NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Season 11, Episode 7 of When Calls the Heart.
Welcome back to another episode recap, Hearties! This week is all about May 19th’s episode titled “Facing the Music”, in which Tom Thornton visited Hope Valley and Lucas struggled to get bids on the new resort. Let’s get into the recap!
Uncle Tom in Hope Valley
It’s Jack’s birthday and Little Jack is looking very dapper to visit his dad’s grave with Elizabeth. They bring flowers and balloons to Jack before being joined by none other than… Tom Thornton! For those of you unfamiliar, Tom is Jack’s little brother who made a few appearances in earlier seasons of the show.
Elizabeth is delighted to see him again, and to finally introduce him to his nephew. Tom has not been to Hope Valley since before Jack’s passing so Elizabeth and Little Jack give him a moment alone at Jack’s grave.
Back in town, Elizabeth catches up with Tom and learns about his current job. Tom works for a man named Mr. Sweeney, selling sheet music and helping him scout new acts. The two spot Faith and Tom immediately perks up, saying he’s not surprised she’s a doctor now. Faith took good care of him after he took Elizabeth’s sister for a joy ride in her father’s car years ago, which ended badly.
After saying hello to everyone in the saloon, Tom and Elizabeth stumble upon Angela and Allie singing outside. Tom tells them that he’s scouting choirs for a festival in Salt Lake City, and Angela says that Hope Valley has a choir that her mom directs. He should scout them!
Speaking of scout, that’s when Scout the dog comes running up to the girls, with Nathan trailing behind him. Elizabeth introduces Nathan to Tom, and the girls leave to tell Minnie that Tom is going to scout their choir for the festival. (Although he hasn’t agreed to this yet- minor detail!)
As Little Jack and Tom run off, Elizabeth explains to Nathan that Tom is here for Jack’s birthday. She adds that Tom had some run-ins with the law when he was younger. She thinks it may be more difficult for him to come visit because he still feels like he is living in Jack’s shadow. “Well I can sympathize with that,” says Nathan, but Elizabeth tells him that she doesn’t think of him as being in anyone’s shadow.
Tom stops at Faith’s office and they arrange to have lunch later that day at the cafe. Their lunch is interrupted, however, by Minnie who asks Tom to please let the Hope Valley choir audition for the Salt Lake City festival. Tom is hesitant at first but says there is one spot left, and agrees to let them audition over the phone that night when he calls Mr. Sweeney.
Elizabeth and Rosemary have some concerns about the festival’s legitimacy but agree to audition due to the enthusiasm of the other choir members. The group sings into the telephone to Mr. Sweeney, and he invites them to be part of the festival. However….there’s a catch. Each member must pay $5 for a total of $65 before any travel or lodging expenses. Tom says that the money needs to be paid by tomorrow, but there is a chance that they could win a $300 prize at the festival.
You smell that? Something stinks about this entire festival thing, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. When Allie tells Nathan about the festival and the required entrance fee, he is immediately suspicious. While he begrudgingly hands over the $5 (Allie was the only one who hadn’t paid yet), he wants to know more about this whole deal.
Elizabeth does too, so she and Nathan find Tom near the saloon. They ask him about Mr. Sweeney, and Tom can sense what they’re really getting at. “Once a screw up, always a screw up, right?” he says. He adds that he has only been working for Mr. Sweeney for a couple months, but he swears everything is on the level and he would never do anything to hurt Elizabeth. Nathan says he’ll have to take his word for it.
Later, Tom makes a call in the mercantile to Mr. Sweeney to ensure he received the choir’s money. However, he cannot get Mr. Sweeney on the phone, even though he talked to him yesterday. Ned assures him that they wired the money, and it’s at this point that it dawns on Tom that there is something seriously fishy about this Sweeney guy.
When Tom doesn’t show up to a scheduled meeting with the choir later that day, Elizabeth goes to find him. Mike tells her that Tom already checked out of the hotel and is headed for the train station, so she and Nathan ride off to catch him before he leaves.
They find Tom sitting in the train station lobby, his train having already left. He just didn’t have it in him to skip town like that. Mr. Sweeney took all of the money Tom had convinced choirs to send him and ran away with no forwarding address. He’s a con man and has turned Tom into one as well.
Tom says that if Jack were here he’d know what to do, and Elizabeth assures him that they will help him make things right.
Clayton Pike's Mom
Rosemary and Bill visit Nathan in his office to tell them about the connection they have found between Bernhardt Montague and Clayton Pike (catch up on last week’s episode here). Nathan says that everyone else believes that the case is already closed and Mountie headquarters has bigger fish to fry, like catching a wanted rum runner named Casimir Shaw.
Rosemary shows Nathan a transcript of an interview with Clayton Pike’s mother that includes an alibi for Pike on the night of the shooting. Nathan says it was considered, but then Pike confessed. Plus, it is from his mom. However, if anyone would be interested in speaking with her again (*wink wink*) she lives in Union City.
Rosemary arranges to meet with Pike’s mother and is about to leave town when Mrs. Hazel Pike suddenly exits a taxicab. She thought Rosemary wanted to meet in Hope Valley, and she is clearly thrilled to have someone willing to listen to her.
In The Valley Voice office, Rosemary and Bill speak with Hazel. She says that Clayton was with her the night of the election, helping her after she had taken a bad fall on her hip. She thinks the Mounties forced him to confess to shooting Lucas because they needed someone to pin it on. She knows that Clayton voted for Lucas, and doesn’t believe he has anything against him.
When Rosemary asks about how her hip is now, Hazel says that a generous friend of Clayton’s paid for her hip surgery a week before Clayton was arrested. Bill asks if Clayton ever worked after-hours for Montague, but Hazel insists that he was only a shift worker. However, she says that Montague sent her flowers in the hospital. How did Montague know what hospital to send flowers to? Unless he paid for the surgery…
Back at the Mountie office, Bill and Rosemary tell Nathan about their conversation with Hazel. While she may be quirky, they trust that Hazel is telling the truth. Nathan says he’ll call in a favor to try to get Pike transferred to Hope Valley for a night to speak with him.
Are we finally getting to the bottom of this mystery? I guess we’ll have to see what Clayton Pike says in next week’s episode.
Any Bidders?
There are exactly zero bids on the resort other than the Aucoin and Montague ones that Lucas will not accept, and the rumors flying around do not seem to be helping the situation. Even Lee, with his business connections, can’t find someone willing to bid on the resort. Additionally, all of the people he talks to are very vague about why they are not interested- seems suspicious to me! A local bid is also out of the question. Those who have the resources- Lee, Henry, and Lucas- all have conflicts of interest.
Edwin comes up with the idea for the town to dip into its emergency fund to begin the construction of the resort in hopes that it will make the investment appear attractive enough for another party to want to take it over. Henry, however, advises Lucas to step away from the resort instead. He believes it’s too risky to use public funds- what if the plan doesn’t work and the town is burdened instead of helped by the resort?
Later on, Edwin informs Lucas that Benson Hills Oil Company will be filing for bankruptcy, eliminating hundreds of jobs. Edwin says it is now all the more important that the resort project goes through, so people will vote for Lucas. Lucas says this is about more than votes- it’s about people’s ability to feed their families. Edwin reminds him that they are out of options and that the only remaining path forward is Montague if Lucas won’t consider the Aucoin bid.
Visibly frustrated, Lucas picks up the phone, asking to speak to Bernhardt Montague. What does he say to him? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out.
Around Town
Here are a couple other highlights from this episode:
- Joseph wrote a letter to his estranged brother Jacob, but has yet to hear back from him. He says that he didn’t apologize but left the door open for the two to reconcile.
- Nathan’s Mountie office gets a brand new sign in this episode, reading “Royal Canadian Mounted Police Department”. Bill is not fond of the change, but Nathan likes it.
That's all for "Facing the Music"!
Next week it looks like Tom will be trying to fix his mistakes, Jacob will pay a visit to Hope Valley, Clayton Pike will pass through town, and Lucas will speak with Montague. It should be an interesting episode- join me for the recap!
