Why we did what we did
Yes. We went there. We did it. We did what we never would have conceived of doing prior to the airing of When Calls the Heart season 10 and we didn't do so with glee, at least not much. Chapter 22 of Stolen Hope was an incredibly sad and difficult chapter to write. In it we took a step that we haven't seen in any LucaBeth-based fanfic, and that is to step away from the happy Lucas and Elizabeth pairing and remove Elizabeth from the scene altogether by killing off the character. From a literary standpoint, it was a bold step.
But our reasons were not so much literary as they were philosophical and practical. You see, as long-time fans of When Calls the Heart (Sue Marie from the very beginning), we grew to love a storyline and characters that, for us, became cherished parts of our lives. We expected these characters to continue as they had always been and the storyline to behave linearly as it always had. Instead, the story 'canon' was retconned by a new showrunner, and, in our opinion, the lead character of the show, Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton, saw her character obliterated. Since that time there has been real grief with us over the loss of something precious, as I'm sure that there has been for many of you. But, for us to go forward with the tale, we deliberated and felt it was something we needed to do. And so, Chalkdust To Eternity was born.
In full disclosure, Elizabeth wasn't our favorite character. Lucas was. Even with Jack she could be annoying, headstrong, and selfish. But she was good. Season 10s Elizabeth was not.
When we watched the show, we recognized it not as Lucas's show (nor Nathan's, nor Rosemary's nor the Town's) but as Elizabeth's since it was the story of her journey, and it was her journal that chronicled every step. That was until season 10. In season 10, we learned that she was an untrustworthy narrator and that the journal she wrote in wasn't something we could rely on but could be retconned into meaninglessness, depending upon who was running the show.
For those who have never heard the term 'retcon,' it stands for retroactive continuity. Wikipedia has a good explanation of it. But in short, it is when, for whatever reason, a writer of a work of fiction creates a narrative that contradicts, ignores, or changes established history within a story, taking it in another direction that the original would not have supported.
In Season 10, we saw this happen in three key ways.
First, we saw it in the storyline plot of Elizabeth having to finally deal with her grief over Jack's death in season 5. Now, despite what Brian Bird has said, television series are not like life. They have short runs and, generally speaking, anything that happens in them of import has to happen in a relatively short period of time. Shows certainly don't typically don't last as long as When Calls has. So, when the program took five seasons to build a romance between Elizabeth and Jack, it was a long time in series-land. When it took three seasons after his death for her to open up her heart to let go of her grief enough to take off her rings, opening her heart up to love again, it was a significant thing. We who watched the show lived it. We rooted for her. We felt with her. We saw the conflict she had in her heart. Sometimes we were upset with her but we stuck with her because the writing was well crafted and we loved her story. We wanted to see her heal.. However, in season 10,
In season 10, however, Showrunner and head writer Lindsay Sturman, a woman whose forte has leaned more into science fiction and fantasy than it has historical family drama, and her team of writers (three who should have known better) pretended that this had never happened. They pretended that Elizabeth had never talked with little Jack about his father before (even though we saw it on screen). They pretended that Elizabeth hadn't come to any sort of agonizing conclusions about projecting her love for Jack onto his replacement, Nathan. And they pretended that her diary entry, where she proclaims explicitly that Nathan was NOT to be her lifetime nor was she his, didn't happen. In our view, this approach was a gross betrayal of four seasons of carefully crafted storytelling by previous showrunners and the viewers who stood by them. It was sloppily and carelessly done. And, despite all the little magical faires jumping around saying it's the best season ever and returns the story to its roots, it was not and it does not. It was a poorly and insensitively written season, but that criticism goes beyond the retcon.
Second, Season 10's storyline was a retcon of its own self and contradicted itself in many ways. This move seemed to happen about mid-way through the season, around episode five which to LucaBeth fans was a despicable and cruel piece of out of character writing. In one episode everything changed and the people who I am sure are being paid good money to carry on the show's legacy did an about-face on what they themselves were setting up - the end result being more of a train wreck than a train trip which we saw toward the end of the season.
