This The Way ending explained feature contains spoilers. It's been a surreal and strange journey (the first scene of this chapter takes the biscuit) yet the Driscolls finally arrive at the coast to board a boat to Europe in this final episode. They've all been carrying a serious amount of emotional baggage on their trip from Wales, yet that finally starts to lift as they open up to each other and let go of the past. Here's how the series finale went down...
A group of middle-class English people at a dinner party discuss the growing crisis in Wales, where thousands of people are trying to flee the country. They muse over their lives in the secret society of masons and a four-way orgy soon begins, but is soon interrupted when someone spots the Driscoll family peeping through the patio doors. “They’re family, I must have forgotten the date, I asked them to stay!” says Elaine, who turns out to be Dee’s sister.
It’s clear the siblings don’t get on and it’s not long before we find out why. Thea’s father was Elaine’s ex! So Dee slept with her sister’s man. Holy moly. I think it’s the first time we’ve seen Owen smile...
Meanwhile, Philip and Rhys are coming to meet them and after that Dan thinks his wife and son should head to Europe. He says it’s unlikely the rest of her family will be able to make it out, but Thea is determined it will be all of them or nothing. That means they may have to cross the channel illegally, which isn't an inviting prospect.
Outside, Owen and Anna have a heart-to-heart in which he thanks her for helping him. His withdrawals are fading and he seems to have found a new sense of purpose within himself, which is encouraging.
In the kitchen, Thea discusses her troubled family history with her aunty, who says Geoff’s father’s death hit him hard and changed him forever. She says her sister “married one man and he became another. She waited for that old one to walk back through the door and he never came back..” However, he stuck by his family even after his wife’s affair. “Two people wrong for each other trying to make an okay life for you,” explains Elaine.
Upstairs, Dee and Geoff are having a deep and meaningful conversation of their own and he finally opens up on the pain he felt when his father killed himself and how it has filtered through to his family, especially his son. “None of us ever speak the word of what we’re going through,” says Dee. “We all just wander around feeling the same things.”
'I'm not scared of feelings anymore...'
Philip and Rhys eventually make it to Thea, which is a moment of pure joy in amongst all this chaos and we're also very relieved to hear his wife is okay. Phew! Philip is desperate to return to Wales and when he reveals how he used his debit card at the local shop, the Driscolls realise they can’t hang about either!
When Elaine’s husband offers to let them use his canal boat, Philip shakes his hand. “I know a friend when I see one,” he says knowingly. We reckon Philip’s mason mate might be able to get him back to Wales.
A canal boat is hardly the most rapid getaway vehicle in TV history, but it does give them time to discuss the collection of skeletons in their family closet. Dee finally tells Thea about her father, while Anna reassures Owen. “I’m not scared of big feelings anymore,” he says as he confesses his love for her. She tells him she needs to get back to her family in Poland, but asks if he’d like to come with her and with not much else going on, we think he just might. Yet while his hallucinations seem to have abated, Owen still dreams of that bell and his grandfather, Denny.
'Otherwise we're all lost...'
Day 24
As the Driscolls reach the coast they meet a mysterious man on the dunes. After a nerve-jangling introduction, he introduces himself as 'Akela' the leader of the camp Dan told them about. It’s called the ‘New Port Talbot’. “I’ll warn you, there’s a lot of singing,” he says.
Glynn, leader of the steelworkers union, is also here and he lamps Geoff as soon as he sets eyes upon him. After going through files at the steelworks following the riot, he learned that Geoff had been spying on the union meetings for management. “From class warrior to collaborator,” says Glynn. Geoff says he was just trying his best to help negotiations, explaining that while he and his father went about things in different ways, they wanted the same thing. “All I’ve ever done is care,” he protests.
From what Glynn says it seems like Wales is now in the grip of civil war, while the camp leader says the internet in the country has been adjusted to offer up nostalgic search results. The sentence “I want things back the way things were,” was trending, which is deeply unsettling, but very reflective of Britain’s modern day society. So much romanticising of a sepia-tinted past that never really existed. Never mind all that though, because Hogwood - aka the Welsh Catcher - is here!
He tells Geoff he only wants Owen (‘the poster boy of the troubles’) and the rest of the family can go free, before revealing that he was identified by ‘predictive policing’ and their algorithm thinks he’s a troublemaker. “Ours is not to reason, because we can no longer reason,” says Hogwood. He warns that if Geoff doesn’t deliver Owen, they’ll bulldoze the whole camp.
At the camp while everyone debates what’s to be done, Owen believes that in giving himself up he could finally find purpose, which is probably a bit misguided. However it’s soon clear the camp won’t be giving him up. “Otherwise we’re all lost,” says Akela. Yet it was Geoff’s speech that inspired the decision, meaning Denny’s ghost fades from his mind, finally at rest after feeling proud of his son.
'This is a new story...'
As the Driscolls prepare to catch their boat to the continent, Geoff presents Dee with the signed divorce papers, saying that as a single woman she might have a better chance of getting into Europe. After all they’ve been through, it’s a meaningful moment. “Family is more than paper,” he says. “I’ve never felt more connected to them and to you than I do now.”
Meanwhile Owen is undecided on what to do, but his father tells him he’s his own man and doesn’t need to carry the past with him. Geoff has finally found a way of connecting with his family and it serves as an epiphany for Owen, who makes a last minute decision to stay after seeing his grandfather in the water once again. “I forgive you.” he says to Thea as he turns away, sword in hand. Anna disembarks and follows him.
As Owen returns to camp to tell them he’ll hand himself over, the Driscoll's boat gets into difficulty in the channel. Geoff jumps overboard in a bid to lighten the load and save his family, before sinking beneath the waves. The next morning, The Welsh Catcher arrives at camp looking for Owen, only to be greeted by a crowd all wearing red monk outfits. It’s all very ‘I’m Spartacus’.
Meanwhile, Owen stands by Geoff’s body, which has washed up on the beach, while in France, Thea and the rest of the Driscolls arrive and armed officers surround them as Dan begs them to spare his family.
The story ends as it began, back in Port Talbot, with Owen sitting on the dunes. He tells us he knows where he’s going now and hurls the ancient sword into the ocean. “This is a new story, a brilliant new story. I can feel it. You can get pulled away from what’s important, but sometimes with a bit of help you can find the way back,” he tells us. Explaining the title of the series in the final line.
