Season 2 of Walker brought us some interesting ups and downs over the course of 20 episodes. It had some great character moments, along with some plots that left me scratching my head. I will admit that I’ve been giving the Walker writers a bit of slack due to Lindsey Morgan leaving, something that undoubtedly threw off a lot of their their plans for this season. But my patience has its limits and there are only so many plot holes it can take before it snaps like a rubber band. 

Two plotlines in particular gave me issue over the course of this season. The mystery of the barn fire and Marv’s death started out sensible enough but the more we learned about that night, the more convoluted the truth became. There was a point where I almost didn’t want the writers to answer our questions because I knew they could never come up with anything satisfying. There was also the matter of Geri being a biological Davidson, a plotline that bothered me from its conception in “One Good Thing” and it never really recovered. I want to take a moment to go through these plotlines individually, discuss their flaws, and go over a few ways the writers could have corrected their mistakes.

First, let’s discuss the many, many problems with the Geri “Davidson” Broussard story. 

The story we were told is that Marv Davidson took the baby literally after she was born, not even giving Gale a chance to hold her before he told Gale that the baby was dead. The hospital staff/midwife apparently went along with this. From there, the baby ended up in the care of Frank Broussard, someone who used to work on the Davidson ranch, though they didn’t part on good terms. Marv paid Frank for child support via a mutual contact, Nate, under the guise of paying to board livestock. Then, in 1995, Marv decided to tell Abby that the baby never actually died and that he simply gave her away because of money concerns. Abby was furious with him and told him to go back home to tell Gale immediately. Marv started to do this but then suddenly remembered Denise planned to watch the comet with That Walker Boy and dragged Gale out to go find her in the barn. After a bit of nagging, while still looking for Denise, he did eventually tell Gale that her child was alive this whole time. After hearing this, Gale killed him with the lantern Cordell left behind. Then, 25 years later, Nate decided to tell Geri the truth of everything after Bonham was arrested for killing Marv because Nate believed Frank was responsible. 

Before we even get into the present-day identity crisis Geri has over this revelation, there are already a lot of issues with this story.  

Let’s start with Marv getting rid of the baby. We’re told that this was a matter of financial concerns. But why lie to Gale about it? Isn’t this the kind of things married couple should talk about? If he was that worried about having another kid, why didn’t he invest in birth control? Honestly, if this was such a big concern that he would go through all this trouble just to get rid of an unwanted child, why was he even having sex with her? There are a lot of ways he could've avoided this pregnancy and the insane amount of legwork that followed.

How many doctors and nurses would he have had to bribe to make sure Gale thought her baby was dead? How did the baby even get out of the hospital?

And why did he pay child support to Frank? Didn’t Marv go through all this trouble so he didn’t have to pay for the baby? 

Speaking of Frank, how did he end up with Geri? We know that he worked on Davidson property at some point in the past but we also know he wasn’t exactly on good terms with Marv. Why was he given the baby? I’m assuming this was an under the table adoption with how much secrecy surrounded it as there's no way that Frank, a single father that moved around often and may not have had a large paycheck, would've qualified under normal official adoption procedures (not that any legitimate adoption agency would've agreed to taking a baby from a mother without her knowledge). Did Marv pick out Frank to care for Geri? If so, why? If not, who did pick him out? Was it Nate? And how did Nate even end up involved as the middle man for the money? Did Marv pick him out because they were on good terms at the time? And if they were on such good terms that Nate was willing to help him cover up an illegal adoption, what happened to make Nate dislike him so much that he was willing to help Frank pull a heist on Marv? Nate offered us no information on the whys or hows of his involvement, just that he was. It left a lot of questions unanswered, which leaves us room to wonder if what he told us was even true.

Another thing: why did he wait twelve years before he told anyone about this? And why tell his ex-fiancé of all people? Was this supposed to make him look good? Was it a plea for pity? Did he have a vision of himself dying and decided to make a deathbed confession? Was he feeling guilty about it and looking for someone to tell him to make the right choice? And when he finally did tell Gale, why did he tell her while he was searching for Denise? I do understand that he was concerned about the daughter he currently had in his care but, based on the story Gale told us, she was more concerned with the big news he had for her. Wouldn't it have been better to wait until after he knew for certain that Denise was safe? It may very well have saved his life if he'd done it somewhere where there weren't any viable weapons within reach.

Honestly, it seems like this whole plotline was introduced for shock value and contrived drama. It didn’t come across as well thought out at all. Like I said earlier, I am sympathetic to the fact that the writers had a lot of rewriting to do with Lindsey Morgan leaving as that likely took away half of their plans for season 2. But, again, there really is only so much ridiculousness I can excuse. This plotline really could've used at least one more once-over before it was officially greenlit to show the audience.

That’s not to say that it couldn’t have worked at all. It certainly could've, but it needed quite an overhaul. I’d like to put forth a theory I came up with shortly before the season 2 finale aired. This theory relies on the concept of Gale knowing that Geri was alive all along, even from birth, something that is plausible based on Gale's "I always knew we'd end up back together" line in "A Matter of Miles". 

We know that Gale and Marv had a rocky relationship, even early on. This likely stemmed from Gale only pursuing Marv because of Abby, and Marv settling because of Bonham, but that’s a story for another day. I think it wouldn’t be too far out of line to say that Gale and Marv had toyed with the idea of ending their marriage but decided to stay together for appearances without actually doing anything to fix the root of their problems. I think it would’ve been entirely possible for all these issues in their marriage to result in one or both of them having an affair. 

We also know that Frank worked at the Davidson ranch at some point, possibly even around the time that Geri was born. Let’s say that Gale took a liking to Frank for any number of reasons. She has an affair with him and ends up pregnant with his child. She intends to pass the child off as Marv’s but he finds out (DNA test, a confession, etc.) and flat out refuses to care for a child that isn’t biologically his. So, following Geri’s birth, he tracks Frank down and dumps her on his doorstep. He agrees to pay for child support so long as Frank and the baby stay far away from them. Gale and Marv then tell everyone else that the baby died in order to avoid the scandal. Tension continues to rise in their marriage until eventually Gale snaps and kills Marv for forcing her to give up her baby. 

This idea covers pretty much everything. Why the baby was given up, why Gale knew, why she killed Marv, how Frank got involved, and so on. It’s not perfect but I do think this is a way that this plot could have worked. 

As for everything that happened with Geri after the revelation... Personally, I don’t think what happened was too out of character for Geri. Time and time again, especially in season 1, she had a tendency to run away from her problems until someone made her feel better about them, which is what we saw in the show. That being said, I do think it would have worked better if Geri had held onto her initial hesitance and been slowly converted into a Davidson by Gale and her silver tongue before coming back around to sanity after a few Freudian slips. But that’s just my opinion. I know that a lot of fans took issue with this part of the plot, and I do understand why given how much her actions hurt Cordell and the rest of the Walker family, but I do think this was mostly in character and could've worked seamlessly with just a few tweaks.

Next, I’d like to talk about the barn fire.

From what we were told through various flashbacks, the Davidson barn was quite a busy place on that fateful night in 1995. We got so many details, it was hard to keep track of them all and form any kind of cohesive storyline.  

