WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Walker Season 2, Episode 12, "Common Ground," which aired Thursday, March 31 on The CW.
The Walker family has reignited their old feud with the Davidsons since the start of Walker Season 2. As a teenager, Cordell Walker accidentally set fire to a barn on the Davidsons' property, resulting in the death of Davidson family patriarch Marv and bringing tensions between the families to a head. With the Davidsons still suspicious over the circumstances of the fatal fire and property disputes about the two stretches of land, the two families decide to finally settle their differences over a horse race around their properties, with Walker going up against Denise Davidson's husband Dan Miller.
As Walker prepares for the big horse race to decide the fate of the Walker family ranch, his father Bonham reminds him of the stakes before noticing Walker appears anxious and that's affecting his horse's behavior. On the other side, Denise is still annoyed at Miller for being drunk in public... before learning from her mother Gale that the Walkers are hiding the lantern responsible for burning down the barn. Intrigued, Denise vows to look further into this ,but is wary that her use of county resources in the family feud could derail her entire career.
Denise brings August in for questioning about the lantern, with Walker furious when he discovers this and that Bonham was aware of it all along. Stella feels personally betrayed that Colton would sell out her brother to Denise and Dan with this evidence, with Walker retrieving the lantern and giving it to Denise in the midst of a tense conversation as the family feud escalates. Against Walker's wishes, Liam privately offers Dan a sizable portion of the Walker property in exchange for calling off the race -- but this potential settlement is rebuffed by Dan, who plans to use the horse race as an opportunity to get closer to his son.
Encouraged by new arrival Cassie Perez, Bonham makes amends with Walker and reveals how emotionally shaken he has been about the whole feud, though Walker reassures his father that he is fully committed to besting the Davidsons. The morning of the race, Gale visits Marv's grave, noticing that Abby had already left flowers there, which reminds her that Marv fell in love with Abby before marrying her. Realizing the full stakes and implications of the race, Colton tries to talk his father out of getting in the saddle... but Dan and Gale brush these concerns aside and proceed anyway.
With Geri Broussard presiding over the race, Dan and Walker embark on the high-speed battle around their properties, with their respective families looking on. Dan is distracted by Walker taking an alternate route and gets knocked off his mount by a low-hanging tree branch, with Walker making sure his opponent is okay and back in the saddle before resuming the race. On the return leg, Walker himself gets distracted by the sight of police coming toward the ranch, unaware that his saddle harness is damaged.
Arriving on the scene, Denise reveals that forensics found on the lantern implicate Bonham in Marv's murder and the Walker family patriarch is taken into custody. Bonham's arrest coincides with Walker's saddle harness snapping -- resulting in him being bucked from his ride and Dan coasting to an easy victory, congratulated by his family. With Bonham facing murder charges and the Walker property now under control of the Davidsons, the Walkers are officially at their lowest point as the losers of this family feud. How will Season 2 pick them up from rock bottom?
Developed for television by Anna Fricke, Walker airs Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.