Tracker Season 3, Episode 1 Recap

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At the start of the third season of *Tracker*, Colter Shaw is still struggling with the recent revelation of his father’s killer. The previous season ended with the discovery that Colter Otto, a former county employee who helped Colter’s father, Ashton Shaw, live a secluded life, was likely Ashton’s closest friend after he moved his family to the wilderness.

Colter directly asked Otto if he’d been in the woods the night Ashton died. Otto admitted he was, and confessed to killing Ashton. However, the reason Otto was on the mountain was shocking: Colter’s own mother, Mary, had asked Otto for help, and that request ultimately led to Ashton’s death.

Shaw Is Still Shaken by the Emotional Fallout of Tracker’s “Echo Ridge”

Three weeks have passed, and Colter is completely unreachable, avoiding calls as he obsessively studies his father’s journals, hoping to understand what’s happening. He’s parked his trailer outside a bar in Wyoming. A man—Russell Shaw, played by Jensen Ackles—shines a flashlight into the trailer, then goes inside. A waitress tries to help Colter, noticing his phone hasn’t stopped ringing and offering to answer it for him, but he insists it’s nothing to worry about.

So, the waitress heads off to get this guy another beer, and then this total jerk bumps into her, sending glasses and bottles flying everywhere. He actually *smiles* about it, until he catches Colter giving him the evil eye. The guy clearly doesn’t want to be nice, but doesn’t want a full-on brawl either, so he just throws some money on the floor for the waitress to pick up – a really pathetic gesture. Colter isn’t the type to start a fight out of nowhere, he’s better than that, but you can practically *feel* the tension radiating off him. He’s holding back, but he’s definitely ready to explode if pushed.

Colter was especially hurt by the lies and betrayal because he was the only Shaw sibling who remained with their mother after their father’s death. He’d believed for twenty years that his brother had killed their father and then left them to fend for themselves. Discovering this was all a fabrication has left the typically self-reliant Colter reeling. Just when he needed support, he got a surprise visitor – but at a bad time. He was already in a fight with a tough character and his friends when his brother, Russell, appeared, and Colter instinctively punched him in the face.

Reenie had asked Russell to find Colter, and Russell had even spoken to their mother before finally locating him – a big moment that everyone seemed to quickly dismiss. After discovering the truth about Otto, Colter left without saying goodbye to Mary, not wanting to be deceived again. Colter’s hurt from years of believing his mother’s lies is clear when he apologizes to Russell, who readily forgives him. Russell has dealt with his mother’s betrayal and lies, and now that he’s reconciled with Colter and Dory, he feels at peace. However, Colter is still processing things, so the brothers share their perspectives to understand each other better.

Colter and Russell Shaw remember their father, Ashton, changing before his death. Mary, his wife, had even been planning to leave him and take their children. While Ashton hadn’t always been like that, both brothers agree something happened that summer – something that caused him to spiral downward, and no one seems willing to discuss it. The Shaw brothers may have insights into who killed their father, but the next mystery revolves around this hidden event. Russell believes it’s best to move on, he’s still willing to help Colter, but Colter needs to pull himself together and return to work first.

Colter and Russell Take on a New Case Where a Teenage Girl and Her Mother Are Missing

Russell believes Colter would benefit from returning to work, so he and Reenie take on a missing persons case – the ex-wife and daughter of one of Reenie’s clients, Cal Rodgers. Before diving into the details, Reenie and Randy spend some time organizing Reenie’s Denver office. Randy is in town both to improve her computer systems and to check on Reenie after a difficult experience. They have a conversation while they work. Elsewhere, Velma is focusing on her marriage with Teddi, and Bobby has landed a new job as a security specialist at a tech start-up. Reenie will need to find someone to manage her office, and Randy needs a place to work while he’s in town.

While driving to a client meeting with Reenie, Colter and Russell continue to speculate about their family’s past, suggesting their mother might have had a relationship with Otto. Colter admits he hasn’t shared this information with Dory. They also remember instances of government interference in their family’s life, adding another layer to the mystery. Russell offers to investigate a phone number Colter discovered last season, understanding Colter isn’t able to move on from the past as easily as Russell and Dory have. Previously, Bobby was only able to determine the number belonged to a government scientist who died around the same time as Ashton. This moment highlights Russell taking on a supportive, big brother role towards Colter.

