Entertainment
Hallmark’s Cozy Sci-Fi Series ‘The Way Home’ Sticks the Landing With a Captivating Final Season
The Way Home started out as a simple story of three generations of women connecting and reconnecting with one another decades after the two tragedies that ruptured their family. It became one of the most interesting time travel shows on television, slowly unraveling a complex and detailed story over the course of its first three seasons. Each one of these seasons balanced between a focus on the present-day timeline and one of the past timelines, whether that be 1999, 1814, or 1974.
As the final season of The Way Home, Season 4 has the difficult task of solving the show’s remaining mysteries and tying up all of the loose ends throughout the show’s various timelines. After watching the two episodes provided for review, it’s clear that The Way Home knows where it’s going with its final season, and the show is on track to stick the landing with what is shaping up to be a strong conclusion.
What Is ‘The Way Home’ Season 4 About?
Last season of The Way Home ended with the shocking reveal that when he was a baby, Elliot’s (Evan Williams) mother, Tessa (Hannah Storey), left him in a basket by the pond and then jumped in with a Landry. This season is centered on the mystery of Tessa, including who she was, why she left, and with which Landry she jumped through the pond. The season starts with a brief scene that picks up immediately after the end of Season 3, in which Kat (Chyler Leigh), Elliot, and Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) all jump through the pond and travel back to the moment when Tessa left baby Elliot by the pond. Witnessing this day gives Elliot answers that he didn’t want, and he shuts down the investigation into his mother’s past for the next seven months.
Seven months later, Jacob (Spencer MacPherson) is gone (this time in the present day), and he is living in Toronto. He says that he’s there to get a fresh start away from home, but the letters clearly scared him, and he isn’t staying in contact with his family. Meanwhile, back in Port Haven, Alice is graduating from high school and getting ready to enjoy one last summer at home before leaving for college in New York. She and Noah (Alexander Eling) are back together and going strong, but there are still clearly unresolved feelings between Alice and Max (Dale Whibley). Del (Andie MacDowell) is missing Jacob and scared of losing her family, with Alice about to leave for college and Kat about to get engaged to Elliot. Things are solid with her and Sam (Rob Stewart), but he still hasn’t told her that he knows about the pond.
Kat is not ready to say goodbye to Alice, but otherwise, she’s finally at a good place in her life. She and Elliot have gotten to a steady place in their relationship, and now she’s just waiting for him to propose, which he’s planning to do at the end of the summer. She has been secretly trying to time travel again since the ice on the pond melted, but the pond won’t take her back in time. Kat believes that all the answers about Tessa are in 1925, where she knows that she will eventually go back in time and meet a young Fern (Biancha Melchior). The main events of the season kick off when Kat and Alice finally start time traveling again, with Kat going to 1925 to meet Fern and search for Tessa, and Alice winding up in 1976 with a newly-married Evelyn Goodwin (Devin Cecchetto).
‘The Way Home’ Season 4 Expertly Juggles Multiple Major Mysteries
Like every season of The Way Home, Season 4 starts off a little slow, focusing on the emotional conflict of the present. Elliot still hasn’t learned his lesson, and he’s too focused on getting the perfect moment for his proposal, even as Kat grows impatient and insecure from the waiting. Jacob is barely in the season so far, and it’s a loss that takes a toll on both the characters and the show. Where The Way Home Season 4 really hits its stride, though, is when Kat and Alice start time-traveling again. The heart of this show has always been the three Landry / Dhawan women at its center, and the season really gets exciting once it starts to follow their journeys as connected to the pond. In the present day, Del struggles with keeping major secrets from Kat, Alice, and Elliot that might help their search. In 1925, Kat searches for Tessa and meets a young Fern, in the days leading up to an explosion in the Lingermore tunnels where one person died.
So far, Season 4’s most compelling storyline is the one that sees Alice traveling back to the ’70s. Laflamme-Snow, Cecchetto, and Jordan Doww are magnetic together, and it’s very exciting and touching to see their little friend group reunite after two years. At the same time, it’s also unsettling, as The Way Home has always made it clear that Evelyn’s marriage to Lewis’ (Philip Riccio) father was not a good one. Alice doesn’t yet understand why the pond wants her to be in this point in time, especially while Del (Julia Tomasone) is away visiting her parents, but it seems that the answer lies in both Evelyn and Colton. There’s also an excellent dynamic between Leigh and Melchior, and after seeing Kat get a bit lost in her relationship with Elliot, it’s fun to watch her gain her confidence and boldness back while searching for answers in the past. MacDowell also excels as Del this season, as she struggles with keeping secrets that will inevitably become explosive when they get out, bringing a nuance to Del’s choices.
‘The Way Home’ Season 4 Is at Its Strongest When It Focuses on Its Leading Ladies
It’s still early in the season, so there’s no telling which characters (and from which periods in time) will make a return. Still, it’s hard not to feel the loss of some of the show’s best characters, including Jacob. Elliot may be at the center of this season’s central mystery, but the season is at its weakest when it focuses on him instead of on the Landry / Dhawan women. Kat and Elliot are in it for the long-haul now, and The Way Home Season 4 does suffer a bit from their now-solid relationship. Since their breakup, Kat has been putting her own interests and wants aside to focus on Elliot’s, while Elliot continues to go in circles in a way that makes it frustrating whenever his screentime takes focus away from Kat, Del, and Alice.
Each of the Landry women has a really compelling arc this season — that is, when Kat is given the chance to have her own storylines outside of Elliot. Del is scared of losing both Kat and Alice when Alice goes off to college, and in her fear of all these upcoming changes, she debates whether to open up about long-held family secrets. Alice is struggling with self-doubt and indecision, and through going back to her friends in the ’70s, she starts to become sure of herself again. Kat, meanwhile, has a much less interesting arc so far this season in the present day. Whereas the past two seasons saw Kat fighting to protect her loved ones in the 1800s, now, she’s mostly focused on Elliot and learning about his past. Where her storyline gets interesting is when the show separates her from him and allows her to build a friendship with her great-grandmother in 1925. The first two episodes of The Way Home Season 4 are a little clunky, but they’re very entertaining, and they instill faith that the show will be able to stick the landing with its biggest mysteries.
The Way Home airs Sundays at 9:00 P.M. EST.
- Release Date
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2023 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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Hallmark Channel
- Directors
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Grant Harvey, Shamim Sarif, Norma Bailey, John Fawcett, Michelle Latimer
- Writers
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Heather Conkie, Alexandra Clarke, Marly Reed, Michael Hanley, Masooma Hussain
- This season gives compelling storylines to Kat, Del, and Alice that see the three of them revisiting the past while preparing for major changes.
- This season continues to unravel the show’s central mysteries with intention, setting up some massive reveals.
- The season feels a bit disjointed at times, as it struggles to find its focus when it strays from the Landry family.
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