Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

CharWoman Hallmark shows like this and Signed, Sealed Delivered are not my usual viewing preference, but I do find them a pleasant refuge when I get too burned out on how meanspirited my own species really is. Watching WCTH started out as a reassuring fantasy of people learning to be kind to each other and a nice journey back into turn of the century Canadian frontier days. It became less historically convincing after the first season, but I'm not going to rag on that too much. It's squeaky clean, which must be nice for families with kids, but with a focus on romantic interests. After a while, I started following the show less as a short-term refuge from modern life and more as a social study. I'm sure people who like this show like it for different reasons, but its high ratings intrigue me.It didn't take long for me to grow annoyed at the total subtraction of indigenous populations from this frontier epic, and unless I missed an extra in one of the rare city scenes, I didn't see the first person of color until season 4 when a new blacksmith came to town. Granted, I don't expect the Pacific Northwest wilderness at this time to be a hotbed of diversity, but so far you'd think North America was just a vacant paradise until white settlers showed up to bloodlessly claim it. Now, I didn't expect this show to dive headlong into serious issues like the decimation of Native Americans or the wages of slavery or, like some other shows, address adult topics like homosexuality or addiction with a modern, gritty perspective. And it surely doesn't. WCTH does promote a gentle feminism (unsurprising given its target audience) that I do appreciate, even if it's likely not representative of its time and place. But the bread and butter is the show's focus on ethics and morality, and not the expected hidebound religious morality (God is mentioned only occasionally). It actually does a nice job of showing people going through personal and interpersonal challenges and working through them, and showing how a community comes together and (occasionally) doesn't. But the biggest surprise for me was how deftly it ties genuine morality to fairness, activism, and fighting abuse of power. Henry Gowan represents a corrupt survivor who serves as a persistent annoyance for the town that slinks out of accountability, (light spoilers here) first as the manager of the coal mine when his pursuit of profit results in a collapse that widows half the town, then replacing the mayor that was in his pocket, then getting an investigation into misappropriation of town resources suspended by promising the railroad a 100% tax break on their new line (the interim mayor promised only a 20% tax break, which was met with some resentment). The railroad helps manufacture and suppress evidence that prevents justice from interfering with its own profits, elevating and sabotaging members of the community according to their compliance with this goal. Even the protagonist, committed educator Elizabeth Thatcher, becomes a target for pushing the railroad representative to consider the impact of its activities on the community.The show has quite often touched on the most pressing problem of our modern era--greed, and how it makes human beings treat their fellow man in reprehensible ways. It demonstrates how businesses can either be a good citizen within the community (Coulter's lumber mill) or a drain on its resources and damaging to its residents (coalmine, railroad). For this, I give it high marks. The episode I'm watching right now (s4e7) is themed on a paraphrase of the Edmund Burke quote: "Bad things happen when good people do nothing". That pretty much sums up the show; it's about standing up for whatever is kind, fair, and just in every conflict, even if it does so in a somewhat oversimplified world. Even if I usually get more out of edgier shows, I appreciate any entertainment that sends this message cogently, and this one does.

wrue-26226 ...I would love to have an agent and a contract like Daniel Lissing. You arrive on set you kiss Erin...a lot, then you take off for a few, or more than a few episodes, and let all of the other cast members do the heavy lifting. Good luck with your career, Dan and don't forget to thank "When Calls The Heart," for the boost. Update: As of 04/15/2018, Jack Thornton is dead. I cannot know but can guess that Daniel preferred some other offer to his role on WCTH and turned his back on the show that gave him his level of prominence. He was good as Jack but I just don't believe he's ready for the "big time" and has made the mistake of so many entertainers in believing his own hype. As I said before, good luck Daniel.

T Gen When it started I thought it had great promise. I think my issue is that I love other British and Canadian period shows, and was expecting the same level of writing, intellect and quality. Sorry, but it's a really dumb show. Forget the million "creative liberties" in using language that belongs in 2017, talking about things that didn't even exist then, makeup and clothes that are ridiculous (especially Mountie Jack's contemporary clothes) etc. It's even the fact that nothing captures the spirit of the time, the romance is cookie cutter kisses that end in a second with no real emotion, there is no real feeling on display anywhere. I could go on. 5 stars only for attempting a period drama, but nothing else. What a waste of my time. If you are a lover of good, intelligent period drama, skip this. If you haven't watch any British or Canadian ones, sure.

lgilbart14 I'm a fan of sentimental, sweet and love-y shows, so I enjoyed the first season a lot. I'm Canadian, so I loved that it was sent in a small town in Canada. I loved the characters, the set, the costumes, the storyline - it was all good. But then the second season happened and everything changed. The characters became blander, the town became more refined. Women were wearing outfits that was not at all believable for that time period or setting. And the fact that they were wearing makeup and styling their hair also annoyed me. Jack wore denim jeans in one episode, which is also not believable. The costume designer took many liberties here, clearly. As did the hair and make up team. From there, it just went downhill. I want to love this show as much as I love "Sarah, Plain and Tall," "Anne of Green Gables" and "Little House on the Prairie" but it's just making it so hard to. It'd be amazing if they just followed the era! Bring back the magic of the first season, please and thank you! (And judging by the many reviews here, I'm clearly not the only one who thinks this)