Faith is the tenth episode of the Ninth Season of Walker, Texas Ranger. It aired December 16, 2000.
Dionne Berry, a friend of Walker and Alex's, was once a professional singer, but had to quit to take care of her granddaughter, Faith, since the death of her daughter (Faith's mother) due to a drug overdose and nobody having met the father. Worse yet, Faith was diagnosed with a life-threatening genetic liver disorder and is in need of a life-saving liver transplant when it starts to give out during a charity fundraiser at the H.O.P.E. Center. When a donor is finally found, it is on its way via an ambulance, but when a gang of bank-robbers have their vehicle damaged following the robbery, they steal the ambulance with the liver in it and take one of the paramedics hostage. With Faith at death's door and feeling the symptoms, the Rangers have very little time to catch the robbers, rescue the kidnapped EMT and recover the liver.
Tropes seen in this episode:
- Amicable Exes: Subverted. When the Rangers look up information on Toby, they find he is listed as married, but separated for over a year, with his wife, Rachel, working as a bartender at a strip joint. After Gage and Sydney arrest Lester Squigman, who cooperates, Rachel is able to provide Walker and Trivette the address as to where the barn is located, and Walker and Trivette get a chopper there.
- Anyone Can Die: The body count consists of one paramedic (killed by the Burner Brothers and Randy) and the Burner Boys and Randy themselves (killed when they lose control of their car, causing it to go up in smoke).
- Asshole Victim: The Burner Boys and Randy meet a fiery end after they lose control of their wagon while being chased by Trivette and the kidnapped paramedic after Walker recovers the liver.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The Burner Brothers (Toby and Dwight), Randy Delany and Lester Squigman.
- Big "NO!": From Dwight when he loses control of the car, skidding into a trailer full of hay bales, sending said car flying, at which point he, Toby and Randy meet a fiery end.
- Billy Needs an Organ: The premise of the episode has the titular Faith suffering from a life-threatening genetic liver disorder and is in need of a life-saving transplant. After two weeks, a donor is finally found.
- Caught on Tape: After the robbers steal the ambulance, Walker and Trivette visit the scene of the crime and manage to find Toby's gun in the storm drain (having left it behind due to his arm injury), and with the serial number, Sydney and Gage trace it back to the gun shop where he brought it. Considering his long history of crime, Toby brought it under the alias of Barry Joseph, and when Trivette checks the records (name, address and BATF number), they turn up fake, but security cameras help clear things up. Good thing the gun shop owner is a friendly and sociable person and doesn't take kindly to customers who lie to him, and the Rangers are more than happy to give the Burner boys what for once they find them and recover the liver.Gage: Sir, we're going to need to take this tape.
Shop Owner Ray: Be my guest. Teach that fella a lesson for lying to me! - Character Title: The title character is Faith Berry.
- Evil Versus Evil: The Burner Brothers may have a proud history of crime, but they, and their buddy, Randy, made a mistake doing business with loan shark Lester Squigman. Squigman lent them a large amount of money and the three plan to pay it off by robbing a bank before fleeing to Mexico.
- Face Death with Dignity: Played straight and invoked with Faith at death's door due to her liver giving out, and shortly after the ambulance containing the donated liver is stolen, her current liver starts failing rapidly as doctors expected and she begins to feel the symptoms from fluids in her lungs to unconsciousness to a profuse nosebleed. Having already lost her daughter (Faith's mother), Dionne is not ready to lose her granddaughter. Quickly subverted, however, because Walker and Trivette found the robbers' hideout and recovered the liver.
- He Knows Too Much / Leave No Witnesses: A staple for most of the villains in the show, one paramedic is killed when the Burner Brothers steal the ambulance, then they threaten to kill the other while and after forcing him to treat Toby, who broke his arm in a motor vehicle accident (colliding with a pickup truck) after the robbery, but Walker and Trivette arrive just in time before they could kill him.
