I didn’t have high expectations going into A Knight to Remember, and honestly, a big part of that came down to the promotional poster. It didn’t capture the charm you expect from a Hallmark movie, and it certainly didn’t do Julie Gonzalo and James Trevena any favors with those blank stares.

A statue of an English knight arrives in Chicago for an art exhibit. While cleaning the statue, museum conservator Emily impulsively kisses the statue, bringing him to life. Photo: James Trevena, Julie Gonzalo Credit: ©2026 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Allister Foster

Still, I gave it a shot. It’s set in my hometown, Chicago, so I felt like I had to support it; plus, I’m a sucker for a predictable, cheesy love story. Much to my surprise, I ended up genuinely enjoying it and liking it way more than I thought I would. It’s easy to be critical of these movies because, yes, they’re into all the Hallmark staples—with plenty of pumpkin spice latte references to emphasize that this is a fall film—but there’s also real heart and some solid comedic moments.

I wasn’t fully convinced by the premise of a medieval knight who’s turned to stone and accidentally comes back to life to find true love. But as I started my watch, my mind raced to remember where I saw a knight-turned-real-boy storyline before, eventually landing on one of the more enjoyable Christmas films of years prior— Vanessa Hudgens The Knight Before Christmas. Turns out, there is something captivating and heartwarming about time-traveling knights (with great manners and a big flirting game) finding their place in the modern world.

As for the plot, there was plenty to work with, starting in 1428, when marrying for love wasn’t the norm; Sir Griffin already knew he didn’t want the life laid out for him. Maybe he was more of a modern man than he ever even knew. 

In fact, he’d rather be turned to stone than marry Princess Beatrice, which, frankly, says a lot. I do wish we got more of his past, or even a glimpse of Beatrice, but alas, the story fully focused on Griffin’s present-day adventures, navigating a world that was so deeply unfamiliar to his time.

As Griffin’s wish was granted centuries later, he woke up after Emily planted a kiss on his stone lips.  And yes, I did spend a few minutes wondering why she committed to fully kissing a stone figure with such passion, but I guess we’re just rolling with it. Love (or loneliness) makes you do crazy things! 

As the stone pieces keeping him trapped break away, Griffin is freed. And he’s been preserved in all his glory, apparently, without any bad breath! (I know, these are the things you just accept when diving into these rom-coms, but I couldn’t shake it.)

He navigates this big, new world with wide-eyed wonder. 

The biggest thing to throw him off? Cars… or rather, rideshares.

From here on out, I will be referring to my shower as “indoor rain” because that’s much more logical. Thanks, Griffin. 

Memory foam beds (“sleeping on clouds”) and bagels—all become part of his journey, as does a pumpkin spice latte, and it’s charming to see him enjoy one for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, Emily is dealing—very casually, I might add—with the whole “a statue went missing” fiasco at the museum. 

“What, did it just get legs and walk away?” my mother would ask… And, well…

Personally, I would not be that calm, but she clearly doesn’t have the same debilitating anxiety that I do anytime my boss pings me asking if I have a minute to chat. 

And she’s far more focused on helping Griffin complete his quest before he turns back to stone again, a fate he’d, understandably, like to avoid if at all possible.

Part of that mission involves Emily convincing herself and everyone around her that she’s not into him, despite being totally into him.

And there’s the aptly-timed Medieval Fayre hosted by her good friend Marcus, who was totally crushing on her work BFF, Ivy. Griffin picked up on it in mere seconds, but sadly, we never got to see anything pan out between them, which is a missed opportunity. There was no payoff to all those moments teasing the connection between Ivy and Marcus. Couldn’t we get a little kiss on the cheek during one of the fair moments?

There’s also Emily’s ex, Tom, who complicates everything. 

He’s leading the investigation into the missing statue, clearly motivated by career ambition (which tells us all we need to know about what kind of husband he was), along with a smidge of little jealousy that Emily has a hunky new dude around.

A statue of an English knight arrives in Chicago for an art exhibit. While cleaning the statue, museum conservator Emily impulsively kisses the statue, bringing him to life. Photo: James Trevena, Julie Gonzalo Credit: ©2026 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Luka Cyprian

To be fair, his suspicion that Griffin could be a con artist isn’t entirely unreasonable given the armour with the residue matching the one found at the museum. But it’s the way he undermines Emily in the process, suggesting she’s so gullible, that makes it so extremely easy to root against him. When he tries to rekindle their relationship, playing the “I miss you” and “you were the best thing to happen to me” card, she shuts it down quickly—and rightfully so. 

