Mild spoilers for Freakier Friday ahead.
When I heard Chad Michael Murray was returning as Jake in Freakier Friday, I couldn’t have been more excited. The ultimate 2000s teen heartthrob, many longed for his good looks and luscious locks in A Cinderella Story, One Tree Hill, or of course 2003’s Freaky Friday. In this instance, I had visions of a grown-up Jake and Anna (Lindsay Lohan) settling into family life, both as wild ands in love with each other as they were when we left them two decades ago. After watching the new Disney movie, I’m sad to confirm that the reality is anything but.
Murray is in all of three scenes, with Anna’s eye being taken by fellow single parent Eric (Manny Jacinto). Their whirlwind romance and upcoming wedding is the catalyst for more body swapping to take hold at the hands of an amazingly terrible psychic, none of which directly involves Murray at all. Still, Disney found a way to shoehorn him in for good measure, and while his looks and charm have arguably only gotten better over time, his Freakier Friday storyline does him a complete disservice.
Where did my romantic lead go? Where is his kudos for being back in the Hollywood spotlight he undoubtedly shouldn’t have been moved from in the first place. I’ll tell you where – and it’s not on the big screen. Instead, Netflix has the answer, and as of August 11 you can binge three seasons worth of Murray at his romantic best.
Sullivan’s Crossing on Netflix makes Chad Michael Murray the perfect romantic lead though Freakier Friday didn’t
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Meet Sullivan’s Crossing, a Netflix TV show where the views are stunning, the drama is piping hot, and Chad Michael Murray is the romantic leading man that he deserves to be. In the series, he plays Cal, a townie local who falls in love with Maggie (Morgan Kohan) a neurosurgeon who’s moved back home after years out of town in Boston. Not only does Cal need to contend with winning over Maggie’s dad Sully (Scott Patterson), a local campground owner, but Maggie’s got some serious love triangle baggage in the form of on-off boyfriend Andrew (Allan Hawco).
Sullivan’s Crossing season 3 (coming to Netflix on August 11 after wrapping up on cable TV in July) finally put an end to Maggie and Andrew, but right at the last minute presented a new issue for Cal. As he and Maggie prepared to settle into a new phase of their future, a man called Liam (Marcus Rosner) rocked up in town. His backstory? Being Maggie’s secret husband, something she has absolutely no recollection of.
While we wait and see how that all shakes out – season 4 has already been greenlit – I’ll happily binge Cal’s best bits over and over again. As ever, Murray oozes charm, vulnerability, and essentially everything you’d want in a future partner. If Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy existed in modern times, he’d probably look just like Cal. Considering what he’s been through, Cal has the patience of a saint, balancing that with being hard-working, wholesome, and generally having his head screwed on.
In another world, another life, I am Mrs. Michael Murray, and I am okay with that just being a dream. Freakier Friday didn’t give him to me in his full glory, but in terms of every other 2000s nostalgic trope, it succeeded. It’s hardly going to be a chore to keep watching Sullivan’s Crossing, and I highly encourage you to do the same.
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