The latest update for Tracker finally confirms that season 3 will not make the same plotline mistake as Tracker season 2 – hopefully. The Tracker season 3 first-look image of Justin Hartley and Jensen Ackles as Colter Shaw and his brother, Russell, has given fans much to be excited about in the lead-up to the two-part premiere, with the first episode airing on Sunday, October 19, and the second part the following Sunday.
It wasn't always certain that Jensen Ackles would appear in Tracker season 3, considering how busy he is. The confirmation that he's returning for two episodes this season, unlike his one-off episodes in the first two seasons, is great news. Ackles is a fan-favorite, and his chemistry with Hartley is fantastic. Beyond that, though, it's a positive sign that season 3 will learn from the mistakes of last season.
Jensen Ackles' 2-Episode Return Promises The Ashton Shaw Plotline Will Launch Tracker Season 3
Colter and Russell in Tracker season 2, episode 2, talking to someone
Russell Shaw's premiere return promises that the season will incorporate the mystery surrounding Ashton Shaw's death into the fabric of the narrative right from the start. The logline for the Tracker season 3 premiere is as follows:
"As Colter grapples with the shocking truth surrounding his father’s death, Russell joins forces with his brother to help track down the missing wife and daughter of one of Reenie’s clients. Their reunion finds them mixed up in a chain of events involving a sinister underground operation known as ‘The Process.’"
As that indicates, Russell will ostensibly help his brother, not with the mystery around their father, but with one of Colter's one-off cases. Still, it's hard to believe that the brothers won't also spend a fair bit of time discussing what Colter learned about their father's murder in the Tracker season 2 finale.
What he learned, of course, was that it was Otto Waldron who killed Ashton all those years ago. However, the lineman threw a curveball at Colter when he then revealed it was Mary Shaw who had asked him to kill her husband. There's no way that that won't come up in the premiere, and no way that Colter would keep that from his brother, especially considering he spent so many years believing Russell was the one who killed their dad.
With the season 3 kickoff spanning two episodes, it gives the brothers plenty of time to find the missing wife and daughter while also digging further into their father's death. Even if the Ashton Shaw plotline isn't resolved this season, it at least confirms that the story will move forward and anchor the season, something that season 2 utterly failed to do, save for the last few minutes of the finale.
Tracker Season 2 Sidelined Its Central Mystery In Favor Of The Pointless Gina Picket Storyline
A framed photograph of Gina and Camille Pickett in Tracker season 2
A great source of frustration for fans regarding Tracker season 2 was how it completely sidelined the growing conspiracy of who killed Ashton Shaw. The mystery behind their father's death was the overarching narrative of season 1, which hinted that it would continue in season 2. Yet season 2 all but completely dropped it, with no real forward momentum until the very end of the season 2 finale.
It's still unclear why the Tracker season 2 team chose to sideline the intriguing mystery of Ashton Shaw's murder for a storyline that garnered little interest and investment from the audience. It was resolved in a wholly anticlimactic way in the midseason premiere, with the resolution offering neither emotional payoff nor character growth. The execution made it feel like a filler narrative rather than a necessary one.
Luckily, the two-episode return of Jensen Ackles as Russell Shaw promises that the Ashton Shaw storyline will see at least some forward momentum early, nicely setting season 3 up to return to it regularly. It would appear that the Tracker writers' room, which saw a new showrunner and some new writers for season 2, learned from the mistakes of the previous season.