In the beginning of the season, an optimistic Elizabeth tells Bill to "Carpe Diem," seize the day, and be open to new experiences in life. This advice echos the advice we've seen her give to others throughout the series' history. It echoes advice given to Ned's daughter over her fear her father would be devastated if he married Florence and lost her. It mirrors advice she gave to Ned just prior to the same wedding. And it mirrors advice to Clara who, like Elizabeth, had lost her husband in a painfully short span after their marriage. Historically, Elizabeth was always prone to giving this sort of advice and knew what was required to live a meaningful life; but that Elizabeth was missing in the second half of season 10. Instead, Sturman and her team of character assasins developed an Elizabeth who was fearful and frozen and who ultimately betrayed her selfless fiancé by making neighbors, town, memories of her dead husband, the town's Mountie, her dysfunctional bestie, pretty much everything more important than him.
We were told that Elizabeth had to stay in Hope Valley or there would be no more story, but as authors, we say if your imagination regarding your heroine is dependent upon geographical region, you need to give up writing. Anne did not stay in Green Gables. Jane Eyre did not stay in the orphanage. And even Pride and Prejudice does not sequester Elizabeth Bennet in just one location, rather her story goes where she goes just as Elizabeth's story could have easily carried on and gone to the mythical Governor's mansion they created out of thin air to breaky up the couple, retcon the story, and possibly get rid of Lucas. Rather than expanding the show's potential, in doing this, the writers and creator committed to the show's storyline being forever stuck on a set built for the turn of the 20th century, never being able to grow because, per Brian Bird, "the town" is the lead character, not Elizabeth. I'm sure this revelation brings lead actress Erin Krakow comfort seeing they see the Jamestown Set as determinative of where her character grows. They can't turn that village into a boom town with modern technology. They tried a little of that in season 9 and it fell a little flat (we had a traffic jam for a day and were building a foundary off set that nobody ever saw and nothing ever came of, oh well but back to the retcon of Season 10).
A little later on, wise Aunt Agatha tried to pressure Lucas into leaving Hope Valley, and he was resolute on why that wasn't an option, supposedly putting Elizabeth's fears to rest. Watchers saw this as being the case and something that Elizabeth and Lucas had already dealt with in Season 9 when he proclaimed in the most beautiful of scenes, "You are my adventure, You are my passion." Lucas had no desire to go anywhere else. He had finally found his home – until he didn't.
Agatha furthermore told Elizabeth at the time that Lucas was an excellent match for her and that she had been given a second chance at love that she should hold on to with everything she had. A couple of episodes later, however, Elizabeth wouldn't even follow that love across town to live in a house he wanted to build her - something that when Jack wanted to do it for Elizabeth, or Jesse wanted to do it for Clara was never seen as a 'grand gesture' - but because it's Lucas and we somehow have to paint his love language of generous gift giving as a character flaw, a cardinal sin.
What bunkum. What a contradiction. And, how offensive! If Lucas wants to use his wealth for the betterment of his community and to help others, some(who, face it, already hate his character because he was a rival to Nathan) want to paint him as trying to buy people even when we've never seen that to be the truth. But when Rosemary wants to USE Lucas for her own grand gesture, a party she over-promised on, even to the point of taking the wood for a wedding trellis that he was lovingly designing for his long-awaited wedding to the woman he adored - the whole town, including Elizabeth, was okay with it and even sang Rosemary an anthem dedicated to her.
Lucas saved the day. Rosemary took the bow. What a sick community. (and no, Team Nathan, I suspect that many of you didn't see it that way, but I might suggest you are wearing Mountie-Red colored glasses and not being very objective here).
