The Way Home Season 4 Episode 1, titled “Show Me the Way to Go Home,” wasted no time getting into it, which I honestly appreciate, considering this is the final season and we don’t have much time to wrap it all up.
And I wish we weren’t wrapping it up because this has been one of the best escapist TV shows I’ve come across in a long time, filled with heart, magic and hope.
Anyway, the bittersweet sentiment that we as the audience are feeling was shared by the Landry ladies, as they’re kicking off the summer before everything changes.
Del is preparing to be an empty nester again, as Alice graduates high school and sets her sights on a performing arts university in New York City (which delights Brady), while Kat is moving in with Elliott and eager to take the next step in their relationship (read: she doesn’t get why he just won’t propose to her already!).
So yes, things are changing, though, arguably, for the best.
While Del will be living on her own again, this time, it’s much different as she’s not alone in the way she was back then. Kat will be right down the road, she has a relationship with Alice, Jacob is back (sorta), and everyone is bonded by their shared secret of time traveling through history.
But before anyone moves on to the next chapter in their lives, there’s the lingering mystery of Elliott’s mother, Tessa Augustine, which came to light at the end of The Way Home Season 3 and is a huge focus of the first episode of the fourth season.
And the mystery of what happened to Tessa brings to the surface plenty of other questions, namely, who is Sam? How much does he know? And what is Del not telling everyone about Tessa? Throughout the episode, she acts as though she didn’t know Tessa that well, but he reactions in moments when no one is looking indicate she knew way more than she’s letting on.
That’s the same feeling I get from Sam. He definitely knows way more about everything—and he for sure knows about the pond’s abilities, proving to me that he’s either traveling from the past or from the future.
The Way Home gave a little peek into a future timeline for the first time ever, which is seemingly taking place at Kat’s wedding, though the rest was mostly focused on the present. Why that snippet mattered so much in the context of everything else that was happening remains unclear for now.
Sam, however, saw Elliott, Kat and Alice travel via pond, seemingly knowing that they are on the hunt for information about Tessa, which makes me think he’s Colton’s brother Griffin. Then, there are other moments where I get the feeling that he’s from the future, though I can’t explain how he’s always around whenever they need him if he is traveling from a different timeline.
Either way—Sam isn’t who he says he is, and I can’t wait till we begin to question him.
One of the first scenes of the episode establishes that Kat, Elliott and Alice delivered baby Elliott to the doorstep of the Landrys, which means that Tessa left her newborn child in the woods without any care for what happened to him, a reality that doesn’t sit well with Elliott.
However, everything we’ve come to learn about Tessa shows that she was a loving mother, especially when they find her suitcase buried when Alice is digging up a spot for her time capsule, as it has a photo of Tessa and baby Elliott inside, which leads me to believe she knew someone would take care of Elliott once she jumped in the pond. Also, why did she pack and bury a suitcase if she never planned on leaving town? I imagine a mother would only leave her child unless it was absolutely necessary.
There’s also the possibility that maybe Tessa was never from this timeline at all. The pond hasn’t allowed anyone to travel to the future, only the past, but what if that was the case with Tessa, and she came from a past timeline and accidentally had a baby in the future, which is why she left Elliott behind? It’s far-fetched, but with this series, anything’s possible.
We don’t know nearly enough about Griffin Landry to figure out whether he’s the one she traveled with, but there’s something Del isn’t telling everyone about what happened back then.
Elliott, understandably, puts an end to pond-travel after assuming his mother left him for dead, but Kat can’t help herself, as she needs to get to the bottom of what really happened to Tessa.
I, for one, support her curiosity because I’m also curious myself.
She can’t shake the “65 in 25” rhyme that Fern Landry kept repeating, especially as Fern made it clear that they knew each other in the past.
Eventually, Kat gets proof that she ends up in 1925 when Alice steals a film reel that Luis Goodwin bought at an auction, which shows Kat and a very young Fern on tape together. I can’t wait to see the adventures these two end up going on together. We know elder Fern is a hoot, but the younger version seems to be even more promising.
It’s the proof they need that Tessa, who would’ve been 65, is in 1925, and Elliott, realizing his mom kept his baby blanket, decides to jump to find her—except that the pond only allows Kat to go.
Ah, that tricky pond.
While the mystery of what happened to Tessa—and why–unfolds, hopefully finally giving poor Elliott answers and closure, it kicks off Kat’s adventures to a timeline we haven’t visited quite yet. Who else is excited to see the roaring ’20s fashion?
But back at Port Haven, Alice is finally looking to her future more than she’s focusing on her past. She’s dating Noah, but there’s very clearly a vibe between her and her best friend, Max Goodwin, who Elliott points out is madly in love with her. And he would know what a man stuck in the best friend zone looks like.
Last season, Alice thought that Casey was her and Max’s child, which Casey shot down, allowing Alice to get back with Noah, but now I’m starting to think that maybe that’s not entirely true. Noah seems to be more like filler at this point, as Max becomes a key player in her life, which isn’t great considering the dynamic between their parents.
While Jacob skips town, a decision that pains Del and stems from his belief that he’s the one bringing harm to his family with the threatening letters, there’s also the mystery of who is sending them and threatening to tell the truth. Is it someone from this timeline? Or a different one? Could it be Sam?
And I may be reading too much into this, but Luis’ decision to open the Goodwin tunnels has to play a larger role down the line, right?
What secrets from the past are hiding there?
What did you think of the premiere? Are you excited to learn more about Fern in the various timelines, as Alice and Kat both run into her at different points in time in the finale scene, as she whimsically asks where they’re from, dearie.
Share your thoughts in the comments!