The news that Tracker has been whittled down to only two main cast members going into Season 3 came as a bit of a shock for audiences who assumed that the television adventures of Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) would continue as usual. It's clear that the show is pivoting to make Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene) a more important character going forward, and the only way to do that is to cut all the fluff around Colter and his life. It's understandable that the network series thought that it needed to create more breathing room for the lead character. But did the CBS drama have to axe Erice Graise's Bobby Exley in the process?
'Tracker' Didn't Have To Get Rid of Colter's Only Tech Support
Eric Graise as Bobby Exley on 'Tracker.'
Admittedly, it doesn't totally make sense that both the Bruins (the only characters based on characters from the books) would be cut out of Colter's world entirely. It's especially odd, since Season 1 establishes that they are essentially his surrogate mothers. However, we'll allow it since Robin Weigert departed the show without any real shakeups and Abby McEnany's Velma had absolutely nothing to do in Season 2 anyway. But what we cannot ignore is Bobby's sudden departure, especially after he was so noticeably absent in the back half of the previous season. There are many reasons that Bobby is vital to a show like Tracker, and the biggest is that he can serve all of Colter's tech needs. And boy, does Colter have a lot of different tech-related requests.
While Colter Shaw may be an excellent tracker, he's not exactly the same level of tech wiz that Bobby is. Sure, he can handle a digital lock or two, and probably has some minor hacking skills that we don't know about, but the show has gone above and beyond to show us that Bobby can do things that our lead hero simply has no frame of reference for. Without him in his corner, it will be especially difficult to tackle certain jobs that will require someone with more advanced skillsets than our lead tracker can offer. Of course, maybe the show is simply transitioning from Bobby to Randy (Chris Lee), who was a breakout addition to the back half of Season 2, but since Bobby's exit wasn't paired with Randy's announcement, that doesn't seem likely.
It's true that Colter is a character who works best on his own. His lone wolf mentality and survivalist instincts make him a formidable action hero, whether he's backed up by a team or not. The trouble is, Tracker has already established Colter as needing these other characters in his life. Apart from killing them off outright, it just wouldn't make sense that they wouldn't continue to support him going into Season 3, not after all he learned about his own family. Could Colter's tensions with members of the U.S. government cause his friends to be assassinated? Could the knowledge of his mother's involvement in his father's death push Colter to leave everyone he cares about behind? Are there more family emergencies that will keep Bobby, Randy, and the Bruins all from working with Colter full-time? Considering that Reenie is still going to be around, the whole thing feels a bit suspect.
Bobby Had Plenty of Untapped Potential Throughout 'Tracker'
Bobby Exley (Eric Graise) and Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene) talk with Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) on 'Tracker.'
Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) searches for evidence with Bobby Exley (Eric Graise) on 'Tracker.'
Eric Graise as Bobby in Tracker Season 1, Episode 7.
Randy (Chris Lee) works alongside Bobby Exley (Eric Graise) on 'Tracker.'
Eric Graise as Bobby in 'Tracker.'
But as far as Bobby is concerned, he's a character who will be sorely missed. While Tracker struggled to utilize this character properly over the course of the first 33 episodes, he still had so much potential that will now never be tapped into. It's no secret that fans missed Bobby when he disappeared for a good chunk of Season 2, and the same will undoubtedly be true for Season 3 also. Part of that is because his back and forth with Colter was always engaging to watch, but another factor is that unlike with the Bruins, Tracker took the time early on to give audiences an emotional anchor in Bobby's life. In one of the best episodes of Tracker's first season, simply titled "Chicago," Colter visits the Windy City to help Bobby with a problem.
When a friend of his gets herself into trouble with the wrong people, Bobby enlists Colter in helping MMA fighter Sun Mai (Dianne Doan), who has been kidnapped and drafted into an underground fighting ring. While Colter, Reenie, and Bobby help Sun to get out of her bad situation, the episode ends with Bobby and her possibly exploring some romantic feelings. It's a touching moment that gives us more of a glimpse into Bobby's life beyond being the "guy in the chair," and his desire for deeper friendship with Colter rings true. But despite getting a longer second season, the show never brought her back. We never got to see if Bobby and Sun were able to make things work, and now it appears that we never will. After the tragedy that Bobby went through, resulting in his temporary Season 2 departure, it's a real shame that Tracker didn't explore the character's emotional state further.
Why Tracker has chosen to toss Bobby to the curb is unclear, since Colter will still likely need a resident cyber sleuth to work behind the scenes. Again, perhaps Randy was introduced to become a recurring character again in Season 3. Like Bobby before him, the episode "Memories" served as the emotional anchor in Randy's life that solidified his place in Colter's inner circle while simultaneously giving audiences more of a reason to care about him. Perhaps "Memories" was meant to do for Randy the same thing that "Chicago" did for Bobby, solidifying the character as a permanent fixture on Tracker. But now with the news that Eric Graise has left the show, we know that even main characters may not be permanent in the world of Colter Shaw.
Tracker is available for streaming on Paramount+.
