe.
I see.
So all of the Netflix Christmas universe, I'm pretty sure. I mean, it's the netflix christmas universe i'm pretty sure i mean
it's a vague qualifier but i'm pretty sure that you have to it has to be like a clear hallmark
ripoff which christmas chronicles isn't uh and then jingle jangle which i did see and whoa it
was pretty good uh forrest uh forrest whitaker is in it he's saying christmas chronicles was not
bad i i'm you know it's whatever it's you It's kind of like turn your brain off and hope for the best season movie-wise.
But Jingle Jangle, it had some catchy tunes, some real catchy tunes,
but it's not included in this universe.
I think this is like the overly romantic, confusing, hallmark ripoff extended universe
that's occasionally nationalist propaganda in the case of Operation Christmas Drop.
So anyways, last year, Netflix confirmed the Netflix holiday movie universe is the official
title.
And I'll just unpack this chart and then we'll get to before we start talking about princess
which switched again how princess switch switched again is maybe the most integral piece to this
puzzle yet so okay it's like the keystone that holds the whole arch together and maybe i mean
i haven't i bear i was like only half watching holiday in the wild and i haven't seen the holiday
calendar but it seems like it connects a lot of movies together in ways that are exclusively
confusing so here's great here's an overview of the chart we'll we'll link this it's like a tweet
from Netflix okay so it starts with the Christmas Prince 2017 gets everything started and I think
these are all basically made by the same production company which doesn't hurt um so a christmas prince is shown on a tv in both the holiday calendar
and it's also if you recall vanessa hudgens watches a chris the christmas prince in the
first princess switch so as of 2018 when the princess okay i'm like literally i sound like that um it's
always sunny meme with the board okay um yeah so as of 2018 in the princess switch a christmas prince
is a movie that exists in the world of the princess switch on netflix it was like a product placement moment we were like tiki okay uh Aldovia from
A Christmas Prince the the fictional country I'm familiar just there's 500 trillion countries that
border Lithuania apparently and Aldovia is one of them what is whatever the princess switch
countries are anyways Aldovia is mentioned in The Night Before Christmas. So in The Night Before
Christmas world, Aldovia is an actual place. But in The Princess Switch world, it is not a real
place. It's a Netflix movie. It's a fictional place where a movie that Vanessa Hudgens watches
takes place. Make it make sense. Okay,mas inheritance uh a christmas inheritance is shown
on a tv in both the holiday calendar and in the princess switch holiday in the wild is shown on
a tv in the night before christmas so in the night before christmas a christmas prince is a real thing
in the world but holiday in the wild with kristen davis and rublo that's still fictional and on netflix and then apparently i don't remember this um because by the time honestly
the last in this marathon the last movie i watched was christmas prince royal baby and i was just
my brain was skunked so i wasn't looking for this reference but apparently the princess switch the
country from the princess switch is referenced in the third christmas prince movie oh so now
things get a little complicated because we were told in 2018 that a christmas prince is just a
netflix movie a work of fiction but then over in aldovia, the Princess Switch country is canon.
Right, because it's Belgravia and or Montanaro, because those are like the two countries in Princess Switch.
Right, right.
I'm going to keep mixing up the names.
So Belgravia, I believe, is mentioned in A Christmas Prince Royal Baby.
Okay. baby okay but at that point as of last year a christmas prince aldovia is fictional to vanessa
hudgens but vanessa hudgens is very real to amber and whoever the fuck that guy is richard richard
richard um so that's confusing and then things get even more confusing so basically it seems like
they shouldn't have put a christmas prince on tv
in the princess switch because now they want it to all be real yes because at the end of
fucking oh my head princess switch switched again princess switch switched again amber and
richard are at the coronation for yeah what's her name margaret a few things about that when they
popped up on screen at the end of princess witch with with their royal baby sorry did i say ugly
i meant royal um when that happened in princess switch to switched again i was in my apartment
by myself and i screamed at my i was like yes it was like hold on and then i had to go back to the chart because i'm like
it how could that be true if and um i don't know i don't know how that could be true i have a
theory okay yes the movie that vanessa hudgens is watching in the
first princess switch movie that is about amber and richard is actually a documentary that was
she's watching a documentary i've seen this okay got it yeah uh great minds think alike yeah i i
think that she just must have been watching like maybe it was like a 60 minutes
special or just like a poorly produced i thought that too but then i went back and watched the
scene from princess witch i'm like no she literally had vanessa hudgens has the same
netflix as you or i and it's presented the same way and she literally watches a scene from our
a christmas prince and so to I'm like, reporting instincts.
I'm like,
and so,
if a Christmas prince
is documentary,
so,
okay,
if a Christmas prince
is a documentary
for Vanessa Hudgens
in 2018,
then it's also
a documentary
for us.
And that
could be true.
That could very well
be true.
I think that they're just,
and someone,
I wanted to shout out
a tweet that made me laugh so much from I got
DeLeon from at DeLeon Ica.
She,
she tweeted,
Oh my God,
Vanessa Hudgens is the Robert Downey jr.
Of the Netflix Christmas cinematic universe.
And it's true.
Oh,
because of iron man.
Cause like iron man kicked everything off and is I know.
No, well, I will know. Cause Vanessa Hudgens didn't kicked everything off and is I know no well I
well no because Vanessa Hudgens didn't kick everything off but I think we can all agree
she has more you know she has she has a little more charisma than Princess Amber no offense
um I mean but then okay other things we need to talk about for we talk about the movie
okay sorry I'm like too prepared for
this episode uh no it's great really down in the dumps and really needed this um okay so the other
thing is i feel like we should do a vanessa hudgens update because she has had a very problematic
tumultuous few years really but like especially she we're not going to get too into it here uh
but she did if you remember about nine months ago she famously went live on instagram and said
a whole bunch of insensitive things about coronavirus and was basically the the gist
of it was vanessa hudgens has no regard for human life um which was upsetting then and I honestly
it has been such a year that I kind of forgot and then was like wait we're mad at Vanessa Hudgens
what did she do again and I was like oh she said she literally has no regard for human life
so that's something to keep in mind yes that said Robert Downey Jr uh you know has also done some
pretty messed up stuff in his life.
So maybe that's the connection. Oh, could be. They don't have. I don't know that much about
Robert Downey Jr. I just wanted to, you know, we are aware that Vanessa Hudgens is problematic
and also just like a weird part. Like she will like pop up in my trending topics every once in a while and it's
always just like i just don't understand like why can't celebrities just like log out like
vanessa hudgens has more money than god like she has a million a million year deal signed in blood
with netflix like why can't she just like not go live on instagram that will never make sense to me
because she just is always live on instagram doing in that one case a very like stream of
consciousness insensitive rant and then in other cases she's just doing weird stuff and you're just
like vanessa like call your like friend or something call Zach like I don't know what you need to do
but like I want no part of this so Vanessa Hudgens is a confirmed questionable weirdo is yes my is my
take on the age uh but that so so we're going into prince just to set up the mindset of where we're going
into princess switch to switched again yeah i have to suspend my upset with vanessa hudgens because
i do have to watch this movie not just because this is our job but also because i just like
have to watch this movie it's yeah I have to know what happens in Princess
Switch 2 Switched Again I understand I have to know what the third Vanessa Hudgens is like
and I loved the third Vanessa Hudgens oh my gosh she's so awesome I her. She's a sloppy bitch and I love her.
That was, okay, that was all of my precursor to talking about.
Okay, I'm going to shut up for the rest of the episode because.
No.
That was a lot.
Please keep going.
But, oh, and then also there is some connection in the third one to like, oh, I guess there's four shot i missed this on my watch of the movie but per the clickbait
rounds that happen every year around these movies a grand tradition there is a slight possible maybe
sort of hint that there's going to be i mean of course there's going to be a movie with a fourth
vanessa hudgens i have a pitch for it that i'll reveal at some point in this episode
hell yes uh i did a little bit of research this is so embarrassing um there was a there vanessa
hudgens has been very like dodgy about whether there's going to be a third or a third one with
a fourth vanessa hudgens that's never gonna get easier uh-huh she's been dodgy about that um but
then she said in like an interview
she's like i don't know but maybe the next vanessa hudgens will have a scottish accent and everyone's
like what that's weird um i'm not confident vanessa hudgens can pull off she can barely do
three accents which includes one that is just her regular speaking voice um she can barely talk um okay so but but i think
it's it's been hinted at at some point in this princess switch that the fourth vanessa hudgens
is going to be her character from a night before christmas therefore tying in that whole thing. Which would be kind of genius.
Yes.
That wouldn't have even occurred to me to do that.
But that's also the perfect choice to make.
There's already a fourth Vanessa Hudgens on the table.
And she already has experience kissing a royal knight, a royal figure.
Robert Pattinson lookalike.
