After a heavy episode last week, this week Heartland delivered us yet another tough one that dealt with a devastating flood in a nearby town which meant that everybody in Hudson, including the Bartlett-Fleming family, went above and beyond to help victims of this disaster – both human and animal alike.
Want to know more? Then keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 16 episode 5.
The state of Georgie
First off, let’s address the elephant in the room aka how Georgie is doing because at the very end of episode 1604 Lou got a call from Quinn that Georgie is in the hospital unconscious after a nasty fall at one of her jumping shows down in Florida.
Luckily, this episode didn’t waste any time and updated us on how Georgie is early on. And I’m glad to say that Georgie is okay.
She had to have surgery to fix a fracture in her back that she sustained during the fall. However, the surgery couldn’t have gone better which means that after a short hospital stay she should be released.
And since Lou was there every step of the way, the family could rest easy knowing that Georgie is on the mend and Lou is there to support her daughter during her recovery.
Airborne trauma
Now that that’s out of the way, we can get to the main story of Heartland season 16 episode 5 – the disastrous flash flood in the town of Roseville.
The episode opened with Scott and a few other guys strapping a horse into a harness and the horse being airlifted out of a flooded area by a helicopter. It was quite a sight to see.
Yet, although it might have looked really cool, the horse, Biscuit, didn’t find it that pleasant. And although Amy was there to calm the horse down once it landed in Hudson and bring it back to the ranch, Biscuit was not doing that well – he was agitated and aggressive. As he should be after what he just went through.
So, with the help of Jack and Tim, Amy managed to get Biscuit settled in the barn where the horse could rest and recuperate.
Later that day, Biscuit’s owners Emily and David Carpenter, arrived at the ranch as well. But even Emily’s presence, who the horse was closest to, didn’t help to settle Biscuit.
The next morning Biscuit seemed calmer, having had time to rest. And it helped that his owner Emily was a better as well. But Biscuit was still not back to his own self.
Amy had a suspicion that the helicopter harness might have not only scared Biscuit but also bruised him a little. So she decided to take things slow with Biscuit. And the horse’s well-being was rapidly improving, especially after Biscuit met Georgie’s dog Remi who seemingly reminded Biscuit of Winston – the Carpenter’s dog who was lost during the flood.
And by the end of the episode, not only was Biscuit back to his old self, but Scott had found Winston as well, and brought him to Heartland so the horse and the dog could reunite.
We built it once, we can build it again
But Biscuit wasn’t the only one who had to get over the trauma caused by the flash flood – his owners had to figure out what’s next for them as well.
When Emily and David arrived at the ranch, they were clearly shaken up. But the kindness that the Bartlett family showed them – Tim even gave up his loft so Emily could be closer to Biscuit – gave them hope.
However, the next day that hope was crushed when David was allowed to go back to their farm and assess the state of things. And what he found was not great.
Not only was their house gone but the flood probably had also dredged up chemicals from other properties meaning that their sustainable, organic farm might lose its organic status and if that happens – getting it back would be really hard. On top of that, the crops were ruined underwater, which meant that they would have to start everything from scratch. The only thing that was still standing on their property was the barn.
That left David hopeless. He couldn’t see any way forward and he was ready to take Lisa up on her offer for him and Emily to work for her at Fairfield Stables. Yet, Emily was more optimistic.
Emily was ready to put in the work and rebuild. But first, she had to convince her husband to agree to it. And it didn’t come easy.
She tried talking to David and make him see how them working at Fairfield would go against all the reasons why they left the city and started their farm in the first place – living in the country, working for themselves, building something of their own.
Yet, Lisa (as well as seeing the life the Bartlett family has built for themselves at the ranch, in general) was the one to get through to David in the end.
Lisa: “If that is your dream, hold on to it. You hold on to it and don’t let it go, and try again.”
So, after Winston and his owners were reunited thanks to Scott.
And and Biscuit felt better as well, Emily and David announced at the dinner table that they were going to rebuild their farm after all.
Emily: “Mm-hmm. Amy worked her magic on Biscuit and this family has worked its magic on us.”
David: “We’ve had a long talk and we’ve decided to face things and rebuild.”
The couple will stay at their neighbor’s house while they rebuild their own place. And since their barn was the only thing that’s still standing after the flood, they were thinking of building a barn loft of their own to start with.
Holding tight to the dream
Interestingly, David and Emily’s situations helped Jack and Lisa deal with the relationship problems that they were going through on Heartland season 16 episode 5.
Last episode we saw Lisa return home after being away from home for a stretch making Jack a happy cowboy. But in this episode, we saw Lisa’s business potentially calling her away yet again.
Lisa’s trainer Chuck texted Lisa that he’s found a horse he wants Lisa to fly down to Florida to see in a couple of days. Which Jack wasn’t happy about, of course. His wife had just gotten back and was about to go back on the road again. So, the two were walking on eggshells around each other for a while.
Lisa threw herself into helping the flood evacuees – setting them up at the Dude Ranch and providing them with food and anything else they might need. But you could see that she was using it as a distraction from dealing with her own relationship hurdles.
So, when Lisa offered David to employ him and Emily at her business at dinner, which Jack disagreed with, both of their frustrations boiled over and they had a bit of a fight.
