Sweet Magnolias has turned the TV-watching lives of many Netflix fans upside down since the show debuted back in May. Not only were viewers given another romantic drama to focus their amorously aware attentions on, but the series had the absolute nerve to end on several cliffhangers, both large and small. Fans are, of course, clamoring for a Season 2 renewal, but until we get word on that, they're also being quite vocal about how they believe these cliffhangers might turn out. And, it's one of those potential finale resolutions that has "really surprised" star JoAnna Garcia Swisher.
As the many Sweet Magnolias fans will know, JoAnna Garcia Swisher's Maddie is newly divorced from her husband, Bill, when the series starts. But, she begins to get back to a place where she can trust the menfolk again after she's pursued by, and then starts to date, Cal, her son's new high school baseball coach. By the time Season 1 wraps, though, Bill has decided that it's a good time to ask Maddie to take him back, and, apparently, it's this moment that has caused some consternation for Garcia Swisher. As she told Good Housekeeping:
It really surprised me that fans are actually wondering if I'll choose Bill or Cal. It's something that I never even imagined that people would be contemplating. [Bill] has a long way to go.
Oh, my. I have to agree with JoAnna on this one. Really, I am truly stunned that any fan who claims to like Maddie and want the best for her as she navigates her new life as a single mother of three children, and gets used to being a business owner, would want her to take Bill back. I mean, Garcia Swisher was right in saying that he's got a looooong way to go before any such thing could even be slightly taken into consideration by Maddie. Or, as I like to think of it when contemplating this idea: ICK.
You guys? Bill and Maddie didn't just have some irreconcilable differences that led to a divorce after being high school sweethearts who went on to get and stay married for a long time. Oh, no. Did you all forget the part where Bill cheated on Maddie with the (much younger) nurse who works for him, Noreen, knocked her up and then left Maddie and their kids to start a new life with his former mistress? You did forget? It's OK. May was a super long time ago.
While Maddie did, indeed, have an epic falling out with Cal by the time the finale came to a close, that doesn't mean she should just fall back into a relationship with Bill. Not only did that man cheat and do all of that other stuff I mentioned above, but he only tried to get Maddie back after Noreen realized that he was King of the Douche Canoes, and was so desperate to get away from his ass that she left him while still pregnant with their baby. The girl literally left town to put him in her rear view mirror. Yikes.
But, it's all fine now, right? Now that you've been reminded of just how sub-par Bill was, you'll never consider him a serious choice for Maddie again...right?
While we wait to see if Sweet Magnolias gets a second season (wherein Maddie, hopefully, tells Bill where to shove his stethoscope), you can check out our 2020 Netflix guide and see what's coming to TV this summer!
