The Way Home Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Here Without You
Carissa Pavlica
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Kat chooses a lot of people, but time and again, she doesn’t choose Elliot.
No matter what she remembers from the staircase, Kat didn’t choose Elliot when they were going to run away. She chose London and education.
On The Way Home Season 2 Episode 9, she chooses Brady and their family, Alice and Thomas, always leaving Elliot struggling in her wake.
The penultimate episode answered many questions and seemed to put a cap on the Jacob storyline.
But can Jacob’s story ever be over without Del understanding what happened to him, which would mean her being a part of the family’s biggest secret?
Don’t forget that you can visit the link above for a full recap. I don’t leave out much! Even better, I managed to capture 23 The Way Home quotes, and I sincerely hope that if and when you share them, you’ll share a link to them so that others may enjoy them, too.
The dialogue was on fire; it resolved mysteries and began new ones and spread every character’s heart wide open.
So, where do we start after an episode with so much to offer? Why not pick up right where The Way Home Season 2 Episode 8 ended — with Kat’s plunge into the fountain?
Kat didn’t share what she knew of that night with Alice because she didn’t know much from that night. A bonk on the head will do that for you.
But more importantly, that event was also the beginning of her Alice, which meant putting her friend Alice behind her, even if the peace she felt from Alice being near was why they named Alice Alice.
Nick: So Alice was named after herself.
Elliot: Yep!
Nick: Kat didn’t realize her kid looked exactly like her friend until last year?
Elliot: Mm-hm.
Nick: And Del still doesn’t see it.
Elliot: Yeah.
Nick: I mean, how?
Elliot: You didn’t see it either. Memories are fickle. They fit the story we tell ourselves about life.
As Nick said, so, wait, they named Alice after herself? Indeed they did, Nick. Indeed, they did.
Nick: Stop! What are you guys telling me? It’s a sick joke, right? You’re not actually telling me that Kat’s kid and my Alice are the same person.
Alice: Yeah, that’s what we’re saying.
When Kat decided to run away, feeling her future with Brady was predetermined in a way that she wasn’t ready for; it was an impulse.
When you’re frightened about looming decisions, it’s easy to run away or fall back into old habits. Elliot mentioned being Kat’s fall guy during The Way Home Season 2 Episode 8, and it remains true, no matter how she tries to express otherwise.
Discussing it out loud decades later, Kat is sheepish as she recalls falling in love with Elliot a little bit on that staircase. But aren’t you always just a little bit in love with the boy next door, even if he’s not your future?
Kat: I wanted to go to London with you. I don’t remember very much from that night, but on that staircase, I saw you, El, and I felllll a bit in love, and I’m sorry I turned so cold afterwards. I was scared, embarrassed, and just a dumb kid.
Elliot: A dumb kid who was really going to run away with me, huh?
Kat: Yeah. But, much like that kiss the other night, it ended before it began.
Elliot: I meant that kiss, Kat, but I want us to be on the same page. No more secrets.
Elliot needs to know there is no same page, not in life and not in relationships. That he can’t make a move without knowing they have the best shot at survival is why he’s alone now. He can’t remove the safety vest.
At one point in their conversation, Kat said she knows how this story ends.
She was talking about losing the land and Jacob staying in the past, but that’s only a fraction of her story, and if that night at the pond taught her anything, it’s that her story is unfolding before her eyes, and the ending cannot be predetermined.
The rift Del created with her words was also revealed, and it’s not much more than what many mothers and daughters go through.
The catalyst, though, was deeper than her words and from an outside source — the Goodwins.
We also discussed in The Way Home Season 2 Episode 8 review that Del is too proud (100% true) and too concerned with what others think, and Kat agrees.
When her world was changing before her eyes, all Del Landry worried about was making things right with Evelyn Goodwin.
Of course, Kat misread the situation and thought Del was merely keeping their name out of the papers, but it didn’t take a detective to realize she was keeping them out of jail. The bigger question is why Evelyn would threaten arrests for a bunch of kids being kids (in their 20s, sure, but still kids).
Could that awkward conversation at the cafe reveal more? It sure seems so.
You know, the more time that passes, the safer I feel just staying home with the memories. Must be nice to be surrounded by Coltons. I envy you that, Del, if nothing else. You realize, you owe me now, as if you didn’t already.
Evelyn
A new mystery has been unveiled. Did Colton have a relationship with Evelyn before he married Del? She clearly wanted to have his children, and she also noted that Del owed her well before the party mayhem.
The Landrys and the Goodwins have been at odds for centuries, and we can only imagine there are 200 years worth of history to uncover, layer by layer.
Whatever the reason that Del has been overly concerned with and feels the need to appease the Goodwins is a story too juicy to pass up, and it’s unlikely I’m scraping dirt from the underside of a misplaced rock.
Whatever is up with the Landrys and the Goodwins in the past has carried forth, and Del, Evelyn, and Colton Landry are a part of it.
I don’t want to keep bringing up the possibility that Elliot and Kat are related, but Nick and Elliot made a point of discussing Elliot being nothing like his father just moments before Elliot talked about how Colton was more like his father than his father.
That was not long before the conversation with Evelyn, and as a result, the possibility that everyone is not exactly who they think they are rears its head again.
