Ever since Heartland season 14 premiered we’ve seen moments of sadness and grief interlaced with moments of levity. And this latest episode of Heartland showcased that perfectly.
It was an emotional episode for sure. And ended on a cliffhanger to boot. But it also had a few lighter moments. And featured some much-needed conversations.
Want to know more about what happened during this episode? Then check out this recap of Heartland season 14 episode 3!
This is your official spoiler warning. Keep reading this review at your own discretion!
Unexpected guests
The episode started with Lily, Ty’s mom, unexpectedly arriving at the ranch. And, although at first, Amy’s cold welcome didn’t make much sense, soon we realized why Amy reacted the way she did.
It turns out that after Ty’s death Lily went off the grid. She didn’t even come to the funeral. And Amy had to explain to her daughter not only why Ty wasn’t coming back but why Lyndy’s nana was gone, too.
So, you could see how Lily just showing up a year later would be upsetting to Amy. And it didn’t help that just moments after Lily’s arrival a horse was brought to Heartland for Amy to work on. But not just any horse, a racehorse belonging to Ty’s stepdad Wade.
Amy, of course, suspected that Lily and Wade had planned this. However, Lily swore up and down that she didn’t know that the horse was coming. And, although Amy had a hard time believing that, after seeing the horse distressed she decided to work with Howler anyway.
Helping Howler
It turned out that Wade schemed his way into Amy working with his horse because Howler’s winning streak had ended. He used to win every race he participated in. But now Howler can’t even stay on the track properly which is why every jockey refuses to ride him.
Amy quickly realized that Howler is afraid of any and all barriers. Even the rail in the round pen spooked the horse. And a quick internet search revealed why.
About six weeks ago, right around the time Howler started losing races, there was an accident during a qualifying heat. Another racehorse ran into the railing which caused that horse to die and left Howler and two other horses injured and traumatized.
Now that Howler’s fear of barriers made sense, Amy knew just what to do. And she started Howler’s rehabilitation with a trail ride killing two birds with one stone – getting Howler out in the open and free of any barriers and giving Amy and Lily time to talk.
Making amends
During their trail ride, Lily finally told Amy why she didn’t attend Ty’s funeral and why she wasn’t there for Amy and Lyndy this whole first year after losing Ty. And it was because Lily had her own problems to deal with.
It turns out that Lily relapsed after Jack called her and told her that Ty had passed away. She overdosed which landed her first in the hospital and then in rehab. And that’s why Lily came to Heartland now. To explain to Amy why she wasn’t there for her. And although Amy understood where Lily was coming from, she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to forgive and forget.
He needed help
In the end, Amy managed to help Howler get back to racing. She even took him out on the track and raced two other riders. However, Amy also knew that despite how it looked on the track Howler wasn’t quite ready to get back to doing actual races. And she told Lily as much since Lily saw Amy’s progress at the race track.
Yet, despite Amy’s best efforts of ensuring Wade knew that Howler isn’t ready to race yet and that Howler’s trainer gave the horse time to fully recover, Wade went and entered Howler in a local race anyway. Which obviously upset Amy.
Yes, Howler won. But it went against everything Amy told Wade to do. And the fact that Lily offered Amy the money they got from winning the race to make up for not being there for Amy didn’t help either.
So, the episode ended with Amy asking Lily to leave. And Lily telling Amy how she didn’t understand how Amy couldn’t see that Lily needed help, too.
Since this episode ended on a cliffhanger (read more about that at the end of this article) meaning that it’s part one of a two-part story arc I have no doubt that Lily will be back in the next one. I just hope that the two women can work out their differences and come together. They both loved Ty and are still devastated by Ty’s loss. So maybe they could find some comfort in each other and help each other move forward.
Putting Hudson on the map
Last episode we saw Lou dealing with the pains of being Hudson’s new mayor. Which included some well-intentioned decisions that led to bad press. And although it seemed that things were improving by the end of the episode, in this episode we saw Lou was making the same mistakes yet again.
At the start of the episode, we saw Lou take a call from Chad Cunningham, a travel blogger famous for turning small towns into tourist traps just by writing about them in his newspaper column. And seeing how getting Chad to write about Hudson could help Lou fulfill one of her election promises – making Hudson into a new tourism hotspot – she invited Chad for a weekend of Hudson fun.
But being the mayor and supporting her sister in her grief is hard enough without planning a fun sightseeing weekend for a travel writer on top of that. Which is why Lou had to call in reinforcements.
Lou asked Jen to change her whole weekend plans so she could help Lou spruce up the dude ranch since that’s where Chad will be staying. Which, of course, didn’t sit well with Jen. So much so that Jen asked Peter to fly in and told him that she wanted to leave Hudson and move in with him in Vancouver. Apparently, Lou had been increasingly hard to work with ever since she became the mayor, so Jen was looking for a change.
Naturally, Jen’s declaration caught Peter off guard. And after he and Jen showed Chad around Hudson, since Lou had to go be mayor and meet some developers from Calgary that were in town just for the day, Peter decided to end things with Jen.
