Fans Are Ditching Sweet Magnolias Over Its Most Divisive Relationship

Sweet Magnolias proved to be one of the most popular romantic shows in Netflix's library with its great two-season run, so viewers were naturally excited to see the beloved trio of longtime friends return for a third installment. Unfortunately, the recently released Season 3 turned out to be a major disappointment for both fans and critics, who noted that the third installment tanked in quality of writing and acting, ruining the show's legacy and making it look like a banal soap.

But even though people had major issues with the way the main characters were developed this season, it was Helen's ex-love interest, Ryan, that really made fans question whether or not to watch the show at all.

For a series largely dedicated to exploring relationships between people, Sweet Magnolias seems to have badly mistreated Helen as a romantic heroine. Fans say that her love interest Ryan was simply too obnoxious and downright creepy to be with a great woman like Helen.

Instead, many people were very fond of Helen's boyfriend Eric, so when she decided to dump him and give Ryan another chance, viewers were really angry and called out the writers for ruining Helen as a character.

'I was so upset when she got back with Ryan. He is the literal worst. The writers really messed up the storyline this season. To the point where I'm thinking they tested using AI to write this season vs. humans, which is why it was so awful,' a fan noted on Reddit.

Also, some people are ready to stop watching Sweet Magnolias altogether because of the way the writers treat all the male romantic interests. The creators seem to deliberately make them look awful and completely unlikeable, ruining the feel-good experience of watching the show for many fans.

'None of the male characters on this show are really winners in my eyes, lol, but Ryan gives me a full-body cringe,' another fan added to the discussion. 'If you have an on-again, off-again flakey love interest, I expect the chemistry to be fire, but Ryan is even less charming than Christopher on Gilmore Girls and that's really saying something lol.'

This just goes to show that Sweet Magnolias is likely to expect a considerable drop in viewership in its fourth season, should it be produced. And if it will, the writers must take note of the fans' complaints and make their male characters go through transformation, or introduce other likable men to the story.

Source: Reddit.