An exciting new episode of Heartland aired this Sunday that saw old friends come to the ranch in light of a tragedy as well as Amy saying goodbye to a friend of her own and Lou and Peter reconnecting with their daughter.
Want to know more? Then keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 16 episode 7!
An unfortunate casualty
The episode started with a storm blowing through Hudson which not only knocked the power out at the ranch but also, sadly, claimed a casualty.
The morning after the storm Amy was out riding Spartan to check if the fence held up during the storm. However, Spartan seemed to want to go a different direction. So, after a bit of resisting, Amy decided to listen to Spartan’s instincts and ride Spartan’s way. And that’s when she happened upon a circle of horses holding vigil for their fallen friend.
Sadly, sometime during the storm lightning hit a tree, and since horseshoes conduct electricity, Mallory’s horse Copper, who was standing nearby, lost his life during the lightning strike.
Copper was among the few remaining horses at the ranch that Amy and Lou’s mom Marion saved before she passed, therefore it was extra sad that Copper was the horse that died.
Lou: “I remember he was so skinny that you could see every rib in his body. And I remember that we didn’t think he was going to make it but Mom refused to give up.”
Amy: “I just feel like every time we lose a horse that Mom saved we lose another piece of her.”
So, the family decided to hold a little memorial for Copper the next day. And since Amy called Mallory to tell her about Copper, Mallory and Jake decided to drive all night to get to Heartland in time.
And they did make it to the ranch in plenty of time to not only say goodbye to Copper but also catch up with everybody and to even figure out some stuff of their own.
Hellos and goodbyes
Although the last time we saw Mallory and Jake was in season 10 (episodes 13 and 14), they did attend Ty’s funeral which happened off-camera. And sadly, this time around, Mallory and Jake had to return to Heartland for another funeral.
Yet, despite the sad reason for their visit, everybody was excited to see Mallory and Jake again and wanted to know what they’ve been up to.
So, Mallory informed the Bartlett-Fleming clan that after their motor home finally kicked the bucket, they settled in Colorado, just outside Walden. Jake has been working as a foreman at a ranch, while Mallory has been taking online business classes and working at a restaurant part-time. And they had just bought some land that they’re hoping to call their forever home.
Everybody was impressed with how well Jake and Mallory were doing, however, after the two settled at the loft since Tim and Jessica were still in New York, Jake asked Mallory why she lied about their situation.
That’s when we began to figure out that everything might not be as rosy as it seemed.
During Copper’s memorial Mallory also talked about wishing she could go back to a simpler time when she spent her time riding copper at the ranch.
Mallory: “Sure, I’d love to. Some of the best years of my life were spent here riding Copper. Sometimes I wish I could go back to when things were less complicated. When I was just a horse-crazy little kid before I had to grow up. When I think back to when I was happiest, it was here with Copper, with all of you. Goodbye old friend.”
And then Mallory spent the rest of the episode trying to fix everybody else’s problems including talking to Katie on behalf of Lou and Peter and finding out more about Finn for Amy (more on this later). So, something was definitely up.
During the usual family dinner, Mallory finally came clean to everybody about how they are actually doing.
It turned out that Jake was laid off from his foreman job. The piece of land they had was actually inherited from Jake’s uncle and they can’t afford to do anything with it because the property taxes are slowly drowning them, so they put it up for sale. And Mallory had to quit business school to take on more shifts at the diner she worked at so they could stay afloat.
But even now that their struggles were out in the open, Mallory had new problems to deal with.
She was feeling sick all the time. Therefore Lou suggested she take a pregnancy test that came back positive. And since Mallory and Jake weren’t in the best of places both financially and otherwise, the timing just plain sucked.
Luckily, Amy and Lou were there for Mallory and suggested that even though the timing is bad, she should just tell Jake her news and see how that goes. So, that’s what Mallory did.
Jake and Mallory finally talked and it turned out that Jake had turned down the offer they had for their land because Jack had put in a good word with a friend down in Colorado who is going to take on Jake as a foreman. So things were already looking up. And when Mallory broke the news about her pregnancy to Jake, her husband couldn’t be more overjoyed.
So, the two said their goodbyes and left to start the new chapter of their lives promising to visit Heartland soon.