Early in the season, Elizabeth told Lucas that she had discovered that the heart has an infinite capacity to love, and the more you love, the more you can love. She was so anxious to marry him that wanted to elope (I think that is where it was heading prior to the decision to retcon). But a few episodes laer and the new Elizabeth suddenly discovers she couldn't love him with her whole heart and unceremoniously dumps three weeks before their wedding in a two-minute train station scene where she's sending him off to save the community that was more important to her than he was. There are words for women like that, but we want to keep this story T. Lucas deserved better and so did we.
This brings us to the third retcon, and that was Elizabeth's choice of Lucas as being the 'safe' choice. What a load of hooey! Number one, the worldly idea that choosing the 'safe' choice is somehow bad just shows how screwed up this world's beliefs are. Are women supposed to long for unsafe choices in men and vice versa? Throw yourself into the arms of someone you're afraid to love is somehow a noble thing because that is better than the guy who would sacrifice anything for your happiness and who loves you unconditionally? Is that what they are saying?
Canon already established Nathan and Elizabeth as friends, so rewriting history and using a frequent Team Mean (a particularly malevolent subset of Team Nathan) talking point that in choosing Lucas she had failed to do what she was afraid to do should have been dead in the water, should have been put to rest in anyone's mind after the end of season 8 and the love-with-abandon Elizabeth we saw in season 9. In fact, John Tinker said they included the extra library kisses at the end of season 8 because he wanted to show that Elizabeth was resolute in her choice. But historical continuity didn't matter to Sturman's hit squad and they went there. Now, we are expected to believe that the man she snogged all over town, the man she practically begged to marry her, the man she allowed her son to bond with, the may she joyfully said yes to it all to, never had her whole heart. What a shameless hussy they created. Many of you are cool with that. We are not.
The writers and creator of When Calls the Heart were simply cruel in what they did to Team Lucas in season 10. Some on Team Nathan's side will say now you know how we felt. Sorry. The situation is nowhere near the same. You were not promised a wedding. You never saw a single kiss. You weren't told the man she could be her lifetime. You weren't told the 'triangle' was over and basically allowed to relax in knowing a painful history was past and marriage and happiness were what awaited your desired couple. Oh you had potential, but you did not lose what we lost.
We lost everything – and they made sure we knew it. They destroyed almost every positive memory we had with negative associations. The beautiful gift of Lucas's library – is now the place Elizabeth goes to have a PTSD anxiety attack because Nathan might be in danger -nevermind she never reacted that way when his life actually WAS put on the line in season 9 when he was hit by a car. The bridge where LucaBeth shared their first kiss – well, she can go smooch on Lucas on that bridge then turn right around, send him home, and spend the evening entertaining her former-would-be-suitor in dimmed lighting, talking about his love life and flirting. If there were nothing else to indicate an emotional affair that season, this scene, which many of you loved, qualified. You would never tolerate your significant other spending late nights discussing personal matters of love outside of your presence and bearing your heart to that person instead of you - but because you like the Mountie and the Actor that plays him, it's just fine. It wasn't fine. It will never be fine. And no matter how you like the outcome, she cheated on Lucas with Nathan – which, in our view, destroyed both her character and that of Nathan. But they weren't done.
They destroyed our memory of Union City, one of the most beloved and significant scenes in LucaBeth history. There, we got to hear Lucas and Elizabeth talk with depth (apparently something they were retconned into not being capable of in Season 10) about their lives, their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. But when Lucas shared his hope that Elizabeth would allow him to build her a house (which as we mentioned before was not a grand gesture when Jack suggested it to her or Jesse suggested it for Clara – nor was it a grand gesture when Lee promised Rosie he'd build her the biggest and bestest theater/stage this side of the Rockies) his dreams didn't matter. He didn't matter. Their love didn't matter. In fact, he was later chastised for even thinking it and mocked behind is back. What a role model lying Lizzy became.
