Before I delve into this, let me just say that I am really angry at the amount of hate being thrown at the actors. I understand that people got invested, and that the show promoted the triangle, but I don't think it was ever meant to be taken this seriously. These people are real, their characters are not, and attacking real people over something a fictional character did is so ridiculous and uncalled for. Chris McNally, Erin Krakow, and Kevin McGarry are all amazing actors, which is why I think this story has impacted so many people. If they weren't good at their jobs, there wouldn't be so many fans distraught by this ending. That said, it's been over a week. It might be time for all of us, including me, to let it go. I'm hoping this will be my last post addressing the negativity. If I write about a tv show again, I hope it's for a positive reason.
1. Lucas is Charles 2.0
About the only thing Lucas and Charles have in common is that they both have, and come from, money. Charles is an old family friend of Elizabeth's. When we left him in Season 2, he worked with her father and had come to HV twice: once to set up a business relationship with Lee's lumber mill and the second time to propose to Elizabeth. He is not described in Season 2 as well traveled and it's clear that he had an "in" with Elizabeth's father in business, thus allowing him to continue the success of his parents' generation and add to his wealth.
In contrast, Lucas IS well traveled AND there is every indication that he has made his own wealth through a series of shrewd business decisions. He bought the saloon and increased its popularity well beyond what we saw with the previous owner. He also took a gamble on Henry's oil business and has worked hard to aid in its success. In Season 8, we see him get blasted after the explosion at the oil well, and we see him, with Nathan, Bill, Fiona, Ned, and Hickam, push the explosives towards the fire in an effort to save their operations as well as the town. So, the other argument, that he's not willing to get his "hands dirty" is clearly not accurate either.
Honestly, I would describe Lucas' family as upper middle class. Both of his parents worked, which was not necessarily "normal" at that time. Their positions allowed the family to travel extensively. We don't know a lot about his father's career, but his mother is a book editor and her connections led to Elizabeth's book deal. I don't understand why people hate Lucas so much. The man not only encouraged Elizabeth's dream and passion, he essentially orchestrated that dream becoming a reality. Through his encouragement, and questionable decision to share her chapters without her permission, Elizabeth really grew as a writer. As a writer myself, I loved to see it. My own husband has been very encouraging of my return to grad school to pursue the MFA degree and we both hope that someday I will be published.
2. Lucas won Elizabeth's heart with money
Elizabeth teaches and, presumably, now gets her salary from the town budget (as I recall an episode from before Lori Loughlin left the show where she asked for supplies for the school and Abigail wasn't sure there was room in the town budget). Initially, she received a salary from the mothers, but I think now she receives a salary from the town itself. She also has Jack's pension from his time as a Mountie. And, in S8, she received a book deal with a $200 advance payment (which at that time was a significant amount of money).
My point is: Elizabeth herself is not hurting for money. She has her row house, she can afford to pay Laura as a full time nanny, and she could likely go back to high society life any time if she chooses. The fact that she doesn't choose to leave HV, and tells Lucas in S7 on their "not-a-date" in Union City that she can't imagine raising LJ anywhere else, speaks volumes. This sort of goes back to the first argument about Lucas being the new Charles. Again, Charles never chose to join Elizabeth in HV. In fact, if memory serves, her sister, Viola, hoped that Charles would be able to convince Elizabeth to give up her HV teaching by proposing.
Really, if anybody is the new Charles (and I don't think they are) it's Nathan. Charles assumed Elizabeth's feelings, even after she told him she only saw him as a friend (parallel to Nathan declaring his love after Elizabeth told him she couldn't give him what he wanted). Charles proposed to her, even after she told him how she felt, and seemed surprised and unhappy with her refusal (again, much like Nathan, and more specifically, TN in this last season). Nathan may not have wealth, but his refusal to take Elizabeth at her words reminded me way more of Charles than anything Lucas did. That said, I can acknowledge the similarities in their relation to Elizabeth without seriously equating the two characters. They are clearly very different men, just like Charles and Lucas.
And honestly, can you call all of the dates Lucas planned for her a demonstration of his money? They went on picnics, a morning ride, and the backyard dinner wasn't really a demonstration of his wealth either. The only date that I could see as being a demonstration of his wealth was the Union City date, but I interpreted that less of a show of wealth and more as evidence that he wants to support her interests.
