S02E02-Ontological Shock-Episode Recap
Tracker episode two, ‘Ontological Shock’ has been as much anticipated by fans as the premiere was last week. Fans have immediately fallen in love with the Colter/Russell brother-bond we see unfolding before us. If you want to see the full recap for episode one, click here, otherwise, you know the drill. If you tuned in to the episode which aired Sunday October 20, 2024, then dig in. Otherwise, fair warning on the spoiler alerts. We’ve recapped all the juicy details below. Enjoy!
Introduction
We see a man running through the woods until he reaches a perimeter fence that has surveillance. He slips through a gap in the chain link. While videotaping himself and the surroundings, he claims he is about to film something he can’t explain from a secret Department of Defence site.
As he enters a clearing, both his cell phone and video camera begin to exhibit strange digital corruption. He is then hit by a high-pitched sound so loud he has to cover his ears to protect his hearing. Suddenly he is flooded with a bright light and pulsing sound from above. He tries to run but falls in the grass.
Colter pulls up to a house and interviews Patti, the daughter of the man we just witnessed in the woods. She plays her father’s last phone message for Colter, where he is telling her that “something weird is going on up here, I finally found proof” but the message cuts out before he has a chance to finish.
Patti explains that her father left the message two days ago. He likes to go on “research road trips” as he calls them, but when she didn’t hear from him, she came to his home to investigate. She called the local police, but they said they can’t do anything as there are no signs of foul play. She told Colter that her dad is a retired Electrical Engineer and likes to dabble in alien stuff. It was a quirky hobby he and her mom enjoyed together before she passed away, but he has become obsessed with government conspiracy stuff.
He’s been doing a lot of hiking in the back country and told her that he saw something out there that is being hidden from the public. She goes on to tell Colter that her father said he was being followed by unmarked black government vans because he was onto their secret program. While she is telling Colter these things she is gathering up her father’s notes from the top of his desk and hiding them away in the drawer. Colter asks her point blank, “What aren’t you telling me?”
She confides that her father was the subject of a restraining order from someone he was apparently harassing, an astrophysicist and professor named Dr. Iris Blair. It was her husband who filed the order.
Cast
| Cast Member | Character |
| Justin Hartley | Colter Shaw |
| Fiona Rene | Reenie Greene |
| Abby McEnany | Velma Bruin |
| Eric Graise | Bobby Exley |
| Steven Culp | Scott Palmer |
| Matt Passmore | Government Agent (Daley) |
| April Parker Jones | Dr. Blair |
| Brooke Nevin | Patti Palmer |
| Jensen Ackles | Russell Shaw |
| Jason McKinnon | Lawyer |
| Scott Pocha | Army Guard |
| Charles Jarman | Van Driver |
The Tracking Assignment
Patti, the daughter of Scott Palmer has hired Colter to track down her father and bring him home. This case gets much more complicated when Colter himself goes missing and Reenie has to call in Colter’s brother Russell for help.
–>Scott Palmer is Missing
Colter is chatting with Velma about the missing Scott Palmer and mobilizing the team. He has Bobby trying to find a last location for Palmer, and Reenie is looking into the details of the restraining order.
Reenie is in a meeting with a fellow criminal lawyer, and when she’s done shredding the guy who was trying to out-negotiate her, she reaches out to Colter who has been calling her incessantly. She reminds Colter that she has a full time job, and if he wants her undivided attention he should think about putting her on retainer.
She shares the details of the restraining order that was filed against Palmer, followed up by sending Colter copies of the call logs. The logs demonstrate that Palmer was calling Dr. Blair twenty times a day.
–>UAPs and NHI
Colter shows up at Dr. Blair’s home. He tells her that Scott Palmer is missing. She claims to know nothing about that.
Colter mentions that he has the call logs and asks about the time the two of them chatted on the phone.
Dr. Blair let him know that Palmer had some interesting ideas. She asked if Colter is familiar with UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon) or UFO’s. There is still a stigma attached to this subject and that of NHI (non-Human Intelligence). Especially in academia. It’s a subject she is very much interested in and that is what Palmer wanted to talk about. She said that Palmer was intense and very vocal about these things, and she prefers to remain discreet.
There is some movement up the street and she gets skittish and looks scared. Colter asks what she is afraid of, but she ends the conversation and leaves for work.
–>The Universe is a Big Place
Bobby calls Colter to tell him that he could not ping Palmer’s phone to establish a location. Not only was his phone dead, but all of his phone location records were wiped clean. Palmer’s car did not have a GPS, so Bobby wasn’t able to lock onto that, but his car had an after-market dashcam installed, so he hacked a location from that. Palmer was on an unmarked road on government land. Bobby sent Colter the coordinates.
