When Calls the Heart - S12E10 - Through the Valley (2025) ft. Jacklyn Collier

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Bran and I love When Calls the Heart. Hi, I'm Jax and I like When Calls the Heart. I'm Dan and are we sure it's not a 10 episode season? Because it should be. This is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Deck The Hallmark, it's this podcast. Friends host this podcast. We hope you like this jolly podcast. Hi everybody, welcome. Oh boy. It's serious this week. No place we'd rather be.

[00:00:37] You might notice a change in the atmosphere today. Fingers crossed. I can be wrong, but I get the feeling next week's episode is going to be really serious. And that's going to make for difficult podcasting. At least in this episode. I mean, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe next episode I'm wrong and this is fixed really quick and it's a happy-go-lucky fun time episode 11. But this episode isn't serious to the very end.

[00:01:05] Yes, but we'll get to it everybody. Tragedy strikes a battle. For those of you that didn't watch it and are just listening, we'll get to it. We'll get to it. Jax, hello. Welcome to the show. Hi, I'm hoping you get to talk to Baby Jack today. We'll see. Oh yeah. We'll see. I mean, I put in the request. What a performance.

[00:01:21] I put in the request and, you know, he's not always willing to come on. So. I understand that. He's got a lot in his place. He's got a lot right now and he's method too. So he's been doing a lot right now. I, uh, I also, you know, it's, it's March, right? You know, we're, we're getting ready for March madness. Yes. We're getting ready. Jax is as well. She loves the madness. We're getting ready for, for baseball. We're getting ready for spring. I'm sure. Uh, in Manhattan, Jax, you're ready for there to be warmer temperatures.

[00:01:49] How excited were you about a harvest festival this week? Oh, you guys. That's like a harvest festival that focuses on hazelnuts. I was like, you know, work with what you're given, I guess. Like good for you. Hope Valley. But I will say that even as someone who loves this, like hallmark world, this is always my least favorite thing is like a festival thing.

[00:02:11] Not to sound like a, I just don't, I'm not a Christmas event. Fine. But like, I don't know. You don't love a fall harvest? I love this from Jacqueline Collier right now. This is so exciting. It's okay. Jax, as somebody who was on the Hallmark channel as a leaf peeper. That's right. You are. Guiding people throughout the town, fall festivals galore. You're over there poo-pooing on the festivals.

[00:02:39] I mean, if they're going to pay me to leaf peep, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I got to be honest. You brought that up. I forgot that you were in, it was at Love Fallen Order, I believe with Aaron Cahill, Trevor Donovan. Yeah, which has now changed to the title on IMDb as something like, like ridiculous, like about lunch or something. Oh, it's ridiculous. I'll look at that.

[00:02:59] Unlike Love Fallen Order. And you and Shaw are in there as leaf peepers and as comedic relief. And I got to be honest, ahead of its time, what you guys did in that movie, I think would have really crushed in like 2023 Hallmark or 20, you know what I mean?

[00:03:18] Like, I think if you would have done that. Sony baloney. You know what I mean?

[00:03:48] I would have loved to have been like a runner in all the different movies. Like, oh, throw these two, you know. Oh, yeah. It would have been a fun bit. You know they could have done that? And that's something that you guys could have easily done in New Hallmark. Also, you know what they could have done? They could have done where there was like a rivalry between us and you guys. Oh, yeah. In a movie. Oh, that'd be great. People would have beaten that up. Like, that would have been really funny. Would have been really funny. I mean, the ship has sailed on that, I think. But that's unfortunate because I think that would have been. But like at that time, that was a weird time.

[00:04:17] We were on Home and Family that year, the year that you guys were on. You guys were on Home and Family that year. Like, fully on Home and Family. You were in a Hallmark movie and we were on Home and Family with Cam Matheson just on the lot over there just in our Hallmark sweaters. It was a weird time. It was a weird time. But it was an opportunity missed, I think. They were trying to figure out what to do with all of us and then they just decided, I guess we'll let them do their own thing over there. Yeah. Enough time has passed. So I'll share the story.

[00:04:47] I emailed the people at Home and Family. I was like, hey, we'd love to come on Home and Family at some point. I don't know if it would make sense. And they're like, no, it doesn't make sense. And so I just went to the top and I said, hey, Bill. He literally emailed Bill Abbott and was like, what are you guys? Hey, Bill, I think they're saying no to Home and Family. What do you got to say about that? And so the CEO of the network said, oh, no, sir. And he went and he made us go on Home and Family.

