When Calls The Heart - General Discussion

[free2think]

2 minutes ago, sharifa70 said:

It’s that there’s a freaking giant war going on that no one is acknowledging.

RIGHT! Either this show is a period drama (in which case it should stay true to point and time) or it's just a bunch of modern day people in early 1900's cosplay. 

Season 1 was true to the period, after that every succeeding season became farther and farther from even trying to be in period.

[bybrandy]

1 hour ago, sharifa70 said:

I don’t see Elizabeth flirting with Lucas or Mountie Whatsisname, exactly. I see some glimmerings of interest, maybe, but not flirting. A year after her husband’s death it doesn’t seem that weird for men to be noticing an attractive young widow. 

True, If we were going to be strict about the time period, she should still be in black and certainly not attending dances. My beef isn’t the apparent accelerated mourning. It’s that there’s a freaking giant war going on that no one is acknowledging.

It has been more than a year.  She's fine.   Even by the time period.  Anybody that has done significant genealogy will know that remarriage within a year or two was perfectly common in that era and every other era.   It has been over a year since Jack died.   She's not having a relationship with either of these men and while she's not shunning them she's not exactly going out of her way to be noticed by them either.

She and Jack were't really together for all that long, really.  In a very short order she will have been apart from him longer than she was with him.   She's already been a widow far, far longer than she was married.

 

[dubstepford wife]

Something incredibly simple and stupid just popped into my head: given that it's the teens, as many people keep saying, why didn't Jack just go off to war?  That's an easy way to get him off the show for a few years.  And maybe he breaks it off with Elizabeth right before he goes because he doesn't want her to get hurt if he dies?  So she has some flings but then he comes back for the final season and they rekindle the romance?

It's so obvious I don't know why I didn't think of it before.  Then again, as many people have pointed out, they're completely ignoring WWI.

And yeah, J&E were most definitely together for a very long time.  I just marathoned it through season 5, stopping at the wedding.  There are scenes with them in almost every episode.  It's a really, really bad treatment of a great on-screen couple.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

I'm not familiar with her Twitter or other social media, but I will say this: anyone who was a contributing factor to Dan's leaving is a huge problem.  The show is doomed and I think most people know it.  Erin seems to be holding on with her fingernails because it's a starring role with still lots (albeit fewer) of adoring fans and she's 35 in a town that isn't kind to women over 35.  Deep down I think she knows there's no show without E&J.

Maybe I'm totally wrong, maybe we're completely over analyzing this, maybe this really was just about Dan wanting more creative freedom and the ability to move on to other projects.  But, I'm dubious, that's all I can say.  He's not a big name actor.  I read an interview where he said himself, before WCTH he was performing in bars.  Acting is a tough job, Hollywood is filled with attractive men, he's 37 (men have an age limit too in Hollywood), and for him to walk away from a steady paycheck in a starring role that he seemed to otherwise enjoy, the culture must have been pretty bad.  I'm guessing intense morality clause + he got sick of the LL/Brian Bird show and being relegated to a background character.  There seems like there's an awful lot of smoke for there not to be a fire.

I do lean more towards LL/Brian Bird and/or becoming a background character. Its very uncommon for an actor or actress to leave a show and not for another show or movie especially when their one of the two main stars.  Sure its happens but its rare. Plus he still making movies for Hallmark so clearly its not Hallmark. He was suppose to be one of two stars and he was until season four. Its really odd that everyone part of the show is really quiet about it.  He's said nothing and they've said nothing. Usually the leaving actor will say something like creative differences, the grind of TV show, spending part of the year in a different country, has other offers, wants to do movies, etc. There's been nothing. Its very odd.

Edited June 5, 2019 by andromeda331

[andromeda331]

2 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

I don’t see Elizabeth flirting with Lucas or Mountie Whatsisname, exactly. I see some glimmerings of interest, maybe, but not flirting. A year after her husband’s death it doesn’t seem that weird for men to be noticing an attractive young widow. 