While chatting, Colter asked Bobby what he thought of UAP’s, and he seemed to have touched on a topic that Bobby had some knowledge about. He mentioned names like Jacques Vallee, J. Allen Hynek, David Grusch and Lue Elizondo and the modern discloser movement. When Colter asked if he was a believer, Bobby responded that the universe is a big place, an old place. He feels that there’s no way we can be the only ones alive out here, and directs Colter to ‘plenty of footage online for anyone interested in looking.’
Colter’s focus is Palmer, so he asked Bobby to dig up anything he could on the doctor. He’s sure she is holding back important information.
–>Deja Vu
Colter arrives at the last known location of Palmer and calls Bobby because he can’t find the car.
Bobby shares that while investigating the doctor, he found a secure message board, where a group of scientists used a portal to share intel with each other on UAPs, and Dr. Blair was a part of it.
Colter found Palmer’s car under a tarp in the woods and then his phone went dead. He continued searching and found the same perimeter fence that Palmer found. Once in the clearing, just as it happened with Palmer, there was digital distortion on his phone, a very loud high-pitched noise and a bright light from above.
–>Colter Goes Missing
Bobby shares his frustration with the rest of the team.
Colter has been missing for 12 hours and he cannot find any information that will help locate him.
Velma said she sent a deputy to the same location, and they found Colter’s truck, but no Colter.
Reenie wants to rush out there but decides instead that the better thing to do would be to call the one man she knows will be able to find Colter. Russell Shaw.
–>Captive
Colter wakes up from being sedated and is in physical restraints.
The man (who refuses to identify himself, known only as Daley in the captions) in the room tells Colter that he was sedated because the land he was on contains unexploded ordnance and he was in danger, if he had stepped the wrong way he would have been blown up. He loosens one of Colter’s restraints but warns him not to try anything. They put the restraints on him for his own protection because he had a bad reaction to the tranquilizer, but the guard outside his room is ready to tranquilize him again if necessary.
The tranquilizer is what they consider nonlethal deterrence for anyone who is trespassing on a secure DOD facility. Colter asks if that is what happened to Scott Palmer, and Daley wants to know what Colter knows about Scott. Daley refuses to answer any of Colter’s questions, but he tells Colter just before he leaves the room, that he will be working on his release.
Once left on his own, Colter manages to free himself from his restraints. He notices that his room has surveillance, so he tries to dismantle it. He loosens the bulbs in the fixtures to darken the room and waits.
The scene briefly cuts to Daley who is talking to his superior telling them that everything is on schedule, he “just has to do a little clean up.” We are left to our imagination as to what “clean up” means. Just as Daley walks out of sight, we see a man at the end of the hall. As Colter waits in the dark behind the door, the man enters, and it isn’t the guard as Colter suspects. It’s Russell.
Much to his surprise, Russell has found him, subdued three guards and obtained a weapon for his use.
–>Russell to the Rescue
Russell is eager to get himself, and Colter away from the site. He knows from experience they could still be vulnerable. He tells Colter that he was able to find him because Reenie called with the coordinates.
The brothers exchange a little banter. Russell tells Colter that ‘he’s just that guy now, who gets things done and is letting the results speak for themselves.’ After some phone calls he discovered his little brother had wandered onto a black site and he was here to save the day.
Colter acts unimpressed and wants to know how Russell and Reenie are phone buddies now?
Russell says they keep tabs on each other because he continues to ask her out to dinner and she keeps ducking him. Russell is convinced that rescuing Colter will get him the coveted date with Reenie he’s been trying for. Colter scoffs at the idea, but big brother is convinced it will happen because Colter is going to tell her how brave and heroic he was. Colter laughs and refuses – “you are on your own when it comes to Reenie.”
Focusing back on the job, Russell says that Velma filled him in on all the details about who they are trying to find. Colter wants to know how all of a sudden he’s also talking with Velma? Russell tells him that his team views him as an asset now. When they start talking about UAPs, Colter asks if Russell has seen things, and Russell tells him he’s seen things that “will blow his hair back,” but doesn’t elaborate.
–>Trackers being Tracked
Russell has agreed to help Colter track Palmer. They don’t have Palmer captured on the base, so they need to find him before the DOD guys do.
They chat some more about UAP’s and Colter asks him if he really believes this stuff. Russell reminds him of a time when they were boys and their dad took them to “Eagle Head Rock” to show them the “lights in the sky.” Russell can recount the memory but Colter can’t remember it at all.
Russell reminds him that he had on his little spaceship pyjamas, and when he asked their dad what the lights were, their dad pointed at his pyjama shirt. Colter thinks it could have been a meteor shower. Russell says, “you keep telling yourself that.”
