Exclusive Interview
‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ Stars Unpack the Jackie & Cole Twist in Season 3
What To Know
- Season 3 of My Life with the Walter Boys sees Jackie and Cole briefly become a couple.
- Cole breaks up with Jackie due to his self-doubt and belief that he’s a bad influence on her.
- The actors, Nikki Rodriguez and Noah LaLonde, discuss their Season 3 arc and look ahead to Season 4.
After two seasons of love triangle-related tension, My Life with the Walter Boys lead Jackie (Nikki Rodriguez) makes a decision between Walter brothers Cole (Noah LaLonde) and Alex (Ashby Gentry). (Warning: My Life with the Walter Boys Season 3 spoilers ahead.)
Over the course of Season 3, Jackie and Cole get together at long last, but everything falls apart in Episode 7. Quite a few people in Jackie’s life assume Cole is a bad influence on her — and eventually he believes it, too. In Episode 7, Cole tells Jackie hurtful things to push Jackie away, and he’s successful in his endeavor.
Nikki Rodriguez and Noah LaLonde sat down with Swooon in separate Zoom interviews to break down Jackie and Cole’s relationship trajectory in Season 3. Though their characters’ relationship eventually takes a turn for the worse, the two were excited to see Jackie and Cole finally become a happy couple, even if it was only temporary.
“I think for a while it’s great,” Rodriguez said. “I think they work well together, and they’re so supportive of each other. And it was just really nice to see them together finally and how they just exist together.
Their dynamic is what the actress envisioned before it became a reality. “I think both of them have grown and evolved so much over the first two seasons that they’ve always kind of had pretty deep conversations and been able to be honest and vulnerable and open with each other. So I was just excited to see how that evolves in their relationship, and yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. I think they worked pretty well together for a little bit.”
LaLonde thought that the three episodes that Jackie and Cole spend together are a “really, really great display” of a mature relationship after how much growth they’ve inspired with each other. “I think, in particular, Cole was really lost when Jackie got there,” LaLonde explained. “In light of everything that happened to Jackie, I think Cole was really looking for someone to inspire that feeling that he could to get out of the thing that he was feeling and move forward. And Jackie was that thing, and she kind of held his hand through it. Not physically, that wouldn’t be good to do when she’s dating his brother, but I think they really grew alongside each other really well.”
He continued, “And, of course, there was the moments of them kissing in the hallway and always being infatuated with each other. That’s very real in relationships, especially for high schoolers, but there was also these moments of tension and conflict and working through that conflict while properly communicating about it. I really think that that tells an accurate story of how they understand each other. And I was really happy that we got to explore that version of the relationship.”
Netflix
But it doesn’t take long for things to fall apart. Of Cole’s decision to break up with Jackie, LaLonde explained that Cole is still on a journey of growing and understanding himself. “That self-doubt kicks in, and that protection instinct kicks in to step in and be the one to make the decision for Jackie, which, of course, I think we can all agree should have just been another thing that he communicated honestly, rather than doing what he did, but I think it all makes a lot of sense.”
Though Cole starts to believe that he’s a bad influence on Jackie, Rodriguez thinks Cole has a good impact on her. “I think that bringing out that side of Jackie lets her let loose and grow as a person, which is so needed,” she said. “And I don’t feel like it’s a bad influence. I feel like so much of Season 3 is other people making decisions for Jackie and telling her how she should feel and what she should do with her life, and I actually think that Jackie’s totally justified in loosening up a little bit.”
With or without Cole, Rodriguez said, “It would have happened anyway. It’s inevitable. As someone who’s tries to be so perfect for so long, you’re gonna crack under pressure. I think you just can’t live like that.”
So why does Cole believe it? “He tends to think the worst things about himself and believe it when other people say it. His feelings for Jackie are so strong that he truly cares about her enough to be overwhelmed with worry that the bad parts about him could possibly be infecting her, and when enough people who Jackie respects in her life and are from her old life put the prospect of that in front of him, I guess it was kind of only a matter of time before he believed it, and I don’t agree with that… I think when the outside starts to get inside, the self-doubt just got too large, and he lost sight of what it is that makes them so good together.”
David Brown/Netflix
LaLonde wanted to start planting seeds of Cole’s doubt early. He added one of them during a scene between Jackie and Cole on the football field, when he tells her that he won’t try car racing out of love for Jackie. “There was just ever so slightly a moment where I think he… I think I kissed her head, and I just remember really wanting to have subtle little things that were like, ‘OK, well, he feels 98% really good about everything, but there’s a little [doubt].”
He continued, “I like finding those moments to create the doubt because I think the doubt is always going to be there for Cole until he fully repairs himself, and that’s… I don’t know that we as human beings ever fully repair. That’s the journey of life to understanding ourselves. And something tells me that there’s some cosmic timing of that. When you finally figure it all out, that’s when it’s all over. I hope he figures out as much as he can before it’s all over. And I hope it’s not all over.”
As a result of that uncertainty, Cole tells Jackie that she’s “too much” and “boring” when he’s breaking up with her. “I think that she does believe him, which is heartbreaking,” Rodriguez told Swooon. “But I think that they’ve always communicated so well, and this blindsides her a little bit. I think that there’s really no doubt in her mind that he means what he says. It’s tough. But I also think that he’s also pinpointing her own insecurities about being boring, so I think she just takes it at face value.”
Cole decides to win Jackie back by the finale, even walking away in the middle of a race to do it. But before he can reach Jackie, the angry man he was supposed to compete against runs Cole off the road, which leads to his car flipping over.
Where does that leave Jackie and Cole going into Season 4, which is now in production? “He’s first going to have to make sure that he can walk straight after whatever becomes of that. I hope he makes it out,” LaLonde said. “And I think once — if he does — I think that it’ll be the type of thing where he’ll have to decide. The fallout from what happens at the end of Season 3 is a pretty deeply traumatic thing for a plethora of reasons.
LaLonde added, “Again, it’s the kind of thing when George has his stroke [in the Season 2 finale], it’s like everything else kind of becomes less important and harder to access. It’ll be interesting to see what the fallout is and then how quickly you can get back to the [relationship]. I don’t know how that’s going to happen. I’m really interested to see what they’re cooking up. Excited to read it and excited to hopefully continue this journey for Cole. I hope he’s okay.”
Cole’s also “got a big couple years ahead of him,” LaLonde continued. “And of course, my hope is that he and Jackie can find their way to understanding each other again, and whether or not that means they’re together or not, I hope that he can be honest with her at some point about what happened. I hope that she knows and can understand him. We’re gonna see. We’ve got a task figuring out how to piece that together. But I believe in them.”
There’s also the roadblock of Eliot (Naveen Paddock) to consider, who Jackie kisses in the final moments of Season 3, though the depth of Jackie’s feelings for her childhood friend remains to be seen. Rodriguez explained of Jackie’s move, “I think Eliot just represents a version of her old life, and he’s living this life that she thought she always wanted. I think it’s more of a symbol of that, and then I think ultimately the kiss at the end is just miscommunication because she says at the end, ‘I’m not ready for anything like that.’ I think it’s just two people having a miscommunication.”
Ultimately, Rodriguez just wants to see Jackie happy in Season 4. “Jackie’s gone through a lot,” the actress stressed. “She’s gone through so much, and I want to see her continue to grow as a person, and ultimately just be able to decide for herself what she wants to do with her life.”
My Life with the Walter Boys, Season 3, Streaming Now, Netflix