I truly love how in addition to introducing new characters ever so often the show brings back old ones as well. And what a treat it is every time a fan-favorite character turns up at the ranch for one reason or another.
Saying goodbye again
While Mallory and Jake’s visit and saying goodbye to Copper was the main story of Heartland season 16 episode 7, Amy had a goodbye of her own in this episode.
While Amy was working with Harley who was distraught about the death of his buddy Copper, Finn stopped by the ranch. He had some bad news for Amy – he was going back to Kindersley.
Amy was curious as to how long Finn will be gone given that he has pulled a disappearing act before, so Finn informed her that this time it’s going to be for a long while since he has to get back to his family.
Understandably, that upset Amy. But she wasn’t mad because Finn was leaving once again, she was angry that he didn’t bother to explain why exactly he was leaving. After all, they are supposed to be friends yet friends don’t just up and leave without an explanation.
Therefore, on top of Copper dying, Amy now had to also contend with difficult feelings toward Finn. And it didn’t help that Mallory was questioning Amy about Finn, too.
After Jessica’s art show failure, her pictures had been sent back to the ranch. So, early in the episode, we saw Mallory check out some of them and the one with Amy and Finn gazing at each other caught her eye.
So, when Mallory saw Finn leave the ranch, she went to ask Amy what was going on between the two of them. Amy was already angry from her conversation with Finn, so Mallory’s meddling didn’t help her mood. Yet, Mallory did suggest one good thing – since Finn is being vague about his reasons for leaving, she could look into Finn for Amy.
Amy, of course, asked Mallory not to, but that didn’t stop her and Mallory did find out a few things that shed some light on who Finn is and why he is the way he is.
A little Google search later and Mallory learned that Finn doesn’t have family in Kindersley. She also found an article about Finn that she thought Amy should definitely see.
And although Amy dismissed Mallory and the article at first, Mallory sent her the link to it anyway.
So, the next day Amy went to the loft to check out the picture Mallory was talking about of Finn and her. And while there she also read the article Mallory found.
Apparently, Mallory uncovered that two years ago Finn had been involved in a fatal car crash that killed his friend. So, when Finn came by later to tell Amy that he found another farrier for the Youth Center, Amy confronted him about it.
At first, he was evasive and defensive, even telling Amy that he’s not one of the broken horses that she needs to fix.
But after Finn had some time to cool off, he finally decided to open up to Amy about everything.
Finn told her that his friend, Jay, died in the car crash and that he felt guilty because he was driving that night. He also told Amy that Jay’s dad is the family in Kindersley he keeps referring to. And that when Jay’s dad got sick last year, he needed help running his farm so Finn stepped up. However, although Jay’s dad got better before, now he needs another operation therefore Finn needs to go back there.
And finally, Amy understood Finn and the motivation behind his actions. So, she thanked him for telling her all that and told him that she’s going to miss him.
The two hugged and even shared a brief kiss but Amy pulled back before it could turn into anything more telling Finn that he should go. After all, he’s leaving for who knows how long and she had to protect her heart from getting hurt again.
That’s definitely not how I thought the Finn storyline is going to end. And I’m not even sure it has ended. But I’m glad that at least for now they are on good terms and that Amy also dared to open her heart up to someone again after Ty. Because even if this romance was short-lived, it will help Amy to be open to the right one when it comes around.
At that age
While the last big storyline of Heartland season 16 episode 7 had to do with Lou, Katie, and Peter!
After being talked about all season, in this episode, we finally saw Peter at the ranch again.
Lou, Peter, and Katie had just gotten back from visiting Georgie in Florida, so everybody were readjusting to being at home.
On top of that, Lou was still reeling from Georgie’s accident (apparently, the doctor had said that if Georgie had landed just inches to one side or the other, she could have been paralyzed or worse), so Lou was definitely looking for a distraction. Which she found in the form of Katie.
That night when Lou was up in Katie’s room collecting her daughter’s dirty laundry, Lou happened upon Katie’s journal which was left open under Katie’s pillow. And that’s how Lou found out that Katie has a crush on an older boy.
That sent Lou into a tailspin, she even woke Peter up just to tell him about Katie’s crush.