She already has been making out with this robert
patinson impersonator for you know two years and yes on screen so she she has the experience that
character is ripe to be a part of this franchise what's that character's name was it like brooke
that i'm just spitballing here i don't remember i watched that movie last year when it got released
the only thing i remember about it is there is a plot witch and then there is like random time
travel and there's this like fish out of water uh like middle ages knight who shows up and yeah i
don't i i did not enjoy that that one wasn my favorite, which is weird because it's on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's one of the highest rated Netflix Christmas movies.
I like,
it has a lot of the elements for a movie that I enjoy with like the time travel and the fish out of water and that,
but like,
it just didn't add up.
I don't know the sum of its parts.
Yeah.
Just didn't add up to anything that I thought was great.
Also.
And her name was Brooke.
Wow.
Good memory. That was Brooke. Wow. Go Jimmy.
Wow.
Good memory.
That was a total mistake.
There was also, someone was mentioning, I'll link, I've read so many pieces.
I'm sorry.
Like I can't really distinguish one writer from another.
But someone mentioned in their piece from this year that this production company, which
is called MPCA, that produces most of these movies
they must have some connection to chicago because all of these movies are vaguely related to chicago
like it's always someone is from chicago the and then do you remember in the first christmas prince
movie there's an establishing shot of chicago but then're in New York like there's they're obsessed with Chicago they show the Chicago River and then they're and then
it was like pizza like you're like I'm walking here you're like that's not Chicago
also doesn't doesn't the company name stand for something like motion picture company of america something so yeah generic and motion
picture that you're like corporation of america it's just like you this is a fake company wait
the history of this company is also very weird okay so they were it was established in 1986 the year i was born thank you brave um good luck topping this incredible life that
the motion picture corporation of america has had yeah who did it better they did who did life
better founded in 1986 much like caitlin um they made a bunch of crappy movies that didn't do well. And then they made Dumb and Dumber.
And so that's no good.
And then they were acquired.
And then 15 years passes.
And then they made Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2.
And then they started making Netflix Christmas movies.
And that's their life wild really
make it make sense i i don't know i might be missing other stuff but i just don't care but
either way they're obsessed with establishing shots of chicago mentions of chicago even though
the company is based in Century City in Los Angeles.
So I don't know.
Confusing.
Who cares?
Much like the plot of this movie.
Should I recap it?
Good transition.
Yes.
Thank you.
Actually, we're going to take a quick break first and then we will come right back. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist
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There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.
They're just dreams.
Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm.
Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts separated by two months.
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podcasts. And we're back.
All right.
So I'm just going to have to assume that you,
that listeners have watched the first movie or at least listen to our episode
on it or have some understanding of what happens in the first movie.
Cause what happens in the second movie,
you have to have an understanding of the first movie.
So I'm just going to operate on that assumption that you're familiar so uh stacy who is the vanessa hudgens from chicago who's a former baker is
married to prince edward the most boring person someone who makes king richard look like a
fucking like interesting person the most boring person ever committed to screen i have more notes
about him than i thought i would for this movie but i do have a few things to say when we get
there but yes he's so he i he i feel bad i almost yeah i was gonna say i almost feel bad for him
because of just like how he's treated in this movie and just like i feel bad for him because of just like how he's treated in this movie and just like
i feel bad for him because his wife clearly doesn't love him very much like it's like i don't
i think that like prince edward needs to like wake up and smell the coffee i don't think vanessa
loves him as much as he thinks she does or like wake up and smell the cocoa that kevin insists
on making all the time oh kevin's a whole other thing like that
but prince edward especially like he's so whatever that i felt bad for him i'm like you need to find
the world's most boring person and marry them because like i'm not feeling it with you and
vanessa i'm just not i have no chemistry she's trying to get away from
him all the time and he's like i love you hang out with me and she's like i can't hear you la la la
so mean and also like just don't want to marry him there's one scene where like he's clearly
trying to have sex with her because she's like blah blah i'm distracted or i'm stressed out or
something and he's like well i know something we could do to take your mind off it and then she's like no
i'm too busy trying to get my look-alike to have sex with my best friend kevin and she would rather
like she would rather fly to chicago from belgravia than spend a day with her husband and
and also it's so sad like that beginning they that scene
that same scene where she's like avoiding him but it's in this way that i'm like it's they're making
it sound like she literally can't hear what he's saying yes which is just it's just confusing the
way it's written but he like they're both at the beginning of that scene they're like oh we're so busy and we're
like with what and then later prince edward says literally says like i'm not actually that busy i
just say i'm busy so that because i feel bad because my wife is busy and i'm like i don't
think she's busy i don't think she's busy if she has time to drop everything and go to chicago to
like do do something that her friends don't want.
Do this weird matchmaking thing.
Yeah.
They have to get divorced.
That marriage is no good.
It's a mess.
Anyway.
They live in Belgravia together, which is apparently adjacent to Montenaro and Aldovia.
And let's throw Genovia from Princess.
I was about to say, where does Genovia come into the mix?
What's that movie called? Princess?
Princess Diaries.
Diaries. Diaries.
Too many Princess movies.
Okay, so that's Stacey.
Her lookalike, also played by Vanessa Hudgens, of course,
is Princess Margaret,
who is the person she switched places with in the first movie.
And in the first movie, Margaret fell in love with Stacey's best friend, Kevin.
But between the first and second movie, Kevin and Margaret have broken up.
So that's important to know.
So fucking frustrating here, because we had to spend a lot of the first movie
rooting for Margaret andvin to get together and then
we just have we're expected to just do the exact same thing for the whole second movie i'm like
and guess what i am not rooting i don't care i'm not rooting for them no one's rooting for them
i'm just like kevin deserves better margaret does like they're just not. It's not. I don't. I well, I kind of dislike Margaret.
I like Kevin, but I also think that he really is not very respectful of boundaries.
That's a whole other thing.
I just I'm like, I wish them both the best separately.
Clearly together as a no go.
They broke up.
They broke up for a reason.
I like Kevin. I don't like margaret for
kevin i think that margaret and prince edward who i both find to be really boring and bland
should have gotten together wouldn't the royal family have been happier if they had just done
that i'm like okay just get the two boring people married yeah they're already both royals they
understand the lifestyle stacy's clearly obsessed with kevin like that should have worked
out i guess that's the thing is i was never really rooting for the couples that they clearly want you
to root for in the first movie i wanted the ones that they were pushing which was stacy kevin yeah
and edward margaret i'm like yeah that makes way more sense to me stacy's still obsessed with who
kevin's having sex with and needs it to be someone who looks like her like that's projecting that's literally like look in the mirror Stacy talk to your therapist Stacy I
it's so frustrating there also the whole thing with Margaret in this movie I'm Margaret is I
totally agree so so so so boring and I feel like you could have done something way more interesting with her by even
like borrowing plot points from a christmas prince because a christmas prince while really bad at
least like amber when she's like becoming a queen has like you learn about her trials and tribulations
in the castle and like people don't take her seriously and she has to like you know fight for herself and her stay tuned to our christmas prince 2 episode coming out later
this month she does investigative reporting like she at least like yeah it's all super pointless
and like makes no sense but at least it's like oh you see she's like fighting for herself whereas margaret i would
have rather have seen margaret like they reference that she's having a tough time adjusting but you
don't see it ever you like you just see her apologize to kevin to be like sorry i was
sorry i'm i have to do this thing called being the queen of a country so i can't hang out with
you at 2 p.m on a weekday like obviously she can't kevin
this other weird thing happens where in the first princess switch movie the reason they switch
places is because margaret like doesn't really want to be a royal she like doesn't like the
lifestyle she doesn't like to be in the public spotlight and that's the whole reason they switch
but then suddenly in the second movie she's's like, I was born to do this.
I freaking love being a queen.
She's a plot queen.
But then she also still doesn't seem committed to like she doesn't seem like she wants to do it still.
Also, OK, here's a question I had that I was I told myself I had to pay attention during the first Princess Switch when I rewatched it.
I was like, did her father die?
Like who was the king? Was the king her father uh for margaret yeah and then her because
they said like the king died the brother abdicated and then so now margaret is going to be the
sovereign yeah does that mean her father died and we just didn't talk about it her father that's
what they mentioned in the opening montage of princess switch 2 right
but they don't but we don't see her deal with oh yeah no yeah her father died very very recently
that's a huge thing to happen like we i don't think we were told by the movie they had a bad
relationship so you have to imagine she just lost a parent and is not at all affected by it.
Right.
She's the only thing is like she put a tarp over a Christmas tree and she's like, this
is how I grieve.
And like, well, there's no wrong way to grieve, Margaret.
But like, it just is weird that you don't bring it up.
And then also, I mean, also, I've been watching The Crown.
So bear with me here.
But like an abdication of the throne is a big fucking deal.
Like people would be talking about the fact that the like where is her brother at?
Like that's another plot line for Margaret.
