Recap / Walker Texas Ranger S9E16 "6 Hours"

6 Hours is the 16th episode of the Ninth Season on Walker, Texas Ranger. It aired on April 14, 2001.

During an awards banquet where Alex is being honored for her work at the HOPE Center, Heather Preston, the teenage daughter of Dallas billionaire Tim Preston, is kidnapped by her traitorous bodyguard, McNeely (played by Nick Chinlund), and he threatens to murder her within six hours unless Tim pays a ransom, even sinking so low as to broadcast his crime live over the Internet. Worse yet, McNeely has no plans to release Heather even after the ransom has been paid, but let the entire world watch in full view of her screaming and praying for help as time ticks away. Can the Rangers find McNeely and save Heather within that time before he makes good on his threat, let alone flees the country?

Written by David T Levinson
Directed by Michael Preece

Tropes seen in this episode:

• Abandoned Warehouse: McNeely's hideout is an old abandoned storage warehouse.
• Affectionate Nickname / Embarrassing Nickname: Heather towards McNeely, McShadow, since he's always standing around her. McNeely later reveals to Heather during her kidnapping he hates that nickname.
• Anyone Can Die: This episode's body count is as follows:
  • Five banquet gunmen: one (named Edmund) is killed by McNeely after Heather is restrained, two others were killed by Walker and Sydney when Heather was kidnapped and two were killed by William Borla before they could be interrogated.
  • Dean, the Prestons' limo driver, is shot and killed by McNeely when he kidnapped Heather.
  • The Prestons' private jet pilot is killed by William Borla when he steals the jet so he and McNeely can use it to flee the U.S..
  • McNeely himself is killed by Walker with his own murder weapon at the literal last second before it goes off.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Edmund, one of the banquet gunmen who assisted McNeely in kidnapping Heather and bringing her to his lair, is demanding that McNeely cut him a share of the ransom, but he is shot and killed after Heather is secured, then Borla is sent to kill the two other gunmen Sydney and Gage have in custody.
  • Four other banquet gunmen were killed: two of them by Walker and Sydney during the fight while Heather was being kidnapped and two others by William Borla while Gage and Sydney were taking them to HQ to interrogate them. With the case of the two arrested gunmen and Edmund, McNeely made sure none of them would talk.
  • McNeely himself becomes this after Walker finds his lair and fights him. Seconds before the shotgun goes off, Walker drags McNeely into the path of the gun, protecting Heather and essentially killing him with his own murder weapon.
• Bad Guy Bar: The Conflict of Interest Saloon, owned by William Borla's cousin, Tony, who had served four years in Huntsville for robbery. Gage and Sydney go there to interrogate Tony demanding to know William's whereabouts, and that's where Tony reveals McNeely plans to flee the country.
• Bait-and-Switch: As the Rangers are in the middle of their Ballroom Blitz with the gunmen, McNeely and Heather have escaped the ballroom. The Prestons' limo driver, Dean arrives gun in hand to try to hold off the gunman so they can escape. McNeely puts Heather in the limo, at first, but then, shoots and kills Dean, and then, two of his goons show up in the getaway van and kidnap Heather.
• Ballroom Blitz: The banquet shooting at the beginning of the episode, which sets off the plot. The waiters are actually mooks for McNeely to distract Tim, Alex and the Rangers while he kidnaps Heather. As two other gunmen escape with McNeely, hostage in hand, Walker and Sydney kill two of them, while two others are apprehended by Gage and Trivette.
• Big Bad: Theodore Dean McNeely.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: McNeely is about to be let go as Heather heads to Cornell University in the Fall. He wasn't going to take that lying down!
• Brick Joke: Heather's nickname for McNeely, McShadow.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: Played ridiculously straight in this episode. In the midst of the fight, seconds before the timed shotgun goes off, Walker drags McNeely in front of his own murder weapon just in time to protect Heather and make the former take the blast. Of a shotgun. True to form, only McNeely is killed, but in real life, the bullet would not only have gone through him, but also Walker and Heather.
• Choke Holds:
  • Gage puts William Borla in one after he ambushes him at Tucker airfield and demands to know Heather's whereabouts. Borla won't talk, but Gage does snag his cellphone so he can determine McNeely's location judging from phone records. The location is at an old Dallas storage facility, upon which Walker gets a chopper there.
  • McNeely puts Walker in one while they are fighting in Heather's torture chamber seconds before the shotgun goes off.
• Damsel in Distress / Victim of the Week: Heather Preston!
• The Dragon: William Borla.
• End of an Age: With this episode taking place in the final season, this is the last episode directed by the series' longtime director, Michael Preece.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: See Race Against the Clock below.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After Walker and Sydney kill two of the gunmen, and while Trivette and Gage apprehend the other two, whereas two other gunmen escaped with McNeely after kidnapping Heather, one of the Prestons' bodyguards, Thompson, wonders why McNeely isn't answering his phone after he took Heather out of the crossfire. As soon as the Rangers, Alex, Thompson and Tim find Dean, the Prestons' limo driver, dead in the garage, having been shot to death by McNeely as he escaped with his hostage, it doesn't take long for Walker to conclude what's really going on, just before the scene shifts to McNeely's hideout (at which point the Episode Title Card is shown) and Heather is strapped into the chair:
