When Tracker returns this fall, we already know the cast is going to look a little different.
Losing two key cast members ahead of Tracker Season 3 will certainly have the show looking a little different when it returns, but even so, as we head into the new season, there will still be some things to remember about where things left off.
With months in between seasons nowadays, sometimes you need a refresher about where you’ve been to remember where you’re going.
Even though Tracker is a standard action series, the second season attempted to branch out beyond different cases each week and his family’s long-buried drama by introducing an unsolved case from his past and giving Reenie a side plot as well.
Whether those two things worked would be a matter of personal taste.
But they helped shape the season into something different than its predecessor, and we can only hope they’ll continue that moving forward, perhaps even expanding upon it.
Before we get to Tracker Season 3, though, let’s look back on some of the key moments from last season and what impact they may have moving forward!
The Shaw Family Still Has Issues
On Tracker Season 1 Episode 1, we found out about the Shaw family drama, which involved Colter and his siblings’ eccentric and survivalist father falling to his death from a cliff when the children were younger.
As an adult, Colter blamed his father’s death on his brother Russell, seeing as Russell was standing nearby when it happened.
However, when Russell showed up during the first season, the brothers were able to reconcile, allowing Colter to release a lot of the pain and resentment he had held towards his older brother.
During Tracker Season 2, the Shaw family drama was mainly pushed to the background, with Russell making an early appearance during Tracker Season 2 Episode 2, which was more about a Jensen Ackles cameo than about advancing the story further.
And Dory appeared during Tracker Season 2 Episode 19, when she gave Colter the mysterious box of their father’s belongings.
She warned him that he was essentially barking up the wrong tree by continuing to dig into their father’s past, but Colter is nothing if not a persistent non-listener
Both Russell and Dory’s appearances felt like they were meant to remind the audience about the Shaw family mystery.
While both Ackles and Melissa Roxburgh are plenty busy, hopefully, they’re able to return in the new season because their interactions with Colter, even the brief ones, help to shade in his character beyond being a one-trick survivalist reward-seeker.
Even if the big mystery about Ashton’s death is solved (more on that later), this family has a lot of issues they need to work through, and getting all three siblings together is something fans have been clamoring for.
Reenie’s Boss Almost Gets Her Killed!
As the lawyer Colter often needs, Reenie has solidified herself as Colter’s right-hand in many ways. And that’s a bond that was only strengthened throughout the course of the second season.
The series went to great lengths to expand Reenie’s characterization, introducing a love interest (hi Elliot!) and a new client, Leo Sharf, who would end up putting her in grave danger, though in an unexpected way.
Leo was a very demanding client who was up to no good, and Reenie seemed to be very conflicted about him throughout the season.
When his assistant went missing, what ensued was a twist in which said assistant was actually the sister of someone who committed suicide after Leo took credit for his idea.
The plot played out well enough, and Tracker Season 2 Episode 19, was a wonderful hour in and of itself, but in closing out the Leo Sharf storyline, it leaves you to wonder what will be in store for Reenie moving forward.
Teaming Reenie and Velma up at Reenie’s office didn’t amount to anything, and with Velma out of the picture now, will the series slot Elliot in there to be a partner to help Reenie as she helps Colter?
Might they introduce a new client with a shady past to keep Reenie occupied when she’s not digging into case files and calling in favors all over the country to help Colter?
Tracker Season 2 gave Reenie a lot more to do, but they could still do more for her, and hopefully, they will.
Bobby’s Cousin Becomes Colter’s New Inside Man
Bobby was Colter’s hacker and the technical person on Colter’s team from the series’ inception, but when he disappeared in the middle of the season, his cousin Randy stepped in, and frankly, neither the team nor the series skipped a beat.
Chris Lee was a scene-stealer as the competent and tech-savvy replacement for Bobby, developing an easy rapport with Colter and cementing himself as a solid addition to the team.
When Colter and Randy teamed up during Tracker Season 2 Episode 17, the two made great partners, and their buddy chemistry was the highlight of one of the best hours of the season.
When Bobby returned, he and Randy became a duo, lending their expertise where necessary, but with Bobby no longer around in season 3, that should open things up for Randy to slide into the role.We haven’t officially heard if that will be the case, but the role of hacker and tech extraordinaire is an essential part of Colter’s whole schtick. He doesn’t track most of these people down without the help of those he trusts.
So, it would be odd not to see Randy back in some capacity this season.Colter & Billie Continue Their Will-They-Won’t-They
While Colter worked on his big whale case, the disappearance of Gina Pickett, throughout the early parts of the season, he briefly fell back into bed with his old flame, Camille, Gina’s sister.
While the two ultimately never dove into a full-blown romance, the only other time during the season we got a taste of Colter and romance came with the return of Billie Matalon during Tracker Season 2 Episode 3.
Colter and Billie have a long and complicated history, and that was on full display when the pair traveled to Billie’s hometown to find a missing teenager mixed up in some shady bio-hacking scheme.
Colter and Billie’s relationship feels destined to be a thing throughout the series’ run, with the duo meeting up for cases, flirting, and then ultimately heading their separate ways.
When the twosome met again during Tracker Season 2 Episode 15, the tension between the two boiled over, and they ended up in bed together, but we didn’t see them together again the rest of the season.
Colter’s a lone wolf at heart, and it’s hard to see him settle down or have a permanent partner.
Part of the Tracker allure is seeing Colter placed into these different situations each week and partnering up with new people, so Billie sliding into the role would likely be to the detriment of the series.However, we fully expect her to reappear and to continue doing so as the two navigate their complex relationship amidst the chaotic nature of their current lives.
Colter Meets His Father’s Killer
We hadn’t seen Mary Dove Shaw since early in Tracker Season 1, but she showed up in Tracker Season 2 Episode 20 with pancakes and secrets aplenty when Colter came home to Echo Ridge.
Ashton Shaw’s death has haunted the narrative from the beginning, and within the course of that final hour, Colter made headway in the case of his father’s death more so than at any point over the past two seasons.
Mary Dove has always been a shady character, and while we knew she was hiding secrets, Colter, nor most of the audience, suspected the biggest secret of all was that she may have been the one who ordered Ashton’s death.
When Colter sat across from Otto, an old acquaintance of his father’s, you could see him trying to make heads from tails as he told him about certain parts of his father’s past that he never knew about.
While Otto may not have explicitly stated that Mary Dove told him to kill Ashton, he heavily implied it, along with suggesting that Ashton had numerous enemies and activities that Colter was unaware of.
It was a bombshell of an ending for the season, and the implications from that confession will undoubtedly reverberate throughout the upcoming season, and we can’t wait.
The Shaw family drama will always be one of the show’s best aspects, and it’s now at a point where Colter can delve into his family’s history and find the answers to questions that have plagued him his entire life.
Alright, Tracker fans! Now that you got a little reminder of what happened last season, and what could be to come, what are you most excited to see this season?
