Bonus Episode: Our The Way Home Season 4 Check-in

TV Series Watch: The Way Home Season 4. In this brief bonus episode, host R.J. and Book Club Bestie Yolanda Moore reunite to check-in on the last season of Hallmark’s romantasy adjacent hit The Way Home. Is it hitting the right notes or falling flat? (The series finale airs June 21, 2026). 

Refresh your memory about the entire show’s run with our early episode this year: The Way Home - Why Hallmark’s Time-Travel Series Belongs in Romantasy.

Friends don't read romantasy books alone! Join the in-person Must Luv Romantasy book club that meets in the Atlanta area. It’s free! 

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Transcript

Host R.J. 0:01

Welcome to Must Love Romantasy, your Recs and Reviews podcast where love, magic, mayhem, and hot takes collide. I'm your host, Rosemary Jean-Louis, but call me RJ. A sci-fi fantasy lover who loved romantasy so much, I started two book clubs. Join in monthly for what romantasy books and content to obsess over or not. And interviews too. So grab your sword or your coffee and let's fall in love. One epic story at a time. I hope you're like me following the final and fourth season of Hallmark's romantic adjacent series, The Way Home. Now you maybe remember my book club bestie Yolanda Moore and I gave you a rundown of the show in a bonus episode earlier this year. Now, in this bonus episode, we are reuniting to give you our thoughts on the season so far. Because of our busy schedules, we recorded separately, but it's all good because we've got opinions and we're not afraid to share them. As of this recording, this covers up to episode seven and warning, there will be spoilers. Here we go. What do you think of the season so far, Yolanda?

Yolanda Moore 1:43

So far, I think season four feels like classic The Way Home. With its twists and turns, more secrets, more mystery, more drama, and of course, new love interests. It wouldn't be a Hallmark series without love. What I really like is that this season doesn't feel like it's just repeating old ideas, but instead it's expanding upon all the mystery of the pond and the connections of all the families, the good ones, the Landry's, the Augustines. We get deeper into the family secrets, all of the hidden connections, and the uh questions about who really belongs in the Landry story. At the same time, the emotional side is still strong. Jacob's loneliness, Elliot's unresolved feelings about his mom and why she left him, and Kat and Alice trying to make sense of the past all gives the season real heart. Overall, I think the season feels more suspicious, more layered, and a little more unsettling than before. And for me, that was made this show exciting and bingeworthy.

Host R.J. 3:07

Ooh, I've got to disagree with you on this one, Yolanda. I felt the season started slow and has been uneven overall. It just really hit its stride a little after mid-season. Classic The Way Home rallied around a central mystery. The initial one was Jacob missing, if you remember. This season took a couple of episodes to rally around the main mystery of why Elliot's mom abandoned him. And it took us to the 1920s storyline of Grandma Fern to do it. We learn why a bit later, but I had a hard time connecting with Fern, who they don't refer to as grandma in the first few episodes, and that made it a little bit confusing as to who this person was when she was younger. And yeah, you're right. It's not hallmarked without love. There is an unexpected love triangle between Del, Sam, and a guy named Julian, who turns out to be Nick's biological father. You may remember Nick is Elliot's best friend, and Alice felt for him when she time traveled to her mom's teenage years. Remember all that, keep track, right? Initially, I felt this love triangle between Del, Sam, and that Julian guy was manufactured drama, but uh, you know, I ended up liking it because it showed that seniors can find love and drama too. I felt some of the main themes of the season were endings. This is Alice's last summer in Port Haven before she goes to college. Loss is another one. We learned that a young Del had a miscarriage early in her marriage to Colton, and she shut down emotionally. It's similar to how she shut down when Jacob went missing as a child and she disconnected from Kat. New Beginnings is another theme. Elliot trying to find the right time and place to propose to Kat. And of course, we get a better sense of Elliot's story that his young mother abandoned him at the pond when the Landry's found him and then connected him back to his young dad, who was married to his mom, by the way, at the time. And like an onion, we peel back the reason why Elliot's mom, whose name is Tessa, did that horrible thing. It's implied that she was dead or missing, but we learn she is alive and possibly trapped as a time traveler, but also involved with the mob in the 1920s. So what do you think are the themes?