This is my best attempt at creating a timeline of that night: 

• Cordell and Denise met and hid out in the loft to watch the comet 

• Frank and Nate show up to rob the Davidsons’ money stash 

• Marv tells Gale that they need to talk but also she needs to come out to the barn because of Denise 

• The kids hear Gale and Marv arrive and Cordell runs away. In his haste, he leaves the lantern behind 

• Frank and Nate pack the money into their carrying case 

• Marv tells Gale about Geri being alive 

• Gale becomes overwhelmed with emotion and uses the lantern to hit Marv over the head. This knocks him out and causes the fire. She locks the door behind her when she runs away 

• Nate gets knocked out during the explosion 

• Cordell sees sparks floating in the air and runs back when he sees the fire 

• Bonham comes running over and tries to open the locked door to save the kids 

• Nate eventually wakes up and gets back to the getaway car, where he meets with Frank, who tells him that Marv is dead 

This timeline is not perfect but it is based on details that we’ve received from flashbacks as told by Cordell, Nate, and Gale. There are some details that are missing, partially because I am unsure where to fit them.  

Here are some questions that remain unanswered by the current canon: 

• Did...Did Gale lock Denise in the barn, too? 

• How did Frank get Marv’s blood on his hands and learn that he was dead? 

• How did the lantern get from the loft of the barn to the floor? 

For the first question, it could go either way. Early flashbacks show that Denise was still in the barn when the fire started. However, this flashback is from Cordell’s perspective and we know his memory of that night isn’t the best. On top of that, he was heavily burdened by guilt from the events that happened after the fire. Her still being in the barn and in danger could be a result of unreliable narration. 

However, her still being in the barn could point toward an answer for another question: Why did Denise peg Bonham as Marv’s killer with so little supporting evidence? We know that Bonham tried to break into the barn. It's possible that he got in and helped Denise get out. Her memory of that night is also hazy and biased by her mother’s anger and lies. It’s possible that she remembered Bonham being there but not the circumstances around it and used herself as an eyewitness to his involvement in her father’s death. 

For the second question, there’s a lot of room to speculate. I do think it’s possible that Frank could’ve gotten into the barn after getting the money. Perhaps he also saw Bonham trying to get in and decided to help when he learned that lives were at stake? Maybe he came across Marv’s body and tried to help him, only to find that he was already dead and fled the scene when he heard sirens arriving. Sadly, I highly doubt we will ever get a canon answer for this given that the current canon implies that Frank died years ago. 

For the third question, I have no explanation. We know that Cordell brought the lantern over for him and Denise to watch the comet. I can believe that he would’ve left the lantern behind in his haste to avoid being caught trespassing. What I can’t believe is that he left it somewhere on the floor of the barn. It would’ve made much more sense for the lantern to still be in the loft, where he was sitting with Denise. Even if it fell off the edge of the loft somehow, it likely would have broken after the fall and started the fire on its own before Gale could’ve used it to kill her husband. There is also the question of how Gale even knew that the lantern belonged to the Walkers. Their family brand was on the bottom of the lantern, not something she would’ve seen if she swung it over her head and then ran. Unless, of course, she picked it up later and actually looked at it. 

This brings us to a final, unanswered question that has been plaguing us since this lantern was first introduced in “Partners And Third Wheels”: How did the lantern go undiscovered for so long? 

When August first found the lantern, he had just fallen to the ground through the weak wood of what is left of the barn loft. He’s stunned after hurting his shoulder and he saw it on the ground under some burned wooden planks and dry brush. This lantern was not hidden in the slightest and we’re led to believe that it has sat in this position for the last twenty-five years. 

This begs the question: Why did the crew of investigators in the background of the initial news report we saw in “Common Ground” not find it? And how did a lantern that was exposed to the elements for so long still have enough blood on it for the DNA to be recognizable? 

Earlier in this season, I came up with the theory that after Gale used the lantern to kill her husband, she hid it away in a safe location until the return to Austin. Then, she planted the lantern back in the old barn as part of an attempt to reopen the investigation and frame the Walkers for her crime. 

As much as I would like to think that this is true, Gale made no such confession to Geri or anyone else in “Something’s Missing”. Unless she mentions it off screen in time for the season 3 premiere, I imagine that this is a detail that the writers just didn’t want us to think too much about. 

I was really hoping that the season 2 finale would hold some answers to the burning questions and plot holes the writers had been handing out. Unfortunately for my sanity, it did not. While this season did have its strong points that I enjoyed and it even improved in some areas over last season, it did disappoint me in other places like the ones discussed above. I did enjoy the series overall but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my criticisms. I can only hope that next season brings us more improvements and fewer disappointing plot holes. 

I hope this article brought you some closure and the relief of knowing that other people did notice at least some of glaring issues that you might have seen. What did y’all think? Do you agree with my points or do you have any counter arguments? Are there any other plot holes you noticed this season? What would you have done to avoid the issues I discussed here? Let me know in the comments! I’m curious to see your thoughts! 

Walker’s main character, Cordell Walker, is introduced to us as a badass Texas Ranger who has a soft spot for his family. Walker is a man who commands respect because of his impressive record, even if he did have to bend and break a few rules to get things done. He’s well known by the community and loved by his family and friends. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that anyone in Walker's cast of characters got this memo.  

From the very beginning of the series, Cordell is put down, mocked, and ridiculed by those around him. While there are some good moments mixed in, it’s impossible to ignore that he’s being held to a ridiculously high double standard of morality and is constantly being told that he’s wrong. On the rare occasion that he is proven to be right, he never receives an apology or any kind of sympathy for what he’s been put through by the people who supposedly care for him. This creates a glaring contrast between what we’re shown versus what we’re told; it's hard to believe that Cordell is the respected man he's supposed to be when we rarely, if ever, see anyone granting respect to him. While I will admit that the poor treatment from Walker’s family improved in season 2, that was quickly overshadowed by his rocky love life and how he was treated by his coworkers. I want to spend a little time talking about why the decision to make Cordell the scapegoat of Walker is questionable at best and just poor writing at worst along with some examples of the poor treatment he has received over the past two seasons. 

A big thread of season 1 that was almost constantly shoved into the audience’s face was “People should be held accountable for their actions.” This is all well and good; it’s certainly a lesson that some people could stand to learn in our current age. However, this lesson rings hollow when only one character in a cast of many is actually held to this standard. I’m not trying to say that Cordell is perfect and has never made any mistakes, but he does seem to be the only one who is expected to face consequences for them. There are some exceptions to this, such as Liam having to face up to Bret, and Abby and Bonham making things up to each other, but by and large Cordell is the only character expected to face consequences. 

The best way to show this contrast is to compare how his mistakes are handled in the workplace versus his partners, Micki and Cassie

In the pilot episode, Cordell gets riled up and physically attacks a suspect when the man spits on him and threatens his daughter. In “Bar None” and “Defend the Ranch”, this comes back to bite Cordell in the form of a disciplinary hearing. At first, he plans to plead innocent since he knows that the judge will back him up because of his status. But even after Micki convinces him to admit his wrongdoing to the court (which is fair in this instance), he is at risk of losing his job if the court finds that he is truly out of line based on the situation at hand and statements made by his coworkers. The issue is so serious we even hear about it again in “Dig” when Cordell asks Micki why she never submitted her statement for the hearing.  

This campaign of Cordell needing to face the consequences of his actions and better himself as a ranger is largely spearheaded by James with the help of Micki. While this is all well and good (who better to police the police than the police themselves?), it doesn’t look genuine when the same standards aren’t applied across the board. 

In contrast to Cordell, Micki is free to do pretty much whatever she wants, whenever she wants, and faces no consequences. There are many examples of this but I want to talk about the most egregious examples here. 

