Tracker Season 3 Just Set Up a Historic Franchise First for Justin Hartley’s CBS Show
The following contains spoilers for Tracker Season 3, Episode 8, “Good Trouble,” which aired Sunday, December 14th on CBS.
When Keaton asks Colter for help finding his old partner, who has gone missing, the two rogue investigators uncover a massive criminal conspiracy. After Dobbs turns up dead, Colter and Keaton refuse to stop looking into the case, but the final moments of the episode set Tracker up for its first major character death.
Tracker’s Midseason Finale Brings Back Brent Sexton’s Keaton in High-Stakes Investigation
Keaton, played by notable character actor Brent Sexton, first appeared on Tracker in Season 2’s “Trust Fall.” When Colter was tracking some lost hikers, he ran into Keaton, a retired cop on the hunt for a serial killer. The two worked together to catch Keaton’s serial killer and then find Colter’s missing campers. After their cases were wrapped up, Keaton offered his help for any investigations Colter needed him for. The lone-wolf survivalist asked Keaton for help with his white whale: the Gina Picket case.
In Season 2’s midseason finale, “Night Movers,” Keaton called Colter, having found a lead in Gina’s disappearance. When Tracker returned from its winter break, Colter and Keaton made huge breakthroughs in the investigation.
With a little more information, they confronted Colter’s prime suspect and got him to talk, finally finding out what happened to poor Gina Picket. They captured a serial killer who indoctrinated young men to become lures for him to help abduct young women.
Sunday’s Tracker saw Keaton return, asking Colter for help in locating his old partner, Dobbs. Looking through Dobbs’ home pointed them to a dairy farm, where they discovered several dead bodies buried on the property. After some digging by Randy, Colter learned that the farmer had been receiving payoffs from the Armenian mob. As Colter and Keaton dug deeper, they realized a contract killer was two steps ahead of them.
Colter’s Job Takes a Deadly Turn in Tracker’s Shocking Winter Finale
Colter heads to an Armenian mobster, Menassian’s apartment, and finds him killed, execution style. There was a surveillance camera in the room, so Colter had Randy hack it. The footage showed Dobbs executing Menassian, but it also held evidence of the man who abducted Dobbs. A contract killer everyone thought was dead, named Lang. Lang was working his way through the criminal conspiracy, looking for a woman named Cassie Lindstrom.
After Colter and Keaton track the phone Dobbs stole from Menassian, they find a car wreck and Dobbs near death, lying by the river. After a few words to Keaton, Dobbs dies. Randy learns of a car that was stolen not far from their location.
They track the car to a house where a one Bradley White lives. Colter and Keaton arrive not too long after Lang, but not soon enough to save White. While Colter was clearing the house, Keaton helped a woman they found tied up. Then he went outside and saw Lang loading a file box in his car and opened fire on the assassin.
Lang fired back, hitting Keaton in the abdomen. Colter finds Keaton, gets him into the car, and speeds away to get him to the hospital. As Colter drives, he asks Keaton what he learned from the woman. Keaton coughed up blood between apologizing and telling Colter that Lang was looking for Cassie Lindstrom. It did not look good for Keaton if Colter didn’t get him medical attention as soon as possible.
Things go from bad to worse for the survivalist when an unseen assailant fires at the car, shooting Colter and running him off the road. The final moments of the episode reveal their car upside down after tumbling off a small cliff. The chances of Keaton surviving are pretty slim. He was in dire need of medical attention before the car crash. Injured, without a vehicle, and potentially being hunted, it’s not promising that Colter could save Keaton even if he wakes up quickly from the crash.
Tracker has seen its fair share of death, not shying away from darker themes, but Colter always managed to save his allies whenever they were in danger. Killing Keaton, one of Colter’s best part-time team members, would be a Tracker first. The hit CBS show has never killed one of its major characters off, but the latest episode has set it up to do just that. Audiences will have to wait until Tracker returns on March 1st to see how Keaton and Colter fare.
