Analyzing Season 8 (Warning! Potential Spoilers!)
Hello everyone, and welcome to today's blog post! So last Friday I promised that I would go into a bit more detail on what the recent news about WCTH not having a Christmas Special this year could mean for Season 8. This changes things quite a bit, and leaves me with a bunch of unanswered questions. I'm also going to discuss a few BTS pics I've seen, but never brought up here on the blog.
So let's get to it!
(WARNING! Potential SPOILERS below. Read at your own risk.)
Faith and Pants???
So I'll start with Miss Faith Carter, and her new modern wardrobe. Yes, it would appear that Faith has gone to Chicago and come back as a fashionable doctor in training. (Not that she wasn't before, but you get what I mean. :)
The city must have worn off on her as now she's flashing some ankle, (As you can see in the picture above) and even wearing what appears to be.....pants?
Now in both pictures I've seen Andrea has her legs close together which doesn't help me. However this picture here makes it look pretty obvious. This is really a first for Hope Valley, and who better to start the trend then the town's soon to be female doctor? Now we did have Rosemary wearing pants when she first came to HV, and even Elizabeth wore some for riding, but they were both more "roomy" or "flowy" then these appear to be.
She also seems to have switched over to wearing the ankle revealing skirts like Fiona does as I've seen multiple pictures with her wearing the shorter skirts. So not only is Faith going to become a talented and skilled doctor, but she's doing it in style!
Lucas' Beard & No Christmas Special
So moving on to the beef of this post, I have to talk about this. So as you know I've seen quite a few BTS pics, and have talked about them on this blog before. One of those pics was of Chris McNally, AKA Lucas, with a long beard. (Pictured above) I already discussed a few reasons he could have it that long in a previous post. Here's the link for you. https://whencallstheheartblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-little-more-on-season-8.html
So then I posted about this crazy looking picture where we see Lucas' beard has now been cut back to its normal length. What does this have to do with not having a Christmas Special? A lot actually. You see the cast and crew started filming Season 8 back at the end of July, and started by filming Season 8's episodes. Not the Christmas Special.
By looking at past seasons of WCTH, it would seem that they film their episodes somewhat in order, as well as in blocks. (Here's a video of Jack Wagner as evidence.) So I'm assuming it would be something like episodes 1&2 together in one block and then 3&4, and so on. However I don't believe that the scenes are filmed in order.
My point is that Chris seems to have the longer beard in episodes 1-2 and then cut it somewhere around 3-6. (But this is just me speculating.)
Now obviously something had to have happened to make him grow it out that long. The hug would be obvious, but (And this is where it all makes sense) first we were going to have the Christmas Special....which hadn't been filmed yet. (To me it seems like the Christmas Specials get filmed after around half of the season has been filmed, but that's just my assumption) And Chris had already cut the beard. So it stands to reason (Since he can't grow the beard back in a day) that he wasn't going to have it that long in the Christmas Special, and then it would have been all grown out for the start of Season 8. (Again this is just me speculating of course.)
What was going to happen in the Christmas Special that would make him grow his beard out? And now that we're not getting a Christmas Special, what does this mean for the love triangle?
No Rings!!!!
Alright, now as with most everything I've discussed I don't know that this is a fact. I'm just going off of what I've seen. I could be completely wrong. However I did happen to come across this picture....
As you can see, there is something lacking on Erin's left hand ring finger. Yes, there is no sight of her rings. What does this mean? I'm not sure. Perhaps Erin had simply not put the rings on yet. That would certainly blow this discussion out of the water and provide a very simple answer. However if that's not the case, then it appears that Elizabeth has finally made the big move and removed her rings. I think so many Hearties are waiting to see this happen, and so if that's why the rings are absent then that means that Elizabeth is really moving on, and opening herself even more to love again!(Yay!)
I know I sound like a broken record, but again I have to stress that this is just me speculating. I don't know anything for sure. But it sure is exciting!
So here's the big thing we get overall when all these facts are combined. These things seem to go in this order.
Season 7 finale ended with the hug. Season 8 begins and Lucas has the longer beard. Filming goes on, and Lucas finally trims the beard, and now we have Elizabeth seen not wearing her rings. Coincidence? Maybe, and yet maybe not as I'm just left to guess and try and piece everything together. It's just pretty interesting when you line up all these things.
The big thing that made me write this post in the first place is the newly added fact that WCTH will not be having a Christmas Special this year. This means that once WCTH is finally on again we will be thrust directly into Season 8, and finding out how Elizabeth, Nathan, and Lucas are all reacting after that hug. Before it seemed as though Lucas would have a short beard in the Christmas Special (As he has already cut it, and the Special had yet to be filmed) and then have the longer beard during the start of Season 8. Now things have been changed and he may just enter right in with the longer beard.
Of course the big question still remains. Why did he grow it that long? I honestly hope its due to the hug, as that would be so dramatic! (Yay, drama! Lol!) But we'll just have to wait and see.
Taylor Twins Cuteness!
And finally I thought I'd end this post with this fun picture of the Taylor twins, AKA Little Jack, and one of the horses. Goodness those boys aren't so "little" anymore! Little Jack is going to running all over the place, and talking up a storm, isn't he? Lol! They're so cute!
Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts below or on my Twitter page! (But no spoilers please!) Have a wonderful day, and God Bless!
P.S. Today is the last day this month's design will be available in my shop. If you're interested in buying a shirt, hoodie, pillow, or poster please hurry on over before they're gone. (Plus you can save 15% on your order! ;) Click here to shop now!
P.P.S. Be on the look out tomorrow for October's design! Believe me, you wont want to miss this one!
Those boys are just so darned cute!!
ReplyDeleteI am thinking since we are nearing the roaring 20s, we may see even more fashion changes around HV. Stay tuned for that!!
Ok, now for the meat of the convo. I'll just throw it out there- I don't think they ever intended to have a Christmas special this year--there, I said it.
My reasoning is this, how in the world would they plot around the hug and not mention it? Christmas is usually a stand alone episode- somewhat. And if they couldn't mention it, how on earth could they avoid it?
Now, possibly they had high hopes the writers could come up with something that would work, but my analytical nature tells me it was just easier not to do one. I realize I could be totally off base, and that's okay. But that is what I believe.
As for the longer beard, we are on the same page. I think he grew it out out of hurt. Possibly he cuts it because the triangle ends in his favor? We won't know for a few months, but this TL heart of mine is holding on to that for now.
Thanks again, love the post!
:)
Thank you! And yes, the twins are just adorable!
DeleteYou make a great point. I don't know what the writers would have done to make the Christmas Special work after the hug. (Not that it couldn't be done, because I think they could have.) But I'm actually really excited that we're going to just jump right into Season 8 instead of a Christmas movie. You've said it before that the Christmas Special's tend to be an island of sorts when it comes to the story, and I'd rather have more time in Season 8 moving the story along, then having a Christmas Special, if I'm honest.
And yes! I'm so hoping the longer beard is due to the hug, and indicative of a Team Lucas ending!
Thank you so much for the comment! God Bless!
Hehe, we have such different reactions to potential spoilers! I want to know them ALL and then analyze the heck out of them and what they could mean for the next season 😂
ReplyDeleteA thought I've had about Lucas's beard (other than triangle related, because it could totally be that too)...that picture of the four men looking at something that I'm guessing is exploding -- maybe Lucas loses a lot of money or even loses a couple workers in the explosion, and takes it really hard. Hence the longer beard. Or he just hadn't trimmed it yet, since it looks like his quarantine beard...who knows?? I can't wait to find out what the reasoning is, though! I have a feeling Lucas is going to have a really good storyline in S8, and I can't wait to see what that is!
Oh, I want to see them all too! Lol! And I don't mind a certain amount of spoilers, but I'd prefer to keep somethings a surprise.
DeleteAnd yes! After seeing this BTS pics I'm SO excited to see what's in store for Lucas this season! It looks really good so far!
Thank you so much for the comment! God Bless!
Hello! WCTH Crew here for the past 4 years, so I thought I’d clear up some of the technical stuff without spoiling anything.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, yes episodes are filmed in blocks. On our paperwork, its reads like “801/802” for the series of episodes were working on, and they normally take 3 weeks to shoot. For the record, the Christmas movies normally take 3 weeks to shoot on their own as well. For conversations sake, we are on Block 4 right now and shooting e7-8.
Also, scenes are not always filmed in order. For example, today were shooting scenes from halfway through the episode but we shot the end of the episode last week. The order of shooting depends on things like weather, actor availability, and location. If a scene calls for a bright sunny day and we have a Pacific North-West Rainstorm, then they can shift those scenes to another day. As for location, it doesnt make that much sense to shoot everything for day 1 in 14 locations, we just shoot everything for days 1-2-3 that are in one certain location first. So all the mercantile scenes in one work day (from both episodes) for example. Last week we had two days where we had to shoot with X actor since they had to do something else on the following days. So we just jumped around to lots of locations and scenes to accommodate their schedule. Lastly, about the rings. Normally the rings and other small objects are kept by the on-set props person. Just before the main actors step on set, this person gives them the gear they’ll need for the scene (a ring, pocketwatch, rifle, etc...). After the actor is done the scene, they return the gear to the props person for safe keeping.
Source: a ginger who’s been behind the scenes of hope valley for the past 4 years.
This is super interesting! Thank you so much for sharing! I do have one question about the gear you refer to it. That makes total sense to me if its gear specific to one scene like a rifle or other utility prop, but is that actually true of jewelry that the characters are always wearing, like say Lee and Rosemary's wedding rings. They wear them every scene. Would they really be on and off all the time?
DeleteThank you so much, SeaVee! I'm so so grateful to you for explaining all this! This is honestly what I needed to read before writing this post. Lol!
DeleteThank you so much for your time! God Bless!
@laura Hey no worries! Think of it like putting on and taking off a swimsuit; when you go to the pool you put it on and then take it off when you leave only to don it once more the next time youre in a pool. The jewelry and whatnot is only on for the scene, but they keep it on as long as theyre on set. Otherwise yes they do have to keep taking it off again.
Delete@WCTH Blog ayyy go team! I saw your post got shared on starwatch so I thought I’d check it out!
Also PS, funny that you mentioned Lee and Rosemary, theyre my two faves and I know them quite well now!
I'm so glad you did SeaVee! And you can't not love the Coulters! They're just gold! :)
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