‘The Way Home’ Finale Delivers Massive Shock for Kat — Scoop on Season 3’s ‘Big Reveal’
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Way Home Season 2 finale “Bring Me to Life.”]
It’s one shock after another, as The Way Home wraps its second season. And let’s just say, we’re really glad it’s already been renewed for a third.
Just as Kat’s (Chyler Leigh) mourning Thomas (Kris Holden-Ried), Jacob (Spencer MacPherson) surprises her by popping out of the pond. He’s come home, and he even has some good news: Thomas is alive, thanks to armor he had on when he was shot! But the present scenes end before he steps inside to reunite with their mother, Del (Andie MacDowell) and meet Kat’s daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow), because then we go back to the past—and see that someone else has been time-traveling: Colton (Jefferson Brown)! Yes, Kat and Jacob’s father went back in time to watch himself with a young Jacob before his son’s disappearance and the final scene is him, as a boy, finding out about the pond.
Below, executive producers Heather Conkie and Alex Clarke break down the Season 2 finale and tease what’s ahead now that Jacob has returned. (Plus, get scoop on that Kat and Thomas kiss, Kat and Elliot’s relationship, and more here.)
When did you know you’d have the season end with Jacob coming home, but Del not seeing him yet, then the reveal that Colton is a time traveler?
Alex Clarke: We always knew this was the season to find Jacob. And I think even as early as our writers’ room, we felt like we would be doing a grave injustice to our characters and also our viewers if we didn’t bring him home, do the thing that Kat had set out to do starting beginning of Season 1. So we always knew that was endgame for us. And I think the holding off on the reunion, we needed that segue into the reveal of Colton and it felt like the most organic way to do it. That’s kind of what our show is: We’ll give you just enough, but we’ll always leave you wanting more, and we’ll give you some answers but those answers might beg more questions and you’ll never get a whole story, a whole complete answer, until we decide this show is done.
Colton seemingly recognized Kat as he died, and at the end of Season 1, you wouldn’t say if he really did. But now can you?
Clarke: I think that we will definitely be shedding more light on the hows, whens, and whys of Colton knowing about time travel in Season 3. Certainly the way that we ended our Season 1 with our bookend of Kat being revealed as the White Witch and jumping into the pond and saying, “I’ll come back for you, Jacob,” that ended up being what Season 2 was about. And in that same way, those last few moments of our Season 2 really are the jumping off point into Season 3.
Michael Tompkins/Hallmark Media
So is it possible that Colton knew that that was present day Elliot (Evan Williams)?
Heather Conkie: I think it’s possible. Anything is possible. We always leave a hint of it. And the actor himself, even in Season 1, left a feeling where there was a dichotomy of whether he knew or not. And I think that’s also one of the strengths of the show is that we can always go back and say, “Oh my God, I think he did know. I think he knew that Elliot was Elliot grown up.” But again, you can leave those things and tie it up with a bow or not.
So Jacob coming home seemingly forces him, Kat, and Alice to tell Del about the pond—if she doesn’t know about it already. What can you say about that and conversations you’ve had about that?
Clarke: Yes, all those questions as you’re seeing Kat leading Jacob towards the door, knowing that Del is inside… That is inevitably something people will wonder: What’s the conversation going to be once they get in there? Keep in mind he’s wearing clothes from a different era. How do you explain that? In the writers’ room, we know what’s going to unfold if and when she gets them into that kitchen. But I think that’s something the viewers will definitely be waiting on as a big reveal next year.
Conkie: Huge reveal, whether Del knew something or nothing or something in her past tweaks that she remembers something. But yeah, that’s the big reveal of Season 3 for sure.
What can you say about what comes next for Jacob? He has to have these reunions with Del and Elliot. He has to meet Alice. He has to adjust to being back in the present and not even a present that he would be used to. It’s been so many years.
Conkie: Yeah, he’s a real fish out of water. All of those things are so ripe for incredible stories for Season 3. All those questions you’re asking are exactly what we’re asking in the room right now and have been even in Season 1 room. This is a show [where] you do have to see the bigger picture. Everything is so layered and complex in regards to the plot because we are going to all these different eras that you do have to kind of see the end before you even begin. And that is what we do.
Michael Tompkins/Hallmark Media
What did you want to do with Kat and Del’s relationship this season to get it to a place of healing with the reveal of what led to their split and the discovery of the plane ticket before bringing Jacob back?
Clarke: The way we’ve always seen it was Season 1 was the Alice and Del get to know each other story; when a family is coming back together after years of estrangement and trauma, that’s the easier relationship to explore because Alice is new and there isn’t the emotional baggage that comes with her. And so our Season 1 was taking that first step towards building a family bond through the relationship that Del has with Alice. And by the end, obviously, Alice calls her grandmother and they say “I love you.”
Season 2 was really, now that the easy work is done, let’s focus on the hard work of getting this mother and daughter back together after all the bad words that have been said, all the terribleness they’ve endured in their past. And that was really our goal for Season 2, seeing these two women really acknowledge the hardness of what had happened in 2007, in 1999 to 2000, but also moving past it, acknowledging the misunderstandings, acknowledging the stubbornness, the pride that got in the way.
I think in Episode 10, Heather wrote a beautiful line that is, “Unsaid words have taken up too much space,” and the promise of that not happening anymore is one that I think they are very serious in taking. And we always wanted that moment to happen before Jacob returning home because that then becomes not the catalyst for coming back together and reuniting as a mother and daughter, but kind of the cherry on top.
Conkie: Exactly. It’s the reward for a going to the root of the problem. And with Alice’s time traveling helping them solve the root of that problem and see where it all started and how that 20-year rift even had its beginnings was our goal for the end of Season 2. And now they’re free and clear to start to tackle this next massive change in their lives, the return of Jacob.
It seems like Del’s ready to take a step forward with Sam (Rob Stewart), but could the return of Jacob change that given who Del is at the end of Season 2?
Conkie: I think Del will have to deal with a lot of things because the return of a child that you haven’t seen for, oh my gosh, 20-odd years changes your life, especially when you never expected it. And it’s not the same child, it’s an adult. So it would have an impact on anybody, any mother. I can’t even imagine what that must be. So we’re busy trying to figure out how that would feel and what effect it has on her and the rest of the town, not only with their own personal lives but with the life of the town. What does this mean? Because they’ve always been so supportive of her and will continue to be. But this is a shock not just for Del and the family, but to this entire town of Port Haven.
Clarke: I think one thing we really love to do on this show is create a bit of a fairytale, but the thing with fairytales is, happily ever after is a bit of a myth, right? Cinderella and the Prince get married, but what does that marriage look like? And marriage is hard and maybe what happens after the happily ever after [is]. And I think as much as we’re potentially giving our viewer a very massive happily ever after, it comes with its own set of new crazy challenges.
The Way Home, Season 3, TBA, Hallmark Channel
