Colter stops off for some food in the small town of Springland. Just in time to see Kira (Anja Savcic) get menaced by local man Tom Tozer (Bradley Stryker). Kira’s sister, it seems, disappeared three months ago and everyone wants her to let it go. Except her.

Ken Olin, who’s directed the first three episodes of the show, is developing a particular visual style for it. Colter and his tiny mobile home both feel dwarfed by the countryside around them and there’s a fun sense of every action echoing around these massive landscapes. Writer Elwood Reid also does some really fun things this week as the show continues to drill down onto the idea that what Colter initially encounters is never quite what’s really going on. Last week it was helicopter parents and the inadvertent cost of their actions. This week it’s the clash between locals and ‘van life’ enthusiasts. Tozer, memorably played by Bradley Stryker, isn’t an especially good guy but he’s also not the villain. Much like the interaction with Liam the guard last week, Colter learns more from talking to him than he does from fighting him. That’s both a very welcome change for a show like this and a subversive narrative choice that’s been pulled twice in a row. If the show has more tricks like this up its sleeve then it’s well on the way to being more than an off the shelf procedural.

There’s good support too from Richard Harmon as Gecko, the local climber connected to the case and Savcic as Kira. Kira’s determined, relentless and courageous. She’s also a realist and one of the best beats this episode sees her pragmatically admit she knows her sister is almost certainly dead. She’s reduced to something of a damsel in the final act, and that’s another moment the show is too fond of, but it’s taking steps in the right direction at least and Savcic is very good. As is Strange New Worlds’ Gia Sandhu as the local doctor and Sakura Sykes and Lesley Mirza as a local climber and waitress. The show is so nearly there with its female characters They all feel interesting and real, but far too often so far they’ve been reduced to window dressing or people to rescue. Even Fiona Rene, magnificent once again as team lawyer Reenie Green, is given less to do than she should be.

It’s an issue, and one the show is a step away from solving. I hope it does soon because the casting here is fantastic and the writing is so close to catching up. Harmon is a great example, whose haunted presence tells you what sort of man to expect Gecko to be before the show surprises you. It can, and is, doing better. It’s just not quite there yet.

Verdict: Rounded out with another slightly muted ending this is another good episode which still feels like the show’s finding its feet. Tracker’s closing in on itself, and when it catches up, it could be a hell of a show. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart