A brand new episode of Walker aired tonight and it was the fourth episode of the season. In this episode layers start to peel back about some of the characters, and we are given some clues as to what really happened while Cordell was away after his wife was killed. Read on below to find out more in our recap!
Warning: Spoilers below!
We start off with Cordell and Micki driving and a call comes in. The call is about a distress call coming in from Harlan Oil from the oil field boss, Bob Harlan. He was DOA (dead on arrival) when the sheriff arrived, but the shooter escaped in a truck near Cordell and Micki’s current location.
The two spot the truck and try to pull him over before Walker tells Micki to bulldog him, stopping the truck. As it stops, Micki goes to open the door and sees the driver has a head wound but is still alive. As she checks his pulse, she sees he has a series of teardrop tattoos that reference him being part of a local gang, the Olvidados.
A press conference is held to thank Sheriff Monty Shaw for helping get the gang member off of the streets. Captain James brings Micki onto the stage for the press conference and recognizes her for being key in apprehending the suspect, Enzo. As they’re standing on the stage, Micki asks the Captain who a girl in the audience was — it was Enzo’s daughter. As Micki steps off the stage the daughter approaches her, telling her to do her homework and her father would have never got involved with the gang again. She also says Micki is betraying her people to serve herself and shame on her.
After the press conference, Cordell, Micki, Captain James and Monty Shaw are at the Side Step. As Cordell grabs two drinks, a man comes up and takes one from him before introducing himself as Winston. Winston, a friend of Micki’s from APD, teasingly calls her Muskrat. Micki tells Winston that Cordell barely knows her, to which Cordell says, “She won’t even tell me her middle name!”
Cordell has started moving into his new house with Stella and August. Stella tells Cordell that she has community service at a stable. He warns her that those are the prison stables and all of the Rangers keep their horses there, and to steer clear of the prisoners. August and Liam are helping move the boxes as Cordell asks Liam how the case is going with Stella’s friend Isabel and her family, and Liam replies that it’s not good because he confirmed they’re on ICE’s radar.
As August is unpacking, he finds a box with an old Texas Ranger hat that he puts on, as well as a phone and camera. Cordell comes into the room angry to see August with that stuff and takes the hat and the box, saying it’s old case stuff. August, however, hid the phone and camera from Cordell when he walked in. When Cordell leaves, he plugs the phone into a charger under his bed.
At Micki’s house, she’s drawing Enzo and his daughter, Delia, as Trey comes in and asks her what’s going on. Micki explains that she felt at the press conference that she was “the Mexican good guy, used to justify taking down the Mexican bad guy.” Trey states, “A little brown girl walks by … do you think she thinks that, or sees you and wants to be you?”
Micki asks Trey how the job search is going and he says he has an interview lined up. As he tells her this, Micki opens up the database on her computer and sees that Enzo’s gang activity dropped in 1990 and that he got a job at Harlan Oil. Micki’s confused about why Enzo would go back to the gang and Trey asks if she’s going to look into it. Micki says that the guy running the case, Shaw, is beloved and it feels disrespectful to look into it. Trey tells her she has that star (referring to her badge) and to use it. As Micki leaves, Trey looks in her pile of drawings and sees a drawing of a superhero named Lady Libertad.
Back at Cordell’s parents, he goes into the basement and finds a stack of mail with Abeline’s name on it. In it, he sees that there’s a letter from a man named Gary before he hears a noise and puts a box over the letters, hiding them.
At the station, Micki asks Cordell about Enzo and why he thinks after 30 years he’d get back into the gang. Micki says she’s tried to talk to Captain James about this but it seems he doesn’t want her to chase the story, so until they have hard evidence she asks Cordell to keep it quiet and off the books. As the two are talking, they’re interrupted and told that Enzo passed an hour ago.
After hearing of Enzo’s death, Cordell and Micki go to visit Enzo’s daughter. Delia states that Enzo wouldn’t go back to the Olvidados. She tells Micki to look at the teardrop tattoos on his arm — they’re filled in which means he got out for good. Delia informs them that she’s in pre-med and that “they both wanted her to have a better life.” Cordell questions the “both” and Delia explains that they were close with Mr. Harlan, but that Mrs. Harlan hated Enzo.
Stella shows up to the stables to do her community service and the group is asked if anyone grew up on a ranch. Stella raises her hand and is told that the person she’ll be reporting to is their new hire, Trevor, who comes out of one of the stalls and hands Stella equipment to clean with.
Micki and Cordell go to visit Mrs. Harlan at a garden. They ask her where she was at the time of Mr. Harlan’s death and she states at the Garden Gala, where Mr. Harlan was supposed to be her date. However, during this time Enzo called and said one of the rigs was out. Cordell says that Bob and Enzo worked together for 20 years, and asked what might have gone wrong. She says that Enzo had been asking for a raise but Mr. Harlan couldn’t do it. She stated that her children also didn’t like Enzo. After they talk to her, Cordell and Micki talk to the children. This leads to a funny interaction where the daughter winks at Cordell, causing him to jump and turn around to see if she’s winking at someone else (she’s not). As they’re interviewing the son, Cordell tells him not to go anywhere as they check out his alibi, and he says, “You got it Ranger Rick,” and Cordell is baffled at the name as Micki laughs.
