Chyler Leigh, Evan Williams, creators of Kat and Elliot

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “The Way We Were,” Season 3, Episode 2 of Hallmark’s “The Way Home,” streaming on Hallmark+.

It was all covered in Elliot (Evan Williams) during the Jan. 3 season 3 premiere of “The Way Home” on Hallmark Channel. His surrogate family was reunited with their long-lost son and brother Jacob (Spencer MacPherson). He and Kat (Chyler Leigh) finally made time to pursue their relationship with each other, without a time-traveling pond getting in the way. As far as life goals go, Elliot knocked it out of the park. As he and Kat take the next step in their relationship — moving in together — in the season’s second episode, some cracks are already starting to show in one of the show’s central relationships.

“We have these three women, and we always apply the past, present and future to them thematically. This season is about Del questioning her past. Alice is questioning her future and what it looks like, and Kat is questioning her present,” says Alex Clarke, the daughter of the show’s mother-daughter showrunner team. “She’s such a go-getter. She’s a lot like Del, and last season was about completing the mission and bringing Jacob home. To some extent, it was also about giving Susanna her due. At the top of this season, those missions have been accomplished. Jacob is home. The book is published under the name Susanna. She’s already done everything, so she’s wondering who she is now and where she fits in.”

Kat promised Elliot that she was done with the pond in the first episode after a final trip to the 19th century to complete the pond. However, the pond still forms a barrier between them, despite knowing that he can travel in time with her as long as they jump into the water together. The mysterious water began sending Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) back to the 1970s, and Kat had to follow to make sure her daughter was safe. The desperate need to find her daughter inspired Kat to say out loud that she didn’t want to “take care of” Elliot when he offered to go with her.

“Listen, it was a stressful moment — she has no filter,” says Chyler Leigh, who defended Kat in a recent interview. “Finally she said unfiltered, ‘No, thanks, you stay.’ That’s what she meant.”

Co-star and scene partner Williams supported her. “We don’t want to forget that the pond has been responsible for tearing the family apart for 25 years. It is a gate through time. It’s not an elevator. It’s not like you walk in and know where you’re going,” Williams says. “You may be lost in time forever. It’s not child’s play. It should not be taken lightly.”

The executive producers aren’t necessarily trying to excuse Kat’s behavior, teasing that the moment of tension hints that there’s something more going on beneath the surface of the relationship.

“No one said Kat was perfect,” says showrunner Heather Conkie. “If you think about it, she’s one of the most flawed characters we’ve ever written. I think she’s torn most of the time, but she knows deep down that her forever person might be Elliot. He is so steadfast and he is there for her. She has become a bit spoiled.”

“It says something about maybe there being resentment about something that bubbles up in an instant without you expecting it,” says Clarke. “I guess this is just real life. You say things without meaning them. You say things that are quite impetuous and impulsive, and you regret it later.

Kat apologized when she returned from her adventure into the past, and the two were easily able to move past the awkward moment, but that doesn’t change the fact that the pond can still come between them. As Kat embarks on a new adventure, it may also raise questions about whether she’s really done with the past, whether that’s the 1970s or the people she left behind in the 1800s.

‘After all, she is not an investigative journalist for nothing. It’s at her core. She has to find out why, what and how. I don’t think she can just let that go because it comes naturally to her,” Leigh says. “It’s always those questions that will always be there. It will always be a question of: ‘But is there more to discover?’ She is presented with that quite often this season. She’s incredibly stubborn, so she just keeps discovering it until she can’t do it anymore.’

One of those big question marks for fans is Kat’s relationship with Susanna. The two, even though it was rushed and dissatisfied, were able to say goodbye during the premiere. And it’s clear, especially as Kat promotes the book she put together from Susanna’s diaries, that the bond between the two of them is still very strong.

“Susanna is a character who was born in the wrong time. Susanna is also incredibly proud, and she loves where she is, but she also realizes that there is a whole other world where Kat lives, where people are freer and much more able to love who they want to love” , says Clarke. of longing in their last scene together. “We’ve always said that these two characters are in total awe of each other – of how brave, strong and independent they are for different reasons. We wanted to continue that awe.”

“They form this – you can definitely say a friendship, but it’s actually a relationship that I think is really beautiful,” says Leigh. “It is very moving, the strength they exchange with each other. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, and who knows? No one is really into time travel.”

And while Elliot is unaware that his girlfriend has developed a sensual relationship with his ancestor, Williams is all about the lore of Kat and Susanna and what it means for “The Way Home.”

“I’m proud of the show because it shows us all these different types of love. It’s almost as if every relationship on the show is an opportunity to showcase a different archetype of love. I love that we can lean into the ambiguity and the different types of love that don’t necessarily need a label,” says Williams. “We are showing love as a spectrum, which I think is both progressive and realistic, especially in a show that is fantastic, a time travel show across a pond – and where love is the foundational factor.”

It’s not like Elliot doesn’t have his own problems right now. His father, Victor (James Gallanders), is also back in town for the second episode. Elliot promised to “let the light in” at the end of season 2, but his father’s presence in Port Haven is a temptation to fall back into a darker mindset, which could also spell trouble in other aspects of Elliot’s life.

“It’s a nice arc to start the season feeling like Elliot has everything under control. Everything is on the list. He’s a linear type, so the feeling of having everything checked off was great – and left that room to fall when Victor showed up,” says Williams. “I’ve said before that one of my favorite things about playing this character is playing a character who falls. It was fun to basically be metaphorically pushed down the stairs when Victor shows up, because all that childhood stuff comes back.

So while Elliot and Kat may have started the season on the same page and have the great adventure of living together ahead of them, there will still be obstacles on the road to a happily ever after. However, Clarke promises that Kat meant what she said in the premiere, and Elliot is the one she chooses… for now.

“Elliot has always been her anchor. I think she goes into this relationship very optimistic, that this is what her gift is, this is what her “next journey” is. We’ll see if that works,” says Clarke. “Obviously there will be some bumps in the road, but I think at the top of the season she is very convinced that this is the next path she needs to take, and this is the gift she has chosen .”