Wrangling Walker: Season 2 Episode 17 “Torn”

They covered a lot of ground in this episode, with the emphasis on interpersonal issues (although we did get one very enjoyable fight scene). The title ‘Torn’ is certainly apt! I think of this kind of episode as a ‘repositioning’ segment, where the writers move the characters around like pieces on a game board to set up the last three episodes of the season for the big explosive cliffhanger finale.

I’ll leave the recap to Esther and give you my take – what I liked and what made me scratch my head. 

What I Liked

Liam and Ben are going on a date! (Okay, it turned out to be eating ramen at Ben’s house instead of taking a basket of goodies to the park, but the important point is that they are moving forward.) We had a good brotherly discussion between Cordell and Liam about relationships, with Liam cautioning Cordell about Twyla Jean (he was right). 

I loved Liam’s observation that Cordell is a ‘serial monogamist’ (because some people are just wired that way), and I appreciated hearing Cordell admit that Geri doesn’t have a claim on him. 

The horse auction was interesting but it resolved too quickly—ten minutes in their database and the fraud was clear. (They were really bad at being crooks.) The fight was fun, and it was good to see Cordell hold his own as well as seeing Cassie and Twyla Jean also kick butt.

Cordell looks good with his shirt off.

Opportunities are opening up for Trey with the Rangers and expanding to give him a chance to use his training. I like seeing Trey and Captain James bond with each other. I also like seeing Trey and Cassie hit it off, and that Cassie is rebuilding her relationship with her brother, Ben. It was great that Trey worked out a compromise where he could complete his duty to the graduating seniors before picking up new with the Rangers.

Trey also got in a good line that proved prophetic when he was dealing with the fight between Todd and Colton and figured out they were fighting over Stella: “Both people have to want it, and the one who wants it the least has the power.”

Cordell *finally* figures out that the horse race with Dan was rigged and the cut saddle strap was suspicious. Ya think? But better late than never. 

What Made Me Go Hmmm…

I’m not a fan of the teen drama, although I realize it plays to The CW’s core demographic. (The farther away those days get in my own rear view mirror as well as for my now-adult kids, the less earth shattering teenage dating issues seem. Your mileage may vary.)

Stella made a total mess of handling the Colton-Todd issue. By putting off telling Todd, she let him find out the hard way. And instead of having her handle it with intelligence and maturity which could have brought up different, more interesting, dramatic issues, they went for a very predictable trope. (Yawn.)

Want to bet that now that Todd is going to Stella’s first-pick out-of-state school that she’ll decided to stick closer to home? (Which also lets her remain a frequently recurring character.) 

Denise doesn’t like Geri, and Geri’s a fool to believe otherwise. Denise is rude to Geri when she calls, then she leaves in the middle of the day to go drinking with Geri at the Side Step? How is Denise going to get home after those shots, or is the D.A. going for a DUI to match Dan’s? Geri takes down the boar’s head Emily named after Denise, and puts it in storage. Significantly, their final toast has Geri saying ‘to family’ and Denise saying ‘to blood’. 

I did enjoy seeing Geri call Denise on her crap about holding Frank’s role in Marv’s death against her and Geri saying that she can’t see Denise without remembering that Marv gave her away at birth. This is not going to resolve over a few shots at the bar.

Cordell and Twyla Jean ending up in bed together was a bad decision, which at least Twyla Jean realized. I felt so bad for him when he showed up with flowers and his ‘Day Zero’ speech, because the writing was already on the wall. At least he did the right Ranger thing reporting her missing, and Twyla Jean did the right thing requesting a transfer. 

Geri and Auggie, however, overstepped. If Geri doesn’t want Cordell, she needs to butt out. It’s no longer her business. Auggie might do well to remember that he’s the one who brought Twyla Jean back into their lives by texting her on Cordell’s undercover phone, and nearly got them all killed. He doesn’t get to give his father permission to date. The fact that dating Twyla really was a bad idea is secondary to Geri and Auggie being out of bounds. 

I didn’t pick up any Supernatural references, which always make an episode more fun. Although the actor who plays Auggie posted a post-finale photo of him in the burned out ruins of a building, that didn’t look like the barn. Are we going to lose the Side Step like Harvelle’s Roadhouse? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

What did you think?  Please share your thoughts on the episode below!

Read more Walker Reviews, and find Cast and Show News on The WFB’s Walker Page! 
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