That fight might have started with Jack not liking that Lisa offered David and Emily to work for her to tide them over while they figure out their situation, but it quickly turned into what the disagreement was really about – Jack trying to be supportive of Lisa’s dreams but failing at really showing it by (understandably) not wanting her to go to Florida so soon after she got back.
Fortunately, the next morning the two talked it out, admitted their wrongdoings, and made up.
Lisa: “Well, we’re both allowed to have a snit here and there along the way.”
Jack: “Boy, holding tight to the dream, not that easy, huh?”
Lisa: “Nope.”
And although this time Lisa didn’t have to go to Florida after all since the horse was sold to somebody else, the next time that happens it might be easier on their relationship because Lisa will know for certain that Jack does support her, he just doesn’t like to be apart from her.
Reconnecting
Speaking of helping the evacuees, Tim was quickly roped into helping by Lisa, since he was temporarily staying at the Dude Rach while David and Emily were bunking at the barn loft. The same Dude Ranch that was housing some of the evacuees.
At first, Tim was just helpful by setting the evacuees up at their cabins, giving out food, and helping in any other way he could. But while handing out coffee Tim noticed an older man who was keeping to himself and not taking any of the food or coffee offered.
Tim approached the man, Henry Gunderson, but he was rude to Tim, telling Tim that he didn’t want his charity. Hearing this, Tim backed off a little, but he also seemingly saw something in the older gentleman that made Tim try again later.
The next morning Tim went up to Henry, introduced himself, and again offered to get in touch with somebody close to Henry. And while it didn’t improve Henry’s attitude towards Tim (Henry thought that Tim is playing a savior) it did get Henry to open up to Tim a little.
Henry told Tim that he lost his farm in the flood and that he lived alone – his wife had died a few years back and he was estranged from his son. It was truly a sad situation yet Henry was just treating it as a fact of life.
Henry being estranged from his son resonated with Tim deeply. After all, Tim also has a son, Shane, whom he hasn’t seen in years. Therefore, Tim decided to go behind Henry’s back (even after Henry told Tim that he didn’t want anything to do with his son since he didn’t even come home when Henry’s wife got sick) and track down Henry’s son, Kyle.
So, at the end of the episode, we saw Kyle and Henry reunite. And this reunion spurred Tim to reach out to his own son.
It turns out that Shane is clerking for a law firm in Philadelphia now. And since Tim is going to New York with Jessica soon for her art show, Tim wanted to meet up with Shane. After all, Phili isn’t that far from New York City.
We will most likely see this reunion in the next episode which is quite exciting. We haven’t seen Shane since way back in season 6!
READ NEXT: Recap of Heartland season 16 episode 6
But will the reunion be a happy one? I guess we will have to watch the next episode to find out!
Stepping up
Lastly, in this episode, we also saw Rick really coming through for Lou and handling the whole flood evacuee situation like a champ.
All through this season Rick has been stepping up and filling in for Lou in a variety of capacities from sitting in for Lou at meetings to attending events. However, this was very different – Rick had to make real decisions and handle a crisis situation.
It’s not like Lou didn’t want to be there herself, she just couldn’t be since Georgie was in the hospital, and Rick understood that. But he was still stressed and overwhelmed by the sudden position he found himself in.
And on top of everything else, he and his partner were also going through the adoption process which meant a lot of paperwork.
Luckily, Rick had help from Lou’s family.
First, Katie stepped up by helping to reach out to people and get Hudsonites to take in some of the flood evacuees. However, it wasn’t enough, so Lou got a hold of a camera crew for Rick to do an on-air plea for help the next day. Which, of course, meant that Rick will have to give a very public, very live speech.
Hearing this and knowing how terrified Rick was, Parker asked Tim for his help in coaching Rick since Tim had experience in giving speeches while Rick didn’t.
So the two worked on it all morning and when it came time to give the speech that afternoon, Rick delivered it beautifully.
Lou even called to praise Rick for a job well done. And once again, Rick was there for Lou, Hudson, and anybody else who needed help.
Is this all setting up for Rick to become Hudson’s next mayor? Probably not. But I can’t help but think that he would be great at it.
And I think that they might be slowly setting up a mayoral election later in the season since Lou’s mayoral term or the mayoral election has been mentioned a few times now this season.
Last thoughts on Heartland season 16 episode 5
Who else would like to see Amy, Jack, and the rest of the family visit Emily and David at their newly-built house later this season or in the next season should we get another one?
After all, David and Emily told the family that they will be their first guests at the Carpenter’s new home. And that would definitely be a nice change of scenery for the show for an episode.
And finally, it was so great to see Nathaniel Arcand as Scott Cardinal again. It might have been just for a few scenes but it’s always nice to see our resident vet show up at the ranch.
Promo for Heartland season 16 episode 6
And here’s the promo for the next Heartland episode:
The episode will be called “Into the Wild” and will see Tim and Jessica go to New York City for Jessica’s art show where Tim will try to reconnect with his son Shane. Amy will help a unique animal from an abandoned zoo. And Jack and Lisa will have a few more relationship difficulties to work through.
Thank you so much!!!