In the end, Tom gets what’s coming to him when his conflict of interest is exposed, as well as the fact that he broke into an apartment to obtain evidence.

He really thought he did something… 

It’s a satisfying moment, just as it was to see Emily tell Tom the entire truth about Griffin, only for him to dismiss it as a joke. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Tom fully realize just how wrong he was about Griffin, and that he just lost the love of his life to a piece of stone! 

The core of the story revolves around Griffin’s fate, as Emily has just three days to fall in love with him or he’ll turn to stone forever. 

The catch is that her feelings have to be real, as Griffin refuses to tell Emily what’s at stake so that she doesn’t feel manipulated or forced into loving him.

No pressure or anything! 

The deadline looms, but Emily continues to struggle to admit how she feels, her past with Tom clearly leaving its mark. 

Even as Griffin’s fingers begin to turn gray, Emily can’t get the words out, which is frustrating. 

Of course, this is Hallmark, so things work out. Emily realizes her life has been split into “before Griffin” and “after Griffin,” and she can’t imagine a life without him. The clarity helps her finally embrace her feelings, and it’s sealed with a kiss.

Griffin stays in the modern world to permanently enjoy the perks of indoor plumbing, and the two move forward together, bringing their story to life as part of the museum’s exhibit, which is such a hit that they’re embarking on a world tour. 

It’s a happy ending, as expected—even if Emily had us in the first half.

As for the standout quote from the film, the award goes to Griffin, as he reflects on the world that no longer exists: “I do not ache for lost love, I ache for lost life.”

Slightly cheesy? Sure! But also surprisingly meaningful.

Did you enjoy A Knight to Remember as much as I did? What stood out most to you? Share your thoughts! 

Read more: Hallmark Unveils 2026 Countdown to Christmas Schedule—Including the Premiere Date for ‘Mistletoe Murders’ Season 3

Anna Pigoen doesn’t have time to get into all the deeply personal stuff that we audiences may want to see from the series because they’re too busy dealing with dead bodies popping up all over the national park.

The personal stuff tends to be pushed off to the back burner as a secondary storyline—much to Anna’s liking, I’m sure—though hopefully, now that we’re more than halfway through the first season and barreling towards the finale, she’ll finally find the time to confront her emotions and be—dare I say it—vulnerable. 

Even if she’s not doing it willingly, it seems circumstances are going to push her in that direction whether she likes it or not. 

I’m talking about the cliffhanger, of course—one that could change everything in her relationship with Jesse, wherever it stands right now.

In the final moments of the episode, Jesse was down by the water getting more samples to test. After seeing a few dead fish–along with his first dead body—the almost-geologist gathered that there may be something in the water killing off the fish. He contacted his ex (he should know better than to open up that line of communication, even if they did end on good terms) to have it tested, which revealed high levels of sulfuric acid… potentially from a chemical plant or solution mining. 

Of course, that raised plenty of red flags on its own, but the shot at the end almost solidified that whoever is responsible for the toxic water that’s killing the fish wants to keep it a secret. And there’s only one person who comes to mind who could be connected to this—Jeremiah.

Otherwise, why would someone go to such great lengths to stop Jesse from investigating it? Why would someone want to silence the results?

Jesse got hit in the arm, but the shot knocked him out, and the last we saw, he was carried, unconscious, by the stream.

Can Anna handle losing another person she has feelings for just years after she lost her husband? After all, that’s the biggest reason she won’t commit to something more serious with Jesse (aside from her feelings for Frederick that she’s repressing)—Anna doesn’t want to be “responsible” for anyone again, as she believes she failed to look out for Zach. 

Jesse isn’t really asking her to be his mother or caretaker, and quite frankly, Anna already seems to feel a sense of responsibility for him, even without labeling their relationship.

It happened the minute she caught feelings. It might be more casual, but Anna cares. Deeply. Otherwise, she wouldn’t keep circling back around. 

You’d think watching Maeve Boone’s romance play out would make Anna think twice, especially since Maeve’s reluctance to commit to Lou ultimately led him to build a secret family she didn’t know about. Is that really how Anna wants things to play out with Jesse? She has a fear of commitment, but she’s also the kind of person who wants something real; she just needs to stop being too scared to make the leap again. 

Ep# 108 -“The Death Grin” – Cooper Levy as Jesse Garland in Anna Pigeon on the USA NETWORK. Photo credit: Michelle Faye/USA Network © VERSANT MEDIA 2025. All Rights Reserved

Instead, she’s found it easier to convince herself that cutting the cord is easier and will somehow spare her feelings. 

But finding out that Jesse’s been shot might throw her for a loop and make her realize how much she truly cares about him. And it will either be the thing that pushes her walls down or pushes him away, thinking that she’s protecting him by getting him as far away from this forest as possible. 

Maybe there’s a little bit of truth to that? There are too many people dropping dead in this forest weekly.

Before he was shot, Jesse had just been offered a job in his field, as his ex had asked him to join her as a field geologist assistant in Arizona. It felt like a turning point for Anna and Jesse.

Jesse told Anna, hoping she’d realize she was about to lose him and ask him to stay. Instead, she did the opposite, encouraging him to go, unwilling to be the reason he held himself back, especially since she’s not ready to commit to something more serious. 

They keep dancing around the truth, but maybe Jesse’s shooting truly will be the wake-up call that Anna needs to stop hiding behind the traumatic thing that happened to her. 

These personal developments also took up a whopping less than 5 minutes of the episode, which largely focused on the death of Maeve’s son, Buck, who collapsed in the same river where the fish were dying.

As far as whodunnit mysteries go, this one was entertaining. 

When he was found, Buck had this extremely eerie smile plastered on his face, which we later learn is a hemlock death grin caused by a muscle spasm that freezes a victim’s corpse into a chilling, unnatural smile.

Buck’s case allowed us to get more insight into Frieda’s character, as she had a close connection to him through her writing class, which helped Anna piece together that this wasn’t a suicide, despite the blunt note left behind suggesting that it was. 

With Frieda’s help, Anna jumped to her next suspect—Buck’s sister—who pointed the finger at her mother’s lover, Lou, who she claimed had the most to gain by eliminating Buck and taking over his shares of the will. 

And honestly, Lou did look guilty, particularly after he stole Buck’s work, which we later learned was his memoir, and then admitted to having a secret family while still having a romantic relationship with Maeve. 

Initially, it didn’t seem like Buck’s memoir would’ve exposed anything, so it was odd that Lou went to such lengths to get his hands on it, but tucked in between the pages was an ancestry DNA test that revealed something that Maeve would’ve killed to keep hidden—she wasn’t Buck’s birth mother. 

When Anna paid Maeve another visit, this time she was in a strangely honest mood, which should’ve been a red flag almost immediately. 

She told Anna the real story of Buck’s mother, her best friend, who was actually the one sent to a maternity home at 16 to give birth to her son. The conditions there were deplorable, and she died 2 days later. Maeve never intended to steal her best friend’s story and pretend to be Buck’s mother, but when he found her later in life, he was so desperate for a mother, and the press assumed it was her, so she just went with it.

And it wasn’t for pure reasons either, it was mostly selfish, as she claimed it was the only reason anyone was even interested in her work, eventually hinging her entire career—and it’s success—on the story.

She claimed it was “impossible to take it back,” and when Buck found out, he was determined to tell the truth, which would’ve destroyed everything she worked for. 

She felt her life’s work slipping away, which she couldn’t let happen, so she drugged him.

I was actually a little thrown off by the revelation because I was convinced Lou had something to do with it. And well, you never want to think that a mother, or even one that’s pretended to be a mother for all these years, would do such a thing, but in retrospect, the signs were there. She only cared about Buck so much because of the impact he had on her career; her biological daughter made it clear her mother never even gave her an ounce of that love or attention. 

And since she was already dying after a diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy, she told Anna the truth before the drug she’d poisoned her wine with kicked in.

She died with the same creepy grin on her face, bringing the storyline full circle.

Anna’s dealt with her fair share of crazy instances that would send the average person running to a different park, but I don’t think she’s even had much time to process them, self-medicating with her wine. 

Ep# 108 -“The Death Grin” – Cooper Levy as Jesse Garland and Tracy Spiridakos as Anna Pigeon in Anna Pigeon on the USA NETWORK. Photo credit: Michelle Faye/USA Network © VERSANT MEDIA 2025. All Rights Reserved

Will it all change once she nearly loses Jesse? How will Jesse’s near-death experience (because I’m hoping he doesn’t die) change the trajectory of Anna’s story and the remaining two episodes of the season? Will it bring them closer together or push them apart? And will we get any insight into Zach’s murder before the season is up?