I would have been way more interested in is her struggle with her brother being like,
well, why the fuck did you abdicate?
You know, I didn't want to be queen.
And he's like, I didn't want to be king.
Like we hate being royals.
Like it would have been so more interesting.
Okay. king like we hate being royals like it would have been so more interesting okay another a separate
pitch than the one i was originally going to pitch for the next princess switch movie wait okay what
if her brother shows up but it's also played by vanessa hudgens genius or her brother shows up and he's and it's kevin when it's a second kevin and then
they're like oh my god wait her brother looks just like her ex-boyfriend how did we not know that
and then it becomes a whole too gross yeah that's actually nasty but either way there are so many
directions because margaret is canonically boring as hell.
Like give her something interesting to do.
So at least we're watching a boring person do interesting things.
That's why A Christmas Prince works.
Amber is boring, but she does things that are interesting.
So it's sort of like you're like, man, this is kind of interesting.
But Margaret is boring and all the things that are interesting
about what's happening in her life are not talked about at all i truly like correct me in the
comments if i'm wrong but it seems like she just lost if not her father a very close family member
there would have been a huge political like reckoning if someone abdicated from the throne it would just be like this should
have been season one of the crown for margaret right yeah instead the only thing we get is like
a couple shots of what looks like tabloids like not even like prestige journalism just like a few
like tabloid headlines of being like is margaret ready to be queen seems like she's a mess and
it's but then she's not dealing with that either like that doesn't you know she's being scrutinized
by the tabloids and she doesn't care even though margaret is boring boring boring and every time
she's on screen i'm like oh my god margaret like they could have done something interesting with
her in a bunch of different ways.
And then instead they were like,
what if we just repeated the exact,
her exact plot line from the first movie?
Like why?
You know, why?
Sorry.
I was just, I wrote down at the beginning,
like the top of my nose.
I'm like, Margaret's father died.
Why aren't we talking about this?
That's, even in like a corny movie kind
of way of like this is what he would have wanted or you know like that kind of corny right but no
nope sadly no um all right where were we uh okay so she goes to visit kevin and his daughter olivia
in chicago and she is a new a different actor from the last movie.
Okay, I thought so.
Yes.
I was like, but I didn't rewatch the first movie,
so I wasn't sure,
but I had a feeling that they recast her.
Absolutely.
Okay, so Stacey invites them
to Margaret's coronation ceremony
because she is about to become Queen of Montenaro.
And Kevin reluctantly agrees, and then they all show up at
margaret's palace and then they all decorate it together uh margaret and kevin start flirting by
throwing flour on each other the flower fight is so the flower fight i'm like okay fine fine fine also i'm curious on how you feel about i feel like
kevin really should have like not let himself get steamrolled by princess stacy when princess
stacy rolls in and also like she's not a good friend to him because she is like mocking him
in front of his child like
olivia i also feel bad for olivia because olivia should not be brought into this so much like
first of all the trope of like a child who's obsessed with their parents romantic life for
kind of no reason when has that ever been a thing in all of these movies that's just canon whatever
that's a movie trope that is just like
it's neither here nor there it's just kind of creepy and weird but whatever it's a plot device
but when vanessa shows up unannounced and is like look at you wearing sweatpants you make me sick
and you better come to belgravia like he should have just been like no like he shouldn't have
done it he should have called margaret and been like hey stacy's being a fucking bully because
she's like obsessed with us being together for question mark reason is it okay if i come like
another interesting if we have to have kevin and Belgravia for this movie to happen, then when he shows up,
why couldn't Margaret be like mad at Stacy?
Like there,
that was another thing where there's just like no conflict between Margaret and Stacy at any time.
Right.
When it seems like there,
it would be very justifiable.
Like Stacy is getting so into other people's businesses and no one gets mad
at her i would
be so mad at her if she took my ex to montanaro three nights before my coronation i'd be like
stacy stay out of it like your marriage is over there with mr boring so like there's so little
conflict between them to the point where during the part of the movie, and we'll get to this, but when they've switched again, hence the subtitle of the movie.
For also very low stakes reason.
Like the reason they switch is so low stakes.
I am so confused about why they switch.
I have so many thoughts and questions and notes about that.
Thank God for third Vanessa.
There's a little twist where a third Vanessa is present and she also has done a switch.
So there's so little conflict between Margaret and Stacey that when Margaret goes back to who she thinks is Stacey and tries to switch back, except that who she thinks is Stacey is actually cousin Fiona.
Right.
We'll explain that whole thing.
Whenever this Fiona person is like,
get the hell out of here.
Margaret's just like,
okay,
I sure.
Even though Fiona is occupying her bedroom,
like that,
like Margaret gets sent away from her own bedroom and she's just like,
okay,
honestly, that was, that was was iconic like that was like so i was thinking that too but then i was like okay first of all
fiona is amazing i love her so much i was kind of like the most compelling thing was i was rooting
for her to successfully take the throne from marg Because I'm like, at least she wants it. At least she wants to do it.
Like, just let her do it.
Whatever.
And she's also the only good Vanessa in this one.
But that was so, like, bully older cousin move for Fiona to, like,
gaslight Margaret so hard.
She's like, I guess I'm not myself.
I guess I am leaving the room.
I was like, God, Margaretaret we need to like stacy and margaret need to like go to some self-esteem workshops
because they're just like struggling um yeah i don't i i was also kind of like i was really
baffled by the lack of conflict between stacy and margaret at all i felt like it like worked
against the plot it would have been yeah way it would have helped the like switch level confusion it would have been interesting
if like margaret was like oh maybe stacy's not who i thought she was instead of immediately being like
stacy would never do this who is the third vanessa like i'm not like rooting for it's it's it's i don't know it's like one of
those things where these movies are so bad it's almost like well what kind of yardstick is this
but sometimes i feel like people think they're making a feminist choice by like having
two female characters have zero conflict right when it's like no just treat them equally don't
like make the reason that there's a conflict
be extremely gendered and irrational there's a very there's a very like i feel like a very
obvious reason why they would be in conflict at multiple points in this movie right but it just
never happens they're like nope besties i let myself get pushed around by Stacey for no reason. Like,
right.
Yeah.
Like Margaret could be like,
stop meddling in my love life.
And yeah,
like Stacey can be like,
shit, I should go to therapy.
Like get like Stacey.
Yeah.
I've just like,
none of the Vanessa's are okay.
But the third Vanessa is amazing.
And we're about to get to her. So yes but before we do um so we see kevin and margaret start to kind of like flirt again it's but but then we
meet antonio who is margaret's chief of staff and he is in love with margaret and he's like you're
great i'm so happy to be serving you blah blah blah blah blah
unnecessary get rid of
but also he looked like
British Jared Kushner like
he
I was like what is going on with
Antonio he is
clearly bad news just by the way he's like
he's the only person
in this movie I'm convinced is actually
British also like with the scenes with person in this movie i'm convinced is actually british also like
with the scenes with the henchmen i'm like are none of these people british i didn't look it up
but i'm like oh my gosh it seems like no one is british i tried to look up the two people who play
mindy and reggie uh fiona's henchmen there's they're off the grid they're off the grid i just
couldn't find anything about them i don't't know. Especially the male henchman.
I was like, I don't.
His accent was so over the top that I'm like, it sounds like he's doing the same thing Vanessa is.
I don't know.
And then the hench person that looked like Saoirse Ronan was just distracting because she looked so much like Saoirse Ronan.
I will say that Reggie, the one henchman, is the best character of the film.
I love him, but I don't think he's British.
Did you ever watch The Only Way is Essex or any of those like trashy British,
like Jersey Shore except like British?
No, I haven't. No.
Oh my gosh. They're terrible shows. They're amazing.
Because there's another one called like Geordie Shore.
I think that one I haven't seen that one.
I think is maybe even more trashy than the only way is S6,
but I've only seen that one.
Anyway,
I used to watch them with my friend,
British Martha,
but the two characters who are the, the hench people reggie and mindy especially
reggie feel to me like characters who would be in a very trashy british reality show like the
only way is essex maybe he is brit maybe my my view of of britain the uk is too myopic and i just don't know well they have way more like kind of working
class british accents so maybe that's i don't know to our british listeners could you shed some light
these actors are british uh leave your answers in the comments i genuinely i could be totally off here but i think it's i was also thrown by how
clearly fake vanessa's british accent is i'm like maybe they are british and they're just trying to
match her so that they all like there could be a lot of things going on here either way the best
chemistry in the movie is between vanessa and the hench people yes bar none best incredible perfect um okay so we've met antonio he's in love with
margaret then there's this ball because there's of course like 500 christmas events there's a
concert there's a ball there's a coronation there hudgens she is blonde she is part of the royal family
because she is cousins with margaret but she's like not in the line of succession for queen or
something like that but her name is fiona pembroke i just confirmed that reggie is british
he's a british soap opera actor oh wow which i had a feeling he might have been authentically
british he is british and he's and he he knows how to do camp he's a he's a goddamn soap character
so there you go incredible reggie all right anyways so fiona pembroke she's an incredible character
she and reggie to me are like tied for first place best characters that scene where reggie
steal really aggressively steals a wallet from someone that like was my i will i rewatched that
shot three times i'm like oh my god what a bold move because she which what fiona does is she brings her hench people who
love to take pictures against um whatever you call them those backgrounds those photo backgrounds
step and repeats yes um but she has her hench people just like pick pockets at public events
so that she can maintain her lifestyle it's a really bad plan. But it was fun.
