S10 WCTH Retcon or Detour?

Another Common Complaint- #2 in Blog Series

For me, after thinking through lots of different options, this is the best analogy that I can come up with for Elizabeth’s relationships with Lucas and Nathan over the last 5 seasons. 

Do you have a map app on your phone? You know, a place where you put in where you want to go, it knows where you’re starting from, and then it shows you step by step how to get there? 

At first, I used an app that I swear took me the most indirect route possible every time. It was never the same way twice. I felt like I was always getting off main roads and taken through side streets and constant turns, wondering why it was this complicated and how much time I was saving. So eventually I switched to a different app that doesn’t seem to do that as much.

I like that it tells me my choices– giving me options– more than one way to get there and the amount of time each one will take. It also gives me icons before I choose so I know the fastest way or cautions me that this way has tolls. I like knowing all this from the beginning.

But still, inevitably there are times when there’s a wreck or traffic springs up and suddenly everything seems to come to a standstill with red brake lights as far as the eye can see. And in these cases, especially if I’m trying to get somewhere by a certain time, I’m drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, desperate for the app to reroute me. I need it to find me another way through this mess to my final destination, rather than just sitting there, going nowhere fast. 

These kinds of detours are never fun and always nerve-wracking. Usually, the “reroute” involves one-way streets and backtracking– and sometimes it feels like we are going in circles or might even be lost. I have to trust the app knows what it’s doing and will eventually get me where I need to go. 

To be honest, I’m not usually very grateful in these situations, I’m often grumbling and frustrated. This “rerouting” was forced upon me and I know there was a simpler, more straightforward way– even a direct shot– right over there. I just couldn’t use it. 

And that’s the key, isn’t it? The apps give us an illusion of control and choice, but life (and TV shows) can still take a sudden turn that we don’t see coming. That we can’t plan for. 

Can you relate?

Now let’s apply all that to our favorite little show.

It’s like from S6 through S8 they were all Elizabeth, Nathan and Lucas were all on the same basic path together. Then with the S8 finale, and the end of the official love triangle, Elizabeth and Lucas were suddenly split off to go their own way. They took a S9-S10 detour together to explore what could be between them– courting, getting engaged and even planning a wedding. 

And Nathan was re-routed a different way– of course with Allie by his side, but also occasionally walking his path with either Mei or Faith. He and Elizabeth still connected at various times in S9-S10 and continued to cross paths like good friends would in the same small town. 

But near the end of S10, it’s clear that Lucas is headed to a totally new destination than they originally planned, which forces Elizabeth to decide if she really wants to go there with him. She ultimately realizes that she doesn’t want to leave Hope Valley. So to totally oversimplify it– they break up.

On the other hand, during the S10 finale, Elizabeth and Nathan both seem to have come full circle and back to the original point of the detour– they end up back at the log where Nathan first confessed he loved her and Elizabeth rode off upset years ago. These two characters are both the same and also changed. 

At the end of S8, some fans celebrated Elizabeth and Lucas heading off to explore their new love, while some of us clearly didn’t. We didn’t feel like this was ultimately the right path or direction for her. And then in S10, some fans were very upset when Lucas went off on the campaign trail as Elizabeth and Nathan seemed poised to start something both new and old. 

I think S8-9 is best represented as a Detour from the Main Story and Destination with S10 helping Elizabeth “recenter” as my map app sometimes says. But Team Lucas fans disagree.

I’m no expert, but “retcon” when I research the term is often defined as erasing something completely or going back to change something more recent to get back to the original storyline and premise. The most extreme case of a retcon for WCTH I believe would be like bringing Jack back from the dead. That would be undoing something permanent that’s been established as true for 5 whole seasons. That would be a true “retcon”. And no, I don’t think that’s going to happen. 

I can see why it’s tempting for Team Lucas Fans to think this happened in S10. For them, it didn’t feel like a detour, but the right destination and choice. It makes sense in their mind and they could clearly see the wedding and life as a family afterward. 

To be really bold, using that term “retcon”, I think, means admitting that something was wrong with the story and needed to be fixed, which I don’t think Lucabeth fans feel is true. Their point is that the story (and ratings) were fine. So why would they claim there was a retcon? Interestingly, I read that “retcon” is one of the fastest terms to find its way into everyday conversation, partly because of TV show fandoms using it when they are unhappy with the direction of a story, character or plot.

But I think there’s also another test we can use to see if it’s a retcon or an erasing of canon.

We can ask if it passes the real-life test too. What’s the real-life test? We think about if this could happen IRL. Maybe you’ve had this happen in your own life or know others who have. 

Like maybe you had a serious boyfriend. You talked about marriage, maybe you even got engaged. Either way, you made plans for the future. You whispered your “I love you” and enjoyed all those kisses. You got upset if your significant other was gone too long or in any kind of danger. You met and spent time with key family members to bond or get their approval. You were this close to your wedding– invitations sent and dress ordered. But as it got closer and closer to actually merging your lives into one, it became harder to make long-term decisions together. It was harder to find time together, to agree on where to live or what kind of cake to eat at the wedding. To compromise and find a way through where both parties can be happy and fulfilled. 

Wait… that’s a familiar storyline. 

Even though it’s really hard if it doesn’t ultimately work out, none of that takes away from it being a real and significant relationship in your life or someone else’s. When you are in those moments, they are real and honest and true. It becomes part of your/their shared history– your one-of-a-kind journey. Breaking up doesn’t erase that. 

But, now you stand at a different point in your story, trying to figure out where to go from here. Just because it ends or goes in another direction, it doesn’t undo its importance or that it was part of your journey. You still went there and learned more about yourself and what you really wanted out of life. 

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel awful for a while. Maybe even a long time.

“THE LONG WAY AROUND”

I just read this phrase in a book ironically named “When The Heart Waits” by author Sue Monk Kidd. And it feels like the perfect explanation for the Mountie and the Teacher’s relationship this time. 

Elizabeth and Nathan have taken the long way around. 

And it wasn’t easy at times. For them or for the fans. 

Will it all be worth it? 

I think so. 

Some of us who were upset in S8 and S9 may not have liked the detour on our favorite show, but it seems that we are in many ways, we are right back where things took a different turn, to begin S11.

I can’t wait for this new season– another chance to watch two characters that have grown closer even as they traveled on separate paths, somehow despite all the obstacles and wrong turns, find their way back to each other and ride off again… together.

YOUR TURN TO TALK: What do you think about this “long way around” idea- thinking of S8 and S9 as a detour and now we are back on track to our original destination in S10 and S11? What would you add to this? Is is April 7th yet??