Heartland Season 16 Episode 6 Recap

After two heavier episodes, Heartland delivered us one that’s a bit lighter this week while still packing a punch and moving the story forward.

During the episode, we saw a long-overdue reunion, Amy working with an animal we haven’t seen on the show before and Jack and Lisa working through some lingering relationship hardships.

Want to know more? Then keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 16 episode 6!

That’s not a horse

At the start of the episode, we saw Amy riding with Logan through the Youth Center grounds when she got an urgent call from Parker.

Apparently, Parker is part of an online movement that helped to shut down a nearby Wild Animal Adventure ZOO that was abusing and neglecting its animals along with a slew of other animal rights violations. And when Parker overheard the people from the Animal Rights group that there is a problem horse in one of the pens, she volunteered Amy’s services.

However, it turned out that Parker misheard, it wasn’t a horse that was causing problems. It was a zorse. That’s right – part horse, part zebra.

Although the animal wasn’t exactly a horse, at least not entirely, Amy was still able to get close enough to put a bridle on the zorse. And in the heat of the moment, she asked the Animal Rights Worker if it was possible to bring the animal to Heartland instead of one of their sanctuaries so Amy could work with the zorse and rehome him herself.

The Animal Rights Worker agreed and so Heartland gained a new, exotic animal.

But Amy had her work cut out for her because the zorse was unlike any animal she’s worked with before. Yes, it is part horse, but it’s also part zebra – a wild animal she knows nothing about. On top of that, years of neglect and no training made the animal skittish at best. So, Amy was stumped as to how to gain the zorse’s trust.

First, she gave the zorse some space and did some research with Logan. As well as considered multiple options as to what to do with the zorse including putting him with the herd of wildies or giving him to Colette, a horse collector who Amy worked with back in episode 1305.

But none of the options felt right. And when Amy was making little progress with the zorse and he charged at a nearby-standing Parker because she was about to ride her horse Micky, things weren’t looking too good.

But after Finn cleaned up the zorse’s hooves, the animal seemed calmer already. And Logan jokingly suggested the perfect home for the zorse.

So, Amy turned the zorse loose in one of the fenced-in fields that belonged to the Youth Center. It was the perfect place for the animal because there it could feel safe without any pressure, a place to just run free.

And since the zorse seemed to bond with Logan’s horse Challange while the zorse was still at the ranch, Logan followed his gut and turned Challange loose for a while, too. Two loners coming together to form their own little herd.

Stuck between two worlds

Speaking of Finn cleaning up the zorse’s hooves, Heartland season 16 episode 6 also saw Amy and Finn seemingly making some headway in their own personal relationship.

After all the hostility of episode 1604 and then seemingly getting to a good place again at the end of that episode, it was still hard to tell where Amy and Finn really stand when it comes to their friendship and possibly more. And in this episode, although we saw some development in the said relationship, I’d say it’s still a big mystery.

At the very start of the episode, when Amy was at the Youth Center riding with Logan, Clint came up to them and showed Amy the quote the farrier gave him for re-shoeing all the horses at the center. It was quite a steep number so Amy suggested that Clint get in touch with a farrier friend of hers – Finn. And, apparently, Finn took the job because later in the episode, Finn came by Heartland to thank Amy for the gig.

That’s when Finn helped Amy out by taking care of the zorse’s hooves and also opened up to her a bit.

This little conversation seemed to shed some light on what’s going on with Finn this season since it suggested that Finn is being pulled between two worlds and trying to figure out in which he belongs.

What are those worlds? We don’t know exactly. But if I had to guess it would be a wilder world back in Kindersley that made him flake on all those clients Amy got him earlier in the season and a more tame one in Hudson with his grandfather’s farm and Amy.

And, since at the end of the episode we saw Finn promise to help take care of the zorse financially after Colette’s donation to the center ran out, it might suggest that Finn finally chose the tamer side of quiet life in Hudson.

But only time will tell if that’s actually the case.

And since we know that Robert Cormier, who plays Finn, tragically passed away before he could finish filming season 16, I fear that in the end, Finn will end up returning to his life in Saskatchewan.