3. The story wouldn't have been repetitive
I can't say whether it would or wouldn't have, but I personally was not looking forward to watching another teacher/Mountie pairing. I likely would have begrudgingly watched the show, but I certainly wouldn't have blasted the actors on social media had Nathan been Elizabeth's choice. There were certainly stories that could have been examined with the differences. Blended families often have a lot of friction (though, let's be fair. Just because Lucas doesn't have a child of his own doesn't make his potentially joining Elizabeth and LJ any less of a blended family. My husband is my daughter's step-father, and we had a lot of growing pains in the early years). But at the same time, there's always a sense of danger for the Mountie position and many of those storylines have already been portrayed when Jack was alive.
I saw someone on Twitter compare WCTH to Outlander and sarcastically comment that no one likes repetitive storylines when discussing Claire's return through the stones. The fact that this person cannot see the vast differences in the shows amazes me. Yes, Claire went back to 18th century Scotland, 20 years after she left. So, right off the bat you have two people who haven't seen each other in 20 years and there's a new dynamic there to explore. She also CHOSE to go back through the stones the second time, which was already a new storyline from the first time she accidentally stepped back through time. Finally, she and Jamie didn't stay in Scotland, did they? Ian gets kidnapped and they chase him down to the Caribbean and eventually end up in North Carolina where their daughter finds them, adding new characters and new storylines to the mix.
Contrasting that with HV, unless Nathan and Elizabeth travel to the Northern Territories together, as Elizabeth and Wynn did in the books, it's a lot easier to repeat storylines when a writer is confined to the same town. I've been reading the Outlander books as well (slowly because those things are ridiculously long) and even I have gotten a bit tired of some of the storylines, but because there are so many storylines in books that are hundreds of pages long, the television show has more options of what to present on screen. Personally, I am so glad that Stephen Bonnet's character is now dead both in the series and after the last book I read (A Breath of Snow and Ashes) because it was starting to be a bit unbelievable that they kept running into him in a state as vast and populated as NC was, even back then. And I'm also tired of the storyline of Claire being kidnapped and Jamie having to rescue her. So, while I maintain that comparing Outlander to WCTH is unfair, even I can admit that some of the storylines in Outlander are repetitive and, therefore, a bit tired.
4. The polls - revisited
I keep seeing the "teams" fighting over the polls. I talked about polls in my last post, but since it seems a point of contention, let me address these again. For the TL fans who are citing how the polls only represent a tiny portion of the population...that's how polls work. A small percentage of people are chosen, at random, to participate in a poll and then the data is extrapolated to the population at large. For the TN fans who insist that this proves 70% of the population of WCTH fans are TN, I have yet to see a clear scientific poll anywhere. I've seen Twitter polls, which are often heavily retweeted by one team or the other, thus skewing the data. I've seen websites, like Good Housekeeping, where by refreshing the webpage, one person can vote multiple times, again skewing the data.
If someone wants to do a real scientific poll, you're going to have to select a random sample of WCTH viewers, send them a poll to their email addresses in a way where they can only submit ONE response, and then once you have results, you can then extrapolate the data to the population as a whole. But again, the 2016 polls mostly projected Hilary Clinton as the winner of the presidential election and we had Trump for 4 years. So, even the most scientific polls are still capable of getting it wrong. I have a masters degree in public policy and administration and as part of that degree program, I not only took Statistics, I also took a class called program evaluation where we had to plan out the methodology of how we would conduct a study (which is essentially what polls are: studies). If you ever read a report on a study that was conducted, this is likely the section mostly skipped over because people want to read the results, not the method of obtaining those results. These polls that are being cited don't have a methodology section, and that's just one of the many reasons I wouldn't trust them.
Truly, the best way of knowing how many people were on each team, or at least, how many people are so insanely dedicated to a team that they would abandon the rest of the show, is to watch S9 ratings. If the show tanks next season, as many are apparently hoping it will, then sure, TN had more fans. But if it doesn't? Either TN got over their anger and decided to watch, or they weren't really the majority they think they are. If it does tank, all the bitter TN fans can dance around the fire the show just died in.