[00:05:16] He grouped, emailed us in with the email to the Home and Family people. Like, it's like when your mom says no or probably, you know, yeah. And then you go to the other parents and you're like, hey. In retrospect, I can't believe they didn't hate us. They were the, it was still, still to this day, the best. And we've been on some great sets of shows like that. And like the people at Good Morning America, the people at Kelly Clarkson amazing.

[00:05:42] But the nicest, most intentional set we've been on was Home and Family. And that was after we basically went over their heads. Now that you say that. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think it, and like, I have no way of knowing this for sure, but just with like my armchair psychology of knowing some of them and how it works. They are so sweet. And they were probably like, oh, Bill would hate this. And then when Bill said do it, they were like, cool. You know what I mean? They were probably like, oh, okay, great. And I love that you went to Bill.

[00:06:10] Guys, honestly, if Bill was still there, you know, all of us would be like just doing what we wanted. Whatever we wanted. But the network would be worse for it. We would be doing whatever we wanted and it would be better for us. It would be worse for everyone else though. That's right. So it's fine. It all is as it should be. I can't disagree with that. It all is as it should be. Yeah. I'm still seeing Love Fallen Order on IMDb. So I don't know what you said. Oh, really? Once they changed this to something. Jack's is lunch is what I'm saying.

[00:06:38] It's called Jack's goes to lunch. What's that? They changed it briefly. Okay. We interviewed Erin Cahill last year. We talked about the name change with her. Oh, that sounds familiar. So did they just get it fixed? I think it was just like a Canada or a different country release. I don't even see it on the alternate titles anymore. So they must have really hated it. It was something about lunch. It was something about lunch. It was something about lunch. Thank you, Erin, for backing me up. Sometimes you got to go eat lunch. That's the name of the movie. Let's talk When Calls the Heart, season 12, episode 10. It's called?

[00:07:08] Jack. It's called? No, it's not that. Try better next time. It's called? Jacks, what do you think? What do I think this one is called? It beats me. Oh, no. It's Through the Valley. Through the Valley. Oh, I see what they're doing. There we go. You see what they did? It originally aired on March 9th, 2025. I went a little something like this.

[00:07:34] We've got some class project presentations going on. And Baby Jack is sleeping through class. Oh, buddy. So he's probably dying. She lets him loose outside. Uh-oh. Nathan comes by for lunch and tells her that he has been promoted to head constable. Oh. Something we knew that he wasn't and now know that he is. Edie comes to talk to Lucas.

[00:08:02] Lucas, he's being sued for his executive order and she's trying to get out from underneath the thumb of McGinty. Bill is... Peaches. Oh, peaches. Bill is surprised to see his old pal Georgie is back in town. But he's not upset about it. I'll tell you that much. Elizabeth is helping student Emily come up with an idea for her project. She doesn't have any ideas. She just kind of likes being in the nut business.

[00:08:30] So they go over to Gowan and she's like, can you think of any projects that she could maybe do based on her love of the hazelnut business? And Gowan's like, Emily's brilliant. She figured out something to do with sawdust. So maybe you could do something with sawdust. So good project idea after all. Frickham and May decide that they're going to throw a harvest festival. As May's family used to do every year.

[00:08:59] Nathan and Lucas go to talk to McGinty after his little dirty contract that's screwing Farmer and Edie out of their land. McGinty is like, first of all, I'd like a restraining order against you, Governor. And Edie, I'd also like a restraining order there. Also, I'd like, Constable Grant, I'd like for your daughter to pay a $25 trespassing fee. So this makes Nathan very mad.

[00:09:26] When he goes to talk to Allie about it, she breaks down and she's like, I'll pay them. Emily finds out that she missed the deadline to apply for college. So her future is in jeopardy. Bill and Georgie go to question the dumb Garrison guy that got arrested, who gives him some valuable information. All of which Dan will tell you about now. I wasn't listening. Yeah. I was talking about the rest of the day.

[00:09:56] Oh, really? Yeah, I had my calendar wrap up. Oh, I was talking about the valuable information that they got from the Garrison guy in the jail. Also, wasn't listening. Allie goes to ask Elizabeth if she can change her. He just had the map. His brother's the one who was the criminal. She doesn't want to study the salmon anymore because of the trespassing situation. And she's like, we're not going to let them get away with this so easily.

[00:10:23] Mr. McGinty is doing something wrong and he shouldn't get away with it. When they go to talk to Nathan, Oliver is like, I figured out how to get him. He's been using trees that only grow on Lee's land. So he's also been trespassing. So they bring this to McGinty and they tell him that unless he forgives all of the debts and the trespassing, Lee is going to press charges on him. Really forcing his hand there.

