Recap: When Autumn Leaves Begin to Fall - Season 12 - Episode 6
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Allie gets back home from a visit to the pond in the woods and tells Nathan how the stream where the salmon spawn is cloudy and dirty. She believes this will negatively impact other wildlife living there. Nathan asks Allie if she wants to talk about it over dinner but Allie storms off.On Nathan’s porch, Elizabeth tells Nathan that it’s not just about this and that Allie’s heart is still broken. She thinks Allie could use a fun distraction and Nathan suggests going to the hot springs before the weather turns. Elizabeth keeps sneezing and Nathan believes she’s coming down with something.
Later, Elizabeth has a dream about Nathan coming to her door to check on her, feeling her feverish head and laying her back down on the couch. She awakens to Nathan knocking on her door, actually having come to pick her up for the hot springs trip. She tells him that she can’t go, and Nathan helps her to sit down; he says he’ll come check on her later.
Henry, Emily and Opal clear out the hazelnuts from Lucas’s office at the saloon, as Edwin yells at them to clean up once they’re done.
In the saloon, Fiona helps Rosemary set up for the radio hour. Fiona suggests a sort of radio salon to Rosemary where people can hear more than one voice and perspective at once. Rosemary loves it and agrees to do it; Fiona suggests the name, “The Daily Dialogue.”
Ava plays the piano at the saloon and Rosemary is agitated that she’s doing so. Lucas approaches and Rosemary asks him if he’d like to be on the new radio show segment, but Edwin pulls Lucas away. Allie enters with a message for Rosemary that Elizabeth is sick, and that Allie’s there to get Elizabeth a grilled cheese. Oliver arrives for a grilled cheese, too, and tells Ava that Constable Grant wants her to stop by the station when she can. Allie tells Oliver that she’s going to see what’s going on with the salmon and asks if he wants to join.
Nathan tells Bill about a forensic specialist task force that the division sent in, a one Inspector Georgie McGill. They both greet Georgie in the Mountie office, and she and Bill explain that they know each other from forensics training years ago. Nathan and Bill bring her up to speed on the gold coin, Toddy Davis, and the Garrison connection. Bill and Inspector McGill agree that they will leave on a train in an hour and Nathan will stay back to protect his undercover identity.
Minnie checks the mail and sees an envelope from The Schwartzman School for the Blind. Joseph tells Minnie that he sent for the information so that they can all sit and look at it together. He tells Minnie he has requested a tour of the school.
Rosemary comes to Elizabeth’s with cold medicine. Elizabeth tells Rosemary about how upset Allie is about the lack of fish spawning in the stream, and Rosemary suggests that Lucas talk to the students about it. Allie checks in on Elizabeth, who made Allie cupcakes; she takes a couple and leaves.
Ava visits Nathan at the station as per Oliver’s message. Nathan relays that Ava’s stolen luggage was found and should be there by tomorrow; Ava thanks him and hurries out.
Nathan comes over to Elizabeth’s with ingredients to make chicken noodle soup. Elizabeth is a bit loopy from her cough medicine and she rants nonsensically to Nathan.
Oliver and Allie observe the water quality at the stream together, and they trespass the McGinty land to go explore further. As they walk they eat cupcakes and talk about birthday parties; Oliver says he’s never had one. They find cattle tracks and wonder if the cows are kicking up dirt into the water and causing algae blooms, preventing the fish from spawning. Men on horses come riding up, and Oliver and Allie hide. Oliver is upset that they trespassed the land, and in conversation he reveals to Allie how his mother is really in jail.
Bill and Inspector McGill ride the train together and discuss their forthcoming strategy. They also discuss their past time in training together – McGill says that all the men couldn’t forget that she was a woman, but Bill never seemed to notice. Bill asks if she thought he really didn’t notice her, and she reveals that it drove her crazy.
