Changing Showrunner Ruined WCTH, and Season 10 Finale Proves It
Have the new writers even seen the show's previous seasons?
Hallmark's When Calls the Heart has just seen the conclusion of its tenth season, and with all due respect to Janette Oke's original books and all the effort the cast and crew must have put in to reach this milestone, many fans feel that it would have been better if the heart hadn't called at all this time.
Early in the season, we started to worry that Elizabeth, whose romantic arc seemed to be reaching a happy resolution, seemingly lost interest in her engagement and upcoming wedding to Lucas.
When she finally called the whole thing off in the next-to-last episode, it wasn't just Team Lucas who felt sorely disappointed, but Team Nathan didn't want their favorite Mountie anything to do with the new self-centered and fickle woman that Elizabeth had turned into.
So how did this happen? It looked like the new showrunner and the new team of writers hadn't even seen the show and weren't aware of the arcs developed over at least the last three seasons.
New Showrunner
When Hallmark announced the renewal of When Calls the Heart for a tenth season last June, it was also reported that a new showrunner would be taking over, Lindsay Sturman.
Now, Sturman is a television veteran who had previously worked on such hits as Teen Wolf and Supergirl. She also brought in new writers and co-executive producers Paul Redford (Madam Secretary, Designated Survivor) and Ayla Glass (M.O.D.O.K., Alabama Jackson). They are all very talented and great professionals, but it would appear they didn't click with When Calls the Heart.
Flushing All Past Plot and Character Development Down the Toilet
Elizabeth was an incredibly well-written, complex, and mature character, but the tenth season saw her transform from the accomplished woman she had grown into over the previous seasons into a walking-talking cardboard plot device serving as a source of conflict and romantic drama.
The final season saw her once again choosing between Lucas and Nathan, only now she chose safety, which was totally out of character for her at this stage.
Seemingly out of the blue, Lucas was painted as the villain of the story who broke her heart(even though it was the exact opposite of what actually happened). Furthermore, Elizabeth essentially forced him to run for governor to save Hope Valley. And given all that transpired later, it would appear that she may very well have been driven by purely selfish motives.
It's as if the beautiful romantic story narrated in Season 9, with all the conversations Lucas and Elizabeth had about their childhood dreams, had been completely in vain.
As for Nathan, as soon as Elizabeth laid her eyes on him again, his heart melted, and all his agency was gone in an instant. It's true that her 'aunt,' also Elizabeth, ends up with the Mountie in the original book series, but the way the story got told in the series has been a travesty that completely ruined the once beloved character to a point where she doesn't make any sense whatsoever.