- The Heavy: Lester Squigman has Boyd.
- Just Got Out of Jail: Prior to the events of the episode, Dwight was just released from prison, having already violated his parole.
- Just in Time:
- Before the Burner Brothers could kill the paramedic they kidnapped, Walker and Trivette intervene. Walker recovers the organ and takes it to the hospital, while Trivette and the paramedic chase down the Burner boys in the ambulance.
- While Faith is at death's door as her symptoms worsen and with doctors preparing for surgery, Walker arrives at the hospital in time with the recovered liver and the operation is successful.
- Lazy Alias: The alias Toby uses to buy his gun illegally is "Barry Joseph".
- Like Father, Like Son: When Dionne and Faith sing at the HOPE Center's charity fundraiser, Gage remarks that they sound like professionals; Alex mentions that Dionne was a professional singer, until she retired to raise Faith since the death of her mother (Dionne's daughter) and nobody having met the father.
- Loan Shark: Lester Squigman to a T, and he and Sydney have a long history. Before she became a Ranger, Sydney busted him for this crime three years prior, but it's quite obvious he hasn't learned his lesson. When Sydney and Gage look for the Burner Brothers and Randy at Toby's apartment, they find Lester and his heavy, Boyd, waiting for them (the brothers and Randy), as they owe him a vast sum of money he lent them. It is during Sydney and Gage's visit, Squigman and Boyd are beaten down hard, and then arrested by the two Rangers. Lester cooperates and tells them about their barnyard hideout. As Sydney and Gage try to find information of the Burner Brothers' location, Walker and Trivette try to find what they can get from Rachel.
- MacGuffin: The donated liver for Faith. It once belonged to a young Fort Worth girl named Sherry Jones, who was killed by being hit by a car, and when her parents heard about Faith, they wanted to donate their deceased daughter's organ. After robbing a bank, the Burner Brothers and Randy hit a truck that happens to be in the path of the ambulance containing the liver, causing Toby, who was driving, to break his arm. The robbers then steal the ambulance after killing one paramedic and taking the other hostage, needing him to tend to Toby's injury. The robbers, during this time, have no knowledge of or any particular interest in the organ. After Walker recovers the liver in time for the successful operation, he was able to track down the parents and bring them to the HOPE Center so Faith can thank them.
- Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad: Faith's mother, Dionne's daughter, passed away of a drug overdose when Faith was just a little baby and nobody ever met her father; as such, Dionne retired being a professional singer to raise her.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Burner Brothers.
- Siblings in Crime: Dwight and Toby Burner have a proud history of crime, from the proper attire for robbers (ski masks and gloves, so no prints are left) to stealing cars (the car used in the robbery was reported stolen), it's quite clear they're not amateurs.
- Special Guest: Areeale Davis as Faith Berry, Gerry Becker as Dr. Michaels (not that Dr. Michaels), Mark Kiely as Dwight Burner, Blake Adams as Randy Delany, Lee Arenberg as Lester Squigman, Heath Lourwood as Toby Burner and Dionne Warwick as Dionne Berry.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Walker and Trivette find the robbers and recover the liver. While Walker takes the liver to the hospital, Trivette and the kidnapped paramedic chase down the robbers in the ambulance, where said robbers eventually lose control of their car and meet a fiery end.
- This Is Gonna Suck: The Burner Boys and Randy are being chased by Trivette and the paramedic they kidnapped in, of all vehicles, the ambulance. Dwight sees too late a trailer filled with hay bales stuck on the road up ahead, applies the brakes and lets out a Big "NO!" as the car is sent flying, and then explodes, killing him, Toby and Randy.
- Vehicular Kidnapping: After Toby gets hurt following the chase after their latest bank robbery, the Burner Boys and Randy steal the ambulance, kidnapping one paramedic and killing the other.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't know what happened to Lester Squigman and his heavy, Boyd, after Sydney and Gage arrested them. We can only assume they are serving life in prison.
