Summer Rewatch Episode Discussion: After the Storm

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

My schedule got all messed up and as hard as it may be to believe, I did not realize yesterday was Sunday. Only a day late this time, sorry everyone.

Anyway, this week's rewatch is After the Storm. I need to refresh my memory of the book because all I remember of it are the Amy/Spartan bits which the show covered in the pilot.

 

Comments

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

I finally got home and had a chance to refresh my memory of the book and rewatch the episode in peace, so...

I remembered the book was really focused on Spartan's recovery. The show did that in the pilot, so it was interesting to open it back up again and see the differences.

Amy does have nightmares about her mom's death at the beginning, even sleepwalking a little. The storm that passed was Marion's death, and it really was a story about how they weathered it and came back from it.

The incident with Swallow is right out of the books, though not out of this one. I believe it's in book three, but I could be mistaken. I remember the incident clearly, but not the book. When Amy blames Ty, yelling at him for letting Swallow go when he wasn't ready, it had a lot more impact in the books because Ty actually did know, and it wasn't a "let's blame the stable hand" moment. Amy turned on a friend, someone she worked with closely and trusted. It was nice, on the show, that Jack was able to diffuse the situation and get the horse back to Heartland because that didn't happen in the books.

The way that Amy and Ty argued in the episode annoyed me. It was typical teenage drama, which was something I didn't see in the books so much because Amy's work with the horses was the main thing. She was still very much a teenager, but I never saw her acting snobbish and condescending in the books, not to Ty, not to Ben, not to anyone.

Biggest insight into Amy's character in this episode: Jack's observation that if Lou was a horse, Amy would figure her out.

The debate over upfront pricing happened in a different book, as well. Nick Halliwell's horse, Star, was the one Amy treated in Coming Home, which was what led Lou to stay, not the business deal with the bank. Star was also the horse with the trailer loading problem.

Lou's boyfriend Carl, comes by for a visit in the book, but the show deals with that in One Trick Pony.

I think the interesting thing is the shift. The show decided to keep Spartan around as Amy's jumper instead of having Sundance, her pony, whereas in the book, Amy found Spartan's original owner. He was thrilled to find the horse was back until he realized that he'd been gelded and had no future as a stud horse. He told Amy to sell him, and Amy wanted to keep Spartan at Heartland as her jumper even though her work left her very little time to compete. At a show, she met the owner's granddaughter, and she let Hannah ride Spartan. Hannah convinced her grandfather to take Spartan back home where he was very happy.

It was very touching of Ty to build a training ring for Amy and for Spartan as well.

Amy's dream about Spartan is something else from the book. Amy sees the accident from his point of view, and it's terrifying for her.

It was nice to see T-Touch put into practice after reading about it so much in the books.

The diner is a hot bed, a real center for the pulse of the community, and actually, given that, I think it's almost hard to believe that Chase fooled Soraya for so long because she should have heard something a lot sooner.

Val and Jack... that was a huge surprise to me, seeing her being interested in him. Val Grant was still married, though her husband never made an appearance in the books, and it was unique, I thought. I did love how he told her off in this episode.

They hinted at something that happens in the third book with all the Pegasus references, and having cried when I read that one, the first time I watched the episode after this one, I was prepared for the worst.

I really liked that Jack took the chance and signed Ty's papers. It meant a lot, not just for Ty, but also for Jack and the future of Heartland.

Given Amy's inability to relate to people and connection to horses, Ty really does need to find his own way, his own path for the future. Season four did show him wrecking his life after they split, and he needs to find his own stability, not rely on her, which can be a hard thing to do.