It was fun to watch Reggie just pickpocketing everybody.
It was great.
He's not good at it.
And then later when they're like huddled together in what appears to be just a completely empty, dark castle.
Yeah.
The Pembroke Estate.
They're like unloading.
They can't even keep the lights on there they
haven't stolen enough wallets like it's a mess they're like unloading their haul of the stuff
they have stolen that evening at this ball and this movie is comedy gold especially in this scene
because one of them has stolen a roll of toilet paper and she's like and and fiona vanessa hudgens
is like this isn't gonna help pay for our summer in whatever place that we're gonna go he's like
but it's double ply and she's like i don't care and he's like don't you understand it's double
ply and i'm like this is the best joke i've ever seen in a movie it's not my favorite joke
i guess that's the end of my sentence but i did i did think this movie was genuinely like
i don't know i mean it's all these movies are slightly they're enjoyable to me in slightly
different ways and then also not enjoyable at all but i think part of what makes a christmas prince funny is that it doesn't seem to realize
that it's funny but the princess switch movies are being funny on purpose and i'm kind of laughing
so i'm laughing quite a bit and and and it was uh written by two women robin bernheim burger and megan
metzger so there you go that's why it's a feminist text just kidding women in comedy you love to see
it hilarious i did laugh at several points in this movie oh wait no wait yes yes okay no at that same
ball okay i wanted to know if you i was i wanted to text you about it but then i'm
like no i'm gonna save it for the pod there's i i watched it with with isaac and there was like
a scene where i'm like huh kevin and margaret kevin like cuts in with antonio and is like yeah
i may have a dance with blah blah because he's like mr smooth cool chicago baker whatever right he and margaret are dancing and
then at one point they stop dancing and start just spinning around in a circle did you notice that
i didn't i re-watched the scene like four times because they start out dancing everyone is slow
dance like whatever it's all vaguely royal and you're like i know what this scene is and
then at some point they stop doing the dancing and then they just have their hands on each other's
shoulders and they're continuing to talk and they're turning just in a circle i'm gonna honestly
i'm gonna get the time code so i can just like explain to you like okay it was continue but i'm
gonna stop and just show you what i'm
talking about because i i can hear what i sound like right now but i swear to god
jamie i believe you i swear to god they just start turning in a circle and it's so
okay amazing um let's take another quick break and then we will be right back.
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And we're back.
Okay, so then Antonio professes his feelings
for Margaret outright.
And then he tells Kevin
that Kevin is getting in the way
of Margaret's happiness,
which Kevin's daughter Olivia overhears.
So then she goes to Stacy and and margaret out of school
anytime her dad's horny like what is this what's going on right uh and it's like maybe it's her
like holiday break from school i don't know i don't know how long they're there for i'm gonna
need that specified because i'm like we need need Olivia in school we need her like less in
Belgravia with her dad's ex like involving her on Kevin's end first I know for the movie it makes
sense but involving her on Kevin's end is so irresponsible your child should not be involved
in your love life to this extent like your child should not be coming with you on like operation get her
back like that's just not right that's bad parenting it would be and it would be one thing
if within the context of a movie there was like a stronger motivation established for her if she was
like i want to be a princess that's why i have such a vested interest in like my dad marrying
this queen to be right but there's
absolutely no motivation established for her whatsoever so it just feels weird and creepy
creepier than it already is and it's not like it's not like she's like oh Margaret has such
an amazing personality like we know that's not true um wait how should I do this should I just
show you my computer screen what's the i have it
already um just let me know the time code the time code is around just go to 21 minutes okay
and you'll start to see what i'm what i'm talking about they start by i've never seen a dance like
this where it starts as dancing and then it just turns into slow spinning while continuing to. Oh, yep. I'm seeing it.
And then they do a wider shot of it and it looks even weirder because they're just like no one else is doing that.
It's just them.
That's incredible.
There's turning in a circle and he's going, maybe we could hang out as friends.
I'm like, why aren't you dancing anymore?
What's happening? I wonder if they like,
they like had to learn like an actual ballroom dance,
but it was too complicated for both of them
to do the dance and deliver their lines.
So they're like, we're just going to spin.
Just spin, just spin.
We know, I mean, Vanessa Hudgens is confirmed
not a good dancer.
We've known this since High School Musical 2006.
So not to put her on blast, you know it is true yeah so that
happened sorry that was just like a big bump for me I was like whoa where where are we what's
happening okay thank you for sharing that I don't know if I would have noticed otherwise how would
you survive without this truly um okay so olivia has overheard uh antonio bullying kevin
basically so she goes to stacy and margaret and proposes that they switch places again
so that stacy can do margaret's queen duties at the like christmas concert that night or whatever or like the following day and margaret can still like here's the thing
margaret the states are so stays herself the only one okay so the whole reason for this
switch is so that margaret and kevin can have some alone time together so it's really just
stacy masquerading asading as Margaret in public so that
Margaret has the time to be alone with Kevin. So there's a makeover montage, of course,
when which all the Vanessa Hudgens is switch place. But because they're doing this whole
switch so that Margaret can have alone time withvin kevin knows that he is spending time with
margaret yeah the only person that is seeing margaret as stacy is kevin so there's no reason
that they needed to actually switch places all the way yeah absolutely you're totally right
you're totally right because he knows he knows he's spending time with margaret but even so she dresses as stacy which just makes the whole thing weirder because now he's like well
the woman i love now has like the hair and clothes of my best friend which wouldn't that be weird for
him like i just don't but also this is this again, I'm overthinking this by a trillion. But were I
putting myself in the shoes of either Kevin or Edward, first of all, I would not be involved
with any of these Vanessa's. Like these Vanessa's only bring chaos. But I would be constantly like,
I think it would almost be like probably a problem in the relationship.
I would constantly be carding Vanessa.
I'd be like, can you show me some ID?
Like, who are you?
Like Edward, especially who is somehow like both obsessed with his wife and has no idea what she looks like.
Because he like so that was when I started feeling less bad for Edward.
I'm like, well, he doesn't even know what his wife looks like what's wrong with this guy like Mary Kate and Ashley's boyfriends husbands
whomever like they can always tell the difference those French boys met them one time before and
they knew exactly which one was Mary Kate and which one was Ashley if it's true you know which
Vanessa you're married to is all I'm saying like it's just another strike against
that marriage and then also Kevin at the end who's been we'll get there but like particularly
if I were Kevin after what he goes through in this song he granted he should never have come
but after what he goes through in this saga I would have been like okay before I marry you
at the airport can you just like can
you just confirm which Vanessa you are please stop asking me to take your word for it because it
doesn't work you know like yeah I don't know I would just be like I'm sorry like I'm sure at
least one of the Vanessa's is a lovely person but I just need to like remove myself from the whole
Vanessa situation because it's too much it's so confused and it's so confusing why does margaret go through the
trouble of dressing as stacy when the only person who is going to see her is kevin who knows that
she is still margaret doesn't make any sense the place they go to is a an abandoned christmas
festival no one's there no literally he's like let's go to the christmas
festival and then there's zero people there but it's open it's like how many people live in
montanaro is it six is it seven so how many people is she queen of if you wanna i'm just like if you
really want some alone time wouldn't you like spend a like romantic evening together?
Like just like not building snowmans together in what feels like a very platonic.
Well, that's just like a casting issue. Vanessa has never had any chemistry with this actor.
Wait, what is his name? But she's never had any chemistry with this guy.
So no matter which Vanessa it is,
she doesn't have chemistry with him.
And I mean,
and if you don't think she has chemistry with him,
wait till you see her in a lack of chemistry.
Like,
do you know these people?
I,
she's allegedly known both of these actors for like at least three years.
Yeah.
But also,
oh my God,
no,
wait,
the guy who plays Kevin is also kind of untraceable.
He doesn't have a Wikipedia page.
Oh, Kevin.
What is his deal?
Oh, he's British.
Wait, this is so confusing.
Kevin is British.
This is...
Oh.
Make it make sense.
It'll never.
It will never.
So Kevin's secretly British. that's also a better plot
point um but no yeah they revealed the whole time i'm part of the royal family you're like
wait i'm not a baker at all um but also to your point of how nonsensical it is to have them switch
it would first of all be a better date if they were in private.
