Reflections from the Heart(land)

Having won the right to advance as far as the Fall Finale, the championship show of the local season, thanks to a second-place finish in the Hudson Equestrian Jumping Event, the show that immediately preceded it, Amy has qualified for the last show of the season. Stunned and disappointed by her daughter’s poor performance (only third place, behind Amy and another rider), Val threatens Ashley with much less financial support if her jumping does not improve. Lou, having been fired from Strickland and Cooke (we’ll hear more about the latter of those partners much, much later, so don’t forget about her), has tried to return to New York, having gone there for an interview. We can assume from the other characters’ reactions that Jack indeed knew Lisa was about to arrive, and yet his choice had been to hide that from them. It is clear that Lou’s Type-A personality has rubbed off on Mallory, and in Lou’s absence, Mallory becomes Amy’s hypercompetitive peer foil. Yet again, we see a t...

The episode begins with Amy and Spartan in the jumping ring with her new (read: inexperienced) coach, Ty, and as she finishes going through a course, Val, Ben, and Ashley arrive. The local competition in Hudson and many other local (and indeed professional) shows base their entries on whether someone has enough points to qualify for a prestigious show. This late in the competitive season, Amy is intent on qualifying for the Fall Finale, the local season-ending championship show, but, unless she does very well in one show before then, she will not qualify for the Finale. Ben and Ashley, in direct contrast and opposition to Ty and Amy, do not need the points, since they have done well enough since early enough in the season that even if they don’t enter the show Amy must enter, they’ll still have enough points to go directly to the finale. Throughout the conversations between Ashley and Amy and Val and Jack, the differing economic conditions of Briar Ridge and Heartland have neve...

Attempting a deliberately risky dismount, Amy falls into Ty's arms, and he catches her, unaware that such a dismount was deliberate. Following the dismount, the romantic tension between the two reaches yet a new high, once both are standing firmly on the ground. Lou pics a perhaps inopportune time to break the news of the rekindling of her relationship with her father to Jack, at a time when Jack is wielding a large chef knife, and surprisingly is actually exhibiting good technique. (I point this out because I am quite an experienced home cook and I just wanted to make a quick mention of how good and thorough the research is in this show in all aspects even down to the way that Jack holds the knife he's using.) Ducking out of the situation by blaming her sister, Lou breaks the news that Tim is coming to Heartland for lunch to Jack. Lou is initially troubled by what seems to be a somewhat positive response, which at any rate is far more positive than she was expecting. Mallo...