Part two of CBS’s Tracker season three’s premiere begins with a man driving and crying, staring at his bloody hand before answering a text asking if the task is complete. He responds that it is and is told to wait for more instructions.
(The following is a recap of season three episode two, “Leverage,” and contains spoilers.)
A woman kisses her son, Nicky, good night just as the driver, Harith Holmes (Omid Abtahi), arrives home. They have Nicky back, but apparently they haven’t seen the last of The Process. Harith killed Ockman’s sister, and they can’t go to the police because The Process will kill Nicky. Just then, Harith receives another text telling him to find Colter and Russell Shaw.
Colter (Justin Hartley) and Russell (Jensen Ackles) grab breakfast at a diner, and Colter confirms the police want to blame Ockman for everything. Randy (Chris Lee) joins them and introduces himself to Russell. (They call each other “legends.”) He was able to trace the calls Colter and Russell received, and after tracking them through 100+ locations, it landed on Raymond Ockman’s home address. Randy believes it’s a ruse since Lisa’s burner phone’s encryption was a lot more sophisticated. Whoever sent them the texts wanted them to land on Raymond.
Colter’s determined to put an end to this game and The Process.
Reenie (Fiona Rene) visits Raymond in jail and volunteers to be his lawyer. Raymond claims he didn’t kill his sister but doesn’t deny murdering Kurt or kidnapping Hailey. He was forced to follow instructions from The Process; they know everything about him. Reenie asks for every detail he remembers about The Process, but he becomes paranoid and thinks she’s one of the leaders when she acknowledges a guard who enters the room. He ends the jailhouse conversation without divulging any details.
Randy, Colter, and Russell are going over the cell phone pings when Harith walks into the diner. One of the pings goes to an empty patch of land two hours away, and they want to check it out. Harith secretly snaps a photo as Colter learns Lisa’s awake at the hospital. He’s heading there to find out what she remembers, while Russell heads to the ping location. Randy’s just going to relax and eat.
Lisa reveals it started when Ockman called claiming to have Hailey. He ordered her to follow the instructions from The Process, and if she did, Hailey would be fine. She rushed home, found Kurt dead, and got a text telling her to get cash. Lisa removed Kurt’s hand to open his safe, grabbed the cash, and took his gun. She received orders to steal a car, wire $10,000 into an account, and get an envelope with a key at an office. But Colter stopped her from completing that.
Lisa admits they knew she was running a scam and urged her family and co-workers to get involved. She believes it was her fault Hailey was taken so she followed the instructions. Lisa also believes there are people still watching her.
Harith shows the photo he took to another victim of The Process and is given a bag. The other guy’s been forced into working for The Process for seven years and warns Harith not to ask questions. Before driving away he says, “Do what they ask you to do. You know what happens if you don’t.”
The package contains a gun. Harith receives texted instructions to follow Russell and wait for further instructions.
Russell asked Reenie to give him a ride to the remote location, still hoping for a date. He compliments her, and they have a friendly chat about work. He pretends to be sad when she reveals she ended things with Elliot. But then Russell gets a little serious and assures her he’s there if she wants to talk about it.
Russell keeps glancing behind them at a car that appears to be tailing them. He would rather not worry Reenie, so he claims to need to use the restroom.
Colter returns to the building Lisa was heading into just as Randy calls to tell him he doesn’t think the guy who rented Suite 109 is real. A shady dude walks past Colter down the hallway, but Colter enters the suite anyway. There are filing cabinets and some furniture, but it appears no one is using the office. He finds the locked briefcase and makes quick work of the lock. Inside are photos of Ockman and a high school boy in an inappropriate relationship. It’s what they’re using to make Ockman do their dirty work.
The serial number has been removed making it nearly impossible for Randy to trace the briefcase.
The guard who was present during part of Reenie’s talk looks in on Ockman. Shortly thereafter Ockman’s found hanging. It’s deemed a suicide. Reenie’s informed of Ockman’s death and Russell thinks maybe Ockman was right; the guard is part of The Process. If so, The Process has “serious reach.”
Russell looks around for the car he thought was following them, and Reenie’s shocked that he didn’t tell her about it. He decides it’s best that he drives, just in case. They get back on the road, and the car is back on their tail. It’s a new car and Reenie doesn’t want him to do anything Russell-y, but of course he does. He spins it around and heads toward the car tailing them at high speed. The game of chicken turns out like Russell planned and the other car crashes.
Russell approaches it with his gun out and finds the driver unconscious behind the wheel. He opens the man’s phone and sees the photo of him and Colter at the diner. Later, Harith comes to, tied to a chair in a safe house. He claims he can’t help Russell and denies knowing what The Process is. Colter joins them and says Randy’s working on digging up info on this guy. Reenie’s getting info on Ockman’s death, and the police have a detail assigned to Lisa and Hailey.