And also there would be no need like there would be no there would be zero stakes.
No need to switch.
There would be zero stakes if there was even no risk of her getting caught in public.
But then there's no risk of her getting caught in public because they went to an abandoned carnival.
Right.
The more I think about it,
the less anything makes sense.
Yeah.
The stakes are on the floor
with Margaret and Stacey
at the beginning.
The stakes are subterranean.
But meanwhile,
Fiona,
they couldn't be higher.
Everything's riding on this.
Okay.
So,
Margaret and Stacey
agree to this
completely unnecessary switch.
Meanwhile,
Fiona is hatching a plan of her own
to pretend to be Margaret so that she can get access to Margaret's royal money and steal some
of it. That's how it works. You get the royal pin number on the day of the coronation.
Okay. The stakes are higher for her, but her storyline still makes no sense because it was
not at all clear to me why she needed to go through with the coronation ceremony to gain
access to the money she could have just because reasons it makes sense that she was still that
she would still need to kind of masquerade as margaret for a little while to like hack into
her bank account or whatever but to do the whole coronation i was like that's
not necessary it definitely isn't no um okay i felt the same way but i also was just like
it i feel like this movie really is a case study of like how much nonsense you'll put up with based
on how much you are personally invested in the character because no one's
storyline makes sense but i'm rooting for fiona why because she's interesting oh she's so messy
she's the only vanessa whose plot line isn't connected to like a man like she's just like
true i'm trying to i mean granted she's trying to steal the throne but you know it's like she's
gonna be literally what she's gonna be a queen of 14 people Margaret did not want the job except
she suddenly does in this movie which is I mean talking about a switch that's the real switch the
completely yeah the completely out of nowhere motivation switch of margaret's character from
the first movie to the second movie that's what the princess switch should be about but i like
that fiona i like that fiona um justifies she's like oh no i could totally look like margaret
look at here's a picture of me from my ariana phase and it's like a picture of her as vanessa hudgens and the hench people are like oh
totally yeah and then sersha goes like nuclear and is just like okay here's what we have to do
and like starts training her to be a princess even though it's like um last time i checked sersha
you are a hench person so i don't know what you know about and fiona is again part of the royal
family she might be like i don't know if she's
like a duchess or something but she's like she would know more to be a royal right
uh she lives in an estate that doesn't have electricity but you know it's in a state
nonetheless she could still flip it uh the the that's another story this is just becoming a story notes podcast over time but another story
note that i had that another yet another thing that could make margaret one percent interesting
is like the only connection we know about like uh i keep wanting to say vanessa fiona and margaret
are that they're cousins yeah and we know nothing about what their actual relationship is as cousins
like i thought it could i wrote down it could have been interesting if like maybe fiona brings
out margaret's wild side and they used to like have fun together and like they had a close
relationship but then something happened and now they're estranged and like that would give some sort of connection on like it would make it even funnier slash maybe wouldn't be as funny if Fiona bullied Margaret like she does.
But it's like there is no we have no indication of we just know they're cousins.
We don't know what their relationship is like.
We don't know if they have any fond memories together. I just felt like contextualizing that a little bit would have given us a stronger connection with a female character than Margaret has with Stacey, who she just trusts without questioning, even though Stacey's a disaster.
Just because they look exactly alike, which is not a basis for trust and a friendship.
Watch any Mary-Kate and Ashley movie.
They always fight. There's always conflict and then it's resolved that's how twin movies work yeah but
yeah it's like we don't know anything about like i wanted i was like oh it would have been fun if
margaret's like oh i don't hang out with fiona anymore because just things would always get
wild when she's around and i'm just not myself around fiona i just like it would have
been fun that's a great uh like that's great backstory for them the only other thing we know
about fiona because we don't know much about her character but the one thing we do learn is that
her father also died maybe recently i'm not sure they could talk about they could bond over the uh
loss uh the grieving process.
You know, there's there's all kinds of stuff.
And apparently, like, I mean, wouldn't like the king have been Fiona's uncle?
Like, that's also.
Right.
Yeah.
It would be grieving the same two people.
That's true.
Right.
Yeah.
Why didn't they see each other at the funeral?
Why didn't Fiona?
Did Fiona not go to the king's funeral?
And wouldn't that have caused a scandal?
Not only a scandal in the family, but like a public scandal someone hire me at a bulgaravian newspaper like there's a lot going
on here and no one is writing about it what like the pot i i i got really too fixated on the
politics of bulgaravia and aldovia in this one uh this year and it's like everything is a disaster
but yeah again that's that i didn't even think of that the fact that they both recently lost parents
who would have been each other's uncles right right well it's because they play off fiona's
father's death as a joke because stacy is like you mean perval Pembroke who died of a peanut allergy and that
whole thing is just like that's not funny oh uh not to backtrack to the beginning of the movie
but did you find the opening montage to be very aggressive because i found it to be very aggressive and gaslighting
in a way that was like it made me laugh but it was like so the beginning is animated and it's
just recapping the previous movie which i do appreciate because everyone watching it needs
that because it's not a memorable movie um but the way that it's written and the way vanessa
hudgens reads it is really aggressive
where she goes like of course you probably remember that my name is Stacy and I'm from
Chicago and naturally you remember Kevin and then like every time something happens you're like no
I don't remember that no I don't remember that no I don't remember that and Stacy's just like
being she's like and naturally you would be remiss not to remember margaret and you're like i don't
remember that like it was just i i know it was a joke and i feel like it's the movie acknowledging
how how like ridiculously unmemorable the first movie was but i found it to be a really aggressive
way to start and then it goes like and of course you know that the king is dead and of course you
know that the prince abdicated the throne and you're like well i really don't know that the king is dead and of course you know that the prince abdicated the throne and
you're like well i really don't know i don't know because those things never happened on screen is
anyone going to be sad about that is anyone gonna be no no it doesn't matter anyways the beginning
i was just like the beginning like vo i was like stop yelling at me like it's not my fault your
movie sucked and i don't remember anything from it. Jeez.
Oh, it really sets the tone, though.
Okay.
It really does.
Yeah. So Fiona is hatching her plan to become Margaret so that she can gain access to the throne to steal the money.
Right.
Okay.
So then Stacey becomes Margaret for the night.
Margaret becomes Stacey and they proceed with their plan.
Everything seems like it's going to be fine until Fiona shows up, also pretending to be Margaret.
And she abducts Stacey, who Fiona thinks is Margaret.
Okay.
Having trouble following along because I am.
This scene, this is like the only, like one of the only parts where i'm like okay this is
like kind of compelling and then it like falls apart really quickly but but when sersha puts
like the the chemical rag over vanessa's mouth you're like whoa that escalated really quickly
i didn't think that they were gonna like you know actually like really commit a crime against
vanessa but they did well it's not soirse it is Vanessa Hudgens oh wait you're
chloroforming herself that's iconic like you have in an incredible piece of cinema you have to admit
that is like pretty amazing it's it's incredible that's brilliant writing but yeah they they commit
a pretty serious felony in this movie which oh which fiona only gets a slight slap on the wrist for i do love
that antonio goes to the dungeon and fiona gets community service again iconic like
clearly there's some nepotism at play here maybe um okay so now f Fiona has taken the place of Margaret and abducted Stacy because of this whole comedy of errors thing.
Yeah.
Then Margaret shows back up at the end of the night after her night with Kevin where they platonically build snow people together.
