One of the things I genuinely love about My Life With The Walter Boys — and I mean genuinely, not as a caveat before I start yelling about a boy — is that Jackie and Grace’s friendship is treated as important. Structurally important. Not garnish.
Because girls need other girls. That’s the whole message and the show doesn’t apologize for it. Your life cannot be all about a boy, no matter how well that boy hops a fence.
So of course this episode opens with the two of them talking it all out: Cole, Elliott, Richard, the whole avalanche.
the honesty of best friends
Talking to your best friend is supposed to be easy.
Jackie knows she wants to be with Cole. She’s clear on that. Sex is an enormous step, and part of her wonders if it means something that Elliott and Richard turned up in the driveway at the exact moment they did — accidentally interrupting something without knowing there was anything to interrupt.
There is a sign going on here – even if we all don’t want to see it.
Grace and Jackie are just open with each other. No performance. Grace is one of the most generous friends – she takes Jackie’s side completely, even though her own agenda is, transparently, becoming popular, and Cole-and-Jackie-as-a-couple is still filed under that heading in her brain. That’s the beauty of Grace – her motives are hilariously mixed and her loyalty is absolute.
And here’s what got me. Jackie’s hesitation with Cole is not about Alex.
She’s hesitating because she doesn’t know if she’ll be good at it. No one is good at sex the first time, Jackie. She is worried because she can’t take it back. What if it changes something between her and Cole that can’t be un-changed? She’s overthinking.
Which is such a smart, real fear — and yes, it does change everything. That’s the point of it. Totally, completely understandable. Her fears are fair – it is her communication that is failing.
The Elliott problem arrives at the dinner table
Elliott and Richard are coming to dinner, and I don’t think Cole fully grasps who Elliott is.
Jackie and Elliott have been friends since they were children. Their families vacationed together on Martha’s Vineyard every summer. Elliott knows her — the old her, the New York her, the her that existed before a phone call changed her entire life.
It’s both a good and a bad thing.
That’s her actual fear. Not that he’ll flirt. That he’ll look at her and see who she used to be, and that she’ll recognize the girl he’s describing. She doesn’t know what to think about the situation.
Moving forward is hard for anybody. Figuring out who you actually are is harder. That is a never ending process though. That will go on for the rest of their lives.
Dinner goes well, and Elliott charms every single person at that table except two. Cole and Alex look at him like he’s a puzzle they’d like to disassemble. They look at him like they want to punch him in the face.
He’s a Harvard kid who deferred a year to get a jump on real-world experience — hence, working for Richard. He mentions he and Jackie have known each other since they were in diapers, and then catches himself – oh, listen to me talking about myself, tell me about you guys.
It’s as if he was passively aggressively telling the, that he matters more.
QUESTIONS
So he asks Alex about the rodeo. And Alex is baffled, because you can tell in one exchange that the only thing Elliott knows about rodeo is rhinestones and leather. Not the same wavelength. Not the same planet. Alex hesitantly offers that he could come see a ride sometime, and then walks off, quiet about the whole thing, in the most Alex move imaginable.
When Elliott asks what Cole’s into, Jackie answers for him — assistant football coach, and he’s got his first drag race coming up.
Elliott invites himself to the race. It’s not something that thrills Cole, but he knows better than to say anything.
But you can see Coles jealousy. Because Elliott is going to the race. With Jackie.
Cole’s jealousy flickers, visibly, for exactly one second. Then Jackie suggests hiking, and asks Cole to take them. Sure. Great. Let’s put all three of these people on a mountain with no cell service. What could go wrong?
I’ll say this though: bringing in someone from outside the Walter orbit – someone with a direct line back to Jackie’s old life in New York – is a genuinely interesting move. How this could play out all season is intriguing.
This family has been sealed shut all season. Now there’s a draft coming in.
Katherine in the barn: the mother who can’t stop them
Alex is mucking out the barn and Katherine points out that it’s Cole’s turn. But they traded, so Cole could do final tuneups on the car before tomorrow’s race.