Scott’s daughter calls, to ask if Colter has found her dad yet, and tells him that there is a mysterious black SUV with two men in it, that has been parked outside her dad’s home for 2 days. Colter warns her that she could be in danger and to sneak out of her dad’s house unseen and go somewhere safe. That’s when Colter realizes that he still has his phone – they must be tracking him hoping that he will lead them right to Scott Palmer.
Russell pulls over and destroys Colter’s phone and tells him to turn around so he can see the spot where he was hit with the tranquilizer dart. Russell cuts into him and pulls out some kind of tracking chip. Colter pushes the chip into a slot on his beat-up phone and then throws it into a field.
–>Dr. Blair in Peril
In the next scene Colter and Russell are at Dr. Blair’s home looking for clues that might help them locate Palmer. She comes home and finds Colter in her living room. Russell, having helped himself to Dr. Blair’s kitchen, emerges with a sandwich and Colter calls him as an animal. Love these guys!
Dr. Blair claims to have no information about Scott Palmer. Russell challenges her. She is gathering proof about UAPs but doing it secretly, so it doesn’t harm her reputation. Colter thinks she told Palmer something that made him more of a target, and he holds up a picture of the strange digital distortion he remembers seeing on his phone.
He told her that he was at the exact location where Palmer went missing and his phone showed the same symbols he’s seeing in the picture. Dr. Blair thinks it is a form of communication. They’ve been seeing them for about 6 months.
Russell asks her if she thinks these messages are from ET’s and she said she isn’t sure, they were just trying to build a primer to decode the messages but it’s not finished. She told Scott Palmer about all this because he wanted to help. Colter saw the same strange markings on his phone but the top line ended with ‘2901.’ Dr. Blair thought that the numbers represented geodetic coordinates. She pointed them out on a map and Russell took a picture. If Palmer figured this out, then he could already be on his way to that location.
Colter told Dr. Blair that Scott is in danger because of what he knows, and that could be the same for her. Russell told her that all of this is mixed up with above-black DOD programs, who write their own rules of engagement. He warned her to skip town for a while and to watch herself. Colter and Russell leave to track down Palmer, and while Dr. Blair tries to make her escape, she is stopped by Daley and another man. We don’t see what they do, but it’s clear that Dr. Blair is very frightened.
–>Quid Pro Quo on the Phones
Colter and Russell arrive at the coordinates but don’t see Scott Palmer.
Reenie calls Russell and he is happy to show Colter her incoming call. Before he can pick it up, Colter declines it, grabs his phone and tosses it into the woods. Russell is none to happy about this, but Colter points out that Russell is probably being tracked through Reenie. Russell is so unaffected and chill that he’s more upset about missing Reenie’s call than the fact that he’s being tracked.
They both hear something and follow the sound until they see a UAP landing site equipped with mobile units, lights and personnel. They move in and decide to split up to look for Palmer.
–>Somebody Got To Her
The scene briefly pops over to check in with Colter’s team who are still very worried they can’t connect with the guys.
Bobby says he is working on another idea, while Velma shares with Reenie some information she’s been picking up from the police scanners.
There was a message that Dr. Blair was found as a “dead body” then immediately followed up with a “suicide” message.
Neither one of them believe it and they think that “someone got to her.”
–>Getting in the Government’s Way
Russell enters a building and encounters Daley who holds him at gunpoint. He demands to know where Palmer is and tells Russell that he knows who they are, he knows all about their dad, and he knows their family has a long history of getting in the government’s way.
Russell tells him that its obvious what they have built out here in the woods, but Daley says no one would believe him. Russell manages to subdue Daley, knock him out and steal his gun.
Before he leaves the makeshift lab, he examines what is in the glass cases and takes a small container of something.
–>We Missed It
Colter on the other hand chokes out a guard, enters another building and finds Palmer. He tries to get Palmer to leave with him, but Scott wants to stay and witness “the landing.”
Colter tells him that they need to leave so Palmer can be reunited with his daughter. All of a sudden, there are very strong vibrations, very bright lights coming in the windows and the same high-pitched sound they heard before. When the chaos stops, Palmer exclaimed “they missed it” but wants to go look anyway.
When they get outside Russell is waiting for them and they have to make a run for it. Palmer puts up a bit of a fight but follows. A helicopter shines a spot light on them until it loses them in the woods.
–>The Pick Up
The next thing we see is the three of them walking down a dirt road when a van pulls up behind them. They assume it’s someone from the government facility they escaped from, but it turns out to be a man that Reenie hired to go to the area and find them. He hands Colter a phone and says he has a call. It’s Reenie who lays into him and Russell for not texting her back.
–>Home
Colter and Russell take Palmer home to his daughter.
Walking back to Russell’s car they speculate with each other on what they may have come into close contact with in the woods. Sounds like Russell is a believer, and Colter is still sitting on the fence. Russell shows Colter what he took from the lab and he’s convinced it is some kind of metal, maybe even from a UAP. He has a guy who can run some tests on it.
