The Way Home Season 4 has finally given Elliot something he’s been waiting for ever since the final season began! Well, not under the exact circumstances, but when he travels with Alice to the 1970s, he does come face to face with the version of his mother that has existed long before motherhood and regret could change/take over her life.
To no one’s surprise, Episode 5 jumps between timeline to timeline once again, but this time, almost every single character is forced to look at the life they’ve lost, the choices they regret, or the future they’re so scared of.
While Kat and Nick continue to look for secrets in the 1920s, Elliot’s arc does steal most of the episode’s spotlight. Watching him see his parents as young people instead of just distant memories completely changes how he views his own life in the present.
At the same time, in The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5, Del kept getting pulled back into old memories after her accident, and Kat finally gets a massive clue/answer about Tessa.
Spoiler Alert for: The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5, Don’t Cry Out Loud.
The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 recap: Don’t Cry Out Loud
Nick nearly gets stranded in the 1920s after Auggie boys turn on him
Last week, we saw Nick risk his life with Kat by traveling through the time pond. This week, with The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5, Kat and Nick, as expected, get into trouble after the jump takes them to the 1920s.
Somehow, Kat has always managed to get locked up in a cell (this time, along with Nick) every single time, and this visit isn’t any different from the last. However, there is one tiny difference.
Unlike before, getting arrested actually helps the two of them get closer to the truth that Kat has been going after for weeks.
Kane is the one who eventually lets them go because he needs their help in dealing with Grayson Goodwin. The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 makes it clear that Kane does not trust Grayson at all, especially when it comes to Fern.
Scenes with Grayson are also feel a little bit off because nobody really knows if he is genuinely a dangerous guy or just that he’s simply surrounded by people who’re shady. (Side Note: The show does hint that someone bigger than Grayson may actually be controlling everything behind the scenes, but this remains to be seen.)
Nick also ends up being extremely useful during the mission. Kat usually storms into situations trying to force answers out of people, but Nick approaches things a lot more differently than Kat, which proves to be helpful.
He ends up bonding with the Auggie boys over a few drinks, and this helps him get information about their illegal rum operation and their hideout, “The Big Fish.” His calmer personality is how Kat the kind of information she has been looking for.
However, the Auggie boys realize that Nick has played them to be a fool, and suddenly the path to get back home is risky. The scene with the pond turns out to be one of the most stressful scenes in The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 because Kat is pushed into the water before Nick could even jump. For a second, it looks like Nick could be trapped in the 1920s forever.
Thankfully, the pond sends him back home safe.
Fern, Tessa, and Grayson’s mystery gets even bigger
The biggest reveal in The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 comes once Kat finally tracks down Fern. For most of the season, we know how desperate Kat has been to understand how Tessa connects to everything that’s happening around Lingermore, and now, she finally gets proper confirmation that Fern has known Tessa for years.
Fern explains that every time Tessa visited, she’d always asked if anyone from the pond had come looking for her. This proves Tessa is still alive in 1925 and she’s she knows about the pond. Episode 5 leaves a lot of unanswered questions after this reveal, especially because Tessa disappears for long periods of time.
Things start to get even more stranger once the show hints that Tessa may have ties with the Auggie boys as well. Episode 5 builds up on this idea that she may have been involved in the illegal alcohol business operating around Lingermore.
There are also repeated mentions of something terrible happening in the mines, but The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 does not really explain what went down there.
Kat also gets to know about how Fern’s life mirrors parts of Del and Kat’s stories in ways that are heartbreaking. Her brother died during war and his body was never found and it is also revealed that Fern lost both of her parents while she was still young, leaving her alone with grief for years.
Grayson is still difficult to read. The episode never highlights hem as a villain because he genuinely seems to care about Fern, and he even knows about Auntie Coop.
This makes the mystery around Lingermore feel a lot more complicated because Auntie Coop also seems to have connections to the Auggie boys, than one might’ve expected.
Kat then realizes she may have been looking at the wrong suspect this entire timebut The Way Home Season 4 keeps teasing that the mastermind may still be hidden in plain sight.
Elliot’s 1970s trip gives him some heartbreaking closure
The very core of The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 belongs to Elliot and Alice. Their trip to the 1970s does not involve chases or finding out about secret operations, but it’s important because of how personal everything becomes for Elliot here.
For the first time in his life, Elliot gets to see his mother before she became trapped by adulthood and painful decisions. He barely remembers her at all, so watching her young, carefree, and playful completely changes the image he’s carried off her in his head for years.
There is one especially bittersweet moment where she dresses like the White Witch while spending time with Evelyn’s son. Elliot watches this version of his mother and realizes how different his own childhood could have been.
The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 also revisits Tessa’s strange behavior during this timeline. She steals Evelyn’s tarot cards without any explanation, which immediately feels suspicious because the series already showed her stealing money earlier in the season. The show does not explain why she keeps doing this, but it adds a layer to her increasingly mysterious character.
Then Elliot also meets his father as a young man. After seeing his mother in this timeline, Elliot already knows how tragic his future becomes, while his father still believes life is full of possibilities. His father talks hopefully about the future without realizing he is speaking directly to the son, his son who’s been carrying years of pain connected to him.
That interaction completely breaks Elliot emotionally. For years he carried resentment and confusion about his parents, but seeing their younger selves gives him a clearer understanding of who they were before everything fell apart. He finally realizes the intentions were never cruel even if the outcome itself is what turned to be devastating.
Alice supports him through all of this, and their dynamic becomes one of the strongest parts of the episode.
Del chooses present-day Jacob over memories of Colton
While the other characters travel through time physically, Del spends most of The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 trapped between her past and present after her horse accident leaves her with a concussion.
The injury causes her mind to keep slipping back into older memories that involve Colton and a younger Jacob. At first, this feels comforting because Del gets to hold onto the version of her family that has existed before everything could fall and shatter apart.
However, the longer these memories continue to play in her mind, the more dangerous they start to become. Del keeps trying to stay inside of these memories instead of facing the reality that is outside and around her.
The turning point of the episode also comes once Jacob decides to finally return back home. Del realizes that even though her son has come back changed after everything that he’s survived, he is still here, and he is still present. This itself forces her to stop chasing a perfect version of the past she keeps replaying in her head over and over again.
Her shift also affects her romantic storylines in the show. Julian clearly wants something deeper with her, but Del understands that these feelings are only connected more to nostalgia rather than it being a real sign of love. She shuts him down gently while still leaving things uncertain with Sam.
Sam is also pretty suspicious throughout the episode because the show keeps hinting that he knows more about the pond than he admits. The series also still has not explained Claire properly, which makes the present timeline feel full of secrets that are waiting to be exploded later.
The Way Home Season 4 Episode 5 ends with a few unanswered questions about Nick as well. After surviving his first real time travel nightmare, he reveals he has finalized the purchase of his house. This immediately raises new questions about his future wife and whether we might’ve have already met her without even realizing it.
Stay tuned to SoapCentral for more updates on The Way Home Season 4 and more.
Also read: The Way Home Season 4 Episode 4 recap: Kat pulls plug on The Harold for good
Edited by Deanne Dsilva