Posted this to reddit yesterday here 😊 Spoilers for Walker up to ep 2.
So there are questions I have about the status quo as of S1E2 that could be solved with a big corruption-within-the-force story.
Emily dies (read: may have died) and they quickly find the killer, and yeah maybe he's the guy who pulled the trigger but how did that guy find her when Walker had told her the safe routes? This is still a mystery! Episode 2 did not wrap it up, unlike the other 2 mysteries of the Poker Chip and the Closed Eyes.
Next, it's highly suspect that Walker's thrown straight into an undercover operation that takes him 10 months to see through. Like, who got him that gig? Why do they hate him and his family? "I'm gonna take this career cop away from a stable life while he grieves his recently-deceased wife, rip him from his kids (they prolly don't need him anyway right?), and make him risk his life undercover."
And ok so maybe I've only been informed by The Departed and Johnny Brasco when it comes to undercover officers, but it stands to reason too that undercover cops are supposed to be young or at least with very few ppl waiting up for them, and expected to burn out/retire once their cover's up. So, I have a whole buncha questions to ask about who would've greenlit Walker for that. Extra questions about how he's back on the force afterwards? Are we not afraid of retribution from those he put behind bars (or their family)? He's kind of identifiable; he has a striking appearance and he's like 6'4. He could very easily get made if he's as visible as a Texas Ranger.
So idk, I can only conclude it's kinda bad writing that a corrupt-higher-up stupidly thought an undercover gig would take Walker's mind off the things that don't make sense about Emily's death, would cool him down, chill him out.
...and it would be super funny if the villain gets taken down by a flawed understanding of grief psychology. Bc they sent Walker undercover for him to get him away from the case, to chill out but really they just got him to press 'pause' on his entire friggin life. As time passed, they felt its passage, and think water is streaming under that bridge. They lull themselves into complacency Walker's gonna come back having come to terms with his wife's death.
Meanwhile Walker's like nowhere even close to that. He's busy pretending to be someone else, actively not processing anything bc he's compartmentalizing. And when Walker returns to Austin, psychologically presses 'play' on Emily, it's literally as though she'd just died a month or two prior for him.
nobodylikedthat.jpg, but especially the ppl who'd sent him undercover to stop him from doing that very dang thing 😂
To bring it back to the brilliant irony of a villain getting taken down by a flawed understanding of grief psychology. Immediately after Emily's death, all parties involved may have been stressed, cagey, wouldn't talk or maybe even had a script memorized down pat. But 10 months later? Another questioning about that murder case which was solved? Probably not.
So it's like if the villain had just let Walker freak out and investigate Emily's death at the same time everybody else was, his issues might've been put to bed. But now it's 10 months later, and Walker's got the same passion as he would've had 1-2ish months after her death, and he's in a fantastic position, time-wise, to shake some trees and discover some mysterious discrepancies about Emily's death bc nobody's expecting him to ask anymore ("It's been so looong Walker, what are you doingggg")
Kind of a sidebar: as for suspects, there was that older gentleman in the pilot who attended Walker's homecoming while Walker was drinking at the DWG (Dead Wife Gazebo). I think he must've been Walker's police contact while undercover? There was something about how he really praised Walker for everything he did undercover. So that fuckin guy. I don't trust that guy. 😂
Sub-sidebar note: I wrote this like I think Emily's dead but I'm really hoping Emily's not dead. Most of this is about Cordell's grief though, and for sure in this series so far he definitely thinks she's dead as a doornail .