Diksha Sundriyal
The fifth season of Netflix’s ‘Sweet Magnolias‘ brings shocking new developments for the residents of Serenity. The previous season ended on a rather hopeful note, but things get chaotic for the main trio, especially Dana Sue. Her marriage with Ronnie has already been on the rocks, especially as he becomes more engrossed in his business and starts neglecting his duties at home. Things get worse when their house is burned down. While Dana Sue tries to pick up the pieces, Ronnie is gripped with the guilt that he may be behind this devastation. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Fire was Compounded by Ronnie’s Wrong Choices
Halfway through Season 5, tragedy strikes the Sullivans as they lose their family home in a devastating fire. An official investigation is started, and while the officers do their job, Ronnie starts to wonder if bringing work home may have been the reason why he lost his house. It turns out that he and Courtney bought off-brand e-bikes for their business, the Bike Barn, without consulting their partner, Jeremy. This is particularly bad because Jeremy discovers that these bikes are faulty, meaning that using them would put their clients and their business in jeopardy.
What’s worse is that Ronnie put these faulty bikes in the garage in his house. It makes him wonder if one of them started the fire, which then moved to the main house and destroyed everything. His suspicions are strengthened when a preliminary investigation suggests that the fire did start in the garage after all. The guilt is so heavy that Ronnie doesn’t know how to confess it to Dana Sue without breaking her heart and, possibly, their marriage. Eventually, the fire is ruled out as a probable accident. This means that it wasn’t started intentionally.
However, the fire inspector notes that it got as bad as it did due to the “high volume of chemical residue.” He explains that the chemical substances, including cleaners, solvents, and batteries, added a lot of fuel to an otherwise small fire. This means that if the e-bikes had not been in the garage, the fire would probably have been small. It would have damaged the garage, but it wouldn’t have taken a humongous form that would have consumed their house. This leads Ronnie to come clean to Dana Sue about the bikes, and that’s when things go even worse for them.
The Fire Deepens the Crack in Dana Sue and Ronnie’s Relationship
Dana Sue and Ronnie had found their way back to each other after a long time, but the problems in their marriage never really went away. They had separated before, but when they were drawn back to one another, they never really worked on the things that had pushed them apart in the first place. In the fifth season, the problems start to resurface as Dana Sue notices Ronnie slipping back into old patterns. The problem begins with his obsession with his new business, which makes him completely negligent of his family. He doesn’t give Annie and Dana Sue the time they deserve, which makes both women resentful.
Ronnie claims he is working hard to provide for his family, but he is reminded time and again that he must prioritize what’s important to him. While work is important, it should not come at the cost of his family. While he starts working on that front, he has yet to learn his lessons, and the fire incident makes Dana Sue wonder if he will ever learn from his mistakes. When he tells her about the e-bikes, she is forced to accept that Ronnie had not only been ignoring her concerns, but he had also been keeping secrets from her. And then, she discovers that Courtney had been fooling Ronnie.
While the Magnolias put Courtney in her place, it also puts the business at a crossroads. Jeremy decides to end his involvement then and there, but Ronnie doubles down. Jeremy warns him that this is not the way to deal with his mistakes, but Ronnie doesn’t listen. When he shares this development with Dana Sue, she, too, attests that Ronnie is stuck in a spiral, and the fact that he cannot see that he did something wrong means he is never going to grow up. Thus, the fire exposes his stunted character arc, leading Dana Sue to make a decision that may end their relationship for good.
Read More: What Happened to Ty? Did Carson Rowland Leave Sweet Magnolias?
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