Throw a little first dance remake into the scene by having Elizabeth look doubtfully over Lucas's shoulder considering his 'think about moving' with anxiety, and you have one massive pile of dung destroying our memory. As an aside, even Lucas wasn't in character, and I blame that on a new writer with almost no writing experience and certainly no understanding of our characters chosen to write that scene. Lucas is well-read and sophisticated. "I'll give you the moon" is sophomoric. The idea he wouldn't automatically understand Elizabeth's feelings a complete retcon of season 9's "we just know each other so well". They should all get different day jobs if that is the best they can do.
Finally, they destroyed the proposal by dressing them up in the same outfits they wore in 9.12 and having them walk down the same street, only in reverse, with Elizabeth standing by Lucas's side as she looks apprehensively at a sign for a campaign she is pushing him to pursue as her emotional-lover watches her from afar. She was by his side, alright – apparently plotting how she would stab him (and us) in the back.
What the writers did was cruel. What they did was deliberate. And they will do it to Team Nathan without blinking if they want to, so watch your hearts. They simply don't care.
Our hearts ache for Lucas, whom some have never understood. He is not the caricature some have built in some fanfiction (which some seem to confuse in online comments), so set that aside. And once you 'get' him and his characterization, you will feel very protective of that character, which is what made this so utterly terrible for those who do. I say this as a former team Nathan fan. The betrayal we saw is beyond comprehension.
This was a man who grew up with parents who didn't have time for him and showed him no affection – yet despite this, he had such a generous heart that his childhood ambition was to help others and be 'Robin Hood.' He wandered from town to town and, by his admission, never fit in anywhere. He came to Hope Valley and fell in love, patiently waited (passive is not patient; and proactive is not pushy – learn the difference) for Elizabeth to make her choice. Then, when he felt he was in the way of that choice, and she may indeed want Nathan, he backed away from her (even though he was in love with her and they were dating at the time – a boundary Nathan never respected even as he never respected their engagement boundaries in Season 10) At the end of the day, his patience paid off and in a perfect illustration of a 1 Corinthians 13 type love, Lucas had true love – or so we were told.
She created a bond with him in physical ways (on the bridge and all over the place in season 9). She gave him a sense of family by having him bond with her son and gave little Jack a father figure to adore. She told him she hoped to give him the life he always dreamed of, told him 'she'd rush home to him every night and struggle to pull herself away from him in the morning - that even if all his worldly possessions were burned up in a fire, there would still be love - and said 'yes to it all' when she promised to marry him and allow him to be a father to her son - only to turn around in essentially five episodes and engage in mockery of him to her bestie, commit emotional adultery on him with Nathan, and we reiterate, blind-sightedly dump him at a depot after she'd promised to be by his side, sending him off to take a job he didn't want to save a town that was more important to her than he was. Again, we have our thoughts but are keeping the story T.
Then there was Rosemary, who in her most annoying season 2 annoying personality was made co-lead of the program for half the season. This character morphed into a massive user and negative influence in her friend's personal life, and acted very much like a Borderline Personality Disordered individual, dysfunctionally clinging to her narcissistic buddy who pronounced that neighbors and friends are what matters. When she said that, it was clear that the show left its foundations in terms of worldview and has embraced postmodernism.
To explain, prior to this, the 'village' was always important. God has called us into the world to minister to it. But clinging to a house and geographical proximity while ignoring your commitment, the selfless love of your partner, and the need of your son for a father (and Lucas was four-year-old Jack's father figure for half of his young life) because you don't want to move from your house – mocking and rolling your eyes about this selfless man to your bestie – that never would have happened. In the new worldview, men are mostly weak. When Calls mostly reflects that and sadly most of the entertainment industry as well. But, on the show, the women are not strong. Elizabeth is selfish. Rosemary is flighty, disloyal, dyfunctional and runs over Lee. Fiona, Mei, and Faith are hood ornaments until needed for a scene. In short, it's a village of misfits, and if we wanted that, we'd tune into politics. We won't waste our hearts on this show.
But so goes the world. It seems that everything of beauty must now be attacked or destroyed, and anything valued before must be turned on its head. Traditional values, forget them. You will bow at the altar we want you to bow at, and even an innocent show is not beyond our reach.
