Recap / Walker Texas Ranger S9E12 "Desperate Measures"

Desperate Measures is the 12th episode of the 9th season of Walker, Texas Ranger. It aired January 20, 2001.

When a duo of bank robbers spring their girlfriends from prison on the bus trip from the Madison Correctional Facility to the women's correctional facility in Gatesville and continue their crime spree, killing the driver, but sparing the guard, two other inmates, Lara Pope and Jane "Hitch" Harrelson, while still cuffed together, make their escape, as well. Lara claims she is innocent of a murder she didn't commit, which Alex prosecuted a long time ago, and tries to prove that her ex-husband, Garrett Pope, is the real murderer, and when news of the escape breaks, Walker asks Alex to reexamine Lara's case, while Garrett seeks to find and silence her for good. While Walker, Trivette and Sydney try to arrest the two bank-robbing couples, Gage runs into Harrelson and Lara on his way back to Dallas following a charity motorcycle ride and his motorcycle breaks down due to his drive belt being cut off by two thugs that he roughed up earlier for harassing the two escapees, at which point said women unknowingly give him a ride into town to get it fixed.

Written by Duke Sandefur
Directed by Michael Preece

Tropes seen in this episode:

• Alliterative Name: Randi Ruiz and Hitch Harrelson.
• Amoral Attorney: Discussed throughout the episode while Walker and Alex reexamine Lara Pope's case. Her defense attorney was on Garrett Pope's payroll and testified against her to cover up his crimes and didn't even file for an appeal; it was a slam dunk for poor Lara. Alex notes he should've been disbarred, since she'd be out of a job if she prosecuted a case like that lawyer defended hers. Despite getting no consequences for this, the lawyer passes away in a car accident.
• Anyone Can Die: The body count for this episode consists of the driver for the prison bus (killed by Harley and Dag when they freed their girlfriends), Lara's uncle Walt (killed by Garrett Pope), Dag Tisker (killed by Walker while he and Trivette apprehend Harley and the girlfriends), several bank robbery victims (killed by the robbers) and several of Pope's henchmen (killed by Sydney and Trivette while Walker and Gage beat down Pope and Victor, respectively).
• Asshole Victim: Dag is killed by Walker when he and Trivette apprehend Harley, Aurora and Randi.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Garrett Pope, Jane "Hitch" Harrelson, Harley Birdwell & Randi Ruiz and Dag Tisker & Aurora Slaughter.
  • Garrett Pope, the ex-husband of Lara Pope, is the principal villain of the episode and a mob boss who killed his own business partner and framed her for the crime after she supposedly had an affair with him. From what Alex remembers, it was an Open-and-Shut Case, but Walker believes the case was mishandled. He is soon proven right when Alex reexamines the case, and it's all the more simple, because Garrett was in the middle of illicit business dealings that his ex-partner threatened to expose to the feds, not to mention he doesn't want Lara seeing their son, Griffin. Moreover, he was the one having the affair, and got Lara arrested after their divorce. When the news broke about Lara's escape, he would've killed her had the Rangers not intervened.
  • The secondary villain, Harrelson, is known as the Thrill Killer, who murdered three men and is doing life without parole. She is the inmate whom Lara is chained up with on the way to Gatesville. Gage runs into Lara and Harrelson at a bar on his way back to Dallas following a charity motorcycle ride, but the two thugs he roughed up for harassing the escapees cut off his drive belt. When Harrelson decides to kill both Gage and Lara when the two women find out he is a Texas Ranger following a traffic stop while they take him to a repair shop to have the motorcycle fixed, the latter runs off with her uncle's pickup with the motorcycle still strapped on to find her son while Gage apprehends the former.
  • Aurora Slaughter and Randi Ruiz, as well as their respective lovers, Dag Tisker and Harley Birdwell, serve as the subplot villains. The two women were sentenced to life for a string of bank robberies and murders, until the men ambushed the bus and helped them escape, leaving Lara and Harrelson to fend for themselves.
• Big "WHAT?!": From Sydney when Gage calls her to tell her he caught Harrelson while Lara ran off with her uncle's pickup with his motorcycle still strapped to its bed. Due to the dead battery on Gage's cellphone, he flagged down a civilian and borrowed his phone. She calls Walker, Trivette and the rest of DPS to tell them what happened and so he can brought back to Ranger HQ after the aforementioned two Rangers apprehended Birdwell, Slaughter and Ruiz and killed Tisker during their latest robbery.
