Critic’s Rating: 3.85 / 5.0
3.85
Colter found himself in Michigan during Tracker Season 2 Episode 18, as the race was on to find a missing woman hiding a pretty big secret.
The vibe of this one was very much like a Lifetime movie you catch on a Saturday afternoon, but I don’t say that to imply that it was bad.
At the very least, it was typical Tracker fare, and that’s not bad.
Everything involving Riley’s disappearance was odd, beginning with how she was seemingly targeted.
Someone went out of their way to make her disappear, and it was a well-thought-out plan, not something spur of the moment at all.
This one couldn’t be chalked up to road rage or anything of the sort because it was obvious that she was targeted for a reason. For Colter, what came next was trying to figure out what it was about Riley that someone wanted.
Colter loves teaming up with a cop who has a personal connection to the victim, even if it’s peripheral. Colter can do a lot, but some of the little things that help him move forward with a case come from learning from the people who know the person he’s looking for.
Katie may not have been best friends with Riley, but she knew enough about her and some of her interpersonal dynamics to be pretty important in the long run.
There was a pervading sense that Riley was destined for success, but something happened in the big city that scared her enough to come home, and she wasn’t talking about it.
Riley’s mom had pushed her to a point where she wasn’t opening up, and her best friend Cheryl was playing dumb (badly) about what she knew. Per usual, Colter didn’t have much to go on when it came to figuring out what Riley was hiding.
Speaking of Cheryl, she was suspect from the jump, right? There was something about the way she talked about Riley that didn’t seem like she was talking about a supposed best friend.
She had very little sense of urgency, which would be the first thing I would look for if I were a Colter or a detective investigating a missing person.
Cheryl led Colter to Riley’s locker, and the creepy letter from an anonymous source immediately got Colter thinking Riley had a stalker, which was a probable conclusion.
The hour made a point of reminding us that Riley was a pretty girl with lots of admirers, but this was always implied in a way that implied it was far from a good thing.
Some of the funniest Tracker moments are when Colter has to think of a lie on the spot to get information or access something he needs, which he did at the hotel.
You’ve got to love him stealing the manager’s keycard and still asking him to look at the security footage as if that would ever happen.
Vincent was the break Colter needed to gain real insight into Riley’s life because she apparently made a massive life decision to leave New York for small-town Michigan and never told anyone why.
It was a little confusing how Cheryl fit into things until Vince admitted Riley was pregnant. Then Katie was able to supply Colter with the important information that Cheryl was a little delusional about her relationship with Riley, at least in high school.
I did not foresee Cheryl essentially being Riley’s stalker, even though it was apparent that she was probably involved in Riley’s disappearance or withholding crucial information.
Her being the one to bash Vincent’s car had Colter and Kaie’s antennas up, but that “crime scene” in her house was way too neat and tidy to be anything other than a setup. Without Colter there, I’m not entirely sure the police would have figured everything out quick enough to find Riley in time.
I can never decide which of Colter’s skills is the most impressive some weeks because his ability to MacGyver anything will always be cool. Still, the way he notices very little things that EVERYONE around him misses, including law enforcement, may be most impressive of all.
He realized the words written in blood on the wall did not match the notes Cheryl was writing, and that right there was the key to finding her.
Cheryl was a very easy person to frame because she may have not harmed Riley physically, but she was doing a lot of scary things, including threatening and vandalizing, just to “keep” Riley all to herself.
The Harpers’ discovery that Riley was pregnant and Cheryl was obsessed provided them with the key to what they believed would be their happiness.
It was good to hear Randy and Bobby have officially teamed up because as nice as it is to have Bobby back, Randy has been such a welcome addition. And they don’t utilize their supporting cast enough where adding someone else will take away from the others.
They will all still get their little moments of glory!
Had Randy and Bobby not discovered Cheryl ran to the Harpers after ditching work, who knows what would have happened to Riley?
The reason I said this felt like a Lifetime movie was because there have been countless movies about women stealing pregnant women so they can steal their babies. It’s an oddly popular genre on the network.
And the minute they showed the nursery and then slowly panned to a makeshift hospital room, it was obvious what was going on there.
Tyler and Monica had some serious demons and troubled pasts, and it was clear that they’d reached the ends of their ropes and wanted a family so desperately that they were willing to do anything to get it.
They didn’t care about Cheryl or Riley in the grand scheme of things. They were laser-focused on having a baby, but their plan was not a good one.
They clearly had Cheryl set up as their fall person, but they didn’t do a good job of selling that crime scene, nor did they think about how easily Cheryl could be traced back to them.
It took Colter and Katie mere minutes to connect them to Cheryl, and then, just like that, everything fell apart for them.
Are we going to talk about the fact that it took Colter and company two times to figure out there was a whole extra level on that house? It’s pretty wild they “cleared” that house twice before Colter put two and two together.
Tyler gave himself up for his wife and the family she was so desperate for, and Colter did his best to break him in that interrogation room, but he did it in such a gentle way that often comes out of Colter when you least expect it.
You always hear good cop and bad cop, but Colter was more relatable cop. Instead of trying to come at Tyler as Katie did, he sympathized but firmly, allowing Tyler to let his guard down just enough to slip up.
But again, Colter and Katie were OUT THE DOOR before Colter realized there was a whole wing on that house that no one realized was there.
We’ve gotten used to big, dramatic shootouts over or fights the last couple of hours (Tracker Season 2 Episode 17 ending was fantastic!), but there was no fighting here and just Colter appealing to a desperate woman who ran out of time.
Lately, the endings of Tracker have been rushed, and this was no exception. Colter should have taken Riley directly to the hospital and not dropped her off at home so we could see the reunion with Susanna and then a debriefing with Katie.
It seems like they’re trying to end the episodes as abruptly as possible, and it’s unclear why.
We don’t need some super long scenes of them wrapping things up, but you get invested in these stories, and when the ending falls flat, it dampens everything.
Tracker Notes
- I think Katie had a little crush on Colter, and she’s so real for that.
- Is it time to talk realistically about Velma and her relevance on the show? Or should we save that for the end of the season?
- Considering how close the Harper’s neighbors were, you have to wonder if they ever noticed them bringing in a hospital bed and ultrasound machine into their home.
We are almost done this season! And next week Rory is back!
We will finally look into the Shaw family drama more, but do you guys even care now? It’s been 87 years since they dedicated any real time to it.
Still here? You’re our kind of people.
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You can watch Tracker on CBS at 8/7c on Sundays.
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