Initial reaction: Walker 1.12

[caranfindel]

I did not (and still do not) intend to discuss every individual episode of Walker, but we've got some time to kill before 1.13 (time I should be using to work on Summergen, shush) and I have things to talk about.

• So Gramma Walker was actually in the midst of an affair when Emily died? I got the impression something was going on, but I thought it was in the past. (Theoretically I could watch 1-4 and find out, but I'm not going to.)



• Is this the first time we learned about Grandpa Walker's prostate cancer? Did he decide to give up and die because Gramma Walker was going to leave him? Or because he's afraid the treatment would leave him impotent and Gramma Walker would just keep stepping out on him? I mean, I've learned from killabeez’s comment on my previous Walker post that Gramma may be kind of a stone cold bitch so maybe she would.



• So the bank robbing gang knew they were being watched by at least one law enforcement officer and said "nah, it's okay, let's go rob the bank anyway?" Is this just because no one can say no to Jared Padalecki?



• Liam's fiancé just happened to be jogging down the street where Liam was leaving the restaurant? Convenient.



• I really like Liam and Cordell. I like the way Cordell gives him an affectionate little pat as he walks by (also, son, for someone who is supposed to be an investigator it took you a really long time to realize you had walked into an intervention). This may be heresy, but I particularly like the way they resemble each other a lot more than Sam and Dean do. I know siblings don't have to look alike. You would never guess my sister is related to me. But this family resemblance pleases me, even if it's all in my mind. (Is there a single scene in this episode with both Cordell and Liam's faces in it so I can illustrate? Apparently not.)



Liam doesn’t have the adorable ski slope nose, but they do share a similar brow and jaw.)


• When I first watched this episode, I thought Cordell was in the back seat when Stella drove the truck, and I was dumbfounded that they managed to get him back there without waking him up. And I admit I was wrong, but I'm still dumbfounded that Cordell woke up in the center of the seat and didn't think "wait, I couldn't have been driving."



My poor baby.


• So it's official - everything bad (other than Emily dying) has happened because of Stella. Can we talk about her gaslighting Cordell into thinking he put her and Augie in danger? Making him think his family would be better off if he weren't there?




Can we watch this scene and get all kinds of panicky Gadreel!Sam I'm-losing-time vibes? Yes. Yes we can.


• Can we also talk about Cordell in his funeral suit and his goddamn long legs and his sad face and his curls?





FUCK YES WE CAN.


• And what about that long sleepy boy on the sofa? Can we talk about this?





Or can we stop talking and just LOOK?

(Also, I'm not attempting to stay spoiler-free, and I have seen the preview for the next episode, but for the sake of anyone else reading I'm going to ask you not to put spoilers in the comments. It's okay. We know what we know.)

Comments

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Re: Grandma's affair--it was referenced previously but no specific time given

Re: Grandpa--this was the first mention of his cancer. I took his keeping it a secret as not wanting to add to the family's general crisis and a little bit of 'ha, so I'll die and you'll be sorry' at Grandma

Re: bank robbers--if Walker hadn't given them the push they could very well have chickened out. Therefore technically he is responsible for Crystal's death--although there was a scene in another episode where he tried to get Liam as DA to arrest the robbers before the robbery went down and Liam said he needed them to have 'one foot inside the bank' in order to throw the book at them. (And he felt guilty when it went south after Walker had warned him.)

However the entire robbery plot has been all over the place. (The mortally wounded Crystal drove to their hangout bar and took the back off the jukebox to hide a sack of money and left no blood before dying someplace else...why it took Walker 10 months to bring them down...why he would be doing an undercover job so close to where he lives...to mention just a few of the other implausible things...)

Re: Walker in the truck--yeah, that confounded me too both visually and trying to figure out how exactly they got Walker behind the wheel while Stella was driving...or to think he'd been driving when the truck hit the hitching post...How did Stella get out from behind the wheel so fast?

Re: Stella--so her 'clever' attempt to give her dad a wake-up call resulted in making him think the family was better off without him. Good going, girl. And the robbery gang is at their house directly because of her involvement with the kid and then entangling herself with the dad Clint...and I hope we get a scene of her feeling really guilty, because she should. She is...apparently what passes for a typically self-absorbed, clueless teenager on TV nowadays?

Re: the pretty pictures--yes, yes, and yes

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

The last two episodes I liked better than most so far but Stella is annoying and stupid, August teeters between annoying and just plain unbelievable, and Grandma needs a good slap. The only reason I'm still watching is to see Jared's long, long legs get the exposure they deserve. And thankfully in this episode he was much less twitchy, so easier to watch.

Wait, one last ridiculousness from this one — why the F did Liam come rushing out of the house yelling? Is he blind? There are at least two strange cars and 5-6 blokes with big guns standing right THERE.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oh, and that reminds me of something I forgot to include. The bad guy is out, knows where Walker lives, and is out to get him. Walker knows all of this. Why is no one watching his house?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's not like he doesn't have the whole Texas Range thing going on and has nowhere to turn!

[fanspired]

Maybe we can put Stella's behaviour down to age and immaturity (though I have no real desire to make excuses for her). But what kind of family holds an intervention for a newly grieving widower and ritually humiliates him? Like, one person couldn't quietly pull him aside and suggest if he's not sleeping at night he should go to his doc and get some tranks? And the family could be helping out with stuff like picking up the kids too.

Just how old are these writers that they don't seem to know how normal adults behave?

[sylsdarkplace]

I’m really losing my patience with Stella. I’ve afforded her the angtsy teen excuse up till now, but the truck crash was a deal breaker. I hope the truth comes out because her and August need to understand the consequences of that stunt.

I knew Cordell was in the passenger seat but how they moved him over and Stella jumped out like that was not believable.

Bonham’s excuse for not telling anyone about his cancer was not wanting to give the family more bad news, but I wonder if A. There wasn’t some threatened masculinity going on and B. Not wanting Abilene to stay with him out of pity.

She sure is a piece of work. I have to wonder what the back story to that affair is. Is other man an old flame? Has she always had a wandering eye? She does like bad boys, if her love of Hoyt is any example. Was Bingham wild once? What went sour between them, I wonder.

But Cordell did look fine in his funeral suit and stretched out on the couch. Yum.