Did Tessa survive? ‘The Way Home’ Series Finale Explained (SPOILERS)

WARNING! THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS ABOUT THE WAY HOME SERIES FINALE!During the final episode of The way homeElliot realized that his mother, Tessa, was most likely still alive because she had not set the clock in the wall of his house before she was supposedly killed in the Lingermore Tunnels explosion, meaning she must have survived. Tessa Cooper (Megan Follows) suffered postpartum depression after the birth of Elliot Augustine (Evan Williams) in the early 1980s.

Tessa’s fears that she would be a terrible mother were confirmed when Fern Landry (Jill Frappier) warned her that she was going to kill her son. Elliot grew up thinking that his mother had abandoned him and his father, Victor Augustine (James Gallanders), when he was a baby, but he eventually discovered the truth that Tessa had used the Landry Pond to travel through time.

Elliot realized that Tessa had jumped into the pond and traveled through time, becoming stuck back in time. He eventually followed her to 1925, where she worked as a bootlegger after decades in the past. On New Year’s Eve 1925, Elliot ended up in the Lingermore Tunnels with Tessa and others. She accidentally shot him just before the explosion, which had become part of Port Haven lore. Elliot returned to the presentwhere he made a full recovery, but he believed Tessa had been killed in the explosion.

How did Elliot realize that Tessa might have survived the explosion in the Lingermore Tunnel on the way home?

Elliot Augustine of The Way Home holds the clock from the wall

During the day The way home Season 3, Episode 1, Elliot found a mysterious clock in the wall of his house, which he assumed his mother had placed there. However, when they met in 1925, she told him she knew nothing about the clock. Since Tessa was later believed to have died in the Lingermore Tunnel explosion, it seemed impossible that she was the one who set the clock in the wall.

However, during the series finale of The way homeLooking at the clock on his mantelpiece, Elliot realized that Tessa must have survived the explosion. He recalled that she had not yet purchased the house when she supposedly died, so she must have put the clock in the wall later than 1926. Elliot told Kat (Chyler Leigh) that he believed Tessa had lived, thinking that she had not set the clock in the wall so that he would find her in time, but to let him know that she was alive.

What do the executive producers of The Way Home say about Tessa surviving the explosion?

Tessa (Megan Follows) and Elliot (Evan Williams) from The Way Home sit outside together

The creators and executive producers of The way homeHeather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke, mother and daughter, confirmed that Elliot’s theory about Tessa’s life is correct. At the request of Variety When Tessa stuck the clock in the wall to prevent Elliot from coming back looking for her, Clarke responded: ‘It’s reassuring. It’s the Bootstrap Theory.”

The Bootstrap theory, also called the time travel paradox, is a causal loop in which an event causes itself. The way home had many examples of Bootstrap theory. Clarke explained: “Elliot tells Tessa about the clock in the wall, and she doesn’t know what it was. Is that why she puts it in the wall later? It’s a cyclical, interesting time-travel conundrum. But in our minds, yes. Tessa putting it in the wall is to reassure Elliot that she’s okay. What Elliot chooses to do with that information is up to the audience, because we won’t get to see it.”

Is Claire really Alice? ‘The Way Home’ Series Finale Explained (SPOILERS)

The Way Home series finale finally addressed the long-standing fan theory that Nick’s invisible fiancée, Claire, is actually his first love, Alice.

In an interview with TV insiderConkie explained why it was important for Tessa to survive the explosion. She said: “Well, I like the ending of that story because it’s heavily hinted at. In fact, I think it’s proof that she survived the blast, because the logic of the clock in the wall was always up for debate. But she did put that clock in the wall to show him, ‘No, it wasn’t over yet. I was fine. I put this clock in the wall so you can explain some things afterwards.’ So I think that was a much nicer ending than knowing she was blown to smithereens. I mean, that just wouldn’t be good for a mother.”

It appears that Elliot’s theory that Tessa is still alive is true, as confirmed by the executive producers of The way home. Now fans will wonder if Elliot would try to time travel with his now fiancée, Kat, to find her again. Tessa would be too old to have lived to this day, so the only way Elliot could reunite with her would be through time travel, but he can’t do it alone because he’s not a Landry by blood.

It was beautiful to see Tessa leave Elliot a sign to let him know what happened to her. He lived with uncertainty about his mother all his life, but now he can have some peace knowing that she somehow survived the Lingermore Tunnel explosion and was able to buy their family home. The inscription on the clock said: ‘To end is to make a beginning’ from T. S. Eliot’s poem, “Little Gidding.” As Elliot said: the poem is about time, “the unity of past, present and future.” This ending to Elliot and Tessa’s story is both hopeful and intriguing. Now fans are wondering if Elliot and Tessa would have found each other again in a future season The way home.

Sources: Variety, TV insider

Release date: 2023 – 00-00-2026
Network: Hallmark Channel
Directors: Grant Harvey, Shamim Sarif, Norma Bailey, John Fawcett, Michelle Latimer