The penultimate episode of Tracker delivered a double dose of action when Colter Shaw’s mysterious brother, Russ, blew into town. Story-wise, it was yet the next piece of the puzzle to help shape Colter’s family tree—arriving a week after Manifest’s Melissa Roxburgh debuted as Colter’s little sister Dory—however, it was also highly-anticipated by fans as it introduced Supernatural and Big Sky’s Jensen Ackles as the infamous big bro. 

As expected, Justin Hartly and Ackles make one fantastic duo—Colter and Russ are clearly cut from the same cloth, as they were in sync every step of the way while looking for Russ’ unit buddy Doug Thompson. 

You couldn’t even tell that the two brothers were estranged by the seamless way they worked together. But the elephant in the room was also addressed as Russ kicked off Tracker Season 1 Episode 12 by trying to bury the hatchet with Colter, informing him that he didn’t, as Colter was led to believe, push his father off of the cliff. 

I may not know much about Russ—or know him for long—but I’ll tell you that I believe him. Even more intriguing, though, was his next recollection of events, noting that he saw someone else in the woods that night, someone he’d seen previously talking to their mother. Given that she confirmed Colter’s belief that Russ killed their father, I’d say she’s hiding something—and may be the reason for her paranoid father’s death. It’s an interesting development to pursue in the near future, as it will hopefully bring all three siblings—could you imagine a greater trio on screen?—together for the first time. 

What does their mother not want them to know about their father’s demise?

Colter may not have been been as convinced by his brother’s confession as I was, but it didn’t stop him from going out of his way to help Russ locate Doug. 

The first thing the duo did together after reuniting was end up behind bars, though, don’t worry, it was Reenie to the rescue. Reenie has proven that she can hold her own against anyone, and that includes Russ. He has quite a way with words, but so does she. 

Reenie proved even more useful when she delivered documents leading them to a vacation property owned by Carlos Santiago, who had his men kidnap Doug as part of a revenge plot for the death of his brother, Mayo. 

Doug and Russ, who work for a shady black ops organization called the Horizon Group together, worked on a mission in Panama, tasked with killing Carlos before Doug went back in to extract Russ’ knife and was spotted and photographed by Santiago’s men. The revenge has been months in the making thus explaining all of Doug’s recent paranoia. Admittedly, the backstory for Doug and Russ’ relationship was a bit of a snooze, but it didn’t really matter because the emphasis was less on the rescue and more on the brother’s bond. They picked up the pieces naturally without missing a beat—and that’s what audiences were invested in. 

Saving Doug was just the icing on the cake, all while allowing us to get a peek at Russ’ lifestyle. 

Upon extracting Doug, Colter was tasked with delivering him home safe and sound while Russ dealt with the loose string—Carlos. 

“I’ll see you when I see you,” he told his brother, which is promising as it means he has plans to see him sometime soon.

Another sign of a mended relationship? Russ, who left town without saying goodbye, left Colter a wad of cash for his services, along with the knife that started the search in the first place. 

The guest stars on the show just keep coming as next week’s season finale on May 19, finds Hartley reuniting with This Is Us co-star and Once Upon a Time star Jennifer Morrison. 

What did you think about the episode? Do you appreciate getting so much insight into Colter’s past? What are your hopes for season 2?

Justin Hartley’s new CBS series Tracker is one of the most promising this season. 

He was fantastic on the ensemble series This Is Us, but he’s swiftly proving that he’s worthy of being a leading man—not just a pretty face, but one that delivers the action and stands on his own. 

Hartley’s Colter Shaw takes on some of the most dangerous cases as he fills a void inside by helping to find people who have gone missing or who have been taken. 

The second episode of the series dived headfirst into a cult situation, taking our hero to Montana. Though it would be understandable if Colter turned right around and ran the other way at the first sign of danger—no reward money is worth messing with a manipulative cult leader who isn’t above violence and murder—he rushed in without hesitation. 

Not only does Colter see a resemblance in Seth and his own father, who was also manipulative in his own right, but he actually cares about the missing people who come across his desk; he’s not doing it just for the check, he wants to help people who need a little bit of a push. 

Colter immediately clocked that there was something much more going on than just a missing person when he was ambushed by a security team that threatened to shoot him when they saw him breaking into Rebecca’s house. 

Soon after, he learned of her connection to Positive Light, a place that preys on people looking for guidance, support, and whose pain they can exploit, trading in secrets that can be used as blackmail for allegiance. It’s a classic cult operation from head to toe, but unfortunately, those who are in too deep are usually too blind to see the truth—unless it’s shoved in their faces. And even then, depending on how far they are in their “practice of self-actualization” they might not be convinced. 

Thankfully, Colter seemed to make a slight breakthrough with Jackson, whose parents reported him missing after his strange relationship with Rebecca led to a series of uncharacteristic life choices like quitting his job, abandoning his family, and draining his bank account. 

Jackson wanted someone to believe in him and help him believe in himself, which is why Seth and Rebecca were able to get to him, but he was also self-aware, so when Colter began questioning the cult’s “mean” tactics, he knew something was off even if he wasn’t ready to turn away fully. 

The strangest part was that while Positive Light presented as your typical cult, there was no negative press about it—not even any forums or threads of people complaining. And every trail of lawsuits went cold. However, Bobby discovered that the cult may have covered up the murder of their former accountant, which was the string that Colter was able to pull on to help unravel everything. 

Tracker Season 1 Episode 2 Review – Missoula

After getting a confirmation from David Grassley’s wife, Jana, who told Velma and Teddi (who appear to be Colter’s handlers for lack of a better word) that Seth showed her the dashcam footage from her husband’s hit and run in order to scare her into silence.

Knowing that there was evidence to bring the place down, Colter found his in via a Positive Light member who was following him (rather badly, might I add). Once inside of Seth’s instructional office, he was able to pull up David’s file, along with Rebecca’s, before proving to Jackson that he was being lied to and told what he needed to hear so that he would remain obedient, especially since his role in the cult was so critical as the new accountant. 

But as we say, anyone who tried to leave or expose what was going on, would immediately be taken out. 

It seems as though Seth should’ve listened to Rebecca about not letting Colter get too close to Jackson, though he was so convinced they had the latter wrapped around their finger. 

Thankfully, Colter knows how to fight—and he was able to stave off Rebecca and Seth until the police got there and shut the whole operation down once and for all. 

The eerie thing is that Seth did have a way of reading people accurately; through his Google search, he dug up enough intel on Colter to figure out that he was in pain because of his past with his father, a pain that he still carried with him till this day.

And while Colter isn’t easily shaken, you could tell he was a little triggered that someone was able to pick up on his past, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it.

Colter’s backstory has a lot of impact on his present (even if people are more resilient than you imagine, eventually the cracks do begin to show), not only his choice of career path but there’s still no closure as to what happened to his father. His brother, who seems to have pushed his father to his death, keeps reaching out asking Colter to hear him out, but his mother, told him to ignore his sibling, so it’s clear she’s also hiding something. Not to mention the beginning of the episode where she called her son because someone broke into his father’s office. There’s still a lot to unpack here, which only adds to the intrigue of the series. But even without Colter’s complicated backstory, Hartley is easy on the eyes (and has a huge fanbase already thanks to his NBC drama), his acting is believable, and at its core, it’s a procedural, so watching him solve cases is clearly something that has the potential to pull in a huge audience.

What did you think of the episode? Are you enjoying the series so far?