"Captures your heart - and never lets go."
Hello everyone!
Of course you'll know, if you follow my blog, that I will occasionally wrap up a season I'd been watching by reviewing it in one blog post and then moving along afterwards, so this should be no surprise.
I'm talking, of course, about When Calls the Heart.
Now if you have no idea what this is, I might enlighten you through the blog post, or I might not if you're not interested. In any event, it is a Hallmark Channel series which just wrapped up its fifth season, and BOY, was it an EXPLOSIVE wrap-up.
I suppose I better stop blabbering and get to it, right?
As I've already reviewed certain episodes from this show (namely Christmas-themed ones), you'll be able to find links to those at the bottom of this post.
But to give you a brief overview: for four television seasons, Hallmark has graced us with stories from the Canadian frontier and especially a little coal mining town originally called Coal Valley but then eventually renamed to Hope Valley. The story begins with Elizabeth Thatcher, a young schoolteacher, who arrives to teach the children in the valley. She meets Mountie Jack Thornton, and the two gradually fall in love. Their love story is central to the show, but it's not the only one as we are introduced to different characters like corrupt Mayor Henry Gowan, who ends up charged for his crimes, Bill Avery, former Mountie and now sheriff, Lee Coulter and his wife Rosemary (who found love through the course of the show, natch) and the sawmill which employs most of the men in town, and others who keep popping back into the show from time to time.
By the time we get to season five, Elizabeth and Jack are engaged to be married, and she's waiting for his return from the fighting in the Northern Territories so they may begin their lives together.
In the meantime, things are moving apace: Abigail Stanton, the new Mayor of Hope Valley, must testify for Henry Gowan so that she can try and reduce his prison sentence as she believes everyone deserves a second chance. She does, in fact, succeed, much to the chagrin of one Bill Avery, but Henry is allowed to return to Hope Valley where he is then employed by Lee Coulter.
This might seem like a stretch but is actually a hopeful redemption arc for the man he used to be - aka a Mayor intent only on his own rights and privileges - to an honourable man wishing to better the lives of those around him.
And, I mean, we do see some sparks between him and Abigail, so fingers crossed at that.
Meanwhile, Lee and Rosemary continue navigating married life while watching over Elizabeth and Jack both, and things occasionally come to rather hilarious conclusions, but all in all they do seem pretty well-balanced together. Lee sometimes works too much and Rosemary talks too much, but together they are strong and compassionate and both would do whatever it takes for their friends and hometown.
With flair and style, of course. This IS Rosemary we're talking about.
Hopefully they may have a child in season six - Lee was quite happy having Cody, Abigail's stepson, following him around a little bit this season, for an assignment and otherwise.
Bill Avery also might find more romance next season as AJ, the convicted felon he actually lost while in his custody, is back to shake things up again. And I mean she does save his life when he gets nipped by a venomous snake, so there's that.
And we shouldn't forget the handsome town doctor. Carson tends to keep to himself more often than not, despite the fact his nurse, Faith, is obviously making eyes at him, but he's a widower who's only recently gone back to practicing medicine, so we'll see what happens.
The town does go through some rather amusing story arcs, one being children shadowing shop owners for a day or Bill being tricked into helping a young girl solve a mystery (his facial expressions are EVERYTHING).
But then there are more serious storylines, like a peddler selling home-brewed medicine with arsenic that's making people sick until Carson figures it out, the bank suddenly running out of money and Abigail turning to Henry to find investors for the town, and of course Jack and Elizabeth's wedding.
Because they DO get married.
Unfortunately, he then has to go on a short assignment training new Mounties.
From which he does not return.
Sadly, the end of season five also sees the end of Jack Thornton, and Elizabeth buries her husband of a very short time, only to later discover that she's pregnant with his child. For the rest, we will have to wait until season six.
Obviously, the internet did NOT take this news well (yes I'll be mentioning this now).
I'm talking about the death of a major character, which was uncharacteristic for Hallmark to begin with, but after watching the Facebook Live post-finale event, some questions were probably answered, and some still remain.
Bottom line of it is that, for personal reasons, Daniel Lissing was written out of the show.
This is a decision that, in general, would have probably been very well received by fans, because regardless how much you're invested in a love story, actors and actresses DO have their lives to live, and you don't have control over it. That's pretty much reality 101 and, to be honest, that wasn't news that shocked me so much in the Facebook Q&A. I figured, since he'd been so MIA from season four on, that something was brewing.
What was more of a shock - and probably still is for certain fans - was that Hallmark & Co KNEW of this decision post-season four and going into season five.
And they chose not to share the news about Daniel's departure until the very last (and possibly worst) moment.
I'll try to be brief in describing what I see as the main issue here: it's not so much the character death which was shocking and out-of-character for Hallmark (but it also is in a way) as it is about the channel's treatment of fans, as I see it. As I've written elsewhere, I'm not honestly sure how this is usually handled, but from experience watching other shows airing on television, producers and actors/actresses themselves USUALLY announce their departures well in advance, going through the process of saying goodbye with fans, and usually you can pinpoint exactly which episode will be their last (as was the case, most recently, with Willa Holland on Arrow).
The problem here was that fans SUSPECTED Lissing was leaving the show, but everyone HOPED it wasn't true. My personal opinion is that if they'd really considered EVERY route and outcome, how come not one of them thought about a 'um gee how about we make a public statement and stop dancing around the bush of whether or not this guy is staying?'.
Sure, fans would have still guessed about just what the manner of him being written out of the story would be. And while I can understand writers thought to keep this a secret because of the wedding episode, to give fans a HEA, I think they miscalculated and mixed up two people: the fictional Jack Thornton and the real Daniel Lissing.
Basically, as a fan, I feel cheated. Had I known for sure Lissing was leaving WCTH I would have come to terms with it during the course of the season. Yeah, it would've been bittersweet - but SO MUCH BETTER than this colossal internet massacre that's happening now. Yes, the Facebook event did calm frayed nerves, but I'm not sure Hallmark officials realise yet that there was a serious breach of trust which won't be so easily regained.
Do we, as fans, HAVE to know when an actor's leaving a show? Of course not. But isn't it common curtesy to give a little warning about it before dropping the bomb into the fandom?
I will continue watching the show, to see how they save themselves out of a mess they seem to be so surprised happened. I will also continue to support Lissing in his career, because I think he's a really great actor.
But it'll take a while to not feel jaded or worried anymore going into any Hallmark production. Because how can I (or any other fan) really be sure something like this won't happen again?
xx
*images and video not mine
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