And Katherine – who wishes with her whole chest that her boys would choose literally any hobby that isn’t potentially fatal – doesn’t fight it. She is thankful that Alex is helping his brother, but she’s got another thing that she’s concerned about now. When Alex asks if she’s okay with the racing, she is very honest with it. What is she going to do? She didn’t want Alex on a bronco either, and look how that went.
She knows she can’t stop them. All she can do is be supportive and be there. That’s the deal with teenage sons and it’s a brutal deal.
Then she tries to ask Alex about Jackie, and he heads her off, “Mom, if one more person asks me if I’m okay, I’m going to lose my mind.”
One can’t blame Alex for being over hearing about it. He doesn’t want to deal with it. Who would? Alex is right when he says that she should be more worried about Cole — and apologizes in advance for Elliott going missing on that hike tomorrow.
Correct read, Alex. Fully correct. That boy is jealous and you can see it from space.
Tony’s warning, and the part that scares me
Cole’s doing his final tuneup and Tony comes out and asks what he’s up to. Just a few tweaks — the suspension feels off. Cole is overthinking but is also scared of what could happen.
Tony says the thing I need engraved somewhere for Cole – “there’s a lot more to lose with racing.” You can’t push components past what they’re capable of. It’s a great deal more dangerous for him than it is for anything else.
And Cole looks hesitant. Like that was precisely the plan.
That scares me. Cole Walter needs to be safe and Cole Walter has never once in his life been the person who chooses safe.
Richard at The Lark, and the Greece of it all
Richard and Jackie are catching up at The Lark and she’s telling him everything about the community center – the vision, the push, getting the city council on board. Jackie is Richards pride and joy – he is so supportive and so positive about her, and I love him as an uncle. He knows exactly how capable she is and he says so.
He reminds her of who she is and how her parent would be proud of her
He asks what he can do, and she says – it’s going to take a lot of money. Well, he says, everything does. She mentions she’s been invited to a business event next week and hopes to work the room for donations. He says, as a local businessman, he’ll be there.
Then he says her parents would be proud.
Queue my tears. There are a lot of them.
And speaking of her parents, Richard comes bearing news. Before they passed, they set aside money for Jackie to spend the summer in Greece. An educational trip. The same one her sister did. Something they believed would be good for her.
They thought ahead of things for her.
Does he need an answer now? No. Take your time.
Here’s what that trip is – an exit. A beautiful, generous, parent-shaped exit that Jackie can take if things get hard. And I don’t think she wants it. I think she’s a little taken aback by it, actually – a plan her parents made for a version of her life that no longer exists. But one has to wonder if she wishes that it did.
I also think it sets up a rift between her and Cole, and that scares me more than the drag racing.
Then Elliott shows up right on time to confirm other events and asks Richard whether he’s told her about Greece yet. Richard says he just did. And Elliott immediately starts selling it: she has to go, it’s an incredible trip, it’s amazing.
Stay in your lane Elliott.
She hasn’t told Cole. And this guy has already appointed himself the campaign manager for her leaving.
Alex, Kiley, and a rodeo crowd
Alex and Kiley have a computer science project together, so he’s at the pizza place waiting, talking to her between customers. He drew up storyboards. He wanted to show her. They are both excited about it.
And then in walks the rodeo crowd and those men do not know how to conduct themselves. Alex isn’t built for their bravado.
Wilder says he thought he was picking up on something between Alex and Kiley. And Alex, God bless him, “What you’re picking up on is a lifelong platonic friendship.”
Touche Alex.
Dylan walks in mid-scene and asks what’s going on, and everybody just stares at these cowboys like what is happening in this pizza place. Then Dylan observes that Wilder has a punchable face.
Objectively, factually true. Then again, so does Dylan.
Elliott Brings a Map Fact to a Feelings Fight
Jackie, Cole, and Elliott hit the trailhead. Cole knows the route, so he’s leading — which does not stop Jackie from photographing the trail map approximately one million times, because she is who she is.
I admire her Type A personaility.
He tells her she doesn’t need pictures, telling her he’s got this. All I could think is that he may, but also – what if something happens to him? (She does not put the phone away. Iconic.)
