(A truncated version of this was posted on Facebook.)
I feel like I'm still holding my breath after watching Ep. 1503 on Sunday. Episode writer Ken Craw left us with a bit of a cliffhanger when the credits started rolling on "Bad Moon Rising". It's not often that we get a touch of fear and dread on Heartland, but it's been building ever since the season began with the serial break-ins happening in Hudson. And now, our beloved family has fallen victim to the thieves, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The break-ins are still going on in Hudson, and everyone is on edge. Lisa convinces Jack to install a security system. He manages to do it with Parker’s help, but not without a few hiccups involving a destructive raccoon and a thirsty Lyndy who only wanted a night-time glass of milk. (If you didn’t immediately want to hug that poor kid when she accidentally tripped the motion sensors... way to go, Jack. You’ve probably traumatised your great-granddaughter for life.)
The second plot point is Amy lending a hand at Cooper's equine therapy centre ("Higher Ground"). It seems that on top of being super busy, his horse trainer up and quit on him. Amy has agreed to step in on short notice, but only until Cooper finds a real replacement. The current "busy-ness" is a gala Cooper's been planning to raise awareness for the centre.
For now, Cooper has six kids (teens, really) from a group home outside of Hudson. We soon learn the names of two of them: “Mac”, a scowly youth with his ubiquitous backwards ballcap, and “Logan”, a tall, lanky kid with an easy smile and a mop of curly hair. We soon also learn which one to trust, and which one to avoid — especially if we’re of the equine species.
Third plot point: Paula Westfield is on the warpath over the break-ins. She nastily blames Cooper’s recent batch of kids for the unsolved crimes, and wants Lou to take action and shut down Higher Ground immediately.
(Side note: it’s during their conversation we learn where Georgie’s been, which is Florida, training for a chance at the Olympics. The startled look on Paula’s face—and her attempt to be gracious about it when she totally wasn’t—was priceless.)
We don’t know what to believe about Cooper’s kids, but one of them (Mac) causes Challenge the horse to spook and react violently when Amy tries to pair them up. It’s Logan to the rescue, though. He jumps into the pen and gets between Challenge and Mac just as Amy rushes in to calm the horse. Belligerent Mac acts like he did nothing wrong, leaving Amy and Cooper at a loss as to what to do, since they don’t know what triggered Challenger.
Lou tries to make good on her promise to Paula to check out the centre and OH MY GOSH! Is that Clint Riley?
Hi, again, Clint. It’s good to see you... maybe? It seems Clint is there because they’ve also received calls about the possibility Cooper’s kids could be involved in the break-ins. Cooper denies they could be, but neither Lou nor Clint would be doing their due diligence if they didn’t at least take a look.
While trying to get to the bottom of Challenge’s issues, Amy learns lanky Logan has a great instinct for horse behaviour. We also learn he’s reluctant to bond with any horse because he won’t be there long. His dad is coming to get him very soon Logan says, and they’re going to be reunited. (As viewers, we obviously sense this ain’t happening exactly the way Logan hopes it will.) As it happens, just as Logan says he’ll be outta there like *that*, he snaps his fingers, causing Challenge to spook. It’s the clue Amy’s been looking for: loud, unexpected noises are the trigger. Anyway, Amy is impressed with Logan’s natural ability with horses. He’s curious about how she gentled a wild horse like Challenge, so she takes him out to see the wild herd, and the splashy paint she wants to gentle for her stepmother, Jessica Cook.
(Side note: warm welcome to Drew Davis aka Logan. He’s already charmed his way into my heart with his easy-going manner and easy smile. I hope he gets more screen time as Logan is a very likeable character already.)
Paula accosts Lou again in her office, demanding to know what’s being done about Higher Ground. Her place was nearly broken into the night before, but the perpetrators were scared off by one of the grooms. She declares if Lou won’t take action, other people in her circle will (“pillars of the community”) and that the Centre is going down, and that Lou will probably go down with it. (Side note: Kate Drummond is so great in these scenes as Paula, you love to hate her. But the best—or worst, depending on your interpretation—from her is yet to come. More on that later...)
Lou learns Cooper’s Centre is in serious financial trouble. He’s pretty much pinning all his hopes on the success of the gala. He might be a great social worker, but he’s a lousy accountant. Lou offers to help him due to her business acumen, but things aren’t looking good.
