There was a whole lot of anticipation among Jensen Ackles fans for last week’s episode of Tracker – and probably a lot of anticipation mixed with glad-you-finally-discovered-this-great show emotion from Tracker fans who have made the show a bona fide hit well before Ackles joined the party. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the show and put it on the “shows I’d like to watch” list that lives in my head and rarely gets any shorter, but hadn’t managed to yet. That meant watching the previous episode live and then doing a 2-day binge watch to catch up. I watched with a couple friends and we all got sucked into the show and the Shaw family mystery and the beautiful (and often familiar) Vancouver locations – so two nights of 5 episodes in a row was actually a lot of fun!
So I already loved Colter and Justin Hartley’s portrayal, understated and nuanced and with the same ability to convey a lot of emotion with very few words that I’ve been spoiled by Supernatural for. I already loved Reenie and Bobby and Teddi and Velma and Colter’s sister Dorie – and I was already very very curious about the mysterious older brother and black sheep, Russell. Especially after what Dorie said about wanting her family to be back together again, including her two brothers.
So like I said, a whole lot of anticipation – one of the most enjoyable things about fandom.
There are also just some plot similarities to Supernatural. A murdered parent under mysterious circumstances, growing up with a paranoid militaristic father, estranged brothers, saving people hunting things (in this case people not monsters), living a relatively isolated life. And Vancouver! But the story and the family and the characters are also very different. (The show’s official Instagram definitely got on board with welcoming the Supernatural fandom to the show – they put a clip up with Kansas’ ‘Carry On’, Supernatural’s unofficial theme song, on their IG. That’s a bit much for me though – Carry On is sacred to the SPNFamily!)
Tracker often has a scary cold open that reminds me of Supernatural, and this episode was no different. Roanoke, Virginia, a terrified man hiding behind a truck at a gas station in the dark, nobody around, trying to duck the security cameras. A man comes through the woods with a flashlight, looking shady, and the other man stashes something in the trash and runs away.
Cut to Colter in his trailer at night in the woods when a car pulls up. Colter pulls his gun and goes outside.
A man gets out of the car and we can’t see him clearly in the car’s headlights as he walks toward Colter – until we see the light shining through some familiar bowlegs.
