I'm not sure what the deal is with this newest season of Heartland. Either none of the actors are into it any longer -and who could blame them after so many years- or they need new writers. Every episode seems to drag on and everyone seems.....glum. It's honestly not very fun to watch lately.
Another thing that doesn't work is the Lu as the mayor thing. First off, the actress who plays Lu seems to only want to appear in about half the episodes lately and there is always a convenient storyline that takes her away somewhere so her being mayor of that tiny podunk town...and it's such a big deal she needs an executive assistant?..... the extraordinarily grating Rick, who I would definitely be happy never seeing again.... that storyline never made sense.
Also why can't all of these super successful people not build their own homes on the grounds of that huge ranch?? Tim and his wife living in the barn loft like vagrants? The other 3 families all have to run over each other in that little old cabin? WTH?
And why is Peter back? Worst character in the entire history of the program. Never belonged on the show.
I know that the actor that played Finn died tragically in real life right after the season wrapped, or maybe before? Terrible, but it's such a downer of a season it's like they were expecting something bad to happen? Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
All this aside- the show has never been as good since they killed off Ty. He definitely added something to the show and its just not the same now.