‘My Life With the Walter Boys’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Who Does Jackie Choose?

The season 2 finale of My Life With the Walter Boys brought all the emotions.

The Netflix show — which is based on the best-selling novel by Ali Novak — follows Jackie Howard (Nikki Rodriguez), a Manhattan teen who moves to a small town in Colorado to live with the massive Walter family after a family tragedy leaves her orphaned. The series became an instant hit after its season 1 release, leading Rodriguez to tell PEOPLE in February 2024 that it’s been “the best, craziest, most exciting time of my life.”

“We thought [the show] was something special when we were shooting it, so I’m happy that it’s been received in the way that it has,” Rodriguez said.

After a dramatic season 1 finale that saw Jackie flee back to New York rather than facing her tangled feelings for brothers Alex (Ashby Gentry) and Cole Walter (Noah LaLonde), season 2 premiered on Aug. 28 and followed Jackie’s return to Silver Falls, Colo.

Throughout the season, she works to navigate boundaries with Cole while making amends with Alex. But by the final episode, Jackie is harboring two big secrets: she’s in a secret relationship with Alex and helping Cole with his college apps — both of which come to a head in the final episode, along with a major cliffhanger that leaves one character’s fate in question.

So, where does Jackie stand with Alex and Cole Walter, and what’s going on with the Walter family’s ranch development project? Here’s everything to know about how the season 2 finale of My Life With the Walter Boys ended.

Warning: My Life With the Walter Boys season 2 spoilers ahead!

How did season 2 of My Life With the Walter Boys end?

A lot goes down in the finale, from a breakthrough in Alex’s rodeo career to a pressure-cooker challenge for Cole.

On the football field, both Cole and Isaac (Isaac Arellanes) are given an opportunity to prove themselves. When the coach’s wife suddenly goes into labor, Cole is thrust into the head coaching role, while Isaac takes over as quarterback after Dylan (Kolton Stewart) steps aside, owning up to his failed drug test. Thanks to Cole’s motivating pep talk and Isaac’s game-winning touchdown, the team pulls off a win and secures a spot in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, at the Silver Falls Sparkle, Jackie receives a surprise honor: the Young Sparkler Award for her “services to the school,” from saving the canceled Fall Formal to arranging the college fair. Not only that, while Jackie lost the junior class president race, Erin informs her that she’s making her VP as of next semester — and urges her to run for student council president next year.

As for Alex, his rodeo dreams take a major leap forward when he competes in tryouts for his trainer, Blake’s (Natalie Sharp) father’s sponsorship program — and succeeds! With the sponsorship secured, Alex earns the chance to compete under his selective banner, officially becoming Blake’s teammate.

But it wouldn’t be My Life With the Walter Boys without ending on a tangle of relationships. Just as Jackie’s love triangle reaches an intense turning point, a sudden family emergency derails everything.

Where does Jackie stand with Alex and Cole?

Ahead of the finale, Jackie and Alex’s romance remains a secret. Alex wanted to go public, but Jackie insisted it wasn’t the right time. Meanwhile, Cole already knows, given that he walked in on the two of them making out when he went to her Uncle Richard’s (Alex Quijano) empty house to tell Jackie he scored a 1250 on the SAT.

Later, the Walter children are celebrating the big win in their living room when Danny lets Cole’s score slip, which Jackie is upset to learn secondhand. She presses Cole for answers, leading him to walk out of the house. However, Jackie follows him and accuses him of being “off” for weeks and avoiding her.

Outside of the house, the pair get into a fight about honesty, leading Cole to reveal that he saw her kissing Alex. After an intense exchange where he begs her to explain why she asked him for space in the beginning of the season, Jackie admits that she can’t stay away from him — no matter how hard she tries.

“I keep trying to and nothing works, and I can’t have that, Cole,” she says. “I can’t be with someone who makes me feel the way that you make me feel.”

