The Way Home season 3 episode 4 was outstanding, yet again. I know a few people think that the show is losing quality, but the majority of fans (including me) are loving every minute of this masterpiece! This review and recap will look at what happened in the episode, along with the latest mysteries and clues that are unfolding before the premiere of season 3 episode 5.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR S3E4 OF COURSE!
Like last week’s review, this episode gets a solid A from me. The standout stars for me were Spencer Macpherson as Jacob and his brilliant portrayal of PTSD, and Devin Cecchetto as Evelyn, for her stunningly authentic portrayal of a young teen’s heartbreak.
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Jacob’s Portrayal of PTSD Was Stirring & Authentic
The episode begins with the sweetest scene between Colton and Jacob before young Jacob’s disappearance. They’re camping out on the farmland and Colton assures him that he’s safe. But then the flashback takes a surprising turn when Jacob wanders into the farmhouse in the morning, only to be accosted by Cyrus Goodwin.
Much of this latest episode explores Jacob’s battle with PTSD. When he goes into the Goodwin house to meet with Lewis, he has numerous flashbacks of Cyrus and feels like he’s right back where he was tortured and almost died. The authenticity of these scenes struck home with me. They’re not sugarcoating what Jacob went through, and the journey he is going to face as he adjusts to the horrors inflicted on him in the 1800s.
Del is very supportive of him in this episode, quietly assuring him of his value and vowing to stay by his side. Some of their scenes were truly sweet. At the end, she urges him to work with Lewis and take him up on his offer to consult on their winery. I wonder if Lewis and Jacob will eventually become friends? Although there’s deep-seated bad blood between the Goodwins and the Landrys, it hasn’t always been this way. Colton and Evelyn were once best friends, after all.
Kat & Elliot’s Relationship is So Awkward Now
Although I thought Kat had better chemistry with Thomas last season, I truly do like Elliot as a character too. So I was rooting for these two this season. Yes, I’ve said in last season’s reviews that I think they tend to bring out the worst in each other when they try to be romantic partners. But still, I hoped this time might be different. So far, it’s not… And the problems may not be overcomeable.
First, there are truly awkward moments between them, like when they kissed goodbye at the beginning of the episode and Kat had a look of worry/confusion about the awkwardness.
During much of this episode, Kat is concerned that they will turn into a “boring” couple and just end up as roommates, like she and Brady did. And yet, I don’t think this is what she is truly scared of. In my opinion, her spoken fear seems to be hiding her true fear of completely committing to Elliot.
There’s no concern they’ll turn into a boring couple. With the pond mysteries and time travel, these two are never going to be boring. But every time they start settling into a routine — not a bad routine, but a routine that indicates permanence and commitment — Kat starts getting fidgety. Maybe this is because of how Brady hurt her. Or maybe it’s because of something deeper.
They still have cute moments in this episode and there’s obvious passion between them. We can see clearly why they’re together and trying to make it work. But Kat is holding back.
I’m not sure what the writers’ plan is for this couple. Part of me thinks they’ll break up but get back together again in a future season. Part of me thinks they’ll realize they’re just not a good romantic fit, and they’ll move on while remaining friends. I feel like a breakup is coming one way or another. The only question is whether it’s permanent.
In a later scene, when Kat and Del have a heartwarming talk, she confesses to Del how worried she is about her relationship with Elliot. But Del thinks she should trust her love with Elliot and focus on the small moments, not the grand ones. “That’s where the love is,” Del tells her.
But it’s in those small moments that Elliot and Kat don’t seem to connect. Like when Kat is telling him about her time travel discovery and he’s focused on the water on the floor. Or when they’re kissing and she’s pulled away by seeing Colton’s jacket. For a strong couple, these would just be bumps in the road as they learn how to communicate better with each other. But for Elliot and Kat, it might indicate a deeper crack in their relationship.
You Can Read ‘The Lady of Shalott’ Now
Evelyn shined in this episode: a free-spirited, magical teen facing a deep heartache with bravery.
When Alice first finds her at the pond, she’s reciting part of the poem, The Lady of Shalott. It’s about a cursed woman who can’t be with her love, and Evelyn recommends it to Alice.
This book is real. In fact, if you want to read it, you can grab it on Kindle now or on Amazon’s audiobook. Here’s a link for a paperback, Kindle version or audiobook. (This is an Amazon affiliate link, just FYI.)
Del & Colton Fall in Love, While Evelyn’s Heart is Broken
Evelyn invites Alice back to her home to see “her castle” (aka Lingermore.) We see the mural, which includes a woman in white who looks like an angel floating over two children and a dog. The dog looks so much like Finn, and Evelyn says they don’t know who the woman in white is. But she guesses it’s the white witch and she’s protecting the children somehow.
But Lingermore is also the place where Colton sees Del again and their love story begins. While seeing the two fall in love is sweet and heartwarming, it’s strongly juxtaposed against Evelyn’s heartbreak.
Colton is smitten with Del from the moment he sees her, and there’s just no chance for Evelyn once these two meet. But it doesn’t make it any easier on her.
“It was supposed to be me on that boat,” she laments, wondering why she never told Colton how she truly felt. And now it’s too late.
When they return from their boat trip, Del and Colton have a fight because she’s so embarrassed over throwing up from motion sickness on the boat ride. But Colton serenades her and wins her back.
And that brings us to the moment we will never forget… When he kisses her despite Del reminding him that she threw up… A lot of people (like me) were really bothered by that scene. 😄
Is Teen Del Pregnant?
While Alice thinks she saw the moment Del and Colton fell in love, it actually happened a few minutes later. Del had another moment of nausea, and how Colton treated her then was when they both fell in love.
A lot of fans think Del was pregnant as a teen, considering how much she was throwing up. But I don’t think that’s the case. Vision-Colton and Del look back fondly at that moment. There’s too much joy. I don’t think a pregnancy that resulted in a baby being given away in a basket would be connected to so much joy.
A Transcript of the 1965 Town Meeting
When Kat returns to the past, she runs into Jasper Coyle. He says that he and Fern are close, and she was one of the first who welcomed him to town when he moved there in 1965. Fern even got him the job at the town council. (He also mentions how much Fern loves magazines from the 1920s. Is there a clue there?)
He has an audio recording of the 1965 town meeting when they wanted to fill in the Landry pond because… Well, of course he does! Coyles are resourceful, no matter what decade.
Here’s a transcript of that town meeting:
We have to fill in that pond.
Why do you think this meeting was called in the first place?
Fill in the pond.
That pond isn’t safe.
Those kids almost drowned.
(Fern) Calm down. This is all ridiculous. You Goodwins need to stand down. The pond is important to my family. And more than that, it’s on my property. I can do what I want.
(woman) Our daughter could’ve died!
(young Evelyn) I have something to say! The pond is special. It’s magic. And you’ve got it all wrong because I was saved by …
(young Colton) Evelyn, stop!
(young Evelyn) Why? It’s fine Cole.
(Fern) My grandson Colton, he saved Evelyn. Things turned out fine. there should be no vote.
(young Evelyn) You saw it too Cole, I know you did.
From this transcript, it’s apparent that someone special or “magical” saved young Evelyn, and they’ve covered that up by claiming it was Colton who saved her. While the two didn’t travel in time (based on what Colton later tells Alice), something magical did happen. I’m guessing someone else traveled in time and saved Evelyn from drowning. But who? Was it someone we already know, like Alice or Kat? Was it Colton when he was older? Or the same person who pushed Alice into the pond?
Colton Didn’t Time Travel as a Teen
Despite all the clues that led me to think Colton time traveled as a teen, we learned in this episode that he did not. He opens up to Alice and tells her that his grandmother Fern used to “fill my head with these stories as a kid about how the pond is magic” and could take someone back in time. He says he jumped into the pond the day of Rick’s funeral, but he wasn’t taken anywhere.
“I was stupid to believe,” he admits. “If there was any time to hope for magic, it was that day.”
So Colton’s time traveling didn’t happen until he was older. What triggered it?
Del’s Secret Is Something Dangerous
Del had a number of visions of Colton in this episode. While she is likely just really good at imagining conversations with him, I can’t help but notice the similarities between how clear her visions of Colton are and how clear Jacob’s visions of Cyrus are. If Del had traveled in the pond at some point, I would be wondering if travelers could get some kind of time sickness. But I don’t think that’s the case. Jacob’s situation is likely PTSD. Is Del’s just a really good imagination? Or did Colton actually visit her once after his death, and that’s triggered the visions she imagines now?
Del gets another letter in this episode that reads: “I know about your family. Soon, they all will.”
Someone in the present knows a secret that Del and Colton hid from everyone. In her visions, Colton urges her to come clean to Kat and Jake. But she “doesn’t want them to carry that fear” and wonders “what if I can’t protect our kids?”
Her comments make it apparent that she’s not worried about her kids being mad at her. She’s worried about saddling them with a “fear” that will drag them down. What could that possibly be?
Whoever Pushed Alice Was Wearing Colton’s Jacket
We already know this, but it was brought back up again in this episode.
Kat finally sees the jacket that Elliot found at the pond after Alice was pushed. He thought it was Alice’s jacket, but it was Colton’s from 1999. This leads Kat to wonder if her dad can time travel to the future. But Elliot says it’s absolutely not possible.
Do you think it’s possible to travel forward in time? Or was Colton actually born far in the future and sent back in time, much like Jacob was, but doesn’t remember that? If that’s the case, then he could travel forward given the right circumstances, just like Jacob when he was older. Only it wouldn’t technically be traveling forward.
Casey Goodwin Is Not Lewis’ Child
At the very end of the episode, Alice meets Max Goodwin, a friend of Noah’s (technically his best customer) and Lewis Goodwin’s son. But when Alice brings up his sibling Casey, Max says that there is no Casey.
“Sounds like someone was lying,” Max says.
Who is Casey? We’ve guessed before that Casey is Alice’s child, and that’s still my guess. But we shall see.
Questions & Mysteries
Here are some new questions I’m pondering this season. Let me know in the comments if I missed any.
- Who is Colton’s brother and what happened to him?
- Why were Evelyn and Colton estranged later in life?
- Can someone travel to the future?
- Who is “the one” that Evelyn referred to?
- Who was the couple who left the baby in a basket? And who was the baby?
- What happened to Colton’s dad?
- Why did Elliot’s mom leave and where is she now?
- Could Evelyn travel through the pond by herself?
- What does Fern’s rhyme about 1965 mean?
- Did Kat travel back in time and meet a younger Fern?
- What’s the deal with the clock Elliot found when he tore down the wall in his home? The time was 11:10.
- What’s so important about Elliot’s mom’s ring? Who stole it?
- Who pushed Alice into the pond and why were they wearing Colton’s jacket?
- Who sent Del the letters?
- What secret did Del and Colton hide, and why would it be a “fear” their children would have to carry?
- When did Colton start time traveling if he didn’t as a teen?
- Who is Casey really?
- What is the story behind the “bee” necklace? (someone in our FB group brought this up, but I need to look into it more)
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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].
