Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27035345-20161011184736/@comment-29926185-20161012154608

Ronane19 wrote: They probably did it, so Rigleen could still be a thing. They've always had problem with writing female characters not just as love interests. I think this is the only reason, most likely.

That said, Eileen's always been kinda weird in how she fits into the show. She's always kind of been this seldom seen character, where most of her interactions with the other characters, or any other important events in her life, are assumed to have taken place off-screen without actually being featured as part of any episode. Her relationship with Rigby is a fine example of this (Season 7 notwithstanding), in that it developed mostly off-screen with only a few snapshots here and there to give us a clue that there might be something there. There's also the fact that many of the characters in the show already knew who she was the first time they were actually seen interacting with her on-screen.

Another VERY recent example of this: 'Operation: Hear No Evil' - Yeah. She was talking to Recap Robot, before Benson interrupted to ask her if she knew where Mordecai and Rigby were. We caught the end of the conversation, Eileen saying something like "It's not the texture so much, it's the smell"... with no context or clue as to what they might've actually been talking about. The point I'm making here is - most of what Eileen actually does happens off-screen, and we just see snapshots of it. It may be a little disappointing that she has hardly been seen in season 8 so far, but at least it is somewhat consistent with Eileen's character and her established role within the show.