So, the next day Lou confided in Mallory about Katie’s crush and Mallory took it upon herself to find out the 411 on the boy Katie likes. But that didn’t work either so Peter and Lou were back to square one.
That’s when Katie herself came to her parents about something that’s been on her mind lately and that she’s been afraid to ask her parents. And just as Lou and Peter were ready to listen to their daughter about how she has a crush on a boy, Katie asked her parents if she could get her ears pierced.
That threw Lou and Peter but they awkwardly agreed, Lou even promising to go with Katie next week. And everything seemed fine again until Lou put her foot in it and started talking about how Katie’s at that age when she might start having crushes on boys or girls.
Which, of course, clued Katie in on the fact that Lou had read her journal. And although Lou tried to explain that it was open and that she read just that one line, the damage was done.
Fortunately, the next day Peter and Lou apologized to Katie saying that she deserves her privacy and that they overreacted. So, Katie accepted their apology and all was well again in their little family unit.
Although Katie told Parker in episode 1603 that she doesn’t have a crush on Logan, it still makes me wonder if that crush Katie was writing in her journal about is on Logan after all. Although Peter did have some other possibilities like the new busboy at Maggie’s or the kid at the deli counter so you never know, maybe it’s a boy we haven’t even met yet.
Breath of fresh air
What was Jack doing this episode, you wonder?
Well, for most of the episode Jack was trying to get his old generator to work since the ranch was left without electricity after the storm that took Copper.
Jack being Jack wouldn’t even hear of buying a new generator, even after multiple people suggested it and the generator itself stopped working on multiple occasions.
But he didn’t give up on the old thing until finally, Lou bought a new generator for the household to use just as the power came back on.
However, Jack’s real purpose in this episode, of course, was to be everyone’s shoulder to lean on.
And it was especially true for Mallory. I remember the special bond Jack and Mallory had in the early seasons and this episode proved that although time had passed, the two still can have a genuine heart-to-heart.
I also loved how at the end of the episode Mallory told Jack that he drinks too much coffee which was a nice callback to season 1 when Mallory tried to get Jack to quit drinking coffee.
And when Mallory told Jack that she’s pregnant, he was overjoyed.
Jack: “Oh, I know. I still remember the grand speech you have me about it when you were 12.”
Mallory: “I was such an annoying kid.”
Jack: “Nah. You were a breath of fresh air and you still are.”
Mallory: “So, um, next time I come to visit I’ll have someone for you to meet. Hopefully, you’ll think they’re a breath of fresh air, too.”
Jack: “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Mallory: “Yeah.”
Jack: “Well, isn’t that something? Our little Mallory’s gonna have a little one of her own. And now I feel really old.”
And Jack’s face after Mallory said goodbye said it all – he was proud of the woman she’s become while also being sad to have to say goodbye so soon.
Last thoughts on Heartland season 16 episode 7
It was so great to finally see Peter and Lou back together. After all the will-they-won’t-they’s of the last few seasons, it was nice to see the two back on solid ground, supporting each through whatever life might throw at them.
And I don’t know, it really seemed like the two of them were more of a couple than ever before. Which I love because I always liked the pairing between Lou and Peter.
READ NEXT: Recap of Heartland season 16 episode 8
Also, great news for all you Georgie Fleming-Morris fans out there because thanks to Alisha Newton’s Instagram Stories I can now confirm that we will see Georgie this season after all.
Although it will just be for a single episode, it will be great to have Georgie back at the ranch interacting with everybody. Especially, after her scary accident in Florida and us not having seen her since Heartland episode 1410.
Promo for Heartland season 16 episode 8
And here’s the promo for the next Heartland episode:
Titled “Running Down a Dream” and airing on November 20th, Heartland season 16 episode 8 will see Amy teaching Lyndy (and Caleb!) how to barrel race. Logan’s father will also unexpectedly arrive at the ranch. While Jessica will be looking for a distraction after returning from New York. And Katie will get her ears pierced which will, for some reason, cause a fight with her mom.
I love Heartland!! It’s such a great family show!! I pray it stays that way!!
Watching the Spencer twins with Amber on screen is a treat. Heartland’s portrayal of the single mother is really interesting. Quite good as a matter of fact. Keep bringing us the good stories. I’m going to be watching.