Part of what bugs me too is having a 'bad ending' felt forced.

Astrid's suggestion was a straight up bad idea with forseeable reasons for failure. The failure of the other two scenarios from what I've read feels incredibly forced. Nothing about the blue elf's suggestion hinted that he'd be spending a weird amount of time with a young girl for example, the same way Astrid's suggestion of seeking romance from clients had easily foreseeable bad outcome.