Sept. 22, 2026

2.9 ReelShort - Honey Cut

Show Notes
Transcript

Honey Cut on ReelShort turns the heat all the way up with a forbidden love triangle, a dangerous marriage, and a cliffhanger that will make you need the next installment immediately. If you like messy romance, jealousy, betrayal, and TV that ends with you yelling at the screen, this episode is for you.

Host Meghan breaks down the second series in the Salt Kiss universe, following Isolde, Mark Trevena, and Tristan Thomas as an arranged marriage spirals into obsession, secrets, and a threesome dynamic no one saw coming. The setup is brutal: Isolde is forced to marry billionaire Mark, ends up on his boat, and is thrown into a situation where Tristan, sent to bring her back, becomes the one person she can trust.

You'll hear Meghan unpack the biggest twists and character choices, including:

Mark's control, surveillance, and the moment it becomes clear he knows far more than he lets on
Tristan's rapid shift from protector to lover, and whether the show moves too fast for the emotional payoff
The strange, compelling way Isodle changes the power dynamic between Mark and Tristan
The ending reveal that raises the stakes even higher when Isolde is told to kill her husband
Why this sequel lands better than the first installment, even if it still leaves questions hanging

Meghan also gets into what this series does well structurally, especially how the cliffhanger works when you already know a final installment is coming. Instead of pure frustration, it becomes anticipation—the kind that keeps you counting down the days for Bitter Burn.

Along the way, she explores how adding Isolde gives Mark a new path toward love, why the series feels like it finally bridges the emotional gap from the first story, and what still feels underdeveloped beneath all the drama. It is part review, part reaction, and part why-are-they-like-this commentary, in the best way.

If you are following the Salt Kiss series, love high-stakes romance with a dark edge, or just want to hear a passionate breakdown of a very chaotic love triangle, this episode delivers. Meghan rates Honey Cut on ReelShort a 7 out of 10 and leaves you with one big question: will Isolde betray her husband, or choose desire over duty?

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Welcome to My Vertical Obsession, I'm your host Meg, and

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today we are talking about Honeycutt on Real Short, which

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is the second series to Salt Kiss. So this stars

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Jake Lively as Tristan Thomas, Nico Tortorella as Mark Trevina,

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Caitlin Rose as Isolde Lawrence, and Ian Hummel as Father Mortimer.

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So the synopsis for this is based on the novel

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by Serena Simone. When her father forces her to marry

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billionaire Mark Trevina, good Catholic girl Isolde expects a monster. Instead,

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she finds herself falling for two men, her dangerous new

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husband and his fiercely loyal bodyguard Tristan. As jealousy, betrayal,

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and forbidden desire push all three to their breaking point,

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they must choose between destroying each other or risking everything

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to stay as one. So the overview I had for

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this was Isdold is told that she must marry Mark

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Trevina for a truce, but she doesn't want to. She

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is then taken and brought to Mark's boat where she

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is drugged and ends up in the water. Tristan, who

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was sent to bring her back to Mark, ends up

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saving her while on the boat back. Isdol and Tristan

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end up falling for each other. Tristan tells Isdol that

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he will not let Mark hurt her. When Isdol and

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Tristan get back, Tristan, Isdol tries to be the wife

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Mark wants, but her heart is with Tristan, while Tristan

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does his best to try and keep Isdol from Mark.

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It all falls apart when they go on their honeymoon

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and Tristan comes along. The truth about Tristan and Isdol

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comes out. Mark wants to punish them, When they get

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back from their trip, Isdold finds out that Mark knew

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the whole time about her and Tristan, and that Tristan

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and Mark were a thing at one point. She decides

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to try and bait Mark, which works. Now her, Mark,

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and Tristan are a thing. Just when things are going well,

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Isdold gets a call from Father Mortimer, and he tells

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her she needs to kill Mark Trevina. So some of

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the talking points I had were one of them was,

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so they're in the church after the wedding and Mark

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tells one of the women who used to be his

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clients that was there that he had sent Tristan back

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to the club, but Tristan was still in the church.

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So I'm very confused. Was he supposed to have gone

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back to the club and just timing wise didn't work?

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I just, that one small bit was like, um, I'm

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a little confused by that. The next point I had

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was about Mark knowing about Isdal and Tristan, and I

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was like, there is no way that he is this

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blind that he is not realizing that the two of

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them are together. And of course, we find out in

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the end that he knew the whole time. There was

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cameras everywhere, so he saw the two of them together,

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especially on the boat. So I was like, yeah, there

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was no way he did not know. He is not

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that stupid to not realize what was happening. And at

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one point, he had even said that if Tristan tries

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to save Isolde, then that proves that there's something going on.

