Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
All week, I’ve been thinking to myself: why can Outlander have Claire and Jamie but we cannot have Kat and Thomas?
Alas, it matters not. At least not right now.
But as Alice still has unfinished business in 1999, proving that nothing in this story is finished until it’s finished, I will not write off Thomas. I just can’t. I’m stubborn that way.
But overall, The Way Home Season 3 Episode 9 is exactly what most The Way Home fans, especially those who want Kat and Elliot to share a future, wanted.
There were plenty of answers to long-lingering questions, and even if Thomas did depart, his impact on Kat was everlasting. You really can’t ask for much more from a penultimate episode.
The episode began with Kat and Jacob sitting before the smoldering ruins of Elijah’s house. They both couldn’t stay, and Jacob left, using Kat’s unfinished business with Thomas as his catalyst.
He was really more interested in vengeance against Cyrus. And if he couldn’t get it in 1914, he’d pick things up with Lewis Goodwin in 2025.
If ever someone was in need of therapy, it’s Jacob Landry. Until the very last minute, he has been unwilling to hear anyone outside of the voices in his head.
The fire spawned his plan — he’d get vengeance on Cyrus by ensuring Lewis was never successful with his vineyard.
From what we have seen of Lewis so far, he’s genuinely pleased to share this experience with Jacob, bridging a gap between two founding families that had long been at odds.
If Jacob had received the help he needed after his return, even from his family, he might have been able to start this new chapter on the right foot. Unfortunately, Del was also mired in the past, unable to move forward.
The irony is that Del lost her parents the same way Kat and Alice lost her. Thankfully, she finally recognized that she could get answers from Alice’s travels. She really didn’t, but Alice’s experience reminded her of her own memories of the same time.
Del was still angry about Colton holding back what he knew about time travel when Alice saw Colton propose to Delilah.
At the time, seeing Delilah was all Colton needed. My guess is that until Jacob went missing, he never considered going into that pond again. He didn’t share it with Del because she was all he needed. He didn’t need fame or fortune — just his Delilah.
Alice wanted to know what prompted her to return to Port Haven, but Del wasn’t ready to share.
Instead, she revisited her memories of Colton’s proposal and telling him afterward about why she returned.
When she originally left Port Haven, she had expected a warm welcome from her parents when she got home on her birthday, but they were silent. They lost everything. Their daughter’s return didn’t help because money was who they were, and without it, they changed.
They stopped seeing her. It was as if she didn’t exist. They were so damn confused about what they had lost, but since it was all they cared about, they lost her, too. They even sold her horse before she could say goodbye.
All I could think was cue Cats and the Cradle because, generationally, the Landrys keep manifesting the same mistakes as those who came before them.
Del shut down after she lost Jacob, which pushed Kat away. Kat said the same thing to her mother in 1999 — that after Jacob’s disappearance, she felt as if she were invisible.
Colton felt similarly; if he was exploring the pond for Jacob, he wouldn’t have told her because she wasn’t receptive to her family anymore.
But now, it seems like Del understands. She’s pulling out of her past and into her present. Instead of keeping her head firmly stuck in the past, she’s finally opening her eyes to what’s before her. That might be what saves Jacob.
The cameras were rolling at the vineyard, though, so she and Jacob have been recorded. Lewis, at least, will see it, if not Max and Danny, who can also be hurt by Jacob’s actions. I was shocked that Jacob was so far down the rabbit hole that he would use Danny’s security access to commit a crime.
Del told him to take her truck and drive. Did she mean as far as he can get, or did she mean to drive home? That scene finally gave Andie McDowell a scene she could really bite into.
We’ve also seen the last of Evie unless we revisit a time in the past next season when she returns to Port Haven.
Alice’s friendship saved her. Alice urged Evie to travel as she had always wanted to rather than stay in Port Haven and be miserable.
Evie felt it was her against the world, and although it was unexpected, her travels changed that when she met her husband and eventually welcomed her grandson Max into her life. We don’t know if Lewis and Evie were close, but Max and Evie were.
It makes perfect sense that Alice would fall in love with Max, someone who exhibits so many of the same qualities Evie shared. Everyone doesn’t love a cynic, but they can be damned endearing (so I’ve heard…).
I worry about how what’s on the vineyard security camera will affect them, but if KC is one or two generations ahead of us and tied to Alice and Max, they’ll be fine.
While life progressed in 2025, Kat remained behind to help Cyrus rebuild and say goodbye to Thomas. Dammit!
Dammit, dammit, dammit!!
Yes, I know many of you blanche at cussing, but I am not one of those people, and at the dissolution of my favorite romance on TV right now, I’m giving myself a free pass to express my frustration.
Since The Way Home has been determined to make Kat and Elliot a romance for the ages, we all knew this was coming. And if we had to say goodbye, knowing Kat learned from Thomas what she deserved from love makes it worthwhile.
Because of Thomas, she knows what she wants from love. She wants unwavering support and passion and to be challenged by someone who loves her for exactly who she is. Thomas was not a season; he was a reason.
Kat helped Thomas to grow up and put foolish antics behind him. He plans on going to New York, and we know he ultimately has a family.
Still, their relationship was what we deserved, as well. We deserve to see relationships with all of those characteristics, and it’s problematic that three I can point to are not of this time. Kat and Thomas, Jamie and Claire, and Spencer and Alexandra on 1923.
What does it say about us that three of the best love stories on TV are at least a century or more in the past? I’m not entirely sure, but it must say something.
Elliot stepped up by asking Jacob to take him back to 1816. Did you notice Jacob literally took him back there like a shuttle bus, immediately returning to set fire to the vineyard?
Kat called him My Elliot, just as she had called Thomas My Thomas moments before. She had closed the door on Thomas and opened the door to a future with Elliot. Elliot and Thomas even passed the torch with a nod across the property. That kind of grossed me out a little, but they both probably needed it.
One of the best developments was Susanna taking charge of Port Haven when Cyrus became unable to speak after the fire. He did love her, or he would have moved heaven and earth to keep her from being Port Haven’s hero.
She removed the chapter about Cryus as repayment for his support. She wouldn’t have been in that position without Cyrus behind her. Their marriage now seems like a small price to pay for the grand things she does to help Port Haven.
And there was a genuine miracle — Elliot smiled!!! Dear lord, if he could please do that a little more often, I may be able to get on board with a Kalliot love story.
From a historical perspective, Elliot was living his dream, and meeting Susanna meant everything to him. Evan Williams is a very attractive man. Let’s hope this is a turning point where his frown is permanently turned upside down.
So, what do we expect from the finale?
The word on the street is that everyone was sobbing while reading the script. I imagine that Colton will be seen somewhere by someone, but when?
Sam and Casey (should we say KC now?) are likely to be explored further for a grand cliffhanger.
And something must soon take place in 1999 with Alice, or else they wouldn’t have made such a big deal about her traveling again.
Finally, and this is a big one, has Elliot found the secret to time travel in his wall? Will the missing piece right a century of wrongs? Is that what the clock signifies? And how will fixing it change The Way Home?
Will repairing the clock reset the pond? Will it allow for forward and backward travel? Or will repairing it end time travel altogether, making the urgency of using the pond even more crucial to set things right for Port Haven?
Essentially, The Way Home Season 3 is over, and even without a renewal, we’re about to start a whole new chapter in the finale, as has happened in the past two finales.
I’m not ready! Let me know what’s on your mind. Did I miss anything? Was what Thomas gave to Kat enough to make up for his loss? And why, oh why, were we never even treated to good press photos for our favorite couple?
Let’s get this party started down below!
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