Wrangling Walker: Season Four Episode Two – “Maybe It’s Maybelline”

We had another action-packed episode, with a sassy witness who really gives Cordell and his partners a run for their money, and we saw character growth in surprising ways.

I’ll let others do the recap, and focus on the insights.

Cassie, Trey, and Captain James

Cassie has decided not to go back to the FBI and trusts that James will have challenges for her. Their next assignment is protecting a feisty older witness who has a take-no-prisoner attitude, whom we first see trying to steal a police car to leave custody. Maybelline is the state’s key witness in a money laundering case.

The Rangers don’t have any new intel on the Jackal, a reminder that he’s out there. Maybelline has fuzzy handcuffs and a metal saw in her bag, making it clear she’s going to be a handful. Not sure how else to safely contain her, Cordell decides to take her to Walker Ranch, where Maybelline and Abilene hit it off.

Although Maybelline has plenty of snark, we get another view of her when Cordell finds her sitting alone in the dining room in the middle of the night, drinking spiked coffee. She tells him that when she was raising kids, it was the only time she could get a moment to herself. Cordell joins her, and once again they talk about ‘the quiet’ which is left when everyone around them moves on. She gives him good advice on Auggie—that he is nearly grown, and Cordell needs to let him go because if kids are secure enough to leave, they often come back, and that while kids might not listen, they are always watching. Cordell takes the advice to heart.

When Cordell, Cassie and Trey escort Maybelline to the trial, there is an altercation. All three Rangers to go help, with Cassie leaving Maybelline with a man in a court security uniform. This was one of the few false notes in the episode, because that had to be completely out of protocol, and the fight was an obvious ruse to get Maybelline away from her protectors.

However, it does lead to an exciting chase through the parking garage, and Trey strikes the blow that stops the kidnapper. Maybelline might have a little crush on Trey!

Stella, Auggie, Liam, and Ben

Dysfunctional family patterns don’t disappear overnight, but I was very happy to see that instead of repeating the mistakes of earlier seasons, Cordell and others show growth and self-awareness.

When the show started, Cordell had been gone for long periods of time after Emily’s death. That forced Liam, Bonham and Abilene to step in and parent his kids. When Cordell came back, he still wasn’t on solid ground emotionally and he was trying to reconnect with the family. It took time for them to get to know each other at their current stages and for Cordell to be ready to act as a father once more—and for the kids to accept him.

Auggie wants to go to a pre-enlistment training camp at school (run by Trey) but he knows Cordell doesn’t want him to join the Army, so he asks Bonham to sign his papers.

For once, Bonham hesitates and pushes back. Abilene calls Bonham on interfering. Cordell also says Bonham is interfering, and points out that he is in the middle of case, which takes precedence. Maybelline makes an astute comment that when it comes to being a single parent, ‘the days are long but the years are short’. She has compassion for his situation, which helps us connect with her character.

Auggie tries to get Trey and Liam to go around Cordell, and they also refuse. At the end, Cordell waits for Auggie, initiates a conversation, listens to Auggie, and validates that he has heard Auggies reasons. Then Cordell explains his own reasoning—that he wants Auggie to focus on school. They actually talk instead of Cordell just laying down the law and Auggie rebelling. Cordell signs the waver, but says he has ‘conditions’ including Auggie’s emphasis on schooling. They’ve arrived at a mature compromise, something they haven’t been able to do before. This is part of learning to navigate parenting children who are now adults, a tricky thing that requires new awareness and different skills. When Auggie leaves, Cordell is once again left in an empty house—‘the quiet’.

Bonham, Abilene, and Liam all demonstrate their faith in how much Cordell has gotten his act together since he first came back from being undercover. They consider falling back into old patterns, but choose not to do so, recognizing that Cordell is being a good father and isn’t a loose cannon. That is evidence of huge growth for all of them. The temptation to revert to dysfunctional behavior that once served a purpose is very normal and real, but there’s a new self-awareness of the bigger picture, and Cordell has earned their trust.

Liam tries to intervene with Stella since Stella witnessed Witt’s death (after Witt broke into her dorm room). Stella pushes him away. Later, Ben approaches her and offers to listen, and they talk about guilt and grief. Ben tells her that guilt is often sadness, and it’s normal for people who have a conscience. Later, at the Side Step, Stella apologizes to Liam—another step in maturity. She is actually listening to advice and taking responsibility for her actions, even if she doesn’t get it right on the first try. That’s how adolescence goes.

We see Cordell, Stella, Liam and Ben having a round of darts at the Side Step, a nice family moment. Geri asks Cassie to move in with her, showing that they are getting close. Maybelline managed to throw a wrench into Trey’s new relationship, but that leaves him open for things to perhaps bloom again with Cassie.

Everything is going pretty well. Stella goes back to her dorm room, and someone has scrawled ‘It’s not over’ on her wall in blood or paint.

In my heart of hearts, I wanted Dean Winchester to step out of the shadows and say: “Get in the salt circle and stay there. I’ll handle this.”

Ah, well. It was a nice idea.

We had a good balance of family and law enforcement drama in this episode, a reminder that the Jackal is still at large, and a threat to Stella, which might or might not be related to everything else.

I am perplexed at Stella’s deep personal connection to Witt’s betrayal, since I don’t remember them being that close. Is it just the shock of having something like that happen to someone she actually knows? That was the one note that didn’t strike me right, like I was missing information. I can understand having trauma over witnessing a shooting and being attacked (not the first time this has happened to Stella), but I don’t quite grasp why she feels guilty when she was the victim.

All in all, I thought the episode showed character growth, balanced family and crime drama, and gave us a very memorable guest actress. So far, I like where this season is going, and I hope it keeps up surprising me!