Alexa, play 'Stand By Your Man' by Tammy Wynette.
Daniella was the only person in a whole town who had any faith in her missing fiancé during Tracker Season 1 Episode 8, and she was right to, because as we heard ad nauseum during this hour, your past does not have to define your present.
Sully's troubled past had everyone believing he was guilty of something, and Colter may not have been sure what the truth was, but he certainly wasn't going to take everyone's word for it.
Colter heads into many of his cases with pre-conceived notions he can't help but voice, at least initially.
Called to a case of a man disappearing a few weeks before he's set to get married. Logically, you can't rule out cold feet, even though Daniella was so adamant that couldn't be the case.
No one wants to believe the person they love would just up and leave them, but stranger things have happened.
One thing about Colter, though, is that he will see things through. He often doesn't know what to believe in the beginning, but he's hired to do a job, and he sees it through to its end no matter what.
Like most procedurals, Tracker loves a convoluted plot, but some hours feel more complicated than necessary. This one benefitted from the opening shot of a battered Sully in the woods, which clearly showed a man who was not somewhere he wanted to be.
Without that little tidbit, it would have been easy to get roped into the rhetoric about Sully because, on its face, it did make sense.
I firmly believe a tiger can change its stripes, but the whole having dinner with an ex-girlfriend thing and the pendant being found in his car had a strange smell to it.
It wasn't wrong to be suspicious of what was happening with Sully because he kept some secrets.
I love when Colter goes to one of these towns and immediately picks up on people being shady.
Colter: I can help you with the family.
Sheriff Miller: Yeah, yeah. You're just after the reward.
Colter: You get paid, too, doesn't mean you don't care.
At first, Sheriff Miller seemed like one of the usual law enforcement foils Colter runs into, who may or may not be in on the whole thing, but instead, Miller was just tired.
He was dealing with a crumbling town, rampant crime, and a place that was no longer the safe haven he knew. And the obvious evidence was leading to something sinister.
But that's why Colter's so essential and necessary because imagine if he wasn't there throughout this case? I'm not saying Miller wasn't doing his job, but Miller wasn't thinking of every angle and instead resting on what he saw on the surface.
Sully having an affair? Sure, but how long would it have taken Miller to have even discovered the connection between Sully and Simone the night he went missing, and subsequently Simone's murder?
He may not have a Bobby at his disposal, but he has a police department! He should use them to get information quickly instead of acting like he's already solved the case.
Miller may have gotten there eventually, but I'm guessing it would have been long after they held up that warehouse and cut loose Sully as a dead end.
Circling back to Colter's correct reads, though, he spotted shadiness in both Ryan and Chelsea, which helped him to further realize that things were not what they seemed.
Ryan was one of the worst liars you'll ever hear, but there wasn't too much that Colter could do with what he told him. Chelsea, on the other hand, was an equally terrible liar and a terrible would-be criminal.
She was so tense during her conversation with Colter, and she couldn't make it any more obvious that she didn't want Zach speaking to him. Perhaps she should have warned her little boyfriend before he barged into her place of employment and made a scene.
Once Colter followed Chelsea and figured out there was a whole crew working together to do something, it was just a matter of figuring out what that something was.
I started to second-guess my initial read about Sully being forced into the situation when they handed him a gun because it would be pretty dumb to hand off a gun to a man you're holding against his will.
Colter seemed to also re-think everything, but Daniella continued to stand steadfastly by her man, and it was very sweet, honestly.
Some people don't have a single person who will always vouch for them and see the best, and Sully was lucky to have his fiancée because it truly seemed like her unwavering faith in Sully helped Colter along the way.
I fear so much for Colter when he gets into these situations where he's outnumbered, even if he's proven repeatedly that he can handle himself.
But he was up against three men when he got to that warehouse, all armed, most likely, and he just casually knocked one man out and got him tied up and out of the way before ambushing another and getting the upper hand.
These scenes aren't always believable, but Justin Hartley has been pulling it off well, even if the series continues to be light on the action.
I'm not necessarily looking for a Steven Segal mini-movie every week, but one episode heavy on the action would be cool.
There are so many different things to do with this series, and I hope they play around and try other things. You know what formula works, but there's no shame in stepping outside the box occasionally.
But anyway, once Colter got to Sully, they spent a ridiculously long time reviewing everything that happened to Sully when they needed to get out of dodge.
I can appreciate a good info dump when necessary, and this one was necessary, but it could have easily come after they got out of that warehouse and didn't have the potential threat of Clem finding them when they weren't prepared.
That didn't happen, but Sully going rogue was a surprise. Though he was feeling a lot of guilt and anger about Simone's death when she was just a bystander and had nothing to do with anything.
He couldn't bring her back, but he could avenge her.
Well, it's hard to outrun your past, no matter how hard you try.
Colter [to Sheriff Miller]
Sully would have immediately regretted his decision if he'd pulled that trigger. A few seconds of satisfaction would have ruined everything he built for himself.
He couldn't let the burdens of his past drag him down any further, and he was lucky Colter was there to remind him of that.
Another happy ending in Tracker land and another life lesson for Colter, as his past will always consume him until he faces it head-on.
It didn't happen here, but we still have a few episodes left this season.
Tracker Notes
- Hours with no Reenie in them make me sad.
- Poor Simone. I know next to nothing about her, but I know she deserved better.
- No Shaw Family drama yet again (has his brother given up tracking down everyone he knows?), but the constant references to the past during this hour were not subtle.
It feels like Tracker Season 1 is flying, and only a few installments are left!
Drop your comments below, and let me know what you thought about the hour and where Colter may be headed next!