Canon Callback Challenge: To The Altar Edition, Part II

8/6/2018

The callback challenge continues with Something Good through Impossible Dream.

Welcome to Part II of the To The Altar callback challenge. Hopefully Part I was enlightening, and maybe even inspired you to go back and watch an installment or two! Today the fun continues with Something Good through Impossible Dream.

Something Good

Intern- Something Good was our first introduction to Unattached Objects, or, similarly, Unclaimed Items. But where Shane once called them “junk,” she was beside herself in To The Altar when her unclaimed “treasure” almost ended up on the auction block.

Mail Carrier- Shane’s playful “Have fun” to send Oliver off to the parking meeting in To The Altar is a direct callback to the opening minutes of Something Good, in which the definition of “fun” was discussed at length before Shane sent Oliver off with the same phrase.

Dark Of Night

Mail Carrier- Another early episode of immense gravity, it was likely difficult to integrate at any length. As a result, Oliver’s mention of “rain and sleet and dark of night” paid homage to this episode as a way to reflect on all they’d been through together, including receiving their own set of Dark of Night awards.

The Treasure Box

Just about every major Treasure Box reference in To The Altar was some element of Jonathan and Katherine’s letters woven into the story through situations and dialogue. Even so, there were some references that were easier to catch than others.

Intern- “A cord of three strands is never broken, a building of three corners can withstand the winds, and two heart, joined by a Greater One, can withstand anything.” Perhaps one of the most poignant truths written in the letters between Jonathan and Katherine, Ramon apparently imparted the wisdom that “a cord of three strands is never broken” during marriage counseling with Rita and Norman.

Mail Carrier- You were probably ugly crying by the time Shane, heartbroken, read “Yes, yes I will be your wife” out of Katherine’s return letter to Jonathan. If you were paying careful attention in To The Altar, Shane’s response to Oliver’s proposal, “Yes, yes I will will marry you,” echoed the letter, her tears out of joy this time rather than heartbreak.

Shane responds to Oliver's marriage proposal

Section Lead- My favorite thing about To The Altar was how Shane & Oliver were basically living their own version of a historical romance, including “sipping tea at the [Brown]”--instead of, as Katherine recalled in The Treasure Box, at the Plaza in New York. Remember also that Shane texted Joe about the Bachelor Party because Oliver was “hopelessly lost somewhere in the 20th century” (1900’s) and the letters between Jonathan & Katherine began in 1908.

A Hope & A Future

Intern- We met Ardis in A Hope & A Future, whose first words were “It’s me.. it is I, your grandmother” just as she did when in full view of Norman in To The Altar.

Mail Carrier- Shane’s declaration of “I’m a diagonal girl myself” pointed back to the fact that in A Hope & A Future, Oliver attended a parking meeting, where, as Rita commented to Shane, “they’re thinking about going diagonal.”

Section Lead- Upping the stakes a little bit, the scene discussing the parking debates also included Shane looking for tweezers in Oliver’s desk & stumbling upon his letter to Holly. When Oliver caught Shane behind his desk, and Shane asked how the parking debates went, Oliver replied, “Everyone is respecting each other’s space.” Combo his comment on top of the fact Shane was actively “violating” Oliver’s "space" just prior to the parking meeting in To The Altar, and that scene begins to take on a whole new light in the callback department.

For Christmas

Intern- We knew from pre-premiere photos that Shane’s Maid of Honor dress was going to be red, but it also bore close resemblance to her stunning red dress from For Christmas. For a Section Lead Bonus on the dress: Jordan first put the Shane and Oliver plot in For Christmas in motion by dancing with Shane, eventually leading Jordan to tell Oliver to “take good care of that little letter writer,” a calling which Oliver has pledged his life to by “lov[ing] [Shane] forever.”

Mail Carrier- We learned in For Christmas how owls came to be so meaningful to Rita in For Christmas. As in that movie, Norman alerted Rita to the presence of one on the rafter just after their ceremony. For a Section Lead Bonus on this one, remember that owls remind Rita that “there’s always someone out there flying around that thinks your special.” Combine that with the idea that owls are spirit animals, and you might put together that the owl was actually Rita’s mother’s way of “being there in spirit.” Hey, if Ardis was a cow in a previous life, why couldn’t Sunny be an owl?

Section Lead- A nice reflection of how far both couples have come, newly married Norman and Rita dance alongside a newly engaged Shane and Oliver, much like in For Christmas, wherein both couples were only just beginning to see where the road would take their lives and love, as they danced together on Christmas Eve in the DLO.

From Paris With Love

Intern- It had been a LONG time since we heard the name “Holly.” But when we did, From Paris With Love, the installment in which we finally met the lively parisian transplant, immediately came to mind. Of course, what we didn’t expect to hear was the fact she proposed to Oliver and they were married three hours later. The again, more about their relationship made sense in light of this revelation!

Mail Carrier- The score playing underneath Oliver’s proposal to Shane was the same music heard during their porch swing encounter in From Paris With Love.