  Walker: I can't figure this out, Alex.
  Alex: What happened here?
  Walker: It has all the looks of an attempted kidnapping.
  Alex: Yes, but the obvious choice is Mr. Preston.
  Walker: Yeah, but they didn't try to hit us. They shot above us and then retreated. Why didn't they try to take him? Where's Heather? Mr. Preston, where's Heather?
  Tim: McNeely has her. He got her out.
  Walker: Can you call him?
  Thompson: McNeely. McNeely? Dean. They're not answering.
  (Beat)
  Walker: Trivette! (the two Rangers, Alex, Tim and Thompson go out to the garage to see what's going on)
  Sydney: Stay down! (holds a gunman at gunpoint)
  (Walker, Trivette, Alex, Tim and Thompson go into the garage and find Dean, the limo driver, dead)
  Tim: Oh, my God! What happened?! Where's Heather?!
  Trivette: Where's McNeely?
  Thompson: McNeely! McNeely! McNeely!
  Trivette: Why isn't he answering?
  Walker: It was a diversion, Trivette.
  Tim: A diversion for what?
  Walker: To get Heather out of there.
  Tim: But McNeely's got her.
  Walker: I know.
  Trivette: You think he kidnapped her?
  Walker: Yeah, I do.
• Face Death with Dignity: After spending the last six hours praying and screaming for help, Heather decides to accept her fate, allowing McNeely to flee Dallas. Quickly subverted, however, when Walker shows up and fights McNeely, ultimately killing him with his own murder weapon.
• Faux Affably Evil: McNeely, of course.
• Foreshadowing: After Walker and Alex drive Tim home from the banquet hall after Heather is kidnapped, she tries to calm him down as police prepare to set up the tracers, to which he rebuffs "This isn't your daughter we're talking about!", before calming down and telling them of the typical father/daughter relationship he and Heather have, as well as their previous conversation being an argument and he doesn't want it to be their last. Considering that she wanted the gender to be a surprise during her ultrasound appointment in "Division Street", Tim's prediction that Alex and Walker were expecting a girl would eventually come true in the Grand Finale, "The Final Show/Down".
• From Camouflage to Criminal: McNeely and his pilot, William Borla, are this, having previously served in the Air Force during the Gulf War. Borla had been dishonorably discharged during his time in service in 1992. While McNeely himself has a clean record, all of the banquet gunmen, including Borla, had rap sheets a mile long. When two of the gunmen Sydney and Gage were about to interrogate were blown to smithereens by Borla, they were quick to recognize him when Trivette pulled up his information.
• He Knows Too Much / Leave No Witnesses: McNeely is not one to leave witnesses, nor does he want to share the ransom. Moments after he kidnaps Heather, he kills one of his mooks, then orders two of the arrested banquet shooters to be killed, as well.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Walker finds McNeely and Heather about a minute before the timed shotgun goes off. Walker then uses McNeely as a Bulletproof Human Shield as the shotgun goes off in the midst of their fight, killing him.
• Inside Job: The shooting at the beginning of the episode during the Dallas Business Association awards. Just as Alex is given her award for the HOPE Center, the waiters begin shooting up the place, prompting the Rangers to spring into action. McNeely was the inside man, and the shooting was a successful kidnap attempt, as the Rangers and Alex determined, but the target wasn't Tim, but his daughter, Heather! The Rangers figure this out the moment the Prestons' limo driver, Dean, is found dead. Two of the banquet shooters were killed, while the other two were arrested, only for William Borla to kill them, too, before they are brought in for questioning. All of them had rap sheets a mile long.
• Instant Sedation: Played straight when Heather is knocked out with chloroform by one of McNeely's goons during her kidnapping. It barely takes two seconds for the drug to take effect and it keeps her unconscious long enough for McNeely to take her to his hideout and restrain her to the chair before she wakes up.
• Interrogation by Vandalism: Sydney and Gage have to do this to Tony Borla's bar after subduing the bargoers while they demand to know where William is, to which Tony tells him he's planning on flying again soon after coming into some money, courtesy of McNeely.
• Just in Time: A staple of the series. Just as the timed shotgun is about to go off and kill Heather, see Bulletproof Human Shield and Hoist by His Own Petard. Afterwards, Walker frees Heather and takes her home.
• Manly Tears: Tim exhibits this as he faces the prospect of losing his only child. He already lost his wife several years earlier, and the last conversation he and Heather had was an argument that morning, and he doesn't want that to be their last conversation.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": When Walker figures out what's going on, he, Alex, Tim, the Prestons' other bodyguard, Thompson, and the rest of the Rangers all get this reaction when they realize Heather was kidnapped after finding the Preston's chauffeur, Dean, dead in the garage and wondering why McNeely wasn't answering his phone.
• Missing Mom: For Heather. Her mother passed away several years earlier, likely when she was a pre-teen or entering her teenage years, and if that wasn't enough, for both her and her father alike, she is about to be murdered by her own bodyguard within six hours!
