Tag: Ashley Reyes

Walker Episode 4.03 Learns some ‘Lessons From the Gift Shop’

Walker Episode 4.03 Learns some ‘Lessons From the Gift Shop’

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Although we’re only on episode 3 of Walker Season 4, it’s a briefer season and that means that in the real world, the show just wrapped for the season! The cast was clearly emotional about the wrap and at the same time full of anticipation and excitement for this new season, which made for some interesting social media posts leading up to this week’s episode.

Jared Padalecki asked some of his castmates for some words to describe this season.

I guess they’re going with Frittata.

Not everyone was on board with that, though.

Suffice it to say, this cast always has fun together. And it sounds like the season is gonna be a real rollercoaster!

Jared was at a convention in Rome this past weekend and talked about being anxious about the fate of this show, since they don’t know yet whether they’ll be picked up for a fifth season. He said he wasn’t worried about himself, that he and Gen would be fine, but that he was worried about their cast and crew, and didn’t want them to have to be searching for a job. I love the genuine caring they all have for each other, something that we saw year after year on the Supernatural set too.

Fingers crossed for a Season 5!

So, on to episode 3…

This episode is all about our ‘things’. Physical, psychological, emotional. What we keep and what we decide to give up, and how we all make those decisions differently. How they change at different times of our lives as the meaning of all the “things we carry” changes over time. As someone who is probably too sentimental about a lot of things, I could relate to many of the characters’ struggles – so, as usual, I enjoyed this episode the most for its psychological explorations.

I’m guessing the title too is meant to hold multiple meanings. Yes, we buy things at the gift shop, and maybe they become souvenirs of experiences we want to remember. But some of the most important gifts we get in life aren’t things at all – love, caring, understanding, friendship, a gentle challenge. The space to be who we are and where we want to be. Space in every sense of the word.

This was a surprisingly deep episode, in other words!

Once again, the interconnected relationships also make the show work a lot more smoothly now. The becoming-family bond between Cassie and Liam is one of the relationships that I’m really enjoying.

Cassie and Liam, Giving Space and Taking Space

The episode begins with Cassie packing up some things that Geri had left in the spare bedroom that’s now hers, automatically assuming they might have some meaning to her now housemate.

Ben wants her to clean her stuff out of his storage unit (and bring those to Geri’s or donate them to a charity sale they’re having soon at Ranger HQ). Cassie’s been unwilling to put down roots for most of her life, but transferring things from a storage unit to a house is a step toward putting down those roots, symbolizing a new phase of life for Cassie.

She asks Liam to help her clean it out. Liam has been trying so hard to help everyone else. He wants Cordell and Trey to check out a podcast on Kintsugi –  “embracing the broken and rolling that history into the future”. Could there be a more apt podcast for the repeatedly traumatized Walker clan?? Of course no one else is very interested.

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Walker Season 4 Pulls at the Heartstrings with Maybe It’s Maybelline!

Walker Season 4 Pulls at the Heartstrings with Maybe It’s Maybelline!

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The second episode of Season 2 continued the show’s exploration of all kinds of family transitions, especially those of being a parent as your kids grow up – always way too fast! After a widely-watched season premiere, the fandom was eagerly awaiting the second episode, and the numbers were great once again as many fans tuned in. Let’s keep it up this week for episode 3!

We got some teasers again, including a proud Jeff Pierre letting us know that his character’s hot date in this episode was his real life wife!

This episode definitely did pull at my heartstrings, but it also introduced a guest character that I thoroughly enjoyed – and who had some much-needed words of wisdom for Cordell.

Transitions

In its fourth season, Walker has gotten much better at integrating its story lines and its cast, so that none of the arcs or characters feel shoe-horned in anymore, and the transition from scene to scene is smoother. Geri and Cassie are the latest in the newly close relationships, and I’m here for it. They come back from a run together and Cassie tells Geri that she’s not going back to the FBI – in fact, it’s time for her to lay down some roots.

Also, Cassie has a cute nickname for Geri – Geri-rigged.

We eventually find out that Cassie is gonna be laying down those roots at Geri’s place –  they’re now roomies!

This episode continues the theme from last week, as Cordell struggles with both his kids growing up and soon moving out, and the fear that the quiet in their wake will be hard for him. Augie is definitely growing up WAY too fast, working out and doing an end run around his dad by asking his Gramps to sign a permission slip for a high school boot camp readiness program. Bonham, to his credit, keeps his boundaries where they should be and says he won’t sign – but he will talk to Cordell about it.

