The Way Home Season 2 Delivers Jaw-Dropping Reveals, Plus Time Travel Theories Explained!
Hallmark has made huge waves with their hit show The Way Home. It’s captured the hearts of OG Hallmark fans and newcomers to the channel alike as they explore the complex and mysterious multigenerational drama of the Landry family, their secrets, and, oh yeah, time travel.
Season 2 finds us diving further into the mystery around what really happened to Kat’s missing younger brother Jacob. When Kat accidentally time travels back to 1814, it’s revealed that this is where the pond brought Jacob back in the 90s and he’s been living in this time period for the last 25 years. We’re introduced to a new crew of characters including rugged bootlegger Thomas Coyle (Kris Holden-Ried) and Elliot’s healer ancestor Susannah Augustine (Watson Rose). We even finally get to meet the adult version of Jacob played by Degrassi and School Spirits star Spencer Macpherson. While fans have been rooting for Elliot (Evan Williams) and Kat to get together since the beginning, both Thomas and Susanna throw a wrench into that as Chyler Leigh has incredible chemistry with all of her co-stars. I, for one, am rooting for Katanna!
While the 1814 plot is the strongest storyline this season, it does suffer from dragged out key moments. It takes nearly three episodes for Kat to even get a chance to talk to Jacob after finding him. I was hoping we’d get to see more of him in the season. Then, of course, it’s not as easy as she thinks to convince him to come back to their time with her.
Meanwhile Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) finds herself with a new mystery to uncover that seems to connect back to the reason the pond has been sending her back in time. It ties back to an unsanctioned Lingermore masquerade house party in 2007 that leads to a fight between teen Elliot and teen Brady that lands teen Kat in the hospital. We learn that all of this was a catalyst for Kat and Del’s (Andie MacDowell) fractured relationship as mother and daughter.
Unfortunately, the big reveal of what happened between them ends up being pretty anticlimactic. A pregnant Kat offers Del a check from Brady’s family to help save the farm. When Del asks if that means she’s coming home, she declines, while leads to Del rejecting the money. Kat calls Del difficult, while Del says Jacob should be there fighting to save the farm. Kat grabs Colton’s guitar, saying that she’s taking “a piece of dad and never coming back here. Because it should have been him.” Sure, that might hurt, but they needed a bigger catalyst to lead to 17 years of not talking. Instead it felt like they were trying too hard to make sure no one was unlikeable despite teasing that Alice was going to hate Kat when she found out what happened.
The weakest storyline has to be around Del. While it’s nice to see Hallmark highlight a romance for an older woman, her love interest Sam doesn’t add much to the story. Del doesn’t have much going on other than wallowing in the past and being kept in the dark when it comes to the secrets Kat and Alice are hiding.
While the first four episodes of this second season keep you hooked, things begin to get slow and prolonged across episodes five through nine. But the stakes get taken to the next level in the jaw-dropping season 2 finale. We get more answers, more questions, and new mysteries set up for the already confirmed season 3. After all of Elliot’s research, we start learning new things about the time travel, especially when Elliot travels to the 90s with Alice through he pond. Meanwhile, Jacob emerges from the pond in 2024 to finally return home. It was satisfying to realize Del will finally (hopefully!) be reunited with him. However, I think it would’ve made more sense if Jacob had to return due to issues with Goodwin in 1814 versus just having his friends from the past encouraging him to return.
Alice finds a new case to uncover as to why the necklace she made of Kat’s old engagement ring is also being worn by Casey Goodwin. Could she be a time traveler as well? Perhaps Alice’s daughter from the future? On top of all that, we get the shocking reveal that Colton (Jefferson Brown) is the shadow man that has been teased all season long. He is a time traveler and we get a hint that he learned about the magic of the pond from his grandmother as a child. This opens up a can of worms and brings up so many more questions about how the pond and time travel truly work.
All in all, The Way Home had my jaw on the floor over the incredible reveals of this season. Not only do the mysteries keep you hooked, but the actors bring so much of themselves to their roles and really get to the heart of the story. This underrated gem deserves all the love as they continue to blow our minds each season.
Watch both seasons of The Way Home streaming on Peacock. Learn more about this season from our interviews with the cast, below.
