The specter of Ashton Shaw was hanging heavy over this one.
Colter’s father has proven to be quite the major player over the first two hours of this new series, with Colter taking on a new case that had his father heavy on his brain.
And while the case of the week on Tracker Season 1 Episode 2 wasn’t anything to write home about, it did further the lore that is the Shaw family mystery, which again seems to be the strongest thing going for this action-adventure which continues to be light on the action.
While Colter’s deep-rooted family issues were lingering under the surface during the hour, the job this week was to extract a man from a cult he had no intention of leaving.
If that sounds like a difficult task, it surely was.
Jackson was clearly a man who felt stifled. Someone who wanted his parents to give him a little room to be the adult man that he was and make him feel like he was more than just their baby boy.
Rebecca, Seth, and the whole Positive Light movement were created to steal money from people, but to get people to trust them enough to access that money, they had to exploit their perceived weaknesses.
They had to become the saviors others desperately needed.
Colter: You stay or go. You decide what’s best for you.
Jackson: What do you care? You don’t even know me.
Colter: I don’t know you. I used to be you.
With Jackson, that meant zeroing in on his need to be seen and validated outside his parents. Obviously, his parents weren’t bad people; in fact, they were quite the opposite.
They loved their son very much, and perhaps they did hover, and better boundaries could have been in place, but they surely wanted what was best for him.
And isn’t it ironic that Jackson saw that in Rebecca and Seth and not his parents when they were only ever after his financial skills?
But that’s what these kind of cults do. They can dig into the one thing that can break you, slide in to crack it, and then stick around to pick up all the pieces.
It’s a frankly terrifying skill to have when you think about it.
Take Colter, for example, who found his way into the Positive Light compound and discovered the only way he could breathe the same air as Jackson was to come face-to-face with Seth, who took little time exposing the one wound Colter has never been able to heal.
Seth took no time at all, just pressing and pressing at Colter, hoping to get him to crack even a little bit, though the end game with him wasn’t necessarily to get him to join his twisted operation, but to maybe back off Operation Break Jackson Out.
Colter’s been around the block for a while, and he was hip to what Seth was trying to do, but imagine anyone else in that room under Seth’s intense gaze and direct questioning, all hidden behind a genial smile.
Seth and Rebecca brought people into that room to find out exactly how they could break them, and then they burned themselves to get people to trust them.
Because a person willing to permanently mutilate their skin to hold your deepest, darkest secret must be someone you can trust.
Pulling Jackson free from that wasn’t easy, and for a while, I wasn’t sure what Colter would have to do to get Jackson to see the light.
Through the first two hours, Bob, Teddi, and Velma have purely been used for information dumps, and I get it. I really do. But hopefully, as the season progresses, we’ll get more of them outside of what they can do for Colter.
Yes, this is the Colter show, and yes, their literal jobs are to help Colter, but they all made such great first impressions, and I’m desperate for more.
Sue me.
And we didn’t even get Reenie in this one! Hopefully, that is the last time I’ll be saying that.
While the case during Tracker Season 1 Episode 1 found Colter shot and falling off a cliff, somehow this one was even more dangerous.
Rebecca and Seth and their monotone voices were murderous people not above staging an accident to cover up something they didn’t want to be seen. And Colter almost found himself in trouble like David.
One thing about Colter is the man has no fear, it would seem, and he’s incredibly skilled at what he does. Not many people can lead someone following them into a trap so effortlessly.
The final face-off with the cult was very odd, with everyone at the exact place Colter was to get the proof he needed, considering the episode went above and beyond to highlight the cameras everywhere Colter turned in Missoula.
Yet, he was able to bust a window and spend a decent amount of time rummaging through the office without anyone above him being alerted? I get that for plot purposes, Colter needed to find those files and videos, but it didn’t feel right with the way so much time was spent on the surveillance aspect of the cult.
Anyway, Jackson’s tackle on Rebecca was so out of left field I actually gasped out loud. He put all the pain he felt about being lied to and made a fool of into that spear.
This was another case that was wrapped up tidily by the end, and if you’re expecting multi-episode cases or non-happy endings, then I think you might want to alter those expectations.
While the case was okay, the Shaw drama remains the most gripping thing about the series. And we don’t learn much here, but that’s okay because a slow burn mystery is precisely what this show needs.
Mary Dove, thus far, is a total unknown on many levels and someone we should probably keep our eye on. It is always the spouse, as they say.
Finding a mysterious note in her home was plenty of reason to call Colter out, but they acted pretty lowkey about someone entering her home and ransacking Ashton’s office.
During Seth’s interrogation, he hit on many questions that would have been interesting had Colter answered them, especially as it related to how Ashton became the man we saw in those flashbacks and just what the hell happened on those rocks.
I think there may be a lot that Colter doesn’t even know himself. But after Russell was seemingly excommunicated from the family, he was the one who stepped up for his mother (and his sister, presumably), and instead of seeing the answers he probably wanted to learn, he chose to let things go.
It’s obvious he loves his mother and trusts her, so instead of living in the past, he accepted the realities of his circumstances and looked to move forward.
But the thing about moving forward is it’s nearly impossible to do when something is pulling you back.
This won’t solve anything. Your father’s still going to haunt you.
Seth [to Colter]
Seth was blowing a lot of hot air, but he wasn’t wrong about Ashton continuing to haunt Colter. And if these cases continue to tap into that deeply buried pain, he won’t have much choice but to confront it head-on.
Tracker Notes
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No mention of Russell calling or texting Colter, which feels weird. That reveal was such a big thing in the pilot, and it just disappeared here.
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I will be wondering what happened to Dory until I see her on the screen.
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That security guard wanted to ruin Colter so bad, and he got beat at every turn.
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Justin Hartley is more than up for the task when allowed to engage in some action. Say what you will about some of the material, but Hartley is bringing it here.
Another week down, Tracker fanatics! And coming off the high of the Superbowl, I’m curious how many of you stuck around and what you thought about this installment!
So, please drop all your comments below, and don’t hold back!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on X.