Despite Amy’s work with Challenge, the horse still reacts negatively to Mac, a sign the horse might not be safe to remain at the Centre and be around kids. Logan is distressed about this, since Amy tells him she doesn’t know where the horse would end up, since he can’t go back to his herd. It doesn’t take long before we find out why Challenge reacts to Mac, and why he’s scared of loud noises. Mac has locked him up in a stall and has unleashed the full measure of his cruelty: he’s throwing bang snaps at Challenge, the gunpowder exploding and sending off sparks everywhere, while the other kids just stand around and do nothing. Logan angrily grabs Mac’s bag of “party favours” away; Mac accuses him of being a thief just like his father. That sends Logan back at him with a fist. Mac deflects the blow and scurries off, leaving Logan seething. The other kids slowly leave, and Logan is alone with Challenge. He gently releases the horse from the stall and walks him out back to the paddock. A much calmer Challenge seems to sense he’s got a friend in Logan.
Later, the whole Heartland household is all dressed up for the gala and waiting for Jack in the kitchen. Jack comes rushing in and pulls out his bolo tie from a box also containing an antique watch engraved with the initials “J.E.B”. Lisa comments she’s never seen the watch before and Lou asks why he never wears it; Jack makes light of it, saying it’s just a piece of metal before tossing it back into the box on the kitchen table. (Foreshadowing, anyone?)
The gala turns out to be a very swanky affair, attended by what looks to be a large contingent of Hudson high society, including (pro) Fairfield clients Lisa quietly called, and (con) Paula Westfield’s “pillars of the community” who are probably there to see Cooper’s dreams are crushed.
Cooper’s kids are also guests at the gala. Logan tries to tell Amy about Mac’s actions, but they’re interrupted. Meanwhile, the security system is being a pain with a pile of motion alerts being sent to Jack’s phone (rascally raccoons), so he decides on Lisa’s suggestion to just shot off the camera alerts. (Foreshadowing, anyone?)
All seems to be going okay for Cooper as he stands up to say a few words... until Paula interrupts and says a mouthful—a damning mouthful—about the “criminal element” the centre has brought in, since some of the kids have a juvenile record. Clint finally steps in to stop her, but the damage is done. Paula leaves, and several guests follow in her destructive wake.
You’d think things could not get worse, right? They do. Logan, having heard Paula’s accusations, confronts Mac, asking if he’s had anything to do with the robberies. Mac denies it; Logan says he doesn’t trust him. Mac needles him by referring to Logan’s soft spot for locked up animals—like his father. Logan loses it and hauls off with a punch that knocks Mac to the ground. Appalled, Amy and Cooper (and everyone else, really) can’t believe what they’re seeing. Logan blurts out that Mac’s been torturing Challenge.
With that, Emma Fitzroy, one of Cooper’s early donors and supporters, tells him she’s re-thinking her support after that disturbing display. It’s like the last nail in the coffin for Higher Ground, Cooper says. Lou, Clint, and Amy try to bolster his sinking spirits, but he can’t bear to hear about it right now.
You’d think things could not get worse even after this, right? Oh, they do.
Upon arriving at Heartland... The lights are out. The screen door is off its hinges. A window is broken. Remi is barking out on the porch at the door. Lou pulls up next to the truck in the SUV and Amy’s on the phone to the police. Lisa begs for Jack’s phone so she can see when the break-in happened, except... when he tried to turn off the camera alerts, he turned off the whole system. Jack grabs a tire iron from the truck, and demands Lisa stay back. Inside the house, it’s a disaster zone. Thoroughly ransacked. And the thieves are long gone. Jack looks like he’s on the verge of tears at this violation. Cut to credits.
I have so many thoughts about this episode that I’ll probably share as the week progresses, but for now I can say I’m still really uneasy about how absolutely trashed the ranch house was, and how upset I am at Paula Westfield’s audacity. She’s ruined Cooper with her accusations.
It’s also a foregone conclusion Jack’s watch is gone. Despite his lack of sentimentality when Lisa and Lou commented on it, there’s got to be something more to it. Jack Bartlett, after all these years, you continue to surprise us.
Ken Craw really left nothing on the table with this one. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. But Heartland being Heartland, I await the happy resolution to this.
“I'm still so confused about Cooper's character. What was his purpose? Why was he ever there? Why did they just write him off the way they did? Will we ever seen him again? It doesn't make any sense“
(A very truncated version of this was posted elsewhere, as usual.)