5. The storyline didn't follow/they flipped the script in the last episode.
Let me walk you through romance writing 101, which I actually took at my local community college last year and which I have engaged in with both of my novels. Romance writing is one of the most strictly formulaic types of writing there is. All writing requires certain elements of plot, but romance readers have certain expectations of what a romance novel should have.
A) Opening Scene and Inciting Incident
Now, a show is significantly different from a novel or even a movie. But I feel like the inciting incident for Elizabeth and Lucas was Lucas buying the saloon and coming to town. He was an outsider and not much was known about him. His purchase of the saloon shook up the town since Henry and Bill finally agreed to go in on the purchase together, only to find out they were too late.
I think it's safe to say that the writers were not sure where the triangle was going to go when they first introduced it. So, I think it's only fair to include Nathan in this analysis as well. For his inciting incident, I think just his presence as the new Mountie is enough to shake both the town and Elizabeth. It's clearly jarring her to see that red serge again, the wound of Jack's death being still fresh in season 6 (for both her and us). But her choice to approach him on her own and welcome him to HV could also be the inciting incident because she could have tried to avoid him. By making that choice, she set off the trajectory of their relationship.
B) Meeting
The meeting isn't the only aspect of this element, the characters' attraction to each other is also established, even if they aren't thinking about love. I felt that Lucas and Elizabeth had the better "meet cute" than Nathan and Elizabeth. Lucas is clearly fumbling. He says he can usually read people, but he gets her totally wrong. With Nathan, it's a much more painful meeting, for both. We don't know it at the time, but Nathan is feeling guilty about his part in Jack's death. Elizabeth is struggling with this man who was sent to replace her husband. With Lucas, we see a bit of banter, and Lucas putting his foot in his mouth. It felt like there was a stronger attraction implied with Lucas, but then, since Nathan and Elizabeth are both in so much pain in relation to Jack, it's not really fair to judge this meeting. That said, this is another reason why I always saw Lucas as endgame. I don't know that Elizabeth would ever be able to truly separate Nathan from Jack despite the vast differences between the characters.
C) Development (Intimacy Grows)
Here the relationship is developed and the attraction becomes more prominent. In Season 6, we see more of the characters getting to know each other. Lucas helps Elizabeth with the library. Nathan and Elizabeth start to bond over their mutual affection for Allie. Lucas and Nathan are portrayed more as rivals as we get to later episodes. Nathan even calls out Lucas' interest in Elizabeth when discussing the library, which causes Elizabeth to confront Lucas. He quotes a book, but tells her that his interest in the library is only about the benefit to the town. Perhaps this is not entirely true, but I think his heart was in the right place. At the end of Season 6, Elizabeth chooses to dance with Lucas, but we see her looking at Nathan. This is actually where I think the storyline of her associating Jack with Nathan began, whether intentionally or not. The look in her eyes, to me, implies that she feels like Jack is watching her dance with another man. When Nathan leaves, the ghost of Jack leaves with him, and she turns back to Lucas with a smile.
D) Conflict
Lucas messes up big time with his secret and puts Elizabeth in danger. Nathan's jealousy over Lucas rubs Elizabeth the wrong way and she calls him out on his bias. Again, back then, we didn't know Nathan's motivation was his guilt over Jack's death and his decision to protect Elizabeth and LJ.
D) and E) Periods of Happiness
We see the fluctuations between periods of happiness and conflict throughout Season 7. It's clear that the writers were working to build up both men as potential love interests. Elizabeth admits to Rosemary that her heart is open and is being pulled in two different directions. Lucas encourages Elizabeth's writing, but at a cost. She feels discouraged initially based on his review of her short stories, but ultimately is inspired to write a novel. Nathan is surprised and touched that Elizabeth is not asking him to talk Robert out of becoming a Mountie, and I think it's here that Nathan starts to understand the true depth of his feelings as well as hopes for reciprocation. (After all, if Elizabeth is okay with one of her students becoming a Mountie, she clearly hasn't sworn off the occupation, right?).
Lucas declares his feelings for Elizabeth first. He asks her to a book reading and, after some deliberation, she agrees to go. He tells her that he is willing to wait for the woman of his dreams as long as he has to. This is a crucial scene in the Lucas/Elizabeth love story. He's declared his interest, and while Elizabeth doesn't reciprocate, she doesn't reject him outright either. When she returns home, she tells Rosemary the outing was "perfect."
