The Third Wish: A Stronger Rewrite?

I may be obsessed with Sean Maguire right now. Okay, I may have been obsessed with him since he showed up on Once Upon a Time at the start of season 3. Anyway, I’ve been catching some of his past work. Including this movie that I guess was made for TV.

Lucky us, huh? 

Rub a lamp and wish for SPOILERS!


“The Third Wish” tells the story of Maggie Malone (Jenna Mattison), an amateur author who works at a bookstore in San Francisco. She’s somewhat of a free spirit—befriending the homeless man, George (James Avery), outside her building, who watches her bike for her at night. Maggie brings flowers to her boss, Lettie (Betty Freakin’ White), whenever she’s late. Not that Lettie minds too much—she thinks of Maggie as another daughter. Which is good because Maggie herself is an orphan. Her mother died and her father abandoned her. Which is why—despite the fact she writes fairy tales—Maggie doesn’t believe in love or marriage. Her friends—including Audrey (Susan Egan)—try to set her up but she’s not interested.

(Say hi to Maggie)

But Maggie does believe in magic. One day when cleaning the store, she finds something that looks like a genie’s lamp (but is probably a coffee pot). 

(Yeah. Fancy, old-time coffee pot)

Soon after, a strange man comes in and leaves a rare first edition of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations with her. Inside, Maggie finds a ticket to a magic show. She goes to it and I was confused how this was granting her a wish. She never mentioned wanting to see a magic show nor did this seem to be a good show, let alone a popular one for which tickets were either hard to come by or too expensive.

(I want a book that will give me free Broadway tickets)

The next day, the book gives her tickets for a helicopter ride. She goes for a jaunt around San Francisco before returning to her apartment. There she meets her landlord who says he put some food in her fridge for her. He also reminds her that she owes him rent. She promises to have it to him by the end of the week and he accepts that.

(Everyone wishes they had a landlord like this guy)

Unfortunately, when Maggie returns to the store the next day, she learns Lettie has sold the copy of Great Expectations. She confides to Lettie that she thought the book was magic. Disappointed, Maggie goes to a park where she is watched by Sean Maguire as he stands across the lake holding the book.

The next day, Sean Maguire visits the book store. Maggie is less than pleasant with him. He introduces himself as Brandon and tells her that he works for her benefactor. She’s confused and he tells her that his employer wants to help her. Brandon tells her to be ready that night to go out to dinner and to wear something fancy.

(I love when roles require him to have glasses)

Maggie goes home and goes through her fairy tale princess dresses…and her bridesmaid apparel, it appears. She pulls out a burgundy taffeta dress that was probably what she wore to Aubrey’s wedding. It’s the best she can do.

(It's not...that...bad...)

Brandon shows up in a fancy car and is a bit intimidated by Uncle Phil George. He then sees all the steps up to Maggie’s apartment. It is a hike. Brandon starts his climb and is breathless by the time he reaches Maggie’s door. She emerges in her bridesmaid gown and tells him she’s ready to go. Brandon looks disheartened as it means he has to go back down all those stairs.

Uncle Phil George immediately becomes protective of Maggie. She assures him that Brandon’s okay and he backs down. 

(Uncle Phil is still suspicious)

Checking out the car, she tells Brandon that it doesn’t look like something he would drive. He agrees and tells her that the car is hers. She lets him drive though, even waiting for him to open her door for her.

Brandon takes her to a fancy restaurant, where everyone looks down their nose at her and how she’s dressed. She also stands out—she’s loud and unaccustomed to such fancy places. Brandon looks ready to jump out a window at every opportunity—mostly because Maggie enjoys insulting him whenever she can. He explains the terms and conditions set forth by this mysterious benefactor: He’ll give her money and gifts as long as she makes no attempt to learn his identity. Maggie finds this a bit odd.

(To be honest, one gets the feeling Brandon feels the same as well).

After dinner, Maggie tries to drive her car. There’s just one problem—she doesn’t have a license. So she lets Brandon keep the car and turns him into her chauffeur. He’s not too thrilled about that.

Brandon returns to the benefactor’s house. He asks if the man really wants to go down this route with Maggie. Brandon explains that she is uncultured, loud and rude. He also explains that she’s not impressed by the fancy life, which does surprise the benefactor. But he instructs Brandon to keep to their plan and not to question anything. Brandon looks like he’s reconsidering his job.

