Riley Adams (Annalisa Cochrane) disappears one night after a hit and run turns into a kidnapping. Asked to help by her mother, Colter finds an ally in local detective Katie Douglas (Mercedes de la Zerda) and much more than he bargained for.

You know you have a successful formula when you can break it successfully and this episode proves that Tracker has a very successful formula. We get both Bobby and Randy, Abby and Reenie get a small vital moment and Douglas is a fantastic sidekick. The show feels bigger, and that allows it to experiment with lots of different beats. Douglas is one, and the other is the reveal that the villain here is just the start of Riley’s problems.

I don’t want to go too spoiler-y, because this is a really fun episode but there’s some very smart stuff done with the supporting cast. This has always been a specialty of the show but here it really flies. Everyone from the valet Colter good-naturedly tricks played by Sam Krochmal to Vincent Rourke’s well-meaning meathead of a boyfriend have their roles to play and those roles are much more complex than they seem. The villains are grounded in tragedy but no less dangerous, the tragedy no less intense because of the villainy. It’s a really good episode, one that plays as much like a good episode of Criminal Minds as it does Tracker.

Verdict: We’re two episodes away from the series finale and after a slightly rocky start this season has been very good for the show. It feels more confident, more inclusive and ready to step into a larger version of itself. If this confidence holds for the last couple of episodes, then it’s going to be in an amazing place for its third season. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart