NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Season 11, Episode 6 of When Calls the Heart.
Hello, Hearties and welcome to the recap for May 12th’s episode of When Calls the Heart, titled “Believe”.
Before we get into what happened in Hope Valley this week, I have good news for you! When Calls the Heart has officially been renewed for season 12 by Hallmark. Even better, the new season will begin filming very, very soon- in July! Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to go back to Hope Valley after this season ends.
Back to this week’s episode- Elizabeth confronted a (creepy) figure from her past and Lee dove into his new mayoral duties. Let’s recap!
Mr. Co-Mayor
Lee is adjusting to his new role as co-Mayor, with some help from Rosemary. In fact, Rosemary is the one who comes up with the idea for a salon-type event at the saloon for Lee to meet with all of the VIHVP (Very Important Hope Valley People). The goal is for Lee to get some input from some of Hope Valley’s citizens.
Lee invites Minnie, Joseph, Mei, and Mike to the event, but word travels quickly and the guest list grows beyond what Rosemary and Lee had planned. Florence even offers to put up a sign on the community bulletin board to let everyone know about the event. Eventually, both Lee and Rosemary agree that the Mayor’s soiree should be open to everyone in Hope Valley. Lee is everybody’s mayor and they are all VIHVP.
The event at the saloon goes very well, with people lining up to speak to the co-Mayor. From now on, there will be a Meet the Mayor event every Wednesday at 4 pm so Hope Valley citizens can talk with Lee about their concerns.
A Clayton Pike Connection
Rosemary has been slowly reading through files on Clayton Pike, which she brings to Bill’s office in Goldie’s baby carriage. She’s also bringing some bad news- their request to interview Pike has been denied. He is refusing to talk to anyone, and it seems they have hit another brick wall in their investigation.
Eventually, Rosemary finds an interesting nugget of information in Pike’s employment records. Five years ago Pike lost his job at a mine, was unemployed for a little while, and then picked up four months of work at a construction project for UCH. UCH stands for Union City Holding Company, which is Montague’s entity. That’s the connection they’ve been looking for!
Lucas is back in Hope Valley, but Bill and Rosemary decide to wait until they have more information to tell him what they’ve found.
The Return of Mr. Higgins
While walking with Nathan to school, Elizabeth tells him about the meeting she’s supposed to have with Mr. Wilcox from the school board. While the town’s merger with Benson Hills (decided on in last week’s episode) means that the Hope Valley School will fall under the jurisdiction of the school district, Elizabeth’s understanding is that it’s only a technicality and that day-to-day operations will remain the same. Nathan and Elizabeth plan to have lunch together, depending on how long her meeting with Mr. Wilcox takes.
However, it is Mr. Thomas Higgins who meets with Elizabeth at the school that day, not Mr. Wilcox. Mr. Higgins and Elizabeth have a past- she met him during her days in Teacher’s College, where he took a special interest in her. He has repeatedly acted inappropriately toward her, propositioned her, and even threatened her job a few seasons back. Elizabeth attempted to expose him, but it was his word against hers.
Mr. Higgins is now the territorial superintendent, and clearly still has an interest in Elizabeth. He repeatedly tries to get Elizabeth to meet with him for dinner to “walk her through” some of the school board’s guidelines. Elizabeth tells him that would be inappropriate, but Mr. Higgins is persistent and urges her to reconsider.
This exchange rattles Elizabeth, and she tells Nathan she can’t make lunch that day. He picks up that something is clearly wrong, but Elizabeth doesn’t tell him what she’s dealing with.
Mr. Higgins returns to the school the following day, and Elizabeth brings up her concerns with the school board’s guidelines. She wants the school to have more autonomy so she can address all of her students’ individual needs. Mr. Higgins, having written the guidelines, is somewhat offended. However, he thinks they can reach a compromise. He can scratch Elizabeth’s back if she scratches his (ummmm… EW!).
That’s when Anna shows up at the school, and she greets Elizabeth and Mr. Higgins. She is clearly impressed that the territorial superintendent is visiting Elizabeth’s classroom. Later on, Elizabeth sees Mr. Higgins speaking with Anna, and she tells her that Mr. Higgins offered to help her find employment when he visits her college. This upsets Elizabeth as she can see the cycle of what she went through with Higgins repeating itself.
Nathan finds Elizabeth crying outside the school and she finally explains her past with Mr. Higgins to him, along with her fear that the same thing will happen to Anna. Although Nathan jumps up to find Higgins to set him straight, Elizabeth says that he can’t do that. She has no proof, and Higgins has all the power. Nathan assures her that he doesn’t actually have all the power, he just wants her to believe that. Elizabeth realizes that she can’t let this happen again to another young woman, and Nathan asks what he can do to help.
Elizabeth sends Higgins a note, asking to meet with him. When he arrives at the school, Elizabeth tells him that she will not have dinner with him as it is inappropriate. Mr. Higgins says that bringing up a relationship from ten years ago only embarrasses herself, not him. Elizabeth clarifies that there was NO relationship then unless he considers a relationship him offering her teaching positions in exchange for her “company”.
Being the absolute creep that he is, Mr. Higgins tries one last time with Elizabeth. He says that many other women have benefited from “being nice to him” and that she needs to learn her place. That’s when our hero in a red Mountie uniform emerges from behind a door. That’s right, Nathan heard everything and tells Higgins he’s just confessed to abuse of office. Higgins claims that he has connections and this is entrapment- good luck with that!
Mr. Higgins visits Lucas’ office and tells him that Nathan and Elizabeth have conspired against him. He urges Lucas to call the Mountie Command and have this entire thing dropped. Unfortunately for him, Nathan and Elizabeth already spoke to Lucas before confronting Mr. Higgins. Lucas has had time to make a few calls and has gathered that there are many other women with similar accusations against Higgins.
“I believe Elizabeth and I believe every woman that has accused you,” Lucas tells him. Higgins grows angrier and angrier, warning Lucas that he has a lot of influence in Capital City. Lucas says Constable Grant can add threatening a public official to his list of infractions, and that Higgins will face a trial. Until then, he is suspended.
Later that night, Elizabeth is sitting on her front porch. Nathan walks up and sits beside her. She apologizes for not telling him about Higgins earlier, and he assures her that she has absolutely nothing to apologize for. He says that she should be proud of herself and that he is proud of her. Elizabeth thanks him for being there for her and for being here. He says there’s nowhere he’d rather be as she lays her head on his shoulder.
Around Town
As always, there’s a lot going on for the townspeople of Hope Valley. Here are some more highlights from this episode:
- Marigold Elizabeth Coulter celebrated her first birthday with an extra large slice of birthday cake and a stuffed bear from Elizabeth and Little Jack.
- Mei sets up a romantic date for her and “Mikey”, and even cooks some of her mother’s recipes for him.
- Lucas and Henry try to find bidders for the Hope Valley Resort, but there aren’t any takers so far.
- Joseph struggles to write a letter back to his brother, Jacob. Joseph wants things to go back to how things were when they were kids and doesn’t know how things became this bad between them.
That's all for "Believe"!
What did you think of this episode, Hearties? It looks like there will be a visit from Tom, Jack’s brother, next week. Join me for the recap!