• Chained Heat: Lara and Harrelson are left to fend for themselves after their bus is run off the road by Tisker and Birdwell, who went on to free Slaughter and Ruiz so they can continue their crime spree. While Lara and Harrelson make their escape, with the former having barely stopped the latter from killing the guard, they seek refuge at the apartment and workshop of Lara's taxidermist uncle Walt, who cuts them free, gives them clean clothes after they take off their convict uniforms, and lends them his pickup truck so she can find her son, Griffin, and also clear her name.
• Chekhov's Gun: If it involves an actual gun, no pun intended. The gun belonging to the guard in the prison bus. After Dag and Harley ambush the bus and free Aurora and Randi to continue their bank robbing spree, killing the driver, Harrelson and Lara seize the opportunity to escape, and with the guard still unconscious after the ambush, Harrelson steals her gun. When the guard wakes up, Harrelson is barely talked out of shooting her with it by Lara as the two escape. When the two women unknowingly give Gage a ride back to Dallas after his motorcycle's drive belt breaks and find out he's a Texas Ranger after a traffic stop from a State Trooper, Harrelson decides to use the gun to kill both Gage and Lara after she almost decides to kill the Trooper. Lara warns Gage in time, to which Gage returns fire, knocking the gun out of Harrelson's hand in the process and then subdues her, giving Lara time to get away in Walt's truck.
• Choke Holds: Sydney arrests an uncooperative gun-runner named Curtis after Walker and Trivette get word of the women escaping. Curtis is put in one by Trivette and is taken to holding.
• Clear My Name / Clear Their Name / Frame-Up: Lara Pope was framed for killing her ex-husband, Garrett's business partner, after supposedly having an affair with him.
• Co-Dragons: Victor and Marcus, who were assigned to take out Lara after she found Griffin at his school. When Garrett is confronted by the Rangers with he and Walker duking it out, Marcus is killed by Sydney and Trivette in a shootout, while Victor, who was supposed to murder Lara, is beaten down by Gage. After Victor is arrested along with Garrett, he decides to testify against him for killing Walt in exchange for a lesser sentence.
• Cool Uncle / Cool Old Guy: Lara's uncle, Walt, who is a taxidermist. Lara grew up with him and he knew from the very beginning his niece was innocent of the murder committed by Garrett and how she wants to be reunited with her son, Griffin. He lends her his pickup truck to find him, and he even taught her how to drive in it. He also gives the women regular clothes and hair dye (Lara goes from being blonde to a redhead and Harrelson goes from being a redhead to a brunette) when they take off their inmate uniforms so they can stay inconspicuous. When the news breaks that Lara escaped, Garrett is determined to find her and kill her himself, but decides to start with Walt, hoping he'd find her there, to no avail, at which point Walt is beaten to death. After Walker and crew arrest Garrett, one of his goons decides to testify against him for killing Walt.
• Dye or Die: After Dag and Harley ambush the prison bus and break Aurora and Randi out, while Lara and Harrelson are left to fend for themselves, it's a manhunt for the four. As Aurora and Randi continue their bank-robbing spree with their boyfriends, Lara and Harrelson turn to the former's uncle, Walt, for help in getting their chains off, getting clean clothes and having their hair dyed to avoid suspicion; Lara has her hair dyed from blonde to redhead and Harrelson goes from being a redhead to a brunette. The dyed hair was enough to fool Gage, who was on his way back to Dallas only for his motorcycle to break down, as well as a State Trooper, who pulled them and Gage over for speeding when they unknowingly gave him a ride back to Dallas, at least until Lara finally told Gage the truth when Harrelson decided to kill them both. Unfortunately for Lara, after Gage apprehends Harrelson, at which point she is reunited with Griffin, the dyed hair wasn't enough to fool Garrett and his goons.
• Evil Redhead: Downplayed with Hitch Harrelson. She was originally a redhead, but she has it dyed brunette after she and Lara escape the bus.
• Fiery Redhead: Lara's natural hair color is blonde, but when she and Harrelson dye their hair to avoid being recognized, she becomes this. Harrelson, however, started off as a redhead herself before going brunette.
• Girl of the Week: Lara to Gage.
