Tag: Matt Pascua

Walker Heads Into Midseason Hiatus with ‘Just Desserts’

Walker Heads Into Midseason Hiatus with ‘Just Desserts’

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All too soon, Walker is headed into its mid season hiatus – but boy, did it go out with a bang! Last week’s episode was an emotional roller coaster, which we should have expected since it’s titled “Just Desserts.” That doesn’t just apply to what comes at the end of Thanksgiving dinner either. The opening scene sets up the episode as one that deals with loss and family strife. Abby leaves a message for her brother William, saying she’s here if he wants to talk. Molly Hagan can make me feel so much with just a short little scene.

Cordi and Liam try to cope with everything they’ve been through by starting a new tradition – ranch to table turkey, complete with turkey imitation gobbles (which we also got some behind the scenes iterations of on Instagram thanks to Keegan Allen, lucky fandom that we are).

From Keegan’s IG

Jared does do a pretty authentic turkey imitation…

Stella always said she wanted to “mix things up” and Cordell is really missing his daughter, so he’s also planning Stella’s favorite dessert. Abeline and Bonham point out that Cordell is making grand gestures instead of talking to her instead of avoiding some awkward conversations. He clearly is upset that she’s been “radio silent” for a few weeks – and I find it hard to believe that Abeline hasn’t made sure Cordell realizes he got it wrong about what happened at the SideStep yet. What the hell??

The brothers tell their mom she’s not lifting a finger, assuring her they’ll have everything ready in time for the traditional Circle of Thanks, because they know this is a tough day for her.

They also do some hilarious imitations of their dad, which I’m sure Jared Padalecki and Keegan Allen thoroughly enjoyed regaling Mitch Pileggi with.

They also clearly enjoyed roaring around on ATVs wearing hunting camo gear and trying to outpace their dad – both the characters onscreen and definitely the actors.  The whole kill the turkey on Thanksgiving Day and get all dressed up in camo gear and oh we also need to race ATVs didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I don’t think that was the point – it was some indulgent fun that everyone could roll their eyes at a little.

They had just as much fun behind the scenes too…

They find some turkeys just hanging around gobbling and take a shot – which misses.

Liam: I was kinda hoping a Texas Ranger would be a better marksman.

BOYS.

They oddly give up on hunting fairly quickly, perhaps because they ran out of time riding around on their big toys like little boys. Cordell rationalizes.

Cordell: These gobblers are crafty.

Me: lol

Defeated by the wild turkeys.

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‘Walker’ Episode ‘Mum’s The Word’ Shocks with its Ending

‘Walker’ Episode ‘Mum’s The Word’ Shocks with its Ending

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Last week’s episode of ‘Walker’ was titled ‘Mum’s the Word’, which was partly about mothers and children and how we all cope with the danger that’s all around us, but also about silence and when you need to break it.

Stella and Augie are still in a bad place, August still angry that Stella didn’t go away to college as planned. It’s not pleasant to watch and it makes him an unappealing character for now, but it strikes me as very real for an adolescent who desperately wants out from under his older sibling’s shadow. I don’t think Cordell really gets it, because in his own sibling relationship, he’s the older sibling in the spotlight.

Augie has got a bit of a martyr thing going, asking his dad to please be there to play on the junior team for the annual flag football match tradition.

Walker says he will if he can, but he’s got a new assignment the next day so can’t promise.

Stella isn’t happy either, feeling lost and not knowing what her future holds. She and Geri work the food truck at the game the next day, a former classmate of Geri’s coming by to condescendingly say she’s so brave to still show up there after all she’s been through and then toss out to Stella, “I could’ve been your mom…”   Not very good taste in previous girlfriends if that’s what she’s implying, Cordell!

Afterwards, Stella says she doesn’t want to be “that weird alumna who’s always around” and then realizes Geri might take that personally. She doesn’t, though. She tells Stella that she was originally supposed to go to business school, but then her dad died and left her the Side Step, and “life got in the way”. Part of being a grown up is owning your choices, she says, pointing out that Stella is lucky to have a safety net.

She definitely is, but an 18 year old isn’t really an adult (says someone who was a psychologist in a college counseling center full of 18 year olds for many years). Everyone is expecting Stella to magically turn into an adult just because she graduated high school, but that’s not really fair.

Stella tries to say that their dad has been trying to show up for them lately, but Augie dismisses that, saying “for you maybe”.  She invites him to hang out with her and Colton – which I think an 18 year old would definitely know that would not be what your 16 year old brother would want! – and he is once again furious that she doesn’t get it.

Stella is in the tough position of trying to be August’s big sister and also a bit of a mother figure for him too, which is never going to go over well with a younger sibling.  When Augie hears that the Sidestep will be closed that night, he gets his 16 year old rebellion on and invites all his friends for a party there, with beer flowing freely.

Augie ends up locked in the tap room with his friends, who tell him that they actually think he’s “badass”, which I feel like a 16 year old would not say, but anyway, they thought he was the one on his high horse. August is making strides in popularity, but has to text Stella to come let them out. She comes and kicks everyone out and frees her brother, angrily asking “what were you thinking?”

And that’s the moment the police show up and arrest both of them.

Meanwhile, back at Ranger HQ…

Cordell now runs on a treadmill instead of outside, which I really can’t blame him for, and he’s still jumpy and hypervigilant, but he seems to be slowly recuperating from his ordeal. James assigns Walker and Cassie to go pick up a briefcase of evidence from the Dallas station, from the mercenaries who are now all captured. On the way back, a strange ringing comes from the case, and they leave it on the road for a while, pondering whether it’s a bomb.

Cassie: It could be kitchen timer…or a Furby…

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Walker 3.02 – Not Exactly Sittin’ On A Rainbow!