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And again, until we find out that, yeah, he had cameras,

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so he's seen the whole thing. But I was just like,

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he's not that stupid. He's not that foolish to not

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know what's happening. And then the next part I had

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was how fast Tristan seemed to fall in love with

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Isolde and get over Mark. That part kind of threw

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me a little bit. And yes, it comes back in

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the end that, yeah... He cared for Mark and he

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loved Mark. And then he ends up with Isdold, Mark,

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and they're like this throuple kind of situation right now.

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But it's just like the whole thing is he's trying

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to protect Isdold from Mark. And it all seems like

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this jealousy of her for her being with Mark, not

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for Mark being with her. Like he's trying to save Isdold.

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He's trying to be with Isdold. This whole series. So

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I'm like, it feels like he got over Mark a

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little too... too soon or too fast but maybe that's

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something that's also in the book that's not in the

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series is that there is some struggle of him with

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some feelings he still has for mark and maybe deep

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down there's a part of him that's doing this because

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he doesn't want to see mark with is doled as

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much as he doesn't want to see is doled with

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mark so maybe it's a little bit of combination of

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both but i don't know the way it came off

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when i first was watching it was like it seems

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like he's really over mark fast but I may just

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be seeing it on a surface level versus on a

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deeper level between all three of them. And then the

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last part I had was similar to what I said

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in the first one is that enjoy the cliffhanger. Normally

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I don't. Normally I'm so upset and raging about it.

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But again, because we have the next installment already scheduled

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for release and we know when it's coming, you can

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enjoy it and it helps bring you back to the

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next installment. So it's like one of those things... where

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you're like, okay, now I need to know what happens next.

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So let me count down the days until the next

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series drops. So this one was a nice one to

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help you, help bring you back to the series for

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each installment. First, just kind of sitting there and going like,

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another cliffhanger. Why? So I really, I like that they

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do that for this. Help bring you back, make you

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want to see what happens next. I'm also very curious

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as to what happens because it gave you this to

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be continued screen and then you hear a scream and

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Isdold say something and you're like, what brings this on?

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What's happening here? I need to know. So the final series, Bitterburn,

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can't come soon enough. Super excited to see what happens.

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So So my overall thoughts for this were this one

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was a bit better than the first one. I was

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a little bit underwhelmed about the first one, but once

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I saw this one, it kind of helped make it

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so much better. I will say that I am still

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a little bit unsure about the whole series, but I

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did enjoy this one a bit more. Super excited about

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the final installment, and I know that will probably help

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kind of turn this whole series into something so much better.

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We shall see. But I also did say that I

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think adding Isdold added to the drama. It also helped

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Mark finally open up his heart because, you know, the

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person that he lost originally was male. And when he

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was so insistent of keeping Tristan away from him and

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not falling for him, he didn't want to risk that

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heartbreak again or to get Tristan hurt or killed. But

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with Isdold being female, it let him open his heart

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and believe that it is possible to love someone. And

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since they both feel something for Tristan, they could let

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Tristan into their lives. It lets Mark feel love for

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Tristan too without the fear of something happening or someone

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going after him like in the first series. That's kind

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of one of the things that I felt is Joel

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added to this is that it kind of gave her

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that bridge for Mark to be able to love Tristan

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the way he really wanted to in the first series

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but couldn't because of that fear that the first person

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he loved being killed Because of him brought. So I

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think Isdold kind of helped bridge that so that way

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he could love Tristan the way he wanted to. But

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he also fell for Isdold so that gave him two

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people that he could truly finally love and be happy with.

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And then I said how the added element of the

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ending where Isdold is told to kill Mark. Now it

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makes you wonder, will she betray her husband? There's just

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a lot of drama within this series that I felt

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that they could have expanded a bit more on. But

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I still enjoyed the series and I'm still super excited

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for the final installment. So, cannot wait. wait. For this

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one with the rating, I gave it a 7 out

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of 10 because like I said, this one was a

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lot better than the first one and it helped kind

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of bring the first one up for me. So I

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kind of think having all three will make the series

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better in itself. So super excited. Cannot wait. This has

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been Honeycutt on Real Short. As always, we'd love to

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hear your thoughts about the series. If you liked it,

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what you did and didn't like, And if you're enjoying

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this podcast, please be sure to give it a review.

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Love to hear your thoughts. This has been My Vertical Obsession.

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I'm your host, Megan. And until next time.