True, If we were going to be strict about the time period, she should still be in black and certainly not attending dances. My beef isn’t the apparent accelerated mourning. It’s that there’s a freaking giant war going on that no one is acknowledging.

The zero mention of the war drives me crazy. I can't remember what episode mentioned the year but it was either 1914 or 1916 I was shocked because there's been zero mention of the huge war going on. Canada definitely was involved. They have never mentioned. What about the widows who now have to deal with seeing their sons going off to war? What about work for the war effort? Lee's business should be taking off with government contracts and they haven't mentioned it. What is the point of setting the show in the early 1900s and not dealing with any of the events of the time? They mention the San Francisco earthquake but not the Great war? Same with the clothes. What is the point of not wearing any of the great Edwardian clothes and moving closer to the 20s as the show goes on? Same with Elizabeth's wedding dress. There are so many beautiful Edwardian wedding dresses from simple to elaborate and they chose none of them. 

[free2think]

12 minutes ago, dubstepford wife said:

I just marathoned it through season 5, stopping at the wedding. 

Oh how I wish I had that option! Ya, I was there in real-time and it was horrible. I now say the show ended for me at the wedding and J&E are happily married raising their kids but I lived through those last two episodes without any foreshadowing and it was horrible. 

Looking back I know some people think they could have seen it coming but there was no social media from any of the actors, producers or directors that this was happening. At least with Lori, you knew they were removing her so it was just seeing how that would happen. With Dan there was no soft landing.

I thought I was watching Hallmark, the happy endings channel. I was hit by a shock grenade as  it was so unexpected. As folks have said, this was not Game of Thrones where you expect shock and sorrow, this was puppies and kittens...until it wasn't!

[norcalgal]

19 hours ago, pigs-in-space said:

I also gave up on the show when I heard Jack died (I was a bit behind and just stopped once I heard the spoilers). Their relationship was really the main draw of the show for me, even when I enjoyed other characters.

Add the increasingly anachronistic hair/make-up/costumes certainly didn't help.

ITA on the anachronism.  I get why there are POC in the background (for "diversity"), but it's just so jarring because we KNOW there's no WAY a black/Asian person would just be walking around town going about their business being ACCEPTED by all the townfolks, much less have the POC dance with a white woman as we just saw in the last episode when it was "ladies' choice" at the dance. It's the early 20th century, in what world do POC interact to the extent they've been shown to do so (albeit in the background) with the entire community!?  

As a POC I'd rather they didn't have those characters at all, rather than use them as token diversity characters.  Contrast this with the old tv show "Christy" when Lavar Burton's character was introduced.  He was shunned by almost the entire community because that's what would have been true to life in that time period.  Then too, Lavar's character actually was a more fully-fledged role (with spoken lines!) than what's happening on WCTH.

Edited June 5, 2019 by norcalgal

[sharifa70]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

The zero mention of the war drives me crazy. I can't remember what episode mentioned the year but it was either 1914 or 1916 I was shocked because there's been zero mention of the huge war going on. Canada definitely was involved. They have never mentioned. What about the widows who now have to deal with seeing their sons going off to war? What about work for the war effort? Lee's business should be taking off with government contracts and they haven't mentioned it. What is the point of setting the show in the early 1900s and not dealing with any of the events of the time? They mention the San Francisco earthquake but not the Great war? Same with the clothes. What is the point of not wearing any of the great Edwardian clothes and moving closer to the 20s as the show goes on? Same with Elizabeth's wedding dress. There are so many beautiful Edwardian wedding dresses from simple to elaborate and they chose none of them. 

Exactly! It’s 1916 (per a close-up of the postmark on the box for Lucas that Fiona was curious about). There is sooooooo much story potential if they would just acknowledge the freaking war! Even the so-sappy, sweet Anne of Green Gables books end up with the war as a factor!

Edited June 5, 2019 by sharifa70

[bybrandy]

8 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

why didn't Jack just go off to war?  That's an easy way to get him off the show for a few years

I agree this would have been much better but they'd have to send off all the other men as well... and really this show isn't that good... but it really is so, so, so WEIRD to have them show the date and not at least mention the war.

