The Way Home Season 4, Episode 4, “We’ve Got Tonight” Spoilers Ahead
Picking up right where “Dust in the Wind” left off, The Way Home‘s “We’ve Got Tonight” deepens the final season’s mysteries. A couple of new characters arrive to shake things up, while our existing characters struggle to make sense of it all. It’s a good balance of mystery and character moments, which seems to be a running theme this season!
Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun
Despite game-changing storylines for Kat and Jacob (we’ll get to those), The Way Home Season 4, Episode 4, “We’ve Got Tonight,” is really Del’s episode. With Jacob gone, she’s reverting to her Season 1 trauma and prickliness. (That scene where the phone rings and Jacob hangs up without speaking? The parallels are clear, and they hurt.)
Her relationship with Sam is on the rocks, and I’m not sure how I feel. The show seems to be framing her inability to let him in and let the past go as a negative. But! Lest we forget! Sam is keeping a big secret from her: the fact that he knows about time travel. Am I still at least a little suspicious he’s actually Griffin? Yeah, I am.
And things get even weirder with the arrival of Nick’s bio-dad, Julian, a lauded actor who immediately starts flirting with Del. Honestly, this show gets funnier every time Nick shows up, so I’m not complaining. He might be the only person not thoroughly traumatized by knowing about time travel (see: his casual joking with Alice and/or his near spit-take when Julian mentions that Nick’s first love was someone named Alice).
Ultimately, Del and Sam seem to sort of break up, although it’s murky. She claims he doesn’t fight for them, and he insists she won’t let him in. If we’re supposed to root for him, though, the hypocrisy is… less than charming. And, as if Del hasn’t been through enough, she ends the episode unconscious on the ground, after her horse bucks her when she sees something in the woods and tries to follow it towards the pond.
Party in Port Haven
Kat’s portion of the time-travel plotline is smaller in The Way Home Season 4, Episode 4, “We’ve Got Tonight.” When she wakes up in jail, Cliff accuses her of having a “problem” with alcohol. Her insistence that she was drugged falls on deaf ears until Fern comes and bails her out. The real shocker: Fern drugged Kat’s drink! She claims that she was trying to protect Kat from the Augie boys, who are out to “get rid of her.” Is Grayson really their boss, though? Or is it someone else? And does Fern know who it is?
Alice, on the other hand, makes some big discoveries. She lands in 1979, just in time to spy on one of the Landrys’ “kitchen parties.” Tessa spots her in the yard and calls her out. They settle on mutual blackmail: Tessa won’t tell on Alice, and Alice won’t tell that she saw Tessa stealing from Coyle’s. Alice does watch the party, creeping closer, and it’s genuinely beautiful. All the families and friends are together, singing and eating, and just so filled with joy. That joy ends abruptly, though, when Grandma Fern comes downstairs and absolutely loses it at the sight of young Tessa, screaming about how she will never be part of this family.
Young Tessa is confused — clearly, since she hasn’t done whatever Fern is mad about yet. She does, however, seem to recognize something in the Landry almanac. Our present-day Landry ladies figure it out. Jacob Jr.’s death date (grandson of Elijah, son of William, named after William’s adopted “brother,” our Jacob) is written in Tessa’s handwriting! Even weirder: so is Fern’s birth date. Their new theory: Tessa got trapped in the past when Griffin left her there.
Kat insists on going back, despite the danger, but it’s not safe for her to go alone. The solution? We’ve been waiting for this: Nick volunteers to go as a bodyguard. “I get to go in the time machine!” he squees as they head out, and honestly, I love this man so much.
Bros at the Bar
The Way Home Season 4, Episode 4, “We’ve Got Tonight,” finally shows us what Jacob is up to: living his best broody bartender life. When a well-heeled couple around his age comes in, the woman is friendly (possibly even flirtatious), while the guy is a whisky snob bro. With the way the woman talks to Jacob, though, I feel like we haven’t seen the last of her. I’ve been wondering if Jacob would ever get a love interest (especially if he, not Alice, is KC’s ancestor), and it looks like he might? To be determined!
Jacob’s self-imposed exile also brings back a character we didn’t think we’d see again. Kris Holden-Reid is back for a brief return as Thomas. Except, of course, it’s not really Thomas, but basically the embodiment of Jacob’s conscience and uncertainty. I appreciate the use of Thomas in a way that underlines how close he and Jacob were; it’s a nice reminder that he was more than just the doomed point of a love triangle.
And speaking of surrogate brothers, Elliot shows up to try to convince Jacob to come home. Jacob welcomes him, but refuses to budge: he’s certain that staying away will keep his family safer.
(Translation: Spencer MacPherson needed more time to film separately while he was double-booked. But we’ll let it slide.)
What I’m Pondering
- According to old records, Grayson does eventually marry someone who is not Fern (unsurprising). He also apparently had a little sister who died young… and her name was Cassandra. The mysterious Lingermore painting is of them as children.
- The bullet casing from the Lingermore tunnels has a Goodwin crest on it. Ergo, Grayson was in the tunnels the night of the explosion. Or, at least, someone who had his gun was there.
- 1979 isn’t all fun parties. First, we learn that Del is pregnant, a few years before she would have had Kat. It’s not surprising, then, when she has a miscarriage, but it is devastating nonetheless.
- At the present-day “kitchen party,” Nick and Elliot sing a rousing (and slightly tipsy) rendition of the Lingermore folk song. Man, I love these guys.
- Nick is moving back very soon, with his girlfriend Claire. Can I just say, again, how weird it is that Claire is always mentioned and never seen? There has to be a twist with her… right?
- During the party, a throwaway line notes that a piano key is sticky. I suspect that’s going to come back, too — probably something important is hidden in there?
- And again I say: bring out your finest “what is up with that horse?!” theories!
Now streaming on Hallmark+: What are your thoughts on The Way Home Season 4, Episode 4, “We’ve Got Tonight?” Let us know in the comments below.