And Margaret goes to the person who she thinks is Stacy, but it of course is really Fiona and Fiona to Margaret
is like Stacey get out of here and Margaret's like wait a minute Stacey the game is up what
are you talking about it's time to switch back and then this is when Fiona kicks Margaret out
of her own bedroom wrecking balls Margaret's like entire life and sense of self in a single scene and i was like oh my god why am i cheering
her on but i was so was i was like fiona you're amazing like she she's such a villain she's like
a perfect villain she's like trying on the crown like and then she flings it into a christmas tree
she like frisbees it in and then she's like get out of here margaret you're not the queen and she's like oh okay oh it's so good yeah fiona there's this there's a moment where
fiona is staring at herself in the mirror wearing margaret's crown laughing maniacally and being
like off with their heads and it's just like you're like yeah off with their heads um yeah it's
really hard to get me to to root for um you know a character that is privileged but fiona is
really cool she nails it yeah i'm you know i'm really i really wish that she had taken the crown
because clearly margaret doesn't i mean if anything
proves the fact that margaret is not fit to rule it's the fact that she got you know steamrolled
by her own cousin out of her own identity in less than a minute like okay that's not the
constitution of someone who could run a country it's just not right what's gonna happen to you
what's gonna happen to you in the royal court you're gonna be
a disaster anyway yeah you if you have no sense of self what where are your convictions where is
your where's your sense of anything where's your like i guess her only staff is antonio and she's
constantly refusing his help which granted ends up being a good idea because
he's also a villain but like she keeps being like it's so confusing because she's like i don't know
how to be a queen and this is really confusing but then whenever she's offered help she's like
i don't want help and i'm like so do you just want to be like a bad queen like what do you
what do you want well that's also a weird dynamic because like yeah he is her advisor but he's also
constantly throwing himself at her
so that would that would give me some kind of like imposter syndrome like something but if i
were margaret and i were the fucking queen i mean i know i'm like putting a lot on her but i'm like
she can fire him yeah and hire an advisor she trusts happens in christmas prints all the time
they they like lose them like defense against the dark arts professors there's a new one every movie like you can you can fire antonio like right
she's the queen like i just and again it's like if that dynamic were explored at all of like oh i
really need to like you know become more assertive and i need to like stop worrying about pleasing other people and like
do what i know is right for my country like yeah that's a compelling narrative to center on like
and i wouldn't be so judgy of her if i thought that that was being done to like tell a story
but it isn't there she's just like she's just i'm like just fire and literally fire and fire him lie to him be like sorry things
aren't gonna work out it's out of my hands and i'm gonna hire someone qualified you know i'm
gonna hire she could have someone else on her staff because she's going to have a large staff
if she's about to be queen she can get someone else to fire him she never even has to talk to
it's so confusing anyway hire simon simon's right over
there in aldovia oh cousin simon right cousin simon it turns out he really redeems himself
you know it turns out simon can be trusted so just you know hire simon he's got experience
and um you don't need antonio hire a woman in this position like hire fourth vanessa hutchins
is your like whatever but don't just be like, oh, this is so awkward with Antonio.
I wish I could do something.
It's like you, you, you can't.
You have more power than anyone to do something about it.
Literally, you're like the only person who can't.
So you got to do it.
Yeah.
Okay.
So then, so now that there's like this snag in Fiona's plan, she has to act more quickly.
This means she has to move the coronation ceremony to that night.
But first, she cancels her dinner plans with Kevin, who had just had this lovely evening building snow people with.
So Fiona, still pretending to be Margaret,aret yeah tells kevin that things are over
between them and he's devastated and he heads to the airport meanwhile the real margaret goes to
prince edward who has just been like bumbling around this entire movie not aware of where he
is or who his wife is or anything he's just been gaslit by so many people and then he asks vanessa for help
and he never receives the help he asks for that was when i was truly at my like most sympathetic
for prince edward is when he like asks well and least because you're like you can't tell that's
your wife yikes um but also half the time i can't either there's some times where i'm like wait who
is that but um i think they should have made
a little bit more difference in the hair
because sometimes I'm like,
all the accents are so fake.
The only thing that gets me to figure out
who is who is that Margaret always wears
like a deep red lipstick
and usually more eye makeup,
but not as much eye makeup as Fiona.
So yeah, I know they all have to kind of look like
vanessa hudgens but like it does get confusing there should be more yeah there should be like a
greater visual signifier of like which one is which i did feel bad for prince edward when he
was drinking cocoa just in the middle of an empty room and was like oh like my wife doesn't
want to hang out with me i'm so sad i'm not even that busy i'm lying about being busy being a king
isn't even that hard like oh this sucks and then he's talking to his wife and and she's like oh um it'll probably all work out you're like that's all you got oh it's sad
i oh yeah i felt bad for him in that scene i was like edward just move on man well my main note for
him was that not that i even appreciate this per se because i don't like it when like any character
who because he seems like a pretty kind decent man doesn't seem like a bad person he just seems
like the world just seems boring and unaware of his surroundings but parents are probably cousins
he's royal you know and they're probably dead maybe from a peanut allergy. Who can say?
Parents, peanuts, parents, peanuts.
What I noticed, I suppose, is that in most movies that revolve around a romantic storyline,
and there is also some kind of lie or bet or game component to the romance where a character is being lied to about what's
really happening it's usually a woman who is like the victim of this lie so for that to be switched
a little bit and it's it's edward who is constantly being lied to and gaslit uh again i don't like to
see it the thing is like it's like i i don't like when people
like writers are like oh i'm not you know they invert it instead of subverting it right where
they're like oh let's just do a fucking oceans 12 of this plot point like you're like it's still
not compelling i felt the same way about um kevin and the sweatpants like i feel like that's usually
a plot point that's like right taken against a female character who went through a breakup
and they're like oh get yourself together you're wearing sweatpants you have to like get him back
and I think that's right oh yeah and he's also like I'm gonna get another cat and it's like come
on like cat lady sweatpants think to him and they're like oh but it's a cat daddy it's a daddy and you're
like it's still like no like what well we're trying to say is like let's do one better for
everybody like yeah i every time they it's just such lazy laziness to i mean but these movies
are lazy so i wasn't like outraged but i'm like yeah kevin and edward are both kind
of like treated how women in this genre are often treated which is interesting but it's still bad
writing right it's not like good writing to take a stereotype and then just gender flip it that's
not that's creative stop doing that like yeah but in this genre i guess it makes the i don't like it
but it's like i guess i'm not like why isn't this movie better written like we know why
yeah but yeah i totally agree i was i find edward he's just sipping cocoa he's he's wearing sweat
pants spiritually not literally right he might be literally wearing a tuxedo
but spiritually he's also a sad sweatpants cat daddy that's true but yeah like you said our
as an audience our expectations need to be as low as the stakes are for stacy and Margaret, which is like basement level apartment style.
All right.
So Fiona has sabotaged Kevin's relationship with Margaret.
Meanwhile, the real Margaret goes to Prince Edward and tells him and her, the other few members of her staff that she does have about the situation and then they figure out that this imposter is fiona and she must have kidnapped stacy and that they must be keeping her at the
pembroke estate how they managed to figure out exactly where stacy is based on what little
information they have only deduced and not even confirmed is a bit confusing but they figure it all out it just
happens to be right and then fiona as margaret is trying to convince antonio to like move the
coronation ceremony to that night so that she can be crowned queen for reasons unclear that
for plot doesn't need to happen plot reason um but. But Antonio realizes that Fiona is not Margaret.
And he's like, well, I'll rat you out or you can let me in on this scheme and we can split the money.
So that's their plan moving forward.
Meanwhile.
Sure is.
I liked when they combined forces but again i just felt like even like the stakes were
confusing for antonio i like if we're gonna have antonio which we don't need really i kind of wish
he wanted more or like i didn't understand why by the rules of this movie you would think that
antonio would like fall madly in love with fiona right away he's like oh i love women who look like vanessa hudgens and
you're evil just like me like just there was no he was just like okay i guess i'm on board as long
as i'm involved right i didn't want them to fall in love but i just like thought there should have
been some other thing he wanted like it shouldn't have been so easy for
her for fiona to just be like okay we're evil together now like right like it because then his
his function kind of like goes away like i don't know yeah well and then his motivation is
established to be that because she's like why do you need my why do you need the money you're filthy rich and
he's like no my brother inherited most of the estate i only have a very small income which i'm
sure is still very substantial but by royal standards are like identical in that they're
like i want to maintain my lifestyle but i can't yeah exactly so but that implies that if his brother inherited the estate, his dad also must be dead. Right?
What's going on?
Who's killing all the elder members of this royal family?
Do they all have peanut allergies? Could you trace it back? Is there a royal chef that's got it in for everybody?
Is it Kevin?
Is it the same royal chef who is in The Christmas Prince 2?
Who Rudy befriends?
It makes you, whoa.
Oh, that would be Rudy.
I can't even think about Rudy right now.
My head will explode.
Hey, I'm walking here. I'm from york you're like this is just this is we need to turn the television off
uh yeah i don't they i didn't even think of that where he i i don't know the the whole antonio
antonio i feel like should have been like left in a previous draft i don't by the end it's like
fiona's doing what antonio is doing and then it's like well then why do we need two of these
characters what i guess he technically is like well i can get the coronation to happen earlier
but i'm like well all right yeah i
guess i liked i liked when the priest was confused that was fun that was very fun anyways so yeah
now antonio is like dot dot dot involved like i don't know yeah he's in on the scheme meanwhile
edward margaret and the others margaret staff rescue st from Pembroke estate and then rush to the cathedral
to stop Fiona from going through with the coronation. And then that's when the priests
are all confused. And then they successfully stop all that. Antonio gets thrown in the dungeon.
