Sometimes we do get second chances at things that matter most.
Rob got a second chance with Corrine on Let’s Meet Again on Christmas Eve, and honestly, it’s probably more than he deserved after what he did.
But the holiday season is about forgiveness and love, and people are an imperfect species.
We all need a Bernard in our lives to make sure that we open up our hearts and go for the things that improve our lives, no matter how long it has taken for us to get to a certain point in our lives.
As he told Nancy and Sam at their wedding ceremony, love is patient.
And it had to be for these two kids to reunite and make things right after seven years apart from each other.
Corrine and Rob were college sweethearts, and one of the cutest aspects of the movie was how it started with a narration of how they first met and fell in love.
The use of narrators is an art form, and for those few moments, the film nailed it.
They appeared to be opposites who attracted each other. Corinne was a dreamer type who believed in things like the magic of Christmas, and you’d describe her as a hopeless romantic.
Rob served as the realist, and he wasn’t as enamored with the Christmas season as her, but it’s what made them click.
As a realist, Rob feared that if he took the two-year study opportunity in Italy, then his relationship with Corrine would be over. He was willing to choose her over his dreams.
But Corrine loved him enough to let him go, so as an ode to the shoemaker wives tale she was fascinated with at the Christmas tree, she proposed that they both return to that same spot two years later on Christmas Eve.
If fate wanted them to be together, then it would work out. In Rob’s defense, he did seem reluctant to partake in Corrine’s romanticized project, but they agreed.
The worst-case scenario is someone showing up and not the other, and eventually, we found out that’s the exact thing that happened.
Misunderstandings and poor communication are both a hallmark of these films, but it’s unfathomable that these two allowed these things to ruin them.
Is it so much a misunderstanding as it is making an assumption and rolling with it? And we all know what they say about those.
Corrine got the shock of her life when she arrived at the lodge and found out the photographer working alongside her on Nancy and Sam’s wedding was Rob.
You could see the hurt all over her face, and we later found out that she showed up at their Christmas tree with her half of the postcard two years later as planned, but Rob didn’t show up.
It doesn’t get more devastating than that, and then she never heard from him either, which made it so much worse.
It took a while of hot and cold interactions as Corrine went from falling into the familiarity and comfort of their relationship to pushing him away after remembering how he hurt her.
But we got the truth, and Rob’s excuse for not showing up that day was Facebook stalking her as one does with their exes, and he saw her with Victor. He assumed the first man he saw with her on multiple photos, I guess, was her spouse.
It’s such a weak excuse. It’s a hell of an assumption to make. Victor could have been anyone!
Victor is her boss and friend. She’s known this man for years. He’s happily married, and he’s gay. How intimate did those photos look to give Rob that impression? Honestly!
The Rob who pulled off a platonic bond with Tracy, proving he’s capable of them himself jumping to such a radical conclusion without even attempting to verify, is ludicrous.
But even if you could overlook Rob’s asinine rationale, and that he couldn’t figure out whether or not Corrine broke up with him, or that he didn’t take what she specifically said at face value, he also lost his piece of the postcard.
Even in the end, it’s through the magic of Christmas and Uncle Bernie that he got it.
If not for Corrine and Rob’s intimate moments and the evolution of them rekindling their bond, hell, in any other scenario, you’d tell Corrine she deserved better.
But despite all of that, they did have the familiarity where they fit like a glove together.
And it’s not as if Corrine didn’t make some assumptions of her own.
Tracy was a bit flirty with Rob, but it seemed more of a personality thing than intentional. She came across more like a personable little sister with her interactions.
In fact, is it me, or did she remind you of Alexis from Schitt’s Creek?
Despite the innocence of their interactions, Corrine assumed Tracy was into Rob and vice versa. She could’ve verified it bluntly or subtly with either of them or even Nancy multiple times, but she chose to ride with her assumptions for an eternity.
Rob scrambled Corrine all up from the second she saw him again, so it’s fair to say it affect her in many ways. Sometimes, during their frosty moments, it came close to affecting her performance with planning Sam and Nancy’s Christmas wedding.
Sam and Nancy were such a pleasant couple, and they were so excited about everything. Very little could happen that would disrupt their high spirits, so it wasn’t surprising at all that they were agreeable to Rob’s suggestion of red and gold colors instead of red and green.
Corrine didn’t take into consideration that Rob had a rapport of his own with the couple and their family. He also that he had an eye for certain things as a photographer.
His input was valuable, but Corrine was resistant for a bit. She had too much on the line, knowing that if she wanted to make partner at her job, she had to excel at the wedding.
The best part about this was, even when she fumbled with the dress, it wasn’t a second where you believed Sam and Nancy would say a negative thing about her and her work.
They adored everything she did for them. She was a miracle worker from the moment she stepped foot at the lodge. Corinne secured her partner position the second she proposed it to Victor anyway.
Six years at the same company as the top employee and she and Victor were close. Tsk, tsk, sir, Corrine shouldn’t have needed to ask.
As the movie progressed, and it was evident that she would make partner, it made you wonder how Rob would factor into all of it later on.
One of the reasons they didn’t work out in the first place was the potential of a long-distance relationship.
Corrine and Rob headed toward rekindling things the more time they spent with one another. It spoke volumes that Corrine lost track of time with Rob at the ice-skating rink when she presented as a stickler for time.
And when she confided in him about her father’s dementia, and he still remembered the little things like her favorite tea, all of the things that got in their way before seemed to melt away.
Neither of them ever got over one another, and they knew each other better than anyone else. The lure of that is impossible to shake.
It also helped in some ways that the restrictions for filming meant fewer people were around. The wedding reception was the largest group shot, but it wasn’t prominent.
Outside of that, the large scenes consisted of Corrine and Rob, and Sam, Nancy, and Tracy. Their primary location was the lodge, and it was empty the majority of the time.
It was disquieting, but it also provided more intimacy for Corrine and Rob. Because of the amount of alone time they got, it built up the romance more.
It was easy to get lost in their moments.
I do wish we got to see Corrine take Rob home to her family, or we saw her with her father, but it’s understandable why we didn’t, for the sake of a smaller cast.
I also wish we had more of Rob’s side of things, his life, and more. Instead, we got a throwaway line that this time, he was willing to leave his small NYC apartment over a fish taco shop to be near Corrine.
It was easy and convenient. But we got or happily ever after.
Over to you, Lifetime Fanatics. What would you all rate this film? Are you watching these holiday flicks along with me? Let me know below.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.