Colter and Russell meet with Reenie’s client, Rodgers, who explains that his ex-wife, Lisa, and their daughter, Hailey, are missing. Rodgers believes Lisa’s new boyfriend, Kurt Foster, might be involved, as Kurt runs a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. However, Kurt turns out to be a distraction. They discover Kurt dead at his house, with one of his hands missing. Investigating Kurt’s apartment, they find the severed hand and an emptied, high-tech safe. The investigation reveals Lisa was responsible for cutting off Kurt’s hand to access the safe and steal his money.

Hailey was abducted by her teacher, Raymond Ackman. Lisa is being forced to do things through untraceable text messages, all to get Hailey back. When Colter locates Lisa, she becomes frightened and tries to escape, but is struck by a car. Injured and lying in the street, she pleads with Colter to rescue her daughter. Colter gives Lisa’s temporary phone number to Randy, hoping he can find out who’s sending the messages. While Randy can’t trace the sender, he is able to pinpoint Lisa’s intended destination.

Colter and Russell arrived at a rock quarry and found a car waiting for Lisa. They approached the vehicle and confronted Raymond Ackman, pointing guns at him and demanding Hailey’s location. Ackman claimed he needed permission before revealing where she was, but he agreed to take them to her after being threatened. During the drive, Ackman deliberately crashed the car and attempted to escape, but Colter tackled him. Ackman then confessed he was being manipulated – his sister had also been taken, and he was just a pawn in a larger scheme called “The Process.” Immediately after, Ackman received a message on his phone that simply read, “YOU HAVE FAILED.”

When the police arrived, Hailey was rescued, and Russell felt good about a job well done. But Colter couldn’t shake the feeling they hadn’t figured everything out about the mysterious ‘Process,’ especially after learning Ackman’s sister had been found dead. Russell urged Colter to move on and celebrate their success – they’d saved Lisa and Hailey and reunited a family, and deserved a good steak. Colter tried to follow Russell’s advice and put the case aside, until both their phones buzzed with a chillingly familiar sound – the same message tone Lisa and Raymond received from The Process: “YOU HAVE INTERRUPTED THE PROCESS AND THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES.”

Cassie’s Observations and Commentary: Favorite Moments and Theories on What’s Next

  • Russell always makes a memorable introduction when he pops up on Tracker. Whether it’s emerging from the shadows in the middle of nowhere or creeping around a top-secret government facility. I think joining a bar brawl mid-fight by getting punched in the face might be his best one yet. It was hilarious and action-packed, particularly when he wanted to play rock-paper-scissors to see who got to punch out the last thug.
  • From the moment Russell showed up and Colter shared what he learned, Colter’s burden was lighter. Colter has a tendency to take things on alone, but dealing with the revelations about his family is more than he can handle alone. He needs his brother, and while Jensen Ackles always brings the comedy, it is a beautiful and heartfelt scene between the two of them in the airstream.
  • Let’s go back to the fact that Russell and Mary spoke. As far as I knew, Russell and Mary hadn’t spoken since that fateful night in the woods when she told him to leave. In last season’s finale, Colter mentioned that if Mary wanted to know how Russell was doing, she’d have to ask him herself, but I feel a little like we were robbed of getting to see that reunion.
  • It was a bit disappointing that there wasn’t much about Reenie in the episode. The focus was on the brothers, which is great, but I hope there is more about how Reenie is coping in the next episode. It’s also still up in the air if we will see Michael Rady again after he got stabbed last season. Russell did ask about him, but Colter didn’t really engage, and after ignoring Reenie for three weeks, he probably wouldn’t know anyway.
  • Speaking of Reenie and her almost dying last season, she played off Colter’s weeks of radio silence, but it can’t have been easy to lose Velma and Colter. It’s a good thing Randy stepped up and went to Denver to be there for her. Reenie’s scenes were largely expositional this episode, but Elwood Reid teased that he’s going to build out Reenie’s world more this season, so this shouldn’t always be the case going forward.
  • As for The Process, there were implications that Lisa was targeted because of something scandalous she may have gotten into because of her crypto-scammer boyfriend. This means that the school teacher probably isn’t as innocent as he’d like us to believe. I mean, he did kill a guy and kidnap a teenage girl, but there was probably something shady in his past that made him a target of The Process.
  • There were a couple of moments in “The Process” where we got to see the differences between Colter’s stealthier, more graceful approach compared to Russell’s brute force tactics. Colter has a lock pick where Russell breaks a window. Colter hacks the surveillance footage where Russell puts the security guy in a chokehold and steals it. I couldn’t help thinking it was all setting up the Russell Shaw spin-off Elwood Reid wants.

New episodes of Tracker air Sundays at 8pm on CBS.

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2025-10-20 18:08