Well, after waiting for over a year, those with a Netflix subscription who enjoy small town romance have now finally been able to indulge in Sweet Magnolias Season 3. The cliffhangers of the Season 2 ending left fans with a number of major questions to ponder, along with Helen needing to make a big decision and multiple other characters’ lives being thrown for a loop.
And, let me tell you, I binged the 10-episode season as soon as I could set my eyeballs on it, because I was really excited for one of my favorite shows to finally return. However, I found myself feeling disappointed by the half-way mark, and then realized after watching all of the episodes that…you know, I didn’t actually love Season 3. So, let’s dig into why I was disappointed by what went down in Serenity, South Carolina this time around.
Helen Dumping Erik And Going Back To Ryan Made No Sense
This might have been the biggest disappointment of the season for me. After Helen and Ryan had tried in Season 1…again (for the millionth time across literally 20+ years of dating on and off) to be a couple despite their incredibly different life goals, they broke up yet again and the second season saw Helen finally get a lot closer to chef Erik.
However, after dumb Ryan popped back up in the finale and proposed, Helen went ahead and dumped sweet, kind, considerate Erik like a hot rock so she could hightail it back to the man who can’t stay in town and doesn’t want kids!
Look, I get the necessity of having the proposal slow things way down between Erik and Helen, but there is no way in HELL that it made any sense for her to willingly go back to Ryan after he’d just broken her heart, not years ago, but mere months prior.
Why on earth would she believe that he was suddenly ready to stay in Serenity and procreate when he’d just told her that he couldn’t do either, which led to their breakup in the Season 1 finale? Her decision, frankly, made me livid and I’m glad Erik was able to start moving on. Of course, Ryan was only in town for a few months before he broke up with Helen AGAIN after telling her he couldn’t be rooted in the only place she’s willing to call home, AS COMPLETELY EXPECTED, and left her an emotional mess for the second time in about a year.
That woman did this to herself, and I hate that the show is making me lack faith in her because of how needlessly connected to Ryan she’s allowed herself to be!
Maddie And Cal Faced No Real Challenges
With all the pre-Season 3 talk of Cal “dealing with the aftermath” of punching a fan in the finale and Maddie having “a little bit uncomfortable” of a “journey” this time around, I thought for sure that there would be some heavy conversations and trials ahead for those two. But…nope.
I mean, sure, Cal had to figure out what he was going to do after being fired in the second season (he decided to become a carpenter) and Maddie was still figuring out how to have a full life without her marriage (she started hanging out with Pastor June and took an art class), but aside from them taking a two week sex break (which didn’t seem difficult at all), they were basically a solid, boring couple throughout with neither going through anything major so…what was the point of them even being here?
Dana Sue And Ronnie's Kathy Trouble Wasn't That Intriguing
We’d been promised that the mysterious woman, Kathy, who was shown slashing the tires on Sullivan’s delivery vehicle near the end of Season 2, would be a “meteor” who’d upend everything, so I can only imagine that many viewers thought she was going to be the woman that Ronnie cheated on Dana Sue with, who’d returned to town.
Instead, I (and likely many other fans) was surprised when Kathy turned out to just be Ronnie's sister, who had been expecting to take over the restaurant that became Sullivan’s instead of Dana Sue. While I do come to Sweet Magnolias for family drama, this isn’t what I was hoping for, and even though she tried to fully lure Erik away from the restaurant while he was on his Helen-prompted break, and definitely trashed the place, she didn’t cause the kind of dramatic twists I was expecting. Plus, she relented as soon as Ronnie gave her a bunch of money and left town after apologizing.
If other super interesting stuff had been taking place this season, this storyline wouldn’t have felt like such a dud. Speaking of which…
Overall, Season 3 Lacked Drama
The first half of the season, especially, suffered from this. Even with Helen living in her horrible choice to give Ryan another shot, things were going pretty smoothly for the Magnolias. By the time Kathy made a scene at Annie’s birthday party about halfway through Episode 5, I had already spent at least two episodes wondering where the season was going and if anything was going to actually happen.
I thought for sure that Maddie and Cal meeting up with his ex-girlfriend later on would lead to big drama, but even that turned out to be something that was solved with one conversation. Where were the twists, turns, and multiple people making bad decisions?!
The Friendship Breakup Was Great, But Didn't Happen Soon Enough
Episode 5 also saw Maddie (especially) and Dana Sue challenge Helen a bit on the idea that she was fully happy with Ryan again, which led them to have a big friendship breakup that lasted for three episodes. I would have loved it if this was the main focus of the drama this time around, and it happened much earlier in the season.
These ladies have been friends their whole lives; it would have been interesting to see who they are without each other’s constant support and how they changed/dealt with issues without the other two to lean on. Instead, things were repaired fairly quickly and it didn’t add much to the lack of dramatic tension in the season.
Nearly Everyone Is In A Relationship Now
With just a few notable exceptions (Helen, CeCe, and Isaac) pretty much everyone else in town managed to find a romantic partner in just a few months. Pastor June, Peggy, and Maddie’s mom all found dudes by the end of the season. Annie broke up with Jackson, but it looked like she and Ty would start to get close again.
Farmer Jeremy, who was heartbroken when Dana Sue took Ronnie back, started getting close to Noreen and bonding with her baby, and while Kyle was upset when Nellie confirmed she was dating someone else, he rebounded with “older woman” Lily by the season’s end. Even cheating Bill and vengeful Kathy started dating and eventually left town together. How? Is this how small town life works? It makes little sense, and is just another aspect that leaves things too neatly wrapped up for my taste, leading to my last point.
I Wish There Was A Cliffhanger And Solid Setup For A Potential Season 4
Listen, I do want the characters to find happiness, but you’ve also got to give us some good drama to keep us invested. Otherwise, we’re just watching a slightly less boring/more fashionable version of our own lives. At the end of the season, we didn’t get a big car accident, or any surprise proposals, all we got was nearly everyone in town happy and paired off into a couple as they celebrated Dana Sue and Ronnie’s vow renewal, and it looked like Helen and Erik would work their way back toward being friends.
Yes, there are places for the show to go if it gets Season 4, but why would it with how it wrapped with everyone in a pretty solid place and no big shocks to help propel the story forward? I was honestly surprised to see that the cast has spoken about where things could go in the future, as I watched the last two episodes and thought, “Well, I guess this is it and they know it’s not coming back. They wrapped up just about everything!”
I’d be likely to give Sweet Magnolias a watch if it, somehow, does come back for a fourth season, but I doubt I’ll be excited for it like I was with Season 3.
