The show must go on at Hagan’s — even after Hagan is indisposed.
Warning: This is an overview of Episode 104 of Walker: Independence, so there will be scads of spoilers here. We strongly recommend that you not read this if you have not yet watched the episode.
And now for something completely different: Walker: Independence — The Musical. Well, kinda-sorta. What are we to make of this? Here are our five takeaways from “Pax Romana,” Episode 104 of Walker: Independence.
Takeaway No. 1
This week’s episode picked up right where last week’s episode left off, with Abby (Katherine McNamara) questioning her new roomie Kate (Katie Findlay) about the gun she found among Kate’s belongings — while pointing said firearm in Kate’s general direction. Cool heads, not hot lead, settled the situation: Kate revealed she is a Pinkerton agent keeping tabs on Sheriff Tom (Greg Hovanessian) and his family as they connive to take over Independence, and Abby revealed her plans to bring Sheriff Tom to justice, one way or the other, for killing her husband before her very eyes in a late-night ambush while they were traveling to town. (Remember: The late spouse, not Tom, was supposed to fill the job of lawman.) Pretty soon, Abby also introduced Kate to Hoyt Rollins (Matt Barr) and Calian (Justin Johnson Cortez) as her comrades — and, truth to tell, Kate didn’t appear particularly impressed with their potential as allies. By the end of the episode, however, the initially skeptical Pinkerton had to admit that she and Abby would need all the help they could get to take down Tom — and his apparently even more dangerous aunt, the manipulative Teresa Davidson. Nobody said anything as rousing as “Avengers Assemble!” But Hoyt did observe: “And then there were four!”
Takeaway No. 2
Nate Hagan (Mark Sheppard) and Kate had big plans for a spectacular Founders Day show on stage at Hagan’s saloon. And they weren’t going to let little things like the trashing of the dancehall girls’ costumes, or Hagan being laid low after unwittingly swigging liquor laced with cyanide, get in their way. Indeed, Kate actually said — only half-jokingly — “The show must go on!” And she made good on those words by having restaurateur/laundry owner Kai (Lawrence Kao), revealing a heretofore untapped talent for fashion design, stitch together some downright dandy duds for the dancing ladies. But wait there’s more: During the weirdest sequence yet in the series, Kate donned a… well, did you ever see Marlene Dietrich decked out in a man’s tuxedo and strutting her stuff in the 1930 classic Morocco (1930)? That’s the iconic look Kate went for here while shaking her money-maker, swanning with the girls, and singing a self-composed song designed to rattle Tom, and embarrass him in front of the town fathers, by not-so-subtly referencing the mystery surrounding the new sheriff in town. (Think Hamlet — “The play’s the thing to catch the conscience of the king!” — crossed with Sally Bowles of Cabaret.) And if all that weren’t enough, even Hoyt played his part in the evening’s entertainment with a dazzling display of gun juggling that concluded with his playfully aiming his weapons at Sheriff Tom. Not surprisingly, the sheriff was not amused by any of this activity.
Takeaway No. 3
Unfortunately, while all of the was going on downstairs, poor Hagan was upstairs in his sickbed, ill-equipped to continue rejecting Aunt Teresa’s demands that he sell his saloon to the Davidson family. Her thinly veiled threat that bodily harm might befall Kate — whom Hagan has been crushing on — sealed the deal for him to sign the paper. You can’t help wondering whether Hagan would have felt so protective of Kate if he’d known she was really a gun-toting Pinkerton. And whether Kate would have been so hard on the guy for selling out if she’d known he did it all for love.
Takeaway No. 4
Under the pretext of buying perfumed soap for Aunt Teresa in Austin as a favor for Sheriff Tom, Abby and Hoyt uncovered evidence that the wicked lady had been setting things in motion with a judge to have Tom named sheriff days before Abby’s husband met his maker. Possibly more important, however, was the scene where, along en route to Austin, Abby stripped to her undies and swam in a secluded lake just to prove to Hoyt that — nyah! nyah! nyah! — she really could be a free spirit. Hoyt joined her in the water, but stopped far short of following through on what appeared to be the prelude to a kiss. Meanwhile, Calian sure seemed to be getting mighty friendly with Hoyt’s supposed sweetie, Lucia (Gabriela Quezada), as they sat beneath a sky full of stars and talked about their problems with their respective families. To cap things off, Calian encouraged Lucia to do the can-can-style dance that she really wanted to do (and her parents really, really didn’t want her to do) during the Founders Day show at Hagan’s. Mark my words: At this rate, I bet we have an all-singing, all-dancing episode of Walker: Independence before this season ends.
Takeaway No. 5
On a more serious note: Kai was confronted by a very unwelcome visitor from his past, whiskey drummer Amos Acorn (Travis Hammer), a slimy piece of work armed with the knowledge that, when he wasn’t dreaming of designing dresses or establishing restaurants, Kai could be one badass dude. Specifically: Years earlier in San Francisco, Kai rescued a young woman from involuntary servitude at a bordello and, in the course of his derring-do, killed two criminal Tongs who operated the brothel. Now, wouldn’t it be a shame if the other Tongs found out where Kai was laying low these days? Kai reluctantly turned over all his savings in return for Amos’ silence. But when the dirtbag returned another shakedown, Kai came very close to sticking something sharp into Amos’ gut when he was interrupted — providentially? — by the arrival of Sheriff Tom, who demanded that Amos stop bothering the good people of Independence, and promised to shoot him on sight if he ever saw him again. Naturally, Amos took flight. (Of course, there’s always the possibility that his next stop will be Tong Headquarters in Frisco, but that’s a story for another day.) And yet, just in case any viewers were foolish enough to think Sheriff Tom was actually doing his job as a keeper of the peace, his final words to Kai — “Don’t forget what happened here tonight!” — suggested he was more interested in collecting favors (and, probably, pleasing Aunt Teresa) than protecting citizens.
