For Our Sanity, Sullivan’s Crossing Needs to Sink Sydney & Rafe’s Ship

There’s nothing quite like catching up on a series that you’ve heard a lot about.

And for me, somewhere in between escaping to Cousins, chilling out in Silver Falls, and waiting until I can head on back to Virgin River, I spent a few days catching up with the Sullivan’s Crossing crew.

The series does, in fact, scratch the Virgin River itch. However, there’s one plot that is absolutely maddening, and it’s whatever the heck is going on with Sydney and Rafe.

How are we three seasons into this series, and they’re no better off together than they were in the beginning?

Their scenes haven’t improved. They’ve become increasingly painful to watch as we witness what it’s like for two people to be completely incompatible, still forcing something that shouldn’t be.

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In the first season, there was an endearing quality to Rafe falling in love and wanting to pursue something more.

He’s a decent guy, pretty simple, and merely wants love and for someone to love him in return.

But Sydney was a bit more complicated, had a past, and a great deal of baggage.

It resulted in some understandable conflict when he wanted more from her than she was able to provide, and she was content with just hookups on her terms.

While the story was sufficient in the first season, it has since declined. If both characters must be onscreen to the degree that they are, I’d much prefer they have something else to do than be tied to this relationship.

Sullivan’s Crossing shackles them to this relationship with one another, and neither character thrives much outside of it.

At least by the third season, we get a more interesting dynamic between Rafe and the new chief. Hell, they have more chemistry than Rafe and Sydney.

But in turn, Sydney has nothing. It’s very little that the series does with her outside of helping her brother with the restaurant, and her arc that had her confronting the man who caused her harm during her modeling days.

However, the latter story lacked the bite that it deserved. The show treated it like background filler to round out the episode.

Outside of that, Sydney doesn’t have much purpose within the series. They just tie her to Rafe, and given that the chemistry has only petered off over time rather than grown.

Sydney moved in with Rafe, and it never felt like a real milestone for them, as the series handled it with little care or interest — it just happened.

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And since the series has subjected us to Sydney navigating the apartment on eggshells, as if she’s more of a guest at worst, and feeling more like a roommate than a romantic partner, at best.

It doesn’t feel like a relationship milestone for them as a pairing, just a matter of happenstance.

But that’s how so much of their story arc plays out, especially when it comes to their romance. It’s just there … existing, with little else.

Throughout their relationship, Rafe and Sydney have not been on the same page. Whether it was about if they should date, move in together, or what their next steps would be as a couple, they were always bumping up against the same obstacles without doing much about it.

The third season ends with them unsure of their future. Rafe wants marriage and a family, while Sydney opposes the idea.

It’s just yet another way in which they clash on values and compatibility, and given that they’ve been in this same situation so many times, it’s unfathomable that they haven’t hashed all of this out or had any in-depth conversations before.

I would say that love, affection, and chemistry aren’t enough to hold a relationship together, but hell, most of the time, I don’t even buy into the chemistry at all, and the love always feels one-sided.

It’s difficult to watch a relationship in which it’s clear that Rafe cares about Sydney more than she does him. And that’s where they were for the majority of their time on this show.

Now, it feels like Rafe resents Sydney. His shutting down on her, going cold, and distancing himself when he was stressing out about the job was difficult to watch.

But it was also likely rooted in this notion that Rafe has about a picture-perfect life, and the girl that he loves not actually fitting what he envisioned.

It makes no sense that after three seasons, this couple is still treading the same water. They say that insanity is doing the same things over again and expecting different results.

And, for our own sanity, they need to release us and these characters from this relationship once and for all.

Watch Sullivan’s Crossing Online

Alright, Sullivan’s Crossing Fanatics. Am I alone in this? Are there actual Sydney and Rafe shippers out there who can make the case for them? What am I missing?
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If you love Sullivan's Crossing, you'd enjoy our content for Virgin River, My Life with The Walter Boys, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Hart of Dixie.

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