Good Witch – The Chili

By: Gladys Luna

Cassie (Catherine Belle) brings tea to Joy (Katherine Barrell) who wakes up disoriented by the knock at her door. She lets Cassie in and then remembers that she fell asleep reading the diary they had found and that is still lying on her bed. She quickly hides it under the covers. Given her reaction, Cassie assumes she had a bad dream. Joy explains that she dreamed she was in a small space like a tunnel with flashes of light surrounding her to what Cassie says that sometimes dreams mean something important but take a while to be fully figured out. She informs her that breakfast is ready downstairs and Joy tells her that she seems to go all out. Cassie replies that her goal is to make her guests feel like home.

In the kitchen George (Peter MacNeill) seems to be pretty engaged with cooking the best chili ever for the cook-off that will take place in Middleton soon. Cassie is baking some bread next to him when Abi (Sarah Power) comes downstairs and says that the bread and the chili smell mix don’t go together. Sam (James Denton) shows up swinging a baseball bat signed by Colin Brinton. Abi is surprised to see him with it. Sam explains that Colin is one of his patients and he gave it to him as a thank you for the surgery he performed on him. Sam is also surprised to find out that Abi is interested in baseball. She tells him that Donovan is a big fan of Colin and that is why he knows about him. Sam asks Cassie to take care of his baseball bat and leaves to pick up a secret ingredient for his chili. Joy walks in looking tired, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Abi who immediately asks her about it. She looks happy when seeing the pancakes that Cassie made, which turns out to be her mother’s favorite. She also explains that it’s actually her mom’s birthday and remembers a time when she baked for her, but the pancakes turned out to be hard as rocks. Joy takes her coffee and bread and leaves the kitchen. Abi says that it seems the woman is warming up to them to which Cassie says that it seems that being there is all she needs.

Martha (Catherine Disher) is at the bistro ordering her typical breakfast “a café au lait and a Tinsdale on toast.” Stephanie (Kylee Evans) corrects her and says that what she meant was, “coffee with milk and a tuna melt with sauerkraut.” Martha insists that she should name the dish after her but, as always, Stephanie declines. Tom (Paul Miller) shows up fifteen minutes late to his meeting with Martha saying that the traffic in the footbridge is impossible and he doesn’t understand why she hasn’t kept her promise to widen it once she became Mayor.

Joy is sitting in a corner of her room watching a video of her mother (Carly Jones) singing and blowing the candles out on her birthday cake. In there we can also see a younger Joy (Anna Bartlam) celebrating along with her. She smiles at the view of them singing and then suddenly Cassie begins to sing the same song while baking downstairs.

Cassie and Abi show up at Stephanie’s bistro to get some tea. While waiting to be served they discuss about the upcoming visit of Abi’s father (Art Hindle) who plans to introduce her to his girlfriend. Stephanie walks out of the kitchen while talking on the phone and looking disappointed. After she hangs up she explains that she’s been trying to win tickets for the Stevie Nicks’ concert since they are sold out. Abi takes a couple of tickets out and tells her that she managed to get them thanks to Donovan who pulled a few strings. Stephanie asks her if he can pull a couple more but with no success. Later Susan (Sarah Deakins) and Presley (Ilamaria Ebrahim) show up and greet Stephanie. Adam (Scott Cavalheiro) comes out of the kitchen and Stephanie takes the chance to introduce them. He then invites them for the cook-off but Susan says that she will be out of town for work and they won’t be able to attend. Stephanie suggests that if she allows her to Presley can stay with her since her team is in need of a captain and Susan agrees.

Abi welcomes her dad and his girlfriend Josie (Deborah Drakeford) at the Grey House. The woman greets her nicely and Cassie joins them. Finally, George shows up to take their suitcase upstairs. When they leave, Abi seems to be more relaxed that their first meeting went well. Sam enters the bistro kitchen and meets with Adam who is working hard on his own chili recipe. Sam tells him that he is concerned since his star ingredient will not arrive on time so he needs to find a replacement. Martha is on her way to her house when she meets with Tom who informs her that he will run for Mayor and work on the footbridge project. Sam is desperately looking for a good ingredient on the kitchen, so Cassie suggests he pay a visit to Martha who has a kitchen of the size of the Buckingham Palace. He doesn’t think that Martha would help him given that she is part of the chili contest too, but Cassie assures him that there’s always a way to make things happen.

Joy enters the kitchen carrying a tiny Magnolia tree and confesses that she plants one every year on her mother’s birthday. Cassie asks her to follow her since she seems to find the right spot for it. Stephanie, Adam and Presley are in the kitchen working on their chili recipes. Adam leaves his spot for a while and Stephanie tastes the mix he just made but gets caught. She makes an unpleasant face and tells him that it seems that he confused salt with sugar. He leaves the kitchen. Stephanie sees that Presley’s best friend is at the counter. Presley looks in her friend’s direction but doesn’t greet her. Stephanie knows something is not right and the young girl ends up confessing that they are not talking anymore since her friend decided to hang out with someone else instead of her. The chef doesn’t know how to respond and offers her cookies and a milkshake.

Cassie and Joy are trying to plant the Magnolia tree in the garden that Grace (Bailee Madison) and her father built. Joy is trying to remove the soil, but it seems there is something buried in. She takes out a box that Cassie explains belongs to Grace. She says that when her daughter was seven years old she built a time capsule but forgot that it was even there. She decides to keep it safe until she comes back so they can open it together.

