This tracker theory may better explain Colter's family

Summary

  • Tracker
    captures fans with its formulaic procedural tone and compelling lead performances.
  • One of the main plots involves the mystery surrounding the death of Colter's father.
  • Theories about Colter’s past reveal potential twists and secrets yet to be discovered.



Tracker has become a surprise hit for CBS. Premiering immediately after Super Bowl LVII in early 2024, the show’s procedural tone and formulaic feel, along with Justin Hartley’s compelling performance as the title character, Colter Shaw, have captivated fans. Packed with action and unique cases from episode to episode, it’s no surprise that Tracker has been renewed for a second season, set to debut on October 13, 2024.

In addition to the episodic nature of the show, Tracker also features an overarching storyline about Colter's childhood, family, and life growing up: There's a mystery surrounding his father's death. And one theory aims to completely shake up the story and what it could mean for Colter if it turns out to be true.


What happened to Colter's father?

The cause of his death is a mystery


Seasons

Episodes

Date of the premiere

1

13

February 11, 2024

Related

Tracker Season 2 Gets Exciting Update After Successful Season 1

After a record-breaking debut, the Tracker series, led by Justin Hartley, receives a major update.

As the story goes in Tracker, which is set to become one of CBS’s best shows, Colter’s father, Ashton (Lee Tergesen), was an eccentric but brilliant professor at Berkeley. When an accident led the family to move to live off the grid, Colter’s life changed forever. He learned the survival and tracking skills that helped him become so good at his job. That life is what drove him to take a job finding missing people for a cash reward in the first place. But there are things in his past that haunt him.


Colter recalls running out one night to look for his father and older brother Russell (Mathew Nelson-Mahood). His father seemed to be becoming more and more paranoid and ran away from home. After time passed with no return, Colter went to look for them and found his father lying dead at the bottom of Devil's Notch. When Colter looked up, he saw his brother Russell at the top of the hill looking down and believes that his older brother killed their father. Their relationship was never the same after that.

During the first part of the series, fans learn that Russell has been constantly trying to contact Colter, to no avail. Colter avoids his calls, refuses to call back, and seems to want to avoid his brother at all costs. After a revelation from his sister Dory (Melissa Roxburgh), however, Colter decides to finally see Russell.


In the penultimate episode of the first season, the best episode of Tracker So far, the two are reunited. Russell, played by Jensen Ackles, assures his brother that he didn't kill their father. He mentions seeing someone else in the woods that evening and suggests he recognized the person as someone who had previously met his mother Mary (Wendy Crewson)But he doesn't know who that person is.

Colter believes his brother, but this only reopens the mystery, the only Colter case I cannot seem to resolve. Oddly enough, Mary has always encouraged Colter to stay away from his brother and avoid anything he has to say, which raises suspicions.

Fans have an interesting theory about the tracker

The real culprit may be surprising


Rotten Tomatoes Rating

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score

IMDb Score

89%

64%

7.0/10

Related

The 10 Most Anticipated Literary Adaptations Coming Out in 2024

There have already been several high-profile adaptations of popular novels in 2024, with more planned for the rest of the year.

One might initially suspect that Mary, who was also a professor at Berkeley, might be up to something nefarious and behind her husband's murder. This would be the obvious reason why she is trying to keep Colter away from Russell, especially if she believes Russell might know something. But some believe that her intentions could be pure and that she is looking after her youngest son. But why?

Income earner YesNoWell he proposed an interesting theory: that Colter may have been the one who pushed his father. He blocked the memory, and everyone else in his family is trying to protect him..


“Does anyone else think Colter might [have] pushed his father (or, more likely, was wrestling with his father and his father fell), held him down, and that his mother is 'protecting' him from remembering?” they write. “Or at least perhaps mother Mary assumes Colter is to blame and doesn't want to burden him with the knowledge.”

It would make sense, because why would both Russell and Dory have information that Colter doesn't? It would make sense that Russell might know information that his younger siblings don't. But for Russell and Dory to know something seems strange.


In the season finale of the show, arguably one of the best detective shows of the 2020s, Colter learns from his childhood friend Lizzy (Jennifer Morrison) that his father and mother were having an affair. She seems surprised to learn that Colter never knew. She also reveals that, despite his mother having died a year earlier, she had found a box of Colter's father's old files among her belongings. Apparently, Ashton had visited her shortly before he died and left this box with her. Lizzy remembers hearing the two arguing.

Colter doesn't know what's in the box because Lizzy says she gave it to Dory, not knowing what else to do with it. Considering that Colter had just spent time with Dory, where they talked about her father and Dory had never mentioned it, it seems suspicious. What was in the box?

Some suspect the box may have something to do with Ashton's involvement in working with the U.S. government.Whatever it was, though, why would Dory think that Colter couldn't handle the details, or didn't need to know them? One theory is that it may bring back memories from the night of her father's death. Perhaps a young Colter had previously discovered the information in the box, didn't like it, confronted his father, and this led to a fight of some sort that Colter doesn't remember.


Fans are hoping this theory isn't true

There are other valid theories as well.

Episode with the highest score

12

8.4/10

Lowest rated episode

10

7.5/10

Related

Apples Never Fall and 9 Other Shows Where Someone Disappears

The theme of missing people is common in many TV shows, including Peacock's new series Apples Never Fall.

Based on the discussion following YupNopeWelp's initial post on Reddit, fans are hoping this isn't the big twist that's being revealed. Redditor the_simurgh he claims to believe Mary was a government spy sent to get close to Ashtonand his paranoia was indeed well founded. The government was indeed watching him, but he didn't realize that his wife was responsible.


“The time frame of Colter's father's activities,” they explain, “is limited to when the United States government was sending agents to infiltrate… the movements and lives of individuals[s] who were part of anti-capitalist movements and spied on intellectuals.”

Income earner Lanzarone He thinks that the box really does contain these secrets and that Dory is holding onto them to protect not only Colter, but her mother as well. According to them, the affair may have been engineered to help Mary leave once she actually fell in love and realized she was in trouble. “The father may have been killed by the other man in the woods,” they add, “and the mother killed him. Everything is being done to prevent Colter from poking his nose into the real cause of his father's death.”


Others even believe that it is possible that Ashton is still alive and his death was faked. YesNoWell he says he had the feeling that Lizzy wasn't telling the truth and that “things aren't what they seem.”

Going even deeper into the rabbit hole, Scallotto_Key_2415 thinks it is possible that the relationship between Ashton and Lizzy's mother occurred (or began) many years earlier and that Lizzy's mother may actually be Colter's biological mother, which is why Dory wanted to protect the secret from Colter.

Whatever the truth, fans can expect to learn more about Colter's past in the upcoming second season. That means seeing more of Mary, Russell (with Ackles confirmed to have a bigger presence in season two of Tracker), Dory, and probably Lizzy. One or all of them holds the key to the truth. And given Colter's impeccable track record, it's only a matter of time before he finds it.


Clock Tracker on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Leave a Comment