In “Mehar’s Jacket”, Micki puts herself on Captain James’ case looking for a missing veteran. When they eventually find him, he’s about to enter the ring in an underground, illegal fighting match in order to earn money. They don’t let him do that, for obvious reasons, but Micki offers a compromise so that he can still get his money: she goes and fights in his place. She argues they can use their leverage as law enforcement officers to get the ringleader to agree and when she wins, she can just hand over the money. James semi-reluctantly agrees but mentions that it will be a “DPS nightmare”. He then proceeds to cheer her on from the sidelines and we never hear about this incident again. 

Later, in “Bad Apples”, Micki becomes frustrated with how slowly and carefully James is making his case against a corrupt police officer and she decides to take things into her own hands. She goes as far as to trespass and get photographs of the cop making deals with criminals. Throughout the episode, James repeatedly tells her to slow down, trust him, and do as he says, but she ignores him and even tells him to his face that she doesn’t trust his method. In response, James does....nothing. This is a very sharp contrast to “Bygones” in season 2, when Cordell shows up a little late to work (with good reason), then politely questions his Captain's reasoning for bringing Twyla onto a case. This is enough to send James into a rage during Trey’s “therapy” session. 

This trend continues with Cassie from her very first episode, “Nudge”. In this episode, Cassie tases Cordell and shoves him in a trunk when she mistakes him for a criminal. She proceeds to engage in reckless driving techniques (while driving a stolen car mind you) in order to “interrogate” him. When he pulls the emergency brake to get her to stop, she’s furious with him for doing something so dangerous, even after he points out why he did so. Later, in James’ office, Cassie is congratulated on her ability to handle the situation while Cordell is ignored and told he needs to be the bigger man and be more sympathetic to her loss. Despite the fact that she was on Leave of Absence for the majority of the episode, she does not receive any disciplinary action for acting as an officer of the law or working a case that she was not assigned to and is even cheerfully welcomed by Cordell's own family. 

Contrast this to how Cordell is treated during “Four Stones in Hand”. He is also on Leave of Absence, but he feels compelled to help Micki’s biological mother when she reaches out. He decides to take her case out of the goodness of his heart (and maybe because he’s a little bored) and starts with tracking down the lead she gives him. This leads him to an abandoned property that he attempts to trespass on to get a better look. He is promptly arrested and taken into custody to wait for someone to get him out. Micki then gets on his case for not only meddling in affairs that she told him to stay out of (which is fair) but also for...being “let off easy” because he’s white.  

Both Cassie and Cordell were on Leave of Absence. Both Cassie and Cordell were investigating cases they weren’t supposed to be involved with. But, while Cassie was praised for her efforts and given a badge, Cordell was shamed for his actions and constantly reminded that his actions have consequences. 

I would also like to point out that both of his partners have asked him to do questionable things for their own gain. Micki asked him to break into a suspect’s house to look for evidence, despite not having a warrant and the fact that he was on Leave of Absence in “Four Stones in Hand” (and then later she got mad at him for doing so which is...interesting). In “No Such Thing as Fair Play”, Cassie told him to grill her former captain for answers about Miles’ alleged death and guilt tripped him when he expressed concern over losing his job if things went wrong. 

Larry James, his former partner, deals out a lot of his mistreatment in the workplace. Despite the fact that he and Cordell were partners on the force for many years, James seems to have absolutely no faith that Cordell can do his job properly. In “Bobble Head”, James questioned Cordell’s logic in speaking with Hoyt informally to get information and sent Micki in to “check his blind spot”. Later, Cordell’s day off with Hoyt ends up being fruitful as he was shown a second location where the illegal gun sale was happening. Despite this, Cordell is not given any credit for completing the job and is even given a lecture about how he can’t protect Hoyt from the consequences of his actions, even though he never made any indication that he wanted to do so. James also always gets on Cordell’s case about doing things by the books while letting Micki and Cassie run wild with no threat of consequence. This is particularly bothersome since a major part of James' character is that he wants to weed out corruption in law enforcement. How can he do that effectively if he’s constantly turning a blind eye to the ones who need his guidance the most? 

It's strange to think that Stan Morrison, the man who killed Cordell's wife, seems to have more respect for Cordell than anyone else he’s worked with. Prior to his confession, Stan lauded Cordell as one of the best rangers the DPS had at their disposal. Even after he was carted off to jail, Stan managed to be respectful and even helped Cordell find the man who shot James. 

Cordell also faced this unfair treatment in his personal life. With his family, Cordell is expected to shoulder the blame for any problems or issues that arise regardless of how much fault he has in the situation. 

From the pilot episode onward, his family routinely talks down to him and tries to force him into their own way of thinking. Even when he’s proven to be right, there’s no acknowledgement of it. There is also a blatant refusal to acknowledge any role they have to play in the actions Cordell takes. 

The earliest example of this comes during “Back In The Saddle”, when Abby tries to force Cordell into officially moving onto the ranch with them instead of back to his house in the suburbs. Despite all his valid reasons for wanting to do so, including the fact that he still has a mortgage to pay, she doesn’t listen. Instead, she tells him to stop being selfish and think of his children rather than pushing decisions onto them. The irony of this doesn’t seem to faze her.  

We also learn in this episode that the poker chips left on Emily’s body were actually from a set that she bought him for Father's Day. She’d been carrying some pieces around in her pocket to show people. The way August describes it, this is something that multiple people would have known about, including his family. However, no one told him about this, despite the fact that he actively and openly questioned this detail about her death. For nearly a year, he was left to worry and wonder about this and no one gave him the answer he needed to substantiate his suspicions. 

This attitude continues with the rest of the family throughout the season. From Liam repeatedly insisting that Cordell drop Emily’s case despite picking it up himself later, to Stella repeatedly disrespecting him with no consequence, it seems like his own family is against him. The exception I will give in this scenario is Bonham; while he doesn’t often butt in, he often comes to Cordell’s defense when he does. 

The worst example of this behavior from the Walker family is revealed to us during “A Tale of Two Families”. After Emily’s death, Cordell is lost and floundering. His wife, the love of his life, the mother of his children, his soulmate, the port in his storm, is gone and he doesn’t know what to do without her. He’s convinced there’s something off about her death and, since no one else is looking into it, he decides to do that on his own. He falls into unhealthy coping mechanisms to “deal with” (avoid) his pain, including drinking and overworking himself. His family watches him spiral for a while without doing much to help him. This all changes when Stella and August find him asleep in the parking lot of their school while waiting for him to pick them up. Stella decides that he’s been doing this for too long and that he needs a wakeup call to how his actions are affecting the rest of them. To deliver this call, she decides to stage a situation where he “fell asleep at the wheel” and damaged the hitching post in front of the main ranch house. August protests the idea at first but does nothing to stop it and keeps up her lie afterward. 

This “crash” leads to an intervention with him, his family, and his work colleagues. During this, Cordell is told by everyone that he’s messed up one too many times and that he needs to hurry up and get his act together. He gets defensive, as anyone would, and tries to explain himself. He tries to get them to listen to him and understand where he is coming from. None of them do. Instead, they focus on how his actions are affecting them and brush off his questions and concerns. None of them offer sympathy or healthier coping mechanisms that would benefit everyone. Instead, they harshly judge and condemn him for not figuring everything out on his own. 

This ultimately serves to do nothing but drive him away on an undercover mission that he isn't even remotely in the right mental state for. He stays away for ten months on a mission that should’ve taken him half that time. And when he finally does return home, it is to nothing but more judgement and scorn. Now they are mad at him for being away for so long on top of everything else. While I can understand that much, there should've also been some acknowledgement for the part they had to play in driving him away from his home. If they’d given him compassion and understanding instead of judgement and ridicule, he likely would’ve never left at all, or at the very least, would’ve returned sooner. 

It also looks like Cordell started to internalize the guilt that his family placed on him. While he is a man that has made mistakes in the past and he likely will again in the future, he takes most accusations laid at his feet very easily, rarely pushing back against them. He also has a habit of easily letting go of the mistakes others make, regardless of the size or whether they’ve faced any consequences for it. He rarely even goes as far as to seek an apology. For example, he repeatedly lets Stella get away with breaking the rules with little to no consequence aside from some harsh words. I wouldn’t call him a doormat just yet as he has displayed a backbone a few times but it seems to have worn him down over the course of the show. 

The biggest example of this to date is the end of “Defend the Ranch”. Cordell takes the blame for the hostage situation and for Hoyt’s death. He doesn’t want to cause his family any more pain, so he quits his job. After all, if he’s not arresting criminals, they can’t want to come after him for revenge. This logic, while simple, is twisted and ignores the agency of nearly everyone else involved in this scenario. How would things have been different if Clint had accepted his own fault in Crystal’s death? If Micki or James had acted on their own instincts and come to Cordell’s aid earlier? If Hoyt hadn’t assumed Clint was dead during the shootout? But we’re not supposed to ask those kinds of questions; we’re just supposed to place singular blame on Cordell and move on. 

I do want to say that I think his involvement in the barn fire that allegedly killed Marv and the drama surrounding that whole circus likely had an impact on this aspect of his character as well, but I don’t want to ignore the present-day factors. 

I’m not going to make any comments here about the writing staff or Anna Fricke except to say that I heavily disagree with how they’ve chosen to tell this aspect of Cordell’s story. I respect the writers' desire to call out police corruption, especially in the higher ranks of law enforcement but, as I mentioned previously, the message doesn’t work if that rule only applies to one character.  

The protagonist of a story is usually viewed as the hero. Even if they aren’t, they’re usually the person that the audience is supposed to sympathize with or relate to. Having a flawed protagonist is a good thing. Allowing the protagonist to be called out and face consequences for their mistakes is excellent. Dogpiling the protagonist with guilt and blame that doesn’t belong to them while other characters get to do as they please without consequence is not a good thing. It doesn’t make sense for the writers to tell  us that Cordell is a character worthy of respect while always showing that no one gives it to him. This also has the side effect of painting the other characters in a negative light as they end up being shown as hypocrites over and over again. I will give the writers credit for improving the relationship between Cordell and his family this season, but they still have a long way to go in my opinion. I hope season 3 and beyond bring more improvements in this regard. 

Audience reaction to this particular element of the story is something important to consider. For me, it takes me out of the story a bit because of the mental gymnastics that has to be done to justify/explain why Cordell is being held to a different standard. Fellow WFB writers Gail Martin and Nightsky have also pointed this out in their previous Walker reviews and I've seen that sentiment echoed during fandom discussions on other platforms. 

What do y’all think? Am I right or am I being too sensitive? Is there any hope of improvement here? This aspect of the show has always bugged me and I’m curious to see if others feel the same. 

As early as the Pilot, Walker has been teasing its audience with the relationship between Geri and Cordell. These two childhood friends have been on quite the wild ride over the course of the show, from shocking kisses to misunderstandings to breakups and more. While some fans dislike the idea of them being a couple, the writers currently seem determined to make them the endgame ship of the series. Anna Fricke herself said during an interview (link here) that she "really believe[s] in Walker and Geri". I’d like to spend a little time discussing the pros and cons of their relationship and see if I can come to a conclusion on whether that would be a good idea or not and why. 

Before we begin, I must confess that I’ve never been the biggest fan of this ship and it did irritate me that the writers seemed to be pushing it on us. However, I understand that there are some fans who do like it so I wanted to make this article a little more balanced to represent both sides of the issue. I reached out to my followers on Tumblr to get some secondary opinions and I’ll be using some of their ideas here (with credit to the users of course). 

First, let’s look at some of the positives present in their relationship and the ways that they do work (mostly provided by Tumblr user @mygallimaufry). 

• They have a deep understanding of each other. This perk comes from their long history with each other, going back to when they were 12-13 years old and going to school together. Childhood friends make a great love story for a reason: there’s safety and security in being with someone that knows your past and your flaws and your darkest moments and still chooses to love you. 

• Geri, unlike the rest of Cordell’s family, is understanding of the demands of being a ranger. Regardless of the circumstances, she’s okay with him running off to handle a case or a work emergency. This is probably one of my favorite things about their relationship as this is a courtesy he gets granted so rarely by the people close to him. 

• Cordell is always sympathetic to when she needs time and space to work out her personal issues. While he wants to be there for her, he won’t force his presence on her if she isn’t ready for it, or try to push her to talk it out with him. 

• They have each other’s backs in times of need. Whether it’s losing a spouse or learning earth-shattering information about their heritage, Cordell and Geri know they have each other to fall back on.  

Regardless of my own feelings on the characters and the somewhat boring predictability of their relationship, I can admit that there is a strong base for a good relationship here. Cordell needs someone in his life who is understanding of his job and emotional needs, someone he feels connected to and knows that he can rely on in times of need. Conversely, Geri needs someone she can trust and who understands her need for space. They have all of that with each other.  

That being said, we’ve seen more than once over the course of Walker that loving each other and being “right” for each other isn’t a guaranteed recipe for a happy, successful relationship. Let’s take a look at the cons to their relationship: 

• Cordell and Geri are both peacemakers. While this seems good on the surface, this does cause problems for them in canon as they both seem more interested in smoothing over their problems than actually solving the root issue. (credit to @laf-outloud) 

• Cordell and Geri are also very similar in personality. This isn’t a terrible thing on the surface but there’s a reason they were both attracted to such bombastic partners before. Both Emily and Hoyt were wilder and more spirited; Cordell and Geri need more than just complacency in their lives. (also credit to @laf-outloud) 

• Geri comes across as noncommittal at times. She tends to run and turn inward when there’s a problem for her, which causes the wrong kind of distance between her and Cordell at times. He needs someone more stable, especially during times when they’re both affected by something big. 

• They still have so much between them regarding Hoyt and Emily. Hoyt’s death was in part caused by their kiss in “Rule Number 17”. Geri had romantic feelings for Cordell for many years, even while he was married to her best friend. There’s a lot to unpack there that hasn’t been resolved yet. 

• Their long-friendship works against them in some ways by giving them the ideal of a great relationship that can’t happen until they’ve both worked through some issues. As Geri said, they skipped over a lot of steps they really shouldn’t have because they thought they could use the fast lane. They need to slow down and take it from the beginning if this is going to work. 

• Part of their emotional closeness comes from how hard they leaned on each other following the loss of Emily and Hoyt. They need to find a balance in their relationship that isn’t entirely serious and emotional, or entirely fluffy and fun. 

• They're still grieving. This one comes from showrunner Fricke herself. In the previously mentioned interview, she reminds us that his "origin story...is as a widow." She goes on to say that it will take time before he can really take on another serious relationship like he and Geri seem to want with each other. I think it's fair to say that Geri is in a similar situation after losing Hoyt.

All of this is not to say that Cordri couldn’t work. I really do think they have the potential to be something beautiful. But they have a long way to go before they get there.  

I’ve suspected since the pilot that the writers were going to pair these two. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the idea but I did appreciate it from a distance. However, Geri’s actions toward Cordell following the revelation that she was the missing Davidson child put a sour taste in my mouth and there are many other fans who felt the same. Again, that’s not to say that Cordell and Geri couldn’t reconcile and work things out, but they have a long way to go before they’ll be ready for something serious. From the perspective of a fandom member, Cordri was already a somewhat controversial ship well before the whole mess with the Davidsons came about. There’s a lot of making up to do on Geri’s end, in my opinion, if things are going to go over well with the audience. 

