Wrangling Walker: Season 3 Episode 6 “Something There That Wasn’t There Before”

“Something There That Wasn’t There Before” was another strong Walker episode, with some interesting sibling tension—and resolution. Plus Supernatural fans got an ‘Easy, Tiger’ call back, as well as Winchester half-brother Jake Abel coming on as Kevin and plenty of sulfur.

As usual, I’ll skip the recap and go for the things that stood out to me as themes and signals.

Talking, hearing, and actually listening played a big role in this episode. In the beginning, Cordell and Liam are making breakfast. Liam wants to talk about their capture, but Cordell’s mind is on what happened with the kids and he brushes off Liam.

Abeline went to bail out Stella and she’s angry with Cordell for how he handled the situation. Cordell still won’t listen to Stella or Abeline. He’s angry, righteous and defensive. Abeline hears Stella out, but Auggie doesn’t hear what Stella is telling him about how expensive and dangerous his stunt was with the party. Auggie is stuck feeling like the sidekick, and feels no remorse for the problems his party caused. Colton shows up and cooks for Stella and Abeline, offering a moment of peace. Abeline shares stories of spats with her own brother.

Cassie and Trey talk about the difficulties of dating, and how hard it is to trust. When they get assigned to be Kevin’s security detail, Trey is excited about making a political ally. Cassie isn’t impressed and says he’s ‘fake nice’, especially when Kevin keeps getting her name wrong.  Kevin isn’t listening to her, but she later finds him under a table at the fancy party counseling two young brothers, and he did listen closely to them. That starts to change Cassie’s impression of him.

Cordell realizes that he didn’t hear or listen to Liam, and agrees to help Liam follow his therapist’s instructions to return to where they were held prisoner.

Liam gets flashbacks and talks about the mind games the captors played, telling him that Cordell was dead and making Liam bury a body they said was Cordell’s. Liam says that the pain of thinking Cordell was dead was so real. That was a definite tissue moment! We got an awesome bro hug, and Cordell seemed to really hear Liam this time.

Supernatural fans’ ears pricked up when Liam said the captors reeked of sulfur, and later when an envelope also had the same rotten egg smell. Alas, no demons—just bad people.

Kevin collapses at the event. Trey and Cassie discover that there was a threat letter that morning that stank of sulfur, sent from a defunct mining town. Cassie wonders if some of the nerve agent that the terrorists were concocting might be responsible for Kevin’s sudden illness. That lets them administer an antidote, saving Kevin’s life. Cassie listened, heard, and remembered what Cordell had reported, and then added an intuitive leap to save the day. Bonus—Kevin finally gets her name right!

Cordell and Liam go to the coal refinery in the defunct town without waiting for backup. Cordell goes in with a bulletproof vest, gun and gas mask. The rogue chemist fills the area with gas. Liam follows Cordell with the same equipment and saves the day, shooting the chemist and getting an antidote for Cordell. They finally have a good bro talk. Cordell apologizes for not listening and says that he’s ashamed of himself. He remembers that Liam has been the rock for everyone, and that when Cordell focuses on work it’s always at the expense of family. Liam says they can face the future together. His comments that ‘sometimes people just want to be heard’ is the theme of the whole episode.

Geri calls Colton and tells him she’s going away for a while and asks him to take care of her house. We see a file in her bag about Hoyt, which seems pretty mysterious. Later, Colton and Stella show up, and it’s clear that Stella is moving into Geri’s home with Colton for a fresh start.

When Cordell finally goes to Stella’s room to apologize, he finds her things gone and Abeline tells him that Stella left.

Cordell seemed to forget some of the hard lessons he learned about listening when his emotions get the best of him, but he realizes his mistake and tries to make amends. Auggie isn’t listening at all, and is likely to run into more trouble. Liam made himself heard and got to tell his story, bringing him closer to Cordell. Stella found listeners in Abeline and Colton, but Auggie and Cordell disappointed her.

Coming up on the mid season finale, we’ve got several loose ends. Are the terrorists really gone, and what about their connection to Miles and Fenton? What’s in Geri’s file on Hoyt? Will Kevin return and how will he and Cassie interact? Trey’s mom isn’t happy about his role with the Rangers, and didn’t seem to listen to him tell her what he wanted—how will that pop back up again? And of course, we’ve got plenty of questions about what choices Stella and Auggie will make from here.

What did you think of the episode, and do you have any guesses about what’s coming up?

Find more of Gail’s commentaries on her Writer’s Page.

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