‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: Colter Shaw Goes on Another Witch Hunt
The unusual twists keep coming for Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) and his gang of weirdos in Season 2 of Tracker. The CBS drama has already had vampires, aliens and now witches in “Preternatural” – what next, werewolves? The episode opens with a teenage girl named Emmaline Trace (Alison Thornton) walking through the woods and singing to herself in Prior, Kentucky. It’s bringing up District 12 in a big way. The song she picks is an American folk song sometimes called “The Wayfaring Stranger,” which has been popularized by artists like Burl Ives, Paul Robeson, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and even The Last of Us Part II. (Given what we know about Emmaline’s work with mushrooms later on, that may have been a deliberate choice.)
Emmaline is foraging and collecting things in a jar while singing when she sees a snake. Anyone who has ever lived in the Southern United States can tell you that this snake is harmless just by looking at its colorful striped pattern. The old saying “Red before yellow, you’re a dead man. Red before black, you’re fine Jack” rings true here. But even though the snake isn’t venomous, it does seem like an omen. Emmaline can tell that something is wrong, and sure enough, a few minutes later, mysterious men with guns appear before her.
Colter Shaw shows up. Velma (Abby McEnany) calls him and urges him to take the job even though the reward is only five thousand dollars. Emmaline and her brother Jasper (Connor Price), who offered the reward, are left to fend for themselves. Velma relates Emmaline and Jasper’s story, but doesn’t go into detail with Colter. She tells Reenie (Fiona Rene) a little more when she hangs up: she never knew her mother and father were institutionalized, so she was raised by her sister. “Some people are raised,” Reenie says, “and some people are trained.” Velma feels these kids need someone to look out for them.
Luckily for the siblings, Colter loves to spy and hates being paid. He goes to Kentucky to investigate Emmaline’s disappearance, where he meets Jasper and learns that he and his sister are outcasts in their small town. They’ve recently moved from Tennessee, and Jasper works in the mine safety department. An animal control man named Jim Wheeler (Travis Hammer) has been dumping dead animals on the street in front of their house. Could that have something to do with Emmaline? Maybe, according to Jim, who claims Emmaline talked to the devil. Ouch! Colter also learns that Emmaline was part of some sort of scandal at the ice cream shop where she worked with Jim’s cousin and decides to follow that lead.
The next stop on the small town gossip train is Icy Cone, where Colter discovers that Emmaline was fired for being a witch. Ouch! Seeking a second opinion, Colter seduces Emmaline’s former co-worker, Barbara. It’s awkward, more like a “hello, kids” than a flirtation, but he does get a little more information. Barbara says that Emmaline was promoted because another co-worker, Shirley, kept missing work. A little later, Shirley’s husband, Travis (Cameron Fuller), shows up to work and curses at her. Emmaline is fired and transformed.
Thinking Travis might be responsible for what happened to Emmaline, Colter tracks him down. But it turns out that Travis is not only not a violent kidnapper – he also credits Emmaline with curing his wife’s ovarian cancer and infertility. Colter is able to figure out where Emmaline is feeding based on the mushrooms she put in Shirley’s ointment. He finds an abandoned cabin filled with notes and jars, and calls Jasper to come along. The brother explains that their mother was also a healer, and the fire that killed her was likely caused by people who didn’t agree with her methods and feared what she might do. Between Agatha All Along, Dune: Prophecy, and Wicked, this is truly the season of the witch. It’s interesting that much of the tracking in this episode involves Colter going from person to person and getting them to reveal secrets. Less research and hacking this time!
Colter locates a drug-dealing family living in isolation and has taken over the area. Travis has warned Colter about them, and Jasper has heard rumors, but since Emmaline has kept quiet about her healing work, no one knows where she makes her living, and she has no idea what dangers lurk in the woods. It is there, at the compound, that he finds Emmaline. The girl does not want to leave immediately. It turns out that Emmaline has been kidnapped so that she can heal the gang’s sick father – and she feels obligated to do what she can. However, when her “magic” doesn’t seem to work, the