[00:10:52] Georgie goes to thank Rosemary for her help in the Garrison case, which makes her very happy. Georgie then tells Bill that she's leaving and he kisses her. Oh, my gosh. The next day, baby Jacko's missing. What? Nathan finds him unconscious in the woods. They bring him to Dr. Faith and he's back. He actually woke up and he's good. But they do some tests because they find out that he's been falling asleep in class and that he's always hungry.

[00:11:22] Faith gets the results back and the worst fear is confirmed. She goes to tell Elizabeth that baby Jack has the diabetes and Elizabeth is shocked. There is no cure for the diabetes. And that, my friends, was When Calls to Heart Season 12 Episode 10 Through the Valley. We did it. Oh, that's still good. I'm glad you gave diabetes the respect it deserves. The diabetes. Was the diabetes.

[00:11:52] Let's take a quick break. We'll come back and we'll break this episode down here on Deck the Hallmark. Welcome back, everybody. We're talking about When Calls to Heart Season 12 Episode 10 Through the Valley. Some serious stuff happened at the end of this episode. So we got to talk about that. Of course, we're going to break this episode down. We're going to share our thoughts with the hot take. Jack's Episode 10. What did you think?

[00:12:25] Um, yeah. So before I dive into it, Dan, I just want to say, Brian, first of all, I'm sorry for the lack of respect that Dan and I had while you're working your tail off saying this summary. Because, Dan, I was also going through my planner for the week. And I was like, are we both going through our down the chart right now? I mean, there are times in Deck the Hallmark when I am very locked into the synopsis because, one, I'm interested to see how he says certain things. And also sometimes I'm here for a bit.

[00:12:53] But I could, this is part of the hot take, but I just couldn't be over this episode more. So go ahead. It's so funny. I've never, I've actually never done that before. That's why the fact that you were doing it and I was fully in my paper planner. But, Brian, it's not a reflection on you. I'm used to being the only one that works around here. No one wants to work anymore. It's not a reflection on you. It is, however, a reflection on this episode. Let me start with the good. Melissa Gilbert is back, baby. Yeah. The kiss. I love it.

[00:13:23] She's awesome. We're still doing project-based learning. Yeah. That is what that is. I was a little bit confused and intrigued how this McGinty man can actually file a restraining order. Like, what's going on there? Um, the togetherness meal of it all with Mike and May is a cute and adorable, but I can't get out of my head what I think what Dan said last week, or maybe it was you, Brian, or just the general consensus.

[00:13:53] Like, Hickam can be quirky, but why, like, we're making a buffoon out of him and why are we doing that? Like, they're both very attractive, capable people. And now we're just kind of, you know, we're not, we're not, they're not living up to their full potential. Uh, torts or tarts. You know what I'm saying? Oh. Yep. And, um, you know, it, it, Ollie coming in to save the day, that was exciting.

[00:14:21] Um, but yeah, this, it was, this one, this, look, you guys, there were some episodes this season that have really excited me. Genuinely, I love the play. I, I love, um. The 20s and the dancing in the town there. That was a good episode. Oh, it was such a good episode. Yes. I love a role play. Like, I don't really, I care less if a lot's happening more. Just like are the, the characters interacting and having fun? Sure.

[00:14:48] But this one felt a little bit like a slump for me. And then, and then at the end, like, of course I'm worried about little Jack. Um, I mean, we'll get to some of this in the, in the wait, what, but it just, this one was a little bit of a swing and a miss for me. It didn't do a lot. I do a feeling though, that, I mean, it's setting us up for an episode 11 that I'm intrigued

[00:15:13] to watch because, you know, this is going to be really difficult, but interesting to see how this community deals with this. And I love Erin Craiko and she's going to get to really like flex her acting chops. Um, listen, agree to disagree, Jack. This episode was in fuego. Uh, lots of big stuff. What's happening in this episode? Melissa Gilbert is back, baby. It's back, baby. Which we love to see. And Bill kisses her.

[00:15:43] Have we ever seen Bill kiss anybody before? Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure we have. Um, in, in private or on. Uh, I, I, I was alluding to the screen, but now I'm interested in somebody who's like an outlaw coming to town who he's an actor. He's in a bunch of other movies with. I'm pretty sure he kissed her in this show. Jody Bissette. Yeah. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure he kisses Jody Bissette in this show. Yeah. He kisses Jody Bissette a lot. Go ahead, Bram. I just said. It lives rent free in my head. Sure. I bet it does. Uh, Harvest Festival.

[00:16:12] Who doesn't love a Harvest Festival? I can't wait for, uh, next week's Christmas episode. You should be embarrassed of yourself. It's going to smash. Um, and listen, we get, we get a lot of hazelnut. You know, we were wondering what happened with the hazelnut business is actually thriving and we got to see a little bit of Gowan, which is always good. Uh, and baby Jack, uh, what a performance, uh, what a Marvel, what a plot development that we have here that is almost timely and we love to see it.