In contrast, Nathan and Elizabeth get in a fight, supposedly over Elizabeth's actions on the mountain during the windstorm, but it's clearly about more than that. She tells him that she and Lucas were in Union City because Lucas asked. Nathan doesn't rise to that challenge immediately (again, we don't know his motivation at this point, though now in hindsight, his hesitation makes sense with his conflicting feelings about Jack's death). He does eventually ask her out, but here is where I feel like things were really turning towards Lucas: she hesitates. She doesn't talk to Rosemary about her hesitation like she did with Lucas. She just....hesitates. Then he is almost shot and we see her run into his arms at the end of Season 7 with Lucas looking on, and looking hurt.
In Season 8, we see more back and forth. Lucas left town shortly after the hug and Nathan doesn't seem to do anything to further pursue Elizabeth during Lucas' absence. They never do have that dinner. Lucas comes back and apologizes for his actions, explaining that he let jealousy get the better of him. It is notable that every time Lucas comes to her home, Elizabeth invites him in, and he refuses to do so. I asked my fellow Team Lucas hearties and every one of them said it was a sign of respect. I think that is an ongoing theme throughout Season 8. Lucas respects Elizabeth to make up her own mind and choose, but Nathan doesn't. He declares his love for her multiple times and fails to see how much these declarations hurt. Lucas doesn't say he loves her, but he shows his feelings through actions (planning dates, adjusting dates as needed for her comfort, respecting her space, allowing her to come to him, not pressuring her, etc.).
Elizabeth agrees to a dinner with Nathan and Allie and there is an adorable moment when the four of them are walking hand and hand down the street. But Lucas' mother arrives and Elizabeth changes her mind. Nathan never gets a date with Elizabeth. I think that was a smart move on the writers' part. In that time period, it wasn't normal to "date around." So, her hesitation in Season 7 likely stems from her already agreeing to go out with Lucas (even if it wasn't technically a date) and possibly also from her confusion over Nathan and Jack.
She and Lucas fall out over Helen's insistence that Elizabeth not tell Lucas about his parents' separation. He says some harsh, but true, things to her and then walks away. Their interactions are distant and awkward for a while.
The conflict with Nathan and Elizabeth ups the ante when she tells him she can't be with him. We see happier times with Lucas and Elizabeth when they both apologize for their behavior (and I love his shy smile when she tells him about Nathan and he asks what that means for "us"). Allie causes conflict by inviting only Elizabeth to the adoption ceremony. Nathan says the famous "save it" to Lucas and then we later see Lucas throw that back at Nathan.
And here we also see Nathan make the decision to continue to pursue Elizabeth. TN fans have praised this as "fighting for love" but as I said in my last post, it would have been better for him if he had listened to Elizabeth when she said her soft no. Could she have been more forceful in her refusal? Perhaps, but women have been raised to protect men's feelings for centuries and, especially at that time, I felt her refusal was pretty forceful enough. Lucas even tells him that his actions had better have Elizabeth's AND Allie's best interests in mind.
F) Conflict Crescendos
Nathan drops the bomb about Jack on Elizabeth. This causes a rift between Elizabeth and Rosemary. Lucas is so understanding of how she felt about it and offers to speak to Nathan on her behalf, with her permission (he learned his lesson from sending the chapters previously). Elizabeth confronts Nathan and he tells her he felt guilty because he was falling in love with her and it felt like dishonoring Jack. Again, his declaration makes Elizabeth uncomfortable enough to leave.
Elizabeth experiences what I can only describe as a crisis of faith. This revelation from Nathan has reopened an old wound and it is bleeding and festering. She shies away from Lucas because she is confused over her feelings. A lot of TN fans said that the love triangle was really between Jack and Lucas and I think at this point, that is very true. Nathan's revelation has caused her to mourn Jack all over again, and in the process, her feelings have become all mixed up. This is where I think the triangle really becomes Jack, Elizabeth, and Lucas. Nathan, unfortunately, gets caught in the crossfire. I understand why TN is angry, I do, but this happens in real life. Elizabeth is not being callous, she is confused. She is pulling away from Lucas to sort out her feelings. When she forgives Nathan, he holders her hands and she doesn't cringe away from him because it would be very upsetting for him if, in the middle of telling him she doesn't blame him for Jack's death, she pulls away. So, she lets him hold her hands, and later she welcomes him into her house and warms his serge. But we see, at the end of the scene, the moment of familiarity and deja vu, where she shakes her head as if trying to clear it. And then she leans against the door after Nathan is gone, looking completely lost.