But Peter and Jen’s relationship wasn’t the only casualty of this whole situation.
Despite the glowing reviews about Hudson and Lou from Chad, the local newspaper had only bad things to say about Lou’s latest mayoral endeavor. The Hudson Times spun Lou’s attempts at making Hudson a must-see tourism destination as her putting her family first since so much of the Bartlett-Fleming income comes from tourism-related businesses. So, in the end, Lou still appeared as the bad guy in the eyes of the local press.
At least at the end of the episode Lou had a nice chat with Peter, during which she finally talked about her feelings about losing Ty.
And while talking to Peter Lou also admitted that she and Mitch are getting married. So at least we have that confirmation and can look forward to some engagement or wedding planning related stuff later in the season. But unfortunately, Lou and Amy’s relationship was still on the rocks.
A little more understanding
What do I mean by that?
Well, during this episode we saw Lou and Amy not getting along as well. First, it was Amy snapping at Lou at the dinner table. Then Lou was questioning Amy’s reason for helping Wade’s horse only to run off to a meeting in the middle of the conversation. And finally, Amy blowing up at Lou in the kitchen after they read the negative Hudson Times article and Lou complained about feeling alone.
So, Amy’s anger towards Lou for Lou not having time for her was, in a way, warranted. Lou was busier than ever. And she did just up and left the conversation right after Amy asked Lou for advice on what to do when it comes to Lily. However, by the end of the episode, we also realized that there might be more to Amy’s anger than just Lou’s busy schedule.
It looks like the whole situation was more about Amy dealing with Lily being back in her life than Lou not having time for Amy. Although, that probably still didn’t sit well with Amy since she needed all the support she could get.
Luckily, Jack was there with some wise words for Amy.
He let Amy know that what Lily deserved was Amy’s compassion instead of anger since Lily didn’t just choose not to come to her son’s funeral. She relapsed and wasn’t able to make it. And that both Amy and Lily were dealing with Ty’s death so it might be time to put the anger away.
I really hope that we will see Amy and Lou have a heart to heart in one of the upcoming episodes and talk about everything. I really miss that sisterly bond between the two, so I would love to see them leaning on each other more and helping each other through their problems.
Living greener
On a lighter note, or should I say greener note, this episode also included Parker trying to talk Jack into making some eco-friendly changes on the ranch.
At the start of the episode, we saw Parker, who’s staying at Heartland since her dad and Jade’s mom are still on their honeymoon, turning off all the lights in the house and explaining to Jack and Lisa that they don’t need to have them on since it is daytime. And Jack, wanting to enjoy his morning paper in peace, was not happy about Parker trying to lecture him about their energy consumption habits.
But what we know about Parker from the previous episode is that she’s nothing if not determined. So, the next morning she tried again showing Jack her research about solar panels and all the benefits they could provide. And although Jack was not having it, fortunately, Lisa was there to look at the information Parker had prepared.
So with Parker and Lisa on board with the idea, Jack had to hear Parker out. And, after thinking about it and seeing how much money solar panels could save them, Jack decided to go for it. However, that was just the first step. Now, they needed to actually install them on the roof. And with Jack and Parker on the task, you know that they’re bound to hit a snag. That snag being wrong measurements.
That’s right, Parker accidentally told Jack the wrong measurements so now he had to mount the brackets for the panels again. Which of course made Jack angry, so the episode ended with Parker telling Jack that she’s just a kid and running off to go walk Mikey.
I love how good Jack is with kids even when he’s not trying to be. And, although there are still moments when Jack lets his temper get the better of him like here with Parker or in the previous episode with Quinn, he always apologizes and makes things right. So I bet we can look forward to Jack doing just that in the next episode. And I also have a feeling that, despite their differences in opinion, Parker and Jack will end up being good friends.
The cliffhanger
Now finally about the cliffhanger that I mentioned previously.
So, at the very end of the episode, we saw our characters react to loud noizes. First Amy as she was watching Lily leave, then Lou and Peter as they were talking at the dude ranch, Parker walking Mikey who ran off, and then Jack on the roof mounting the solar panels.
And as Jack climbed higher to look over the roof’s ridge that’s when we saw it – black smoke billowing high in the air.
From the synopsis for the next episode, we know what the smoke is from explosions caused by a train derailment. Which will be followed by a wildfire. Which means you won’t want to miss the next episode since it looks like it’s going to be an intense one!
READ NEXT: Recap of Heartland Season 14 Episode 4
Last thoughts on Heartland season 14 episode 3
I love how Heartland does these bigger two-part stories from time to time.
Last season it was the big storm and the story of Jack’s sister June in episode 3 and episode 4. And this season it’s Lily and the explosion.
It’s not only a great way to keep the viewers interested but also a great way for the writers to give us a longer, more fleshed-out story. One that can’t be told in just one episode and that requires more time and nuance.
Promo for Heartland season 14 episode 4
And here’s a teaser for the next episode of Heartland season 14 titled Through the Smoke: