Eyal's coming back! Eyal's coming back! Eyal's.......

You completely missed my point. It doesn't matter if you like Walkerson or McQuaid, if you like Auggie, Rossabi or Ryan as independent characters. The point was that as much as I and pretty much everyone else LOVED Eyal, there was absolutely nothing between them, except for mild flirting. Everything, all their "Eyal let her go because he loved her", happened only in the mind of the shippers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in shipping what's not there and making up stories. Everyone else does. But to say "Eyal was the only one" is a sign of a big delusion.

I could not agree more with everything you said.

The Annie/Auggie pairing was so forced and had absolutely no romantic chemistry on which to build any kind of relationship. When the show first aired, Auggie may have been the one she ended up with, but as the show went on, he proved to be nothing more than a good friend and colleague to her. They had a great friendship, but pushing them past that ruined the sparkle they had together - the last two seasons really ruined what made their friendship special. As you said, Auggie also cheated on her, and was sleeping with two women at the same time in S5, which shows how little he actually loved Annie and respects her. Annie and Auggie were always meant to be friends, and pushing them past that not only ruined their friendship, but it also made the show less appealing.

Her relationship with McQuaid was just as forced as her relationship with Auggie. There was never any romantic chemistry between these two. They completely fast-tracked her relationship with McQuaid, trying to make it seem legit when it just wasn't. They had no foundation for a long-lasting relationship, because sleeping together once doesn't mean you love that person, nor does running around in the field together. Their "heat of the moment" decisions were both ridiculous and immature; and those kinds of decisions always lead to mistakes and regret down the road. The writers tried to make something between Annie and McQuaid, and they forced it to happen BECAUSE that spark and magic didn't exist between them. But that was yet another relationship of Annie's that "just had nothing there." Their attempts at flirting were so forced and were not natural - there was never any spark between these two. They were like two walls facing each other all the time and McQuaid had the emotional range of a rock - he was so stone-faced most of the time, he never looked like he was in love with Annie. It felt so fake when they both said they loved one another - you could just see there was no love or passion between them. And Annie too never looked like she was ever rally in love with him. I think that she really just wanted to have someone so she wasn't alone, so she spent her time trying to convince herself she was happy with McQuaid, when it was so clear she wasn't.

There was absolutely no intimacy between them, and I think the notion of marriage surprised and flattered her, because she looked the same way when Simon offered for her to run away with him, but she turned him down. Her and McQuaid just aren't marriage material - there's nothing but another forced relationship where she clearly wasn't really happy with him. And as others have indicated here and in other threads, THAT is not a figment of a shipper's imagination. Piper looked quite unhappy and bored this season and it showed - a lot of people noticed it and commented on it too. And in the behind-the-scenes pictures posted on social media, the only time she ever looked truly, genuinely happy during S5 was when she was on-set with Oded. There was just no magic between her and Nic and it showed on camera between their characters, and behind the scenes.

As for Eyal, they have something very special together, far more special than what she had with Auggie because he's a "rival spy." Eyal has always been there for her. Whenever she needs serious help (like faking her death and needing medical help to diagnose her condition), she goes to HIM - she could have gone to anyone in the world, INCLUDING Auggie, but she chose to go to Eyal for help. He's saved her life numerous times, he's helped her get her life back on track when she needed it, he's helped her in the field every single time they've run a mission together, and there is absolutely no question there is a lot of sizzling chemistry between them.

The reason some people think there's "nothing" between Annie and Eyal is because the writers never gave them a chance to develop and explore that deep bond and natural chemistry they have into something more. Just because they work for different spy agencies doesn't mean that there's nothing between them. Their friendship and deep bond is very unique - they have absolute trust in one another, despite working for rival agencies and the popular notion that foreign spies can't be anything buy rivals. Eyal risked his career and his life for her and allowed himself to be captured to protect her - who else has done that for her? Who else has done ANYTHING for her like Eyal has? McQuaid's rich and he buys her a gun and that's supposed to woo her into loving the guy? I think Eyal giving Annie her life back, after she was in prison and when she wanted to go dark to go after Henry Wilcox, is far more important and meaningful than anything anyone else has done for her. And there's no question Eyal's loyalty, especially the last three seasons, has been completely towards Annie. Sure, he may still work for Mossad, but he always puts her first. If there were "two halves of the same whole" on this show, it was Annie and Eyal - and he certainly didn't call her "neshama" for no reason - he knew she was the right one for him, and there were times she indicated he was the right one for her too - she's just too starry-eyed when it came to McQuaid and Auggie that she didn't realize real, passionate love was right in front of her the whole time - with Eyal.