Cole tells her he loves her, begging her to be honest if she didn’t feel the same — but she does. When he asks Jackie why being with him would be “so awful,” she reveals that kissing him in the barn was the only time she had “stopped thinking about everything.” It made her feel “free,” but also terrified of losing control.

Just as they’re about to share a kiss, Alex appears in the front yard, asking, “You love him?”

But before anyone can explain, a family emergency interrupts the moment, leaving viewers wondering what comes next in the aftermath of Cole and Jackie’s confessions.

Do Nathan and Skylar get back together?

After getting together in season 1, Nathan (Corey Fogelmanis) and Skylar’s (Jaylan Evans) relationship is going strong at the beginning of season 2. That is, until Zach (Carson MacCormac), a fellow newspaper club member, takes an interest in Nathan and leads him and Skylar to split.

A heartbroken Skylar tries to warn Nathan that Zach might not have the best intentions. Plus, it’s revealed later in the season that Skylar and Zach have a history — and Zach was using Nathan to make him jealous the entire time.

By the finale, Nathan apologizes to Skylar, who tells him that although he knows he didn’t mean to hurt him, he “didn’t care enough” about doing it anyway, just because someone else gave him “attention.”

Nathan shares that he always felt as though he had to “convince” Skylar to like him, and as if he liked him more. But Skylar emphasizes that Nathan being “insecure” isn’t an “excuse” for what he did.

Nathan asks for them to try again and tells Skylar he loves him. Although Skylar reciprocates the sentiment, he shares that he can no longer trust him and decides not to put himself through it all again.

Do any other couples get together?

Throughout the season, football quarterback Dylan and gamer Kylie (Mya Lowe) have an unexpected romance brewing. However, ahead of the finale, Kylie is disappointed when she learns that Dylan not only tried to cheat on his drug test, but also didn’t hold himself accountable when he was failed and was suspended from the team.

Instead, his dad fixed his mistake by making a big donation to the school’s athletics department, re-securing his spot on the team. When Dylan explains he didn’t want to disappoint his dad by not being able to play college football, Kylie emphasizes the importance of standing up to him and being his own person.

Later in the finale, however, Dylan opts to stay on the sidelines of the big game and faces his dad. During the Sparkle, he tells Kylie that he didn’t play in the game because he wants to be his own person — and that she was “right.”

“I don’t know anyone like you Kylie,” Dylan says, adding that he’s “a little bit crazy” about her, before the pair (finally!) share a kiss.

Meanwhile, Danny (Connor Stanhope) and Erin (Alisha Newton) began the season by entering a secret relationship. They eventually go public, however, they hit a rough patch after a disagreement over their futures, as Danny wants to pursue theater at a New York school and Erin wants to attend a local community college.

By the finale, Erin admits that they “might be headed in different directions,” and she wants them both to be able to chase their dreams. The pair come to the conclusion that it’s okay to have different goals, but they should just enjoy the present and worry about the future when the time comes.

What’s going on with the ranch development project?

Outside of the show’s love triangles, one of season 2’s major story lines centers on Will (Johnny Link) and George’s (Marc Blucas) plans to develop the Walter family ranch, with some help from Jackie’s Uncle Richard.

But ahead of the finale, George pulled the plug on the project, choosing instead to lease the land. He later admits to Will that moving forward with development would have “torn the family apart,” given that Richard and Will had different intentions for it than George and Katherine (Sarah Rafferty).

In the finale, an upset Will confides in his wife, Haley (Zoë Soul), venting about his dad shutting down the project and his own uncertainty about the future. In response, Hayley suggests that Silver Falls might be “too small” for his “big ideas.”

After reflecting on her words, Will heads to the rest of the Walter crew in the living room to ask where their dad was. Nathan informs him that George has been up on the top field “all afternoon.”

In the season’s final moments, Will rushes into the front yard — where Jackie, Alex and Cole are already caught up in their own drama — just as an ambulance is pulling in. In a dramatic cliffhanger, Will reveals that something has happened to George.