At 10 p.m. on Feb. 11, after the end of the Superbowl, I sat on my couch, mid-essay, while a brand-new CBS drama opened on my screen, simply because I was too lazy to look for the TV remote.
This show was Tracker, headlined by Justin Hartley, and based on the book The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver.
It was nothing that I would gush about, but I still joined the masses of over 80 million viewers tuning in every Sunday night for no reason. So, here is my unabashedly honest review of the first season of Tracker to help prepare you for the second one.
What’s The Premise?
CBS’s Tracker is your standard case-of-the-week show, where survivalist Colter Shaw, played by Justin Hartley, who you may recognize from This is Us, road trips around the country as a “reward seeker.” It’s a profession that is so mysterious that we get to listen to him explain what it is to the supporting cast in every single episode.
Colter typically takes bounties to find missing family members and, in one unmemorable instance, horses.
However, in a spectacularly predictable overarching plot, Colter must also hang out with his dysfunctional family members to investigate the death of his father — which we also get to be reminded of in every single episode via flashbacks.
What’s the plot summary?
The main narrative of every Tracker episode can generally be broken down into a strict formula that the TV executives somehow decided creates the most interesting network show.
In each episode, Colter receives a mission from one of his friends/handlers, reoccurring characters who, throughout the season, we collectively learn exactly one fact about. Then, the episode takes us to whatever forest Colter is driving through this week for the road trip montage.
He then gets out of his truck and meets the victims’ family or friends. This side character has a conversation with our hero and describes the backstory of this week’s mission and then is promptly never seen again.
After the disappearance of who I like to call the Lore-Dump Character, we follow Colter to the crime scene, where he now meets the Token Law Enforcement Character, who typically reacts angrily to Colter’s presence.
Colter always decides to investigate the scene anyway and finds a clue that the police missed. We then talk to the Suspicious Side Character, who at first fools our hero before Colter puts his clues together and finds out that…Eureka! It was the Suspicious Side Character all along!
By following this exact procedure for 13 episodes, creator Ben H. Winters manages to create a perfectly respectable but completely unremarkable addition to CBS’s long line of action dramas.
The Problems…
In the first season of Tracker, the first several episodes seem interesting enough before the show encounters the downfall of writing — using such a formulaic script.
The repeated addition of new characters in a rather boring rendition of case-of-the-week prevents us from ever learning anything about the reoccurring characters, such as love-interest attorney Reenie (Fiona Rene), hacker Bobby (Eric Graise) and Colter’s pseudo moms Teddi and Velma (Robin Weigert and Abby McEnany).
The highlights
There are a couple of outstanding episodes that I would definitely watch again. Near the end of the season, there are two episodes where we get to meet some of Colter’s family members, and these new faces invigorate the series with life.
The appearance of particularly beloved guest actors like Wendy Crewson (The Santa Clause trilogy) as Colter’s mother, Mary, and Jensen Ackles (The Boys, Supernatural) as Colter’s brother Russell certainly seems to improve the quality of acting across the entire cast, and makes for enjoyable episodes that stand out from the rest of the cookie-cutter plots.
My expert conclusion
Even though it’s not the weekly release show that I draw hearts around on my calendar, I’m going to keep tuning in every Sunday just to see what guest stars are about to jump into Colter Shaw’s universe.
And while Tracker would never end up in my favorites list, it’s a great choice if you’re craving yet another procedural TV show or need some television ambiance to get that essay done.
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