Martha is working on the cook-off decorations when Sam shows up and asks for her help giving him access to her spice kitchen. She agrees, but on one condition – he has to convince Stephanie on naming the tuna sandwich after her.

Arthur pays a visit to Abi and asks for her opinion on Josie. He also invites her for dinner. She agrees but tells him that the reservation should be made for four instead of three so that he knows that his daughter would like him to meet her special someone.

Sam shows up at the bistro and tries to convince Stephanie on naming the tuna sandwich after Martha. She agrees to even name one after him if he manages to get Abi to give him her Stevie Nicks tickets. Sam goes to Abi’s and figures out what he is looking for. She agrees on giving him the tickets if he gives her his Colin Brinton baseball bat for Donovan. She is curious to know why he is so interested in winning the contest and he explains that the chili recipe has been a tradition for generations in his family and they have always won the blue ribbon. Therefore, he wants to keep that tradition going.

Stephanie asks for Cassie’s advice about what Presley is going through and confesses that she just froze up on her spot when the girl told her what happened with her friend. She wonders how Cassie always has the right words for everything and the woman explains that she only speaks from experience and not because she is always right. Stephanie says that she doesn’t remember having any experience of that kind. Just then her phone rings and she says that she got a text from her LA friend Courtney. She remembers that they used to be together all the time until they weren’t. It is something seems to spark in her right there.

Abi, Donovan, Arthur and Josie are having dinner together and sharing the story of how each of the couples met. Suddenly, Abi brings up a comment about her father being an ex-con and she finds out that Josie didn’t know anything about it. Joy is pacing around the Grey House when she sees Grace’s tin box. She decides to open it. She then takes a picture of the family tree that the girl had made before Cassie shows up. Once she does she can’t help but notice there is a roll of film standing next to the box. She tells Joy that George built a dark room in their pantry so Joy asks her to give her the chance to persuade him on developing the roll of film.  Arthur pays a visit to Abi and she apologizes to him for what she did at their dinner. However, he seems to be mad at her since Josie is not speaking to him. Sam meets with Martha and tells her that he finally convinced Stephanie on naming a sandwich after her. The woman gives him the keys of her spice cabinet and assures him that he will find all sort of spices from A to Z except for one. Unfortunately it turns out that the one missing is the paradise pepper which is exactly the one Sam has been looking for.

Stephanie shares with Presley the story of her and Courtney and how after been together most of the time, but one day her friend decided to hang out with someone else. She also tells her that she realized that if Courtney was her real friend then she would come back eventually and she did. This only made their friendship even stronger.

Joy asks George to help her develop the roll of film and in exchange, she will stir the chili for him. He agrees and after he’s gone she tastes the chili and decides to give him a hand with it. Martha goes to Cassie’s store and tells her about her situation with Tom and the footbridge. Cassie advises her that maybe she should give it a chance and makes her realize that changes can be good sometimes. Abi shows up at Donovan’s house and tells him that she doesn’t want them to have any secrets and is looking for them to have an open and honest relationship.

Joy continues stirring the chili when George arrives and says that most of the pictures have been developed except for one. Cassie joins them and sees the pictures he has brought. She finds out that those were from her last vacation with her family and are nearly forty years old. So, George decides to give it one more try and find a way to develop the one picture left. Tom is at the footbridge when he sees Martha approaching. They take a walk and remember when they had started dating and how they used to walk by it. Martha says that she is afraid that if the bridge is destroyed that all of those memories will go with it, but Tom assures her that won’t happen.

Joy is doing some gardening when Sam comes over and tells her about his failed mission on finding the paradise pepper. She says that he still has some hours left, but he assures her that unfortunately the pepper “doesn’t grow on trees.” Joy tells him that they actually grow on plants and shows him the paradise pepper standing nearby. Cassie and Abi are unpacking the food that Cassie made for the picnic and the chili cook-off . They find out that she has forgotten the cornbread on the counter of her kitchen, so Abi decides to go and pick it up for her. When she gets there she meets with her father who explains that the reason he was so mad about what she did was because he was thinking on proposing to Josie and wanted her blessing but now the woman is not even speaking to him anymore. He is afraid that he has disappointed her. Right that moment Josie walks in after hearing what he just said and confesses that she wasn’t mad that he is an ex-con, but that he hid it from her. Abi gives them her blessing and improvises a ring so Arthur finally gets to propose to Josie.

The cook-off has begun and the three judges taste each of the contestants’ dishes. They convene and pick up a winner. Cassie announces that the winner has managed to bring “a non-traditional take to a very traditional dish” and gives the blue ribbon to George who thanks to “someone” for helping him with it. He looks discreetly at Joy. Afterwards, he goes to her and thanks her again for her help. Martha finds a way to keep the bridge without causing traffic problems and Stephanie sees how Presley and her friend have made amends.

At the Grey House Cassie gives Sam his baseball bat back and tells him that he is not the only one who can negotiate. She has managed to get it back for him. George and Joy are still trying to develop the only picture left with no success. Suddenly, Cassie walks in and the photograph begins to reveal Cassie and her second cousin Julia. Joy looks at it with tenderness while George says that she looks a lot like the woman in the picture. Joy says that Julia is actually her mother and Cassie welcomes her officially to the family.