When Calls the Heart Season 12 has revealed Jack’s secret and it’s already disappointing

After a year of waiting, we’ve found out what Hargraves had to tell Elizabeth about her late husband, Jack. But the opening of When Calls the Heart Season 12 is a bit of a letdown.

From Seasons 1-5 of the binge-worthy TV show, Elizabeth and Jack were the golden married couple. They were doing everything by the book, including having a Little Jack of their own.

By the time Season 5 finished, Jack had died off-screen in a freak landslide accident. In the seasons that followed, Elizabeth had different suitors, getting together with current boyfriend Nathan in Season 11.

But that wasn’t the last of Jack, as proved by the Season 11 cliffhanger. So what’s going on with him in When Calls the Heart Season 12?

When Calls the Heart Season 12 revealed Jack’s medal had been found

In When Calls the Heart Season 12 Episode 1, Hargraves tells Elizabeth that Jack’s Commissioning medal had been found while a team was excavating the area where he died.

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This creates some ongoing tension between Elizabeth and Nathan, while Little Jack feels more connected to his dad than ever before. He parades the medal around at school and during his horse riding lessons, which inevitably leads Nathan to have to confront his own feelings.

Obivously, nobody wants to be reminded of their girlfriend’s dead husband, but emotions run deeper than that for Nathan. Also a Mountie, he never had the chance to meet Jack, but greatly respects him through stories he’s heard from colleagues. It’s also implied Nathan was supposed to go on the mission Jack died carrying out.

As he tells Elizabeth in the Season 12 debut, Nathan feels an incredible amount of guilt around his death. If he was supposed to take the fall, he’s had to live with the burden of that for the last seven seasons. Not only that, but now he’s taken Jack’s girl too.

On top of this, there’s how the news effects their relationship. There’s a clear strain between the couple as Little Jack won’t stop talking about the medal. Nathan puts on a brave face for him, but also second-guesses whether he’s doing right by him – he’s not looking to replace Jack as a father.

But if we’re being completely honest, this isn’t exactly the big reveal we were expecting. Given that Jack died off-screen, it was heavily rumored Jack hadn’t actually died at all. Much like Dallas brought JR back from the dead in a ghostly vision, the same could have happened to the former Mountie.

Failing that, Jack could have been harboring a much darker secret – something that really left Elizabeth in peril. Given the Mounties tell so many stories about him, cover-ups could have been rooted in the group itself.

The medal drama obviously opens up insecurities for Nathan and Elizabeth going forward, but it’s an underwhelming conclusion to something we’ve been waiting a year for an answer to.

Is Jack still alive?

No. Jack very much died in the Season 5 landslide accident, even though we didn’t see it.

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Jack was on a training mission in Fort Clay in the When Calls the Heart episode ‘In My Dreams,’ just two days after his wedding to Elizabeth. While we never see the death, his body recovered and the town comes together and says their goodbyes.

Elizabeth struggles with staying in Hope Valley but ultimately knows it is her calling.

The town dedicates the school in Jack’s honor, which is when it’s revealed that Elizabeth is pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy – Little Jack. In Season 12, Little Jack is just starting school.

Jack did get his return… in a way

Hallmark Channel

We did sort of get a physical return for Jack in the Christmas special of the same name. He made an appearance to Abigail Stanton in a dream and asked her to send Elizabeth a message.

“Will you let her know that I am happy that she is moving on with her life? And let her know that she is doing a fine job with little Jack, and I cannot be more proud of both of them,” he explains.

When Calls the Heart Season 12 is airing weekly on the Hallmark channel. Catch up with its episode release schedule and how to watch outside of the US.

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