(He's just staring into nothing)

The next morning, Uncle Phil prepares to give Maggie her bike but she says she has a ride. Brandon pulls up and Uncle Phil is less than thrilled to see him. Maggie hops in and Brandon tells her she doesn’t have to keep working. That she has a lot of money now. But Maggie insists that Lettie needs her and she likes working. Brandon says that she needs to leave early though as he has plans for her.

Lettie agrees to it because she’s glad Maggie is hanging out with a man. Even if neither can stand each other. Brandon takes Maggie shopping to get clothing that better fits her status as a woman of wealth. When the shop girl is less than pleasant to Maggie, Brandon defends her and calls her beautiful. Maggie is touched and then is surprised to learn he knows nothing about John Hughes’ movies.

After getting her more fancier clothes, Brandon takes her to a bank. He tells the manager that they want to open an account and Maggie asks if she can have one of the pens. The manager agrees and Brandon is amazed. He is fascinated by the fact that Maggie doesn’t seem to care about the money.

Maggie returns to her apartment and finds Audrey with two of their other friends, Bridgette (Mindy Cohn) and Candy (Jennifer Blanc). They go through Maggie’s clothing and mock it. I’m not sure they are good friends for her. Anyway, Maggie’s new wardrobe surprises them but they are focused on more important things: Namely, the fact Lettie called to tell them that Maggie is ignoring a hot lawyer. Maggie is like “I don’t need a man” and then they have a girls’ night in.

(Oh, Susan Egan)

The next day, Maggie is hungover but still at work. Lettie wakes her up and tries to put some lipstick on her. Maggie bats her away, demanding to know what’s going on. Lettie explains that Brandon called, saying he was picking her up soon. Maggie begs her to stop trying to set her up. She says Brandon isn’t even her type and he asks her what her type is then. Maggie turns around to find him standing behind her. She acknowledges how awkward it is and she doesn’t even know about the lipstick smeared across her cheek. He gets Lettie to clean it off before taking Maggie out.

(She's already planning the wedding)

As they wander around San Francisco, Brandon goes back to Maggie’s type. He’s just curious, that’s all. How’s a certain river in Egypt, Brandon? Anyway, Maggie says she doesn’t have a type because she doesn’t believe in love. Yet she writes fairy tales. Anyway, as Maggie talks, it becomes clear that she’s against weddings and marriage, not necessarily love. Brandon picks up on that. He asks about children and if her parents want grandkids. Maggie tells him she’s an orphan.

Brandon tries to remove the foot from his mouth as he apologizes. Maggie is okay, for the most part. She tells him that her mother died when she was four and her father abandoned her soon after. Maggie says she remembered he had a mustache and used to do magic tricks. She confesses that she used to go up to men with mustaches and ask them if they were her father. Maggie tells Brandon not to look at her with pity and he assures her he’s not. He just wonders why she told him that. She doesn’t know. Are they having moment? I’m not too sure.

The moment is broken when Brandon announces that he has to blindfold her. She tells him she’s not into kink and he teases her that he’s not fooled. Once his tie is secured around her eyes, he leads her away.

(Kinda creepy)

He takes her to a fancy apartment with gorgeous views of San Francisco. Maggie is impressed though confused why Brandon brought her to his apartment. He tells her that it’s really her penthouse at some hotel in San Francisco. She’s a little unsure but decides to stay. Brandon orders some room service—tea and finger sandwiches. Maggie mocks them and continues to annoy Brandon. But then she wants to know more about him.

So Brandon tells her about his time in Oxford and how he worked for the American embassy. That was where he met her mysterious benefactor, who gave him his current job and flew him to San Francisco. Maggie’s not very impressed. She wants to know more than what can be gleaned off his resume. Like if he had a dog. He didn’t but he did have a parakeet he had named after a girl he had a crush on in elementary school. Brandon tells her that they used to ride the seesaw everyday until he caught her on the swings with another boy. He claims he never recovered.

Now that he’s opened up a bit more for her, Maggie insists on showing him around San Francisco the next day. Though Brandon insists he has other duties than just to follow her around, she insists. So he shows up and she shakes her head when she finds him in a suit. Maggie buys him a white track suit to wear and they go off on a tandem bike. She takes him around San Francisco and they seem to enjoy themselves.

They end up in a bar, where Maggie tosses nuts at Brandon. He tries to get her to stop but then throws some nuts to appease her. She then convinces him to dance and it…is weird. Brandon’s not the best dancer in the world. Maggie decides slow dancing will be safer. As they sway in time to the music, Brandon looks like he likes having her in his arms. They are definitely having a moment.

