‘The Way Home’ Recap: ‘When You Were Young’

2/5/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 203 of ‘The Way Home’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

There are a great many things we search for when we are trying to overcome the traumas of our past and the pain of grief and loss. For instance, we search for peace, because our minds are pure turmoil when we are in the thick of our pain. We also search for strength since we are aching and sometimes don’t feel as though we can make it through the day. But above all, we want closure. We want to know that there is nothing left on the table for us to explore emotionally, and that… is perhaps the hardest element of all to find in our long road back from the darkness that sometimes descends upon us. Because sometimes we just don’t get it, and it will never be possible to have it, but we search none the less, and we hunger for it so badly… it may not even satiate us if the opportunity comes about to have it.

If anything, that aspect of the healing process is top of mind today, simply because it was showcased in the next episode of The Way Home on the Hallmark Channel. For ‘When You Were Young’ put closure in front of Kat in the most powerful way imaginable, in between some important moments in the present, which we will quickly cover. Since Alice came to learn that Del wasn’t losing the farm after all. Sure, there was peril, but not doom, and Alice’s decision to be vocal and bold about helping, and the chaos that ensued from it… allowed for Del to teach her the importance of living in the moment and living without worry since she was one cool customer about the whole matter. Because that’s all we can do, is take trouble day by day, find the joy and let a clear mind work things out. Giving rise to a positive storyline for certain.

But while Alice learned those lessons and Del reveled in the moment and perhaps embarked on a new emotional journey with her new neighbor, Kat was back in 1814 looking for answers. Because she had to know that Jacob lived and was okay, for only then did she believe that she could find closure and peace and well… she got it. Because she ran into ancestors, and saw her own home in its earliest stages, and inside that house, was the peace she sought. For she came to learn that her brother Jacob, landed in this timeline twenty years prior to this moment, and he was healthy, and he was living and thriving, and engaged to the very woman that saved Kat in the last episode. Which was… closure at its core. Because she found out her brother lived a full life and found happiness and everything we want for our family and that… should have been enough to give her peace.

But the funny thing about grief, about our search for closure and healing is that sometimes… we search for those things for so long, that we become slightly afraid of letting it all go. Because to let go of our pain, to find peace, means that we surrender a survival mechanism that has kept us sharp, kept us moving and given us purpose. Which in turn, prompts us to not always see the wins, not always see or comprehend that we have what we want and to finally let the ugly stuff go, and that… can prompt us to push to try and find perfect closure when we have everything, we need in front of us. To prolong the search to give us that last taste of purpose when we’ve already won. Which may be why Kat wasn’t satisfied with just knowing that Jacob was okay, and why she opted to begin the long road back to the past one more time.

Which should in turn, bring forth more good lessons about healing, the kind we can find value within. But while we wait to see what another trip back will teach us about how we heal and how we accept peace, we can revel in another amazing tale. One that also featured some good character moments for Alice since she got a taste of growing up here by way of her first job, and we are learning so much more about Elliot’s own struggles with the past and how some folks offer the best advice about how to deal with it, but don’t accept it themselves for reasons we will undoubtedly discuss down the line. For that is what this show does, it explores everything and every angle about the healing process so these good people will eventually find peace and perhaps so will we, courtesy of this unique series about a subject the world needs to embrace more often. Until next time.

Watch ‘The Way Home’

0 Comments