Colter finally had a case in a major metropolitan city, AND he teamed up with Bobby and Reenie in person?!
Christmas came super early, y’all.
Tracker Season 1 Episode 7 wasn’t breaking the mold as far as cases of the week go, but it was the first time we spent extended time with Bobby, and that alone makes it one of the better installments of the first season.
Outside of Reenie, we had yet to see Colter in the same physical space as the people who continuously help him on his various cases.
We know Bobby is the computer whiz, and he can hack just about anything, but outside of that, we don’t know much about him. And that’s been okay because you assumed eventually we’d get some insight into the man behind the phone, and we finally got it.
Much like Colter, I initially thought Sun was Bobby’s girlfriend because he spoke about her with such reverence. And he jumped on her disappearance with a quickness.
We knew Colter and Bobby had a history, one that’s shaded in better after this hour, but it was still nice to know Colter would come literally overnight to help Bobby when he called.
Sun Mai’s disappearance was mysterious and, at first, didn’t make sense until it came out that she and her mother were dealing with immigration issues.
It had to be unbelievably scary and stressful to deal with that, especially when you do not have the means to hire the best of the best regarding the legal side of the situation.
So often, people can’t afford adequate representation and find themselves in worse shape because of it.
Sun and her mother trusted someone who was a scammer, which cost them more than just money.
George/Marv was a scammer through and through, and it’s no wonder he had to change around and bounce around cities when he inevitably found himself in situations he couldn’t scam his way out of.
But the set-up for him was perfect, as he tricked unsuspecting people on their last ropes into accepting his help and then fed them to a pack of vicious loan sharks.
Poor Sun wasn’t trying to do something insidious or evil, yet she found herself in this impossible situation with incredibly dangerous people.
We know that Colter likes to work by himself, for various reasons, and that it works for him, but throughout Tracker Season 1 Episode 6 and this hour, it was emphasized just how much he likes to be alone and do things alone.
Many people have a ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’ mindset, and while that may play a bit in Colter’s mind, his desire to work alone seems much more rooted in how his dad raised him.
He was raised to look out for himself. He uses those skills to help others, but he’s not really trying to expand his social circle or make deep-seated connections that would come with having an everyday partner.
All the people in Colter’s life who are, at the very least, acquaintances are kept a considerable distance away, whether that be through actual physical or emotional distance.
Colter has a lot of unresolved trauma from his childhood, and he also has a considerable amount of doubt that’s been festering inside him for years. And all those things inform the person we see today.
I also think Colter wants to avoid taking on the responsibility of someone getting hurt or needing to shift his own attention away from the task at hand.
It’s not about not trusting Bobby or not wanting his help throughout the Sun case; it’s Colter’s desire to keep him safe. He’ll put himself in danger, but he can’t be worried about Bobby being in danger.
Ultimately, though, this was a case where Bobby was not only exceptionally helpful but ultimately the one who helped both Colter and Sun get out of that building.
Sometimes, it takes the whole hour to figure out who the bad guy is or what their motive may be. But we learned pretty early that the loan sharks were the ones who took Sun, and then it just became a matter of where she was being held and how to get her back.
Knowing she was a somewhat accomplished MMA fighter, I should have seen that angle coming in the form of illegal fighting, but alas, I did not.
What do loan sharks want at the end of the day? They want their money.
By getting Sun Mai into that ring and having her take a beating until she paid off what she owed, the sharks were getting the blood they were after.
For something illegal, the security was awfully lax! Colter and Bobby got inside relatively quickly, and Colter even got into the locker room without anyone getting in his way.
Sun was so scared, and if Colter hadn’t dropped the Bobby card, I’m not sure she would have left with him because she genuinely believed that once she paid her dues, she would be free to go.
She probably bought that lie because it came from Art.
I love a last-second twist, and Art being the big boss was certainly that!
He seemed like a decent man when Colter and Bobby first met him at his gym, and he’s the one who told them about Sun’s visa issues, which in retrospect was idiotic considering that’s what eventually led them to him.
Would they have gotten there eventually? Surely. But he certainly helped speed up the timeline.
This may be the most action we’ve seen Colter engage in during Tracker Season 1, at least regarding fighting scenes that lasted more than a few seconds. He got some good beatdowns on those guys, and he didn’t get shot or stabbed or maimed.
He walked away with a bruised noggin, but that’s all in a day’s work for Colter Shaw.
I wasn’t even thinking about the implications for Sun and her mother if ever name was brought up in all the inevitable fallout from the illegal fighting. She was there against her will, but it wouldn’t have helped her case.
It was so interesting to see Colter be the one to take a chance at the end of Tracker Season 1 Episode 6 and ask Billie out for dinner only to be rebuffed, and then see Colter rebuff Bobby and Reenie.
Bobby: What?
Reenie: A lone wolf’s gonna lone wolf.
Colter puts up these intense boundaries for his own good and for what I assume he believes is the good of others. But I almost wonder if he realizes how much these people care about him.
I know he likes to keep people at arm’s length because that works for him, but does he see how much they value him? And on the flip side, do they see how much he values them?
I know this is a procedural, but if I got a whole hour of Colter just diving into the stuff from his past, with everyone in the flesh helping him get answers and also just being there for him as he navigates through a long of buried and complex emotions, I’d be a very happy camper.
Tracker Notes
- Bobby and Sun were so cute together! I hope they go out for that drink and discuss other things besides her website.
- Reenie is a good person. She’s all over the country as much as Colter is helping people! And she even does it sometimes for free!
- I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that, technically, Bobby should be paying Colter since he enlisted his help. But I like that Colter didn’t accept payment AND referred to him as a friend. We love to see that!
- Correct me if I’m wrong, but Colter was looking at the folder he stole during Tracker Season 1 Episode 2, right? We got some references to the Shaw Family drama here, but maybe we’re getting ready to get back into it soon!
- Let’s have Colter keep heading east! I need him in the Big Apple pronto.
Tracker is finding its groove, and the cases of the week continue to entertain!
Let me know in the comments what you thought about this hour, and since we’re more than halfway through the season, what else you’d like to see before things get wrapped up!
Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.