[00:16:42] Uh, what an episode, what an episode of television. I can't wait to see what happens next. Dan, if you think anything that I say is mean, that is meaner than what I'm, whatever I do. I'm just letting you know right now on the, on the mean scale. Don't get mad at me. Uh, this episode sucks. Um, if you thought that there was an overarching plot to this season of wind calls the heart,

[00:17:06] this episode would prove you completely wrong because I can tell you we've done this, this, this, this Jack thing is not a new thing. I think it was Lee that was unconscious. I don't remember why maybe he fell under some lumber. I don't know. But like we've had people in the hospital and they become conscious and fine again within an episode. Every time this is happening so that next episode people can give a dramatic turn.

[00:17:34] And then the following episode, everyone, everything will be back to normal and a Nathan can propose to Elizabeth. This season had nothing. It gave us nothing. Salmon McGinty, uh, uh, a cold case roaring. There was no through line hazelnuts. There's no through line here.

[00:17:56] And it's going to be Jack gets better, even though diabetes in 1921 was almost like assuredly a death nail. And if you got the experimental treatment, which wasn't death nail, no, it isn't is which wasn't given to, to a human being until 1922. So they have to wait a year. Even if you got that insulin, it would have been an everyday injection and it would have extended microphones gone. It's back. Would have extended your life, but it, but it, it was almost certainly going to,

[00:18:26] like baby Jack's never going to be like in 1921. This is not nearly the, everything's fine that they're going to make it next episode. I'm positive of it. Then this episode is such a nothing burger aside from the kiss with Bill Avery at harvest festival. What I didn't even know was fall time in, in hope Valley. Did anybody know it was fall time and hope that like guys, this is terrible television.

[00:18:54] And next week I'm, I'm pre mad about next week being so overdramatic. And then Jack being smiling at the end of this episode, like diabetes is a nothing burger guys in the year of our Lord, 2025 type one diabetes is serious and needs to be monitored regularly by people. This is over a hundred years ago at the end of next episode. He's going to smile and joke around. I know it. I just know he is. And I'm, I'm pre mad about it.

[00:19:23] This is please Nathan proposed wedding next year. Season 13 is the end of it. It's gotta be, gotta be. Wait until he finds out about Ozempic. Baby Jack is going to look better than ever. Uh, let's, let's get to all the feels is where we talk about, uh, what in this, uh, episode gave us feels Jax. Oh, we're doing feels next. I was so deep in the way. I was so deep in the way once that, um, um, okay.

[00:19:52] My, I think I, I did, I did a feels when, um, Bill and Melissa kissed. I was like, yes, absolutely. Give it to me. I want to see more. Okay. I'll leave it there. Um, and then I also had concerned feels and let, let me tell you what this was. I know absolutely unequivocally without a doubt that Kevin McGarry as Nathan was instructed

[00:20:18] to carry baby Jack like that with his head back, just like looking like, right. Just head dangling. Head dangling. Cause I know that's a, that's a very dramatic reveal. Um, I hated seeing it. I hate that you would carry a child like that. I would not carry a child that I found unconscious like that. It was upsetting. This is the biggest wait, what? And we can, I love that we're doing this right now because you brought it up in your fields, but it was so upsetting to me. It was disturbing.

[00:20:47] Uh, he brings Jack out head dangling, like, like a tether ball. And he says he's still breathing. Not for long, Nathan, not with the windpipe at that angle. He's not. I don't know what the, right. You, you need to support that baby's head. Guys. What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing? Guys, I'll, uh, I'll chime in now if you don't mind. Who thought that was, thank you baby Jack.

[00:21:17] Who thought that was directorially a good idea? I did. You did. It was my note. So baby Jack, Kevin McGarry is going to carry you. And if, if a child is breathing, you would clearly support literally from the time a child is born. You're told to support their head. That's right. This child is unconscious, but breathing. And you're going to let who you decided to make their neck go at a 90 degree angle while they're unconscious. I did. And let me talk this through really quickly. A lot of actors, they say like, give me from my good side, right?

[00:21:47] Dan, you don't know what that's like. I don't have a good side. That's right. My good side, and I know this is going to be weird, but my good side is my head dangling. I look amazing when my head dangles. So I said, this is my moment to shine. My dangle head's going to be awesome. So I said, Hey Kevin, if you could do me a solid bro, one bro to another bro, let my head dangle as if it's going to fall off at any moment. I'm going to shine. I'm going to shine.

