From the time I was a little girl, I can remember these huge ideas that I had of what love was. I knew what I wanted from love and what I didn’t want because of the men in my life. My father was my hero and like most little girls, I dreamed of what life would be like one day when my father would walk me down an aisle to get married.
I never really thought much about what his feelings on it all would be. I just wondered if he understood how his little girl looked up to him and saw the man that hung the moon.
His love story didn’t phase me, as selfish as that sounds. As I got older, the dreams I had as a little girl faded and I didn’t worry so much about what it would be like one day for him to give me away. The dreams I had as a little girl changed, and the idea of love that I had changed. Love wasn’t some big ideal to live up to finding, I was scared of it.
And to this day, I still live in fear of it.
So, as I sat through The Groomsmen Trilogy, from the start to the end, I knew one thing – the narrator of the story; the girl in that white dress – it had to have been Betty. She was speaking of the men that changed her life and their love stories.
You see as little girls, we do learn so much from our mothers and the women in our lives, but in this writers opinion we learn more from the men who shape our idea of how we should be treated. So if you’re a dude who thinks that the way that you love and the way that you love and how deep you love won’t affect people – you’re wrong. It will change the little girls in your lives idea of how they should be treated and loved.
Luckily for Betty, she had three of the best – Pete, Danny, and her Dad, Jackson. Jackson loved his daughter so unconditionally, treasuring every single moment that they had. He wanted her to know that she was loved, treasured, and worthy. Pete and Danny came up behind him to reinforce those ideals.
But it doesn’t mean that it was easy.
IT ALL GOES BACK HERE
We’re back at Danny’s sisters wedding – because everything goes back there – and Betty’s accidentally told her father that she’s moving to Italy with her Mom. The way that she wants to take it back as soon as the words fall out, but also the way that he looks as though someone has just ripped out his heart – it was heartbreaking.
Watching, we all knew that Jackson was hurting, but if we’re being honest, the person I felt the worst for was Betty. She idolizes her father and so to cause him any pain is a lot for her to take.
Moving away from her father won’t be easy for her, but she knows she doesn’t have a choice.
For Jackson, he knows that his divorce happened and that this is a good opportunity for Betty. Sometimes though even the best opportunities feel like torture. They feel like something is being stripped away.
You could tell that for him, that was having his little girl close.
WAIT I HAVE AN IDEA
Trish and Betty have moved to a small picturesque town in Italy. Betty seems to be thriving there. She loves making new friends, feeling more adult than she ever has. Trish has to go to Kenya and is thinking that she will send Betty back to the states to be with her Dad. Jackson has a better idea. He’s going to head to Italy to spend time with Betty there.
I kinda love this so much, because it shows that he’s putting his daughter before him, which is so important. Yes, he has a job that he needs to be at, but he’s burnt out. So for him – this seems to be the best idea.
And it’s there, where he literally almost runs into his future love interest, Gabriella.
Now, I am always afraid to say anything that is not a glowing review, but I need people to remember that what I am about to say is not about Tyler Hynes. He’s a great actor. Jackson, the character though, man does he need to loosen up. He thinks of himself as a laid back person, but his fear of love and relationships has him tightly wound.
And if we’re talking Tyler playing Jackson, then I will tell you that he did a great job. Why? Because you become so invested in Jackson the father that you are distracted from the other sides of his life. You don’t see clearly how much he seems to hate his job, how his fear of love has him becoming truly clingy, and how desperately this man needs to smash down a wall.
When Jackson almost hits Gabriella and gets a lil tense about it, I cringed for him. I legit looked at my computer and said, “Okay sir, you’re going to need to go back and apologize cause that ain’t right.”
WALKS TO AND FROM
One of the most beautiful kinds of love is when a parent loves their kid. They want to protect them and be there for them. It’s the moments when a parent reminds the child that they won’t ever let them fall, and if by some chance they do, they’re going to never fall alone – those are the moments that are so beautiful.
When Jackson hits the ground in Italy, one of the first things he does is head to Betty’s school to get her. At 14, that’s a huge popularity problem. Betty tries to fix it, but Jackson isn’t taking the hint.
Do I know that these characters are fictional? Yes. But what I also know that as Betty did everything to tell her father to stop, I was shaking my head and mumbling that one day she’d appreciate her Dads dedication and love for her. Yes, I am that person.
