When Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes teamed up almost five years ago for It Was Always You, their pairing set hearts aflutter, and even spawned merch over at Romance University. It also set off an immediate clamoring to get them back together. Better later than never, those fervent hopes and demands have been answered with Christmas Above the Clouds, a take on A Christmas Carol that finds Krakow in Ebenezer Scrooge mode.
Ella Neeze is the CEO of a successful travel start up that she rules with an iron fist, which is evident in her first scene when she forks a TV commercial she previously approved and demands it be redone, regardless of the fact that it’s Christmas Eve. Her assistant, Bobbi Cratchett (Emily Tennant), is at her beck and call to the detriment of spending time with her young son, Tim, who suffers from asthma. Thankfully her mom is there to help out. This year, that servitude means joining Ella for a trip to Australia that leaves on Christmas Eve and arrives on December 26th, literally skipping over Christmas because they’re in the air the entire day across time zones.
At the airport, they run into Jake (Hynes), and it’s the first time we see a little light in Ella’s eyes to clue us in that she’s not actually a robot. Bobbi notices it, too. The only thing Ella tips is that they were engaged once and it ended on Christmas Eve. This follows an earlier exchange where she tells Bobbi her mentor, Marlene (Gabrielle Rose), also died on Christmas Eve. So it would seem that Ella has good reason to want to disavow the season entirely.
Once they board the plane, she’s of course seated opposite Jake, and miserable about it, and additionally miserable that the flight attendant is ALL CHRISTMAS, ALL THE TIME. Her attempt to take a nap is thwarted when the familiar ghosts of past, present, and future start cycling through to show her her missteps and how that will influence her future–if she has one. Director Peter Benson and writers Christine Garver and Stephanie Jackson throw Krakow into a variety of ridiculous scenarios as they whisk her all over her memories.
The treat for viewers is we get to relive Ella and Jake’s courtship along with her, and see how she very specifically didn’t put him first. We then also see the break up and its aftermath for both of them. While you could quibble about the antiquated notion of punishing women for choosing career over love/family, A Christmas Carol takes that to a whole other level way past choosing success to very clearly alienating everyone and hanging on to every penny.
Ella eventually sees the error of her ways, and makes things right with both Jake and Bobbi, who are bewildered by the absolute 180 turn but happy to reap the rewards of that change of heart. Alongside other recent Countdown to Christmas 2025 entries, it leans heavily into the silly and the world of fantasy, but it’s also grounded in the humanity of who Ella was and how openly and warmly she once carried herself, a version that her sister (Christine Chatelain) still hangs onto.
We only get a couple of scenes with Ella and Marlene, but they’re enough to make it clear that Marlene was the one who turned her, so to speak. When she hires Ella and promises she’ll teach her how to have everything she ever wanted, Ella loses sight of everyone she already has. That one wrong turn takes years to course correct, but it finally does.
The It Was Always You fans will be very, very pleased. Krakow and Hynes still have that crackling chemistry in spades, but instead of the spicy combativeness of that earlier film, here, their current timeline scenes are rooted in loss for what was and the flashback scenes are rooted in the flirty banter of a first love. It’s fun to have them back together again. Note to Hallmark: they’re going to want another one after this.
Christmas Above the Clouds premieres Saturday, November 8th, at 8 pm/7c on Hallmark Channel and streaming on various outlets in the US, and on W Network in Canada. The day after, it will be streaming on Hallmark+ in the US and StackTV in Canada. Here are a couple of sneak peeks.
Photos and videos courtesy of Hallmark Media.