Bonham goes to Trey’s to talk to him about it too, since Trey is the one teaching the boot camp. Trey is getting ready to host a hot date (played by his actual wife), opening the door to a knock with a rose and a “hello, gorgeous” only to find it’s Bonham.

Mitch Pileggi plays Bonham’s reaction perfectly.

Bonham wants Trey to let August join his boot camp prep course; Trey too says Walker has to approve.

Finally, Bonham brings the permission slip to his son, who accuses him of interfering and asks him to stay out of it, August is his son. Which, valid – but Cordell is gonna have to deal with it instead of burying himself in the Jackal case to avoid it.

Bonham confesses to Abby that he’s been “meddling”, but he also says he knows a thing or two about raising boys, and that you can’t tell them not to do something or they’ll do just that.

Abeline: Please tell me more about raising two boys.

Me: I love you, Abeline.

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Walker Returns for Season 4 with ‘The Quiet’

Walker Returns for Season 4 with ‘The Quiet’

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There was a lot of anticipation for the season premiere of Walker last week – it’s the show’s fourth season, and it’s made a switch to Wednesday night, but fans were happy to follow it to its new day, posting their excitement online after the long, long wait.

Graphic by laurenxann

The cast and crew were equally excited – it was a long long break between seasons with the strike going on. They posted some bts photos and Jared Padalecki even took over the Walker Instagram for some fun videos.

We also got some hints that the premiere episode was gonna be a little racy…

Which of course amped the excitement up even more!

The season premiere opens 5 months later – after a reminder of the reappearance of The Jackal, the reappearance of “Cordri” (the Geri and Cordell romance) to the elation of those who ‘ship it’, and the missing body after Stella and Sadie’s break in.  The episode is a treat for the Cordri shippers, opening with some Geri and Cordi making out – waiting all these seasons really created a lot of passion! I don’t ship it but I don’t not ship it, so good for you, Cordell and Geri.

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Edit by lemondropsonice

Also Geri looks hot in his oversized shirt and a disheveled Cordell who really really doesn’t wanna go into work right now is a very good thing.

It’s Cordell’s birthday – Geri surprises him with a little cupcake before he reluctantly has to leave for work – more reluctant about leaving Geri than not eating the cupcake though.

He’s saving room for a big steak eating competition at the Grand Lonestar. Augie isn’t thrilled about it, but Geri wants to surprise her man by the whole family being there too.  Abeline, I’ve missed you!!

Also I’m happy that Ben’s eating breakfast with the Walkers so I guess things are going well with him and Liam. Lots of happiness it seems….which I’m sure means something will go very wrong soon.

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Walker’s Season 3 Finale – And A Cliffhanger Ending!

Walker’s Season 3 Finale – And A Cliffhanger Ending!

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It’s been a tumultuous week in the Walker fandom (and especially in the Supernatural fandom at large), with Walker renewed but Walker Independence and The Winchesters not renewed and Gotham Knights still up in the air. So I think we all needed some feel good TV, and the season finale of Walker didn’t disappoint – although, of course, that wasn’t ALL the episode gave us!

“It’s A Nice Day For A Ranger Wedding” set up the story for next season while also giving us some truly happy making moments, which felt much needed.

The episode starts at the end, a discarded bouquet of flowers, a bloody body on the floor, still alive and breathing heavy.  The room is ransacked, broken glass strewn all over.

And then it’s 36 hours before…

Well damn, Walker, that’s a beginning!

Cordell is back to running with Liam and Trey, which means he’s starting to make some progress with his PTSD perhaps, and also means we get to see the boys all run in single layers. Cordell has a brief flashback of the time he went running and got kidnapped by Grey Flag, but then Cassie runs right into him and they’re off again. Cassie wins and triumphantly puts on the hat and everyone is a good sport. (Also, we find out she was a Mathlete, which is a shoutout I’m sure to Padalecki – who really was a Mathlete!) There are a lot of shout outs in this finale, and I am here for it.

Most of the episode is devoted to planning the wedding of Captain James and Kelly, with a lot of healing going on in the process for lots of the main characters.

Abeline tells Trey she’s seen how far he’s come, highlighting that he’s in a better place and feeling less responsible for the Grey Flag mess.

Cassie gets a call from the FBI – Tessa Graves – who wants her and Walker to come join an FBI task force for the summer in Florida. They’re flattered and Cassie is tempted, though also conflicted because Austin has come to feel like home. She’s clearly in a better place too.