He calls her New York, and Elliott asks why, and Cole says because that’s where she’s from. Elliott seems as though he’s weighing possibilities.
And then the two of them start trading little needles the entire way up the mountain. Each one polite. Each one loaded.
I don’t think Jackie particularly cares — she’s in love with Cole, and Elliott is a boy from back home. But I also think Elliott genuinely cares about her, which is what makes him irritating instead of cartoonish.
He’s just still not a threat.
Cole tries to warn Elliott about the terrain and to be careful, and Elliott says don’t worry about me, I come from a long line of avid outdoorsmen — we hiked to Machu Picchu last year for my dad’s birthday.
Cool for you Elliott.
Sure. What a way to spend a birthday.
At the top – Jackie and Cole are talking and he starts telling the story of how the canyon got its name — their moment, their thing — and Elliott interrupts to tell it himself, because he read it on the trailhead sign.
Sir. That is not knowledge. That is a placard.
You are annoying.
And then he drops the actual bomb – Jackie, this is nothing compared to what you’ll see in Greece. We’ll have to come visit and show you all the hidden gems.
She hasn’t told Cole about Greece.
She hasn’t told Cole about Greece, and this man just announced it on a mountain.
I don’t like him. He can go back to New York on the next flight, middle seat.
Alex finally noticing something
Nathan’s plays his guitar when Alex asks if he’s got a concert. Nathan says he should have listened to Mom and kept practicing.
Here’s the situation: the school band is going to Europe and they’re only taking one guitar player. Auditions are Friday. Nathan is talented, he just needs to believe in himself.
He asks if Alex can pick him up, and Alex says he might be at the arcade with Kiley and Dylan, but he’ll figure something out. Nathan points out the thing out loud — that Alex hangs out with Dylan now because it’s how he gets to see Kiley.
Which is quietly devastating and also kind of sweet, because it makes Alex look at his own life sideways for a second. That’s the Alex pattern: he notices things and then doesn’t act on them. He’s liked Kiley for years and it’s been obvious to everyone, and like most best friends, they’ve liked each other at exactly the wrong times.
The fight on the way down
Coming down the mountain, Cole gets Jackie alone and asks the obvious – were you planning on telling me that you might disappear again for the summer?
She says she was — she only found out a few hours ago, from Richard.
Were you just going to leave another note? he says. That’s diabolical. Well played but also jump off a cliff Cole Walker.
That’s the wound. She left once with a note, and he has never fully recovered from it.
She tries to explain that seeing Elliott has been a lot, and Cole says something’s been off with her since Mr. Harvard showed up — jealous, plainly, entirely.
So she tries to say the true thing – you’re not interested in the ivy’s, and that’s okay. But it’s nice to talk to somebody who’s been through it.
And he looks at her like she slapped him.
I’m sorry I don’t have my life planned in eight-year chunks.
Which is not what she was asking for. At all. But it’s what he heard, because he hears everything through the filter of not being enough for the girl who came from somewhere better.
Then he says it, “you told me now might be all we have. I guess not anymore.”
And he walks off.
Here’s my honest take. It is unfair how much pressure everybody keeps piling onto Jackie’s shoulders. And it’s also unfair what Jackie does with it, because she cannot communicate. She absorbs, she manages, she delays, and then the truth arrives sideways from a stranger on a hiking trail. Both of these things are true at once.
Cole asks his parents to stay home
George and Katherine are getting ready for the race. The little kids head off with Will and Hayley. George looks happy and Katherine has missed that face so much. Everyone’s excited to watch Cole do his thing.
But Cole comes down and asks them to sit this one out. Just the first one. He needs a little space. He won’t be able to stay focused if he knows they’re in the stands worrying about him. It’s his first race and he wants to try it on his own.
They agree to stay home, which costs them something.
And the second the kids are gone, George starts talking about work, and Katherine says absolutely not — we have a date, we have the house to ourselves for once, and we are going to make the most of it.
Katherine Walter, seizing the day. Let’s go.
The track, the gift, and Danvers
Cole doesn’t have the right helmet, so Mac gives him one. A first-race gift. I’m unwell about it. Mac walks him through it – though I believe that it’s more for the viewers benefit. He drew ninth, so he’s got time to scope out the competition. Race clean. On this track, the only thing that matters is who crosses first.
Cole’s nervous. And he needs to have a little faith in himself, because Mac would not have handed him a car and a helmet if he didn’t believe in him.
Then he’s sitting waiting his turn next to a guy being swarmed by women, because he wins everything. Mac tells Cole you’re not going to beat him. He’s won every race here since the accident when he was nineteen.
Cole gives him a look. Nervous underneath, but a look.
I didn’t come here for a participation trophy.
I really, really hope this isn’t Cole’s last race. He seems to be being somewhat careful. And I also, shamefully, want him to win.
the fear underneath the ranch
Katherine and Jo go out riding, apologizing to each other for constantly rescheduling — which is fair, they both have entire lives collapsing and rebuilding on them. Katherine shows her the ranch and mentions that George got the all-clear from his neurologist, so he’s off tending to the love of his life. The ranch.
And that’s the thing about George, he doesn’t know how to be anything other than the man who runs this place. Any other version of himself feels like loss. Being sick didn’t just hurt his body, it rocked his entire sense of who he is.
Katherine says they’ve been in survival mode for so long, and she just hopes he realizes they need to spend time together — that they need to know each other again.
And Jo tells her to do it before they lose track of each other. Before they end up like her and Bob, who woke up one day and didn’t know each other anymore. That’s the scariest sentence in the episode and it doesn’t involve a car going 130 miles an hour.
the best surprise of the season
Richard’s at The Lark getting coffee, and when he turns around he nearly walks straight into Ms. Jacobs.
They chat. They haven’t seen each other since Will and Hayley’s wedding, when she wandered into his yurt — and he remembers, which he attributes to not having many people in his yurt but which I’m attributing to a crush.
He asks if her boyfriend is joining her, and she says he’s no longer with us. Richard assumes the worst. She clarifies: no, no, he’s alive. He’s just no longer with me.
And then Richard asks her out.
I think that’s completely lovely. Ms. Jacobs deserves love. Richard deserves love. Two grown adults in a coffee shop being nervous about each other is exactly what this show should be doing.
The double date from hell
In the merch tent – Dylan, Kiley, Molly, and Alex are hanging out, and Dylan is way too invested in making Molly-and-Alex happen. I’m invested in that not happening.
It is going horribly. They’re two completely different people with nothing to say.
Dylan offers to buy ice cream and Molly’s the only one who wants any, so he and Kiley go to get it. And by the time they’re back, Molly has left. Alex says she had to pick up her sister.
And Alex finally says it, “it’s weird enough that you set me up on a double date, but doing it because you feel sorry for me — I’m not okay with that.”
Which isn’t what she meant. She wanted her best friend to be happy. But his feelings about it are real and valid too, and both things get to exist.
Grace holds Jackie’s fear
At the track, Jackie, Grace, Elliott, and Skylar are lined up against the fence waiting for Cole, and something’s clearly wrong with Jackie.
Grace clocks it instantly and executes a flawless extraction: she’s parched, would Skylar mind getting her something to drink. He goes, and takes Elliott with him. Grace, you absolute professional.
So Jackie tells her about the fight — how Cole thinks she’s pulling away, that she’s leaving.
And then she says the real thing – the last time she saw Elliott, her parents were alive. Lucy was alive. And seeing him reminded her how easy it was to be that person, and how easily she could become her again.
She’s terrified of losing herself. That is such an enormous, adult fear for a seventeen-year-old to name out loud.
And Grace reminds her that people change and plans change and that’s just life. Sometimes.
I think Jackie and Grace’s friendship is something we should all be emulating. It teaches you that you can be two completely different people with completely different goals, and as long as you stay open and try to see it from the other side, everything can shift. That’s it. That’s the whole lesson.
George and Katherine’s actual date
George and Katherine spend the afternoon visiting all their old places on the ranch — and when she sees their initials still carved into a tree, it absolutely takes her out. Me too, Katherine. Me too.
