What is WCTH- Drama or Romance?

A Short Book/Movie Comparison Inspired by all these Promotions

I have a confession. 

I don’t watch a lot of romantic Hallmark movies. 

Gasp. I know! 

I do watch more of the Hallmark mystery shows. 

I think it’s because usually I like my stories with a little more teeth and tension. 

Honestly, I feel the same about many Christian fiction books, but one book that stands out as a clear exception to me (and there are a few others) is When Love Comes Softly.

Talk about starting with tension!

Here’s a young, happy woman suddenly widowed from her beloved husband right after bravely surviving the trip across the country and finding land of their own. The book’s beginning is that our hero is left grieving, pregnant and alone, in a wagon with everything she owns, including boxes of treasured heavy books (I’m with you, sister!), in a vast untamed wilderness.

How is that fair? How is that right? 

It isn’t. 

And that’s what draws me in. 

I had to know how the story would go. I had to follow the twists and turns to the end. 

Recently, I was reminded in a Hearties interview by one of the admins that what happened in Season 1 of WCTH is that Elizabeth, a brand new teacher, shows up to a town that has been shattered by a mine explosion where most of the men have died. She emphasized that point. And she was right to call our attention back there. Everyone is grieving. The beginning of our beloved show is based on and grows out of tragedy in a town, not romance. That comes later. 

Everything is new to Elizabeth as she hasn’t cooked or cleaned for herself. Over time, she becomes an integral part of this community and town. But she makes a lot of mistakes along the way. But she continues to try and follow her heart/instincts. Hope rises above all the coal dust.

Elizabeth meets Mountie Jack and they are immediately at odds. Both are headstrong. Jack, it turns out, is there, not by choice, but because her rich father wants his little girl protected. He angrily requests a transfer out of there but Elizabeth is trying desperately to stay. 

How’s that for an impossible start? How can that tension possibly be resolved? 

When I originally started watching this show, these were the things that drew me in. I also related personally as I’ve always enjoyed working with kids (as a teacher and children’s pastor), in addition to having dreams of being a writer myself. 

Seasons 1-4 were enjoyable for me, but they didn’t bring about any big feelings. It was just a nice way to spend an hour each week. Pleasant. But I didn’t think about it very often. 

This changed with Jack’s death at the end of Season 5 and that actor leaving the show. I was very curious about how the show would continue. I liked the two new suitors being brought to town and found myself getting more and more caught up in the story during Seasons 6-7. 

At the end of Season 7, I was finally on Twitter and saw all the memes about the Hug Heard Around the World. That was the first time I realized there was a community called the #Hearties online. I started digging around for more and figured out how to find others through the tag and searches. I began reading blogs and watching fan videos on YouTube. It was amazing!

Then after episode 2 of Season 8, watching Elizabeth ride away from Nathan and the “I love you” log in sheer panic, with such a stricken look on her face, and seeing the reaction of fans on social media, it was like someone turned on the faucet in full force. 

I couldn’t stop talking and writing about the show. My family was like what is happening? Words, connections, and ideas were just gushing out of me. So I began blogging and engaging with others online, instead of just watching and reading from the sidelines. 

I was all in. 

Until I wasn’t. 

It was like the water just dried up after that Season 8 finale. It wasn’t just what we saw on the screen. It was the fallout online. Not just negativity, it was, in places, ugly and hateful. The opposite of what Hope Valley represents. I wanted no part of that. So I withdrew.

It wasn’t just that Elizabeth didn’t pick Nathan or get that final kiss. Their guaranteed HEA.

It was because the greater story with the best kind of tension wouldn’t be played out. Wrestled down. Explored. Only part of Elizabeth’s fear was faced. There were so many threads left hanging, unanswered. 

Do you know how you could have gotten me to cheer for Lucas as endgame? He needed to stay true to that mysterious, cunning gambler we first met in S6. To stay strong, not soft. Find a way to make that work long-term. I’ve seen it in other stories. But that’s not what I saw in S8&9. 

A story could have been written that made this unpredictable choice just what Elizabeth needed. 

But that tension would have needed to ramp up. 

Instead, it disappeared. 

Lucas went from card shark to arm candy. 

To make him fit in. 

The perfect malleable guy. 

That is until Season 10… when Lucas dusted off those old skills to help Henry. And later he ran a con for the greater good to get information they needed from the governor. Then he gave a rousing speech on the radio to rally all the communities out there, not just Hope Valley. 

I do get why Team Lucas fans are upset. But to me, the story is no longer flat and plateaued– for Lucas’ character or Elizabeth’s. It has teeth again. An edge. For both of them.

In When Love Comes Softly, when a widower who lives nearby offers to marry the leading lady suddenly left alone in the world (because he also lost a spouse and needs a partner), the main tension is not with the man, but between the young grieving woman and the child. (I wonder if we will see some tension between Elizabeth and Allie in S11 in spots?)

The lead male character in that book is quiet and consistent, giving them both space and time to adjust in their own way. He watches a lot and listens deeply, not just to what’s being said, but also to what isn’t being said. He follows both of their cues, but tells the truth as gently and honestly as he can when he needs to, then goes back to watching and waiting some more. 

Sound like any other character you know? 

From the beginning, Nathan faced an uphill battle with Elizabeth (and the town). He was the new Mountie and Jack was beloved. Big shoes to fill. It was impossible not to compare the two men in red serge. 

As Nathan and Elizabeth get to know each other in Seasons 6-7, it often seems like he is holding back as she tries to draw him out. This is the opposite of Elizabeth and Lucas’ relationship. Lucas created ways for them to spend time together and she’s often hesitant. 

And later to make the stakes even higher, it turns out Nathan has a big secret. He was supposed to be leading that mission at Ft. Clay, but Jack takes his place and is killed. 

Woah. No wonder Elizabeth reacts the way she does. It’s an ironic twist of fate for him to end up here when Jack can’t come home. 

Or is it? Making her even more upset, Nathan admits that he asked to be stationed at Hope Valley to watch over her and Little Jack. He felt it was his duty. 

Like when she figured out Jack was assigned to watch over her because of her own father, Elizabeth didn’t react well to this news. Just ask Rosemary who gets an earful back in S8. Her BFF said that it was noble and selfless of Nathan. Elizabeth is just plain mad. She didn’t ask for him to do that. 

Later, when Elizabeth questions why it took him so long to share this truth with her, Nathan admits he didn’t tell her because he felt guilty. When she says she doesn’t understand why, he confesses he’s fallen in love with her. 

You could cut the tension in that scene with a knife. 

Yes, there was physical tension after getting caught in the rain on the picnic with Elizabeth and Lucas or in the saloon office late at night so that she needed to fan herself. And several other times like after the motorcycle versus horse race or the night when he stayed over at her house. That tension was real. There was physical attraction for sure played out on our screens several times.

But for me, there’s no comparison about what I’d rather watch and root for. 

I want true love to win. Against all odds. The more impossible the better.

That’s the story I want to keep watching. Those are the stories I seek out. 

Lucas, as written, was just too easy.

It’s not because I think he’s a bad character or not a good actor. 

Maybe that’s why I liked the mysterious cliffhanger with Lucas caught in bright headlights so much. Who is back? Someone from his past? And now there’s a full on investigation with a murder board of clues and strings trying to connect the dots? YASSSS!! 

Count me in. 

I’m truly excited to see what’s next for all three lead characters in S11. 

YOUR TURN TO TALK: What do you think?