Fiona just sort of slips out unpunished. And then they all rush to the airport where kevin is about to
get on a plane again the tropiest thing that the movie possibly could have done they do it uh and
then margaret's like no that wasn't me who sent you away that was fiona i love you i want to marry
you and he's like i want to marry you so then they find a random priest who is about to
board his flight in this belgravian or whatever the fuck country they're in at this point i was
like sure i also something i got really stuck on but apparently they were i was i was outraged at
the very idea that there would be a direct flight from chicago to belgravia but
i guess that they were going to london to get a connecting flight to chicago so you know what
good job movie good job movie i was like there's no way there's a direct from chicago to belgravia
i just don't believe it no anyways but yeah yes they find a priest who is about to get onto a fucking delta flight
and then they make him officiate their impromptu airport wedding kevin does not card vanessa
no one has to prove their identity first of all priest needs to like get his act together
because i'm pretty sure you need to prove who you are
before you can get married and you need to like sign documents and stuff it was a sham it was a
sham of a wedding and i hope that they know that they weren't they're not actually married and
that kevin can still go back to chicago and we don't need to continue oh maybe that's part of
the plot of the third movie anyway the mary was the marriage was clearly not legitimate. The priest was coerced.
So this completely not legally binding marriage happens at the airport.
And then the next day is Christmas.
And that is when the real Margaret has her real coronation to become the real queen.
And this is where Queen Amber and king richard from christmas prince
and their royal baby they are present and we go and then everyone lives happily ever after and
that's the movie this is the smallest reward that i'll get i was concerned that the coronation was also going to turn into
a second wedding I was at least glad that like after the airport wedding I'm like oh my god
they're gonna do like and now here's the real wedding but at least at very very least the
coronation stayed focused on Margaret as it should have stayed focused on margaret even though it was uh nothing makes sense but i did appreciate
i was concerned there was going to be a second larger wedding following the airport wedding
sure a few few things that we blew through that i just i just stacy escaping from the hench people
is extremely compelling that was the coolest thing she's
ever done in her entire character's life is when she escapes from i'm like okay so you have skills
you can at least bake and escape old castles like you know apply these skills somewhere you know
just do that and i like that i do i will hand it to the movie that she got herself out of that situation.
Edward throws a punt at the very end, but that's literally the first thing he's done
in the entire movie.
So I guess I'll give it a pass.
But like he didn't rescue her.
She rescued herself.
She rescues herself.
And then Edward throws a ceremonial princely punch at the end to um what's his name the right does it pass the
test when the most boring character in the movie punches the most interesting character in the
movie in the face yes it does and then also does it we also skipped over this does it pass the
battle test when uh one hench person locks another hench person in a trunk does that
because sarsha ronan gets locked yes for some reason does it pass the bechdel test when she
get out when third vanessa hudgens aka fiona is looking at herself in the mirror laughing and
being like off with the heads yes okay that actually i think it does when any of the venus
i will say it does not pass the bechdel test very much i wasn't keeping like super close math on
this yeah me but it barely passes between stacy and margaret if at all because all they ever do
is talk about fucking kevin uh right so that's not good i think it does pass between the gals and olivia at one point um
it definitely passes between fiona and margaret that basically that whole scene is fiona does
it pass when vanessa hudgens tells a different vanessa hudgens that she's useless and to get out
yes yes um so it does pass between various vanessas and also with olivia and then i think with sercia a couple
of times but the okay the end the end the end where fiona okay so i do love when margaret rolls
up and you're like okay we know that stacy has been captured we haven't figured out that kevin
is going to the belgravian airport i'm assuming the only one or not Belgrade, Montenaro.
I don't know where they are.
Yeah, I guess they are in Montenaro.
Yeah, it's pretty close.
But like they're going to the Montenaro airport by.
Oh, OK.
I have another question, but just a second.
OK, so they roll up.
I'm like, OK, this is where Margaret's arc is gonna go it's gonna be like
she's finally gonna stand up for herself for the first time in the entire movie and she's gonna be
like fiona you're going you're out of here sweetheart but she she sends antonio to the
dungeon which is something that also exists in a christmas prince that i'm like do those still
exist i don't know they send antonio to the dungeon life imprisonment right without a trial fiona talks her way out of
it within a minute again i'm like we needed to see margaret stand up to her bully cousin and she
doesn't do it she's like okay you're gonna have to do so much community service and fiona's like thank you
so much this was a big misunderstanding yeah you're my family and i've always looked up to you
she's lying her way through the whole monologue and margaret completely buys it if you're rooting
for fiona it kind of rocked like if you're rooting for fiona at the end you're like wow
she was like a devious lying villain to the very end because there's no way she's like yeah cuz oh like cuz oh you
just realized that or also how that did you remember that line where fiona like is talking
to margaret and she says something to the effect of yeah you didn't realize that you wanted to be a queen until now how do you know that yeah
what are you talking about it was iconic it reminds me of that meme that's like no don't do that you're
so sexy haha fiona does that but she's like no don't put me in the dungeon you're so sexy haha
and margaret's like okay i won't and then she doesn't yeah um but then
she's told she has community service but then she's seen surrounded by cops and then at the
coronation so right right yeah did the hen people go to the dungeon why weren't they at the
coronation what happened there right what's that all about who was that cab driver what was that
all about okay isn't that a reference to the first movie?
Yes, but then I went back and watched the first movie and I'm like, I also don't understand him in the first movie.
Is he Santa?
I think there's some implication that he's sort of like this magical Christmas figure who orchestrates these fantastical storylines or something.
But then I also was like like we didn't get a satisfactory
enough answer of who he was in the first movie to justify bringing him back because what his plot
he's like a plot santa because all he does is all he does he also does more in the first movie than
he does in this one the only thing he does in this movie drives kevin and olivia to the airport the wrong way correct he just drives into the
airport really really slow in a very roundabout way yes classic santa um he just drives him to
the airport wrong because he knows that one of the vanessas has to get out of a castle and the
other vanessa has to also that wasn't the castle they
were describing like a good hour away from the they they say that the castle is an hour away
so you have to factor so I'm like how long were they in this cab um right that's such a commute
that's like a two hour how far away is the airport unless the the airport just happened to be right
next to the Pembroke estate.
But we're not given a map.
We don't know.
We assume it's quite a drive.
I felt like I was just spinning around in a circle when I was supposed to be dancing.
It was a really jarring experience.
Also, Olivia, I guess, you know what?
Fuck Chicago, Olivia.
We live in Montenaro now.aro now just like oh what's that
you say Olivia just like the end of the last
fucking movie that's right
these characters have
the exact same ending as the last
fucking movie
I mean it's easy to like
uproot a child character
from her life when you don't do
anything at all to characterize her or
give her like an interior life at all and only make her obsessed with whether who who her father
is having sex with and whether or not they are having sex i feel for kevin to an extent but also
like he shouldn't have shown up like that margaret could have been justifiably mad at him he shouldn't have shown up like that. Margaret could have been justifiably mad at him. He shouldn't have brought his child
into this whole situation again.
So what's what?
So what?
Let's not forget.
So this movie opens after the animated montage,
but before the plot starts.
And the whole plot of the first movie
revolves around this baking
contest yes which what is up with belgravia and montanaro that they have their royal family
being the judges for these low budget baking contests yeah it's like are you that's it brings
me back to the first scene where like stacy and ever they were like we're so busy yeah it's like are you that's it brings me back to the first scene where
like stacy and ever they were like we're so busy and it's like doing what you're going to going to
a baking competition sure yeah it's like okay yeah you're booked right up um i will say that
that of and this is like not really a compliment, but the Princess Witch movies are a little more diverse than some of the other Netflix Christmas movies.
Because usually, especially in A Christmas Prince, which we'll talk about in our other episode, when there are non-white characters, they are troped, troped, troped in very offensive ways.
And usually relegated to like secondary or tertiary characters exactly so in in the princess switch um that doesn't happen
uh it's still very aggressively hetero and the movies are still like god awful but um you know there that's the end of my sentence there it is yep take it or
leave it most will choose to leave it um and that's okay no but yeah i mean christmas movies
in general when we've talked about this i mean there's a whole conversation to be had, which we've had on on different episodes about just the centering the rigid white heteroness of that and just like holiday movies predominantly being about Christmas, which is obviously a very Christian holiday, leaving out many other holidays of this season, other holidays of any season, any other religions,
any non-religions, you know, like, what about secular people and their celebrations?
And, you know, just completely erasing any kind of other cultures or religions, holidays,
and traditions and things like that. So there's just like a very like Christian white hetero centric idealization of.
It's I mean, if you look at some of it, I'm sure that a lot of our listeners have seen
already like the montages of Hallmark Christmas movie posters.
It's always like a hetero white couple in when one's wearing a green sweater and one's
wearing a blue sweater and they're all the same exact movie yeah i mean it's it's something that it seems like at very least
these companies are becoming aware of and they're aware that there is a demand for more diversity
in this genre so i hope we continue to see more of that even in the netflix christmas movie universe like
you've seen things improving the movies are always bad but that's also the genre like i don't know
the princess switch is like definitely a nudge in the right direction in in in that regard yeah
the movies are never going to be good and we all and on top of that um we need movies that
are less rigidly hetero i mean again a christmas prince tries to do this but they do it in mostly
a way that's tropey and bad yes so it's it's interesting how i feel like these genres especially
these very formulaic genres are interesting to keep an eye on in terms of like progress and representation yeah i don't i don't know this genre in particular has so much
work to do in terms of casting more diversely telling literally and a second story a second
story would be amazing um because it's mostly the same movie 5,000 times.