Other Moments

• Manny resigned, but will they actually let him leave? I feel like we’re not invested enough in this character to care either way, but I imagine he needs to stick around for his wife Bethany’s trial!
• The loss of Buck pushed Frieda to live boldly, agreeing to go to dinner with Christina. 

Share your thoughts in the comments! 

My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3 was one of the most frustrating things I’ve watched in a long time, particularly the ending, which might just mean they did what they set out to accomplish. 

And while they could never make me hate them, it was infuriating to watch so many storylines pan out, knowing that everything could’ve been solved with a simple chat. 

Heck, even a text message would’ve sufficed, but instead, they just kept digging larger holes and burying themselves under. 

SPOILERS – This post contains spoilers from My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3, including the finale, so stop reading if you haven’t watched it.

And then I thought, surely, the series would finally give Cole Walters a break, because he went through it and back this season, but nope, they sure didn’t.

Instead, it ended with another heartwrenching cliffhanger, with yet another life hanging in the balance, a mere 10 episodes after ending last season with the Walters patriarch, George, fighting for his life after a stroke.

How much can Katherine endure? Truly.

Much of the season focused on Cole’s downward spiral, just as he’d begun seeing brighter days, proving that old habits die hard, especially when self-sabotaging is the only way you know how to cope when the world is stacked against you. It didn’t help that everyone used him as a punching bag under the guise of caring about Jackie. They all made him feel less than, and when someone tells you you’re not good enough, you eventually start to believe them.

As a result, he pushed Jackie away, thinking that was the best thing for her, after Richard and Eliot both made him feel that he was the one person who would derail her entire future. No one seemed to think that when she was with Alex, but Cole, who has a history of reckless behavior (after losing his future dreams), wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt. Instead, he was blamed for everything, without any regard for all the progress he’s made to get his life on the right track. 

Instead of being honest with Jackie, he felt that he was doing her a favor by walking away and making her hate him by telling her he was bored with their relationship and that he didn’t want to be with her anymore. It was out of character, especially since their romance was so real leading up to it, but it was in line with Cole’s previous behavior of running away when things got too real. 

Walking away from something you love, even if it’s for the “right reaosns” doesn’t make it less painful, so Cole coped enaging in risky behavior, taking his drag racing skills to dangerous street racing to feel alive.

The self-destructive behavior was a complete change from the Cole in the beginning of the season, who was coaching, fixing up cars, racing legally, and even got into UT.

While many chalked his behavior up to Cole simply being Cole, some expressed their concerns, noting that it was out-of-character behavior following all the progress he’d made, especially since no one knew exactly why he’d ended things with the love of his life in the first place. 

Danny and Mac both tried to get through to him, but it was really the moment when Dylan kicked him out and took away the car he needed to race, expressing that he wouldn’t give him the keys if the races weren’t legitimate, that helped turn things around for Cole.

He was forced to come back home, where he had no choice but to face Jackie, seeing how much damage he’d caused her.

When he realized that the teen annex, a place that Jackie poured her heart and soul into, wasn’t going to open on time due to a burst pipe in the speakeasy, he took matters into his own hands.

Even though Uncle Richard wasn’t his biggest fan (and I’m no fan of Uncle Richard for his meddling ways), Cole still reached out to him for help getting the annex back into fighting shape.

No good deed goes unpunished, and in this case, everyone seemed to know what Cole did for Jackie except for her. Unlike her childhood friend Eliot, who gave her a hefty donation for the annex to look big, Cole’s gesture flew under the radar, proving that he wasn’t doing it for the glory.

And he finally confided the truth to Alex about his mindset going into the breakup, telling his brother that she would be better off without him because he wasn’t good enough for her or the future she deserved. 

It was actually poetic that the one person he trusted with the most intimate part of his soul was the brother from whom he stole the girl in the first place. However, no one understood self-doubt more than Alex, who told his brother that he’d either be honest with her or she’d find someone else. 

Cole still wasn’t convinced, not until his mom and dad assured him that they were confident that he was a better choice for Jackie than Eliot, emphasizing that they didn’t think he’d ruin her life. 

By that point, Jackie was at the annex opening party with Eliot, who was just waiting for his chance to be with her. He kept reminding her of the life she once had, of Princeton and of the Greece trip waiting for her, assuring her that this small town would be in her rearview mirror in a few years. 

