The Way Home could be a much better show with 3 simple changes

Hallmark has taken a huge risk on The Way Home, and frankly, Season 3 is just plain gibberish. Thankfully, it’ll be easy to get this show back on track, so let’s all take a deep breath and get to it.

I didn’t get into the TV and movies business to become Dexerto’s resident Hallmark expert, but by total fluke, my reputation now precedes itself. By now, I can easily handle a love triangle here and a freak landslide there, but I remain baffled watching The Way Home Season 3.

Nothing about what I’ve seen makes any logical sense. In fact, I’m not even completely sure if its fans like it. For every Facebook post, I see gushing in adoration, there’s one threatening to switch off for good because Hallmark’s sudden edgy streak is taking things “too far.” Somewhere in the middle is me, not knowing whether I’m coming or going.

Add to this reports of declining viewership – Season 3 is allegedly now struggling to hit the 1 million mark and is at risk of cancelation – and you’ve got all the signs that something needs to give. In my now very professional opinion, The Way Home’s adjustments are obvious. 

The Way Home can’t be over-complicated

Hallmark

Hats off to you if you can keep up with all the twists and turns The Way Home Season 3 throws at us because I, for one, am lost. Let’s rattle off a few now: there’s an abandoned baby, a mystery couple jumping into the pond whose significance is unknown, and Jacob has somehow returned home from 1814 before a nine-month time jump. Keeping up?

The Way Home is throwing the kitchen sink into its creation, along with every utensil in the cupboards. Honestly, it’s all far too much.

Perhaps Hallmark is compensating for the fact you could be in a coma and still understand its usual shows and movies, but there’s such a thing as overdoing it. Sure, fans take great pleasure in coming up with their own theories… but can you hand-on-heart say you remember what we’re supposed to be taking in?

A piece I wrote about Fynn the dog was met with fan criticism that I “didn’t know what I was talking about.” Precisely, that’s the problem – none of us do because this show makes zero sense. 

If The Way Home wants a Season 4, it’s got to cut back. The time travel itself is great (more on that later), but scaling back on smaller clues means the overall whole will be more digestible. 

Streamline the web of relationships

Hallmark

This leads me perfectly to my next suggestion: The Way Home needs to trim down its core cast of characters. In essence, there’s no need to introduce someone’s long-lost grandma three seasons in, especially when all she does is speak absolute nonsense that may or may not be important.

If you look at any fan Facebook group, you’ll spot people devising their own maps of who’s related to who through history. Therein lies the issue – we shouldn’t need to whip a chart up on Paint to follow a 10-episode series. 

To a degree, we should expect this. The Way Home spans across multiple points in time, meaning there are going to be connections that need to be linked. It’s just not being executed well, prompting questions like, “Will we see that random guy from Season 2 Episode 7 again?”

Again, the problem is volume here. We’ve got enough names on the go to fill a centuries-old census. Keep the links few and meaningful, and fans will start to feel like they’re in control of watching. 

One timeline, one focus

Hallmark

Each episode of The Way Home jumps about in time like there’s no tomorrow, and its approach to timelines could benefit from the Virgin River treatment. Instead of mixing things up during a single episode, the storylines could be more comprehensible if the show kept to one timeline at a time.

In short, this means having one episode dedicated to one point in time before moving on. This can also be applied to what the show is doing a better job of – exploring one timeline per series. If Kat and Alice spend as much time in the 1970s as they do in the 1800s, it’s game over.

My main message to The Way Home’s showrunners is a simple one… simplify. We can’t second guess why viewers seem to be tuning out, but the mental gymnastics surely isn’t helping. At the very least, pulling back would make my job a whole lot easier. 

You can find The Way Home Seasons 1-2 already on the app, with Season 3 streaming weekly. For similar vibes, check out Virgin River Season 7, Sullivan’s Crossing Season 3, and shows if you like Virgin River.