[doodlebug]

On 6/4/2019 at 9:47 PM, andromeda331 said:

Mountie. 

[Stuffy]

I doubt Erin has that much pull as an EP. If she did, Elizabeth would’ve actually had something to do this season. There were episodes that made me wonder if she was still the main character.  

I just finished The Durrell’s final season.  When they renewed her contract, they made Keeley Hawes an EP and that upped their total EPs to four. Two head producers, the guy who writes all the episodes, and Keeley.  Although I know Keeley worked hard and took it seriously and not just as a vanity title. 

My point to mentioning The Durrell’s is that it sure was noticeable when WCTH came back and there were a billion producers. I wish I had counted. 

Edited June 6, 2019 by Stuffy

[Misslindsey]

I assumed Elizabeth did not have much of a story because a lot of her scenes may have been with Lori which were cut. They may have had to take the scenes that were cut from the townie's stories and put those back in when they removed Lori's scenes to pad the episodes. Of course I could be wrong.

[scenicbyway]

23 hours ago, bybrandy said:

I agree this would have been much better but they'd have to send off all the other men as well... and really this show isn't that good... but it really is so, so, so WEIRD to have them show the date and not at least mention the war.

They aren’t talking about the war because the only men left in town would be Bill, the grocer and Henry.  All of the other men would be gone, who wants to watch a show with just women (mostly widows who are now losing there kids) and 3 older men?

Also, Jack isn’t coming back, they killed him off a year ago (more in Hope Valley time).  Elizabeth has moved on and in that time she’d have too.

[free2think]

39 minutes ago, scenicbyway said:

 Elizabeth has moved on and in that time she’d have too.

Nope, should not have too, Jack’s  mother did not remarry. Elizabeth is wealthy, no need for a husband. She can remain true to her soulmate for the rest of her life. 

It Was what my Grandmother did, my Grandfather was her only true love and she loved to tell me stories of him. It’s why I married my soulmate, can’t imagine life without him.

Happy to the end.

Edited June 7, 2019 by free2think

[TVForever]

8 hours ago, free2think said:

Nope, should not have too, Jack’s  mother did not remarry. Elizabeth is wealthy, no need for a husband. She can remain true to her soulmate for the rest of her life. 

It Was what my Grandmother did, my Grandfather was her only true love and she loved to tell me stories of him. It’s why I married my soulmate, can’t imagine life without him.

Happy to the end.

I know that Elizabeth comes from wealth, but didn't her father sort of "write her off" when she chose this life path instead of returning to the fold? But if I'm mistaken in that impression, oops.

So even if she has enough money so that remarrying is less of a financial necessity, Elizabeth is still a very young woman. Is it really that unreasonable to think that she would be attracted to another man at some point? Given little Jack's age, it's been about a year (give or take a couple months) since Jack's death. Finding love again can be a realistic part of Elizabeth's journey. Could be interesting to watch.

[Misslindsey]

I will be at my table for one with the unpopular opinion that I do not care that Jack is gone at this point. I do think the show really mishandled DL's exit. I did like Jack and Elizabeth, but the last couple of seasons Jack was barely around anyway. I am fine with Elizabeth moving on. Everyone is different with how and when they move on. I think people can have more than one soulmate. Though I have never been sold on the term soulmate. I would rather see Elizabeth move on than pine for Jack. I am also glad that there was a time jump that skipped Elizabeth mourning over Jack. I guess none of Elizabeth story really bothers me. Well, unless she gets with the dull mountie over Lucas. 

[dubstepford wife]

Yeah, I get that in seasons 4 and 5 Jack was barely there.  And I haven't been watching over time; I marathoned the whole thing, so their relationship for me was compressed.  For that reason I think I have a much harder time letting go of it, and is why I'm still not going to watch anything after the wedding.  But I could see people being like, eh, he's kind of been a non-factor for a little while.

