Tracker – Season 1 Episode 13 ” The Storm” Recap & Review

The Storm

Tracker Season 1’s finale begins with a young couple, Katie and Dylan, out in the waters setting storm trackers. There is a storm raging in the distance and they must finish up quickly. However, Katie notices something near the shore and the scene cuts to Colter arriving in Sandy Point, Oregon to track them. Katie’s mother, who is Colter’s friend, suspects they have gone missing in the storm. Sherriff Woods and his team are setting up plans to widen their search but things are gloomy. 

Colter does not think that the storm got the duo. He is led to Rachel, the third member of Katie and Dylan’s storm-tracking team. Lizzie believes she might be of help. Colter is also busy keeping track of Russell, his older brother who disappeared at the end of the previous episode. Reenie is helping him with it, although The Horizon is watching its step. 

Rachel also agrees with Colter’s hunch and has the data to make a strong case. The last known location of the duo and the last time they made contact with Rachel gives the case a new turn. Lizzie and Colter hit the water. He notices something stuck in one of the kelp beds and they go to investigate. It is Dylan’s dead body. Given how Dylan’s body is found, Colter suspects foul play. Local law enforcement doesn’t agree, though. He is warned to stay away and stop making assumptions about the town.

Colter presses Deputy Kelman for answers when Woods leaves the scene. After a reluctant shrug, Kelman tells Colter about another couple who fought with Katie and Dylan at the beach. Xavier and Bo did not want the duo surfing the waters, giving the impression they were protecting something. The brothers are hostile and Colter isn’t able to get much. Bobby clears up the scrambled audio Colter had sent him using Rachel’s recording device.

Clearly, Dylan and Katie were attacked by assailants.  Bobby also finds out that Katie went to an abandoned building by the docks two days ago. Colter checks it out to find a body of a girl, Haley Thomas, who went missing from Spokington three years ago. There is a suspicion in Colter’s mind that Katie is chasing Haley’s killer. She was trying to solve this mystery and the people trying to cover it up caught wind of her efforts. He liaises with Kelman, who plays a recording for him where Dylan is threatening someone named Talbott about the body.

Vince is a big businessman who often visits the town for partying and other things. Dylan and Katie are on to him and think Vince could be the person behind the attack. Colter visits his house, where he purposely gets beat up to allow Bobby to hack into the house’s wifi network. From there, he figures out that Vince had called Xavier the night the duo went missing. Reenie confronts Vince about Haley going missing after the party at his house. He immediately turns defensive and threatens Reenie to “tread carefully” going forward.

Reenie is undeterred but so is Vince, marking a kinetic showdown. While Colter is keeping an eye on Vincent’s house in Sandy Point, Bo holds him at gunpoint. Colter tries to buy himself time by asserting that Xavier was forced by Bo to take care of Katie, but he couldn’t go through with it. She is still alive as a result,  hence Woods’ piqued interest in the search. He confesses that he couldn’t kill Katie and left her with her injuries. Colter finds her, still alive, and brings her back to safety.  She confirms Bo’s version of events.

Xavier tries to finish off the job but the duo is able to bring him down. Woods catches wind of the developments and holds Lizzie hostage, asking Colter to deliver him to Katie to save her. However, it is only a trap as Woods is arrested by the police. Reenie gets Vince arrested and also informs Colter about Russell’s whereabouts. He is in Argentina, healthy and alive. Colter asks Reenie to join him and take some days off but she decides to hang back.

When the dust settles on the case, Lizzie reveals to Colter that his father was having an affair with her mother. Lizzie also reveals that while going through her mother’s things, she found a box that Colter’s father gave her. And now Dory has it…but she didn’t tell Colter about it. The season ends with Colter being content with what he knows…for now, and hitting the beach to take a load off.

The Episode Review

This is one of the strongest episodes of the season, despite not bringing some more information about Colter’s past. Lizzie’s revelations are nicely tied up into the episodic subplot but they aren’t enough to give a meaningful insight into what happened.

Justin Hartley firmly establishes his credentials as a solid leading man capable of singlehandedly carrying the show. With more serious themes this time around, the season closed off well.