Tracker Season 3 completely changed Colter Shaw forever after introducing an unexpected case. The hit CBS series primarily revolves around Colter Shaw's (Justin Hartley) role as a rewardist, a job that involves locating missing people across the United States in exchange for a reward. For three seasons, Colter has been hired by concerned families, friends, law enforcement, and, at one point, a mob boss. While Colter is a lone wolf on the field, the titular rewardist also has his own team, which includes three other members: a lawyer (Reenie Greene), a tech expert (Randy), and a new hire, Mel Day (an assistant).
Tracker Season 3 also completely changed the status quo for Colter and his team, mainly due to the departure of longtime mainstays, Bobby and Velma. As a result of these departures, the latest season of the action drama series found Colter improvising at times to solve the case, but a new assignment caught him off guard.
Tracker Season 3 Introduced a Historic Case for Colter Shaw
Tracker Season 3, Episode 8, "Eurydice," introduced a historic new case for Colter Shaw because one of the suspects hired him to find her missing daughter. This marks the first time in Tracker history that Colter works with a potential suspect, meaning his work as a rewardist is now forever changed. It was also unprecedented because a possible suspect hired Colter for the job, knowing that it would backfire if Colter were able to prove that she was lying.
Episode 8 saw Colter being hired by Sierra Allen, who had been searching for her missing daughter, Aubrey, for over a year. Sierra has been deemed a suspect by the police because they believe she had done something to her daughter, considering her past mistakes tied to her alcoholism. It also didn't look good on Sierra's end after the opening sequence showed she was drunk and had broken a bottle during the night when Aubrey disappeared.
While Colter agreed to help Sierra, he asked for a condition: call the police, transform her home into a crime scene, and have Sierra arrested so that he could find a way to investigate the disappearance freely and with the law enforcement's help. Colter did this because it wouldn't look good if he were working with Sierra directly, knowing that the police believe that the mother is not innocent. This means that Colter not only needs to find the missing daughter, but he also needs to clear Sierra's name.
Despite that, Colter told Detective West and retired detective Arthur Poness that he believes Sierra is innocent, and the real kidnapper is still out there. Colter also made sure that Sierra had backup while in police custody because he sent Reenie to be her lawyer until he proves that she had nothing to do with Aubrey's disappearance.
In an episode full of twists and turns, Tracker revealed that the real abductor is Derek Flint, Trevor's brother, who has had a romantic history with Sierra. However, Colter found Derek's rotting corpse in Arthur Poness' property, meaning that Poness ends up being the main culprit pulling the strings, but there's an added twist.
As it turns out, Poness was actually Aubrey's grandfather, and he "saved" her in his own twisted way from Derek, beginning a new life because he believed that bringing her back to Sierra would only ruin her future. Poness even told Aubrey that Sierra is dead. As Colter pointed out, though, it was not his choice to make.
How Colter's New Case Enters Uncharted Territory for 'Tracker'
Aside from the list of his high-paying jobs, Colter has forged partnerships with many unexpected allies throughout Tracker's three-season run, including a retired cop, a mob boss, and a woman who helps people disappear by providing them with new identities. By working with a potential suspect, Colter is completely changed, but his gut reigns supreme in the end because he knew that the mother had nothing to do with her own daughter's disappearance.
Still, Colter always has a backup plan. By letting the police be involved in the case firsthand, it marked Sierra's first test to prove her innocence. If she weren't innocent, Sierra would've run away, but thankfully, she didn't, proving Colter's judgment is right all along.
More so, this latest case was far from simple, considering that Colter was banking on Sierra's innocence and Aubrey's survival from her abductors. The only way to do that was to find Aubrey and reunite with her mother, meaning that Colter was faced with an impossible task. This was more than just a missing persons case for him because it entered uncharted territory; he also bore the sole responsibility of absolving Sierra from a life in prison.
In the end, Arthur Poness was arrested, and Colter facilitated the reunion between Sierra and Aubrey, ultimately clearing her name of the crime.