• Hero Insurance: Despite all the collateral damage usually done during all the fight scenes, Gage compensates the owner of the restaurant he was visiting after roughing up two thugs who were harassing Lara and Harrelson. She replies they had it coming. Said thugs then went on to cut off Gage's motorcycle drive belt.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • When Garrett and his goons show up at Walt's apartment demanding to know where Lara is after they receive word of her escape, Walt tells Garrett he'd rather let him beat him to death than tell him where she was, and Garrett and his men promptly beat him to death. When DPS finds Walt's body half an hour later, Walker and Sydney believe that neither Lara nor Harrelson could have done it, but they put an APB out for his pickup when it turns up missing, which is due to Walt letting Lara use it to find Griffin. After she and Harrelson unknowingly give Gage a ride back to Dallas after his motorcycle breaks down, only for him to apprehend the latter, Lara left the pickup behind at Griffin's school, where they were kidnapped by Garrett's men.
  • Lara herself is nearly dealt with this when she and Griffin are kidnapped from the latter's school until the Rangers show up and intervene.
• Jerkass: Harley. After he and Dag free the girlfriends after ambushing the prison bus, he refuses to give Harrelson the handcuff keys, leaving her and Lara to fend for themselves.
  Hitch: Hey, how about them keys?
  Harley: What, these?
  Hitch: Yeah.
  Harley: Now sweetheart, why would I want to do a thing like that? You're a dangerous criminal.
• Karma Houdini: The two thugs whom Gage beat up for harassing Lara and Harrelson get away scot-free for the harassing and cutting off the drive belt of his motorcycle. Lara and Harrelson decide to give Gage a ride to a repair shop to get it fixed.
• Karmic Death:
  • Discussed. The Amoral Attorney hired to represent Lara faces no legal repercussions for his misconduct, but dies in a car accident.
  • When Walker and Trivette take down Birdwell, Tisker, Ruiz and Slaughter as they commit their latest robbery, Tisker is killed by Walker via a bullet to the chest.
• Laser-Guided Karma: We can only assume Garrett Pope is serving life in prison or received the death penalty for his illicit business practices (exposed by Lara to the feds), previously murdering his business partner, the murder of Lara's uncle Walt (one of his goons, Victor, decided to testify against him for this crime) and almost killing Lara herself, while Lara was granted a retrial in the murder that was previously prosecuted. It's going to take a while, because until then, she was released on a personal recognizance bond, but due to her lawyer's misconduct and the new evidence that was gathered, she's almost certain to get a full dismissal.
• Lazy Alias: When Lara and Harrelson need aliases so they don't reveal their real names, the former picks the name "Marcia Collins" and the latter picks "Tootie", as in Tootie-Fruitie, when they give Gage a ride back to Dallas.
• Mama Bear: Lara Pope to a T. She loves her son, Griffin and is very involved in his activities on a regular basis, and is not willing to let his own father hurt him after he framed her for his crimes.
• Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad: The prison bus crashes in a Texas town Lara Pope grew up in. It is unknown what happened to her parents, but she was raised by her uncle, Walt, who knew from the very beginning she didn't kill her ex-husband's business partner.
  • Missing Mom only for Griffin Pope. Justified and defied, because the reason is his father, Garrett Pope, murdered his own business partner and framed his mother, Lara, and Garrett wants to maintain the cover that she is a dangerous woman and left her family, when in fact, he was the one having the affair and had Lara arrested after the divorce, not to mention he would go to incredible lengths to cover up his shady business practices. Lara finds Griffin at his school and is reunited with him, only for the two to be kidnapped by Garrett's mooks. Walt's pickup, however, was left behind, and thanks to the APB Walker and Sydney put out, DPS finds it there after Griffin's gym teacher, Mr. Benson calls the police. When Benson tells Gage and Sydney Griffin and Lara were kidnapped by Pope's men, they alert Walker and Trivette of this and all four Rangers converge on Garrett's mansion, where they proceed to arrest him for his previous crime after stopping him from killing Lara.
• Morning Sickness: Alex suffers this throughout the episode, since she and Walker are expecting their first child. It leads to this hilarious exchange at the end of the episode after Garrett and his goons are locked up and Lara has her appeals trial, upon which she kisses Gage as thanks for helping her:
  Sydney: That sure looked like a lot more than a... a... thank-you kiss.
  Gage: Come on, Syd, I think that, uh, she was just-just very happy is all.
  Walker: Hey, everybody. Well, you look like you're feeling better. (kisses Alex)
  Alex: (sighing) You had to remind me. (runs off to throw up) You had to remind me!
  Trivette: Uh-oh!
  Gage: Whoa-oh-oh!
  Trivette: Sick again.
  Walker: Sydney, how long does this morning sickness go on, anyway?
  Sydney: How should I know?
  Gage: All I know is, I'm glad women have to go though it, and not us men.