As they get close to Russell’s car, Colter takes a moment to appreciate it and say’s he’d like to drive it. Russell’s response is “never!”
Colter’s team is happy that he is safe now, but they wonder if they are still targets. Russell believes they are in the clear now that “the circus has left town.” Palmer will sound like a conspiracy nut if he talks about it and anyone who would even be close to providing plausible proof would have been the doc and she has been eliminated.
Russell is interested in how Daley knew about their family, and Colter told Russell about the file box that Dory has. Russell thinks its probably just full of junk. Russell drops Colter off within walking distance of his truck (because his baby does not drive on gravel).
He is on his way to Colorado to see Reenie. She promised to go on a date with him because he saved Colter. Russell told his brother to “smoke him up” to Reenie if she calls him. Colter says thank you to Russell for saving his ass… a little bit.
The Shaw Family History
We learned very little about the Shaw family history other than the “Eagle Head Rock” visitation Ashton Shaw took his boys to. It was obviously focused on them participating in a UAP siting, but not much else is known. We already knew that Ashton and his family were on the government’s radar.
So far, I can’t eliminate any unanswered questions off our running list 🙂
In Closing
–>Overall Opinion of the Episode
The subject matter (more on that later) was a bit of a stretch for a show that’s not in the sci-fi genre, but this episode made up for any shortcomings on that score, with the brother’s Shaw. Watching Justin and Jensen engage in brother banter was pure delight. Justin does a fantastic job of portraying Colter, a character who is brooding and calculated in his approach to the job. Whereas Russell is the quintessential teasing older brother who has no trouble poking humor at Colter to try and get a rise out of him, especially where Reenie is concerned. And his pursuit of the elusive Reenie is delightful. She double barrels him whenever she gets a chance, with her viper-like wit that easily eats him alive, and Russell is ready to offer up a second helping anytime.
It’s a fine line to walk. This is something, that if played too much, can get old fast. But these three together, do this so well and with such finesse that I think they can keep feeding that line out for a while. When Reenie let into these two for not texting her back, I loved it! Hearing Reenie take down, two hero-type tough guys a peg or two, was kind of delicious. Well done.
Because this episode was “brother-centric” we didn’t get much of the Colter-crew but what little we did get, played really well. It seems Abby’s character Velma is fitting in really well as Reenie’s 2nd in command, and Eric as Bobby was a little stumped for the 1st time when stacked up against government level tech – he played the frustration well.
–>Here is the ‘More on that later” Part
This episode was a leap of faith in my opinion. The leap being that we love the show, so we have faith you are going to ‘take us there’ but there were too many holes for me. Audiences are intelligent and they catch the irregularities immediately. The ends have to be tied off, at least with the same validity that the storyline strives for. Otherwise it all just looks like deliberately contrived plot points rather than good story. It’s not ETs/UFOs/UAPs that were the problem for me, it was the inconsistencies. Either a threat is perceived, or it isn’t. Either a threat is neutralized, or it isn’t. It seems like they [the DOD guys] changed their mind half way through with little basis for doing so.
I was scratching my head at a young woman and her father, who are clearly seen as enough of a threat to DOD secrets, that the government would (1) Ensure Colter is captured, sedated, restrained, embedded with a tracking device and let loose to help them trap their quarry; (2) A scientist and professor is surveyed, followed, threatened, eventually murdered and her death made to look like a suicide; (3) The Shaw boys are investigated enough to reveal that their father was a threat to the government in his day, and his sons are getting in the way now, but no mention of the fact that one of the Shaw boys was a card-carrying operative in a previous incarnation; (4) A government project that would construct a landing site, erect mobile buildings, employ personnel, guards, security, perimeter fencing, surveillance apparatus, and a helicopter that pursued the captives… all to just let it drop? The DOD’s final strategy was to let Palmer waste away as a ranting conspiracy theorist. This seems like a high risk gamble, when you consider that Palmer was never captured and interrogated by the DOD agents and so his level of intel was never established.
And while that part of my OCD-ish brain finds it really difficult to disregard details like this, I still find the show to be incredibly entertaining. The characters are great, the actors deliver wonderful, believable performances, the chemistry between Jensen and… well anyone he plays opposite, the brother-banter and all the great humor that is shining through, is all a joy to watch.
Extra Photos for Episode Two
Tracker S02 Jensen Ackles and Justin Hartley Featurette
Preview for S2E03
Coming next week for Tracker is episode “Bloodlines” where Colter and rival rewardist Billie Matalon (Sofia Pernas) team up to find a missing high school baseball star.
Reminder
Don’t forget to watch Tracker on CBS/Paramount+ Sunday Evenings at 8:00pm ET/PT.
