Walker, Texas Ranger: Season 07 (1999)

The cliffhanger that ended season six of Walker, Texas Ranger is resolved at the outset of season seven, as Assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), longtime sweetheart of taciturn Texas Ranger Cord Walker (Chuck Norris), makes a full recovery after being shot down by an old enemy. This is doubly good news for Walker: not only has Alex survived, but she allows him to finish his marriage proposal, which of course she accepts. Walker himself has a lot of problems with former nemeses who show up with scores to settle during this season. Additionally, he crosses swords (and karate kicks) with Satanist child abductors, a radical splinter group from the IRA, a dangerously "creative" pedophile, and a deadly family of inbred hillbillies. One episode, "Paradise Trail," allows Chuck Norris to play the dual role of Cord Walker and his 19th century counterpart, lawman Hayes Cooper (a character he'd essayed in earlier episodes, and whose significance would ultimately be explained in the series finale two years later). In another episode, "Brothers-in-Arms," Walker's partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) finds himself on the horns of a dilemma when his own brother Simon (Grand L. Bush) is ordered to kill him! Midway through the season, two Walker, Texas Ranger supporting characters, Dallas detective Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez) and karate instructor Trent Malloy (James Wlcek) would be spun off into their own private eye series, the short-lived Sons of Thunder -- the pilot of which had been seen as a Walker episode two years earlier! In the nail-biting season finale, Walker, Trivette, Alex, and Walker's old friend C.D. (Noble Willingham) are transporting evidence vital to the conviction of elusive serial killer Thomas Openshaw (Stephen McHattie) when suddenly their plane crashes, leaving their ultimate fate unresolved...until the following season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi