Tracker came out of the gate strong on CBS, an action drama starring This Is Us’ Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a survivalist who travels across the U.S. finding missing persons and solving cases for reward money. Based on the Jeffrey Deaver book The Never Game, the series received a second season renewal, set to premiere in October of 2024.

The first season had a healthy 13 episodes, each following the same formulaic setup: Colter receives a case, works the case, gets into some type of danger, and then ultimately solves the case. Each episode also slowly develops an overarching story about Colter’s own life and fractured family dynamics.

13 Episode 8 Is About a Groom Presumed on the Run

The show had become fairly established in its timeslot by the time this episode aired. It followed the same trajectory as others but wasn’t quite as compelling. Colter is hired by a woman to find her missing fiancé, a dockworker who mysteriously disappeared just weeks before his wedding. It sounds like a cookie-cutter story of cold feet and a jilted bride, but the bride is either naïve or justly confident because she is sure her husband would never leave her. Something happened and she’s certain of it.

As Colter uncovers more and more, it seems like the husband is up to something nefarious. It doesn’t help that the supposedly now-changed man used to be involved in shady dealings. Some moments in this episode were far too clichéd. It’s also guilty of TV drama tropes, like the protagonist talking a man off a ledge before he does something he’ll regret. It also has a sweet (yet unbelievable) happy ending.

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12 Episode 6 Introduces a Nemesis

This episode solidifies Tracker’s position as one of the best crime TV shows for new fans by shifting the focus from Colter looking for a missing person to a missing horse. It also introduces a nemesis, a woman who does the same thing he does (played by Hartley’s real-life wife Sofia Pernas). While the chemistry between them is electric (no surprise there since they are partnered in real life), that peripheral storyline detracts from what fans love most about the show, which is Colter doing his thing solo.

Nonetheless, the story had a new element with the missing subject being an animal and not a human. It was also a different dynamic to see Colter do a job with someone else. But the flashy parties, suit and tie, and the final dramatic scene were a bit too much, even for this show.

11 Episode 11 Touches on Family Dynamics

Introducing Melissa Roxburgh, best known for her starring role on Manifest, as Colter’s sister Dory, this episode finally offers up more detail about Colter’s personal life. It brings fans closer to what the family dynamic is like beyond Colter’s obvious disdain for his brother. Seeing how even Colter’s little sister can’t pin him down for long enough to have dinner gives viewers a deeper look into his psyche. He clearly does his work, at least in part, to keep himself busy and away from anything that might remind him of his past.

The case featured in this episode, meanwhile, is a compelling one about a young college student who goes missing. As Colter investigates, he discovers a plot that involves a corrupt professor and potentially dangerous lab work. Once again, it’s the ending that places this episode near the bottom of the list: it becomes almost cartoonish with Colter’s heroic “save the day” tricks. What’s most interesting about this episode, however, are the details that Dory reveals to Colter about their mother. She also finally gets through to him and convinces him to call Russell.

10 Episode 3’s Reward is Bittersweet

There’s a cringy police procedural trope that kicks off Episode 3, whereby Colter sees a woman putting up fliers about her missing friend and a man gets upset with her, telling her to leave well enough alone. Clearly, there’s something suspicious about that. Colter decides to help, even when the local police chief seems awfully anxious to get rid of him and keep a closed case closed.

This episode takes Colter from the woods to a cliffside, to the home of powerful developers in town, all of which appear connected to the case. This is one episode where, sadly, the victim isn’t found alive. However, Colter does bring closure to her friends and family. Most importantly, in this episode, Colter finally opens up to Reenie and tells her why he refuses to call his brother back. It’s a moment of vulnerability and honesty that hadn’t been seen in Colter up until this point.

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9 Episode 2 Dives Into an Emotional Story About a Cult

The second episode of the series helps further set up just how talented and perceptive Colter is. When he visits his mother, he notices something off with the placement of a simple figurine, leading him to question why she isn’t being truthful with him. The episode is about something that happens all too often in real life: a young man is convinced by an older woman to join a cult, and his parents are desperate to get him back. Colter infiltrates the cult and meets with the leader as well as the young man, hoping to convince him to go back to his loving parents. As often happens, however, the young man has been completely brainwashed.

Colter uses subtle tactics initially in this case. He then shows no fear as he tries to talk some sense into the young man and then sits down to speak with the cult leader. It’s one of the more emotional episodes in the series.

8 Episode 9 Heads Into Supernatural Territory

The idea of adding a supernatural element to Tracker was exciting, though it doesn’t compare to the best supernatural shows to binge watch. It’s a departure from the usual for this show, and even this genre. In this episode, Colter faces arguably his biggest challenge yet: finding a young woman who has been missing for three years. Her father is convinced she is still alive, and he’s desperate to get her back.

With a typical cold case feel, Colter has to backtrack into the past to retrace Lana’s steps and figure out what happened to her. Colter is usually confident he can find someone, but this is the first time viewers see him wonder if this is just a father unwilling to believe that his little girl is gone. A story that involves witches, ghosts, creepy abandoned hospitals, and evil forces, this episode wasn’t what fans expected. However, it was a welcome addition to the mix.

7 Episode 13 is Colter’s Personal Torment

While the case Colter is trying to solve in the final episode isn’t quite as compelling as the others, the way this episode progresses Colter’s personal story makes it worth the watch and causes it to rank in the middle of the pack. The case itself is about a young stormchaser who goes missing. Her mother happens to be a childhood friend of Colter’s, so of course he’s going to take the case, gratis.

