Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Tale of Three Letters - Review
My personal thoughts and reactions about the latest Signed, Sealed, Delivered movie, A Tale of Three Letters. It’s not very often a movie or a book touches me the way this one did.
Note: My friend Amanda Pezet who runs the POstables Facebook group wrote an excellent recap and review on PC Principle. If you’re looking for a play-by-play, I highly recommend you read this!
My review does contain spoilers, so proceed with caution.
It’s not very often a movie or a book touches me the way Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Tale of Three Letters did on Friday night. Going into the movie, my plan was to cozy up on the couch with my lemon cake and a tall glass of gingerberry kombucha. Kristin Booth (“Shane McInerney”) told Kami and I the other day on Deliver Me a Podcast that we would need to get the ice buckets ready as Shane and Oliver’s relationship would be filled with newlywed bliss. Knowing this, I thought that this would be just another cozy movie.
A Tale of Three Letters was not just another Hallmark movie. This movie was layered with subtext and complicated characters. Martha Williamson, the creator, writer, and executive producer of this series, once again masterfully weaved another story focusing on forgiveness, marriage, and family. And at the end of the movie, I was absolutely UNDONE. This movie affected me so deeply to the core that I was full on sobbing at the end and couldn’t stop. Just watch the Instagram Live I did immediately after the movie ended.
A Tale of Three Letters was a lot to take in. I’ve had to process this for a few days now to figure out why I had such a strong emotional reaction to this story.
The Hallmark brand is known for their cheesy fairytale love stories and each movie is typically sealed with a kiss at the end. The couple commits to being together or sometimes a movie ends with a wedding and they all live happily ever after.
With that, Hallmark leaves us with one question. What happens after “I do”?
The honeymoon phase is simply just that— a phase. A phase where the quirks are cute and tiffs are forgiven by a kiss.
But when the honeymoon ends, that’s where the challenges begin. And this is the journey Martha takes us on. She doesn’t shy away from the tensions of everyday life. We see that little quirks whether it be shoes haphazardly lying around the entryway or obnoxious punctuality or being overly particular can turn into major annoyances. These annoyances when not addressed can often combust into something much larger.
We see through both Norman and Rita as well as Shane and Oliver that marriage is delicate. With Norman and Rita, Norman was unintentionally pushing Rita out as he doted on Baby Eleanor. As they planned to begin the adoption process for their expanding family, they talked to a family therapist who helped them both find their balance once again.
After witnessing a blow up between Oliver and Shane, Norman sought out Oliver, a callback to Higher Ground. Norman reminded Oliver that Shane hadn’t left; she just needed some air. Understanding that Oliver was frozen, Norman prodded him to action. And knowing how much the family therapist helped them out, Norman gently encouraged Oliver to seek help when he saw Oliver and Shane in conflict.
This was the first scene that made me tear up. The way Oliver broke down just about killed me. Martha told us that this was one of the finest scenes Eric and Geoff had ever created together. She was right.
I have to pause here for a moment and talk about how strong the four POstables’ friendship is. Both Norman and Rita gently but honestly pointed Shane and Oliver to truth. Norman reminded Oliver to not get in his head and encouraged him to seek help. Rita reminded Shane that forgiveness is as important as apologizing. In this instance, as Oliver says, “the pupil becomes the teacher.” Being called out by your friends can be humbling, despite how nice they are when sharing the truth. It’s a lesson to all of us to not only give but also receive truth humbly and graciously.
In turn, Shane and Oliver were also given an opportunity to speak truth into Norman and Rita. Longing to be parents, Norman and Rita were given the opportunity to adopt a baby. The baby however had a congenital heart condition. Norman and Rita shared their concerns, but it was Oliver who shared the truth with them by asking:
“Are you worried you’re adopting the wrong baby, or that she’s getting the wrong parents?”
This was the push Norman and Rita needed to find the confidence that they are the right parents for this little girl. Once again, we see how important it is to speak truth into the lives of our friends.
Continuing on, Oliver and Shane discovered that the honeymoon phase had faded. Each had unrealistic expectations put on the other person and the two were not in concert with one another. They knew they loved each other immensely, but somehow, they couldn’t figure out how to get on the same page. And this is when they decided to seek out help through a marriage and family therapist.
As Shane and Oliver worked through marriage counseling, both realized that it was never about the shoes everywhere, the broken crank, or the cremated wedding dress. It was the fact that each was selfish in their own ways. They had expectations for marriage and when those expectations weren’t met, they began to crumble, thinking that they were failing. Calliope, their marriage counselor, helped turn their perspectives around. There is so much more to unpack here, but I’ll have to save that for another post (or two).
After re-watching the movie a few times, I think this movie touched me so deeply because I know firsthand how delicate marriage can be. Blending lives in any capacity and regardless of your age or stage in life can be quite the challenge. It takes a lot of communication and compromise. It’s humbling. It’s being able to swallow your own pride and ask for forgiveness.
At the end of the movie, Oliver references I Corinthians 13:4-7 which states:
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Both Oliver and Shane were reminded that love is sacrificial and that it’s putting another above yourself. As Oliver has this realization, he asks Shane to forgive him for putting expectations on her and their marriage and Shane asks him the same.
Of course, that wasn’t all for Shane and Oliver. Encouraged by Calliope, both Oliver and Shane created a surprise for the other. As Calliope put it, “two surprises to create one new vision.” For Shane, Oliver reassembled the porch swing and laid out all of the mementos reminding them of their history together. The biggest surprise for Shane; however, was the proposal to move. Oliver shared that he wanted to start over fresh, to which Shane agreed.
But Shane had the biggest surprise of them all.
As she wound the antique grandfather clock with the newly fixed crank, she coyly says:
“You know, we’ll have to find a new hiding place for this when we move into the new house… somewhere high where she can’t reach it… or he. We’ll know in a few weeks, probably. Plenty of time to find a spot for that swing. It’ll be great. It’ll be like a rocking chair built for two… or actually three.”
Baby O’Toole is on the way!!
While I saw the signs coming (like Shane being tired in the middle of the day), I wasn’t sure if I believed it or not. But when Shane picked up the antique crank and looked across the street to the pharmacy, I shrieked. The elation on both Shane and Oliver’s faces were enough to make me laugh and cry all at the same time. What a way to end the movie!
With this review, I haven’t even touched on everything I observed. But don’t worry, there are more deep dives to come! A Tale of Three Letters was everything I didn’t know I needed. At this point, I feel like this movie is up there with From Paris With Love and all of its layered complexities.
I can’t wait to re-watch A Tale of Three Letters again to continue to deep dive and analyze the layers and subtext. Stay tuned and let’s keep the conversation going. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! What did you think? How do you feel? Share them below!
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I love this so much!! ☺️ I loved the surprises and I LOVED the ending so much! ☺️