Bill and Inspector McGill meet with Sonny in jail; McGill reminds Sonny that they met when he and his brothers couldn’t come up with an alibi for the day of the Great Rocky Mountain Train Robbery. Bill tells Sonny that if he provides them with some information, things might be a little easier for him. They ask him about Toddy Davis, who’s known for moving stolen goods, and Sonny says that Toddy has an operation. Inspector McGill asks Sonny to flip a coin for what information he’s going to tell them: who else is trafficking in his stolen goods, or where they might find the rest of it. They ask Sonny if he’s ever seen a gold coin like that one she’s holding, and he tells them “Teddy” Davis used to deal in coins like that in Union City, and if they let him go, he’ll tell them more.
Nathan helps Elizabeth back to the couch after eating soup. Nathan is expecting Allie back, but he’s happy that she’s keeping busy instead of being upset over Wyatt. Elizabeth reminds Nathan that heartbreak is like illness: it’s up and down before it’s over. Elizabeth tells Nathan about her 15-year-old heartbreak and that it took some growing up to know that love isn’t about imagining who you want someone to be, it’s about knowing who they really are. They say they’re happy to know one another.
Later at Nathan’s over dinner, Allie apologizes for being late and tells him not to be mad at Oliver. Nathan says it’s fine that she’s spending time with friends, as long as they are her friends. He asks to discuss Wyatt just this once, and he tells Allie that Wyatt isn’t worthy of her and that she deserves someone worthy of her regard.
On the train back to Hope Valley, Bill and Inspector McGill discuss how they both know Sonny was involved in that train robbery. They don’t have enough evidence, but they’ll need to find out who sold the coin to Toddy. They apologize to one another for keeping their cards a little too close to their chests in the past, and agree to aim to do a bit better with this time around.
Elizabeth has another fever dream that she is at the stables, and she sees Nathan chopping wood and splashing water on her face.At her house, Nathan wakes her up and feels her forehead; she still has a fever. Elizabeth says that she wanted to go horseback riding and asks if they can go tomorrow, but he says he needs to find someone to teach her class tomorrow.
Rosemary collects cards that the students made for Mrs. Thornton as she substitutes teaching the class for her. She tells the students that they are going on a field trip to “put civics into action.”
At the saloon, Fiona sets Lucas up at a table as Rosemary and the students arrive. Fiona takes the audio board as Rosemary introduces her segment with Lucas and the students on “The Daily Dialogue.” The students pepper Lucas with questions on-air about the comic book delivery delays, hazelnut exports and sales, and the native gray wolf population. Allie pushes Lucas on the latter, relaying how the cattle crossing has contaminated over 50% of the stream. Allie presents her and Oliver’s research to Lucas and points out where algae is present; Lucas says he will take it into consideration.
At the salon, Joseph visits Fiona as she cleans up ahead of selling the place. Joseph brings up Fiona’s “other” big news, but she says she hasn’t accepted the marriage proposal yet. Joseph tells her that while her work requires sacrifice, it shouldn’t require too much sacrifice.
Allie brings Oliver a cupcake to the stables to say thank you, as the map they made might have changed Governor Bouchard’s mind. Allie brings up what he said yesterday and that she knows what it’s like not to have parents around. She tells him how Nathan is her uncle who adopted her and that her real father is in prison, but it doesn’t mean anything about who she is. Oliver splits the cupcake to share half with Allie.
On Elizabeth’s porch, she, Rosemary, and Fiona look at the cards the students made for Elizabeth. They discuss Allie and Elizabeth mentions her new curriculum led by the students’ curiosity. Fiona asks her if she’s every considered writing up what she’s doing and trying to get it published. Rosemary encourages her to do so, too, and Elizabeth says she feels like she can do anything.
At the café, Fiona reads The Schwartzman School’s brochure and tells Joseph it’s impressive. Minnie worries about being far from Angela if something were to happen, but Joseph reminds her that Angela won’t want to live with them forever, anyway. They agree to tell Angela about the school tour and Joseph suggests that they pray on it.
At the saloon Lee gives Ava the trunk that was delivered; she pries it open with a screwdriver that Lee supplies as she doesn’t have the keys. It’s filled with dark clothes and boots and Ava quickly closes it and says it’s hers; Lee says he’ll get it upstairs for her.
At Nathan’s, he looks out the window and sees Elizabeth amongst the sheets drying on the clothesline in the wind. He meets her out there and as they kiss, he wakes up from a dream to Scout licking his face and he sneezes.