[00:22:16] And you know what? Stand by it. I looked great. There's a lot to unpack there, baby Jack, and I'm not sure how much we can say, but I have to ask this one question. It may have to be edited out. How did you figure out that your best angle was head dangling? I can't get into that, but I'll say this. You know what? I can't get into it. When I auditioned for the Meg, you remember the Meg movie? The Meg? Yeah. With the shark movie? Yeah. Remember when the shark was killing people? I do. Yes. Okay.

[00:22:46] So I auditioned for- How old were you when the Meg came out? That was seven years ago. Yeah, I was 27. Okay. Got it. So I auditioned for dead person number four, I believe. Kid or person? Kid. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. And so what they made you do is they tied your feet up over there. And then they just kind of lit. So I got to see the tape from auditioning for that movie. And you determined that your best side was head dangling.

[00:23:15] Not just me. Everybody in that room. They said he's not right for the job. Stop. Okay. And so you thought- But you got a great dangle head. So you thought playing a child in Hope Valley- Why didn't you get the part, dude? That the Mountie, this is different, Child in Hope Valley, you did get that part. The Mountie would not know how to support your head in this scene? Yeah. Okay. Great. Baby Jack, can I ask one more follow-up? Hi, Jack. Love you. Would love that. I love you so much. I'm so glad you're here.

[00:23:44] I asked Bran if you were going to be here. First of all, I want to let you know that you did a great job and this is no reflection on you. I'm just curious. Oh, I know, girl. I know. Confident, too. Did the director have you do any other takes where your head wasn't dangling? No, I actually directed this one. You did? Yeah. Okay. It's all making sense. So in the edit, the team didn't have anybody else under the bus. He's just throwing himself. I directed this episode. It's crazy, man.

[00:24:11] Okay, so in the edit, the team didn't have any other options other than this one. I wouldn't give it to him. No, sir. I will say this. That makes this the only way this makes sense. Jax, I appreciate you bringing this up in your feels because I had other weight once and I knew I was going to end up camping out on the fact that the Mountie of Hope Valley is basically constricting the windpipe of a child unconscious. And I'm thrilled that you got to it in your feels so that we could go ahead and unpack

[00:24:41] it and give it the time that it deserves. We really needed to because I felt so deeply and so much and was so much like, wait, what's happening here? And even, look, obviously he's fine, but even as someone who works with kids, I was like, wait, even filming this, this looks like it probably didn't feel great. No. There were just so many things that I was unpacking. Like, it didn't make sense story-wise and it didn't make sense. Jax, au contraire.

[00:25:10] It felt awesome because I knew I was putting on a show for the people. Okay. Aw. That means, you know, Baby Jack, you did a good job. I'm going to ignore Baby Jack entirely. The only way this makes sense, Jax, is that if we're supposed to believe that Nathan is carrying him this way because he's dead. Exactly. So what they do is, is they show him walking out of the field, cornfield or whatever it is.

[00:25:37] It's just, he walks out and Baby Jack's body is just lifeless. And if they don't say anything there, if they don't say he's still breathing, right? If they don't say something and they cut away or roll the credits, then I guess it works. But as soon as Nathan goes, he's still breathing, you're like, are you trying to stop this? Well, yeah. And then it comes to the next scene and Jack is sitting up in his little bed just playing with the cars.

[00:26:07] Like, he's fine. He couldn't be better. Well, and honestly, to your point, Dan, you're exactly right. But the thing that's even upsetting beyond that is because that's like for drama's sake, even if a child, and I don't want to go too far into the weeds with this, but like my brain, the things I think about, the things I read. I'm sure you guys have thought about this stuff too. But even if I was cradling a child who had passed away, I would cradle them.

[00:26:31] There's no way I would hold them like this. It was so upsetting. It is. That is the performance. And this is, I love Kevin McGarry. I want to be clear. But what happens in this scene is the performance given in a very dark, R-rated, like Mystic River type movie. Absolutely. Where a police officer who is like removed from the emotion of the crime carries a body out of water. Then you're exactly right.

[00:27:01] That is what this looks like. It's like the police officer doesn't personally know this child, but knows that it's someone's baby and is defeated and is just getting the body out. That's what it, and it, it's brutal. It's a brutal watch to the end of a Wind Calls the Heart episode. Absolutely brutal. That's my feels too, Brandon. Did you have anything to lift your spirit to? I did, yeah. I learned about sawdust this week.

[00:27:26] I learned about sawdust that you can use it and it will help trees and stuff in the winter or whatever. But then when, who was it? Elizabeth said you found out a way not to pollute sawdust. We went on a lower rabbit trail. We learned about what can happen if you burn sawdust. Do you hear everyone in greater South Carolina and North Carolina right now? That's right. If you want to start fires to burn things, now is not the time to do that.

