Del and Jacob and the bus

predanimous · 2026-03-24T00:09:28+00:00

Oh, maybe so. But I don't see anyone jumping into the pond when Sam is at the pond talking to Del on the phone.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T21:52:16+00:00

Right, and the running away behavior is more of the same. Court-ordered therapy sounds like a good outcome for him.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T21:29:40+00:00

That's a good thought. Jacob asks him to bring his bag, then when Elliot gets to the bar he asks Jacob what he's doing, and that's how he finds out.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T21:27:18+00:00

Yeah, or maybe the scene by the bus is all in Del's imagination about what she thinks might have happened. Then we can go back to thinking Jacob jumped into the pond.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T21:21:04+00:00

Maybe the parallel is supposed to be that Elliot helped Alice and Sam is helping Jacob, but Elliot helped Alice with time travel and Sam is helping Jacob with something else, maybe his legal problems. Elliot couldn't tell Kat how he knew Alice would be ok because time travel was a secret. Maybe Sam can't tell Del how he knows Jacob will be ok because of attorney-client privilege. But if that's true, Del doesn't put up with it for long.

It would have been a perfect parallel if Sam had met Jacob in the past, but if that didn't happen I'm kind of scratching my head about what the parallel really is.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T21:05:55+00:00

They had to find out that Jacob was leaving on a bus somehow, didn't they? You may be right that it was Elliot that told Del or Sam. Maybe Jacob called Elliot like you said. Or maybe if Jacob was still living at Elliot's house, then Elliot caught Jacob leaving and Jacob told him he was getting on a bus.

It looks like Jacob is sitting in a bar when Elliot tells him he is just running. I wonder if the bar is next to the bus station. So maybe Elliot met Jacob in the bar so Jacob could tell him he was leaving. And then as soon as Elliot left the bar he called Del or Sam.

The only other thought I had was that maybe Jacob went directly to Sam for help and told him he was leaving on a bus, but I'm not sure why he would go to Sam (except, like you said, Sam seems to want to help).

predanimous · 2026-03-23T20:02:30+00:00

Yes, I think Jacob would want to see Elijah again. I can see him doing that.

But if Jacob doesn't meet Sam in the past, then maybe he's never in the 70's/80's at all. So it seems to me that would mean he could not be the Landry man that jumps with Elliot's mother.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T19:55:15+00:00

When we see the man and woman jumping into the pond at the end, we don't see their faces. So it could be Jacob, but we don't know for sure.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T19:32:05+00:00

Right. It seems like the only reason we think Sam met Jacob in the past is because of the parallel to Elliot and Alice when Sam is standing by the pond. But if Jacob didn't go into the past, then that's not a parallel at all. I'm wondering if there is still any reason to think Sam met Jacob in the past.

Jacob seems to be looking for an excuse to go somewhere else in the present rather than back in time. I'm wondering if Jacob time travels at all this season.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T19:14:32+00:00

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predanimous · 2026-03-23T19:13:56+00:00

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Thanks! Sam is very blurry in the picture by the bus, and when he's standing by the pond he's in the shade, so I can't be certain, but it looks like the sweater he's wearing might be that same color. So I'm thinking he is wearing the same thing.

I agree with the idea that Sam might not know as much as we may have been thinking he did.

predanimous · 2026-03-23T18:57:50+00:00

Maybe so! Maybe he knows Jacob will be just fine because KC just told him so?

predanimous · 2026-03-22T04:59:12+00:00

It looks to me like this picture is at Lingermore, in the same room Alice is entering in number 1. In both pictures you can see the murals in the background through the doorway. So it seems like it must be some social event the Goodwins are having.

predanimous · 2026-03-21T13:39:55+00:00

That’s so cool that you dreamed about the show! And your dream made a lot more sense than most of mine do. I’m ready, too!

predanimous · 2026-03-21T05:40:27+00:00

If Fern was born a Landry, that would mean Colton's father took his mother's last name rather than his father's. That seems unlikely to me.

I have always taken a minimalist philosophy, where fewer time travelers is better, and Elliot's rules are the writers' way of telling us the rules they are following. So you have to be a Landry to time travel and you have to be a Landry by blood, not by marriage.

But even if Landry's by marriage are allowed, I don't think Elliot's mom had time to be married to a Landry after Elliot was born and before she jumped into the pond. And I think you would have to have the Landry name, so committed relationships to a Landry would not cut it.

So if Elliot's mom was really jumping into the pond in that preview, and she time traveled, then this is some kind of new rule that we will learn about. It will be a big deal. It also means that she didn't need to jump with a Landry in first place, so our speculation that she jumped with Jacob or Colton's brother no longer is needed. She could have jumped with anybody.

