Spoilers ahead for Episode 10 of Tracker Season 2, called "Nightingale" and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
Tracker put Colter Shaw on a case in Minnesota with a big potential payday in the latest episode of the 2025 TV schedule, but he was still shaking off the events of the midseason premiere and the confirmation after ten long years that Gina Picket was dead. Over the course of the hour, he discovered that the suspected murderous kidnapper (played by 9-1-1: Lone Star's Jim Parrack) was neither a murderer nor a kidnapper.
By the end, before he collected his $50,000 reward, Colter got a message from an unexpected source that I suspect means he's on his way toward being ready to reconnect with Dory... based on Justin Hartley's comments, anyway! Let's start at the beginning with "Nightingale."
What Colter Needed To Hear
Colter was withdrawn enough at the start of "Nightingale" that Velma could tell over the phone that Gina was still on his mind after he'd been so determined for so long to find her, but he perked up once he was on the case to track down Ben, the alleged kidnapper, before the worst could happen to the missing Angela. Ben's grandmother was certain of her grandson's innocence of the deaths of two bikers and a cop, and against all odds, she was correct by the end.
Ben hadn't kidnapped Angie; he'd saved her from a biker who was the real killer of the other three men. They were in hiding together, and Colter was captured long enough to pick up on some survivalist tendencies that he and Ben had in common from how they were raised. Colter didn't dive deep into the Shaw family lore while chatting with Ben, but he clearly saw some parallels.
And when all was said and done, they even agreed that they might have been friends under different circumstances. The person who had the message that Colter needed to hear wasn't Ben or Angie, though, but rather Ben's grandmother. She told him:
You two are quite similar, you know. Well, I know what Ben had to go through to make him that strong. Whatever happened to you, or whoever, they must've done something right.
While it wasn't a grand speech from somebody who knows his whole story, he looked on the verge of tears when he heard those words from the woman who had hired him. It was a very sweet moment not just between the characters, but between the actors as well. Colter needed to hear that sentiment from somebody, and perhaps it hit him even harder to get it from a person he'd just met.
With a well-deserved win that didn't end in the death of the person he was searching for this time, he looked like a weight had lifted from his shoulders compared to how he started the episode. Now, he seems much more capable of moving forward than he did when saying goodbye to Camille in the midseason premiere last week. The Picket family tragedy chapter of his life seems to finally be over and increasingly behind him.
And that hopefully means a return to the Shaw family mysteries! Hartley teased as much when he mentioned the "family issues" as the upcoming "serialized element" to Tracker, with a lot of "questions to answer."
What About Dory?
I spoke with the This Is Us alum ahead of the midseason premiere, at which point Colter had been actively dodging calls from his sister. While Melissa Roxburgh has only appeared in one episode of Tracker so far as Dory, Colter learned in the Season 1 finale that his sister knew a lot more about their dad than she let on.
We haven't really seen him explore the aftermath of that bombshell, but I get the sense that Colter may nearly be ready for it after hearing directly from Justin Hartley... even if the character is "very uncomfortable" with elements of it. On the subject of Colter avoiding Dory's phone calls, Hartley explained:
I think that it's becoming clearer and clearer, at least in Colter's mind, that she's keeping something from him. He doesn't know why that would happen. He doesn't know why that would be, but he's determined to find out why. It's just like he had this overload of information last season, and I think he just had to step away for a second and go, 'Okay, let me gather my thoughts,' because he doesn't like to be in that position where he doesn't know what the play is, and I think in this situation, he doesn't know what the play is, and I think it makes him very uncomfortable.
Reuniting with Dory when he doesn't know the play is "very uncomfortable" for Colter, per the star, but after solving the Gina Picket mystery and taking some time to gather his thoughts, maybe the time is right. When he and Russell reunited early in Season 2 with Jensen Ackles' return, they didn't get too deeply into the family drama.
With Dory, that would be unavoidable after how Season 1 ended. So, with all of this said, is Melissa Roxburgh even returning to Tracker this year? I asked the leading man about the chances of seeing Dory again in Season 2, and he had good news:
Oh yeah, we'll have her back. Yeah, I love Melissa.
It remains to be seen if/when Melissa Roxburgh does drop by Tracker again, but The Hunting Party – a.k.a. her new NBC show – has already wrapped filming on its first season. I'd still love to see a Shaw family reunion with Justin Hartley, Melissa Roxburgh, and Jensen Ackles all in the same episode, but for now, at least the odds seem great for Dory in the not-too-distant future. Based on the promo for the next episode, though, Colter might have more pressing problems than his dad's past. Take a look:
Keep tuning in to CBS on Sundays for new episodes of Tracker Season 2. The network recently announced the hit drama's renewal for the 2025-2026 TV season, along with another eight of its series. So, whatever happens for the Shaw family in the coming weeks, at least fans can count on Colter being back for Season 3 down the road.
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