(Slow dancing is always romantic)

As the sunrises on San Francisco, Brandon admires the view. He walks Maggie back to her hotel room and they have a near kiss. Both are smitten.

The next day, Maggie is off in her own world. Lettie notices and after making up shocking things to elicit a reaction, she resorts to just yelling at Maggie. That knocks Maggie from her daydream and she asks Lettie about being in love. Lettie talks about falling in love with her husband. She then asks Maggie if she feels like she loves someone (Brandon). Maggie denies it, saying she was just doing research for her next book. Lettie doesn’t seem to buy it. She tells Maggie to grab love when she finds it.

(Susan Egan needs to come back and sing "I Won't Say I'm in Love")

Brandon reports to the mysterious benefactor, who notes that the lawyer has been spending a lot of time with Maggie. He doesn’t deny it and says that Maggie is fun. Annoying, but fun. The benefactor reminds him that he is paying Brandon to do a job, not run around the city with Maggie. He asks Brandon if he did the job actually assigned to him and Brandon assures the man that the manuscripts have been dropped off at the publishers. The benefactor is pleased.

Maggie returns home, determined to kiss Brandon the next time she sees him. Which turns out to be once she gets in the door. They kiss and it’s sweet. Maggie breaks it and asks him why he’s lurking in her apartment in the dark. Brandon takes a moment to recover from the kiss before making her guess what’s different. She’s terrible at it and makes him tell her. Brandon reveals that all her manuscripts are gone, delivered to the publisher’s. He’s ecstatic to see her response but Maggie is numb.

She then lays into him, saying that she wanted to earn being published. It’s a great sentiment, but she’s really delivering it to the wrong person. Yet since she can’t met her benefactor, poor Brandon has to take the brunt of her ire. She demands to meet her benefactor but he tells her he can’t tell her anything or introduce them. Heartbroken and angry, she leaves the hotel and goes back to her old apartment.

(Confused Brandon is confused)

Brandon has dinner with the Benefactor and asks him for permission to at least tell Maggie his name. The Benefactor refuses and tells him to do his job the way he tells him to do it. He then points out that Brandon has a stain on his tie. Brandon confesses he has developed a taste for hot dogs before pressing him more about telling Maggie. The Benefactor is still against it and then demands that Brandon change his tie. As Brandon tries to clean off the ketchup, he takes a good long look at himself in the mirror.

Maggie goes through her normal day, but this time she writes checks. She gives money to her florist then to Uncle Phil and finally her landlord. Judging by their reactions, it’s a lot of money per check.

She has a girls night with her friends, who try to convince her to see the bright spot—she’s finally a published author. But she didn’t earn it. Her friends comfort her as music begins to blast under her window. Everyone rushes to the window to find Brandon standing below holding a boom box “Say Anything” style. 

(It is kinda romantic)

She tries to pretend that she’s not there but he says he saw her bike. Maggie looks out and Brandon yells up that she’s made him a couch potato. He rented every 80s movie made in America and has been watching them nonstop just to keep up with her references. Brandon asks to talk to her and Maggie’s friends encourage her to do so.

(If Maggie doesn't, these three look like they will take Brandon up on anything he offers)

As he climbs the stairs, Maggie kicks her friends out. They file past Brandon and Audrey wishes him luck. He enters the apartment and tries to win her over with a magic trick. She’s not impressed and still upset with him. Maggie tells him to say what he has to say and then leave. So Brandon confesses that he loves her. It’s a flowery speech like you’d expect in this movie but from Maguire…yeah, I might’ve fallen a bit before scoffing.

Maggie seems unaffected and Brandon begs her for a response. She tells him that her feelings don’t matter because he still won’t tell her who the benefactor is. Brandon says he can’t tell her…but he can show her. She stops her ranting and asks him to repeat what he said. He says he can show her her benefactor if she gives him a kiss. Happily, she does.

(All together now: Aww)

He then takes her to the benefactor’s house, leaving her by the stairs as he goes to search for the man. The strange man from the start of movie passes her, giving her a smile. He walks off and Maggie goes to look at some pictures on a table by the stairs. As Brandon returns unsuccessful, Maggie finds a picture that troubles her. She tells Brandon that the girl in it is her and she looks up to see the Benefactor come down the stairs. He freezes when he sees her and Maggie lets out an anguished “Daddy?”

