He’s back! After much anticipation, Tracker returned for its third season and finally brought back Jensen Ackles as Russell Shaw, Colter’s (Justin Hartley) brash older brother. The character hasn’t been seen since Season 2, Episode 2, “Ontological Shock,” but it’s clear fans love the brotherly dynamic.
His character is also central to the overarching storyline of the death of their father, Ashton (Lee Tergesen). With Colter learning shocking information about his father’s murder, including who was behind it, it makes sense that Russell would turn up. And his return in Tracker Season 3, Episode 1, “The Process,” was everything we hoped for and more.
Bar Brawls, Forgiveness, and Airing Familial Drama in ‘Tracker’
The episode begins with an epic bar brawl as Colter, trying to enjoy a quiet drink, finds himself face-to-face with a menacing man who treats the waitress horribly. That doesn’t fly with Colter, and fists come out, one landing squarely (and accidentally) on his brother’s jaw, who shows up in the nick of time. True to form, Russell isn’t upset; he simply offers his brother pointers on his fighting technique and helps finish off the rest of the patrons.
As it happens, Colter has gone dark for three weeks after the events of the Season 2 finale. And as expected, Reenie (Fiona Rene) reached out to the one person she knew could find him: Russell. The reunion is bittersweet because while Colter is happy to see a familiar face, he also has some bad news to reveal. Based on the shock in Russell’s eyes, he did not know about Otto (Alex Fernandez) nor that their mother Mary (Wendy Crewson) asked him for help.
Interestingly, given the fact that Russell and Mary have been largely estranged, he’s far more forgiving of their mother than Colter is, noting that their father was losing it worse than Colter understood just before his death. Russell saw things, he told his little brother, that Colter had never seen. Colter also reveals something else Otto told him off camera: Mary was planning to leave Ashton and take the kids with her, and their father didn’t take too kindly to that news.
The day that he ran off, Mary was genuinely scared. He snapped, which likely explains why she went to Otto. The nature of her relationship with Otto is unknown. But Otto revealed to Colter that when he confronted Ashton about the way he was acting, things got physical, and he threw him over the cliff, believing he had no other option. More important than the brothers finally talking about this difficult time in their lives is Colter’s heartfelt apology to his brother for believing he had something to do with their father’s death. Apology accepted, so thankfully, we can put that behind us once and for all.
The reason Russell is quick to give their mother the benefit of the doubt might be because he’s more like her than Colter is, and perhaps more than he (or she) wishes to admit. He’s able to pack things up and put them away, which is what she tried to do. It happened, and they can’t change it. But Colter feels like she left them to pick up the pieces, shutting him down any time he asked about it. The reason she did that possibly lies in the fact that she’s all too familiar with Colter’s unwillingness to let things go. “I’m not built like that,” he tells his brother about his ability to forget and move on.
Knowing that’s the case, Russell is willing to help Colter dive deeper into what happened because he knows he’s going to proceed with it anyway. Part of the mystery lies in something else Otto told Colter: people from the government were harassing the family. Something happened that summer to make their father grow increasingly paranoid and lead their mother to worry about what might happen because of his behavior. They needed to figure out what it was. They plan to do it together, which means we might be seeing a lot more of Russell.
A Case About “The Process” Puts the Brothers in Danger
As nice as the family talk is, it’s time for Colter to get back to business. He’s been away too long, consumed by this revelation about his family. Russell knows his brother needs a distraction, so he calls Reenie to get details on an available case. As it turns out, Russell is “between jobs” (read: he was fired) and has all the time in the world to help Colter.
The case is that of a missing woman and her teenage daughter. The father arrived for his time with her amidst a custody battle, only to find them gone. He thinks something’s up with the mother’s new boyfriend, who is apparently in finance. This, Randy (Chris Lee) discovers, translates to running a crypto scam.
As has been the case whenever the brothers get together, it’s a hilarious balance of Colter’s wonderful bedside manner and Russell’s propensity to break the rules. Case in point is when he tells the client that he’s sure there’s a spare key somewhere after the man reveals the locks were changed, then proceeds to smash the window to gain entry to the house. He’ll worry about the hilarious breaking and entering plot hole later.
Russell’s corniness shines as he fishes for information about Reenie and her boyfriend, still aching for a chance with her. He describes his “skills with a Z” and shows off his charm by befriending a guard who happens to be a veteran as well. When that fails, however, he resorts to his usual strategy of violence to get what he needs. Russell is a completely different breed from Colter, but they complement one another so well.
While they solve the case by the end, they become wrapped up in the fact that it’s not a one-and-done situation. They find the man who abducted the young woman, but he’s a victim of something bigger, forced to participate in a larger plan known as “The Process.” His sister was taken too, and he had to follow their instructions if he wanted to see her alive. When he was captured by Colter and Russell and received a disappearing message on his phone indicating that he had failed, they knew there was more to this case.
As is customary with his attitude, Russell wanted to let it go, move on, and have a steak and some beers. They solved the case they were tasked to solve, got their check, and it was time to move on to the next. But Colter was troubled by this detail, feeling in his bones that someone else was in trouble. He was right, because Reenie called to advise that the man’s sister was found dead. Just then, Russell and Shaw get a message on their phones with the same ringtone as both the missing mother and the one the man received: the opening notes of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.” The message reads, “You have interrupted the process, and there will be consequences.”
What consequences? It’s evident that Colter will become sidetracked once again by a case that consumes him in such a way that makes it impossible to focus on his own sordid family history. Of course, fans can’t wait to see the confrontation between Colter and Mary eventually. But it seems like that will have to wait. Now, Colter and Russell are potential victims themselves of a sick and twisted game-playing killer.
Can We Have Trackers, Plural, Please?
Russell’s return and the effortless way he and Colter work together on this case highlight the undeniable chemistry between the actors. There’s an odd couple, buddy cop feel to their dynamic, and Russell adds an element of comedic relief that has been sorely missing from the show. It’s fun to see how these brothers work together to take down criminals and find missing persons.
Colter had always been a lone wolf, but that was largely the result of feeling like there was no one he could trust. The one person he should have been able to trust, his older brother, committed the ultimate betrayal, or so Colter thought for years. Now knowing the truth and reconnecting with Russell after so long, there’s a magic when the two get together that is undeniable.
Sure, Tracker is supposed to be centered on Colter as a nomad who doesn’t form lasting relationships with anyone, or at least pulls away from people when things get too serious. It doesn’t matter if it’s romantic, friendship, or family. Colter prefers to be alone. But maybe he shouldn’t be.
The action drama has pivoted so much through its two seasons to date, anyway. Several main cast members have departed the series, changing the way Colter works with his remote team. The tone shifted in Season 2 with darker episodes, even some downright strange ones. Why not add another switch-up to the mix and make it a duo of trackers and not a single person?
Of course, this is just wishful thinking. Ackles is busy filming The Boys prequel series Vought Rising and will presumably appear in the fifth and final season of The Boys next year. However, with his Prime Video series Countdown getting canceled, maybe there’s room in his schedule for a bigger commitment to a network procedural. However, most would likely be happy to see Ackles get a bigger storyline. As much as Colter is great on screen on his own, there’s a delightful ribbing that happens when Russell is there, too. With that said, we’ll take him in small doses if that’s all we can get. But based on this new case about “The Process,” we expect that Russell will be around for at least a few more episodes. We’ll take it. Stream Tracker on Paramount+.
- Release Date
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February 11, 2024
- Network
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CBS
- 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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