Lucas sees Nathan and Elizabeth outside of the wedding, and then he sees Nathan's horse outside of Elizabeth's house. He notices that Elizabeth is pulling away from him. He confronts Nathan about pressuring Elizabeth.
G) Misery (The Big Black Moment)
All seems lost for Team Lucas. He comes to Elizabeth and tells her he is letting her go. He tells her that he wants her to find her true love. He tells her that love is worth fighting for, but it is also worth defending. She tries to talk to him, but he turns and walks away. It looks like everything is over for them and I'm sure after this episode, TN fans were cheering. In episode 12, Elizabeth approaches Lucas first, which implies that he is not the choice, but then they are interrupted, giving renewed hope to TL fans.
For Team Nathan, if he was the real romantic hero in this story, the big black moment may have been when Elizabeth tells Nathan she can't be with him way back in an earlier episode. Another moment that COULD have been the BBM was when Nathan tells her of his part in Jack's death, but even that doesn't lead to the next element of a romance novel. Nathan does get a redemption story in that Elizabeth forgives him, and he forgives himself and moves on from his guilt, but at the end of the day, it's not meant to be.
H) Resolution
This is the Happily Ever After or Happily For Now ending. Elizabeth tells Nathan that she does love him, but she's not in love with him. The writing has been on the wall since the episode she said she couldn't be with him. What I think TN didn't grasp was that it was never about Nathan fighting for Elizabeth's love, it was about Elizabeth fighting for her own love story. When Lucas tells her "what would you know about it" after confronting her about his mother's secret, it dawns on Elizabeth (eventually) that it's a valid criticism. She isn't fighting for anyone. Lucas has done all of the wooing, (which is why it's so amazing when Elizabeth returns the favor in the library at the end of the season finale). As my husband put it, Nathan's love is unrequited, so what is he really fighting for?
But of course, before we get there, we have to go through a bit more angst. After telling Nathan she isn't in love with him, Elizabeth doesn't immediately go to Lucas. Instead, Nathan tells Lucas what transpired between him and Elizabeth, and then encourages Lucas not to give up. Lucas is lost as to what the heck is going on in Elizabeth's mind because he hasn't heard from her. So, he makes plans to sell the saloon and leave. We see Elizabeth passing a note to him through Robert to invite him to the library, but she doesn't seek him out again. By the time she finally does, it appears to be too late and we see her distraught. She goes to the one place she feels closest to him, the bridge, and there he finds her. Hallmark gave us two beautiful scenes to solidify this love story: the passion on the bridge and then the real beginning of their courtship in the library, where Elizabeth makes it clear that THIS love is worth fighting for.
And there you have it. This is the love story that TN fans don't see. Some of TN feel that the hug at the end of Season 7 was the resolution of the triangle, but I disagree. Elizabeth lost her husband suddenly and then, at the end of the season, it appeared that she lost Nathan just as suddenly. If she was projecting her feelings towards Jack on Nathan, it was like Jack had survived the mudslide and come home to her. She was able to give Nathan the embrace she could never give Jack. For those who hate the way S8 ended and felt the Jack line Elizabeth gave was cheap, then consider that the hug was relief. I tweeted at the time that it felt more of a "I'm so glad you're not dead" hug.
I also think it's interesting that people expected Nathan to be endgame or that he was "fighting" for love when 1) he didn't do anything to further his relationship in the offseason when Lucas was literally out of town, and 2) he forgot to bring her Florence's bouquet for a week after the wedding, which also sort of implies that he didn't really see her after the wedding until he came to her house. If he was really "fighting" for her, then wouldn't the little things matter? Big declarations of love are not what make a truly healthy and successful relationship work. It's the little things, the day-to-day interactions that help build a relationship. Meanwhile, Lucas invited her out to picnics, morning rides, and came to see her to help decorate her classroom (even though in that scene she didn't seem to want him there). But it mattered to him to spend time with her whenever he could. And not to harp on Nathan's decision to not tell Elizabeth about his role in Jack's death, but when Allie came to see Lucas, he immediately went to Elizabeth to tell her about it. Likewise, Elizabeth told him about her conversations with Nathan because honesty and communication is clearly important to both of them.