Eyal too has let Annie do whatever she wants, but unlike anyone else, he's not afraid to put her in her place when she needs it. He's been gentle with her when she needs support, but when she needs some sense knocked into her, he's the only one who can really get through to her and he doesn't hesitate to let her know it. The show runners have even commented on this in interviews, saying that he's a rock for her - he's a solid form of support, and they've also admitted to the deep bond and chemistry Annie and Eyal have together. He's been the one person who, as you say, was "willing to lay it all on the line and tell her the truth and force her to face reality, for her own good, even if it's not what she wanted to hear or do." Annie has never liked being told what to do, and she beats down (or kills) anyone who gets in her way, which, as you say, isn't a good thing either. Eyal has always been able to give Annie a reality check, although she never seems to want to take his advice until the worst possible time (like ignoring the fact that her heart condition would get out and she WOULD pay the price for it, especially with the agency. Yes, she took that risk anyway, but she gets pissed at everyone for thinking her heart condition is serious, because it is, and she thinks she can actually be an effective spy when she's running around the field, giving herself nitrate injections?)

Anyways, When Annie and Eyal were in Istanbul together, Eyal put her happiness before his own. There's no question he loves her deeply, and yes, despite what others have said here and in other threads, letting someone go so they can be happy, especially at the expense of their own happiness, IS a sign of just how much that person cares about the other. Eyal's never gotten the chance to tell Annie he loves her because the writers don't give him that chance - she's always tangled up with a guy that isn't right for her, but Eyal respects her enough and cares about her enough to let her make her own decisions instead of manipulating her into being with him - jumping into bed with her when she's not ready for another relationship, or wooing her with money or a gun. So, there is PLENTY between Annie and Eyal, and he showed it again in Istanbul, just through his body language - you could see in his eyes that it was painful and heartbreaking to him to have to let her go again. And the way he spoke so forced when he said he was back with his ex showed that he was quite clearly lying to her, and it was clear he was disappointed he never got to tell her he loves her; but as he said earlier, it IS one's actions that speak for how they feel about someone, not what they say. So, to let Annie go shows that he loves her enough to sacrifice his happiness with her so she can at least try and see if she's happy with someone else, the latter of which wasn't convincing at all - again, I think Annie was trying to convince herself she was happy and in love with McQuaid, but she realized she wasn't. So for those who say Eyal letting Annie go doesn't show he loves her, it absolutely does. No one else on this show has ever done that - honestly, who else has manned up enough to tell Annie to go and try to be happy with someone else, especially when it's clear they love her as deeply as they do?

So there are plenty of reasons why so many fans shipped Eyal with Annie. They absolutely had the best chemistry on this show - it was obvious from S1 and built as the show went on - and they developed a deep bond over the five years they knew each other - it wasn't some ridiculous fast-tracked thing to get people to like a character in one season. Eyal has a lot of appeal, and throughout the course of this show, he DID prove that he was the right match for Annie. The disappointing part was the writers and show runners never gave him and Annie a chance together, and Annie continued to be in denial of her feelings for Eyal - and she DOES have feelings for him and she too has risked her career and her life for him. There's also been nothing fake or forced between her and Eyal - it's evolved naturally over five years and developed in a believable way; and if Annie had stopped being selfish and did more than say that she owes Eyal for everything he's done for her, she'd realize just how much he's done for her, and it's been motivated by his feelings for her.

So I DO agree with what you said - Annie is really clueless when it comes to her relationships and what she thinks is love, but really isn't. She has a lot of growing up to do yet; and if she wants real, true happiness, she needs to get her head out of the clouds and stop being so starry-eyed at the next man to cross her path.