Walker Review

It’s brooding and heavy. It’s about loss and redemption. It’s about putting together a family. It’s about changing perceptions of policing. It’s about immigration and acceptance. 

Wait—did I submit the wrong review? Am I really describing Walker?

The CW’s Walker (Thursdays at 8 pm EST) is about as similar to the original CBS series, Walker Texas Ranger, as the Super Bowl winning Dallas Cowboys of the past are to today’s incompetent Cowboys team. 

There is almost nothing—and I mean nothing—that resembles the former show. 

And while that may disappoint fans of the original that this show feels more Seventh Heaven than the now-classic Walker, Texas Ranger, it actually may earn it a more diversified new following.

So how is it similar?

Like the vintage 1990s show, there is a Ranger Cordell Walker. And the show is set in Texas, although the Texas location has switched from Dallas to Austin.  And there are cowboy hats now and then…

Yeah. That’s all I have. 

What we do have instead is a show about family and healing after tragedy.

The series pilot is heavy and focuses on Walker’s (Jared Padalecki, Supernatural) return after several months of taking an “undercover assignment away from home that also helped him grieve and find himself after his wife’s death. His wife Emily (played by his real-life wife, Genevieve Padalecki) has been murdered, so with Walker taking time to find himself his parents and brother have been taking care of his two children for the past few months, creating a noticeable rift in the family.

At its core, this is a relationship drama (words you’d never think possible in a remake of Walker). After suffering such a dramatic loss, Walker must navigate or solve a series of complicated relationship problems with each family member, his boss, his partner, and his own conscience. 

As work goes, his former friend Larry is now his boss (Coby James) who decides he shouldn’t be a loner and he needs a partner. Larry pairs Walker up with a new rookie partner, Micki Ramirez (Lindsey Morgan), one of the first women in Texas Ranger history. The “rookie” is tasked with the difficult job of keeping Walker in line and focused while also proving herself so she can keep the job she has long sought. 

Morgan (The 100) is energetic and enthusiastic about the job while growing frustrated at Walker’s eccentric behavior. While it’s a bit of a stereotypical situation (straight-laced rookie looking after a trouble-making cop), Morgan is convincing and there is great professional chemistry between the two. 

Her character has interesting avenues to explore–as she is keenly aware she is stepping into law enforcement –  a role her own mother (a Mexican-American immigrant) doesn’t approve of. From her estranged relationship with her mom to her experiences of harassment and prejudice in the US Army and with the Texas State Troopers, the character’s backstory is rich and intriguing. 

That’s a credit to Executive Producer Anna Fricke (Valor, Being Human). The pilot alone explores issues of law enforcement, fear of ICE, and prejudice against immigrants. I hope the show will continue to investigate these on a deeper level as it moves forward.

But when it comes to Walker, fans of the original have one question and one question alone: What about the fighting? 

It’s not that this is violence-free police work, but it is much more standard fistfights and tackles. Gone are the wild martial arts spectacles of the Chuck Norris days. There are still a few wacky Walker things (like chasing down a bad guy by racing your horse and jumping into his moving vehicle) but much of the original violence is lost.

Of course, maybe that is a good thing. I haven’t seen any comments of the sort from show creators, but it’s quite possible that martial arts and oft-excessive force may not play as well to an audience weary of police misconduct in 2021.  

The setting is also a bit awkward—half city (Austin, apparently) and half country. I think they realized an urban environment can create more police drama but you kind of need horses for Walker to be Walker. This mix of “two worlds” is shown in the pilot, as Walker’s home was on a traditional suburban side street, but his parents now raise Walker’s children on a larger ranch, complete with an atypically large farm house and a “guest farm house” they have been working on renovating for Walker.

The parents are supportive but critical. His mom Abeline (Molly Hagan) is quick to offer advice to her son and his father Bonham (Mitch Pillegi) is a gruff rancher and man of fewer words. In typical dad style, he shows his love or approval in actions and not soliloquies. Walker’s brother navigates the difficult worlds of being an assistant district attorney, a surrogate parent to Walker’s kids, and a conservative gay lawyer in Texas. None of these are easy.

Like CBS’ The Equalizer, the actual police “cases” haven’t been stellar. The content of the policing is the most unremarkable thing about the show. From storylines about drug runners and a scam involving a racehorse insurance scandal that resulted in a barn fire that killed a stable hand—we barely see any detective work and the cases are written with little creativity. 

Walker’s struggles as a parent, and his difficulty with reconnecting with his daughter Stella (Violet Brinson, Sharp Objects) has been a notable focus of the first few episodes. For example, after several of their communications turn sour, they speak by texting each other back and forth even while in the same kitchen. She’s dealing with typical teen angst (her soccer coach is prejudiced against her non-naturalized immigrant friend) and navigating the pain of losing her mother and having her father go AWOL for most of the year. He feels unable to parent and communicate why he disappeared and what demons he is facing. While the relationship with his daughter is difficult, his son August (Kale Cully) seems to forgive and forget. But there are hints that he’s having his own internal meltdown about his mother’s murder. 

Walker’s wife continues to play a role via flashbacks up to the night of wife’s murder. This is apparently going to be a running plot line in the show, as Walker is convinced the man who confessed to his wife’s murder either didn’t do it or his wife’s murder is part of a complex plot that he can’t quite untangle. That nagging feeling fuels an internal hesitancy and significant pain in a man who has a tough-seeming exterior. 

So the formula of what made Walker successful for more than 200 episodes from 1993-2001 has been dramatically altered. It’s a show much less about machismo and cheesy violence than it is a family drama with heart, albeit a damaged and fragile one.

The cheesy 1990s theme song is gone, of course, but the phrase “The unsuspecting stranger had better know the truth of wrong from right,” has always been almost comical. Yet what makes this Walker surprisingly good and watchable is we are seeing Walker still determine the truth and it’s messy and unclear. In 2021, real cowboys are angsty. And they mean well even when they admit they’re baffled by the everyday nuances of even simple things like raising a family.

And that makes Walker worth rooting for.

Walker airs on the CW at 8:00 Eastern Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern /  7 Central. You can also stream it here: https://www.cwtv.com/shows/walker/pilot/?play=18e25459-249a-4ff1-84cc-9510ec5ce29e