Even though I understood both sides of the coin – I related so hard to Betty. 14 is the age where you are finding you independence. You’re on the cusp of feeling like an adult, but also you’re still a child. It’s a scary time for both parent and child.
I was happy to see that Jackson stopped walking her to and from school, because she definitely needed that from him. He also needed it, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
CAPPUCCINO
Though I am not sure of the laws of coffee in Europe, I do know that my vanilla cappuccino and/or latte will be drank at my convenience. However, I will also say that I laughed when Jackson got scolded.
Every single interaction between Gabriella and Jackson was the will they/won’t they feeling. You just knew that you wanted to watch their love unfold. Would there be ups and downs? Absolutely. But what love story doesn’t have those?
They are faced with a million obstacles – including their own stubbornness – but why do I love Gabriella for Jackson? Because she makes him loosen up a little and smile. And I’m not talking that smile that is for his kid doing something good. I’m talking she knocks him off center, makes his heart beat faster and his cheeks turn red kind of smile.
And that terrifies him. Jackson can deny that he wants love, but he does. No human being doesn’t want to feel loved, cared for, and desired. I wish sometimes – especially watching movies like this – that people could realize that even though you make mistakes and sometimes love falls apart, it doesn’t mean that it can’t come back together a different way.
Love looks different with and for everyone. What one person has doesn’t mean that you’ll have the same thing. If you’re lucky you’ll have your own thing. You’ll have a love that is special and fits your heart. You’ll work towards your own comfort, through your own struggles, and find at the end what is best for you.
For Gabriella and Jackson – they are going to challenge each other. They are going to make each other wonder if they are doing the right thing at times and who should be the one to make sacrifices. But, they’ll also have a love that challenges and strengthens. They’ll learn about each other and themselves.
Can you really ask for more than that?
THE DANNY AND PETE OF IT ALL
Having friends who know that you need them, without having to say it, is the best friendship of all. Danny, Pete and Jackson are those friends to each other. They know that Jackson liked Gabriella, and were unwilling for him to give up on himself. So they show up in Italy to guide him.
If there is one thing that I’ve learned from this trilogy is that men have friendships that are as deep as women have. They may look a little different, but they are still important to them. They guide and shape their lives – making them better people.
And that’s something to definitely treasure.
I think that I loved the love stories throughout, but more than that I loved the brotherhood. I loved the feeling that there characters would love, live, and die for each other. They were chosen family.
And that’s a special thing.
Danny and Pete showed up to help – without being asked – to help their friend get out of his own way. I don’t think that you can really put a value on this friendship, because it is invaluable. It’s priceless.
BETTY AND MILO
To me, from the moment I knew who Betty was, I figured it was her in the bar. It made the most sense. Scared of love, hiding from the men that are most important to her, and trying to figure out who she is. From the moment that she stared telling the stories, you could just tell that it was her and in her own way, she was seeing all of the easter eggs that had been there throughout.
Everything that had led her to Milo. Every moment that Milo was fawning over her.
Every moment she was fawning over him.
Young love is so sweet. I loved seeing that Betty was afraid because hers and Milo’s love story hadn’t been as epic as Pete, Danny, or Jacksons. In my opinion – it’s better. It’s better because it took time to grow and it took moments to be this special thing. Some of the best love stories – the most epic ones – are ones that have been built over a lifetime and have ended up with this unconditional love. Love doesn’t have to have airbags, after all.
With that, I regress to what I said earlier – men, you make a difference to the girls and women around you. We pay attention. The way you love and the way that you pay attention to what the women around you need and want – it matters.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
For Jacksons story, I am glad that he found Gabriella, but I would challenge you that it’s not the only love story in this part of the trilogy. For me – watching it – it wasn’t about him falling in love with a woman who challenged him and made him open up. For me, Jacksons story wasn’t about him finding the ability to love and let down walls and love himself.
I would challenge anyone that those are small parts of Jacksons story. I would tell you that Jacksons story is about the love that he has as a father. The falling in love with Gabriella and the figuring out that sometimes people stay – those just enabled him to become a better father. He realizes that sometimes in order to love to the fullest, you have to be willing to let go.
So yes, I would tell you that this part of the trilogy was about a fathers love. And that’s a hill i’ll die on.
The Groomsmen Trilogy is streaming now on Hallmark+.
