The Way Home EPs Unpack Kat And Elliot's Big Finale Moment, Her 'Amazing' Chemistry With Thomas
Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Way Home Season 3 finale. Proceed at your own risk!
It was the engagement proposal that wasn't.
During The Way Home's Season 3 finale, Kat and Elliot had a long overdue relationship talk about how they've been loving each other as their past selves. Elliot admitted to unfairly putting Kat on a pedestal and not seeing the real her, while Kat confessed that she's been taking Elliot for granted, assuming he'll always be there for her no matter what she does.
"Let's just love each other as we are," Elliot suggested, before kissing Kat. As they pulled apart, Kat spotted the Augustine ring that belonged to Elliot's mother (and Susanna long ago!) and wondered if he was going to propose. Elliot replied that he will find the perfect moment... one day. But why didn't he just pop the question then?
"Well, I think that is such a typical Elliot thing. He needs his perfect moment. I love that moment because it's so not Elliot to be spontaneous," co-showrunner Alexandra Clarke tells TVLine with a laugh.
Elliot and Kat went through a lot of ups and downs in Season 3, with his ex-wife Emma and her 1800s paramour Thomas coming back into the picture. At several points, it seemed like the couple was breaking up, frustrating even the show's bosses.
"They both drive me crazy. It's just like, 'Oh, come on!' But that's who they are," co-showrunner Heather Conkie says. "Who knows if they're meant to be together, because every time they get close, something happens that makes them think they're not perfect for each other or whatever, and I don't know. I think that happens in life."
In the meantime, Kat and Elliot's conversation is a "very honest" admission of their relationship faults.
"Them acknowledging to just start loving each other as they are, not as they were, is such an important thing for these two characters to say to one another," Clarke shares, "because if you really do think about it, they have been in love with their past versions, versus who they are right now, which isn't perfect. They're flawed. They have burdens and trauma, and to kind of acknowledge that and say, 'I want to start loving you as you are now, clean slate,' is a big thing for these two characters."
In moving forward with Elliot, Kat left Thomas in the past, quite literally, in the penultimate episode, much to the dismay of 'shippers. The mother-daughter showrunning duo isn't shocked that fans have latched onto the pairing "because casting Kris [Holden-Ried], we all kind of knew, like, 'Oh, this is going to be a thing,' because he's so good, and they're so good together," Clarke says. There's a reason we did the chemistry read. They needed to have chemistry, and they do in spades."
Adds Conkie: "But it is amazing. Their chemistry is beyond. We did their chemistry read long-distance. Chyler [Leigh] was in my office doing Zoom, and he was in Portugal, and it just leapt right off the screen. They might as well have been in the same room. I've never quite seen anything like that before in my life. So we knew the chemistry was there. So it's not unusual that people see that and love it and just die for it."
For Kat, Thomas and Elliot represent "two such different kinds of love," Clarke describes. "The love [between] Thomas and Kat, it's fleeting, and it's intense, and it's dangerous, and it's passionate, and it's this crazy, boiling thing."
Meanwhile, the love that Kat and Elliot share "is a constant. It's slow, it's easy, it's familiar, and it's safe in a way that the love between Thomas and Kat is dangerous on so many levels," Clarke continues. "I get why people gravitate towards one versus another. I think it probably says a lot about [the viewer], if they're choosing Elliot or Thomas."
Regardless of which team they're on, Clarke is proud of how strongly fans have responded to each of Kat's love interests. "There's such a fierce camp for Thomas, and there's a fierce camp for Elliot, and that's amazing how invested people are," Clarke says. "I'm very flattered. It makes me feel like we've done our job."
"Yeah, almost too well," Conkie adds to Clarke's laughter.
The Way Home fans, are you team Kat/Elliot or Kat/Thomas? Hit the comments!