Colter is asked to find Emmaline Trace (Alison Thornton), a young woman who has vanished in Kentucky. But Emmaline hasn’t disappeared, she’s been taken and the people who have her need her unique skills…

Tracker is pushing the envelope this season and it’s mostly working. It makes sense for someone like Colter, who lives and works on the edge of the worst days people can have, sometimes runs into the unusual.

This week it’s a witch, or at least healer, played with slightly brittle charm by guest star Alison Thornton. Emmaline is by no means a victim but is also a willing, even happy outcast. That status helps her do her job but also attracts the worst people to her, and seeing Colter work his way up the chain of people she encountered is some of the best deduction work the show has done so far. We find out there’s something odd about her, we find out an Animal Control officer (played with careful charm by Travis Hammer) has been leaving dead animals for her. We find out she apparently cost a colleague her job at the ice cream store and that woman’s husband confronted her. So far, so normal. Until a guest turn by Cameron Fuller as Travis, the husband, who in fact credits Emmaline for saving his wife’s life. The further in Colter goes, the more it becomes apparent that Emmaline is either special or people believe she is. It’s a great idea, using the ‘victim’ of the week to illuminate the town around them and the beliefs that get people through the day.

That idea shakes a little when we meet this week’s bad guys, a group of local drug dealers. They’re sufficiently generic as individuals that none of them really register as characters in their own right but their motivation is fascinating. They want Emmaline to heal their sick father. Their methods are brutal, but the core of why they’re doing it is very real. It’s a great idea, let down only by the fact we never quite spend enough time with them as individuals as well as a choice in the final minutes.

The episode’s last big swing is only a partial hit. Colter is very seriously injured rescuing Emmaline. It’s a great moment, so hard edged you almost forget the show’s named after his day job. Pinned through the chest by a crossbow bolt, he pulls the most action movie move this show has ever done, saves Emmaline and… basically fatally injures himself. The day is saved by Emmaline, three times in a row, as the dealers get word their dad is healed, she scares them off and heals Colter. It’s a strong idea, and I love the idea of reminding us the job is dangerous. Also Thornton is fantastic as Emmaline and you buy every move she makes.

The issue isn’t so much that as the lack of closure. The drug dealers escape. Colter heals. Emmaline and her brother move on. The intent is to show how hard Emmaline’s talents make her life and I get that. But at the same time a group of intensely dangerous drug dealers tried to kill a man and by and large escape free and clear. There are hints of consequence but they get lost under Emmaline’s powers, Colter’s injury and setting up the first big Shaw brother/sister reunion for the season.

Verdict: The result is an episode that doesn’t quite break the mould but does crack it in some interesting and successful ways. Worth it for Thornton’s guest turn and just how good the show is getting at American folklore weirdness. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart