Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 8 “Harmony”

***WARNING THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS***

In this episode: Amy helps a vaulting team ahead of a big competition; Caleb struggles with a tough decision about Carson; Logan realizes where his future lies; Lou and Jessica face a stressful gallery opening.

The episode begins with Amy, Katie and Lyndy observing a gorgeous vaulting display from Amy’s new clients, Sophia and her mother Monica, who also works as her lunger. When Sophia suddenly falls off of her horse Verona, Amy rushes over to help. Monica critiques Sophia’s performance and suggests a few tweaks, none of which willl matter if their horse, Verona, keeps changing speed and nearly tossing her. They implore Amy to do whatever it takes to resolve Verona’s issues, as they will be leaving the following week for the biggest competition of their careers in Germany.

Meanwhile at the rodeo school, Caleb is having a heated phone conversation with his ex, Cassandra. He calls her selfish and gets so upset that he punches a wall. He returns to his students, who he has doing drills running laps and doing pushups. Tim remarks that the drills are more his style, not Caleb’s; he usually gives the kids inspirational speeches. Caleb replies that he’s been feeling uninspired lately. Moments later, when a stranger arrives to serve Caleb, he seems to have already seen it coming, and tells Tim that Cass is suing him for custody of Carson.

Tim says that he thought that Cass and Caleb were sharing custody of Carson. Caleb replies that he did as well, until she got a fancy job offer in Kelowna & wants to take Carson with her. He tells Tim about his fears of only getting to see Carson every other weekend & missing “all the big moments.” Tim urges him to talk to her because it might not be a “done deal” yet. Caleb tells him that he’s tried that and all they end up doing is arguing. Tim, citing his own past experiences with his son Shane, passionately tells him to try harder because once the hurt and anger take over, “there’s no coming back from that road.”

And now for an even bigger surprise: Chase is working at Maggie’s Diner! But things don’t appear to be going very well. He has been working there a couple of weeks and is still learning the ropes, thanks to Katie. He asks her how things are going at the ranch, and Katie fills him in on the new vaulting team that Amy has been helping & shows him the video she took on her phone. Chase says that he’s sure that Amy will figure it out. Katie says that it feels weird not helping, but apologizes for speaking out of turn and reminding him of his old job.

In a brief scene, Tim rides over to visit Amy, who is cross-training Verona. He asks her if she’s talked to Caleb lately. He doesn’t give her all of the details, but just tells her that Caleb “could use a good friend right now.”

It’s almost time for the grand opening of Jessica & Lou’s gallery! Jessica thanks Lou for taking the lead and taking care of things while she was away. Lou opens a package that arrived for her: a top-of-the-line espresso machine. Jessica is less enthused, but Lou explains that part of the reason they had funding issues early on was because lenders didn’t believe that the gallery would make a profit, so she figured out the ideal source of secondary income – turn part of the gallery into a café! Jessica is still skeptical, but Lou asserts that every big gallery has a café. They pause the conversation when Jessica gets a call from an artist she’s been trying to secure for the opening.

At home in the kitchen, Lisa finds a can of beef stew with Jack’s picture on it. She asks him when he was going to say something about it and he tells her that it’s not a real can. It is an idea that Fred has been trying to sell him on to boost sales for new products. When Lou exclaims that he’s going to be more famous than the Quaker oatmeal guy, Jack disagrees and calls it a “harebrained idea.” Tim doesn’t like the idea so much either, but says that they can’t say not to Fred. Jack says that he hasn’t said “no” yet, but the idea feels a bit desperate to him.

Lou walks into Katie’s room as she gets ready for the gallery opening and suggests the perfect finishing touch for her outfit: the heart-shaped locket she gave her for her birthday. Katie confesses to Lou that she sold the necklace to buy her new dirt bike. Lou looks hurt but tells Katie that it’s okay that she’s “more into dirt biking than a necklace.”

Outside, Caleb & Carson are out taking Donut for a ride. Amy comes over & compliments Carson on his horsemanship. When he leaves to grab some water for Donut, Caleb tells Amy about Cass’ new job in Kelowna and her plan to take Carson with her. When Amy asks if she can do that, Caleb replies that, according to her fancy lawyer, she can. Caleb complains to Amy that he thinks he’s going to “lose” his son.

