CBS’s Tracker season one episode 12 introduced Colter’s much talked about but previously unseen brother, Russell, played by Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles. And episode 11 found Manifest’s Melissa Roxburgh showing up as Dr. Dory Shaw, Colter’s sister. Episode 13, the season one finale, reveals another person from Colter’s past—long-time family friend Lizzy Hawking, played by This Is Us’ Jennifer Morrison.
Just a reminder: As the finale begins, we know that Colter’s made peace with his siblings and learned that Russell wasn’t responsible for their father’s death. However, someone was up on the cliff with their dad when he fell.
The action in episode 13 takes place in Sandy Point, Oregon. Two storm chasers are out on the water when one spots something unusual.
Teddi and Velma call with a new job, but Colter (Justin Hartley) is off the books right now helping Lizzy. Her daughter, Katie, is one of the storm chasers and the sheriffs can’t find the boat after two days of searching. Colter swears he’ll do everything he can to find Katie and her boyfriend, Dylan.
Lizzy won’t take no for an answer and forces Colter to agree to a $5,000 fee. Katie and Dylan are risk-takers and host an impressive storm-chasing website. Sheriff Woods doesn’t approve of their work, but Katie absolutely loves it. Katie and Dylan are both excellent on the water, which is good since it’ll up their odds of surviving.
Colter’s looked at the storm’s path and believes there are a few places the couple could have sought shelter. Lizzy suggests Colter speak to Rachel, the third member of their team who works at a surf shop.
Colter gets Katie and Dylan’s cell phone numbers before assuring Lizzy he’ll find them.
Renee and Colter have a quick phone chat, and Renee confirms she’s quit her job. She also confirms she’s used her contacts to check up on Russell but hasn’t found out any new info.
Colter introduces himself to Rachel and discovers that she believes something weird happened to her friends. She lets him listen to their last radio contact, and it indicates something was going on. The radio call was abruptly cut off.
Rachel shows Colter the boat’s coordinates before it went missing at 2:32pm, 20 minutes before the storm reached them. There wasn’t a distress call, but Colter will give Bobby a copy of the last call to analyze and clean up.
They head out to retrieve the cameras that Katie and Dylan dropped off on buoys in the water. Unfortunately, the Go-Pros are missing. Rachel thinks the storm knocked them off. Colter points out something stuck in a nearby kelp bed; it’s Dylan’s dead body.
Sheriff Woods and his deputy arrive and promise to let Lizzy know if they find the boat. He politely tells Colter he doesn’t need his help, which doesn’t work. Colter points out that Dylan looked like he was in a fight and that someone cut up his dry suit to help the body sink. To Colter, this all adds up to murder.
The sheriff wants Colter to concentrate on finding Katie and not jump to any conclusions. After he leaves Deputy Kelman reveals Katie and Dylan recently got into a fight with the Sampson brothers.
Colter speaks with Bo Sampson and learns the fight was over Katie getting into the Sampsons’ business. Xavier Sampson joins them and he’s immediately on the defensive. Xavier throws a punch but Colter grabs Bo around the neck and makes him back off.
Bobby (Eric Graise) cleaned up the call and it’s apparent there was someone out there with Katie and Dylan. Katie’s voice was panicky as she asked Dylan what “they” were doing. Whoever it was removed the cameras from the buoys. Bobby also tracked Katie and Dylan’s movements from their cell phones leading up to the last day they were seen. They both were at a deserted building on the docks in the middle of the night.
Colter checks out the building and sees surveillance cameras. Plus, someone’s plugged in an extension cord. He follows the cord and rips off a piece of new plywood. The cord leads to a freezer. Inside is the dead body of a young woman.
The police determine it’s not Katie. Instead, it’s Hailey Thomas, a girl who went missing from Spokane three years ago. Colter informs Deputy Kelman that the camera on the building is the same as the ones Dylan and Katie use. He believes they put it up to figure out who was responsible.
But how did they know the body was there in the first place? Maybe they saw something they shouldn’t have. Kelman reveals Dylan used to run with the Sampsons and supply drugs for summer parties. It’s possible the parties also brought in girls.
Dylan could have been fighting with the Sampsons about the building. Unfortunately, the cameras are no help as the SD cards are missing.
Colter updates Lizzy on his findings and that he believes Katie was trying to figure out who murdered the frozen girl. Dylan could have been killed as a warning. Lizzy confirms Katie and Dylan live together, and Colter asks if Katie has a secret hiding place. It turns out she had a couple of hiding places.
Someone’s beat Colter to Katie’s place. The lock’s broken and the place has been ransacked. He looks in Katie’s secret spot and finds a cell phone. Kelman arrives seconds later, and Colter’s now convinced Katie and Dylan were on to something and couldn’t trust anyone in town. Not even Sheriff Woods.
