The first two episodes of Season 3 of Walker have kicked off with a bang! I watch this show mostly for the relationships and the universal human themes that play out, so the arc of Cordell being kidnapped tapped into both of those. The Walker family and close friends having to deal with the horror of just waiting and not knowing rang very true, as did Cordell’s reliance on his memory of Emily. Add to that the Supernatural-reminiscent focus on the Walker brothers’ relationship and I was a happy viewer. Episode 2 was directed by Austin Nichols, a Walker cast alum who is now directing – he filmed some beautiful scenes that added to the dark but intense feel of this episode.
This episode picks up right where the season premiere left off, with Liam being tossed into the cell where Cordell has been held. That was a shock – to both the audience and Cordell – and it raises the stakes for whether or not the mysterious Sean will be able to ‘break’ Walker like he says he wants to.
Liam asks Cordi to promise that he’s not gonna try some Lone Walker Ranger stuff and risk his life to save his little brother. Cordell promises, the brothers clasping hands, and then he holds his injured little brother and I am all filled up with Supernatural-ish brother feels.
Cordell is unchained since they’re playing mind games with him, though I still don’t entirely grasp how Sean thinks this is going to work. Cordell is going by his gut, he says, and assures Liam that he trusts his brother – and Julia Johnson too, the reporter who had been confined upstairs.
The scenes of the brothers locked up together are ominous and dark, but they’re also beautifully filmed, the light coming through the bars making the whole scene look surreal. A moment of applause for the director of photography and for director Austin Nichols! And for Padalecki and Keegan Allen, who make being roughed up and held in a cell look alarmingly attractive.
They give Liam dinner then put a hood over Walker’s head and take him to an office to eat dinner with Sean, part of Sean’s attempts to get Cordell to “join them”. He refuses, saying ‘I’m stuffed” and having flashbacks to when he served. They try to talk Cordell into joining them since he’s “edge of the coin” Cordell Walker, but I think they’ve seriously misunderstood that side of him. He agrees there are some flaws in the system but insists there are good people making strides to fill those cracks. Sean tells him that Emily died at the hands of an organization that he serves, taunting that he’ll never get her back.
“You could save the next widower,” Sean says, but Cordell accuses Sean of murdering people who get in his way, which makes him a terrorist. Sean insists it’s necessary to trigger change, though I don’t really know how he thinks that’s going to happen. Power vacuums often get filled by even worse organizations, and this sounds like it could be one of those.