[00:27:54] Really never is, but now especially. It's not good. It's not good. So I learned that this week, and it's important to never stop learning. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back. We're going to get to the Wait What here on Deck the Hallmark. Welcome back, everybody. We're talking about Wind Calls the Heart Season 12, Episode 10. Let's get to the Wait What is where we talk about what in this episode made us go away what.

[00:28:23] And you might be wondering, didn't you guys just do that? We did, in a sense. But now we're going to do it some more. Sometimes Wait What is all the feels, you know what I mean? Jax, what you waiting on what you what? Okay, a couple things. Mike and May, are they never alone that he has had no time to give her this gift? No kidding. Yeah, but it felt bizarre. Robert's hair. I'll leave that one there.

[00:28:45] Before you move forward anymore, were you the one that said when Hickam and Maysu got back from the honeymoon, your initial thought was they had not consummated the marriage? Did you say that? Yes, and there were other opinions out there that they actually had and it wasn't good. And I enjoyed those opinions. I think that your theory still holds true. If you watch them in these scenes, it is two people that seem to be terrified to be alone with each other. Yes, yes.

[00:29:15] And even when they weren't staying with each other in the beginning, she's like, I'll go back to my apartment. Yeah, yeah. It's like, maybe we have it. We should throw a fall festival. It's a harvest fest. If we put all of our time and energy into that, we can't do it. Hickam Easter's in two weeks. It's a harvest festival. Don't make me be alone with this woman. I don't want to touch her. Fall fest. Yeah, Robert's hair was a treat.

[00:29:45] Jax, what else you got? Robert's hair was a treat. Emily forgetting to apply to college was kind of confusing because it was like, that's not something that I think Elizabeth or anyone else would let her forget. I didn't realize that Bill calls Jack Jackaroo. That was a delight. Jackaroo! Jackaroo! Yeah. Jackaroo! I feel like it's been a season or two since he's done it. Yeah, I want to say it was one of my wait wets a couple seasons ago. Yeah. Jackaroo!

[00:30:15] It was adorable. And then finally, it wasn't on my bingo card, but I did enjoy, but I did just go wait what for a second. When Joseph mentions both Diwali and Oktoberfest in his fall harvest speech, I was like, yes, go off. Talk about a wait what? Like, why not? Fall harvest. Yeah. I got a few.

[00:30:36] One, how are we 12 seasons deep into the show and just now meeting McGinty, who seems to just own so much of the surrounding land of Hope Valley and is quite the player. Yeah. Like, he has a lot. We met the Garrison gang a hundred times and we've not met McGinty. He has so much power, but we're 12 seasons deep and we're just meeting him. I love him. Don't hear what I'm not saying.

[00:31:05] But you would think that we would have met him already, right? You would think. You know, with like hot springs going up. No problem there. I got a kick out of, you know, Allie and Elizabeth go to talk to Nathan and about the whole like restraining order and we should fight against it or whatever. But we don't have a plan. What are we going to do? And Oliver comes out of the jail cell where he was sweeping and does like this grand reveal that he's been there the whole time. He's like, it is me, Oliver.

[00:31:35] And I have a plan. Was he waiting back there? What happened? He's just no one knew he was there. And then he just comes on out. And I got a big kick out of that. Speaking of the jail cell, we get a scene earlier in this episode where Bill and Georgie, they go and talk to the garrison and he is behind bars and they're questioning him and all that good stuff.

[00:32:01] But then we get another scene in this scene that I was just talking about with Oliver coming out of the jail cell and being like, here I am. And garrison is nowhere to be found. Is there another jail in this town where he would be like, is there like a one off, like another building, like solitary confinement? Like where? It's the annex. Where is garrison? Jax, do you have any idea where he would be if not in the jail? No. No. Yeah. Is there solitary?

[00:32:31] I don't know. Aaron, do you know? Aaron, do you know? Aaron would probably know. Aaron is like, why are you asking me this question? As someone who hasn't seen Hope Valley since season like 10. Yeah, but you got a good feel for it. Is there? I mean, there must be because now Nathan got promoted. So the people who he got promoted over, what jails are they running? Yeah. So what are we using the mines for? Are they still around? The mines? Yeah. Back to the mines. The springs, the hot springs?

[00:33:01] I don't know. There's places. Yeah. And that's where he is. I did get a kick out of the fact that we find out that they are, May and Frankum are going to go on a trip. And the trip they're going to go on is all the way to Niagara Falls. That is a journey. Guys, they act like trains. You couldn't hop on a delta in 1921. That's a whole thing. They're going to be gone for a long time.

