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Heartland’s Amber Marshall riding high in Season 8

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Life is complicated for Amy Fleming. The beloved Heartland character has a lot on her plate so far in Season 8, including a rich Prince who keeps sending her presents, a fiancé who’s struggling to make ends meet in his first business venture and a girl whose vision of Amy has been shattered.

For actress Amber Marshall, having her character go through these struggles represents the natural evolution of Amy, a gifted horse trainer who isn’t without her flaws. Georgie (Alisha Newton) was crushed after viewing an online video of Prince Ahmed (Jade Hasounné) kissing Amy during a farewell party for his European Equestrian team. Now Amy is feeling the effects of tumbling off the pedestal Georgie put her on.

“The fans may not agree with it right now, but there has to be a moment when the characters that you’ve seen as heroic people need to fall,” Marshall says. “They need somewhere to climb back up to. If you just have your characters going on this nice, mellow journey where they’re the hero of the show … what is interesting in that? There is no real life. There are no lessons to be learned. I was so happy when the writers took Amy and threw her down to basically starting from scratch.”

Marshall has literally grown up on the set of CBC’s Sunday night stalwart and she’s gained an immense amount of knowledge since filming the pilot episode when she was 19. And, unlike shows such as Degrassi, where the setting is high school and the characters have to be kept in a certain age group, Heartland‘s young folks have gotten older, matured and moved on to new stages in their lives.

Marshall has evolved too, adding the title of consulting producer to her list of responsibilities on the family drama. The London, Ont., born actress explains she was already on the set and involved outside of her acting role anyway. An experienced horse person, she was there to help the show’s writers tweak scenes that dealt with those four-legged co-stars; a discussion with Heartland‘s producers led to the additional credit. When she’s not on-set filming, Marshall educates herself on all aspects of production, an easy thing to do when you’re surrounded by folks you’ve been working with for years. Can executive producing or showrunning her own project be in Marshall’s future? Not until she learns more.

In the meantime, Amy is getting an education in the dangers of the Internet and her naiveté when it comes to Prince Ahmed. His peck on her lips not only has driven a wedge between Amy and Georgie, but Amy and Lou (Michelle Morgan) too. It all comes to a head this Sunday when Amy is forced to make a tough decision that affects her relationship with not only the Prince but Ty (Graham Wardle) as well.

“There is some very interesting conflict coming up,” she teases. “It’s going to have a huge impact on the whole Heartland family, not just Amy and Ty.”

Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on CBC.

Do you think Amy should tell Ty about her kiss with Prince Ahmed?

  • Yes, it's better to get it out in the open now. (93%, 154 Votes)
  • No way, he'll get upset and possibly break up with her. (7%, 12 Votes)

Total Voters: 166

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Review: Not-so hero worship on Heartland

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The kiss. Oh, that kiss. It was brought to my attention last week that Georgie may not have witnessed a kiss between Prince Ahmed and Amy–we didn’t actually see it but I was reacting to the look on Georgie’s face–but it was confirmed Sunday as she replayed the online clip again for herself and then for Lou. Now the cat is out of the bag. Or the horse has jumped the fence. Pick your cliché; the point is Georgie and Lou know. And now Amy does too. How long until Ty finds out?

“The Big Red Wall” may have dealt with Amy being at first too scared to try getting Ahmed’s gift horse to jump over a high wall, but it was as much about Georgie putting a wall between she and her former hero. By episode’s end Georgie had torn down her picture shrine to Amy and was disgusted by the whole situation. Yes, Amy told Lou that nothing had happened between she and Ahmed–he made advances but she told him to back off–but nothing will be the same between the three girls until the family sits down and talks about it. And despite Ty being busy with Caleb wanting to fast-track train the horses and Tim giving him the rough side of his tongue, he’s going to surf the ‘net soon. Better nip this bad news in the bud before it explodes.

The only bright spot in Heather Cronkie’s script came via Jack and Lisa, and even that came with its share of challenges. Georgie and Lou’s idea to hold a simple wedding party for the happy couple threatened to turn sour when Jack’s old gal pal Val Stanton arrived from Florida to sort out some business at Briar Ridge. Jack was reluctant to tell Val he and Lisa were a couple even before she revealed her cancer was back; after she did he swallowed hard and invited her to the party instead. The silver lining? Val had been stringing Jack along for fun–various townsfolk had spilled the beans to her about Jack already–and she had nothing but well-wishes for he and Lisa.

I can’t help but think the arrival of Val and her son, Jesse, spell conflict in the coming weeks. Jesse, in the space of just a day or two, asked Amy to be Briar Ridge’s trainer twice and despite her protestations I bet he’s not going to give up without a fight. And just because Val said she was happy with Jack’s situation doesn’t mean she was being truthful with him.