I read a meme recently on Facebook that talked about preferring fictional characters who truly enjoyed each other's company over the overdramatic fictional romances where they would literally die for each other. That's how I wrote the romance in my own novel and that's how I see Elizabeth and Lucas. They truly enjoy spending time together. I feel like Nathan's declarations of love and promise to quit the Mounties is more the overdramatic variety and I wonder how their relationship would progress without such theatrical moments.
Alright, enough about WCTH. Let's talk about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. So, this show is only in its second season, but it has packed quite a few emotional punches in its short time. Last season, we watched the heart-wrenching journey of Zoey saying goodbye to her dad. There was a lot of back and forth about the love triangle between Zoey, Max, and Simon, but I think the main story was about going through grief. In season 2, we see the aftermath of Zoey's loss. She tries to have a relationship with Max, but things are always unequal because of her special powers to hear heart songs. So, they put things on pause and she pursues things with Simon. For the last few episodes, it really felt like she and Max were slowly finding their way back to each other despite being in relationships with other people. Zoey, and the audience, are treated to a similar bombshell as in WCTH when it's revealed that Max gave up his chance at SPRQ Point so that Zoey could work there instead. In the season finale, Zoey finds out this information as well and we see a really poignant scene between her and Max where he explains why he did it.
I appreciate that they had the breakup between her and Simon early on and I really love that it was Simon who initiated it. Zoey hasn't been treating him all that well and her refusal to share her special abilities was always going to hamper the relationship. I also loved that they showed Simon moving on, not only professionally, but just in general. His "I'm Still Standing" rendition was perfect and I think if Hallmark had maybe given TN fans a final scene between Nathan and Allie where it's clear that Nathan is bruised, but not broken, the finale may have gone over better. There's still time for that next season, but it may be too late.
Back to Zoey. For a moment, it looked like she wasn't going to end up with either guy, but then Max shows up in the park and tells her that he and Rose broke up. Then, shocker of shockers! Zoey sings Max a heart song, and unlike in Season 1 where it's a power glitch, it's clear that Max now has the ability too! I really think they did a beautiful job with this episode and ending, but that's not really why I wanted to talk about it.
What really struck me is how, even though the fanbase was divided and there were teams for Max and Simon, all I saw on Twitter was love for the show and requests for a Season 3. There were no calls for boycotting. I didn't really see much in the way of argument from Team Simon (there was disappointment and annoyance, but not to the extent that WCTH had). There is certainly an argument that Zoey's handling of the triangle was better than WCTH, but I actually think it was worse in some ways. Zoey started out with Max, then they paused things and she pursued a relationship with Simon. On the one hand, maybe she needed to get Simon out of her system so she could truly commit to Max, but on the other, it was a bit disconcerting. Still, I think they handled her wavering, and more specifically her grief, very well. I think that's one thing that WCTH fans forget. Sure, it's been a few years since Jack died, but Elizabeth is still grieving. A part of her will always be grieving. My mother died almost 20 years ago and there are moments where it feels like it was yesterday. Grief is a journey, and it's rarely a straight line.
I appreciate that Zoey fans handled the end of the triangle with maturity. I wish I could say the same for WCTH, especially since it's been a week and I'm STILL seeing rude posts from fans. It's a television show. Let it go and move on. The show creator has been attempting to address the backlash, but I think at this point, he should stop poking the bear. Clearly, it's not helping and every time he posts, it just brings the negativity out of the woodwork. I understand he's trying to unite the fan base, but I think they can try to do that when they start filming or when the show actually airs. Give TN fans the time and grace to process what happened and hope that they give the show another chance.
I'm trying to take my own advice and avoid social media, or at least, only communicate with the people who aren't mud-slinging. I'm looking forward to season 9 and what new stories it will bring.
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