  Walker: Boy, I second that. Whew!
  Sydney: Men are such wimps.
  (Beat)
  Walker, Gage and Trivette (talking over each other): Yeah, yeah, I guess we are. Yeah, she's right. Can't argue with that. She's right; yeah. Yeah.
  (the executive producers' names appear and the episode ends)
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Aurora Slaughter, considering she and Randi were sentenced to life for a series of murders along with armed robberies.
• Not My Lucky Day: Lampshaded by Sydney and Gage after the latter is dropped off at Ranger HQ by DPS after he apprehends Harrelson:
  Sydney: I understand you had quite an interesting day.
  Gage: (making coffee upon returning to HQ) Well, only if you call almost getting wasted by a female psycho serial killer interesting... yes, it was.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Harrelson and Lara when they find out Gage is a Texas Ranger after he is pulled over by a State Trooper for speeding and gets off with a warning. Harrelson decides to either kill him or leave him behind while she and Lara continue to make their getaway.
    Harrelson: What are the odds?
  • Gage and Lara when Harrelson decides to kill them both, at which point he finds out who the two women are. Gage apprehends Harrelson while Lara gets away in her uncle's pickup.
  • In the final scene, Alex when she appears to be feeling better, at first, but then runs off to throw up again.
• Only a Flesh Wound: When the two bank-robbing couples try to pull their next heist at First Flatlands Bank, Walker and Trivette are already there. Trivette apprehends Aurora and Randi, while Walker takes down the men. Harley is arrested, having suffered a flesh wound after a bullet to the arm, while Dag is killed.
• Outlaw Couple: Not one, not two, but three in this episode!
  • The main villain, Garrett Pope was the one having the affair with another woman named Caprice. When Lara found out about it, as well as the murder of his business partner when he threatened to expose his illicit business practices, he framed her, and now that she escaped, he is determined to silence her for good.
  • The subplot villains, Dag Tisker & Aurora Slaughter and Harley Birdwell & Randi Ruiz, who are team of serial murderers and bank robbers.
• Ripped from the Headlines:
  • Seeing as how Hitch Harrelson killed three of her lovers, inspiration for this particular character may or may not have come from Sharon Lynn Douglas-Fuller-Nelson-Harrelson, a three-times black widow who had killed three of her husbands.
  • The subplot involves tracking down a team of bank robbers, and that team of robbers is not one, but two Outlaw Couples!
• Serial Killer:
  • Hitch Harrelson has a thing against men, having killed three of her lovers. She almost tried killing a State Trooper after she, Lara and Gage were pulled over, but eventually reconsidered and decided to kill Gage instead, only to be apprehended afterwards.
  • Aurora Slaughter and Randi Ruiz also fall into this all through their many robbery sprees. During one robbery, Ruiz killed a bank manager.
• Special Guest: Terence Knox as Garrett Pope (the principal Big Bad of the episode), Sarah Rafferty as Lara Pope and Helen Cates as Jane "Hitch" Harrelson.
• Tempting Fate: When Walt is confronted by Garrett and his goons after they hear the news of the escape and demand to know where Lara is, Walt tells Garrett he'd rather let him beat him to death than tell him where she was. Needless to say, Garrett is more than happy to oblige. As soon as the Rangers revisit the Pope murders and it is proven Garrett is the guilty party, with Lara being granted a retrial, Victor decides to testify against Garrett for killing Walt in exchange for a lesser sentence.
• Vehicular Sabotage: After Gage roughs up two thugs who were harassing Lara and Harrelson while visiting a bar on his way back to Dallas, said thugs cut off the drive belt of his motorcycle and he needs a new one. The two thugs get away scot-free. To add insult to injury, the battery for his cellphone is dead and he would either have to use a payphone or a civilian's phone to call Rangers' HQ.
  Harasser: [fleeing the restaurant] Hope you like walking!
• Victim of the Week: Lara and Griffin Pope and Uncle Walt.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't know what happened to Garrett's current lover, Caprice, after he is arrested. See Laser-Guided Karma above for Garrett's situation.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Gage is hit with this when Lara reveals to him who she and Harrelson really are when the latter decides to kill both of them. Gage apprehends Harrelson, while Lara escapes with Walt's truck to find Griffin, with his motorcycle still strapped onto its bed. In addition, due to his phone's dead battery, Gage flags down a civilian and borrows his cellphone to notify Sydney of this so Harrelson can be picked up and brought to Gatesville and he can be brought back to Ranger HQ.