[Dale responded to my 7 “questions”. I love reading this guy’s thinking; there is more depth here than you are likely to find even by the writers of the show. I insert some of my thoughts in square brackets in between his paragraphs]
Thanks for the reply. Yes, there are many questions that can only truly be answered by the Heartland writers because they created the characters. I have read your reasons – the head injuries and such before – and find them very plausible. Here are my answers to your questions.
1. I am a bit old fashioned so forgive me for sounding this way. I have all the respect in the world for women but have a problem with the current view ( I feel, are held by a minority of women) that they have to prove they are not just equal but better than a man. It shows up in Amy a lot and is reflected in how she does many things, it’s also very apparent in Lou and all the women of Heartland. I don’t have any problem with a woman being independent and strong, I teach my granddaughters to be that way yet I tell them to expect a man to open the door, let them go in first and always be there to protect them (even if the are able to do so herself) let him be a man! I think as I said at the end of the piece and you seem to agree that much of her fear is generated by the hurts in her life, i.e., Tim’s abandonment, then Lou’s leaving for New York and then her Mom’s death. She finds it hard to let herself open up and allow someone else to have control of any part of her life. As long as she lives like this, there is never going to be a partnership with Ty or anyone.
[I felt Amy’s pain, it was what hooked me on the series, about half way through the Pilot. I’m not used to sobbing at movies but I lost it when this 15-year-old girl is burdened with guilt over her Mom’s death and yet takes the weight of the family’s survival on her shoulders. She’s going to be forever proving herself in the world of men]
2. I have wondered about the Europe trip as well. I think that Soile’s “Promise Kept” fan-fiction probably speaks more truth to Amy’s real feelings than anything else I have read. I have never felt Amy has ever been fully committed to Ty. The most likely result of the Europe trip would have been a breakup and not a break. Look at how many times she had to be asked to marry him and I think even then she had reservations. Why didn’t she discuss the farm in the week before she left for Europe? And once in Europe why didn’t she keep in contact? I believe as I said in the story that they had never learned how to communicate in the 8 years they knew each other. Other than during season two when they were apart as a couple they never, or at least were never seen, in a meaningful conversation. Amy has never been good at making decisions and yet is always pushed or at least allowed to make them by Ty. I do believe that when she was in Europe and he tried to ask questions of her, maybe she was still upset with him and so just shut him out or as I said above she and Ty just did not know how to communicate about anything and long distance phone calls are hard with the best of communicators. Amy lives in the moment and at that time she was living life to the fullest and it left little room for looking back or forward. Multitasking is not a strong suit for her or Ty. Why did Ty not just push her to answer his questions? Why did he not force her to talk when he said “Lies Amy always lies when were you going to tell me?” The Heartland writers have always made him that way and so I guess we need to understand the writers to be able to understand their reasons. Like you said Amy and Ty danced around every meaningful conversation, there was so much that needed to be said and cleared up, but wasn’t. In real life this marriage would be headed down a long (or maybe not so long) bumpy road. I think that much you and I agree on.
[It’s maddening the way Ty never asks the obvious questions. Graham had said the way he viewed it, Ty was being as trusting as he could. But there is a scene in Season 7 where Caleb says to Ty he could never be so calm about a rich guy showing up in town and giving his girlfriend gifts. But Ty gets an idea in his head, out of all context, and sticks with it-until he explodes]
3. Was she surprised by Ahmed’s kiss? No, I don’t think she was and I think if you just watch the beginning of 8.01, you can see that she almost invited it. My view is that Amy was not the guest of honor at that party and that is why I had her living there in the Mansion. She was the hostess and part of the whole package and I am sure she was the talk of the town. She had bought into the whole life style and loved everything about it. She was maybe not in love with the Prince but she showed how she liked him, the look she gave him in the opening scene of 801 said more than anything else and set up the kiss. They were way more than just as an employer and employee. She was thankful for the opportunity the Prince had given her and she was living under his roof, taking trips around Europe with him not your everyday employee employer relationship unless you are a nanny! The way they were seated on the couch showed a level of comfort as they drank, laughed and enjoyed each others company as if no one else was in the room.. Everyone around them treated this behavior as normal. Was she drinking? Maybe, but I don’t think that had anything to do with the kiss. Like so many other things drinking had just become part of her new life. I wrote that the kiss was a surprise to her but I think it was only a surprise after she stopped to think about what had just happened and maybe not a surprise but a shock that “she” had done it. After he gave her the necklace I think that she was lost in the moment of the gift and her strong feelings for the Prince and allowed the kiss to take place. Judging by the pictures in 801 and Lou’s observation later, she did not appear to pull away but allowed and maybe even kissed him back. If she had not wanted to be kissed, she would never have allowed it. She could have turned a cheek as they do in Europe. We all do and say stupid things in the moment sometimes and then later regret that we did them. Did we want to do them? I would say most likely yes, at some level we did. Do we also regret letting it happen? I think we do and it usually shows up in someway later.
[When Ty asks Amy “When are you gonna be straight with me, Amy?”, it is not quite clear what he is referring to. After all, he is the one who withheld buying Charger. But I think it reflected his feeling that she is always holding back, never fully open with him. It may just be his view and not reality but since they can’t really talk, why wouldn’t he think that?]
