I first heard about Heartland through a brief commercial while watching Dragon's Den, and even though I
didn't seem the least bit interesting, I eventually decided to look into it. Why? Because I was yearning for a
modern series that was set in a rural area, and even as an ignorant city dweller, I was aware that rural Canada
had some of the world's most gorgeous scenery. And given that Heartland has been running for 7 seasons
now (soon to be 8), I figured it had to have been at least somewhat good, to get as far as it did.
Right off the bat, Amy's mother (Marion) dies, leaving her, her sister (Lou), and her grandfather (Jack) to
deal with the aftermath. The horse that Amy's mother sacrificed her life to save (named Spartan) seems to be
doing less than fine, and the vet suggested ending its agony. Jack obviously doesn't want it to end that way,
because it'd make Marion's death meaningless. Meanwhile, an old friend visits Amy, and the two go out for a
ride. They bump into Ty.
Turns out, Marion had hired Ty to come help out with the ranch, and now that she's gone, Jack will have to be
the one who oversees his work. While Jack seems like a caring father in his exchanges with his family, he's
a bit of a hardass when it comes to dealing with Ty. And for good reason too, since Ty referred to his
grand-daughers as babes. Great first impression, Ty.
The relationship between the two sisters, Amy and Lou, is rocky to say the least. Amy is hardly welcoming
of Lou's return to Heartland from her life in New York, and Lou hasn't been there for the family as much as
Amy would have liked. Worse yet, Lou sees Heartland strictly as a business with financial woes, and her
lack of understanding for how things operated with Marion will likely lead to some bad decisions later on.
We're also introduced to Ashley, the generic mean girl whose sole existence appears to be making Amy's life
more miserable. Apparently Amy used to jump (equestrian?), and Ashley still does. Perhaps Amy will
pick jumping back up again, allowing Ashley to be a rival. For now though, she's probably the least interesting
character.
Evidently, Amy has inherited some of her mother's talent with horses. Spartan, the horse that Marion ended
up dying to save, was mistreated by his previous owner, and his current lack of trust towards humans made
him difficult to deal with and impossible to ride. That is, of course, until Amy works her magic. What she did
is hard to put into words, but what is clear is that she has ample patience and a genuine love for horses.
Watching Spartan observe and finally approve of Amy is unlike anything I've ever seen.
By the end of episode 1, Ty really grew on me. As much as he seems to be a moody badass, he's also quietly
observant. He sees Amy riding off, and probably due to respect for his employer and out of genuine concern,
he follows along to the party to look out for her. We knew he found Amy attractive before from an exchange
with him and Jack, and now that Amy's officially single again, so...
Near the end, we get a glimpse of Amy's father, who has apparently done something awful enough in the past
that Jack would never forgive him. Lou seems to have come around though, so I imagine that for all the years
he has been gone, he'll try his best to make things right. Or maybe he'll continue to be a terrible father. Hard
to say. And very fittingly, the episode caps off with Amy riding Spartan to pay her mother's grave a visit.
So in the first 45 minutes, we get some solid first impressions of most of the cast, and for the most part, the characters are believable, genuine, and endearing. The acting is mostly exceptional (Amy's actor, Amber
Marshall in particular), so much so that scenarios I imagine cringing at if I had read an episode summary
ended up tugging at my heartstrings. |
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