I guess I just think that the show won't recover.  Ratings were way down for Season 6 and everyone knows why.  Whether or not soulmates exist or whether you can have more than one is a matter of personal opinion, but in shows like this you get one real soulmate.  Even in Downton Abbey, which this has been compared to with the death of half of the main couple, I don't think ever tried to portray Matthew's replacement as Mary's true soulmate.  She found happiness and love with him, but never a true substitute.   

E&J were soulmates, there's no denying it.  Plus, they kind of grew up together, the actors are in their 30s but the characters are probably supposed to be no older than 24 or so when the show began.  Soulmates, true love, young love, marriage, having a child, dreaming of the future, over the course of 5 years, you can't just replace that with a hot bartender or another mountie.  It's like the showrunners think that if they just distract the audience with a cute baby and lots of handsome new faces then we'll forget all about this man who was Elizabeth's other half.  It feels cheap and as the ratings show, it's not working.

Edited June 7, 2019 by dubstepford wife

[langford peel]

Rip didn't die.

He went back east to take care of his mother. 

[allonsyalice]

3 hours ago, langford peel said:

Rip didn't die.

He went back east to take care of his mother. 

oh thank god!

[pigs-in-space]

10 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

Yeah, I get that in seasons 4 and 5 Jack was barely there. 

Which is pretty much while I got bored with watching and got so behind on my watching, then just stopped. Obviously others kept watching and continued to enjoy the show, but for me I lost interest with Jack largely out of the picture.

[bybrandy]

15 hours ago, Misslindsey said:

will be at my table for one with the unpopular opinion that I do not care that Jack is gone at this point. I do think the show really mishandled DL's exit. I did like Jack and Elizabeth, but the last couple of seasons Jack was barely around anyway. I am fine with Elizabeth moving on. Everyone is different with how and when they move on. 

Not a table for 1.  I'm totally at that table.  I was fine with Elizabeth an Jack while they were a couple but they weren't the draw of the show for me and I don't partiularly miss Jack now that he is gone.

[bybrandy]

On 6/6/2019 at 10:32 PM, scenicbyway said:

They aren’t talking about the war because the only men left in town would be Bill, the grocer and Henry.  All of the other men would be gone, who wants to watch a show with just women (mostly widows who are now losing there kids) and 3 older men?

I actually agree with this but they didn't need to put a date on the show that was during the war.

[Was-MArsenault]

Does anyone know what’s going to happen with Lori Loughlin's character?

[Pickles]

10 minutes ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

Does anyone know what’s going to happen with Lori Loughlin's character?

They said that she went back east to care for her ailing mother. I wouldn't be surprised if she is not mentioned again. Maybe when the show comes back next season, there will be a new cafe name and owner. I think Abigail has been erased. 

[Was-MArsenault]

53 minutes ago, Pickles said:

They said that she went back east to care for her ailing mother. I wouldn't be surprised if she is not mentioned again. Maybe when the show comes back next season, there will be a new cafe name and owner. I think Abigail has been erased. 

I wonder who is going to end up replacing Abigail.

[Stuffy]

Andrea Brooks was promoted to series regular on Supergirl.

I’d expect it to affect how much we see Faith. She wasn’t a series regular last year when she was gone. 

[Pickles]

1 hour ago, Stuffy said:

Andrea Brooks was promoted to series regular on Supergirl.

I’d expect it to affect how much we see Faith. She wasn’t a series regular last year when she was gone. 

I wonder if she will be written out? Maybe never returning from caring for her sick father? Pretty much same storyline as Abigail. 

[SnarkySheep]

Just discovered this show on Netfix last Saturday and have been binge-watching all week...

As I love historical dramas overall, I am generally willing to handwave some details in the interest of a good show. However, I'm amazed at how often Jack and Elizabeth are allowed alone time by various townspeople! They are unmarried people, with prominent jobs (both of which would have been contingent upon maintaining good morals and behavior) and clearly attracted to one yet. Yet at times like when Jack and Elizabeth return from the mine with her injured, even Abigail is just like, hey, cool, I'm off to church! You two have a good two hours in the house alone while I'm gone! Sheesh, Elizabeth only injured a knee...

