I Can’t Believe ‘Tracker’ Season 3’s Biggest Risk Just Paid Off in the Premiere

Fans of Tracker got some controversial news soon after the Season 2 finale when CBS announced that series regulars Eric Graise and Abby McEnany were exiting the procedural drama. This came off the coattails of Robin Weigert‘s departure following the first season, which was already shocking enough. But despite the major shifts going on within Colter Shaw’s (Justin Hartley) team, he and Reenie (Fiona Rene) are making things work in Season 3. In fact, the show doesn’t feel as if it’s changed at all! Despite my reservations about losing some of the most familiar faces on the show, Tracker Season 3 has proven that it doesn’t need the extra support, finding clever ways to make do without them.

‘Tracker’ Season 3 Removes Two Main Cast Members — and It Kind of Works

Back in Tracker Season 2, the show explained Teddi’s absence in “Out of the Past” as being due to her sick mother who needed care. Evidentally, Velma got in the way, and so she was “banished” to Denver to help Reenie with her law practice. After that, the show didn’t make mention of Teddi again, at least until the Season 3 premiere, “The Process.” Here, we learn from Reenie that, only three weeks after Season 2’s finale, “Echo Ridge,” Velma has jumped ship to reunite with Teddi in Florida in hopes of saving their relationship. Reenie fully understands, and that’s all that’s said. Likewise, Randy (Chris Lee) reveals that Bobby quit his job at the Chicago-based repair shop and moved on to a more cushy job at a tech startup where he no longer needs the additional income that Colter’s work provided. He even has a 401k! To that end, Randy has seemingly taken over some of Velma’s duties at Reenie’s law office, while also moonlighting as Colter’s “tech guy in the chair.” Although, unlike Bobby, he often joins Colter on the job when necessary.

As with Teddi’s departure after Season 1, Tracker‘s third season does well in explaining why Velma and Bobby have left Colter Shaw behind. While it’s admittedly a bit strange that neither one of them was concerned enough about Colter to contact him post-Season 2 (with only Reenie caring enough to reach out to Jensen Ackles‘ Russell to find him), considering they rarely ever shared the screen, perhaps it’s not much of a surprise. Fortunately, the paring down of the Tracker cast feels quite natural, with Reenie and Randy doing everything Teddi, Velma, and Bobby did before. However, they manage to do it all in a way that seamlessly blends with Colter’s job, as both can work alongside our favorite rewardist in the field if necessary. Admittedly, I was on the fence about Bobby’s exit from the show after his extended absence last season (especially since Season 1’s “Chicago” proved how vital he could be to the program). Still, it appears that Colter can carry on with a skeleton crew just as well as with a full staff.

Indeed, Colter Shaw doesn’t really need a supporting cast. After all, in the original Jeffrey Deaver novels, beginning with The Never Game, the only people he routinely works with besides his brother are the Bruins, and even their role is minimal. So, it was always a little strange that someone who was described so often as a “lone wolf survivalist” would surround himself with such a large group, especially since he would then have to split all his earnings between them. With Season 3, however, Colter makes it clear that he doesn’t need the help of the Bruins to find cases, and Bobby is easily replaced by his cousin for tech support. Although Reenie is still pretty involved in Colter’s new cases (thus far), she was always somewhat necessary due to the privileges that she enjoys as full-time legal counsel. Colter just doesn’t have that leverage.

‘Tracker’ Season 3 Highlights Reenie and Randy As Colter’s Main Support System

Image via CBS

Turning Reenie into the point person for Colter’s off-the-books business was smart. In many ways, this allows her to advise her clients in tricky legal situations to call on someone who exists in an official capacity outside the law. More than that, it’s not like Colter can’t find cases on his own. Between all the referrals he gets from friends, family, and former clients, as well as his own expertise, he’s never going to be out of work. But for those who wanted Colter and Reenie to work more closely together (especially after all her subplots with Pej Vahdat‘s Leo Sharf last season), this is a simple way to not only slim down the cast, but make sure that each member of the team is more effective.

When Bobby returned last season, Tracker was forced to utilize both Randy and Bobby in the same space. While I originally advocated for a Bobby-Randy partnership (and I still think that would have been fun), it doesn’t really make sense to have two tech guys in the room. In some ways, this would just echo the same problems from Season 1 where Colter had two handlers in Teddi and Velma. Sure, the banter can be fun if done right, but the overall effectiveness goes down. With Bobby pretty locked to his location in the Windy City, any plotline where he and Colter could be on-screen together would have to involve the rewardist either going to Chicago or Bobby traveling to him. Since Randy has already expressed his willingness to travel for the job in Season 2’s “Memories,” as well as Season 3’s “The Process,” I can see why keeping him around would be more convenient for the show. It probably doesn’t hurt that Chris Lee is still billed as a “guest star” either…

Colter Shaw Doesn’t Really Need a Big Team for ‘Tracker’ to Work

The beauty of a show like Tracker is that Colter isn’t a character who needs a lot of people surrounding him to do his job. In fact, the fewer the better, as then he can focus on the task at hand rather than any background noise that may distract from his most recent mission. By reducing Colter’s team to just Reenie and Randy (with an occasional assist from Russell), Tracker has finally found a way to cover all its bases without having five cast members to juggle. It’s no wonder that the final four episodes of the show’s first seasons barely featured anyone but Reenie and Bobby, and likewise, though I missed Bobby’s charm in Season 2, the stretch of seven episodes without him didn’t change anything about the way Colter or the show functioned.

In some ways, Tracker could really just be titled “Colter Shaw,” because he is truly the only unreplaceable part of the drama. Without him, the show falls apart, so the idea that others within his circle could waltz in and out at a moment’s notice is not too disrupting because, as Colter lives on the road, it’s not as if they’re interacting a ton anyway. Not that I want her to leave, but even Reenie is replaceable in the grand scheme of things (though, considering she’s about to get more to do, I’m not too worried about losing her), and she’s arguably the closest to Colter. While some may have been on the fence about how these cast shakeups would affect Season 3, I’m happy to report that Tracker is just as strong without Velma and Bobby as it was with them.