Walker 3.02 – Not Exactly Sittin’ On A Rainbow!

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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.

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‘Walker’ Returns for Season 3, and Kicks Off the “WalkerVerse”

‘Walker’ Returns for Season 3, and Kicks Off the “WalkerVerse”

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Last Thursday was a double dose of excitement for Walker fans – the original show returned for its third season and its brand new prequel, Walker Independence,  premiered right after. For me as a long-time Supernatural fan (who’s been a Walker fan since the start), it felt a little like the “good old days” of Supernatural fandom, with anticipation all day and then a live tweet fest with fans and cast alike all sharing their real-time reactions. Jared Padalecki and Gen Padalecki joined in the fun, which made it extra special for fans – and I think most of us were not at all disappointed with either the original show’s return or what looks to be an excellent new show in Walker Independence!

I’m not doing an actual review of Walker Independence (because holy crap there are a lot of shows out there to watch right now!) but suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and its intriguing cast of characters. I can’t wait to see more and will be watching on Thursday nights for sure. (Shout out to an epic callback – Hoyt’s horse is named Cordell.  Cue all the innuendo that invites…)

As the second episodes prepare to air, let’s look back at what happened on the season premiere of Walker.

We get a brief recap (as if anyone forgot that Cordell didn’t come back from his run with Trey and Liam!). Dan Miller is mentioned, so we know he’s still around, which makes me very happy indeed – I love Dave Annable and his character, and I always thought Dan got kind of a raw deal, so I’m glad to hear that the Walkers gave him some of the disputed land back. More Dan and Liam push-pull-kinda-reluctant-friendship please!

And then we pick up right where we left off, with poor Cordell being dragged to a shady looking van and tossed inside.

That set the tone for the episode for Walker, who spent it locked in a cage and periodically tortured by his captors as they tried to “break” him.

The men refer to him as their new inside guy, saying they have to “initiate” him. Honestly I don’t entirely understand what their goal was as they keep torturing him and demanding that he somehow give in so they can stop.  Give in to what? They’re not asking him for any information. I guess they want him to agree to join them? Not sure how torture gets someone to want to do that, but Cordell figures out they want him to be Fenton’s replacement.

Bad Guy No. 2: So this is the war hero, huh?

That cues us in that what Cordell is going to experience is tied into his past, and whatever trauma he went through then.

The music during the initial putting-a-blindfolded-Cordell-in-a-cage montage was a good song, very Supernatural-esque, but I’m mostly not a fan of how prominent the music is sometimes in the show. In this case, it mostly worked, but sometimes it pulls me right out of a scene that might otherwise have been powerful. In this episode, however, the music was well chosen and worked with the couple of scenes in which music was prominent.

We get to hear Cordell’s thought process as he uses his training and experience to try to figure out where he is and who’s holding him, first with a monologue and later as he imagines Emily there with him, keeping him calm and helping him talk through strategizing.

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Last Week’s Walker Goes on Multiple ‘Search and Rescue’ Missions

Last Week’s Walker Goes on Multiple ‘Search and Rescue’ Missions

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Last week’s Walker was titled ‘Search and Rescue’ and it was appropriate for multiple story lines. Directed by Austin Nichols (who was on the show in the last season), it was a fast paced episode that didn’t have any down time. As Jared Padalecki recovered from a serious car accident, Cordell’s role was light, but there were plenty of powerful performances by the ensemble cast.

The main rescue is of Stella and Colton, after their first date hiking in the state park goes south. They split up with Augie and his new hiking partner, who is striking enough to make August forget all about the sunscreen he was so worried about. Augie, I know your mother taught you better than that!

Walker — “Search and Rescue” — Image Number: WLK218b_0414r — Pictured (L-R): Kale Culley as August Walker, Jalen Thomas Brooks as Colton Davidson and Violet Brinson as Stella Walker — Photo: Rebecca Brenneman/The CW — © 2022 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Stella and Colton have a teasing competitive dynamic that works to make the relationship believable, but it sends Colton scrambling up a cliff side to try to get to some flowers after Stella sets it up as a race. He hits his head on a rock on the way down and is disoriented and bleeding – and for most of the rest of the episode it’s a race of a different kind to keep him conscious and get them some help.

Stella manages to call Liam and leave a seven second message before her phone battery dies (poor planning for a hike, Stella, and I feel like your hike-loving mom taught you better than that!). So everyone knows they’re in trouble and the feuding families temporarily put aside their differences to try  to find them. Earlier in the day the feud was going full force – Liam went to the Davidson ranch to confront Denise and Dan, accusing them of cutting Cordell’s saddle strap. Bonham’s leather detailing knife went missing about that time, and they’ve finally caught up to what viewers have assumed for a long time. I’m still not sure why it wouldn’t be obvious that the saddle strap was cut immediately when they examined it, but at least they finally got there. Dan is furious at being accused, insisting he didn’t do it, but Liam storms out.  Dan and Bonham had been working well together, but the accusation ends that relationship, Dan saying “It means a lot, what you’ve done for the ranch, Bonham.”

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He holds out his hand to shake and Bonham doesn’t take it.

Bonham: Mr. Walker’s fine.

He angrily embeds the ax in a block of wood and walks away.

Dan rarely gets a break even when he’s trying, honestly.

Now that the kids’ lives are at stake, however, the feuding families manage to work together to find them.

Walker — “Search and Rescue” — Image Number: WLK218b_0162r — Pictured (L-R): Molly Hagan as Abeline Walker, Keegan Allen as Liam Walker and Mitch Pileggi as Bonham Walker — Photo: Rebecca Brenneman/The CW — © 2022 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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