“Broken Heartland” certainly lived up to its episode title, as the growing tension between Lou and Peter finally reached an explosive head. Heartland is never afraid to shy away from the drama in it’s family drama description, but even I was a little shocked by how loud their argument was following an increasingly cringeworthy family lunch.
As with most fights between couples, a re-hash of previous mistakes were dragged out into the open: Peter’s failure in Dubai and him insisting on working in Vancouver, Lou buying a house and getting a specialist for Katie without his consent. As Lou rightly pointed out, they’d both made errors. But suggesting he had someone on the side in Van-city seemed like a bit of a stretch, especially for Heartland. How many die-hard fans would be devastated if Peter and Lou’s marriage ended in divorce because he was messing around? Still, it could happen. As an aside, I agreed with Peter when he retorted that he and Lou couldn’t even get enough privacy to have a fight. Although, with all of that land around them, perhaps going out into a nearby field would have been a good idea.
By episode’s end, Lou was jetting to Vancouver to talk to Peter about the state of their marriage. I’m hoping Heartland‘s writers simply have him be happily surprised by her arrival rather than have a nasty shock awaiting Lou when she lands. (Of course, Heartland is on hiatus next week, so we’ll have to wait.)
Like Lou and Peter, Amy and Ty were finding it tough to score some alone time too. The pair were headed off to Montana for a couple of days but had that dashed when an impromptu horse ride resulted in the truck stolen by a hitchhiker. (WHY would Ty put the keys in the sun visor???? He’s got pockets!!! Why would they leave their cell phones in the truck?? What if something had happened??) Luckily for them, Brooke the hitchhiker didn’t get far; they caught up to her when the truck suffered a flat front tire. But rather than report Brooke to the police, they gave her a ride, and it was on that trip—and hearing of Brooke’s relationship struggles with her mom—that Ty realized that, off the wagon or not, his own mother deserved to be invited to he and Amy’s wedding.
Ty’s decision was a mature one, and I was impressed he came to it. I still think that he and Amy are going to elope—maybe with Brooke singing to them under that tree—but offering an olive branch to his mom was still nice.
Notes and quotes
- I think Katie’s got the right idea; a cupcake tree would be awesome
- “Your daughter thinks you live in an airplane.” I know this was supposed to be serious, but I laughed out loud at Lou’s line
- “I’m never gonna live this down!” Luckily for Ty, Tim likely won’t find out about Brooke stealing the truck
- Georgie and Jade provided much-needed levity on Sunday, first at the vet clinic and then when Georgie finally asked Steven to the Sadie Hawkins dance
- Where’s Tim?!?
Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on CBC.