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Walker ‘False Flag Part 2’ Brings the Big Reveal

Walker ‘False Flag Part 2’ Brings the Big Reveal

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Part 2 of the dramatic two part ‘False Flag’ resolved a lot of the mysteries we’ve been pondering all season on ‘Walker’ and left Cordell absolutely reeling – and many of us too! (Suspecting that a character you kinda sorta liked is about to turn bad guy with a tragic backstory isn’t the same as watching it happen onscreen!)

In the aftermath of the explosion (and Julia’s death, which I am NOT over even if others are), Cordell is the prime suspect thanks to Kevin’s careful set up.

The not-very-empathic Agent Tessa Graves is determined to prove Cordell is guilty, with a single-minded focus on him that doesn’t allow her to see the holes in that narrative. She shows up at the Walker ranch to search everything, much to the family’s understandable protest. Kevin, it turns out, even (very obviously) planted some C4 in the room where Walker already had those photos of the men he served with, all with the X’s through them – which, if you recall, I always thought was a totally weird thing for him and Julia to do.

But made for a great set up!

Cordell, much the worse for wear both physically and psychologically, flees from the scene of the explosion and siphons some gas from a (very nice) woman’s trunk. I can’t imagine that was a fun scene to do, even if that, of course, wasn’t really gasoline that Padalecki had to suck up and spit out.

Ewww.

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(Disheveled Cordell somehow manages to look kinda hot even doing this though…)

At that moment, Cassie pulls up to the gas station with a deadpan ‘I need a coffee’ and seriously, she is an awesome partner and always has Walker’s back.

Trey is back in Ranger uniform (and looking amazing in that hat, truly) but just as angry as Captain James and the Walker family are that Cordell is being blamed. Graves insists innocent people don’t run, but James points out that if they’re being framed, they would. And he’s right! I’m not sure Tessa is the best at her job thinking that the way Grey Flag tortured Cordell “turned” him, because that makes no sense to me, but she’s sticking to that.

Walker realizes he asked Julia to meet him at the safe house, so of course it looks like he set her up to be murdered – Kevin did a brilliantly (evil) job with the set up. I would imagine that also adds to Cordell’s guilt that he accidentally got Julia killed, even if he was totally being manipulated and so was she. (Julia….sob….)

He also has a concussion, staggering around and bumping into walls in the little gas station where he and Cassie go to buy some burner phones. Nobody does hurt better than Jared Padalecki, so you feel every bit of that pain and disorientation.

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Walker’s False Flag Delivers an Explosive Twist

Walker’s False Flag Delivers an Explosive Twist

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Yes, I do mean that literally.

Last week’s episode of Walker picks up right where the previous one left off, and doesn’t let up on the tension for pretty much the entire episode, thanks to writer David James and director Richard Speight, Jr.

Cordell wakes up to Emily’s voice, telling him to wake up and not stay cuffed to a sink.

Cordell: Honestly, cuffed to an old sink in the middle of nowhere is about how I’m feeling right now, emotionally.

So many of us can relate, Cordi.

Also, oddly, it’s a familiar situation for Jared Padalecki’s characters.

He’s traumatized by learning that Coop was actually a deserter and a coward instead of someone he admired and thus modeled his whole life after, questioning what would have been different if he’d seen through him. Would Liam not have been tortured? Would Hoyt still be alive? Would he even be a Ranger at all?

Emily reminds him he’s not a deserter or a coward, even if his self doubt is winning out right now. She’s the voice of reason in his head when he considers just trying to shoot his way out of the cuffs, and finds a smarter – dare I say a totally McGyver way – to do it instead.  We get to see a very badass and resourceful Cordell indeed, chewing his way through a bullet to accomplish that.

Meanwhile, Trey thinks he’s fooled Kevin into believing he’s a loyal Grey Flag operative now. We learn that Kevin actually poisoned himself, which is…. Disturbing…

Or….amusing? No, I’m going with disturbing.

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Walker Confronts The Man Who Was His Brother in “The Deserters”

Walker Confronts The Man Who Was His Brother in “The Deserters”

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Many of the separate threads that have been woven this season came together in this pivotal episode – some in the way I feared, and some with a twist that I didn’t see coming. In the feel good portion of this episode, the Walker family works on building new stables for the horse rescue, taking time out for Augie to try some comedy and everyone to find out that Mawline used to be in a comedy troupe!

Is there nothing Abeline cannot do?

