The Hallmark Channel’s news series The Way Home is back with its second episode Scar Tissue.
Once again, staff member AMANDA PEZET gives her thoughts and insights on the latest episode of this series. Grab your favorite beverage, sit back, relax and read her thoughts about the episode!
**SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t seen this episode yet, please do not read any further until you do!**
This week’s installment of The Way Home brings all the feels with it. The episode opens on a desperate Kat (Chyler Leigh) still trying to reach Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow). Alice, however, doesn’t receive any of her mother’s calls because she wakes up in the barn in the 1999 timeline. After a long night, Kat fears that history is repeating itself and that Alice has disappeared like her brother Jacob did all those years ago.
In 1999- Teenaged Elliot (David Webster) and Alice walk through the woods towards the pond as she tries to convince him that she traveled in time. She tells him that has to go back through the portal in the pond to get back home. He thinks the whole thing is insane but takes the opportunity to ask a few follow up questions- most importantly and adorably, he wants to know who Alice’s dad is. Alice responds with disgust and tells him he’s obviously not her father! Alice redirects the conversation and assures him that in the future he takes her seriously and with that she jumps in and leaves Elliot in 1999 confused, worried, and searching for her in the pond.
Modern day- Grown up Elliot (Evan Williams) sees Alice running through the field. Shortly after, Kat returns home from her search for Alice and is flooded with memories of the pain of losing her brother. When she enters the house Kat is relieved to find Alice in her bedroom, alive and well. However, the excitement quickly wears off and she lectures Alice on her selfish decisions. She tells Alice that she’s grounded and cuts her off as she tries to share her explanation. Frustrated, Kat wonders what happened to her mom- she is no longer the carefree and joyful teen that Kat spent time with the day before.
Del and her friend Rita work in the garden and discuss how having Kat and Alice home could impede upon the growth that Del has made towards her own healing. Del accuses Rita of sending the note to Kat that got her there in the first place, and Rita denies the accusation.
Brady (Al Mukadam) calls Kat to check in on Alice. Kat tells him that Alice is home safe and that she questions if they should just return to Minneapolis. Brady tells her that she should reconsider that thought because he scored her a book deal. The publisher wants her to write a true crime book about Jacob’s disappearance. She questions why he wants to help her and tells him that she doesn’t need his help anymore. He tells her to think about it, maybe this book gives meaning to returning home.
At school, Kat embarasses Elliot by telling him that they need to “talk about last night” in front of a crowd of his colleagues. He gets upset and tells her that she can’t talk to him like that at school- he could be fired. She calls him out for telling her that he’d help her “any time” and questions if he knows what she knows. They beat around the bush- neither wanting to admit what they know before the other- until Elliot admits that he knows and he remembers. Alice wonders how her mom doesn’t remember, how she could have named her after herself, but not remember her face in the present. Elliot tells her that time is weird and that her mom doesn’t remember because it doesn’t seem possible to her. He also tells her that she needs to recognize the rules of the pond, that she is missing in this timeline for the same amount of time that she exists in the other timeline, so she needs to be smart about when she decides to travel. She is surprised to find out that it wasn’t a one time experience. The idea of traveling back again incites a bunch of questions, but they are interrupted as Elliot’s class enters.
At home, Kat goes through an old box in Jacob’s room. She has a flashback of her and Jacob writing in an old journal. Del enters and interrupts the memory. Kat wants her mom to sit and talk with her about her brother. Del shuts her down and tells her to put the journal away and let the past be the past. Abruptly, Del tells Kat that she needs to make herself useful while she’s figuring her life out and sends her off to the cafe to deliver honey. When Kat arrives at the cafe she is met by Monica (Samora Smallwood)- her old highschool nemesis. After quipping back and forth, Kat realizes that this was not just a delivery, her mom set her up on an unwanted job interview with Monica. Kat politely turns her down and tells Monica that she has landed a book deal so she doesn’t need a job.