What do y’all think? Do you like Cordri? Do you ship it yourself? Or do you hate the idea and wish the writers had gone in another direction? Do you agree with Fricke they just need more time or are they doomed to fail because of their past mistakes? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

In season three of Walker, Stella is on a journey to find herself and become an independent woman. This is a good idea and very fitting for her character given her age and position in the overall story, but, in my opinion, the execution on this plot has been sorely lacking. I do commend Stella on being brave enough to admit that she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life and deciding that college isn’t for her, but her near refusal to actually do anything in regard to finding that path in life she’s allegedly searching for got old very quickly. Liam dragging her into his questionable horse sanctuary isn’t a good move for either of them and her penchant for drama has come back with a vengeance. As far as coming of age arcs go, I’m a little disappointed and I think Stella deserves better.

I’d like to map out what I think a proper Coming of Age arc would look like for her and how this new timeline would change and possibly improve upon some of the plotlines surrounding it. I’ll finish off with an overview of how this arc would expand beyond what we’ve seen so far and into further seasons.

 The Origins

Our journey starts back in the early episodes of season two, when Walker gave us a very solid start to this arc for Stella. She’s about to graduate high school and, unlike the rest of her classmates, she has no idea what she wants to do with her life. In canon, this thread continues through the rest of the season, but it’s quickly overshadowed by the love triangle/pseudo-Romeo and Juliet story the writers shoehorned into her plot, which is the root of the problem in my opinion.

For the timeline I’m laying out here, I’m going to push her love life onto the backburner. It is still there and has a part to play, but her soul-searching journey remains center-stage. Stella has a life to figure out. She’s far too busy thinking about her options for college and prospective careers to worry about family drama and dating idiot boys.

In this version of events, Stella and Todd date and things go well at first. She’s rebounding from Trevor, and Todd is a great guy - someone she can maybe see a future with, whatever that might look like. On more than one occasion, we see her trying to engage Todd in conversations about their future (where they might go to college, where he sees himself in five years, etc.) but he always brushes it off with his carefree attitude. She’s willing to put up with it to a point, but things come to a head during 2.14, “No Such Thing As Fair Play”, when he won’t entertain a conversation about her emotional state after being forced out of her home. It’s during this episode that she finally accepts that she and Todd are at different stages of their lives and she needs to be with someone who’s a little more serious, so she breaks up with him.

After Colton opens up to her emotionally at the end of 2.14, Stella starts to confide to him more about her concerns for the future. They bond over their worries about their families and what the future might hold and find comfort in each other. This leads to them dating by 2.18 and going on their disastrous nature hike date. This is where things get interesting.

In 2.18, “Search and Rescue”, Stella shows off her first aid and nature survival skills by keeping Colton safe and alive after he falls and hits his head while rock climbing. At the end of the episode, she is complimented by the search and rescue helicopter team that got them out of the park and is told she might have a future in this field. In canon, this idea fell off the face of the earth by the time the credits rolled. In this alternate timeline, Stella’s contemplative look following that compliment actually leads to something. In the next episode we see her looking into First Responder and/or EMT training and qualifications. Then, when Cordell tells her how proud he is of her and how she’s grown in the season 2 finale, Stella takes that opportunity to tell him that she’s considering not going to college and pursuing this career path instead. Cordell is surprised but happy for her and goes off on his run, proud of his daughter for making her own path.

Current Events

Now we enter season 3.

Because no one is perfect (not even Alternate timeline!Stella), 3.01 and 3.02 happen much the same as they do in canon. Stella’s confidence after taking steps toward figuring out her future further embolden her to investigate her father’s disappearance and give her no small amount of hubris in meeting up with Shannon with only her brother by her side.

3.03 goes a lot differently, though. In this version of events, Colton is a lot more secure in his future with Stella since she’s not waffling over what to do with her life. We also get a drag race for the Mustang that Dan coaches Stella on how to win (this change is both because Stella no longer has a heartbreaking “I’m sad and confused please pity me” speech to tug Shannon’s heartstrings, and because that was a dumb way to resolve this plot in the first place).

Cordell and Stella’s heart-to-heart after the return of the Mustang also changes drastically. Here, Cordell takes this chance to remind Stella that she’s a legal adult now and he can no longer protect her from the consequences of her actions. He’s proud of her for taking her life into her own hands and she’s grown a lot over the past two years, but he knows she has a history of being impulsive and making rash decisions. He’s afraid that one day, she’s going to do something she can’t come back from. She can’t be an EMT or a First Responder or even a functioning adult in this world if she continues to pull stunts like this. After everything she did and witnessed during this episode, Stella takes his words to heart and promises both him and herself that she’ll be more careful with her choices from now on.

This brings us to 3.04. Stella has completed all her training and certifications to be an EMT and she’s starting her first day of work. Everyone is happy for her, except for August, who manages to keep up a celebratory façade until she drives him to school on the way to work. Like in canon, he gives her the silent treatment and gives the same reasons when she questions him on it. She stayed home instead of going off to college so not only did he not get the bigger room he was expecting, but everyone’s been fussing over her new career aspirations for the past few months, and he gets nothing. As usual.

This kicks off the “August acting out because Cordell is ignoring him” plotline, but with a few tweaks.

In 3.05, August still throws the party because he feels neglected by Cordell (and the family at large). Stella still helps him when he gets locked in the supply closet and they get arrested together. However, Cordell pauses before blaming Stella for everything. Even though she has a track record of doing things like this, he also knows that her job is very important to her, just like his is to him, and that she wouldn’t risk throwing it all away on one last hurrah. So, he waits until he has the full story before enacting any judgement.

He pulls evidence from security cameras at the Side Step to prove Stella’s innocence and gets her cleared of all charges before the night is over. He also advises her to stay over at Colton’s, at least for the night, while he handles August’s punishment. He finishes the episode by giving his son a long lecture on respect and promises a long and hard road to forgiveness ahead of him.

From here, August’s behavior continues to spiral for two reasons: 1) He’s learned both from this experience and from Stella’s previous behavior that acting out is the best, most efficient way to get attention in this family even if it is negative; 2) He’s angry at Cordell for punishing him for the party when he let Stella off the hook with less than a slap on the wrist for worse in previous seasons. He’s snippy and rude with the whole family but especially with his father and sister. This leads to more punishment from Cordell and to Stella deciding to move out and help Colton house sit while she looks for more permanent accommodation.

 Things come to a head during Thanksgiving once again. Bonham speaks with Cordell about August again, only this time he wants Cordell to figure out a new way to discipline his son because whatever he’s currently doing doesn’t seem to have any effect. Cordell isn’t sure what else he can do but he acknowledges that August has been getting more and more out of hand. Abby does snap at Cordell about August’s behavior for the same reason, which leads to August calling her a “nosy b*tch who needs to mind her own business” and telling her she’s not his mom. Everyone splits up after this, with Cordell and August going back to the farmhouse to talk.

Here, the conversation goes a little differently. Cordell has known about August’s behavior for a while and has been reacting to it with punishment. However, what happened tonight, especially August’s words to Abeline, has made him think that there’s more than just teen angst and drama going on. During his emotional breakdown, August admits to Cordell that he’s been struggling since Emily died but, in true Walker fashion, he kept it under wraps because he didn’t want anyone to worry about him when there was so much going on. But he couldn’t keep all that grief and anger locked up forever and now it’s come out in the worst way. Cordell apologizes for not realizing and being there for him sooner and promises to do better. But August still needs to serve penance for how he’s been disrespecting his family recently.