Bonham grouses that Cordell is too busy to come help with the stable building, but Kevin shows up to pitch in. Abeline sees through his earnest just wanna help speech to being all about retaining the mayor’s biggest donor, but Kevin is nothing if not a complex character. He really does seem to want to help, at least part of him does.

Kevin thanks Liam for saving his life when he was hit with the nerve agent, calling him a real hero – which is nice to hear because Liam doesn’t hear that often enough. Of course Kevin wants to use that in his speech because Kevin always has an angle. We find out he’s an amateur pilot when he hammers his hand by accident, which maybe will be important at some point.

Kevin runs into Cassie at Cordell’s house, and they’re sort of adorably awkward together. I can’t help but kinda like the two of them, though I’m guessing when he says that he can promise that next time he sees her, it will be different, that means something much more ominous than mere awkwardness. (Spoiler alert now that I’ve seen the whole episode: It does.)

August sees Kevin as a mentor, and asks Mawline to be nice to him. I hope Augie isn’t gonna get hurt in all this… (More spoiler alert: uh oh…)

That’s the feel good portion, such as it is. The rest of the episode is emotional, taut with suspense, and not exactly the feel good part.

Most of the episode is devoted to the mystery of Cordell’s old mentor, Coop, and where the hell he’s been for two decades. Cassie and Captain James speculate – has he been hiding all these years? Was he captured and turned? Cordell and Julia have been busy too, using Walker’s knowledge of Coop’s use of aliases in the past to track his movements and money.

(We’re treated to some flashbacks with Colin Ford as young Cordell – I love that he’s become a recurring part of the show).

Neither James nor Cassie are sure that Cordell is actually going to be able to take Coop down if it comes to that.

James: Cordi, this guy was your mentor. If you do find him, are you sure you’re gonna be able to slap the cuffs on him, or worse?

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Walker: Best Laid Plans

Walker: Best Laid Plans

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I just typed out that episode title and thought, “laid”? Is that a naughty dad joke? In any case, it has a lot of different meanings, as the episode titles in this show often do. There are multiple story lines in this episode, which all intersect for a dramatic reveal at the end.

Trey Undercover

Cassie and Walker find out that Trey is in fact still a Ranger – and currently making inroads undercover trying to figure out what Grey Flag is up to (and why that’s all about Walker). The dead guy in the van, in fact, was Trey’s in. Not anymore! The Feds are now involved, providing a secret house for the team’s HQ and also ordering James not to let Cordell and Cassie in on what’s happening.

The foursome is a team again!

Though I like that Cassie is pissed that they were kept in the dark and also protective of Trey, and it takes her a while to come around. That was realistic – too often in TV people come around way too quickly and easily without struggling like most humans would.

They all realize by now that it’s a personal vendetta against Walker.

Cordell (waves adorably): Yeah me, I’m the last one on their hit list!

They intercept the text with the instructions for Trey’s first mission and figure out the cryptic message. Walker gives Trey the advice of not getting attached to anyone, and a warning about how a sad story can pull you in when you’re undercover – which clearly comes from experience. I kinda love that Cordell is an emotional man, that he struggles with that sometimes, but it’s part of who he is.

Trey stands watch as lookout for his Grey Flag ‘initiation’ of sorts, while James and Cassie keep watch on him. Things go south when the woman he’s standing guard for staggers out badly wounded.  Grey Flag wants the briefcase she’s retrieved and orders him not to waste time on poor Lana, but of course Trey can’t do that. Cassie pretends to be a bystander and covertly slips Trey some gauze to save her life (waiting for the okay from James on her out-of-the-box impulse though). Another guy shows up and grazes Cassie with a bullet, but Lana survives thanks to Trey’s combat medic skills – and he passes the test.

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‘Walker: Past Is Prologue’ Looks at How our Past Impacts our Present

‘Walker: Past Is Prologue’ Looks at How our Past Impacts our Present

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Past is Prologue is an interesting title for last week’s Walker episode. So often, our past is what impacts our futures – if we don’t make sense of it, it can have way too much impact.

Bonham is still grumpy about nobody coming to his family meeting and the horse rescue not being run by him first, feeling like he’s been “put out to pasture”.  Abeline’s having none of it and I am here for her, as always.

Abeline doesn’t want Bonham to have regrets, feeling bad that she waited so long to reconcile with her brother. She of course prevails, telling him she’s got his back and is on his side, but also he needs to talk to Liam and Stella, even if they should have talked to him first.

Abeline: We need to do the teaching, lead by example… and bask in your superiority.

God, I love Abeline.

I also love that Liam and Stella now have a horse rescue because it means I get to see lots of gorgeous horses.

Liam and Stella shoot a social media promo post, much to Bonham’s annoyance. He walks out.

Stella: He’s still mad?

Abby: He’s still somethin’…

Bonham eventually listens to Abeline and comes around, telling Liam that he did eventually accept that he and Cordell didn’t have that “rancher green thumb”, that what matters is that they’re happy. He’s grudgingly impressed with what Liam’s done, and is “man enough to admit that it hurt”, that it wiped away a vision he’d become fond of. It’s a pretty candid thing for Bonham to admit, so I give him a lot of credit.

Liam says he was hoping it could be “ours”, a family thing. That the new logo is based on his Grandad’s signature.

Bonham: Well hell, William, when you put it like that…

Of course he can’t leave it at that, though. He needs a parting shot to keep his grumpy grampa persona intact.

Bonham: Daddy’s signature was damn chicken scratch – that ain’t it.

Meanwhile, just when we were all open-mouthed at Captain James’ ability to be harsh (to Trey), we get to see the softer side of him when Kelly returns to town and they rekindle their romance at a new level, with her moving to Austin full time. Awww.

Most of fandom figured out that Trey wasn’t really fired and that James was setting him up to do some undercover work, but it was good to have that confirmed in this episode. So yay, now we can go back to liking Captain James again! Though Trey got to hang out in some nice outfits while he was “unemployed”.

It doesn’t take long for the bad guys aka the lobbying group (disguised as country club golfing types) to reach out to Trey, in fact.  It also doesn’t take long for him to figure out their ‘prove you’re smart enough to do this job’ little test.

Trey is smoooooth in not seeming to want it too much, and the lobbying guy is smooth too in making it sound like they’re actually trying to help vets (who in real life really don’t get the help they need). I confess to not really understanding the whole Grey Flag thing, honestly.

Julia is off working in DC, so it’s Cassie and Cordell teaming up to try to figure out why his old squad is maybe being targeted – and why maybe HE is being targeted. I love Cassie for being all in on trying to get Cordell some closure, and also her willingness to drop back and give him some space when digging into all this brings back his PTSD and survivor’s guilt big time. Jared Padalecki is so good at showing those emotional struggles, and I love when this show gets serious and goes there.

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Walker Sets Up What’s to Come in ‘Buffering’

Walker Sets Up What’s to Come in ‘Buffering’

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Last week’s episode of Walker was aptly named, with multiple situations setting up the prospect of change for some of the characters who have been a bit in limbo recently.

Cassie and Trey are both in trouble with Captain James, but for now they’re enjoying being adorable besties out for a food truck dinner, Trey clueless when the waitress hits on him (not sure she’s a good bet because how did she know Cassie wasn’t his girlfriend though??)

Trey is worried about how angry the Captain is at them, Cassie for some reason isn’t – after he totally went off on them last week.

Cassie and Kevin are ‘buffering’ their relationship, Trey insists, determined to keep their work/life boundaries separate. Cassie’s not interested in “another fling” and she’s a little worried about where Kevin stands, especially because he didn’t tell her about an upcoming luncheon with the mayor honoring them all for their bravery.

Things are at an uncomfortable impasse with many of the Walkers too. Abeline is recovering nicely, but Bonham hasn’t forgiven August and still seems intensely on edge about making sure she doesn’t experience any stress at all (which isn’t realistic if you want to, you know, actually live…)

The Walker family is under a lot of stress, much of it caused by Bonham being horribly cranky while ostensibly trying to make things LESS stressful for Abeline in the wake of her TIA. He’s grumpy with August, who he’s having a hard time forgiving even though August is bending over backwards trying to make it up to everyone. He was grumpy with Cordell last week, leaving him this week saying he’s trying to avoid even going over to his parent’s house in the wake of the ‘find your own place to live’ advice. And he’s grumpy with Liam, who is still really floundering trying to figure out who he is and what he wants to be – it doesn’t seem to be a rancher, if the cranky feed store guy who goes off on him for using too big words can be believed. (I felt so bad for Liam there, having been someone who maybe once or twice got called out for using too many big words…)  Liam was trying to help with his offer to go down to the feed store to straighten things out, but Bonham immediately warned him not to mess it up instead of being happy about the offer.

Liam introduces himself as Bonham’s son to the feed store guy and he’s like oh, Texas Ranger?

Liam: No, the other one.

Ouch.

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