Heartland Season 18 Episode 01 Recap: Amy’s Love Struggles, Lou’s Leadership, & Ranch Rivalries!
Finally, season 18 of Heartland is here! The much-anticipated new season opens with the Bartlett-Fleming family facing new challenges, old rivalries, and tensions that foreshadow an exciting season to come full of emotional depth, family drama, and the relentless determination that has always defined the Bartlett-Fleming clan.
In this episode, Amy navigates a budding romance with Nathan while Lou, Jack, and Tim feel the pressure of a water shortage and competition from Pryce Beef. Meanwhile, Logan faces a dilemma that tests his loyalty to the ranch, and Katie embarks on a creative new journey.
Want to know more? Then keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 18 episode 1!
Lou steps up to the challenge
The episode picked up just one week after the events of season 17, as Heartland Beef began to feel the strain of their past decisions.
If you remember, in the Heartland season 17 finale, we saw Lou, Jack and Tim visit the Garland Foods HQ to pitch a new idea but the whole partnership with Garland Foods collapsed after the new CEO of the company dismissed them before Lou could even start her pitch and Lou declared that Heartland Beef doesn’t need Garland Foods to survive.
So, now they are left without their main distributor spurring Lou to work harder than ever to keep the business afloat and protect Heartland’s legacy.
Don’t have time to read the whole recap? No problem! Now you can listen to the recap podcast-style on YouTube:
Throughout the episode, we saw Lou in her element, looking for new ways to market and sell their product. Which was especially important to her, Jack, and Tim after they found out that Pryce Beef had managed to steal Garland Foods right out from under them and is now Garland’s main supplier.
This was a big blow to Heartland Beef, but it made Lou all the more determined to make it work. And she managed to come up with two major opportunities for their business.
Firstly, Lou got in touch with Sunrise Calgary, a popular morning show that was interested in doing a segment on the Heartland Cookbook and even wanted them to make Jack’s famous beef stew live on air. But the catch was that they wanted Jack to be the one doing it since they thought that a cowboy making the stew would look more interesting and, therefore, would go over better with their audience.
Of course, Jack initially refused, preferring to stay out of the spotlight. But Lou did manage to get Jack to promise to think about it.
Secondly, Lou had a meeting with a manager of a hospitality group that owns restaurants across Canada and managed to get them interested in making Heartland their exclusive beef provider. The only thing was that they would need Heartland to provide bison as well as beef, which is a problem since Heartland Beef doesn’t raise bison.
Lou was optimistic about them being able to start raising bison. She even put together a detailed outline of how much everything would cost. However, Jack and Tim vetoed the bison idea right away, which meant that the deal with the hospitality group was dead, too.
That got Lou really upset. However, what she didn’t know was the real reason Jack and Tim refused to even think about raising bison – Heartland was facing a serious water shortage.
Jack refused to tell Lou about their dwindling water supplies because he didn’t want to worry her. But, eventually, the two cowboys came clean to Lou about their low groundwater levels and Lou finally understood why they were so against her bison idea.
Jack: “Your dad wanted to say something, I told him not to. I guess I was trying to protect you.”
Lou: “Protect me from what? You think I can’t handle bad news?”
Jack: “I don’t want you and your sister to worry for no reason. Three weeks of rain will solve everything.”
Lou: “But there isn’t three weeks of rain in the forecast, is there?”
Jack: “No.”
Lou: “Grandpa, you can’t just think of me as your granddaughter who needs protecting. I’m your business partner, I need to know everything about this beef business, the good and the bad, or I can’t do my job!”
Jack: “I know that now. So from now on, we’ll fill you in on the big picture, I promise.”
Luckily, it was also the catalyst for some much-needed real talk between the three business partners. Jack and Tim finally understood that Lou was serious about being part of the cattle business and that they should treat her accordingly. And, by the end of the episode, Jack even agreed to do the segment on the morning show.
At the end of the episode, the family gathered around the TV to watch Jack’s TV appearance. Jack had a few stumbles on air, but his natural charm won over, and the segment ended up being a success.
One of my favorite parts of this episode was seeing Lou put her whole heart into Heartland Beef. From rounding cattle and doing chores with Jack and Tim to finding new marketing opportunities and markets for their beef, Lou’d determination paid off.
