SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “Bring Me to Life,” the season 2 finale of Hallmark’s “The Way Home,” streaming on Peacock and Hallmark Movies Now.
“The Way Home” added another breathtaking twist to the Season 2 finale, “Bring Me to Life,” which aired Sunday night on Hallmark. Jacob (Spencer MacPherson) returned to the present and brought Kat’s (Chyler Leigh) Season 2 mission to a close — but that wasn’t the most shocking moment of the finale. After Kat told her little brother, “I wish Dad was here to see this,” the show cut to a flashback of a very young Colton in period clothing talking to an old woman about how it wasn’t his time to to go inside. the pond. Another flashback revealed that it was actually adult Colton (Jefferson Brown) standing in the bushes watching himself with a young Jacob (Remy Smith) during the summer kickoff before Jacob disappeared in 1999.
Those flashbacks mean that Colton is a time traveler and used the pond long before young Jacob, Alice (Sadie-LaFlemme Snow) or Kat jumped into the mysterious water adjacent to the Landry farm. This revelation changes a lot of things we thought we knew about the series, and raises a host of new questions.
The finale also looked like Elliot (Evan Williams) made a breakout episode about the rules of the pond, allowing him to travel back to 1999 with Alice to get his five extra minutes with Colton. Elliot believed that people can travel with the Landry women, but they cannot go to the future. This Colton twist, however, calls the second part of that theory into question.
Chyler Leigh as Kat.
Courtesy of Peter H. Stranks/Hallmark
But that wasn’t the end for the season 2 finale bombs. The episode also raised questions about Casey Goodwin (Vaughan Murrae), who miraculously showed up to tell Del that the Goodwin family would no longer be purchasing the Landry farm. When they dropped off the new paperwork, Alice noticed that Casey was wearing a ring around their neck that looked suspiciously similar to Brady’s (Al Mukadam) and Kat’s engagement ring that Kat had given to Alice earlier in the season. So now we have to wonder if Casey is also a time traveler, and what her true relationship to the Landry family is.
Variety spoke with ‘The Way Home’ showrunners Heather Conkie and Alex Clarke, a mother-daughter duo, to ask all the burning questions about these shocking revelations and what they mean for Season 3.
How long have you been planning this Colton twist?
Alex Clarke: For a while. This show is so complex and consists of three different shows at any given time. Everything has to be more or less intertwined with one era informing the other, so yes, you need to know the ending before you begin. The idea of Colton as a potential time traveler was on our minds at the beginning of Season 1. What’s so fun is that Jefferson, who plays Colton, has always played the role in this incredibly enigmatic way where you’re not sure if he is. recognize people, know more than we share – and it was truly a gift to watch. As we head into Season 3, you can look back and notice the little nuances you don’t notice the first time you watch an episode. He did a wonderful job with that.
Does this mean he knew it was adult Elliot in the finale?
Clarke: We can neither confirm nor deny this! That’s what’s so great about Jefferson’s performance. All we will say is that we will answer many of these questions in season 3.
Are there any scenes you recommend fans go back and rewatch in light of this twist?
Heather Conkie: I expect audiences will go back and do exactly what Alex said and watch all the Colton scenes and now see them from a slightly different perspective.
Clarke: I think one of the things we were heavily influenced by when we first came into the writers’ room was “The Sixth Sense.” Our goal was always that moment at the end of the season when you’re like, “Wait, what?!” And then you look at the whole thing again with this new piece of information, and you see things in a different light…
This huge reveal in season 2 not only implies that Colton is a time traveler, but also why does Casey have a ring around their neck that looks like Alice’s?
What does Colton’s revelation mean for Elliot’s ‘Flynn Factor’ theory? Is that completely invalid since Colton can clearly go into the future?
Clarke: Every rule we explain on the show is usually the right one. At our core, we follow the rules of the pond because once we stop following the rules, we lose the public’s trust. We have the whole list. We have them in the office and are very careful not to deviate from the rules. We can find loopholes, or we can approach that rule in a different way, and that’s difficult. But Elliot’s Flynn factor is important to the series.
You also posted a scene between Del and Evelyn Goodwin a few episodes ago that felt ominous and didn’t provide much context. Are we going to find out more about what happened between those two and Colton in season 3?
Clarke: Nothing is disposable in our show. We don’t have time in our 41 minutes and 57 seconds to have any throwaway moments because it’s such an intricate and fast-moving show. So every moment like that – that asks the question, poses a new theory or shows you someone in a new light – is very purposeful. What viewers should trust is that we will always answer every question we ask. It’s just a matter of time.
