#bob granger

[heartlandians]

Heartland - 10x04 - New Horizons

[heartlandtfln]

“(360): That dude with the beard walked up to me, turned my water into wine with everclear and kool-aid, and walked away. Pretty sure drunk Jesus is back.“

[golllly18]

Heartland- 10x14 “Written in the Stars”

[ambermarshalldaily]

Countdown to Season 11

↳ 10.10 - Together and Apart

You wouldn’t believe the last few days that I’ve had.

[the-real-tc]

Ep. 1104 Review: How to Say Goodbye

 (cross-posted on Facebook—with some additional comments.)

Too many viewers have already mentioned the whole “Mongolian” horses vs. “Norwegian Fjord” horses discrepancy, so I won’t harp on it. To a non-horse-literate person like me (to my detriment), I would have been none the wiser about the breeds had I not been informed the horses used in the episode weren’t actually Przewalski’s horses, so I wasn’t bothered by it. Had this episode been a novel I was reading, the story would stand up on its own just fine. Can’t fault the crew of Heartland for not being able to get an actual *endangered* wild horse breed on the show. A genuine wild horse breed would be impossible to receive direction from the wranglers. ‘Nuff said.

Moving on. “How to Say Goodbye” is another excellent episode from Heather Conkie. The main horse problem this time around is Attila, the wild stud a man named Alan Shore is hoping to ship back to Mongolia for breeding purposes. Attila refuses to allow himself to be put in the shipping crate. Enter Ty and Amy. Ty, possibly due to his connections in Mongolia for last year’s (*cough*ill-advised*cough*) trip; Amy, due to her “way” with horses, even wild ones. She asks for the horse to be sent to Heartland so she can work with him; Alan agrees to let her try.

The second plot line of note is what’s been going on in Casey’s family, namely the untimely passing of her brother, Curtis. He leaves behind his second wife, Jen, and his two sons, Wyatt and Brick. Yes, the same Wyatt who blew into Georgie’s life for one episode last season. Jen & Sons have moved to Hudson to live with Casey. Wyatt shows up at Heartland to see Georgie, as she’s the first “Hudsonite” he wanted to see. He finds her practicing her jumping with Flame, and is impressed. Georgie is unsure of what to say to the guy, but leads with the “I know what you’re going through” line, and says if he ever wants to talk, she’s there to listen. Wyatt balks at this. Why would he want to talk? He’s clearly in denial about his dad’s death, refusing to show it or acknowledge his grief. He believes everyone’s just acting phony, and alienates Georgie for trying to help. Young tyke Brick is no better, as his mother says he’s “regressed” after Curtis’ passing. He’s uncommunicative and silent, despite even Jack’s efforts to coax him out of his shell.

Third plot follows up on Lisa’s financial distress. She’s been practically ignoring Jack and cancelling out on all kinds of lunch-dinner-any-together-time-whatsoever the whole week. This leads Tim to ask Jack during yet another cancelled dinner what’s going on; Jack won’t betray any word about his wife’s struggles, but claims instead he’s doing just “great” on his own. Unfortunately, Lisa picks that very moment to walk into the house. She hears Jack’s emphatic proclamation that he’s fine all by his onesies and she seems quite crushed. Lisa tells Jack she can’t stay for dinner as she’s dropped by only to pick up some things she needs. Jack hustles after her and demands to know what’s going on and why she’s been avoiding him. Tells her that even if he can’t help her, he can at least listen to her problems. (That’s what married people are supposed to do, right?) He concludes by saying he needs her and misses her. Lisa is skeptical on this score. After all, didn’t he just tell Tim he’s doing “great” on his own? Jack has no reply to those unfortunate and ill-chosen words; the two part company on that sour note.

Other minor plots:

Georgie’s struggles with the double-oxer (she keeps knocking over the last rail), and she frets Val will kill her if she can’t make the jump at the competition in Okotoks that weekend. Ty is being “courted” by a vet school pal of Bob’s. Jonah has been helping with wolves injured by overzealous cullers in British Columbia. Bob himself has been treating wolves wounded right in Alberta. They all agree the cull has gone way too far; they’ve been overwhelmed by the number of wolves shot and left to die. Bob seems quite jealous of the attention Ty has received both from Alan Shore and Jonah, wondering perhaps why *he* hasn’t rated on either man’s list when he’s done everything Ty has done (perhaps more).

Plot line One follows the predictable “Miracle Girl” formula for Amy. (We all know she’s going to find the solution, right?) She intuited right away that Attila was experiencing separation anxiety. The mare and foal she saw at Alan’s preserve were indeed Attila’s mate and offspring. He was agitated when he couldn’t be near them. So, Amy asks Alan to ship mama and baby to Heartland, too. Alan reluctantly obliges. When she still can’t achieve the success she’s looking for after making the mare and foal visible to Attila, she returns to an old remedy: using the sense of smell. She rubs a baby blanket on both horses, then takes it to Attila so he can catch their scent. Once the blanket is in the crate, Attila is fine in there, too. Problem solved! Alan is extremely thankful to both Ty and Amy for their good work.

