Justin Hartley’s Tracker Finally Solves Its Biggest Mystery 1 Year Later

Justin Hartley’s CBS series finally solved a mystery that’s been brewing for two installments, making for a jam-packed opening to Tracker Season 3. The procedural has been a hit with the network, with Tracker Season 1 introducing Colter Shaw, the show’s compelling protagonist, who uses the survival skills he learned in childhood to find missing people. Shaw has an interesting background, which all ties in to the series’ most formative mystery.

In the first season of Tracker, audiences learn that the death of Colter’s father still haunts him. There’s a mystery around the nature of his father’s demise, and Colter once suspected that his brother, Russell (Jensen Ackles), was responsible for pushing their father off a cliff. Tracker Season 3, Episode 1, finally gives some resolution to the story. While it doesn’t completely solve the mystery of what happened to Ashton Shaw (Lee Tergesen), the development allows Colter and Russell to come to terms.

Colter’s Cliffhanger About Ashton Shaw In Tracker Season 2 Explained

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In Tracker Season 2’s finale, Colter takes a huge step forward in solving his father’s mysterious demise, which includes confidential government work and a long list of enemies. When a case takes him back to his hometown of Echo Ridge, Colter comes across one of his father’s wooden animal carvings and traces it to the home of a man who knew his father from the past. In the season finale, Colter pushes Otto (Alex Fernandez) on what happened the night of his father’s death, leaving audiences with an emotional cliffhanger.

Holding a gun to him, as they sit in his living room, Colter asks Otto if he was with his father on the cliff the night that he died. Otto confirmed that he was there that night, and the season ends with Colter asking if the man is the one who pushed him off. It was quite the ending to the season, considering audiences had waited two whole chapters for a meaningful development regarding what happened to Ashton. Tracker Season 3 needed to explain what happened without delay, and followed through with a proper explanation.

Colter Shaw Finally Explains Ashton Shaw’s Death In Tracker Season 3

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In the opening of Tracker Season 3, the show’s first two-part premiere, Colter explains the extent of what he learned to his brother when Russell tracks him down at a bar in Wyoming. After winning a bar fight with some locals who disrespected the server, the Shaw brothers go back to Colter’s Airstream trailer and catch up with what’s been going on. Returning for Tracker Season 3, Reenie (Fiona Rene) sends Russell to check on Colter, who finds that Colter is still clearly hung up on what happened in Season 2’s finale.

While they catch up in his mobile office, Colter tells his brother that he found the man Russell said was on the cliff with him and their father the night that Shaw Sr. died. Colter reveals that in a conversation that continued off-screen, Otto revealed their mother (Wendy Crewson) sent him to talk to Ashton the night that he died, and that they fought on the ridge, causing Otto to throw their father over the edge. It’s a sobering moment for Russell and the audience, who are both hearing the revelation for the first time.

The moment in Tracker Season 3’s premiere marks a resolute conclusion to the show’s biggest mystery. The first and second seasons establish that the mystery surrounding what happened that night is a defining aspect of Colter’s past. Season 3 finally explains that Ashton’s death was the result of a fight between two men who used to be friends. The development clears Russell’s name, allowing Colter and his brother to reconcile. It also seemingly clears Colter’s mother of sinister intent, explaining that she was worried about her husband.

How Tracker Season 3 Will Continue Its Ashton Shaw Mystery

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While Tracker has finally answered the question of what happened the night Ashton Shaw was murdered and who killed him, it will continue to see Colter looking into the mystery surrounding the demise of his father. As Colter tells Russell in Season 3’s premiere, while he has answers on who killed his father, he intends to keep digging into the circumstances that caused his father’s unraveling. Russell initially says that he doesn’t want to engage in any further investigations, but he changes his mind when he realizes his brother won’t drop the case.

During his brother’s visit, Colter also explains that he had been searching through their father’s old file box and found a phone number tucked away in one of Ashton’s journals. Colter doesn’t have as much information to reveal about the development because the line has been disconnected. Still, he does tell his brother that Randy (Chris Lee) looked into who it belonged to, explaining it was a scientist who died the same year as their father. Ashton and his mysterious peer dying in the same year is likely no coincidence, but that’s all Colter has to report thus far.

Now that the Shaw brothers have united, Colter and Russell can come closer to a complete understanding of their father’s activities. In Tracker Season 2, the brothers were at a Department of Defense facility, and an official there revealed that he knew Ashton Shaw, whom he spoke about with disdain. Perhaps Colter and Russell working together in Tracker’s new episodes will lead to a more complete understanding of Ashton’s mysterious dealings. But first, Colter and Russell need to figure their way out of The Process in the second half of Tracker Season 3’s premiere.