The Ties That Bind

The secrets of Odyssey are finally spilling out. Connie catches her half-sister Jules before she can skip town, and the whole scheme comes tumbling down - the rigged art contest, the spying, the plot to grab Wooton's artwork for a rival comic company. But who broke into Wooton's house and started the fire? The answer is the last person anyone suspected: his own cousin Hadley, caught red-handed trying to sell the stolen art. Instead of anger, Wooton answers with forgiveness... and then, sitting before the ashes of his old life, he asks Penny to marry him. Confessions, second chances, and one very big question - the ties that bind are put to the test at last, and they hold.

Found on The Ties That Bind Album 58 · 14 episodes

The run See every episode

8 of 14 0758 The Ties That Bind As Whit faces mounting pressure to join a town festival that clashes with his convictions, a hidden connection surfaces that changes everything he thought he knew about his opponent.

9 of 14 0759 The Ties That Bind While a reformed troublemaker fights to prove he's changed, three kids' hunt for smugglers in Hangman's Hollow uncovers something far stranger than any of them expected.

10 of 14 0760 The Ties That Bind As Whit recovers in the hospital, Wooton's search for the source of his leaked comic secrets takes a devastating turn, and the people of Odyssey are forced to weigh what truly matters against what can be lost.

11 of 14 0761 The Ties That Bind While rumors swirl that Buck started the fire that destroyed Wooton's house, the people of Odyssey grapple with suspicion, shifting loyalties, and a mysterious informant who may be closer than anyone thinks.

12 of 14 0762 The Ties That Bind As the hunt for the mysterious Perilous Pen closes in on someone shockingly close to home, Buck faces a detective who believes criminals never change.

13 of 14 0763 The Ties That Bind As the trap around the Perilous Pen tightens, a hidden clue at Whit's End threatens to expose a betrayal closer to home than anyone imagined.

14 of 14 0764 The Ties That Bind A season of secrets unravels in Odyssey as confessions, forgiveness, and one final question change everything.

0765 Follow Me Long before a call by the Sea of Galilee changes everything, three boys in Capernaum - a proud scholar, a dreamer, and a restless fisherman's son - find their futures shaped by a reckless prank against a Roman tax collector.

1 of 3 0766 The Cure Returning to his Alaskan hometown, Wooton reconnects with a surprisingly changed figure from his past and joins a mercy mission along the Iditarod trail - just as a storm and a stowaway complicate everything.

2 of 3 0767 The Cure When a stowaway boy vanishes with a plane in an Alaskan storm, a stranded ministry team and the boy's guilt-ridden father must race across the frozen wilderness to reach him.

3 of 3 0768 The Cure When a rescue on an Alaskan glacier turns desperate, a shattered family discovers that grace can reach even the deepest crevasse.

0769 B-TV: To Tell the Truth When a parking ticket puts Connie on trial, BTV turns a simple courtroom squabble into a full investigation of what truth really is - complete with a wisecracking Roman detective digging into the strangest case in Jerusalem.

0770 To the Ends of the Earth When a long-awaited gift to a remote jungle village provokes a defiant enemy of the faith, a night of violence and a smashed radio force Whit and Jason into a desperate trek to save the life of the very man who cursed them.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 9 more roles

4 featured characters

Buck Oliver Robby Bruce Jules Kendall Shona Rodman Don Polehaus Phil Proctor Harlow Doyle Will Ryan

5 supporting roles

Rhonda Adelaide Barbara Niles Hadley Bassett Chad Doreck Ben Parley Actor Unknown Hugo Wells Darin De Paul Taxi Driver Actor Unknown

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Paul McCusker Writer · Director Nathan Jones Sound Designer Nathan Hoobler Producer Dave Arnold Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 5 min

Jay Smouse arrives at the television set convinced that stardom awaits, only to be met by Harlow Doyle, who is now working as a security guard. Doyle finds Jay's name on a "special list" and sends him off to the mysterious Trailer 7, warning that people who go in never come out the same. Jay marches away crowing that Hollywood is calling.

