Reviewer Rating: 4.25/5.0
4.25
Things got very sticky between Seasons 2 and 3 of The Way Home when Hallmark announced that the beloved series would be moving to Hallmark+. Thankfully, this was all resolved after an audience uprising.
Well, that was nothing compared to the excitement of All the Way Home Season 3 Episode 1, which we (thankfully) all watched together.
Let’s get down to business
First, let’s discuss the new mysteries we’ve been dying to solve all season. Another child became a “victim” of a pond because his parents left the child with a note at the edge of the pond and then jumped in without the note.
In the series premiere, Kate runs through the woods in a white gown, creating the allegory of the woman in white. In the first episode of Season 2 of “The Way Home,” Colton’s grandmother is explaining the magic of the pond to him.
So what clues do we have now?
The young woman is wearing what looks like something from the 90s (hello Dr. Martins and a denim jacket!), and I’ll be damned if she doesn’t look much like Alice.
The pond is a gift that continues to give new life to the central theme of “The Road Home”.
More about this will come to light as the episode progresses, but it only makes sense if we take it one step at a time.
In “The Way Home” Season 3 Episode 1, Jacob finds his way home, and we don’t have to endure lies to keep his story safe or keep Del away from the truth. Getting her involved was one of the first things they did.
It’s much easier for her to accept what happened than you might think. Kate began simply: “Mom, the pond is not just a pond. This is Jacob’s story.” Showing the almanac may be irrefutable proof, Del is glad Jacob is home and she doesn’t want to nitpick too much.
When Del confessed to Kate, she was shocked that her children were in so much danger before her eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she would finally recognize Alice from the past.
We seem about to discover that Alice has been a constant presence in her life for decades, so perhaps this understanding of family gifts will give these memories a boost.
Then again, when Alice brings up her thoughts on Kathy to Kate, Kate is eager to close the door on the possibility that Kathy is from the future. How could she say that Alice’s imagination might be a little wild after everything she’d been through?
It didn’t take long for Del to realize that the mystery of the pond must remain a secret. If the Landry Line were the only line that could be driven, that would put them in dire danger.
Well, keeping it a secret might have put them there.
Del keeps getting threatening letters (no postmarks, I noticed). One included this sentence: “Your lies have been known. Time will tell. But who is threatening her and why? Why her when Del is the only one who has not crossed the pond?”
It had been nine months since Jacob returned. Does the culprit have a specific “time” to reveal the truth? Why sit back and scare her three-quarters of the time instead of just spilling the beans?
Perhaps the letter writer was simply annoyed that Jacob had returned to his hometown twenty-four years later and was living a sheltered life as a crop worker on a farm. Del treats him like a child, which is to be expected but also sad.
How does he readjust to the present if he has never experienced it?
They all seem to be stuck in the past, no matter how hard they try to talk themselves out of it.
Jacob went home. Kate is publishing Suzanne’s work and wants her to visit her friends. Alice talks to the pond to feel closer to the friends she left behind.
It’s no wonder that the opening scene conjures up many different scenarios about the past, present, and future.
As soon as Kate tells Alice that she may be thinking too much, she discovers a cryptic message in one of her father’s books. “There is no curse on the water. Believe in magic. Come to the pond.
This may be the first “welcome” message we’ve ever seen regarding time travel, but it’s not the only one in this episode. More on that later.
Nine months later, when Elliot and Kate are safely together, Elliot suggests she travel back in time to update Elijah on Jacob’s condition and share it with Susanna. Her words have now been printed .
Even with the caveats added in the chapters added after the fact, bringing down the Goodwins with the truth about Cyrus would have had repercussions.
Jacob only came home because Cyrus was chasing him. He wanted to stay, but Thomas and Susanna urged him to jump. Has this story been passed down through the ages? It seems significant enough to be passed down from generation to generation.
Kate and Suzanne’s visit was…weird. There are a lot of “shippers” hoping these two are more than just friends. Susanna clearly has feelings for Kate, and the way Kate approaches her gives the impression that she has similar feelings for Susanna.
“If you only knew how many times I’ve imagined you right here like this” seems to be playing into that possibility, but I don’t appreciate it.
Writers have to take a stance on their characters and stop playing with fans’ emotions.
No wonder Suzanne wants Kate gone so quickly. Not only does Cyrus fear for Kate’s life if she learns of her visit, but it’s also painful for her to see the woman she loves but can’t have.
As if Kate’s dance card wasn’t full enough, she also meets Thomas, who, as always, is lurking around the pond hoping to see her. Well, it’s only been a day since she left their timeline, but still.
Kate’s reactions to Thomas were as animated as ever, and in a way that she hadn’t been when she was with Elliot. Again, throwing gifts at fans, stringing them together, and inciting “shipper wars” is not cool.
But Kate’s belief that “there are others” couldn’t be less strong. Even though Elliot doesn’t want to be her understudy, he seems to play third fiddle to Thomas. and Suzanne, that’s enough to get anyone’s tongue moving.
Still, Kate says she already has someone, and she tells Elliot she chose him over everything else. Who am I to see a lack of conviction in her words?
And, not to keep beating the “it’s been nine months” thing, but Jacob just happened to remember the photo he had posted under the table when we caught up with them a few months later.
This memory reinforces it – there’s no way Colton wasn’t visiting, looking for his son in who knows what time period. Sadly, we know he never found him, but it’s unlikely he didn’t give time travel every opportunity to do so.
Surprisingly, when Kate and Alice travel back in time, they never catch him. Colton died shortly after Jacob disappeared, so he had to jump around a lot in order to conduct a thorough search.
As events progress, the evidence of his knowledge only increases. Colton met Alice in 1974 when she recorded a song with him about pond.
Jacob’s memory has been unlocked and he remembers Colton telling him to always remember that he loves him no matter what “will” happen. Jacob realizes that Colton may have known what was about to happen and that there was nothing he could do to save his son from a fate similar to his.
Is there a child in every generation who disappears into the past or future, never to be seen again, while the family follows them into the pond to try to save them?
Did the young woman at the beginning give her child to Alice, who lived in another time and place, leaving her daughter behind to travel elsewhere?
Was it Colton who finally pushed Alice into the water at the pond and met her fate?
There were people running around the yard and watching the family in the fields. Was it the same person who pushed Alice? Or it could be that some evil person—Goodwin, perhaps—bears a grudge against the past that has been reawakened by Kate’s publication.
No doubt, now that we know Del and Sam have grown closer and used the barn as their own personal hideout, Colton will show up at some point.
Time is relative in Port Haven, and I have a feeling more people know about it than the Landry family would like.
The Season 3 premiere of “The Way Home” is a great start to the latest chapter in the Landry Pond travel saga, creating many new mysteries.
Have you started making some guesses about the plot of this season from its opening to its finale? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts in the comments!
Watch “The Road Home” online