Other notes 

  • “Peter called. Your husband? Said he was at work and he’d call you again when he got home. You know, his home, in Vancouver?”–Gotta love Jack’s little dig at Lou
  • I’ve always loved Shaun Johnston’s craggy face; he can portray so much emotion with a twitch of his moustache. Jack caught between Lou and Lisa at the table over discussions surrounding the wedding party was great.

Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CBC.

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Comments and queries for the week of Oct. 3

This is my first time at the site; it’s nice to see you review Heartland, which is my favorite show and one of my all-time favourites. It became my favourite when I took a chance and bought the DVDs after having seen many of the commercials for the show but not having watched it on TV at that point.

Jack was reluctant, I think, given how Lou had reacted to their initial considering of marriage (when she was about to be married to Peter), given how the sisters tend to be overprotective of him, and because he is generally a private man. He has told them and others, more than once, that his love life is private, etc. Jack does love Lisa and isn’t ashamed of her or of how they chose to get married, but he is much more old fashioned and private than Lisa is.

As for Tim, he’s a likeable cad–a tamer version of a type of JR Ewing (Dallas) in the sense that he sometimes acts selfishly and in his own interests without thinking of others but he is a loving person. He is super competitive as was revealed in his relationship with Janice and with his ex-lady friend Miranda (with whom he had a son–though she didn’t tell him until many years later). It was definitely not “nice” of him to do what he did but he is very competitive and doesn’t always think of others before he acts.–Pat


On The Marilyn Denis Show, Sebastian Clovis showed how to update old 1980s cabinets with plywood flooring boards. Do you have this on video? I could not record the show.–Vera

Sorry you missed Sebastian’s appearance. Thursday’s episode featuring him will be available on The Marilyn Denis Show website in the next day or so. You can find it here.

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email me at greg@tv-eh.com!

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Review: Heartache on Heartland

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Raise your hand if you knew that kiss between Prince Ahmed and Amy was going to have an impact on her relationship with Ty? Yeah, I did too, but I have to admit I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. That’s going to put a damper on the hero worship Georgie has got going for Amy right now.

Season 8 of Heartland–CBC’s Sunday night stalwart–opened magically with Amy resplendent in a tight-fitting dress and a sexy updo as she attended a goodbye party held by Ahmed for his European Equestrian squad. His gift of a sparky, diamond-encrusted necklace served as a precursor to the smooch that would have Georgie freaking by episode’s end.

Heartland has always been a show that’s flown under my radar, garnering the ratings to be renewed via loyal fans yet a program I’ve only seen in passing. I’m looking forward to watching on a weekly basis for TV, Eh? simply because it’s a change of pace front my usual series choices and boasts a stellar cast. At the top of the list is Amber Marshall; she and co-star Graham Wardle have literally grown up playing Amy and Ty, and by now they’ve embraced the characters they portray. Amy’s arrival back at Heartland after months away was met with a chest-crushing hug by Ty that quickly turned sour when they learned the land they’d planned to buy had been sold out from under them.

Compounding the stress of losing the land was Georgie being under Amy’s feet. She had taken on all of Amy’s chores while she was away and the ranch hummed along, leaving Amy to wonder exactly what her place was at Heartland. That, coupled with jet lag, Ty buying a new truck and the knowledge that Jack had secretly married Lisa (that sure got Lou hot under the collar) reduced Amy to tears of frustration. The one place she relied on to be a firm foundation in her life had been upended.

By the end of Heather Conkie’s script for “There and Back Again,” Ty and Amy had made up, but the kiss Georgie witnessed online is going to get back to Ty at some point. That, along with the fact Ahmed gave Amy that necklace, is going to test their strength as a couple and challenge their trust.

Other thoughts

  • Why was Jack so reluctant to tell the family that he and Lisa were married? Was he ashamed?
  • Does anyone else think it was kind of jerky for Tim to make that horse deal knowing it would screw up Ty and Caleb’s plans?

Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on CBC.

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Comments and queries for the week of Sept. 5

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I have DirecTV and I like the show Heartland, which I see on UP on channel 338. The series plays on Wednesday nights and every day at 4 p.m. I see on the computer that Heartland is on CBC in Canada for next season starting on Sept. 22, and I wonder what channel I would get this on in Michigan? Thanks in advance. —Paulla

Great question Paulla, and one that I had to do a little bit of legwork on. The short answer is, yes you may be able to watch your beloved Heartland on CBC when it returns. First thing though: the actual date is Sunday, Sept. 28. The second thing? Only certain areas of Michigan–those generally close to the Canadian border–offer CBC as part of their cable lineup. Contact your cable company directly to see if you are one of those lucky people.

My mom is 87, and I am 50 and on disability. We had someone rip apart our tub and shower and he’s still not done. He started the job in the beginning of July of 2014. We have nothing in writing and haven’t paid him. Please help us so we can bathe.–Natalie

Yikes! Sounds like you need Mike Holmes to come to your rescue. You’re in luck, because his production company is currently looking for homeowners in Southern Ontario to be featured on Holmes Makes It Right. Head over to their website and good luck!

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