I know that this show airs on Sundays, but for the life of me I couldn’t sit down and write this review. Because every single time I sat down to write this, I started to cry. We’re not talking just mild tears. I am talking full on snot and ugly tears.
One of the most beautiful things about The Way Home is that you know that you’re going to have more questions than answers, but that won’t bother you. What it will do is make you feel everything and be so confused over what you feel, how deep you feel it, and want to tell people just how much you love and appreciate them.
Because that’s the important thing.
Living.
Kat, Del, and Alice are so different, but they all have a role to play. We don’t know what that is, but we do know that if they would communicate, things would be different.
Alice and Kat are breaking. They are each in a lot of pain over the fact that they couldn’t save Jacob. They are left with so many questions about him, but each knows that they can’t change the past. It’s a weird thing, knowing you can’t change it, but the past can and will change you.
How you deal with it will change with every single person. We all just don’t deal with things the same. We all deal with things however we know how to do it. Some of us shut down. Some of us bury it. Some of us become consumed by it.
Grief is a weird thing.
Alice is taking a mental health day, as she’s dealing with loosing Jacob. Kat dealt with it a long time ago and is dealing with it again, but she knows that she needs to be there for her daughter. It’s hard for them to keep their feelings to themselves and also not tell Del what is happened.
Del doesn’t seem to want to hear what is happening around her. She seems to have an ignore everything and it will be fine attitude.
I do get that Del deals with things her own way and does it in a solitary way. But what we’ve learned is that she does that for her own safety and piece of mind. Del is hurting and she’s compartmentalized it in order to stay alive.
What we do learn is that Colton shut her and Kat out when Jacob disappeared. Kat found a note in her Dad’s shirt that led her to a rent by the hour hotel. So was her Dad cheating? Not sure. Del tells her that there was another woman and leaves it at that.
I don’t want to believe that Colton would cheat physically. I don’t want to believe he would be that way. Yet, again, we go back to the hotel and me wondering – did he escape a certain way? I liked him, I did. I still do. But we’re dealing with grief.
When Alice and her Mom finally talk, Alice tells her that she’s returning to the past because her best friend needs her.
And I lost my shit. There were tears that I didn’t expect. This was the moment I have been waiting for – the two of them connecting. The two of them feeling as though they can be honest. Alice being there for her Mom.
When she goes back, it’s the day that they called off the search for Jacob. Kat had been trying to suppress everything, but when Alice returns, she’s there when Kat breaks down and has a panic attack. I love that she can be there for her Mom (even if her Mom doesn’t know Alice is her daughter). The moments between Alice and Kat are endearing.
They are also part of what makes this show so special. It makes it special because it’s about finding your way home – whether that be with others or just finding yourself. Alice going back to be there for here Mom shows how far they’ve come.
Now, I can’t tell you that Del and Kat in the present are finding the same balance, but I do think that Del is doing everything that she can to protect her daughter. She doesn’t want Kat to know the feelings that she felt. She doesn’t want her to think bad of her father.
But Kat does deserve to know the truth. She deserves to know what happened. As many secrets as Kat holds, so does Del. These secrets could be the beginning or the end for all of them.
However it plays out, we’re here for it. We’re ready to cry. We’re ready to figure out what happened to Jacob.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Alice getting the bracelet from Nick – that’s gotta play into something
- I refuse to believe Colton cheated
- Not surprised that Kat got fired
- Kat having to take down everything – I feel like we should have been looking closer at that board for easter eggs
- Kat having a panic attack made me cry
- I refuse to address El and Kat’s almost kiss, because I was so pissed it didn’t happen.
The Way Home airs Sundays on Hallmark.
