Did ‘When Calls The Heart’ Writers Pivot On Lucas, Little Jack Relationship?
Now that Elizabeth and Lucas are an official couple, a lot of When Calls The Heart fans are wondering about Lucas and Little Jack. Since last season, several have commented on the lack of screen time with Little Jack and Lucas.
Now that Season 9 has premiered with “In Like A Lion,” some Hearties have commented that the Hallmark series writers are now trying to fix an alleged Season 8 mistake.
There is actually a good reason why there was little interaction between Lucas and Elizabeth’s little boy.
Here are the details.
Hearties Wonders If When Calls The Heart Writers Are Rectifying Lack Of Lucas, Little Jack Season 8 Screen Time
On Sunday, Hallmark premiered When Calls The Heart Season 9. In this first episode of the new season, there were a lot of Lucas, Elizabeth, and Little Jack scenes. This has been a huge topic on social media.
Credit: ©2022 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: David Dolsen
One Heartie wrote in one of the many When Calls The Heart Facebook groups, the When Calls The Heart Fanatics group that they felt that the writers were backtracking on the relationship between Lucas and Little Jack. They felt that the writers had to fix some “blunders” from Season 8. They also wondered why “Little Jack” is now just called “Jack.”
Anyone else notice that the writers tried to rectify all the Lucas blunders from last season?
They had Lucas suddenly interact with Jack, he visited inside Elizabeth’s house, and invited both Elizabeth and Jack to dinner all in the very first episode of the season?
Like how obvious can they be? Lol
Another thing I noticed is that Elizabeth doesn’t refer to little Jack as “little Jack” anymore, now it’s just “Jack.”
Those are valid observations. However, there is an explanation as to why Lucas and Little Jack were not in many WCTH Season 8 Scenes.
When Calls The Heart Showrunner Explained Why Lucas, Little Jack Were Not In Many Season 8 Scenes
A year ago, When Calls The Heart showrunner, John Tinker, and his wife, Ronda Rich went on Facebook Live to answer questions from Hearties. Here, he explained why there were so few scenes of Lucas with Little Jack, then portrayed by the Taylor Twins, Lincoln and Gunner.
The COVID restrictions really limited our use of the Taylor twins… But there was some things like that that escaped my attention… Chris McNally and Erin Krakow brought it to my attention, for instance… They helped me realize, Lucas has never been in Erin’s rowhouse. Perhaps appropriately. He’s simply a suitor and he’s not seeing in. But yes, in short, it did limit us.
Turns out, it was Covid, not storytelling issues that limited scenes between Little Jack and Lucas.
When Calls The Heart Season 8 Deleted Scene Was Between Lucas, Little Jack
In that same Facebook Live, John Tinker also described a deleted scene between Little Jack and Lucas. He started with, “Little Jack was in town with his mom, and added, “Lee and Rosemary returned.”
Next, Little Jack was pulling around a toy dog on a string that was “yea big.” Tinker indicated with his hands that this was a tiny toy pup. This was “actually a gift from Lucas.” “When he returned, Lucas gave that dog to Little Jack and he said to Elizabeth… ‘a little toy dog on wheels’… And he said, ‘Every boy needs a dog.'”
One Fan Made YouTube Video Of Lucas And Little Jack
Although Erin and Chris were concerned that there were not many Lucas and Little Jack scenes, and there was also that deleted scene, it turns out that there are plenty of scenes between Lucas and the little boy.
Fans that have been supportive of Lucabeth have gone out of their way to make sure that these rumors are laid to rest. One of those fans responded to the fan who wrote about the WCTH writers fixing their “blunder.” Turns out, this has been previously discussed, and there is even a fan-made video to prove that there has been a lot of screen time devoted to Lucas and Little Jack.
This Heartie wrote, “Last year this topic was discussed, and someone posted a collage video of the MANY times Lucas and Little Jack interacted. It was excellent! You naysayers will be very surprised- I sure was!!! TO THE PERSON WHO POSTED LUCAS & LITTLE JACK VIDEO, PLEASE POST IT AGAIN!”
They got their response. Here is the YouTube video of Lucas, Elizabeth, and Jack from previous years, proving Lucas and Little Jack hung out a lot together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR1FuJxIlwpmW3Nh8PSmL09AZIuKT3bBz1GeH3BcyHjCOPP-KLjmSomlPgM&v=2u2XKc_zcM0&feature=youtu.be
Some Hearties Want ‘More Sizzle’ In When Calls The Heart Season 9
Not all conversations about When Calls The Heart Season 9 have been about Lucas and Little Jack. One Heartie didn’t feel the “sizzle” between Lucas and Elizabeth. This Heartie felt more “sizzle” between Elizabeth and Jack, and Elizabeth and Nathan.
Sorry. We just didn’t feel it last night. Lucas is a hunk, no doubt about that, & Elizabeth is a beautiful woman, but there was more chemistry between her & Jack & her & Nathan than with Lucas – for us. We love the show, but I’d like a little more sizzle.
What do you think of the sizzle?
Hearties, Do You Prefer ‘Little Jack’ Or ‘Jack’?
Lastly, there has been a lot of talk about Elizabeth’s son. He has now been called everything from “Baby Jack,” to “Little Jack,” and now even “Jack.” Why did the name change? Hallmark has not shared any explanation for the name variations.
For one, the writers may have thought it would have been hard to lose grown-up Jack and then call the baby named after him, Jack. That would have been painful for Hearties. In addition, when there are the same names in families, there are often nicknames. Little Jack certainly could have been called “JJ,” standing for “Jack Junior.” Sometimes children named after a parent take on their middle name.
Hearties, which name do you prefer?
When Calls The Heart Season 9, Episode 2, entitled “Out Like A Lamb” premieres on Sunday, March 13, at 8 p.m., Eastern, on Hallmark.
The problem with the scene of Lucas giving Little Jack the dog that was cut… it didn’t air, so can’t be considered part of the story. 2 scenes of Nathan with Little Jack in S8, however, were NOT cut… so it couldn’t have been totally due to COVID restrictions. And none of Lucas’ interactions in previous seasons were anywhere near as heartwarming as Nathan holding Baby Jack after his dedication. QUALITY over QUANTITY.
An interesting fact about chemistry is that it is subjective. So, for the majority of Hearties who were Nathan fans (BB admitted N was more popular)… it’s hard to watch E&L together. It makes me cringe. No sizzle.
As for Baby Jack / Little Jack / Jack… I think at first it was the writers’ clever way of distinguishing son from father. But now that Jack is growing up & his father has been gone for several seasons, it makes sense to drop the nicknames.
I do not like Lucas and Elizabeth at all. He is so vanilla now. He is better as a schemer bad boy. He is so boring with her. Of course I find basically anyone with her gets washed over by her boringness. The new Jack is so much better than those twins who played him. This cute has personality and also is quite natural when he says his lines.