[Ali1313]

I know everyone is tired of talking about him. But, looks like Lissing must have cut ties with hallmark. He doesn’t seem to be in any new Christmas movies this year. 

[dubstepford wife]

I wouldn't be surprised if it were a mutual breakup.  He seemed over the whole squeaky clean image thing, and you'll never convince me that Hallmark forgave him for breaking up the OTP on the show.  This is Hallmark, they don't do sad endings.  The show will never be the same and probably only has one or two seasons to go because of it.  And the spinoff doesn't appear to be catching on, so the franchise itself might be done.

We'll never know the truth, of course.  But it's fun to speculate.  My guess is there is animosity on both sides.

[geauxaway]

I honestly wish they would put the spinoff on the network and not just online.  I’d probably watch it, I’m sure my son would like it, his favorite parts of the regular series are the kids and the school house scenes.  I’ll hang on to the bitter end of this show just because it’s a nice easy show I can watch with the kiddo.  It’s the closest I’ll get to a current generation LHOTP, I suppose.  

[enduringforce]

11 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

and you'll never convince me that Hallmark forgave him for breaking up the OTP on the show.  This is Hallmark, they don't do sad endings. 

If Hallmark would have allowed Elizabeth and Jack to move away to the Northern Territories where Jack is not heard from much, but Elizabeth visits Hope Valley with their son a lot, I would have continued to watch. So long as Elizabeth was living a happy life with Jack and their son (children)somewhere out in the WCTH world, I would have watched the grass grow in Hope Valley with all the other town folks and school kids. But the way they built up Elizabeth and Jack, for 5 years, and then killed him was so traumatic I have not watched any rerun of WCTH since April 2018. AND I can't watch any new spin-off because of what they did to Jack. They are trying to rehash what was the love story of Jack and Elizabeth with this new show and it's not working. It was 5 Years of Jack and Elizabeth, and now they are playing WCTH like some teen movie trying to see which team people are on for her next husband! To sad.

[Bruinsfan]

On 5/13/2019 at 4:14 PM, scenicbyway said:

'm guessing there weren't a lot of options for Rosemary at that time, but surely Lee would know there's a problem, they've been married for years at this point.

Did they definitely establish that the fertility problem was Rosemary's and not Lee's? He's apparently never fathered children, which would be unusual for any man in his forties back then. And while the initial stills I saw of him from Season 2 led me to believe Hallmark was very progressively featuring a flamboyantly gay character in a WWI-era period piece, that turned out not to be the case.

[SnarkySheep]

4 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Did they definitely establish that the fertility problem was Rosemary's and not Lee's?

Did they even realize in that time period that the man could be at fault? I read the first couple of books, and apparently Elizabeth and Wynn/Jack were the ones who could not have a baby. This was dealt with by having Elizabeth see a doctor; no mention whatsoever was made of her husband's role in things.

[Labegg]

Just binged it...maybe they could just have called When Calls the Anachronism, wow so incredibly distracting. How long can you draw a courtship? Very LHOP Laura/Almonzo or Dr Quinn. I don't have a problem with killing off Jack, actors come and actors go, but drawing that out as long as they did was unforgivable and then to have J&E get married and kill him off immediately, also unforgivable...better not to have them not marry at all. No issues with E finding a new man, relatively quick, because I never really bought that J&E were soulmates. Best way to finish her character arc...she marries Charles. WCTH is missing the boat by not pursuing the Tom/Julie arc.

Abigail gone...thank goodness...take Bill with her, please. It was fun watching LL knowing that for a good part of the time she was filming she was living a completely deceptive lie. Cody...most annoying child character arc. 

Lee and Rosemary...are at least entertaining. The actor that plays Lee is great. I

I really like Henry Gowen. There I have said it!

