Well, well, well! Things are progressing quite a bit on the professional front and the personal front, for Cassie at the very least! And to the latter I say, it's about time!!! But, before I jump the gun and get to that, let me go all the way back to the beginning. The episode picks up right where we left off at the end of last week's as it tends to most of the time; which I find is actually a good thing, instead of jumping forward ahead by a full day or even a whole week, the show keeps the pace going with the same level of intensity that the ending of each previous episode tends to have. And in doing so, the show manages to continue keep the ball rolling, so to speak. Walker and Trey bring James over to the ranch where their "murder board" investigation is - red string and all! Once he's filled in on everything that they've been doing, it's time to bring things out in the open, with a press conference even!
Now that it's all hands on deck, the investigation into discovering who the Jackal is and putting an end to his reign of terror - the second time around - has kicked into full gear. Capt. James, Walker, Trey, Cassie and Det. Luna are working together - except for the fact that now we have reached the stage where Walker and James are on the outs; we're talking full on cold shoulder from the former partners and best friends even. And though James seems to be telling everyone that he's trying to set boundaries and keep his work and personal life separate, the question we should be asking is, who is he trying to convince with that? Walker and Kelly or himself? At first, it seemed as if the shoutout to Maybelline was just a nice way to callback to her appearance and her "connection" with Trey, sending him (and the others) a gift basket, but the ending showed us that it was the first step or shall we say final perhaps, to James falling back into the same patterns that led to things getting dark the last time?
"We've Been Here Before" - WALKER, Pictured: Coby Bell as Larry James: Rebecca Brenneman/TheCW© 2024 All Rights Reserved
Speaking of patterns, the team doesn't seem to find something that connects all the victims together. On the surface, we find out that none of the people who were targeted by the Jackal have anything in common, until James finds out there is a potential lead - he meets with the son of one of the victims, Henry Moore, who was referenced last week on the tapes that Cassie listened to and we find out that his dad was addicted to drugs, which was also the case for our latest victim from episode 4, Amy Smith's mom, Tara... so the Jackal seems to be potentially going after drug addicts in the Texas area; and after a case of a mistaken identity on Henry's part, thinking that one of his customer's at the car garage he works at is the Jackal, Walker and James find a picture of who very well just might be the real perpetrator. Of course it's blurry and doesn't look like anyone we know - yet? But it looks like they have more leads to work with than they had before!
Over at the Side Step where Trey, Cassie and Luna have relocated to, in order to take a break for a bit, but also continue working the case of course. Just before they leave Ranger HQ though, we get to see what I would say was very obvious flirting from Luna's side when he accepted Cassie and Trey's offer to join them for lunch! Still, first things first, they do manage to discuss the case and find a plausible theory that Cassie thinks could hold some weight in how the Jackal does things very meticulously, step by step, almost as if he's working off a checklist (raise your hands if that's actually creeping you out!) before he finishes off his victims... but then of course we get another charged moment between Luna and Cassie, which Trey definitely picks up on, even if they temporarily seem to forget that he was at the same table with them, given all of the longing stares that they exchanged! Justin and Ashley have really strong chemistry with each other and given her past history with Kevin (who was also name dropped in the episode!), I reallllly hope that Det. Luna is someone that Cassie can feel safe with and open up to and just have a good time with!
"We've Been Here Before" - WALKER, Pictured: (L-R) Justin Johnson Cortez as David Luna, Ashley Reyes as Cassie Perez: Rebecca Brenneman/TheCW© 2024 All Rights Reserved
Elsewhere in the episode, Stella is still focused on the search for the mysterious necklace for the mysterious lady who hired Witt to find it; and when she calls Liam to cancel on him to join him at the horse rescue, he ends getting thrown off his ATV while he tries to contact Ben! Which is the perfect reminder that you should never call while driving vehicles of any kind, especially ones that have no seatbelts! At least he had a helmet? Perhaps one could see the bright side in Liam's injury, when he steps in on Geri's meeting with an influencer who wants to open up a second Side Step location(!!!!) but not in Oklahoma City as Geri wants, saving her from a contract that was totally not on the up and up, the disastrous meeting turns into a good thing for both of them? With Geri deciding that she wants to open the Side Step in OKC on her own and Liam still thinking about being a lawyer and using his license and skills and knowledge to help people, things might be changing and for the better?
While working with Abeline and Bonham leads Stella and Augie to discover that the necklace they're hunting for was made in the 1800s most likely; which in turn, after a little digging, turns up the name Ophelia Rawlins (cue my shocked face, seriously) it looks like we might be getting a tie-in to WIndy??? Or at the very least, it's a reference and I will take what I can get! Circling back to the ending with our different pairings, Kelly and James seem to have a good talk at first, but once we realize that he's taken to alcohol again, we know that things are going to start spiraling from here on out. Geri and Walker seem to be going strong and supportive of each other, which leaves us with...... Cassie and Luna! Both of them end up at Geri's place after Trey heads out for the night after their time at Side Step, and even though we get a little hint of something between them that they want to act on, nothing happens that night... but! the next morning, Cassie wakes up to a surprise of double roasted coffee beans which Luna not only had listened to her talking about the previous day, but also figured out the secret to what her preference is, and just when we thought that maybe he had left, he returned for a kiss! And I think that was just... neat!
"We've Been Here Before" - WALKER, Pictured: Jared Padalecki as Cordell Walker: Rebecca Brenneman/TheCW© 2024 All Rights Reserved
Over to you folks! What was the highlight of the episode for you? Are we thinking that the Rawlins necklace means that someone who knew Hoyt might be the mysterious woman searching for it? How long will it take for either Walker or Kelly to figure out that James is going over to the dark side again? And do we want Cassie and Luna together or Cassie and Trey?