Either way, I can’t wait to see how the storyline of Amy and Finn ends up developing and resolving.

New York, New York

Another thing that happened in episode 1604 is Jessica found out that her old friend Ezra is putting together an art show of Jessica’s photos in a New York gallery. And, since she was really nervous about the whole thing, she asked her husband Tim to come with her.

After helping to reunite estranged father and son in episode 1605, Tim thought about his relationship with his own son Shane. And, when he found out that Shane works for a law firm in Philadelphia which is pretty close to New York City, Tim decided to make his trip to New York an opportunity to instigate a reunion of his own by reaching out to Shane.

So, in this episode, we saw the two spend some time in New York City, both hoping to make their trip memorable. Jessica by having a successful art show and Tim by seeing his son again after years of estrangement.

First, let’s talk about Jessica.

All throughout the episode, we saw her fret about her art show and when the day finally came, Jessica was a ball of nerves. But as the guests of the opening party (mostly her friends) started arriving, Jessica went into hostess mode – greeting everyone, introducing people to Tim, the works.

But, when Jessica left Tim with her New York friends and went to greet some of the other guests, Tim started to suspect that her old friends weren’t quite on the same wavelength as Jessica. They kept talking about photography as if it was just Jessica’s new hobby, not her new career.

And things came to a head when Jessica realized that none of the art critics or art collectors that Ezra said could be there had shown up and the night was almost over.

So Jessica asked Ezra about it and he eventually admitted that none of the art world people he reached out to had responded after he sent then Jessica’s catalog. So, to soften the blow, Ezra turned the opening into a party for friends.

Jessica was devastated after realizing that people in the art world didn’t like her photographs, which mostly consisted of cowboys and ranch life imagery. She was hoping it would be her big break but in the end, it was anything but.

Tim, of course, tried to cheer up Jessica by telling her that the photographs would sell like hotcakes back home. But it didn’t help. After all, Jessica had spent all that money on framing and shipping for nothing.

So, now that New York was a bust, it will be interesting to see how Jessica bounces back from this setback.

Will she take Lou up on her offer to be her Dude Ranch manager or will Jessica stick to photography as her career? I’m hoping for the latter but after a failure like this (at least in Jessica’s mind), you never know.

The long-awaited reunion

While Jessica was getting everything ready for the art show, Tim was supporting his wife in any way he could. He even did some bonding with Jessica’s friend Ezra over steaks and stories about Jessica. However, Tim had concerns of his own during his time in New York.

Ever since he reached out to Shane at the end of the last episode, Tim has been waiting to hear back from his son. But now that Tim was actually in NYC, he was more eager than ever. So much so that Tim even reached out to Shane’s mom Miranda to see if she has heard from their son. But when Miranda told Tim that she has heard from Shane and that she thinks that Shane probably won’t be able to make it to the art show, Tim was understandably upset.

Tim was really hoping to reconnect with Shane and fix his past mistakes. So, when on the morning of the art show Shane texted him that he can’t be there, it devastated Tim.

Fortunately, Shane change his mind, and after the party was already over and both Jessica and Tim had a bit of time to wallow in their misery, the gallery doors opened, and in walked Shane, all grown up.

Yet, the reunion didn’t start out that great.

Tim was visibly shocked and nervous to see Shane again after so much time so he didn’t quite know what to say. They exchanged some pleasantries but the conversation was generally really awkward and when Shane left you could see that he was disappointed, expecting more from the reunion with his father.

However, while the old Tim might have left it at that, the new Tim recognized that he messed up and didn’t say to Shane what he came to New York to say. So, with the encouragement of his wife, Tim chased Shane down the street and the two finally had a real conversation.

Tim finally got to apologize to Shane for losing touch for all those years and the two went to a stake house to talk some more over dinner.

Does this mean that we will be seeing Shane more this season? I don’t know but I sure hope so. After all, it would be awesome to see Shane visit Heartland later in the season and catch up with his sisters as well!