Mr. Harlan’s will is being read to his wife and children, Cordell and Micki in the background. The lawyer states that Mr. Harlan’s entire estate is being left to Enzo. He also says that since Enzo is accused of murdering Mr. Harlan, he wouldn’t be entitled to his estate and that it would default to the spouse. He does go on to say that the case is still open because they do not have an autopsy report yet. Once the Rangers finish their investigation, the inheritance will go to Mrs. Harlan.
August makes a visit to see Ruby, who is developing photos in a dark room. We find out that August gave Ruby film from the camera he found and she developed it. A photo they find is one of Cordell and a woman that August doesn’t know. August takes the photo and runs out of the building.
At a park, Stella and Liam are with Isabel and her parents. Liam states he’s not an immigration attorney so he can’t represent them, but he can council them. Liam says that Isabel is not at risk of being deported because she’s a citizen, but unfortunately the parents are in danger.
Back at Micki’s house, Trey walks in wearing a cape made out of a towel. He then pulls out the drawing of Lady Libertad, and goes over her other drawings and telling her how talented she is. As Micki looks over her drawings, she springs to her feet, kisses Trey and says thank you.
At the Side Step, Cordell and Liam are talking and Cordell says he didn’t realize their parents were having problems, and Liam says that Gary (the man from the letters Cordell found) happened during a rough patch. As the two are talking, Micki walks up with the drawings of Enzo and Mr. Harlan, asking Cordell if he noticed anything. Cordell notices a resemblance, and Micki says that Enzo could be Harlan’s son. As they talk about Enzo, Liam lets it slip that they arrested Carlos Mendoza two days after Emily’s murder, before realizing what he said and Cordell lets him know it’s okay. Cordell and Micki go over theories, then go back to the Harlan’s to investigate.
As Micki and Cordell talk to Mrs. Harlan, they tell her they have reason to believe that Enzo was Mr. Harlan’s son. They ask her if she knew and tell her that Mr. Harlan only recently edited his will. Mrs. Harlan denies everything, saying that she was at the Gala and they can get the footage from it. As they leave, Cordell, who has been trying to know Micki’s middle name, finally gets it right and says that if they’re working together they have to trust each other. Micki says out of all the Rangers she’s the one female Latina, and she doesn’t want to screw it up.
Back at the stable, Stella is there and a horse escapes. Stella takes off on another horse to go get her with Trevor on a horse behind her. The two talk about Isabel, and Trevor tells Stella that his Dad is one of the prisoners who works at the stable and he just wanted to be close. As they arrive back at the stable, Stella hears Cordell’s voice and hides with Trevor, letting him know her dad is a Texas Ranger.
At the house, August gets the phone he was charging and looks through the contacts. In the phone he sees a contact named Twyla, who looks like the woman in the photo with Cordell. He texts her, but doesn’t get an answer back.
As Micki’s looking over the information from the Garden Gala, she says that according to the seating chart Mrs. Harlan was going to be seated alone, not with Mr. Harlan as her date as she originally claimed. Cordell asks to see the video footage from the Gala, and sees footage of Mrs. Harlan and Shaw embracing. They deduce that they must have been having an affair and Mr. Harlan found out, cutting her out of the will. Micki and Cordell ask Captain James to talk to Shaw. As they approach Shaw, he says he’s on his way out. Micki rides with Shaw and Cordell follows.
Micki is interrogating Shaw in his car and says the autopsy came in and that Enzo was bludgeoned before the car accident. There were also traces of gun residue and that it was Shaw’s. Micki had her phone connected to Cordell’s who heard the entire thing, as did dispatch. Micki calls Shaw a dirty cop, and as Cordell tells Shaw to pull over Shaw pulls out a gun and points it at Micki. Micki tells Cordell to bulldog it, stopping Shaw’s car. Cordell gets out and draws his gun as Micki handcuffs Shaw to his steering wheel. Micki tells Cordell nice save, as Cordell responds, “I’ve got your back, Muskrat.”
At Cordell’s parents, Cordell helps Abeline package her jalapeño jam. Cordell asks Abeline if she’s happy and asks about Gary. Abeline tells Cordell they’re still the parents and they have their secrets and don’t have to tell their kids everything. At this, Cordell remembers Emily, crying that he misses her.
Once Micki arrives home she calls out for Trey, who appears shirtless with his towel cape. Trey tells her that he got a job as the new Director of Sports Medicine and Assistant Soccer Coach at Sacred Heart. Trey then pulls out a present and it’s her drawing of Lady Libertad, saying, “You needed a hero, so you drew one … and then you became it.”
As Cordell arrives home, August appears and says sorry for taking the camera and asks who the woman in the photo was. Cordell says she was part of his undercover crew. August asks why there weren’t any photos like that with Emily, and Cordell says it’s because she was the family photographer and never was in photos. He then asks August to be the family photographer, before having August take a photo of the two of them.
Later, we see that Liam’s going over the files from Emily’s case and Liam is told that Captain James pulled surveillance logs from the case a few days ago, which has him questioning why.
Cordell enters August’s room as he’s sleeping and sees the phone under his bed. He bends down to see a text from Twyla, calling him Duke Culpepper (next episode is titled “Duke”!) and asking him to get down there. The episode ends with Cordell having a haunted look on his face, and it seems like we’re about to crack open Cordell’s undercover time.
In this episode, we learned a lot more about Micki, Isabel’s case, and Cordell’s undercover job. The big question we’re left with is … why was Captain James looking into Emily’s murder?
Walker airs on The CW on Thursday nights at 8/7c.
