TV Review - Walker (2021)

Doing a reboot of the popular cop show before the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd probably seemed like a good idea. Now, it doesn't. Cop shows or legal dramas that were already on the air had a choice to address it or not. Veteran cop shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC chose to address it. Even sophomore shows like For Life on ABC chose to address it, and I think those shows are the better for it. Other shows like NBC's Chicago P.D. and CBS' S.W.A.T. also chose to address the Black Lives Matter issue because it relates directly to policing and law enforcement. Most of those shows didn't wait. They addressed the issue early. It's not to say for those that didn't, the issue couldn't come up later, but it's a bit of a shame those that didn't address it right out the gate. This series is one of those that didn't address it right out the gate or at least in its first month of episodes, which includes episodes into February's Black History Month.

The writers and producers of this show, led by Anna Fricke who developed the series, adapting it from Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), starring Chuck Norris, don't have control of when their show airs. In the wake of the pandemic, Fricke and her team could have thought the show would air earlier or later and then could have had the dates changed. In other words, the possibility always exists that the show could address this huge and important issue, regarding policing in the United States. However, based on what I've seen thus far, the likelihood of Black Lives Matter coming up here seems very low. It would almost seem like a requisite that a cop show addresses the issue, but it's not. The show can address whatever it wants to address, but, the show doesn't feel like it's living up to the potential that it could be.

Jared Padalecki (Supernatural and Gilmore Girls) stars as Cordell Walker, a member of the Texas Rangers who works in and around the city of Austin. He was married with two children. The first episode opens with his wife being murdered, shot to death, so the underlying thrust is Cordell dealing with her death and trying to solve the murder case. The dead wife or murdered female loved one is a trope and cliché in narratives that's commonly called "fridging." In the 1993 series, the titular character wasn't married and he didn't have children. I get the impulse to give this show more of a narrative hook or change things up, but to use such a hackneyed thing as fridging makes the whole thing feel lame and uninspired. It lends for some family drama with Cordell and his teenage kids, but again, it's lame.

The 1993 series had Norris who was himself a martial artist engaging in fairly well choreographed fight scenes. It put on display a kind of violence that, yes, was violence, but it stands in such stark contrast to the kind of gun violence that has pervaded the entertainment media and the culture at large. Obviously, there is an audience for that kind of gun violence, which is why films like John Wick (2014) have been so popular, as well as a bunch of action series, featuring shootouts the galore. Given that audience that has perhaps grown too dominant, doing a cop show that tries to ratchet down that kind of gun violence is possibly impossible. NBC's Blindspot (2015) threaded that needle, yet the amount of gun violence on that show was still intense. Having recently watched Cobra Kai (2018), I suppose I hoped that maybe there was a burgeoning trend moving us away from the depiction of so much gun violence and senseless deaths. Thankfully, the violence in this series is lackluster and so brief that it's all rather forgettable.

Lindsey Morgan (The 100 and General Hospital) co-stars as Micki Ramirez, one of the few women of color to serve as a Texas Ranger. She's of Mexican descent. She wants to focus on her work, even if that means putting her social life to the side. She does have a boyfriend, an African-American teacher and soccer coach named Trey Barnett, played by Jeff Pierre. Yet, she might not be ready to be fully committed to him or have a more serious relationship. Again, out of the first, three episodes, there's not much of her heritage or family or social life beyond her boyfriend that we've seen. Unfortunately, the show hasn't seen fit to develop her any more deeply. In FOX's L.A.'s Finest, the female Latino was developed as both partners in this cop partner show developed. Here, the balance is less on Micki in terms of her friends and family.

Arguably, she's not the titular character, so Cordell's family life has been developed the most and more deeply. We've even been able to see that Cordell's brother is Liam Walker, played by Keegan Allen (King Cobra and Pretty Little Liars). We learn that Liam is gay and that he's the Assistant District Attorney in Austin, Texas. We also learn that Liam has a fiancé named Bret, played by Alex Landi (Grey's Anatomy and Insatiable). Bret is Asian, possibly Korean, and his job hasn't been stated in the first, three episodes. We also learn that Cordell has both his parents and his father is played by Mitch Pileggi (Dallas and The X-Files). Pileggi was a quasi-father figure for Padalecki in Supernatural, so it's nice to see them together again. Unlike Supernatural though, it doesn't seem as if Pileggi will be involved in any of the action.

Rounding out the cast is Coby Bell (The Game and Third Watch) plays Larry James, the captain in charge of the Texas Rangers in Austin, or at least one of them. He's the man to whom both Cordell and Micki have to report. He's a biracial, Black man. In the second episode, he alludes to some things, which might be a reference to the Black Lives Matter issue, but neither or anyone else calls it out by name. He'll fulfill the requisite role of someone in his position, but it seems as if he'll be rather toothless and probably not as iconic as Benito Martinez's character in The Shield (2002) or Dann Florek's character in Law & Order (1990).

Rated TV-14.

Running Time: 1 hr.

Thursdays at 8PM on CW.