If we’re being honest

Finally, the last storyline of Heartland season 16 episode 6 had to do with Jack and Lisa getting over yet another relationship hurdle that only seemed to bring the two closer together.

In the previous episode, we already saw Lisa and Jack have a disagreement where Lisa thought that Jack wasn’t supportive of her dreams while Jack was just sad that Lisa needed to leave again so soon after she got home from her last trip.

The two resolved that at end of episode 1605, but in this episode, more tension seemed to grow between the two.

Early in the episode, we saw Lisa return from a shopping trip in town saying that she had to buy a few new things because all her colleagues on the circuit had already seen all her outfits multiple times while none of them seem to wear anything twice.

Jack, of course, couldn’t believe that the other people in the horseracing industry really would care that much, but Lisa explained that if you’re going to represent the best horses, you need to look your best, as well.

The conversation ended with Jack saying that he wished he could be right there with Lisa and see how beautiful she looks, but Lisa didn’t pay any mind to Jack’s comment which seemed to upset Jack.

So, all through the episode, we saw the two seemingly move in two different directions.

Lisa was packing for her next trip and talking about how excited she is to show pictures of the zorse to her circuit friends. While Jack was planning his life at home – going to the fishing cabin for a while and whatnot. And it didn’t help that Jack seemingly now thought that Lisa suddenly has become this fancy, high-class woman and wouldn’t care for a say at their fishing cabin because it’s a bit worse for wear.

Jack did try to get the two of them to go out to dinner before Lisa left. But that all got derailed by Logan and Parker staying for dinner and suddenly Jack saying that Lisa will be overextending herself if she has to cook the dinner for the family before the two of them leave for their dinner.

In the end, Parker was the one to get Lisa and Jack to finally stop tiptoeing around each other and talk it out.

Parker saw that something was wrong between Jack and Lisa, so she got Amy to take care of the dinner for the rest of the family while she set up a romantic table for Lisa and Jack at the loft.

And it turned out that once again Lisa and Jack were misunderstanding each other.

Seeing all the shopping and packing that Lisa was doing, Jack had mistaken that for excitement and thought that Lisa couldn’t wait to go back to work. While the truth was that Lisa was dreading leaving home.

While Jack’s behavior made Lisa feel like he doesn’t want to spend time with her.

Luckily, the two got to talk it out and at the end of the episode, we saw them have some white wine with a side of fishing at the ranch’s pond. Lisa’s big romantic gesture to show Jack how much she misses him while she’s traveling.

And hopefully, we won’t see more misunderstandings between Lisa and Jack for a while, because two such episodes in a row are enough for the whole season and I’m ready to have my happy, content, supportive Jisa (Jack + Lisa) back.

Last thoughts on Heartland season 16 episode 6

It was really cool to see Amy and Logan working with the zorse.

Not only because it’s such an interesting animal and one we haven’t seen on the show before. But also because Logan was coming into his own and trusting his instincts with the zorse and his horse Challange. After all the hardships Logan has overcome in the last few seasons, it was great to see him confident and in his element.

And I loved how Jack told Parker that “happy ever after isn’t the end of the story, it’s kind of the beginning”.

Parker was afraid that by getting the Zoo shut down they created more problems that before. Especially, when it came to the zorse. So she channeled that frustration into giving Jack and Lisa a chance to talk about their problems.

But Jack was there to let her know that giving everyone their happily ever after isn’t as easy as she might think it is. Not because it’s impossible but because happily ever after is complicated and it still takes work. And I think that’s a great message for anybody to remember. There’s always going to be ups and downs, you just keep going and cherish every moment.

Promo for Heartland season 16 episode 7

And here’s the promo for the next episode:

Heartland season 16 episode 7 will be called “Vigil” and it will see a storm blowing through Hudson which will lead to a sad goodbye. Amy will be concerned that her worst fears about Finn have come true. And Lou will meddle in Katie’s life by reading her journal without permission to find out which boy does Katie has a crush on.

This is also the episode in which Mallory and Jake return to Heartland, so you definitely won’t want to miss it!