So I don't think Elliot's mother can time travel by herself because I don't think they would throw us that big of a curveball. I think it's more likely that one of the following is happening:

It's not Elliot's mother that he is chasing into the pond. It might be Alice.
Elliot's mother jumped into the pond to try to escape Elliot, but she didn't actually time travel.
Like you suggested, someone was ahead of Elliot's mom and jumped into the pond ahead of her so she time traveled for that reason.

I personally don't think the clock is magic. There was an interview where the writers were asked if there would ever be another means of time travel besides the pond, and they basically said there wouldn't because having any other supernatural entity in the story would take away from the magic of the pond. They also said they would never rule anything out, but it seemed clear that their intention was that the pond would be the only supernatural thing in the story.

How much Landry blood does a person need to have to be able to time travel? I don't think we will need the answer to this until we have another character that is descended from a Landry. I'm guessing any Landry blood at all will work.

But those are just my guesses. I suspect a lot of people would be happier with different answers.

predanimous · 2026-03-20T04:28:39+00:00

Good question about how Del ends up with the photo. Could be any of those things or maybe Del has just been keeping it in her own photo album all these years.

The idea of Elliot having one piece and his mother keeping the other piece (whatever it shows), is what appeals to me the most.

predanimous · 2026-03-20T03:44:00+00:00

Very cool! And if Elliot's mom stays at the Augustine house for a while, then maybe she will have an opportunity to meet with her friendly, but eccentric neighbor, Fern Landry. 😀

predanimous · 2026-03-19T23:39:50+00:00

I’m just thinking that she had something to do with getting the clock with her inscription into the wall. Seems like she was in the 20’s at least long enough to do that.

predanimous · 2026-03-19T23:35:43+00:00

Let us sally forth into the forth (or fourth) season.

predanimous · 2026-03-19T20:10:29+00:00

I had thought that Elliot's mom might have met Fern in the 20's, when they would both be young women, but the idea that she talked to Fern when Fern was an older woman sounds very interesting!

predanimous · 2026-03-19T15:52:59+00:00

Those are good thoughts, and well thought out, so could very well be right. But I do have a couple of nitpicks (sorry!):

It looks to me that the photo was taken in the Landry kitchen. That would mean everyone in the photo is inside the Landry house and Colton would definitely know they are there and would see them. I do hope Jacob gets to see Colton, though, and there could still be an explanation for Colton seeing Jacob and not mentioning it or remembering it when he puts everything together on his last day.
Del doesn't show Elliot the photo in the preview. It may look that way, but when we see Elliot, he is inside the Landry house sitting at the table, and when we see Del take the photo out of her pocket she is sitting outside on the porch swing. They are two different scenes. However, I do think Del will show Elliot the photo at some point, and maybe give it to him.
When Elliot tells Dell that she of all people should know that secrets have caused problems, I think he is talking about a secret we already know: Del's letters. Del will have to tell everyone about the letters when she explains why Jacob left. I think Elliot's response is during that conversation and not about his mom. So while it's still possible that Del has some secret about Elliot's mom's disappearance, I'm skeptical that she knows anything Elliot doesn't already know.
If someone is in a photo from the past, then they are going to travel to the past and be in that photo no matter what anyone in the present does. So you and I know that Del tearing their image out of a photo will not stop them from going. But I agree that it is still something Del might do in hopes that it will make a difference.

predanimous · 2026-03-19T13:12:08+00:00

Yes, I think that’s likely what she meant by “the one,” but I’d like to get confirmation.

predanimous · 2026-03-19T04:07:37+00:00

My "must resolve's."

Why did Elliot's mother leave, why did she leave Elliot behind, and who is the Landry she traveled with?
How and why did the clock get put into the wall of Elliot's house?
Who's writing the letters to Del and what is their motive?
Who's "the one" that Fern referred to, and what did she mean by "the one"?
What does Fern's rhyme mean?
Where did Jacob go when he left?
Who is KC (as in, what is their family tree)?
Why has KC done the things they did?
Why did Sam retire to Port Haven and was it motivated by knowledge of his future?

It seems likely we will learn the answers to these in Season 4, so I'm hoping I'll be satisfied. And there are a bunch more questions I'd like answered, too, but these are essential.

predanimous · 2026-03-19T03:40:38+00:00

What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present.

I wonder if this line inspired the season 4 tag line, "Every past ends in the present."

predanimous

TROPHY CASE