I am nearly through with a rewatch of WCTH with my kiddo. It was the first time since returning to the series in the summer of 2023, before season 10, that I went back and watched from the beginning - which is interesting because my thoughts about the show and my feelings about characters have changed a lot since then.
A trusted WCTH friend asked me when I finished S5, what I thought about those seasons now, knowing all we know through season 11. And my answer will likely ruffle a lot of feathers.
I said, my one takeaway from watching seasons 1-5 again, is that this show is as Ms. Oke said, one about a Teacher and a Mountie.
But that Mountie is, and forever will be, Jack Thornton.
*insert flames, tomatoes, swords drawn, whatever*
I know. How beautiful is it to have Nathan and Elizabeth together, seemingly restoring that vision? I couldn't ask for more when it comes to the moments we've had between them. It's been a beautiful story.
But the fact remains that the heart of this show is rooted in Elizabeth's love for Jack Thornton, and her being with another Mountie isn't going to change that.
Why is this going to ruffle feathers? Well, I've already seen NUMEROUS comments indicating that there was too much Jack in episode 1 of season 12, even some DMs to me, which, hi, do you follow me? There will never ever ever be enough Jack on this show for me. Nathan fans do not look kindly on mentions of Jack, and with fairly good reason the way his legacy was weaponized in season 8. But we wanted depth, right? We wanted Elizabeth in a relationship with deep conversations, stakes, challenges - well everyone, this is their deepest story. And it's the deepest story WCTH has tackled, because in the end, there is no easy way out. Someone hurts. I'll talk about that later.
But I want to talk about why I think this first, before talking about episode 12.1. Because it's important.
When they wrote Jack off the show, they knew they had to continue Jack's legacy, otherwise, what was the point of the previous five seasons, so they wrote Elizabeth pregnant with his son and namesake. And for season 6, that was where the writers could deliberately insert mentions of Jack's memory and it fit the story.
However, an interesting moment happens at the beginning of season 7 that shifts where this memory is going to live on the show. And that's when Elizabeth gives Lucas the copy of her short stories and he criticizes them for not been deep enough. Sure, she wanted him to be honest, but of course, telling her that "good writing comes from the heart," as if her short stories inspired by her life and Jack's didn't come from the heart, went over like a brick and she would never mention Jack to Lucas on screen until the Ft. Clay storyline (which was more about Nathan anyways). With a little help from Nathan, she realizes she can reset her writing focus to her son and being a single mother, while protecting Jack's memory by leaving those stories alone.
And from that point on, Jack is never a part of her relationship with Lucas.
Of course at the end of season 7 and the start of season 8, we see Elizabeth grapple with the fear of loving another Mountie (which knowing what we know now, was more about the depth of her feelings for Nathan and less about the Serge). And we get the Ft. Clay storyline. Erin Krakow and Kevin McGarry fought to have this storyline included, and it shadowed the end of season 8 heavily. It made Elizabeth's choice at the end of season 8 to feel anticlimactic, because why introduce such a heavy storyline between two characters who aren't going anywhere.
But the majority of my theory is actually focused on season 9. The sunshine and rainbows season for Elizabeth and Lucas (with a minor issue of him being put in jail that barely puts a damper on anyone's day).
Jack Thornton is mentioned one. single. time. in season 9.
Once. To Nathan after the race. And a good memory, one that is rather unconnected to his memory as a Mountie - a connection held in place for all conversations Elizabeth and Nathan had about Jack up until that point.
And it's not just that Jack isn't mentioned to either man in Elizabeth's life. He is mentioned once. Period. Nothing to any other character, no mention in her journal.
Once.
And that season, in my opinion of course, is where the heart fell out of the show. You have Elizabeth embarking on this brand new relationship, and yet there is no mention of her widowhood, except the existence of Little Jack. Elizabeth took off her rings in season 8 and promptly forgot Jack Thornton.
Or so it seemed.
The glaring change in season 10 that I noticed while watching live (remember, I binged 6-9 before 10 started to catch myself up after leaving when Jack died) was the sudden reappearance of Jack Thornton in the story. Little Jack asking about his daddy. Elizabeth giving him the Mountie hat, visiting his grave. And to me, the red flag that signaled maybe not all was as it should be, Elizabeth admitting that she had avoided talking about Jack with Lucas for all those years.
I wrote this in a fic, and I'm writing it here. Jack Thornton was the best part of Elizabeth's life up until this point. Lucas never knew the best of her. How can you marry someone and not know the best of them?
Season 11 continues the Jack thread, a little less in your face, but definitely there with Tom Thornton coming to town and Little Jack learning to ride. And those stories? They are enhanced with the knowledge that Nathan is living with this guilt and now that guilt is resurfacing because there is potential for him to be with Elizabeth. Tom Thornton comes to town and Elizabeth is with Lucas? Who cares? But with Nathan? You have a whole host of conversations about shadows and legacy and all that goes along with it.
And the season ends on a Jack Thornton cliffhanger, just as these two have confessed their love.
I had planned to write this last week, before the premiere, but I ended up really sick. That being said, I'm really glad I didn't because Episode 12 was the epitome of this theory for me.
There was so much Jack in this episode, and of course as a Jack fan, I loved it. But some people feel it was too much, too much sad Nathan, too much time spent on a dead guy's legend.
But that's the point. You're supposed to feel overwhelmed by it all, because that's what Nathan feels in this moment. He's insanely happy to finally be with Elizabeth, but in the literal week after kissing her for the first time, he's bombarded with Jack's legacy from what feels like every direction.
This is what Nathan's life is going to be for the rest of his life.
Sure, it will get easier, and then harder when he has to tell Little Jack, and then easier likely. But that deep-seated guilt running through him? That's never going away, no matter what Elizabeth tells him to do. That's what the moment at the end of the episode when Elizabeth says that she wants to keep Jack real for Little Jack and her was about - she doesn't want to have to hide Jack away. She did that before with Lucas. She doesn't want to do it again, especially now that her boy is older. But she also knows it's not easy for Nathan to hear about Jack all the time - it hurts him, deeply.
Her sigh when he said he would never want Jack to forget who his father was? That's what that is about. She's relieved she doesn't have to hide Jack away. Nathan will protect Jack's legacy, which is what he came to Hope Valley to do in the first place.
And then he hands her a box to literally protect a part of Jack's legacy, with no thought as to his feelings at all.
Believe me, I'm here for Nathan and Elizabeth blissful and romantic and steamy/spicy/ritzy whatever we get this season. But the one criticism I've always had with WCTH is that the writing is very surface level. This story is deep, and hurts. I was emotionally broken after watching it the first time. Elizabeth Stewart wrote a masterful episode that I think really hit home the point I'm making here.
WCTH is about Elizabeth Thatcher, a heiress that goes out west to teach and along the way falls in love with Mountie, Jack Thornton. It's a story about a Teacher and a Mountie...
And when that Mountie dies? It's about her love for that Mountie and all the ways his legacy impacts her life moving forward, even when she finds love again in red serge.
