Tracker fans knew this week’s episode was going to be dark, but we had no idea just how dark – and violent – it would be. Season 2 continued its march toward the finale with Episode 12, “Monster,” in which Colter encounters a serial killer whose crimes make for the series’ most gruesome episode yet.
Despite the saturation of procedural series on network television, CBS’s most recent addition to the genre, Tracker, instantly became a hit with audiences following its 2024 debut. The show stars Justin Hartley, known for his work on This Is Us and Smallville, as expert survivalist Colter Shaw, who travels around the country in his RV locating missing people and stolen items in exchange for reward money. He often works alongside law enforcement and private citizens to solve these standalone mysteries each episode while also slowly revealing dark truths about his family’s past, establishing a uniquely mysterious twist on the typical cop drama that keeps viewers coming back each week to find out more.
So far, the series is heading toward the Season 2 finale, with Episode 12, “Monster,” airing this past Sunday. Previously, Tracker had focused on the cases’ mysteries without showing too much on-screen gore. However, showrunners went much darker with this recent installment, which sees Colter looking for a mother who vanished in the middle of the night. The episode’s previews teased a spookier tone with shots of a dim amusement park, but that didn’t prepare audiences for its televised bloodshed. Instead of maintaining the show’s simultaneously serious and lighthearted mood, “Monster” shockingly dug deep into the gruesome mind of a serial killer and his sickening violence.
“Monster” Is the Goriest Episode of ‘Tracker’ Yet
From the beginnig, Tracker has steered clear of showing too much blood or gore on-screen (even when people are killed), focusing its standalone episodes on individual mysteries and twists as Colter solves them. However, Season 2’s “Monster” completely flips this emphasis – or at least decides the show won’t be restrained.
There are two specific scenes that really stand out in terms of bloodshed. The first is when Colter is searching for a therapist in connection to the case. While he is able to find him, the therapist is unfortunately no help in locating the missing mother because he’s dead. While death is no stranger to Tracker, Shaw discovers the therapist’s decapitated body in a bathroom, and showrunners don’t shy away from revealing it to viewers in all its gory glory.
If that wasn’t surprising enough, there’s another scene later on where the head is found. Considering Colter is an expert tracker and the therapist’s head was missing, it made sense that he would come across it before the episode wrapped up. However, it’s how the head is displayed that made for a horrifying shot. It was shown in a room with the strangled corpse of the killer’s mother, pierced through a pike — a truly chilling image for even the biggest fans of gore.
While there were only two on-screen moments of horror, that wasn’t the most unnerving part of the episode. As Colter and his team catch the killer, a man named PJ (Jonathan Whitesell), the monster describes his motivations for violence. He went after his therapist, who refused to continue seeing him, and then killed his mother because she laughed at him once when he was a kid. To think that there are potential monsters out there who could commit such heinous crimes for these kinds of small reasons is just as terrifying as seeing the gruesome acts themselves.
No Connections to the Series’ Overarching Mystery
Even though some fans may want less of the unexpected gore from “Monster,” others were starving for more in terms of the series’ larger story arcs. The episode is a satisfying standalone addition to Tracker’s mostly episodic format, but it didn’t provide much for viewers hoping to get more details about the overarching plotlines surrounding Colter, his past, and his family’s murky history.
In particular, audiences are on the lookout for information regarding the mysterious circumstances around Colter’s father’s untimely death and his brother’s potential involvement. Instead, Episode 12 purely centered on the case at hand, excluding all Colter-related backstory that would push that part of the show forward. Additionally, Bobby still isn’t back (his absence isn’t even mentioned), and Randy only appears for a quick scene. Velma also briefly shows up for a phone call, but that’s it. There are no references to Colter’s family, Reenie’s boyfriend, or any other aspect of the bigger mysteries that keep fans tuning in each week, other than bringing up Colter’s childhood at the end of the episode. But, hopefully, that’ll change as the season nears its finale in the coming weeks.
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2025-03-16 00:07