In true Tracker fashion, Season 2’s eventful finale kept the mystery alive by delivering one of the series’ most highly-anticipated answers before teeing up even more burning questions.
Written by Elwood Reid and directed by Ken Olin, Season 2, Episode 20, “Echo Ridge,” saw Colter return home to investigate the disappearance of a local diner owner, Bill (Brian Keane). While he was back, he also paid his mom Mary Dove Shaw (Wendy Crewson) a visit, stumbled onto a deeply concerning kidnapping case, and finally got some clarity about the devastating death of his father Ashton Shaw (Lee Tergesen).
As Colter learned throughout Tracker‘s run, his brother Russell (Jensen Ackles) didn’t push their dad off a cliff like Colter believed when he was younger. Russell swore someone else was in the woods the night their dad died, and after Colter learned his dad had a slew of secrets and worked for the government for seven years, he started to investigate despite his mom’s pleas to “let it be.” Season 2’s penultimate episode saw Colter’s sister Dory (Melissa Roxburgh) bring him a mysterious box of their father’s belongings, and after finding a phone number in his father’s old journal, Colter called it only to learn it was out of service. As we know, Colter doesn’t let potential leads go easily. So the finale shows what happens when he digs deeper.
Looking for a Tracker Season 2, Episode 20 recap? Decider’s Tracker Season 2 ending explained piece has you covered. Curious who killed Colter’s dad, Ashton? Why Colter’s dad was killed? Or what Colter’s reunion with his mom was like? The answers await, as do major Tracker spoilers, so proceed with caution.
Before we check in with Colter, Tracker Season 2, Episode 20 sets up this week’s mystery by showing Billy drive his car into the woods, step outside, and scream, “I’m here! Hello? Anybody there? Cut the crap. I just want to see that he’s OK.” After hearing his car turn off, he returns to the vehicle and finds a man inside waiting to knock him unconscious. Cut to Colter, who’s driving home to Echo Ridge, California, getting updates from Randy (Chris Lee) about the mystery number in his dad’s journal.
Turns out, the number belonged to David Pearson, a scientist who worked at a research facility in California and died by apparent suicide in 2003, the same year Colter’s dad died. Before moving to California, Pearson lived in Hampton, Virginia, which Randy said had major “government vibes” and further led Colter to believe that Pearson had meaning. Nevertheless, he put his dad’s investigation on the back burner and turned his attention to his mom, who was waiting for him with a homemade stack of pancakes and an offer to do his laundry. (Shoutout to the scheduling gods for having this episode air on Mother’s Day!)
Colter headed to the Little Fork Restaurant to chat with Bill’s sister, and learned that he’d been “obsessing” over a man and child who came through the restaurant six months earlier. After feeling something was off and clocking the child’s discomfort, Bill approached him and asked if he needed help when the man went to the bathroom. When the man returned, Bill interrogated him about his relationship to the boy, but got distracted by a diner incident involving broken plates long enough for them to bolt. After in-depth research, Bill learned that the boy Chris, had been kidnapped outside San Francisco. He kept investigating and set out to find the man after seeing him in Echo Ridge two days earlier.
Bobby (Eric Graise) tracked the last location of Bill’s phone and Colter headed to the woods, where he stumbled upon his old hometown pal Joe (Drew Powell) and learned that Bill was looking for a man named Ronnie Yates (Artine Tony Browne), with ties to a meth operation. Despite warnings, Colter sought Yates out — or rather, he snuck into his truck and held a gun to his head to demand answers. He learned that Bill was searching for a man named Carl Murphy, who — per Reenie (Fiona Rene) and Velma (Abby McEnany) — was a registered sex offender and independent truck driver who didn’t have to report routes to dispatch. Colter headed to Murphy’s father’s property just outside of Echo Ridge and found an abandoned trailer and photos of young boys that suggested Murphy was involved in a child trafficking network. On the property, he also found a covered car with Bill inside, dead.
Before Colter left the trailer, he also found something uniquely suspicious to him: one of his dad’s wooden carving’s with “A. SHAW” carved into the bottom. He called his mom to ask if she knew Murphy, and though she claimed she didn’t, she did reveal that she went into Colter’s Airstream to grab his laundry and found the box of his father’s belongings. “There was a lot about your father I had no clue about,” she told Colter. “I don’t want you leaping to conclusions. Whatever happened to Bill has nothing to do with our family.”
After Bobby tracked Murphy’s burner phone, Colter and backup (his buddy Joe!) headed to a farm, headed around back, and took out a man guarding a room that held a young boy. Colter headed to the barn and found a group of men prepping to put another boy in the back of a van. Thankfully, he took them all out before the transfer happened, busted the massive operation wide open, and even shot Murphy — who told Colter where he got his dad’s carving.
Following his check-in with Bill’s sister, Colter headed to Murphy’s uncle’s place to find out more about his dad’s carving. The man, credited Otto Waldron (Alex Fernandez) on IMDb, coldly answered the door and claimed he had nothing to do with Murphy. But once he learned that Colter was Ashton Shaw’s son, he invited him inside and encouraged him to ask away. When Colter pulled out the carving, Otto explained he met his dad back in the day after the county asked him to run power up the ridge that the Shaw’s lived on. Ashton wasn’t happy about that, so after the two hit it off, Otto helped him install a wind turbine that would give him power off the grid.
“We got along OK. I helped keep the county off his back. One night we were talking, I told him I liked these carvings he was making, and he threw one at me,” Otto explained. “But that’s not why you’re here is it? The accident…”
Otto told Colter his dad had a lot of enemies, and Colter pulled out his gun and asked if he was in the woods with his dad the night he died. “I was,” Otto replied. When Colter asked if he threw Ashton off the cliff, Otto confirmed again. Murphy’s uncle claimed he didn’t work for the feds, he just did it because “she asked for my help.” She who? Colter’s mother! *GASP* And that’s how Tracker Season 2 concludes!
Was Ashton’s death related to do with the government? What’s the deal with the scientist’s phone number? And why the heck did Colter’s mom want him dead? Those are answers that Hartley’s character will have to track down when Tracker returns for Season 3, which better be soon, because we need more info ASAP.
Tracker Season 2 is now streaming on Paramount+.