Wrangling Walker 1.05 “Duke”
I really liked Walker’s 5th episode, “Duke”. It felt like threads from previous weeks were starting to gel. Jared had a chance to show off his skills in a range of emotions and situations, we got some nice Supernatural echoes, and he took off his shirt. Twice.
Letâs start with the strengths. Mickiâs evolving relationship with Trey feels very real. I hadnât picked up on the fact that his new job involves coaching the soccer team that Stella Walker is onâthatâs going to be interesting. Trey seems solid and well-grounded, a good guy. Thatâs nice to see, and I hope he and Micki continue to show us a healthy relationship that is a haven from drama, not the cause of it. (I can wish.)
Walker gets dragged back into the undercover role he left thanks to August texting a contact on his old phone (more on that later). Jared was always good at playing âalternate Sam Winchesterâ, incorporating recognizable nuances in his performance to differentiate being possessed by Meg, Lucifer or Gadreel, or having Hell trauma and âHalluciferâ visions. Jared brings the same skill to morph into Duke right in front of our eyes. Duke stands differently, moves differently, speaks differently. Jared knocked it out of the park.
Iâm wondering about the three separate times he submerged his face in water. He seemed to do it when he needed to bring himself out of being âDukeâ and back to âCordellâ, and he said âit helpsâ. Which perhaps makes his immersion in the pool at the end after Dukeâs âdeathâ more significant as indicating a final ending. I didnât envy him faceplanting into the pool! That had to sting!
Micki risked everything to go off script and unofficially undercoverâand in doing so, certainly helped save Walkerâs career and probably his life. I loved the way she dove in and created a persona, which Micki said was âfreeingâ. She also did a great job shifting into her alternate persona and making it believable.
Liam continues to be one of my favorites, and his affection for and worry over his big brother are clear in those beautiful eyes of his (reminding us of another loyal little brother we know and love). Captain James is harder to read, but I want to believe heâs ultimately on Walkerâs side. They both let Cordell run with the scenario, although only Micki and Liam fully believed in Walker. The FBI angle is troublesome, raising questions about other times Walker didnât follow protocol. Hopefully weâll hear more about that in the future and heâll have a chance to clear his name completely.
My heart went pitter-pat at the Supernatural call-backs. When Duke told Twyla, âI lost someoneâmy brother, my best friend. We rode circuits together.â I teared up for Sam and Dean all over again. The mechanical bull made me think of the end of the Supernatural episode âRegarding Deanâ with Dean riding a bull. When Cordell cuts Liam off as Liam blames himself for the situation and tells him ânone of that is on youâ and ends with a fierce bro hug, I caught another echo of Sam and Dean. And certainly when Cordell, Stella and August lay the undercover chapter of his life to rest by burning Dukeâs possessions, I thought of a hunterâs funeral pyre. Those little Easter eggs are wonderful, loving gifts to Supernatural fans, and I appreciate Jared letting us know that he hasnât forgotten us.
Now for my big problem with the situationâAugust. Has the boy never watched a TV show or movie with undercover cops? Heâs too old to be so clueless. Sending that text was inexcusably reckless. Then following Cordell and nearly blowing his cover could have gotten their whole family killed.
I was waiting for Cordell to not just ground him but sit him down and spell it outââYou could have gotten me killed. You could have gotten yourself and Ruby killed. They could come after Stella. These are really bad people and they play for keeps.â (Having an uncle who is a District Attorney isnât risk-free, either. These arenât jobs that bring one into contact with the best sort of people.) Thatâs aside from interfering with an FBI investigation!
It seems like Emily and Cordell and Liam had decent communication with August and Stella before Emily died. I just canât imagine that early on there wasnât a âsafety talkâ about the dangers of being the child of someone who tracks down big-time criminals and how to protect themselves (and that was revisited for age-appropriateness periodically). Cordell wouldnât need to go full John Winchester on teaching them to protect themselves, but certainly being frank about what his job entails and what risks come with it, and the basics youâd get in any personal protection/self-defense class would be appropriate.
Itâs realistic that both August and Stella suffer from what I think of as âHelper Abandonment Syndrome.â People who go into helping professionsâmedical, legal, law enforcement, fire/rescue/EMT and even clergyâare drawn to the need to save people and the adrenaline of the crisis, as well as the satisfaction âhighâ when they succeed. By comparison, everyday life seems less urgent and more boring. So itâs not uncommon to ignore the family with the justification of âIâm saving peopleâ (echoes of John Winchester again). Which usually leads to the losing the spouse and kids, or at least having a big melt-down.
So I think that both August and Stella are justified in their feelings and angerâbut please writers, donât make them clueless and stupid!
Overall, I liked the way strands came together in this episode and we had much more solid criminal cases both last week and this week to balance out the family drama, which appealed to me. I canât wait to see where this goes after hiatus!
What did you think?
Illustrated by Nightsky.Â
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