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‘Tracker’ Is Still Missing 1 Thing After a Twisty Action-Packed Case for Colter
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Tracker Season 3 Episode 11.With Tracker finally back to a weekly release schedule on CBS, “To the Bone” pushes Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) to the East Coast, which is probably good after all he dealt with on the West Coast last week. In addition to Colter’s latest case, the series expands on Reenie Greene’s (Fiona Rene) law practice with the start of a new subplot that shakes things up. But, as usual, most of the action remains with Colter, who finds himself tracking down a kid with a shady side job that leads to a bigger conspiracy.
‘Tracker’s “To the Bone” Begins With a Missing Person’s Case That’s Not Quite Straightforward
In Queens, New York, Ben Pateras (Ben Krieger), an employee at a local Greek restaurant, Stepho’s, pockets some tip money from the joint and locks up. Leaving the building, he’s met by a seemingly menacing vehicle. And it’s here that Tracker kicks off its latest case. 12 hours later, Colter Shaw arrives at the scene to meet Stath (Joshua Bitton) and Antonia Pateras (Sarah Strange), Ben’s parents and the owners of Stepho’s. They explain to the rewardist that Ben never deposited the $12,000 cash from the restaurant into the bank account, offering $10,000 to Colter if he can find their son. Stath takes our hero to the back lockers, where he explains how Ben has become an activist fighting for different causes. In Ben’s locker, Colter finds a spent cartridge from a taser, something Stath didn’t even know his son owned. Hoping for more clues, Colter and Stath head outside and find Ben’s phone. Upon meeting a homeless woman at the end of the street, they learn that Ben got into the car with a man who matches the description of a former Stepho’s employee: Elias Brawner (Alex Barima). According to Stath, Elias was fired for theft.
The hit CBS series was recently renewed for a fourth season.
Unsurprisingly, Randy (Chris Lee) finds Elias’ rap sheet and sends Colter to his last known address. But as the rewardist travels across town, back at Reenie’s Denver-based law office, she meets with a bulldog of a lawyer named Maxine (Kathleen Robertson) who wants to bring Reenie in on her latest case: a class-action lawsuit against a real estate developer. It may be “grunt work,” as Reenie notes, but Maxine is very persuasive. As she explains it, doing this job first could lead to a mutually beneficial relationship where she recommends Reenie to more high-profile clients. If this isn’t Tracker trying to start another mysterious Leo Sharf (Pej Vahdat) plotline, then we have no idea what to expect next. Hopefully this time it will tie back into the show’s overarching mythology somehow…
Back in New York, Colter arrives at Elias’ apartment and, when nobody answers, does his usual “breaking and entering” thing. It isn’t long before he makes a discovery: tons of fake passports and IDs. Just then, Elias walks in to find Colter there waiting for him. He makes a run for it, but Colter eventually gets to him and demands answers about Ben. According to Elias — who never stole anything from Stepho’s, by the way, he just took the fall for Ben, his business partner — Ben bought a car from him with the money from the restaurant and ran.
This Week’s ‘Tracker’ Dives Deep Into the Criminal Underworld
In Denver, Mel Day (Cassady McClincy Zhang) and Randy exchange their hesitations about the new job Reenie’s considering from Maxine, with Randy the more suspicious of the two. But Colter interrupts this little side plot by asking Randy to break into Ben’s laptop that he lifted from Elias’ apartment — oh, and to track Ben’s new car. (Who is really the tracker on this show?) While the laptop is going to take some time, Randy gets a hit on the car in record time, sending Colter to the junkyard where it was last seen. While there, Colter finds the car and discovers the dead body of a young woman in the trunk. After the police arrive, local NYPD Detective Blake (Sandy Sidhu) confirms the woman’s identity as Nadia Fedosh, who is in the U.S. on a visa. While Blake thinks Ben is responsible, Colter doesn’t believe so due to a second set of tire tracks. But the bloodhound that is Colter Shaw is soon chasing a new lead when Randy — who is basically just a wizard at this point — uses the metadata from Nadia’s fake ID photo to send him to a new address.