Yes.
There's been a lot written about it as well that probably speak to this more articulately than we are.
And I feel like we do talk about it every year.
Yeah.
So this genre is, this movie and this series is not the worst offender, which is definitely.
Is not saying much.
Not saying much.
But, you know, it's I think that like it is true that when movies like these do well and they're continually like nudged and pressured to have more representation in the worst film genre of all time.
Like it does make a difference.
And it's important that we keep yeah talking about it um for sure you know i do want a fourth vanessa hudgens
well here let me tell you about my pitch for okay yes princess switch three switched again again
this episode is officially longer than the movie.
Whoopsies.
Well, I luckily have most of my notes.
They've already been said.
I do have a couple other things. So here's a pitch that I spent exactly five seconds thinking of.
So it doesn't make any sense, but neither do any of these movies.
So it's actually very in keeping with the the brand okay so the movie opens margaret
is six months pregnant with a royal baby but her airport wedding with kevin was only three months
ago oh no so to avoid a premarital sex scandal, she and Stacey have to switch places again because Stacey is not pregnant so that Stacey can appear in public as Margaret looking non-pregnant.
But Stacey is getting tired of being in the public eye.
So she's like, this is so much pressure. I don't know how much longer i can deal with this and then just then a long lost cousin of stacy's who comes from deep within
appalachia shows up and she's like why do you get all the like royal fun i want a part of this
you know we're we're for family i should be entitled to some you know royal whatever so but she this this
this cousin almost discovers this secret pregnancy so then they have to get fiona back sorry what did
you say i'm sorry gregnessy thank you you're welcome so then they have to get margaret's cousin fiona back to pretend to actually no i
don't this is the i've lost the thread but basically there's something there you get the
four vanessa hudgens is i want vanessa hudgens to give birth to another vanessa hudgens oh full vanessa size they're like she or like one of the okay
here's my pitch stacy lays an egg one day and she's like oh my god what is this and then it's
called it's called princess switch three switched again again the royal egg and uh it's all about an
egg that stacy lays and she has to sit on the egg.
And meanwhile, Fiona and Margaret have to switch for some reason.
Someone has to switch with Stacey.
So now a different Vanessa is sitting on the egg.
And all this stuff happens. And then at the end, Edward eats a peanut and he dies.
And he dies.
And just as he's dying, a fourth Vanessa Hudgens hatches out of the egg.
Wow.
And then everyone has dad trauma.
All the Vanessas.
Wow.
Is Stacy's father alive?
Do we know?
Is he?
I forget.
I don't know if he ever gets brought up.
So I'm not sure.
Well, my pitch is fourth Vanessa Hudgens hatches out of an egg.
Incredible.
Could be fun.
Love it.
Let's pitch it to the most generic sounding production company in the world,
Motion Picture Corporation of America. Corporation of America.
Motion Picture Chicago of America.
I just have a couple last.
I mean, we've talked about how tropey these movies tend to be.
They're tropey in the kind of Christmas movie sense.
They're tropey in the rom-com sense.
Part of that is a makeover montage in which we get not one, not two, but three different makeovers happening because of all the switches.
I guess necessary to the plot.
But is it um but is it
oh okay a couple notes on um fiona who again is the best character at one point she gets into a
convertible while it is snowing with the top down and drives off in the snow with the top still down explain that i honestly did not even
notice and now it's just i'll try to figure out the time code for that because it's a must watch
i honestly didn't even register the aggressive makeover scene because i think i'm so gaslit by these movies good call good call um let me see was there
anything else my last question i had this is kind of a crossover question with our christmas prince
two episode but my question is what side of world war ii was belgravia on great i could see it going
either way i don't know i don't know i don't trust i
don't trust um maybe that's why vanessa wasn't upset that her father died maybe he was on the
wrong side of world war ii i don't know could be don't know uh yeah there's what's the history of
this country i feel like with aldovia we get too much history in bait where but their history is
mostly related to curses and ghosts but But Belgravia, we know nothing.
We know nothing about the history of the country.
I wouldn't be surprised if they had a pretty fashy history.
That's just my thought.
We got to get to the bottom of this.
We got another year.
We certainly do.
The movie does pass the Bechdel test, as we mentioned.
Yes.
However, nipple scale wise,
what do you even do with this i guess i would give it
i this is too generous i will say this right now but i will give it one and a half because i was so
passionate about fiona's character i was genuinely like i know vanessa hudgens there is a lot to criticize there and
also she is terrible at apologizing when she fucks up that said her performance of fiona is i think
my favorite performance she's ever given same and i really was rooting for fiona to steal montanaro
and i thought she was like a highly motivated even if the motivation made no sense i was rooting for Fiona to steal Montanaro and I thought she was like a highly motivated even if
the motivation made no sense I was rooting for her she was in she was in charge uh she didn't
care if her family lived or died like I just was like wow what uh what a compelling character so
I'm gonna give one and a half nipples exclusively for fiona and also
her two hench people who were also iconic yeah one of the mindy is wearing safety pin earrings
and they're i'm like where can i buy those um all very 2007 yeah yes i would say one of the better
female movie villains i have seen really ever so yeah especially i feel
like there's not a lot of female well this could this maybe isn't true but like in terms of like
christmas movie villains in particular i feel like there's not a lot of female this is so in the
weeds but like female christmas movie villains there's not a lot of them and and fiona is an incredible one
she's so good she's better than simon oh yeah obviously but yeah it goes without saying so i
was good i mean and one and a half nipples generous yes i was going to give it two which is
really too generous two nipples i'll up it to two oh because Oh, because when you do the math, two out of five is still 40%, which is an F.
That is a failing grade.
So I feel okay about that.
But you're right.
Let's give the full nip.
It's the holidays.
Yeah, I'm feeling generous.
Yeah, we're in that mood.
Two nipples.
Yeah, it's still rom-com Christmas movie propaganda.
It's very tropey.
It's not well written or thought out.
The female characters are nothing really interesting is done with them speaking specifically about Stacey and Margaret.
But I do really enjoy Fiona as as a character as a villain i think the movie was
probably written uh in less than a week and then maybe that's why it's so sloppy 45 minutes
i also i'm like it has to just be like no one because i think that if you were going to write
a movie that made this little sense on purpose it would actually be really hard
you know like maybe it would be easier to write a movie that sort of made sense in a week than
write a movie that makes no sense on purpose in a week true yeah which which supports the the 45
minute draft uh hypothesis i can see that yeah um yeah yeah this movie isn't contemptuous of women but it just uh
didn't try very hard that said fiona pembroke is contemptuous of fathers it's really murdering
fathers right and left yeah but i do love the fiona character uh another really great female movie villain from josey and the pussycats is also named fiona
is it a trope we'll find out um anyway two nipples uh and i will give one to fiona and i will give
one to reggie oh i love what you and reggie have um I feel like he and I could be best friends.
I'm just obsessed with Fiona.
It's not okay.
It's not right.
But it is.
Yeah.
So here we are.
Well, that's the end of the episode.
What else needs to be said?
What else?
We said it all.
We said it all and then some.
Yeah.
In this essay essay we did so if you don't already subscribe to the matreon once again now's a great time to do it to get
episodes like this it's a gift you give to yourself this is a gift giving season so you know
why not give the gift of the matreon to a loved one they'll be so grateful we
guarantee it and the thing is uh we we keep most of our bonus episodes locked up yeah we've only
ever released a few there's over a hundred now on the matron so if you are a bexel cast super fan you've heard most of the episodes on the main feed
there's literally hundreds and hundreds of hours more where that came from we can't stop creating
content we it's sick there are like 10 it's more like four or five but so many
titanic episodes on the Matreon.
We're out of control is what I'm saying.
Oh,
it's wild.
There's just so much going on over there.
And,
and you know,
it's just a lovely community.
Five bucks a month.
Give a gift to yourself.
Give a gift to a friend who,
who enjoys the show.
Yeah.
And you can also find us on all the social media platforms that you would expect.
Twitter, Instagram, at Bechdelcast.
And if you would like to get merch, another great gift to give to yourself and others,
that's over at tpublic.com slash the Bechdel cast and hopefully this movie this this episode um has inspired you
to go watch the princess switch there were three many Vanessa Hudgens the second part part two
and we'll just I'm starting to like create my circle of crystals to manifest for Vanessa
Hudgens next year you know what why not five well what if that
would be wild if they skipped from three to five I want to believe it anything could happen it would
be a Christmas miracle that's why I love you Caitlin you're not afraid to really dream, you know. Thank you so much.
Well, bye bye.
Bye.
Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years.
I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do.
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