For nine seasons in the 1990s and 2000s, Chuck Norris gave revolving kicks and lessons in morality as the title character of the CBS police drama Walker, Texas Ranger. Still broadcasting several times a day on local digital channels and basic cable networks, Walker, Texas Ranger it is a relic of a bygone era, when the TV policemen were uncomplicated benefactors, with no inner life, and each case was easily solved in an hour (less commercials) by means of a few punches and a severe conversation. The show ended less than 20 years ago, but it seems much more outdated than that.
So redoing Walker, Texas Ranger in 2021 is a strange prospect, and the creators of the new CW version (simply titled Walker) don’t seem to have any control over how to update this extremely square premise to the present day, at least in the first episode, which was the only one provided for review. SupernaturalJared Padalecki plays the title character, a far more distressing version than the impassive and taciturn man of Norris’ law. Cordell Walker of Padalecki comes with a lot of family baggage, starting with the mysterious murder of his wife Emily (Genevieve Padalecki), which is obviously being created as an ongoing plot.
walkerThe first episode begins with Walker and Emily breaking up before she is killed, and when Walker tells her to “be safe” before leaving, it is a clear sign that she is about to die. Walker sits down with his teenage sons August (Kale Culley) and Stella (Violet Brinson) and his parents (Mitch Pileggi and Molly Hagan) for a healthy game night, but then he gets an urgent call from Emily and hears shots in the background. When he tries to call her back and gets no response, he lets out a hilarious, masculine cry of sadness, which is just a little less subtle than any other emotional moment in the episode.
Ten months later, Walker has just returned from a secret mission and is getting drunk in a park where he and Emily used to spend time together. His family resents his absence, during which Walker’s parents and brother Liam (Keegan Allen) had to step in to raise their children, and his new partner Ranger Micki Ramirez (The 100(Lindsey Morgan) admonishes him to follow the rules and not hinder his chances of success at Rangers, dominated by white men. These are all superficial problems that seem easily solved by a few moments of sincere union, and there is nothing complex about walker, whether in the plot or character development.
In addition to all of Walker’s trauma, the first episode offers a superficial case of the week, with Walker and Ramirez investigating a roadside attack on a patrol officer. Series writer and creator Anna Fricke barely pays attention to rudimentary investigation, which serves mainly to provide some fight scenes (yes, there is a circular kick) and to define future plots about a generic drug cartel threat. There is no suspense or mystery in the basic history of solving crimes, and there is nothing attractive about the possibilities of more generic action by the drug cartel.
The Walker family drama is no better, though, with its family rebel teenage daughter – who is arrested for using unspecified substance at a party – and disapproving but loving parents who, of course, all just want what is best one To the other. They are upset with Walker for running away and getting involved in an affair, rather than dealing with Emily’s death, but the emotions are broad and simplistic, communicated in rude speeches with as much subtlety as, well, a circular kick.
The original Walker, Texas Ranger was known for his conservative outlook, and Fricke tries to add a more progressive tone to this version, bringing Ramirez as a pioneering Mexican Ranger and giving Walker a gay brother (although Liam’s partner is off-screen and only briefly mentioned in this episode article). There is even a secondary plot about Walker trying to help the undocumented immigrant parents of Stella’s best friend. When Walker’s father makes a somewhat insensitive remark over dinner, the other family members quickly correct him. While the original show took place in Dallas, the remake takes place in the more liberal Austin, and the creators seem committed to representing the growing diversity of Texas.
They are doing it in the same extravagant and exaggerated way as everything else on the show, however. walkerThe political point of view may be slightly updated, but everything else about the show seems musty and affected, completely out of place with the shows of the modern genre that are the current trademark of the CW. This version of walker would fit easily into CBS, and it’s hard to imagine that Supernatural fans who follow Padalecki on this new show will be happy with anything about it, other than just seeing his face on the screen again.
Padalecki fits awkwardly in the role, which is not the stoic action hero Norris played, but neither is it a complex and imperfect protagonist. Walker’s fixation on his dead wife is manifested in diaphanous, Hallmark-style visions, of her taking care of him and his family, giving Padaleckis the chance to look at each other with longing.
The first episode of walker it is tied to an origin story, and future episodes may branch out more, with more interesting cases and more developed supporting characters. But there’s very little here to indicate the type of layered world-building that marks the best CW shows, whether it’s the Arrowverse superhero series or Riverdale or Supernatural. walker is a mushy and old-fashioned police show, and giving him a slightly awake facelift and putting him on The CW doesn’t change that.
Starring Jared Padalecki, Lindsey Morgan, Keegan Allen, Mitch Pileggi, Molly Hagan, Violet Brinson, Kale Culley, Coby Bell and Jeff Pierre, Walker opens Thursday, January 21 at 8 pm ET / PT on the CW.
