My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3’s Richard Was So Awful I Was Forced to Side With Cole

I’ve never been a huge Richard fan, but his behavior on My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3 went beyond the pale.

Richard was the ultimate overcontrolling parent who thought the solution to teenage misbehavior was to act like a jail warden — and he wasn’t even Jackie’s legal guardian.

It’s no secret that Cole is not my favorite character, but in the matchup between him and Richard, I was rooting for him. That’s how bad this was.

Richard’s Anger on My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3 Came Out of a Ridiculous Contrived “Arrest”

It’s understandable that Richard was upset that Jackie had a wild party at his house that ended up with her in the back of a police car — or it would have been if the situation had been at all realistic.

Jackie’s encounter with the police on My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3 wasn’t a real arrest.

She had to wait in the back of a police car, unsupervised, while she spoke with Cole and Alex, until Richard arrived to give her a disapproving look.

She wasn’t processed at the police station and released on a desk appearance ticket. She wasn’t even taken into custody. And on top of that, she was detained for… standing on a sidewalk yelling at two boys to stop fighting.

In other words, she hadn’t done anything remotely close to probable cause for arrest.

And THAT was why Richard was convinced Cole was turning Jackie into a juvenile delinquent. Come on!

Sending Jackie to Richard as Punishment Was Never Going to Work

I was incredibly aggravated with the set-up after the arrest. 

My Life With The Walter Boys Season 3 was trying desperately to find a reason for Jackie to move in with Richard and face his wrath, and they failed.

Katherine and George had no reason to give in, especially when Richard, who had no legal standing whatsoever, wanted them to send Jackie to him because he believed their refusal to monitor where Jackie was every second of the day was the reason for her misbehavior.

To be fair, Katherine and George did seem to be treating this incident as no big deal, but that wasn’t because they didn’t care — they didn’t want Jackie to feel like her near-arrest was unforgivable.

Katherine’s arguments against Richard’s nonsensical idea were sound, and she should have stood her ground. 

Angelica did make Katherine Jackie’s guardian, not Richard, and she did it for a reason.

Part of honoring her wishes should have been telling Richard unequivocally that while he could expect that Jackie and Cole would make amends for trashing his house, parenting decisions were not up to him, period.

Richard Went From Bad To Worse Afterward

Richard’s bad behavior went well past being worried about this incident, though.

Since Katherine didn’t stand her ground, he thought that being Jackie’s guardian on a very temporary basis gave him the right to control every aspect of her life and force her to be what he thought she should be.

He used Elliot as his mouthpiece more often than not, which was truly despicable. Although it wasn’t written this way, I felt as if Elliot was being manipulated to do Richard’s bidding and control Jackie.

The scene at the banquet was especially ridiculous.

Richard decided that Jackie organizing and building a community center for teens was irrelevant to getting into Princeton. Since when do recruiters for top colleges reject evidence of taking initiative to do community service? 

Richard was so out of touch that he believed anything done in Silver Falls, rather than in New York City, was a lot of nothing.

The college coach also annoyed me.

I didn’t like that Jackie ultimately caved to Richard’s demands and, worse, decided that this woman’s impossible schedule was more important than participating in the track race her coach had literally told her was a make-or-break race for their team.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, we had Richard’s atrocious treatment of Cole.

Richard and Elliot were abusive toward Cole, period.

Cole sold his car to pay for a replacement table for Richard, only for Richard to reject the offer and tell him to stay away from Jackie; then Elliot told him he was a loser who was not worthy of Jackie.

Jackie was doing a great job of standing up for herself to Richard and Elliot until Cole decided to listen and break up with her for no good reason.

That’s what frustrated me most about this situation. 

Richard was so controlling that Jackie yelled at him at the banquet to leave her alone, went back home, and refused to talk to him.

Yet by the end of the season, all was forgiven, Jackie decided that his values were correct, and he never faced any real consequences for his mistreatment of her.

And Cole didn’t get to explain how Richard and Elliot’s manipulations were behind his behavior, either, because of that stupid car crash cliffhanger.

Anyone else supremely irritated by this, or just me?

Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to share this article with your friends and family so they can join the conversation.

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

My Life With the Walter Boys Season 3 premiered on Netflix on August 6, 2026.

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