Ep. 1504 (“Sins of a Father”) written by Alexandra Clarke picks up almost immediately after the previous episode, which saw the family rolling up to the ranch, only to find it has been broken into. Yep, they’re the latest victims of the serial break-ins happening around their neck of the woods.
This was an excellent episode in many ways. It even held a few good surprises. With the exception of one particular plot point that I’ll rant about later, I really enjoyed it.
Much of the plot had to do with Jack dealing with memories stemming from his stolen watch. Yep, that gold engraved watch was taken in the break-in along with other valuables that included Tim’s prized All ‘Round Cowboy Trophy. We’re treated to several flashbacks from Jack’s perspective that include OH MY GOSH! Is that Young Jack? That’s right. Shea Johnston, Shaun Johnston’s own son, has reprised his role this episode, and was doing a fine job of it, too.
Another plot point of note was Parker’s interest in tracking down the stolen items. She immediately gets the watch actually was important to Jack, despite his protests to the contrary. (Anybody get the sense she’ll soon earn the nickname “Nosey Parker”?) We also see Parker developing an Instant Crush on Logan when they meet for the first time.
The third subplot gives us more development of the Logan character. Amy continues to be impressed by his horse instincts, and is therefore disappointed when she learns he’ll probably be moving away to make a fresh start when his dad is paroled.
The final subplot is minor, in a sense, but it’s the only part of the episode that actually angered me on a few levels. Lou cannot find her Mayoral laptop. It could have been stolen in the break-in, or it could just be missing. Get ready for a rant, which I have not done in many long years. (Skip over these next few paragraphs if you don’t care to be subjected to it.)
I’ve given lots of thought to the “Lou’s Laptop” subplot. It was terrible on all counts, in my opinionated opinion. I know it was probably intended to be played off for levity, but the episode did not need another Lou snafu for giggles. I cannot for a second believe the woman holding the *highest office* in Hudson has a.) such poor security on her WORK laptop, and b.) lacked serious judgment in what she allegedly kept on it. In real life, her I.T./security people would have been mandating a password change like every bloody week with 32-characters-including-capitals-numbers-special-characters, and she would have been schooled on what is appropriate use of her laptop and what isn’t. She deserves to called “Mayor Skroob” for apparently having a lame password something close to “1234”.
And you mean to tell me businesswoman “Spreadsheet” OCD Lou has a desk so messy she misses a note placed there telling her exactly where the laptop is being kept? Isn’t she Miss Organized?!
And don’t get me started on the pictures she was keeping on the laptop “inappropriate for my children to see” she mentioned that nearly gave Rick a coronary. I doubt it was anything *too* incriminating, and possibly stuff just embarrassing for Katie and Georgie, but just the suggestion Lou could have had something scandalous on her hard drive was poor judgment both for her and for whoever greenlit that odious plot point. “Bad pictures” are no joking matter, especially when in the real world, we’re becoming *very* aware of the connection between “bad pictures” and human trafficking. Big FAIL on that, and I’m not apologizing for calling it out. Don’t ever go there again, Heartland, even for laughs.
End of rant.
Back at Cooper’s Centre, Clint has bad news for Logan. His dad has failed to make parole. This upsetting news causes Logan to run off. They try without success to find him on the Centre grounds or in any of the buildings. Cooper seems at his wits’ end with both this and his funding crisis—later even abandoning his dream project and leaving Clint in the lurch.
Amy returns to Heartland to continue gentling the wildie when Logan rolls in on his bike. But he’s not there to help. He’s there to say goodbye. He has decided to make a fresh start on his own without his dad, wherever that may take him, and Amy seems unable to convince him running away isn’t the answer.
“Father and son relationships... they can be tough... and fragile,” Jack tells Amy when she mentions how angry Logan is at his dad. He speaks about looking up to Jefferson, and how he idolized the man... and how tough it is when that hero trips up; to discover he’s just a person. He reminds Amy it’s not her responsibility to fix what’s broken between Logan and his father. Cue another flashback to when Young Jack has another uncomfortable exchange with a drunken Jefferson. They’ve been fighting over Young Jack’s rodeo aspirations and his duties on the ranch. Jefferson throws the gold watch at his son, snidely saying “Happy birthday”; Young Jack throws it down on the hearth shouting that he doesn’t want it; that he doesn’t want anything from his father.