They keep trying to have a romantic moment and keep getting interrupted, and it’s fine, because the interruptions are their kids calling to report on how Cole is doing. Which is, honestly, exactly what these two need more than they need privacy.
Nathan sends a livestream link that refuses to load. George says not to worry — somebody will record it.
9.5 seconds
George and Katherine find a spot where Cole won’t see them, but they can see him. Because they are physically incapable of staying home, and I would not respect them if they had.
Cole is genuinely nervous in the car. And who talks him down? Alex.
He walks over and opens with, “I see Elliott survived.”
Yeah, Cole says — “turns out he comes from a long line of avid outdoorsmen.”
And they both start laughing. Of course he does. Cole is nervous and I think that is a good thing. Alex tells him about the first time he rode a bronco. How scared he was. And how it’s about getting through the fear the first time, because every time after that is different.
Cole takes it in. Really takes it in.
These two, standing next to a race car, finally being brothers again with no girl and no grief between them. That’s the scene I’ve been waiting all season for. I’ve been waiting for these two to find their way back to each other.
He gets in the car and looks over at Jackie standing at the fence, smiling at him. Cole locks in. And then, alarmingly, starts thinking about what would happen if the engine blew.
Sir. Not now.
And then they race — and he comes alive. You can see it happen. This is the thing. This is what he was built for.
He loses. Danvers runs a 9.4. Cole runs a 9.5.
One tenth of a second.
And it doesn’t matter, because the adrenaline has already rewritten him. He gets back and Mac says not bad for a first time, there are people I want you to meet — and Cole says hold on, I’ve got to do a thing.
Because he’s spotted Jackie.
He hops the fence. He’s grinning. He takes her face in both hands.
I love you.
And kisses her.
FENCE. HOPPED. FACE. HELD. I need a moment.
We’re not Joan and Bob
Over in the corner, Katherine and George are sitting on the roof of their truck, and she’s asking if today was fun — we had fun, right? — and she keeps circling, and he asks why she’s being weird.
So she tells him, “Joan said her and Bob ended because they stopped knowing each other.”
And George says: we’re not Joan and Bob.
That’s it. That’s all she needed. Sometimes the reassurance doesn’t need to be poetry. It just needs to be certain.
Alex, Kiley, and the sentence that lands wrong
Walking out from the race, Kiley chases Alex down.
Come on, Alex.
I need to talk to you. I want to apologize.
He doesn’t want to hear it.
She had good intentions. She tells him she was the third wheel in her best friend’s relationship for a while, and it sucked.
She’s not wrong. It does suck.
And he gets defensive, great to know.
He snaps, “I’m sorry you felt like that when I was with Jackie. At least I never palmed you off on some rando.”
Ouch. Fair, and ouch.
They’ve known each other since kindergarten, and knowing she saw him as a problem to be solved genuinely wounds him. Alex can be alone. He doesn’t want to be, but he can be, and being handled like a charity case is worse than being lonely.
She says she’s sorry. He wanders off — straight to Wilder and the rodeo crowd, where the invitations are starting to feel personal, and where someone hands him a beer.
So he sits down. Beer in hand. Two women he doesn’t know on either side.
Alex Walter is changing, and I do not love the direction.
The space, the truth, and the yes
Jackie takes Cole to see the storefront, and he remembers it immediately — the candy sticks, the couple who ran it — and he sits down.
And then they finally talk properly.
She tells him she’s been pulling away because everything happening has made her feel strange, and it scared her. He admits how it looked from where he was standing: like she was running toward Mr. Harvard.
And then he admits that he is jealous. He’s jealous of anyone who knows her family. Anyone who knows her better than he does. Anyone who got time with her that he’ll never get.
And she tells him the only thing that fixes that: nobody knows me better than you.
They tell each other they love each other.
He asks if she’s sure this is okay.
She says yes.
Two kids who both learned love as something you survive, choosing each other on purpose, in a building she’s turning into a place for people to belong.
I’m not okay. Silver Falls, you win again.
