I have to admit that The Way Home is absolutely nothing like I thought it would be. But in the same breath, I am not sure what I expected from the show, but what we got is so much better. Yes, the initial episode left me with more questions than answers, but that is definitely not a bad thing.
A lot of things when you think Hallmark, you think that you know exactly what it’s going to be. I was expecting a show that was like Chesapeake Shores. Well, I was wrong. When I am wrong, I say I am wrong. Because The Way Home is nothing like that and is definitely not like your typical Hallmark movie or television show.
When the show opens, it is 1814 and a witch is being chased, and she disappears into the pond. Now we never see her face, We just see her run and her disappear. While I have some theories on who she could be, I do think that it is either (1) Del is the witch and fell in love with Colton, keeping her in the present day, or (2) Alice is the witches doppelgänger which gives her the power to time travel.
Now Alice is not mean – she’s a young girl in pain and completely misunderstood. She’s dealing with her parents separation and isn’t dealing with it well. It’s a lot when your life is turned upside down and all you want is for your parents to be there for you and they are so wrapped up in their own lives.
She’s in a talent show at school and when she notices her Dad not paying attention and her Mom not there, she runs off the stage.
Alice has a habit of disappearing. A habit of rebelling. What she wants is attention, but what she’s getting is a father who throws money at a situation and a Mom who just doesn’t get her. It’s definitely hard for all of them.
Alice’s Mom is Kat. She’s been estranged from her Mom and receives a letter that day, asking her to come home. The situation with Alice, alongside the fact that Kat just got fired from her job, she found out that her husband that she’s separated from has moved his girlfriend in, and she feels overwhelmed leads her to decide to move.
Move her and her daughter to Canada. This should be interesting.
THE FARM
Del Landry is strong, stubborn, and overwhelming. We don’t know all of the reasons that Kat left, but we can derive that it has something to do with her Dad and brother. Something happened in the past that destroyed their family.
Going back to the farm was a lot for Kat, but it’s something that she did because she felt as though it was the right thing to do for her and Alice. Of course Alice is bitter over it and Kat, well, she’s just trying to figure out a way to relate to her Mom.
But coming home isn’t easy – her Mom has basically erased all traces that anyone else ever existed. She’s basically made it seem as though they never existed. This infuriates Kat and one has to wonder, why it is that Del doesn’t keep the mementoes of them around. My mind wanders and I have to wonder, are they dead? Did they just travel through time and Del knows that they have to be alive somewhere?
Maybe I watch too much television and I let my mind wander too much. But I also think that because I have no idea what to expect with this show, that I am trying to think of all the possibilities.
The disconnect between Del and Kat is palpable. Kat is going through a lot with the disconnect with her Mom and her divorce, as well as Alice and facing her past. But there is something that we are all missing here. I can feel it.
THE FIRST DAY
Alice doesn’t want to have to go to school, but she’s talked into it, in order to avoid life on the farm. She’s definitely not happy there and she’s even feeling worse, because her Dad has told her that he’s too busy with work to have her live with him.
Life is hard enough, but her Grandma is trying to teach her lessons without explaining the rules and instead, is embarrassing her. Del definitely isn’t bonding with her granddaughter, sending her outside when she comes downstairs, still in pajamas. She has her let out the dog, only to find that the back yard is filled with a bunch of her classmates who are working on the farm.
When you live in a small town, word gets around everywhere, fast. You can sneeze and your family will think you’re sick by the time you got home. When you’re in high school, rumors run rampant and it only makes it worse.
Everyone has a million rumors that they are spreading, wondering why Alice is there. It’s definitely a new thing for Alice to go through, and she’s just not having it. She doesn’t want to deal with it.
What I can derive early is that Elliott, her science teacher and her Mom’s old BFF, is going to be important in this story. He tells her that she can talk to him at any time, any place. Granted, knowing that this is a show that has time travel in it, the mention of time automatically sets my mind off in theories.
Alice has had enough of people talking about her and ditches class. Word travels home and her Mom goes out to get her. She is furious, and wants to know how Alice couldn’t even give it a day. For Alice, this is her chance to say that she’ll just go live with her Dad, but that’s when Kat breaks the news to her that her Dads girlfriend has moved in.
For Alice, this means that she has to realize that her parents aren’t getting back together and that hurts. She takes off running and Kat lets her go.
Sometimes kids need space, I will give Kat that. But I don’t think that I would be able to let my kid run off and not chase them. I would be so scared of how they would react and that’s basically because I am a person that reacts.
Alice runs into the woods by the house, towards the pond (the same one the witch disappeared into) and throws a bracelet that her Dad had once given her Mom, and that her Mom had handed down to her, into the pond.
When she throws it, she instantly regrets it and tries to get it. She falls into the pond and is struggling to get out, when a hand reaches out to her.
MEETING GRANDPA
I know that Alice went into the pond in order to get the bracelet, but I have to admit that I forgot about it quickly when she was pulled out. Why? Because she was pulled out by a teenage version of her Mom.
Alice’s attitude changes instantly. She doesn’t panic, she embraces figuring out where she is. But what she loves is meeting her Grandpa and her Uncle. She loves the farm being alive, her Grandma being different, and her Mom being happy.
The family embraces having Alice there, not asking too many questions. The house is filled with love and life and music. It’s completely different than what we’re seeing in the present day. Seeing Alice take it all in, it’s as if it is a completely different person.
But all I could think was, how will this change future Alice? What will make things different? How is it that future Kat doesn’t remember meeting Alice?
And honestly, this is where I find myself falling in love with this show. It’s the moments where I find myself asking questions, invested in the characters, and needing to know the answers, that I knew I was in this for the long haul. I am invested, because I want to know where these characters go, see them have a happier life, and see them find peace.
I want answers.
When you see the family dinner and the way that they all have a great time, you just know that something drastic had to have happened. I have to admit, I started to tear up when Alice started singing along with her Grandpa. I found myself believing that this family deserved more.
And I wanted that for them.
Quickly though, I realized that they weren’t the only people that I was rooting for. I was invested in Elliot. He was on the farm that day that Alice went back and she went to him – telling him that he told her that she could talk to him at any time, any place.
We see present day Elliott, at that moment, standing by the pond, Alice’s phone and backpack at his feet. Whatever they talked about that day in the barn, he believed her. He helped her. He knows what to do and how to help her.
I found myself thinking about all of the questions that I had at this moment and that’s when I realized that this show means something to me. I am invested. Maybe it’s the story they tell, maybe it’s the questions that they left me with, maybe it’s the way I wondered if I understood my Moms childhood what would be different.
There’s just a connection to the past and present that you’re looking for when watching The Way Home. Yet, isn’t that what we’re also looking for in life?
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Umm teacher Elliott may be my new crush.
- Loved seeing Colton with his guitar. Now we know that the guitar that Alice has is important because it came from her Grandpa
- What does 1814 have to do with all of this? I need to know
- I would be so pissed at my Grandma for sending me outside in my PJ’s
- Rebel Alice is someone I think we all can relate to.
- Seriously, crushing on the teacher
- Kat finding the pic that Jacob took of her and Alice in the past, but the light making it so you can’t see it’s Alice. What are we missing here? How does Kat not remember?
- I actually like Alice’s Dad and I am wondering if I am not supposed to. But I still do like him.
- NGL – Del Landry scares me. Andie McDowell is great and we can’t wait to see exactly what made her character this way.
- Sadie Laflamme-Snow is talented AF
- Chyler Leigh, I love seeing you in a different role than what I am used to
New episodes of The Way Home air Sundays on The Hallmark Channel.
