Well this episode f**ked me up. I am a hot mess and I have watched it several times, but the beauty of this show is that it still hits you with all of the emotions, no matter how many times you watch it. It doesn’t loose that punch to the gut. The show takes your heart – breaks it and then pulls it together because you’re rooting for this family to come together.
Even though it feels like they never will.
Alice and Elliot fell asleep in the barn and when she wakes up, she panics. She knows that her Mom is going to be worried. She knows that she’s gotta get back and goes to the pond, to find her way back. What I am wondering is – what about this night was going to change everything for her? What was going to give her answers? I mean, I would have thought I was in a fever dream and my life was ending, because traveling through time isn’t something that I would think was real.
But for Alice, it’s different.
MAKING IT BACK
Alice returns to the present and runs home. She knows that she’s going to be in trouble, but she also really – in my opinion – wants to tell her Mom what happened. She wants to relate to her Mom and she wants to tell her that she gets it.
I think that Alice is so young at this point that she doesn’t get how lucky she is. While this episode we see a change in Alice, she’s still a kid. She’s still a young child who is trying to navigate live. She doesn’t get how lucky she is.
She doesn’t get what has really torn her family apart.
Her parents are blaming themselves for her disappearance, but neither one really wants to listen. Kat reacts, which hey, she has every right to. Surprisingly she makes Alice go to school. Not surprisingly she grounds Alice for life.
Alice going to school gives her a chance to talk to Elliot. He knows what has happened with Alice and to be frank, I am glad that she has him. You can tell that Elliot loves Kat and that means that he’s going to do whatever it takes to protect Alice.
It’s funny, in a way, how time can pass and as humans, we just expect things to always change. And yes, things do change. Yet, as much as things change, a lot of things stay the same. We can grow and we can learn from the mistakes we make in life, but we can also accept that somethings are forever.
Love being one of those.
While Alice doesn’t necessarily approach Elliot in the right way (I am trying to be kind here, she’s a hot mess), what she does is establish that she can talk to him about it. She can learn things that she didn’t know about time travel and herself.
Now, I do have to say this about Elliot – the way that he loves Kat and the way that hasn’t changed, makes me ship them hard. And it also leaves me confused. With all of the information that he knows, I wonder – could Kat forgive him if she knew. Because he’s had over 20 years to wait for and plan a future that he’s known about. He’s known about her daughter and the things that will happen.
So I am torn, because I am wondering – would I be able to forgive something like that in my life? I don’t think I could.
Ahhh, you know it’s a good ship when you’re torn.
THE SECRET
No one seems to want to talk about Jacob and everyone seems to want to keep Alice from ever finding out what happened. But the thing is – Alice has every right to know. This is her family. This is her life. And well, the reality is now that she’s met Jacob in the past, she feels a connection with him.
Anyone can see that this entire family is torn apart and that they are experiencing something so deep. But what? Why?
We get some idea – Jacob disappeared. He disappeared when he was nine and no one knows what happened to him.
The Landry family has done their best to deal with his disappearance, but they’ve all dealt with it in different ways. It’s been 20 years and Del has to close the chapter. Kat and her have dealt with Jacob’s disappearance in different ways. Both haven’t wanted to face what has happened, but have had to deal with the fact that he’s not there.
How does one even deal with those memories? You have two choices – live in them or push them away. I kind of get why it is that Del is so cold – she’s lost her kid and if she has to deal with the memories, she will break.
Though I do understand that with Jacob’s disappearance, why Kat was so afraid when Alice disappeared. Yet, I also wonder why it is that she or her ex have never had this conversation with Alice. She deserved to know. A lot of things in life could have gone better had she known how to understand her Mom.
That’s the thing though, Kat has seemed to want to live a life of denial versus a life where she lives in truth. I do get though that living in truth is terrifying. Living in truth can destroy a person, but isn’t she also destroying herself when she’s suppressing everything?
Alice is determined to live in truth. She goes to the town records office to try and learn about Jake. Now, of course, it’s a small town and Del is told that she’s there and comes to get her. One would think that Del would try to explain, but she doesn’t really get into things deep.
I think that Del keep everything on the surface level, because going any deeper would break open the walls that she’s built so high around herself and after all the pain that she’s experienced it would be too much. I get that. I understand that. So yes, my feelings about who Del is have somewhat changed with this episode.
TIME TO CLOSE A CHAPTER
We know that Kat has wanted to write a book, and she now has a chance to. Her ex has gotten her a book deal, but she has to write about Jacob. This, in my opinion, could be cathartic for everyone. But the truth of the matter is that when life is surrounded in lies, not much can be really cathartic.
When Kat tells her Mom about the book, she’s not for it. She’s actually pretty pissed and tells her that she can’t do it. Now, I know we’re only on episode 2, but I do believe that Kat should write the book. Selfishly, that’s because I think it could be something that would help her and I do believe that Kat needs help.
They all do.
As much as feelings for Del have changed, I suddenly found myself angry at her, but also angry at Kat. Why? Because these two suck so bad at communicating that it’s frustrating AF.
Kat goes to the cemetery, thinking that she’s visiting her Dad’s headstone, but when moving flowers, she sees that it’s Jacobs. Wait, what? Yes, Del has had Jacob declared legally dead after all of these years, but she hasn’t told Kat.
Understandably, Kat is upset and confronts her Mom. Del tells her about the memorial for Jacob and that she’s needing to move forward. And the truth is, I think they all do. I just also think that none of them are going to be able to move forward until they deal with the past.
The memorial service helps them all. You see it. You see Kat realize that she can’t write the book about Jacob. You see Alice realize that she needs to stay. You see this family realize – even if they won’t say it – they need each other.
And that’s beautiful.
While I think that Jacob is alive, that he time traveled also and is stuck where he is. I think we’re going to meet Jacob again and I think that Alice is the key to bringing him home.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Alice needs to realize that she’s going to have to be kinder to the kids at school.
- I can’t stop thinking about the witch that time travels in the first episode… is it one every generation that can time travel?
- Colton dying 3 month after Jacob disappeared broke my heart.
- I love the moment between Elliot and Kat – when she leans his head on his shoulder,
- Gonna need Elliot and Kat to find their way back to each other or to each other, but I fully believe that they’ve thought about forever, but put it off out of fear.
- I am really liking Kat’s husband, soon to be ex. I find myself believing these two will get back together.
The Way Home airs Sundays on The Hallmark Channel.