During family dinner that night Del and Kat argue about the setup with Monica. Del tries to explain that she was just trying to help Kat get back on her feet, but Kat isn’t having any of it. Kat shares with Del and Alice that she has a book deal to write about Jacob’s disappearance. Del is extremely against her writing a book about Jacob, but Kat thinks it could be cathartic. When Kat doesn’t back down Del forbids her to write about it. This argument prompts Alice to ask them to tell her what happened to Jacob, and Kat shuts her down and tells her that it isn’t the time to go into it. Alice doesn’t understand how it’s okay for her mom to write a book about something that she won’t even share with her own daughter. To break the anger, Alice tries to remind Kat and Del that they used to love each other and she wants to know how they have become so angry and jaded.
Kat and Elliot meet in the barn. Kat rests her head on Elliot’s shoulder and they have a heart to heart about the past. Kat asks him if he remembers their old friend Alice. He slyly says that he sort of remembers. She mentions the blurry polaroid picture that she found of Alice, but that she can’t quite remember what she looked like.
Meanwhile in the house, a call from Brady interrupts Alice’s efforts to search the internet for clues about Jacob’s disappearance. The two share a brief heated discussion about his girlfriend moving in with him before Alice cuts him off and hangs up. Frustrated, and in an effort to find real answers, Alice goes to the pond and attempts to get back to 1999. Unfortunately, she jumps in, but comes right back up in the current timeline.
After the failed attempt at time travel, Alice goes to Elliot’s house and tells him that the pond won’t let her return to 1999. He tells her that the pond works in mysterious ways and it’s only going to let her travel when it is ready for her to do so. He encourages her to invest her time in the present. A defeated Alice returns home and finds Del on her way out to the farmers market.
Del insists that Alice join her at the market. As they set up their booth Del’s friend Byron (Nigel Whitmey) comes by. Del introduces him to Alice- we find out that he runs the local paper and that he’s lived there for six years. When speaking to Byron, Del blushingly brushes her hair back in the same way that she used to with Colton- it’s obvious she has a little thing for him, and he for her, though neither are ready to admit it.
Meanwhile back at the farmhouse, Kat goes looking for Alice in her room. She doesn’t find her daughter, but she does come by an old copy of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” She opens the book and sees the line “but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then” underlined. She contemplates that for a moment and then closes the book. On the bed she finds a note from Alice telling her that Del took her to the farmers market. Kat lets out an agitated exhale and leaves for the market.
When Kat arrives, she immediately starts having flashbacks to her family desperately handing out flyers at the market in hopes of finding a missing Jacob. When she shakes off the memory she sees Alice and Del. She pulls Del to the side and tells her to stop interfering. Del offers her unsolicited advice and tells her to not lock Alice up. As Kat and Del continue to argue, Alice asks Rita to tell her what happened to Jacob. Feeling it wasn’t her place, Rita refuses to share that information. Disappointed, Alice runs off but Del and Kat are too busy arguing about the past to notice. The two argue about why Kat is even there, to which Del doubles down on her denial of sending the letter to Kat and says that she never asked her to come home. Knowing she has the letter, this irritates Kat and she leaves the conversation.
Kat goes to the cemetery to visit her daddy’s grave. When she gets there she tells him how much she misses him and how she wishes that he was still there to meet Alice and guide her through life. When she kneels down she is shocked to see that Jacob’s name has been added to Colton’s gravestone.
In hopes of finding answers about Jacob, Alice goes to the town newspaper and asks to see the archives. She finds an article about Jacob’s disappearance. The article says that he boarded the ferris wheel with Kat and then vanished from the ferris wheel seat without explanation. Alice’s research comes to a screeching halt when Del shows up and tells her it’s time to go.
Del drives Alice home and shows her where her grandfather died. She tells her that he died in a car accident just three months after Jacob disappeared. Del tells Alice that she deserves to know the truth, but once she tells her the story, it needs to be dropped, she doesn’t want to keep dredging it up.