Oliver proposes to Shane in Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To The Altar

Section Lead: During the wedding ceremony flashbacks we saw a glimpse of Shane looking in on Holly & Oliver at the Mailbox Grille as the words, "from this shore to the next" were spoken, signifying the journey Shane and Oliver had taken between From Paris With Love through To The Altar, from two solitary hearts, to a pair on the path to being united in marriage once he proposed.

Since I issued this fun little challenge last week, some of you have gotten in on the fun. One in particular caused quite a stir on social media when Natalie T. used it as a conversation starter. So I'll offer it to you under the Section Lead category since it's such an intense find. This one has to do with the parallel composition of the scene in which Oliver helps Shane with her coat in From Paris With Love, and the scene in which Oliver helps Shane with the dress in To The Altar.

Pretty cool, right? Nice catch, Natalie!

Truth Be Told

Intern- Two direct callbacks to Truth Be Told were made during Norman and Rita’s wedding ceremony. The first was of Norman seeing Rita in opening sequence of the movie, and the second was of Oliver at the church much later in Truth Be Told.

Mail Carrier- Our favorite phrase, Oliver once more uttered, “What the Sam Hill?!” Though in this instance, it was more out of apprehension and fear over the presentation of the Bachelor Party surprise, than his frustration with a porch swing!

Section Lead- You might remember when Shane encouraged Oliver to remember what it felt like when he thought his father was gone, a line of thinking that eventually led him to go after his father. In To The Altar, Rita told Jessica, “I know what too late feels like,” a truthful and moving moment that clearly impacted Jessica and likely led to her reunion with her mother, Annaliese.

Impossible Dream

Intern- We first learned about Rita being born under the Pepsi Challenge tent in Sedona, AZ in Impossible Dream, what we didn’t know is that she was born at 10:24 am. And while there is a bit more advanced association that can be made with the O’Toole Foundation in To The Altar (covered later), you get points for connecting the Foundation to Impossible Dream, since it was technically the movie in which it was first established and utilized.

Mail Carrier- As Rita and Shane began to work through Annaliese’s letter. Rita suggested she could be “A soldier or a spy.”Impossible Dream had both---soldier, Randilynn Amidon, and spy, Steve Marek.

Section Lead- Once utilized by Norman and Oliver to excuse themselves from Steve’s awkward entrance, “Dinner---starving” was Norman’s way of taking Oliver’s side and giving them an “out.” In To The Altar, Shane returned the favor, directing the phrase at Oliver to run interference for Norman’s awkward reaction to the canoe.

This challenge just keeps getting better, doesn't it?!

As with Part I, leave your suggestions, additions and category classifications in the comments if you caught something not included here. Love hearing how everyone thinks!

Connecting The Dots,
~C

To The Altar Callback Challenge: Part I | Part II | Part III

14 Comments

Linda

8/6/2018 01:21:51 pm

Ramon served Norman and Rita enchiladas at their counseling session (dont ask). Norman had quite another uncomfortable time involving enchiladas during the quest for Sandy in Lost Without You.

Amanda

8/6/2018 02:11:05 pm

Just watched "One in a Million" again and the song that played at the end of the movie is the song at the beginning of TTA.

Denise

8/6/2018 05:23:31 pm

The cart that Norman is pushing that contains the wedding dress was first seen in Truth Be Told. It contained the bin of letters with Clay's burnt letter to Phoebe.

Also from Truth Be Told. At Shane's birthday party, she and Oliver give each other a very loving look which Joe saw and approved of. Shane and Oliver gave each other a very similar look at the end of the wedding ceremony which Joe also saw and nodded approval to.

Kirsten

8/6/2018 09:32:14 pm

In "The Treasure Box," in the letter where Jonathan proposes, he calls Katherine "Dear friend, dear lady, my love." In Oliver's toast speech in "To the Altar," he says, "my Shane, my love."

Not to mention all the flashback scenes interspersed with the wedding ceremony. You have to be watching very carefully to catch them all.

Linda L

9/7/2018 07:52:14 pm

In the Treasure Box, Jonathan writes to Katherine during his written proposal that she is the best person he has ever known. During Oliver's proposal, he lovingly tells Shane that the ring was his grandmother's, the finest woman he ever knew, until her. Very similar, very touching, very endearing.

Marybeth link

8/6/2018 11:38:45 pm

I found a few more callbacks, friends:

Treasure Box-- This is the first time we saw Shane's hair in a pony-tail. Her hair was similarly styled in TTA when Oliver confessed he had been "somewhere else" lately.

I think Treasure Box was the first time we heard Shane say "No No No No No No No" as the vault door was closing, wasn't it? We heard it again in her desperate attempt to retrieve the wedding dress before it went to auction in TTA.

Hope and a Future--Ardis calls Norman her "sliver of light" after the story he tells her of overcoming fear when he was locked in a cellar as a child. She addreses Norman as her" sliver of light" in TTA.
This is also the episode when we hear Ardis tell Norman she's the Queen of the Biami. This detail comes up twice in TTA -- when Shane is discussing where they might find Ardis so she can attend the wedding and when Ardis and Bill discover that Sunny and Ardis both learned weaving with the Biami.