However, with the drought, the ranch might be facing one of its toughest seasons yet, so it will be really interesting to see to what lengths Lou, Jack, and Tim are willing to go for the survival of their business.
The perfect ranch horse
As with every Heartland episode, we saw Amy working with a client horse. This time around, it was Tim’s rodeo school horse, Stetson, a once-great roping horse who is struggling to perform in the arena.
After Amy and Logan had some time to test Stetson and work with him, Amy quickly realized that Stetson would do better with a change of profession – he may not be fit for rodeo life anymore, but he still has plenty to offer as a working ranch horse.
However, convincing Tim to accept this was no easy task.
In fact, Tim flat out refused to accept that Stetson’s best days in the arena were behind him, telling Amy that he can’t afford to retire the horse from the rodeo circuit.
But by the end of the episode, Tim came around to Amy’s idea and found the perfect new role for Stetson – to be Lou’s new ranch horse.
Throughout Heartland season 18 episode 1, we saw Lou borrow horses from Amy or even Lyndy to do her ranch chores, which, frankly, wasn’t sustainable. So, now Lou will have her own ranch horse to ride whenever she needs.
It was a win-win for all the involved parties.
And this, along with Jack agreeing to go on the morning show, were such nice gestures from the two cowboys, not only showing their growth, but also seemingly symbolizing that Lou is finally a full-fledged member of Heartland Beef.
Relationship complications
Now, onto the topic that a lot of you were probably wondering about (I know I was!) – Amy’s relationship with Nathan.
In fact, Amy spent quite a lot of time in the episode with Nathan. Their chemistry really is undeniable, yet it wasn’t without its complications – and there were a couple big ones that were highlighted in this episode.
Only one week had passed since we last saw them in episode 1710, cloud gazing together, and their relationship was pretty much at the same point as it was at the end of season 17 – slowly growing. So, it was no surprise that Nathan asked Amy out on a proper date.
However, things quickly got complicated.
After Tim, Jack, and Lou found out about Pryce Beef taking their spot with Garland Foods, Amy thought that it was no longer a good idea for Nathan to pick her up for their date at the ranch. This is where the first complication came in – the rivalry between the two family businesses.
Then, their date fell through because Nathan’s dog Molly got kicked by a cow, and he had to rush her to the vet. But when Amy went to Nathan’s house that night to see how he and Molly were doing, she again got a taste of how guarded Nathan is. Hence, the second complication – Amy’s wariness of Nathan’s closed-off nature, especially after her experience with Finn.
Throughout the episode, we saw Amy being open to the idea of getting closer to Nathan, only for Nathan to pull back whenever Amy tried to get him to open up. So when Nathan changed the subject instead of confiding in Amy about what was really bothering him when she went to see him that night, it frustrated Amy to no end.
They still had some sweet moments together, like when Amy made it possible for Nathan to work with Molly on sheep when Molly refused to herd cattle after her accident. Or when Amy suggested that Nathan do a sheepdog competition to build Molly’s confidence back up and then helped him overcome his nervousness before his turn.
But Nathan’s emotional unavailability was becoming to be a red flag for Amy, making her second-guess their budding connection. Which only became more clear when Nathan’s ex-wife, Tristian (the same ex-wife who cheated on him and got him swear off relationships altogether before he met Amy), showed up at the same competition with her new husband.
It not only visibly shook Nathan since it brought old wounds to the surface, but Tristian’s brief conversation with Amy only confirmed Amy’s suspicions about Nathan’s emotional walls.
Amy: “I don’t know what you mean.”
Tristian: “Cheating on him is my biggest regret. But back when we were married, even before then, Nathan was… He was always a closed book. He never let me in. Early on, I think I was attracted to the mystery, but eventually, it just got so lonely that I…”
Amy: “No, this is really none of my business.”
By the end of the episode, after a conversation with Lou during which Lou advised Amy to trust her gut about Nathan, Amy turned Nathan down when he asked her on another date.
So, it looks like, at least for now, Amy has decided not to pursue a relationship with Nathan. While, sure, there’s potential for romance, Nathan’s inability to share his feelings might just be a dealbreaker for Amy.
Are you rooting for Amy and Nathan? Or would you rather see her with somebody else? Let me know in the comments below! I want to hear all your thoughts and theories on Amy’s love life!
