There's nothing like a bit of time travel to muddy the present.

On The Way Home Season 1 Episode 5, Kat and Alice have the past and present running together in their minds, and it makes dealing with those unaware of their time travel a little more challenging.

Even Elliot, who is on the secret but not traveling himself, is navigating rough waters with the women who have been a part of his life for decades.

Brady's return to Port Haven was perfectly timed.

Kat and Alice both needed to reconcile their feelings from the past with the present.

For Alice, visiting the past introduced her to a man she didn't know. Young Brady didn't live up to the man she knew as her father. It made her question everything.

Upon his arrival, Alice treated her dad as if she was meeting him for the first time. She was disrespectful and spoke out of turn, which he didn't deserve from the daughter he loves.

Alice needed to get those feelings off of her chest. They were weighing her down. She hadn't had the opportunity to talk with her mom about them, so she was wrestling with them alone.

But getting the chance to hear from her dad and see him in person again also allowed her to see another side of Brady in the past.

Only after she questioned Brady's past with his present was she able to see how Kat fell in love with him in the first place.

If Brady hadn't come to Port Haven, how Alice viewed him giving Kat the bracelet might have gone differently. Instead, she witnessed the sweet scene for what it was -- her mom and dad were falling in love.

Meanwhile, Kat has had the chance to see the same things again, and she didn't question what they shared at the time. Her love for Brady in the past remained untarnished in the present.

For her, it wasn't easy to reconcile that she and Brady didn't make it given how much in love they were when it all started.

Brady didn't need to literally go back in time to experience that same wave of nostalgia-driven uncertainty.

Returning to Port Haven was the same as stepping back in time. All of the beautiful memories he had of the Landry farm and the people on it came flooding back. It felt like he had come home.

The Landry family didn't welcome him with open arms when he visited in the '90s. He was met with some skepticism.

Brady: May I say that this potato salad is the best I've ever had, Mrs. Landry.
Jacob: [deadpans] How many potato salads have you tried?

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Still, I believe he was being genuine when he said it felt like he belonged. Feeling like an outsider as an adult must have thrown him.

But feeling out of place as those memories returned also gave him the idea that he might have made a mistake walking away from his family.

Anyone who has ever looked at an old photo or just thought about their past and wondered "what if" knows exactly how Kat and Brady were feeling. Maybe breaking up was a mistake. Maybe another chance would make all the difference.

Adding an extra layer of uncertainty to what Kat and Brady felt was Elliot's presence. Kat didn't recognize his love for her in the past, and she's still immune to the reality of it in the present.

Elliot has waited his whole life for a chance with Kat and reenacting She's All That as Kat came down the stairs in her red dress to Kiss Me would give anyone the chills.

Elliot played it off as if he brought her a corsage as a lark, but taking Kat to the prom probably played as a dream in his mind since he was a teen. She might not have known it, but Elliot was living out his fantasy with the girl of his dreams.

How Brady reacted to Elliot's presence before and during the dance shows that he might have always considered Elliot a threat but wasn't able to identify it when he was a teen.

We've seen Brady bragging and behaving like a jerk in the past. You wouldn't expect it of him in the present, but when he and Elliot were seated across from each other at the dinner table, they engaged in a verbal duel of personal barbs.

Elliot's a teacher. Hm. I guess some people really don't stray far from home.

Brady

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Brady wouldn't have any reason to treat Elliot like that if he didn't consider him a threat.

It's so funny how easy it is to regress. Del's comment made me wonder if she had always seen Brady and Elliot's rivalry for what it was. Mother's intuition is often spot on.

Well, as much time as I've had watching you three regress, I'm going to spend time with a fellow adult. Cheers.

Del

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She's already told Elliot to play the long game, and it didn't escape her that Elliot was going out of his way to impress Kat when she said he looked "awfully sharp for a chaperone."

Of course, all of this is confusing Kat. She and Brady separated because she didn't feel loved anymore. At some point in their relationship, he stopped seeing her, and it hurt like hell.

It took Brady being threatened by Elliot to see Kat again, and given the past-present collision in Kat's mind, she gave in to a passionate kiss with her first love. But the reverie was short-lived.

Kat: Please don't confuse missing me as your friend with missing me as your wife. We both know what a disaster we were, especially at the end.
Brady: We had a lot of good times, too.
Kat: Yeah, we did.

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For her to pull back, you know how hurt she was during their marriage. Getting that second chance might have meant something had it come earlier, but being home and seeing who they were when they began has given Kat clarity on what they'd become.

Elliot saw their kiss, though, and will incorrectly deduce that Kat and Brady share a connection that could spark to life again.

Elliot is incredibly intelligent and should see past it, but the heart doesn't always listen to the head. I expect this will put a damper on the enthusiasm he felt when the evening began.

There's no doubt in my mind that Elliot and Kat were meant for each other, but their journey to that point is just beginning. Andy waits in the wings, and the past still beckons even after tamping down her emotions after that fiery kiss with Brady.

Kat isn't the only Landry woman whose past and present collide romantically.

Until now, Alice hadn't thought about the boy she was falling for in the past being a man today.

Closing The Roxy theater brought that to the forefront. Alice wanted information about Nick from Elliot, who appropriately lied about his connection to him.

This might be the story I'm most interested to see how it's handled. Alice and Nick have to meet in the present at some point, right? It's a story too interesting not to examine. Time travel brings with it many levels of storytelling. Most often, the distance between time periods negates anything like this from occurring.

Of course, 12 Monkeys relied on this kind of time travel, and the more frequent interactions were between past and present, the better. In that world, going back to the past meant changing the future. That was their point.

They never introduced a romantic entanglement between two teens as a result of that travel, though. It's a sticky wicket that deserves attention.

It doesn't seem like Nick found a partner. His Instagram feed is filled with his globetrotting sea-faring adventures. I'm excited to see how his life changed as a result of Alice's presence in the past.

It adds another layer of intrigue to Elliot carrying the secret, too. If Alice's disappearance upset his friend, it would have been hard not to soothe him by sharing what he knew. Elliot might be the most interesting person in this story, and I'm dying to know what he studied while waiting for what he knew to collide with his present.

He's eager to tell Alice and Kat they can't mess with the past, but does he really know that? Why CAN'T it be the 12 Monkey's effect, which would suggest change can and should be made by visiting the past?

We're still just five episodes into what we hope will be a long journey, and my guess is we have no idea where it's taking us.

Del is the only Landry woman not to take a dip in the pond, but she's still struck by past and present issues when she and Bryon tentatively touch hands only to see a larger-than-life image of Del and Colton flash on The Roxy screen.

How can you move on when the past is always a memory away?

That's certainly a part of this tale, and Kat's refusal to fall into old patterns with Brady suggests that you can do it no matter how deeply ingrained they are in your mind. Or, at least that you can consider there is a different future for you to embrace.

Where is the story leading us next? Where do you want it to go?

Drop below in the comments and share your thoughts. If you could go back, would you? And what would you expect to find?

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.