Alex tried to put in a good word for Cole, telling Jackie that he was responsible for rallying the troops to get the annex opened in time, even paying for all the construction workers and getting all the guys from the car shop to pitch in. The gesture, however, left Jackie even more confused. 

First, he breaks her heart, then he goes and does this incredibly selfless thing. And when she texted him to thank him, he didn’t reply. 

Of course, all of this could’ve gone down differently. Alex could’ve told Jackie why Cole did it if she hadn’t immediately dismissed him, and Cole could’ve just texted her back to tell her he was coming to the party to explain after his race. 

But that would be too easy, right? And it wouldn’t make for good, albeit frustrating, TV.

Instead, Cole decided to skip the qualifier race to rush to the annex to get his girl, telling his mother, “I’ve waited long enough.”

The decision to leave the race meant that Danvers didn’t qualify for the Colorado Grand Prix, resulting in lost money, which really upset him, and instead of letting Cole drive away, he started running him off the road until Cole’s car flipped. 

As Cole’s life hung in the balance, Eliot kissed Jackie at the dance. 

And the episode ended, leaving fans waiting until season 4, which is officially in production.

What’s even more frustrating about this is that everyone made terrible decisions leading up to the moment. And I get it, they are teens, but why wouldn’t Cole just do the race, win, get the money, secure himself a career and then go get the girl?

At this point, a few extra minutes wouldn’t have made a difference. 

It felt contrived simply to create a scene where an accident happens, which felt a little cheap, and it came at the expense of the fans, especially as we know that Cole will be just fine. 

And it’s kind of terrible if you think about Jackie once again living through this nightmare, coming close to losing the one person she loves, shortly after losing her entire family in a car accident.

The girl will never trust a vehicle again, and even after she gave him the green light to follow his passion, despite it giving her so much anxiety and stress.

And I can’t help but wonder if everyone will just blame Cole for getting into this situation in the first place and simply assume he was street racing? We know he hasn’t been given the benefit of the doubt this season at all, so they may think he was being reckless while chasing the need for speed. And that would just send me over the edge.

While Cole and Jackie’s relationship was a huge focus of season 3, other storylines also surfaced, particularly Alex’s post-Jackie life. 

As Alex went from being a rodeo star to quitting and trying to find his life’s purpose again, he realized he had feelings for his best friend since kindergarten, Kiley, whose also been crushing on him forever. 

The unfortunate part? He only realized it a little too late, after she got a boyfriend. Typical. And it’s not like Dylan is unlikeable, which made it worse, though the chemistry between Alex and Kiley only intensified anytime they were around each other until their kiss in the penultimate episode. 

Despite getting caught up in the moment—a moment they’ve both wanted for quite some time—Alex couldn’t let himself go down that road because it made him no better than his brother, who stole his girlfriend.

He couldn’t be that guy, but he now found himself in a situation where he understood that guy.

Meanwhile, Kiley didn’t want to cheat on Dylan, but it was clear that she would’ve ended things with him if Alex had been just upfront with her about his feelings.

Instead, Alex tried to save face by calling their kiss a meaningless mistake, which made it all worse, and eventually, Dylan—without knowing about the kiss—asked Alex to give Kiley some space. 

Alex agreed, but then showed up at her front door to profess his love for her, only to see that she’d invited Dylan into her house to meet her grandmother—a major step in their relationship. 

Honestly, if people were just blunt, honest, and said what they needed to say in the right moments, we’d avoid all of these misunderstandings, but alas, here we are, with Alex feeling like he lost his great love and his best friend, all in one swoop. 

• Danny got into Carnegie Mellon; however, he and Erin promised each other that they’d go to college locally after he didn’t get into Juilliard. They also got quietly engaged. Erin informs Danny that he cannot give up on his dream, while he tells her his dream is to be with her. And look, I get it,  some people do marry their high school sweethearts, but that doesn’t mean giving up your future. There’s a way that this works in their favor because they are the most solid couple on the series. 
• Nathan is going on a European band tour. More people need to be like his ex, Skylar, who immediately called Katherine when Nathan had a mini seizure and told him he wasn’t taking his meds anymore. That communication style seems to be lost on literally everyone else.

What did you think of the season? I doubt Cole will perish in the accident, but he won’t come out unscathed. What does it mean for his relationship with Jackie? Will she find out the truth about what motivated Cole to break up with her? And will he still be college-bound?

Will Alex and Kiley find their way back to each other?