While each episode of Tracker’s first season saw Colter Shaw take on a different case, there was a consistent storyline underlying them all. In the first episode, flashbacks revealed the death of Colter’s father, a complicated man with a complicated relationship with his children. From Colter’s perspective, it seemed very similar to his brother, Russell, who drove his father to his death. The events of that night have haunted Colter throughout his adult life, and have clearly been on his mind throughout the events of Tracker’s first season. In Sunday’s penultimate episode, the Shaw family history came to light, giving us the most revealing information about the case since its premiere.
Sunday’s new episode of Tracker brought guest star Jensen Ackles, who played the adult version of Russell Shaw. Of course, bringing Colter and Russell together for the first time in years gave them a chance to address the elephant in the room, what happened to their father.
In “Off the Books,” Russell told Colter outright that he didn’t push his father. Obviously, he could have been lying, and we don’t know if he was, but he did provide a little more information. Russell explained to his brother that there was someone else in the woods that night, someone responsible for their father’s death. He didn’t say much about who that person was, other than that it was a man and that he had seen the man talking to his mother once before the incident.
In last week’s episode, Colter’s sister told him that their mother hadn’t been completely honest with him about their old life or their father’s death. Not only was he the only one who believed her about everything, but he was also the only one who stayed behind to help her after she lost her father. According to Russell, there was a reason why he didn’t stay.
Russell also told Colter that their mother told him to leave the house and not talk about what happened in the woods that night. She knew he had seen someone else and didn’t want any of that information to be revealed. What she might be hiding remains to be seen, but it’s clear that she wants to keep Colter in the dark about it. If you remember, in the second episode of the series, she warned Colter about talking to Russell. He tried to contact both of them, but she insisted that he could only bring trouble.
Much of this mystery will now revolve around what Mrs. Shaw might know, and it will be interesting to see if we have to wait until Season 2 to find out what that might be.