Plot Line Two delves into the heart of the episode, which is of a family in deep mourning over a lost husband and father. Widow Jen is bearing up well, but she’s concerned for step-son Wyatt and biological son, Brick. She speaks meaningful words about how the unexpected can be right around the corner; how things go from great to terrible so suddenly. Her “deep thought warning”: Don’t take anything for granted. Her words seem to especially affect Lisa, who’s no doubt contemplating her own sudden financial (and relationship?) woes. 

Things take another sudden turn when the selectively mute Brick goes missing from the jumping pen. Georgie was supposed to be “minding” him when Wyatt showed up. The little tyke had begun tugging on Wyatt’s hand to go see Attila; Wyatt responded with impatience to “go find your mom” (which I found harsh at the time). Georgie told the kid to head to the house, and he seemed to reply he would. Except he didn’t. Side Note: Amy and Wyatt share some words about losing a parent while observing Attila and speaking about the issue of separating him from his mate and foal. It’s one of the first times I can recall Amy having a very pointed conversation about grieving her mom in an attempt to connect with someone suffering a similar loss. (I wish we’d seen more of both Amy and Lou mourning Marion throughout the seasons, but we’ll take what we can get.) After Jen notices Brick is lost, everyone goes into search mode, combing the surrounding woods and property of Heartland. Wyatt feels particularly guilty for brushing off his half-brother the way he did. Casey does her best to assure her sister-in-law she’s not the worst mother in the world and that they’ll find the kid.

Jack and Lisa are off searching another area when Lisa gets text that makes her grimace, which Jack notices. He demands she come clean about what’s bugging her, and she finally does. First, her Toulon tenants have skipped out without paying rent, so she’s stuck trying to find someone else; she’s also lost a buyer for her best breeder horse. They’re problems she says no one wants to hear, but Jack begs to differ. That’s when they hear sobbing coming from the outhouse. It’s Brick, who’s been hiding in there and crying. Jack coaxes him out by telling him when he’s hurting, that’s when he needs his family the most. It’s another little speech Lisa takes to heart, realising that keeping quiet about her problems is not the way to go about it.

At the Okotoks competition, Georgie sails over the double-oxer jump and secures a second-place berth. Val’s predictably happy with the clean finish (but I’m sure second place won’t make her happy when the Fall Finale comes).

Over at the preserve, Ty tells Bob he’s going to B.C. to help Jonah with the injured wolves affected by the cull; he manages to convince Bob to join him, despite the latter’s initial surly mood about feeling snubbed. (No idea how long Ty will be away on this next mission; Bob just makes him promise not to get sick; Ty’s apparently a drag when he gets sick.) Back at Heartland, Lisa shows up with luggage in tow, surprising Jack. She tells him she’s come to a decision. With all she’s been coping with recently, (a lot!), she admits she does need him: his hugs, his listening ear; to know he’s by her side at night… So she’s hoping she can move in with him. Jack happily agrees. So here’s to the happily married couple that love to do things bass-ackwards: Congrats on taking the “next step” in your relationship, Jack and Lisa! Long time coming.

At the end of the episode, Amy, Ty, Georgie, Wyatt and Brick gather to watch Alan trailer up Attila to take him off to transport to Mongolia. As the trailer drives off, little Brick takes Amy’s hand and utters his first real sentence since his dad died: “’Bye, Attila.”

It’s too much for Wyatt. The dam breaks, and he has to hustle off to cry in private. Georgie follows after him. Overwhelmed with sadness and grief, Wyatt tearfully comes to terms with the reality that his dad is really and truly gone. Georgie wordlessly puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Side note: Dempsey Bryk does an expert job the entire episode. He plays upbeat, nonchalant, petulant, dismissive, in-denial, regretful, and finally grief-struck with remarkable sensitivity and purity. He had me tearing up as soon as it sunk in that he’d been avoiding this boatload of emotion when Brick uttered his “’Bye, Attila” line. It was great. It was moving. I really look forward to seeing more from this young actor on Heartland.

[confessions-heartland]

“i hope, that for the next season HL will hire a medical advisor who will be smart enough to say that ticks don't affect people the way they pictured and before going from Canada to utterly rural Mongolia one should have multiple vaccinations which take time and it is impossible to leave in 1 day. Only the rescuers can but they have been vaccinated anyway.”

[lola-heartland]

Quote S09E05

[worldbyelly]