In 3.08, not much changes aside from Stella’s involvement. She and August made up their differences while Abeline was in the hospital so Stella stays near the ranch while Cordell and August use the trip to Dallas for father-son bonding time. While she’s at the ranch, she plays mediator between her grandparents and helps them deal with the situation they’re in. She tells Bonham to quit being so harsh on August because there were about 100 factors that went into Abby having a stroke, ranging from their diet to the many other stressful things that have happened in their family for the past couple of years. He can be upset with August for disrespecting his wife but blaming him for the stroke is out of line and Bonham needs to stop before he ends up in the hospital next with his own stress-related condition. She also advises Abby to follow the low-sodium diet and other recommendations from the doctor. Gramps may be taking it a little far with the vitamin regimen but Abby was lucky to come out of the stroke as healthy as she did and she needs to start taking her health a little more seriously given her age.

Coming into 3.09 and 3.10, Stella's still a sympathetic ear for Liam to lean on in this trying time but she doesn’t have the time (or the confidence in him) to help with his horse sanctuary plan. She’s nicer than Colton about it but she advises him to talk it over with Bonham before he makes any rash decisions and rejects his offer to be a business partner.

The Future

It’s hard to say the ripple effects this would have on the rest of season 3 since we don’t even know the base canon, but I can say what Stella’s journey specifically would be. Aside from focusing on her job, we’ll also see her relationship with Colton grow. I would have them officially living together in their own place by the season 3 finale, possibly even considering marriage.

Season 4 brings more change. Stella likes her work as an EMT but she’s not sure about it as a long-term career. She wants to stay in a medical field and, after doing some research and a little soul-searching, she decides to enroll in a Registered Nurse program. Being an RN will get her a pay bump, a more stable schedule, and still leave her open to be a volunteer Search and Rescue responder. This leads to some drama with Colton because her work and her studies, along with family drama, leave her very little time for him. He’s not getting the support he needs in dealing with running the family ranch, helping Liam with the horse rescue, helping Geri with the Side Step, and dealing with his own family drama after his parents pretty much abandoned him, and his jailbird grandmother decided to butt into his life again. They have a few fights and possibly decide to separate for a while over this issue. By the season 4 finale, they’ve either decided to break things off or have made a stronger commitment to each other and promise they’ll both make time for the other and their issues.

By season 5, Stella has become an RN and gets a job at a local hospital. By the power of TV Magic, she becomes The Nurse that handles every important witness, suspect, or Ranger that the cast needs to visit in the hospital. She’s also the resident expert on drugs of all sorts and helps her father decipher confusing forensic reports. If she and Colton are still together, I think they would either be engaged by the season finale or announcing a pregnancy, possibly both.

Conclusion

Stella Walker is one of the more frustrating members of the Walker family. She’s not my favorite and she’s made a lot of questionable choices that make it hard for me to really like her, but I do think she has her strong points. I just wish the writers would focus more on her development rather than using her as a catalyst for drama. I think the path that the writers currently have her on is riddled with potholes and that she deserves better. That, my friends, is what fanfiction is for. 

One of the most prominent themes throughout the Walkerverse is family. In Walker, the main cast is made up of members of three generations of the Walker family. They are surrounded by other families as well, such as the Davidsons’, the James’ and the Perezes. In Walker: Independence, the biological families of the characters take a backseat but are still prominent, while found-family relationships are more at the forefront.

The family themes scattered throughout the stories of the Walkerverse cover a wide range, from the positive message of how a strong family can support you and build you up into a better version of yourself, to the depressing realization that the people closest to you can hurt you the most. I want to spend a little time talking about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the families in the Walkerverse and what we can learn from them.

Positive Family

By and large, the majority of the familial relationships we see in Walker are positive. Siblings who lift each other up, parents who give sound advice, and spouses who bring out the best in us run rampant in the show. There are almost too many to count but I’ll do my best to cover them all.

Life Partners

There are some very strong married couples showcased in Walker. These couples lift each other up and strive to bring out the best in each other. Their relationship journeys aren’t without bumps but they stand by each other, no matter what. But more than that, they are the lifeblood of their family and support the whole structure.

Bonham and Abeline are probably the best example in the whole show. When we were first introduced to them, their marriage was on the rocks following Abeline’s affair. Over the course of season one, we saw them make apologies to each other and slowly learn to love each other again until they were ready to renew their vows in the season 1 finale. Then, in season 2, we got to celebrate their 40th anniversary and enjoy the fruits of their love as they chose each other every day. Alongside their journey towards healing their marriage, we also got to watch their family heal and grow around them, asserting them as the strong roots of their family. 

Cordell and Emily’s relationship is one that we (unfortunately) haven’t gotten to see much of but we know they loved each other very much. Emily was the somewhat rebellious free spirit to Cordell’s more down to earth personality and they complimented each other well. We also know that Emily was Cordell’s emotional rock (and still is via her figment state). After Emily died, Cordell was lost and their family unit splintered. Cordell went off on an undercover mission for far too long and his kids were left with other family. Even when he returned, he struggled to find his footing within the family without her. It’s not until Cordell gained closure on Emily’s death by bringing her killers to justice that he was able to refocus on his family and start mending the broken bridges between him and his children. 

Larry and Kelly are another couple we’ve seen too little of but they’re still worth mentioning. Though they love each other, Larry’s complete focus on his job drove a wedge between them and eventually Kelly got tired of waiting on him, so they divorced. Over the past couple seasons, we’ve seen them come back together as Larry learns to reconnect with his emotions and get better at communicating them to Kelly. Though his determination in the workforce hasn’t faded, he’s learned to make time for the people who matter most and now they’re on track to get back to where they were before (without all the issues). We’ve also seen DJ flourish under their parenting as he succeeds in school despite being so far away.

Siblings

The Walkerverse also gives us some very strong examples of good siblings. They always have each other’s backs and trust each other with their deepest secrets. They’re not always on the same page and they definitely mess up but ultimately, their love for each other conquers all.

Cordell and Liam are the most prominent sibling duo in the Walkerverse. These brothers have been through a lot together. Emily’s death, Liam’s horrible breakup with Bret, Liam losing his temper and his job, and the two of them surviving Grey Flag together, are a few of the hard times they've endured together. Cordell and Liam have been there to lift each other up for (almost) every step of the way. They’ve both made their fumbles (Liam shutting down Cordell’s concerns about Emily’s murder in season 1, Cordell shutting down Liam’s trauma in season 3), but they always find their way back to each other.

Stella and August have a similar dynamic to their father and uncle with Stella mostly taking the lead on their shenanigans and August usually being happy to go along with it to support her. He was by her side both when they were convincing Cordell he’d fallen asleep at the wheel and when she wanted to steal their mother’s car back from Shannon. But, in the middle of all that, August does feel like Stella gets most of the spotlight and he holds some resentment toward her for that. While she may not understand him, Stella takes her role as his big sister seriously and makes efforts to show him how much she supports him. 

In Walker: Independence, Abigail and Charlotte only got a small bit of the spotlight and their relationship may not be the best but I still felt it was worth a mention. Though they may have had large disagreements over the ethics of using their father’s money and on Liam’s engagement to Charlotte, they are sisters at the end of the day. Abigail may not regret sticking to her principles, but she does regret that in doing so, she caused such a large rift with her sister in the first place. Luckily for her, Charlotte was willing to mend their broken bridge and help her sister hide from the man who killed her husband. 