[00:33:30] But you got to do it. So there you go. And last but not least, Jackaroo. Jackaroo. Dan? You mentioned it in your synopsis, Brandon, but we find out that Nathan has been promoted to head constable. What? Isn't he the only Mountie in town? Like, what is it? Did you know what? Jack, did that make sense to you? Like, I didn't understand. What's the promotion?

[00:33:59] He's at the top of the food chain, right? Didn't make sense a bit, but it allowed for a little bit of flirtation between him and Elizabeth. So I was like, sure. I do want to point out a comic book version of Great Expectations by those two gentlemen is my nightmare. We can move on. I certainly hope the rest of the province is doing okay. No issues or anything because the governor is predisposed. He is dealing with McGinty. Like, you want to talk about government gone wrong?

[00:34:30] You want to, hey, if you're conservative and still listening to this show and want the government out of your business, may I introduce you into a government that's dealing with a local land dispute between two farmers? That is what's happening right now with Lucas Bouchard, and it's crazy. It's a crazy thing. They figure out, I couldn't get over this one for a while. They figure out that they should use hazelnuts for the harvest festival,

[00:34:58] not because there is a hazelnut farm in town with all the hazelnuts they can stomach. They figure it out because all the other nuts are sold out. So they don't go, hey, why don't we use the hazelnuts from Gowan's Hazelnut Farm? They go, well, this calls for almonds. And down at the mercantile, Ned's like, we're out of almonds. They're like, well, we got a recipe for walnuts. He's like, believe it or not, we're fresh out of walnuts.

[00:35:25] They have to go through all of these dumb, dumb steps of going, man, we can't find any nuts. Where are we going to find all the nuts? Oh, yeah. There's a hazelnut farm right here in town. Seemed like a backwards way of doing this. My mom is waiting to get surgery on her vertebrae right now as we speak. It's going to take about a week of wait time and she needs the surgery immediately. More like a vertebrae weight. A vertebrae weight. You get it.

[00:35:54] It's going to help her back feel better. She's been in pain for two weeks, had to wait a week for the MRI. Faith is getting blood results in one day. Faith is getting blood results in one day in 1921 in Hope Valley. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. Women get the job done. Are you kidding me right now? The results came in. They called. I sent them off this morning. They called me from the lab.

[00:36:25] You've got to be out of your mind. And then last but not least, when they ask about baby Jack's behavior, Elizabeth says he's been sleeping through class, but that's normal for his age. It is not Jack is five guys. They, you know, fiber. They're moving. It's not, you know, high school, ancient history class. Like five-year-olds don't just fall asleep in the middle of lesson.

[00:36:53] Like unless they're not getting any sleep at night, five-year-olds are up and at it. Like that is not, you don't go in and go, well, he's falling asleep during school. His teacher says that's a normal day. No, that's an immediate red flag for a five-year-old. They're getting 12 hours of sleep at night at home. If they're falling, if they get 12 hours of sleep and they're falling asleep three hours later, there is a medical issue that's happening here. This is not a, ah, whatever. He is tired.

[00:37:20] I just not, that's not how you go about that at all. That's all I got. It's time for Hopes and Values is where we talk about the things that are giving us hope for the future and or is bumming us out. Jax? Okay. So I probably, unlike Dan, just given some of the things he said, I am hopeful for the next episode because I think we're going to get some great performances. Do I agree with Dan that it's going to get wrapped up pretty quickly? Yeah, absolutely.

[00:37:49] But I think we're going to get some really, like when Pascal Hutton got to really give us that performance when Lee was sick, that was awesome to me. So I think I'm going to get that from Aaron Crico, from Kevin McGarry in this next episode. Bumming me out, we still don't really, there's not enough Edie and not enough Lucas. Correct. And that's, I don't know if we're actually, I actually don't even know where that's going for the rest of the season. Probably nowhere. Yeah.

[00:38:19] That's the next season situation. That's the next season situation. I still think in my heart of hearts, I see Gowan as a mastermind. Like someone who's always playing 40 chess. I'm sorry, brain.

[00:38:34] And so I would like to throw out a theory to everybody that Gowan, in an attempt to get his hazelnut business up and running and thriving, went throughout all of the land buying up all of the other nuts. Knowing full well that someone would have an idea that would involve nuts. There's going to be a harvest festival. And then they would come. They're going to need these nuts. They would come a running.

[00:39:05] That's the Gowan I know. That's the Gowan I love. And that's the Gowan that I'm cheering for. And so my hope is that next episode is all like an Ocean's 8 reveal of Gowan running around, going to all the stores, getting all the nuts. That's all next episode. When he's at a random scene with Reverend Camfield, he's actually doing something to get. That's right. He's actually taking all the nuts from the pantry or whatever. That's my hope. Dan? Yeah, I don't. I mean, I'm all Valley.

