We’re gearing up to say goodbye to Port Haven with still so many unanswered questions. I’m hoping we’ll find a few more out, if not all of them, by the end of The Way Home season 4. With only two episodes left, I’m not ready to say goodbye to the show that scratched my time-travel genre itch.
Episode 8 clued us in on how Elliot became Tom and how Tessa ended up staying in the 1800s after her jump. Despite everyone learning the truth, Elliot realizes he might have invited his mother to her death. Now he and Kat prepare to party in the 1920s, knowing there’s danger looming.
Alice is still figuring out how the 1980’s film reel made it out of the trash and to Evelyn’s estate sale. While she’s figuring lost treasure out, Jacob and Abby are working through their issues as Del and Sam come out the other side of theirs.
Griffin catches Alice
Alice time-travels right into a photograph taken by Griffin Landry. He knows the pond is magic and that Alice is a time-traveler. She’s begging him not to tell Colton when Tessa and baby Elliot walk up. They explain their weirdness away with Alice being camera shy and unsteady on the rocks. As he’s leaving, he takes one last picture. Alice witnessed the picture she found of Tessa in the buried suitcase. She agrees to walk home with Tessa to keep her company. Usually her walks are quieter when she doesn’t have baby Elliot with her.
Tessa tells Alice all her worries about how she can’t come and go anymore. Everything is according to being a mom, and she feels like she’s missing something. As they are talking, Tessa realizes she needs to be somewhere. Evelyn is at her house with Lewis, who needs to be babysat so she can get stuff for the party tonight.
Afterwards, Alice overhears a tense conversation between Griffin and Colton. Colton tells his brother to stop meeting Tessa at the pond. Griffin reminds him he was only back to meet his kid before he storms out. Alice barely gets out of the way before the barn door slams into her face.
Just before Evelyn pulls back up, Alice gets baby Elliot out of the house as Tessa and Lewis run up. Alice hands him off, confirming he’s okay, and runs off. She doesn’t want to be seen by anyone else. Turns out Tessa had fallen asleep and chased after Lewis, who went to the pond. Evelyn shames Tessa for leaving her baby alone in the house and falling asleep while watching hers. No wonder Tessa didn’t feel like a good mother.
Fern’s warning to 1980’s Tessa
Before Tessa walks in the Landry house, Vic confides in Colton about Tessa and being a new dad. They bond over not wanting to leave their babies to go to work. Colton assures Vic that Tessa will come around and that things will be okay. As Tessa walks in, Evelyn frowns at her while Del greets her with a hug and smile. Things grow more tense after Griffin confesses he gave a bracelet to Tessa without Vic knowing how he knows so much about her.
Griffin accuses Evelyn of hanging all over Colton. He says that Colton has done nothing to discourage Evelyn's feelings that have always been around (long before Del, for context). Griffin is tired of his brother or any of their group facing the truth that what they have here will soon fall apart. Finally, Colton and Del order him to leave. I feel so bad that Alice witnessed this falling out of her grandpapa and his brother.
Evelyn tries to tell Del that Griffin was lying. But Del said she’s known the truth for a long time and didn’t mind. It didn’t bother her. Evelyn takes the heat off herself and tells on Tessa, which upsets Vic. Fern comes downstairs and tells Tessa, "Coop, this is how it starts, and it ends with you killing your son.” This won’t make sense to Tessa because she hasn’t time-traveled yet.
Who wrote the threatening letters?
Elliot and Kat come back to the present to a pile of answers. Not only does Sam know about the pond (for two years now), but also whoever wrote the threatening notes and edited Kat and Alice out of that film reel. Someone knows their secrets, and it is coming fast. Once Del finds out that Tessa doesn’t come out of the 1920s explosion, she tells Kat and Elliot not to jump. Even though Elliot tries to tell her it’ll still come for them. They know they will return to attend the party.
