“Walker” Recap: ‘Pilot’

The Walker, Texas Ranger reboot is here. Walker debuted its pilot episode and we’re here with the Walker recap.

The episode opens up with Cordell (Jared Padalecki) meeting up with his wife who is on her way to pick someone up. Cordell is on his way home to enjoy game night with his family and shares a few more kisses with his wife (Genevieve Padalecki) before they part ways.

We pick it back up at game night where everyone is having a great time. Cordell still can’t figure out how to play, though. A call pulls Cordell away from the game, an SOS from his wife. He takes it and on the other end, Cordell heard two gunshots go off before his wife’s phone cuts out. Cordell heads outside and tries to get ahold of Emily again, to no avail. Unbeknownst to him, she is bleeding to death from a gunshot wound. Cordell collapses against his truck when he can’t get ahold of her.

The show picks up sometime in the future, with Cordell’s kids waiting for him. They seem to be at Cordell’s brothers’ house and Cordell’s former partner is there, too. It is revealed he is also now Cordell’s new boss. A man drives up and everyone is disappointed when it isn’t Cordell. The man is revealed as Stan and he heads inside while Cordell’s former partner sends someone to look for him.

Cordell is drinking heavily while twirling an AA chip between his fingers. As he’s reminiscing about his wife an officer pulls up. Trooper Ramirez drives Cordell home, as he is too drunk to drive. We learn Cordell has been gone for ten months on the drive home. Cordell introduces himself as a Texas ranger and Ramirez gets him home safely. The two share a goodbye where she reveals she’s been promoted and Cordell heads on inside and passes out.

The following morning he goes for a run and picks his truck up. He drives up to see his dad and after a brief exchange he goes up to the house to see his mom. A touching reunion with his family reveals his brother as D.A.

After that Cordell is back on the job and he reunites with his ex-partner James, the new Captain. They’re investigating an assaulted officer and his new partner is ranger Micky Ramirez, the trooper who picked him up the previous night.

Cordell and Ramirez share lunch together where they start getting to know each other. They discuss the case before parting.

Cordell joins his family for dinner but his daughter is missing because she is out with a friend. Cordell gets caught up in some of the goings-on with his family. Bringing up Cordell’s wife is awkward though, but he’s called away to pick up his daughter at the police station.

Cordell grabs his daughter from the police station and she isn’t too pleased to see him. On the drive home Stella shares her feelings with Cordell, but that doesn’t go too well.

We catch up with Ramirez who comes home to find her boyfriend. After a brief talk about her new job at Cordell, they vacate to the bedroom.

Cordell is grabbing drinks with his brother. He grabs the bartender, Geraldine, and they share a dance. Again, however, he is called away. This time it’s Ramirez saying that she got something.

Ramirez thinks she’s located the guy who owns the vehicle in the officer assault. They interview the owners of the criminal rehabilitation place and they point them towards Alex Jordan. Jordan assaults Walker and Walker takes him down. Ramirez takes over the arrest.

Ramirez takes Walker to her house to take care of his injured hand, and he meets Ramirez’s boyfriend Trey, who happens to be a medic. They argue, of course, and Ramirez leaves while Walker is called to Stella’s school. He finds his brother there and they find Stella is missing. Walker says he’ll put out an APB.

He visits the parents of Belle but doesn’t find Stella there. He also tells Belle’s mother he’ll look into getting her papers. Since Walker can’t find her he goes back to work. Ramirez reveals she no longer speaks to her mother since her mom sees her job as a betrayal. Alex Jordan was brought in and has been asking for protection and seems very afraid. Putting two and two together they realize the figurine crosses being made at the rehabilitation center are filled with heroin. That’s why Curtis, the officer, was assaulted. He figured it out but didn’t want to get involved as they must be moving drugs for a cartel and it would mean a death sentence. Walker is ready to deal with this but Ramirez sends him to look for his daughter.

Eventually, he does find her at the same spot he was getting drunk two nights ago. The two argue again and she is upset about the fact that Walker always ignored her for cases.

Ramirez rolls back up to Clarke and he has no idea what’s going on. His wife pulls a gun on the rangers though and flees, leaving the rangers to chase her. Ramirez grabs her though! Afterward the two are congratulated by the captain and Walker is being recommended for a task force to take down the cartel. Walker is also berated for fighting the perp earlier.

Walker and his brother discuss the mystery surrounding his wife’s death. A poker chip was found on her which doesn’t make sense. His brother tells him to be there for his family.

Walker and his mom have a talk about the kids. He begins discussing the task force and his kids overhear. He heads to the farmhouse his mom wants their family to move into and later on in the night Stella delivers a blanket to them after her brother has fallen asleep. She also reveals she overheard about the task force. Walker reveals he’s not taking the job.