When Calls the Heart “Heart’s Desire” Review (Season 2 Episode 3)

A new two-hour special airing of When Calls the Heart aired on the Hallmark Channel tonight with the first focusing primarily on Abigail Stanton going to Hamilton to find her missing daughter-in-law Clara and the second primarily focusing on Elizabeth, who returned to Hope Valley, helping the father of two of her students tend to their homestead while he was away for a few days.

Some of the highlights of the first hour also included:

• Rosemary being offered a role at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco by Wallace Zelman, a legend in the theatre world;
• Elizabeth’s sister Viola getting engaged to Sir Lionel;
• Jack working like crazy in Hope Valley to get the new church/school built before Elizabeth’s return to town;
• Rosemary’s dream role turning out to be a lie because the men sent to offer her the role actually worked for a man named Cliff Connolly, whose box office receipts were stolen by Rosemary’s former manager Mike Ryan – she was to be used by the men and Connolly to get Ryan to come out of hiding and return the money;
• Jack figuring out that Rosemary was in trouble, thanks to a townsman who was nearly run off the road by her captors, and rescuing her
• New town mayor Henry Gowen basically pilfering money for new mill owner Lee Coulter;
• Bill Avery having to deal with a very upset Abigail over learning his wife Nora is actually still alive and then Bill having to deal with Nora herself;
• Elizabeth’s other sister Julie still secretly seeing Jack’s younger brother Tom; and Elizabeth being the only one who knows about it and expressing her concern over Julie’s lack of judgment where men are concerned; and,
• Elizabeth’s parents expressing concern about her decision to return to her teaching post rather than remaining in Hamilton to look for something better.

The highlights from the second part of the episode included:

• The town holding a “Welcome Home” party for Elizabeth at which time Jack takes Elizabeth on a walk to show her the completed church/school, which is really quite beautiful;
• Lee hoping to get the railroad to put a stop on property that he owns just outside of Hope Valley, only to have Gowen get in the way of those plans;
• The town newspaper man offering Rosemary an advice column in the paper (what was that man thinking?!);
• Bill meeting with another mystery man in Hamilton and seeming to be doing something nefarious (for which I think is actually an undercover case for which he is working);
• Lee deciding to go after Gowen in whatever way he can to get the man out of his position as Mayor; and,
• The school/church officially opening.

What did you think of the two-hour episode? Were you glad that Elizabeth finally returned home? Do you like the addition of Clara to the town? Are you glad to see the new school opened? What do you think Bill is really doing in Hamilton? Did you enjoy seeing Jack and Elizabeth together at the homestead? Please share your thoughts below.

The next new episode of ‘When Calls the Heart’ will air on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday, May 23 at 8/7c.

Series Leads:
Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher
Daniel Lissing as Jack Thornton
Lori Loughlin as Abigail Stanton
Jack Wagner as Bill Avery

Guest Stars:
Martin Cummins as Henry Gowen
Pascale Hutton as Rosemary LeVeaux
Kavan Smith as Leland “Lee” Coulter
Marcus Rosner as Charles Kensington
Charlotte Hegele as Julie Thatcher
Lynda Boyd as Grace Thatcher
Garwin Sanford as William Thatcher
Devon Weigel as Viola Thatcher
Jay Hindle as Sir Lionel
Max Lloyd-Jones as Tom Thornton
Eva Bourne as Clara Stanton
Mark Humphrey as Frank Hogan
Laura Bertram as Mary Dunbar Graves
Erica Carroll as Dottie Ramsey
Loretta Walsh as Florence Blakeley