Colter and Kelman listen to a recorded call on the burner phone. Dylan called someone named Vince Talbot and told him they know where the body is. Kelman reveals Talbot’s a rich guy who throws parties during the summers. It appears Katie and Dylan were trying to make him confess to murdering the girl. He didn’t, so they put cameras around the building.
Colter’s next stop is at the Talbot place. Renee calls with news that Talbot’s rich but no one knows how he made his money. Plus, he’s under investigation for racketeering and sex trafficking. Renee doesn’t think Talbot’s in town and Colter hops the fence to see for himself.
Talbot’s security team orders him off the property, throwing a few punches to make their point. Fortunately, Colter was there long enough for Bobby to hack into the house’s Wi-Fi. A call was made to Xavier Sampson, and Bobby sends Colter Xavier’s current location.
Meanwhile, Renee finds Talbot and meets with him at a club. Renee brings up Hailey Thomas and Vince denies recognizing the name. Renee doesn’t believe him and suggests he is responsible for her murder. She warns him he’s going down for her death, and he threatens something may happen to her if she doesn’t back off.
Renee promises to be there when Talbot’s taken in.
Renee shares her belief that Talbot is involved in the murder with Colter. “He’s got major Epstein vibes,” says Renee. While they’re talking, Colter sees Xavier Sampson and Sheriff Woods meeting on the beach. Colter has to hang up when he realizes Xavier’s spotted him. He turns around and Bo’s standing there with a gun.
Colter asks Bo who killed Dylan, but Bo ignores him. Colter continues, insisting Bo doesn’t need to take the blame for what Xavier and Sheriff Woods did. Colter believes Bo was supposed to kill Katie, but he couldn’t do it because he’s not that cold-blooded. Bo finally reacts and admits he doesn’t know if Katie’s still alive. He was told to shoot her, but she was already bleeding so he just left her.
Bo gives up her location and by the time Colter gets there, it’s pitch dark outside. He finds Katie alive but injured and freezing. Talbot sent the Sampsons after them and Xavier killed Dylan. She got away but Bo caught up with her. Instead of killing her, he ditched her on the shore.
Luckily, they hear a noise and hide before Xavier can get the drop on them. Colter disarms him and Katie knocks him out.
Sheriff Woods drops in on Lizzy and tells her Katie is alive but banged up. He invites himself in and ties her up before calling Colter on Lizzy’s phone. Woods gives Colter 15 minutes to bring Katie to him or he’ll kill Lizzy.
Lizzy begs to be let go while Woods places all the blame on Katie. Colter shows up with Deputy Kelman, and Kelman indicates he’s on Woods’ side. Kelman says he’s got Katie in the back of the squad car and Woods heads outside to kill her. But wait…Kelman isn’t actually a dirty cop. And it’s not Katie in the back of the car, it’s an FBI agent with lots of backup.
Lizzy pulls Colter in for a huge hug and thanks him for saving her daughter. Colter thanks Kelman and he reveals the old building belongs to a family member of Sheriff Woods. Colter thinks Woods kept the frozen body as an insurance policy against Talbot turning on him.
Katie is the next to receive a hug. Lizzy can finally breathe again.
Meanwhile, Renee’s gloating as Talbot’s taken into custody before he can leave the country. She calls Colter and shares that Russell has been located in Argentina. He even sent Renee a selfie asking her to join him.
Colter is going to take a few days off and invites Renee to join him to relax. She smiles as she declines, and Colter reminds her she knows where to find him anytime.
Lizzy joins Colter for breakfast and hands over the $5,000 which he doesn’t want but is forced to accept. They reminisce about their childhood and remember Russell being a jerk as a kid. Colter remembers it was a good time back then, but Lizzy begs to differ. Her parents were going through a divorce and her dad was having an affair with Colter’s mom. Colter is shocked and admits he had no idea. He also admits there’s a lot about his childhood that he doesn’t know.
Lizzy found a file box under her mom’s bed when she died. The research inside belonged to Colter’s dad. Lizzy remembers he visited right before he died, and that her mom and Colter’s dad got into a loud argument. But they hugged it out and she took the box inside the house.
Lizzy didn’t know what to do with the box and wound up sending it to Colter’s sister, Dory. Colter’s shocked, again, and doesn’t understand why Dory didn’t tell him about it. Lizzy wonders if maybe his parents were protecting him from something. However, she doesn’t know what.
Colter needs to take some time off, just to himself. Season one ends with Colter running toward the ocean with his surfboard.
- Season 1 Episode 1 “Klamath Falls” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 2 “Missoula” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 3 “Springland” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 4 “Mt. Shasta” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 5 “St. Louis” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 6 “Lexington” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 7 “Chicago” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 8 “Camden” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 9 “Aurora” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 10 “Into the Wild” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 11 “Beyond the Campus Walls” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 12 “Off the Books” Preview
- Justin Hartley Discusses His Starring Role in Tracker
- Preview of Season 2 Episode 1
