When Calls the Heeart Season 13, Episode 5, “Growing Pains” Spoilers Ahead
When Calls the Heart Season 13 continues to heighten the stakes and build on the stress from the tragedy of the fires. In many ways, the season supplies one of the heaviest arcs thus far, but the emphasis on community and how all of Hope Valley continues to come together to take care of each other is where its very heart lies. It’s why we’re all here, isn’t it?
But “Growing Pains” isn’t just a good, seamlessly well-established episode—it’s significant for addressing topics that don’t get nearly as much grace or recognition in the ’20s. The show has often implemented various progressive views, so the notion isn’t new, but it’s refreshing and comes at a time when we, as the audience, could use it most.
Lee’s Anxiety Speaks to Us All
If this show ever dares to touch Lee, I’m going to have so many words. So many words. Thankfully, that’s not the case in “Growing Pains,” but rather, every heartache understandably catches up with him, and he reacts through the kind of anxiety attack that’s so horrifying the first time it happens. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like in the ’20s when people weren’t talking about mental health as actively as we are now, because the signs can be so terrifying if you don’t realize what’s happening.
Still, it’s incredible that Faith not only addresses it, but she also validates how important rest is and why all the reaction is normal after a traumatic event. Since the fires, Lee hasn’t properly grieved the loss of the area. He hasn’t fully processed the magnitude of what’s happened and how damaging it’s been for everyone involved, including his family. Instead, he plunged headfirst back into work, and he’s now dealing with the consequences of that pain and heartache. He’s dealing with the trauma through the realization that he’s human and everything is twice as scary once your body demands that you confront it.
It’s admirable that the show is recognizing anxiety, and in the same episode, it also has a man apologize to his daughter for messing up during a significant conversation, as we see with Nathan and Allie. When Calls the Heart continues to be as good as it is because it allows its characters to feel, and this arc with Lee is one of the best things it’s done to establish how vital it is for characters to feel all that they need to and be open with those around them.
When Calls the Heart Season 13, Episode 5 Continues to Establish Lucas and Edie’s Potential Romance
The tension in this episode is chef’s kiss. From the realization that Edie has found a new place to the understanding that they both clearly like spending time together. The progression since Season 12 has been so natural, and so is this honest beat of conversation, where they acknowledge it matters when they see each other at work. They like sharing an office. They like being around each other.
There’s an ease and a lightness in Lucas when he interacts with Edie in a way that’s so different than how he’s ever been with Elizabeth because a part of him recognizes the twin flame in Edie. They’re different where they need to be, but they’re also so alike, too.
She likes spending time with him. It’s why she stayed at Hope Valley. Lucas’ future as a politician is going to require someone with as much edge and understanding as Edie has for the business, so everything about them feels gorgeously fated. It helps that Chris McNally and Miranda MacDougall continue to have the most striking chemistry in the show.
There’s something about the two of them just looking at each other that merits praise because long before they were friends, or even closer in business, they were having these conversations in silence that meant something. They mean even more today as their closeness is now established to showcase something even bigger, so the tension that’s stoking a flame inside of them is utterly mesmerizing. It’s bold. It’s magnetic. There’s a balance in their interactions that’s so lovely that even the beats where they’re a little shy speak volumes, and I can’t wait until they finally give in to all that’s bubbling inside of them.
Now streaming on Hallmark+: What are your thoughts on When Calls the Heart Season 13, Episode 5, “Growing Pains?” Let us know in the comments below.
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