(Look at that "Oh crap" face)

Yep. The Benefactor is Maggie’s long-lost father. I figured it out about an hour before the reveal. You?

Anyway, the Benefactor says nothing. He just climbs back up the stairs as Maggie sobs in Brandon’s arms at the landing. Well, that didn’t go well.

(Poor thing)

We cut to one month later and end up in a church. Apparently Maggie has gotten over her issues regarding marriage in that time span because she’s marrying Brandon! Uncle Phil is in attendance, as well as Lettie and the flower stand guy. Her friends serve as her bridal party, Uncle Phil seems to be Brandon’s only groomsman, and the landlord escorts Maggie down the aisle. She and Brandon are all smiles as they approach the altar, but someone yells out for them to wait.

It’s not someone trying to figure out how Maggie changed her mind and planned a wedding in a month. (Though I guess Lettie probably has been planning it for years). No, it’s the Benefactor and he wants to talk with his daughter.

Maggie shoves her flowers at someone and chases after her father. She catches up with him in a small chapel. He says that he was in no condition to raise her after her mother died which is why he left her at the convent. He explains that he got his act together but the nuns wouldn’t let him see her. They wouldn’t even give him her contact information and he finally tracked her down when she was an adult. He eventually figured it out and started writing her. Maggie confirms she got them but she didn’t answer him. He says he knows but that Lettie wrote to him. Of course she did.

Maggie asks him why he created the whole Benefactor ruse. He said he figured she wouldn’t accept his help any other way. Which is probably true. But she just wants to try and have a relationship with him, not his money. He thinks he can do that.

(A new start?)

So, let’s get this wedding started! Again! The Benefactor walks his daughter down the aisle and tells Brandon to take care of her. He agrees and I have to wonder—does he have a job? Was he disbarred? Someone?

Anyway, Maggie and Brandon get married and I assume they live happily ever after. After all, she does write fairy tales.

(Congrats?)

So, that’s “The Third Wish.” What did I think? It was…so bad it’s good? Yeah, I think that’s how I would describe it. There are definitely problems and it probably could’ve used with someone else reading over it. Just someone to ask a few more questions, like some of the ones I asked in this recap. 

One thing that bothers me is that Mattison seems to fall into the trap where “honest and true to oneself” is mixed up with “rude.” While she seemed interested in learning more about Brandon, she dismissed everything that was important to him: his job and doing it well. She had her idea of what made people happy and he didn’t fit it. I get that Brandon needed to loosen up, that he needed more outside activities. Of course, it’s revealed he’s only been in America for a few weeks. He hasn’t had time to find a friend or a hobby.

Now that could’ve helped the romance between Maggie and Brandon. Right now, it seems like an afterthought—it happens in a montage. But it could’ve been built over time as Maggie tries to help Brandon adjust to San Francisco. Showed him how to have fun while he showed her that having someone isn’t too bad.

We probably could’ve seen her writing a bit more than we did. Especially since she had such a large amount of manuscripts in her apartment.

I could probably go on and on about what needed fixing. But that’s a lot of negativity. So let’s balance it out with some positivity. The cast is very good. Betty White of course is amazing and shines as Lettie. Did we expect anything else from her? I wish they had used Susan Egan and James Avery a bit more. And whoever was the strange butler. He was a hoot!

Let’s turn to our main leads. And we’ll start with Maguire, just because I feel we should cover Mattinson last and not because, you know, I’m obsessed with him. Anyway, on to his performance! Maguire was a champ. Sometimes it’s easy to forget on Once that he can do comedy. Even though the first show I saw him in was a comedy (“The Class”). He also handled the romance well. Where the writing (and editing) failed, he was able to at least make me think that Brandon was drawn to Maggie and had fallen for her. Though I did notice a few ticks he does as Robin now on Once Upon a Time, especially when Robin’s in a romantic scene with Regina. For example, there was a scene where Brandon backs Maggie up before kissing her. It reminded me so much of Regina and Robin in the vault during “Break the Mirror.”

So now onto Mattinson. As Maggie, she’s not too bad. I had to question some of her delivery choices, but nothing too distracting. She managed to make Maggie seem like a free-spirit though not enough to save some of her lines from sounding rude. But you still wanted to root for her.

So do I recommend watching it? Eh. Maybe? It had its moments but I’m not sure they were enough.

I guess you’ll just have to decide for yourself.

Okay, I'm going to back off Sean Maguire for a bit. At least on this blog.