Just as one mystery is solved, another wades in wait for high tide to pull it to shore. The third season of the Hallmark original series, The Way Home, opens in a year unknown with a young couple fitted in blue denim and Doc Marten’s boots leaping into the time-hopping pond on Landry land. At the edge of the water, they leave behind a bundled infant in a wicker basket with a handwritten letter. The premiere episode, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”, starts Season 3 off with a tidal wave, wetting our palettes with more Landry family secrets that are hidden in places least expected, many residing in clear sight. Who’s thirsty?
Homecoming | After twenty-four years, Jacob Landry (Spencer Macpherson) has returned to the present day to be reunited with his family. With her sister Kat (Chyler Leigh) by his side, he enters their home to find his mother Del sitting at the familiar dining table. Memories of Del flood his mind and he calls out to her: “Mom?” Bewildered, Del (Andie MacDowell) slowly recognizes the man standing before her as the boy she lost many years ago. She clutches his bearded face in her hands. “How is it possible?”, Del asks.
Kat, Jacob, and Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) sit Del down to explain that the body of water on the Landry farm is more than just your average pond. Kat hands Del a page that had been torn from the Landry Family Almanac over two centuries ago. From it, Del reads Jacob’s story as written by Elijah Landry (Stuart Hughes) – the man who settled in their beachside town of Port Haven in the 1800s and raised her lost son.
Elliot Augustine (Evan Williams) is renovating his home when he finds an antique clock hidden away in the wall that he is tearing down. “A house with a clock in its walls,’ he says to himself as he places the timepiece on the fireplace mantel. Kat suddenly rushes through Elliot’s front door to reassure him that she has chosen him over Thomas Coyle (Kris Holden-Ried) from 1814. She also shares the news that Jacob is finally home. Together, Elliot and Kat rush to the Landry home.
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Family Secrets | The next day, and with some time to process the homecoming of her son and the newfound knowledge of the pond’s magic, Del sits the family and Elliot down to construct a story for authorities that explains Jacob’s whereabouts for the last two decades. All agree to keep the secret of Jacob and the time-traveling portal amongst the family.
A press conference is held at the homestead, in which Kat informs media that Jacob had wandered off that tragic day in 1999. An older couple found him and took him in. She tells the world that Jacob had suffered from amnesia, causing him to forget who he was and where he came from. The couple lived off the grid and therefore didn’t know that his family was searching for Jacob. They raised him as their own, and Jacob didn’t learn the truth until the last parent told him on their deathbed. He then found his way home.
The Truth Hurts | Nine months later, Del is receiving anonymous letters threatening to tell the world her secret. The latest reads: “Your lie is known. Time will tell.” Colton (Jefferson Brown) visits her in a vision urging her to tell the authorities the truth about Jacob’s disappearance, but who would believe her? More importantly, who knows the Jacob’s cover-story is a lie?
Lost | Every element of home brings back long-forgotten memories to Jacob. Adjusting to his life in present day Port Haven has been challenging. To cope, he has plunged himself into farming the Landry plots. In his solitude, Jacob has doubled their yield. Kat offers him a position at The Harold as a photographer, but Del is adamant that he stays at home to work the farm. While his family continues to mold his future in Port Haven, it is clear that Jacob is lost and desperately needs to find his own way.
Time-Travelin’ Dad? | Kat makes a shocking discovery when she accidentally spills red wine on the inside of a book that her father gave her as a girl. A hidden watermark was written on the last page. It reads: “No curse is on the water. Believe in magic. Come to the pond.” Kat has a dawning realization that Colton must have known of the pond’s magical properties. To further prove her hypothesis, she remembers her father referring to her as “my Katherine”, which is the title of the portrait that Susanna painted of her in the 1800s. Jacob later adds to Kat’s suspicion about Colton when he remembers their father telling him when he was a boy (Remy Smith) that “no matter what will happen” to know that he loves him.
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Again… The Truth Hurts | With the encouragement of Alice, Kat leaps into the pond to visit Elijah and Susanna in the 19th century. Her first stop is the Landry homestead to let Elijah know that Jacob is safe and well. She learns from Elijah that Jacob didn’t want to go home to the present day after all. Her brother had no choice but to leave due to Cyrus’s desire to turn him into the British for treason. The knowledge that Jacob lied about wanting to go home sends a jolt of pain through her heart.
Next, Kat visits her dear friend Susanna in the ground floor of her shop, although Kat’s presence isn’t welcomed. Susanna fears for Kat’s life and forces her to leave just as soon as she arrives. Before saying goodbye, Kat makes Susanna promise to write her book so that she may one day become the author she has always wanted to be. Unbeknownst to Susanna, Kat would be publishing her writing more than two centuries later.
As Kat readies herself to enter the pond and return home, Thomas emerges from the trees. After informing him that her brother is okay, Kat scolds him for lying about his death. Thomas kisses her in response. Kat loses herself in his embrace for only a second before pushing him way and explaining that what they have cannot be pursued as it would be impossible to have a romantic relationship. Thomas agrees and the two say their goodbyes once more.
A Visitor from the Future | After spending the summer with her father Brady and his girlfriend Rachel, Alice has extinguished the pursuit of music for a career in public relations. Rachel has set her up with an internship and Brady has instilled in her the concept of a 5-year plan. However, Alice might change her mind after learning that she’ll be traveling to 1974 to record a music demo with her grandfather Colton! Before Kat can tell her of the track discovered on one of the old 7-in vinyl records, Alice runs off to the pond in hot pursuit of someone she saw watching her and her family through the front window of the house. When Alice makes it to the shore of the pond, she is led to believe that someone from the future is visiting. Before she can get ahold of her mom on the phone, someone pushes Alice into the water.
Catch Hallmark’s original series The Way Home on Friday at 9pm PT, and join us for PopWire’s WitchSlapped Aftershow on the PopWire YouTube channel for a deep dive into each episode as Season 3 unfolds.
Dani grew up on the West Coast in sunny California. With a passion for film and television, she’s always on the hunt for binge-worthy flicks with diversity and positive representation of Womxn, the LGBTQIAN+ community, and other marginalized groups. Favorite genres include supernatural dramas, sci-fi, fantasy, horror and magical realism. Dani’s current favorite shows are Motherland: Fort Salem, Killing Eve, Dickinson, and Euphoria.
