11 burning questions about the endlessly chaotic Netflix romance in 'My Life With The Walter Boys'

Dubai: There are slow-burn romances. There are will-they-won’t-they romances. And then there is My Life with the Walter Boys, a Netflix show seemingly determined to ask: How many times can Jackie Howard and Cole Walter get within touching distance of happiness before spectacularly setting fire to it themselves?

These two don’t need villains, meddling relatives or romantic rivals. They are perfectly capable of ruining their own lives, thank you very much.

Yes, Jackie and Cole have chemistry. Unfortunately, they also appear to be spectacularly detrimental to each other’s peace of mind. Put them together and every insecurity, bad decision and self-destructive instinct comes galloping out. They don’t bring out the best in each other; they bring out the emotional equivalent of a five-alarm fire.

At this point, their biggest obstacle isn’t Alex. It isn’t New York. It isn’t Colorado. It isn’t timing, circumstance or the universe conspiring against true love.

The latest season brings us straight back into the emotional obstacle course surrounding Jackie, Cole and the rest of the Walter clan. I remain mildly entertained and hardly invested. But I also have questions.

Seriously. Why? They get together. Something happens. They pull apart. They stare at each other. Somebody makes a questionable decision. They find their way back to each other. Repeat.

At this stage, I am beginning to wonder whether the writers borrowed the Meredith Grey and Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd handbook from Grey's Anatomy: never allow an attractive couple to experience happiness for longer than medically necessary.

Jackie and Cole have chemistry. We get it. That's why we care. But surely the next stage of a romance is actually having a relationship? Let them date. Let them fight about dirty socks. Anything. Just stop resetting the romance every time they finally get somewhere.

Every time Jackie looks happy, I immediately become suspicious. Every time Cole smiles, I assume disaster is approximately seven minutes away.

Perhaps the greatest plot twist the show could give us now would be Jackie and Cole having an entirely pleasant afternoon.

Can we discuss Alex Walter (Ashby Gentry) and his best friend Kiley (Mya Lowe)? Because while everybody else is working overtime at yearning, Alex and Kiley simply have to occupy the same room and suddenly there’s chemistry. Easy, unforced, natural chemistry ; a precious commodity in a show where romance often feels like an endurance sport.

And speaking of endurance sports, can we discuss Alex’s slightly ludicrous transformation into a rodeo rider? Apparently being sweet, coltish, and slightly awkward wasn’t enough. Now he has to saddle up, acquire cowboy swagger and stare handsomely into the middle distance, presumably to announce: Look, Jackie, I’m rugged now!

While the cowboy makeover is hard to digest, his scenes with Lowe’s Kiley have more effortless chemistry than many of the show’s heavily engineered romantic encounters. She’s right there, requiring no rodeo theatrics, tortured love triangle or emotional obstacle course to make the connection believable.

Perhaps everyone is so busy asking whether Jackie belongs with Cole or Alex that they’ve missed the more interesting possibility with these two young guns.

Uncle Richard's conviction (Alex Quijano) that Jackie can surely do better than these country bumpkins is unintentionally hilarious. You would think Jackie had been deposited in a field without electricity rather than surrounded by a gigantic, loving family and several good-looking young men.