Note: This story contains spoilers from “My Life With the Walter Boys” Season 2.
Nikki Rodriguez was just as surprised as audiences about Jackie’s love confession in the Season 2 finale of “My Life With the Walter Boys.”
After a season of learning to find her own identity outside of the brothers, Jackie has fallen right back in the middle of Cole (Noah LaLonde) and Alex (Ashby Gentry) as the sophomore season came to a close.
Her attempts to hide her rekindled romantic relationship with sweet boy turned rodeo star Alex were unsuccessful, after Cole walked in on the couple in Richard’s apartment. That reveal leads to their “just friends” relationship starting to crumble.
In the final moments of the season, Jackie admits to Cole that she is in love with him and to her dismay Alex was lurking in the background listening to the entire confession. Rodriguez told TheWrap that the unexpected admission felt like a necessary boiling point for her character.
“Jackie’s finally being honest with herself in that moment about all the things that she has felt that she has pushed away or not really wanted to deal with,” she told TheWrap. “Cole brings out this side of Jackie where she feels out of control, and as a perfectionist, that’s really scary for her.”
LaLonde told TheWrap that the love confession felt nice for Cole, after a difficult season where he adjusted to life after losing football due to an injury. The love triangle between the two brothers and Jackie was ultimately left unresolved due to a traumatic ending twist, when an ambulance arrives to help George — the Walter family patriarch — without providing details of what’s wrong.
“It adds a layer of confusion that I don’t think really answers a ton of questions at the very end of the conversation because of what happens to George,” he said. “It feels good to hear her say that, but it feels like you’re waiting for the next thing and the next thing doesn’t come.”
Showrunner Melanie Halsall defended the timing of Jackie’s confession, saying that unlike when she told Alex she loved him, with Cole she can’t hide anymore.
“She has essentially been trying to convince herself that she doesn’t love Cole, because it’d be much easier to love Alex, because Cole represents something else in her life,” she said. “With Alex, when he tells her he loves her, it takes a lot for her to say it back … with Cole it’s immediate. It’s an emotional reaction straight away that she has to tell him.”
Though Alex and Jackie reignited their fling during the season, Alex has not necessarily been loyal to the ex-New Yorker. Since coming back from rodeo camp, he has turned into a bit of a womanizer. It seems as if Cole and Alex have almost swapped identities. Gentry told TheWrap though that realizing Jackie was in love with his brother cut deep. The actor said that shooting the finale of this season was “quite painful.”
“When I’m doing this job, it’s real feelings that occur,” he said. “It’s quite a melancholy experience to do those latter episodes, because it hurts to lose someone.”
The cast and crew are currently together filming Season 3 of the YA romance drama. Halsall teased that the next season will answer fans’ burning questions about George’s well-being and diving deep into the character development as the family enters a new chapter of their lives.
“In Season 3, we’re going to delve even deeper into these characters and relationships,” she told TheWrap. “The series is going to get even juicier and more exciting.”
“My Life With the Walter Boys” Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