After talking with Abby, Jacob sits down with Danny. He’s terrified about meeting Abby’s dad and failing to get out from under his mistakes. Danny advises him to move on from his mistakes. One thing leads to another, and Jacob tells him he wants to be equal partners and run Landry Farm together. A dream they had as kids to be pirates or run the farm together can finally happen.
As Danny steps away, Jacob sees the typewriter and runs out. A little while later, Danny comes by the house and confesses to Del and Jacob that he wrote the letters. I’m just as shocked as they are that Danny would do something like that to his childhood best friend’s family.
He did it because he was tired of them lying and making him feel guilty for what happened to Jacob. When he overheard Kat and Alice talking about helping Jacob, he knew they were lying. Del tries to mend it by letting him know she was trying to protect her family but shouldn’t have lied to do it. Jacob promises to tell Danny where he was all those years even though he may not believe the truth.
The Lingermore Estate party
Jacob meets up with Abby at The Point, and things seem better than they were at the failed dinner. She convinces him to come to her big launch despite her dad being there. The last thing he should be worried about is her dad finding out about them when Abby reveals the new location. They’re having the party in the catacomb tunnels where illegal rum was stored.
Del tries to convince Jacob to come to the party as Abby calls him. After the mistake with Danny, she begs him not to make any more with the people he cares about most. She reminds him that his feelings for Abby are proof he’s ready to let go of what horrible things he experienced in the past. At the party, Del congratulates Abby on a wonderful launch. She’s distracted by trying to get a signal to call Jacob. She’s worried she pushed him too far. Del assures her it is just the place keeping him away, not her. Their conversation is cut short when her dad tells her it is speech time.
As she does her speech, Jacob appears, and Mr. Goodwin tells him he isn’t on the guest list. He interrupts him and tells him he is in love with his daughter and hopes he forgets him for his wrongdoings. Mr. Goodwin hates that Abby is in love with the family that is blackmailing theirs. Jacob tries to explain there’s more to the story, but she walks off before he can say more. While Rita is rambling about Mr. Goodwin, she reveals that five people did die in the explosion. Four bodies were identified, while the fifth was never found.
Baby Kitty Kat
After a heart-to-heart with Jacob, Kat rushes to Elliot’s house. They have to jump because saving Tessa is important to him, just like it was when Kat wanted to save her dad. Del finds Kat’s note on the kitchen table.
Elliot wants to say goodbye to his mom, but he and Kat end up in the 1980s instead of the 1920s. Kat convinces him to talk to Fern, who lived through the New Year’s Eve party and everything that happened that night. I love how happy she is to see Elliot, and you can tell they got to spend time together like she did with Kat.
When they ask her their question, her tone turns somber when she realizes that night is still yet to happen for Kat and Elliot’s time-traveling trips. Before she can say more on how she (mostly being Tessa) sacrificed herself, Del and Colton drive up.
They introduce Fern to her great-granddaughter, Katherine. It all clicks for her that the baby on the porch is Kitty Kat, her friend. I love the sweet moment they share as Fern sings to baby Kat and adult Kat listens.
Fern’s screen test
Cliff greets Kat and Elliot and knows that Elliot was using a fake name. Fern told him that Elliot was Coop’s son and was trying to get her out of the booze business. Cliff still seems suspicious about Elliot’s intentions. As they leave to go find Fern at her screen test, Cliff warns them to stay out of trouble. He’d hate to see them spend New Year’s Eve in jail.
We finally have our answers to what was said in Fern’s screen test. As Kat warns Fern about Tessa’s impending death, Grayson yells, scaring Fern and Kat (in the famous pose they were trying to figure out). Thankfully it wasn’t too bad like they had thought. Grayson shocks them all by saying that he and Coop know that she’s going to die.
Turns out the deaths via a real explosion will be faked to get Tessa out of the business and free Grayson from potential scandal. Once the cameras start rolling, the explosion will happen, destroying all the tunnels under Lingermore. The explosion will be made to look like an accident as Tessa fakes her death and Grayson gets his movie with Fern as his leading lady.
