Growth

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for season two of Netflix’s My Life with the Walter Boys.]

It’s a new era for Noah LaLonde’s Cole Walter in the second season of Netflix’s My Life with the Walter Boys.

When viewers last saw LaLonde’s Cole, he was sharing a romantic kiss with Nikki Rodriguez’s Jackie Howard after a season full of sparks and growing feelings despite Jackie’s ongoing relationship with Cole’s brother Alex (Ashby Gentry). However, their happy ending was cut short when Jackie decided to return to New York, leaving a heartbroken Cole — and Alex, who had confessed his love to Jackie.

Season two, which premiered on the streamer on Aug. 28, sees Jackie return to a shocked Cole and Alex, who were left to grapple with her abrupt departure. However, the once bad boy Cole is proving to be on a new path since Jackie has been away, committing to his education and pursuing a new avenue into his passion for football.

Having met Jackie and seen her courage following the tragedy of losing her family in an accident gave Cole a new perspective, LaLonde explains, and allowed him to see a future that could be possible for himself.

“He’s trying to show up for people better. He doesn’t always succeed, but he’s trying,” LaLonde tells The Hollywood Reporter of the different Cole this season.

“I think part of what Cole sees in Jackie is her ability to wade her way through the waters of these unfortunate events that have happened to her in this new life that she is living now and ultimately continuing to persevere and remain in touch with the same goals and who she wants to be. And I think when she comes to Silver Falls and he witnesses that, that exact thing that he’s having a hard time doing with his own life and the worst thing in his head that could happen to him is happening,” LaLonde says.

Cole’s identity revolved around his football career, but with that “out of the picture,” LaLonde says it left a “very confused and very negative” Cole. But in season two, we see Cole “working on accepting that reality” and “re-identifying which direction he’s going to go” by attending summer school, being tutored and committed to studying for the SATs. At one point, he even asks for Jackie’s help with studying much to her excitement.

“I even think that subconsciously, he’s trying to become the type of person that is fit for Jackie Howard. I don’t necessarily think he’s like, ‘I need to be better for her,’ but I think in her, he sees something he really wants in himself and for himself,” LaLonde says. “This person he really loves, I don’t know if he feels worthy for her yet. I think he needs to work on that and I think he knows he needs to work on himself.”

In addition to his studies, Cole is also finding a way to “repurpose his skills and abilities from football” by taking on a coaching assistant job at the school. However, the former star quarterback is left to watch and guide from the sidelines, a place he didn’t foresee and is having trouble accepting. As he tries to embrace his new role and path, Cole struggles to move on from the what could’ve been. During episode four, the quarterback makes a pass to win the game; however, despite everyone celebrating, Cole isn’t.

“I think it’s very easy to watch a scene like that and think, ‘This guy’s selfish.’ But it’s the hardest thing, because it’s like you can do everything but the thing you want to do. And that’s why this journey is ongoing for him, because I don’t know if it’s the thing he’s supposed to do, because it’s a really hard thing to process.

“The difference that is being in the game and on the sidelines is such a tough thing to reckon with,” he adds. “It’s fresh. It’s been a year since this path was laid out. In life, the more you become sure of what’s going to happen, the more you should expect it not to happen. But I think as a junior-sophomore in high school, that lesson’s not quite learned yet. I think just continuing to work through that transition is this everlasting battle. Are the skills [and] abilities built? Have they been built up for this guy’s entire life, and are they going to waste if he’s not using them in some way? You could make that argument, but it’s just hard. I think when you are given such confidence, you start to identify ways in which you feel love from the thing that you do and not who you are.”

In episode five, that difficulty adjusting is evident and reaches a breaking point. In a self-sabotaging moment, Cole decides to drink and act out during the anticipated high school dance that Jackie worked hard to make happen, leaving his family and Jackie disappointed.

“I don’t think it was totally undeserving, but I also think the harshness did snap him back into reality a little bit,” he explains. “I think the way in which he comes up short is communicating and processing those feelings in a healthy, positive way. Because there are moments it just gets to be too much.

“If you look at the events, it’s like, Jackie wants space and to be just friends, ouch. And then, you can coach, but you still can’t play. Team wins, no glory for you, ouch. And then in the middle of the dance floor at the Fall formal, sorry, not going to be a slow dance for you, pal. Oh, also, Dylan is going to that [football] camp. Ouch. It builds up to a point where it’s like, what do you expect? This is like the boiling pot of things to happen to him that he would not react well to. So I’m not surprised. I’m not going to defend the behavior, even though, if you boil it down, he was just defending a really, a really crude comment about the girl he was around.”

As for Cole and Jackie, throughout the season, they keep their distance after Jackie requests some space and to be friends. However, unbeknownst to Cole, Jackie had rekindled a relationship with his brother Alex and kept it secret from everyone.

“It’s frustrating for him, because I think ultimately, all along, he has this idea that the friends thing is temporary, the space thing is temporary, and the thing that he feels is so strong, I think it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that somebody could maybe not feel that so strongly as to want to put that all out there.”

Though Jackie and Cole have their lighthearted moments, LaLonde explains it was frustrating given the “inopportune times of which these interactions will come.”

“She’ll want to come and be the really good friend after the football game when he’s not in the mood to process something. The dance is great, like, let’s dance! Oh, wait, we’re kind of breaking through this barrier? Nope, we’re just friends. Let’s learn how to drive a stick shift. Oh, this is kind of fun. Nope!”

However frustrating the fleeting moments can be, the actor notes that Jackie’s ability to have “discipline for the things she wants” is admirable. He explains, “It’s kind of the catch 22 because it’s the thing that is so attractive to him about her. She’s able to see the thing that she wants and kind of attack it with little regard for anything else in a pretty healthy way. Something she’s good at, [but] something he could use some work on.”

In season two’s final moments, Jackie finally confesses her true feelings to Cole, admitting that she loves him but vulnerably explains why she’s afraid to pursue anything with him. But Alex, who they don’t see standing nearby and whom she also told she loved, hears the moment and asks her, “You love him?”

“It kind of ends in the same form, frustrating and confusing, because we don’t really get any answers based on what happens,” LaLonde says of that cliffhanger moment that also sees them learning Walter patriarch George needs to be sent to the hospital.

The actor stays mum when teasing where they go from there for season three, which is in production, but did reflect on his hopes for Cole going forward.

“If you’re Cole, the thing you want is Jackie. It feels like one of the ingredients to getting your life on track is having this Jackie-sized piece in your heart and in your life. You can never change the thing that you did at your mom’s awards dinner when you ruined everything. You can never change the fall formal dance that you ruined. You can never change these things, but the responsibility is on you to reflect as to why they happened and what you could do to grow from them and become a better person because of them.”

Cole may not always get it right, but LaLonde assures Cole “has a great heart,” “means well” and is “a good person.”

“I just think he needs to identify how his feelings relate to his actions and continue to grow in that way. I think an honest conversation between some of the more important people in his life is long overdue. Just continuing to grow in a healthy direction and to continue to learn from those experiences that are unhealthy or were unhealthy.”

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My Life with the Walter Boys is now streaming on Netflix. Read THR’s interviews with Nikki Rodriguez and showrunner Melanie Halsall.