Team Lucas was beyond devastated by a show we invested our hearts in and found an escape from worldly troubles. We were traumatized by the outcome of a season in which we were expecting a wedding, and many of us are no longer going to watch the program (your authors included). We were then attacked and gaslighted by the show's creator, the showrunner, and even the lead actress (no, Erin, it was not a fun rollercoaster, and things did not end as they should unless you meant us leaving behind a program which holds no regard for its viewers – that we will do).
It was all of these things combined, as well as other things we won't belabor you with, that caused us to reach the creative decision we made in crafting the last chapter.
Brian Bird told Team Lucas that we were wrong. The show was about the forest, not about the trees. So, if that is the case, the story should stand without Elizabeth. We felt killing her off and reuniting her with Jack was a better approach than the utter assassination of her character, which took place in season 10. When we did it, we didn't let her linger or suffer. And, we chose to have Bill, who is 'the judge' be the one who avenged her death. Amos Dixon had tried to murder Jeanette, he planed on doing the same no doubt in season 6 with Lucas and Elizabeth. And in this story he carried forth that plan. His connections were keeping him from paying for his crimes so it seemed to us to be fitting that the judge pronounce sentence, reciting his list of crimes as he did so (a list of crimes which are not unlike what the show's writers did to us in season 10. Little Jack lost a father. The old Nathan lost a good woman as a friend. The town lost their teacher. Bill lost a daughter he could be proud of. They try to gaslight us into believing none of that was true, that it's still the same show, but it doesn't make the lie true.
When we wrote our tale, we held onto Canon as well. Nathan was never to be her lifetime. We honor that. But we have worked to give him great love. You will not see us do to Nathan what we have watched many of the writers on this forum do to Lucas. Some of those writers might criticize our bold move to kill off Elizabeth, but to them, we say spare us the sanctimony. We've watched you turn Lucas into a scoundrel, a serial rapist, a pimp, a coward – we've seen you kill him off in jail at Dixon's hand, kill him off with the flu, run him over by a reindeer after he was on a drunk – in other words we've watched you go to great lengths and give accolades to the utter destruction of a character our hearts hold as precious, so before writing one word of criticism toward us for killing Elizabeth's character, we suggest you clean up your own cesspool and remove the mote from your eye before examining our specs. We're not interested in hearing your opinions, and no, dears – it would not be better if Lucas had died. Your wishes are malevolent. Examine your heart. Killing Elizabeth was not a joyful thing for either of us. Both of us wept. At the fifth reading, there were still tears. But we felt it was necessary for our story and for us to move on. Some may not go with us. That's okay. We've enjoyed having you and thank you while we did.
In the end, we look at the program and ask "Where Went The Heart?" It's no longer the same show to us and it's no longer the same Elizabeth. They have so thoroughly destroyed what we love that neither of us had the heart to continue a love story for a couple we know no longer exists. It was an inexcusable betrayal and we felt killing her off, while she remained a good and loving character was a better path than turning her bad to accomplish the task. We honored history (the Mountie and Teacher did end up together) and we will honor the rest of the characters in a way that also retains their history prior to Season 10 which, in our view, is a non-canonical retcon.
As authors, we believe it's important to bring closure to our audiences and not leave fanfiction lingering for years and years unfinished. This story will have its conclusion at some date in the not-too-distant future. However, it has taken a turn that neither of us envisioned when we began the tale. All of the remaining characters will wind up happy. Nothing as shocking as what just happened will happen again (though change and drama will occur). You've gone through the worst part, and our hope is that for those of us who stick with the story, you'll find staying with us was worth your time. We know our hearts are in sync with many other LucaBeth fans whose hearts were just as destroyed by the writers. For these dear hearts, we will be giving our darling Lucas his happy ending so this tale can provide the closure we need to move on – and all within a pre-Season ten context. We love hearing from you, so please continue with your feedback. You are important to us. Janine & Sue Marie.