The Way Home Season 1 finale provided a solution to the mystery that’s been hanging over the entire season. But by finally revealing what happened to Jacob the night he disappeared in 1999, the Hallmark Channel show raises new questions about what’s next for Kat and the rest of the Landry women.
[Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Way Home Season 1 finale.]
Jacob is lost in time, ‘The Way Home’ season finale reveals
There was no shortage of major moments in The Way Home season finale. The episode confirmed that Kat (Chyler Leigh) was the other woman at her father’s funeral. And it also saw Elliot (Evan Williams) unexpectedly break things off with Kat. But the biggest and most anticipated reveal in The Way Home season finale had to do with Jacob. And it was all thanks to the Landry family dog, Finn. When he showed up soaking wet and with a dirty old baseball in the episode’s final moments, the pieces suddenly fell into place for Kat.
Earlier in the season, Kat went back in time to try and stop Jacob’s (Remy Smith) disappearance. She walked him home from the carnival and watched as he went into the house. Sometime after that, he vanished. Now, Kat remembers Jacob’s love for the dog and realizes he followed him to the pond that night. Jacob must have fallen or jumped into the water and ended up somewhere in the past. A quick look at the family almanac confirms her suspicions. Kat finds a note from her younger brother written in the book’s margins. (There are also some pages missing, which we have to assume tie into the mystery of Jacob’s disappearance).
“Mom, I think I know what happened to Jacob,” Kat tells a stunned Del.
Kat is the woman in white from ‘The Way Home’ season premiere
“Not All Who Wander Are Lost” ends with a call back to The Way Home season premiere. That episode began with a scene, set in 1814, of a woman in white being chased through the woods to the pond. At first, it seemed like the woman might have been a Landry family ancestor. But that’s not it. The finale shows that moment again, and this time, the woman’s face is revealed. It’s Kat.
“I’ll be back for you Jacob, I promise,” she says just before she jumps into the water.
At some point, Kat must go back in time in an attempt to locate Jacob. But does she find him? And if she does, will she be able to bring him back to the present? Whatever is happening in 1814, it doesn’t look good for Kat. And her long hair suggests she’s been stuck in the past for some time.
Does Del know about time travel?
One question the season finale didn’t answer had to do with Del. So far, there’s been no clear sign that she knows time travel is possible. Kat believes her mother is in the dark when it comes to her visits to the past. But what if Del knows (or at least suspects) what is going on?
In episode 9, Del took her granddaughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) to visit the pond. “It’s its own little world,” she says. The pond always lets her know when winter is coming, Del adds, and reminds her that she should “say goodbye to the past [and] focus on what is.” Is it just a coincidence that Del turns to the pond when she needs to be reminded to not dwell on what’s already happened? Or was she hinting that she knows about its unique properties?
Then there was the moment of recognition when she heard Alice singing Colton’s song during the season finale. Alice claimed she knew the song because Kat sang it to her when she was young. (In reality, she learned it from her grandfather during one of her visits to the past.) Del seemed to accept that explanation. But we have to think that if she doesn’t already know time travel is a possibility, she’s starting to suspect something is up with her daughter and granddaughter.
Throughout the season, Del has repeatedly urged her daughter to stop focusing on the past. That could be because Del doesn’t want to confront her own painful memories of losing her husband and son. But it could be because she already knows what Kat is just starting to accept: that even though it’s possible to visit the past, it’s not possible to change it. Hopefully, we’ll get more answers when The Way Home returns for season 2 on Hallmark. Until then, we’ll just have to wonder.
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