If the last episode was a more joyous one, then this time around we saw some old wounds being reopened that the family had to learn how to heal from again.
What exactly am I talking about? Well, keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 15 episode 7 and find out!
As per usual, there will be a ton of spoilers so read at your own volition.
Old wounds
If last season of Heartland was very much about the family trying to move on with their lives after losing Ty, then this season is about moving past the trauma and living their lives to the fullest.
However, it would be weird if Ty’s death didn’t come up at some point this season again. And, well, this episode depicted just that.
At the start of it, we saw Amy and Lyndy jamming to music in Amy’s truck while on their way home from school clothes shopping for Lyndy. However, when they stopped to get some gas for Amy’s truck, they saw Grady there – the guy who shot Amy and Ty in the season 13 finale episode.
Grady works at the gas station now, and was the one to clean the windshield of Amy’s truck while it was being refueled.
Seeing Grady again, especially not behind bars, left Amy shellshocked, and she drove home in a daze.
Amy confided in her grandfather about seeing Grady and not knowing what to do about it. Jack, also not quite knowing how to handle this situation, decided to talk to Tim about it. Who being the hothead he is, unfortunately, decided to go and confront Grady himself.
Fortunately, Jack was right there with him, so, when Tim punched Grady, Jack stopped Tim from doing any more damage. But when Amy found out where Tim and Jack went when they got back to the ranch, and what Tim did, she was not happy.
So, Amy spent the episode grappling with all the strong emotions Grady’s reappearance brought up as well as being angry at Tim for hitting the man. Tim was also struggling with Grady’s presence and how to handle the news. While Jack was trying to keep the peace and support the two through this hard time.
Healing
After finding out about what Tim did to Grady, Amy admitted to Jack that just like him and Tim, Amy, too, had imagined punching Grady or doing much worse. And that she hates the man who took her husband from her while also being angry at herself for feeling that way.
Luckily, Jack was there for his granddaughter with his wise words and shoulder to cry on. And he let Amy know that it’s okay to feel everything that she’s feeling. Including being angry at her dad.
Amy: “I’m angry. I’m angry at Grady. I’m angry at myself. I’m angry at Dad for acting like such an idiot. Why didn’t he ask me what I wanted?”
Jack: “I know what Tim did was all kinds of wrong but we’re not always the best versions of ourselves at times like this, often we’re the very worst.”
And during the course of the episode, Amy still saw nightmares that featured Grady and wasn’t the best of terms with Tim, who was going through his own inner struggle. Yet, by the end of it, Amy and her dad finally talked it out. And she even went to see Grady to get some closure.
Amy took Ty’s old, blue pickup truck and drove to the gas station where Grady worked. She apologized to Grady for Tim’s behavior but she also let him know that, although he took her husband from her, she still has a good life. And most importantly, Amy told Grady that she’s moving on with it and so should he.
Grady: “Yeah, so do I. Listen, I didn’t mean to hurt you or your husband but I’m sorry it happened.”
Amy: “That’s not good enough. You took so much from me but not everything. I have a good life and I’m moving on with it. So should you.”
It felt really healing for Amy to finally confront Grady and kind of take the power back by letting him know that although his actions caused so much pain for her, that Amy isn’t letting them define or rule her life. It’s hers to live and she’s doing it with her family by her side.
Does this mean that she will forget about Ty and move on completely? Not at all. It just means that it’s time for her to continue on with her life.
Confronting your demons
As I mentioned, Tim was also taking this whole Grady situation really hard. Because, although his first instinct was to go beat Grady up for what he did to Amy, after he’d done that, Tim realized that he doesn’t feel any better.
So during the course of Heartland season 15 episode 7, we saw Tim go through a rollercoaster of emotions and he didn’t know how to handle any of them.
First, he took off in the middle of the night leaving Jessica, quite literally in the dark. He even forgot to take his phone with him so when he turned up in the morning, Jessica was worried sick about her husband. Especially since earlier in the evening Tim told Jessica that he felt like he didn’t do anything to protect Amy from Grady ever coming back. And that it’s his fault that Grady did return to Hudson.
Then he couldn’t focus while he and Jack were roping steers to treat them for foot rot, so Tim ended up spooking his horse, Champ, in the process. And Tim also blew up at Jack because Jack didn’t see Grady as a criminal like Tim does.
Jack, of course, knew that Tim was being irrational and told Tim that he isn’t going to let Tim end up behind bars because he wants to protect his daughter from Grady. But the two men ended up being at odds with each other for most of the episode anyway.
And then Tim was impatient when Amy offered to work with Champ to build the horse’s confidence back up. He even insisted he give Champ a run to see if the horse is back to his old self again against Amy’s advice. So, when Champ acted out again, Amy and Tim got into a shouting match with each other.
Tim couldn’t understand how Amy’s not angry at Grady for killing Ty.
So, Amy had to explain to her father that there are a lot of people that they could blame for Ty’s death. From J.D. Werth hired Grady to shoot the wolf and the doctors who let Ty go home too soon to Amy who knew that something wasn’t quite right the morning Ty died but didn’t make Ty go back to the hospital. But that it’s not worth to play the blame game, all she can do is to try and move on. And that Tim should find a way to do that, too.
Tim: “I should’ve done something. I should’ve hired a lawyer to put Grady away. I should’ve protected you.”
Amy: “You are not listening to me, Dad! Grady is not a monster, okay? Yes, he pulled the trigger, but he was not aiming at me or at Ty, he was shooting at a wolf. What happened, it was horrible, and there’s no way to make sense of it.”
