When Calls the Heart Season 12 Episode 2: You Get What You Give

The comic book craze has taken over Hope Valley. Toby and Cooper and the other children spend every spare nickel on the latest issues, and Henry, watching the boys turned away at the mercantile because they have no money, suggests they work for Ned Yost in exchange for the books. Ned agrees, just this once. At school, Elizabeth cannot hold her civics lesson — half the class is reading under their desks — and one boy tells her the appeal is escapism: the real world is not as exciting as a made-up one.

She tells the students to leave their comics and meet her in front of the school, then takes them to a nearby park to find out why parks matter and what can be learned from nature. They find animal tracks; one child says wolf, Allie says coyote or fox and remembers a dichotomous key in the library, and Elizabeth sends them to the creek for clay to take a mould of the print.

Rosemary is trying to invent a radio news hour and cannot find a story worth broadcasting, until she realises the comic books are the story. Elizabeth brings her the sign she made for the show; Florence arrives with the rival town's paper and an article by Rosemary's competitor calling radio news absurd. Toby runs past announcing that the children are being paid in comics to help Henry harvest hazelnuts, and Rosemary has her subject.

On the air, with Ned running the control board, she interviews Faith, who sees only young people reading with enthusiasm; Joseph, who sees no problem; and Minnie, who only asks that it stay off the dinner table. Needing a counterpoint, Rosemary has Ned fetch Florence, who denounces the craze as absurd and preposterous — and reveals that she has been reading the comics too.

At Lucas's office, Edwin tells Lucas his poll numbers are down and that he needs the urban, corporate and rural votes for the park. Edwin offers the corporate vote in exchange for naming rights, suggesting the Irwin Industrial family; Lee says the park is being named after his daughter, and Lucas says he has given Lee and Rosemary his word. Edwin then brings in Edie Martell of the Cattleman's Association, whose late uncle owned a ranch south of the proposed park.

The parkland, she explains, provides access to a summer pasture; the plan as drawn would end that shared use, and she asks Lucas to carve the ranch land out. Edwin asks whether the Cattleman's Association's vote can be counted on in return. Martell says it is not about politics but about people — if the ranchers go under, hundreds of jobs go with them and prices rise. Lucas puts the park on hold. Lee, certain Lucas is bending to Edwin to push him out, tells him he will not spend more time away from his family for it, and goes home.

Mike and Mei come back from their honeymoon to a hero's welcome and, once the crowd disperses, admit to each other that it was a disaster: food poisoning, lost bags, a lost reservation. Mike's apartment is worse — a water leak has wrecked it. They empty the place while arguing about who left the window open, and take the argument to Faith and to Bill. Faith passes on her grandmother's maxim that in a marriage you can be right or you can be happy, and Bill tells Hickam there are no winners in a fight like this.

Mike apologises at the pharmacy; Mei apologises back and says the fight was part of their story. In the hazelnut fields, Joseph tells Henry it will cost a fortune to shell and bag the crop and that he cannot keep giving it away. Henry asks Joseph to go into the business with him, and Joseph shakes on it.

Nathan reviews Oliver's paperwork, praises the connections he has made, and gives him more to do; he then invites Oliver to the potluck at Elizabeth's, where Allie asks why her father invited him. Mike sets a small table in the field where he proposed and asks Mei to let him move in with her until his apartment is fixed.

The episode closes on Elizabeth's porch: Elizabeth asks Nathan whether he thinks he can make a Mountie out of Oliver, points out that her own students have gone on to do great things because she did not give up on them, and asks whether Oliver turned up on his doorstep for a reason. Nathan says maybe, and tells her he is lucky to have her.

The episode ends on Elizabeth's porch rather than on a hook. Cleaning up after the potluck, the adults note that Rosemary has already pitched radio segments to each of them, and outside the children — Allie, Oliver and Little Jack — are playing tag. Elizabeth tells Nathan she is glad he brought Oliver, asks whether he thinks he can make a Mountie out of the cadet, and points out that her own students have gone on to do great things because she did not give up on them. She asks whether Oliver turned up on his doorstep for a reason. Nathan says maybe, and tells her he is lucky to have her.

Three threads are left open. The park is on hold and Lucas has not said what happens next; Lee has gone home to Hope Valley and his break with Lucas is unresolved on screen. The cadet question from the premiere is still unanswered — the episode has Nathan acting on trust rather than on an explanation, and no reason for Oliver's academy record is established. And Mike and Mei's housing situation is only patched, not solved: Mike moves in with Mei until his apartment is repaired.

The episode does not confirm why Oliver finished at the bottom of his class, does not resolve whether the park will be built or under what name, and does not show Lee and Lucas reconciling.