We’re only on episode three of The Way Home, but I feel such a connection to Del, Alice, and Kat, that I feel like we’ve been watching this show for years. There isn’t an episode of The Way Home that didn’t make me think about life, the things that I do and don’t know, and the way that I wish that life could be.
This show is special.
So very special.
When it comes to The Way Home, I am never sure of what to expect, but I do know that I will keep watching and then I will rewatch to the see what clues I may have missed.
Life in the Landry house isn’t always easy. There has been a lot of drama in the home, but this day seems a little weird. Why? Because Alice is way too happy. And yes, that can be a signal that something is up. Then again, it can be hormones. Who knows.
Alice can’t exactly be like, hey I am happy cause I’m time traveling and there’s nothing better than doing that and traveling through time. Not exactly something anyone would understand. The first watch, I was having a hard time understanding is how we do have little insights to what happened with Jacob, and they switch to something else.
But what I realize now is everything is connected. And right now, the insight we are getting is into what Colton’s boat has to do with anything and everything.
Del is surprised that she finds a couple in her yard, staring at the boat. They want to make an offer on the boat and all Del can focus on is the day that Colton brought the boat home. She wasn’t prepared for the boat, didn’t know it was coming, and wasn’t a decision that they made together.
The couple wants to make an offer, and Del agrees that the boat is for sale. She’s a little confused because she doesn’t know who told them or how that person came to the impression that it was for sale.
I think that for Del, she’s a little afraid of letting go, but is also is in desperate need to move on. I am just not sure why it seems harder for her to suppress things about her husband versus her child. I don’t get it. I feel like your child would be the thing that you would never let go of.
Abby going back to visit the Landry family of the past, working on the boat, and spending time with them all is good for Alice. She can’t tell anyone that she’s time traveling, but it’s good for the Landry’s of the future also, because she is this ball of light that makes them all remember when the house was filled with something else.
When it was filled with joy.
Jake is the one that questions why Alice is only there sometimes, but she’s got answers for everything. She knows that she can’t stay for long and leaves to head back to the future, making it just in time for dinner.
What Alice is failing at is keeping the two places separate. She lets on that she knows more than she does, by bringing up more about the boat than she should know. She lets on little clues, but no one knows where she is getting it from.
With Alice seemingly doing well in Point Haven, Kat feels the need to do that too. She’s not having much luck on her book ideas, but wants to prove to her Mom that she can make money writing. Del doesn’t seem to believe in her, but I wonder why. Because she seemed to want to believe in her previously.
Kat also needs to realize that she’s not in some big city anymore. She’s in a small town. She gets pissy when she’s given the task of writing about a cucumber, flexing over and over again that she’s won awards. But what Kat should be doing is embracing where she is, not where she’s been.
And she should be listening to her daughter.
Sometimes I think that she is though. Because she’s trying. She tells her Mom that she doesn’t need to sell the boat, and yes, Alice doesn’t know all that has happened, but her Mom doesn’t need to sell the boat. Del seems hesitant, but it’s also the first time that we really hear her supportive of her daughter, because she tells her that she’s a good Mom.
That’s really a beautiful moment, because Kat needs her Mom to see that she’s trying and that she loves her. She just wants to feel that from her Mom too.
When Alice tells her Mom that she’s going to a birthday party and instead returns to the past, months have passed. She doesn’t understand the passage of time, but luckily she’s got Ethan there to help her through. Alice has a million excuses for what has happened and Kat is quick to forgive. It’s this weird thing for me – a moment where I am both jealous of Alice for getting to know her Mom and also weirded out at the eventual conversation that you know that they are going to have when Kat remembers Alice from the past.
Alice makes a haphazard decision to stay in the past after a party, where she finds a crush and has her first kiss, and is really enjoying her life. Alice is fitting in for the first time in her life, which again, causes confusion and understanding with me. I think that for me, I really love the way that I see Kat and Alice in the past bonding, but that being said, I am starting to wonder the way that the friendship ends and how that goes.
As much as I don’t want that pain for anyone, I am excited for the prospect of how these stories will go. There are so many possibilities.
And the unpredictability of it all is what makes this show exciting.
But I digress.
When Alice agrees to stay the night, the two bond over talking about what is going on in their lives. Alice hears about her Dad for the first time, and she tells Kat that she can time travel. Of course, Kat doesn’t believe her, but I can’t hate on that, cause I wouldn’t believe either.
Alice does make it back to present day before her Mom realizes she is gone and Kat tells her that she’s gonna give her trust. I can’t even imagine how that made Alice feel, because the guilt would have eaten me alive. That’s a lot to take, especially when you know it’s something you don’t deserve. It’s a weird feeling because I feel like Alice doesn’t know what to do or say. She only knows that she can’t win, but the past is what is helping her understand her family.
What Alice isn’t counting on or has knowledge of is that small towns, well… everyone knows everything. She doesn’t know her Mom is spending time at the local coffee shop, which the birthday party she was supposed to be at – that kids Mom owns it.
Small towns are a crazy thing. They don’t like everyone knowing their business, but they are all about telling everyones business. It’s a weird thing, because people get mad over people talking, but a lot of the time it’s truly innocent exchanges about things that spill the tea. Alices lie about where she was? That was an innocent remark on Spencer’s behalf.
Kat feels taken a back, but she doesn’t seem to want to show it at all. Only it’s written all over her face. She’s hurt and she’s wondering what she can do to make anything make sense. Hell, she wants to know what she can do for her daughter and she thinks the worst. But the best way to catch a teenager, is catch them in the act.
So she lets Alice lie again. She lets Alice go off with her friends and follows her into the woods, where she sees her dive into the lake and when she doesn’t come up, she dives after her.