Kat set things right in the past with her family, and Thomas made headway with the Goodwins to secure her family’s safety.
Elliot was right when he said that Jacob probably wouldn’t want to return to the future. He barely remembers his first family, but what he does recall of them is profoundly good. He recalls happiness and dancing, a real family.
But he also found a real family with Elijah and Rebecca. Grief threatened the Landry line at that time, much like it did in the future, and the pond tore Jacob away from Del and Colton to ensure Colton’s future.
Jacob thinks he’s never returning to the future, but the fact that we say Rebecca (we assume) tells him that someday, he would be able to or would need to use the pond again as a presumption that his decision may play no actual role in what happens to him.
Thomas put himself in harm’s way for Jacob, Kat, and Susana. He made a deal with the devil, and that deal resulted in his death. OK, we don’t know for sure it was making the deal that cements his execution, but it’s a good assumption.
Kat: I’ll be back soon. Part of my heart is here now, after all.
Thomas: Jacob will be safe. But perhaps you’d allow me to carry part of your heart in mine? This heart you claim I possess?
Unlike Elliot, who is still warding off Kat until he’s cool with the timing, Thomas said timing be damned — allow me to carry a piece of your heart in mine. I mean, come on! How can you look at these two men across time and not see that in a perfect world, Kat and Thomas would be a power couple?
Kat was actually blushing. Logically, she knows that there can be nothing between her and Thomas, but emotionally, it’s written all over her face.
And when she realizes that the Port Haven lighthouse ghost story may be the result of his capture and impending execution, she doesn’t give Elliot a second look before she disappears.
How do all of these stories come together for the finale? A starting point would be what many of us have wondered. Is the pond on the land Del just sold?
What if the pond takes those who own the land where they want to go? What happens if the land is sold? Did Del sell all of the land with only rights to keep the house?
Alice: You signed it?
Del: Yes. This is Goodwin land now.
We’ve yet to see anything about the My Katherine painting, and now that Kat is rushing back to the past to say goodbye to Thomas, will she get caught there when the title is transferred?
That makes a lot of sense in a nonsensical situation like this.
It’s also a good question because Kat tried taking Susana with her to the future, using Finn as a guide. She figured that if Finn could travel with a Landry, maybe Susana could, too.
But Finn was a Landry. All of the noise Del makes about not being blood may also be bunk if she would’ve dunked herself in the pond. Or, maybe it is still related to the Landry family, and she’s still going to make that trip.
Selling the land to the Goodwins, though, given their history is too ripe with possibilities about what may happen that we cannot rule it out.
I imagine someone from Hallmark laughing at me for overthinking as I remind her this is my job, but geez. You feel the pull to investigate every tiny word, too, right?
And that’s a part of this show as much as the writing itself. Every good storyteller wants people to get lost in their tale.
Imagining what may come shows dedication to your work. Surely, writers Heather Conkie, Alexandra Clarke, and Marly Reed enjoy watching over these conversations as people devour their work and fall in love with their characters.
They understand enough about it to make Nick our ally in the story, acting as our agent as he discovers the truth.
Alice: That’s the thing about time travel, I guess. You’re always the wrong age wherever you go. Too young in 2007, and I just feel too old for anybody here.
Nick: You deserve it. To find someone here in your own time. [shivers] Oh, OK. Officially the weirdest conversation I ever had in my entire life, and I feel like it’s only going to get weirder.
Alice: Yeah, so I should go.
Nick: It was really good to see you again, Alice.
Alice: Nick? That night at the cove, I’ve measured everyone else against it, so it wasn’t such a terrible thing.
He asked all the right questions and had all the right reactions, including wondering if Elliot kept it to himself because it made him feel special. Didn’t you consider that, too?
Nick: I don’t know, man. It all just feels really cruel. Did a part of you feel special having this secret, watching everyone else be oblivious and so naive? Did it make you feel smarter?
Elliot: I hated having to carry this secret.
Nick: Sorry, man, but I don’t buy it. I think you liked feeling superior, and you know who that reminds me of? Victor.
Elliot has felt for so long that he’s been carried along on someone else’s ride, paralyzing his life to the point of inaction.
I think the future of this show will prove differently in much the same way that it just proved Del didn’t do everything she could to save the land, but did everything she could to save the land on her own, which is a significant difference.
Elliot also mentioned that memories are fickle, fitting the story we tell ourselves.
If Kat and Alice discover that firsthand by traveling through the pond, it seems that something will force Del and Elliot to come to the same conclusion about their own pasts.
“Here Without You” was the perfect penultimate episode.
These episodes, when done well, end the current storylines and begin the next. What will be revealed on The Way Home Season 2 Episode 10 that catapults us into nine months of torture, scouring over every word of dialogue and seeking clues in every scene before Season 3?
As my Hallmark friend said, “Just WAIT until you see #10!!!
The waiting will be the hard part, especially once the finale ends, but until then, let’s discuss what “Here Without You” brought to the table.
Did Nick’s potential exit from this story resonate with you?
Were you equally stunned by Del’s conversation with Evelyn?
Do you wonder why Del was so stubborn she refused to accept money from anyone for the land?
And will her words that they’ll always have each other return to haunt her if the pond belongs to the Goodwins?
What do you expect from the finale?
We’ve got one week to go.
Share your thoughts below!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