Tim: “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make it better.”
Amy: “I don’t know that there is a way to make it better. All we can do is keep going. You know after mom died, it was Spartan, joining up with him, that helped me connect with myself and with horses. And after Ty, it was Lyndy who kept me from losing myself again. You need to find what works for you before your anger burns everything down.”
After the two calmed down, Tim realized that Amy’s right. So, he decided to work with Champ himself and eventually got the horse to join up, just like Amy did with Spartan in season 1.
The next day Tim and Jack successfully treated their cattle and Tim apologized to Jack for Jack having to pull Tim off Grady before Tim did more damage. Tim even told Jack that he’s is a good man and thanked Jack for showing what a good man looked like. And finally, Tim also apologized to Jessica for leaving in the middle of the night without telling her.
In search of a bluebird
In addition to worrying about Tim, Jessica had a lot on his plate this episode, too.
Lou was away at a conference, so she asked Jessica to manage the dude ranch while Lou’s gone. It was at the last minute, but Jessica figured that she should stay on Lou’s good side, so she agreed to do it.
Katie and Parker cleaned the dude ranch as well as helped get the welcome refreshments together and then it was time to meet the new guest.
And, as it turned out, it was Gladys Adderly, a travel photographer, birdfluencer with over 20 thousand followers and… Rick’s mother.
Right off the bat, it was obvious that Gladys didn’t want to be there.
She was used to much more posh accommodations, so the dude ranch wasn’t exactly her style. And the fact that she’s staying there only because Rick had “accidentally” timed his house renovations with his mother’s visit also didn’t put Gladys in the best of moods.
So, Jessica really had her work cut out for her.
Luckily, the birdlife around the dude ranch seemed enough to put Gladys in a better mood. However, that posed another challenge for Jessica.
Lou had promised Gladys a sighting of a mountain bluebird – a species of bird that’s very rare to the area. And since Gladys had already hyped it up to her followers on social media, now Jessica had to deliver.
And who better to help her with the task than Katie and Parker?
Jessica asked the two teens to find a mountain bluebird nest on the Heartland property so she could show it to Gladys on their birdwatching trail ride in two days’ time.
At first, Parker and Katie informed that there are several nests near Okotoks, however, it would be pretty hard to find one in Hudson. But that wasn’t good enough to Jessica, so she told Katie and Parker that if they wanted to get that promised 20 dollar bonus, they had to find a nest on the property.
Parker thought that it’s impossible. Yet, Katie wasn’t giving up, so the two girls spent the day birdwatching and searching for mountain bluebirds. And their efforts paid off.
On the day of the trail ride, Parker and Katie managed to not only impress Gladys by showing her a mountain bluebird nest. But while searching for the bluebird they had come across several other species of the birds that were of interest to Gladys.
So, needless to say, the birdfluencer was happy with the birdwatching adventure which not only made everyone else sigh in relief but also meant that Jessica did a good job with hosting Gladys and will definitely be staying on Lou’d good side.
Crushes and rare birds
While we’re on the topic of Katie and Parker, in Heartland season 15 episode 7 we also saw Parker being much moodier than usual.
Parker gave up on a card game she was playing with Katie way too soon. And when the search for the bluebird got hard, she was ready to call it quits as well, even though a 20 dollar bonus was at stake for both of the girls.
So, while birdwatching to try and find the mountain bluebird on the ranch property, Parker finally opened up to Katie as to why she’s upset.
Parker told Katie that she had thought that Logan asked her to go to Tim and Jessica’s wedding with him at the start of the last episode. Which wasn’t the case. And, Parker was also embarrassed that Logan only danced with her at the wedding because Jade asked him to.
Basically, Parker didn’t want to be one of those girls “who crushes on a guy and obsesses about it”.
However, Katie was there for her friend and reassured that Parker is much cooler than Logan ever could be.
Which, hopefully, set Parker’s mind at ease because it can’t be easy to have your first crush not see you as a romantic prospect as well. So, at times like this, it’s good to have friends that remind you how awesome you are.
Last thoughts on Heartland season 15 episode 7
It was really interesting to find out a little more about what happened during the first year after Ty’s passing when it comes to the men who caused Ty’s death being held responsible.
READ NEXT: Heartland season 15 episode 8 review
It turns out there was a lengthy trial that focused on putting J.D. Werth behind bars. And since Grady was just Werth’s lackey, he testified against his employer and got a reduced sentence, hence him already being out of prison.
And I also loved how this episode touched on Tim’s addiction which I don’t think has been mentioned in a while.
During the episode, we saw Tim take a bottle of expensive liqueur that one of Jessica’s New York friends sent her as a wedding present out of its box and set it on the table next to him. Jessica, of course, feared the worst when she later found that same bottle in the trash – empty.
Luckily, Tim explained to Jessica that he poured the liquid down the drain meaning that he didn’t relapse. But it was interesting to see Tim really struggling with his alcohol addiction and being pretty close to breaking his sobriety due to all the turmoil that Grady’s reappearance caused.
Promo for Heartland season 15 episode 8
And here’s the promo for the next episode of Heartland:
Heartland episode 1508, which is titled “Brand New Day” and directed by Michelle Morgan again, will see Hudson host a lumberjack competition which Tim, Caleb, and Sam will participate in. While Amy will work with Clydesdale horse to get it ready for a draft horse race. And Lou will be dodging a date with Fred Garland.