Elliot Breathed Fresh Air Into My Life With the Walter Boys’ Triangle, But Why Did The Choice Have To Be So Obvious?

After two seasons of Jackie bouncing back and forth between Cole and Alex, My Life With the Walter Boys needed something new.

Elliot’s introduction was a breath of fresh air, at least until he became mini-Richard.

The way he was written, though, it was obvious that the writers wanted us to root for Jackie and Cole, and that made Elliot’s presence in Silver Falls far less enjoyable.

TV Should Let Us Feel, Not Dictate Our Feelings

I absolutely hate one-sided love triangles because they feel too much like the writer ordering me to root for a certain character or couple, whether I want to or not.

I’ve never been a Cole fan.

And the Cole/Jackie/Alex triangle has always been my least favorite part of My Life With The Walter Boys, so I was thrilled to learn that Elliot would be coming to Silver Falls.

I had high hopes that he’d shake things up, give Jackie a plausible new love interest, and leave fans divided about whether she should stick with one of her tried-and-true boys or move on.

The only one of those things Elliot did was shake things up, but not in a good way.

From the get-go, he was judgmental and narrow-minded, believing Silver Falls was a tiny little town that existed only to keep Jackie trapped in a non-Ivy League life.

Jackie’s dream of going to Princeton has always been part of her story.

It’s natural that she would question that choice as she gets closer to college age and her life changes, but we didn’t need Elliot as a literal representation of her past.

The idea of Jackie both being attracted to a boy she grew up with and resisting returning to the life she was forced out of was interesting, but the execution simply screamed that Elliot was a temporary obstacle to Jackie’s relationship with Cole.

Jumping from Cole to Elliot was better than giving Alex yet another try, and Alex has more chemistry with Kylie anyway. Still, the whole set-up screamed temporary boyfriend.

I’m the kind of odd duck who almost always roots for the temporary couple and wishes they were endgame — or at least that they got a fair chance instead of being written as so obviously not the “it” couple.

Elliot had so much more potential than he got so far, too.

Although he was critical of Silver Falls, he also admitted that he’d broken the rules tons of times without getting caught and that the town was growing on him.

He deserved an actual story about struggling to decide who he wanted to be, mirroring Jackie’s struggle to reject Richard’s ultra-high expectations for her so she could be authentic.

Elliot was a strong enough character to pull that off, but instead he became this nasty thorn in Cole’s side who tore him down just to get his own way.

What did you think, My Life With the Walter Boys Fanatics? Did you enjoy this story as is, or were you also annoyed with how one-dimensionally Elliot was written?

Let us know in the comments! Don’t forget to share this article with your friends so they can join the conversation.

If you enjoyed this article, check out our My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3 review.

You can stream all three seasons of My Life With the Walter Boys on Netflix.

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