It all boils down how Jefferson accused Young Jack of challenging his authority, of thinking he knew what was best for the ranch. “You think you know what’s best for this place? Prove it!” Jefferson taunted. Those mocking words haunt Jack this entire episode. At one point, Lyndy wakes up in her room, convinced something’s outside her door. That sends Jack rushing outside in the dead of night with his rifle. Of course there’s nothing there, but Jack can’t seem to shake the feeling he’s failed to keep his family safe.
Jack finally admits to Lisa he’s not actually feeling guilty about the break-in, he’s angry about the watch, and the memories losing it has conjured up. Lisa hears how drunken Jefferson took out his grief and anger over June’s death on Jack, causing him to feel unsafe in his own home. She tells Jack what Jefferson did was heartbreaking, but that he cannot be angry at himself for what happened. Jack asks why not, since he believes he made her feel the way his dad made him feel. “I promised I would never do that to anyone,” he says. Lisa insists he always makes her feel safe, and that he is not his father. She encourages him to pull himself out of the past and to appreciate what he has now, because he made Heartland into what it is. Jack fortunately takes her advice to heart.
Wrapping up the remaining plot points: Logan’s Run was short-lived. He’s back to help Amy after realising he didn’t want to be on the road on his own. (He’s probably also realised he should pursue this connection he has with horses, and Amy even gives him a riding lesson.)
Parker and Tim track down both the watch and trophy at a local pawn shop. It seems the thieves were not from Cooper’s outfit; they were a gang involved with the fair that was moving from town to town, a pattern Parker identified during her sleuthing.
Jack takes Lyndy fishing at the pond, which provides a bookend flashback to a happier time when Jack was a kid and Jefferson was still his hero, teaching him how to fish, perhaps the only time Jack heard Jefferson tell him he was proud of him.
End of Review; onto personal commentary...
I was really impressed by everyone’s performances in this episode. Shaun Johnston was particularly great, I thought. Jack’s not usually the one to show much emotion, but this episode gave him the opportunity to really show a great deal of emotion without having the luxury of words. Just watching him, sitting on the bench on the porch as he fumed over the robbery, or how he remembered the difficult past with this father... wow.
We’re of course still completely ignoring the havoc the “June dies” timeline has wreaked on previously established Heartland canon. We’ll never be able to reconcile it, so I guess I’ll just have to let it go. Jefferson Bartlett’s grief and anger over June’s untimely death, and maybe even his resentment over his son’s aspirations led him down a very dark and destructive path. It wasn’t made overt, but one gets the sense Jefferson might have even been physically abusive towards Jack (beyond the drunken shoving match that could have happened).
I’m feeling a little better now about the “There was a time I couldn’t wait to leave this place” quip from Jack when we were first hit with the “Jack had a sister and a bad relationship with his dad” backstory due to what Lisa said to Jack during their talk.
She was grateful to Jefferson for one thing: and that was instilling in Jack a sense of responsibility for Heartland. Jack didn’t actually have to stay with the bitter old man. He could have taken off on the road, taking in every rodeo he wanted. But he still felt responsible for the ranch that both his granddad and his dad promised would be his to take care of one day.
Because ever since Day 1 of knowing Jack Bartlett, I’ve known two things: he’s proud of those 600 acres of Heartland, and he’s a homebody.
Jack’s reasons for wanting to leave weren’t because he wasn’t interested in taking care of the family homestead. His reason for wanting to leave was more about not feeling safe in his father’s presence after June died.
It makes sense he’d feel better about being there after the old man died, and perhaps in and through marrying Lyndy, brining her there to live, and having Marion. He must have put great effort into making sure they felt safe and secure when he was around, the same effort he’s been putting into it for his family now.
I’m so pleased to see how Jack was quick to counsel Logan, given what they’ve both experienced. The parallels between Logan and Ty cannot be ignored, but I’m also glad the Writers don’t seem to be beating us over the head with the comparisons. Ty, for example, wasn’t a prodigy with equines. Logan seems to have a preternatural ability about them, and Amy is all too keen to help him harness that. Ty was in juvie; near as I can figure, Logan simply ended up in a group home because he got too old for foster care and has never had a criminal record.
I feel like I could say so much more about this episode, but it’s late, and I’ve already ruminated about it enough for now.
