Summer Rewatch Episode Discussion: Coming Together

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

Okay, so for the record... I am aware it's not summer yet, but... I call it summer because it's the off-season for the show, which used to always be summer for me. I'm either that old or that disorganized, take your pick. :P

I will dig out my True Enough book to add some to the comments and rewatch the episode later today.

Comments

A Few Book Related Thoughts

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

Okay, so one of the things I liked a lot about the book section dealing with this was the way that Amy handled her time with Ashley. They never became friends, but she actually sincerely wanted the relationship between the Ashley and her horse to improve, and she also understood her rival in a new way.

This particular section, though short, says a lot about Amy's character, I think:

"Amy, you can't fix Ashley like you do horses. There are too many issues," Soraya stated.

"Well, I hope Bright Magic is going better," said Amy. And she meant it. She thought of Ashley's brittle life and felt sorry for her.

Now, in the show, they took Ashley's issues and continued with them, exploring a new path for her, almost but never quite out of her mother's influence, which was something the books never did. Still, I was always impressed with Amy's firm belief that, no matter who the rider was, the horses always deserved fair treatment, which was why she agreed to help Ashley in the first place.

Episode Type Thoughts...

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

Rewatching it today I realized that the ep had less to do with the book than the previews at the end of Rising from the Ashes suggested.

Not that it was necessarily a bad thing.

I did remember having the feeling, several times during my viewing of the early seasons that they could have done more with what they took from the books.

I did like that Amy got to keep Spartan, but personally, I think that the way the books handled Spartan's future was more realistic. He was found by his old owners and went on to be a show horse with a girl who loved him as opposed to the drama that the show put into Spartan.

Also, since they did so much with changing Ashley from a spoiled brat to a likeable yet still independent and stubborn woman, it might not have been as necessary to show the other side of her that Amy in the books only sees in True Enough and the one after it, I believe.

There was almost too much going on in this finale, and I stand by my opinion that Rising from the Ashes would have made a better place to end things.

Ty's sudden desire to visit his father is very out of left field and feels contrived.

Lou and Scott... I feel so bad for Scott. He genuinely cared about Lou there, and I'm not sure why he suddenly backed out in season 2. He brought Lou back to earth, gave her a bit of grounding that she loses in the later seasons and in her relationship with Peter. It seems like they didn't want Lou to break out of the "tough businesswoman" role and thought her relationship with Scott did that, though she became mostly a trophy wife to Peter when he could maintain the illusion that he had money. Her attitude towards the wedding and when she was having the baby damaged her character a lot.

One of the things I liked about the book Lou was that she was able to realize that keeping Heartland going and making it successful could be as rewarding as a big time job elsewhere. The show's Lou never really reaches that point.

*shrugs*

I pretty much just rolled my eyes at Tim every time he was on screen.