Back at Maggie’s, Katie spills to Lisa that she “did something horrible” – she sold the necklace that her mom got her as a birthday gift for cash to buy her dirt bike. After calmly instructing her to breathe, Lisa tells her that her mom wants her to be happy and dirt biking makes her happy. She shares that she was there when Lou picked out Katie’s necklace last year and muses that she wanted it to represent that they had grown closer in their mother-daughter relationship. Katie declares that she’s ruined it. Lisa tells her that she simply did something without thinking, but now she needs to think about how she is going to make it right.

At the ranch, Amy has asked Sophia to come over by herself. She lets her know that she has been cross training Verona – jumping, pole bending, lunging him – and he’s been doing amazing, but she still can’t figure out what would cause him to change speeds during her routine. Sophia takes this to mean that his problems must be all because of her. Amy tells her that she wouldn’t blame her for being a bit nervous: she has a big competition coming up and it’s obvious how much pressure her mother is putting on her. Sophia defends her mom, stating vaulting is competitive and she just wants her to succeed. Amy lets her know that she understands this, and asks her to do the routine with her. Sophia shares that she hasn’t lunged with anyone but her mother, but accepts the challenge.

As they go into their routine, Verona seems much calmer and Sofia much more relaxed. Things seem to be going well. However, Sophia suddenly falls/ jumps off. Amy tells her that Verona was perfect , who why jump off? Sophia claims that she didn’t jump; Verona changed speed, like he did before, and she lost her balance. She rushes off to get cleaned up.

At the rodeo school, Caleb apologizes to Tim for coming back so late – he had a meeting with his lawyer. He’s done trying to reason with Cass – she’s saying that Carson can’t even be with him over winter break because he needs time to settle in. When he says that he’s ready to fight her on it, Tim asks if he really wants to put Carson through that. Caleb says that he has no other choice; he can’t keep driving back and forth to Kelowna. Tim tells Caleb about his own experience fighting for custody of his son Shane, but dropping it when he realized how it was effecting him. He goes on to say that there is a way for Caleb to be in Carson’s life without a court battle. Caleb replies that he has no choice, to which Tim says Carson will be the one stuck in the middle if they end up fighting for custody in court. Tim once again implores Caleb to think about what Carson needs.

Amy goes to visit Logan at Maggie’s Diner. Sophia & Monica’s relatiohship reminds her of her working relationship with Logan: she asks him if her pushing him too hard could have led to his accident with Miley and subsequent quitting. Logan strongly denies it and tells Amy that she’s the farthest thing from a “stage mom” and he just couldn’t bear going through something like that again after seeing what happened to Miley. He asks her about the vaulters. Amy recounts her earlier session with Sophia and has no idea why, when things were going well, Sophia bailed off Verona on purpose. Logan shows Amy a video of them that he found on the internet in which Sophia has a terrible accident. Amy infers that Sophia must be scared it’s going to happen again. Logan disagrees thinks that if she jumped off on purpose, the horse isn’t the problem, but maybe the other member of the vaulting team – Monica, her mother. Amy tells him that he has a pretty good theory & she misses having his perspective around.

Lou surprises Jessica when she returns back to the gallery with a full café already situated in front of the back wall. Jessica tells Lou that the wall is supposed to be for an artist and asks Lou what “gallery” means to her. Lou replies that it’s a community space for displaying the town’s artists and draw tourism to Hudson. Jessica says that for her, it has become more than a place to show her photographs; because of the grant, it has become a gathering place for artists with unique perspectives. She goes on to ask where a café fits into that. Lou gets the message and agrees to get rid of it. She abruptly excuses her self to go home and encourages Jessica to keep following her vision.