• murder.com: HeatherCam2001.com, the website covering McNeely's crime, and eventual defeat. According to news reporters Angela Kane and Kelly Santos, it's the first televised kidnapping, and attempted murder, in history.
  Kelly Santos: This morning, Heather Preston was kidnapped. Two hours and 20 minutes ago, the ransom call came in. As you can see, people keep arriving here to show their support. On our screen, we're carrying the live Web feed of Heather's ordeal in what may be the first kidnapping broadcast live over the Internet. We pray when Heather prays. We cry when she cries. Heather may not hear us, but we are with her. Kelly Santos, reporting.
• Nothing Is Scarier: After Gage and Sydney interrogate Tony Borla demanding to know where his cousin, William, is, the Rangers quickly deduce McNeely is planning to flee the country, but he needs a jet. Borla steals the Prestons' private jet, but we never see him kill the pilot. When Gage and Sydney look for Borla in the Prestons' hangar, they find the pilot's bloodied corpse stuffed in a locker.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Heather has one when she wakes up restrained to her death chair in McNeely's hideout to see the shotgun pointed at her. Cue her Tears of Fear!
  • While looking for William Borla at the Prestons' hangar, Sydney and Gage get one when they find the bloodied body of the pilot for the Prestons' private jet in a cabinet. Borla killed him so he could steal the jet.
• Phone-Trace Race: A staple in most episodes involving hostage situations. This doesn't work out so well, especially after Tim's communications guru, Seth, hacks into McNeely's computer and cuts off the feed within the final 3 hours, at least not until Gage captures William Borla at the Tucker airfield (which is one of three airfields that does not have a control tower, so it'll be easy for McNeely to escape Dallas; the other two being Colby, where Sydney searches and Sage, where Trivette searches) and takes his cellphone after the latter steals the Prestons' private jet, which then allows Walker to find McNeely and Heather. By then, it's already been less than 30 minutes left. By the time Seth puts the feed back on, everyone watching helplessly as Heather cries and prays for help sees the shotgun.
  Gage: [after cuffing Borla to a chair, they watch the horrifying action moments before the shotgun goes off] If that girl dies, you're going to have a long ride back to Rangers' Headquarters.
• Race Against the Clock: The episode's title speaks for itself. McNeely's demands are to be met by sunset, and the Rangers have until that time to find him and save Heather.
• Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: The Death Trap McNeely has planned for Heather: a shotgun rigged up to a timer that will go off within six hours. McNeely has poor Heather strapped to an old broken electric chair placed in front of the timed weapon and as soon as the timer hits zero, Heather gets shot and dies! The shotgun also has the webcam placed above it where everyone tuning in to national television can watch live coverage of the horrific action unfolding! Instead, however, see Hoist by His Own Petard above.
• Sadist: McNeely, to the fullest extent. Wanting to ensure there are no witnesses, not to mention he has no intention of letting Heather go even if he obtains the ransom.
• Special Guest: Nick Chinlund as Theodore McNeely (the episode's Big Bad), Mercedes McNab as Heather Preston (the Damsel in Distress), and Daniel Hugh Kelly as Tim Preston.
• Spoiled Brat: Heather, as implied by Tim and McNeely through the years she was growing up. Then again, many can expect that from well-off teenagers, and extremely common in most father and daughter relationships.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The cruiser carrying the two banquet gunman Gage and Sydney arrested is blown up with a rocket launcher by William Borla before they are brought in to be interrogated. Sydney and Gage are quick to recognize him when Trivette looks up McNeely's known associates.
• Suspiciously Clean Criminal Record: In a very rare case, it's McNeely.
• Tears of Fear / "Too Young to Die" Lamentation: Like Lindsay Hughes before her, Heather, hands down! Being strapped to a chair with a loaded shotgun set to go off and kill her within six hours is just enough to make her burst into tears!
• Televised Torture: What else can you expect from a terrified teenager when she is about to be killed and spends 6 hours of praying and screaming for help?
• Title by Number / Running Time in the Title: The episode's title speaks for itself!
• Title Drop: From Tim after McNeely calls him saying he emailed him his offshore bank account information and demanding a $100 million ransom by sundown, just before he starts up the timer for how long Heather has to live.
• Vehicular Kidnapping: McNeely's getaway van is this after he kills the Prestons' chauffeur moments after he and Heather reach the parking garage. Two of the gunmen then meet him in the garage and quickly drive off with Heather in tow.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It is unknown of what happens to William Borla after he is arrested by Gage. We can only assume he's serving life for his involvement in Heather's kidnapping and attempted murder.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Heather is brought to McNeely's lair and restrained to her death chair, Edmund, one of the gunmen, demands that McNeely pay him. How does he do so? With a bullet to the chest! Then, he demands that William Borla kill the other two gunmen who were arrested before they could be interrogated, so nobody can talk.