The workers, inspired by reports of the mythical "red monk" and speeches by Geoff's estranged wife, Dee, hold a successful strike ballot and begin a blockade of the steelworks.

Owen attempts to win the affections of Anna, a young Polish immigrant he met online, while seeking a purpose to his life in joining the industrial action.

Over the following days, as footage of Dee Driscoll's impassioned speeches on the picket line go viral, demonstrations by various political groups begin across Wales which lead the British government to crack down on the growing civil disobedience, putting Thea and the rest of her family on opposing sides as the local police unite with Gordius, a private security contractor hired by the government to protect agency workers brought into the steelworks.

In the aftermath Owen is held at a local makeshift detention facility, while Wales is effectively put under martial law and sealed off from the rest of the country.

Geoff attempts to convince Hogwood of their innocence and to let them go though the latter rebuffs the suggestion, admitting that while he knows the decision over who he's to target was made by an unaccountable black-box algorithmic system he'll follow the instructions he's been given nonetheless and gives the camp an ultimatum to hand over Owen or be razed to the ground.

On the beach Owen decides to stay and try to return to Port Talbot with Anna in tow, while the rest of his family board a small boat to France.

Writing in the Evening Standard, George Chesterton described the series as "preachy and artless", criticising the poorly-developed characters, stereotypical depiction of English and Welsh people in general, and poorly handling the social topics that inspired it.

[13] Writing for the Financial Times, Dan Einav gave praise to the first episode for its exploration of themes but describes the following two as "tonally inconsistent and narratively unfocused", in particular criticising how fast the country becomes an "authoritarian, Welsh-persecuting dystopia" and the obvious allegories lacking depth and weight.

[19] Rachel Cooke from New Statesman praised The Way as "audacious, intellectual TV" with qualities "both hazily dreamlike and quite potently Welsh, a retro sensibility running right through it like a pattern in a pub carpet.