Yolanda Moore 5:58

The first two themes come to mind are family legacy and inherited secrets, which to me goes hand in hand as it relates to the Landry family. Everything keeps circling back to the idea that the past never stays the past for the Landry's. Another big theme is identity because so many of these storylines are asking who the characters really are, where they where they belong, and what secrets are hidden within themselves. Tessa fits this perfectly because we learn how she fits inside and outside of the Goodwin and Landry families. We also learn how she wants to be part of a close-knit family and that she's a little bit of a thief. But maybe a big thief, but I digress. But just jump into the next character that also fits this theme, and that's Jacob. He's still going through his emotional roller coaster self-identification from last season. He goes as far as leaving Port Haven to find himself. But do we really find ourselves when we run away from ourselves? Well, we'll keep watching to see if this works out for Jacob. I'm I'm hoping that it will.

Host R.J. 7:29

So, Yolanda, I'm I'd like to know at this point which characters are standing out as ones to watch.

Yolanda Moore 7:37

One of the biggest characters to watch is Tessa. Every episode seems to make her more suspicious, but also more important. She doesn't feel like a side mystery anymore. For me, she seems to be the central figure that's tying this new family secret all together. Bern is another major character to watch because she clearly knows more than what she's saying. And I don't trust her one bit. If she's willing to put Kat into danger, then I think we have to question her motives. I also think Nick is becoming more important in this season. He brings the comic relief and always shows up around major moments in the series. For instance, in episode four, he literally came out of nowhere when Alice and Kat were discussing Tessa's Augustine's possible timeline history and the fact that she may have written the names in the family almanac. Everyone usually comes into the house from the kitchen door. But it seems as if Nick was already in the house, unless there's another door somewhere I don't know about, but I doubt it. And then there's Sam who still feels like someone in the show is positioning for a bigger reveal. Not quite sure what it is yet, but he is not who he says he is. We still don't know who he he is. He could be maybe East, and I'm I'm gonna put this out there. He may be Colton's brother. That's my theory. But it's really weird that he already knows about the pawn and we don't know what how he knows about the pawn. So that's something to think about.

Host R.J. 9:40

What I hope will be answered in the rest of the season is who is everyone? How are they connected? And please give them all a happy ending. I really want Sam and Dell to find their happiness together and for Kat and Elliot to get engaged and maybe even get married. Give us a wedding at the end of the season, right? It's a long time coming for those two. I hope they answer who the time traveler Casey is. That's the person who had an internship at Kat's newspaper and asked Sam for legal advice. We thought Casey is Alice's child, but we learned otherwise. So I do like how they're finding ways to bring back Colton, by the way, as Dell's forced ghost, if you will, to give her advice when she needs it. And the same thing with Thomas Coyle, Jacob's friend from the 1800s, giving advice as a force ghost, if you will, um, to help him make decisions. Just a nice way to bring some folks back because it's the last season and we get to see them and tie all things up with them included. What do you think?

Yolanda Moore 10:54

More than anything, I really want everyone to find love, find answers, and find peace by the end of the series. Because I love love stories. And after all of this drama, the lies, the mysteries, the twists and turns for all of these families, they all deserve love, answers, and peace by the end of the series. My biggest hope is that Dell will find peace after losing her first child and her husband. And I also hope Jacob finds that he is a part of the family, he finds love, and is able to deal with his own self-identity in this present timeline. I truly want him to understand that he is love and wanted.

Host R.J. 11:51

Thank you for all of that, Yolanda. Really appreciate it. The Way Home concludes its final season on Sunday, June 21st. You can watch live on the Hallmark Channel or next day on Hallmark Plus. What do you think of this season? The storylines and characters. Put in a comment, send us a text or a voicemail. You can do that by hitting the send us fan mail button wherever you listen to this podcast, and we may read it on the pod. If you want to refresh your memory of past seasons, be sure to listen to our earlier episode, The Way Home: Why Hallmark's Time Travel Series Belongs in Romantasy. A link to it is in the show notes. Later this month, we're back to recommending and reviewing books. For June, we're reading Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport, and our guest reviewer is Asiah Muhammad. She is back, and we're trying something new: a video podcast. So check it out, check us out. Until next time, happy reading. Thanks for listening to Must Love Romantasy. If you enjoyed today's show, be sure to follow the podcast and then share it with your fellow romantasy fans. Until next time, keep your sword sharp, your coffee strong, and your heart ready for the next epic love story!