[00:39:35] You know, the best. All Valley all the time. The best seasons of Wind Calls the Heart by episode 10 are building to something. And we do have those. Like last year, we built to the Nathan and Elizabeth kiss. We built to it all year. There was an explosion one year with oil. We built to that. We built to a proposal. We built to a wedding. They're capable of building to something. This season's building to nothing aside from possibly a proposal, but they've not really laid the groundwork for that, in my opinion.

[00:40:03] So, next week, I'm already super down because it's going to be Downer Central next week. Downer Central. I don't even know how we're going to do this show. We're going to get in trouble just for doing the show, I get the feeling. And then that leaves the finale for nothing to happen aside from somebody to plan a party of some sort and for Nathan to propose to Elizabeth. And I'm already pre-mad about it. Unless we are promised next year is the last year, then I'm all in. I'm all in and I'm ready. There you go. Yeah. Did we do it?

[00:40:33] We did. Yeah, we did it. Do we have a What's Call My Heart? We do. We have a What's Call My Heart. Actually, Erin sent me an email that was so nice about the Deck the Hallmark in general that she's including it in What's Call My Heart. Oh, I love that. And so, I'm going to read it now. This is from Rebecca. And it says, Hi, everyone. I'm Rebecca. I'm 28 years old from the north of Italy. Ooh, the north of Italy. And a long-time listener of Deck the Hallmark. I also enjoy a lot listening to Yo, Gabble, Gabble and Christmas Morning. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your work. Sorry.

[00:41:03] Real late there. I didn't need to do that. You can't imagine how much your bits and laughs have brightened many of my not-so-pleasant days in the past. I discovered you when I was a student. I studied math and physics to become a teacher, and it wasn't always easy. My everyday life consisted of a lot of calculations and even more calculations. So, when I took the train from home back to my student home on Sundays, it wasn't always that entertaining.

[00:41:26] As I'm an absolute Christmas fan, I decided during Christmastime that I needed to bring a little more Christmas into my un-Christmassy everyday life. That's right. And a short online search later, I discovered you, and that was in 2019. Then you accompanied me through a university and then through my beginnings as a high school teacher. Even if you don't know me, your voices are such a part of my everyday life, and I can't even watch most of the Hallmark movies here in Italy. In the week before Christmas in 2023, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

[00:41:54] Everything was discovered early, so I was really, really lucky. My surgery was in January of 24. During my time in the hospital, you were my companions. During breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it was the best, and I enjoyed it so much. Everything went well, and I could return home after a week. For a while, it looked as if I wouldn't even have to have chemotherapy, but then I was advised to do so, mainly because of my age, so that I would never have a relapse, fingers are crossed. So I had that treatment from April to September in 2024.

[00:42:23] I never really felt bad, but it was a very intense time. Everyone around me was naturally worried, and it was all very chaotic. When the world became too much for me, I turned on the podcast. You guys were the same as always, the same mundane plots of the movies, your bits, and laughs. That means your plots are mundane, and that's what I got from there. It was balm for the soul. This week, I had my first mammogram after treatment, and it ended all, and it turns out all is good. I took this as an opportunity to write you and say thank you.

[00:42:53] You have helped me get through this last year with good humor and ease. So say hello and thank you to all your co-hosts. And remember when you are doing one of your bits that someone is sitting there in South Tyrol, Tyrol, and laughing heartily at you. Merry Christmas, Rebecca. Are you kidding me right now? Rebecca. Rebecca. That's really beautiful. Oh my gosh. Thanks. Rebecca says hi. Yeah. Rebecca says hi. Rebecca, I say hi. We love you, Rebecca. Thanks for listening. It means a lot. That's really beautiful.

[00:43:22] You can send in your email at hello at deckthehomework.com. Good luck after that one. We would love to hear from you. Yeah. Come back next week and find out what happens to Baby Jack, or this could be a three-episode arc. Could be a three-ep arc. Yeah. That would be something. If all next week Baby Jack's just unconscious. If Baby Jack is not better by the end of next week, I will admit that that was what they were building to. There you go. Until then, maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Yes. Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast.

[00:43:52] It's produced by Aaron Shea. What? For more information on Deck the Hallmark, you can go to deckthehallmark.com. For more information on the Deck the Hallmark family, you can go to bramblejamplus.com. Deck the Hallmark is presented by Philo TV. For a free trial of Philo, go to philo.tv slash dth. You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen.

[00:44:20] It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.