When Amy shows Sophia & Monica the video of their last accident, Sophia scoffs and says that falls happen all the time. Amy tells her that she can’t help her if she’s not going to be honest about what’s going on. Sophia offers that she jumped off of Verona because she’s afraid to get hurt again. Amy, not sure if she’s telling the truth, asks if there is anything she wants to tell her mother. Monica interjects and says they’ll have to pull out of the competition. Amy asks her to consider her own role: she has been lunging for Sophia since she was a little kid, but the constant falling/ jumping started happening after her wreck. Maybe her fear own fear of Sophia having another accident is affecting how she lunges Verona. Monica asks Sophia if she’s been lunging differently since the accident. She confirms that she has, but didn’t want to say anything because she couldn’t imagine vaulting without her. Monica replies that she knows to back off if she’s in the way, so it’s time for Sophia to find a new lunger.

Lou goes out for a ride with Jack. She remarks that when she lost the election, she thought she would have more time for moments like this, but got busy with the gallery instead. She says that she’s excited for Jessica & opening the gallery is clearly her dream. Lou says that she feels like an interloper: instead of riding Jessica’s coattails, she should have been using her time to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Jack shares that he understands, and shares that seeing other ranches go under has him wondering what he would do if he didn’t have a ranch. Lou tells him that Heartland Beef isn’t going anywhere because it’s a strong, trusted brand. She goes on to say that canned stew could actually hurt that brand because they wouldn’t be able to control the quality. Jack agrees that it could be damaging. Lou says that she likes Fred, but he can’t be trusted to protect the Heartland Beef brand; the only ones who truly have Heartland’s best interest in mind is their family.

Amy returns to Maggie’s to meet with Caleb, but not before goes over to tell Logan that he was right about Sophia: she faked the fall! She also shares that Monica quit, so she will have to find a new lunger. He tells Amy to keep him posted about what happens with them.

Once she’s seated with Caleb, he asks Amy to be a character reference in his court case for full custody of Carson. Amy agrees, but asks Caleb if he’s sure if that’s what’s best for little Carson. He also needs his mother. Caleb insists that it is, saying that he can’t accept Cass’ plan to only allow Caleb to see Carson every other weekend and a few holidays a year.

At the ranch, Katie returns home from a much needed ride on her dirt bike. She tells Lisa that her ride gave her some time to think, and she wants to buy her necklace back. She called the store that she sold the necklace and they still have it, but they want full price, which is much more than Katie can afford. Lisa offers to buy it, but Katie refuses, saying it doesn’t feel right letting her pay. She could, however, use her help haggling down the price.

While Caleb and Carson enjoy a sweet treat, Caleb asks Carson what he thinks about just living with him instead of going back and forth between two homes. He says that it will just be the two of them — the Odell boys. Upset about possibly not seeing his mother, Carson storms away. It looks like Caleb’s fight to have sole custody won’t be benefiting anyone but himself.

As Lou is putting the finishing touches on her gallery opening ensemble, Katie walks in wearing the necklace the gifted her. When she apologizes for selling it in the first place, Lou tells her that she wasn’t upset about the necklace being sold, she was upset at herself for not being open to the idea of dirt biking. She tells her that she wants to embrace her new interests and pulls out a brand new bike helmet! Katie reveals that she sold her dirt bike to get the necklace back. When Lou asks why, Katie states that she thought Ellie and Brandon wouldn’t want to be her friend unless she had a dirt bike, but as they’ve grown closer, they also just like to hang out as friends. She also shares that she’s realized that dirt biking isn’t her passion, writing is. Lou is impressed that her teenage daughter is so self-aware. Despite being a grown adult, sometimes she feels like she’s still trying to figure out what her passion is.

Now for the big moment! The gallery opening is in full swing and Jessica is beaming. Tim congratulates her and they share a kiss. Just as he asks her if she has spoken to Lou, she appears behind them. He excuses himself so they can talk. Jessica, who is upset with Lou for quitting and leaving her to figure out everything last minute, tells Lou that she is surprised she came. Lou replies that she wanted to support her. As things are getting increasingly tense between them, Lisa interrupts to tell them both that the gallery looks fantastic.

Somewhere else in the gallery, Jack checks out some of Jessica’s photographs. He sees a striking photograph of himself. Lisa comes over and remarks that Jack never told her that she posed for Jessica’s camera. Jack, still visibly stunned by the photo, replies that he didn’t.