Meanwhile, Connie catches her half-sister Jules before she can leave town, and Jules finally confesses everything. She met Vance online after searching for Connie, and Vance - who had connections to Maximize Comics and the gossip website writer known as the Perilous Pen - recruited her to get close to Wooton Bassett. The Comic-Connellsville art contest she supposedly won was rigged as a way to bring her to Odyssey, and staying in Connie's apartment gave her a perfect listening post. When she stumbled onto Wooton's artwork in the Whit's End storeroom, Vance thought they had hit the jackpot. Jules insists she knows nothing about the break-in and fire at Wooton's house, and she admits that Odyssey - and Connie's nosy, caring ways - got under her skin. Connie tells her she has to put things right and takes her to Detective Polehouse. There, Jules apologizes; Wooton forgives her instantly, and Penny comes around too. Because Jules is underage, Polehouse won't press charges, but her confession puts the investigation of the fire back to square one. Vance admits only to helping Maximize Comics and tries to point suspicion at Buck. Jules warns, "Don't believe anything Vance says, Detective. Ever."

Across town, Whit meets with Mr. Parley and Ms. Adelaide about the Let's Get Together Festival. Ms. Adelaide, softened after learning that Whit has been quietly visiting her dying brother, listens as Whit presents evidence that the Vigilanters have been threatening and cyber-attacking the downtown businesses to pressure them into the festival. He also reveals that reporter Dale Jacobs has traced the money: one wealthy man is secretly funding the festival, the Vigilanters, and much more. A shaken Parley admits it feels as though Odyssey has been infiltrated. Whit says he won't stop anyone from holding the festival, but he still won't join in celebrating the wrong things.

The mystery of Wooton's house takes a sharp turn when Whit finds Wooton's cousin Hadley loading the artwork from the Whit's End storeroom into Penny's borrowed car, claiming he's taking it somewhere safe. Moments later Whit discovers the shop's back door glass has been broken. An all-points bulletin goes out, and Whit remembers Hadley mentioning the name Wells on the phone - Hugo Wells, the wealthy collector staying at the Royal Regent Hotel. Sure enough, Hadley tries to sell Wooton's art to Wells, pretending Wooton wants to remain anonymous. Wells sees through him and refuses to deal in stolen art, and Hadley crumbles, pouring out a lifetime of bad deals, bad debts, and living in his cousin's shadow: "Be more like Wooton, they said!"

Wooton catches up with Hadley in the hotel lobby as he tries to slip away to the airport. Instead of being angry, Wooton offers to go upstairs and sell the art to Wells himself so Hadley can have the money - because they're family. Hadley refuses; he doesn't deserve it, and the money would only be a small band-aid on the stitches of his life. Then he confesses the whole truth: the break-in at Wooton's house was faked to cover up his snooping for things to sell, and the fire was his fault too - a spilled hot drink sparked near the computer, and the rare 1967 bathrobe he used to smother it turned out to have been recalled for being highly flammable. Wooton gently tells him his mother wants him home, and as Detective Polehouse arrives, Hadley decides it may finally be time to start taking responsibility for himself.

That night Whit is called to the hospital, but he arrives too late: Ms. Adelaide's brother Randall has died. She tells Whit that Randall's dying wish was for the two of them to make amends - though his actual last words were a joke about her standing on his air hose. Humbled, she admits her anger over her brother made her assume Whit was fighting with the same bitterness, and it blinded her in ways that spilled into her teaching. She asks Whit to speak at the funeral, and he offers three observations: Randall loved his sister, he had opened his heart to an eternity he didn't think he deserved, and "he was a horrible Scrabble player." To his relief, she laughs and agrees.

The loose ends gather up warmly. Connie and Jules make peace; Jules, headed to their dad in New York, admits she joined Vance's scheme out of boredom and arrogance, apologizes for her rudeness, and confesses that she now understands why Connie stayed in Odyssey - "It's home." Mr. Parley, having confirmed the businesses were threatened, puts the festival to a new vote, and Whit passes along Olivia Parker's idea of a festival celebrating families instead of political agendas. Eugene takes Buck fishing for what they agree to call their family time. Jay learns his big television debut was as a heavily made-up zombie with no lines, and Harlow Doyle helps him save face with a story about staying in Odyssey to hone his "thespian abilities." Detective Polehouse, unconvinced by Dee Grant's denials, hands the corporate espionage case over to the FBI and other government agencies, while Wooton quietly arranges for an investor - himself - to reopen Hadley's Alaska comic book store, so long as Hadley's mother runs it.

Sitting with Penny before the ruins of his burned house, Wooton decides not to replace everything; there's something to be said for starting over and living simpler. Penny points out that he'll still need a new house to put his simpler life into. Wooton agrees - but only if she'll share it with him. Then he asks Penny to marry him, and the story ends before she can answer.