4. I don’t have the answers to “The Break” and tried to take a Heartland approach to what Amy might have been thinking. I think the writers have problems dealing with emotions and more problems in talking about them. So the break was the only way they could think of dealing with it: not dealing. I think Amy thought she was trying to communicate with Ty but I don’t think she really knew how to start the conversation. Ty as written is never the one to start anything. Even when she saw and tried to tell Ty she missed him, she never asked “do you miss me?”. Or maybe her starting line should have be “I miss US”. But it was always about herself and never about Ty. That has been how the Heartland writers seem to have always made her relationship with him. She is able to see other people’s problems and how they are hurting and she asks the right questions – but never with Ty. The writers make it so she never has to explain why she does something. It would be nice to see them do as I do with my grandchildren. I ask what did you do and never why did you do it. There is always a reason. By putting the why in the forefront of every action they give Amy an out, instead of having to face what she has done. In season 8 the writers really failed us in that we did not get the WHAT or the WHY, so I can see their problem in trying to fix it.
[In “Heart of a River” (8.10) when Amy says “I was a nightmare when I came back from that tour and I don’t know how anyone put up with me”, it doesn’t reveal that she has yet come to understand WHAT she did. As I said in my letter to Heather, it makes their reunion seem unearned]
5. I agree that it could have been something other than money that drove a wedge between them but in this case I think it was money. With Tim it was always about money and Amy is influenced by him more than she realizes. Money is not a bad thing but when we allow what we can get with it or do with it to be the focus on why we do things then we become slaves to the money. I understand that many things went into the break but to me they lost sight of their relationship and became obsessed with their perceived need of money. “If we had this, we would be OK in our relationship”. Whatever happened in Europe was totally about “$” and what it could give her.
6. I felt that last year they did a large injustice to Amy the character. They took her down a road that I felt that they had no plan or idea of how to bring her back to the old Amy. They showed her coming back to her roots but did a poor job of it. They showed Amy as being happy and enjoying what she was doing and only thinking about Ty when she happened to see him. Ty was always shown as longing to be with her to talk to her and lost in his life. As to how she acted that night at the table and up to that point I fully agree with you. She was still carrying some feelings for Ahmed and it showed. I still feel that she was trying her best to tell herself that she did not care but it showed from the beginning of 8.01 until the break that she had feelings for Ahmed and those feelings and the money meant more to her than her feelings for Ty at times. It was never explained or talked about in any way to make you think that her feelings for Ahmed had gone away. They just took him out of the picture and thus there was no relationship. I’m sorry, it does not work that way. He would not have just walked away. Else he would never have accepted Tim’s invitation to dinner after she had told him what she did at the mansion. I am sure she would have received texts and phone calls from him as she was not the one who had sent him away, it was Ty and Jack. I think the reason she was able to take off the ring (at Pike River) was she knew she could have gone back to Ahmed and picked up where she left off and live this new life. It’s just my opinion but it’s the only way I could see her having that “who cares?” attitude. There are so many questions that needed to be answered and never were. The writers had enough loose ends to tie up they could have used 805 to 818 for them to be at a point where as a couple they would be ready to start thinking about marriage. We could have had a wedding about 904 and go on from there. I will never be able to watch season 8 without questions popping up. I loved your letter to Heather and have often wondered it you ever received a reply.
[I have not yet received any reply. It is likely that this is such a busy part of the production season that she has no time. Still, I would like to have had some small impact on the writing of this season. As I said elsewhere, if they make the same mistakes in Season 9 that they made in Season 8, there won’t be a Season 10-at least not for me]
7. I feel that what keeps Amy on the edge of being in trouble all the time is that she seeks thrills (your explanation” of Euphoria” makes sense). I know a few of these types and they will do anything for a thrill and when they can’t do or find one they suffer from depression. It is what makes Amy come alive! It has been ever since she was branded the “Miracle Girl”. She likes the attention, even though she may not know how to deal with it, maybe because she never really received any from her dad so she seeks it in other men. I don’t think she realizes how she comes across at times and it is purely about the thrill and attention. Sometimes she allows the person she is sharing the thrill with to become part of her high and thus you have her attractions and kisses.
Thanks. I always enjoy your comments.
— Dale Speedy
[After “the kiss” in Europe either Amy or Ahmed has to be sacrificed. Of course the writers chose to turn Ahmed into a nut-case in 8.04 and I mourn the loss of an interesting character and Amy’s only friend.
I just want to voice my protest that I think the plot took the cheap way out. There is no prior indication in Ahmed’s behavior that he would exhibit such insanity as we saw at 8.04’s dinner. In fact, up to his confession of love for Amy while touring the new mansion, I felt a lot of sympathy for him. As a character he had responded to Amy’s straight-forwardness and her talents and her beauty-despite their obvious differences. In the same way Amy had responded to his warmth and protectiveness and admiration.
So I felt they made him act wildly out of character at that dinner, with no prior indication that was in him. Oh well, too bad.
Thanks Dale. I really love reading your thoughts.
– Bill Sims]
billsimsposts 