It’s here that “To the Bone” takes a bit of a detour, as we follow Reenie in her pre-lawsuit interviews. When the lawyer tries to speak with Simone Arthur, a former employee of the real estate company in question, regarding the class-action lawsuit, she meets with her mother, Josephine (Allegra Fulton), instead. After one of the most awkward moments a lawyer could have outside the courtroom, we learn that Simone died two months prior of cancer. On that downer, Tracker returns to the main event as Colter arrives at the address Randy sent his way, once again breaking in (though, to be fair, this time the door was already ajar). Inside, he discovers a locked basement that contains several floor beds in the same room, in poor condition. But things get a bit more complicated when he stumbles into a room all dressed up and adorned with ring light cameras and other recording devices. It appears to be some sort of human trafficking/illegal webcam operation.
While there, Colter gets Randy to recover a video from one of the loitering webcams where Ben attempts to rescue a girl named Kendall (Andrea Abreu), leading to his capture. Unfortunately for Colter, he’s no longer alone. Although he gets a drop on the thug returning to the scene, a fight endures before Colter gets him in a vice. The hired gun gives up the names of the sister-brother duo Eliza (Jessie Fraser) and Nico Watts (Jon Bryant), the ringleaders of the whole operation, who are currently holding Ben captive.
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This Week’s ‘Tracker’ Ends With a Heartfelt Family Reunion and a Promise of More
It turns out that the names of the Watts siblings were all that the dynamic duo of Colter Shaw and Randy (do we still not know his last name?) needed, because their research sends the former to a nightclub called Celebrities. After sneaking in with some hired hands, Colter conveniently makes his way to the basement just in time to stop another goon from assassinating Ben. After Colter dispatches the would-be killer, he tries to get Ben to safety, but he refuses to get out of harm’s way until he can save Kendall. Although he didn’t reveal her hidden location, the Watts’ discovered it anyhow — and are on their way to take her out.
Speeding across town, Colter and Ben do everything they can to get to Kendall in time. As it turns out, Kendall was the one who found Nadia’s body and called Ben to help her move it to avoid being blamed for the Watts’ crimes. It’s because of what she knows that she’s being hunted — and why Ben was nearly killed. But before Colter can arrive, the Watts siblings show up and grab Kendall. However, with some record network television timing on his side, Colter gets to the motel just in time to stumble upon them as they threaten the frightened girl at knifepoint. Nico spots Colter, and the two get into a brief firefight before the rewardist takes his opponent out, saving Kendall before Eliza can use her as leverage. With that, Ben and Kendall are safe, and Colter has secured his latest reward.
Of course, this isn’t where “To the Bone” ends. That evening in Denver, Reenie and Randy discuss the weirdness surrounding the real estate case, with Reenie still unsure whether she’s going to get involved. But she’s certainly interested, at the very least, because she thinks there’s something suspicious going on that ought not to be covered up. How that plotline will progress remains to be seen. Back in New York, Colter returns Ben and Kendall to the former’s parents safe and sound. Ben’s parents are willing to help take Kendall in for the time being, without any question at all. Grateful for his son’s return, Stath repeats an old Greek phrase to Colter: “Ísoun o sotíras,” meaning “You were our savior.”
- Release Date
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February 11, 2024
- Showrunner
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Elwood Reid
- Writers
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Ben H. Winters, Hilary Weisman Graham
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Justin Hartley
Colter Shaw
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- This week’s mystery is just twisty enough to keep us on our toes.
- Colter and Randy are a solid duo that have really come into their own.
- It’s great to see Reenie back out in the field. Now let’s get her and Colter back in it together.
- If Tracker wants us to care about Mel Day, we need more.
- Giving Reenie something to do is a good thing, but it all felt a bit shoehorned in.