While the episode has a happy ending in terms of reuniting his friend with her daughter (though death and tragedy are suffered along the way), a discovery about his family leaves Colter gutted. Now believing that Russell didn’t kill their father, Colter has to face the truth that his mother, sister, and possibly Russell, too, have likely been withholding some major information from him. It reinforces the theme that no matter how good Colter is at his job, the one case he can’t solve is that of his own father’s death. This episode suggests that he might be getting a step closer to answers.

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6 Episode 1 is the Perfect Set-up

Despite airing immediately following the Super Bowl, the first episode of Tracker isn’t one of the highest-rated ones, according to IMDb. But that’s a good thing because it means the show continues to get better. As any pilot episode would, this one sets the story up, introducing Colter and his unofficial team of helpers. Of course, there are the obligatory shirtless scenes and action sequences that show Hartley has far more depth and skill than what he was able to showcase on This Is Us.

Several hints point to a rift with someone who is later revealed to be Russell. The flashbacks show the father who taught Colter everything he knew. The scene when Colter locks himself inside the manager’s office of a burger shop to access the security cameras, then gets arrested for doing so, demonstrates how he isn’t afraid to use unorthodox, even illegal, methods to solve cases, and he isn’t afraid of the repercussions. It’s the first episode that introduces Colter as a skilled, fearless lone wolf. It’s the perfect set-up for the personal and professional story that continues.

5 Episode 5 Makes Colter an Innocence Project Advocate

A show like Tracker requires unique twists, like the missing horse, the supernatural case, and old foes returning to shake things up. The twist in this episode is that the person who hires Colter is actually a kid: she’s a 16-year-old who wants to help her father get out of prison. She believes he is innocent and an anonymous message she received claims to be from someone who saw what really happened. The young woman needs Colter’s help to find this witness and hopefully bring her father justice.

The episode highlights the important problem of wrongfully convicted individuals who must fight for the freedom they deserve. Even when Colter and Reenie are convinced that the girl’s father is guilty, they dig deeper to ensure that they aren’t missing something. It’s a sweet story that hits right at the heart. Plus, fans get to see Colter’s literal poker face as he infiltrates a high-stakes game to get to the person he needs.

4 Episode 10 is Like an Action Movie

Welcoming Gil Birmingham of Yellowstone and Peter Stormare of Prison Break as guest stars, Episode 10 has Colter go deeper into the wilderness than he has in any other. He also jumps from a plane to get to his remote destination (because, of course, he knows how to do that as well). This time, it’s Reenie who asks Colter to help a friend of her father’s whose son and daughter are missing. They had flown off in a plane with a client and never came back. The episode has moments that almost feel like they’re a movie, especially when a menacing man in a suit comes into the shop looking for that client.

There’s blood, gunfights, mystery, and heroic moments. Colter even takes a bullet to the shoulder while trying to save someone. Of course, he’s just fine. It’s just another example of the incredible lengths he, and even members of his team, will go to solve cases and to help the ones they love and those in need.

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3 Episode 7 Gives Bobby a Chance to Shine

Colter has helped his own family and friends and Reenie’s family and friends, but Episode 7 is all about Bobby’s missing friend. Bobby dutifully sits at his computer helping Colter with anything technical he needs. He can trace phones, control security cameras, pull up building schematics, and find people who are trying to be hidden – he’s a hacker whiz that rivals even the most skilled characters seen in the best TV shows about hackers. But in this episode, Bobby gets his chance to shine much more.

Desperate to help his friend and her terrified mother, Bobby asks Colter for help and is willing to pay him out of his own pocket. When Colter brings Bobby along to a potential location, Bobby doesn’t listen to the orders to stay in the car. Instead, he wants to help, and even ends up saving Colter’s life. It’s a sweet episode that lets another character shine while also highlighting how Colter keeps even those who are closest to him at arm’s length.

2 Episode 4 Shows Colter’s Softer Side

This is another instance when Reenie is trying to help a friend and enlists Colter to accomplish the task. It’s her good friend’s teenage son, a boy she has known since he was born. He was sent to a gated institute to help him work through addiction and other issues. But he went missing, and his mother is afraid he has either relapsed or was kidnapped. In this episode, Colter has to build trust with a young boy who is scared for his life. As he and Noah travel through the woods to escape a bad guy, Colter gets the chance to show off some of his more subtle yet useful survival skills, from wrapping wounds to remaining effectively hidden.

There’s a sweet moment in the end as well, where Colter gives Noah a gift and shares kind words with the young man to help inspire him on his journey to becoming a better man. There are also some tender and real moments between Colter and Reenie that suggest their connection might run deeper than just sexual tension.

1 Episode 12 Finally Reveals Russell

Of course, the episode that finally reunites Colter with his older brother, Russell, ranks as the top-rated one, especially when the mysterious character is revealed to be played by Jensen Ackles. The episode finally squashes the beef between these two as Russell explains that things weren’t as Colter thought they were. But most importantly, the two also team up to solve the disappearance of Russell’s friend, which leads to plenty of action-packed scenes.

The juxtaposition between Colter’s straight and narrow personality and Russell’s rough-around-the-edges, sarcastic style is fun and adds a lighthearted touch to the show that had been missing. The episode closes a big door for Colter while opening an even bigger one as he tries to figure out what truly happened to his father and why. With Ackles confirmed to be returning for Season 2, fans can’t wait to see where the personal aspects of Colter’s story goes.

Tracker (2024)

Based on the novel by Jeffery Deaver, Tracker is an action-drama series created for CBS by Ben H. Winters. Traveling across the United States in his RV, Colter Shaw is a lone wolf with a fractured past who spends his time helping solve mysteries and police cases in every town he crosses.

 

Release Date

February 11, 2024

 

 

Creator(s)

Ben H. Winters

 

 

Cast

Justin Hartley , Robin Weigert , Abby McEnany , Eric Graise , Fiona Rene

 

 

Main Genre

Crime