Harith continues to claim he doesn’t work for The Process just as a text message arrives asking if he’s handled Russell Shaw. He confesses he has to do things for them or they’ll kidnap his son again. He’s back doing their bidding because Raymond Ockman failed. Harith reveals The Process can call on its victims anytime to handle any interruption in carrying out its instructions. Colter and Russell are interruptions.
He believes The Process has been around for a decade but doesn’t know who runs it. Another text arrives asking if he’s done, and Colter decides they need to kill Russell. (Obviously, not really.) Russell poses, looking dead, which should buy them time. Harith doesn’t know who’s been sent after Colter but is convinced no one can stop The Process. He begs for their help and Colter sets him free to call his son, since it’s his birthday. He admits The Process knows he stole money from his employer.
A text arrives telling him he has three hours to contact the next target. If he doesn’t, Nicky will die.
Reenie watches footage from the jail and realizes someone erased part of the video. She asks to speak to the guard and learns he was just a temp. The warden refuses to give out his info even after Reenie threatens him with a civil suit.
Reenie calls Colter with the new info, and Randy joins them to confirm he struck gold with the briefcase. Very few of that specific model were sold, but a bunch were sold to Dr. Susanna Tate at Southeast Colorado University 20 years ago. She’s retired, so Randy forwards her home address to Colter.
Susanna Tate confirms the briefcase looks like one she bought that she would give to her grad students. Colter confirms she researched behavior modification under duress and removes a book of case studies she wrote titled The Process of Leverage and Obedience from her bookshelf.
He asks about The Process and says three people have died. She’s shocked he knows about it; it was an experiment in a class she taught on leverage and obedience. Students were either blackmailers or the targets of blackmail. She halted the experiment when a student hurt her roommate, and some grad students exhibited inappropriate behavior, including increased capacity for cruelty.
Susanna buried the research, but it’s possible a grad student continued with it. Three students didn’t want it shut down—Don Schneider, Jillian Meeks, and Philip Jost. Schneider was the worst because he took pleasure in the rules of The Process and liked dishing out punishment. Susanna blocked him after the experiment ended because he kept reaching out to her.
She lost touch with all of them and confesses she’s scared of Schneider.
Russell drives Harith to the meetup and receives a message that the new targets are Joshua and Mandy Dekker. He’s supposed to capture the bank teller. Mandy walks out and Russell rushes up from behind, sticking a gun in her ribs. He warns her not to scream because he’s there to save her life.
Russell informs Colter he’s with the next targets and they’re going to try to keep The Process from knowing they’re onto them. Randy traces the message to Joshua Dekker demanding cash and discovers a ping came from that same remote area Russell was heading to check out.
Russell and Colter meet a mile from the location, and Colter shows Russell a photo of Don Schneider. They discover a locked bunker and break in. An alarm sounds and someone goes running, with Russell giving chase. Colter continues inside, gun drawn.
Russell shoots above the man’s head as he tries to get into a vehicle. He claims Schneider’s in charge and briefly gets the upper hand when he tosses Russell his keys. He’s able to taser Russell and grabs a tire iron, about to hit Russell while he’s down. Russell takes aim and kills him.
Colter enters Schneider’s headquarters, and Schneider pulls up details on Dory and their mom on two screens. Schneider wants him to choose which one to save, but Colter won’t play that game. Schneider gets upset when Colter brings up Dr. Tate; he slams her as a failed academic and reveals The Process is now capable of creating its own targets. “It’s self-sustaining,” says Schneider.
Colter understands that Schneider wanted to be found so that he can be recognized as the mastermind behind The Process. He punches Schneider just as Russell arrives. Colter and Russell shut down the process by shooting the servers.
Later, Reenie advises the Shaw brothers that Don Schneider’s in custody and the FBI is crawling through what’s left of the servers. The FBI’s IT specialists have verified The Process has been stopped. However, the feds are still trying to track down the third grad student, Jillian Meeks. Russell tries to get in a “call me anytime” message but the phone disconnects.
Russell wonders what he should tell their mom when she asks about Colter and Echo Ridge. Colter confesses he’s not ready to talk to her and needs more time. Russell volunteers to investigate the mysterious number Colter found in their dad’s journal, and Colter takes him up on it.
Russell’s not sure what’s next for him; maybe something like what Colter’s doing, without the weird Airstream, of course. He wants to use his skills for the greater good.
Episode two wraps up with Colter agreeing to pay for steak and beer.
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 1 “The Process” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 3 “First Fire” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 4 “No Man’s Land” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 5 “The Old Ways” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 6 “Angel” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 7 “Eat the Rich” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 8 “Eurydice” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 9 “Good Trouble” Recap
- Tracker Season 3 Episode 10 “The Fallout” Recap
This post was last modified on March 1, 2026 10:05 pm