Hallmark is best known for its stereotypical entertainment centered around unrealistic romance; however, the channel made a refreshing divergence from its traditional archetype in the latest television drama “The Way Home.”
“The Way Home,” which debuted on Jan. 15, follows the story of 15-year-old Alice Dhawan who recently moved to her matriarch’s hometown of Port Haven, Canada. The move was prompted by her parents’ divorce, as well as her mother, Kat Landry’s, unemployment. However, the new start is not as refreshing as expected. Rebel teen Alice resents Kat for uprooting her life. Kat herself experiences a less than warm welcome home by her mother, Del Landry. The season’s pilot episode is filled with feelings of hostility among the three Landry women.
Viewers soon find out the reason behind all of the family drama. Twenty years before returning home, Kat lost her father in a car crash. This incident occurred just three months after Kat’s 9-year-old brother, Jacob, went missing. Kat and Del both coped with the tragedies differently, and as a result, caused an unresolved rift in their relationship.
At the end of the first episode, Alice tries to escape from her newfound farm life by running to the mysterious pond located in the back of her grandmother’s property. Upset by her parents’ inability to reconcile their marriage, Alice throws a bracelet – gifted to her by Kat – into the pond. She then attempts to retrieve the bracelet from the pond after instantaneously regretting her decision to discard it. In her attempt to fish it out, Alice falls into the algae-infested water and is pulled out by her mother. However, there’s a twist – Alice is rescued by her mother who is a teenager in 1999.
The family pond is a portal to the past. It possesses time traveling capabilities, but only when it wants Alice to go somewhere. Alice is not guaranteed to be transported back to 1999 every time she jumps into the water.
During her subsequent travels through time, Alice begins to learn about her family’s history that is often untold to her. She learns that the Landry farm was a place filled with happiness, love, and laughter; it was built on strong relationships. Alice also meets her grandfather, Jacob, and Kat’s best friend Elliot, who is her current science teacher in the twenty-first century. In later episodes, Alice is introduced to her dad, Brady.
Throughout the series, the pond serves as an escape for Alice to a happier time. The pond is also representative of how she can better understand the past. Elliot is the first person who learns of her ability to time travel, both in the past and current day. Kat discovers later on where Alice constantly disappears to after Kat, herself, gets transported back to the 1990s.
One mystery that remains unsolved, however, is Jacob’s disappearance. No one knows how he mysteriously vanished at a carnival in 1999. Police investigations couldn’t provide additional evidence at the time of his disappearance. Beginning in the sixth episode, Kat plays detective to figure out whether she’s able to figure out what happened to her little brother.
In a nutshell, “The Way Home” paints a beautiful picture of a heartbroken family struggling to move on from past life tragedies, yet still striving to make amends to wounded relationships. Hallmark is finally giving its audience what it needs – a sense of realism instead of constantly shaming people about their own love lives. This was one of the primary reasons why I gravitated toward the show. The show has an ability to keep viewers on the edge of their seats amidst the drama. While I have my speculations as to what happened to Jacob, I look forward to finding out the truth in the remaining episodes.
On the contrary, there is one pothole in the storyline that left me confused. Alice is a representation of Kat and Elliot’s long-lost childhood friend. Polaroid images of their friend Alice also remain blurry to the human eye. Everyone who existed in 1999 (and hasn’t died since then) is of the appropriate age in modern time. The only character missing is Alice. I’m not sure if it was a misunderstanding on my part, a pothole in the plot, or if the connection hasn’t been made yet to the audience. This aspect of the show appears to be the only blockade to my full understanding of the show, despite it being relatively easy to follow along.
The television drama features the acting of Sadie Laflamme-Snow (Alice), Chyler Leigh (Kat), Andie MacDowell (Del), Evan Williams (Elliot), Alex Hook (teen Kat), David Webster (teen Elliot), and Remy Smith (Jacob). Grant Harvey and Nimisha Mukerji directed the series.
Viewers can watch new episodes of “The Way Home” every Sunday at 9 p.m., or they can stream the first season on the Hallmark Movies Now app.
Kerri Hoover
Kerri Hoover is in her third year working on the Eagle Eye staff and currently serves as the President and Editor-in-Chief. As a Lock Haven University senior, she majors in Communication with a triple-concentration focus in Advertising & Public Relations, Electronic Media, and Journalism. With her versatile skill set, Kerri hopes to pursue a career working as a social media content creator, journalist, or video editor. On the rare occasion Kerri isn’t working in the newsroom, she can be found hanging out with her friends, working at the PUB, or creating content for the LHU Media and Journalism Department.
