Tracker season 3 has a tall order of resolutions to make as the series moves into its next season, especially with two characters leaving the series, but their answers to the strange disappearances of their cast members won’t solve the root problems with the series. Tracker, which stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, has always featured a slew of side characters, as well.
Throughout Tracker’s run, there have been some interesting but confusing choices made surrounding the people Colter has on his team. As a transient problem solver, having a home base may not be appealing to Colter, but is often necessary to make sure he can do his job successfully. Originally, Teddi Bruin (Robin Weigert) and Velma Bruin (Abby McEnany) held down the fort.
While Teddi and Velma worked with Colter to bring cases to his attention, Bobby Exley (Eric Graise) was Colter’s one-man tech team and Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene) worked as his roving legal counsel. Despite having a hardworking team around him, things on Tracker haven’t been steady for Colter when it comes to his support. The show’s answers about their missing characters, in turn, has been shady at best.
As Tracker season 3 grows closer, viewers are ready to learn more about how the new exits of McEnany and Graise will be addressed. After Tracker season 2 quickly explained Weigert’s exit, viewers were disappointed at the lack of McEnany’s involvement in the season, and the fact that Graise left the series mid-season and was, in essence, replaced by his cousin Randy (Chris Lee).
Though Tracker’s showrunner has addressed the exits head-on, the answer being given doesn’t seem to resolve the strange problem at its roots, leaving it likely to spring back up in the future.
Tracker’s Notoriously Allowed Justin Hartley To Call The Shots On Colter
Tracker’s showrunner Elwood Reid has been open about working with Hartley, who’s an executive producer on the series. While Reid makes it clear that he understands there need to be characters outside of Colter and his direct scope of a case, Hartley seems to struggle with the back and forth of having Colter rely on people who aren’t tangibly there.
Reid explained that Colter’s lone-wolf mentality is definitely a part of his character, but can sometimes spring up from Hartley’s disinterest in complicating the plot. Explaining he doesn’t like the element of “phone-a-friend”, Reid explained to US Weekly, “Justin is always challenging me on that. He’s like, ‘Do we need to do this? Do I need to call Bobby all the time? Can I do this?’”
Reid has been clear that Tracker is a show about “being over Justin’s shoulder,” but doesn’t always see the bigger picture. While Tracker often makes it clear that Colter would rather work with strangers he meets during his cases than the people who have proven to be helpful and loyal throughout his tracking career, having a team base is important for the show’s narrative structure.
Tracker Expanding Reenie’s World Won’t Resolve Colter’s Isolation Problems
In addressing the exits coming for Tracker season 3, Reid made it clear that there will be a resolution provided for fans that will also widen the scope of Rene’s character, delving more into Reenie’s world. Bringing Randy, who’s become a regular part of the cast after Exley’s departure, into Reenie’s space will round things out with more of a story for the rag-tag duo.
While expanding Reenie’s world is something Tracker viewers have been interested in since the show’s early days, it’s also not something that’s going to fix the issues happening with Colter on screen. As Colter deals with the dark family history he’s finally gaining clarity on, bringing his brother Russell Shaw (Jensen Ackles) into the mix, he’s likely going to become more of a lone wolf than ever.
Enriching Reenie’s inner-life and broadening her worldview is a great step forward for Tracker, and hopefully resolves the short-term issue of cast members being under-utilized or left behind, but it’s clear that it’s not an actual fix for what’s happening on the show. Tracker shifting its focus between Colter and Reenie’s stories, especially if they’re not enmeshed, will only complicate the series.
Tracker Needs To Merge Their Stories Together More Clearly To Succeed
As Tracker proceeds with its newly minted resolution to its long-standing problem, it’s clear that the series is going to have a hard time reconciling the stories it’s telling throughout the season. Tracker season 3 has promised to provide an expansion of Reenie’s role and include Randy in those stories, it hasn’t addressed how Colter will be involved, if he will at all.
Though Colter and Reenie’s relationship has always been something Tracker revisits, it’s clear that their time together isn’t always a priority for the series. Reenie, Randy, and any others who join into the Tracker team have always been ancillary characters who help Colter’s plot along, and that’s likely what the show will continue to do as the series forges ahead.
While having Colter be the fixture of Tracker is, in essence, the point of the show, it’s hard to root for a character who struggles to find support in the people he knows will support him. Colter, who employs Reenie, Randy, and the rest, constantly fights off the urge to reach out to anyone. Moving forward, Tracker needs to merge their storylines to succeed, despite Colter’s hesitations.
Source: US Weekly
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- 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
