Who Ate the Baklava?

This was set on the beautiful Island of Corfu, Greece. There was not much of a plot because the gorgeous photography of not only the countryside, but the picturesque little seaside town held center stage. And The Food. Many scenes took place in a family restaurant or in the kitchen and the director and his crew took full advantage to make sure plenty of time was spent celebrating all manner of Greek cuisine. The only thing missing was the Baklava. Now usually the lack of action and tomfoolery might be considered a negative in a Hallmark movie, but in this case, I didn’t miss it. As I usually don’t. There were no silly and frustrating episodes of characters acting stupidly or unreasonably to create tension and stretch out 60 minutes of movie to fit 84 minutes of airtime. It was just a nice peaceful romance between two nice people in a beautiful setting.

Georgia, along with her partner and friend Rose, owns a small newly established marketing company which helps businesses with promoting and branding. A letter arrives and it turns out that our heroine is in danger of forfeiting her inheritance of a Greek property that she had used to secure a business loan. She’s had a year to go to Greece and sign the papers, never went, and this letter is her last warning. Now she has just 5 days to secure her assets. Her loan is coming due shortly and she needs to sell the property to pay it off, or else. Did I say there were no dumb plot devices to move the plot forward and create tension? I take that back. But after these first 5 minutes, we’re good. Her partner hustles her off to Greece and Georgia bravely chooses a pair of loose-knit white pants with horizontal red stripes for her traveling outfit. She had spent a summer on Corfu with her late aunt and hung out in a little Greek taverna where she made friends with Elena, the owner, and her son, Alex. It is her first stop once she gets to her aunt’s seaside home town and she scores a feta salad and Moussaka. She quickly learns that Alex, now a police officer, is the co-inheritor of her aunt’s estate. Georgia must not only have ignored all the letters from her aunt’s lawyer, but not even opened them. But no squabbling, motive for murder, or enemies-to-lovers here. Even Alex’s jealous girlfriend, Cassandra, turns out to be his pet cat. Alex happily agrees to buy Georgia out of her share but first, to avoid the red tape of Greek laws against foreigners, they have to get married. The happy but (99% sure) platonic couple play out their romance against the stunning Corfiot landscape with a few little side plots to keep things interesting and the pace chugging along. Luckily, the 5 day trip is extended to a month and Alex’s police duties are extremely undemanding. Extremely.

In order to afford to buy out Georgia, Alex has to secure a position as a detective that he is being considered for. Alex is kind of endearingly shy and awkward and schmoozing to promote himself is not his thing. Luckily, it is Georgia’s thing, and she goes to town advancing Alex’s cause amusingly and sometimes cringingly (Whoo Hoo! my Husband is such a great cricket player and therefore what a great detective he would make!!). The couple needs to put up a good front so that the head of the detective agency (and the authorities) do not find out the marriage is fake. After a dinner that Georgia arranges at their beautiful home (I want it), Alex is offered the job. Being an honest guy, and against all of the usual Hallmark rules of communication, he puts everything out on Front Street and tells his new boss the whole truth. Also against all of the usual rules, his boss appreciates his honesty and Alex still gets the job. In a similar break from Hallmark business-as-usual, when the guy in charge of making sure Alex and Georgia are not trying to pull a fast one with their marriage shows up, all goes smoothly. Instead of having to jump through hoops and being put through the harsh interrogation they were expecting, the guy just gives them their papers and some Koufetas as a wedding gift. He explains that it has been obvious to the whole town that the marriage is loving and authentic. It was very sweet. Georgia also has some happy news from Rose  about an important client, and even establishes a business opportunity on Corfu by helping Elena with a cooking school. And Rose was very understanding when Georgia decides to stay in Corfu and help run their business remotely in order to explore her relationship with Alex.

In short, the whole thing was very pleasant, nice, and just happy. Apostolis Totsikas, who played Alex was very appealing, Nikki Deloach was her usual likable (and very toned) self, and their romantic chemistry and kisses were on point. Andrew Walker, her usual co-star, should be jealous.