Augustine history
Tessa takes Elliot to his future home, and he’s confused that it’s for sale. She’s excited to tell him that it isn’t owned by their family in this era, but she’s looking to buy it for the Auggie boys.
Elliot’s right that an Augustine was almost always in the house since Susannah built it for her nephews in the 1800s. They only sold it because they fell on hard times. Now, Tessa wants to buy it to return it to their family line. After promising he’ll do anything to keep her safe, she reveals she will be okay because she wants to return home with him and Kat after she settles her debts.
Despite being in an illegal business, she wants to take care of the Auggie boys and leave them something good. After all, her good deeds will lead to Elliot meeting Kat and falling in love. Tessa is grateful she gave her son those memories even if she struggled with being a big family with the Landrys when Elliot was a baby. They’re making up for lost time now, and that’s what matters.
New Year’s Eve 1925
After meeting back up, Elliot and Kat witness a big moment between Fern and Cliff. He confesses his love for her, hoping she’ll make the farm her home forever. Despite wanting to wait for New Year's Day, the start of her big year, he gets down on one knee. Right there on the Landry farm porch, Fern says yes to Cliff’s marriage proposal.
While Fern is out getting Elliot a tux for the party, Kat visits Cliff alone. Without revealing anything, she lets him know that whatever she or Elliot does tonight is to keep Fern safe. Although the vagueness worries Cliff, whatever keeps Fern safe has his blessing.
As they are getting ready for the party, Fern leaves, and Kat reveals her worries. Everything that Fern hopes to happen isn’t going to. All her happiness will be taken with it.
At the party, Elliot and Kat overhear Grayson’s conversation about the script changes to start the production off with a bam. The explosion they were talking about to fake Tessa’s death happens when production starts rolling, not New Year’s Eve. But from the riddle, we know one happens at the party and that Tessa doesn’t make it out. That only means the one at the party is unplanned, and so is what happens to Tessa, whether it is her death or jumping back with Elliot and Kat. Either way, Tessa is paying her debits and disappearing, using the party as a distraction.
The ghost story unravels
As Elliot is telling Kat to leave, the guy from the raid calls out his fake name. The newspaper photo is snapped, and Elliot is handcuffed. He tells Kat to get Fern. Grayson drinks to the “big fish” being caught, putting an end to the illegal rum running in Port Haven. Elliot begs Cliff to let him say goodbye to his mom and that he’s telling the truth. Cliff believes him and tells the guy to remove the cuffs. He runs off as Cliff and the guy follow at a distance.
With promises to keep up appearances and Fern close to him, Grayson leads Kat to the tunnels to find Tessa. He hands her his gun and ushers her through the door. Kat finds Tessa and the Auggie boys in the tunnels in the middle of their job. She tries to warn her that the explosion is happening tonight, but Tessa tells her she has her days mixed up. She takes the gun while one of the boys pushes her out of the way. Elliot arrives in the tunnels, trying to pull his mother to safety. Cliff tells them all to freeze.
The group outside counts down to midnight, yelling Happy New Year, but things are grim in the tunnels. Tessa shoots at Cliff, and Elliot takes the bullet instead as he jumps in front of Cliff and Kat. Fern’s song finishes as the explosion booms in the tunnels with the group still inside. Kat pulls Elliot away from the chaos as he bleeds out. In the chaos, Cliff knocked over a lamp, fire caught, and an explosion happened. Tessa, the two Auggie boys, Cliff, and the undercover cop were behind the flames. All we can assume is Kat and Elliot make it out while the other five die in the tunnels like Rita remembers the ghost story. But did Fern predict Elliot’s death? Or does he survive the gunshot wound?
The final episode of The Way Home airs on Hallmark Channel on June 21 at 9 p.m. ET
Add us as a preferred source on Google