In true Tracker fashion, Season 2’s eventful finale kept the mystery alive by delivering one of the series’ most highly-anticipated answers before teeing up even more burning questions.
Written by Elwood Reid and directed by Ken Olin, Season 2, Episode 20, “Echo Ridge,” saw Colter return home to investigate the disappearance of a local diner owner, Bill (Brian Keane). While Colter was back home, he also paid his mom Mary Dove Shaw (Wendy Crewson) a visit, stumbled onto a deeply concerning kidnapping case, and finally got some clarity about the devastating death of his father Ashton Shaw (Lee Tergesen).
As Colter learned throughout Tracker‘s run, his brother Russell (Jensen Ackles) didn’t push their dad off a cliff like Colter believed when he was younger. Russell swore someone else was in the woods the night their dad died, and after Colter learned his dad secretly worked for the government for seven years, he started to investigate despite his mom’s pleas to “let it be.” Season 2’s penultimate episode saw Colter’s sister Dory (Melissa Roxburgh) bring him a mysterious box of their father’s belongings. After finding a phone number in his father’s old journal, Colter called it, only to learn it was out of service. As we know, Colter doesn’t let potential leads go easily. So the finale shows what happens when he digs deeper.
Looking for a Tracker Season 2, Episode 20 recap? Decider’s Tracker Season 2 ending explained piece has you covered. Curious who killed Colter’s dad, Ashton? Why Colter’s dad was killed? Or what Colter’s reunion with his mom was like? The answers await, as do major Tracker spoilers, so proceed with caution.
Tracker Season 2 Ending Explained: Tracker Season 2, Episode 20 Recap, “Echo Ridge”
Before we check in with Colter, Tracker Season 2, Episode 20 sets up this week’s mystery by showing Billy drive his car into the woods, step outside, and scream, “I’m here! Hello? Anybody there? Cut the crap. I just want to see that he’s OK.” After hearing his car turn off, he returns to the vehicle and finds a man inside waiting to knock him unconscious. Cut to Colter, who’s driving home to Echo Ridge, California, whole getting updates from Randy (Chris Lee) about the mystery number in his dad’s journal.
Turns out, the number belonged to David Pearson, a scientist who worked at a research facility in California and died by apparent suicide in 2003, the same year Colter’s dad died! Before moving to California, Pearson lived in Hampton, Virginia, which Randy said had major “government vibes” and further led Colter to believe that Pearson had meaning. Nevertheless, Colter puts his dad’s investigation on the back burner and turns his attention to his mom, who’s waiting for him with a homemade stack of pancakes and an offer to do his laundry. (Shoutout to the scheduling gods for having this episode air on Mother’s Day!)
Colter heads to the Little Fork Restaurant to chat with Bill’s sister, where he learns that Bill has been “obsessing” over a man and child who came through the restaurant six months earlier. After feeling something was off and clocking the child’s discomfort, Bill approached the child and asked if he needed help when the man went to the bathroom. When the man returned, Bill interrogated him about his relationship to the boy, but got distracted by a diner incident involving broken plates long enough for them to bolt. After in-depth research, Bill learned that the boy, Chris, had been kidnapped outside San Francisco. Bill kept investigating and set out to find the man after seeing him in Echo Ridge two days earlier.
In present day, Bobby (Eric Graise) tracks the last location of Bill’s phone and Colter heads to the coordinates, where he stumbles upon his old hometown pal Joe (Drew Powell) and learns Bill was looking for a man named Ronnie Yates (Artine Tony Browne), who has ties to a meth operation. Despite warnings, Colter seeks Yates out — or rather, he sneaks into his truck and holds a gun to his head to demand answers. Colter learns that Bill was searching for a man named Carl Murphy, who — per Reenie (Fiona Rene) and Velma (Abby McEnany) — was a registered sex offender and truck driver. Colter heads to Murphy’s father’s property just outside of Echo Ridge and finds an abandoned trailer and photos of young boys that suggest Murphy’s involvment in a child trafficking network. On the property, he also finds a covered car with Bill inside, dead.
Before Colter leaves the trailer, he also stumbles upon something uniquely suspicious to him: one of his dad’s wooden carving’s with “A. SHAW” carved into the bottom. He calls his mom to ask if she knows Murphy, and though she claims she didn’t, she does reveal that she went into Colter’s Airstream to grab his laundry and found the box of his father’s belongings. GASP! “There was a lot about your father I had no clue about,” she tells Colter. “I don’t want you leaping to conclusions. Whatever happened to Bill has nothing to do with our family.”
After Bobby tracks Murphy’s burner phone, Colter and backup (his buddy Joe!) head to a farm, and take out a man guarding a stall that holds a young boy. Colter heads to the barn and finds a group of men prepping to put another boy in the back of a van. Thankfully, he takes them all out before the transfer happens, busts the massive operation wide open, and even shoots Murphy — who tells Colter where he got his dad’s carving…
Who Killed Colter’s Dad Ashton Shaw On Tracker? And Why?
Following his check-in with Bill’s sister, Colter heads to Murphy’s uncle’s place to find out more about his dad’s carving. The man, credited Otto Waldron (Alex Fernandez) on IMDb, coldly answers the door and claims he had nothing to do with Murphy. But once he learns that Colter was Ashton Shaw’s son, he invites him inside and encourages him to ask away. When Colter pulls out the carving, Otto explains that he met Ashton back in the day after the county asked him to run power up the ridge the Shaw’s lived on. Ashton wasn’t happy about that, so after the two hit it off, Otto helped him install a wind turbine that would give him power off the grid.
“We got along OK. I helped keep the county off his back. One night we were talking, I told him I liked these carvings he was making, and he threw one at me,” Otto explains. “But that’s not why you’re here is it? The accident…”
When Otto tells Colter that his dad had a lot of enemies, Colter pulls out his gun and asks if he was in the woods with his dad the night he died. “I was,” Otto replies. When Colter asks if Otto threw Ashton off the cliff, he confirms again, but says he didn’t work for the feds, he just did it because “she asked for my help.” She who? Colter’s mother! GASP And that’s how Tracker Season 2 concludes!
Was Ashton’s death related to the government? What’s the deal with the scientist’s phone number? And why the heck did Colter’s mom want him dead? Those are answers that Hartley’s character will have to track down when Tracker returns for Season 3, which better be soon, because we need more info ASAP.