What happens with all the several episode stories/characters, just to have it disappear unresolved? What happened to that lovely couple with the kid Daniel, who couldn't get used to the idea of a stepdad? The genius 16 year old who invented the mine exhaust system? The little red headed girl who ran away to the mine? The dude from the sawmill and the Youst girl from the merchantile? And what the heck with all the failed romances, Bill and (I forget who), Dottie and Henry, how many people can Abigail hook up with in a 3 year period? No one seemed bothered by the mine widows hooking up within a year of their husbands dying, yet are outraged that E is moving on a year after Jack dies? Do we ever find out if Phillip recovers from glaucoma? 

I found this whole series endearing and incredibly frustrating at the same time. I spent 3 days trying to figure out what the actual time frame is supposed to be...what about WWI, major event in Canadian history, never even mentioned has got to be the weirdest thing EVER.

Have not watched season 6 because I am watching via Netfix, so will have to wait for December. Interested to see if they make season 7 work and can move forward or if it is doomed.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Labegg

[SnarkySheep]

7 hours ago, Labegg said:

No one seemed bothered by the mine widows hooking up within a year of their husbands dying, yet are outraged that E is moving on a year after Jack dies?

That might have more to do with financial/practical matters, IMO - we saw right from the start that the mine widows were in desperate straits after losing their husbands. Elizabeth, on the other hand, has a wealthy family behind her.

[dubstepford wife]

7 hours ago, Labegg said:

What happens with all the several episode stories/characters, just to have it disappear unresolved? What happened to that lovely couple with the kid Daniel, who couldn't get used to the idea of a stepdad? The genius 16 year old who invented the mine exhaust system? The little red headed girl who ran away to the mine? The dude from the sawmill and the Joust girl from the merchantile? And what the heck with all the failed romances, Bill and (I forget who), Dottie and Henry, how many people can Abigail hook up with in a 3 year period? No one seemed bothered by the mine widows hooking up within a year of their husbands dying, yet are outraged that E is moving on a year after Jack dies? Do we ever find out if Phillip recovers from glaucoma? 

Yeah seriously!  SO many dropped plot points that could have been so good!  I loved the drunk guy with the red-headed girl, what a sweet sub-story that could have been, with her becoming his new family.  And the genius kid could have been used to make such great social commentary on how poor kids need to be given opportunities, because ability knows no class.  And Julie and Tom!  It's like, hey writers, did you forget that Jack has a brother?  And he's like, the most fun character you created?  He and Julie could have been a riot.  But as you said, all of these people basically disappear.  

Lee eventually became my favorite character.  What a sweetheart.  

[enduringforce]

1 hour ago, SnarkySheep said:

IMO - we saw right from the start that the mine widows were in desperate straits after losing their husbands. Elizabeth, on the other hand, has a wealthy family behind her.

Yes absolutely agree. I also remember a scene at the sewing circle in season 1 where all the widows were criticizing some of the women for consorting with the new single minors. But all the women knew it was not just a choice about love but the fact that they have no money. Mary was trying to raise her son but he had to fish to make sure there was something for dinner. That's why the money that all the widows get at the end of season 1 gives so much hope and life to the new widows of the mine accident.

Elizabeth is NOT in that situation, she was able to find love during the 5 years of the show and it took us alone with it. Yes Jack was her soulmate, from chalk dust to eternity. 

[Labegg]

I think they have established quite firmly that Elizabeth would not take money from her family. There have been multiple opportunities that she could have asked her father for money for the betterment of the community and in her altruistic self has not asked for money for them...do we honestly think she would fall back on it for herself? She has established that she is determined to be independent. Moving on from Jack in a relatively quick manner is not so far fetched IMO; I say relatively because 1 year ish from his death is not particularly "fast" and perhaps it is one of the few things that is not an anachronism in this show. I just did not buy that J&E are soulmates...sexually attracted to each other, yes; trying to prove to her family that she is in control of her choices, yes; in the throws of first love, yes; shared a common goal of bettering their community, yes. But I didn't feel that it was adequately established that they are soulmates destined to be together for eternity...not so much, for me.

I can't figure out why Elizabeth 's mother has not shown up to see her daughter ever, in 5 years...she went to England to care for the eldest daughter after the birth of her baby, yet she has never visited E, gone to her wedding, been present at the birth of her grandchild or helped post birth? Why on earth was Jack's Mom not at the wedding or his funeral? (Yes, I vaguely recall she was "thrown from a horse" or something, but seriously?)