Siblings throughout the Walkerverse have their ups and downs, some that we wonder if they can ever come back from. But these strong sibling dynamics showcase just how impactful it can be to have someone in your life who knows you better than anyone else.

Intragenerational

The most prominent family dynamic in Walker is, obviously, the Walkers. With three generations living under one roof, there are a lot of opinions and differing family values going on in one home. Abeline and Bonham have different ideas about what parenting styles work best than Cordell does. Bonham has different ideas on what his sons’ futures should look like than they do. Stella and August are often stuck in the middle of spats between the adults in the family. It’s no wonder there’s so much drama that comes out of just the family.

But between the low points, the Walkers have a lot of high points. Regardless of their disagreements, this family has each other’s backs. We’ve already spoken about the siblings, but there are so many other examples of supportive family here. Abeline and Bonham are fiercely protective of both of their sons and quickly jump to their defense, whether the opponent is a criminal organization or a close family friend. Liam was willing to leave behind his life and career in New York to support his niece and nephew while they were dealing with grieving their mother and temporarily losing their father. Abeline and Bonham also step in to help Cordell cover the parenting bases he misses without Emily. And Cordell’s kids know that he will usually come and help them if they call. While the Walkers aren’t a perfect family, their love for each other trumps any disagreements that may come between them and they have a very strong family tree.

We also see an example of this in the modern Davidson family with Gale, Denise, Dan and Colton. Denise and Dan’s marriage was on the rocks for the majority of season two and it looked like Colton was the only thing holding them together. Whether this is healthy or not is debatable but it was clear that they loved their son enough to at least attempt to give him a stable family. We saw that Gale is also involved in keeping her daughter’s marriage together, though she tended to take Dan’s side more often than not.

We, unfortunately, don’t get to see Denise and Colton together very often in the show but his relationship with Dan is very strong and their scenes together are some of my favorite Dan Miller moments. Dan especially went out of his way to not only get Colton special concert tickets but expressed that he was okay with his son pursuing a relationship with Stella, even if she is from the rival family. They may not be the perfect family but they do have their strong points.

Non-related Family

But family doesn’t stop where the DNA ends. Strong family can also be found in the friendships around us. The Ranger crew in Walker and the whole Scooby gang in Walker: Independence are great examples of that.

Partners, Past and Present

Cordell Walker has been quick to adopt his partners as family throughout the show and even pre-canon. Larry James is known as “Uncle Larry” to Stella and August, and Cordell also has uncle privileges with Larry’s son DJ. Micki Ramirez and Cassie Perez were also both quickly brought into the fold of the Walker family. Micki had her family status confirmed after Walker took his temporary leave of absence in season 1 and Cassie was (perhaps a little too quickly) welcomed into the family to help fight against the Davidsons.

There is another family dynamic present within the rangers as a unit, one that has become especially prevalent in season 3. Larry, Trey, Cordell, and Cassie make up their own little family unit with clearly defined roles. Captain Larry James easily slides into the role of a father trying to keep his children under control (“Excuse me, three-year-olds!” anyone?). Cordell is the oldest child, ready and waiting to make his father proud and keep the other two in line. Trey is the middle child, still trying to find his footing in the family and in life. Cassie is the youngest child full of spunk and eager to prove herself while the rest of the group tries to coddle and protect her. An honorable mention goes to Micki Ramirez, the veritable eldest daughter who was tasked with taking care of an older “sibling” because Dad told her to.

Kate and Hagan

While most of the Walker: Independence gang could be considered some level of found family, I couldn’t find a clear family dynamic among the whole group. They are all very good friends, but I wouldn’t classify them in that way. However, there is a very clear father-daughter bond between Kate and Hagan that more than deserves the recognition.

As early 1.02 (“Home to a Stranger”), we saw an easy banter between the two of them and it was a joy to watch. While this initially came off as them just being very close, 1.04 (“Pax Romana”) cemented a different, deeper dynamic. Hagan fought Teresa Davidson on selling the hotel no matter how much money she offered and even after a threat to his own life. But then, when she threatened Kate, he folded and signed the ownership over to Tom. He was willing to die on this hill, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice Kate’s life. Mark Sheppard stated that Hagan saw Kate as a daughter and this episode made that crystal clear, and Kate’s reaction to finding this out is the perfect portrayal of a child feeling betrayed by a parent.

When Hagan returned in 1.10 (“All In”), their reunion was rocky but enjoyable nonetheless. After they did a little conning to help Lucia, Hagan told Kate about his plans to keep traveling and Kate was nearly in tears when she offered to go with him. She missed him deeply and, as much as Hagan may have wanted her to come with him to see the world, he gave her a little fatherly advice: to quit running from herself and use that spunk of hers to keep the spirit of Hagan's alive.

All this comes full circle in the finale episode, when we learned that Hagan insisted on a clause that would shift ownership of the hotel to Kate if Tom was ever unable to manage it. Hagan never stopped fighting for Kate, even when he was cornered, and found a way to leave his legacy to her.

Overbearing Family

While, generally speaking, family is meant to lift you up, even the most well-meaning people can go about things in the wrong way. And, of course, those who don’t mean well are bound to make a few missteps. These people fall under the umbrella of overbearing family members. Our Walkerverse examples here are: Abeline Walker, and the Reyes’.

(S)Mothering

Abeline Walker is a mother through and through, even though both of her sons are adults and forming families of their own. It is her natural instinct to meddle and, while it does sometimes lead to good things, sometimes it rubs people the wrong way. Her fights with her brother are one example, but the most prominent thread of this is how she inserts herself in Cordell's parenting.

It’s almost a staple of the show that Abby will take almost any opportunity to insert herself in a situation and dynamic that doesn’t directly involve her. The earliest example of this was 1.02 (“Back in the Saddle”) when she pressured Cordell into fully moving onto the ranch when he wanted to move back to his own house. This behavior has continued throughout the series, with Abby taking a motherly role with Stella and August and overriding Cordell’s own parenting (much to his annoyance). One of the more extreme examples of her interference was during the incident regarding August’s party, when she not only overrode Cordell’s decision to leave Stella in the cells overnight, but also called into his work and got him a day off to sort himself out. While this may have been the right choice to make (especially in regards to Stella), it clearly annoyed Cordell to the point where he doubled down on refusing to listen to Stella's story.

There’s nothing wrong with Abby caring for her children and her family. The problem is when she oversteps her boundaries and smothers them. Her near-constant interference in her son’s life has often lead to conflict between them. Cordell gets annoyed when Abby oversteps her boundaries and inserts her own parenting values into his family. It's disrespectful and it impacts his relationship with his kids in ways he can't control. However, it is worth mentioning that he does little to establish and enforce this boundary with her despite how often he gets annoyed with her crossing it.

Familial Pressure

In Walker: Independence, it can be argued that Francis and Anna Maria Reyes simply want what is best for their daughter (and I think we can all agree that Hoyt Rawlins does not fall into that category). However, the way they go about doing it is by stifling her and pressuring her into a life that she doesn’t believe she can be happy with. Refusing to let her sing at Hagan’s and making snide remarks about her choice in boyfriends are just a few things that push her away and make her feel trapped in the family.

From Francis and Anna Maria’s perspective, they’re just looking out for her. They see the way Hoyt breaks Lucia’s heart and they want better for her. And, as much as she may enjoy singing, they worry about the kind of crowd Hagan’s attracts and for her safety. There’s nothing wrong with them worrying for her and wanting her to find a better, safer path in life, but pushing her at Calian and just telling her “No” without explaining why aren't methods that Lucia appreciates. We see through her talks with her mother and Calian that she feels stifled by her parents' actions. She knows they love her and want what's best for her, but she also wishes they would listen to her opinion on that.

