It’s been a busy week, and my review of The Way Home Season 2 Episode 8 is reallllly late. But better late than never, right? Once again, I loved the latest episode and am giving this one an A. It’s not getting an A+ because I’m still unsure how I feel about the Lingermore resolution, and I think Kat and Jacob’s first talk should have gotten a bigger focus. But despite that, I still loved the episode and felt like the actors really brought their A game to every scene.
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**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR S2E8 BELOW**
The Lingermore Mystery Is Revealed
When it comes to the Lingermore mystery, I had expected something perhaps a little more epic than what was delivered. But it was still interesting to watch everything unfold, even if it didn’t match perfectly with the clues we were given.
I can understand Elliot being concerned that Alice would hate him once she learned the truth. His younger version was perfectly fine with potentially causing Alice to never exist! He was ready to risk her life if it meant a chance with Kat. Even if you can see why he did it, his choice would make anyone angry!
But I really don’t understand why Kat was scared that Alice would hate her. She didn’t know Alice was her future daughter back then. She simply broke up with Brady and briefly considered running away with Elliot. I guess she was worried that Alice would be angry that she hurt her dad’s feelings? But in the present day, Brady hurt Kat even more. So the concern about Alice hating her feels overblown.
But yeah, everyone should have been worried that she’d hate Elliot. 😬 (Even if the theories are correct and Kat was already pregnant with Alice at the party, she just didn’t know it yet.)
In the last scene, a young Kat is shown floating in the fountain, blood coming from a head wound. We know that Kat didn’t want Alice to know about the party, but she also didn’t remember actually seeing Alice there. I’m going to guess she has partial amnesia from the head trauma.
And another point… Why would this lead to Del and Kat never speaking for 17 years? It just doesn’t feel like a big enough issue to cause such a huge rift between them. It seems like Del would have been worried about Kat, not angry. Hmmm.
Jacob’s Scene Was Heartbreaking, But It Should Have Been Longer
Jacob is finally awake and he and Kat get to speak for the very first time. I feel like this scene didn’t get the attention it should have, after all the build up. This was the very first time a lucid adult Jacob spoke with adult Kat. Instead of starting from where we left off last week, the show jumps ahead in time to the end of their conversation. With Jacob’s disappearance being central to the show, I wish they spent more time on his and Kat’s reunion.
However, the actor portraying Jacob knocked his scene out of the park, even if it was shorter. He explained how terrified he was when he first came out of the pond as a boy and realized there were no paths in the woods (i.e. everything was different.) He said that his mother, Rebecca, found him. It seems that he buried his memories of his immediate family because the time travel was so traumatic for him. It’s telling when he asks Kat why she didn’t come for him sooner. If he had tried to use the pond at some point over the years, he would know the pond doesn’t just do what you want. So he’s clearly steered clear of it since he fell in as a kid.
I still suspect that Jacob will ultimately decide to use the pond and try to travel back to the present day. It has to be why his name isn’t in any records. Like Kat said, with Goodwin after him, he really doesn’t have a future in the 1800s anymore.
Del & Sam Are a Welcome Breath of Fresh Air
I’ve been truly enjoying Del and Sam’s relationship. I was suspicious of him at first, but he seems to just genuinely care for her. He even wanted to invest in her idea for the land. I don’t think there was anything nefarious about his offer. He just underestimated how independent Del is, and how important it is for her to find a solution on her own without relying on someone she barely knows. (Or, for that matter, someone she’s close to, because apparently she wouldn’t accept Kat’s money at one point in the past either.)
As for the land, I think she ultimately won’t sell it (just like she didn’t in the past.) But I’m guessing Goodwin’s offer will put the ownership of the pond at risk, which will force Kat to reveal the truth to Del… finally.
Where Is the Show Going With Nick & Alice?
Let’s start out by stating the obvious. 40-year-old Nick will not be having any kind of relationship with teenage Alice. It’s illegal, and just not something Hallmark would do. So clearing that up, where could the storyline actually be going?
At the Lingermore party, there was a brief scene where young Nick saw Alice and was so excited, even though it had been years since he had last seen her. Alice ran away from him, but Nick obviously still harbored feelings for her.
In the present, Nick finally discovered the truth when he read Elliot’s journal. And he’s livid. Let’s take a look at what he read.
First he sees a page where Elliot drew a diagram of the pond and wondered if it could be a time machine. Beneath the pond he wrote “wormhomes are tunnels that connect two areas in space.”
Then he saw Elliot’s earlier journal entries from June 1999. The entries spell everything out. Alice’s first trip back in time and where she’s from. Alice explaining that she’s Kat’s daughter in the future. Absolutely everything.
All these years, Elliot kept the truth about Alice from Nick. Did Nick deserve to know? I feel like he was trustworthy enough to be told. He should have been “read in” on the secret. Maybe he would have tried to travel in the pond to the future (and it wouldn’t work). At least he could have let Alice go, knowing a future with her was impossible.
As for Alice, things are really tense between her and Noah. I’m not sure why Noah’s upset that they kissed, but something’s bugging him about the whole thing.
Ultimately, I think Nick will patch things up with Claire. He seems to truly be in love with her. I do like the intriguing theory some fans have that Claire is an adult Alice who traveled back in time to be with Nick. (It would explain the timing of their breakup and her phone call.) But I have a feeling that won’t be what happens. Surely Nick would recognize Alice, even decades later as an adult.
I’m honestly not sure where the storyline with Nick is heading, aside from a big fight with Elliot. This one has me perplexed.
Kat & Elliot Share a Romantic Moment
This week we only had a very brief Kat and Thomas scene (though he sure did look like he wanted to jump in that pond and try to follow Kat!) But Elliot and Kat took a tentative step forward, with Elliot declaring his feelings by kissing her during a dramatic fight.
I’m still not sure how I feel about these two. I think that ultimately, they are better off as friends since they just fight all the time when they’re together (and they don’t seem to respect each other’s opinions.) I’d rather see Kat with Thomas, but I’m not sure that’s a wish that will be granted, based on what happened this week. Kat and Thomas may not happen, just like teen Alice and teen Nick couldn’t happen.
That’s too bad.
My Wish List for the Show:
- I want a TomKat romance and for Thomas to travel to the future. But it looks like they may be reviving Kat-Elliot.
- I’m here for the fallout between Nick and Elliot.
- I need more adult Jacob scenes with his family.
Major Mysteries:
- Why is Coyle’s name on Alice/Colton’s guitar?
- When/why did Coyle paint Kat? (I’m just assuming he did at this point.)
- Who was the older woman with Jacob at the pond in season 1? I’m guessing Elijah’s wife Rebecca.
- Why isn’t Jacob’s name in any of the historical books? Is it because he returns to the future?
- Who was watching the Landry family in the past (he looked like Colton)?
- Can only the Landrys use the pond (and their dog Finn) or can others use it too?
- Is Susanna’s connection to the land somehow connected to the pond’s powers?
- Why does Elliot know so much about the pond?
- Where is the show going with the Nick and Alice drama?
- Who is Casey Goodwin really?
Cons:
- My “con” is still the same one that I include every week: Kat and Alice really need to talk to Del about the pond!
My grade for The Way Home Season 2 Episode 8 is an A.
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Stephanie Dwilson has been working in entertainment journalism for more than a decade. She's led teams of writers covering top TV show franchises like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, and more. She's a veteran Hallmark journalist and runs a 60,000-member Facebook group dedicated to the genre.
Stephanie is a licensed attorney and she has a master's in science in science and technology journalism. You can reach her at [email protected].
