We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again — the pond wants what the pond wants.
What the pond didn’t want on The Way Home Season 2 Episode 2 was for Alice to travel with Kat.
Kat’s travels are dangerous. Maybe the pond knows not to send a child where they won’t know how to steer clear of danger.
Now that we are more sure than ever that Jacob was lost in the pond, that makes less sense. But something keeps Kat’s and Alice’s journeys separate, and the pond itself is as good of an explanation as any.
Who knows what would have happened if Alice went back to 1814 with Kat. Kat barely survived. And if that’s where Jacob is lost, there’s a good chance Alice’s fate would be similar.
Kat Landry discovered a lot in 1814. She made a friend in Susana, who saved her life, and possibly an enemy in Thomas, who was more keen on her being locked up than allowing her to go free.
But Kat got to ask about Jacob, and Susana’s words were encouraging. He’s a very happy little boy.
Susana: How do you know Jacob Landry? You called out for him, as well.
Kat: Do you know Jacob Landry?
Susana: I do.
Kat: Little boy, brown hair, blue eyes. He’s about this tall? [Susana nods] Where? Where is he?
Susana: On the Landry farm with his family.
There are some things milling around in my head that suggest it may not be as easy as that, but I’m not ready to give them away just yet.
I am curious about your thoughts. Would it really be this easy for Kat to take a dip to the exact location where Jacob is now living his best life as a child of 1914?
Alice, too, was traveling again, but she had just returned to 2000, where she encountered Elliot, who was bereft at having lost everything.
To him, Alice is the reason for all of it. Colton, Jacob, and Kat are all gone, and he’s all alone.
Their visit goes to great lengths to help us understand present Elliot and why he’s so against time traveling.
It also explains a bit why he was so floored to discover that time travel, Kat, and Alice were the reason Colton was gone.
In 2000, he already felt shipwrecked, so after reconnecting with Kat in 2023, he was ready to put all of that behind him and move forward, perhaps taking the chance he failed to take once before by telling Kat how he felt about her.
Hey, Elliot. I’m sorry for telling you about your future. I really never meant to ruin it all for you.
Alice
Except it all fell apart. Part of it must go hand in hand with his belief that knowing his future changed the course of his life forever. I can’t say that I blame him.
While some people would take it as a dare to be different than his preplanned future (see Kat and her own time-traveling adventures), Elliot let it carve his path in stone.
But Elliot is still swimming in strange waters. For all his upset about Kat lying to him about traveling (she was not), he never told her or Alice that Alice did visit another time.
Kat: Elliot! Hey, you said that Alice never went back. You lied to me!
Elliot: I didn’t lie. I just chose not to share the full truth.
Kat: Oh, come on.
Elliot: You lied to me too! You time-traveled! You told Alice about our relationship, both of which you said you hadn’t done.
Kat: I wasn’t lying about either one of those things when I told you that. They just happened after I told you.
Was that his attempt at keeping them grounded in 2024? That and his desire not to lose even more since he already blamed them — past and present — for all of it.
Is that the last of his lies of omission? What’s keeping Alice from going back to the past again? And what’s keeping Elliot from sharing what he knows if she did?
You’d think that with what he’s learned about the possibility of Jacob being a victim and the Landry family losing him to the pond, he’d understand why they can’t just give it up.
Elliot is a scientist at heart, but he never entertained the idea that Jacob disappeared through the pond. I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous.
Elliot Augustine has been involved in the pond his entire life, and he never once considered that if a child goes missing (and one who loved playing in the woods, at that), he could have taken a dip, never to return?
No wonder he’s a teacher. His scientific investigation skills are lacking, which is concerning since he’s the only one with such a wealth of knowledge on time travel.
It’s as if every move he makes is calculated, dependent on what he experienced as a kid. That’s so sad and closed him off from so much joy. It’s also why he probably chose to have an around-the-world adventure. It was one thing he’d never heard of himself doing.
Even knowing what he knew about Jacob when Kat returns and they discuss it, he still can’t escape the blame he puts on her for Colton’s death.
Kat: I did it to save our family. I am the one who lost Jacob. Yes, I’m the one, and I have had to live with that guilt every single day since then. But, I can find him! I have a chance to actually bring him home!
Elliot: When has that ever worked? Look what it did to you, what it did to me!
Kat: To you? Don’t you dare turn this around. You made our break up my fault, my daughter’s fault, saying that, saying that knowing your future ruined your life. You made it sound like the journey was over, Elliot, but it wasn’t, and you know that. Alice did go back, you talked to her, you saw her, so you know what, you know what I think? I think that you just wanted me to love you. You wanted me to focus only on you, and when I couldn’t do that, you bailed!
Just like it must be killing Kat not to share things with Del (as a reader pointed out, Del better know about the pond because otherwise, not wanting to know about Jacob’s disappearance is nonsensical), Kat can’t share with Elliot that she met a member of his family in 1814.
Surely, that’s got to change as the season progresses. His pushing her to retire from time travel and its effects on his life have the opposite effect on Kat. She takes his blame for all of his life’s ails as a dare to fix everything.
She’s already tried fixing the past, only to be even more involved with its occurrence.
But is it possible going back further, where she was not directly involved with her own nuclear family, could have a different effect?
It’s hard to imagine seeing yourself in a painting that hasn’t been painted and giving up time traveling any more than it’s untenable that, knowing your brother might need you, you’d give up looking for him.
None of this is what solidifies Alice’s decision not to visit with Brady in the summer months, though.
It’s her belief that they’ll lose the farm if she doesn’t stick around and help Del that makes the difference.
Del’s proposal to use the extra fields as a nonprofit with the help of Port Haven fell through, but I wouldn’t count her out just yet. I can’t help but wonder if Spencer’s idea of a farm-to-table restaurant could be what she needs, even if she has to attain it without the town’s help.
Port Haven could add that kind of experience to the already blossoming tourism they enjoy. Maybe Del will continue plucking away at that possibility.
Something about that black beauty of a horse also weighs into this. Is the horse the key to Del’s saving the farm?
Traveling so far into the past adds another level of excitement to The Way Home Season 2.
The present keeps moving, and it will be so interesting to see how Kat navigates between two worlds without sharing any of it with her family.
Del’s discovery at the estate sale of The Founding of Port Haven may shed some light on what Kat does in the past, too. Pieces of this puzzle are beginning to come together, bit by bit.
Do you think Elliot continues to be unreasonable, or does learning more about him help?
Is the farm on the line, or will Del find a way to take it into the future and beyond?
Let me know your thoughts and feelings about the new season so far!
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.