When Del and Alice arrive at the farmhouse, Kat immediately confronts Del about the gravestone. She is very upset to learn that her mother had Jacob officially declared dead, to which Del tells her that it was time to let go. She also explains that the death certificate is what prompted her to write the letter to Kat, but still denies ever sending it. Del tells Kat that she knew that she wouldn’t respond well to the news so she avoided sending it. Del says that she’s given up hope on Jacob because she was the only one left at the house waiting for him to come home. Kat tells her that she knows that Del blames her for Jacob’s disappearance, and Del quickly shuts that down and tells her she doesn’t get to say that. Del tells Kat that there is a memorial service for Jacob tomorrow. Kat gets upset and Del tells her that she doesn’t get to be angry about it because she’s been gone for twenty years. Kat claims that separation was Del’s fault because she wouldn’t let Kat be there for her. Del tells her that she needs to move on and in order for that to happen Kat needs to let it go too.
Kat escapes to the barn. Elliot finds her there and the two discuss the memorial, and the hurt that has been left behind with the loss of Jacob. Kat cries in Elliot’s arms and says that she blames herself for not protecting Jacob.
When Kat comes inside she finds Alice waiting up for her. Alice asks her if she ever wonders what happened to Jacob. Kat tells her that she thinks about it every single day. Alice tells Kat that she no longer wishes to return to Minneapolis, she wants to stay at the farm and get to know her family- even the ones who are gone.
A reflective Del sits at her vanity, puts her wedding band on, and thinks about little Jacob. In a flashback the two play with a teddy bear and snuggle on the bed. Del shakes herself out of the memory and composes herself.
Kat comes into the living room and finds Alice holding a weathered leather bound book. Kat explains that it is an old family heirloom. It chronicles the births and deaths of the members of the Landry family.
Del, Kat, Alice, Elliot, and Rita memorialize Jacob in the rain. They stand in the Landry field as Del shares memories about her perfect little boy. In a gut wrenching scene, Elliot takes Kat’s hand in support as Del releases a single blue balloon to the Heavens and says goodbye to her baby.
After the memorial Kat calls Brady and tells him that she can’t write the book about her family. She tells him that she’s officially staying and that she hopes to see the best parts of her childhood repeat themselves.
Elliot finds Alice at the pond. She tells him that wants to go back and see Jacob. Elliot watches and knowingly smiles as she jumps in.
In an emotional moment inside the farmhouse, Del finally lets her guard down and allows Kat to support her as they add Jacob’s name and death date, October 29th, 1999, to the family book. Afterwards, Del goes to the bedroom and kisses the little bear that Jacob left behind.
The episode ends as Alice arrives in 1999 and finds teenaged Kat (Alex Hook) and little Jacob playing and giggling in the tall grass. Kat and Jacob are excited to see Alice return, and the three of them run off together for another Landry Family dinner.
This installment of The Way Home was a total emotional rollercoaster! I love how the character of Elliot, adorably played by Evan Williams, brings moments of levity and wisdom to the story. His obvious adoration for Kat is so sweet to watch in both timelines- I look forward to the moment that she finally picks up on his feelings for her- C’mon Kat! I also LOVE the fact that he is “in the know” in both timelines, it is absolutely genius to have him there as a voice of reason for Alice no matter ‘when’ she is. Along with learning more about Elliot and the rules for time travel, this installment taught us a lot more about the Landry family struggles. I feel for Kat, Del, and Alice as they try to navigate the truths as they come to light. Oh, Andie MacDowell- the way she ever so slowly peeled back Del’s layers this week and allowed us to see the grieving momma underneath all that strength and pride. The flashbacks with little Jacob gave us glimpses into those sweet moments that she had with her baby boy before she lost it all. I love how the writers balance the pain with the flashes of joy to remind us exactly how raw this pain is for the characters despite the fact that twenty years have passed.
Hallmark has a major win with this series! I look forward to learning more about the Landry family secrets and I cannot wait to see how the mystery of Jacob’s disappearance unfolds!
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Thank you for reading our recap and review. Until next time.
**Photos courtesy of ©2022 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Iden Ford**