Opening Shot: A bus comes into view. It’s dropping off Alex Walter (Ashby Gentry), returning from a summer working a ranch in Montana. Waiting for him is his brother Cole (Noah LaLonde).
The Gist: Alex and Cole aren’t exactly giving each other a warm welcome, though Cole notices that Alex seems different after a summer working on the ranch. Things between them are still tense after Alex told Jackie Howard (Nikki Rodriguez), the daughter of their mother’s best friend who came to live with them after her family died in an accident, he loved her; she ended up kissing Cole instead of returning the sentiment and then left to go back to New York.
In New York, Jackie is working as an intern for a law firm; she gets a surprise visit from Katherine Walter (Sarah Rafferty), after Katherine was sent an application to a boarding school in Vermont. She thinks Jackie should come back to Silver Falls, Colorado, and live with the Walter family again. Jackie isn’t so sure, but she does know that New York doesn’t feel like home anymore, since her family is no longer around.
But she agrees to come back, and as predicted, Alex isn’t happy to see her and she has no idea how to talk to Cole. Of the other Walter boys, Danny (Connor Stanhope) is most in her corner, and still won’t stop talking about when he visited her in New York. The only Walter girl, Parker (Alix West Lefler), reserves her enthusiasm because she’s irked that Jackie left without even saying goodbye.
Cole and Jackie aren’t the only ones seeing a difference in Alex, though; Kiley (Mya Lowe) sees that all of a sudden Alex is surrounded by girls, and she trades her spot in driver’s ed with Jackie when she realizes that their pre-summer vow to learn to drive together isn’t really in effect anymore.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by created by Melanie Halsall and based on the novel by Ali Novak, My Life With The Walter Boys is Virgin River meets Dawson’s Creek meets 7th Heaven.
Our Take: Like most teen dramas — heck, like most romantic dramas — everyone in My Life With The Walter Boys has a story. Danny has a budding relationship with Erin (Alisha Newton). Nathan Walter (Corey Fogelmanis) decides to write for the school paper, where his boyfriend Skylar (Jaylan Evans) is editor. George (Marc Blucas) and his oldest son Will (Johnny Link) is building a ranch resort and George is getting concerned that Will’s plans are getting too expensive. Even guidance counselor Tara (Ashley Holliday) has a scene that indicates she has a storyline.
It’s a lot, even for a show of this type. The most interesting story, of course, is Jackie continuing to adjust to life without her family and her feelings for Alex and Cole. But we’re not going to say that it’s the only storyline the show should have, because it’s just not how shows like these are structured. What we always get concerned about, of course, is whether one or more of these stories are going to get the screentime they need to play themselves out.
We like the main story, of course, because of Rodriguez’ mature performance as Jackie. She’s soldiering on in the face of tragedy, sure, but not without issues. And she wants to do right by the Walter family, especially Parker; the whole reason why she wants to learn to drive is to be Parker’s “personal chauffeur,” probably in an effort to make up for leaving at the end of the school year and to make her feel a bit less alone, given she’s the only girl in the midst of 7 boys.
We’re also intrigued by where Kiley’s story is going, given that she seems to be letting go of her crush with her bestie Alex as he’s changed between school years, and turning her sights onto Dylan (Kolton Stewart), a football player she meets in shop class.
But what we’re wondering is how much Jackie is going to vacillate between Alex and Cole this season. Cole is going to become a student assistant coach for the football team, which will change how he relates to his buddies. But will that at all get in the way of him pursuing something with Jackie? And is Alex really done with their relationship? It’ll be fun to find out.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: In the barn, Cole says to Jackie, “Will you please stop running away from me? Don’t go.”
Sleeper Star: Ellie O’Brien plays Jackie’s school buddy Grace, whom we haven’t mentioned to this point because she didn’t get a storyline in the first episode.
Most Pilot-y Line: “You don’t have to be useful to be welcome,” Katherine says to Jackie. That seems to be an obvious platitude coming from a wise family matriarch on one of these shows, doesn’t it?
Our Call: STREAM IT. While there’s a lot going on in the second season of My Life With The Walter Boys, we’re still on board with the Jackie-Alex-Cole triangle, and are now intrigued by some of the side stories, as well.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.