Lou goes up to make a speech: She says that she is blown away at how this old furniture store has been transformed into what she believes will be the “artistic centre of Hudson.” She applauds Jessica’s passion and raises a toast to her for making it all happen. After her speech, Lou tells Jessica that she should have said all of her kind words earlier and that her leaving had nothing to do with the café. Jessica tells her that she deserves some of the credit for the gallery’s opening as well. Lou replies that the gallery is her dream and she just came along for the ride. She states that it’s time for her to step away & find something that makes her feel the way that Jessica’s gallery fulfills her. Jessica says that she understands and tells Lou that, if it’s any help, it took her a long time to get where she is. They toast one last time as partners.

Caleb surprises Amy when he shows up at the gallery opening. When Tim comes over, he thanks them both for talking him through his custody woes. He also tells them that they were right that a court battle isn’t something that he wants to put him through. He then announces to them that he will be moving to Kelowna as well. He tries to apologize to Tim for leaving him high and dry with the rodeo school, but Tim dismisses it and tells him not to worry about it. He hugs him and walks back to the rest of the party. Amy asks Caleb when he’s leaving. Caleb tells her that he wants to be there to help pick out Carson’s school, so he’s going to leave the next day. Amy, taken aback that he’s leaving so soon, emotionally tells him that she is going to miss him. Caleb apologizes for bringing down the mood and excuses himself from the party. Amy follows him outside and asks him if it’s “really goodbye.” Caleb tells her no, she’s her best friend and that’s never going to change. They promise to never lose touch and hug. Caleb tells Amy that he loves her.

The next day, Sophia & Monica are prepare to leave Heartland. Lyndy tells Sophia that she loves the tricks that she does. Sophia offers to teach her if she ever wants to do learn vaulting, but Lyndy cutely declines, declaring that she’s destined for big rodeo fame as a barrel racer. Sophia encourages her to never stop believing in herself because one day she’s going to be the best barrel racer on the circuit.

Sophia’s mom asks her if she always wanted to be a vaulter or if she pushed her to do it. Sophia replies that vaulting was always her dream, but of course she would be influenced by her mom. Monica admits that Sophia’s accident and the possibility of having another one is all that she can think about when she’s lunging. It’s no wonder that Verona has been affected. Sophia says that she’s never felt pushed, just supported; there’s nothing else she’d rather be doing than do vaulting with her mom. They hug & Amy cuts in to say that Sophia doesn’t need a new lunger. Monica promises that she just needs to stop worrying so much. Seeing that they’re resolved their issues, Amy invites them to do their routine one last time.

In the kitchen, Lou has a meeting with Tim and Jack. She states to them that she’d been figuring out what to do with her life since she lost the election, but since her ride with Jack she realized that she didn’t need to look so far outside herself. What she’s most passionate about is her family and the cattle business is a big part of that. She has decided that she wants to be in the business of ranching in a way that uses her skills. She goes on to tell them that heartland needs someone to look out for their best interest the same way that Pryce Beef does. Impressed, Tim and Jack welcome her to the team.

Logan stops by the ranch to show off his new truck. Amy invites him to watch Monica & Sophia’s routine since he was the one who helped her figure out their issues with Verona. He agrees, but not before he can apologize to her — Amy put her faith in him and the second things got tough, he ran away. He admits that helping her figure out the vaulters’ issues was the most joy he’s felt since he quit working with Amy. He tells her that he wants to come back, and now that he believes in himself, he knows that working with horses is what he’s meant to be doing. Amy welcomes him back.

This was such an inspirational episode! In the comments, let us know how do you found your life’s purpose. What is your advice to someone searching for what they are meant to do in life?

Are you all caught up on Season 17? If not, be sure to check out these other recap posts:

• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 1 “The Path Less Traveled”
• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 2 “Taking the Reins”
• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 3 “The Heart Wants”
• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 4 “A Piece Apart”
• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 5 “How to Say Goodbye”
• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 6: “Heat of the Moment”
• Heartland Catch UP: Season 17 Episode 7 “Unknown Caller”

Zoie Taylor is the Streaming Coordinator for UP Faith & Family. She loves all things TV & Film. Her top 3 titles on UPFF are Heartland, Wildfire, and The Engagement Plot. Her favorite Heartland characters are Lisa and Jessica.