Logan’s dilemma
In this episode, Logan had a really interesting storyline, as well.
After last season’s uncertainty, in Heartland season 18 episode 1, Logan was firmly back at the ranch and helping Amy with client horses. However, he faced a new dilemma.
Logan’s truck had broken down, and to fix it, he needed some extra cash. Amy, of course, offered to pay his advance early, but when Logan told her that he would need five of those to cover the cost of the repairs, he had no choice but to seek part-time employment elsewhere. That elsewhere, unfortunately, being at Pryce Beef.
And, as you might imagine, Tim was not happy about this.
When Tim found out, he confronted Logan about his new job and made Logan an offer: spy on Pryce Beef and gather intel, and in return, Tim won’t tell Jack about Logan working for their main competition.
Logan, of course, had no choice but to agree since, despite being uncomfortable with the idea of spying, he didn’t want Jack to find out about his gig at Pryce Beef more. Yet Tim’s hopeful scheme was short-lived because Logan was quickly fired.
Why, you ask?
Well, it turns out Logan was so nervous about the whole spying thing that he ended up backing a tractor into a fence, which got him canned.
But all ended up well and even gave us a touching moment between Tim and Logan. When Logan told Tim about what happened, Tim not only offered to help Logan out by fixing his truck but also told him to keep it in the family and come work at the rodeo school the next time Logan needed some extra money.
It looks like money struggles are plaguing more than one Heartland character this season. I wonder if this was a one-off storyline for Logan or if we will see more of him and his struggles this season. I sure would love to see Logan grow even further in season 18!
Katie’s new creative journey
Finally, let’s talk about Katie’s arc in this episode.
Over the last few seasons, we’ve seen Katie discover her passion for writing, so it’s no wonder that in this episode, we saw her embark on a new journey of creative self-discovery.
At the start of the episode, we saw a woman come into Maggie’s to post a flier for a creative writing class that she’s offering at the local library. Katie was interested in it right off the bat.
However, when the time came to attend the class, she realized that the class was meant for adults aged 18 and over. So, Katie quickly exited the library before the class could even begin.
But it seems like Katie really caught the attention of the woman teaching the class – she even gave Katie Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier to read after she saw Katie reading Brontë’s Wuthering Heights when she first walked into Maggie’s to post a flier for her writing class.
So, with that as encouragement, at the end of the episode, we saw Katie going back to the library and, this time, she stuck around for the class, even answering the teacher’s question correctly when nobody else volunteered an answer.
The only thing is, the teacher seems to think that Katie is over 18 since when she first visited Maggie’s, Katie told her that she’s the assistant manager of the diner, and then the teacher assumed that Katie is in college.
I liked this storyline for Katie because it showcases her growing independence and desire to explore new interests. I just hope that her not being 18 (and the teacher not knowing it yet) won’t impact her chance of fully exploring her creative talents.
Last thoughts on Heartland season 18 episode 1
One of the cutest scenes in this episode came when Nathan asked Lyndy about Amy’s favorite foods when Amy had to step away to take a call.
Lundy: “That’s easy. Blueberry waffles and clementines. They’re her favourite.”
Nathan: “All right. Sounds good. All right. Well, thank you very much.”
At that stage, they hadn’t met Nathan’s ex-wife yet, so their relationship was still full of promise.
But the real blow was seeing Nathan sit by a picnic with waffles and clementines laid out on the picnic blanket and asking Amy out on another date, only for Amy to turn him down.
It seems that despite Nathan keeping his emotions close to the vest, he really likes Amy and is interested in pursuing something with her.
Now, all that is left is to see if Nathan can overcome his emotionally guarded nature and actually open up to Amy or if their relationship really is doomed.
READ NEXT: Recap of Heartland episode 1802
What did you think of this episode?
This season premiere really set the stage for another exciting and emotionally charged season of Heartland. With the ranch facing competition, drought, financial strain, and your fair share of personal dilemmas, the Bartlett-Fleming family will have to come together once again to weather the storm. And I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds!
Promo for Heartland season 18 episode 2
And here’s the promo for the next episode:
The episode will be called “Bird’s Eye View.”
It will see Caleb return to help Amy with a mysterious Icelandic horse, while the worsening drought will force Lou to build a firebreak with the enemy.