There’s nothing wrong with family loving you, but when they overstep their boundaries and assert dominance without reason, they can cause more harm than any good they may intend.

Absentee family

While overstepping family members can be troublesome, absentee family can be just as bad, if not worse. Two great examples of how absentee family can affect the most vulnerable members of the family are given to us in the show: Clay Cooper and Kevin Golden; and Cordell and August Walker.

Abandonment

Walker didn’t give us much chance to explore the relationship between Clay and Kevin and how it got to be so broken but we know enough about what happened to talk about it and speculate how it affected both of them. Based on the dialog between Kevin and Clay during their confrontation in 3.15 (“False Flag Part Two”), we know that they came from an abusive household and Clay promised to help Kevin escape from it when he came back from Afghanistan. Clay didn’t come back and was believed to be KIA, leaving Kevin alone in an abusive home.

This, unfortunately, led Kevin down a bad path. Kevin grew disillusioned with The System that once offered him so much and was attracted to domestic terrorism both as a means of revenge and as a place to belong, something his family couldn’t offer him. If Clay had returned home or if Kevin had found the support he needed from somewhere else, he might have avoided this dark and dangerous road.

Neglect

The situation between Cordell and August is not as dire as what we saw between Clay and Kevin but it’s very similar. Cordell has been neglecting August in favor of work drama, Stella, and several other issues since the pilot.

August made a few minor cries for help over that time and Cordell did stop to listen to him for a moment, to give him some reassurance and maybe some guidance, but that wouldn’t last for long. By the next episode, he would be back to worrying about a million other things and August would go to the backburner. August was able to deal with it for a long time but when Stella chose not to go to college and August wasn’t granted “his year” in the spotlight, there was a noticeable change in his behavior. Well, noticeable to everyone who wasn’t Cordell at least.

August still did try to remain “August the Noble” but after Cordell failed to come to the alumni football game, something snapped and August threw a party on family property in a last-ditch effort to get Dad’s attention. When this failed, his disrespectful behavior and arrogance ramped up significantly and he started lashing out at the rest of his family. This eventually culminated in the big outburst during the Thanksgiving dinner when Cordell was slapped in the face with just how far August had fallen from grace over the course of season 3 and how blind he’d let himself be to it. Following this, Cordell made promises to help August, which he failed to deliver on, and August ended up finding guidance in other male figures in his life, including the questionable Kevin Golden.

While there is a strong parallel between Cordell neglecting August and Clay abandoning Kevin, Cordell still has a chance to make things right between them. I hope the writers will set a little time aside to let this happen or at least make a reference to off-screen bonding. I want to make it clear that this is not a direct comparison between Cordell and Clay, and Kevin and August, but rather pointing out a clear parallel set out by the narrative. Cordell and Clay especially are set to be foils of each other, with both of them on a rough path, feeling as if their families don't need them, and learning the hard way why that's not true.

The takeaway from all this is that, no matter how mature your child might act, they’re not going to figure out how to be an adult on their own. It’s the responsibility of a parent (or at least a parental figure) to help the child learn and grow. When children, especially boys, lack a strong parental figure and support system, they find one wherever they can, even if it’s not in a good place. Cordell and the rest of the Walker family may have saved August from following in Kevin’s footsteps, but that still got a little too close for comfort.

Abusive Family

The worst of the worst when it comes to family are abusers. Abusive family can come in many shapes in sizes and the Walkerverse gives us a decent diversity with at least one example from each show. From Walker, I’m going to refer to Gale and Marv and from Walker: Independence, we have Stella Rawlins and the Davidson clan.

Present Davidsons

We didn’t get much more than a taste of Marv and we got more than we could really handle of Gale but it goes without saying that these two did not have a happy marriage and hardly presented a happy home life. We know that they made no effort to protect Denise from their marriage problems and Marv openly paraded his previous relationship with Abeline in front of everyone. Not exactly a happy household for Denise to grow up in. (No wonder she ended up like that…..) Going beyond that, Marv’s deceit about handing Geri over to Frank Broussard and Gale’s deceit about Cordell’s involvement with the barn fire don’t exactly earn them points as parents of the year.

Past Davidsons

I could fill an entire article with all the problems presented with the 1870s Davidson family and I would love to go in-depth on them and how they shaped Tom into being the man he is, but I just don’t have the space for more than a very quick overview.

To begin with, both Aunt Teresa and Tom’s father are incredibly manipulative people. From what we’ve seen of Teresa, she’s overbearing and micromanages both Tom and Shane. She also plays Tom and Shane against each other, telling both brothers that they’re more competent than the other and she can only rely on them to do the job right. This is how she convinced Tom to take over the sheriff’s job in Independence and how she got Shane to follow through on killing Liam. She also uses Tom’s stay in the asylum and how she rescued him from it as a leash to keep him in line, a favor to constantly hold over his head.

Tom’s father is an invisible presence in the show but we can feel his influence through Tom. We know he’s a “hard man to please” and that he wasn’t exactly a loving father to either of his sons. He was physically abusive to Tom over small infractions and he left Shane feeling unloved and unnoticed in comparison to his brother. There’s also the heavy implication that he actively sabotaged Tom’s love life to keep him in line and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who arranged Tom’s stay in the asylum to make him more obedient.

In the end, Tom ended up the way he did because his family tore him down, stripped away his individuality, and rebuilt him into being someone they could use. What’s worse, is that Tom has learned that this abuse is love and has continued the cycle of abuse with Abigail. As he said in his confession during 1.13 ("Let Him Hang"), he shattered Abby's life by killing her husband and, in her vulnerable state, gave her purpose - all of this as an act of love mirroring the way Aunt Teresa saved him from the asylum (that she may or may not have arranged for him to be put in).

Stella Rawlins

Stella Rawlins may have loved her son but that didn’t stop her from hurting Hoyt in her own special way. We may have gotten only one scene with them in 1.12 (“How We Got Here”) but that was more than enough to show us their dynamic and all the problems within.

Ignoring the multitude of issues that go along with raising a child in a life of crime, Stella’s treatment of Hoyt can only be described as abuse. Within the first minute of their scene together, we see Stella disregarding Hoyt’s feelings about wanting a home and twisting his thoughts against him ("You tired of seeing the world with me? You wanna put down roots and quit living?", emotionally manipulating him into staying with her in their life of crime, and treating robbing a bank like a game. While we don’t get any background on why Stella chose to become an outlaw, I think it’s fair to say that the only reasons she brought Hoyt along with her was to use him as a distraction and to gain sympathy from other people. In doing so, she isolated him from other people, including a family that would care for him and give him a home, and made him the person solely responsible for her emotional and mental well-being. Stella does care for Hoyt in her own way, I won't deny that, but there's no denying just how much she hurt him by denying him a home and a family for her own selfish wants.

While Hoyt may have found a home with the Reyes family after his mother’s arrest, we can still see the effects of Stella’s parenting. The trauma he got from not only losing his father before he even knew him and from watching his mother being dragged away by lawmen, created a man who has trouble putting down roots and navigating committed relationships.

Conclusion

Whether your family is as supportive as the Walkers or as destructive as the Davidsons, family has a way of shaping you into the person you are when you leave the nest. Once you leave, the platonic family you run into in your social life can continue to change you. Family gives you your strengths and your weaknesses and witnesses your highs and your lows. The Walkerverse has, in my opinion, done a great job of showcasing a variety of familial relationships, from good to bad to worse, and how they affect us all.