Ardis intends to have a glass of yak milk in HaaF before she tours Denver with Norman. She enjoys a glass of yak milk when she is skyping with Bill. Also HaaF informs us that Ardis chants and we actually see her do that in TTA.

For Christmas--

When the camera focused on Rita and Norman's feet making the box step in To The Altar during the last scene, that was reminiscent of the dance steps Shane and Oliver taught them in the last scene of For Christmas.

From Paris with Love -- Not sure if this is the first film when we hear NoRita's special music, but we do hear it in FPWL and it also plays in TTA in the florist shop when we learn the details of how Sunny died and Norman tells Rita how proud he is of how she's handling wedding planning without her mom to help her.

Truth Be Told--Hazel makes her first appearance in TBT. In it she
spills the beans about Steve to Oliver. She's still feeling free in TTA to chat to a stranger with semi-accurate information about Gabe.

I think that about covers it. I'm sure you guys can find more call-backs if you look.

e.t.m.

8/7/2018 03:43:13 pm

I truly appreciate all the call-backs throughout the SSD movies, because that's exactly what life is about: a series of events that bring back memories of a previous time. One that I noticed immediately on the first viewing of TTA was when Annaliese was approaching Jessica at the Brown Palace after not having seen her daughter for so many years. In her haste to make the reconciliation, she drops her purse, focusing only on the person waiting for her emotional outpouring of love. It totally reflected back to TBT when Shane purposely drops her purse and coat so that she can rush to Oliver with her comforting embrace and the love that only she could offer him.

Paula

8/7/2018 09:55:35 pm

Yes, the purse drop! So good.

Bonnie Gilbert

8/7/2018 10:29:49 am

After Rita’s dad Bill sees the owl he makes a gesture and a little smile that, to me, suggested that he believed Sunny was there.

Marybeth link

8/7/2018 08:10:12 pm

I thought if one more connection to #FPWL. When Norman and Oliver were talking to the jeweler to identify the wedding ring included with divorce papers, the jeweler thought one of them wanted the ring resized. Oliver pointed to his ring and was unable to explain his marriage situation to which Norman replied “Love is a mystery” and the jeweler replied “Clearly”. In TTA with a much more serious meaning in NoRita’s wedding ceremony, I understand, Ramon spoke the words “Love is a profound mystery.”

Doug

8/9/2018 12:49:51 am

Not a TTA callback, BUT did anyone catch the ‘Valerie Bertinelli’ callback in Something Good?
When Becca compliments Norman on the floating work station for Shane he says ‘thank you ‘Ma’am’, to which she replies ‘I’m a ma’am. Now, think waaaaay back to One Day at a Time when VB’s teenaged character gets called ma’am by an even younger guest star.

Christopher Janowicz

8/11/2018 03:39:44 pm

Ever since The Road Less Traveled, Shane has boldly flirted with Oliver. She questioned his use of Ms. McInerney while they were in the motor home. Oliver justified it by saying that they were in fact still on the job in "the mobile unit". She whispered into his ear that she KNEW he would say that, because she KNEW him. This tickled him. Fast forward to the latest episode. Oliver questioned why the package Shane was holding was headed in the opposite direction of the auction. She began flirting with Oliver again by getting intimately close. Then she whispered into his ear "I LOVE it when you get all Ms. McInerney on me"! Oliver has a big smile on his face as he retreats to the parking lot meeting. Shane has feminine charm, and she knows how to use it!

Chris

8/23/2018 04:32:30 pm

Higher Ground was just replayed on HCM&M. Remember when Shane & Oliver were sitting in the hospital chapel at the end of Lost Without You? Oliver started to tell Shane "I know you don't believe..." Shane quickly interrupted him by saying "You'd be surprised what I'm starting to believe" as she caressed his face. Shane coins the phrase "Oliver's Divine Intervention Theory". In subsequent episodes, she will say that Oliver has taught her about divine order instead of coincidence or random events. Fast forward to "Higher Ground". Shane has returned to the DLO after 3 months of hacking for Steve & the government security. Shane & Oliver go through their emotional rollercoaster and end up kissing. Shane said "I thought of you every day. I know you don't believe..." Oliver interrupted Shane by saying "You'd be surprised". Then he pulls the white napkin out of his suit coat pocket. On their last date at Ephlat, Shane wrote a diagram about blues & jazz music, which she gave to Oliver. He carried that napkin close to his heart all the time she was gone. He showed her the napkin. When she saw it, she had her happy answer. Oliver carried Shane in his heart the whole time she was gone. He just didn't SAY it with words. That's another subject!

Maureen

4/25/2019 09:29:09 pm

I have been off for a month. I binge watched SSD. Just rewatching For Christmas. Really relates to lost without you but this was the best place to post it. Jordan talking to Oliver in the chapel says God finds you in a hospital lobby or the post office or a forest on a mountain or a tree on a beach. Foreshadowing Oliver’s prayer when he thought he would not get off the mountain and prayed for the chance to tell Shane he didn’t want their first date to be their last.

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