Entertainment
‘Tracker’ Pushes Colter Shaw to the Very Brink With a Dangerous New Job
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Tracker Season 3, Episode 14.Sometimes, Tracker can surprise you, and this week’s episode is one such hour full of interesting twists and turns as Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) fights to save a young boy. “The Field Trip” is a usual tale in that it follows a lone hero on his way to rescue a missing child from a predator. Yet, with CBS’s signature procedural style and the smooth-talking Colter Shaw on the case, this makes for a fun hour of television that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
“The Field Trip” Follows Colter Shaw on the Trail of a Missing Boy
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after young Alex Clark (Kole Parks) goes missing during a school field trip to a local museum, Colter Shaw arrives in town to do what the police can’t. He’s only been gone for five hours, but Colter is on the case as a favor to Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene), whose client Sara (Elyse Levesque) is Alex’s mother. Sara and her husband James (Jon Beavers) are terrified at the loss of their son, but Colter vows to do whatever it takes to find him.
The boy was last seen in a room with a T. rex skeleton, only to head downstairs to investigate the off-limits staff area. Colter takes a look around the employee garage at the bottom of the building to find a sticker for the Eisenhower Magnet School, the very same school Alex goes to. Colter believes that Alex was lured into the custodial area and out of the building. According to the museum records, Sylvia Sloan (Brittany Willacy) was the last custodian on the job. Turns out, she has a record, was recently divorced, and possibly has a history of psychotic episodes, according to Randy’s (Chris Lee) quick online sleuth action — oh, and on the side, Mel Day (Cassady McClincy Zhang) asks Randy to do some digging on Kurtis Lauper (Serge Houde) regarding the new case they’ve undertaken.
‘Tracker’s New Episode Is a Blueprint for What the Procedural Should Always Be
The rewardist is at his best when the show leans into this aspect.
On the way to question Sylvia, James unloads on Colter about his struggles as a parent, how he feels like he’s not been around as much as he should, reflecting his own tense relationship with his father. No doubt Colter is having mental flashbacks to his own childhood, though he keeps his mouth shut for the time being. As Colter arrives at Sylvia’s front door, he decides instead to go around the back as James gets out of Colter’s truck against the rewardist’s orders. Doing so, he spots Sylvia and physically confronts her, resulting in her friend Mike (Keon Lyn) attacking James instead. Colter gets in the middle of it and finds an emotional connection with the woman that opens the door for her to talk. Sylvia tells them that she last saw Alex with someone she only assumed was his teacher, George Brooks (Tyler Poelle), and that they got all turned around and used the employee exit. According to James, Brooks also tutored Alex after school.
Meanwhile, Reenie arrives on the doorstep of Kurtis Lauper, the former project manager of the Elkrun Canyon Housing Development, who refuses to testify against the Prader & Rockwell Properties Group. Done with the lies, he tries to kick her to the curb, but Reenie refuses to take no for an answer. Asking Lauper what lies he’s talking about and what happened to her, she learns that Lauper believed that they were doing something shady — and their lawyers and doctors convinced everyone else that he was crazy instead. Reenie reminds him that she can’t erase what Prader & Rockwell did to him, but he can make them answer for it.
‘Tracker’ Season 3, Episode 14 Pushes Colter to Do Some Honest Detective Work
Arriving at Brooks’ home, Colter breaks in and finds it empty. However, he finds some interesting material at his desk, including drawings that Alex did for Brooks and Sara Clark’s social media account pulled up on his home computer. Creepy doesn’t even begin to cover it. It isn’t long before Detective Monroe (Luvia Petersen) arrives and tells Colter that Brooks was incredibly helpful with the search. He did everything he could to avoid detection, which kept him from being a suspect. But after Randy tracked Brooks’ phone, Colter heads to the pinned location only to discover that it’s the Clark home. Sara is about to leave to pick up her husband, and Colter asks about the neighbor, Noah Rossi (Gord Rand), who has been teaching Alex to play chess. But to make things worse, Russy fits the same description as Brooks, and coupled with one of the drawings that Colter shows Sara, he believes that Alex may be inside the neighbor’s house.
Deciding to investigate, Colter sees that there has been a struggle in the home. He breaks in, and the pair walk inside to find blood on the toppled chess set. There is also ice cream on the counter and Brooks’ phone. Sara wonders if they were working together, but Colter isn’t so sure. He proposes an alternative theory: Brooks, looking through Alex’s drawings, believes that the neighbor may have taken him, so he goes to confront Noah on his own. This results in a physical confrontation before the victor escapes with Alex. As Colter and Sara look around, they discover that the neighbor has a telescope pointed right at Alex’s bedroom. “He wasn’t just watching your son, he was spending time with you, getting your trust,” Colter tells her, promising that he will find Alex and bring him home.
Colter calls Randy to see if Noah has any other properties on file. It turns out, Noah comes from money and has a history of loitering outside of preschools. But, just by happenstance, Colter sees a digital photo frame with a picture of Rossi at a cabin. Randy finds the location and sends Colter the address. Meanwhile, Noah and Alex sit together in the cabin and watch cartoons. When Alex asks if he should call his mom, Noah shuts him down. Going outside, he opens the trunk of the car to reveal that Brooks, the teacher, is still alive. They wrestle in the mud for a moment before Noah buries an axe into the teacher’s gut as Alex watches from the doorway in horror. The boy runs into the woods as Noah pursues him. Colter arrives just in time to help stabilize the teacher, heading into the woods after the kidnapper and his victim.
Colter Shaw Nearly Crosses a Line on This Week’s ‘Tracker’
As Colter catches up with Noah, trying to coax Alex to come back to him, he attacks the kidnapper and pushes him to the ground. With his gun unholstered, he points the barrel right between the villain’s eyes, telling the boy to look away. For a moment, it seems like Colter is actually going to pull the trigger and put this low-life out of his misery. Frankly, we almost want him to, but his better angels get a hold of him. Instead, he knocks Noah out and rushes to comfort Alex, who is completely (and understandably) overwhelmed by the situation. Carrying the boy back just as the police arrive, and Alex is reunited with his parents. Meanwhile, Reenie tells Maxine (Kathleen Robertson) that there’s more to this legal case than they realized.
The next day, Colter arrives to check on the teacher, Mr. Brooks, in the hospital. He tells the teacher that he did the right thing by going after Alex. James arrives and thanks Colter for saving his son when nobody else could. He also offers an apology for his mismanaged temper early on, but Colter won’t have it. “You got a second chance, not a lot of dads get that,” the rewardist tells the thankful father, and it’s a beautiful thing to see. “The Field Trip” ends with Colter skipping town, another job well done.
- Release Date
-
February 11, 2024
- Showrunner
-
Elwood Reid
- Writers
-
Ben H. Winters, Hilary Weisman Graham
-
Justin Hartley
Colter Shaw
-
- Seeing Colter question whether to take a life is a riveting way to finish up an episode
- Some actual progress on the Reenie plot is a welcome change
- I did not see the teacher twist coming
- Colter allowing Sara to investigate a potentially hostile situation with him after arguing with James about the same seems out of character
You must be logged in to post a comment Login