Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Tracker Season 2 Episode 17.
What does it take to get Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) out of his shell on Tracker? Cousin Randy (Chris Lee) tries his darnedest by prodding him about his love life, to no avail. Even a chapel owner in Reno who thinks Colter and Randy were a couple, and a very assertive stripper who offers him a job, can’t get him to do more than crack a smile. At least the missing person case of the week gets solved, after Colter and Randy go on their first IRL adventure together, because the magic of Reno is otherwise lost on our stoic, intrepid tracker.
The episode opens with Randy’s ex-girlfriend Megan (Khamisha Wilsher) and her BFF Sonia (Ivana Rojas) out at a club in Reno, dancing and laughing. Megan wakes up at her hotel with Sonia missing and the television playing. The only clues: flowers, some broken glass, and a blood splatter on her dress. But before calling 911, thankfully, she calls Randy, who contacts Colter.
Meanwhile, Colter is buying a rifle from a man (John Lacy) who seems to know him in Northern California. Colter implies that he’ll be back in a few episodes weeks to pick up another order. The two men talk about their fathers in a way that feels a little stereotypical. They also talk about how the women in their lives are better shots than they are, which is not stereotypical and a nice preliminary buffer for the way Randy’s casual misogyny ekes into the episode later. Colter’s seen enough women get kidnapped or abused by men that he knows not to judge them for things that aren’t their fault. Randy still has a little learning to do. Let’s dive in.
Randy Hires Colter in ‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 17

Image via CBS

When Colter meets up with Randy in Reno, his hacker friend starts backstory dumping about how his ex is the one who got away. He asks Colter if he has a woman like that. He’s evasive… shocking! Megan tells them what she does and doesn’t remember. It’s likely that she was drugged at some point during the night. Colter asks that they retrace their steps. First, the club owner says he threw Megan and Sonia out after they got into a fight with someone. Megan has no memory of this, of course. Since the owner is so mad, he won’t let them look at the security footage. So, Colter and Randy do some manual hacking on a fuse box.
The footage reveals that Megan’s newest ex-boyfriend, Troy, was at the club with them, even though Megan insists that it’s over between them. It was his blood that she got on her dress after punching him in the nose. Cousin Randy’s cousin and OG Tracker hacker Bobby (Eric Graise) locates Troy’s car. Inside the trunk is a stripper! He says that Troy beat him up after he invited them to his show — which they did, apparently. Colter then goes to the strip club and questions the girlboss running rehearsals, Magic Marlene (April Amber Telek), about the girls; she gives him a little more information about Megan and Sonia’s night, how two men from the VIP lounge got rid of Troy, and where they went next. Sonia and one of the rich men wanted to get married.
While Colter is doing his thing, Randy drives Megan to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors confirm that she was drugged. And Randy drops loads of judgmental comments about Megan’s drinking, Troy, and her choice of friends, AKA Sonia. While annoying, Megan does call him out on it and he apologizes! At least he didn’t call her scandalous. (But when Megan’s not around, he still calls Sonia crazy! Bro…)
A Wedding Turns Fatal in ‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 17

The three regroup and head to the quickie wedding chapel next, where a man named Bert (Garrett Quirk) helps them out by sharing Sonia’s wedding video. The footage is so obviously incriminating, it’s wild he just has it sitting around. You can clearly see two men drugging an unhappy Megan’s drink. Bobby remotely identifies the two guys. The groom is Peter (Max Deacon), and the other is his brother Nicholas (Owain Yeoman). They’re ex-pats who work in real estate and are under investigation for murder in the UK. Randy insists on accompanying Colter to Peter and Nicholas’ nearby property.
Colter leaves Randy in the car and sneaks into the house. He finds Peter locked up. The newlywed tells Colter that Nicholas’ men are en route to kill Sonia because she saw Nicholas kill someone the morning after. While this is happening, a guard captures Randy and brings him back up to the house. Colter causes a distraction, and the two escape. They drive to where Peter told him his brother buries the bodies of the people he kills. (Randy questions the veracity of information given to Colter so freely, which is fair, but it turns out to be correct.)
In the field where Peter said she’d be, Colter and Randy find Sonia, who seems cool as heck and not crazy at all, by the way. Her spur-of-the-moment wedding to a nepo criminal may have had an unhappier ending than Anora, but she’s fun! She also freed herself, which comes in handy not long after. The three of them get back to the hotel, where Nicholas and some of his guys have Megan hostage. But Colter, for the second week in a row, has strength in numbers on his side. Randy, Megan, and Sonia are not experienced at self-defense as Colter, naturally, but they do their best and together take Nicholas’ men down.

Related

New ‘Tracker’ Image Reveals the Return of Melissa Roxburgh as Colter’s Sister

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Velma Is Colter’s Out in ‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 17

Image via CBS

At the end of the episode, Velma (Abby McEnany) congratulates Colter for helping the cops capture these criminals who’ve been evading the justice system for who knows how long. And Randy shoots his shot with Megan. She agrees to take it slow and start over. While she goes back to the hotel room to get some much-needed rest, Randy interrogates Colter about his love life again. All Colter does is shrug and very, very lightly–like a snowflake resting on a feather–imply that he has a “one who got away” in his life. He was more forthcoming with the gun shop guy, sheesh! After answering without answering, Colter claims that Velma has a new job for him and skedaddles his way out of Reno and the awkward conversation. No Reenie (Fiona Rene) this week, by the way. Her possibly evil client must be keeping her real busy.
Who is the mystery lost love? Billie (Sofia Pernas), the rival rewardist he hooked up with in a previous episode? Reenie, who is not in this episode but does seem to fit the definition of right person, wrong time? Or Camile (Floriana Lima), who went to Europe to move on after Colter shut her sister’s case, but left things open with him? Or someone else we haven’t met yet? The cure to male loneliness is definitely not tracking, because while Colter may appear to have a lot of irons in the fire, none of them are burning all that hot.
New episodes of Tracker Season 2 premiere Sundays on CBS.

Tracker

Colter and Randy have their first IRL adventure on Tracker.

Release Date

February 11, 2024

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Elwood Reid

Writers

Ben H. Winters, Hilary Weisman Graham

Justin Hartley

Colter Shaw

Pros & Cons

Tracing Megan and Sonia’s steps provides a fun, chaotic structure.
It’s nice to see Bobby back at work and Randy in the field.
The lack of police involvement is also a nice change of pace.

It feels like Colter is only allowed to be flirtatious and/or horny in very specific circumstances.
Randy’s moral superiority over women, while improving, is not right for this line of work.