Courtesy of Peter H. Stranks/Hallmark
Jacob returns to the present in the finale, but we don’t see him reunite with Del. Why did you decide to save that for later?
Conkie: It felt good. Like Alex said, we only have a limited time and it felt like that moment [between Del and Jacob] It was too big of a moment to intervene. It’s inevitable. It will happen.
Clarke: This season was also really a story about Kat bringing Jacob home. It was about her quest to save him and the ultimate question was: can she bring him home? We have answered that question: Yes, and now her search is over. She has reached that moment. Any reunion with Del is obviously something we all want to see, but that’s another story. The story we told this season was about Kat. As a result, the moment when they’re heading home and she’s the one who says, “I wish Dad could see this,” drives us toward these big reveal moments. It was her story. We told her story.
It is clear that in all our stories there is never really an ending, or that each ending creates a new beginning. That’s something we were very aware of going into Season 3. The idea that every ending is a new beginning is quite a theme.
Does ending this chapter mean Kat won’t be tempted to go back to 1814, even though she now knows Thomas is still alive?
Clarke: We only give you as much as you need. That’s kind of the motto of the show. [Finding out that Thomas is alive] is a moment that raises many questions for Kat: if and when she and Jacob walk through the kitchen door and what comes next.
Kat and Elliot kind of end this season with a question mark. What do those questions mean for their relationship?
Clarke: I think closing that chapter will free up time for her and Elliot in a way that she was never really able to give him. Kat is an incredibly impulsive person. She’s someone who, once she sets her mind to something, will never give it up until it’s done, and possibly at the expense of a lot of other things that she may not even be aware of. It will be interesting to see how her character begins to refocus her priorities.
Elliot has a “let there be light” epiphany at the end of the episode. Has he now fully healed from the trauma of losing Colton after time traveling?
Conkie: That was how he broke through not just a wall, but an entire mindset and regret. It can open it up in a different way. I think it will change that. He takes that step and simply breaks through the wall he has built around himself.
Clarke: Here is a man who lived in that house all his life, and returned to it four or five years ago. He’s lived with that dent in the wall reminding him that he’s capable of being like this. I think breaking through that wall and tearing it down gives you a sense of freedom. I think he made his heart grow bigger. At the same pace, I think time traveling with Alice allowed him to put himself in Kat’s shoes. He wants to warn Colton despite everything, despite the fact that he is a man who follows the rules. He always wants to say that [Colton], ‘Don’t get in the truck. Don’t go to carnival. Keep an eye on your child.” In that moment, I think he has an incredible shift in perspective on what Kat has been through.
I think both Kat and Elliot are coming to each other with different perspectives now. Kat’s quest is complete, but what now? Elliot also understands much more why she did what she did. That will leave them in a very interesting place next season.
Obviously you can’t reveal who Casey Goodwin is to the Landrys, but how do your conversations with your actors go when you know there’s going to be a big twist in their character? How much warning do you give them?
Conkie: I’ve always felt as a writer that it’s better to keep actors in the dark in a way, because they react to it immediately as it happens, rather than thinking about it beforehand. It has always been that way, but with Vaughan Murrae it was different. I think they had a theory when they got the part. They kind of knew. They were someone who watched Season 1 with their mother, and they were a fan. So it was incredible for them to come and play among the people they were watching.
Clarke: To your point, Mom, I think even that very first day they had an idea of where we were going with the character.
Del developed a romance throughout the season and finally started to really open up in these final episodes. What will reuniting with her long-lost son do to her desire to be with someone again?
Conkie: Alex and I have thought carefully about how you would deal with that, after twenty years of accepting that it will never happen. It will change a person in a multitude of ways. Are you going to treat that 32 year old like an eight year old again? Are you overly possessive? Do you put everything in your life aside? Beyond that, just getting to know this person again, this adult, it’s definitely going to have a huge effect on Del. It will have a huge effect on Port Haven because they were such a part of this horrific disappearance and held her captive. go in her time of absolute sorrow. It will definitely affect her relationships with everyone.
Clarke: One of the things we always keep in mind is the idea of a happily ever after. That’s one of those happily ever after moments from a son who has been missing for 24 years walking through the door. But what comes next? It’s not like we freeze time, close the book and be done. Happily ever after is a bit of a myth because something always follows and it inevitably has its own challenges, but also a happy ending at this point.
What is the overall percentage chance that we see Andie McDowell jump into this pond in season 3?
Clarke: That’s exactly the question we ask ourselves in the writers’ room. Never say never with anything on our show. We pride ourselves on our breathtaking moments, so there will definitely be more.
This interview has been edited and condensed.