Honestly they haven't given me a reason to really want to continue watching, maybe because I binged it and didn't follow it week to week over years? They did get me to binge the whole thing though, lol. I am willing to see where it goes with E and new love interests. I am slightly interested to see where they go with Carson Sheppard, although I suspect that character will fall by the wayside. Oddly wouldn't mind seeing him end up with E (that will never happen). Still think it makes the most sense for E to end up with Charles. I really like and respected him.

And I gotta give it to Hallmark for maybe not giving us the happy ending that is their usual bread and butter; life isn't always about happy, pretty packaged endings and this show has certainly keep them out of their comfort zone for, what appears to be, many reasons beyond what the writers have control of!

Edited October 17, 2019 by Labegg

[enduringforce]

29 minutes ago, Labegg said:

I think they have established quite firmly that Elizabeth would not take money from her family.

No this is not an established fact. In fact she took the money they sent her in the boxes of clothes and books after she lost everything she brought when she accidentally burnt down the teacherage. The money was stuffed in a journal they sent and she even used that money to buy all the paint in the local story in an effort to allow the widows to stay in their company homes. She has never turned down any of the money she was given and in fact gladly accepts the shopping sprees and gifts given by her family when she visits. She just simply want to live her life the way she wants and that is the only reason she struck out on her own.

Her father and mother are accepting of her decisions, although they would prefer her to stay home. Her father even granted Jack's request to marry Elizabeth and he came to town to walk her down the isle and gifted her a tiara that her Mother wore to wear in her wedding. 

Hallmark is trying to rewrite history and downplay what was the center piece of this show and it just too sad to endure.

[andromeda331]

I really hate that they dropped so many stories. I like Elizabeth and Jack but also liked just as much watching all of the widows dealing with the aftermath of losing their husbands and in some cases sons while trying to rebuild their lives and their kids. I wanted to see what happened with the boy who didn't really like his new stepdad. How that family grew. What happened to the other kids who were mentioned. Daniel, the 16 year old genius, the red head girl and others. That was a really interesting part and watching some starting new businesses. I liked Abigail in the beginning. But then suddenly they dropped all of that. All of those storylines while Abigail ended up getting the bulk of stories and time. Not only did I not like it I didn't like her anymore. Her storylines really weren't that interesting. I hate Cody, he's annoying, boring and I liked other kids better. They were more interesting. And all of other storylines just stopped. How long has Clara been dating what's his name? Why aren't they married yet? How long have Lee and Rosemary been married? Only now them not having kids is coming up? That should have come up a lot sooner. Then they had that one storyline with the annoying kid. But it looked like it was being set up so they adopt him. But that didn't happen. I absolutely hate that they killed off Jack. He was a great and he and Elizabeth were really great together. But what I hate just as much how badly they handled it. They dated so long before finally getting engaged. They finally get married do we get to see any of that? Happy newlyweds? Nope Jack was gone so much during the engagement and after they were married. We didn't get anything that we should have gotten after building up the couple for so long. They knew they were going to kill him of and did so very badly. He's suddenly dead. Elizabeth is pregnant, of course she is. You could see that coming a mile away. But they should have give us scenes with them together. They also should have Elizabeth's family visit more often along with Jack's mother at least for their wedding, Her mother goes to all the way England to be there for her daughter when she's having a baby, but didn't come to Hope Valley to be there when Elizabeth married or had a baby? They took out everything that was good and interesting or had potential and replaced with endless boring Abigail stories and not much else. I really do hate that their not bothering to use clothing of the time period or events that happened at the time. What's the point of setting a show in a certain time period and not use it? The clothing from that period. And ignoring WWI. That could have made such good storylines. Coming together again to help with the war effort, Lee's business should be taking off, the widows terrified over their sons going of to war, and the ones who remarried terrified as their new husbands go off to fight in the war. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by andromeda331

[SnarkySheep]

2 hours ago, Labegg said:

She has established that she is determined to be independent.

Sure. But it's one thing to declare your desire for independence when you know there is a safety net in case something goes wrong, and quite another to know that if something goes wrong, you and your child might starve or become homeless.

2 hours ago, Labegg said:

I just did not buy that J&E are soulmates...sexually attracted to each other, yes; trying to prove to her family that she is in control of her choices, yes; in the throws of first love, yes; shared a common goal of bettering their community, yes. 

IMO Rosemary was Jack's sexual attraction relationship. He and Elizabeth were certainly physically attracted to one another as well, but they did have things in common as well. 

[Stuffy]

On 10/16/2019 at 11:40 PM, Labegg said:

The little red headed girl who ran away to the mine? 

She completely disappeared, and the actress who played her mom is still on the show. It’s completely bonkers. I swear sometimes Hallmark thinks their audience is dumb.
 

There was another  red-headed actress that was a main character in season one. I remember she was leading church services in a wooded area. They also accused her of burning the church down. I know the actress had another job, but the character completely disappeared. If there was an explanation, I missed it. I liked that character. 

[SnarkySheep]

On 10/18/2019 at 11:58 PM, Stuffy said:

There was another  red-headed actress that was a main character in season one. I remember she was leading church services in a wooded area. They also accused her of burning the church down. I know the actress had another job, but the character completely disappeared. If there was an explanation, I missed it. I liked that character. 

Cat Montgomery

Per IMDB, her actress Chelah Horsdal has been in quite a few other projects in the past few years, so it was likely a time issue. 

[enduringforce]

1 hour ago, SnarkySheep said:

but the character completely disappeared.

This is the case with most interesting characters on this show, including the dog (Rip). It's like they never existed. I hate that this is what they want to happen with Jack. Just wait they will stop using the name 'Jack' completely by calling the baby 'JJ' or 'Junior' so that name is never uttered again. So sad. 

[SnarkySheep]

On 10/23/2019 at 4:49 PM, enduringforce said:

Just wait they will stop using the name 'Jack' completely by calling the baby 'JJ' or 'Junior' so that name is never uttered again. So sad. 

FWIW, I always thought it was a little odd that Elizabeth would want to call him Jack, anyways. I mean, wouldn't it be painful to keep saying his dead father's name every day?

Also, back then Jack was usually not a given name, but rather a nickname for John. (IIRC, they wrote "Constable Jack Thornton" on his gravestone, so apparently TPTB either didn't know this or chose to disregard...)

[bybrandy]

1 hour ago, SnarkySheep said:

FWIW, I always thought it was a little odd that Elizabeth would want to call him Jack, anyways. I mean, wouldn't it be painful to keep saying his dead father's name every day?

Also, back then Jack was usually not a given name, but rather a nickname for John. (IIRC, they wrote "Constable Jack Thornton" on his gravestone, so apparently TPTB either didn't know this or chose to disregard...)

Actually just recently was doing some looking for an ancestor with a wildly common name in WWI death record and was surprirsed to see that there were about the same number of Jack's as Johns (I searched both).

Edited October 30, 2019 by bybrandy

[SnarkySheep]

Recently re-watched the ep where Clara shows up to testify at the mine legal shenanigans...and remembered that we don't learn til a while later that Clara is working literally 24/7 for a guy who won't let her pay off her dad's medical debt.

So...just how did Clara manage to get the free time to travel from Hamilton to Hope Valley and back?? I highly doubt the guy would have cared about her wanting to go to the trial...

[enduringforce]

OMG! I just saw a trailer for the Christmas movies and it's horrible. The Elizabeth character is in full 2019 Make-up with lots of eye make-up and fake eyelashes and is sitting there with her baby in the middle of the town reading a story (why?) and then the saloon owner comes over and starts flirting which the character returns. This show is no longer about the 1900's and it's just modern folks in costumes from that era. Just too sad. 

[lookeyloo]

Daniel Lissing has a small role in last week’s episode of The Rookie